Search results for "orchestra"
| Artist |
Album |
Format |
Label & Cat. Number |
Year |
Price (incl. 19% VAT) |
|
| ANDEL, LAURA / ELECTRIC PERCUSSIVE ORCHESTRA |
In::tension:. |
CD |
Rossbin RS 022 |
2005 |
€6.00 |
 |
| BIG CITY ORCHESTRA |
Airre |
CD-R |
Entr'acte 27 |
2005 |
€12.00 |
|
|
The Beatlerape (Sound effects library Volume four) |
CD |
Staalplaat STBCO |
0000 |
€13.00 |
|
|
 Drone Gnomes (SOLD OUT) |
10inch |
Substantia Innominata SUB-05 |
2006 |
€12.00 |
|
|
Greatest Hits and Test Tones |
CD |
Pogus Productions P2015-2 |
1993 |
€13.00 |
|
|
Impetuoso |
MC |
Impulsy Stetoskopu 037 |
2013 |
€8.00 |
|
|
Eerily |
CD |
EE Tapes EE17 |
2009 |
€13.00 |
|
|
A Childs guarden of noize (SOLD OUT) |
7 |
Drone Records DR-04 |
1994 |
€ |
|
|
Don't let him touch you |
MC |
Black Orchid Productions # 10 |
1999 |
€6.50 |
|
|
Probe |
CD-R |
Black Orchid Productions # 53 |
2006 |
€7.00 |
|
|
New Beat for Baby |
CD-R |
Negative Foundation NF-04 |
2002 |
€8.00 |
|
|
Salty Sea Shanties |
7inch |
Ubuibi Org. |
2012 |
€6.00 |
|
|
Stanchenzza |
CD |
Obfuscated OR 19 CD |
2013 |
€14.00 |
|
| |
Kapellmeister |
CD-R |
Hal Tapes |
2015 |
€8.50 |
|
| BIG CITY ORCHESTRA / CTEPHIN |
MiZture #2 |
CD-R |
Roil Noise RNOCDR104 |
2008 |
€9.00 |
|
| BROKEN PENIS ORCHESTRA |
Organ Failure |
7inch |
Hypnagogia ogi02 |
2005 |
€6.50 |
|
| DRAHOMIRA SONG ORCHESTRA |
The Return of the 120 Magicians |
CD |
Waystyx Records WR19 |
2006 |
€16.00 |
|
| |
La Chambre de Stryrene |
CD |
Vacuum v9.0 |
2002 |
€10.00 |
|
| EBTEKAR, ATA & THE IRANIAN ORCHESTRA FOR NEW MUSIC |
performing works of Alireza Mashayekhi: Ornamentalism |
CD |
Sub Rosa SR284 |
2009 |
€13.00 |
|
| |
Ornamental |
do-LP |
Isounderscore [ISO_07] |
2008 |
€22.50 |
|
| HUMAN QUENA ORCHESTRA |
Means without ends |
CD |
Daft Alliance DA015 |
2007 |
€12.00 |
|
|
The Politics of the Irredeemable |
CD |
Crucial Blast CBR76 |
2009 |
€12.00 |
|
|
A natural History of Failure |
CD |
Utech Records URCD051 |
2010 |
€13.00 |
|
| |
Natural History of Failure |
LP |
Handmade Birds HB-004 |
2011 |
€18.50 |
|
| KAGEL, MAURICIO |
Orchestral Works |
CD |
Col-Legno WWE 1CD 20502 |
2000 |
€13.00 |
|
| LUCIER, ALVIN |
Works for the Ever Present Orchestra |
do-LP |
Black Truffle 060 |
2020 |
€26.00 |
|
| MAUTHAUSEN ORCHESTRA |
Digression |
CD |
Silentes Minimal Editions sme1040 |
2010 |
€12.50 |
|
| |
Private Thoughts Recordings |
CD |
St.An.Da 2133 |
2021 |
€13.00 |
|
| MAZUREK, ROB / EXPLODING STAR ORCHESTRA |
Dimensional Stardust |
LP |
International Anthem Recording Company IARC0036 |
2020 |
€26.00 |
|
| NIMH / MAUTHAUSEN ORCHESTRA |
From unhealthy Places |
CD |
Silentes Minimal Editions SME0932 |
2009 |
€13.00 |
|
| OPENING PERFORMANCE ORCHESTRA |
Radio Music (extended) |
CD |
Sub Rosa SR496 |
2020 |
€13.00 |
|
| OPENING PERFORMANCE ORCHESTRA & HIROSHI HASEGAWA |
Fraction Elements |
CD |
E-Klageto Exklageto 06 |
2016 |
€12.00 |
|
| OPENING PERFORMANCE ORCHESTRA / BILL LASWELL / IGGY POP / W.S.BURROUGHS |
The Acid Lands |
LP |
Sub Rosa SRV500 |
2020 |
€18.00 |
|
| OPENING PERFORMANCE ORCHESTRA / REINHOLD FRIEDL / MIROSLAV BEINHAUER |
Chess Show (Other Memories of John Cage) |
do-CD |
NEOS 12113-14 |
2022 |
€28.50 |
|
| ORCHESTRAMAXFIELDPARRISH |
The Silent Breath of Emptiness |
CD |
Faith Strange Recordings fs7 |
2008 |
€13.00 |
|
| |
Crossing of Shadows |
CD |
Faith Strange Recordings FS12 |
2010 |
€13.00 |
|
| ORCHESTRAMAXFIELDPARRISH PRESENTS AERA |
To the last man / Index of Dreaming |
do-CD |
Faith Strange Recordings fs 8 & 9 |
2009 |
€18.00 |
|
| PALESTINE, CHARLEMAGNE / GRUMBLING FUR TIME MACHINE ORCHESTRA |
ggrrreeebbbaaammmnnnuuuccckkkaaaiiioooww!!! |
LP |
Important Records IMPREC 409LP |
2015 |
€25.00 |
|
| PEYRONNET, CEDRIC + TOY BIZARRE ORCHESTRA |
Kdi dctb 216 (DATA#8] |
mCD-R |
Ingeos no09 |
2010 |
€7.50 |
|
| SENSSURROUND ORCHESTRA |
Mort aux Vaches: Meltdown Of Control |
CD |
Staalplaat / Mort aux Vaches |
2000 |
€13.00 |
|
| TAPE LOOP ORCHESTRA |
Interiors Two |
LP + CD + BOOK |
Tape Loop Orchestra TLO INT LP 002 |
2019 |
€34.00 |
|
| |
Interiors Three |
LP + CD + BOOK |
Tape Loop Orchestra TLO INT LP 003 |
2019 |
€34.00 |
|
| TBC_CZEPOKS_SIGD |
Radio Gagarin Allsound Orchestra |
CD |
Wachsender Prozess |
2020 |
€10.00 |
|
| THAI ELEPHANT ORCHESTRA (TEO) |
Water Music |
CD |
Mulatta Records MUL020 |
2010 |
€13.00 |
|
| THE STONE TAPES (PINK DOTS, BIG CITY ORCHESTRA & FRANS DE WAARD) |
Revolutions in the Head |
CD |
Attenuation Circuit ACU 1015 |
2019 |
€13.00 |
|
| THEE SILVER MT. ZION MEMORIAL ORCHESTRA |
Kollaps Tradixionales |
do-10" & CD |
Constellation Records CST063-1 |
2010 |
€25.50 |
|
|
Kollaps Tradixionales (special edition) |
CD & book |
Constellation Records CST063-2* |
2010 |
€18.50 |
|
|
Fuck off get free we pour Light on everything |
LP |
Constellation CST099 |
2014 |
€21.00 |
|
| |
Fuck off get free we pour Light on everything |
CD |
Constellation CST099 |
2014 |
€14.50 |
|
| UHLIG, MIRKO |
The Strings that heal the Orchestra |
mCD-R |
Taalem alm 65 |
2010 |
€5.00 |
|
| V.A. (VARIOUS ARTISTS) (COMPILATIONS) |
DRONE-MIND // MIND-DRONE Vol. 7: OPENING PERFORMANCE ORCHESTRA, MYTRIP, SKELDOS, SPECIMENS |
LP & CD |
Drone Records MIND-07 |
2019 |
€18.00 |
|
| VANCE ORCHESTRA |
Drek (parts I-VI) |
CD |
Waystyx Records |
2005 |
€16.00 |
|
|
Monstrance |
7inch |
Dachstuhl DACH01 |
2001 |
€6.00 |
|
|
Vance plays Vance |
CD-R |
Blade Records wmda 34 |
2003 |
€15.00 |
|
|
At Random again |
CD |
Noctovision NCVCD-09 |
2001 |
€14.00 |
|
|
Hot Water Music (SOLD OUT) |
7inch |
Drone Records DR-26 |
1998 |
€ |
|
|
No more Boleros |
CD |
Ignis Records DI 005 |
2000 |
€13.00 |
|
| |
Organizing the Evidence |
mCD-R |
Taalem alm 129 |
2019 |
€5.50 |
|
| VIBRACATHEDRAL ORCHESTRA |
The queen of guess |
CD |
VHF 77 |
2003 |
€14.00 |
|
|
Tuning to the Rooster |
CD |
Important Records IMPREC 061CD |
2005 |
€15.00 |
|
|
Wisdom Thunderbolt |
CD |
VHF Records #102 |
2007 |
€14.00 |
|
|
My Gate's open, tremble by my Side |
CD |
Lexicon Devil lexdev012 |
2004 |
€18.00 |
|
|
Dabbling with gravity and who you are |
CD |
VHF Records VHF#66 |
2002 |
€13.00 |
|
|
Versatile Arab Chord Chart |
CD |
VHF Records VHF#48 |
2000 |
€14.00 |
|
|
Joka Baya |
LP |
VHF Records VHF119 |
2009 |
€16.00 |
|
|
same |
do-LP & DVD |
VHF Records VHF 127 |
2012 |
€23.50 |
|
| |
Rec Blast Motorbike |
LP |
VHF Records VHF 139 |
2015 |
€20.00 |
|
| WELLINK, MARS (VANCE ORCHESTRA / AD(VANCE)D |
TERATA - Treasures of fresh information |
ART-BOOK + 7inch |
Mars Wellink (ad) VANCE (d) |
2023 |
€50.00 |
|
| XENAKIS, IANNIS |
Orchestral Works |
CD |
Mode Records MODE299 |
2018 |
€17.00 |
|
| YOMILLAK |
The Selection of Korean Classical Music. Performed by The Orchestra of The National Center for Korean Traditional Performing Arts |
do-CD |
Edition RZ 7001-2 |
2003 |
€21.50 |
|
| ZEITKRATZER |
Grand Orchestra |
CD |
Tochnit Aleph [TA113] |
2013 |
€13.00 |
|
"orchestra" entries in albums descriptions
| Artist |
Album |
Format |
Description |
Year |
Price (incl. 19% VAT) |
|
| AB INTRA |
Henosis VI - XI |
CD |
the sequel to "Henosis I-V" (2016) has an even stronger 'cosmic' synth touch, when sequencer sounds build the basis for the almost orchestral formations, sometimes overwhelmingly floating, sometimes more subtle and melancholic...."It's the cinematic experience of the synth passages that make you even think of the darker paths that Tangerine Dream took but never losing its post-industrial core with Coil in mind." [Felt Hat Reviews] - 300 copies
|
2020 |
€12.00 |
|
| ABLINGER, PETER |
Regenstücke Vol. 2 |
LP |
four more pieces from PETER ABLINGERs 'Regenstücke' series (recorded / produced from 1997 to 2013 in Berlin, Graz, Linz (studio, live, installation), using field recordings intertwined with ensemble/orchestra music... "City noise, landscape sounds, rain drops, boosted with powerful instrumentation - simple and almost manifestly."
|
2013 |
€16.00 |
|
| AGUILAR, LUIS DAVID |
Ayahuasca: Musica Para Cine de Luis David Aguilar 1978-1983 |
LP |
"Ayahuasca: Music for Film, by Luis David Aguilar (1978-1983)" compiles works by Luis David Aguilar, one of the most prolific composers of film scores in Peru. It shows the great versatility and avant-garde style that has distinguished his work." - music for three films, blending orchestral composition with electronics and native instruments into an interesting form, for example for "El Viento del Ayahuasca" (1983).. - lim. ed. 300 copies, on the profilic BUH Records from Peru
|
2022 |
€25.00 |
|
| ALDINUCCI, GIULIO |
Disappearing in a Mirror |
CD |
the successor to last years "Borders and Ruins" that got so much praise and attention in the ambient scene: inspired by philosophical questions around the 'identity' concept, these are 7 tracks of orchestral 'wall of sound' ambience with hidden harmonies inside, transmitting a sacral, elevated beauty; the sound is sublime and delicate but has a very powerful side, too, really captivating.... CD version lim. to 300 copies
|
2018 |
€13.00 |
|
| AMINI, SIAVASH |
Serus |
LP |
third LP for this rising and favoured 'experimental / orchestral ambient drone' artist from Teheran / Iran, inspired by the "other night" conception of MAURICE BLANCHOT, focusing on the special consciousness state between sleep, dream and being awake ("body and mind in an in-between state")... - the album gets life and (e)motion from this contradiction, mirroring the interchange of somber moods with moments of harmony and relief, totally suspended in the nocturnal dark.. comes with DL code
|
2019 |
€26.00 |
|
| ARCANA |
Emerald |
maxi-CD |
three track EP, orchestral / melancholic / neo classic bombast-wave at its best; first material by the Swedish band after four years
|
2012 |
€10.00 |
|
| ARNALDS, OLAFUR |
Eulogy for Evolution |
CD |
debut album of this Icelandig "symphonic / orchestral / chamber music ambience" composer;
"For fans of Sigur Rós, Max Richter or Jóhann Jóhannsson"; CD comes with free download voucher for an Erased Tapes compilation album |
2007 |
€15.50 |
|
| BAD ALCHEMY |
No. 91 (September 2016) |
mag |
neue Artikel & einzigartig formulierte Rezensionen: OPENING PERFORMANCE ORCHESTRA, STEVE RODEN, TZADIK/JOHN ZORN, ATTENUATION CIRCUIT, AUSGEWÄHLTE GERÄUSCHE, GRUENREKORDER, MONOTYPE, TOUCH, und vieles mehr aus der experimentellen, drone, post-industrial, Impro & Neue Musik & NowJazz-Szene... Deutsche Sprach, 88 Seiten, handliches Format, günstig & geistreich !
|
2016 |
€3.50 |
|
| |
No. 109 (März 2021) |
mag |
CUNEIFORM, ReR MEGACORP, OPENING PERFORMANCE ORCHESTRA, Protestsongs, SLEAFORD MODS, BILLY NOMATES, ALFRED 23 HARTH, HEMATIC SUNSETS, CRONICA, RLW, GRUENREKORDER, LENKA LENTE, PALO ALTO, JULIUS EASTMAN, und so vieles mehr aus "Now Jazz", Impro, Avantgarde, Geräuschmusik und Drone... - 88 Seiten, handliches Format, günstig & geistreich!
|
2021 |
€4.00 |
|
| BARDOSENETICCUBE |
Deadhead |
CD |
the Russian "Industrial Surrealists" go here in a surprising bombastic "martial" direction, without loosing their originality; we think there was never a project like BARDO ever again.. "the hybryd of orchestral-ethno-electronic rhythmics and it's layered over with melodic lines walking from composition to composition and completely unexpected samples hardly rationally coordinated with musical context.." [Zhelezobeton] - lim. 500 / SPECIAL OFFER NOW
|
2005 |
€6.00 |
|
| BIOSPHERE |
Shenzhou |
3 x LP |
first ever vinyl re-issue of the great album from 2002 based on the orchestral works of CLAUDE DEBUSSY - this is a most meditative and calm album, truly mesmerizing - SHENZHOU means "magic vessel"; as a bonus comes the full album "The Samphire Tower" on record three, a so far unreleased installation (?) work with field recordings, "a building designed by JONY EASTERBY and PIPPA TAYLOR"
|
2017 |
€36.00 |
|
| BLACK TO COMM |
Seven Horses for Seven Kings |
do-LP |
the Hamburg-based project with the first new studio album after many years, going into a much more experimental and abrasive "industrial drone" direction => mighty multi-layered drones from various sources arise, noisy orchestral elements (percussion, wind instruments, sax, etc.) are present, this really sucks you into a dark maelstrom, without using structures and harmony... on 13 very versatile tracks - the best BTC album so far we think! Last copies in stock on limited green vinyl
|
2019 |
€23.50 |
|
| BLOCK, OLIVIA |
Karren |
LP |
a piece in two long parts that show OLIVIA BLOCKs great compositional skills between electro-acoustic creation and orchestral sounds: field recordings from orchestra rehearsals and public locations are set into contrast with one in real time performed score (by the 'Chicago Composer's Orchestra); the meaning and background of the phrase "Karren" opens up diverse sophisticated inter-relations from her interest in anthropology and sociology; lim. 500
|
2013 |
€19.00 |
|
| BLUME, FELIX |
Fog Horns |
LP |
awesome recordings and remixes of boat fog horns by this French composer, made at the port of Piraeus, Greece - the various types of massive drones interact in a polyphonic and almost orchestral way, on the B-side there are three remixes of the raw sounds, filled with darkness and tension... "You quickly forget you’re listening to prosaic industrial sound and interpret it as an immersive piece of neo-classical." [Chain D.L.K.] - ed. of 500 copies
|
2019 |
€21.50 |
|
| BREAKLAB |
Reet |
12inch |
drone newcomer from Bremen with roots in the open minded / experimental techno- and art scene, this is the debut vinyl EP with 5 tracks (about 20 min. playtime) presenting very wide and sonorous sounding layered mystery drones with swinging overtones and almost orchestral tension, when metalloid object or instrumental sounds strike in, or fragmented crackles and noises appear and build chaos-structures.... highly recommended 12"!
|
2016 |
€10.00 |
|
| BROWN, HANNIS |
Severe Insomnia |
CD |
second album by this experimental composer from New York beyond categorization, ranging from electroacoustic arrangements to orchestral & instrumental surrprises.. lim. 500
|
2011 |
€13.00 |
|
| CELER |
Sunlir |
CD |
re-issue of an early CD-R from 2006, containing 10 tracks of loopy/minimal/orchestral drone-waves with hypnotic effects & strange titles; one of our favourite CELER-works definitely! Lim. 300 digipack
|
2012 |
€13.00 |
|
| CHANTE ISTA |
Alaya |
CD-R |
first album by this ambient/drone newcomer from North Karelia (Russia), very beautiful & harmonic orchestral drone & ice/wind-scapes; last copies without the bag. Highly recommended !
|
2012 |
€8.00 |
|
| CHAUVEAU, SYLVAIN & ENSEMBLE NOCTURNE |
Down to the Bone. An acoustic Tribute to Depeche Mode |
CD |
SYLVAIN CHAUVEAU plus chamber orchestra covering D.M. songs!
|
2005 |
€16.50 |
|
| CIRCULAR |
Radiating Perpetual Light |
CD |
third album by the hypno electronic / space ambience project from Leipzig, now impressing with a more melancholic & meditative atmosphere with slow electronic pulses & almost orchestral arrangements, all very focused, structured & clear... the most refined CIRCULAR longplayer yet !
|
2013 |
€13.00 |
|
| COMPEST |
Danach |
CD-R |
behind COMPEST we find MARTIN STEINEBACH, long time active performer as STILLSTAND or CONSCIENTIA PECCATI, who uses orchestral string samples and subtile percussion as a basic source for his dark harmonic 46 min. composition, a kind of neo-classic ambience that could be the soundtrack to an old 'exotic' movie..
|
2014 |
€6.00 |
|
| CONTAGIOUS ORGASM |
Live at Maschinenfest 2001 |
MC |
this very limited tape dives back deeply into the history of the Maschinenfest festival, when the Japanese "beyond all genres" act performed an outstanding entertaning set, with obscurest samples in wild combinations, found sounds, field recordings, electronic sounds, animal noises, cheesy beats, stupid human speech, orchestral music snippets, anything a brain can imagine, it's all yer in... lim. 50 copies only, extraordinaire packaging !!
|
2021 |
€12.00 |
|
| CORNER, PHILIP |
Italian Air: Wind, Water & Metal |
LP |
three previously unreleased pieces recorded all outdoors in Italy (1990-1996), mixing raw field recordings of water, rain & thunder with cymbals, alphorn & gong. Great atmospheric stuff (very low fi & rough & minimal) by this long active FLUXUS member and GAMELAN orchestra player; lim. 300 copies, comes with full-colour inlay & info sheet. FIRST EDITION !
|
2012 |
€18.50 |
|
| D.D.A.A. (DEFICIT DES ANNEES ANTERIEURS) // DDAA |
Pourriture Cubique |
CD |
"The engineers of DDAA are thus plasmaturgists of reality" - NEW studio material by the legendary French dadaists - here they sound much more "silent" and ambient as usually known - but still full of surprising elements (we had to think of BIG CITY ORCHESTRA, etc..) lovely album !
|
2012 |
€14.50 |
|
| DENT, LOREN |
Anthropology Vol. 1 |
CD |
another newcomer on the never disappointing Infraction-label; beautiful orchestral ambience, uplifting & spacious light-drones
|
2009 |
€13.50 |
|
| DREAD (LUSTMORD) |
In Dub |
CD |
DREAD is the new project of BRIAN WILLIAMS aka LUSTMORD - combining dark orchestral ambient with slow dubby rhythms, using also voice-material, acoustic drums and e-guitar this is quite a different approach and sound than on the LUSTMORD-remix projects; "breathtaking, dark, unshiftable and solid, this is the kind of dread where you're not sure where the evil force lurks.."
|
2017 |
€13.50 |
|
| DZIADOSZ, BARTOSZ & TOMASZ MRENCA |
Mirage |
mCD-R |
Polish soundartist B. DZIADOSZ is better known under his moniker PLEQ, here he teams up with violinist TOMASZ MRENCA."..the two of them create a very dense pattern of sounds. Bending, stretching and putting small gesture upon gentle stroke, the violin and the electronics become a closely woven web of sounds. Almost like an orchestra going all wrong and it sounds quite nice, this combination of acoustic instrument and electronics. It makes up for a different drone altogether." [Vital W.]
|
2017 |
€5.00 |
|
|
Black Lake |
LP |
the Polish duo (known for their works as PLEQ, FROZEN VAULTS and as curator for the DRONARIVM label) with a strong ambient album, reminding on (i.e.) HUMAN GREED... - "This is a slightly dark, ghostly, and nearly religious noir-fi, full of orchestral progressions, field recordings, gloomy soundscapes, and shuffling noise. The eight compositions are of cinematic quality, evoking nocturnal whispers which echo their nostalgic cries." [Headphonecommute] - lim. 150 copies on black vinyl, luxurious cover art
|
2020 |
€23.00 |
|
| |
Black Lake |
CD |
the Polish duo (known for their works as PLEQ, FROZEN VAULTS and as curator for the DRONARIVM label) with a strong ambient album, reminding on (i.e.) HUMAN GREED... - "This is a slightly dark, ghostly, and nearly religious noir-fi, full of orchestral progressions, field recordings, gloomy soundscapes, and shuffling noise. The eight compositions are of cinematic quality, evoking nocturnal whispers which echo their nostalgic cries." [Headphonecommute] - CD version - 6 panel digipak, different cover
|
2017 |
€13.00 |
|
| ELOY, JEAN-CLAUDE |
Kâmakalâ |
CD + booklet |
his orchestral works: KAMAKALA (1971), ETUDE III (1962), FLUCTUANTE-IMMUABLE (1977- previously unreleased!), dramatic neo-classic orchestral pieces, with a strong eastern/asian influence in KAMAKALA, which is a most intense opus !! Comes with 28p booklet & extra 60p. booklet in cardboard box !
|
2012 |
€23.00 |
|
| ENGLISH, LAWRENCE |
Cruel Optimism |
LP |
inspired by a text of LAURENT BERLANT with same title, this album with 10 stunning tracks by the Australian composer has a completely different approach than before: no field recordings were used and several guest musicians invited to contribute instrumental material - via file exchange or performed in real time; the result are gently overwhelming, orchestral, multi-layered drone pieces that sometimes dissolve into something unformed, reminding on TIM HECKER at times...
|
2017 |
€26.00 |
|
| ENSEMBLE PEARL |
same |
CD |
new band project feat. members of SUNN O)), BORIS; GHOST, etc.. creating very spacey & doomey slow drone rock & dark night psych, orchestral & droney... very nice!
|
2013 |
€15.50 |
|
| EX-EASTER ISLAND HEAD |
Mallet Guitars Three |
LP |
third release by this guitar- & percussion trio from Liverpool, UK: four movements of purely instrumental guitar drones that sound like a bunch of violins, of clapping (hands?)- percussion, and almost orchestral tunes, very dense and energetic, elevating... "The treated guitars create a complex array of choral overtones and crystalline harmonics, sounding in unison with an array of handbells and prayer bowl percussion..."
|
2013 |
€17.50 |
|
| FARGUE |
Ruines, Irradiees |
CD |
one of the most surprising releases on Cyclic Law (new sublabel CAVSAS) lately is this album by the Swiss/Finnish band FARGUE with hardcore and black metal roots, who combine ambient, rock and impro influences for their vision of "DRONE ROCK" - using handplayed drums, heavy guitars, synths.. think of OISEAUX TEMPETE, SAVAGE REPUBLIC, FRANK VIGROUX, TROUM, or even VIBRACATHEDRAL ORCHESTRA! ... - 300 copies
|
2021 |
€13.00 |
|
| FEINE TRINKERS BEI PINKELS DAHEIM (F.T.B.P.D.) |
A Bug's Life |
CD |
surprising new album from Germany's finest secret: much more "collage" and plunderphonic as before, "A Bug's Life" combines weird found sounds, backwards folk songs, vocal quotes, with processed drones & noises coming from field / Insect recordings... quite weird again, but the also impressive regarding the variety of sounds, a mixture of eerie dark droning areas & obscure collages... BIG CITY ORCHESTRA meets LUSTMORD meets RAPOON and ARTIFICIAL MEMORY TRACE? great album!!
|
2016 |
€12.00 |
|
| FELIX KUBIN |
II: Music for Film and Theatre |
LP |
2nd volume of soundtracks works... "Some of Kubin's most adventurous and far-reaching music stems from his commissioned works for films, theatre and radio plays... he effortlessly combines Musique Concrète noises, splashes of haunted virtual orchestras, Gameboy music minuets and voice collage interspersed with tons of suspense and gloomy industrial atmospheres."
- comes with DL card. incl. 2 bonus tracks
|
2016 |
€16.00 |
|
| FINAL |
It comes to us All |
LP |
first new FINAL album since 2015 (JUSTIN K.BROADRICKs solo project for experimental / ambient tunes), orchestral / epic drone noise with great harmonic undertones, melancholic and emotional...- "Rather than channelling the angst of early power-electronics, the noise here rumbles along blissfully through 8 untitled tracks, sombre in tone and at times beautiful... an exploration of the decay of all living things that we face collectively, day after day.." - reminds on TIM HECKER, TROUM, etc.. - lim. 400
|
2022 |
€28.50 |
|
| |
It comes to us all |
CD |
first new FINAL album since 2015 (JUSTIN K.BROADRICKs solo project for experimental / ambient tunes), orchestral / epic drone noise with great harmonic undertones, melancholic and emotional...- \\\"Rather than channelling the angst of early power-electronics, the noise here rumbles along blissfully through 8 untitled tracks, sombre in tone and at times beautiful... an exploration of the decay of all living things that we face collectively, day after day..\\\" - reminds on TIM HECKER, TROUM, etc.. - lim. 200
|
2022 |
€16.00 |
|
| FLOWER-CORSANO DUO |
The undisputed dimension |
7 |
MARK FLOWER (VIBRACATHEDRAL ORCHESTRA, SUNBURNED HAND..) & CHRIS CORSANO
|
2007 |
€8.00 |
|
| FLUTWACHT / RABBIT GIRLS |
Unitlted |
CD-R |
very distorted but often slowly waving & pulsing raw metallic industrial noisedrone loops from FLUTWACHT, on the 2nd half more playful low fi hypnoticsm with alienated voices (not so far from early BIG CITY ORCHESTRA) comes from US project RABBIT GIRLS.. 14 tracks / playtime almost 70 minutes
|
2013 |
€7.50 |
|
| FOLKSTORM |
Nihil Total |
CD |
after many years a new full length album for HENRIK NORDVARGR BJÖRKs power electronics and rhythmic noise project FOLKSTORM - "no computers or modern tricks, just old analogue junk and a pissed off giant to orchestrate the mayhem." - 9 tracks entitled like "Where the Sun don't shine", "Lifeless", or "No Empathy" say it all !! 300 copies
|
2019 |
€13.00 |
|
| FURUDATE, TETSUO |
One Day an old Phantom passed |
CD |
five pieces with relations to famous films (for example TARKOVSKYs 'Nostalgia' and COCTEAUs 'Orphee') by this Japanese composer known for his ultra intense, bombastic neo-classic noise creations; here we have massive wall of sound earthquake drones and sampled orchestral bits that interact with the film quotes in a surrealistic way... quite special & effective.. a one-tracker of 58 min, lim. 500
|
2009 |
€13.00 |
|
| GODSPEED YOU BLACK EMPOROR! [GYBE] |
G_d's Pee AT STATE'S END! |
LP + 10inch |
"The God's have returned to rain ash upon our graves." - four epic new pieces spread on 12" and 10" vinyls, with wonderful artwork again + DL code... - "Poignant atmospherics, noisedrenched orchestration, drone, hypnotic swingtime crescendos, inexorably-layered towers of distorted clarion sound: STATE'S END encapsulates every beloved facet of the band"
|
2021 |
€27.50 |
|
| |
G_d's Pee AT STATE'S END! |
CD |
"The God's have returned to rain ash upon our graves." - four epic new pieces - "Poignant atmospherics, noisedrenched orchestration, drone, hypnotic swingtime crescendos, inexorably-layered towers of distorted clarion sound: STATE'S END encapsulates every beloved facet of the band" / CD version in gatefold digisleeve
|
2021 |
€14.50 |
|
| GRAILS |
Chalice Hymnal |
do-LP |
sixth album by this remarkable US "cinematic / highly atmospheric electro Prog Rock" band (feat. EMIL AMOS from OM) that somehow unites Post Rock/ Psychedelic Kraut / Metal Prog / Eastern Folk and Western film score influences, a quite unique melange, now sounding more electronic, orchestral and lush than before and even going into Ambient, Trip Hop and Electronica areas.. vinyl-version w. luxurious gatefold cover and download card
|
2017 |
€29.50 |
|
| GYDJA + THEE GIRLS OV CTEPHIN |
The Blue-Lidded Daughter of Sunset |
CD-R |
split CDR by three girls of the CTEPHIN community with the mysterious GYDJA from New Zealand; dark waves of almost orchestral, heavily processed synths, dream-ambient at its best !
|
2009 |
€10.00 |
|
| HALL, FRANK |
I remember you (O.S.T.) |
CD |
film soundtrack to the Icelandic horror-movie "I REMEMBER YOU", 14 movements full of doomy and dramatic brass instruments and electronic pulses, and beautiful melodic parts... "Heavy dark ambient / industrial / orchestral soundscapes composed by Frank Hall, with a beautiful, solemn, folkloristic finale featuring Icelandic choirs. A must for fans of Graeme Revell, Steven Price, Lustmord, MZ.412."
|
2021 |
€13.00 |
|
| HECKER, TIM |
No Highs |
CD |
the new T. HECKER album feat. COLIN STETSON, described as "Anti-Relaxant", pulls you subtly down with its emotional suction and depth, sometimes almost orchestral, sometimes very slow and melancholic....- *Morse code pulse programming flickers like distress signals while a gathering storm of strings, noise, and low-end looms in the distance. Processed electronics shiver and shudder against pitch-shifting assemblages of crackling voltage, mantric horns, and cathedral keys* - CD version digip.
|
2023 |
€14.50 |
|
| |
No Highs |
do-LP |
the new T. HECKER album feat. COLIN STETSON, described as "Anti-Relaxant", pulls you subtly down with its emotional suction and depth, sometimes almost orchestral, sometimes very slow and melancholic....- *Morse code pulse programming flickers like distress signals while a gathering storm of strings, noise, and low-end looms in the distance. Processed electronics shiver and shudder against pitch-shifting assemblages of crackling voltage, mantric horns, and cathedral keys*
|
2023 |
€32.50 |
|
| HERR LOUNGE CORPS + CADAVEROUS CONDITION |
The Breath of a Bird |
CD |
a collaboration of the Austrian "weird Death Metal" / Folk band with HERR LOUNGE CORPS, current member of DEATH IN JUNE; melancholic piano & accordeon tunes merge with bombastic orchestration, guitar riffs, elegic synths and choirs => kitschy neo-folk based songs combined with bellowed vocals, a quite incredible, doomy mixture....
|
2018 |
€14.00 |
|
| HIORTHOY, KIM & RUNE KRISTOFFERSEN |
LET'S PUT IT TO MUSIC / 20 YEARS OF RUNE GRAMMOFON |
BOOK & 7inch |
224 pages hardcover book with visuals by RUNE GRAMMOFON desgner Kim Hiorthøy, the label works since 20 years with the same artist, creating a strong visual identity... "an interesting insight by including sketches, rejected designs and unused idéas that never left the drawing board.." comes with 7" incl. tracks by FIRE!ORCHESTRA, MAJA S. RATKJE and THE LAST HURRAH! |
2018 |
€46.00 |
|
| IF, BWANA |
Radio Slaves |
CD |
Bizarre, samplig-repetitive Soundwelten entwirft IF,BWANA auf "Radio Slaves", am ehesten vielleicht noch mit BIG CITY ORCHESTRA zu vergleichen, Typische Cassetten-Szenen Musik der 80er in Reinform, Re-issue eines Tapes von 1986... [Drone Rec] // *Loopy and sampledelic, it will return the spirit of 80s into your ears. Great collage music from the pioneering american experimental sound project* - incl. bonus tracks, 500 copies
|
2007 |
€13.00 |
|
| INNER VISION LABORATORY |
Perpetua |
CD |
"Human beings live in their myths. They only endure their realities" - citing ROBERT ANTON WILSON & PHILIP K. DICK, this is a dark cosmic & very cinematic journey into inner & outer spheres, based on the philosophic idea of 'creation-stagnation-destruction' => powerful & emotional existential ambience, very orchestral, neo-classic, melodramatic... the masterpiece of I.V.L so far !!
|
2012 |
€13.00 |
|
| IRR.APP.(EXT.) - BLUE SABBATH BLACK CHEER |
Discordant Convergence |
CD |
four intense collaborative pieces (53+ min in total) by MATT WALDRON and the doomy noise duo (STAN REED [BROKEN PENIS ORCHESTRA, etc.) and WM.RAGE) named BSBC (plus guests), the right mixture of dark brooding atmospheres and eerie, ominous noises, alien organics seem to populate the space, penetrated by surprising cut ups and irruptions of the absurd... "special thanks to weeping children anywhere"...
|
2013 |
€10.00 |
|
| JOHANNSSON, JOHANN |
Personal Effects |
LP |
the very calm and melancholic soundtrack to the movie of the same name from 2009 (directed by DAVID HOLLANDER), previously unreleased, performed by the City of Prague Philharmonic Orchestra, with J. JOHANNSSON providing the piano and electronics... - extensive liner notes by the director on the inlay: "I never imagined this score would be something that would help me not only to cope with Johann's death, but to feel Johann's presence and be moved, time and time again, by his work"
|
2020 |
€28.00 |
|
| K11 & PHILIPPE PETIT |
The Haunting Triptych |
CD |
ghostly nightshade tunes by K11 (PIETRO RIPARBELLI) and PHILIPPE PETIT on their first collaboration, creating a desolate landscape enriched with strange creatures: orchestral - deeply pulsating - uncanny murmurings - excellent cinematic darkscapes...
|
2010 |
€13.50 |
|
| KAGEL, MAURICIO |
Duodramen |
CD |
contains "Szenario", "Duodramen" & "Liturgien", recordings made 1994 / 1998 / 2001 in Saarbrücken (Saarländischer Rundfunk - Saarbrücken Radio Symphony Orchestra) and Lisbon
|
2006 |
€13.00 |
|
| KALLABRIS |
Schön geht anders |
CD |
29 new pieces or 'sketches' are to be found on "Schön geht anders" by the unique German 'philosophic soundscaper', who continues to confuse, surprise, and stimulate... like IRR.APP (ext.) or BIG CITY ORCHESTRA the music falls between all categories and is often almost undescripable, somehow funny and bewildering... "The sublation of music reveals the revolutionary nature of movement in which its end becomes the condition of its beginning.." understood? No? just listen!
|
2015 |
€13.00 |
|
| KIRCHENKAMPF |
Island of the Dead |
CD-R |
A one-tracker (almost 43 minutes) with a very dark, almost orchestral sounding electro-acoustic journey with layers out of high-pitched /backwards-effected drones, analogue electronic sounds, eerie voice-material, field recordings, unsettling and beautiful at the same time... if you like dark trips, this is the Island to be..our favourite KIRCHENKAMPF release so far!!
|
2006 |
€9.00 |
|
| KIRKEGAARD, JACOB & NIELS LYHNE LOKKEGARD |
Descending |
LP |
their first collaboration, a piece in two parts for 'room resonance, triangles, shakers and horns' performed by the Aarhus Jazz Orchestra, creating a very unusual acoustic / atmospheric surrounding... "Stunning work. A rare treat for the lugs, especially if you’re into Eliane RADIGUE, ELEH, Harley GABER, Harry BERTOIA." [Boomkat] ed. of 500 copies
|
2017 |
€24.00 |
|
| KLEISTWAHR |
Common Values |
CD |
7th album on Fourth Dim. since 2014, the 'second incarnation' of the project.. 6 new tracks, a perfect mixture of noise, melancholy and despair.. - "MUNDY uses a guitar, organ, synthesizers, and a plethora of sound effects and creates a multi-layered, orchestral sound...It is dark and grim, as opposed to dark and pleasantly atmospheric. The soundtrack for harsh times.... An excellent album all around, and KLEISTWAHR goes from strength to strength." [FdW / Vital Weekly]
|
2022 |
€13.00 |
|
| KNIZAK, MILAN |
Aktual Univerzita |
CD |
in 1967, the Czech performance and fluxus artist wrote 10 short basic lectures as 'inspirational schemes' for the 'Aktual University' project,, like "On Conflict", "On Being Different", "On Dreams", "On Revolutions", etc.. - in 2019. the OPENING PERFORMANCE ORCHESTRA from Prague performed with him these 10 lectures on a festival in a great way (first piece), the second studio piece is a kind of remix from O.P.O using audio material by this "Broken Music" inventor.. - comes with 12 page booklet
|
2021 |
€13.00 |
|
| KOCH, HANS W. |
The O. Theorem |
LP |
first LP release for this versatile, Cologne based composer and soundartist: the album is based on the "Total Harmony" ideas of Russian composer Nikolai OBOUCHOW (1892-1954) - a kind of "vertical" twelve-tone music, with astonishing result: "a self-contained harmonic system in which every chord is an inversion of every other." - the LP contains two pieces: 'Stele fuer n.o." (for large orchestra), and the electronic piece 'clock of fifths (totensonntag)'; strange-beautiful harmonics, printed inner sleeves
|
2018 |
€20.00 |
|
| KODJABASHIA, NIKOLA |
Explosion of a Memory |
CD |
Four works as a homage to the works of JAMES JOYCE, HEINER MÜLLER & VALERE NOVARINA; performed by the Macedonian Philharmonic Orchestra with help by CHRIS CUTLER and others
|
2010 |
€13.00 |
|
| KOJO, HITOSHI |
High Tide Mirror |
CD |
Ecstasis-Drones! Collection of live-material rec. 2012 in Switzerland & France, very psyched out & spiritual acoustic drones with a strong tendency to become weightless forms - using vocal material it reminds on C. PALESTINE or VIBRACATHEDRAL ORCHESTRA, but there are also beautiful uplifting light sound expanses that are pure & calm.. lim. 200, very nice cover-design in 3 different colours (silk screened 300gr cardboard stock)
|
2012 |
€14.00 |
|
| KRYNGE |
Hiss & Hearse |
CD-R |
KRYNGE was the project of ZAN HOFFMAN (also known as BODYCOCKTAIL) and some friends like AGOG, JOHN HUDAK, MINOY... this re-issued MC (from 1988) consists of multi-layered & slowed-down low-fi loops, hypnotic & bit obscured stuff, similar to old works of BIG CITY ORCHESTRA...
|
2012 |
€8.00 |
|
| LABFIELD |
Fishforms |
CD |
stunning debut-album with evocative "impro-experimental-drone" from new Swedish/Norwegian duo of DAVID STACKENÄS (FIRE! ORCHESTRA, etc.) and INGAR ZACH (HUNTSVILLE, etc.)
|
2008 |
€13.00 |
|
| LAMIA VOX |
Sigillum Diaboli |
CD |
second album for this Russian project - now on the prolific CYCLIC LAW label from Canada - orchestral ambience, droney synths, orthodox chorals, female singing & whispers, with additional ritualistic percussion & neo-classic arrangements, gloomy & elevating at the same time... for fans of / somewhere between ARCANA, RAISON D'ETRE, HYBRYDS, IN SLAUGHTER NATIVES, etc.. lim. 600
|
2013 |
€14.00 |
|
| LASIK SURGERY |
Cyclo |
CD + DVD |
new experimental/electronic ambience-project from Italy feat. PIERPAOLO ZOPPO (MAUTHAUSEN ORCHESTRA); incl. free bonus DVD with videoclips by ENRICO BRESSAN
|
2010 |
€12.50 |
|
| LIGETI, GYÖRGY |
Lux Aeterna. Three Fantasies after Hölderlin |
CD |
a collection of pieces by GYÖRGY LIGETY including the famous "Lux Aeterna" (1966) used for KUBRICK's film "2001: A Space Odyssey", but this contains also diverse other compositions (such as the "Drei Phantasien nach Friedrich Hölderlin"), plus the "Im Gestein" cycle by ROBERT HEPPENER (a cycle of six choral songs on poems by PAUL CELAN); performed by "Capella Amsterdam" orchestra, comes in nice cardboard box with extensive booklet in english, francais & deutsch
|
2016 |
€15.00 |
|
| LLARKS |
Reflections |
MC |
behind LLARKS we find U.S. guitar-player CHRIS JEELY, active since long with numerous projects as ACCELERA DECK or SEPTEMBER PLATEU, on this C-46 he creates sensitive and floating orchestral ambience, multi-layered and textured nicely (guitar, trumpet, piano)... "It is a delicate and patient album focusing on gentle transitions of tone colors, unfolding atmospherics, and a quiet sense of nostalgia."
|
2017 |
€7.00 |
|
| LOSCIL |
Clara |
CD |
latest full LOSCIL album on Kranky, special concept:: *a stunning meditation on light, shade, and decay, sourced from a single three-minute composition performed by a 22-piece string orchestra in Budapest ... Despite their limited palette, the compositions summon a sense of the infinite, swelling and swimming through luminous depths. Certain tracks percolate over narcoleptic metronomes while others slowdive in shimmering shadowplay, sounding at times like some noir music of the spheres.*
|
2021 |
€18.00 |
|
| |
Clara |
do-LP |
latest full LOSCIL album on Kranky, lim. vinyl version! - *a stunning meditation on light, shade, and decay, sourced from a single three-minute composition performed by a 22-piece string orchestra in Budapest ... Despite their limited palette, the compositions summon a sense of the infinite, swelling and swimming through luminous depths. Certain tracks percolate over narcoleptic metronomes while others slowdive in shimmering shadowplay, sounding at times like some noir music of the spheres.*
|
2021 |
€32.50 |
|
| MARIACHI AZTECA PRINCIPAL |
performs The KREV Underwater National Anthem # 2 |
7 |
first in a series of vinyl acoustic versions of the National Anthem of Elgaland-Vargaland, this one is performed by the MARIACHI AZTECA PRINCIPAL orchestra during the inauguration of The Embassy of The Kingdoms of Elgaland-Vargaland in Mexico City on 30 August 2002
|
2007 |
€7.50 |
|
| MENUCK, EFRIM MANUEL |
Pissing Stars |
LP |
second solo-album by the co-founder of GODSPEED! YOU BLACK EMPOROR and A SILVER MT.ZION - very atmospheric and highly emotional tracks with droning passages, electronic sounds, psych/folk influences and almost orchestral arrangements, political and personal, between despair and romanticism... "The result is indulgent, neurotic, and harrowing, a reminder of the complete mess we’ve made" [Pitchfork] // comes with poster !
|
2018 |
€23.00 |
|
| MOTT, NICK |
The Visitors |
LP |
after the great 7" on Lumberton this is the very first solo LP/album for the ex VOLCANO THE BEAR - an incredible record full of weird, melancholic & unsettling arrangements (using often vocal & instrumental sources but also simple electronics, loops & tapes), at times it sounds like a more orchestral/humming version of GHEDALIA TAZARTES, then more 80's styled similar to RESIDENTS or RENALDO & THE LOAF, all lovely surreal; lim. 250 copies, very much recommended for explorers of the unexpectable..
|
2012 |
€16.50 |
|
| MUNDAL, ARE |
Interlooper & Nocturnal Perambulation |
do-CD |
re-mastered digital version of the two limited / deleted LPs from 2020 & 2021 by the Norwegian dark ambient artist (with black metal roots), a trip into eerie atmospheric ambience with occult and surrealistic influences, made up from cascades of electronic sounds drowning in reverberations, ritualistic pulses and strokes, all kinds of voice and instrumental / orchestral surroundings.. - CD version comes with two art cards and bonus track
|
2022 |
€16.00 |
|
| MZ.412 |
Svartmyrkr |
LP |
first full length release in 13 years by the Scandinavian Cold Meat Industry - act, once known as MASCHINENZIMMER 412, inspired by nordic mythology (Helheim), inventors of what they call "black industrial" (merging influences of black metal, martial industrial and ritual ambient).. "From blackened ritual incantations, to bleak yet beautiful dark ambient arrangements, to harsh bombastic orchestrations, this album exceeds all expectations." ; gatefold sleeve and download card
|
2019 |
€22.00 |
|
| |
Svartmyrkr |
CD |
first full length release in 13 years by the Scandinavian Cold Meat Industry - act, once known as MASCHINENZIMMER 412, inspired by nordic mythology (Helheim), inventors of what they call "black industrial" (merging influences of black metal, martial industrial and ritual ambient).. "From blackened ritual incantations, to bleak yet beautiful dark ambient arrangements, to harsh bombastic orchestrations, this album exceeds all expectations." ; CD version 6 panel digipak
|
2019 |
€13.00 |
|
| NADJA |
Autopergamene |
CD |
recommended Brasilian release back in stock! "from blissful, paced and almost orchestral hymns to lush acoustic guitars and super distorted, fuzzed out rumbling sludge riffages. Breathtaking." lim. 800 w. extremely nice "Rorschach-test" cover (6 panel digisleeve) & 6 inlay cards
|
2010 |
€14.00 |
|
| NADJA & VAMPILLIA |
The perfect World |
CD |
collaboration by NADJA with this 'brutal orchestra' from Japan (three vocalists, two guitars and violins, etc.) feat. ex BOREDOMS member; a hybrid of doom and neo-classical music => new mixes from the limited / deleted Japanese tour-edition CD from last year ("Primitive World"), plus some extra tracks
|
2013 |
€13.00 |
|
| |
The perfect World |
LP |
collaboration by NADJA with this 'brutal orchestra' from Japan (three vocalists, two guitars and violins, etc.) feat. ex BOREDOMS member; a hybrid of doom and neo-classical music; the lim. vinyl version has new mixes from the limited / deleted Japanese tour-edition CD plus one extra track!
|
2013 |
€22.50 |
|
| NEGATIVLAND |
Escape from Noise |
CD |
LP-version is sold out completely, so we stock the CD version now! Probably the most well known album (1987) from the cultural terrorists, feat. their hits "Michael Jackson", "The Playboy Channel" and "Christianity is stupid", and lots of guest musicians like JELLO BIAFRA, DAS (BIG CITY ORCHESTRA), FRED FRITH, JERRY GARCIA (GRATEFUL DEAD), ALEXANDER HACKE (EINSTÜRZENDE NEUBAUTEN), THE RESIDENTS, etc..
|
1999 |
€13.00 |
|
| NEW BLOCKADERS (THE) |
VIVA NEGATIVA Vol. 2 |
4 LP - Box |
Full-Colour box w. 4 LPs containing TNB remix-material from C. RENOU, MNORTHAM, AUBE, RLW, VIOLENT ONSEN GEISHA, AMK, DAMION ROMERO, DAS SYNTHETISCHE MISCHGEWEBE, SPIRACLE, MERZBOW, WOLF EYES, INCAPACITANS,JIM O'ROURKE, DAVE PHILIPPS, BROKEN PENIS ORCHESTRA, LASSE MARHAUG, G. TONIUTTI, etc.etc. second part of this monstrous compilation project !! lim. 500 - only 250 for free distribution |
2006 |
€55.00 |
|
| NIBLOCK, PHILL |
Touch Three |
3 x CD |
Great, monumental work by the drone-minimalist from New York, 9 long pieces spread on 3 CDs based on instrumental sounds performed by different musicians, NIBLOCK formed 24-32 track pieces out of this, with no further electronic processing: Reine Klänge, Wellen, Frequenzen, Fliessen, Obertöne - Statik die sich bewegt, wie sie einnehmender kaum sein könnte-mal sehr nah, dicht und konkret, mal orchestral vielschichtig und polyphon....benutzte Instrumente: Cello, Akustikgitarre, Saxophon, Trompete, Viola...
|
2006 |
€22.50 |
|
| |
Brazil 84 |
DVD |
"Brazil" is a 16mm film (77 min) shot by NIBLOCK in 1984 for his 'Movement of People Working' series, here combined with two beautiful, multi-layered orchestral drone pieces, "Three Orchids" (for three orchestras) and "Two by Tom" (for two orchestras) with up to 39 players / musicians (!), that slowly change and evolve, building a strong contrast to the images... comes with booklet and Dolby Surround Option (DTS 5.1)
|
2014 |
€24.00 |
|
| NIMH |
Iron and Ice |
CD |
NIMH from Italy gets more and more attention, and here's a new work which shows a matured version of his evocative ethno ambience, a nice travel into exotic moods with lofts ot Eastern sounding handplayed tribalistic percussion, reverb guitars, flutes, etc.. in a fully immersive, atmospheric, sometimes almost orchestral mood... for fans of O YUJI CONJUGATE, RAPOON, VASILISK, ASIA NOVA /VOICE OF EYE a must !! - ed. of 200 copies digipack
|
2022 |
€13.00 |
|
| NOISE-MAKER'S FIFES |
Zona Incerta |
10inch |
third part in the SUBSTANTIA INNOMINATA series. ed. of 500 on two different colour-vinyls (half of the edition clear, the other half green-blue!), artwork by MARS WELLINK (VANCE ORCHESTRA) !! |
2006 |
€10.00 |
|
| NOISEGATE |
Nr. 08 |
mag |
60 pages A4-format, great theoretical articles on sound & noise, artists & reviews: "Analog is the new digital", Tinnitus, SCRATCH ORCHESTRA - history, on LUC FERRARI, Sound and the Cinema, spot on DRONE RECORDS, mother womb-acoustics, etc.. great issue, not to be missed !!! |
2000 |
€5.50 |
|
| |
Nr. 09 |
mag |
60 pages A4-format, great theoretical articles on sound & noise, artists & reviews: Low Classical Usic, Sound Sculpture & Electronic Music, Obscene Telephone Calls, Culture of Silence, SCRATCH ORCHESTRA - cont., Auditory Hallucinations, Stockhausen and Formel Komposition, etc.. |
2002 |
€5.50 |
|
| NORDVARGR BJÖRK, HENRIK / MARGAUX RENAUDIN |
Anima Nostra |
CD |
collaboration by the MZ.412 & NORDVARGR mastermind with MARGAUX RENAUDIN: ritualistic percussion, mighty dark drones, shamanistic vocalizations and invocations, orchestral / sampled sounds = a powerful doomy journey unfolds on 8 tracks, inspired by alchemical and mythological ideas and principles; comes with stunning (metallic print) 6 panel cover + 8 page booklet
|
2016 |
€13.00 |
|
| NURSE WITH WOUND |
The Sylvie and Babs High-Thigh Companion |
pic-LP |
limited re-issue of this classic NWW album from 1985 (originally entitled "The S & B Hi-Fi Companion") feat. the "MURRAY FONTANA ORCHESTRA" with DAVID JACKMAN, E. KA-SPEL, JOHN BALANCE, ROBERT HAIGH, WILLIAM BENNETT....- comes with new artwork from Babs Santini! - "Sylvie and Babs is one of the most memorable, playful, and fascinating albums in the NWW oeuvre." [Antony D'Amico] -
|
2021 |
€33.00 |
|
| |
The Sylvie And Babs Hi-Fi Companion (expanded re-issue) |
do-CD |
re-press of the expanded re-issue of this classic NWW album from 1985 (originally LP on L.A.Y.L.A.H.) feat. the "MURRAY FONTANA ORCHESTRA" with DAVID JACKMAN, E. KA-SPEL, JOHN BALANCE, ROBERT HAIGH, WILLIAM BENNETT, etc. - re-mastered by DENIS BLACKHAM & with new 12 page booklet and bonus CD with outtakes, unreleased material and remixes from IRR.APP(ext.) and ANDREW LILES; 6 panel digipak matt laminated
|
2023 |
€20.00 |
|
| OESTERGAARDS |
Rötterna |
MC |
debut release for this Swedish artist, a C-40 with dark apocalyptic visions, cinematic and dangerous, orchestral and droning intensely.. C-40 with six tracks, prof. cassette production (full colour cover, etc.), download code
|
2018 |
€7.00 |
|
| OLIVEROS / MITCHELL / TILBURY / SMITH |
Nessuno |
CD |
PAULINE OLIVEROS died on 24.Nov.2016 at the age of 84 - she was not only known as a pioneer of electronic music and contemplative accordeon drone player, but also improvised in a more free and challenging way with other players as documented here (recording from the 'AngelicA' festival May 2011): JOHN TILBURY (AMM, SCRATCH ORCHESTRA): piano, WADADA LEO SMITH: trumpet, ROSCOE MITCHELL: saxophones, flute, PAULINE OLIVEROS: V-Accordeon; 3 parts, 76 min.,
|
2016 |
€14.00 |
|
| OLIVEROS, PAULINE |
The Wanderer |
CD |
re-release of OLIVEROS second solo-LP from 1984 (Lovely Music) feat. THE SPRINGFIELD ACCORDION ORCHESTRA on the title track (with 20 accordions, two bass accordions, + five percussionists!) and one her most famous piece 'Horse sings from Cloud' on Side B; now re-pressed !
|
2014 |
€15.50 |
|
| |
Four Meditations / Sound Geometries |
CD |
two of the more complex and experimental orchestra works by PAULINE OLIVEROS (who sadly died in Nov. 2016), one recorded live at the 'Ars Musica' Festival in Brussels in March 2003, the other a day earlier in a studio: improvised drone-minimalistic pieces that follow special instructions (i.e. the picked-up sounds are processed in geometrical patterns by the 'Expanded Instrument System'), or accompanied by the vocalisations of singer IONE... - CD version now in stock!
|
2016 |
€13.50 |
|
| ORSI, FABIO |
Uncharted Waters |
CD |
first CD for the Italian ambient composer on ZOHARUM, going now very much into 'Berlin-school' 70's electronica directions, with one epic track.. "at the core of this record the layers become voluminous, thick with an organ that sounds as if Orsi has slept on the keys and as he breathes and snores the slight alterations develop in the mix quite organically, as if the body is fully orchestrated into the action of the chord progression and descent." [Toneshift] lim. 300
|
2019 |
€12.00 |
|
| OTZEPENEVSHIYE / VIR' |
За Ножом / For A Knife |
CD |
new band-project from Moscow doing a kind of mind-crushing doom-metal & drone industrial; powerful tracks with drum-beats, bass & guitar-drone-walls, spheric synths & vocals, with long melancholic drone-parts, somewhere between GODFLESH, REUTOFF, MAEROR TRI and HUMAN QUENA ORCHESTRA maybe, very well arranged.. a great combination of rage and yearning! lim. 300
|
2013 |
€12.00 |
|
| OVAL LANGUAGE, THE |
Hibernation |
LP |
in the early 90s THE OVAL LANGUAGE held a multi level performance about the irrational aspects of the "Völkerschlachtdenkmal", the original sound layers for this plus live recordings made at the Academy of Fine Arts Leipzig are now released on this LP, two half hour sides of extreme / orchestral / inudustrialized noise assaults made w. guitars, tapes, bass, percussion, samples.. inner sleeve with extensive documentation of this unique art project |
2017 |
€20.00 |
|
| PEAL GRIM |
same |
CD |
side project of Russian artist DMITRY SHILOV (maybe better known as NEZNAMO) with overwhelming, nicely distorted guitar drones, hyper minimal & full of orchestral overtunes and layered guitar melodies expressing an endless yearning... think of NADJA, 'N', or TROUM... lim. 100
|
2015 |
€12.00 |
|
| PHANTOM SHIP |
Spheres |
CD-R |
Italian emotional ambience and melancholic / orchestral / industrial drone, everything is drowned in heavy effects and stirring noises & slowly waving resonances and feedbacks, but keeps a harmonic basis in the massive ghost-scapes (often based on guitar sounds it seems)....reminded us on MAEROR TRI / early TROUM, VOICE OF EYE or RAISON D'ETRE, highly recommended !
lim. 150, professional duplication & digipack cover
|
2015 |
€12.00 |
|
| PHILLIPS, DAVE |
Selective Memory / Perception |
CD |
"an hour long piece consisting of classical instrumentation and orchestral arrangements using cello, violin and piano, plus recordings of wind, broken urban creatures, intimate situations, insect and amphibian sounds and mutations thereof, transmogrified balloons, unconscious voices and more. " - the soundscaping / composition side of D.P., with great result ! 59+ min. , lim. 300
|
2016 |
€10.00 |
|
| PIMMON |
Secret sleeping birds |
CD |
PIMMON-Werk auf dem portugiesischem SIRR-Label, ambienter, melodischer und orchestraler als gewohnt, aber auch mit weirden Collagen/ Loop-Stücken, den Markenzeichen-digital-Effekten und und und...wie immer kaum kategorisierbare, abwechslungsreiche, überraschende NEUE Experimental-Musik. Aus Australien......
LAST COPY! |
2005 |
€8.00 |
|
| PROPERGOL |
Paradise Land |
CD |
after a long break a new album for the French industrial project, leaving the apocyalyptic harsh noise behind to sculpture a mixture of orchestral / monumental drone ambience and experimental / industrial airplay using vocal samples, with a rhythmic climax.. amazing..10 tracks, 70 min. playtime, oversized cardboard cover with 3 large postcards
|
2012 |
€14.50 |
|
| PROTAGONIST |
Songs of Experience |
CD |
re-issue of the second album from 2005 (Cold Meat Industry) by the Swedish orchestral / martial / neo-classic industrial act, contains THREE bonus tracks (from the rare "Interim" EP); feat.JONATHAN GRIEVE (CONTRASTATE) and TOMAS PETTERSON (ORDO ROSARIUS EQUILIBRIO)... back in stock special priced now
|
2012 |
€6.00 |
|
| PÄRT, ARVO |
Tabula Rasa |
CD |
contains: "Tabula Rasa" (1977), "Symphony No.1" (1964), "Collage on the Thema B-A-C-H" (1964), "Pro et Contra" (1966), with booklet and liner-notes (english). Recorded by Congress Orchestra, St. Petersburg, 1995.
|
1999 |
€10.00 |
|
|
Berliner Messe |
CD |
contains: "Berliner Messe" (1992), "De Profundis" (1980), "Magnificat" (1989); recorded at Grace Church on the Hill, Toronto, Canada, May 2003, by the ELORA FESTIVAL SINGERS AND ORCHESTRA; comes with 12 p booklet
|
2004 |
€13.00 |
|
|
Fratres |
CD |
9 pieces performed by the Hungarian State Opera Orchestra, December 1995 incl. the genius "Cantus in memory of Benjamin Britten"
|
1997 |
€10.00 |
|
| |
Tabula Rasa |
do-LP |
rare vinyl-version presenting some of the best works of the famous Estnian "post-modernist" composer: TABULA RASA (1977), SYMPHONY No.1 (1964), COLLAGE ON THE THEME B-A-C-H (1964), PRO ET CONTRA (1966); devotional, dark, harmonic orchestral music; recordings made in St. Petersburg 1995; comes in gatefold-cover
|
2012 |
€19.50 |
|
| QUELLET, ISRAEL |
Sounds from there |
CD |
already the 4th album for the Swiss composer (* 1972) on Sub Rosa - a complex and dynamic work in 5 parts for "symphonic bass drum, symphonic tympanies, organ, tibetan horn, homemade horn, triangle, tubular bells, shocks inside the church, anvil metal tank and church bells"; these acoustic instrumental sounds are arranged in a very structured and often rhythmic way, with heavy orchestral drones and almost ritualistic / martial power...
|
2015 |
€13.00 |
|
| RAPOON |
The Fires of the Borderlands |
do-CD |
one of the atmospheric masterpieces in the long RAPOON-discography, endless orchestral washes & waves of droning clouds (no beats ), at times magically haunting... fully re-mastered, this re-issue comes with a bonus disc of a live recording for the famous KFJC radio in Calfornia from July 1996 !!
|
2014 |
€16.00 |
|
| |
:Cinema Telephonique: |
LP |
this new studio album (7 tracks) was especially recorded for vinyl and functions as "an audio description of an imagined film", using as basis quasi-rhythmic staccato sound files that were created randomnly when ROBIN STOREY worked with them; enriched with electronics, orchestral and vocal samples of all kinds and drumbox sounds, at times heavily treated, a full sphere of hypnotism is opened.. - lim. 300 copies on navy blue vinyl, matt printed covers
|
2021 |
€20.00 |
|
| RICHTER, MAX |
La Vie sauvage des Animaux domestique |
CD |
original soundtrack to a film by DOMINIQUE GARING from 2009, recorded with the Dresden Symphonic Orchestra
|
2010 |
€14.50 |
|
| ROSENFELD, MARINA |
Teenage Lontano |
LP |
two sound-art / performance works by the US American composer, feat. choral material from teenagers: "Teenage Lontano" is based on a classic orchestral LIGETI's piece from 1960 using dissonant polychords and spheric electronics, "Roygbiv&b" fragments and incantations of songs that swell and dissipate... really special stuff, recorded in New York (Park Avenue Amory) and London (South London Gallery)
|
2021 |
€26.00 |
|
| RUA, VITOR & THE METAPHYSICAL ANGELS |
When Better isn't quite Good enough |
do-CD |
VITOR RUA is a Portugesian guitarist and multi-instrumentalist, member of the avantgarde free jazz duo TELECTU, etc.. - he created a full solo album based on his guitar improvisations, on the second CD the same pieces are orchestrated with drums, bass, piano, guitar, clarinet and trumpet by the METAPHYSICAL ANGELS..
|
2018 |
€17.50 |
|
| SABI / KIYO |
71:36 |
CD |
subtle orchestral ambience and experimental glitchy IDM by these two artists from the Tokyo electronic scene... on the new sister-label of the re-established MILLE PLATEAUX
|
2011 |
€13.00 |
|
| SCHOU, JANNICK |
Eldey |
mCD-R |
newcomer from Denmark who presents one long (20 min.) piece with overwhelming orchestral effect, elevating washes of waving and multi-layered drone rays..
|
2013 |
€5.00 |
|
| SERRIES, DIRK |
Microphonics XXI-XXV |
do-10inch & CD |
subtitled: "mounting among the waves, there's a light in vein, the burden of hope across thousands of rivers" = 4 new long tracks of multi-layered guitar ambience & drones, very refined, orchestral & beautiful; lim. vinyl version w. gatefold-cover & CD of the same album; numbered edition (300 on black vinyl)
|
2013 |
€27.50 |
|
| SEWER GODDESS |
Disciples of Shit |
CD |
dark & sludgy Industrial-Noise-"Rock" from Boston, very low-fi & apocalyptic & massive using distorted bass, guitars, female voice / screams, electronics & percussion... think of WOLF EYES, HUMAN QUENA ORCHESTRA, even old SWANS.... great, authentic death-noise! Second full-length CD !
|
2011 |
€12.50 |
|
| SILVESTROV, VALENTIN |
Dedication / Post Scriptum |
CD |
contains: "Dedication - Symphony for Violin and Orchestra"; "Post Scriptum - Sonata for Violin and Orchestra". Booklet with liner notes in english, french, german
|
2007 |
€13.00 |
|
| SISTER IODINE |
Blame |
LP |
this mighty experimental trio from France (somewhere between bruitiste impro, heavy industrial & low fi noise rock) existing already since early 90's is finally back with 10 tracks of crushing industrial rock noise und roaring low fi drones, pressed into overwhelming powerful forms, really violent & insane.. think of WOLF EYES, BÄSTARD, HUMAN QUENA ORCHESTRA, etc..
|
2013 |
€17.50 |
|
| SITAAR-TAH! |
Semimimimimin |
CD |
latest release by this Japanese "SITAR-orchestra" with around 30 players (!), led by YOSHIDADAIKITI, who studied Sitar-playing with USTAD SHUJAAT KHAN => indian raga-structures with multi-layered percussion & sitar-sounds collide with raw throat singing with great effect! Lim. 700, silk-screen cover designed by STEPHEN O'MALLEY, last copies now !
|
2008 |
€13.00 |
|
| SLAVES NO MORE |
The Unravelling |
do-CD |
first release of the new project from the former SUTCLIFFE JÜGEND duo (the project of KEVIN TOMKINS and PAUL TAYLOR) => really a shift in sound - much more "ambient" and dark melancholic, with real singing / vocals and almost orchestral elements, slowly adding more emphasis, drama and suffering... lim. 300 copies, jewel-case edition, 8 page booklet, on Singapores 4ib label
|
2020 |
€19.50 |
|
| SLOWDIVE |
Everything is Alive (Crystal Clear vinyl) |
LP |
the Shoegaze legends are back, 5th album, the inventors of orchestral, deep melancholic but always beautiful *drone* Pop.. - * Slowdive’s music; everything is alive is heavy with experience, but each note is poised, wise, and necessarily pitched to hope. Its unique alchemy subtly embodies both sadness and gratitude, groundedness and uplift..* - lim. CLEAR vinyl ed. |
2023 |
€26.50 |
|
| |
Everything is Alive |
MC |
the Shoegaze legends are back, 5th album, the inventors of orchestral, deep melancholic but always beautiful *drone* Pop.. - * Slowdive’s music; everything is alive is heavy with experience, but each note is poised, wise, and necessarily pitched to hope. Its unique alchemy subtly embodies both sadness and gratitude, groundedness and uplift..* - limited tape ed.
|
2023 |
€11.50 |
|
| SOPHIA |
Unclean |
CD |
the return of PETER BJÄRGÖ's (ARCANA) solo-project after 13 years! => this is cold, percussive martial / orchestral industrial ambience, powerful and threatening, with extremely deep spoken or whispered vocals, in a great way pestering and aggressive, with shorter experimental micronoise interludes by PER AHLUND (DISKREPANT) = very cinematic and archaic, bone-crushing stuff creating lots of tension
|
2016 |
€13.00 |
|
| STAHLWERK 9 |
Sebastian im Traum |
7inch |
last copies of this 7", apocalyptic & orchestral "fin de siecle" ambient at its best, inspired by / reciting two poems of GEORG TRAKL, musically not so far away from INADE or LES JOYAUX DE LA PRINCESSE, lim. 180 copies only
|
2006 |
€9.50 |
|
| STANISLAWSKI, KRZYSZTOF |
End of all Things |
CD |
first part of IYHHH series dedicated to newcomers of the Polish (post)-industrial scene;
the debut album of K. STANISLAWSKI presents orchestral cinematic electro ambience
|
2010 |
€12.00 |
|
| SUM OF R |
Orga |
CD |
the Swiss project by RETO MÄDER (URAL UMBO, RM 74) with an impressive album, merging dark instrumental ambience with melodramatic song elements, reminding us on BEYOND SENSORY EXPERIENCE or HUMAN GREED: "The album is a hybrid of ritual drums and eerie percussions, atmospheric analog electronics and epic drones forming a drifting orchestral wall of sound. Darkness, light and its reflections is what emerges from this mysterious aural mist."
|
2017 |
€13.00 |
|
| SUNN O))) & ULVER |
Terrestrials |
CD |
studio collaboration of SUNN O))) with Norwegians ULVER => three stunning tracks of almost elegant & melodramatic drone with additional jazzy and orchestral elements (trumpet, violin, vibraphone, piano & synths), really captivating & surprising, recorded in Oslo 2008; an "unlikely rendezvous of Miles Davis’ electric jazz surrealism and Sunn O)))’s fathom-deep drones" [Pitchfork]
|
2014 |
€13.00 |
|
| TAUMEL |
In Pieces - Volume One |
10inch |
a most unusual release in our 10" series by this newly formed German duo (one member is a main actor in the cryptic Netflix series 'DARK', the other a prof. percussionist playing in diverse orchestras), moving beyond / between / inside various genres (improvisation & composition, collage and jazz noir ambience), well-shaped from various sessions with Berlin's ENSEMBLE ADAPTER => a kind of "acoustic theatre" or "surrealistc soundpoem" that will leave you simply astonished... lim. 300 / black vinly / OUT NOW !!!
|
2021 |
€16.00 |
|
| TERRA TERATOS |
Meditations about Secret of my dark Destiny. Part 2 |
CD |
orchestral / symphonic dark ambience with a martial edge from this new (female) Russian project, comparable to early COLD MEAT-acts
|
2010 |
€12.00 |
|
| THISQUIETARMY |
Vessels |
LP |
lim. 300 clear vinyl - more song-oriented & orchestral material from the Canadian droner, forming a new vision of epic drone-pop using also synths, rhythms & electronics
|
2012 |
€20.00 |
|
| URBAN SAX |
Urban Sax 1 |
LP + DVD |
re-issue of the legendary first LP (from 1977) by GILBERT ARTMANs Saxophone & Multimedia orchestra: two side-long tracks of a droning saxophon-orchestra, with minimal structures and harmonies appearing in the mix.. just great ! Comes with a full bonus DVD with unreleased audio & video material, and 24 page colour booklet 12 x 12cm !!!
|
2016 |
€24.00 |
|
|
Urban Sax 2 |
LP + DVD |
re-issue of the second LP (from 1978) by GILBERT ARTMANs Saxophone & Multimedia orchestra, a continuation of the debut-LP...."It features parts 2 and 3 of the pieces contained on 'Urban Sax 1', and shows similarities to the music of La Monte Young, Phil Niblock, Glenn Branca, Steve Reich and Terry Riley." comes again with a full bonus DVD feat. unreleased audio & video material, plus 24 page full colour booklet
|
2016 |
€24.00 |
|
|
Fraction sur le Temps |
LP + DVD |
re-issue of the third LP (from 1985) by GILBERT ARTMANs Saxophone & Multimedia orchestra, on which they sound especially psychedelic and ethereal, including also gongs, electronics, a large choir, percussion & guitar into the orchestra, reviewers mentioned LIGETI and MAGMA at the same time! Comes again with a full bonus DVD with unreleased audio & video material, + 24 page full colour booklet, lim. 500
|
2016 |
€25.50 |
|
| |
Spiral |
LP + DVD |
first ever vinyl re-issue of the fourth full-length album (CD from 1991, now a collector's item) by GILBERT ARTMANs Saxophone & Multimedia orchestra; on SPIRAL the choir has grown to 22 singers, 3 vibraphones are used, the sound is majestic and cinematic.... comes again with a full bonus DVD with unreleased audio & video material, plus 24 page 12" x 12" full colour booklet; re-mastered, with original cover replica
|
2016 |
€25.50 |
|
| V.A. (VARIOUS ARTISTS) (COMPILATIONS) |
Si'ka-del-ik |
CD |
CONTAGIOUS ORGASM, MIXED BAND PHILANTROPIST & BROKEN PENIS ORCHESTRA, GRILLHAUS, C.RENOU, JOHN WIESE, NOGGIN, ROWENTA / KHAN, HATERS |
2004 |
€10.00 |
|
|
The Walls are whispering Vol. 2 |
CD |
silkscreen 7" cover / lim. 525 with REUTOFF, ERIC LA CASA, IAN ROBERT MCKENZIE, AH CAMA-SOTZ, [LAW RAW] COLLECTIVE, VANCE ORCHESTRA, etc. |
2004 |
€12.00 |
|
|
Roulette Russe pour un peu de Caviar |
CD |
russian compilation for the "Bruit de la neige"-Festival April 2007: NOISES OF RUSSIA, KRYPTOGEN RUNDFUNK, HUM, INSTANT MOVIE COMBINATIONS, CISFINITUM, EXIT IN GREY, BARDOSENETICCUBE, MOSCOW LAPTOP ORCHESTRA, ALEXEY BORISOV, INTERIOR DISPOSITION, CD-R, KOLPAKOPF...
|
2007 |
€13.00 |
|
|
Table for Six: All Quiet? # 3 |
CD |
third volume of this compilation series, 6 long tracks by NEUESTRASSE, STORMHAT, ANEMONE TUBE, BRUNO DE ANGELIS, FRANS DE WAARD, and (AD)VANCE(D) (ex VANCE ORCHESTRA); lim. 300 7" silkscreen-cover
|
2008 |
€13.00 |
|
|
They've got the whole World in their Hands |
do-CD |
great Networking compilation compiled by Robert Schalinski (COLUMN ONE), with: VANCE ORCHESTRA, ILLUSION OF SAFETY, MUSLIMGAUZE, MLEHST, BOURBONESE QUALK, MASONNA, S-CORE, and activists from the Berlin experimental scene at that time; many groups have 2 tracks, all exclusive stuff ! BACK IN STOCK last copies!
|
1999 |
€15.00 |
|
|
Risveglio Di Una Citta (In Memory of Luigi Russolo) |
6 x CD-R / book |
another RUSSOLO memorial release but this one is really special: a handmade full-colour A4"book" with many photos, paintings, two essays (one by JEAN-MARC VIVENZA) on the subject, and 6 CDRs with new material by CRIA CUERVOS, LIEUTENANT CARAMEL, BIG CITY ORCHESTRA, HEAD58m, GOVERMENT ALPHA, HYWARE. Numbered. ed. 160 copies
|
2008 |
€33.00 |
|
|
Ya Ji |
CD |
Chinese cross-cultural/remix compilation on a sub-label of SUBJAM with LOOP ORCHESTRA, RELAPXYCH.O / OBJEKT4 / ANDERS PETERSON, BAI TIAN, SHIZ; nice envelope sleeve cover with 4-part fold out insert, all info written in Chinese and English
|
2008 |
€12.00 |
|
|
FREQ_OUT 2 |
CD |
recording by the "FREQ-OUT ORCHESTRA" (JANA WINDEREN, BRANDON LABELLE, JG THIRLWELL, KENT TANKRED, JACOB KIRKEGAARD, BJ NILSEN, etc.. ) made during Ultima Oslo Music Festival 2004, curated by CM VON HAUSSWOLFF
|
2005 |
€13.00 |
|
|
Swedish Contemporary Music |
LP |
orchestral & chamber music by these Swedish composers: MATS PERSSON, JAN SANDSTRÖM, LARS SANDBERG, TOMMY ZWEDBERG; last NEW copies in stock of this 30 year old record!!
|
1983 |
€16.50 |
|
|
Ambient Intimacy III |
CD-R |
third part in this nice compilation series, feat. VANCE ORCHESTRA, VIDNA OBMANA, ANEMONE TUBE, KLANGWART, INFANT CYCLE, etc.. lim. 200, ONE 2nd hand copy in stock, excellent condition !
|
1999 |
€12.00 |
|
| |
Music of Indonesia |
LP |
"...the influences on Indonesian musical traditions are deep and wide. 'Music Of Indonesia', recorded in 1950, is one of the earliest western documents of this rich tradition. Featuring sounds ranging from beautiful Balinese gamelan orchestras and operas to the raw power of katjapi (a variety of boat-lute), and more, this is one of the best glimpses into the Indonesian musical traditions the world will ever see." [orig. released by Folkways in 1950]
|
2018 |
€18.50 |
|
| VAINIO, MIKA / PAN SONIC |
25082016235210179 [Live at Berlin Atonal] |
do-LP |
a live recordings of VAINIO's performance at the Berlin Atonal festival in 2016, moving through various passages... from slow droning pulses to fully distorted and feedbacking minimal industrial with incredible sawblade synth sounds.. - "A long-form performance, of ebbing passages, it grows in quasi-orchestral style as mountainous sounds vie for daylight in a thick sound horizon." comes with (full colour) printed inner sleeves feat. photographs of VAINIO's archives
|
2020 |
€25.50 |
|
| VERGARA, JESUS A. |
R Derive Aplysia |
MC |
another newcomer from the wide world of DRONES, J.A.VERGARA collected found sounds from TV shows and transformed them into something orchestral and distorted, full of resonances, with only short glimpes of the original source material.. (think of: TZESNE, GIULIO ALDINUCCI..) - the long title track on Side A has a remix on Side B by TEGH from Iran. Excellent Tape, amorph and mysterious! C-50, lim. 50 copies, cardboard holder, blue shell tape with white print, looks great !!
|
2022 |
€11.00 |
|
| VIDNA OBMANA |
The Face that must die |
CD |
VIDNA OBMANA started as a tape-project in the mid 80's with (for that time) typical low fi industrial noise, quickly moving into more atmospheric and ritualistic areas, before the name became a trademark for highly beautiful and melancholic, repetitive ambience... "The Face that must die" (MC from 1988) is a very welcome missing link between the poles with its orchestral, loopy ambient industrial tunes.. lim. 300, 4 bonus tracks from rare compilations
|
2017 |
€13.00 |
|
| VOICE OF EYE |
Anthology 2 (1992-1996) |
do-CD |
rare & unreleased tracks from the U.S. dark ethno/drone cult-project, all re-mastered by VOICE OF EYE themselves; you can find here: the famous "Sprocket" 7" for Drone Records (1994), the lost mCD for ND that was never released (1995), rare compilation tracks (some of them came never out), plus a complete, fantastic rehearsal for a live show (1996) and an extract from Tryst 8 (split MC with BIG CITY ORCHESTRA, 1995); comes in a nice 6-panel digipack & full colour artwork by Bonnie McNairn.
|
2011 |
€10.00 |
|
| WETTERLÄUTEN (WETTERLAEUTEN) |
same |
LP |
excellent debut LP for this South German trio, creating evocative and visionary dronescapes with great suction and width, using electro-Cinese Guqin zither, guitars, electronics, synths, organs, gongs... "from dreamy sunset drones to heavy pre-storm electricity to apocalyptic orchestral deluge"; lim. 272 copies, comes with lovely full colour fold out sleeve and 6 full colour postcards showing landscapes, geological forms, plants and animals in a surrealistic way
|
2014 |
€7.50 |
|
| WICKED MESSENGER |
Dreamer / Redeemer |
CD |
new album by the well established "massive & mysterious abysmal ambient" project, multi-layered orchestral drone-scapes with a touch of ethnic & musique concrete influences... excellent, absorbing, haunting stuff !!
|
2012 |
€11.00 |
|
| WILTZIE, ADAM BRYANBAUM |
Salero (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) |
LP |
original soundtrack by the STARS OF THE LID-half to the film by MIKE PLUNKETT about the "Saleros" in the Bolivian salt desert 'Salar de Uyuni'; recorded with the help of the Budapest Art Orchestra, this is the adequate ambient music for the endless widths and surrealistic places of the desert; lim. 500 clear vinyl |
2016 |
€25.00 |
|
| WYRM |
Live on KSER.org The Tunnel 90.7 MFR 12.12.2008 |
CD-R |
WYRM is the project of ALLAN ZANE & LIZ LANG; flickering & pulsating dronescapes, somewhere between ZOVIET FRANCE and BIG CITY ORCHESTRA, complex & breathing drone-structures, lim./numb. 111 copies in amazing handmade art-package (silver-foam stuff)
|
2009 |
€10.00 |
|
| ZEITKRATZER |
Songs |
LP |
ZEITKRATZER playing real "songs" with vocals (by MARC WEISER aka RECHENZENTRUM) in their typical way with incredible result; heavily orchestrated, excessive.. "what a beautiful goodbye to Pop"
|
2012 |
€16.00 |
|
| ZURRIA, MANUEL |
Again & Again |
do-CD |
the Italian minimalist and flute-player with a massive (2 1/2 playtime) release, re-interpretating works of PHILIP GLASS, STEVE REICH, JAMES TENNEY, TERRY RILEY, ADRIAN DEMOC, HOWARD SKEMPTON (SCRATCH ORCHESTRA!) and many others, challenging stuff with a great variety and surprises.. - "Music that will make you fly!!" - excellent packaging (oversized, glossy double digipak & extensive inlay)
|
2020 |
€16.00 |
|
| [AD]VANCE[D] |
poem#red128dot |
CD-R |
after the split of VANCE ORCHESTRA this is the first solo release of MARS WELLINK with his new project (AD)VANCE(D) ! Dedicated to Geert Feytons (NOISE-MAKER'S-FIFES). Oversized cardboard-map-cover !!!
|
2007 |
€10.00 |
|
|
Flushing the Veins |
DVD |
the second release for the "post"-VANCE ORCHESTRA project is a DVD with four films & new music, combining colourful vivid & floating shapes with field recordings and electronic sounds & drones... lovely stuff, contemplative & little bit bizarrre as always...
Comes in nicely designed handmade DVD-box, with colour-booklet, lim. 300
|
2007 |
€15.00 |
|
| |
24 |
10inch |
the Dutch master of loopy trance-inducing collages (ex VANCE ORCHESTRA) has collected field recordings from a full day of his existence and processed them to form an atmospheric travelogue. The aural world seen from a subsconscious perspective. Great cover-collage by ROBERT SCHALINSKI (COLUMN ONE) and TOM PLATT. 500 copies pressed in "flamed solid white & black" colour. OUT NOW |
2011 |
€12.00 |
|
| 21 GRAMMS |
Water-Membrane |
CD |
"With many qualitative independent CDr, Tape, eps productions, 21 GRAMMS garnered so much praise from so many quarters in the past years.
“Water – Membrane” is the second Poland’s 21 GRAMMS pro-CD album. Seven extended pieces of sublime orchestral dark natural ambient, generated a truly wonderful album.
“Water – membrane” sounds like a ”last hope” inner movement into the most unknown decadences of the soul. Discouraging, shining, naturally isolationist." [label info]
www.greytone.eu
www.greytone.eu
|
2012 |
€12.00 |
|
| 23 SKIDOO |
The Culling is Coming |
CD |
"First released on vinyl only by Crepuscule's Operation Twilight arm in February 1983, The Culling is Coming flagged two radical new directions for Skidoo following their funky indie chart-topper Seven Songs the previous year. Drawn from two live performances, Culling combined a collaboration with the Balinese Gamelan Orchestra recorded at Dartington College of Music in October 1982, together with extracts from a more extreme, improvised set at the first Womad festival in July 1982, using scrap metal and tape loops. Both sides of the album were exactly 23 minutes long, and side one signed off (or rather didn't) with a stylus-hostile lock groove. Long deleted, this, challenging misunderstood album was light years ahead of its time. Now digitally remastered for release on The Boutique Label, it has been expanded by the inclusion of a complete (and equally extreme) 26 minute loop performance at Tielt, Belgium, on 8 October 1982. Recorded as part of Crepuscule's short Move Back/Bite Harder tour with Cabaret Voltaire, Tuxedomoon and Pale Fountains, this material has never before been released. The extended CD runs for 76 minutes. The booklet features the original artwork and contextual notes by Skidoo's Alex Turnbull. Full tracklist: G-2 Contemplation, S-Matrix, G-3 Insemination, Shrine, Mahakala, Banishing, Invocation, Flashing, Stifling, Healing (For the Strong), Move Back/Bite Harder." [label info]
www.ltmrecordings.com
www.ltmrecordings.com
|
2003 |
€15.00 |
|
| AEMAE |
The Helical Word |
CD |
Neues "experimental drone"-Projekt aus den USA mit hyper-abstrakten Klängen, metallisch-feedbackend & von halluzinogenem Flair..
"....Throughout the music is quite dark, but not atmospherical in the traditional dark ambient sense. As such his own description is quite appropriate. Not too noisy, not too academic or even too experimental, but Aemae treats a fine line between well defined genres and creates something that is indeed his own and that is these days quite an achievement." [FdW / Vital Weekly]
"...a gorgeous and exquisitely crafted abstract free noise drone record. dark and deliriously dense, a perfect amalgamation of the experimental dronework of the hafler trio, the sweeping skreescapes of sunrooof! and vibracathedral orchestra and the abstract minimalism of mirror or jonathan coleclough. as well, this has plenty of distinctly unique sonic elements. heavily reverbed chimes and bells are smeared into a twinkling fog, slowly thickening into a dense slab of electrical impulses, woven together so tightly it resembles a buzzing ball of hornets, a throbbing thrumming drone. strange steel drum like electronic pulses, an alien gamelan, pickes out a tranquil melody beneath swooping and blooping spaciness, sheets of industrial shuffle, scrape and rumble, leaving sparkling trails of dense and complex almost idm skitter in their wake, albeit wrapped in thick gauzy veils of warm reverberant flutter. all stretched into distant, soft focus soundscapes of warbling whir and creaking ambience. quite lovely and sublime!" [Aquarius Records]
"brandon nickell, a 23 year-old navigator of harsh synthetic and electronic seas known as aemae, shows his admirable will to construct new kinds of uneasy architectures. the eight pieces of "the helical word" form a pyrotechnic cycle of cascading incidents, timbral shifts and granular abrasions which move like creatures without a preconceived position in an undetermined system, finally finding a way to transform contraptions and extrapolations into rough elliptical shapes and dehydrated approximations of parallel galaxies. nickell starts everything from "a pure exercise in synthesis"; the mobile force of educated noise and a well planned mix, even in absence of natural sources, make this music live its life in full - no dead spots or dull moments. considering the next-to-nil significance of most of today's electronica, not bad at all." [massimo ricci - touching extremes]
|
2005 |
€13.00 |
|
| AIR CUSHION FINSH |
Gezieferreigen |
CD |
»Blauholz« ist ein Buch von Ditterich von Euler-Donnersperg, gelesen von Lippstueck. Henry Marcuse »Eros y Civilisación«, gelesen von jayrope. Mittschnitt der Radio-Sendung »Biesentales« auf Cashmere-Radio vom 06.01.2018
Musik
Daniel Bjarnason »Over light earth«
Murcof & Philippe Petit »The call of Circé« *
Ju..rgen Ploog »Tapes von unterwegs 1971-1976«
Murcof & Philippe Petit »The call of Circé« *
jayrope [live] »Einerlirre«
Pauline Oliveros & Musiques Nouvelles »Four meditations for orchestra«
Dead Mauriacs »Nouvelles fonctions exotiques« *
Songs of Norway »Inner arms and legs«
Felix »As blue as your eyes lover«
jayrope [live] »Zweierfrei«
Column One »Cherokee«
Felix »What i learned from TV«
Dead Mauriacs »Nouvelles fonctions exotiques« *
Dan Hayurst »Great day atonal soda«
Ellen Fullman & Konrad Sprenger »No home«
Murcof & Philippe Petit »The call of Circé« *
Dimitris Petsetakis »The prophecy«
jayrope [live] »Eisglas«
Musik erscheint hier mit Zustimmung der Künstler, insbesondere Murcof & Philippe Petit »First Chapter« [Aagoo Sec./Rev Lab.]
* Ausschnitt
Lippstueck und jayrope danken Cashmere Radio, Berlin, Robert Schalinski und den Musikern und Autoren.
Coverbilder
Jan Focke
Vorderseite: »Picknick« 2015, Öl auf Leinwand, 120 x 150 cm; Innenseite: »Haus mit Leuten« 2016, Öl auf Leinwand, 140 x 180 cm
www.molokoplusrecords.de/finder.php?folder=Label&content=76
|
2019 |
€13.00 |
|
| AKSAK MABOUL |
Charles F. Bleistift |
7inch |
This limited-edition 7” EP follows the release of Aksak Maboul's acclaimed new double LP 'Figures' (out May 22, 2020), which is the legendary experimental pop band’s first real new album in decades.
These four tracks are reworks, which don’t appear as such on the album. They expand on the imaginative world of the 'Figures' album, with its unique instrumentation, its sound collages and diverse, enigmatic moods.
Tout a une fin (short version)
A tight 3-minute track including a song part (in which Véronique Vincent’s voice performs sinuous variations around the words in the title) and a section featuring electronic, rock and orchestral instrumentation rising to a wild, crescendo finale.
Blaue Bleistift
Unveiling some of the more electronic and experimental aspects of the new LP, with its criss-crossing keyboard lines and sound collages. Kind of a mysterious, ambient cousin of Aksak Maboul’s Saure Gurke?
C'est Charles (edit)
An edited version of a song which ends on the sound of a crowd chanting slogans (“What we want… Is…”)
Silent Silhouettes
This almost-instrumental track might be evoking a kind of electronic tango, or a dream scene in a Fellini movie?
'Tout a une fin' was also released in the shape of a dizzying music video directed by animator/collagist Yoann Stehr (whose recent work includes short films for fashion designer Paul Smith).
Just like the Figures album, this EP was written and produced by Marc Hollander & Véronique Vincent (respectively founder of Aksak Maboul & Crammed Discs, and former vocalist with The Honeymoon Killers). The tracks were performed by the protagonists with contributions by the rest of band’s current line-up of Faustine Hollander, Lucien Fraipont (Robbing Millions), Erik Heestermans, and by guest such as Fred Frith and members of Aquaserge.
From the press on Aksak Maboul’s Figures:
The long-running Belgian avant-garde band explore complicated gender dynamics on their ambitious new double album. (Pitchfork, US)
Hollander’s inventive arrangements and programming make Aksak Maboul’s music so exhilarating and durable. Mischievous and purposefully eclectic… wide-ranging appeal… (The Wire, UK)
A masterful lesson in contemporary pop. Across 22 tracks, Figures jumps from the craziest experimentations to irresistible pop songs, with joyful ease (Les Inrockuptibles, FR)
The focus is on playfulness and the joy of experimenting. And these delights are contagious. Album of the Week (ByteFM, DE)
credits
released September 18, 2020
https://aksakmaboul.bandcamp.com/album/charles-f-bleistift-ep |
2020 |
€10.00 |
|
| ANGELI, PAOLO |
Tibi |
CD/DVD (dualdisc) |
"This disc will play in stereo on a CD player and with film and 5.1 surround sound (or stereo) on a DVD player or computer. The music, as always, is prodigious, sounding like a small band, but played by one person in real time (as the film attests). In this format, you can also see the instrument -- close to a highly rebuilt and extended giant Sardinian guitar -- with many sympathetic and extra strings, motor-driven hurdy gurdy wheels, whirling strings, springs and other appendages, played like a cello, vertically, with bow, fingers, plectra and machines. However Heath Robinson it may appear, it is clearly under Paulo's hands, a highly serious and extraordinarily flexible beast that requires and has given rise to new playing techniques. The programme of compositions here navigates through highly-organized additive rhythms, freer Frith-like pointillism and some seemingly impossible mini-orchestrations. The film, professionally made, follows the performance, occasionally interpolating abstract passages and processed images. A remarkable player with a unique instrument, playing a music entirely his own."
[label info]
www.rermegacorp.com
|
2010 |
€15.00 |
|
| ANTONY & THE JOHNSONS |
The Crying Light |
CD |
Drei Platten die wir auch mit Drone anbieten wurden vom PITCHFORK Magazin (zur Zeit wohl DIE Referenz im Alternativ-Bereich) zu den "besten Platten des Jahres 2009" erkoren: SUNN O)))s "Monoliths & Dimensions", JIM O'ROURKE - "The Visitor", und "The Crying Light".
Zurecht, denn dies ist das Meisterstück des aussergewöhnlichen Sängers mit der fragilen Stimme und den herzzereissenden Arrangements!
"Mit seinem dritten Album "The Crying Light" setzt der Songschreiber, dessen empathisch emotionaler Kopfgesang kein Geschlecht kennt, aber dafür die Tiefe menschlicher Gefühle, einen intimeren Fokus. Im Interview mit der britischen Musikzeitschrift "Wire" spricht Antony von einem "inneren Garten", dessen Mauern er nun überwinden möchte, weil es dahinter ja noch viel mehr zu entdecken gibt - "the landscape beyond my inner landscape". Es ist eine Meditation über das Paradies, das für Antony viel mit der Entfaltung der Natur und ihrem Formenreichtum zu tun hat. 30 Songs hat er in den letzten sieben Jahren für das enorm geschlossen wirkende "The Crying Light" geschrieben - und schließlich trotzdem nur zehn davon verwendet. Ein Prozess der Verfeinerung. Auch bei den Arrangements wurde alles Überflüssige gestrichen. "Dust And Water" klingt deshalb so pur wie schwebender Morgennebel, und hinter dem gesamten Album steht offensichtlich mehr eine suchende Zen-Haltung als ein exaltiertes Pop-Ego. "Her Eyes Are Underneath The Ground", der erste Song des Albums, weckt Erinnerungen an Schubert und das deutsche Kunstlied. Da ist vor allem Antonys Stimme, dazu ein sacht ertastetes Klavier und eine Ahnung von Violinen und Cello im Hintergrund. Erst ganz zum Schluss drängen sich harsche Bässe in den Vordergrund, wie Gewitterwolken an einem heiteren Nachmittag. "Epilepsy Is Dancing" tänzelt hoffnungsvoll und verspielt "One Dove" schält sich ganz langsam aus dem Nichts, wie viele Stücke hier. Später setzten Dissonanzen ein, mehr und mehr Instrumente tauchen auf und verschwinden wieder, bis nur noch seltsame Tierstimmen zu hören sind. "Kiss My Name" schwelgt dagegen in einem orchestralen Klang- und Melodie-Reichtum, der fast schon an Freund Rufus erinnert.
Der Höhepunkt, "Another World", ist ein hellhäutiger Blues und ein banges Abschiedslied auf die Welt: "I need another place, will there be peace? I need another world, this one is nearly gone." Es folgt eine Liste der Dinge, die der Sänger in einer anderen Welt vermissen würde: die Bäume, das Meer, den Schnee, die Bienen und überhaupt alles, was wächst - "I'm gonna miss you all". "Aeon" mit seiner rauen Gitarre ist dagegen fast schon ein Rocksong, aber eben nur fast. Zu "The Crying Light" kann man nicht tanzen, und das Album gehört auch nicht zu den Platten, die einem mit packenden Refrains durchs eigene Leben helfen. Die Schönheit dieses bisher reifsten Antony & The Johnsons-Werks liegt darin, dass es nach der Seele sucht, wo andere nur in den Spiegel blicken. Ein Meisterwerk, eine andere Welt und ein Refugium für alle, die es zu schätzen wissen." [Jürgen Ziemer, Rolling Stone]
"Zeitlos und doch aktuell: das lang ersehnte dritte Album.
"The Crying Light" heißt das lang ersehnte dritte Album von Antony and The Johnsons. Auf "The Crying Light" legt Antony seinen Fokus auf ein neues Thema und gibt uns einen Einblick in seine Beziehung zur Umwelt. Der Album-Opener "Her Eyes Are Underneath The Ground" ist ein liebevolles Zwiegespräch mit Mutter Natur und Ausdruck des Wunsches, dass sie am Ende über ihre Zerstörung siegen wird - "no one can stop you now!" Darauf folgen der schwindelerregende Walzer "Epilepsy Is Dancing" und das herzzerreißende "One Dove", dessen detailreiche Instrumentierung Antonys Stimme - bildlich gesprochen - regelrecht umarmt. Mit "The Crying Light" ist Antony and The Johnsons ein zeitloses Meisterwerk gelungen, das uns die folgenschweren Entwicklungen in der Welt und unsere Rolle darin ins Bewusstsein ruft. Es kann zum Sinnbild dieser turbulenten Zeit werden; eine Momentaufnahme und ein Anstoß für uns alle, Courage zu besitzen und uns sowohl in unserem persönlichen Kosmos als auch in der Welt als Ganzes rücksichtsvoller zu bewegen."
[Indigo]
"ANTONY & THE JOHNSONS' breakthrough second album "I Am a Bird Now" won the UK's prestigious Mercury Prize in 2005. The success that followed introduced many to a pioneering soul singer unafraid to explore themes that traversed darkness and light, life and death, male and female. Antony's inimitable voice sparked the interest of artists ranging from Bjork to Hercules and Love Affair, resulting in a series of critically acclaimed collaborations. "The Crying Light" is the highly anticipated full-length follow-up to "I Am a Bird Now". Here, Antony shifts the thematic focus and explores his relationship with the natural world. The intimacy of the Johnsons' sound is enveloped by avant-classical composer Nico Muhly's symphonic arrangements. The record's centerpiece, "Another World" traces the singer's dispair in the face of a vanishing landscape. Antony and the Johnsons' music bridges the gap between avant-classical music and the blues, and the band's sold out performances have resulted in standing ovations from Carnegie Hall to the Apollo. "The Crying Light" is a soul-stirring new work with its daring compositions and captivating vocal performances. Antony and the Johnsons have created a subtle and timely work that brings a magical and yet changing world to the forefront of our consciousness." [press release]
|
2009 |
€16.00 |
|
| APOLLON |
Nox |
CD-R |
Another (so far, for us) unknown name on C. REIDERS CDR-label is APOLLON, creating distracting loop-ambience with strange samples & ethnic tunes, sometimes really hypnotic... 15 quite different tracks... worth checking out, reminds us on some works of BIG CITY ORCHESTRA.
" 'Nox" is an ever changing tapestry of dark sound vignettes, with gritty and foreboding loops of ethnic percussion and smokey ambience, recalling the works of Zoviet:France and Muslimgauze. Apollon's Martin Lee-Stephenson has been working in the experimental "genre" for many years under different pseudonyms. He has been credited in some way, either as producer and/or artist with over 100 releases to date, including collaborative work with such well-known experimental artists as Muslimgauze and Pigface." [label info]
|
2003 |
€8.00 |
|
| AQUA DORSA |
Cloudlands |
CD |
Debut-Album des neuen Projekts von GIANLUIGI GASPARETTI (aka OÖPHOI) und ENRICO CONIGLIO, einem italienischen Gitarristen und Ambient-Komponisten. CLOUDLANDS tönt sehr friedlich & mit harmonischen Untertönen, mitunter leicht loopig-rhythmisch aber ohne Aufdringlichkeit, erinnert an ruhigere Sachen von RAPOON, etc.. Sieben Stücke von weiträumigen und weltabgewandten Ambient-Scapes...
"...This is ambient music but then with a little bit more, and no doubt Coniglio is the man responsible for that extra bite. Not simply satisfied with 'just' ambient synthesizer textures, there is an addition from the world of microsound to this. Underneath the warm tapestries are woven of synthesizers playing sustained textured sounds, but the icing (pun intended) on the cake comes from the crackles, buzz and hiss that are on top of this. That makes that this music moves out of the usual ambient field, and blends together ambient and microsound, while, because its not entirely generated in the digital realm, its not entirely ambient glitch either. A marriage that works wonderfully well, I'd say. Deep atmospheric textures, icy glitches on top." [FdW / Vital Weekly]
"Aquadorsa is a new musical Italian ambient project formed by Enrico Coniglio and Oophoi. Their first work “Cloudlands” is a perfect mix of glitch, classical and orchestral glacial ambient soundscape. Enrico Coniglio is a guitar player and composer and his research has increasingly focused on the relationship between 'music' and 'landscape', in an attempt to represent the contemporary crisis of the territory, the loss of nature and identity of places, and the unknown on the evolution of post-urban and post-industrial territory. He has collaborated with various artists, including: Nicola Alesini, Joachim Roedelius and Elisa Marzorati. He has produced some releases such as "AREAVIRUS - topofonie vol.1" (2007 Psychonavigation), "dyanMU" (2008 Psychonavigation) and digital releases Sapientumsuperacquis on Touch Radio (Touch records) and Crònicaster (Crònica Electronica). Gianluigi Gasparetti better know as Oophoi started his own music experiments in 1995, trying to explore the shores of deep space-ambient. His live album "The spirals of time", released in 1997 by Amplexus, has been voted as one of the best ambient albums of all times. Oophoi uses traditional instruments as synths and sampling machines and his music is recorded using analog-only devices in The Kiva. He has released CDs for many International labels such as Amplexus, Hypnos, Nextera, Prikosnovénie and Glacial Movements and he has collaborated with Louisa John Krol, Alio die, Mathias Grassow and Klaus Wiese." [label info]
www.glacialmovements.com
|
2009 |
€13.00 |
|
| ARCANA |
Raspail |
CD |
"Die CD kommt in einem hochwertigen Artwork, das sowohl ein 8-seitiges Leporello, als auch ein 12-seitiges Booklet enthält!
Arcana sind seit Jahren über alle Grenzen hinweg stilprägend und eines der großen Aushängeschilde der weltweiten Gothic Wave Szene. Ihre Musik umfasst eine einzigartige, kraftvolle und verzauberte Anmutung, der sich kaum jemand entziehen kann. Mit ihrem neuen Werk Raspail schlagen Arcana nun das nächste Kapitel ihrer einzigartigen Karriere auf und verschmelzen die filigrane Romantik ihrer früheren Werke, um ihr erfolgreiches Album Inner Pale Sun, mit bahnbrechendem Gothicwave der Neuzeit. Raspail begeistert durch die außergewöhnliche Mischung aus orchestralen, mächtigen Soundcollagen, natürlich instrumentierten Arrangements, und den himmlisch klaren Stimmen des Baritons Peter Bjärgö und der Sopranistin Ann-Mari Thim, die das Album in einen mystischen Klangzauber verwandeln der alles bisherige in den Schatten stellt.
Die inzwischen sechste Veröffentlichung des schwedische Quintetts ist ein magisch, geniales Glanzstück, getragen von zarten Pianotupfern und intensiven Klangwelten aus Streichern und Hörnern. Klassisch, melodramatisch und kaum zu überbieten!" [label info]
"Arcana has turned another page in the book and the next chapter will be a meeting between the old and the new. As before, we hear the many instruments that vary the music, but this time the vocals parts have taken more room. The medieval sound from Dark age of Reason and Cantar de Procella is there, the majestic sound from... The Last Embrace appear along with the serene notes from Inner Pale Sun and the oriental instruments from Le Serpent Rouge. Blend this with the new sound once again created by Peter Bjärgö, and you will have Raspail, the next chapter in the book of Arcana." [label info]
www.kalinkaland.de |
2008 |
€14.50 |
|
| ATARAXIA |
Suenos |
CD |
"SUENOS ('Dreams' in Spanish) is the title of the long-time sold out and eagerly awaited album by ATARAXIA but the onomatopoeic sound reminds also of the English words for 'signs' and 'sounds'. It has been recorded in 2000/2001 year and originally released by Cruel Moon International (Cold Meat Industry).
For the first time in ATARAXIA's history this album is not a conceptual album but a collection of new songs with different styles, themes, with different historical backgrounds and many acoustic new instruments. The album has been divided into three parts of 4 songs each: the first (‘Ego Promitto Domino’) features lyrics inspired by journeys and remembrances of mid-eastern lands. The sounds are between neo classical, orchestral for 4 voices and Mediterranean dreamy ambiances. The second part (‘L’ame d’eau’) is entirely based on Medieval ballads just for acoustic instruments and 2 voices and the Third part (‘Sandy Dunes’) finally is more intimate and meditative, once again the theme is the one of water linked to the female soul: The voyage through the sea, regret, the need of the sea. Just for Francesca’s heavenly vocals...
More then 10 years later, Ataraxia & Infinite fog Production presents new, completely remastered edition with special bonus track “Melisanda” - Rare song “Melisanda” was released on split-vinyl Ataraxia/Engelsstaub - “In Amoris Mortisque” 95 but carefully remastered now." [label info]
www.infinitefog.ru
|
2012 |
€13.00 |
|
| AUTOPSIA |
Karl Rossmann Fragments |
CD |
Sehr kryptisch ausgerichtetes Werk mit 20 "Fragmenten", gewidmet dem tschechischen Komponisten und Maler KARL ROSSMANN. Auf der Innenseite des 7"-Covers ein interessanter philosophischer Text über die Beziehung von Fragmenten und Gesamtheit, musikalisch oszillierend zwischen rein experimentell-elektronischen Figuren und wirren Cut-Up Collagen, die auch auf instrumentellen (Klassik)-Klänge basiseren. Anspruchsvoll Klänge, partikelig und von grosser Variabilität. Und anstatt eines klassischen Presse-Textes gibt es von AUTOPSIA zur Veröffentlichung Zitate von KARL ROSSMANN, THOMAS MANN und ADORNO: "About Karl Rossmann: VARIOUS ILLUSIONS ARE FORMED, THAT OBSTRUCT US FROM PERCEIVING THE REALITY OF VOIDNESS, WHICH IS THE BASIS OF THE TRUTH. Karl Rossmann 1922.
Art is mind, and mind does not at all need to feel itself obligated to the community, to society, it may not, in my view, for the sake of its freedom, its nobility. An art that goes in unto the folk, which makes her own the needs of the crowd, of the little man, of small minds, arrives at wretchedness, and to make it her duty is the worst small -- mindedness, and the murder of mind and spirit. And it is my conviction that mind, in its most audacious, unrestrained advance and researches, can, however unsuited to the masses, be certain in some indirect way to serve man in the long run.
Excerpt from Thomas Mann's Doctor Faustus
The language of music is quite different from the language of intentionality. It contains a theological dimension. What it has to say is simultaneously revealed and concealed. Its Idea is the divine Name which has been given shape. It is demythologized prayer, rid of efficacious magic. It is the human attempt, doomed as ever, to name the Name, not to communicate meanings.
Quasi una Fantasia, Essays on Modern Music, Theodor W. Adorno, 1956 " [label info]
"... By another accident a few days I got the latest CD by Autopsia, which seems to be dedicated to the life and work of one Karl Rossmann, who was apparently a painter, composer and writer from the Czech Republic, but in these internet times I am not an easy believer when it comes to people who "destroyed as much evidence of his existence as he could find". On the Autopsia website we see him mentioned as one of the 'few truly original Czech composers of the last century'. Its a bit hard to understand all of this, in relation to the music playing in the background, the 'Karl Rossmann Fragments'. But
strangely enough it comes close to the work of serious modern electro-acoustic composers from France - to complete the circle. The twenty fragments are short, almost 'pop' in length of electronically processed sounds, reverb, drone like sounds, and pitches that go up and down, but it cleverly stays away from the long form that we usually find in this part of the music world. Each fragment seems to have a life of its own, completed, finished, and, despite the word 'fragment', a finished composition. This new Autopsia work is hardly alike the work they are best known for, the sampled orchestral bits, even it at times seems to have sampled strings and percussion. Perhaps its all a bit much this release to take in at once, clocking in at over seventy minutes and with a lack of variation here and there, but half today and the other half tomorrow is quite nice to work with. " [FdW / Vital Weekly]
www.myspace.com/karlrossmannprague
|
2009 |
€13.00 |
|
| |
Colonia |
CD |
"Autopsia's latest release for Staalplaat is compilation of long deleted tracks from CD's released by Hyperium in the mid-nineties. Tracks are culled from Humanity Is The Devil, The Birth Of Crystal Power, Secret Christmas History, The Silence Of The Lambs, Palladium and Mystery Science plus a previously unreleased track from 1999. Autopsia, from former Yugoslavia, now in exile in Prague have been producing mysterious orchestral music since the late '80s. Dealing with orchestral tunes from the 19th century which are sampled, they have created an unique sound of their own. In their own words, it goes like this: Colonia is a project that implements death as its theme in order to represent the epoch: the colonial age. Death is not a mere event in the epoch -- terror or genocide, conflict or destruction -- the epoch itself is at stake here: death as time, the age of its reign, death from perspective of faith that encompasses the totality of any being which is founded in metaphysical construct. The structure of Autopsia's sound is syncretic, composed of multiple levels that on one hand refer to liturgical forms and on the other to paradoxical junctures of sub-cultural products of elite technology with proto-urban mythologies." [label info]
www.staalplaat.com
|
2002 |
€8.00 |
|
| BAD ALCHEMY |
No. 81 (Juni 2014) |
mag |
"BA 81 bringt FREAKSHOWs mit LA STPO und AY; NATE WOOLEY QUINTET und PETER BRÖTZMANN - STEVE NOBLE im W 71; Reviews von Alexander Pehlemanns GO OST!, CHICAGO UNDERGROUND DUO, JAMIE SAFT, CHRISTY DORAN'S BUNTER HUND, STIAN WESTERHUS PALE HORSES, BARRY GUY NEW ORCHESTRA, WOLFGANG 'FADI' DORNINGER, TROUM, von neuen Scheiben bei ATTENUATION CIRCUIT, MEGO, STREAMLINE u.v.m.; dazu MUSICA POLSKA von FOR TUNE, MONOTYPE REC., KASIA GLOWICKA ..." [Verlagsinfo]
www.badalchemy.de
|
2014 |
€3.50 |
|
|
No. 87 (Oktober 2015) |
mag |
"WE ARE ALL IN THIS TOGETHER (AGAIN): GABBY YOUNG & OTHER ANIMALS BEIM BARDENTREFFEN; HAFENSOMMER WÜRZBURG: ARANIS - MADE IN BELGIUM / TULA ...AND THE RIVER COMES AND TAKES ME!; FREAKSHOW ARTROCK FESTIVAL; THE EX AT BIMHUIS, JENNY HVAL, BILLY JENKINS, MEMBRANES, POST OFFICE, THE VERY BIG EXPERIMENTAL TOUBIFRI ORCHESTRA, SIELWOLF + NAM-KHAR; MUZIEKMOMENTEN DIE MIJN LEVEN VERANDERDEN; Feature: POGUS PRODUCTIONS + IF, BWANA: BREATHING..."
www.badalchemy.de
|
2015 |
€3.50 |
|
|
No. 89 (April 2016) |
mag |
FREAKSHOWS: WILD AND WINDY = LE REX - LENT ET SEXUEL = COAX ORCHESTRA - NAGUAL, SHAPESHIFTERS AND DOGSBODIES = ALBATRE + AVA MENDOZA'S UNNATURAL WAYS; LABELPORTRÄT 10 YEARS ALTROCK; SCHLAGLICHTER: JULIEN DESPREZ; SEAMUS CATER; CARATE URIO ORCHESTRA; MARK DRESSER VIRTUAL TOUR; PNL LARGE UNIT; MAJA S. K. RATKJE; REIDEMEISTER MOVE; TORBEN SNEKKESTAD; FRANK ROTHKAMM; KONSTRUKTIVISTS; MOONDOG COUPLETS; THIRD REICH'N'ROLL: STEVE REICH IN KÖLN; LIBERA ME: MONTEVERDICHOR 16.03.2016
www.badalchemy.de
|
2016 |
€3.50 |
|
|
No. 90 (Juni 2016) |
mag |
"freakshows: caterina palazzi sudoku killer - schnellertollermeier - french attack!!: hippie diktat - jack dupon - ni!; o tempora, o moers!; wasp millionaire; the dwarfs of agouza; lisa gerrard; vezhlivy otkaz; live im w 71: peter brötzmann, steve swell & paal nilssen-love - the rempis percussion quartet; fire! orchestra; såj; vladimir miller; sean noonan; xenofox; substantia innominata/drone; non toxique lost again; karlrecords; no edition; sub rosa; charles plymell... 88 Seiten ohne Werbung." [Verlagsinfo]
www.badalchemy.de
|
2016 |
€3.50 |
|
| |
No. 104 (Dez. 2019) |
mag |
"Artrock Festival 2019 mit Theo Ceccaldi Freaks und Ryorchestra; Freakshows mit Tatvamasi, White Pulse, Albatre, Welcome Inside The Brain, Alex's Hand, La STPO; W71: Rodrigo Amado's This Is Our Language; Geoff with yer Head!: Geoff Leigh; Hackepicciotto; Kamilya Jubran & Werner Hasler; Go: Organic Orchestra - Sirkis/Bialas IQ - Audiophob / Krater - Gruenrekorder - 90 % Wasser; Feature: Norwegen - Ja, Vi Elsker Dette Land!; Internationales Festival für Experimentelle Musik in München ... 88 Seiten, keine Werbung"
|
2019 |
€4.00 |
|
| BAKER, AIDAN |
An Instance of Rising / Liminoid |
CD |
A unique release of two contemporary classical works, written by Aidan Baker and performed live by orchestras in Poland and Latvia.
AN INSTANCE OF RISING w/ Spółdzielnia Muzyczna
The curator of Sacrum Profanum, Krzysztof Pietraszewski, a festival in Krakow, Poland, in 2017 invited several musicians involved in the 'avant rock' music scene to compose a piece for the Spółdzielnia Muzyczna Contemporary Ensemble, with the intention of bringing an experimental rock music aesthetic to a contemporary classical setting. An Instance of Rising, is a fully notated composition for flute, clarinets, saxophone, vibraphones, electric guitar, piano, and string quartet, using something of a serialist methodology to create a rising and falling tone piece or sonic landscape.
LIMINOID w/ Riga Sinfonietta
Liminoid was originally written for and performed at a concert with Tim Hecker and Pram at The Music Gallery in Toronto, Canada in 2008, the recording of which was released on Alien8 Recordings in 2010. The piece, lyrically based around a Coptic solar incantation, partially noted with a graphic score but allowing for improvisation, was intended to combine neo-classical with post-rock elements, using the elongation of sound and layered polyphony in an attempt to create a liminal or numinous state. In 2011, Miks Magone, the curator of Zemlika Festival in the small town of Durbe, Latvia, invited Aidan to perform the piece again with members of the Riga Sinfonietta and a rock band of local Latvian musicians assembled for the performance, The Burning Kulba.
PRESSING NOTES
300 - CD - Limited Edition. Housed in a recycled card sleeve with silk-screened artwork by Death Rattle Press. Hand-numbered. Instant download available + Bandcamp code inserted inside the sleeve.
https://aidanbaker.bandcamp.com/album/an-instance-of-rising-liminoid
|
2020 |
€13.00 |
|
| BALDRUIN |
Relikte aus der Zukunft |
LP |
Relikte aus der Zukunft (Relics from the Future) is a new album by experimental German artist Baldruin. Growing up in a small Bavarian village rectory around 10 meters beside the church and serving as an altar boy; organ music, church bells, and spiritual chanting were very much present in Johannes Schebler's ears during his childhood years. This experience was probably the basis for his ongoing interest in transcendental and mysterious atmospheres, he recalls. Schebler started making music as Baldruin back in 2009 with DIY experimentations which were first released on tape, a CD-R 3" and later on several LPs all over Europe (Ireland, Spain, Portugal, Poland, Finland, Netherlands, Slovakia), as well as in the USA and Japan. While in the beginning Baldruin's tracks were mostly created with acoustic instruments, later synthesizers and other electronic sound sources joined, expanding the sound palette and letting primordial and futuristic worlds merge organically into each other. Although Relikte aus der Zukunft feels like a journey to the unknown, with constantly changing moods, all of the recordings were done in a small and improvised home studio in Schebler's living room in Wiesbaden, Germany, using mostly a single MIDI-keyboard for recording. The tracks are full of color and amazement, detailed and thorough when evoking the setting and conjuring the experience. They can be playful and bright, or suspenseful and ominous, until bursting into ritual and hallucination. The gloomiest soundscapes can jump into a ship fueled by retro sci-fi arpeggios, the solemn can turn to rejoice, and a star can shrink into a fireplace. Mastered by Alberto Cendra at Garden Lab Audio. Cover art by Johannes Schebler. Edition of 300.
https://buhrecords.bandcamp.com/album/relikte-aus-der-zukunft
"Vor gerade einmal acht Monaten brachte Johannes Schebler alias Baldruin mit “Kleine Freuden” ein Album heraus, das trotz seiner Opulenz und vor allem wegen der geschlossenen Kompaktheit der einzelnen Stücke ganz im Zeichen der fast schon intim anmutenden Miniatur stand. Seit einigen Wochen steht mit “Relikte aus der Zukunft” nun ein neuer Longplayer in den Regalen, der im Vergleich dazu wie ein Gegenzoom wirkt und die Aufmerksamkeit auf die großen und breiten Zusammenhänge richtet. Schon der Titel könnte zu einem handlungsreichen Film passen, und zu Tracks wie “Hintenherum”, “Wurzeltrank” oder “Ritt auf der Silberechse” könnte man sich fantastische Science Fiction-Stoffe der surrealen Art ausdenken.
Die ersten Minuten des Albums verbreiten eine erwartungsvolle Stimmung: Es klappert und rumpelt, und über einem Sound, der nach Syntie klingt, erklingt das Trillern verschiedener Klangquellen, die Flöten, Klarinetten und ein Saxophon sein könnten, im Zusammenspiel mit flatternden Flügelschlägen aber sofort an verfremdete Vogelstimmen denken lassen. Halbversteckte Glockenschläge im Hintergrund leiten über in ein sakraler anmutendes Setting mit tiefen Tastentönen und etwas, das an Choräle erinnert, und man wundert sich, dass all dies – laut Begleittext – überwiegend einem Midi-Keyboard entstammen soll.
Sanft bimmelnde Glöckchen, spannungsvolle Cellodrones, quirlige Sounddetails, die wie Gummi quietschen; ein vermutlich asiatisches Saiteninstrument, dass mit seinen kreisenden Bewegungen eine entsprechende Melodie anstimmt und weitere folkig eingefärbte Klänge; alarmierende Hochtöner über dunklen, aus der Ferne hörbaren Paukenschlägen; desolate Sounds, die für kurze Momente an Industrial erinnern; sogar eine vervielfachte menschliche Stimme vor einer Kulisse aus Gebimmel und rauschenden Motoren – die klanglichen Details und motivischen Ideen sind in diesem Album beinahe Legion und im ständigen Wandel begriffen. Ist man erstmal vollends in diese Welt eingetaucht, dann halluziniert man vielleicht noch einige dazu. Wenn man also so etwas wie einen roten Faden sucht, dann findet man ihn woanders, z.B. in der aufgeweckten Neugier, die in der Reise durch die verschiedenen Klangwelten spürbar ist. Da scheint man dem Entdecken einer Kultur beizuwohnen, deren Zeichen man wie ein Schwamm aufsaugt, während die eigentliche Erforschung und Kartografierung noch ansteht. Die einzelnen Szenarien wirken wie Momentaufnahmen im Stadium des ersten faszinierten Eindrucks.
Neben “Insel der Hoffnung”, dass in all seiner Verträumtheit und mit gebrochenen Rhythmen so etwas wie der “Hit” des Albums sein könnte, gibt es weitere Wegmarken. Das wäre z.B “Wilde Reise”, eine von rumpelnden Trommelwirbeln und entrückten Flötensounds begleitete Fahrt über Stock und Stein. Außerdem “Vorherbestimmt”, das mit seinen pulsierenden Orchestralsounds wie ein dramatischer Stummfilmscore klingt, der von allerlei destruktivem Klirren begleitet wird und in seiner ganz eigenen Schönheit doch unangetastet bleibt. Vielleicht findet sich auch in dieser Tendenz zur Zerfleddertheit, an deren Grenze sich fast alle Stücke bewegen, und die immer durch eine solide Grundsubstanz eingehegt und zusammengehalten wird, ein Schlüssel zur klanglichen Grund-DNA dieses beeindruckenden Albums." [African Paper]
|
2023 |
€27.50 |
|
| BALESTRAZZI, SIMON |
Atti Innaturali |
CD |
st.an.da.2249
CD, 6-panel digisleeve, ltd. 200 copies
Simon Balestrazzi
Atti Innaturali
Simon Balestrazzi’s new effort make use of a rather sparse instrumentation. The prepared strings of a battered Ukrainian tsymbaly (a percussion-stringed instrument similar to the hammered dulcimer) are excited with an eBow and only occasionally struck. Also they are processed in real time through a ring modulator, a digital spectral delay and a looper, stretching the sonic possibilities in an unnatural way. This iridescent mass, sometimes rich in abrasive clatters, sometimes in profound resonating harmonics, is intertwined with the droning undulations of a vintage VCS3 synthesizer. Finally the rare tolls of UFIP Ogororo plates offer a sombre punctuation.
These few elements conjure a deep and subtle tangle of flickering forms that guide us through a meditative and almost trance-inducing process. Conceived as a three part suite, “Atti Innaturali” stretches the listener across time and space.
Simon Balestrazzi is an electronic/electroacoustic composer and sound engineer active since 1979. In 1981 he founded the long-lived Italian cult band T.A.C. (Tomografia Assiale Computerizzata). Moreover, as well as working as a solo artist, during the years he has created or has been a member of many bands and projects: Dream Weapon Ritual, DAIMON, A Sphere of Simple Green, Hidden Reverse, Candor Chasma, Kino Glaz, Sarang, Kirlian Camera, Deep Engine, MOEX.
He has so far performed live or recorded with countless musicians and groups; among them: Paolo Angeli, Gianluca Becuzzi, Maurizio Bianchi/MB, Bron Y Aur, Daniele Ciullini, Sylvie Courvoisier, Deison, Bruno Dorella & Stefania Pedretti, Max Eastley, Andrea 'Ics' Ferraris, Le Forbici di Manitù, Henning Frimann, Fuzz Orchestra, Gerstein, Hermetic Brotherhood of Lux-or, Tim Hodgkinson, Xabier Iriondo, Limbo, Maisie, Elio Martusciello, MS Miroslaw, Ikue Mori, Clara Murtas, Phill Niblock, Victor Nubla, Alessandro Olla, Massimo Olla, Francesco Paladino, Plasma Expander, Nicola Quiriconi, Maja Ratkje, Claudio Rocchetti, Jared Russell, Paolo Sanna, Mauro Sciaccaluga, Damo Suzuki, Teatro Satanico, Testing Vault, TH26, Thelema, Uncodified, VipCancro, Giorgio Vivaldi and Z'EV.
store.silentes.it/catalogue/standa2249.htm
|
2022 |
€13.00 |
|
| BARDOSENETICCUBE |
XXX (Dedicated to Nika Turbina) |
CD |
BARDOSENETICCUBE gehören inzwischen zu einer der bemerkenswertesten russischen Experimentalprojekte; mit fast jeder neuen Veröffentlichung vermögen sie zu überraschen, sie verlassen und überschreiten ständig verschiedenste Genre-Grenzen; man könnte fast von einer Art "russischen BIG CITY ORCHESTRA" sprechen, was Einfallsreichtum & die Fülle an Releases betrifft (auch musikalisch gibt es manchmal Überschneidungen, beide Projekte setzen gerne weirde hypnotische loops ein). Auf XXX dominiert bearbeites / verfremdetes Sprachmaterial einer ominösen NIKA TURBINA, das zusammen mit field recordings aller Art zu einem dissoziertem Trip in eine abgründige
Welt zusammengebraut wird... viele akustische Objekte überlagernd sich gleichzeitig und erzeugen hypnotischen Sog, kein Stück gleicht dem anderen, eine rituell-dronige Atmo herrscht vor...wieder sehr gut. 12 tracks, fast 65 Minuten.
ed. of 509 numbered copies / SPECIAL OFFER !
"New Bardoseneticcube album is inspired by life and works of Nika Turbina - a poetess who started to write grown-up tragic poems when she was only 4 years old. "This is not me writing, this is God leading my hand", - the small girl used to say. First Nika's book of poems came out when she was only 9, and was later translated in 12 languages. After living pathologically strange life, receiving the most prestigious poetic prize "Golden Lion", and being held in mental hospital, at the age of 27 Nika tragically died falling down from the 5th floor window. The musical dedication of Bardoseneticcube is presented in 12 untitled tracks filled with surrealistic feelings and some childish morbidity. Obscure loops and industrial soundscapes are buried under a pile of rhyme wreckage, melody fragments and almost chaotic manifold of strange sounds." [label info]
|
2006 |
€7.00 |
|
| BASINSKI, WILLIAM |
Cascade |
CD |
"Cascade and The Deluge are variations on the latest tape-loop and delay composition from the inimitable William Basinski. In Cascade, a single ancient lilting piano tape loop repeats endlessly carrying one along in its tessellating current. In The Deluge, the same loop is processed through a series of feed-back loops of different lengths creating a spiraling crescendo of overtones that eventually fade away to silence. In the denouement, a series of limpid piano loops leads to an urgent orchestral theme that builds and gradually dies away." [label info]
|
2015 |
€14.50 |
|
|
A Shadow in Time |
LP |
"World-renowned as one of experimental music's most vital and impressionistic composers of the past few decades, William Basinski’s tape loop works have been especially influential, particularly on the historic series, The Disintegration Loops, where distorted, orchestral tape samples burrow deep into the listener's psyche through meditative repetition. On his new album, A Shadow In Time, Basinski plunges deeper than ever for the plaintive, solitary eulogy to David Bowie, aptly titled “For David Robert Jones.” Conversely, the title track, “A Shadow In Time,” is a subtle, celestial escalation of melody and drone. The result is one of the most truly transcendent pieces of music he has ever committed to – or wrung from – tape."
www.temporaryresidence.com
"On A Shadow In Time, William Basinski returns with a homage for David Bowie, eulogized on the lachrymose side-long track "For David Robert Jones" in reference to Bowie's birth name. Still using the tape loop as a principle means of production, Basinski guides the two tracks on this album with the elegance and a grace of an artist who has long mastered his craft. The title track is the more striking of the two pieces, with Basinski capturing golden hues and deep-space mesmer from an archaic Voyetra 8 synthesizer. This is a notoriously difficult piece of equipment that has even irked the composer with its grumpy insistence on not bothering to start up one day, only to creakily awaken the next. The twinkling vibrato and Plutonian shiver from Basinski's source material slowly spin in the tumbling orbits of his delay and reverberant tape loops. It's beautiful and languid, making for one of the few Basinski pieces that doesn't relate to the semantics of decay. "For David Robert Jones" focuses on the tape loop as the structural device, lacing several scratchy tape loops against one another. Here, Basinski's work does redress the forgotten dreams and deleted scenes so often recounted in the Caretaker's work with antiquated media through the tropes of lost memory. In a rare instance of jarring the listener, Basinski pops a loop into the foreground of a suitably maudlin saxophone riff. The hypnotic quality of the loop quickly settles this unusual rupture to Basinski's oeuvre, and the whole of the piece drifts once again into stately wistfulness. Sublime as always." [Stranded Rec.]
|
2017 |
€25.00 |
|
| |
A Shadow in Time |
CD |
"World-renowned as one of experimental music's most vital and impressionistic composers of the past few decades, William Basinski’s tape loop works have been especially influential, particularly on the historic series, The Disintegration Loops, where distorted, orchestral tape samples burrow deep into the listener's psyche through meditative repetition. On his new album, A Shadow In Time, Basinski plunges deeper than ever for the plaintive, solitary eulogy to David Bowie, aptly titled “For David Robert Jones.” Conversely, the title track, “A Shadow In Time,” is a subtle, celestial escalation of melody and drone. The result is one of the most truly transcendent pieces of music he has ever committed to – or wrung from – tape." [press release]
"Basinski's new album A Shadow in Time contains some of his strongest work since The Disintegration Loops introduced him to the world at large.
In the fifteen years since William Basinski released the debut installment of his Disintegration Loops series he has been rapidly, and rightly, lionized. But for two decades prior to that, he was just another eccentric artist in New York, a tinkerer who built his own instruments, ran a venue and experimented insatiably with tape loops. He would tune in to the easy listening piped out by CBS and record snippets of it, creating a massive archive of schmaltz that, through the alchemy of sampling, could be transfigured into something infinitely more haunting. “I would set up loops, get them going, put on the tape recorder and let it go for the length of the cassette because if it was going, it captured this eternal moment,” he told The Quietus in 2012. That eternal-moment is quintessential Basinski; his work has been uniquely fixated on time and loss, his compositions heaving with longing, melancholy and a sense of impenetrable mystery.
At its best, Basinski’s music inspires the sort of rapturous testimony usually reserved for peak experiences, cult leaders and the dead. When it’s not working as well, it can feel not unlike so-called “ruin porn” or the photography of Edward Burtynsky: lovely aestheticizations of late-capitalist collapse that comfort more than they confront. Thankfully, his new album A Shadow in Time contains some of his strongest work since The Disintegration Loops introduced the world to the artist.
The two pieces on A Shadow in Time offer contrasting entry points into his work. The title track is a richly layered composition for the archaic Voyetra 8 synthesizer that was a year in the making and showcases Basinski at the height of his compositional powers. David Bowie tribute “For David Robert Jones,” on the other hand, is an off-the-cuff tape loop piece commissioned by LA’s Volume gallery in the weeks after the artist’s death. Built with re-purposed tape fragments that had been chewed up by a former roommate's cat (“this big, fat motherfucker,” he called it) “For David” exemplifies the entropic decay he’s most known for while adding specific, Bowie-riffing details.
As with all Basinski’s work, there’s a tantalizing juxtaposition between chance and intention (the Voyetra 8 wasn’t even guaranteed to turn on, and when it did, it “was already doing some weird shit so we used it and more”). But on “A Shadow in Time” this tension plays more of a supporting role than a lead. The piece opens with a slow-motion cascade of shimmering high harmonies and murky, shifting lower tones. In its austere beauty, it calls to mind Pauline Oliveros’ landmark Deep Listening, but with an added dash of dread. Clocking in at just shy of 23 minutes, “Shadow” spends its first half stretching towards infinity and its second collapsing on itself.
Around the seven minute mark (amazingly it only feels like three), the piece begins to hollow out. Gradually those glassy high notes drift away like the dust tail of a comet, and tape hiss overtakes the piece. The sense of deterioration is palpable, made more dramatic by distant synth moans and weird bursts of chirping noise that poke through just as “Shadow” drifts into silence. It’s the kind of ending that makes one feel less like a listener and more like a witness.
In the wake of the A-side’s descent, “For David Robert Jones” feels like a cool down for the audience and a victory lap for Basinski. An orchestral clip that could easily be a Disintegration Loops outtake opens, circling around itself and never quite resolving. We’re on more familiar footing here, and the emotional tenor of the the piece, though engaging, is less arrestingly in-your-face than “Shadow.” Six minutes in, a gnarled saxophone juts through rudely, throwing the chilled out transcendence pleasingly off balance. A nod to Bowie’s own saxophone honking on “Subterraneans,” it’s an amusingly punk bit of sabotage, but it fails to develop into something more. Over fourteen more minutes the tension dissipates and “For David” runs out of steam.
Discussing The Disintegration Loops in 2012, Basinski told the Quietus “Over the period of the hour, that melody just decayed right in front of my ears… and eyes… I remember thinking, 'This is not about you.’” While this sense of riveting discovery isn’t fully achieved on “For David,” the album nonetheless offers a stunning journey into a vast, ink-black void." [Pitchfork]
|
2017 |
€14.00 |
|
| BASINSKI, WILLIAM & RICHARD CHARTIER |
Divertissement |
LP |
"Divertissement is the third collaborative full length from minimalist composer William Basinski and sound artist Richard Chartier.
The duo utilize electronics, piano, tape-loops and short wave radio to evoke a dense atmosphere suggesting hundreds of years of history rising up from the depths of a reverberating cathedral. Subtle, buried and intense murmurs of melody morph through this deeply consuming and slowly evolving composition in two parts.
Pressed in an edition of 500 with beautiful cover drawings by artist James Elaine.
William Basinski is a classically trained musician and composer who has been working in experimental media for over 30 years in NYC and most recently, California. Employing obsolete technology and analogue tape loops, his haunting and melancholy soundscapes explore the temporal nature of life and resound with the reverberations of memory and the mystery of time. His epic 4-disc masterwork, The Disintegration Loops received international critical acclaim and was chosen as one of the top 50 albums of 2004 by Pitchfork Media. The Temporary Residence deluxe LP box-set reissue from 2012 was awarded best re-issue of the year and a score of 10 on Pitchfork. Installations and films made in collaboration with artist-filmmaker, James Elaine have been presented in festivals and museums internationally, and his concerts are presented to sold out crowds around the world. Most recently, Basinski was chosen by Music Director, Antony Hegarty to create music for the new Robert Wilson opera, The Life and Death of Marina Abramovic which had its world premiere at the Manchester International Festival in July 2011 and toured Europe in 2012 and North America in 2013. Orchestral transcriptions of The Disintegration Loops by Maxim Moston have been performed at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Queen Elizabeth Hall and La Batie Festival in Geneva, Switzerland. Basinski is currently touring the world in support of Cascade and The Deluge, his latest works which will be released in Spring 2015 on 2062/USA.
Richard Chartier (b.1971), sound and installation artist, is considered one of the key figures in the current of reductionist electronic sound art which has been termed both microsound and Neo-Modernist. Chartier's minimalist digital work explores the inter-relationships between the spatial nature of sound, silence, focus, perception and the act of listening itself. Chartier's sound works/installations have been presented in galleries and museums internationally including the 2002's Whitney Biennial and he has performed his work live across Europe, Japan, Australia, and North America at digital art
electronic music festivals and exhibits. In 2000 he formed the recording label LINE and has since curated its continuing documentation of compositional and installation work by international sound artists/composers exploring the aesthetics of contemporary and digital minimalism. In 2010, Chartier was awarded a Smithsonian Institution Artist Research Fellowship to explore the National Museum of American History's collection of 19th-Century acoustic apparatus for scientific demonstration." [label info]
www.importantrecords.com
|
2015 |
€25.50 |
|
| BEEQUEEN |
Sandancing |
CD |
BEEQUEEN sind mit "Sanddancing" ganz im "Song" angekommen, einer Art elektronischer "Ambient Pop" der ein Spektrum von kitschigen Kindermelodei-Stücken bis hin zu verschrobenen Instrumentals umfasst, mit weiblichem Gesang, irgendwo zwischen alten BRUNNEN, PIANO MAGIC und LPD, charmant, verträumt & luftig leicht, ohne experimentelle & geräuschhafte Elemente ganz zu verbannen...
"After the by now usual gap of some two years, Beequeen is ready to present their latest album, further maturing their sound from The Bodyshop (also on Important Records). More song-based, this album features new vocals by Olga Wallis solely (with some backing by Freek Kinkelaar). Well rounded pop songs in some places, but Beequeen never forgets to put in some strange element, without leaping in the dark alley of pointless experiment. Orchestral in 'The Illogical Song,' collage like in 'The Edie Three Step' or a simple rhythm machine in 'The Honeythief.' Beequeen does all, and with great care and seemingly ease. This album features also the help of Barry Gray, former (and first) guitarist of The Legendary Pink Dots, and would not have been the album that is without the invaluable productional skills of Erik Drost." [press release]
"Beequeen is the long running collaboration between Dutch music veterans Frans de Waard and Freek Kinkelaar. The duo mainly focused on ambient and industrial music during the nineties, until their album 'Ownliness', back in 2002, which marked a more or less radical break with Beequeen's past. Since 'Ownliness' the music of Beequeen has shifted to well crafted electronic pop songs. 'Sandancing' is no exception. It's an atmospheric and dreamy album due to the beautiful (female) vocals of Olga Wallis.
The songs are built on electronics, guitar and keyboard, combined with fine microsonic details, pulsing drum machines and subtle field recordings. It can easily be seen as a rather accessible record, especially considering Beequeens past, but 'Sandancing' hides enough surprises to keep it exciting. It somehow reminds me of the early works of Piano Magic, the project of Glen Johnson, who also used to work with different vocalists to transform his electronic instrumentals into songs. Being aware of the adventurous approach of these experimental wizards, you immediately wonder what Beequeens next record will be like. But you certainly hope that Olga Wallis will be involved again as 'Sandancing' is definitely their best record to date." [MW, Vital Weekly]
|
2008 |
€13.00 |
|
| BEGG, MICHAEL |
Vanitas |
CD |
VANITAS is another semi-conscious descent into the liminal territories between contemporary composition and electronic erosion. I am still consumed by landscape, by memory, by *that* sense of longing. And I still cannot stop staring at the moon.
For this release, I played many more acoustic instruments than is usual for me. Piano, guitars and bass mostly – but also a series of virtual instruments that I built for the recording; sampled wood burning stove, tuned martini glasses, e-bow autoharp, stolen French music box, loose piano string droner, and a blow torch treatment of glass sheets. I also took my first leap into sonification resulting in the opening track; Invocation, in which I programmed NASA information about a particular lunar eclipse early in the 16th century, which I mapped onto a series of 6 solfeggio frequencies. I don’t necessarily subscribe to the mystical qualities accorded to these frequencies – but there is something undeniably affecting about them. The track clears the deck s very effectively for the remainder of the recording, I think.
Hopefully these exploratory excursions don’t detract too much from what should be an immersive listening experience.
VANITAS will be available from May 6th on the usual digital download and streaming sites. But there is also a very limited CD run comprising 150 copies. As with previous releases, this comes in a hi-gloss, Japanese Artboard digipak. It also features a Deryk Thomas painting on the back cover which may surprise you!
~
How I wrote up Vanitas at the end of the last session.
Midnight. Orchestras are tuning up in the verges of the hollow ways. I have built my own instruments from wood, antique metals and computers. I read a book about the harmonic consonance between planets – but the planets are all out of kilter. I see through holes in the past that manifest as chasms in the sky.
I am so sad. I am so angry. This is my only voice. These are my only tools. I sit still. Very still. I jump in time, but I always land in the night. The beautiful night. God, I cannot tell you how much I miss the night.
Yes, i meditate. It seems very obvious to me that these pieces come from that space, that place – but it doesn’t warrant any closer examination than that. Just, please, allow the seconds to decouple themselves from the minutes. Watch the hours drift up to that hole in the night sky.
This recording is a monument to a certain kind of laudable failure. It is what happens when someone with no gift for programming writes scripts in Python and Max in order to consume data and make the moon and the tide sing. It’s what happens when someone with cheap tools and the ghost of a sound to realise gets out of his studio and into the workshop to make doomed instruments from all the junk in the village. It’s what happens when a man with no formal musical education takes it upon himself to score and orchestrate an ensemble. It’s where ‘I can’t do this’ meets ‘I must do this’.
This is not creating something of worth from silence, this is more like recovering something once lost from the midst of a solid block of shapeless sound.
The work is done. The coding is spaghetti. The instruments are broken; warped and ragged. Still, the moon sings in my ear. The machines in the studio haven’t been updated in over three hours so are obsolete. Yet Clea’s cello, formed in the year of Mozart’s birth, spins a silver thread in space and time.
And so, another midnight. Wife and children sleeping. Another illustrated ruin in my hands. And under what skies? Out into the night. Close the coop, and put away the hens water. Look up. There is one word you need to find. And if you whisper the right word, it will carry beyond the dimmest star.
Now, back to bed, little pilgrim."
https://omnempathy.bandcamp.com/album/vanitas
|
2019 |
€13.00 |
|
| |
Moonlight and Sentiment |
CD |
"Dark ambient music by British composer Michael Begg who has recently collaborated with Hans-Joachim Roedelius. Michael Begg is an award-winning Scottish composer, sound artist, and musician. In 2000, he began the Human Greed project with Deryk Thomas, releasing a string of critically acclaimed albums, including Black Hill, Fortress Longing, and World Fair. Since 2007, he has been a core contributor to Clodagh Simonds's cult collective, Fovea Hex. He is an associate artist at The Queen's Hall, Edinburgh, and artist in residence with the European Marine Board. Begg has released a number of recordings in his own name, working more progressively towards a territory comprising site specific thematic exploration, contemporary classical music, software development and studio experimenting. In 2018 he won the New Music Scotland award for TITAN, a Cryptic commission for Sonica Festival. Shortly thereafter he founded the Black Glass Ensemble to develop new forms of music for the Anthropocene, informed by scientific collaboration and data sonification. The Ensemble comprises fellow traveler in the UK underground, Ben Ponton (:soviet:france:), and players from the Scottish Chamber Orchestra. His recent output includes a collaborative CD with Krautrock legend Hans-Joachim Roedelius which is still available from Klanggalerie. This is what Michael says about Moonlight and Sentiment: 'This music does not create a song for our ears. It is a 'state', such as moonlight poured over the fields.' This is not a crafted record. The quality is often very poor and the resolution is seldom realized. The melodic lines drift into sentimentality and the production lacks focus and rigor. It is, however, the authentic sound of moonlight suicides, Christmas midnights and a representation of a certain kind of recovered memory that ruins your sleep. I was in the midst of upheaval and I was trying to realize something. Whatever the 'something' was refused to play, and so something else has been realised instead.
https://omnempathy.bandcamp.com/album/moonlight-and-sentiment
|
2022 |
€15.00 |
|
| BEGG, MICHAEL / HUMAN GREED |
Let the cold Stove sing |
CD |
"These recordings comprise work conceived for theatre, gallery and installation contexts. They are concerned with defined and definite spaces, places and absences. These places arise both from nature and through construction. In turn, the construction may be natural or virtual.
They are informed by the great divorce of music and context occasioned by the birth of recording, and by the 20 year fermata occurring after the invention of recording and before the discovery of the means of affecting playback. This was, by definition, the period where we began to conceive of the need to listen repeatedly, in the way an archaeologist brushes repeatedly at the desert, for clues, details, and, possibly, reason." [label info]
www.omnempathy.com
"East Lothian based composer Michael Begg has quietly but steadfastly released (in this listener's humble opinion) some of the finest and most affecting albums of the last decade, such as 2008's dark and yearning 'Black Hill: Midnight At The Blighted Star', 2011's melancholic masterpiece 'Fortress Longing' and 2014's career best 'World Fair'. Along the way many noted and esteemed collaborators have added their voice or presence to proceedings such as Julia Kent (Antony And The Johnsons), David Tibet (Current 93), Chris Connelly (Ministry) and Clodagh Simonds (Mellow Candle, Fovea Hex). Working in the realm of drones, electronica and modern experimental composition to create vast, atmospheric and hugely evocative pieces of sound and melody, Begg has little in the way of contemporaries although aficionados of the windswept work of Richard Skelton, 'On Land'-era Eno, the dark soundscapes of Andrew Lilies and the classic recordings of Reich, Glass and Popol Vuh will find much to fall in love with here. Referencing both, according to Begg, 'gallery, theatre and installation works, as well as my preoccupation with defining space, place and time with sound' this is an essential and crucial work that needs to be heard and experienced.
The album begins with 'Hopetoun Tower Before The Harvest', named after a forbidding and lonely construction that stands defiantly on a hill near Begg's Captain's Quarters recording studio. As befits its namesake, the track rumbles with exposure to some building and growing winds as snakelike electronics creep and wisp into view. A beautiful and tentative string section enters, trembling emotively as bowed strings and bowls resonate. It feels sacred, like a storm has suddenly and dramatically silenced leaving a hushed and perceptible sense of being in the universe. The title track follows, piano and droned strings echoing out into darkness, both tangibly lonely and filled with a gorgeous sadness. There is something deeply existential about this work, one feels small in the face of the space and sounds that evoke the surrounding skies and landscape. 'The Children Will Wet The Academy Floor' adds some truly lovely chamber strings that reverberate and haunt, a spectral symphony of lamentation and grief whilst 'Paris is Closing' is a field recording of chatter and metro sounds that are pleasingly though disturbingly disorientating. Next, 'Pendrachin Wood: Pollen And Frost' is a frozen and glacial layered piece of orchestral electronica, reminiscent of Bowie's Berlin experiments; this literally lifts the hairs of one's arms and neck as it swells and recedes with visions of snow covered pines in the darkening Scottish winter afternoons. Human Greed are no simple drone or electronic act; these are carefully wrought and constructed compositions that evoke and emote in an almost avant classical sense. They are almost unique in working in this field and are creating pieces of heartbreaking genius that this listener implores you to discover and fall in love with; it is criminal that Begg is not more revered outside of the underground as the pioneer and composer that he is.
'Francis Bacon; A Room' is as complex and unsettling as the British artist himself, a corrosive drone and buzz hovering over the mutter of voices whist a sister song 'Louise Bourgeois: A Cell' allows chimes and electronic hums to flutter and slither malevolently throughout. 'Leisure In F' glides majestically into being, epic and choral strings ebbing and flowing until ominous notes and birdsong float into focus; reminiscent of charcoal skies passing by overhead with the threat of snowfall as nature and animal life reacts accordingly this is an incredibly moving and transportive piece. 'Made And Unmade In Europe' rasps and buzzes as a bird's lonesome call cries out against the imperious landscape, an unforgiving wind suddenly giving way to a soprano song and weeping strings in a genuinely breathtaking moment. 'Cunny For Thine Mountain Penne' almost silently emerges on delicate notes and drone sounds, distant percussion and mournful brass reminding this listener of Gorecki's 'Sorrowful Songs'. Stately, graceful and melancholic this regal and funereal piece stays with the listener long after the album has finished playing. Next, 'Intermission For Blisters And Russian Weddings' is driven along on wary and eerie violin bursts, a solar echo resonating and unfurling slowly and perceptibly whilst gentle bass notes hold anchor. This is music to play when the sky is huge, dark and forbidding, to watch the stars blink on and off with cosmic indifference to us watching.
'Studies In Space And Density' is equally massive in scale and suggestion; a cold, sad throb through the universe that becomes increasingly distorted and growling before returning to an icy, repeating refrain of solar wind. A sudden warmth enters with 'Let The Cold Stove Sing Within Reason' as a bass throb and beautiful melody grows and layers over a distant electronic howl and circling strings. Hugely affecting, there is an integral human component at the heart of everything Human Greed or Begg does, this is music about the human condition, about what it is to be in this casually cruel and beautiful universe. 'Whiteadder Water After The Harvest' brings us full circle and close the album with the burble of streams and rivers, metallic and windswept notes sweeping overhead.
I cannot recommend this album highly enough. There is more detail, more arresting and heart-rending moments, more creativity on this album than there is in some other artist's entire oeuvres. One for those lonely, late night listens or for accompaniment of solitary walks and dérives, 'Let The Cold Stove Sing' is a heartbreakingly beautiful and important album, perhaps quite easily already my album of the year. The cold stove is singing, now one must listen." [Grey Malkin/The Active Listener blogspot]
active-listener.blogspot.de/2016/06/michael-begg-human-greed-let-cold-stove.html
|
2016 |
€13.00 |
|
| BEINS, BURKHARD / DIRK MARWEDEL / MICHAEL VORFELD |
Misiiki |
CD |
Michael Vorfeld
Plays percussion and self designed stringed instruments and works as musician and visual artist based in Berlin, Germany. He works in the field of improvised, experimental music and sound art and is often involved in site-specific art projects. Besides his solo activities he is a member of various ensembles and collaborates with artists from different art forms. His visual work concentrates mainly on the use of light, and he realizes light installations and sound and light performances. His list of activities includes numerous concerts, performances and exhibitions in Europe, the USA and South East Asia.
Dirk Marwedel
Since 1985 improvised music, related musical concepts and interdisciplinary projects with dance, theatre, sculpture, painting, film, performance, soundinstallation; in several groups as well as a soloist developing technics of soundshaping and preparations which are extending the sonic spectrum of the saxophone far beyond the traditional sound of the instrument. Concerts in Europe and Canada. Lives in Wiesbaden, where he is a founding member and organiser of the HumaNoise congress. He is a group member of WIE?!, Salpinx, Ensemble 2INCQ, Xtrax, DOMINO Orchestra and a duo with Charlotte Hug.
Burkhard Beins
Plays percussion. Since the late 1980's international festivals, concerts and tours with experimental music throughout Europe und North America. He is a member of several ensembles like Perlonex, Activity Center, Polwechsel, The Sealed Knot, Phosphor and also works with Keith Rowe, Sven-Åke Johansson, John Bisset, Orm Finnendahl, Phil Minton, John Tilbury and many others. More than 25 CDs and LPs, released on labels like 2:13 Music, Zarek, Erstwhile, Hat Hut, Potlatch, Confront and Rossbin
www.burkhardbeins.de/groups/misiiki.html |
2003 |
€6.00 |
|
| BESTIA CENTAURI |
Teratogenesis |
CD |
oversized digipack
Bedrohlich klaustrophobische Welten beschwört "Teratogenesis" herauf, einengend nah und intensiv scheinen elektronische Drones & Sounds wie Waffen anzugreifen, wie eine Psycho-Geisterbahn der völlig derangierten, morphenden Art... kein typischer dark ambient, eher düster-industrielle Elektro-Akustik !
"Bestia Centauri is a solo electronic music project begun in 1999. "Teratogenesis" is its fourth release after "Ubbo-Sathla" (Somnambulant Corpse Recordings, 2002), "The Antideluvian Earth" (Afe, 2003) and "The Self Immolation Rite" (Somnambulant Corpse Recordings, 2004).
The aim of Bestia Centauri is to create sonic landscapes that convey a sense of the numinous, the horrific, and the extra-human. Its sounds have much in common with those of electroacoustic music, but the compositional structures generally display a much greater sense of flow. Although Bestia Centauri's music is (to put it mildly) very different, the early releases of Tangerine Dream (circa 1972-1975) remain a tremendous source of inspiration for the composer, along with the orchestral, choral, and organ works of the composers Gyorgy Ligeti (Atmospheres; Lux Aeterna; Lontano) and Giacinto Scelsi.
Older works of electroacoustic or tape music, such as the compositions of Basil Kirchin, Tod Dockstader, and Iannis Xenakis, offer the listener another frame of reference. With the new release, "Teratogenesis", Bestia Centauri defies once and for all the persistent mischaracterizations of its sound as belonging to the "Dark Ambient ghetto". Electroacoustic and computer music elements come brazenly to the foreground, and contribute even more so to the flow of "crawling chaos" that has always characterized and inspired Bestia Centauri’s compositions. The genesis and development of a monstrosity is the theme of this new work, which charts a course from mutated unicellular sonic DNA to the resultant life-form that reaches "from the jaws of the dragon, from the depths of the abyss". With "X" and its deranged rhythmic outbursts, which suggest a creation gone radically wrong, with "Nebular Embryo", a microtonal and minimalist homage to the work of Giacinto Scelsi, and with "E Faucibus Draconis, E Profundis Barathri", a pure electroacoustic work of epic scope, Bestia Centauri demonstrates a new-found range and mastery in its work.
Four years in the making, "Teratogenesis" represents Bestia Centauri's most mature mating to date of flowing soundscapes and electroacoustic sound design. It also represents a point of departure for even more radical works, to come.
This albums comes as an Eibon Records / Afe co-production whose artwork was designed by Chris Donovan of Somnambulant." [label description]
www.eibonrecords.com / www.aferecords.com
|
2007 |
€13.00 |
|
| BHATTACHARYA, DEBEN |
Paris to Calcutta, Men and Music on the Desert Road |
BOOK + 4 CDs |
Deben Bhattacharya (1921-2001) was a field recordist, poet, filmmaker, musicologist, and amateur ethnomusicologist, based in Calcutta and Paris. Highly influential, it would not be too bold a stretch to say that his work shaped how we listen to the world: he produced a vast number of LPs, CDs, videos, and radio shows of traditional music from India, Asia, Africa, the Middle East, and Europe from 1953 until his death in 2001. Never before published, Paris to Calcutta: Men and Music on the Desert Road features over four hours of music and is Deben\'s impressionistic account of a 1955 journey overland, in a converted milk delivery van, from France to India collecting and exploring music along the Desert Road from Europe into India. With four CDs of recordings, photographs, Deben\'s original recording notes, musical transcriptions, and more. An amazing glimpse into a time long gone and essential listening for anyone interested in folk and world music traditions. Produced and edited by Robert Millis (Indian Talking Machine (2015) and Victrola Favorites (DTD 011CD, 2009). \"Actually, I think my playing is probably more derived from the folk music records that I heard; Middle Eastern music, Indian music... for years I had something called Music On The Desert Road, which was an album with all kinds of different ethnic music. I used to listen to that all the time.\" --Frank Zappa, 1993 (from an interview in Guitarist Magazine, talking about an LP released by Deben in 1956 using a few edited versions of the music included on this compilation.) 160 pages, cloth bound cover with four CDs: 45 pages of photographs and 50 pages of detailed recording notes. Introductions by Jharna Bose Bhattacharya, Robert Millis and WG Archer.
Includes recordings of: Students of the Salonica Quaker Girl\'s School Dance of Jerissos,Saban Akdao, Hasan Sayin, Reza Argin, Jumma Ali, Vakkas Kaplan, Feizi Kaplan, Hüseyin Eroğlu, Raif Karsligil, Imam and congregation of the mosque at Kilis, Dervish worshippers in the house of Sheikh Saud Mawlawi, Nour Hanbali, Antone Noweh, Doureid Laham, Bashraf Sama\'i Taatyus, Andalusi Muwashshah, Hazim, Suleiman and friends, Al-Haj Hashim Mohammad, Shu\'aib Ibrahim, Abdul-KArim Al Azawi, Shu\'aib Ibrahim, Khalil Akrawi, Ostad Zareen Panje Bel, Gulfa-e-Ghani and Zareef, Ostad Abol-Hassan Saba, Sher Khoda, Darioosh Sefvat, Hamedanian, Shapoore Delshadi, Eskandare Ebrahimi and Orchestra, Eskandare Ebrahimi , Muhammad Hussein, Dost Muhammad, Abdul Kader, Saroj Narang, Jyotish CH. Choudhury, Kalipada Das, Bhona, Mangal Mukerjee, and Jai Chand Bhagat and Babu.
Track Listing:
Disc 1
01. Students of the Salonica Quaker Girl\'s School - Dance of Jerissos (Ierissos) 02:50 listen
02. Saban Akdao, cümbüs - Çiftetelli (gazel) 09:39 listen
03. Hasan Sayin, singer; Reza Argin, zurna; Jumma Ali, dhavul - Untitled 02:45 listen
04. Vakkas Kaplan, zurna; Feizi Kaplan, dhavul - Mahlo: Song of the Highway Men 02:44 listen
05. Hüseyin Eroglu, vocals, cura saz - Karacaoglan 05:16 listen
06. Raif Karsligil, unaccompanied vocals - Karayilan (Black Snake) 05:01 listen
07. Imam and congregation of the mosque at Kilis - Mevludin Nebevi (the prophet\'s birth) 05:36 listen
08. Performer unknown - Folksong from Outebeh, vocals and rababa (one stringed fiddle) 04:28 listen
09. Performer unknown - Bedouin Melody, Shebbabeh (flute) and darabuka (drum) 03:38 listen
10. Performer unknown - Bedouin dance from Katana 02:30 listen
11. Dervish worshippers in the house of Sheikh Saud Mawlawi - Maqam rasd (In praise of the prophet) 02:06 listen
12. Performer unknown - Sabah, played on the Ney (flute) 02:20 listen
13. Nour Hanbali, qanun; Antone Noweh, oud; Doureid Laham, darabuka - Suite in maqam rasd featuring Bashraf Sama\'i Taatyus and Andalusi Muwashshah 13:49 listen
Disc 2
01. Performer unknown - Taqsim (improvisation) on violin 03:19 listen
02. Hazim, rebab (bowed spike fiddle) - Ballad of the Shahlaan Family 10:16 listen
03. Unidentified coffee grinders (two different grinders, switching hands halfway through) - Bedouin coffee grinding beats 06:24 listen
04. Suleiman and friends, accompanied by rebab - Hijeni (a love song often sung while riding away on a horse) 06:16 listen
05. Al-Haj Hashim Mohammad, santoor (hammered dulcimer); Shu\'aib Ibrahim, joza (Iranian rebab); Abdul-Karim Al Azawi, dumbuk - Sharqi Dokah (love song) 08:40 listen
06. Shu\'aib Ibrahim, joza - Taqsim in maqam ajam 03:50 listen
07. Al-haj Hashim Mohammad Al-rejab, santoor; Shu\'aib Ibrahim, joza; Abdul-Karim Al-Azawi, dumbuk - Maqam hadidi 03:45 listen
08. Khalil Akrawi, vocals, spoons - Kasam-e-Meru (excerpt from a 25-minute piece) 01:49 listen
09. Ostad Zareen Panje Bel - Tar solo in humayun dastgah 10:45 listen
Disc 3
01. Gulfa-e-Ghani and Zareef, zarb - Train rhythm imitation 02:03 listen
02. Ostad Abol-Hassan Saba - Setar improvisation in mahour dastgah 02:40 listen
03. Sher Khoda, zarb - Shahnama 13:38 listen
04. Darioosh Sefvat - Santoor solo in isfahan dastgah 10:20 listen
05. Hamedanian, zarb - Baba Karam 12:36 listen
06. Shapoore Delshadi, tar - Tar solo in isfahan dastgah 06:36 listen
07. Eskandare Ebrahimi and Orchestra - Humayun 16:06 listen
Disc 4
01. Eskandare Ebrahimi - Setar improvisation in mahour dastgah 08:06 listen
02. Muhammad Hussein, zurna (horn); Dost Muhammad, dhol (kettle drum) - Atan (dance song) 04:01 listen
03. Dost Muhammad, dhol - Battle rhythm 01:29 listen
04. Abdul Kader, solo voice - Love song from Herat 02:52 listen
05. Performer unknown - Nose flute improvisation 02:34 listen
06. Performers unknown, harmonium, tabla - Sikh song on Hindu/Moslem unity 11:45 listen
07. Saroj Narang - Simla folk song 02:37 listen
08. Jyotish CH. Choudhury, sitar - Raga zila 07:04 listen
09. Kalipada Das, flute; unknown, anandalahari (friction drum) - Methosur (rural folk song) 04:02 listen
10. Unknown performers, clarinet and drum - Improvisation on film tune 02:34 listen
11. Bhona, sitar; Mangal Mukerjee, ghara (claypot drum) - Raga kafi 06:50 listen
12. Jai Chand Bhagat and Babu, vocals, cymbals, ektara - Bhajan (devotional song) 04:15 listen
13. Jai Chand Bhagat and Babu - Bhajan (devotional song) 04:48 listen
14. Temple bells and drums 02:34 listen
- Deben Bhattacharya\'s impressionistic, poetic travelogue written on the road from Paris to Calcutta in 1955, never before published.
- Deben Bhattacharya (1921-2001) was a field recordist, poet, filmmaker, musicologist, and amateur ethnomusicologist, based in Calcutta and Paris.
- Introductions by Jharna Bose Bhattacharya, Robert Millis and WG Archer.
- 43 tracks, over four hours of music, all recorded in 1955 featuring music from Bedouin camps, Turkey, Iran, Iraq, Afghanistan, Jordan, Pakistan and Greece.
- 160 pages, cloth bound cover with four CDs.
- 45 pages of photographs; 50 pages of detailed recording notes.
https://sublime-frequencies.bandcamp.com/album/paris-to-calcutta-men-and-music-on-the-desert-road
|
2018 |
€52.50 |
|
| BLACK GLASS ENSEMBLE |
Arise from the Twilight |
CD |
Note. These recordings combine signals from mixing desk output and ambient microphone placement. Elements of the performance were conducted with no amplified signal. Consequently, these brief passeages appeared only on the ambient signal and are correspondingly quiet.
Acknowledgements:
Evan Henderson and colleagues, the Queen’s Hall, Edinburgh; Alison Johnson, the Coach House, Athelstaneford
Black Glass Ensemble acknowledge with gratitude the assistance of Creative Scotland, Help Musicians UK, Hope Scott Trust
credits
released November 6, 2020
Michael Begg; witness engines, data, electronics, keyboard, erosions
Douglas Caskie; tuned and bespoke percussion
Jen Cuthbertson; French horn
Neil Cuthbertson; trumpet
Clea Friend, cello, voice
Julia Lungu; violin
Aisling O’Dea; violin
Ben Ponton; VLF receiver, electronics, field recordings, lapsteel guitar, forensics
Nicole M Boitos Hayworth; voice (narration) track 2
Clodagh Simonds; voice (celestial vocal clusters) track 4
https://omnempathy.bandcamp.com/album/arise-from-the-twilight
"The first full length release from award winning experimental composer Michael Begg’s groundbreaking ensemble captures the group’s debut performance at Edinburgh’s Queen’s Hall in the final days before lockdown.
Black Glass, comprises members of the Scottish Chamber Orchestra alongside Begg and fellow experimental artist, Ben Ponton (:zoviet*france:). Here, they invoke an immersive and deeply moving medium of ambient sound in which processed electronics, field recordings, atmospheric receivers and live sonified streaming data from environmental and earth observation agencies combine with elegiac passages of strings, brass and tuned percussion to realise Begg’s vision of a new music that speaks to our growing sense of solastalgia*
* the term combining solace and pain, coined by philosopher Glenn Albrecht in 2005 to articulate the sense of existential distress caused by living through environmental change.
As musical director, Begg provides his troupe with both scores and the encouragement and support which enables the world class players to step out of their comfort zone and into an uncharted territory requiring them to improvise with satellite positional data, live weather systems, audio streams of calving glaciers – not to mention the experience of having their playing captured and returned to them live as processed loops.
Arise From The Twilight captures the realisation of one of the most compelling new fusions of contemporary classical and experimental music of recent times."
|
2020 |
€15.00 |
|
| BLACK SUN PRODUCTIONS & VAL DENHAM |
Somewhere between Desire and Despair |
CD |
"After a couple of collaborations on tracks, Black Sun Productions finally get together with Val Denham for a full length release. Val Denham might be best known for her paintings that have appeared on releases by Marc and the Mambas, Psychic TV... but over the past few years she has been releasing short-run CD-Rs of her lo-fi sounds. Homosexual overtones inform much of Black Sun Productions material but with Val Denham, a transgendered figure, the focus moves on to a new form of sexuality.
Somewhere Between Desire and Despair opens with the haunting atmospheric drone of 'A Tale of Two Cities' with Denham reciting lines from Charles Dickens. From then on much of the first half of Somewhere Between Desire and Despair flirts with various forms of electronic music. It's clear from 'Cobalt Blue' that Massimo and Pierce haven't forgotten their past association with Coil, as it picks up on the rhythmic shuddering Coil-like electronics with Denham's voice pitched deep and treated, alongside passages of sped-up processed vocals. Val Denham is something of a character and, at times, she sounds like a Northern housewife reared on a diet of glam records. 'Stars', a Denham collaboration with Testing Vault, goes all downbeat with dark electronics, featuring Denham's idiosyncratic take on a pop vocal. Denhams' voice is almost helium-fuelled on the disco-chug of 'We Are The Hydrogen'. 'Eat Us Mother!' foregoes the electronics for a surprisingly sparkly run through post-punk dynamics. Denham picks up on a rock persona teasing the listener with her shrieky and screechy vocal careering over booming bass and discordant guitar scrapes from her longtime collaborator Oli Novadniek.
Things slow down in the next half with a collection of evocative tracks, much in the vein of Black Sun Productions fantastic OperettAmoralle. The disorientating queasy electronics of 'Absinthe' has Denham relating a tale of alcohol abuse, evoking the Green fairy alongside some effective harmonium and harmonica drone. Many of the tracks here use mournful orchestration taken from a track called 'Morphium' - though the source isn't given. 'Andromeda' taps into the mind of the transgendered artist. It's almost poetic as Denham delivers a spoken vocal in her homely Northern tones. Much more poignant is 'Flowers In The Trenches' which tells of transgendered and transexual soldiers who fought in WWI. Amidst sombre strings and military snare drum rolls Denham speaks of those unnamed and forgotten soldiers who were, in fact, "women in their heads" fighting in another "man-made catastrophe" and "suffered for nothing". Enlightening stuff.
Val Denham really shines on the campy theatrics of 'I Try To Kill The Man' over the Weimar Berlin cabaret sounds of 'Das Lila Lied', an early 20th century homosexual anthem, here performed by the Ophelia Orchestra. Similarly 'Emerald Green' uses the score of Marlene Dietrich's 'Such Trying Times'. Denham is finely positioned to evoke the decadence, sexual transgression and dark wit with her sarcasm and style. Black Sun Productions have, of course, produced their own musical tribute on the works of Bertolt Brecht to tremendous effect and Denham's contributions don't disappoint.
Somewhere Between Desire and Despair is much more fun-filled than previous Black Sun Productions. It strikes a balance between electronic music and cabaret music, and a balance between poignancy and absurdity. It's not the most coherent release, partly due to the varied list of collaborators, but Val Denham manages to carry it all off with a verve and panache, informed by her strength of character, her honesty and humour. Somewhere Between Desire and Despair comes in a 6-panel digipak with wonderful representations of Val Denham's artwork."
[Review by Compulsion]
www.touretterecords.com
|
2009 |
€13.00 |
|
| BLACKSHAW, JAMES |
The Glass Bead Game |
LP + CD |
"I'm extremely pleased to announce that James Blackshaw will now be releasing his absolutely spellbinding music via Young God Records. He has received attention as a 12-string guitar prodigy / virtuoso. He used to be in punk bands in England, but then he started listening to people like John Fahey, Robbie Basho, etc., and I assume locked himself in a room for 12 hours a day for several years and just played constantly. It takes intense discipline and a religious commitment to get to the place where he's at with his instrument. But his music isn't about his "skill." It's not showy. It's deeply meditative--the secret language of a pre-thought, pre-dream place. "Blackshaw plays soulful and kaleidoscopic, ever-shifting mantra cycles of incredible beauty. Just his guitar by itself, with its swirling overtones, cascading notes, and a thousand points of light, resembles an orchestra, but with further orchestration--piano, strings, wind, and vocals--the music is positively cinematic and mesmerizing. "The 18-minute-plus gem on this record is 'Arc,' performed on piano with the sustain pedal on full throttle. The rush of sound created by the overtones from Heaven, augmented by strings and wind, when played at proper (full) volume, is one of the most thrilling pieces of music I've heard in years. It takes a rare and single-minded courage and commitment to make music with such a powerfully positive force at its heart, especially in these troubled times. This is healing music that reaches for what's possible, just beyond our grasp. It is stellar... "Blackshaw is joined on this record by Joolie Wood (Current 93, Simon Finn) on violin, clarinet, and flute, and John Contreras (Baby Dee and Current 93) on cello. Lavinia Blackwall (Directing Hand) is a classically trained singer and contributed vocals." [Michael Gira/Young God Records]
"... We totally love how his style and aesthetic remains intact, whether he’s sitting at the piano or with a guitar on his knee, his close attention to detail and use of hypnotic, emotionally captivating melodies shines throughout. Notes flickering and shimmering about as overtones soar above like clouds.
There’s so much about this record that you can get fully wrapped up in, so much detail it would be impossible to absorb it all in just one listen. We’ve already been listening to Glass Bead Game for over a week, and still new details keep popping out of the woodwork. And to top it off, beautifully fitting, earth-toned artwork of various birds of prey perfectly adorns the album with some magical visual hex. By far our favorite Blackshaw album to date and quite possibly his best, highly and fully recommended!" [Aquarius Records]
|
2009 |
€17.00 |
|
| BLEEDING HEART NARRATIVE |
All that was missing we never had in the World |
CD |
Wiederveröffentlichung des Debut-Albums, mit Bonus-Tracks. Eine erstaunliches Zusammentreffen von Noise & Drones mit Folk / Postrock und kammermusikalischen Klängen, traumverwoben und verwandelt in sensible Fliessmuster...
"...In The World". Reissue of the stunning debut BHN album from spring 2008 (ltd. 200). Working with a constantly evolving autumnal orchestra of layered cellos, repeating piano melodies, hushed vocals and mutant textures of sound and noise, Bleeding Heart Narrative has constructed a unique, haunting and compelling album. BHN is the work of sole composer, artist and producer Oliver Barrett, working in the live spectrum as a septet. Presented in a digipak with the new and exclusive bonus track 'Blueskywards'. We can't recommend this highly enough!" [label info]
"Present album was originally released as a limited edition of 200 copies on Tataruga Records. One year after the original release British label Cold Spring Records now gives a wider audience the chance to get introduced to this interesting project. Behind the name Bleeding Heart Narrative, you find the London-based composer Oliver Barrett, who proves his insight knowledge in the world of acoustic sounds. Important elements on the album titled "All that was missing we never had in the world" is the sound of acoustic instruments such as cello, piano and guitar. Sometimes these acoustic sounds live their very own life in the music, other times the sounds are woven into electronic dronescapes, giving the music an ambient feeling. Musically, the album floats in-between ambient and postrock, mostly kept in trance-inducing atmospheres. A central part of the album is the excellent vocals of Alastair Bailey, that makes the overall style remind of the excellent joint venture-project between ambient-maestro Robert Rich and guitarist/bassist Rick Davies, Amoeba. As the album-title and the project-name suggest, the feeling on the album is melancholic and fragile. A beautiful and emotive experience that will appeal to listeners of dreamy postrock and acoustic based ambient." [NM / Vital Weekly]
|
2009 |
€13.00 |
|
| BOCKSHOLM |
Caged inside the Beast of the Forge |
CD |
"The two drunken bastards from Bocksholm (Peter Andersson of Raison D'être and Lina Baby Doll of Deutsch Nepal) are finally back with a new album and this time they have unleashed the Beast. Any mythological idea that Boxholm has become a great peaceful Eden is from now on eternally disproved. No one is safe anymore, not even the horror of Kisa. Birath - the Beast of the forge - is back and we are all captives inside his devilish mind, at least for 60 minutes after pressing play. Enjoy with a bottle of moonshine." [label info]
www.wrotycz. com
"Maybe the name Peter Andersson is a common name in Sweden, and hence it's no surprise that we have two musicians from the world of darker electronic music are called like. One we better know as Lina from Deutsch Nepal and the other one is better known as Raison D'etre. Both release their music is a parallel universe which is seldom covered by Vital Weekly, releases on such labels as Cold Meat Industry. The two Peters found each other in a project named Bocksholm, a small village where Lina used to live in the summertime (and which is actually called Boxholm). According Raison D'Etre, the music 'reflects the bad childhood environment of the ironworks in Boxholm.' There is indeed some sort of metallic rumble going on. The children of the village with iron rods against the fence of the garden, in which two children with the same name create music? Maybe that is some such thing that this music evokes here. Maybe I just read that into the music based on what I found. It's not difficult to
see any of their 'other' musical interests in this music. It's all highly atmospheric, drone like, but also with a fair amount of rhythm loops, a bit of orchestral inspired movement, but also it's perhaps less dark than one should expect based on their respective past releases. There is an interesting 'experimental' component in this music. Maybe 'electro-acoustic' is too much of a term, but it's not all about heavy dark ambient drone music, but more like a nice free, adventurous album. Let's try to work with this sound, let's loop that piece of clanging metal, and oh 'you know we did a bit of voices like we did before, in 'Forging Hammers'. That is the sort of spirit, which adds to the joy for the listener, I think. Despite it's occasional doomy character, these boys certainly had fun doing this." [FdW/Vital Weekly]
|
2013 |
€13.00 |
|
| BOLANOS, CESAR |
Peruvian Electroacoustic and Experimental Music (1964-1970) |
do-CD |
"César Bolaños is one of the leading artists of the Latin American avant-garde of the mid 20th century. Born in Lima, Peru in 1931, he was part of an astonishing generation of Peruvian composers: Edgar Valcárcel, Olga Pozzi-Escot, Alejandro Núñez Allauca, Leopoldo La Rosa, Enrique Pinilla and Celso Garrido-Lecca, among others. After studying piano at the National Conservatory in Lima, and following classes with the Belgian composer Andrés Sas (who after leaving Europe settles in Peru), he would join the group 'Renovación' (together with Valcárcel, Pozzi-Escot, Pulgar Vidal and Sas); with them Bolaños began a series of presentations and edited a music magazine. He had already composed brief pieces for piano and music for a chamber orchestra. At that time Bolaños is interested in the work of Stravinsky, Bartók and Schoenberg. But he's still far from the sound radicalism that he would reach in the future. In 1957 he traveled to New York City to study composition at the Manhattan School of Music and electronics at RCA. He met the Argentine composer Alberto Ginastera, who offered him a scholarship to study at the Latin-American Center of High Musical Studies (CLAEM) in Buenos Aires, Argentina. On his arrival in 1963, Bolaños became involved in the design and development of the electronic music laboratory of the CLAEM. There he composed his first electronic piece and the first work generated in the above laboratory: 'Intensity and Height' (1964), inspired by a poem of César Vallejo. Bolaños also composed 'Interpolations' (1966) for electric guitar and magnetic tape, 'Spaces I' (1966), 'II' (1967), 'III' (1968) for magnetic tape, the experimental audio-visual cantata 'Alpha-Omega' (1967), instrumental and mixed pieces like 'Flexum' (1969), 'I-10-AIFG/Rbt-1' (1968), and, with a commission from Radio Bremen (Germany), 'Nacahuasu' (1970), inspired by the Che Guevara diaries. Bolaños also experimented with computers, and composed two pieces with the mathematician Mauricio Milchberg. 'Sialoecibi' (1970): ESEPCO I (computer sound-expressive structure)* for piano and a recitator-mime-actor (a work that satirizes the organization language initials from the 1950's) and 'Song without words', ESEPCO II (1970) 'Homage to the unpronounced words' for piano (2 performers) and tape. For the composition of these pieces Bolaños and Milchberg introduce into the computer parameters to have the machine generate a composition from the information obtained by the composer's production. These recordings bring together for the first time a definitive edition of his work on CD." [label info]
www.pogus.com
"Electronic music from Peru? Pogus boss Al Margolis goes with his search for some of the exotic, unknown composers from the most obscure parts of the world. Carlos Bolanos was born in Lima, Peru in 1931, who also composed for piano and chamber orchestra. In 1963, while in Buenos Aires he was introduced to electronic music, which he continued to compose until 1970. After 1973 he was back in Peru, but without any further means to continue this line of work and devoted the rest of his time investigating pre-Hispanic instruments. Now for the first time his electronics appear on compact disc. Only the first piece, 'Intensidad Y Altura' is pure electronical piece; all the others combine electronics with other, 'real' instruments. About one hundred minutes here of what is best called 'difficult' music - the germanic ernste music. I must have written this before, but I am not the most right person to do this music any justice. This is a highly serious mixture of avant-garde classical music in
combination with electronic sounds. My favorite is 'Cancion Sin Palabras, ESEPCO II' for two piano's and tape, which is intense at times, soft at times and has a great touch to it, including some scarping and bending sounds. The other pieces were not bad either, but not all the time worked for these classically untrained ears. Definitely an interesting release, but perhaps I wished for some more electronics."
[FdW, Vital Weekly]
|
2010 |
€18.00 |
|
| BORGA, ASCANIO |
Altered States |
do-CD |
disc 1: recorded in january 2010
disc 2: recorded in february 2011
remastered in v2k studio
ab - treated electric guitar
the music contained in this album was recorded in two single live improvisations in studio - no overdubs or additional effects were successively added in the recording
artwork and layout by ab
portrait of ab by erika bonanni
thanks: giuseppe verticchio
© sonic boundaries sb001
https://ascanioborga.bandcamp.com/album/altered-states
"Like listening to a painter attack the canvas while drinking absinthe in the other room, Altered States is a two-disc, ninety-minute collection of solo guitar vignettes by Ascanio Borga, his first on new label Sonic Boundaries. Track titles hang off the same, great chain of roiling, evolving being – “Magma”, “Acid Landscape”, “Harsh Ground”, “Raw Science Loops” – and Borga works quickly but methodically. Altered States is formalist in the sense that no heed is paid historic, political and cultural context, all attention instead focused on the materiality of the art.
Disc one was recorded one day in January 2010, disc two also a single day, one year and one month later. Dark green outside, vital-organ pink inside. Played and treated live, no additional fiddling or overdubbing, a dozen states of mind (even grace) passionately expressed. The cumulative effect is volcanic, droning, sputtering worlds being formed, others being pulverized down to cellular level, ancient in gut feel, ablating all other thoughts. You can´t help but concentrate. Raw indulgence, visceral gratification."
[Stephen Fruitman - avantmusicnews.com/2015]
"It's hard to believe but it seems that I wrote about Ascanio Borga three times in Vital Weekly, in issue 550, 600 and 657, but not after that. I have no idea why there is such a long gap in producing some new music (and I surely would have believed it wasn't that long ago), but he manages now to release a double CD of recent works. Like before Borga's main instrument is the guitar but unlike before it's just the guitar and no percussion, wind chimes, Japanese carillon, frog guiro, samples, found sounds and objects as on the last release. He writes that 'Altered States' is an album of 'guitar solos' and that they were all recorded live in the
studio, with no additional overdubs. That still is something that leaves many options open, and Borga certainly explores a few roads here. Drones are, obviously, an important part of these twelve pieces (close to ninety minutes in total), with some of these being viciously loud and noisy, or, as in 'Magma' or 'Radiance' with an orchestral touch. Sometimes there is a more rock like approach to his guitar sound and Borga layers many of these on top of each other: effects such as loopers, delay and reverb play an important role, as well amplification. In 'Harsh Ground'
the resemblance with guitar sound is virtually gone in favour of a more abstract, controlled feedback. A minority of the pieces consist of more open ended strumming of the six strings, which I think is a pity; the release could have used a little more variation I think. The balance is now in favour of the noisy nightmares of burning distortion boxes, wandering off in the endless void of reverb and feedback. I think a stricter selection of pieces, ultimately fitting on a single disc, would have made a much stronger release. But now, spread out over two discs, this is just a 'great' one as well." [FdW/Vital Weekly]
|
2015 |
€12.00 |
|
| BORISOV, ALEXEI / OLGA NOSOVA / DAVE PHILLIPS |
Borinosophil |
CD |
listen: https://dave-phillips.bandcamp.com/album/--2
Alexei Borisov - Guitar, Electronics, Voice
Olga Nosova - Drums, Electronics, Objects
Dave Phillips - Bass, Electronics, Voice, Field Recordings
released by Monotype Records, Warsaw in an 'Ecopack' sleeve. artwork by dp.
source material recorded in Moscow in the summer of 2009. most was improvised in alexei's living-room on tiny speakers with an assemblage of instruments and objects. one track was recorded in a studio with drums, guitar, bass and vocals. the resulting hours of recorded material were analysed - most of it was dismissed - the remains were taken apart and reassembled into 5 distinctive and epic sound-compositions. loud intimate music.
arranged 2010/2011 & mastered May 2011 in Zürich by dp.
REVIEW courtesy of Frans De Waard/Vital Weekly # 839 (July 2012)
This disc has the regular performing duo of Russia's finest, Alexei Borisov and Olga Nosova. Together they traveled the world, playing together but also performing with others, such as Anton Nikkila, Matthieu Werchowski, Dora Bleu, Thomas Buckner, Tom Smith, Jandek, Anton Mobin and a_spirale and somewhere along the lines they bumped into Dave Phillips, who is best known for his radical approach to noise, silence, performance and video. This trio worked together in june 2009 in Moscow and the recordings were later on edited by Phillips. It combines the energy unleashed by Borisov/Nosova together with the more continuous sound world of Phillips and occasional rapid editing from him. It seems to me that all three go off their usual path a bit. Its not as loud as I would expect from Phillips (but maybe I am not listening in the same volume as he plays live… actually I am sure of it) and perhaps also less object based as I would expect and it seems less improvised for the duo, although I am not sure. But that leads however to music that is quite good. Densely orchestrated electronics, in which the voice of Nosova is there, but pushed away it seems, and throughout the music has a hypnotic, psychedelic feeling to it. Great stuff.
Includes unlimited streaming of БОРИНОСОФИЛ via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more. less |
2012 |
€12.00 |
|
| BOW GAMELAN ENSEMBLE |
Great Noises that fill the Air |
CD |
Since 1983, Bow Gamelan Ensemble have inspired generations of artists with their radical practices and explosive performances. Charged with their individual virtuosity in performance art, avant-garde music and kinetic sculpture, their sound installations and performances are immersed in an orchestra of instruments made from scrap metal, electric motors, river barges and domestic objects including glass sheets, light bulbs and fireworks. A dissonance between 'noise' and 'meaningful utterance’ that will astonish the ears and ravish the imagination with unearthly magic.
Guests: Z'EV, Nicola Kate Heys, Thames Steam Launch Co., Eel Pie Marine.
30th anniversary reissue of the sought-after LP from 1988, on CD for the first time. Mastered by Denis Blackham (Skye Mastering). Digipak.
'Great Noises That Fill The Air', the first retrospective of Bow Gamelan Ensemble, runs 27th October - 15th December 2018 at Cooper Gallery Dundee, with two special performances on 26th October and 24th November:
www.dundee.ac.uk/cooper-gallery/exhibitions/bowgamelanensemblegreatnoisesthatfilltheair/
...................................................................................
Embodying an urgently creative and discursive space resonating with improvisation, camaraderie, provocation and antagonism, the East London performers are driven by the uniquely subversive and collective sensibilities of Anne Bean, the late Paul Burwell and renowned sculptor Richard Wilson.
The ‘instruments’ used in their performances are specially constructed, mostly from scrap metal, electric motors and glass, and produce a wide variety of sounds; from the deep, organ like sounds of the Pyrophones and the tumultuous din of The Thundersheet, through a gamut of percussive timbres and dynamic ranges.
Weirdest band in the world:
weirdestbandintheworld.com/2018/10/15/weird-band-of-the-week-bow-gamelan-ensemble/ |
2018 |
€12.00 |
|
| BRADLEY, JULIAN |
Miss Modern Venus |
CD-R |
Rare Zusammenstellung von live-Aufnahmen des VIBRACATHEDRAL ORCHESTRA-Mannes. Stränger, ächzender, an jeder Ecke dronender low-fi noise...
“ Seems an appropriate start to the UK leg of the Apoplexy journey to issue a disc by Leeds own Mr Bradley, known to many as one of the fab Vibracathedral Orchestra. Julian presents us with a selection of live recordings from a visit to Belgium last year and boy do they hit the spot. Murky loops and growling substrata is the order of the day here and in the family spirit of this small industry JB is joined by Laurent Cartuyvels on bass... Laurent runs the Veglia label and has just released a swell Julian Bradley compilation cd which I urge you to check out along with this wee gem. ” [label description]
|
2003 |
€8.00 |
|
| BRAND, STEVE |
Looking into the other |
CD-R |
STEVE BRAND (also known before as AUGUR) mixes electronics, field recordings and sounds from "real" instruments for a very mellow deep ambient journey, similar to ALIO DIE or ROBERT RICH... but he also has parts of very "pure" concrete sounds, that are more challenging...
Great full-colour artwork / cover, showing nature, symbols, stones.
"Steve Brand has been creating sound art and visual art since the mid-80's. From 1995 to 2003 he was active as Augur, creating obscure and organic music which was released on many labels worldwide, including The Foundry, Manifold, Alluvial, Self-Abuse and others.
During the years he had the chance to collaborate with artists such as Jeph Jerman (Hands To, Animist Orchestra), Rick Kitch (I Am Umbrella, Lucky Cricket), PBK, James P. Keeler (Wilt), Brooke Oates (Birds of Tin), etc.
His atmospheres, alarmingly austere, with varying shades of gray, are drenched in allusion and a heightened sense of cinematic noir for the listener. According to his own words, "emotional aspects of a recording always come first".
Consisting of six long tracks, "Looking Into the Other" takes up where "Awakensong" (...released on Afe in April 2006...) left off, expanding the exploration of twilight worlds.
The album utilizes bells, synthesizers, voice, various flutes, medicine drums, cymbals, fiddle, rattles, prayer bowls, etc.
"Looking Into the Other" begins with the ritual horns introduction of "The Flower of Life", a piece full of pathos which is subsequently filled with morbid sythesizers lines and insects sounds provided by Johnathan Benham.
"Where Two Rivers Meet" starts as a percussive number and then proceeds with keyboards and flute intertwining each other before percussions re-emerge towards the end of the track.
Clocking at more than thirteen minutes, "Djehuti, the Architect" is one of the longest and most complex tracks on the album. Its structure keeps on changing as different percussions, cymbal, voices and synthesizers flow in and out of the mix. Listening to this track is quite an experience.
"Columns of Light" it's a quieter and dreamy piece constructed on floating keyboards sequences and background rattles, bells, chimes and other small objects / hand-held percussions.
"Looking Into the Other", the title-track, was already featured on our 10th year celebrative on-line compilation in late 2005, the one on this album is an improved version. With its flutes, voices, phased drones and repetitive drumming, this track has a strong introspective quality.
The fourteen minutes long "Wrapped in Leaves" closes the album with a mocking laugh. A shorter version of this track previously appeared on the "Things Asunder" compilation released by The Foundry.
Once again, with this work Steve Brand has created an high quality and excellent album of deeply emotional music, and proved himself as one of the most inspired authors in contemporary Ritual Ambient.
"I am reaching into the interior realities, the meaning behind the symbols we accept as everyday reality, into the dream of the abundant natural self that knows no boundaries or limitations." [label description]
www.aferecords.com
|
2007 |
€10.00 |
|
| BRUME |
Two Characters |
10inch |
"Through more than 25 years of existence, the French composer CHRISTIAN RENOU, aka BRUME, has developed a unique 'handwriting' style within the experimental underground, something one may call "atmospheric Musique concrète". It is the marriage of many concrete sounds, hand-played acoustic instruments and electronic drones / noises that are arranged in a manner somewhat akin to a "narrative" - highly emotive and often evolving in a dramatic way. We are delighted to have received two tracks for the Substantia Innominata series that are simply extraordinary: expressing the wordless, indescribable oscillations arising from mental states, the qualia and conditions of two fictional 'souls', the aura of a personality.
Compounded by electronics (synths), field recordings (door jarring, water), alto sax, gramophone, tapes, various processed voices, percussion, bass, home-made instruments, both 'characters' start as a rather smooth ambient pieces that develop & expand into orchestral, mysterious post-industrial entities, showing a compelling process of densification.
Lim. 500 copies on lovely coloured vinyl (mixed blue, white & black), artwork by Mal Hoeschen (MULTER)." [label info]
www.substantia-innominata.de
"One of the things I like about Drone Records sub-division Substantia Innominata is that it doesn't exclusively deals with the darker than dark drone/ambient music which one would maybe expect from a series of 'works inspired by or related to "the unknown" around or within us. There is also room for sound collage, such as with RLW, Column One and perhaps to a lesser extent Illusion Of Safety. Not always the most obvious names and Brume is another one of those less obvious names, I would think. Christian Renou has been active since close to thirty years and in his early years was active with releasing cassettes, in the early 90s a bunch of CDs and in the last decade or so a bit more sparse with releases (or perhaps it has moved out of my sight?). In the old days his sound theory seemed 'no silence please', and using electronics in a very raw sort of musique concrete manner. On his new record, he uses "electronics (synths), field recordings (door jarring, water), alto sax, gramophone,
tapes, various processed voices, discreet percussion, discreet bass and home made instruments. He paints portraits of two characters, as indicated by the title of the record, and the two pieces, 'Zaklasta-re the beautiful' and 'Glazüük, the dreamer'. In the first the beautiful is unveiled through some dark drones, which move dark and majestically, whereas on top we hear occasionally the alto-saxophone, wailing about, in and out of the mix. This is a fine piece, more ambient and drone like perhaps then you'd expect from Brume, but the saxophone and the occasional electronic sounds add a certain weirdness to the piece. The other side is perhaps less dreamy than it would suggest, and moves in various places, maybe an uneasy night rest? It's in the second half of the piece that we land into a dreamy world via controlled feedback and reverb, and before that, perhaps more the uneasy REM sleep? Here we find voices slipping in and out of the mix; another sign of musique concrete past. An excellent record. It made me lean towards my CD collection and pick some older works of Brume to play in the more quiet hours of the evening." [FdW/Vital Weekly]
"One of many characters in the whole post-industrial diaspora who we have not really carried in part due to the difficulty in getting a hold of many of Brume's releases on small European imprints and in part due to not knowing where to start, especially with a catalog that tracks somewhere around 100 releases over 25 years. So, we'll take our cue from Drone Records and their Subtantia Innominata series of 10"s for this introduction into the woolly musique concrete and viral electronics from the French artist Christian Renou. His is a very creepy type of sound design with B-side backmasking, nightmarish vocals all laced throughout atonal, sci-fi tension, squiggled radiophonic explorations, and dark ambient swells, it's almost a cross between the incidental moments of the Logan's Run soundtrack and Coil's Musick To Play In The Dark. The A-side situates a low-end thrumming that's all brooding and ominous in the Svarte Greiner and Deathprod means of shadow-sound manipulation; but out of nowhere comes a crushed horn that's probably a saxophone, but sounds way more like a Tibetan horn with an unkempt scratchiness and apocalyptic fervor made all the more evident through a slow and heavy mechanical iron-on-stone hammering that brings this track to its definitive end." [Aquarius Records]
|
2013 |
€12.00 |
|
| BUCKNER, THOMAS |
New Music for Baritone & Chamber Ensemble |
CD |
"For 30 years Thomas Buckner has carved out a very special niche - that of a champion of the avant-garde. In concert halls throughout the world, his "baritone-mastery" has astonished both audiences and critics. He has an extraordinarily flexible voice; his experience and ability ranges from madrigals, lieder, opera, free improvisation, extended techniques, all the way to electronically processed wordless minimalist song. This wonderful new collection of works for baritone and chamber ensemble were all written specifically for Mr. Buckner.
Annea Lockwood is known for her explorations of the rich world of natural acoustic sounds and environments, in works ranging from sound art and installations, through text-sound and performance art to concert music. Lockwood¹s Luminescence is a song cycle based on eight poems from Etel Adnan¹s 'Sea¹. It falls into three movements, opening and closing with Adnan¹s voice. The piece celebrates their three-way friendship and their shared love of the Pacific Ocean.
Tania León, born in Cuba, a vital personality on today¹s music scene, is highly regarded as a composer and conductor recognized for her accomplishments as an educator and advisor to arts organizations. León¹s Canto is a song cycle for baritone and mixed ensemble. It is: rhythmically driven lines orbiting each song around its core... multi-dimensional checkerboard of harmonic colors...Diaspora of images in words. Poetic voices of Cuban roots at the center of a musical universe.
Petr Kotik is a performing musician (conductor and flutist) and the founder and director of the S.E.M. Ensemble which expanded in 1992 as The Orchestra of the S.E.M. Ensemble (debut at Carnegie Hall tribute to John Cage with soloist David Tudor). Kotik¹s Conceptuality/Life was created specifically for Thomas Buckner. The baritone solo is sung simultaneously with instrumental sections excerpted from Kotik¹s Chamber Music (1982). There is no general score and the superimpositions of individual sections are prearranged. The pulse of the music unites all simultaneously performed parts into one homogenous unit." [label info]
www.mutablemusic.com
|
2008 |
€15.00 |
|
| BVDUB |
Ten Times the World lied |
CD |
Brock Van Wey, aka bvdub, is undoubtedly among the greatest and most prolific artists in the world, whose music directly affects the heart, soul, and human mind. His soundscapes spread in the air as if they were delicate and slow movements of the northern lights, or the wind that blows on the flowers of the trees in spring. There is something divine in bvdub's music, and Glacial Movements is more than honored to welcome another great work for the world, Ten Times the World Lied, his fifth album on the Roman label, as he nears forty overall. Ten songs impossible to describe in words, but which will breach the heart of all those who lose themselves in this sonic wonder. Completely devoid of vocals for the first time ever, Brock spins but layers upon layers of divine clouds, gradually darkening, gradually closing in - expertly mastered by the artist himself, culminating in arguably the best album he has composed for Glacial Movements to date.
This album was recorded live in one take, over ten months, on the tenth of each month. Each in memory of a time the world lied.
https://glacialmovements.bandcamp.com/album/ten-times-the-world-lied
"With nearly 40 albums to his credit, it’s a surprise to hear that this is bvdub‘s first album without vocals. After all, we’re an instrumental-based site and we’ve reviewed a lot of them. But to be fair, Brock van Wey usually uses vocals in a textural fashion, using time-stretch and loop; although vocal, his albums haven’t seemed vocal; they have seemed like dreams.
That part doesn’t change in Ten Times the World Lied, a generous 78:45 excursion into blissful ambient drone. Tones rise and fall, undulate and flatten. Orchestral instruments rise from the depths and float for a while, searching for land before they descend once more. Fans should be overjoyed at the seamless tone, as each track gently fades before another gently rises. Although the lack of vocals pushes it from the foreground, the album is ideal as the backdrop to nearly any task: reading, writing, cooking. It casts a pleasant cloud around the house, a welcome fog of sound, a white noise spirit to overwhelm any tiny real-life disturbance.
And yet, real life is present for those who wish to look deeper. van Wey has always resisted any single interpretation of his music, but neither has he squashed attempts to paint over the tabula rasa. And so one might make something of the fact that most tracks are 7:52 in length (a few being 7:53), making the connection to Ukraine Flight 752, shot down over Iran earlier this year; or the leap year 752, marked by conquerings and successions. Since the only description is that each track is “in memory of a time the world lied,” one might jump to all manner of conclusions. “Not Yours to Say” might refer to the cover-up of the Iranian government; “Not Yours to Build” to the Tower of Babel; “Not Yours to Take” to the slavery trade; “Not Yours to Find” to early “discoverers” of settled land; “Not Yours to Rule” to the bloody aftermath. The most intriguing title, “Not Yours to Know,” strikes to the heart of the human condition as it pertains to faith: for now we see through a glass, darkly.
It’s fun to play match-up. And we know that the world lies in all manner of ways, from the political to the commercial (for example, promises that a product will bring success, a procedure will make one beautiful, and the next movie to open will be fantastic). From the titles and theme, one might expect an angry or accusatory album, but instead, as with most of van Wey’s oeuvre, the tone is one of higher surrender. There are truths we may never know, but there is also comfort, majesty, awe. As the organ tones surge in “Not Yours to Know,” one may think of grand cathedrals, of encountering the divine not through word, but through beauty and symbol. Ten tracks, each recorded in one take on the tenth of the month: in numerology, ten defined as “constant change and flowing energy,” an apt description of van Wey’s work; but also the 10 plagues, the 10 Commandments, the perfect 10, the 10,000 x 10,000.
While listening, one might delve into numerology, symbolism and history; or simply allow the sounds of this album to conquer the anxieties of the day. The piano of “Not Yours to See” is like the voice of a soothing parent, encouraging one to sleep. The overall message (if there is one) seems to be one of comfort: The world has lied and continues to lie; but real truth is eternal." [Richard Allen / A Closer Listen] |
2020 |
€15.50 |
|
| CAPPAROS, OLIVIER & LIONEL MARCHETTI |
Equus |
CD |
"Please Note: This is a 33 minute CD.
Equus is a collaborative work of musique concrète recorded in 2001-02 on a commission from the INA GRM It is truly a delight for Pogus to add this title to our catalog. As Capparos notes: "Equus guides us through human memory and history. It may sound a bit strange that sound & music would appear as a "vehicle", or as we had cast a lead into a labyrinth. This brings us to the question of whether we are alive or not; travelling the path throughout these soundings would drive us down and up our consciousness and our listening, not to mention that we are dead or alive."
Olivier Capparos is an instrumental and electro-acoustic composer whose work encompasses philosophy and literature as well as music. Many of his compositions are focused on voice and its interpretation through loudspeakers. Capparos was composer in residence at the INA-GRM in Paris (2001), the Studio National des Arts Contemporains du Fresnoy (20023), and at the Argos Center in Bruxelles (2004). He has composed and conducted works for chamber orchestra, voice (soprano), violin, and piano, and has co-produced many other recordings and radio broadcasts with Lionel Marchetti throughout their long association.
Lionel Marchetti was born in France in 1967. His interest in music resides in the qualities of sound. He started to experiment by himself and later discovered the rich French corpus of musique concrète through Xavier Garcia. He is one of a handful of artists who in the mid- to-late 1990s took electro-acoustic music out of academic studios and into the free improvisation ring. A scholar who worked at the CFMI (Lyon) and INA-GRM studios and published a book on acousmatic composer Michel Chion, Marchetti developed a set-up of microphones and loudspeakers he uses on stage along with tape recorders, prepared CDs, motors and radios. He often refers to his instruments as an Œelectro-acoustic contraption¹. His musique concrète studio work incorporates sound collage and academic electro-acoustic composition, though the level of poetry and refusal of genre boundaries in his music puts him closer to Kristoff K. Roll and Luc Ferrari than Pierre Henry or Bernard Parmegiani. Following his encounter with Metamkine label owner and fellow sound experimentalist Jérôme Noetinger in the early 1990s, a series of live and improvisation-based projects would run parallel to his more academic career. The Marchetti-Noetinger duo was the first of such projects and remains the longest lasting one. They are also involved in the audio- visual project Le Cube. In addition, Marchetti performs with the influential improv collective Archipel (with Emmanuel Petit, Sophie Agnel, Fabrice Charles, Pascal Bathus, and Werchowski)." [label description]
www.pogus.com
"So mögen wir es: kurz und knackig und mit vielen Generalpausen. Lionel Marchetti und Olivier Capparos sind zwei Akteure, die mit elektroakustischen Klängen die Domäne der spinnert-verklausulierenden Raumklangforscher verlassen und ihr Werkeln und Forschen an allgemein ästhetische und fast schon philosophische Fragen koppeln. Equus, eine Reise durch flockiges Geknister, prutzelnde Plirrgeräusche, fauchend-hüstelndes Tongebäck und vieles mehr, dauert nur eine halbe Stunde. In dieser Zeitspanne nehmen sich die beiden Komponisten – benutzen wir das Wort doch ruhig hier! – nichts weniger vor, als in Klang der Frage nachzugehen, was es ausmacht, am Leben zu sein! Wow! Bitte Alexander Kluge nach ‘ner gescheiten Rezi fragen und mich das Ding weiter auf Köpfhörer liegen lassen. Supertolle Sounddusche!" [Zipo / Auf Abwegen] |
2009 |
€12.50 |
|
| CELER |
Discourses of the Withered |
CD |
"Celer is a husband (Will) and wife (Danielle) duo from California that use a variety of strings as the basis for their sound. Cello, viola, violin and the sounds are mixed in with field recordings, choir and then tape spliced in varying lengths to create reel-to-reel looping. Those sounds are then sampled, layered and processed. The result is a near orchestral drone. Though at times very haunting, it's brightly hazy ambient." [label info]
www.infractionrecords.com
|
2012 |
€14.00 |
|
| CISFINITUM |
The Bog |
CD |
"This album dedicated to the archetype of Toad in world's mythology and based on re-processed sounds of frogs, toads and swamps.I made this field recordings during my travels in China, India and Kavkaz , also i receieved a part of them from friendly sound artists as Mars F. Weillink (x-Vance Orchestra) , Andrea Marutti (Amon) and Roman Voronovski (Rombix).
Track 3 contains a looped voice by Dasha Baskakova and sounds recorded at Volkonski Dolmen using sine generator and dolmen original acoustic. Track 4 based on pitched loops of my violin and sounds from Mars. No any preset sounds/ synths used on this record.
*The term "toadstool" was often applied to poisonous mushrooms or to those. Between 1400 and 1600 A.D., this term were used synonymously with some mushrooms of umbrella-like cap-and-stem form.
*the myth of a Princess Frog exist in a different cultures. In Russia its a character of some russian magic tales of archaic times...Symbol of Princess Frog- is a frog keeping an arrow in mouth and with a crown on the head.
Similar myths also exist in Chinese and South-American cultures.The image of a princess frog goes back to an archetype of totem spouses whom the primitive hunter should "marry" that hunting has gone right. Wedding on this totem was symbolical, in special ritual. The myth which explained sense of ritual, told about a marriage on totem spouse so that the cultural hero had an opportunity to receive for people any blessings, good hunt etc..." [label info]
www.infinitefog.ru
"Of much more interest for this rag is the music from Cisfinitum, the musical project of E. Voronovsky and for this new release he invited a bunch of friends to send him field recordings of frogs, toads and swamps. Friends such as Mars F. Wellink (x-Vance Orchestra), Andrea Marutti (Amon) and Roman Voronovski (Rombix) but he himself taped also some of these during his travels in China, India and Kavkaz. The cover mentions several references towards toads, mushrooms and the Princess Frog myth. That too might by a bit gothic, one could think, but the music is quite nice. There is talk, on the website, of various pieces, but there is one long piece on the CD itself, and with some good will, you can dissect that to smaller parts, slowly merging into one another. Heavily processed field recordings, created by means of computer treatment, time stretching, lots and lots effects, mainly reverb, stretch out this like a moist swamp land, sucking the listener inside, but as the piece evolves,
and certainly the end bit, the last ten minutes, are very light, like a siren from the swamp singing for us. It's actually "pitched loops of my violin and sounds from Mars. No any pre-set sounds/ synths used on this record", which I thought was a nice bit of information. In terms of ambient, drone, soundscaping and such like, there is, perhaps, nothing new under the sun, but I thought this was not really a problem (if such would be a problem at all), as I wasn't looking for any of that. A highly enjoyable dark ambient album by one of Russia's best assets in this field." [FdW/Vital Weekly]
|
2013 |
€13.00 |
|
| CLOUWBECK |
Wolfrahm |
CD |
" 'Wolfrahm' is the latest work by UK artist Richard Skelton, who records under many different guises, including A Broken Consort and Carousell. It's the follow-up to 2007's "A Moraine", and continues his preoccupation with landscapes, land formation, erosion, decay and renewal. The album's title is a reference to the mineral ore that produces Tungsten - a metal, which amongst other things, is used to make violin strings. The music itself brims with a rich, textural ebb and flow - a sonorous drift of shifting layers, with dark seams of beautiful, bowed melodies and eddying, turbulent undertow." [label info]
www.shiningday.pl
"Clouwbeck is yet another pseudonym for the British ambient folk experimentalist Richard Skelton, following A Broken Consort, Carousell, and a couple others which haven't yet found their way through these doors. Each of his monikers has its own slight yet particular bent on his signature sound of rough hewn melancholia, with Clouwbeck being the most somber and abstract that we've heard from him so far. He strips down the instrumentation to just the violin, although he does allow for a considerable amount of processing and thick applications of layered drone from that instrument, building up a ponderous atmosphere of wintry sadness. The album's opening track "Gossan" scratches out the melody as if the bow were dragged across a piece of barbed wire instead of violin, yet the buzzing, luminous beds of sound that Skelton broadcasts around these scraped recursive melodies prevents the whole thing from tumbling into dissonance. "Leached" softens the rustic buzz with a majestic billowing of overlapping violin melodies, distended and blurred into a rich mass of sound. The rest of the album continues to dive deeper with each track becoming incrementally more submerged in the dense loopings and hazy drones. Throughout, Skelton's album sounds like those beautiful orchestrations from Johann Johannsson as played by Alastair Galbraith and produced by the Caretaker. Really, fantastic stuff." [Aquarius Records]
|
2009 |
€13.00 |
|
| COLUMN ONE |
Cindy, Loraine & Hank |
do-CD |
"Zoharum proudly presents the latest album from the legendary Berlin-based art collective Column One. Their new double album, entitled "Cindy, Loraine & Hank", was in the works for almost 10 years and it is their first album since anniversary box set "No One" from 2011 and "Antiphona" 10" vinyl EP from 2013. For this recordings, Column One were René Lamp, Robert Schalinski, Jürgen Eckloff, Andrew Loadman with Nada and Rasmus Schalinski plus a host of guests including Reinhold Friedl and Zeitkratzer Ensemble.
This double album presents Column One and their experimental approach to sound at its best."Cindy, Loraine & Hank" a collection of incestuous figures, a museum of small, lovely bastards. Products of passion & weakness, disorientation and dedication, of dull instincts and narrowness. Twins, triplets, octuplets, dyslexic, presidents, beginners, criminal citizens, sacred Neanderthals, expert idiots. Begotten in haste, hidden in the dirt, covered with garbage.
A contourless, monstrous void in the cardigan of the great-grandmother.
A voyage through the labyrinthine mind of Column One... a surreal, organic projection.
Idiotenmusik - field recordings - orchestral variations - cut-up´s - musique concrete - collage
The CDs are housed in a digipak sleeve and the album is strictly limited to 500 copies. The cover was designed by Robert Schalinski, based on "Black Depths" print (1974) by John Hiliard." [label info]
www.zoharum.com
|
2015 |
€16.00 |
|
| CONTRASTATE |
A live Coal under the Ashes |
CD |
"1992 saw the release of "A live coal under the ashes" which was inspired by the events leading up to the changes across Eastern and Central Europe during 1989. This release marked the change conceptually in which the group's ideas became more specific and more focused on contemporary political issues. "A live coal…" was critically acclaimed not just for the music, but also for the artwork and packaging: - a CD placed in the middle of a 12 inch clear vinyl record. After many years of unavailabity Tesco can finally present a rerelease with remastered tracks and a new yet unreleased track called: "Death follows the one eyed cow." An album full of ambient atmospheres, drones, percussion, suitable dark narrations and some steady muted rhythms. These are intense, highly charged recordings with a powerful mystic and ritual feeling. A masterpiece of sound poetry. Comes in nice Digipak. Total Playing time 50:30. Contrastate were formed in 1987 and disbanded in 2000. Ever since the demise of Contrastate there has been a void in the experimental music scene that no other act has managed to fill. Their diverse creative output, manifested as sweeping electronics and sound manipulation together with theatrical spoken word, was nothing less than mind blowing in its complexity and originality." [press release]
www.tesco-germany.com
"A peculiar start with tribal smatterings of drums, deep resonating black drones broken up with light orchestral patches, attention halting splatters and further sparse drones, pulling on rather obscure nightmarish elements. Contrastate surprisingly draw on a hell of a lot of quietness that just rarely breaks up into beats that dissolve no sooner than they start.
After an interesting if not completely inspiring start its time for this trio to get down to business and actually show us what they are made of. Pleasant film like ambience sets this off with low-end straight vocal lines gathering the backdrop together and you begin to believe this album may actually be going somewhere, especially when the ambience is allowed to build dramatically onward.
Its a little hard to pigeon hole this lot and that’s where their appeal lies for me. There is a deep sense of ritualism within their folds, but it’s not as obvious as you might expect; another plus point being that they simply do not remind me of anyone else, no matter how hard I try to fathom it out.
There is an odd sense of mania whilst listening to ‘A Live Coal…’ strange whistling, off key guitar strings and trance like paranoia. I can’t help but applaud them for pulling something off that simply shouldn’t work on paper. The use of vocals, although male in origin are used much in the same way, as say Diamanda Gallas probably would with full on croaking used as a backdrop. Even if this isn’t your cup of tea it doesn’t take much to grasp just how much thought has gone into this.
Completely out there…somewhere, but relevant; refreshingly original, scoring highly on sheer thought process and effort alone." [Blackaudio]
|
2008 |
€8.00 |
|
| |
An Exercise in deFascination |
7inch |
"The two tracks are alternate mixes from our ongoing studio recordings for the next Contrastate album. The album concept is inspired by the Italian giallo films of 1970s.
Limited to 250 copies.
Why are Flavia’s hands and feet missing? What is she doing in the Nessuno Aslyum? And how did she know about the death of Judge Carnevale? Inspector Qualcuno fights his way through the elite of society and the cabal of capitalism to the corrupt underbelly of a decadent and decaying nation. Until finally confronting a closed-shop cartel hell bent on anti-democratic sabotage for its own personal gain.
Active from the late 1980s through to the present day Contrastate have released a number of critically acclaimed albums. Their sound insinuates itself inside the dark ritual ambience of the electronic avant-garde shot through with a vein of experimental noise and stentorian vocals that are strewn amongst touches of industrial surrealism and sonic soundtracks." [label info]
"Ah, the 7" format! Sometimes misused by drone musicians, fading in and out a song, but hardly
ever a complete rounded song. Contrastate is surely a band that could pull off a great song (as in 'a song') for which this format is well suited. They have been around since close to thirty years now and in the early years, I was a big fan. Their combination of moody electronics, drone experiments, industrial electronics and song format worked great for me, but I found them moving a bit too much in a what I would loosely call ‘gothic’ area when they started to work with vocals. So I am sure I missed out on some development there. It might also be that they aren't as active anymore. These two songs are alternative mixes from pieces that are going to be on the next Contrastate album.
The Italian Giallo films of the 1970s inspired the album. ("Giallo is a 20th-century Italian genre of literature and film. Especially outside Italy, Giallo refers specifically to a particular Italian thriller-horror genre that has a mystery or detective elements and often contains slasher, crime fiction, psychological thriller, psychological horror, sexploitation, and, less frequently, supernatural horror
elements. In Italy, the term generally denotes thrillers, typically of the crime fiction, mystery, and horror subgenres, regardless of the country of origin.") I don't think I ever saw one; I know, my bad.
It makes me not the likeliest candidate to review this, but I would think the title track on side A builds quite a nice, orchestral tension, which would easily a horror or thriller movie. There are some dramatic climaxes along some suspenseful sustaining strings. On 'Spasmo', there are some narrative vocals (lots of reverb!) along with a more radio play like a dialogue of sounds, synthesizers, and bows on the guitars, making it all sound very retro, but I mean that in a very positive way. It reminded me of the first time I heard Contrastate and I was reminded straight away why I like it so much back and still would play with great fondness. Yes, indeed that ambient industrial slightly gothic sound." (FdW/Vital Weekly]
|
2019 |
€10.00 |
|
| COOPER, LINDSAY |
Rarities Vol. 1 & 2 |
do-CD |
"This double CD set collects together, amongst other things, all of Outtakes for Other Occasions and The Small Screen, both of which were never commercially released, all four pieces from The Classic Guide to NoMansLand, the subscription 7” Pictures from the Great Exhibition collage, an extract from the Concerto for Sopranino Saxophone and Orchestra, an amazing, unreleased, live recording of Trio Trabant with Alfred Harth and Phil Minton, Education sung by Sally Potter, In the Dark Year, sung by Robert Wyatt, material from the with David Thomas and - the really great discovery - a really extraordinary solo piano performance recorded at Roulette in 1985. Comes with a substantial memorial booklet with newly discovered photographs, and texts by Sally Potter, Tim Hodgkinson, David Thomas and Kate Westbrook." [label info]
www.rermegacorp.com
|
2014 |
€20.00 |
|
| DAVACHI, SARAH |
Long Gradus : Arrangements |
4 x CD BOX |
A new longform commissioned work for any ensemble of four similar instruments. The definitive string quartet version of 'Long Gradus' is available as a 2LP and CD, and the collection of all four arrangements (strings, woodwinds, brass & organ, choir & electronics) is presented as the 'Long Gradus: Arrangements' 4CD set.
'Long Gradus' began in 2020 when Sarah Davachi was selected to participate in Quatuor Bozzini’s Composer’s Kitchen residency, which was to be a joint production with Gaudeamus Muziekweek in the Netherlands. With the postponement of the residency to the following year, the composer was given the opportunity to take a step back and look at the piece over a much longer period of time than would have ordinarily been possible. The resulting longform composition in four parts, written in its initial form for string quartet, was developed as an iteration of an ongoing preoccupation with chordal suspension and cadential structure. In this context, horizontal shifts in pitch material and texture occur on a very gradual scale, allowing the listener's perceptions to settle on the spatial experience of harmony. A system of septimal just intonation helps to further the production of a consonant acoustic environment. 'Long Gradus' uses a formalized articulation of time-bracket notation alongside unfixed indications of pitch, texture, and voicing that allow the players some discretion in determining the shape of the piece. A sense of pacing that is markedly different from that of mensural notation emerges accordingly, while the open structure of the composition results in each performance having a unique and unpredictable configuration.
The piece may be arranged in a quartet format for any instrumentation that can alter its intonation with some degree of accuracy or produce a natural seventh harmonic. Substitution of the string quartet with other instruments as desired or imagined, both acoustic and electronic, is entirely acceptable and indeed encouraged. To this end, Davachi has also offered the 'Long Gradus: Arrangements' 4CD set, which includes the string quartet version as well as arrangements for woodwinds, brass and organ, and choir and electronics. A 'gradus' is a sort of handbook meant to aid in learning a difficult practice; in this case, 'Long Gradus' is designed to considerably slow the cognitive movements of both listener and player, and to focus their attention on the relationships between moments. A rich harmonic landscape that is constantly shifting and which changes with each engagement is the listener’s return. For the player, 'Long Gradus' is an invitation to practice active listening and to immerse oneself in the stillness of psychoacoustic space and time.
Davachi comments: “I owe a huge debt of gratitude to Quatuor Bozzini for the opportunity to go through this process together, which is exceedingly uncommon in the context of chamber music. Typically, when writing for an ensemble or orchestra, the composer is given very few, if any, occasions to actually adjust their work in a meaningful way outside of perhaps one or two brief rehearsals of an essentially final score. It is extremely rare and an enormous luxury to begin with simple sketches or ideas and to actually construct a piece over a period of several months or more from a place of sonic assurance – that is, being able to listen and to explore and to continually fine tune in response to the sound itself, in conjunction with the performers. Part of the reason that my earliest compositional efforts arose within the domain of electroacoustic and acousmatic music is because of the control that it offered, to intuit sound in real time rather than through the indirect interpretation of future sound in the form of a score. Even now, when I compose work for chamber ensembles, I typically always start from a recorded version or from a demo – from the sound itself – and then work backwards to generate the score that will result in that music. It seems to be a vestige of conservatory thinking to view music performance, even in relation to new music, as a kind of reading of notes on the page that simply results in things just falling into place as expected. But, when the music goes beyond what’s on the page to include a dialogue with the acoustic space of the performance, and to require a certain patience and concentration on part of the performers, there needs to be a different approach; the Composer’s Kitchen residency offered that respect and curiosity.
https://sarahdavachi.bandcamp.com/album/long-gradus
|
2023 |
€52.00 |
|
| DE JAER, BAUDOUIN |
4 Geomungo Sanjo Vol. II |
CD |
New compositions for ancient Korean instrument: the Geomungo. Follow up to the high acclaimed Compositions For Geomungo and Gayageum (2012).
Baudouin de Jaer tells. his large hands stir the air, drawing soft and assured lines, they connect distant planets and micro-particles in a space that does not exist yet. There is the encounter with the Geomungo. a traditional Korean instrument, the geomungo is an ancient table zither, an improbable association of wood and tense strings, with sounds in turn soft, brutal, limpid, rough, mute, and light. It is the voice that imposes itself and guides us through the worlds.
Baudouin de Jaer takes us irresistibly, back and forth, from the deepest of oneself to the universality of life.
Baudouin de Jaer
Composer, violonist, Baudouin de Jaer studied composition with Philippe Boesmans, Henri Pousseur, Frederic Rzewski and at McGill University (Montréal) with Bruce Mather. He composes for the Korean instruments Daegeum, Haegeum, Gayageum and Geomungo, and for orchestras of Korean traditional instruments. In 2010 he resolved the enigmatic music system of Swiss artist Adolf Wölfli and released a CD called 'The Heavenly Ladder' on the Sub Rosa label (SR312). In 2010, Baudouin de Jaer was awarded a prize from the National Gugak Center for his Gayageum compositions. |
2018 |
€13.00 |
|
| DEAF CENTER |
Recount |
12inch |
"Deaf Center is seemingly never of the times. Whether it's the nostalgic component often associated with Pale Ravine and Owl Splinters, or the time between releases, waiting and remembering are part of the experience. Recount is a bridge between full albums, where time and familiarity are mesmerizingly suspended.
Recorded during rehearsal sessions in 2012 and 2008, Follow Still and Oblivion make full use of the Deaf Center spectrum. In the direction of a live performance, Recount plays off of experience and reaction; a balancing act of improvisation, sonic detail, and emotion.
Follow Still recorded in Berlin 2012, brings you to a recent past. The 13-minute track leads you down a melancholic pathway and into tunnels of memory. Minimal piano passages and warm repeating organ sounds are at the core, slowly blurring your sense of time while faint guitar amp noise and the sound of effect-pedals switching off and on makes you feel present at the recording. Engraved with intricate details and quiet moments, Follow Still pursues the night until dawn.
Oblivion, recorded 2008 in Oslo, recalls the live sets that followed the release of Pale Ravine. With this era condensed into one long track, the piece is an overwhelming mass of orchestral haze, crying strings and droning bass. The dense fog doesn't burden but calms, and as it starts to clear, reveals a true grandiosity.
Recount is both a division and fusion of sound and time. Two tracks, two years, two people, two cities; ultimately, Deaf Center straddles worlds to lead to something unquantifiable and timeless." [label info]
www.sonicpieces.com |
2014 |
€20.00 |
|
| DEAS (CAMERON) |
Time Exercises |
LP |
Cam Deas is a guitar virtuoso who has switched to modular synth and computer productions resulting in these staggering studies in polymetric, mercurial and dissonant tunings - hugely recommended if you’re into the work of Autechre, Rashad Becker, Roland Kayn, Fis, Coil, Xenakis.
Time Exercises is a complex study in amorphous polymetric rhythms by Cam Deas for The Death of Rave. His first album composed solely for modular synths and computer, Cam’s follow-up to the acclaimed String Studies for Luke Younger's Alter label marks a headlong tilt from acoustic to electronic spheres with a staggering effect resulting from meticulous research and process. It sounds as advanced as Xenakis or Roland Kayn superstructures, with the rhythmic displacement of FIS or Autechre, and with a grasp of slippery, mind-bending timbral dissonance comparable to Coil and Rashad Becker records.
Cam’s six Time Exercises form both a bold break with - and an extension of - the avant, folk, blues and outernational traditions that he’s worked to deconstruct and fluidly syncretise over the past decade. In the past four years he’s stepped away from the guitar as a compositional tool, turning to electronic hardware in a focussed effort to consolidate myriad tunings and meters with a precision that had previously eluded him in the acoustic sphere.
Severed from the tactility and sentimentality of instrumental inflection, Cam’s disembodied music plays out a thrilling dramaturgy and syntax of alien dissonance and disorienting rhythmic resolution. Harmonic shapes as densely widescreen as those in Roland Kayn’s Cybernetic Music roil in unfathomable fever dream space, where massed batteries of synthetic percussion swarm like an orchestra of Cut Hands in viscous formation, and where polychromatic mentasm figures converge like cenobites laying siege to Rashad Becker’s utopia.
On Time Exercises Cam articulates a synthetic musical language that speaks to the listener in myriad, quantum tongues awaiting to be deciphered by keen ears everywhere. It’s an outstanding record for lovers of forward-looking but deeply rooted electronic music.
https://boomkat.com/products/time-exercises
|
2018 |
€18.00 |
|
| DEATH KNEEL |
Adaptive Emotional Use |
LP |
"Max Klebanoff’s (Tomb Mold) industrial noise unit thrives on buried rhythmic nodes under walls of crackling distortion and blistering sonic disfigurement. Nascent hums blossom into spectral ambient drones. Gnarled electronic pulses waver in grand fields of dissonance. Granulated tones crumble and reform as the tracking adjusts on Death Kneel's harsh noise synthesized into meditative soundscape creation." [concert info]
Limited edition black vinyl LP, edition of 250. Housed in 350gsm sleeve with full color center labels.
"Death hides the angels it makes in blue skies"
Mastered by Grant Richardson.
Additional processing by Moss Harvest.
Thanks to Rita Mikhael, Brett Wagg, and Matt Harrison.
https://totalblack.bandcamp.com/album/adaptive-emotional-use
"This album is my formal introduction to the works of Death Kneel, the project of Max Klebanoff. Seemingly active since 2014, 13 cassette releases have been issued in that time, but Adaptive Emotional Use is the first release on vinyl.
Stripped to the Ivory Core opens the album with detailed micro-tonal scrap metal and field recording tones, but ample depth in the mix and the separation of sounds makes for detailed and engaging listening. A brooding atonal synth rumble and looped conveyor belt provide slight momentum and structure, but mid-track the whole mood shifts into wondrously minimalist and melancholic synth melodies. The title track follows and continues with shimmering melodious synth elements, yet these are force-fed through sonic filters which changes their tonal quality to scattered and fractured. Later in the track a pounding industrial undercurrent appears while the sweeping maudlin sub-orchestral textures gain focus and prominence. In clear contrast to the controlled and moody elements which precede it, Trauma Martyr opts for a more direct expression, consisting of choppy cut-up static and chaotic junk metal noise, with a rumbling bass distortion undercurrent. Would Anyone Die For Me? features a moody piano melody, minimalist scrabbling textures, and fractured mid-toned synth elements, generating a mood of melancholy and restraint. For the final track Redemption Angel (Corpse Criteria) the harsh and choppy cascade of noise returns, sitting at the mid to lower tonal range and clearly based on layered and processed scrap metal abuse – yet midway in it coalesces into a mangled mass of sub-orchestral synths and shimmering, fragmented, mid-toned noise.
With its wildly divergent sound, but one which is clearly the result of detailed attention to the structure and composition of sonic elements, Adaptive Emotional Use could be filed alongside the likes of Puce Mary or Damien Dubrovnik, without necessarily sounding like either of those. With its clear attention to detail and the careful juxtaposing of harsh sounds against melodious elements, Death Kneel have delivered an evocative and artistic take on experimental industrial noise." {Noise Receptor} |
2019 |
€16.00 |
|
| DEATHPROD |
Sow Your Gold in the White Foliated Earth |
LP |
"Oslo's Ultima Festival for contemporary music in 2014. The idea was to give revered Norwegian experimental electronic musician Helge Sten, aka Deathprod, access to seminal avant-garde composer Harry Partch's self-designed, custom-made, specialized, invented instruments - an orchestra tuned to just intonation, using up to 43 intervals instead of the standard 12 for the most commonly used Western equal temperament. An artist with a 30+ year career and an uncompromising reputation that reflects the emotional specificity of his uneasy, yet compelling sound, maintained throughout his expansive discography, Sten was an intriguing choice for such a project. Although he attended art school, training in electronic music and sound art, he had little experience with acoustic instruments and can neither read nor write music notation. Yet he's been engaged with Partch's music, and outsider art more generally, since he was a teenager. His resulting piece/composition for the project was originally intended only for performance by Cologne-based Ensemble Musikfabrik, for a series of concerts in five European cities between 2015 and 2018. It's Musikfabrik that undertook the painstaking, expensive process of building an entire set of the composer's creations - the second only to the originals built by Partch himself. They are the professional musicians and virtuosic instrumentalists that had to re-train and re-educate on these unknown and experimental sound sculptures in non-standard tunings. And they house this large, gorgeous physical instrumentarium and deal with the enormous logistics of working with it, sometimes shipping the fragile pieces to other locales via semi-trucks or ships. Because of such monumental efforts, Musikfabrik are notoriously guarded with recordings of the instruments. And rightly so. They're the only ones allowed to perform on them, too. But Sow Your Gold isn't Musikfabrik playing. Instead, Sten spent days and nights alone with the instrumentarium in Cologne. He played the instruments himself while recording, layering the recordings and editing without effects to compose an `audio score' for Musikfabrik to work from in order for the ensemble to perform the piece. (Partch also regularly worked this way, although he would transcribe afterwards. Likewise, Sten worked with a professional arranger to create a detailed score, too.) So, that makes Sow Your Gold an even less likely rarity - partly why its release comes seven years after its creation. If you ask Sten about the album's title, he'll point you to the text he borrowed it from - Michael Maier's Atalanta Fugiens by H.M.E. De Jong, a 1969 study of a 1617 book of alchemical emblems - and notable passages dealing with alchemy, chemistry, and agriculture, all transformative processes. And while that may sound complicated, his takeaway is simple: "You have to break something down to create something new," - a lesson he felt related strongly to his own musical process, especially in this project. So, while Sow Your Gold in the White Foliated Earth is a piece written for specific, oddly tuned, extremely rare and unusual instruments, and for a certain ensemble - namely, some of the finest contemporary musicians in Europe - Sten grew fond of the audio score, recognizing it as coming directly from the creative process in its purest, most natural form. And so from a foliated earth, where obscure tradition, treasured scarcity, immense effort, and patient certainty layer and criss-cross, comes rugged gold, polished to shining by one outsider for another."
https://deathprod.bandcamp.com/album/sow-your-gold-in-the-white-foliated-earth
|
2022 |
€26.50 |
|
| |
Sow Your Gold in the White Foliated Earth |
CD |
Oslo's Ultima Festival for contemporary music in 2014. The idea was to give revered Norwegian experimental electronic musician Helge Sten, aka Deathprod, access to seminal avant-garde composer Harry Partch's self-designed, custom-made, specialized, invented instruments - an orchestra tuned to just intonation, using up to 43 intervals instead of the standard 12 for the most commonly used Western equal temperament. An artist with a 30+ year career and an uncompromising reputation that reflects the emotional specificity of his uneasy, yet compelling sound, maintained throughout his expansive discography, Sten was an intriguing choice for such a project. Although he attended art school, training in electronic music and sound art, he had little experience with acoustic instruments and can neither read nor write music notation. Yet he's been engaged with Partch's music, and outsider art more generally, since he was a teenager. His resulting piece/composition for the project was originally intended only for performance by Cologne-based Ensemble Musikfabrik, for a series of concerts in five European cities between 2015 and 2018. It's Musikfabrik that undertook the painstaking, expensive process of building an entire set of the composer's creations - the second only to the originals built by Partch himself. They are the professional musicians and virtuosic instrumentalists that had to re-train and re-educate on these unknown and experimental sound sculptures in non-standard tunings. And they house this large, gorgeous physical instrumentarium and deal with the enormous logistics of working with it, sometimes shipping the fragile pieces to other locales via semi-trucks or ships. Because of such monumental efforts, Musikfabrik are notoriously guarded with recordings of the instruments. And rightly so. They're the only ones allowed to perform on them, too. But Sow Your Gold isn't Musikfabrik playing. Instead, Sten spent days and nights alone with the instrumentarium in Cologne. He played the instruments himself while recording, layering the recordings and editing without effects to compose an `audio score' for Musikfabrik to work from in order for the ensemble to perform the piece. (Partch also regularly worked this way, although he would transcribe afterwards. Likewise, Sten worked with a professional arranger to create a detailed score, too.) So, that makes Sow Your Gold an even less likely rarity - partly why its release comes seven years after its creation. If you ask Sten about the album's title, he'll point you to the text he borrowed it from - Michael Maier's Atalanta Fugiens by H.M.E. De Jong, a 1969 study of a 1617 book of alchemical emblems - and notable passages dealing with alchemy, chemistry, and agriculture, all transformative processes. And while that may sound complicated, his takeaway is simple: "You have to break something down to create something new," - a lesson he felt related strongly to his own musical process, especially in this project. So, while Sow Your Gold in the White Foliated Earth is a piece written for specific, oddly tuned, extremely rare and unusual instruments, and for a certain ensemble - namely, some of the finest contemporary musicians in Europe - Sten grew fond of the audio score, recognizing it as coming directly from the creative process in its purest, most natural form. And so from a foliated earth, where obscure tradition, treasured scarcity, immense effort, and patient certainty layer and criss-cross, comes rugged gold, polished to shining by one outsider for another.
https://deathprod.bandcamp.com/album/sow-your-gold-in-the-white-foliated-earth
|
2022 |
€15.00 |
|
| DELPHIUM |
Snowhill X (SOLD OUT) |
7inch |
a strange and unique blend of ambient Industrial with sometimes even dub-rhytmical-tunes; low-fi and very deeply frequenced... reminds on SCORN or early COIL sometimes! A very own style...
first edition
250 copies, clear vinyl,
handmade cover art with printed
linoleum finishing/center piece
released May 1997
"This outfit from berkshire, uk, has gained some attention through the releases of several self-produced 7"es in the past few years, which showed a great variety and mixture of influences, all combined in an experimental
manner to reach unknown fields of musical creation. One can find elements of industrial, techno & ambient & even rock in the songs of Delphium, that are mixed and varied into a kind of "low-fi" homerecording-style that is sometimes dark & melancholic, sometimes rhythmically pulsating and even danceable. As this is really hard to describe we recommend this 7" to everyone who is able to confront him/herself with a musical style that can't be sticked into a musical drawer, that is always surprising and shifting (some people even
compared it with early-coil!). This e.p. contains 4 tracks of a darker nature,
spheric electronics, noises and guitars with a very cineastic character... [label info]]
"This group proceeds from the british school of guitar-noise groups (such as their friends and colleagues Splintered), combining experimental
music elements within the rock format. However Delphium are strangely different from this. Having appeared near 4 years back and having written currently a variety of works on the small independent labels (mainly 7" singles;
the long awaited CD "How Can You Hide from What Never Goes Away?" has seen the light of day only recently through Outsider), they continue dubbed bass studies in combinations with sampled technological rhythms and guitar.
Their sounding is a strange and unique mixture of ambient-industrial, dub-rhythmic tonality, low- and exceedingly deeply frequencies of low-fi-darkness, harmonics, repetitive noise-feedbacks, industrial drones and voices, riffs
and gloomy electronic depths, melancholies and more active rhythmic beat-pulsations,
reminding a strange dance on the edge of trance and claustrophobia, freely based on the firm foundation of their creative ideas. Written in the style of homerecording, their work reminds Scorn or even early Coil in places, but their own style is individual.
The recording of four compositions for "Snowhill-X" was made in 1995, but mixed only recently, having present getting dark sullen fall in tones of spherical electronics play "Unforgiven", polished extremities with thick
striking sounding of title composition, finishing with massive wall of guitar sounding, oppressive drone-philosophies of internal sample cogitations of "Stringsong 1" and strange keyboard canto with knocking time and again on background gloomy spheres of "Lie to Me". Manual design on the linoleum, best work."
[Achtung Baby!]
SELECTED WORKS:
Delphium/Lull (7", split, Aquese, 1994)
Delphium/Husk (7", split, Aquese, 1994)
Delphium/Sheephead (7", split, Alleysweeper, 1995)
Breeding Bad Blood (7", Outsider, 1996)
Delphium/Big City Orchestra (7", split, Aquese, 1997)
How Can You Hide from What Never Goes Away? (CD, Outsider, 1997)
|
1997 |
€ |
|
| DELPLANQUE, MATHIAS |
La Plinthe |
CD |
Empfehlenswerte CD dieses Komponisten aus Nantes, LA PLINTHE bewegt sich zwischen digitaler microwave-ambience und spannender Electronica. Bedächtig, elegant, intelligent gemacht..
“La Plinthe” opens with crackling and sizzling noises, then settles into a rhythm of subdued explosions, which leave prismic debris in their wake before fading into the void. Instead of introducing a philosophical analysis of the relation between sound and silence, the first track serves as a sort of meditation, guiding the listener into the core of the album and shutting out uninvited outside noises. Even the glistening drone of the second part is merely a messenger, before a delayed bass and rustily breathing ambiances create the illusion of safety in an entirely alien territory.
It is here, in the middle section of the work, that Delplanque truly unpacks his talent. Comforting hiss, consoling crackles and flirring chordal fenlights are held together by the power of deep, resonating bass vibrations, as tracks settle into the groove of strangely consoling wordless Dream Dub. By locking the body in subtle movement, he is able to caress the sweetly drugged mind with brushstrokes of abstract noises. Even though the record descends into a dark cave towards the end, the grand, eight minute finale picks the listener up again, shining a path through the darkness with a majestic piece made of nothing but a stoically hit piano key over an undulating continuum of swelling hums, a warm impulse drone and the suggestion of rhythm by means of evolving patterns made from grating and gravelling timbres. [label info]
"It has taken some time, but a new generation of experimental musicians, respecting these demands intentionally or by instinct, is making itself heard. Delplanque is one of a few select players who stand a serious chance of reaching beyond the outer edges of a small niche. While his contribution to international trio project The Missing Ensemble may be more pronounced, almost aggressive even in its translation of inorganic sources into emotive compositions, his solo work is fueled by a personal approach capable of touching the listener in the sentive area of his heart. If “Le Pavillon Témoin” (from previous year) sounded as though he were trying to achieve this by means of allowing acoustic instruments and hints of melody and harmony into his oeuvre, “La Plinthe” does away with these luxuries and sheds whatever notion of the old world there might have been. The real aim of this radicality is neither benevolent shock nor progress for progress’ sake, but rather attaining a sense of coherency and of interrelatedness between the album’s building blocks. In an orchestra, there is no intrinsic connection whatsoever between a piano and violin. In Delplanque’s symphonies, however, their faintly shimmering echoes are like brother and sister. “La Plinthe” opens with crackling and sizzling noises, then settles into a rhythm of subdued explosions, which leave prismic debris in their wake before fading into the void. Instead of introducing a philosophical analysis of the relation between sound and silence, the first track serves as a sort of meditation, guiding the listener into the core of the album and shutting out uninvited outside noises. Even the glistening drone of the second part is merely a messenger, before a delayed bass and rustily breathing ambiances create the illusion of safety in an entirely alien territory. It is here, in the middle section of the work, that Delplanque truly unpacks his talent. Comforting hiss, consoling crackles and flirring chordal fenlights are held together by the power of deep, resonating bass vibrations, as tracks settle into the groove of strangely consoling wordless Dream Dub. By locking the body in subtle movement, he is able to caress the sweetly drugged mind with brushstrokes of abstract noises. Even though the record descends into a dark cave towards the end, the grand, eight minute finale picks the listener up again, shining a path through the darkness with a majestic piece made of nothing but a stoically hit piano key over an undulating continuum of swelling hums, a warm impulse drone and the suggestion of rhythm by means of evolving patterns made from grating and gravelling timbres. You need to like these sounds, these delicate crackles and the fireplace-metaphorics they evoke in order to enjoy the album as a whole. It is no longer possible denying their aesthetics by hiding behind a smart concept, simply because there is none. On the other hand, that is exactly why “La Plinthe” works in such a magnetic and rich way: Even though it offers a depth of structures Pop and Rock could never muster, it forces the listener to either hate or love it. Whatever your pick: Kissing your lover to a piece of sound art, no longer seems like a ridiculous thought.." [Tobias Fischer, Tokafi]
|
2008 |
€15.00 |
|
| DIETER MÜH (DIETER MUH) |
Eponymous |
LP |
" “Eponymous” was at first to be a cassette release on the French label Mineurs Du Fonds. In the spring of 1998 José Leseuer (Mineurs Du Fonds operator and journalist) contacted us wanting to distribute our “Black Square” CD album in France and was asking about new material. We mailed him the “Eponymous” recordings. Recorded in late 1998 at our home studio in Forest Fields, Nottingham “Eponymous” is a classic example of a "Work In Progress" album. At the start of 1998 we had ditched our old Roland synths (JD800 / SH101) and invested in sampling devices, an 8 track digital recorder and effects pedals. “Eponymous” features us looping a lot of machinery (including photocopying machines and printing machines) and taking samples from our old 1980’s project Mühviertel. With “Eponymous” we were still learning and discovering the possibilities of reaching the sound we wanted to create / hear.
José never released the cassette, instead he disappeared for four years. In 2002 he resurfaced with a new label called Naninani Recordings and “Eponymous” was now a CDR with a remix by French artist Cedric LeRouley. The original release was 113 copies. José has since disappeared again.
Sentimental Productions have caringly rescued the recordings and re-mastered them. Vinyl seems to make sense….." [Stephen Cammack / Dieter Müh]
https://soundcloud.com/sentimentalroductions
"As I was looking at the cover of this record, I was thinking: does Dieter Müh still exist? The previous release I reviewed was not that long ago, Vital Weekly 1062, but that was, as is this new one, a release recorded in 1998. The previous one was released back then in a small edition, but 'Eponymous' had a somewhat bigger edition back then; 103 copies were released on CDR by Naninani Recordings, a short lived CDR label from France. Vital Weekly, being one of the oldest online sources for this kind of music, of course (well…) reviewed this before, in Vital Weekly 337.
I wrote back then: "One would think that Dieter Müh is just a guy with a funny name, but it's not. I believe they are a duo or trio from the UK. Also, they have been around for sometime now, with a couple of small scale releases some years back. After that things became quiet and they seem to have vanished. But Dieter Müh is back. The pieces on this release are not very recent ones, they were all recorded in 1998 {the release was from 2002 - FdW}. The easiest way to describe Dieter Müh is by labelling them as 'ambient industrialists', but that wouldn't entirely justify them. They operate in a lofi sampling way, lifting samples from probably other people's work, and creating their own dense and dark tapestries of sound. Because of their humble recording methods, the sounds remain kinda obscured, but that is something, I believe, that will appeal to the lovers of
such ambient industrial ethics. The final piece is a remix of Dieter Muh soundmaterial by one Cedric Lerouley, who uses probably more updated sound techniques, but if you wouldn't know would
sound like another Dieter Muh piece, but then recorded better. All in all in a nice release, without anything dramatic new."
With fresh, 2017, ears I would say something like this; the recordings on this LP were made
in a studio and one easily notes the difference with the previous one, recorded in concert. I easily admit I wasn't that blown away by their live sound, which I thought was a bit too single-minded in approach, but in their studio work they show much more. The seven titles here continue to explore the mild industrial sound of sampled percussion, repeating voices, a fair dash of reverb; for instance in 'Dumhome' I hear influences of both Big City Orchestra and early Contrastate. In 'R.I.P.>5' they go out for a more industrial drone sound of multi-layered synth sounds, while in 'Sebel' Throbbing
Gristle/Cabaret Voltaire are guiding principles, with phased loops and spoken word samples. There
is throughout all of these pieces references to be made to one band or another, yet I would think Dieter Müh, back then a duo of Steve Cammack and Dave Uden, have plenty of their own input to make each track their own thing, and it is through variety that they achieve their own sound. It seems like none of these pieces sound very similar to the other ones. None of this screams 'true noise' in your ears and that's some much better. Ambient industrial is surely something that is still the most appropriate term for such music. It's also a musical style that never became big and never had a revival, oddly enough. This is a most welcome re-issue I guess; it sounded retro and I love it (the previous remix not included this time)." [FdW/Vital Weekly]
|
2017 |
€23.50 |
|
| DOCKSTADER, TOD & JAMES REICHERT |
Omniphony 1 |
CD |
„Omniphony 1“ ist die Neuauflage der gleichnamigen, 1966 auf OWL Records erschienenen LP. 1963 komponierte Tod Dockstader eine Reihe von Tonbandstücken, „cells“, bestehend aus natürlichen Klangquellen (Glocken, menschliche Stimmen etc.) und elektronischen Klängen (z.B. Oszillatoren). Der Filmkomponist James Reichert (1932 ¬ 1995) entwarf, der Klangintention der „cells“ entsprechende Orchesterstücke, sogenannte „inparts“, die anschließend nochmals durch Filter und Ringmodulatoren gejagt wurden, um den instrumentalen Klangumfang und die Dynamiken zu verändern. Die
anschließende Re-Komposition zeitigte ein sehr homogen angelegtes Ergebnis, das auch heute noch in Erstaunen versetzt. Elekronisches umschwirrt reißend und manchmal ein bischen frech die moog-manipulierten Bläsergruppen. Ständige Wechsel der Dynamik verwirren die Fäden der Klänge so weit, dass Elektronik und konkreter Instrumentalklang jeweils mit der Sprache des anderen zu sprechen scheinen. So wirken manche Stellen glatt wahnwitzig: wenn die kammermusikalischen „inparts“ im Zusammenspiel mit Dockstaders
prä-Industrial-elektronischen „cells“ eher Hollywood denn Donau-Eschingen beschwören, werden Bereiche des Grotesken befühlt. Das ist nicht schlimm, sondern erzählt vielmehr von der Besessenheit mit der echte Freaks am Werke waren, um in einem Jahr 100.000 Fuß an Tapematerial zu bearbeiten. Als Bonusmaterial gibt es Dockstaders „Study no.7“ (1961) in einer Stereoversion, sowie seine dringliche „Past prelude“ von 1990. //
„Omniphony 1“ is the rerelease of the OWL-LP from 1966. In 1963, Tod Dockstader composed a set of taped sounds which he called „cells“ consisting of natural sounds (bells, wind, voice) and electronically sounds (as from oscillators, recording circuitry, etc.). James Reichert (1932 ¬ 1995) composed a series of orchestrated parts which were based upon the sound intention of Dockstader’s „cells“. Those „inparts“ were transmuted using R.A. Moog music processing equipment to change the instrumental ranges and dynamics. With the following re-composition they produced a very homogeneous result wich is today still amazing. Electronically sounds pungent and sometimes a kind of saucy are flowing through a moog-manipulated brass group. The permanent changing of dynamics entangles the sounds. It seems that electronic and concrete instruments have particular swapped their very own sound. So some parts might have a strange atmosphere: when the chamber music -like „inparts“ together with Dockstader’s prä-industrial-electronically „cells“ evoke Hollywood more than Donau-Eschingen it is getting grotesque. But it is cool, because it tells from the truly obsessive fashion of two music freaks who edited and mixed down over 100.000 feet oftapes for that release. Further bonus tracks are Dockstader’s „study no.7“ (1961) in a stereo version and his „past prelude“ from 1990." [Peter Schlewinski for Drone Records]
"In the early 1960's Tod Dockstader was a young maverick composer of electronic 'organised sound', and James Reichert a film composer and music supervisor. They met in New York in 1963, and launched one of the most extraordinary collaborations in modern music, a unique attempt to integrate electronic sounds and the classical orchestra. Unlike Varese's Deserts, and Stockhausen's Kontakte, it does not merely have the orchestra play along with a tape, or even process orchestral sounds live. What makes this project unique is that the orchestra was transformed by electronic processes at a fundamental level, and organically fused with the purely electronic sounds. The completed work is a bizarre blend of Dockstader's fundamentally intuitive approach to sound, and Reichert's more conservatoire-based feeling for melody and orchestration. It often sounds like an unlikely collaboration between Stravinsky and Frank Zappa in avant garde mode, or Stockhausen and his alter-egos, Stock, Hausen and Walkman. Its not simply an important historical document, but an intriguing and entirely convincing listen; a truly extraordinary combination of electronic and orchestral textures, in which the orchestra seems to have been drenched in Technicolor, and dragged through a cartoon sound studio." [label
info] |
2002 |
€14.00 |
|
| DRAPE |
An Idea and its Map |
LP |
"Drape is an ambient duo comprised of Ryan Gracey and Spencer Williams. They have been crafting soundscapes since 2004. Their debut, 'dream words' (Gears of Sand) saw a limited CDR release in 2009. It was well received and garnered comparisons to Stars of the Lid, early 70's Tangerine Dream as well as late 80's space ambient. Their follow-up was an interesting pairing on cassette - a split w/ experimental artist Odd Nosdam.
'An Idea And Its Map' marks a refined leap forward in Drape's sound. While less space music, there is certainly more expansion. It is a smudged and blended orchestra of drones on the opener 'Solo in High Dreary' and those drones are split apart in slow-motion - eventually revealing a single guitar tone.
Moments of sublime resonance as on 'The Visible The Untrue' anchored by piano, and notes that float, seemingly carried in on a breeze. All is not as it seems with an undercurrent of ground swelling, oscillating air - somewhere in the distance there is a storm assembling. Ebb and flow between light and dark - silver lined black clouds converge on the B side opener 'fanfare for lake flies'. The strings, guitar, siren calls are assembled and plastered to one another. A thick blanket of overwhelming beautiful cacophony results.
The album's close is as much filtered white noise as it is heavenly chords. The dual slow-motion treated guitar present thoroughout 'An Idea...' diverges between pools of dissonant feedback, howls of wind, and melodic drones.
'An Idea...' is a study in contrasts - and Drape find effective employment of the disparity as well as the combination of the reticent and the reserved turbulence. There is an atmosphere of tension, in a sense with resplendent tones enveloping a barely concealed fury just under the surface.
Edition of 400 copies. Black vinyl, 180 Gram pressing. Gatefold sleeve + OBI strip. Purchase of LP will include a download code of the album (FLAC, MP3, etc. - your choice).
After a tumultuous pathway to being pressed on vinyl, be it natural phenomena, pressing issues, manufacturer issues, broken plates, and so on - Infraction is relieved to present finally the first vinyl full-length LP by Drape." [label info]
www.infractionrecords.com
"Graduating from extended synthesizer jams of their earlier output to symphonic, string-based ambience, the duo of Drape provide a soundtrack for frigid early mornings and star-laden late nights. The seven tracks that comprise "An Idea and Its Map" glisten and glide over slow arcs of swelling strings and luxurious textures that bring to mind the oft-referenced figureheads of the genre, Stars of the Lid. Drape, in both structure and execution, clearly aim for this comparison. Yet they do it better than most and while they can't approximate Stars of the Lid's natural emotion and grasp of melody, Drape smartly overlay their drones with guitar distortion and amplifier feedback to give the surroundings a patina of worn textures. The end result illuminates "An Idea and Its Map" with both a vulnerable and hard-edged feel and is all the better for it." [Ryan Potts, Experimedia]
"Its been a while since I last from Drape, the duo of Ryan Gracey and Spencer Williams - see Vital Weekly 722 - but I believe they didn't release much beyond that point, other than a split cassette with Odd Nosdam. With this release we return to the more introspective ambience which we also encountered with Eluder. Yet there are differences also. Whereas Eluder is certainly grey towards black, Drape is more grey towards white. It would seem to me that all of this music is created with guitars, and it's not difficult to see a strong influence from Stars Of The Lid. The long form, sustaining guitars, cascading slowly, like majestic waves, rolling ashore, has a strong orchestral to it. Ringing string music, on an endless, perpetual slow motion roller coaster. If that is at all possible. Its been a while since we last heard something from Stars Of The Lid, and for all I know they might no longer exist, but Drape, on this particular record, would win easily the chance of successor to their throne. A fine example, textbook drone music. Forty years of mood music pass by, from the German cosmos, Eno's living room and a bit of neo-classical music - Arvo for my part. Highly refined journey on the wings of musical history." [FdW/Vital Weekly]
|
2012 |
€25.00 |
|
| DROUIN, JAMIE |
A three Month warm up |
CD-R |
DER GROSSE DRONE ! Jamie DROUIN lässt seine ätherischen Gebilde nicht einfach so im Raum schweben, sondern verbindet immer wieder interessante Konzepte damit: Hier verbindet er ganze 124 verschiedene Field Recordings(in einem Zeitraum von 3 Monaten aufgenommen) zu einem Polydrone, der alles einzusaugen scheint, und trotzdem eine choral-harmonische Tiefendimension offenbart..
"A Three Month Warm Up uses 124 individual field recordings made in an outdoor public square in Victoria (British Columbia, Canada) over a three month period, and is inspired by the cacophony of notes played by a symphony during warm up, where a single unified tone emerges out of the various instruments and voices. In playing back the ambient recordings, filtering them down to their essential 'notes' and layering the events, Drouin creates a sonic signature of the space, as if a residual echo of everything that occurred during those three months has been trapped within the structure.
A Three Month Warm Up was a site specific work created for the Art Gallery of Greater Victoria's Assume Nothing exhibition January-May, 2009. Curated by Lisa Baldissera." [label info]
www.dragonseyerecordings.com
"...Drouin layers all the field recordings into one long swarming mass of sound, like indeed the orchestra tuning up, but much slower and without a single event to be recognized. Or perhaps like a church full of mumbling voices. Over the course of these seventy-seven minutes, the color of the music is slowly changes, changing from dark to a bit lighter and brighter and then slowly towards the dark again. Ambient music as it is supposed to be according to the text book of Brian Eno. Music derived from everyday, common sounds surrounding us. Maybe in that respect Drouin doesn't have to offer much news to the initiated in the world of ambient music, but the longitude of the work makes much sense. Play at a low volume and let it surround you."
[FdW / Vital Weekly]
|
2009 |
€10.00 |
|
| EARTH |
Angels of Darkness, Demons of Light |
CD |
"Earth recently unveiled a beautiful collection of early recordings ("A Bureaucratic Desire for Extra Capsular Extraction") to which many agree marked the band as pioneers of a new sound that has continued to metamorphose ever since. True that with each brand new studio album, they evolve, and it is this willingness to experiment with different sounds and different musicians that has enabled Earth to remain consistently interesting and undoubtedly always unique.
Following the Extra Capsular reissues, Earth's next offering is a brand new studio album, "Angels Of Darkness, Demons of Light 1", a fine testament to the fact that they have come a long way since 1989. Drawing on inspiration from both British Folk-Rock bands the Pentangle and Fairport Convention and the North African Tuareg band Tinariwen, the new material, while still "heavy" is much more fluid and melodically oriented, less dense and more textured and nuanced. It contains greater improvisatory interplay between the musicians.
On one hand the new album acknowledges previous recordings, sonically it cultivates the jazz infused Americana presented on The Bees Made Honey In The Lion's Skull and as a further nod to the past, Earth returned to Avast studios to work with producer Stuart Hallerman (Soundgarden, Mudhoney, Built To Spill, and Earth2!) again. On the other hand, there have been some significant changes which have given birth to yet another new sound, the main change being the line up and so joining Dylan and Adrienne on the album is cellist Lori Goldston (Nirvana, David Byrne, Black Cat Orchestra, Laura Veirs) and Karl Blau (K Records, Laura Veirs, Microphones) on electric bass. The touring band will feature Dylan Carlson, Adreinne Davies, Lori Goldston, and Angelina Baldoz on bass.
Songs "Father Midnight" and Hell's Winter" definitely retain some of their former glory on the Bees Made Honey... whilst the cello, though subtle at times, adds a more haunting tone to songs "Old Black" and "Descent to the Zenith" which are so powerful that they have the ability to move one to tears. It is the album's closer and title track which is the boldest step in a new direction for Earth, utilizing the complimentary tones of cello, electric bass and Dylan's guitar, leaving the notes to hang contemplatively in the air before Adrienne's drum beats finally emerge. The repetition throughout the song is seemingly simplistic, though as we all know by now, there is absolutely nothing simple about holding a note or beat for as long as Earth do.
There are many breaths of fresh air in this new record, many hopeful tones and drones as well as more eerie ones. One thing is for sure, this incarnation of Earth excels all expectations." [label info]
www.southernlord.com
|
2011 |
€15.00 |
|
| |
Angels Of Darkness, Demons Of Light II |
pic-do-LP |
"In den selben Sessions in den Avast Studios Seattle, mit Producer Stuart Hallerman (Soundgarden, Mudhoney, Built To Spill und EARTH2) aufgenommen wie das im März 2011 erschienene "AODDOL I" trägt dieses Album die Inspirationen des ersten Teils fort. Wiederum tief inspiriert vom britischen Folk solcher Heroen wie Pentangle und Fairport Convention sowie der Musik der nordafrikanischen Tuareg-Band Tinariwen präsentieren sich EARTH melodischer als je zuvor, ohne dabei an Heavyness einzubüßen. Im Gegensatz zum Vorgänger wagen EARTH hier jedoch den Blick weit über den konstruktivistischen Kontext hinaus und geben Improvisationen Raum wie nie zuvor. Das LineUp besteht abermals neben Adrienne Davies (drums) und Dylan Carlson (Gitarre) aus der Violinistin Lori Goldston (Nirvana, David Byrne, Black Cat Orchestra) und Karl Blau am Bass (K Records, Laura Veirs, Microphones).
TRACKLISTING: 01. SIGIL OF BRASS 02. HIS TEETH DID BRIGHTLY SHINE 03. MULTIPLICITY OF DOORS 04. THE CORASCENE DOG 05. THE RAKEHELL" [label info]
www.southernlord.com
|
2012 |
€30.00 |
|
| EINHEIT, FM / ANDREAS AMMER |
Hammerschlag |
CD |
"Hammerschlag" - created by FM Einheit (member of Einstürzende Neubauten early 1980's to mid-1990's), with Andreas Ammer - features many percussive industrial elements and 'machine music' (chains, scraping, coiled springs, objects), noise, experimental electronics and provocative musical compositions familiar to the ears of Neubauten fans. An oratorio with prelude and two noise interludes, based on Russian futurist Aleksej Kapitonovič Gastev, the "bard of the machine age".
FM Einheit (Mufti) is an industrial and electronic musician and actor, primarily known for his percussion work with Einstürzende Neubauten. He has also collaborated with musicians such as: Diamanda Galás, Eraldo Bernocchi, Mona Mur, KMFDM, Goethes Erben and many more. He was also involved in the projects Stein and Gry. Andreas Ammer has been creating works with FM Einheit since the early 1990's.
"Just a moment longer, and through the confused chaos of these days, the legendary realisation of the future roar of events is triumphant" (A.K. Gastev, "A Bundle of Orders").
"Hammerschlag was premiered in 2019 at the Diaghilev Festival in Perm as a live concert with Teodor Currentzis , the chief conductor of the SWR Symphony Orchestra, as Aleksej Kapitonovič Gastev. The concert served as the basis for a German-Russian radio play version.
In his last lyrical work "A Bundle of Orders", published in 1921, Russian futurist Aleksej Kapitonovič Gastev wanted nothing more than to finally destroy literature. In a historical document there is a description of a concert based on the text: "The choir master stood on a balustrade, who conducted the sound with the help of a complicated signaling device. After this noise overture had raged for long enough time to completely numb the auditorium the real passion game began".
Aleksej Kapitonovič Gastev (1882 - 1939) was a Soviet revolutionary, poet, high-ranking union activist and scientist. When he became head of the Russian revolutionary Central Institute for Work with the psychotechnical optimisation of workflows (How do I really hit with the hammer?), he swore off poetry with "A Bundle of Orders" and at the same time created his most important lyrical work . He was executed under the orders of Stalin for counterrevolutionary activities.
CD in digipak.
FM Einheit (objects, electronics)
Andreas Ammer (sirens)
Rica Blunck (voice)
Saskia von Klitzing (drums)
Volker Kamp (basses, tuba, trombone)
with Teodor Currentzis as Aleksej Gastev and the musicAeterna Choir under Anton Bagrov
FM Einheit likes to thank Softube for their generous support.
Mastered by Martin Bowes, The Cage Studios.
Layout by Abby Helasdottir.
https://coldspring.bandcamp.com/album/hammerschlag-csr281cd
|
2020 |
€12.00 |
|
| EINSTÜRZENDE NEUBAUTEN |
Jewels |
CD |
Kartenspiel als Navigationssystem: 15 Miniaturen der Experimentalband; + Film. "Jewels" ist ein Konzeptalbum mit 15 zwei- bis dreiminütigen Songs, die ursprünglich nur als monatliche Download-Geschenke an die Supporter der dritten Phase des Neubauten.org-Unterstützerprojektes gedacht waren. Die Zeit, die auf den Schliff der Juwelen verwendet werden konnte, war begrenzt: Zwei Tage mussten reichen, um von einer ersten Idee zum fertigen Song zu gelangen. Die Band um Blixa Bargeld suchte also nach einem Verfahren, das die dafür nötige Dynamik entwickeln konnte. Man erfand ein Kartenspiel als Navigationssystem. Jede Karte gab einen kryptischen Hinweis auf Elemente des Neubautenschaffens seit 1980: Instrumente, Materialien und Strukturen, mit Bezug auf Strophe oder Refrain, Intro und Outro, soziale Beziehungen und Bündnisse: Wer mit wem? Wer womit und mit welcher Geschwindigkeit und Haltung? So entstand eine Art Musik des Zufalls, die einige der egofreisten Kompositionen der Band beinhaltet. Die CD erscheint in Ecolbook-Verpackung mit 40-seitigem Booklet, Liedtexten in Deutsch und Englisch sowie dem 40-minütigen Film "Acht Lösungen". [press release]
"Much will be made of the strategies that Einsturzende Neubauten used in making The Jewels. Frontman Blixa Bargeld devised a series of arot-like cards which represented the vast collection of materials which are at Neubauten's disposal - steel, tin, zinc, wood, plastic, glass, ceramics. The entire band would then draw cards, and the compositional process would begin. The tracks tend be a bit shorter
than the typical Neubauten opus, and the songs follow the recent aesthetic shifts towards quieter, controlled orchestration for their
unusual materials. On a few tracks, there are hints of their formerly infernal selves, glancing back to one of the last true masterpieces Funf Auf Der Nach Oben Offenen Richterskala. Originally released as a subscription only download through their website; now available with a 40 minute film as a Quicktime movie and large book with lyrics and Blixa's insight into the process." [Aquarius Records review]
|
2008 |
€17.50 |
|
| ELLEN FULLMAN & THERESA WONG |
Harbors |
LP |
"Harbors is a collaboration of composers Ellen Fullman (Long String Instrument) and Theresa Wong (cello), which draws inspiration from the soundscapes, stories and atmospheres that manifest around bodies of water that propagate exchange. Structured around the extended harmonics of the open strings of the cello, Wong and Fullman utilize subsets of these tonal areas to create distinct sonic environments within the piece.
Fullman’s Long String Instrument, a stunning installation of over forty strings spanning seventy feet in length, places the performers and audience inside the actual resonating body, transforming the architecture itself into the musical instrument. Wong has developed techniques that take the cello beyond tradition into a vocabulary more closely rooted in the sounds of the natural world. She captures material electronically, layering textures amplified throughout the space which form an immersive field where figure and ground are in constant flux.
The piece reveals an orchestration of shifting drones, aberrant melodies and glistening atmospheres. Harbors has reverberated many spaces around the world, including: Click Festival, Helsingør, Denmark; Transformer Station, Cleveland; MONA FOMA, Tasmania; Centennial Hall, Sydney Festival; The Lab, San Francisco; and Museum of Contemporary Art Detroit.
Harbors was inspired by the foggy San Francisco bay during our residency at the Headlands Center for the Arts. Special thanks to all of the curators and producers who presented this work as we developed it through performance: Georg Rasmussen, Click Festival, Elsinore, Denmark (2015); Tom Welsh, Cleveland Museum of Art, Transformer Station (2015); Dena Beard, The Lab, San Francisco (2016); Shelly De Vito and James Porter, Les Moulins de Paillard, Poncé-sur-le-Loir (2016); Wendy Coutau and Anny Serrati, Dampfzentral, Bern, and ARCOOP, Geneva (2016); Kerry O’Brien, Nief-Norf Summer Festival, Knoxville (2017); Lawrence English, Australia tour, Sydney Festival, MONA FOMA, and the Substation Melbourne (2017). Special thanks to Perrin Meyer and Meyer Sound for the loan of a sound system for our recording session in Berkeley (2018)."
https://room40.bandcamp.com/album/harbors
"Harbors is an entity on which Ellen Fullman (long string instrument) and Theresa Wong (cello) worked for years in varying live settings before putting it on record. It requires nothing but being genuinely involved, joining the experience in psychophysical completeness. It’s not the kind of recording where one elects to “list” the unfolding events, although this is feasible. Rather, a tangible illustration of the potential of vibrating strings to remove what is superfluous, possibly harmful, from a brain overburdened with illusions and anxieties engendered by the grandiloquence of the self.
The first and longest segment immediately discloses the impressive cohesion of the elements. Fullman and Wong find answers to the questions posed by the room they’re playing in without any preconception, just confident in the propagating reverberation filling the rational gap in the best possible way. Certain traits are remotely reminiscent of Stephen Scott’s exploitation of piano innards (circa Minerva’s Web), the duo’s consciousness hovering over continuous harmonic shifts and fluctuating dimensionalities. The alliance between the upper partials of Wong’s cello and Fullman’s extended drones creates an impossible-to-detail polyphony, partly nourished by the poco cantabile linearity of some of its components. In the end we hear the whole oscillating in peculiar fashion, sort of an alien lullaby vanishing into nothingness.
As the second movement begins, the cello greets us with distinct glissandi in the lower regions of the tone gamut; imagine the skin of a large drum artfully pressed when hit in order to alter intensity and pitch. Diverse dynamics are produced by plucking the strings and, in Wong’s case, using the bow for brief arpeggiated outbursts. The mood is somewhat uncertain but there is never any doubt about the persistence of an insightful reciprocation inside the sympathetic environment. The third part confirms and synthesizes the nuances of previously investigated acoustic spaces: the might of strident pseudo-staticity, the parallelism of auricular reactions and absolute calmness, the spontaneous blossoming of outstanding contrapuntal flowers. Having reached this point, experienced listeners no longer need to ask what is going on. They have already understood, quivering cores acknowledging the Sound." [Touching Extremes]
|
2020 |
€26.00 |
|
| ELOY, JEAN-CLAUDE |
Shanti |
do-CD |
" “Shânti” (1972-73) for electronic and concrete sounds. Electronic music studio, WDR, Cologne, Germany, 1972-73. Digitalized and revised version from 2001.
“The term “meditation music” triggered many conflicting comments including positive ones (“... let us say that Shânti belongs to those very rare works that change you after listening to them. You are not exactly the same before and after.” - Gérard Mannoni, Le Quotidien de Paris, 1974). Others, wondering at the strong sound presence of the piece, consider such aspect as hardly helpful to their own meditation... Let us be clear: “what meditates” here (”that” who meditates) is the composer. He is the one who takes you on his journey and guides you through his work like in a classic or romantic symphony. As a listener you are invited to follow “his” meditation... The composition is the meditation.” " [label info]
"Was I recently 'complaining' about 3CD sets with music of people I never heard of, I wasn't perhaps thinking of Jean-Claude Eloy. First time around the mailman decided to keep the CDs, but the second time delivered them duly. I hope he likes them as much as I do. I may have heard the name Eloy before, but not his music, or where to place him, these two sets, six discs in total will set the record straight (pun intended). Eloy was born in 1938 and studied with Darius Milhaud. I believe he composes all sorts of work, but his main line of business is electronic music. I review them in order of composition. 'Shanti', which means 'peace', was composed after 'Kamakala' for three orchestra ensembles, five choir ensembles with three conductors, so it was perhaps 'necessary' to compose an electro-acoustic work at the WDR studios in Cologne, Germany. A work of meditation, or so Eloy tells us. Now this is not a work of pure and solitary drone music, as one would perhaps expect from 'meditative music'. They are here, that's for sure, but there is also an interview with Aurobindo and Mao, as well as a small piece called 'Soldats', with soldiers speaking and 'Vagues Lentes, Boucles De Feux', which takes their singing into an electronic landscape. This is of course an album about 'Peace', but rather then just produce a drone or two, Eloy brings in a political element, the soldiers. However the majority are those various drones, played on those ancient machines (great pictures in the booklet here), the mystical oscillators, wave generators and such like - which defy any laptop, I'd say. Excellent music, although not always exactly as meditative as promised, but that, I thought, was hardly a problem. Unsettling meditation, which is better than just go with the flow." [FdW/Vital Weekly]
|
2009 |
€25.00 |
|
| |
Electro-Anahata |
do-CD |
"Electro-Anâhata' (1986-1994). Fully electro-acoustic version of Anâhata realized on the composer's personal computer from the original electro-acoustic recordings of this work. Electronic music studios where the original Anâhata was produced (1984-86) : Studio of the Sweelinck Conservatory of Music, Amsterdam (1984 and 1986): the entire production (pre-recorded material processing, new material generation, premixing) and all final mixing processes. Tokyo-Gakuso studio, Tokyo (1983): for the Shô and Ô-Shô (traditional mouth organs from Japan) sampling with Mayumi Miyata. Conny's Studio, Neuenkirchen, near Cologne (1984) with Asian Sound and Michael W. Ranta: metal percussion instrument sampling, including Bonshôs (Buddhist temple bells from Japan) sampling. INA-GRM, Paris (1985): pre-recorded material processing. Studio ART, Geneva (1985): pre-recorded material processing and pre-mixing. Studio of Technische Universitt (TU), Berlin (1985-86): pre-recorded material processing, new material production, pre-mixing. CD 1 Metal metamorphoses. Five electro-acoustic works of a contemplative nature. Electro-acoustic parts alone of Âhata-Anâhata (struck sound - unstruck sound) including a new unreleased part. CD 2 The Bird-Mirror in the Magic Forest (a tribute to Paul Klee). Electro-acoustic parts alone of Akshara-Kshara (unchanging-changing). 'The Reed, the Sea and the Stars' (1986-1994). Electro-acoustic parts alone of Nimîlana-Unmîlana (that which awakens - that which slumbers) among which a new unreleased part. Jean-Claude Eloy: 'In the past composers would often arrange or adapt their works themselves, often for practical or economic reasons. Let us take a look at the most prestigious examples Take Wagner: Prelude and Love Death (Tristan and Isolde) is played two different ways. Sometimes the orchestral part alone is played as a concert piece. Other times the voice solo part is added as it is in the original opera (which then becomes the magnificent Liebestod). Such examples could be repeated endlessly among the greatest composers. In the early 1990s I faced a challenging situation: the Japanese Gagaku musicians who had performed my work Anâhata for the first time in 1986 (for the Sigma Festival of Bordeaux and the Autumn Festival in Paris), and had performed it again in 1990 (for the Donaueschingen Festival) were not able to find time in their schedule to accept an important invitation to the Warsaw Autumn Festival. Only the two Buddhist monk singers were able to fit it in. Before that and to complete the Anâhata project and its electro-acoustic parts I had to travel across part of Europe and spend two whole years commuting between Paris and Amsterdam several times, later between Paris and Berlin, then between Paris and Geneva even within Paris, thanks to my friends from the GRM who had kindly let me use their studio for several weeks during night hours. Those were very precious nights for me. During those two years I would always carry boxes of tapes and Betamax or U-Matic cassettes with two PCM Sony and two Betamax cassette decks that I had purchased a little earlier. For the first time I was then able to arrange digital recording sequences and carry out several mixing, recording and reading processes without compromising signal quality. I also had to carry boxes of multitrack bands of all types: the Amsterdam studio was equipped with a two-speed 16-track Studer, the Geneva studio with a three-speed 24- track Otari; the Berlin studio with two 8-track Telefunkens including a variable-speed one." [label info]
|
2013 |
€19.50 |
|
| ESOTERIC |
Subconscious Dissolution into the Continuum |
CD |
Langsamer Doom Metal mit extrem melancholischem & düsteren Einschlag von dieser britischen Band, die einen recht einzigartigen Stil begründet haben, die Gitarrenarbeit erinnert an GODFLESH oder mitunter gar COCTEAU TWINS, dann wieder gibt es disharmonische & abgründige Arrangements, immer langsam, schleppend und schwer... an den Gesang muss man sich vielleicht etwas gewöhnen, aber wir meinen der ESOTERIC Sound kann auch für Drone & Dark Ambient Hörer durchaus interessant sein..
"...ESOTERIC befinden sich irgendwo auf der Kreuzung von Noise, Psychedelia und extremem Doom Metal. Da sie mit Funeral Doom Geschwindigkeit mit stark verzerrtem Bass, einer Steinmauer aus Gitarren, verfolgenden Samples und haarsträubenden Vocals spielen, ist ESOTERIC’s Sound mit einem schlimmen LSD-Trip oder einer Überdosis einer harten Droge vergleichbar. Sie sind zweifellos die düsterste, selbstmörderischste, psychedelischste und verwüstendste derzeit existierende Band und schaffen es, mit ihren bizarren Soundlandschaften gleichzeitig zu entzücken und zu bedrücken. Und wenn euch diese Beschreibung nicht ausreicht, um euch ein Bild zu machen, kann ich euch nur empfehlen reinzuhören." [Ben Meulemann]
"It's never an easy job to review an Esoteric release. They have gained such a reputation for being one of the most unique and extreme bands in the Doom spectre that it is hard to oppose, they are almost untouchable - and with good reason. The fact is that "Subconscious Dissolution Into The Continuum" is not an easy listen. It's devoid of any pleasant human feeling; it's savagely cold, heavy and droning. It'll put you in a miserable state - yes, it is as fascinating as it seems.
The sombre torturous atmosphere of this album left me speechless. This is not typical Funeral Doom; it is basically as slow as you probably expect, but there's this whole psychedelic sense, and really raw and mechanical distortion. As opposed to that more ethereal sound of other bands that rely on keyboards and clean vocals, for example, like Pantheist or Skepticism. Esoteric is closer to bands like The Funeral Orchestra, with their frightening sound and disharmonic, multi-layered structuring [...] Esoteric may seem monotonous at first listen, but you have to let yourself be absorbed by its aesthetics, you can't listen to this on just any day. Once you get past beyond its fever-inducing slowness you'll be ready to realise the true power and beauty of "Subconscious Dissolution Into The Continuum" and actually enjoy everything about it. Even the same slowness that used to put you off. This is truly a devastating and intense experience that I recommend highly to anyone who can appreciate extreme Funeral Doom Metal." [Passenger / Metalstorm]
www.season-of-mist.com
|
2004 |
€13.00 |
|
| FENN O'BERG (FENNESZ / O'ROURKE / REHBERG) |
Magic & Return |
do-CD |
"Zwei junge Klassiker der Liveelektronik von 1999 und 2002 wiederveröffentlicht. Als Bonustracks mit aufgenommen wurden der Beitrag zur Sonar‘99-Compilation und ‚Adidas Sun Tanned Avant Man‘, der nur auf der japanischen Edition von Return Of enthalten war. Christian Fennesz, Jim O‘Rourke & Peter Rehberg hatten bei ihren Konzerten 1998/99 und 2001 - alles Material entstand damals als Livemitschnitt - als Indieallstartrio den Versuch unternommen, Avant-Electronica, d. h. komplexe, beatarme, polymorph-pervers improvisierte und untanzbare ‚Konzertmusik‘, als Attraktion auf der Höhe des Zeitgeistes etwas breiter zu streuen als üblich. Mit falschen Erwartungen von einseitigen O‘Rourke-Fans, die von ihm akustische Gitarre (wie mit Mazzacane Connors) oder gar Sonic Youth-ähnliches erhofften, musste man zurecht kommen. Gegen Borniertheit und Schmalspurigkeit kann man letztlich nicht mehr tun, als auf die verführerische ‚Magie‘ der eigenen Qualitäten zu setzen. Die
Soundcollagen bis hin zum orchestral-opulenten ‚Fenn O‘Berg Theme‘ mit der Lizenz zu Betören sind geschichtet und verzopft eben nicht aus allem, was die Laptopspeicher hergeben. So beliebig und als bloße Summe ist Klangzauber nicht machbar. Ständiges Morphing und wuchernde Vielspurigkeit, Loops, Verzerrungen und Kompressionen, molekulare Diffusität, Einbrüche von Noise ebenso wie ungeniert melodiöse Einschübe von orchestralen Samples kitzeln die Empfänglichkeit und spotten - mit Schreibmaschinengetippe - dem Versuch, etwas derartig Logofugales in Worte zu fassen." [Bad Alchemy]
"All tracks by Christian Fennesz, Jim O'Rourke & Peter Rehberg. Artwork by Tina Frank. Remastered at Piethopraxis, Köln, January 2009. The legendary Fenn O'Berg are resurfacing eight years since their last performance. Starting with this double CD reissue of their two albums; 'The Magic Sound Of...' and 'The Return Of...', originally released in 1999 and 2002. Fenn O'Berg (Christian Fennesz, Jim O'Rourke and Peter Rehberg) first hit the scene after a surprise appearance at the Nickelsdorf Festival in 1997. Throughout 1998 and 1999 the trio toured extensively throughout Austria, Germany, Belgium, France, Italy, Switzerland and Spain, as well as shows in North America and Japan. The highlights of these trips were presented on 'The Magic Sound'. Although they were not first group to utilise mainly mobile computing devices, they were the first to bring such a set up to venues that would not normally book or even be interested in such things. This resulted in some very polarised reactions from both audience and promoters alike. In many instances the group needed to 'escape' the city they played. In Rome Jim O'Rourke was even given an acoustic guitar and more or less forced to play a short acoustic set before anyone could leave the building. Despite all of this, there was a generally positive response, with some shows going down as local legend. However its worth considering that the technology at the tine didn't offer the convenience of 'plug in and play' of current operating systems and applications. This of course led to set of recordings like no other. Not only was the rule book ripped up but the tour book as well. Each show became an improvised twisted journey through the various strands of electronic music where popular music sources (some more obvious than others) clashed with more academic tricks, but never sounding like being part of either. By 2002, the groups live output was drastically reduced due to all three members schedules moving in different directions. Only two performances were committed that year, and although the sound was more polished and one could even suggest that 'they knew what they were doing', their polarising effect was still there. One show was a sold out over enthusiastic Centre Pompidou in Paris, and the other a miserable 'count them on one hand' turnout at a jazz club in Vienna. Edited highlights of these shows made up 'The Return Of'. Since then the trio has been on a constant pause. In October 2009 they will get together in Tokyo to record a new studio album planned for early 2010 release. This reissue is repackaged with new artwork by Tina Frank, and contains two bonus tracks from the same period."
[label info]
www.editionsmego.com
|
2009 |
€18.00 |
|
| FENNESZ |
Mahler Remix |
do-LP |
"In any other hands, the very idea of remixing Mahler might not only be preposterous but abhorrent; but Christian Fennesz is far from the average electronic musician. After all, he beautifully fragmented the fun-fun-fun-in-sun pop of the Beach Boys for his iconic Endless Summer album; and he's more reverential of the original Mahler material than on he was of the source material for Endless Summer. It is but a sliver of the Mahler oeuvre that Fennesz extracts, the yearning harmonies and lush orchestral swells (as opposed to Mahler's counterpointing brass marches of bombast and discord); yet Fennesz deftly layers elongations and dilations of tone into impressionist pools of reflective sound, flecked with his rasping buzz of tricked out digital noise and a couple of Philip Jeck style intrusions of antique turntable surface noise with a haunted melody struggling to peer outward. Fennesz further injects his aesthetic into that of Mahler's by reprising the guitar melody he penned on "Liminality" from his 2014 Becs album. This languid strum settles into the bed of electrical hums and soft-moss orchestral drones, though it is dramatic leap from the 19th century into the 21st from one Austrian legend to another." [Aquarius Rec] |
2016 |
€23.00 |
|
| FENNESZ / SAKAMOTO |
Sala Santa Cecilia |
maxi-CD |
Feiner Mitschnitt (one-tracker, ca. 19 min.) einer live-collaboration vom November 2004 in Rom. Digitale Ambient-Explorationen, loopig –repetitiv und emotional. Warm milk noise.
“Every once in a great while, a collaboration comes along which hints at a brighter future, a collision of giants that indicates a convergence of method and music. This is one such event. Sala Santa Cecilia documents the meeting of worldwide laptop guru Fennesz and Japanese electronic music legend Ryuichi Sakamoto at the Auditorium Parco della Musica for the Romaeuropa Festival in Rome, November 2004. This is a unique and complete 19-minute piece which marks the recording debut of this new collaborative unit. It is exclusively available via this CD EP and will not be released elsewhere, and not as part of the forthcoming Fennesz Sakamoto album. The impact and importance of this recording is difficult to overstate. Christian Fennesz is far and away the standard- bearer of laptop music, his thawed sound of fractured guitar chords and warm noise melts hearts around the world. Ryuichi Sakamoto, meanwhile, a contributing force in electronic music for almost three decades in Yellow Magic Orchestra and his vast solo oeuvre, takes his place on laptop next to Fennesz for this historic meeting. Anyone concerned with the future of sound, or interested in modern music composition, or anyone who simply enjoys sweet ambient music should welcome Sala Santa Cecilia as a herald of what is to come. This is brilliant music from brilliant talents... towards a more brilliant world.” [press release]
|
2005 |
€11.00 |
|
| FERRARI, LUC |
Photophonie (Bandes magnétiques inédites (1973 - 1992) |
LP |
In 2019, to mark the 90th anniversary of his birth, Transversales Disques is very glad to announce the release of « Photophonie » unpublished archives, spanning 1973-1992, revelatory collection of commercial, commission and secret music by electroacoustic music pioneer Luc Ferrari.
- « Photophonie » (1989) / Music for the photographic exhibition of Alain Willaume.
- « Il était une fois » (1973) / Commissioned by the G.M.E.B.
- « Trans-Voices » (1992) / Curated by the American Center, Paris.
- « Tu m'écoutes » - (1975).
« Affiliated with French Radio’s Groupe de Musique Concrète, co-founder of the GRM with Pierre Schaeffer in 1958 Luc Ferrari (1929-2005) major figure of musique concrète and electroacoustic music broke away to pave his own path of individualistic expressions of minimalist music, musical theatre, field recordings, orchestral music and soundtracks…»
https://transversales.bandcamp.com/album/photophonie
"Four staggering, previously unreleased Luc Ferrari works c.1973-1992 are cued up for the first time, marking what would have been the late, great electro-acoustic pioneer’s 90th birthday.
As co-founder of the GRM in 1958 with Pierre Schaeffer, and behind dozens of singular LPs during the 2nd half of the 20th century, Luc Ferrari (1929-2005) is by any measure one of the legends of musique electro-acoustique. As his treasured archive continues to turn out gems on the Recollection GRM series, Ferrari’s precious, poetic work now joins that of peers such as Bernard Parmegiani and François Bayle on Transversales Disques, the label run by GRM’s audio restoration engineer, Jonathan Fitoussi, with four pieces spanning psychedelic surrealism thru to a sort of late ‘80s sci-fi romance.
Known as the poet of the GRM and concrète disciplines, Ferrari’s exceptional recordings leant away from academic exercises to inventively express a synthesis of styles that simultaneously intersected minimalism, musical theatre, field recordings, orchestral music and soundtracks. The four pieces of ‘Photophonie’ beautifully and thrillingly speak to Ferrari’s grasp of the sonosphere and its omnipresent plurality with a deftness of arrangement and overarching vision that that sounds both of its era and also within its own parallel dream dimension.
Written for a photographic exhibition by Alain Willhaume, the opening, 25’ long first piece ‘Photophonie’ (1989) emerges like an MTV ident, and continues like some hypermodern deco-dance work, all fractured shrapnel and acres of negative space, but soon flows out into a remarkable tract of vast ambient space conveying the sensation of exploring an abandoned space station, only to find some whispering French and German characters surviving in its bowels. If weren’t told otherwise, this work could have easily been the modern day soundtrack to something like ‘Beyond the Black Rainbow.’
The other side scrolls back to 1973 with ‘Il état une fois’, a 17’ piece spanning field recordings thru to queasy drones and cartoonish honks which perhaps sounds more of its time, but then again recalls Rashad Becker’s music for notional species gone to an alien fairground, while an all too brief snippet of ‘Trans Voices’ (1992) gives way to a lather of sampled voices, choral drones and pulsating rhythm in ’Tu m’écoutes’ (1975) that holds among the darkest and proto-acidic/technoid works we’ve heard from Ferrari, at the least.
Whether you’re an expert or novice to Ferrari’s oeuvre, trust this one’s definitely worth your time." [Boomkat]
|
2019 |
€24.00 |
|
| |
Solitude Transit |
LP |
NEVER BEFORE RELEASED.
Innersleeve with exclusive pictures & liner notes.
Transversales Disques is very glad to announce the release of « Solitude Transit » (1989)
unpublished archives by electroacoustic music pioneer Luc Ferrari.
Music composed for contemporary dance, choregraphed by Anne-Marie Reynaud
Musique composée, interprétée et enregistrée par Luc Ferrari.
Solitude Transit, 1989-1990.
Musique en 3 actes pour le spectacle de la chorégraphe Anne-Marie Reynaud :
Roman de gare / Ligne de fuite / On part chez Marie-Christine
Chorégraphie : Anne-Marie Reynaud
Musique : Luc Ferrari
Décors : Claude Meiller
Costumes : Jean Pierre Capeyron
Lumières : Jacques Roveyrollis
Dramaturgie : Michel Azama
Huit danseurs
(p) 2022 Transversales Disques sous licence exclusive Brunhild Ferrari.
Editions : Maison ONA.
credits
released September 15, 2022
« Affiliated with French Radio’s Groupe de Musique Concrète, co-founder of the GRM with Pierre Schaeffer in 1958 Luc Ferrari (1929-2005) major figure of musique concrète and electroacoustic music broke away to pave his own path of individualistic expressions of minimalist music, musical theatre, field recordings, orchestral music and soundtracks…»
https://lucferrari.bandcamp.com
|
2022 |
€27.00 |
|
| FIRST HUMAN FERRO FEAT. ALBIREON |
Prosa Profana |
CD |
" "Prosa Profana" is a follow-up to "Guernica Macrocosmica" and the 2nd post mortem dedication by Olegh Kolyada collaborating with Albireon neo-folkers this time. A low-key unison of dissonant ex-Soviet schlager melodies and forefront Italian vocals in a tender naive manner offer a unique nostalghic experience. The release comes in a beautiful digipak with a 12-page booklet.
Tribute:
Dedicated to my father Vasyl O. Kolyada (1950-2008).
Production:
Conception + composition + engineering + arrangement + alternative sampling & vinyl scraping (vinyl & tapes restoration, including the 1970-80`s ex-Soviet recordings by Ariel, Tsvety, Sinyaya Ptitsa, V.Obodsinskiy) + vocals engineering + lyrics in English/translation of P.Celan`s 'Die Niemandsrose' poem + improvisations upon Cl.Debaussy and M.Dietrich songs and ex-Soviet ‘Autumnal Marathon’ and ‘The Star Boy’ motion pictures themes by Olegh Kolyada (with Helena K`s contribution in piano & clavier parts), 2005-2008/Zhytomyr, Ukraine. Strings + trumpet + cello by Zhytomyr Chamber Orchestra, early 2000/Zhytomyr, Ukraine. Acoustic guitar on "Eye-Deep in Hell" and "Late August Flowers" by Pavel Voskoboyev, November 2007/Zhytomyr, Ukraine. Vocals in Italian + lyrics renderings + mandolin on "Every Time I Turn around (another Year is over)" by Davide Borghi; vocals recording and engineering + samples editing on "Eye-Deep in Hell" (children’s talking-away), and "Every Time I Turn around (another Year is over)" (rain and wind snippets) by Stefano Romagnoli, summer 2007/Carpi, Italy. Layout & artwork by Katia Ilieva, winter-spring 2007-2009/Sofia, Bulgaria.
Conception:
Prosa Profana unveils a humane feeling of nostalghia as that of sorrow towards present lack of integrity, commonness, and harmony. Homesickness and melancholy, grief and yearning, but also hope and belief nostalghia is a deep relation one cannot relinquish or renounce since it is the purest sacrificial nature of a man. Sacrifice as a consequence of nostalghia is a verdict to overwhelmingly materialized time, its impiety and de-spiritualization. Nostalghia is a confession, humble declaration of love as generally the highest art manifestation ever possible. Prosa Profana is our verdict to ourselves." [label info]
www.nitkie.ru
|
2011 |
€12.00 |
|
| FJERNLYS |
Four (One unearthly Room) |
do-CD |
"Five years after the last full-time album of Fjernlys, the Leipzig based outfit returns with new recordings. Fjernlys’ attention to detail is typically exquisite here: the looped bowing of a cello provides a droning bassline beneath pitch-bent chimes and melodic pads. Clear homogenic sounds creeping deep organic rhythms with lovely effects have been incorporated in a poetic ambiance guided by brilliant vocals. A collaboration with Peter Bjärgö on vocals for 'The Fervid Flood' intoning a new and inspiring way of recordings and production. FOUR appears to have abandoned tracks that aim to move bodies in favour of ambient songs that aim to move hearts. Atmospheric and sensitive Ambientsongs with accented percussion elements, vibraphone sounds and viola supplements to set the electronic soundscapes into wonderfully concentrated and organic pieces. Swimming beneath Fjernlys' ambient arrangements is a primordial cosmos of sonics: the falling of rain outside a window, the tumble of unknown random oscillations, a whirl of ebow guitars. The hustle and bustle of these sounds ground the grandiose orchestration on the record and give it an abstract sense of the transcendental space. On the second CD are remixes of 4 tracks from the album, revisited by Kammarheit, Peter Bjärgo, S.E.T.I. and Herbst9. Every single interpretation these artists made completes the puzzle of this release to its entire form of One Unearthly Room." [label info]
wp.loki-found.de
|
2015 |
€15.00 |
|
| FRANCK, YANNICK & PIETRO RIPARBELLI |
Whinny Muir |
CD |
"A single, long, deeply moving, slow and expanded drone-track, built on everchanging sonic masses, low frequencies, strong electric/electronic sounds, field recordings, feedbacks, buzzes, hisses, rough distortions, sunken organ chords, subdued inserts of strings orchestral parts. Alternation of progressive crescendos, ambiental stasis, sudden, dramatic and catching dynamic shocks... An involving and extraordinary "trip" across an obscure sonic path, convincingly assembled in collaborative form by italian Pietro Riparbelli (K11, PT-R) and belgian Yannick Franck (Y.E.R.M.O., Idiosyncrasia)." [label info]
www.silentes.net
|
2011 |
€12.00 |
|
| FRITH, FRED |
Impur |
CD |
"In 1996, at the end of a two year residency, Fred organised an event at LEcole Nationale de Musique de Villeurbanne in France. He roped in as many of the students as he could, grouped according to their departments (early music, rock, African drumming, classical &c), and set them up in all the rooms in the building. The public wandered around creating their own mix, or sat in the courtyard listening to the sound drifting out through the open windows. For their part, each group of musicians played their own specially written music and occasionally were asked to improvise, all of them following a precise time-score prepared by Fred (55 minutes long). Synchronize watches. The whole thing was recorded on 4 A DAT machines and was later mixed - this was the result: an exiting, lurching and capricious beast with many heads, by turns an orchestra tuning up, a salute to Sonny Blount, a roiling chaotic mass of sound that splitting into layers colliding back together, pullulating, ululating, roaring and sometimes mewing like a kitten." [label description]
www.rermegacorp.com
|
2006 |
€14.00 |
|
| FRÖBERG, DAN |
15 Songs (down at Jinxey's) |
CD |
"A lone thumb piano, a singing woman, children at play, howling and crackling electricity, chirping birds, tones from a toy organ, sounds of traffic - Dan Fröberg´s remarkable compositions are intersections of shapes, environments, times, places and wildly disparate contexts.
As a listener you may recognize individual sonic fragments and create pictures and scenarios through private associations - like an inner movie running parallel to the works - but still the sound environments appear so curious and raise so many questions in our minds.
What are these shapes, milieus and tales that Dan Fröberg illustrates for us, and what do they want to convey? Traveling Dan Fröberg´s soundscapes renders you the feeling of a cloud passing freely between various geographical, temporal and cultural settings and contexts.
Occasionally a dream appears. A folk music ensemble commences to play nearby, some giggling children run by, an orchestra of traffic looms large, and rustling leaves fall. The cloud hovers on, through walls, mountains and a brook, suddenly appearing in another time, in another place, where other figures tell their stories.
In the world of Dan Fröberg everything is inspired: people, animals, places, sound, shadows, memories. Even though the sounds appear crystal clear in their purity, they convey many remarkable stories, while simultaneously leaving the field open for the listener´s fantasy. Dan Fröberg´s compositions and sound recordings are as clean as can be. No post-production processing of the sounds has been applied. Dan Fröberg works with a kind of sound magic. Nothing is left to arbitrary randomness. Each sound is chosen with care.
When Dan Fröberg composes his pieces, each small detail of the soundscape is rendered vitality and significance. The significations are gradually transformed and new tales emerge as the different sound worlds are confronted with each other. As a listener you are transferred somewhere else just as your questions have began to formulate themselves - into a new world, quite familiar, albeit with something completely new and alien totell.
The properties of time and space are always shifting in these pieces where figures, occurrences and reflections approach, materialize, convey something only to drift by or dissolve - as something novel appears, something else through the journey. Dan Fröberg prefers to brand his acoustic works folk music, rather than musique concrète, field recordings, sound art or something else that would be convenient. The compositions on this CD, or the journeys, if you like, take shape through 15 songs, wherein the shapes, environments and events constitute the voices that sing and establish this folk music that sounds like nothing else, in the borderland between here and now."
[Daniel Rozenhall, Executive producer, Fylkingen Records.]
"Also from Stockholm and sometimes connected to Firework is Fylkingen, a place for concerts, art, work and much more. A fine place to be. Their releases are less arty and conceptual and more musical. The name Dan Fröberg rings a bell, but my memory is such a condition that I don't remember. It seems to me he works with found sound: people talking, street sounds, the luna park, birds and electrical currents. He puts these together in a great way, a dream-like state of music. Strongly reminding me of Dominique Petitgand, but less telling a tale than he did in his music. With Petitgand somebody would tell a story, sing a song and he would add found sound, whereas Fröberg places the sound in the central position and lets the listener think of a story. This is 'close your eyes and dream away' music, but not in a new age sense of the word, but cinematic: true cinema for the ears. Great one." [Fdw/Vital Weekly]
|
2007 |
€13.00 |
|
| FUHLER, COR / MATS GUSTAFSSON |
split |
LP |
"This lp consists of new works by two important musicians from the world of European free improvisation. Dutch pianist Cor Fuhler and Swedish saxophone player Mats Gustafsson have been exploring new possibilities for their instruments for the past twenty years. Not only by putting these instruments in radically different contexts, but more importantly by developing new ways of playing. Cor Fuhler (1964) mainly works inside the grand piano, stimulating the strings with all sorts of magnets, ebows and customised handtools. He is also an builder and inventor of musical instruments. His most known invention is the keyolin: a violin that can be played through a keyboard. Fuhler works in a wide variety of groups such as that Music In Movement Electronic Orchestra (MIMEO), Otomo Yoshihide's New Jazz Orchestra and his own Corkestra. Mats Gustafsson (1964) has broadened the textural possibilities of his instrument with an extended array of tongue techniques. On his work ÔSleeping Instructions' Ð included on this release Ð he plays baritone saxophone and electronics. He has made recordings using all sorts of saxophones, even the rare contrabass saxophone and slide-saxophone. Gustafsson playts in groups all over the world, most notably his trio The Thing, Barry Guy's New Orchestra, Peter Brötzmann's Chicago Tentet and Otomo Yoshihide's New Jazz Orchestra. He is a regular collaborator with member of Zu, Sonic Youth and The Boredoms. While the explorations of these two musicians take them to very different musical and emotional terrain, the unrelenting sense of experiment is what connects them on this LP." [label info]
www.narrowminded.com
|
2008 |
€14.50 |
|
| FURUDATE, TETSUO & Z. KARKOWSKI |
World as Will II |
CD |
"Re-Aktivierung des Labels von SCOT JENERIK aus San Francisco, der v.a. als Konzertveranstalter aktiv ist, mit dem zweiten Teil der Zusammenarbeit von Karkowski & Furudate (Teil I erschien auf Staalplaat). In Sachen apokalyptischer, orchestraler, irgendwie „neo-klassischer“ Komposition wohl mit das intensivste und extremste, was es zur Zeit gibt! " [Drone Rec 2002]
“Legendary composers Zbigniew Karkowski and Tetsuo Furudate complete their second installment of World As Will. This powerful collaboration results in a furiously intense music with Wagner-esque orchestrations and instrumentation with vigorous electronic manipulations, voice and mastery. A truly epic piece of work.” [press release]
"The orchestral madness it evokes makes Laibach (to compare with a group who have used loads of orchestral sounds) into childplay." -Frans de Ward, Vital Weekly, Amsterdam
|
2002 |
€14.00 |
|
| GENOCIDE ORGAN |
DEATH ZONES |
do-LP |
First Video Teaser:
NoSuicideUnit
Released as limited 2LP in gatefold cover with two inserts & numbered card.
2CD Version. Gatefold and Digipak shows the typical GO debossed and spotvarnished layout.
Will be not available via bandcamp.
ATTENTION: The vinyl version will only be produced according to the number of orders we get prior to 9.11.23. After this date it may prove difficult to obtain a copies.
Somewhere out there they were controlling the streets to ensure that rules were followed. They were smuggling themselves from one continent to another, guarding borders training rebels, breaching doors, steering drones, and following the path of the War-Orchestra.
The seventh year anniversary of the release of :OBITUARY OF THE AMERICAS: sees Genocide Organ returning with a release full of cynical survivalism in a world of havoc!
While those celebrate the new world - we prepare ourselves for :DEATH ZONES:.
What started with the :TIPPING POINT: 3MC Set in 2020 has now turned into :DEATH ZONES:
Stand fast, mark your target , when it comes.
No more sounds - Just moving ground!
TRACKLIST:
Conditioned War Sheep
Appropriate Action
Identity Politics
NoSuicideUnit
Loitering Munition
When our Terror comes
Pure Evil
Affirmative Action
Abbey Gate
Virtue Signaling
Migrant Soldiers
Kommando Found Dead
Stack the Bodies
Malicous Purity
FU6 - Waiting for Hell
Trial by Combat
Fake Emotions
Small Boys Unit
TESCO 160
|
2023 |
€39.00 |
|
| GERRARD, LISA |
The Mirror Pool |
CD |
"Anfang der Achtziger gründete Lisa Gerrard zusammen mit Brendan Perry die legendäre Band Dead Can Dance. Ihre Alben erschienen auf 4AD und prägten den Sound dieses jungen Labels für mehr als eine Dekade. 1995 startete Lisa Gerrard parallel ihre Solokarriere und produzierte "The Mirror Pool" mit Hilfe des Victoria Philharmonic Orchestra. Seither avancierte sie auch zu einer der gefragtesten Soundtrackkomponisten Hollywoods (Ali, Black Hawk Dawn, The Insider, Gladiator, Whale Rider)." [Indigo]
www.4ad.com
|
1995 |
€10.00 |
|
| GERRARD, LISA & MARCELLO DE FRANCISCI |
Departum |
CD |
Academy Award nominee and Golden Globe winner singer/composer Lisa Gerrard (Dead Can Dance) and film composer Marcello De Francisci have joined forces to bring you their first collaborative album work titled "Departum". This album is a collection of pieces, which are filled with lyrical soundscapes, orchestrated with vocal chants, cimbalom, guitars, percussion, modern instruments and orchestra. An effort that took two years in the making moreover a journey inspired by ancient world cultures. (Mesopotamia, Europe & Asia)
After the groundbreaking album "The Trail Of Genghis Khan" written in collaboration with an Australian artist Cye Wood, Lisa Gerrard returns to Infinite fog with long-awaited complete, extended edition of the album "Departum".
Highest quality sound, ambient drifts, soft tribal rhythms, touching melodies of Cymbylom and 144-Strings Yang Chin playing by Lisa Gerrard and transcendental vocals. All this gives even more in sum and makes "Departum" pure pleasure listening.
CD released in a digipak with massive 20 pages booklet.
reviews:
“Some of Gerrard’s most rhythmically lively and vocally enraptured music since Dead Can Dance’s Spirit Chaser.” - John Diliberto for ((( echoes )))
“Departum“ see’s Lisa collaborate with Marcello De Francisci after working together of a film (Tears of Gaza) and deciding they felt so at home together they wanted to have a separate project to let themselves go on. This has resulted in a wonderful selection of some of the best music in Gerrard’s catalogue and the most instantly enjoyable album since “Daulity”
Quite frankly, when I heard The Black Opal, my review started this was the album I’d been waiting from Lisa for years… I was wrong. “Departum“ tops that album for me and is utterly mesmerizing from start to finish. There is something about teaming up Lisa’s voice with world music that is built to explode for finale and this album has worked that out a treat. Marcello has breathed new life into everything and now this is firm favorite to go head to head with "Ark" for my album of the year (and thus one of the best of the last 10!)” - July 23, 2010, Higher Plain Music higherplainmusic.com/2010/07/23/lisa-gerrard-marcello-de-francisci-departum-review/
“It took two years after that to create, record, produce and mix Departum. It was an effort of much transcendental exploration, with an intention to take the listener into a once ancient time where the forces of nature intertwined with humans on a physical level. The way the tracks are laid out is very much like a guided meditation. “ - Marcello De Francisci
Marcello De Francisci, well-known an American composer/visual artist with an Italian-Argentinean background based in Los Angeles, California. Marcello De Francisci is a big name in soundtracks industry, in 2006 he won the best soundtrack of the year G.A.N.G. ward for his work on SCEA's "God of War" game. His music has been used in major theatrical movie trailers such as "Avatar", "Prince Of Persia", "Monsters VS Aliens", "Seven Pounds", Hellboy" to name a few. Moreover, we can remember his mesmerizing music in the sequel to "Baraka" art house documentary "Samsara". Since 2009, Marcello and Lisa start work together and recorded several soundtracks for major and art house movies. Besides that, their creativity also found a realization in a common album "Departum", which became one of the most top-rated albums in Lisa Gerrard discography. Attentive listener may remember Marcello as co-creator Lisa Gerrard's album "Twilight Kingdom".
released March 29, 2018
infinitefog.bandcamp.com/album/lisa-gerrard-and-marcello-de-francisci-departum
|
2018 |
€14.00 |
|
| GODSPEED YOU BLACK EMPOROR! [GYBE] |
Lift your skinny fists like antennas to heaven |
do-LP |
\"Das neue, phänomenale Album der innovativen Post-Rock-Band ! Vier lange, ausufernde Stücke die nur noch manchmal entfernt an gängige „Rock“-Strukturen erinnern, vielmehr entwickeln sich zarte Anfänge aus z.B. Guitars, Streichern, Bläsern & Bass hin zu monumentalen Instrumental-Stücken; voller Harmonien und unterschwelliger Kraft, die manchmal fast explodiert.. es gibt auch atmosphärische Zwischenparts mit piano, field recordings, etc.. hier treffen sich GLENN BRANCA, RACHEL’S, und LABRADFORD. Intense !\" [Drone Records info 2000]
\"...like Antennas to Heaven After two years of constant touring and near-unanimous critical acclaim, Godspeed You Black Emperor! assembled a collection of new recordings that charted the creative evolution of the band as well as its literal physical movement on the road, criss-crossing North America and Europe.
Five expansive full-band compositions are framed by various field recordings, tape manipulations and ensemble pieces in a return to the narrative sonic collage techniques that marked their 1997 debut (F#A#8).
Four seamless sides of vinyl unfold a world of aching sadness and beauty, with musical quotes ranging from heartland americana to mitteleuropa folkways, all distilled through the unique sonic filters of Godspeed\'s pedal-crazy orchestral rock instrumentation.
Harrowing guitars, plaintive strings, pulsing basses and explosive drums combine with glockenspiels, horns and tape drones to form an overwhelming palette of sounds, always driven by fierce melodic momentum and intense emotional resonance.
GYBE! continued to paint on an impossibly large canvas, with an uncanny blend of world-weariness and naive exuberance that spoke volumes about the conflicts and contradictions permeating our political and cultural life.
The tension between humility and hubris conjured an epic scope and a raw hope that such sweeping gestures might survive with some semblance of substance.\" [label info]
www.cstrecords.com
|
2000 |
€26.00 |
|
| GOL & CHARLEMAGNE PALESTINE |
Pandamoniahbleeumm!!! |
LP |
"Entering their twentieth year of existence, the GOL orchestra, together with the label Planam, celebrates and starts a new program of collaborations: the GOLlaboration series.Volume 2, Pandamoniahbleeummm!!!! marks the encounter with Charlemagne Palestine, pionneer of strumming music and piano maximalism, in the St. Eustache Church in Paris, known for its world famous church organ. The following battle, in form of a long incantatory improvisation, Charlemagne Palestine playing the church organ and GOL doing the electronics, bass, guitar, and the flutes part, combines many attributes of a pagan ritual. GOL was formed in 1988 in Paris by Jean-Marcel Busson, Frédéric Rebotier, Ravi Sharda and Samon Takahashi. The quartet embodies, within a post-dada spirit, a lost rural tradition. GOL plays flute, horns, guitar, violin, toys, selfmanufactured instruments, tapes, turntables, voices, various percussion instruments and electronics, an appropriateness of both traditional string instrument and handmade low fi equipment. GOL's first LP (GOL lp 01), issued in 1993, compiles their first items (88-92) based on vinyl- record's scratching, tape's cut-ups and acoustic instruments. The issuing of this LP was followed by a 9 years long hibernation. Since 2002, the band is back together to pursue its common research and play together of instinct and invention. Their music, electroacoustic oriented, is partially improvised and partly tense. At the time of a collaboration with roumanian composer Iancu Dumitrescu, GOL developped a score system knowned as ' layer's leaf '. Through this system, they could elaborate an hybrid music, between orchestral conduct and free interpretation of movements. Edition limited to 300 copies, also including a large insert with liner notes great graphics by Jean-Marcel Busson who also design the front and back cover." [label info] |
2009 |
€19.50 |
|
| GRUBBS, DAVID & ELI KESZLER |
One and One less |
LP |
One and One Less is the first collaboration between David Grubbs and Eli Keszler and the first release in the UDPR series.
One and One Less consists of a performance and an installation, both of which draw upon a single source text—David Grubbs’s ongoing One Poem, and the LP is split between these two forms: the live performance for reader (Grubbs) and percussionist (Keszler), and a recording of the installation version from the MIT List Visual Arts Center.
The original installation (at the MIT List Visual Arts Center from October 10, 2014 to January 4, 2015 as part of the show Open Tunings) used recorded excerpts from One Poem to trigger a range of mechanical strikes within seven custom-made, sculptural sound boxes, each of which contained an elaborate mechanism of motors and speakers built by Keszler that acoustically filtered the voice, creating a constantly changing composition—one equally verbal and percussive. Subsequent to the live performance, the installation at MIT was intended as an aural afterimage, in which the clean visual disposition of the gallery space was contradicted by the intensity of the acoustically produced sound field.
This LP is printed in a limited edition of 300 copies and includes an insert with the text of David Grubb's poem-in-progress.
UDPR is a vinyl record series for the sound of poetry, curated by Michael Barron for Ugly Duckling Presse.
David Grubbs is Professor of Music at Brooklyn College and the Graduate Center, CUNY. At Brooklyn College he also teaches in the MFA programs in Performance and Interactive Media Arts (PIMA) and Creative Writing. He is the author of Records Ruin the Landscape: John Cage, The Sixties, and Sound Recording (Duke University Press). Grubbs has released twelve solo albums and appeared on more than 150 commercially-released recordings. He is known for his cross-disciplinary collaborations with poet Susan Howe, visual artists Anthony McCall, Angela Bulloch, and Stephen Prina, and choreographer Jonah Bokaer. His work has been presented at the Guggenheim, MoMA, the Tate Modern, and the Centre Pompidou. Grubbs was a member of the groups Gastr del Sol, Bastro, and Squirrel Bait, and he has performed with the Red Krayola, Will Oldham, Tony Conrad, Pauline Oliveros, and Loren Connors, among many others. He is a grant recipient from the Foundation for Contemporary Arts; a contributing editor in music for BOMB Magazine; director of the Blue Chopsticks record label.
Eli Keszler
Photo credit: Christelle Perrin
Eli Keszler is a New York-based artist, composer, and percussionist who situates his practice within the intersections of architecture, performance, installation, notation, and composition. Keszler’s installations and visual work have appeared at the Victoria & Albert Museum, MIT List Visual Arts Center, The Kitchen, South London Gallery, Barbican, Luma-Foundation, Tectonics Festival Reykjavik, and Centraal Museum in Utrecht among many others. Keszler has toured extensively throughout Europe, Asia and the United States, performing solo and in collaboration with artists such as Christian Wolff, Phill Niblock, Tony Conrad, Oren Ambarchi, Joe McPhee, Jandek, Roscoe Mitchell, Anthony Coleman, T Model Ford, and Ilan Volkov with the Icelandic Symphony Orchestra. His writing and work has appeared in BOMB Magazine, The New York Times, Wire Magazine, Frieze, and Modern Painters. He has received commissions and awards from Gaudeamus, National Public Radio, and the Foundation For Contemporary Art. Keszler is a graduate of the New England Conservatory of Music.
https://www.uglyducklingpresse.org/catalog/browse/item/?pubID=546
|
2017 |
€28.00 |
|
| GUTHRIE, ANNE |
Gyropedie |
LP |
“Gyropedie,” Anne Guthrie’s third record for Students of Decay, takes us further into her hermetic practice, wherein expertly captured field recordings, French horn, and electronics are woven into potent and richly imagined electroacoustic environments. In Guthrie’s own words, “Quite literally a record of pilgrimage from East to West. Remnants of Midwest and East Coast soundmarks, instruments sold to lighten the travel load, sketched out and then buried under the new. Winter birds and crunching snow, frozen playgrounds, broken synths - I spent a year decoupaging over this, but of course it's still there. A second moon appears occasionally in the daytime, and there are frequent, murky transmissions. California has something alien about it I'm still trying to grasp. Primarily vintage, unabashed, corny, I find myself becoming an impressionist.”
Anne Guthrie is an acoustician, composer, and French horn player. She studied music composition and english at the University of Iowa and architectural acoustics at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, where she completed her Ph.D in 2014. Her music combines her knowledge of acoustics and contemporary composition/improvisation. Her electronic music has focused on exploiting the natural acoustic phenomena of unique architectural spaces through minimal processing of field recordings. Her composition has focused on the orchestration of non-musical sounds, speech in particular. Her French horn playing has focused on electronic processing and extended techniques used in improvisatory settings, as a soloist and with Fraufraulein and Delicate Sen, among others. Her acoustics research has focused on the use of ambisonics for stage acoustics.
https://anneguthrie.bandcamp.com
"Anne Guthrie's third album for Students of Decay continues her trend of significantly transforming her vision with each new release, though the arc of her albums does consistently suggest an increasing aversion to conventional structure and musicality. In practical terms, that means that Gyropedie was primarily assembled from field recordings, though Guthrie's French horn does make a few ghostly and well-timed appearances. Notably, the sounds that Guthrie collected are entirely diaristic in nature ("quite literally a record of pilgrimage from East to West"), as she recorded and collaged a host of ephemeral and meaningful moments from her move from New York to California (birds, crunching snow, instruments that she had to sell, etc.). As Guthrie wryly notes in the album description, she found herself "becoming an impressionist." I heartily concur and believe that approach suits her work remarkably well. Given the deliberately abstract and elusive nature of the material, it took me a bit longer to become drawn into Gyropedie than it did for Guthrie's previous releases, but the album's second half contains some of the most tender, distinctive, and quietly beautiful work that she has yet recorded.
The opening "Threading A Closed Loop" is a bold and interesting way to introduce the album, as it slowly rolls in like a mysterious fog of ambient outdoor sounds, plinking strings, distant woodpeckers, murmured voices, bees, and an occasional strangled sound from Guthrie's French horn. It is frankly about as understated and impressionistic as an album can get, but it does gradually cohere into something quite intriguing and evocative (I especially like the part where it sounds like the bees bought a distortion pedal). The following "Hill, Mountain" undergoes a similar trajectory, initially sounding like someone fumbling with a microphone while a woman recites poetry over a distorted radio, but eventually it blossoms into an enigmatic scene that seems to capture the time-stretched sounds of a train passing through a gently hallucinatory landscape of singing birds and metallic drones. I believe the "broken synth" mentioned in the album description makes an appearance as well. Both it and its predecessor are subtly beautiful in their own ways, yet my favorite pieces are the ones that follow. In "Variation on Coral," Guthrie paints a lovely seaside scene, as a slow, lovely French horn melody lazily unfolds over a backdrop of gently gurgling and lapping waves, lysergically smeared chimes, cooing vocals, and a host of other curious sounds. The closing "The Goldbeater’s Skin," on the other hand, sounds like a duet between a quietly plinking and fitfully operational music box and a lovelorn French horn player in a particularly bittersweet mood, but it is further enlivened by an evocative array of breath-like textures and wounded-sounding squeaks and warbles. To my ears, it is unquestionably Gyropedie's most lovely and memorable piece, as the unexpectedly poignant horn melody feels like the beating heart of the album finally being revealed, yet it would not make nearly the same impact without the languorous and dreamlike journey beforehand. Granted, Gyropedie is an album that demands some patience and attentive listening to reveal its full beauty, but its fragile and tender fantasia of memory fragments is well served by that steadily deepening immersion." [Brainwashed]
"Threshold-dwelling lower case elisions of field recording and barely-there instrumental gestures by the wonderful Anne Guthrie, an occasional and prized presence on these pages.
Guthrie’s solo work has previously snagged our ears with the gorgeous ‘Codiaeum Variegatum’ album and ‘Brass Orchids’, both for Students of Decay over the past decade. She returns to the label three years after her previous, and collabs with the GRM’s François Bonnet and Seymour Wright, to offer her most sublime sort of sonic mulch and vapours in ‘Gyropedie’, where she appears to quiesce the enduring air of Satie’s proto-ambient music into a more natural, elusive ecology of cherry-picked small sounds that amount to a lushly absorbing whole primed for pastoral sound bathing in the comfort of your own home." [Boomkat]
|
2021 |
€18.50 |
|
| HASEGAWA, HIROSHI / MAMA BAER |
Scarlet Dream / Khmerzen |
LP |
"Parts 10 and 11 of a series of split LPs on the Domestic Violence Recordings and one half of any of these records is always by Kommissar Hjuler and/or Mama Baer. On the first record we find on the other side Hirosji Hasegawa, who we sometimes know as Astro and Mortal Vision, and an important member of C.C.C.C. He was also a member of Club Skull, Senssurround Orchestra, Nord, YBO2 and many others. Hasegawa is a noise artist and that shows on his sidelong piece 'Scarlet Dream'. He uses a multitude of synthesizer sounds, brings them all out to the maximum noise settings and then starts playing around, creating interactions to bring out more noise from all of these apparatus. A cosmic storm that explodes like a black hole - is that even possible? Mama Baer on the other side has no noise to offer, at least not noise of a conventional kind. The outsider music of Mama Baer (and companion Kommissar Hjuler) is plain weird. It's never easy to tell what they are doing and sometimes one could get the impression they don't know either themselves. My best guess for the pieces on this side would be that Mama Baer has access to a reel-to-reel machine, a turntable and a microphone, speeding up voices, looping sounds, doing karaoke and such like. It's the usual fascinating here. It's not something one would play easily as 'entertainment', but this weird stuff is always great to hear." [FdW / Vital Weekly]
www.psych-kg.de
|
2014 |
€20.00 |
|
| HECKER, TIM |
Harmony in Ultraviolet |
CD |
Klang, schimmernd wie helles Licht! TIM HECKER ist nun auf Kranky gelandet, was seinem recht einmaligen Drone-Sound keinen Abbruch tut, im Gegenteil, HARMONY IN VIOLET erscheint uns wie der vorläufige Höhepunkt seines Schaffens: HECKER schafft es, seine digital-sphärischen Drones fast gleichzeitig wie einen monumentalen Noise-Sturm und doch höchst emotional harmonisch & zärtlich-melancholisch erklingen zu lassen....
"Hecker geht den auf seinen letzten Alben eingeschlagenen Weg weiter, baut ihn aus, erweitert ihn. Vielleicht ist "Harmony In Ultraviolet" nicht so hart wie das letzte Album "Mirages", aber Stücke wie "Chimeras" sind nicht weniger eindrucksvoll. Sie berauschen und entziehen den Hörer der Realität. Epische, weite und hocheindrucksvolle sphärische Momente brillieren da. Sie zeigen Heckers grosses Talent für Klangforschungen im Bereich der "spektralen" Musik. Überhaupt, Tim Heckers Klangkompositionen bewegen sich wie auf einem Farbspektrum: immer wieder werden neue Facetten und Färbungen abgetastet und herauspoliert. Feinfühlig, sensibel ebenso wie kalt, dunkel und zerfahren. Doch einerseits klingen die 15 neuen Stücke auf "Harmony In Ultraviolet" so bedeutungsvoll und geladen, andererseits aber so leicht zugänglich, durchschaubar... und bedeutungslos? Wie steckt man den Rahmen ab wenn man Heckers Musik beschreiben soll? Tim Hecker bewegt sich auf einem Feld von Ambient, Drone, elektronischer Musik, Noise und einem gefühlsmässigen Metal. "Harmony In Ultraviolet" ist ein Herbstalbum und erscheint genau zur richtigen Zeit. Denn zusammengefasst klingt es einfach wie der Herbstwind in all seinen Daseinsformen." [Creative-Eclipse]
"Call Canadian Tim Hecker's fourth full-length release (and first for drone-oriented American label Kranky) "ambient for bombardiers." Like onetime-tourmates Isis, Hecker's focus is on the molten core of metal—the drones, distortions, compressed crunching, and industrial noises that course underneath its notes and riffs. Not surprisingly, one of his earliest releases deconstructed and distended Van Halen's "Ain't Talking 'Bout Love" to more ambient ends. The display of WWII-era portraiture on Harmony in Ultraviolet's cover suggests a cenotaph to downed pilots (in actuality it's an anti-fascist memorial), while the overhead shot of Bologna, Italy, on the interior forebodes the imminent firebombing. Hecker's focus, though, is on the interior of that flying fortress, a blurry suite of movements rife with churns and buzzes. At these stratospheric heights, the guitar's distinct qualities are made fuzzy and uncertain via laptop and digital effects. If you melted off the pop structure from My Bloody Valentine's Loveless with some molten magma, you'd have a good idea of Hecker's sound.
Flow is maintained throughout, as Tim Hecker apparently understands that ever-tricky notion of fluid dynamics. He breaks up motifs (see "Palimpsest") with churning ebbs and digressions but keeps together the pinnacle suite, "Whitecaps of White Noise." And while Hecker has always been an adept craftsman, Harmony reveals his mastery of the idiom. Washes now feel oceanic, as epic and evocative ripples take shape out of unplumbed depths of feedback and distorted peals." [Andy Beta]
"....Harmony is, paradoxically, Hecker's most dramatic and most oceanic record. The former implies twists, arc, and carefully planned change intended to evoke specific effects; the latter suggests stasis, immersion, and a state of dreamy contemplation. Harmony manages to be both these things by surprising as it mesmerizes, with Hecker reigning in or tempering any jarring effects just enough to keep the self-obliterating sense of endless drone intact. One key is that the tension never really dissipates, varying only in degree and quality. The opening "Rainbow Blood" sets the scene with a screeching and trebly drone, like an orchestra tuning up in the darkened theater where Rebecca del Rio performed in Mulholland Drive, and for the next 48 minutes, Harmony keeps the pulse elevated..." [Mark Richardson / Pitchforkmedia]
|
2006 |
€14.50 |
|
| HEIRS |
Alchera |
LP |
"... Durch die bereits angesprochene Monotonie bekommen die Lieder eine wirklich unaussprechliche Brachialität verliehen, die aber nie auszubrechen droht, wie zum Beispiel ähnlich gelagerte Bands wie Pelican oder Explosions in the Sky. Auch verzichten die HEIRS komplett auf Gesang oder orchestrale Untermalungen, und so stehen sie mit ihrem kargem und brachialem, aber dennoch wahnsinnig emotionalen Sound so ziemlich alleine da. Spiralförmig ziehen die sechs Songs den Hörer immer tiefer in ein anderes Universum, lassen ihn dann wieder fallen, geben aber durch die stets aufkommenden und zutiefst befreienden Melodiebögen eine Hoffnung preis, die man so kaum gehört haben dürfte. Die HEIRS schaffen mit ihrem Debüt "Alchera" einen Postrock-Meilenstein, der sich vom Einheitsbrei stark abhebt, spielen mit dem Hörer ihr ganz eigenes Spiel, der nach dem letzten Song, dem ambienten "Russia" in einer Trance zurück gelassen wird, die er so schnell nicht vergisst. Natürlich wird "Alchera" vielen Leuten vor den Kopf stoßen, das ist ein ganz eigenes Universum, und lässt sich mit keiner Band aus diesem Genre vergleichen. Dabei haben die hier enthaltenen 45 Minuten Musik viel mehr, als man von einer Post–Band erwarten dürfte. Ein wirklich bemerkenswertes Debüt, das nicht nur frischen Wind mit sich bringt, sondern die neuen Scheiben von MONO, PELICAN und Co ganz klar hinter sich lässt. Eine wunderschöne Aufmachung gibt es obendrauf. Alles richtig gemacht." [In-Your-Face]
"Heirs is the marriage of dark and light. The pain and hopelessness of addiction vs the elation of freedom. The name Heirs originates from an ideal of "hunting and gathering" musical ideas, and formulating these ideas into an improved version. To write music without paying some sort of tribute to the artists influencing your everyday subconsciousness is a dishonest practice. The name stands as a allegory - to be the Heirs of a musical history and to expand on this, becoming a part of history themselves. Heirs began as a solo project by Damian Coward (Maps, Love Like... Electrocution) in late 2006, founded by a importunity to create a personal sound and direction. Heirs expanded its lineup during 2008 and consists of Brent Stegeman (Whitehorse, Love Like... Electrocution) and Ian Jackson (Damn Arms) on guitars, Laura Bradfield on bass and Coward on drums.
Heirs' debut full-length "Alchera" is a 43 minute movement of oppressive instrumental power, cyclic ritualism and bleak hallucinogenic revelation. Recorded at Head Gap Studios by Neil Thomason in the heat waves of Melbourne in January 2009 and mastered by James Plotkin (Isis, Khanate, Burning Witch), the 6 pieces recorded capture the band's live volume - a blanket of sound traversing a rolling dynamic landscape. Drawing influence from Michael Gira and his Swans legacy, the sledgehammer riffs and industrial pummel of Godflesh, and continuing Stegeman's incense shrouded low-end incantations from his work with doom dealers Whitehorse, combined with Jackson's reverb-soaked noise, Alchera strips bare the needless excesses of post-rock and heavy metal in favour of something much more concise and affecting. A lurching, drugged-out specter - holding solace in one hand, and vengeance in the other. From the seething metallic buzz and bluster of the opening track "Plague Asphyx", through to the crowning low-end droning turbulence of "Russia", the recording is an archetype for an existence shrouded in confusion, joy, disappointment and addiction. Heirs are touring Nationally throughout Australia, New Zealand, Japan and Europe/UK for the rest of 2009. Dates can be found on their website - www.heirs.com.au." [label info]
www.denovali.com
|
2009 |
€18.00 |
|
| HELM |
Axis |
LP |
"London exploratory industrialist Luke Younger characterizes the creation of his latest collection, Axis, as a liberating return to roots: “It felt like going back to the beginning, it felt freeing.” Begun before the pandemic as a soundtrack to a dance performance, the initial vision was for something “visceral, with physical movement in mind.” When the project shifted to indefinite hiatus, he reimagined the material in the context of an LP, while retaining its sense of dynamic physicality. The result is grim and gripping, seasick throbs lurching in a low-ceilinged space, strafed with fractured clanging, hissing steam, and grinding spirals of granular haze. Noise in its most elevated and compelling form, from and for the body as much as the mind.
The album’s unique immediacy stems from Younger’s instinctual muse, reactivating raw methods with fresh energy. “I tuned back in to working with noise techniques again: more primitive equipment, cheap FX, contact mics, noise boxes.” Key guest contributions by Lucy Railton (cello), Mark Morgan of Sightings (guitar), Alex Tucker (vocals), and the late, legendary John Hannon (violin) further enrich the record’s bristling palette. Although half the tracks were begun pre-Covid at Hannon’s Essex studio, the rest were finished in Younger’s kitchen and living room during lockdown. The final tracks were then relayed to veteran mix specialist Randall Dunn, who further honed the material, adding a vivid spatial quality before entrusting the album to Stefan Betke (Pole) for final mastering.
From the hellscape metronome of “Moskito” to the insectoid warzone pulse of “Repellent” to the seething orchestral undertow of “Axis,” this is music of ominous gravity and worlds in peril. But it’s the closing cut, “Tower,” which Younger calls “perhaps the most dramatic piece of music I’ve ever made.” A lurking, blackened descension conjured on keys, guitar, and wormhole wah, the melody simmers and swells until suddenly exploding in a chaos of distorted blast beats. From their ashes the three-note riff slowly returns, like some astral dungeon synth exorcism, rising in a searing arc towards frenzied immolation before finally fading away in white fire and afterlife whispers."
"HELM has consistently been one of the most fascinating (projects) in British experimental music the past decade" - The Quietus Luke Younger, der unter dem Moniker HELM Alben veröffentlicht, die bereits Kult-Status genießen, hat beim Label DAIS angedockt. HELM hat bislang fünf Studioalben und drei EPs mit experimenteller Musik veröffentlicht, in denen er eine Beziehung zwischen akustischen, elektronischen und realen Klängen erforscht. Ab 2012 veröffentlichte er seine Alben beim renommierten PAN Label, darunter die von Kritikern und Fans gleichermaßen gefeierten Alben "Olympic Mess" und "Chemical Flowers". Der Londoner Industrial-Musiker Luke Younger aka HELM beschreibt die Kreation seiner neuesten Kollektion "Axis" als eine befreiende Rückkehr zu den Wurzeln: "It felt like going back to the beginning, it felt freeing." Das Ergebnis ist düster und fesselnd: Seekranke Klänge, die in einem niedrigen Raum taumeln, durchsetzt von gebrochenem Klirren, zischendem Dampf und mahlenden Spiralen aus körnigem Dunst. Lärm in seiner höchsten und fesselndsten Form, von und für den Körper ebenso wie für den Geist. Wichtige Gastbeiträge von Lucy Railton (Cello), Mark Morgan von Sightings (Gitarre), Alex Tucker (Gesang) und dem verstorbenen, legendären John Hannon (Violine) bereichern die schillernde Palette des Albums zusätzlich. Mix-Spezialist Randall Dunn verfeinerte das Material und fügte eine lebendige räumliche Qualität hinzu, bevor er das Album Stefan Betke (Pole) für das endgültige Mastering anvertraute. Vom höllischen Metronom von "Moskito" über den insektoiden Warzone-Puls von "Repellent" bis hin zum brodelnden orchestralen Unterton von "Axis" ist dies Musik von bedrohlicher Schwere und Welten in Gefahr. Aber es ist das abschließende Stück "Tower", das Younger als "perhaps the most dramatic piece of music I've ever made." bezeichnet. Ein lauernder, geschwärzter Abstieg, beschworen von Tasten, Saiten und Wurmloch-Wah, die Melodie brodelt und schwillt an, bis sie plötzlich in einem Chaos aus verzerrten Blastbeats explodiert. Aus ihrer Asche kehrt das dreistimmige Riff langsam zurück, wie ein astraler Kerker-Synthie-Exorzismus, der sich in einem brennenden Bogen zur rasenden Verbrennung steigert, bevor er schließlich in weißem Feuer und Jenseitsgeflüster vergeht.
"Mit einem an Bauhaus’ „The Sky’s Gone Out“ erinnernden Cover erscheint nach einer Reihe von Alben mit “Axis” der neue Longplayer von Helm, dem Einmannprojekt von Luke Younger, auf Dais Records. Younger bezeichnet sich auf seiner Bandcampseite als „sound artist and experimental musician“, dabei hat er eine lange und durchaus heterogene(re) musikalische Biographie (u.a. Hardcore mit The Lowest Form).
Auf „Axis“, ursprünglich vor der Pandemie konzipiert als Soundtrack für eine Tanzperformance, die dann doch nicht zustande kam, setzt Younger bewusst „primitives“ Equipment ein (“cheap FX, contact mics, noise boxes”). Hinzukommen Gastmusiker an Geige, Gitarre, Cello sowie Gesang von Alex Tucker.
Mit zerhäckselten Störtönen beginnt das das Album eröffnende „Para“, bevor melodische Passagen einsetzen. Das elektronische Gebrutzel, das sich immer wieder verdichtet, gibt dem Stück eine dissonante Unruhe. „Moskito“ mit seinem kuriosen, kargen und schleppenden Rhythmus, klingt anfangs nach Minimaltechno, dann lassen sich dissonante Streicher erahnen. “Crash” dagegen ist – dem Titel zum Trotz – ruhiger, besitzt fast schon Ambientcharakter. Hier sorgen Streicherpassagen für Momente der Melancholie. Dieses Innehalten wird mit den Zahnarztbohrersounds, die “Repellent” einleiten, beendet. Dann setzen verzerrte Beats ein. “Mole” knistert, als werde eine Verpackung geöffnet. Das ist ein dunkles Stück Geräuschmusik mit Streicherpassagen, die an einen Folk Horror-Soundtrack denken lassen. Auf dem düsteren Titeltrack hört man übereinandergeschichtete schabende und nach Sirenen klingende Sounds, die in einer Kakophonie untergehen. “Tower” schließlich ist ein im Kontext des Albums fast schon orchestraler, dramatischer Track. The rest is silence." [MG / African Paper]
|
2021 |
€23.00 |
|
| HODGKINSON, TIM |
Pragma |
CD |
"Wer sich für experimentellen Rock interessiert, der sollte den sympathischen Engländer Tim Hodgkinson kennen, ist er doch schon seit den späten sechziger Jahren aktiv. Einst bei den vielgelobten Henry Cow mit von der Partie, machte Tim in den Achtzigern und Neunzigern mit Bands wie The Work (immer unterschätzt, doch eine grandiose Gruppe!) oder Momes oder mit dem Jazz-Core-Projekt Godd (den englischen) weiter. Nebenher bringt der Saxofonist und Komponist auch immer wieder Platten unter dem eigenen Namen heraus. "Pragma" schöpft sowohl aus seiner Erfahrung als Improvisationsmusiker als auch aus seinem Interesse für zeitgenösische Klassik. Wir hören sechs durchaus strenge (nicht anstrengende) Kompositionen für "taped voices" ("SHHH") oder für "Klarinette, E-Gitarre, Brass Instruments und Percussion" ("Repulsion"). Bizarr und wie immer bei Hodgkinson, nicht ohne Humor." [Łeeson]
" Tim is best known as a founding member of the legendary avant rock group Henry Cow [1968-1978]. Pragma is an intense fusion of contemporary classical music and rock energy. There are six substantial compositions focusing on horns, violins, percussion, voices, & small orchestral ensembles." Includes: "SHHH" (for taped voices, including fragments of Ana-Maria Avram's 'Archae'); "For Looking Inside" (for 3 prepared violas) & 4 others." [label info]
www.rermegacorp.com
|
1998 |
€14.00 |
|
| HOLY SIMILAUN |
Radicor al flort, espert on'ill il erb, aor Raetia |
LP |
Holy Similaun and Archipel dwell once again in the complex intersection of human memory, time and its perception with "Radicor al flort, espert on'ill il erb, aor Raetia".
In just under 20', this ideal in-depth analysis of "Arcaskathel" explores the blurred boundaries between reality and illusion.
Electronic and ambient soundscapes meld with japanese instrumentation and rouge-ah's poignant harp to create a sonic tapestry that ebbs and flows between moments of serene beauty and frenzied dissonance.
From longing nostalgia to the violent confusion and disorientation that comes with the loss of memory, this tracking shot invites the listener to explore the nuances of each sound and word, amidst the juxtaposition of brutal distortion, soaring melodies and punishing walls of noise.
The bold vocals, expertly crafted by Archipel, add another layer of depth to the already rich sonic landscape, shifting from demonic whispers to lullabies in the blink of an eye.
Even in its most turbulent moments, "Radicor al flort, espert on'ill il erb, aor Raetia" remains grounded in a sense of grace and beauty. The echoes of this immersive sonic experience will stay with you long after the music has stopped.
https://kohlhaas.bandcamp.com/album/radicor-al-flort-espert-onill-il-erb-aor-raetia
"With a playing time of eleven minutes for the first side, and eight for the second, I think this is instead a 12" than an LP; also because it spins at 45 rpm. I had not heard of Holy Similaun before, whose debut album is Aphex Twin-approved (good for Holy). Similaun also worked with Carhartt, Slam Jam and Spazio Maiocchi and with Zoë McPherson - none of which I had heard of (I am sure I move in different circles. Holy Similaun is responsible for the music, while Urska Preis plays the harp, and one Archipel delivers vocals and lyrics. These are in Italian, so some got lost in translation. I would think that digital manipulation plays an important role here, but at the same time, I don't know if that is true. Everything is about deconstruction is my best guess, which on the first
side, called 'Radicor al flort, espert' (which seemed not easy to translate), has a dark ambient backing in an orchestral modus. At one point, a voice recites a text when the piece is busy on its long descent down. Everything is now apart, so the peace ends. On the other side, the likewise difficult to translate 'on'ill il erb, or Raetia' is more atmosphere, more voice, and more musique concrète deconstructing of sounds. What and why there is a need to deconstruct (and, again, if that is the case here) is something that isn't entirely clear. This site is a livelier and more dynamic one than the other side. I found it all pretty enjoyable, but also a bit too obscure in the idea, message, concept, or... anything like that. Plus, of course, why only so short?" [FdW/Vital Weekly]
|
2023 |
€18.00 |
|
| HUMAN GREED |
Hivernant |
CD |
"Michael Begg : After releasing World Fair (Omnempathy, 2014) I became a sketchbook. I had a few creases and the best way of smoothing them out was to take a swift, light touch and make marks on paper. I documented the landscape in East Lothian, and the watercolours were nothing more than the evidence of time spent looking. And that was enough. I sketched notes about silence, about space and place, music and recording. I took one step to the side and listened to the time rush by. I applied the same light touch to the studio. I sketched. It was enough. I somehow, briefly, removed ambition and purpose and found, in the winter, a moment of repose.
I now feel like some little winter animal, a hivernant, arising from sleep." [label info]
www.omnempathy.com
"A very English sounding record, this Hivernant, oozing with dramatic dronescaping and cinematically empty ambience. In previous recordings and collaborations, Michael Begg has found himself in very good company alongside the likes of David Tibet, Colin Potter, Brian Eno, and Clodagh Simonds (amongst others), all of whom share a similar sense of melancholy and portent and resignation, as if it oozed out of the British sod and into their souls. Begg himself has stated that this album is the equivalent of watercolor sketches of a particular portion of Britain (East Lothian, to be exact), capturing the mood and psychic malaise which haunts that land through his darkened, impressionist compositions. Yet, these are most definitely not ephemeral vignettes. Begg carefully crafts the somber spaces with orchestrations of organ, piano, psalter, oboe, etc. that unfurl in and out of an electronic fog that has little in the way of the shoegazing reverberation of, say, Stars Of The Lid, though the arranged formalism and nocturnal pacing could find parallel there. His shimmering layers of sound will evolve into pure sonic forms of harmonically clashing drones only to dissolve into pools of melodic piano reminiscent of Eno's Thursday Afternoon or into a Tim Hecker-like tonal suspension of stained-glass sorrow, with the rather dramatic climax to be found on "Nana" that explodes with a sparse yet booming drumcorps. Hivernant is beautiful, haunting, languid, beguiling. Begg posits this a political album, though he admits an inability to articulate any specifics of these ideas. Yet, in the construct of an album that digs at the poetics of a very British sentiment without sinking into chest-thumping nationalism, his politics speak through the act of creation and not the polemics of division." [Aquarius Rec.] |
2015 |
€13.00 |
|
| HUNGNESS, BRANNON |
Virtual Symphony |
CD |
Solo-CD des OBLIVION ENSEMBLE-Mitglieds, eine unglaublich komplexes orchestrales Werk, welches auf diversen live-Aufnahmen basiert, die aber nachträglich transformiert wurden. Sehr dicht und spannend, wie auch schon bei OBLIVION ENSEMBLE, aber weniger song-orientiert.
label-website: www.multimood.com |
1995 |
€14.00 |
|
| IANNOTTA, CLARA |
A failed Entertainment |
CD |
"Herausgegeben und finanziert durch das Berliner Künstlerporgramm des DAAD. Clara Iannotta war 2013 Gast des Berliner Künstlerprogramms des DAAD.
Intent on Resurrection — Spring or Some Such Thing [2014] für 17 Musiker (Ensemble Intercontemporain · Leitung: Matthias Pintscher) [ 14:04 ]
Limun [2011] für Violine, Viola und 2 Notenwender (Ensemble Recherche · Violine: Melise Mellinger · Viola: Barbara Maurer) [ 9:28 ]
D‘après Talea [2012] für 7 Musiker (Talea Ensemble) [ 8:18 ]
Àphones [2011] für 17 Musiker (Orchestre des Èlèves du Conservatoire National Supérieur de Paris · Leitung: Tito Ceccherini) [ 6:50 ]
A Failed Entertainment [2013] für Streichquartett (Quatuor Diotima) [ 17:04 ]
Al di là del bianco [2009] für Ensemble (Ensemble Garage · Bassklarinette: Richard Haynes) [ 5:29 ]
The people here go mad. They blame the Wind [2013-2014] für Bassklarinette, Cello, Klavier und 12 Spieluhren (Trio Catch) [ 9:52 ]
Clara Iannottas Kompositionen ist eine bestimmte "Theatralität" eigen. Theatralität, die die Körperlichkeit des Klanges, seine innere Bewegtheit, seine Erregungszustände, seine instrumentale Genese aus der Stille heraus meint und die den Klang nicht losgelöst von der Geste, die ihn hervorbringt, und der Inszenierung im Kontext eines jeweils unterschiedlichen instrumentalen Gefüges betrachtet. Meistens schneidert Iannotta (*1983) ihre klangfeinen Kompositionen ganz bestimmten Musiker/innen oder Ensembles auf den Leib, macht sie im künstlerischen Dialog passend, ...
Dr. Barbara Barthelmes
"I am particularly interested in music as an existential, physical experience — music should be seen as well as heard. This is one of the reasons why I sometimes prefer to talk about the choreography of the sound rather than about orchestration." [Clara Iannotta]
www.edition-rz.de
"My first portrait CD is finally out! It includes some live and studio recordings of my works from 2009 to 2014 played by Ensemble Intercontemporain conducted by Matthias Pintscher, Ensemble Recherche with Melise Mellinger and Barbara Maurer, Talea Ensemble conducted by Eduardo Leandro, Orchestre des Élèves du Conservatoire National Supérieur de Paris conducted by Tito Ceccherini, Quatuor Diotima, Ensemble Garage with Richard Haynes, and Trio Catch.
The beautiful booklet has been written by Tim Rutherford-Johnson." [Clara Ioannotta]
|
2016 |
€16.00 |
|
| ICHIYANAGI, TOSHI |
Funakakushi |
CD |
“Funakakushi” (1963). This electronic work was composed for opening ceremony of hotel “Funakakushi-en” in Kagawa prefecture in 1963. It was realized like sound installation used many speakers built-in stone sculpture. They were designed by sculptor Mitsu-aki Sora (b. 1933) and were arranged here and there at main garden of the hotel. The sound was made from modified Japanese traditional instrument Biwa and sea wave sound. Engineer Junosuke Okuyama [3] assisted for electronic devices.#“Life Music (tape version)” (1964). Life Music was composed as tape version originally in 1964. After then, this work was played as another version with electronic modified orchestra (contact microphones were put on al instruments of the orchestra at Nissei Theatre in 1966. Junosuke Okuyama designed special effect machine named Electronics Sound Breaker (=ESB) for the concert. Kuniharu Akiyama, music critic, wrote about this machine on liner notes of “Orchestral Space” LP as follows, “…amplified sound of the orchestra was sent to some effect machines and ESB, and they were driven by tape version. Just then, electronic amplification was cut off synchronously by silent parts of the tape, and only non-effect live sound was played…”
|
2013 |
€21.50 |
|
| IF, BWANA |
Breathing |
CD |
IF BWANA ist das seit Urzeiten bestehende Projekt von AL MARGOLIS, der früher das SOUND OF PIG-Tapelabel und inzwischen POGUS Productions betreibt. Auf BREATING befinden sich drei lange Stücke mit komplexen nicht-elektronischen drone-soundscapes kreiert mit Cello, Didgeridoo, Tapes, Effects, Piano, Flöte, etc... 3 pieces of non-electronic drone-soundscapes based on „real“ instruments..
very much worth to invest one or two ears here..
“ Breathing is for 2 didjeridus, cello, oboe, and tapes. R.Ism V.2PF is for tape, 2 pianos, sampled flute, and electronics. Barump Poc is for winds, organ, chorus, tapes, etc., etc., etc. The "orchestral" piece. Assisting Bwanettes on this disc are Jane Scarpantoni, Dave Prescott, Brian Charles, Dan and Detta Andreana, Danielle Reddick, Paul Richards, and Debbie Goldberg.” [label catalogue]
label: www.pogus.com |
1996 |
€13.00 |
|
| IIBIIS ROOGE |
same |
LP |
Iibiis Rooge is the new superastral duo team bringing together the mysterious High Wolf (Not Not Fun Records, Winged Sun) with the seminal talents of Mr. Neil Campbell, better known these days as Astral Social Club (Fat Cat, VHF, Qbico, Important, Textile, Bottrop-Boy and countless other labels around the globe) and (ex-) member of Vibracathedral Orchestra, A-Band, and other obscure/legendary outfits.
The new self-titled LP is the debut album of the band (don’t call it "project") combining modern psychedelic High Wolf jams with the fucked up yet refined electronics and techno-infused beat choppery of the Astral Social Club – the result being a lot more then you might have expected from the two, transcending their combined talents into a multicoloured supernova. The strength of the album is an unexpected pop sensibility and airiness, while still being tighter and more consolidated than their regular solo outfits. Even the noisier elements are embedded in loose song structures with a carnivalesque air dominating the whole atmosphere.
While the duo’s solo outings are often camouflaging any melodies in oodles of electronic noises or lo-fi psych jams and hiss this is a fairly different affair with simple melodic textures always dominating the four tracks. The defibration of structures is still apparent but the music is constantly pulling itself together again. Where the Astral Social Club is sometimes willingly losing himself in electronic soundscapes and the High Wolf’s short & sketchy songs are rarely fully formulated by nature, all the positive aspects of their respective works are combined and complemented in Iibiis Rooge.
These gentlemen are the perfect match. A visible proof that (musical) online dating can be a highly prosperous activity
https://dekorder.bandcamp.com/album/iibiis-rooge
|
2010 |
€15.00 |
|
| IKEDA, RYOJI |
Ultratronics |
CD |
A decade after the release of ‘supercodex,’ NOTON is thrilled to welcome back Japanese artist and composer Ryoji Ikeda with his latest long-player, ‘ultratronics,’ out on December 2nd 2022.
Featuring audio material recorded between 1989 and 1999 and compositions created between 2013 and 2022, ’ultratronics’ explores sound’s arithmetical and computational essence and renders them into the propulsive auditory experience that constitutes Ikeda’s sound signature.
Ryoji Ikeda has created numerous immersive works that dynamically combine technology, light, and sound to electrify the audience’s senses. Since 2000 Ikeda has pursued the theme of data, with a particular interest in the fields of genetics, quantum physics, and astronomy, which he has incorporated into works that present new ways of perceiving the world in numerical terms. To be experienced visually and aurally, the album transports the listeners in a world composed of large amounts of data that usually go unnoticed.
‘ultratronics’ will be available worldwide on CD and digitally. A Japanese edition of the CD will be available on Ryoji Ikeda’s codex | edition. Pre-orders of both editions will start on October 7th, 2022.
‘ultratronics [live set]’ will premiere at Tokyo’s WWW X in Shibuya on October 15, and will be presented as part of MUTEK.JP 2022 at Line Cube Shibuya (渋谷公会堂) on December 7th.
Born in 1966 in Gifu, Ikeda currently lives and works in Paris and Kyoto. While rooted in electronic music, the internationally active composer and artist also produces art as experimentation. Ikeda’s immersive live performances and installations employ elaborate orchestration of sounds, visuals, maler, physical phenomena, and mathematical concepts. In 2022, Hirosaki Museum of Contemporary Art presented his first major solo exhibi^on in Japan since 2009. Ikeda has received the Prix Ars Electronica Collide at CERN in 2014, and the 70th Japanese Minister of Education Award for Fine Arts, Media Arts Division in 2020.
|
2022 |
€17.50 |
|
| IN THE NURSERY |
Recordings 1981-1999 |
7 x LP BOX |
7 Lp Box w. Shirt & Booklet. Black vinyl ltd. 400. In The Nursery is the Sheffield-based musical project centered around the nucleus of twin brothers Klive and Nigel Humberstone and formed in 1981 together with Anthony Bennett. The trio were originally associated with the UK's industrial music scene, releasing the six-track When Cherished Dreams Come True in June 1983. The "Witness (To A Scream)" single and Sonority EP followed before the band moved to the Sweatbox label for the fearsome Temper EP. The full-length Twins was recorded without the departed Bennett at Bradford's Flexible Response Studio. ITN’s musical history spans 30 years and has constantly expressed their desire for progress and experimentation. Their sublime, cinematic music blends electronica, classical arrangements, orchestral percussion and soundscapes evoking a timeless quality.
regular black Vinyl edition Number 100-500
LP1 Basement Tapes 1981/82
LP1A Basement 1981/82 Basement Tapes 1981/82
LP1A I'll Turn Away 1981/82 Basement Tapes 1981/82
LP1A Patter 1981/82 Basement Tapes 1981/82
LP1B Stone Souls 1981/82 Basement Tapes 1981/82
LP1B Listen 1981/82 Basement Tapes 1981/82
LP1B Dawn Song 1981/82 Basement Tapes 1981/82
LP1B Red Blue Yellow 1981/82 Basement Tapes 1981/82
Lp2 Live Melkweg 1985
LP2A Fabricata 1985 Melkweg Live
LP2A Iskra 1985 Melkweg Live
LP2A A to I 1985 Melkweg Live
LP2A And Your Eyes 1985 Melkweg Live
LP2A Workcorps (early version) 1985 Melkweg Live
LP2B Illuminata 1985 Melkweg Live
LP2B To The Faithful (Deceivers) 1985 Melkweg Live
LP2B Witness (to a scream) 1985 Melkweg Live
LP2B Deus Ex Machina 1985 Melkweg Live
Lp3: Tracks from 1986-1991
LP3A The Outsider (instrumental) TWINS (1986) 1986-1991
LP3A Breach Birth (Blockade Mix) TWINS (1986) 1986-1991
LP3A Twins (remix) TWINS (1986) 1986-1991
LP3A Blind Me (An Assault on Heaven in 4 Chapters) Stormhorse (1987) 1986-1991
LP3A Counterpart (pre drums mix) Stormhorse (1987) 1986-1991
LP3A Ostinato Koda (1988) 1986-1991
LP3B Blade (instrumental) L'esprit (1990) 1986-1991
LP3B Archaic Torso (instrumental) L'esprit (1990) 1986-1991
LP3B Cadence (unreleased) L'esprit (1990) 1986-1991
LP3B Epigraph (instrumental) Sense (1991) 1986-1991
LP3B Sense (instrumental) Sense (1991) 1986-1991
LP3B Dextral Sense (1991) 1986-1991
LP3B Memoirs 2 Sense (1991) 1986-1991
LP3B A Rebours (instrumental) Sense (1991) 1986-1991
Lp4: Tracks from 1992-1994
LP4A Desiderata (instrumental) Duality (1992) 1992-1994
LP4A Red Harvest (instrumental) Duality (1992) 1992-1994
LP4A Duality (instrumental) Duality (1992) 1992-1994
LP4A Corruption (instrumental) Duality (1992) 1992-1994
LP4A Pulse (extended demo mix) Duality (1992) 1992-1994
LP4A Mecciano (instrumental) Duality (1992) 1992-1994
LP4B Anatomy Of A Poet (instrumental) Anatomy of a Poet (1994) 1992-1994
LP4B Motive (instrumental) Anatomy of a Poet (1994) 1992-1994
LP4B Byzantium (instrumental) Anatomy of a Poet (1994) 1992-1994
LP4B The Golden Journey (instrumental) Anatomy of a Poet (1994) 1992-1994
LP4B The Seventh Seal (instrumental) Anatomy of a Poet (1994) 1992-1994
LP4B Blue Lovers (instrumental) Anatomy of a Poet (1994) 1992-1994
Lp5: Tracks from 1995-1997
LP5A Laten (unreleased) 1995 1995-1997
LP5A Grace (unreleased) 1995 1995-1997
LP5A Rescue (unreleased) 1995 1995-1997
LP5A Radiator (WIP) 1995 1995-1997
LP5A Tungsten (demo mix) 1997 1995-1997
LP5A Compliance (HTS 200 snare mix) 1996 1995-1997
LP5A Rainhall (unreleased) 1996 1995-1997
LP5B Mallarme (instrumental) 1996 1995-1997
LP5B Woman (instrumental) 1996 1995-1997
LP5B Caprice (instrumental) 1996 1995-1997
LP5B Precedent (instrumental) 1996 1995-1997
LP5B Cold Eyes 1996 1995-1997
Lp6: Tracks from 1998-1999
LP6A I Ask For Grace (instrumental) Lingua 1998 1998
LP6A El Secreto (instrumental) Lingua 1998 1998
LP6A Mute Harmony (instrumental) Lingua 1998 1998
LP6A The Living Tongue (instrumental) Lingua 1998 1998
LP6A Poema (instrumental) Lingua 1998 1998
LP6B StrR (MWMC wip) MWMC (1998) 1998
LP6B Luxuriate (MWMC wip) MWMC (1998) 1998
LP6B Arp Stuff (MWMC wip) MWMC (1998) 1998
LP6B Liberation (MWMC wip) MWMC (1998) 1998
LP6B Groundloop (divergent strings mix) Groundloop 1999
Lp7: Vinyl Tracks from 1983-85
LP7A A To I 3:33
LP7A Patter 4:32
LP7A Stone Souls 3:22
LP7A Mystery 3:56
LP7A Remain 3:10
LP7A Execution's Romance 5:22
LP7A E984 3:13
LP7B Witness (To A Scream) 4:07
LP7B Iskra 3:10
LP7B Sentient 4:05
LP7B Deus Ex Machina 5:52
LP7B Lost Prayer 4:42
LP7B And Your Eyes 6:33
|
2023 |
€145.00 |
|
| INNER VISION LABORATORY |
Future Chaos |
CD |
"Zoharum proudly presents the next collaboration with Karol Skrzypiec, the man behind IVLab. 'Future Chaos' is an archive recording, with a more industrial feel unlike his last melodic/orchestral releases. It has raw touch to it. More than 70 minutes of music to a post-nuclear apocalyptic SF movies." [label info]
www.zoharum.com
|
2011 |
€12.00 |
|
| IRISARRI, RAFAEL ANTON |
Sirimiri |
MC |
"The NY-based producer returns to Umor Rex with a new album, in which the musical discourse and the physical form of the release have an equal, crucial importance. Sirimiri is made of four long and mid-length pieces, each composed of different perspectives, processes and identities. However, Rafael seeks to blend subjective time with the listening experience. A sort of loop and repetition, sub-sequence-based sound. Following Eno, nothing happens in the same way twice, perception is constantly shifting, nothing stays in one place for long. The sum of the four pieces is 36 minutes; the cassette edition lasts 72 minutes in total, since both sides have the same four songs joined together. Physically, the format allows us at least two automatic repetitions. In the digital version the songs are independent, but we also include a bonus track made of the 36-minute loop. The desolation and despair (in a sort of positive way) that we got to hear in The Shameless Years (Umor Rex 2017) is present in Sirimiri, but the impression is concrete, with cruder, less rhetorical landscapes. If The Shameless Years was located between beauty and active tragedy, Sirimiri travels inside the beauty and melancholy of an observing eye, a quiet rebel insurrection. Another substantial difference is the distance from general and globalized concepts; in these unfortunate times, Sirimiri looks for personal sorrows, and places its focus on the particular. Even the names of the songs evoke this in small ways, like in "Sonder", the feeling of realizing that everyone, even a complete stranger, has a life as complex as one's own. Rafael has two guests in this album; Taylor Jordan in "Mountain Strem", and Rafael's hero Carl Hultgren (from Windy & Carl) in "Sonder". Sirimiri means 'drizzle' in Basque, and we cannot find a better word to describe its content." [label info]
umorrex.bandcamp.com/album/sirimiri
"Even though the sound expanses traversed by ambient music often evoke feelings of horizontality, layered planeness and volatile textures tranquilly billowing out, it is also true that the greater representatives of the genre and its sub-branches – like mountaineers – mostly seek for sky-scraping verticality. Ranking high in the pantheon of atmosphere architects, Rafael Anton Irisarri certainly has nothing left to prove. Since his beginnings over ten years ago, his output has gained a density that very few can boast having reached, establishing a sound that has the power to haunt your nights and the crucial energy to bring your most buried existential dreams out of mothballs.
Shrouded in melancholic vapours and forlorn harmonics, Irisarri’s new album for Umor Rex presents four majestic extended cuts as so many viewpoints on an untouched phantasmal valley. Drawing its name from the Basque word for ‘drizzle‘ – which makes absolute sense given the fine-grained, caressingly fresh nature of its sound design, ‘Sirimiri‘ offers sensations in their purest essence, primitively symbolic yet actively contemplative. Where his previous full-length ‘The Shameless Years‘ had more of a demiurgic dramatic tension going through it, which gave it a further “composed” approach, ‘Sirimiri‘ feels less refined and more abruptly sculptural.
The opening track, ‘Downfall‘, kicks things off on a particularly bleak and austere note, submerging its listener in a sort of faded high-altitude euphoria. Minimal drones cloud the skyline as Irisarri deftly orchestrates his wonderful ballet of understated modulations and darkened timbres. Smoothly fading in, the album’s highlight ‘Sonder‘ expands the radius to further high-level elegiac spheres, astoundingly poignant and overwhelming, each bar weightlessly elevating upon fantasized mountain scapes, rife with craggy peaks and steep hogbacks, as it fully absorbs you in its restful tide of slow-scudding pads and guitar riffs.
To label Irisarri’s music mourning or pining would equate to ignore the boundary-pushing fortitude of his art. The soothing ‘Vasastan‘ and ‘Mountain Stream‘ leave behind the weatherbeaten force of the previous numbers, instead flourishing in the quieter, ethereal heights of the spectrum. Here again, Irisarri demonstrates his unmatched capability at crafting constantly changing organic soundscapes, juggling with overly complex textural interplays but making it all look so easy and seamless. Showing off a crucial, frontal, universal quality that’s nothing easy to achieve, Irisarri bewitches and transports, confirming once and for all he’s one of the most singular and vibrant voices in contemporary music, and ‘Sirimiri‘ one of his most accomplished records to date." [Baptiste Girou / Inverted Audio]
|
2018 |
€15.00 |
|
| JACASZEK |
Music for Film |
LP |
"Since his earliest projects nearly two decades ago, Polish composer Michal Jacaszek has kept some proximity to film music. Initially, his output simply felt cinematic by nature; densely detailed electroacoustic textures on releases like Lo-Fi Stories (2004), Treny (2008) and Glimmer (2011) evoked dimly-lit worlds within themselves, vignettes of the imagination. Over time his interest in sound design and collaboration would manifest actual film projects and commissions, some of which have earned him awards. Jacaszek's practice - an amalgamation of ambient, classical, and musique concrete - deploys field recordings, acoustic samples, poetry, and baroque instrumentation to paint pictures, oftentimes melancholic, nostalgic, tragic. His 2020 album, Music For Film, marks the naturally-occurring intersection of his identities as a solo artist and a film score artist. The collection is now sequenced and released as a single autonomic movement. "I didn't write to particular scenes," says Jacaszek, recalling the process of envisioning music for Rainer Sarnet's 2017 black-and-white fantasy drama November. "He asked me to create a bunch of pieces for a dark fairytale-like movie about love in old Estonian pagan times - full of dark magic, strange beliefs, poverty, grit, and natural beauty." That versatile purpose from the onset affords the material particular pliability in the album format; the pieces work on their own. Two tracks originated from the 2019 documentary He Dreams of Giants; another was first used in 2008 project Golgota wroc?awska. Context removed, they fuse seamlessly; ten years time between some recordings, erased. A visceral dynamism emerges here with a relatively restricted palette of sounds. Music moves in measured steps, inconspicuous yet holding attention. Opener "The Zone" is curious and brittle, crawling on keys and a foundational bass thump as strings seep beneath in a raspy hush. Centerpiece "Dance" folds into an ominous and molasses-slow trot through minor chords, spacious percussion, and static, all under the spell of a mournful violin lead. Windswept vocals haunt "Liina" from a distance, while they sink deeply into orchestral closer "November Late." Jacaszek's work is that of an auteur; he has signatures that he uses faithfully and with much aplomb. Listeners can expect subtle gesture and baroque grandeur on Music For Films: soaring melodies cloaked in reverberation, delicate piano ruminations, and textural craftwork capable of creating and disrupting motifs, smothering and enchanting minds."
|
2020 |
€20.50 |
|
| JACKMAN, DAVID (=ORGANUM) |
Verhalte Dich ruhig |
CD |
Re-release einer ultra-raren Cassette von 1996...
“ Long time announced rerelease of a very rare cassette (edition of 61 copies only) from 1996. The two pieces (with a total playing time of about 30 minutes) can be seen as the first step into a direction which later developed into the 'Laus' 7inch (DS17), 'Sternklare Nacht' CDR & 'Rabenfeld' CDR (Flugzeug Schallplatten) and also the Machine Gun pieces. Found sounds (here a real orchestra) overlaid and altered making this a very strange listening experience indeed. "For a live performance any number of musicians using any instrumentation play along with the tape as best they can" (from the liner notes of the cassette). Full color booklet.” [label press release].
www.diestadtmusik.de
|
2001 |
€13.00 |
|
| JARL |
Spectrum Confusion |
CD |
Spectrum Confusion is Jarl’s fifth album on Reverse Alignment, following on from 2019’s massive triple CD release Symptoms Variation/ Sensory Deprivation. And once again Karolina Urbaniak has masterfully created the cover artwork, as she’s done for the four earlier Jarl releases, also released by RA.
Spectrum Confusion consists of three long-form pieces showcasing his trademark psychedelic, hypnotic approach, but this time the presence of bubbling and pulsating sounds makes the music sound closer to the electronic experiments of Northern European avant-garde composers in conjunction with more melodic passages harmonically coexisting alongside the abstract elements. Jarl’s music has entered its more mature stage here, and Spectrum Confusion consolidates his reputation as one of the most interesting and original European electronic music composers.
Swedish musician Erik Jarl has been active since the Fall of 1999, principally as Jarl. He was also a member of post-industrial act IRM, of which Erik was one of the founding members. Jarl’s music has been released on several labels through the years, and he has collaborated with acts like Anemone Tube, Envenomist, and Skin Area. Erik Jarl composes his music through a total analogue approach with the use of synthesisers, analogue sequencers, waveform generators, and oscillators, as well as several echo/reverb and delay units.
https://reversealignment.bandcamp.com/album/spectrum-confusion
"More and more, the territory for Vital Weekly is that of modern classical music, improvised music and such; the last resort of physical releases, perhaps? I am glad that there is also music from Erik Jarl dropping on my doorstep now and then. Just for the sake of hearing something else, also because I have been quite a fan of his music over the years. After all these years of reviewing his music, I still have not a clear picture of what Jarl does. Maybe I believed he was a man of computer technology for a while, but I think that the modular synthesiser is his instrument of choice in recent times. When I was playing this CD, I used some more volume to drown out the clarinet rehearsals taking place upstairs, and it occurs to me that there is a slightly more cosmic streak to his music this time around. I doubt the volume is a contributing factor to that thought. I had this realisation, and I thought there was a straight line from Conrad Schnitzler's 'non-keyboard electronics' to the world of industrial music. Jarl's sonic paintings are dark and bleak; they are slow and minimal. Yet, it is also music of hope and light. This music is not the dystopian cosmic journey of a spaceship returning to the destroyed earth, but rather, well, such as I hear this, a celebratory trip back home. The spacecraft is in slow motion returning from whatever it was doing in space anyway. The additional reverb sets some of the moods here. It bursts and bubbles along the edges of the massive drones. Maybe because Jarl adds a melodic touch to his electronics, it made me think of that. I took a peek at Vangelis' recent tribute to Juno (the Jupiter moon, not the synthesiser), hailed in the daily, but I feel NASA missed out on Jarl's music for this occasion. His soundtrack would fit Juno much better than Vangelis' orchestral brushes. Alright, next time, Nasa, go to Sweden and talk to Jarl!" [FdW/Vital Weekly]
|
2021 |
€13.00 |
|
| JASENKA, ANTANAS |
Deusexmachina |
CD |
Entdeckung auf ELECTROSHOCK ! Aufregende, ausufernde Elektro-Akustik, mal in sphärische Gebiete driftend, dann wieder hochdynamisch und explosiv ausbrechend...
“....Then comes Antanas Jasenka and his "Deusexmachina", a disc of fantastic noise art. The album goes from moments of tensed-up silences and slow-building background noises a la Francisco Lopez to outbursts of finely chiselled harsh noise the likes of Merzbow or Sickness. A lot of action takes place between these two poles, cinematic scenes that pair found sounds with digital treatments to produce captivating sonic environments. In "Accsident" (sic) strings, brushes, and a voice sample are arranged into a post-rock interlude that degenerates in screams, electric guitar, and another build-up of tension. Jasenka has the artistry but most of all the flair to orchestrate an album in such a way that it anticipates the listener's reactions. He is constantly two steps ahead of you. The music of labelmates Artemiy Artemiev, Stanislav Kreitchi, or Anatoly Pereslegin sound highly distinctive because it has developed in a closed-up universe... [Francois Couture / All-Music Guide]
|
2002 |
€12.00 |
|
| JENSEN, CLARICE |
Drone Studies |
LP |
"In the past few years, Clarice Jensen has forged her own path. Recently, her focus has shifted to film scoring, successfully recording work for three feature films between 2020 and 2021. At the same time, Clarice continues to serve as artistic director of the American Contemporary Music Ensemble, while continually collaborating with an impressive array of musicians, such as Max Richter, Björk and Stars of the Lid, to name a few.
That being said, it was her 2019 tape release on Geographic North, Drone Studies, that initially caught the attention of a wider audience, with the work showcasing a compelling assembly of deeply immersive drones, and elegantly orchestrated compositions, in which neoclassical elements collide with electric density.
Three years later, the work has lost none of its innovative character and appeal. It also documents a turning point in Clarice's career, one where her classically trained background started to converged and overlap with her interests in improvisational electronics and drone music. As a result, the aptly titled Drone Studies shows Clarice at her most exploratory, introspective, and daring, channeling her areas of interest into a collage of richly textured timbers, and cello movements of sublime tension.
Now for the first time, the original album can be experienced through an expanded vinyl reissue, mastered by Rafael Anton Irissari, and carefully adjusted for vinyl by Ian Hawgood. The new reissue also features an additional track by Clarice called Platonic Solids 2, which was originally conceived around the same time as Drone Studies, and which has now been made available exclusively for the vinyl edition and on the Vaagner Bandcamp.
We hope that this new reissue will aid in introducing Clarice's groundbreaking Drone Studies to a new crowd of listeners through this expanded edition."
https://vaagner.bandcamp.com/album/drone-studies
|
2022 |
€18.50 |
|
| JOHANNSSON, JOHANN |
IBM 1401, a User's Manual |
CD |
Nach den schönen TOUCH-CDs ein weiteres stark Filmsoundtrack-artiges Album des Isländers, dass uns stark an die emotionale Musik von ARVO PÄRT erinnert... sein Debut für 4AD !!
"Johann Johannsson ist Isländer und lebt in Reykjavik. Er ist Musiker (sowohl Solo als auch als Mitglied des Apparat Organ Quartets), Komponist, Produzent und Labelgründer (Kitchen Motor). Johannssons Name ist auch immer wieder in den Credits der Produktionen renommierter Künstler zu finden. So produzierte und schrieb er mit Marc Almond an dessen Stranger Things' Album, arbeitete mit Barry Adamson, Pan Sonic, dem Hafler Trio oder Jaki Liebezeit zusammen.
Als Komponist verzaubert er seine Zuhörer meist mit seiner stattlichen und eindringlich-melodischen Musik. Sein neues Werk ist bis dato seine am anspruchsvollsten instrumentierte und attraktivste Komposition. Die Idee zum Album basiert auf der Arbeit von Johanns Vater. Dieser war im Jahr 1964 als leitender Techniker bei einem der ersten Großrechnerprojekte Islands beschäftigt und es gelang ihm, den Rechner IBM 1401 mit einer Melodie zu programmieren und diese aufzunehmen. Diese Tonbänder, die Johann auf dem Dachboden seines Vaters fand, bilden das Herzstück des Albums. Für die Aufnahmen schrieb Johannson seine Komposition für ein Streicher-Sextett um und komponierte einen neuen finalen Satz." [Indigo]
"So here it is, Jóhann Jóhannsson’s eagerly awaited debut album for the 4AD label, and we’re very happy indeed to say that it’s the finest record he’s put his name to yet. I suppose the move from Touch worried some fans at first, but on hearing ‘IBM 1401…’ in it’s entirety it makes perfect sense as part of the 4AD catalogue. Jóhannsson found inspiration for the record after discovering his father’s IBM1401, a cumbersome 1960s computer system for which his father was a technician. Apparently these machines used to cost $2500 per day to lease and probably did a lot less than you’d think given the price, but Jóhannsson saw something intriguing to sample and in the same way that he utilised morse code receivers and ham radios on his Kitchen Motors disc, he uses IBM1401 training tapes as the thematic link on these tracks. An English voice can be heard describing the computer parts and how they work and how to engineer repairs on the machine and it’s peripherals, of course this is something that can ruin an otherwise good piece of music, but Jóhannsson in his restraint has managed to use the samples so cleverly that they actually become part of the music itself. The assertive voice becomes a symbol of nostalgia and that dusty sentiment, a picture of technology passed, or an electronic postcard from 1960, and never becomes there merely for the sake of it. Coupled with the simply stunning string arrangements they add a strange ethereal narrative, and while not telling a story as such, they bring vivid pictures to mind with great ease. Jóhannsson’s skill in merging sounds doesn’t end here either, as we heard on the stunning ‘Englabörn’ he can subtly blend his electronic production methods with the orchestral arrangements without it ever falling out of place. Synthesized chimes trip and fall in-between the orchestral swells and radiophonic bleeps to create soundscapes so breathtaking they can leave you totally lost for words. It would be almost offensive however to merely label ‘IBM 1401, A User’s Manual’ as cinematic, rather Jóhannsson has pushed the bar higher and taken the infant post-classical genre to the next logical place, creating an album which doesn’t just suggest visuals, rather with it’s oblique use of sampled voices and atmospheric sounds the visuals are there all the time and are simply left for us to interpret. A challenging, engaging and utterly breathtaking experience, Jóhann Jóhannsson has proved he is out there on his own. Essential purchase." [Boomkat]
|
2006 |
€14.00 |
|
|
Ibm 1401, A User's Manual |
do-LP |
"FIRST EVER VINYL PRESSING DELUXE GATEFOLD SLEEVE, 2 x CLEAR LP TWO BONUS TRACKS, DOWNLOAD CODE INCLUDED.
Never before pressed on vinyl, IBM 1401, A User’s Manual, is one of Jóhann Jóhannsson’s most-loved works. Released in 2006, the decade since its release has seen Jóhann establish himself as one of the most important composers in the world, notably scoring movies such as Arrival, Blade Runner 2049, Sicario and The Theory of Everything. Johann’s scores have been nominated for two Academy Awards®, two Golden Globes®, a Grammy® and three BAFTA® awards. He was awarded the Golden Globe® for Best Original Score for The Theory Of Everything. Inspired by the work his father did in the sixties when chief maintenance engineer of one of Iceland’s first computers, Jóhann originally wrote IBM 1401, A User’s Manual to accompany a dance piece by long-standing collaborator and friend, Erna Ómarsdóttir. For the album release, he rewrote the piece for a sixty-piece string orchestra, with a new final movement (built around a poem by Dorothy Parker) and incorporating both electronics and reel-to-reel recordings made by his father and friends in 1971 of the IBM 1401 mainframe computer singing the hymn Ísland Ögrum Skorið by Sigvaldi Kaldalóns as it was being decommissioned. The first ever pressing of IBM 1401, A User’s Manual comes in a deluxe gatefold sleeve, reworked by Chris Bigg (v23) from his original design. Pressed on clear vinyl, two live tracks recorded with the City of Prague Philharmonic Orchestra have also been added."
|
2017 |
€26.50 |
|
| |
Orphee |
LP |
"Der Komponist Jóhann Jóhannsson, Golden Globe-Preisträger sowie für den Oscar, BAFTA und Grammy nominiert, veröffentlicht sein erstes Album für die Deutsche Grammophon Gesellschaft: es ist eine Meditation über die Schönheit und den künstlerischen Schaffensprozess. Jóhannsson ist eine Galionsfigur in einer dynamisch wachsenden Szene von Komponisten, die sich frei und einfallsreich zwischen Filmmusik, klassischem Minimalismus, Ambient und elektronischer Musik bewegen.
Orphée schildert einen Weg von der Dunkelheit ins Licht, inspiriert durch die verschiedenen Versionen des antiken Orpheus-Mythos, von Ovid bis Cocteau. Die vielschichtige Erzählung über Tod, Wiedergeburt, Wandel und die Kurzlebigkeit der Erinnerung lässt sich auch als Metapher für künstlerische Kreativität deuten.
Orphée bietet eine vielseitige Klangpalette: Es gibt akustische Instrumente solistisch oder im Ensemble kombiniert mit Elektronik und den geheimnisvollen Lauten der »Nummernsender« auf Kurzwelle. Sie ist angelehnt an viele Facetten seiner vorangehenden Werke und bindet Musik für Solocello, Orgel, Streichquartett, Streichorchester und A-cappella-Gesang mit ein." [label info]
"Based loosely on Ovid’s interpretation of the Orpheus myth, the Icelandic composer’s latest work reveals the grandeur of his music outside of scoring films.
Orphée, the latest album by the Icelandic composer and filmmaker Jóhann Jóhannsson is billed as his first studio album in six years since the somber and excellent The Miners’ Hymns**. But during that time Jóhannsson has released eight records—three of which were scores to major films (including Sicario & The Theory of Everything) and the rest music for smaller film projects, one of which Jóhannsson directed himself. But with even The Miners’ Hymns itself serving as a score to a film, the particular criteria for which Jóhannsson deems a record to be a “studio album” as opposed to a “film score” is somewhat unclear. What is clear is that after years of albums on 4AD and small post-classical labels such as Fat Cat’s 130701, in moving to Deutsche Grammophon—the oldest and most significant classical music label left standing—Jóhannsson wants Orphée to be seen as a work of music propped up by nothing but itself and its own deserved grandeur.
Loosely themed around Ovid's version of the Orpheus myth, Orphée’s grandeur is made clear within seconds. Using only a few repeated parts of piano, violin, and some crackling sound treatments, opener “Flight from the City” takes off. It feels like film music in a way that most of Orphée does not; you could easily imagine it playing over credits, or an opening scene, or in a mid-film montage. But the palette, tone, and structure of Orphée vary greatly and much of it embraces a compositional approach akin to ’90s chamber experimentalists the Rachel’s and others in the post-classical mold on 130701 or Erased Tapes. “A Song for Europa” features more of those crackling sound treatments as well as a recurring spectral vocal sample, while the stately “A Deal With Chaos” or “The Radiant City” would be at home on the Rachel’s Music for Egon Schiele.
Apart from “Flight from the City,” the most unforgettable tracks on Orphée are where Jóhannsson adds more experimental textures, particularly in the penultimate diptych of “Good Morning, Midnight” and “Good Night, Day.” In a way, these two tracks play out the climax of the Orpheus myth: The former begins with dreamy slow-waltz strings and burbling sound effects that connote the gait of a person heading toward destiny unknown, before giving way to a close-mic'd solo piano piece that sounds like the ruminative thoughts of man by way of Satie-style impressionism. The latter, “Good Night, Day,” begins with repeated string warnings that plays as a realization of chased dreams lost, with a cello melody serving as an elegiac narrative counterpoint. On each, the blend of early 20th-century modalities and experimental recording approaches make them archetypal post-classical tracks.
Boldest of all is Orphée’s a capella closer “Orphic Hymn,” which features a breathtaking choral vocal performance by Paul Hillier’s Theatre of Voices of text from Ovid’s The Metamorphoses. Sung vocals are rarely found in Jóhannsson’s work, but the angelic arrangement makes you wish that he had found more opportunities to integrate vocals into the rest of the record. “Orphic Hymn” also brings Jóhannsson back full circle to British post-classical elder statesman Michael Nyman. The piece strongly recalls the longing of “Miserere” from The Cook, The Thief, His Wife and Her Lover, a great example of how Nyman’s scores work as independent music woven into a film rather than applied to the surface of scenes.
It’s exciting to hear the freedom of Jóhannsson’s compositions in autonomous music, and with Orphée he’s reasserted himself as not a just an elegiac film score guy. As good as his cinema work has been, the act of telling someone else’s story puts limits on both an artist’s freedom to work and the impact of how they might be received, and Jóhannsson likely isn’t looking to become known as “the Next Thomas Newman.” The voice he uses on Orphée says otherwise, and provides a clear blast attestation that Jóhannsson is among the brightest lights of any member of the loosely grouped post-classical genre. [Pitchfork]
"Sometimes, some records, and I along with them, fall into this first-class trap, this uppermost attic, this top-notch shelf, where this reside, and then I fail to cover them in time. These are records, like this one, that are just too good, and so I blunder on my task to ‘seek them out’ for you, to provide the filtering of all the noise, and then to spread the good ol’ sermon of their beauty. Surely you have found this simply on your own. Of course, you are already a huge fan of Jóhann Jóhannsson, and automatically grab every single record he puts out, including the latest pressed by Deutsche Grammophon. Right? No wonder Orphée appears at the top of HC’s Reader’s Poll Results for best records of 2016. So why even bother covering it, you know? Yet, here I am, unable to resist the urge to give this wonder all the words that it deserves.
Jóhannsson has been pretty busy these past few years, working mostly on film scores and soundtracks. Even his last studio album, The Miners’ Hymns (130701, 2011) was a soundtrack of sorts. In fact, whether they were imaginary scores, like the one for Fordlandia (4AD, 2008) and IBM 1401, A User’s Manual (4AD, 2006), or real ones for independent films, like Copenhagen Dreams (NTOV, 2012) and McCanick (Milan, 2014), or full-blown Hollywood productions, like Prisoners OST (WaterTower Music, 2013), The Theory Of Everything OST (Blacklot, 2014) and, most recently, Arrival OST (Deutsche Grammophon, 2016), it’s easy to make a statement that Jóhannsson’s modern classical productions are indeed cinematic in nature. Painting these imaginary landscapes with his music is in his soul… it’s what he does.
Orphée, of course, is no exception. From the very first note and subsequent chord progression, we hear the music of Jóhannsson at his best. Full strings are at the center of the stage, dancing the slow waltz in a haze of melancholy, minor heartbreak, and remorse. Baroque and classical elements appear throughout the album, in the form of a pipe organ, symphonic themes, and orchestral accompaniment (AIR Lyndhurst String Orchestra). The work is concluded with the Theatre of Voices singing the lines from Ovid. The minimal pieces are complemented by fundamental electronic treatments, minor field recordings, and sounds of shortwave radio from the “numbers stations”. The atmospherics are resplendent with space and texture, structurally stitched in all the critical thematic places, driven forth by a coherent motif, carried further by the forlorn piano or the anguished cello at its heart (with Clarice Jensen of ACME and Hildur Guðnadóttir).
Orphée traces a path from darkness into light, inspired by the various re-tellings of the ancient tale of the poet Orpheus, from Ovid’s to Jean Cocteau’s. A many-layered story about death, rebirth, change and the ephemeral nature of memory, the myth can also be read as a metaphor for artistic creation, dealing with the elusive nature of beauty and its relationship to the artist, as well as the idea that art is created through transgression – by the poet defying the gods who have forbidden him to turn back towards his beloved as he leaves the Underworld.
Unlike Jóhannsson’s previous albums, Orphée did not start out with a conceptual narrative. Yet, at the root of the album is a theme of change that Jóhannsson has been dealing with in the last six years. He has left Copenhagen to build a new life in Berlin, absorbing the city with all of its new offerings, relationships, and inspirations. “Perhaps this is one of the reasons I was drawn to the Orpheus myth, which is fundamentally about change, mutability, death, rebirth, the elusive nature of beauty and its sometimes thorny relation to the artist,” explains Jóhann. “This album, my first solo record for six years, is an oblique reflection on personal change.” We’re all familiar with all this change and our struggle and final acceptance of some endings and new beginnings. Perhaps these sounds will accompany your journeys. A true modern classical composition which will surely withstand the test of time." [Headphone Commute]
|
2016 |
€25.50 |
|
| K-SPACE |
Going Up |
CD |
"These recordings, with their disparate acoustic properties, are overlaid and overlapped to form dense sonic thickets alive with action and event, palpably embedded in the multi-dimensional flux of the world and lived social structures. Human voices conversing, footfalls on frozen ground, a blackbird singing, the sound of the wind or water, the crackling of wood in a fire, audience applause -- sounds from specific sites with their own peculiar resonance and significance leak through the K-Space mesh into the listening present. This layering and the filtering through of discrete geographic and temporal occasions compounds that superimposition already at work in the trio, the piling up and overlap of intense personal experience. Chamzyryn, a bona fide shaman and folk artist; Hodgkinson, academically trained in social anthropology, an exploratory rock musician, composer and radical improviser; Hyder, jazz drummer, free player, inveterate field worker in remote musical worlds." Performed By: Gendos Chamzyryn (Tuva), Tim Hodgkinson (England), Ken Hyder (Scotland)." [press release]
"Mit Going Up (Ad Hoc 12) von K-SPACE, einem Trio aus dem Tuva-Throatsänger & Schamanen Gendos Chamzyryn, Tim Hodgkinson mit ‚hawaiian guitar horns, piano corpse & location recordings‘ und dem schottischen Perkussionisten Ken Hyder, teleportiert einen Ad Hoc jenseits von Novosibirsk. Der Name K-Space spielt an auf den russischen Astrophysiker Nicolai Kozyrev (1908-83), Referenzpunkt für ‚Zeropoint energy‘- und Zeitvariabilitätstheorien (-> z.B. http://ascension2000.com/DivineCosmos/ 01.htm). An Kozyrevs ‚torsion energy‘ Phi knüpfen sich Spekulationen über einen Zusammenhang zwischen Phi, Sound und der DNA, der womöglich schamanistischen Praktiken real zugrunde liegen könnte (-> z.B. Sol Luckman: Sound, Intention & Genetic Healing). K-Space praktiziert vor dieser einigermaßen esoterischen Folie neo-schamanistische Soundrituale aus Drumming, Noise und gutturalem Obertonröhren. Art Brut
oder scratch-orchestrales Improvising in prosaischen Ohren, ‚healing sounds‘ nach der Formel ‚sound + intention = healing‘ oder Flug- & Zeitmaschine aus Wordsounds + Beats für solche, die zu der Überzeugung neigen, dass in der Kosmischen Schlange ein Gottescode schlängelt. Hodgkinson & Hyder, seit 1979 als Shams zusammen auf dem Schamanenpfad, sind keine Touristen oder blauäugigen New-Ager. Vielfache Reisen zum Bajkal-See und zum Altaj, nach Kyzyl, Barnaul und Akademgorodok, haben ihnen bei ihren ‚Radical Transcultural Initiatives‘ im Zusammenspiel mit lokalen Musikern wie wenigen anderen ‚Westlern‘ ethno- und musikologische Einblicke in die Kultur und Spiritualität Tuvas ermöglicht. Uns Laien vermitteln sie immerhin das Faszinosum absolut uriger Soundkreation. Kozyrevs ‚Zeitmaschine‘ steht auf dem Papier. Going Up krümmt die Raumzeit ganz sinnlich und real so, dass neolithische Archaik und die postmoderne Neugierde auf das Alte, aus dem wir herkommen, zusammenrauschen." [Babyblaue Seiten]
www.adhocrecords.com
|
2005 |
€14.00 |
|
| KLIVE |
Sweaty Psalms |
CD |
"KLIVE ist das Solo Projekt von Ulfur Hansson, einem jungen Musiker aus Reykjavik, Island. Er ist sonst Live-Musiker bei JÓNSI (Solo-Projekt des Sigur Rós Gittaristen) und Bassist der Noisecore-Band SWORDS OF CHAOS.
Was SWEATY PSALMS auszeichnet, ist vor allem der am besten „organisch“ zu nennende Sound. Obwohl grundsätzlich elektronisch produziert, ist das Klangbild überraschend akustisch. Hierfür sorgen zunächst einmal die quäkend-exotisch klingenden Blechbläser seiner 3 Live-Begleitmusikerinnen (2010 auf Tour als Support von KIRA KIRA). Vor allem aber die Aufnahmen von original isländischen Klangereignissen (engl. Field Recordings) machen den ganz eigenen Charakter des Albums aus: Schwer zu sagen ob es sich um einen Flaschenzug oder ein vertautes, schaukeldes Ruderboot handelte, es klingt jedenfalls definitiv nach Holz und Wasser. Es knarrt, flötet, klappert und planscht unbekannterweise, lediglich Möven sind zu identifizieren. Und die Percussion auf DON’T GIVE UP THE GHOST ist tatsächlich das vehemente Schlagen auf Töpfe und Pfannen der aufgebrachten Bevökerung vor dem isländischen Parlament nach dem Finanz-Crash 2008!
All dies macht SWEATY PSALMS zum einem klanglich und musikalisch auffälligen und wahrscheinlich bislang am wenigsten elektronisch klingenden MILLE PLATEAUX Album. Bislang. // KLIVE is the solo project of Ulfur Hansson, a young musician from Reykjavik, Iceland. He is also a touring member of JÓNSI ( Jon Þor Birgisson of SIGUR ROS) and the bass player of notorious noisecore band SWORDS OF CHAOS.
Digital Folk From Iceland. SWEATY PSALMS sounds like water and wood. It bubbles, whistles and rattles indefinitely, with merely seagulls to be spotted. SWEATY PSALMS has a strong organic feel, mixed with tongue in-cheek brass samples and orchestrations that compliment heavily processed field recordings. In fact, DON'T GIVE UP THE GHOST include sounds from the vehement battering of pots and pans outside the icelandic parliament, after the nations financial crash and burn of 2008.
It's inverted folkiness and warm concrete touch makes SWEATY PSALMS a remarkable album, and probably MILLE PLATEAUX's least electronic sounding album so far. So far!" [label info]
www.mille-plateaux.com
|
2011 |
€13.00 |
|
| KMRU |
Stupor |
LP |
https://otherpower.bandcamp.com/album/stupor
Nairobi-born Berlin-based sound artist Joseph Kamaru, aka KMRU, shares his new work Stupor on the new Helsinki-based label Other Power. Commissioned by the Helsinki curatorial and commissioning agency PUBLICS, Stupor is comprised of three original long form tracks. The tracks on the album are speculative notes to social architectures and environments the artist has traversed.
As Bhavisha Panchia, a curator and researcher, writes in her liner notes:
“A musical alchemist, KMRU places his listeners’ ear into a sonic-spatial matrix in which he transmutes his trans-local experience of place into elevated sonic dimensions that demand a kind of listening that you need to surrender to. If listening positions you inside an event – into a relational, social and cultural act that also positions us in the world – then listening to this album projects you inside an indeterminate unfolding, thick with tensions of movement and transitions.
The artist’s pursuit of sounding out and responding to the world is undertaken through a creative mode of listening, recording and production, in which his ‘voice’ reverberates in his compositional arrangements – that mediate, translate, imagine and re-encode. As he engages with the environments he encounters, KMRU ‘renders sound negotiable, thinkable’.
His signature emerges through electro-acoustic forms as he configures spatial and temporal imaginaries still tethered to the experiences of the places his ear encountered. The tracks on this album, Stupor, are speculative notes to social architectures and environments the artist has traversed. His orchestrated compositions and arrangements levitate us and turn our ears towards places and times beyond our reach, propelling us into a future anticipated but ungraspable. It is exactly the physical and psychological space that KMRU forges from his recordings and digital processes that stretch and transform them into prolific sound ‘events’.
We could think of Nairobi and Berlin as instruments in KMRU’s compositions, where the east African city is the place from which KMRU’s listening has been nurtured, while the west European is the city to which his ear has been attuned. The artist’s relationship with Nairobi’s diverse neighbourhoods – from Kariokor flats in the Eastlands where he grew up, to the suburbs in Rongai – has shaped his approach. His ongoing recordings of the city are crucial to his process of working and become historical records that capture it in time. They could be thought of as aural archives of a postcolonial place, undergoing numerous planned and unplanned infrastructural as well as economic changes. He treats these sonic documents of a rapidly expanding postcolonial environment – alongside globalisation, hyper-capitalism and increasing economic disparity across the globe – as the foundations from which he creates.
Stupor reminds us that we are intrinsically spatial and temporal beings who contribute to the social construction of our worlds. Importantly, this album is a reminder of the capability of sound to carve out space and its potential to open spatial and temporal dimensions. Sound is movement. Sound is space. As Brandon LaBelle points out, “sound is both a thing of the past and a signal of the future”, pulling us forwards and pointing us back. The signals KMRU points us towards are indefinite, indeterminate and uncertain. They lean towards a future, yet never fully arrive there.
For Joseph Kamaru, sound is a sensorial medium through which social, material and conceptual interpretations are manifested in his works. KMRU carries with him a repository of listening experiences from Nairobi and beyond expanding his sonic practices, bringing an awareness of surroundings through creative compositions, installations and performances. KMRU has carved out a serious and definitive space on the list of essential authors in ambient experimental music - one of the most prolific and innovative artists in his field.
Composed by Joseph Kamaru
Mastered by Stephan Mathieu at Schwenbung Mastering
Original photos & artwork by Joseph Kamaru
OBI Design (Publics identity presence) by Valerio Di Lucente
Design by Matti Nives
Black vinyl LP edition of "Stupor". Inside out sleeve complete with OBI and printed inner sleeve with liner notes by Bavisha Panchia. Original photography and artwork by KMRU.
|
2023 |
€26.00 |
|
| KOBI |
Projecto |
CD |
Ein offenes Projekt von KAI MIKALSEN von ORIGAMI ARKTIKA, der hier mit diversen Leuten der norwegischen experimental /ambient-Szene zusammengearbeitet hat, wie LASSE MARHAUG, TORE H. BOE, ALEXANDER RISHAUG, PER GISLE GALAEN, FREDERIK N. SEVENDAL, JOHN HEGRE, und anderen..
“Kobi is a collaborative project between Kai of Origami Arktika & every known experimental musician from Norway. The results are powerful & emotionally charged sonic landscapes reminiscent of hallucinated orchestral works. File under: Experimental, drone, post-rock, electro-acoustic, ambient” [label info]
|
2003 |
€12.00 |
|
| KOLLAPS |
Until the Day I die |
CD |
"Until The Day I Die" is the third album from Australian post-industrial outfit KOLLAPS.
"Until The Day I Die" is a merciless and visceral assault on the senses and continues the trajectory of the band's idiosyncratic approach in their creation of sound. The album showcases an uncompromising force of harsh post-industrial music narrated by overarching themes of condemnation and redemption; of violence, romanticism, sexuality, and addiction. Much of the creation and lyrical conceptualisation of the record has been stylised and presented using William S. Burroughs' cut-up method.
A wide variety of metals and raw materials were used in the creation of the album including metal grates, a rusted hoist, cement cylinders, field recordings, hammering of various decrepit objects, broken amplifiers, an exposed reverb tank, various synthesizers, and the infamous metal coil; a crudely self-constructed artifice that has become iconic in its use across KOLLAPS' triptych of releases and lengthy touring history in Europe, Australia, and New Zealand.
"Until The Day I Die" has had a tectonic shift in production methods compared to its predecessors and was entirely written, recorded, and mixed internally the self-constructed ILoveHeroin Studios built above a sculpture museum in Lugano, Switzerland. All instrumentation was handled by Wade Black except for bass guitar by Andrea Collaro recorded at Hangar 121 in Lenate Pozzollo, Italy on all tracks except "D-IX" and "I Believe In The Closed Fist," handled by Black, and additional sound design and percussion by Giorgio Salmoiraghi.
The album was mastered by James Plotkin and completed with cover artwork by Nullvoid (Thomas Ekelund | Trepaneringsritualen).
CD in 6-panel digipak || LP with full colour matt-laminate sleeve and printed inner lyric sleeve.
Written, recorded and mixed by Wade Black
Bass guitar by Andrea Collaro except “D-IX”, and “… Closed Fist”
Additional sound design and percussion by Giorgio Salmoiraghi
Mastered by James Plotkin
Recorded and mixed at ILoveHeroin Studios in Lugano, Switzerland
Bass recorded at Hangar 121 in Lonate Pozzollo, Italy and engineered collectively by Kollaps.
Artwork: Nullvoid (Thomas Ekelund)
#########################################
"Sometimes I go to a concert with minimal expectations. Once I decided to go to an unknown name, I didn't bother to investigate further; I just saw and be surprised. A few years ago, I decided to go to Kollaps, which I thought would be an Einsturende Neubauten-inspired thing, seeing they took the title of their first LP as a band name. I learned that they were from Australia and they used metal, synthesisers, maybe a bass and a singer. Oh, and a stack of amplifiers. I was pleasantly surprised that night. It was much louder than I anticipated (for no good reason). The group clearly found inspiration in SPK and Neubauten, but with a manic singer, screaming, shouting, pointing the microphone towards the amplifiers, generating feedback. There was great control among the various players, and I think they played songs and some mind-numbing barrage of noise. Back home, I shamefully admit, I didn't follow up on this concert, checking their work online. So, 'Until The Day I Die' is my first encounter with this group with studio recordings. I still enjoy what I hear and find some interesting musical nuances here. It is not a festival of feedback. Not that I expected this to be. There are quite a few of that, obviously, sitting next to banging on objects, screaming, but also a satire (I should think) of neo-folk in the title track. Complete with guitar and sad vocals, but drenched in reverb, leaning towards feedback. Some orchestral samples, mangled field recordings, and the military bang on the drums. Top-heavy music and filled with furious aggression. Not the dulcet tones of summer, but the sounds of a society collapsing in misery. I love it." [FdW / Vital Weekly]
|
2022 |
€13.00 |
|
| KOVAC, BORIS / NEW RITUAL GROUP |
The Path |
CD |
"What’s remarkable about Boris is that he has carved out a musical form that transcends genre or even musical content; it’s a music of depth and feeling; and that’s what you hear beyond the notes or style. And he has gathered, over time, musicians who can realize that quality. This, for Boris, is a small group, only five people, so they can be looser, more personal than the larger ensembles. Though informed by chamber music, Serbian, Romanian and Hungarian folk music, and jazz, you can’t file this record in any of those categories. Lyrical and ostensibly simple, these exquisitely coloured and beautifully recorded compositions float, occasionally changing density, but always solid enough to be clear about what they are. The drums are especially subtle in this regard, more touch than motor, but they make themselves expressive, even forceful, when they need to. For the rest, the music moves as a sinuous wave, the parts distinct but not separated. It’s autumnal, that I could say." [label notes]
"Mit „The Path“ veröffentlicht der Jugoslawische Komponist und Multiinstrumentalist BORIS KOVAC ein Album, das eine gefühlvolle Verschmelzung von Chamber Music, osteuropäischem Folk und Jazz bietet. Die CD erscheint als Digipack via RECOMMENDED.
Mehr als 20 Alben hat der 1955 in der damals unabhängigen Region Vojvodina am Rande von Jugoslawien geborene BORIS KOVAC bislang veröffentlicht. Und obwohl seine Wurzeln in traditioneller Musik, Improvisation und Jazz verhaftet sind, verschrieb er sich doch auch der musikalischen Arbeit für Filme und Theaterstücke, für die er bereits mehrfach ausgezeichnet wurde. Mit seinen World- und Jazz-Ensembles RITUAL NOVA, LADAABA ORCHEST und dem LA CAMPANELLA ORCHESTRA spielte er mehr als 500 Konzerte in 30 verschiedenen Ländern. In den vier Instrumentalisten seiner NEW RITUAL GROUP fand er nun die idealen Partner um den acht Kompositionen seines neuen Albums „The Path“ auf knapp 50 Minuten zu einer nachdenklichen, zerbrechlich anmutenden Grundstimmung zu verhelfen. Hauptsächlich mit Kontrabass, Piano, Saxophon und Percussions instrumentiert, scheinen die vordergründig einfach gehaltenen Kompositionen durch den Raum zu schweben,
mal düster, mal gefühlvoll verspielt, aber immer kristallklar. Durch ruhige Klänge - so schreibt KOVAC im Booklet - will er dem Hörer ein Ausbrechen aus dem turbulenten Alltag erleichtern und der Natur und deren Ruhe ein Stückchen näher bringen. Ein wunderbarer Gedanke, der mit „The Path“ ideal umgesetzt wird."
|
2016 |
€13.00 |
|
| KRANITZ, JERRY |
Cassette Culture - Homemade Music and the Creative Spirit in the Pre-Internet-Age |
BOOK + 2 x CD |
VOD158: JERRY KRANITZ / VARIOUS: Cassette Culture - Homemade Music and the Creative Spirit in the Pre-Internet-Age 320p. Book w. 2CD 76,19
"Cassette Culture: Homemade Music and the Creative Spirit in the Pre-Internet Age"
Intensive 320 page Book written by Jerry Kranitz incl a 2CD loaded with almost 160 minutes of Cassette-Culture / DIY Artists
The book takes a social history/analytical approach to the growth of the global cassette culture/homemade music network that sprouted and flourished from the post-punk era through the early 1990s. The author explores how the participants communicated, traded, collaborated, and set up cottage industry labels to distribute their work. A long overdue study of this pivotal yet less than comprehensively documented chapter in the post-punk and 20th century independent arts movement stories.
CD1
01 10-Speed Guillotine 'Temper Tango‘ 1990 (4:24)
02 Aconite 'the truth about Cable TV‘ 1982 (3:05)
03 Another Headache 'Cacophony Continues‘ 1992 (5:31)
04 Autopsia 'Lebensherrgabe‘ 1983 (4:59)
05 Beequeen 'EE EA‘ 1988 (2:18)
06 Big City Orchestra 'Karawane‘ 1987 (3:44)
07 Bret Hart 'Partytime‘ 1985 (3:02)
08 Brume 'An Amphibian‘ 1988 (6:18)
09 Cacophony 33 'Frank‘ 1986 (1:37)
10 Charles Rice Goff III 'Big Surprise' 1990 (4:11)
11 Dog As Master 'Black Body' (Excerpt) 1985 (4:36)
12 Don Campau 'I am Not Satisfied' 1983 (3:02)
13 E Coli 'Lag Phase' 'Djihad‘ 1981 (1:19)
14 E G Oblique Graph 'Fall into Glass' 1982 (2:21)
15 F-i 'Zombie’ 1984 (4:50)
16 Gen Ken Montgomery 'It happened to You' 1983 (3:09)
17 Girls on Fire 'In My Blood' 1985 (1:29)
18 If,Bwana 'Beauty and the Beast’ 1986 (3:28)
19 ITN / Mental Anguish 'Force of Waves' (Edit) 1988 (2:24)
20 Jeff Central 'Tragick' 1988 (4:26)
21 Joseph K Noyce 'The Beat' 1988 (2:37)
22 Kapotte Muziek 'Audio Plagio 2‘ 1988 (3:58)
23 Ken Moore 'Soft Pretense‘ 1986 (2:33)
CD2
VOD158.CD2: Artists L-Z (Total Duration 78:56)
01 Larynx 'Graett' 1981 (3:00)
02 Lord Litter 'St James Infirmary' 1990 (3:32)
03 Markus Schwill 'The Advantage Of Tape-Music' 1991 (2:29)
04 Minoy 'Eskalith' 1987 (5:16)
05 Monochrome Bleu 'Imagination' 1986 (2:26)
06 Muslimgauze ‚Cyst' 1983 (4:20)
07 Mystery Hearsay 'Painted‘ 1986 (2:03)
08 Non Toxique Lost 'Statements‘ 1982 (4:18)
09 PBK 'Untitled 04‘ 1990 (4:48)
10 Philip Johnson 'Two Tracks Unused At The Time‘ 1979 (3:07)
11 Psi Nukli Trip Sequence II’ 1988 (5:22)
12 R Stevie Moore 'Puttin' Up The Groceries' 1978 (2:59)
13 Ri Gillham 'Soundtracks for imaginary films‘ 1980 (2:03)
14 Rimbaud Brothers 'Deceit' 1984 (3:41)
15 Rod Summers 'Sad News' 1984 (3:29)
16 Sheer Zed 'Take a Walk Down the Street' (3:26)
17 Storm Bugs 'Hodge' 1978 (4:54)
18 Taste of Stool 'Squeeze Bees’ 1989 (1:01)
19 Viktimized Karcass '3.32 AM Rain‘ 1985 (5:24)
20 Vittore Baroni 'Living with Prosthesis‘ 1985 (2:06)
21 Walls of Genius 'Sunday, Monday Or Always!‘ 1983 (2:42)
22 Wolfgang Wiggers 'l'll Cry Tomorrow‘ 1983 (3:12)
23 Years on Earth 'Opposition‘ 1982 (2:46)
|
2020 |
€85.00 |
|
| KRENG |
The Summoner |
LP |
LP : Laser-Cut Outer Sleeve in Fulltone Bronze & Black, incl. full Color Insert
"The Summoner comes 4 years since the last Kreng album Grimoire and 3 years since the massive retrospective box set Works for Abattoir Férme 2007-2011. A lot has happened in between, and this new recording can be seen as quite the departure from the aformentioned.
His most personal album to date, The Summoner is based around the 5 stages of mourning and is made after a year of losing several close friends. Hard enough material to work on, he decided to add a 6th stage, entitled The Summoning to be able to arrive at the finalé, Acceptance.
Conjuring up the spirit of György Ligeti, the first half of the album is made entirely of 12 string players being directed to play around, make noisey clusters and crescendoes, moving you between Denial, Anger, Bargaining and Depression. In fact, The Summoner is the first Kreng album NOT made by hordes of samples. Music to really dig deep in to.
Following into the second part of the album, twists and turns are taken and it's hard to know where exactly you are. The Summoning's haunting organs and smoke-filled chambers lead you in to an earth- shaking wall of guitars, drums and bass courtesy of Belgian doom band Amenra. Leaving you in a state of shock, the album closes in an incredibly heartfelt and quiet way with the fittingly named Acceptance." [label info]
www.miasmah.com
"The first release from Kreng since 2011, but well worth the wait. While the sound sources on The Summoner are quite the departure from his 2011 release Grimoire, the dark and disorienting atmosphere is still here. Here Caudron conducts a dozen string players, creating a twisted and droney orchestral mass that explodes and dies without warning, bringing to mind the terrifying works of Polish composer Krzysztof Penderecki. The song titles here, too, tell Caudron's story as the five stages of grief, going from "Denial" to "Acceptance". The first four tracks are dark, twisted, orchestral soundscapes, dynamic and haunted that slowly goad you into Caudron's warped world. The climax of the album is without doubt the titular track, sandwiched between "Depression" and the somber "Acceptance". The 15-minute long track features Belgian doom band Amenra (whose album Mass V we reviewed back in 2013) providing the slow, crushing trudge (with maybe the slightest, SLIGHTEST hint of uplifting melody) to bring the whole piece to a bombastic, epic zenith. Very few out there can capture the range of emotion and atmosphere that Kreng can - terrifying, cathartic, bleak, and maybe just a little bit uplifting. For fans of Gnaw Their Tongues, The Caretaker, and anything on the Miasmah label." [Aquarius Records]
"Es sind schon viele Alben aus Trauer entstanden, und viele handeln von der Trauer um eine geliebte Person. Alben, die das Trauern als solches zum Thema haben, sind seltener. Das könnte damit zu tun haben, dass die Frage nach den Mechanismen des Trauerns sehr theoretisch anmutet, aber sie ist auch komplizierter als man vielleicht denkt, denn eine Trauer, die sich weder in die Verdrängung noch in Selbstmitleid flüchtet, erfordert Leidensfähigkeit und ist keineswegs eine passive Angelegenheit.
Für den Belgier Pepijn Caudron ist das Thema auch keine theoretische Sache, denn der Grund für seine Beschäftigung mit dem Wesen der Trauer ist ein sehr persönlicher und rührt aus dem Verlust einiger ihm nahestehender Personen. Irgendwo stieß der Musiker auf die psychologische Beobachtung, dass Trauer häufig in mehreren, sich teilweise widersprechenden Phasen bewältigt wird. Zunächst schreckt der Trauernde davor zurück, den Verlust und den damit verbundenen Schmerz anzuerkennen und klammert sich mit unterschwelliger Verzweiflung an die Zeit vor dem Verlust. Da eine solche Verleugnung nur auf Zeit funktioniert, stellt sich bald so etwas wie Wut ein, Wut auf den Verlust als solchen, vielleicht auch auf die betrauerte Person, aber auch auf sich selbst und die eigene Unfähigkeit zu verleugnen und zu verdrängen. Mit der Phase des inneren Abwägens setzt der erste Schritt in Richtung Akzeptanz ein, dem allerdings meist eine Phase der Depression vorausgeht: Erst wenn diese durchlebt ist, kann der Trauernde den Schicksalsschlag akzeptieren.
Caudron erkannte in dieser Beschreibung so viel von seinen eigenen Erfahrungen wieder, dass er den Drang verspürte, seinen eigenen Weg durch die Trauer in einem Album durchzuarbeiten. „The Summoner“, das auf diesen Erfahrungen und Überlegungen beruht und doch noch einen Schritt weitergeht, stellt in der Diskografie des Musikers schon deshalb eine besondere Wegmarke dar, weil hier erstmals mit Studiomusikern statt ausschließlich mit Samples gearbeitet wird.
Die minutenlange Stille, mit der „Denial“ beginnt, könnte glatt für all das stehen, das der Trauernde, beide Hände auf die Ohren gedrückt, nicht wahrhaben will. Doch es ist eine trügerische Stille, in der sich klammheimlich eine unerbittliche Realität zusammenbraut, die durch ihr schwelend kreisendes Dröhnen, durch seltsame Stimmen und entferntes Gerumpel so bedrohlich wie ein düsteres Wahngebilde anmutet. Caudrons Erfahrung bei der Arbeit fürs Theater kommt ihm schon hier zugute, denn die leicht überhörbaren Details schwirren derart gekonnt im Raum herum, dass man auch als Hörer dieser Wirklichkeit kaum entweichen kann. Die darauf folgende „dialektische“ Folge von wenig Licht und viel Schatten weiß ebenfalls davon zu kosten – das trockenere, direktere „Anger“ mit seinen lauten und eruptiven Streicherkaskaden, das mit viel orchestralem Geklapper vor sich hinsuchende „Bargaining“, das weitaus eindeutiger dahingleitende „Depression“ und zuletzt die genügsame Ruhe des schlichten Pianos in „Acceptance“.
Mit „The Summoning“ geht Caudron über das Theoriekonzeot hinaus und markiert den Punkt, an dem der schwärzeste in den lichtesten Abschnitt übergeht. Wie um zu zeigen, dass an der Stelle etwas neues geboren wird, scheint er hier noch einmal das ganze Album zu bündeln und über sich selbst hinauszuführen, und es ist nicht unpassend, dass er dies nicht im Alleingang vollzieht, sondern seine Landsleute von Amenra mitmischen lässt. Das schleppende Schlagwerk, die kraftvollen, kernigen Gitarrenwände und das heißere Gröhlen der bekannten Doommetaller, die im Normalfall als niederdrückend empfunden werden, wirken hier fast so erhebend wie eine Levitation." [Uwe Schneider / African Paper]
africanpaper.com/2015/05/09/kreng-the-summoner/
|
2015 |
€17.00 |
|
| KUTIN, PETER |
Burmese Days |
LP |
"Over the past several years, Vienna-based composer / producer peter kutin has been working intensely at the little-explored junction between sound art and journalism / documentation. Focusing on sonic experiences in extreme or exceptional conditions. Kutin explores both the physical and psychological impacts of such extremes on how we hear. Later translating or orchestrating these experiences into sound. Despite his age, Kutin has already seen (and heard) many lost corners of the world, having realised field-projects that led him through deserts, jungles, mountain ranges, glacier gaps, war zones, volcanoes, protest marches and even into prison.
‘burmese days’ is not the traditional puristic field-recording album but more an abstract composition, which opens up a wide dynamic range of sonic perception, where electronic manipulations and timbres of selected traditional burmese instruments are interwoven with field recordings to form a captivating sonic essay – probably one of the most abstract and unexpected releases on Gruenrekorder .
Peter Kutin :
‘The following piece is mainly based on original field recordings from Myanmar taken between April & May 2012, half a year after the military dictatorship announced its withdrawal and indicated plans for a change towards a democratic – or a ‘hybrid military-civilian’ – system in Myanmar after more than sixty years of a military state and its repression. Suddenly it was legal for journalists to enter officially. When I found a timeslot and got the money and some contacts together, I set up a field trip following a journalistic and documentary approach. One of my main interests was to investigate whether the situation of people of ethnic minorities had already changed since the regime’s withdrawal. There were peace talks, but in fact most of the rebel groups were still at war with the military regime at that time. My route started at the border area between Myanmar and Thailand: topographically, this was a zone covered by a beautiful rainforest and all its richness of sounds; politically, it was a buffer zone : ethnic minorities, rebel groups, expelled people, opium and other drug smugglers and refugee camps.
At the end of 2012, US president Obama became the first American president to visit Myanmar in fifty years. He walked barefoot over the sacred marble ground of the golden Shwedagon Pagoda in the former capital, Rangoon, and warmly welcomed the newborn democracy. While I was there, ethnic clashes (some media referred to the terminology of an ‘ethnic cleansing’) started in the western Akran state. More than 30,000 people from the Rohingya (a Muslim minority) were chased from their homes. Many were killed in the violent clashes between Muslims and radical Buddhists. Not a single journalist was allowed to enter or get even close to the area. Freedom and Democracy are more elusive concepts or cachets than the media would like us to believe.
My recordings were first used for the production of a feature on Austrian national radio. I was a bit disappointed, feeling that the sounds had been used the ‘wrong’ way due to all the information within the spoken texts… In order I sat down and reflected on my recordings from an aesthetic point of view, thinking about how I could translate my personal experiences (heat, sickness, fear, jungle, rain, radical Buddhism, rebels fighting for freedom or more rights, the sound of mantras, gongs, bells and the language itself …). I also found out that the percussionist of Vienna’s Radio-symphonic-Orchestra has been collecting instruments from Myanmar since more than 10 years. So the use of some of these original Burmese metallophones (and their electronic transformations & manipulations) is now the constant element throughout the record, guiding the listener through different sonic stages. It is a piece about the vague state of the people’s identity – a life lived between hope, anger and fear, between the prospect of freedom and doubt of being betrayed.
‘Burmese days’ may be described as an acoustic diary, focusing entirely on sound and using almost no linguistic information. No interviews were used. The piece’s subtitles refer directly to some experiences.
For best result, it should be listened to at a high volume with good bass response.
‘Burmese days’ is originally written for
* traditional Burmese metallophones :
three Kye zees (high-range scaleed, rotating gong), three gongs of mid-range scale, one low-range gong; played by Berndt Thurner
* turntables :
I asked the Viennese turntablist dieb13 to cut a vinyl using only my Burmese field-recordings; he could choose from a selection
* live electronics (for treating the sound of the gongs) ; 4 channel spatialisation ; played by myself
‘Burmese days’ was premiered at Vienna’s Church of St. Ruprecht in June 2013 .
http://kutin.klingt.org/burmese_days.html" [label info]
www.gruenrekorder.de
"And then Gruenrekorder also expands to the world of vinyl with a rather unusual disc. Peter Kutin is a member of Dirac (see Vital Weekly 708 and 729) and had a solo CD (see Vital Weekly 818), which sees 'all field and studio recordings' by him, but also with Berndt Thurner on original Burmese metallophones and Dieb13 on additional electronics and turntables. If I understood correctly Kutin is the composer of this work that is partly a mixture of field recordings from Burma with some additional music from the musicians, all 'arranged and composed by Peter Kutin'. It's a pretty interesting work; one that works pretty well. The overtones from the metallophone collide nicely with the electronics from Dieb13 and mix well with the insect/bird sounds from the locations. Sometimes, and perhaps that's the best part, it's hard to tell whether we are hearing 'just' field recordings or perhaps also something else, something 'extra'. I guess that's where field recordings and 'music' - what's the difference, I wondered - blend together in a very natural way. 'Part 1' seems to be more about the instruments and 'Part 2' more about the field recordings - but perhaps I am wrong about this. Maybe that explains why this is on LP, rather than CD: to mark the difference between both sides. Excellent stuff all around! Great, moody music, carefully balancing sound art and music, field recordings and soundscapes." [FdW/Vital Weekly]
|
2014 |
€16.50 |
|
| KÜPPER, LEO |
Ways of the Voice |
CD |
Extreme Neue Musik von diesem belgischen Komponisten, von dem hier 4 Stücke (1984 bis 1998) verewigt wurden – spannende & anstrengende Stimm- und Gesangsexperimente zwischen Elektro-Akustik und Sound-Poetry, zum Teil anmutig schön, zum Teil verstörend... überwältigende und einmalige Musik !! TIP !
Belgium componist with four challenging compositions using the female voice as only sound-source. Beautiful, suspenseful, exhausting music.. very unique and stunning stuff !!
“Rezas Populares do Brasil, Anamak, Amkéa and Annazone, are vocal works. All the sounds on this disc originate with the Brazilian singer Anna Maria Kieffer. Two works, Anamak and Amkéa, have an "orchestral accompaniment", composed of tropical bird songs. Making use of elements of electroacoustic music and sound poetry, the music expresses wonder at Brazil's tropical beauty and, ultimately, an intense love of the abstraction of words and musical forms. “ [label description]
https://www.pogus.com/21018.html |
1999 |
€14.00 |
|
| LA STPO (La Société des Timides à la Parade des Oiseaux) |
Wir schwitzen Blumen / La STPO in Concerts |
LP |
"IF you’re shy, you especially need to pay attention in not too much exposing yourself!
Our illustrious society - the best-kept secret of the experimental musics in Rennes ! - skips away continuously for almost 30 years behind folding screens in the shape of sea horses, pieces deceiving the hearing and other fancies fruits of their harmonious inventiveness. The oblique, kinematic and double - bottomed compositions of the STPO join just as much the lineage of a certain 'rock in opposition' over-subtle and deserving the legacy of Albert Marcoeur and Etron Fou Leloublan for the texts and the odd atmospheres, as for the overexcited energy of the post-punk, like The Pop Group, or for the vocal eccentricities à la David Thomas from Pere Ubu!
This anthology of tracks, live recorded by KdB between 2006 and 2009 during three memorable concerts, because yes! our Shy society members are really great performers, reveal their capacity of this combo from Rennes to transform these long and over-subtle pieces in real playlets in which every musician embodies various roles, under the leadership of Pascal Godjikian, polymorphic storyteller who perspires of beautiful intensity. "Wir Schwitzen Blumen" presents five live pieces taken from the recent concert set of La STPO. "I Cuento Blumen" and "The Sound Of The City Seems Not To Disappear" come both from the album " Tranches de Temps Jeté / Slices of Thrown) time " released in 2005 on the american label Beta-Lactam Ring Records. The piece " Le Minisme " was recorded in 2009 for the compilation CD of the french label In-Poly-Sons " We All Believe in Utopia " ;; " La Vallée des Empreintes / The Valley of Imprints " a live track from the same period engraved here for the first time on a record, to our bigger satisfaction ! As for " Le Femme Immortel ", funny miniature between glossolalias and Dada choral singing, immortalized for the first time on a now impossible to find maxiCD, it is a vestige of their stage set of the 80s which they go on playing from time to time. So immerse yourself without further delay in the fantasy of this densely populated micro-society and rather than get lost in trying to raise the current direction of these river like compositions, let yourself be carried by the lush sonic textures and the inventiveness of the orchestrations of La STPO that function like lines of flight. Following the conclusion of the good doctor Faustroll: "What, however, should attract the attention of the naturalist, are some unexpected gaps, in no doubt spontaneous, of the bird to escape the net: here there is certainly an atavistic revival, and perhaps a return to wild instincts." [label info]
kdbrecords.free.fr
|
2013 |
€15.00 |
|
| LALELOO |
same |
CD-R |
LALELOO is the project of two of the main artists on Tonto: Bernhard LANG and Robert LEPENIK. They work with loops here in an interesting way, all kinds of strange sounds & surrealistic atmospheres are created , if you like BCO or VANCE ORCHESTRA this is a must!
“LALELOO ist ein elektronisches improvisationsduo, das ausschließlich mit verschiedenen arten von loops arbeitet. die loops werden von kassettenrekordern, samplern, notebooks etc. abgerufen und mehrfach live verschachtelt. die abläufe basieren einerseits auf vorgefertigten materialien (samples, tapes), andererseits auf live eingespielten klängen (radio, gitarre, mikrofon etc.).“ [bernhard lang]
|
2001 |
€11.00 |
|
| LALI PUNA |
Our Inventions |
CD |
"2004 erschien ihr letztes Album "Faking The Books", dennoch ist Lali Punas Einfluss auf die elektronische Popszene immer noch spürbar. Gemeinsam mit The Notwist zeichnet die Band um Valerie Trebeljahr für moderne, experimentell angehauchte Popmusik verantwortlich. Mit "Our Inventions" rücken sie die Grenzen des Genres wieder mal ein Stück weiter. Der Song "Rest Your Head" schlägt eine souveräne Brücke zur vergangenen Bandhistorie. Hier pulsieren die Keyboards in warmen Wellen und begleiten Trebeljahrs Flüstern mit einlullenden Melodien - bis einen der Drumcomputer aus versponnenen Tagträumen reißt. Während das Vorgängeralbum förmlich auf die Bühne strebte, zeugt "Our Inventions" von intensiver, fast schon introvertierter Studioarbeit. Gleichzeitig unterstreichen Songs wie "Remember" und "Everything Is Always", was Lali Puna so besonders macht: überschwängliche Mitsingharmonien mit Feinschliff, die ihre Seele nicht hinter der Technik verstecken. Das Album schließt mit "Out There", Lali Punas Kollaboration mit Yukihiro Takahashi (Yellow Magic Orchestra). //
More than half a decade has elapsed since the release of Faking The Books, Lali Puna's third (and hitherto most recent) long-player, but the band's impact on the climate of electronic rock music remains palpable. Along with sister-group The Notwist, this Weilheim quartet have helped map out the musical landscape for modern, experimentally minded pop music, and Our Inventions finds Lali Puna continuing to push the frontiers of their medium. 'Rest Your Head' serves as a perfectly poised re-introduction to the band and all they've become. Initiated by waves of glassy pulsations and warm, swelling synths, the song has the feel of a reverse-lullaby - gently winding its way through reposeful melodies, guided by the welcoming whisper of Trebeljahr's vocal until the final third kicks in with drum machine hits, and you're wide awake. While Faking The Books, with its vibrant riffs and extrovert tendencies, had the sound of a record begging to be played live, Our Inventions exhibits the hallmarks of an album spun from intensive studio-bound introspection. Two of the most explosive and ebullient songs here - 'Remember' and 'Everything Is Always' - confirm so much of what's special about Lali Puna: all the elements are at once precision engineered and delivered with absolute heartfelt conviction; perhaps never before have such jubilant pop hooks been so meticulously and fastidiously crafted, yet you can always hear the soul behind these machines. This is an album that's made for and about the modern world, concerning itself with the driving forces of progress and technological obsession. Trebeljahr's lyrics are suggestive of alienation and disenfranchisement from nature during the irony-laced title-track: "The birds in the trees/Singing our mobile melodies/What a sweet, sweet world", later stipulating that 'progress' never really gets us anywhere on 'Everything Is Always' ("Nothing new/These days"), while hinting at the ultimate bankruptcy of the all-devouring consumer age during 'Safe Tomorrow': "Never going anywhere/Don't stop by and get to know/Stuff your memory with facts/Save Save Save". The final song on the tracklist is 'Out There', a collaboration with the Yellow Magic Orchestra's Yukihiro Takahashi. The version appearing here is an alternate rendering of the track that appeared on Takahashi's Page By Page album in 2009. Here Trebeljahr addresses the global financial collapse ("Their kingdom's past, their kingdom's gone/Just ruins and plain desert/It's all burnt down, we're left alone"), and sure enough, Our Inventions is a body of work that keenly engages with the concerns of its time, one that confronts the excesses and ever-accelerating pace of modernity. The sublime, virtuoso electronic arrangements of Our Inventions directly lock onto the record's recurrent key themes, depicting a world inundated with technology and consumed by a fixation on progress - simultaneously passing commentary on this state of affairs and overcoming it. When Trebeljahr intones "Things move on/I'm gonna work fast because tomorrow comes quick" it sounds like it's being sung from the perspective of someone who's already there." [label info]
www.morrmusic.com
|
2010 |
€16.00 |
|
| |
Our Inventions |
LP |
"2004 erschien ihr letztes Album "Faking The Books", dennoch ist Lali Punas Einfluss auf die elektronische Popszene immer noch spürbar. Gemeinsam mit The Notwist zeichnet die Band um Valerie Trebeljahr für moderne, experimentell angehauchte Popmusik verantwortlich. Mit "Our Inventions" rücken sie die Grenzen des Genres wieder mal ein Stück weiter. Der Song "Rest Your Head" schlägt eine souveräne Brücke zur vergangenen Bandhistorie. Hier pulsieren die Keyboards in warmen Wellen und begleiten Trebeljahrs Flüstern mit einlullenden Melodien - bis einen der Drumcomputer aus versponnenen Tagträumen reißt. Während das Vorgängeralbum förmlich auf die Bühne strebte, zeugt "Our Inventions" von intensiver, fast schon introvertierter Studioarbeit. Gleichzeitig unterstreichen Songs wie "Remember" und "Everything Is Always", was Lali Puna so besonders macht: überschwängliche Mitsingharmonien mit Feinschliff, die ihre Seele nicht hinter der Technik verstecken. Das Album schließt mit "Out There", Lali Punas Kollaboration mit Yukihiro Takahashi (Yellow Magic Orchestra). //
More than half a decade has elapsed since the release of Faking The Books, Lali Puna's third (and hitherto most recent) long-player, but the band's impact on the climate of electronic rock music remains palpable. Along with sister-group The Notwist, this Weilheim quartet have helped map out the musical landscape for modern, experimentally minded pop music, and Our Inventions finds Lali Puna continuing to push the frontiers of their medium. 'Rest Your Head' serves as a perfectly poised re-introduction to the band and all they've become. Initiated by waves of glassy pulsations and warm, swelling synths, the song has the feel of a reverse-lullaby - gently winding its way through reposeful melodies, guided by the welcoming whisper of Trebeljahr's vocal until the final third kicks in with drum machine hits, and you're wide awake. While Faking The Books, with its vibrant riffs and extrovert tendencies, had the sound of a record begging to be played live, Our Inventions exhibits the hallmarks of an album spun from intensive studio-bound introspection. Two of the most explosive and ebullient songs here - 'Remember' and 'Everything Is Always' - confirm so much of what's special about Lali Puna: all the elements are at once precision engineered and delivered with absolute heartfelt conviction; perhaps never before have such jubilant pop hooks been so meticulously and fastidiously crafted, yet you can always hear the soul behind these machines. This is an album that's made for and about the modern world, concerning itself with the driving forces of progress and technological obsession. Trebeljahr's lyrics are suggestive of alienation and disenfranchisement from nature during the irony-laced title-track: "The birds in the trees/Singing our mobile melodies/What a sweet, sweet world", later stipulating that 'progress' never really gets us anywhere on 'Everything Is Always' ("Nothing new/These days"), while hinting at the ultimate bankruptcy of the all-devouring consumer age during 'Safe Tomorrow': "Never going anywhere/Don't stop by and get to know/Stuff your memory with facts/Save Save Save". The final song on the tracklist is 'Out There', a collaboration with the Yellow Magic Orchestra's Yukihiro Takahashi. The version appearing here is an alternate rendering of the track that appeared on Takahashi's Page By Page album in 2009. Here Trebeljahr addresses the global financial collapse ("Their kingdom's past, their kingdom's gone/Just ruins and plain desert/It's all burnt down, we're left alone"), and sure enough, Our Inventions is a body of work that keenly engages with the concerns of its time, one that confronts the excesses and ever-accelerating pace of modernity. The sublime, virtuoso electronic arrangements of Our Inventions directly lock onto the record's recurrent key themes, depicting a world inundated with technology and consumed by a fixation on progress - simultaneously passing commentary on this state of affairs and overcoming it. When Trebeljahr intones "Things move on/I'm gonna work fast because tomorrow comes quick" it sounds like it's being sung from the perspective of someone who's already there." [label info]
www.morrmusic.com |
2010 |
€16.00 |
|
| LAU, PAK YAN |
Bakunawa |
LP |
More hands. More possibilities. More ethereal drones. More poly shifting rhythms. More fun.
That was the starting point and the idea of ‘Bakunawa’: the album Pak Yan Lau recorded with her freshly started ensemble, consisting of the marvellous musicians Vera Cavallin, Giovanni Di Domenico, João Lobo and Mathieu Calleja.
On ‘Bakunawa’ Pak Yan and her ensemble are delving and digging deep into the sound spectrum of detuned toy piano’s, second hand gong rods, prepared harp, metal tubes and ring modulators.
Instruments were searched, collected and bought worldwide: on Japanese street markets, in second hand stores in Brussels, from dedicated American Ebay-sellers and the cellar of the Musica centre in Neerpelt.
The result is a record split up in two compositions of 20 minutes: on Part I the Bakunawa ensemble let the overtones of the gong rods, prepared harp and metal tubes slowly resonate into a deep listening ambient state of mind.
Rich harmonic textures of rather unconventional instruments shaping an immersive piece of spellbinding sonic details.
On Part II the quintet craft their own ritual ceremony music with distorted toy piano’s and hypnotic percussion. Echoing the frequencies of a gamelan orchestra. Rhythms shifting in
haunted patterns recalling the Philippine mythology where the moon swallowing sea dragon Bakunawa was scared away by drumming loudly on pots and pans.
Pak Yan Lau: composition, gong rods, toy piano, metal tubes, ring modulators
Vera Cavallin: gong rods, prepared harp
Giovanni Di Domenico: gong rods, toy piano
João Lobo: gong rods, toy piano, tom
Mathieu Calleja: gong rods, toy piano, bass drum, metal tubes
Recorded at STUK in Leuven and Kunstencentrum nona in Mechelen in 2020
Recorded and mixed by Christophe Albertijn
Mastered by Gert Van Hoof & Jimmy Van Rietvelde at Cochlea Mastering
Cut by Dubplates & Mastering Berlin
Cover pictures by Juhyun Choi
Pictures insert by Laurent Orseau
Layout design by Jef Cuypers
Executive production by Philippe Cortens
https://cortizona.bandcamp.com/album/bakunawa
|
2021 |
€23.00 |
|
| LE DEPEUPLEUR (Z. KARKOWSKI & KASPAR T. TOEPLITZ) |
Disambiguation |
CD |
"Zbigniew Karkowski (*1958, Krakau) wird vermutlich in die Annalen der Neuen Musik eingegen als derjenige, der die Mikrotonalität von Xenakis kurz geschlossen hat mit Harsh Noise
aus Japan, wo er nach Studienjahren in Gothenburg, Amsterdam, Berlin und Paris seit 1994 seine Wahlheimat gefunden hat. In seinen schwedischen Jahren entstanden schon Werke
(Bad Bye Engine, 1984, Uexkull, 1991), die seinen Weg vorzeichneten, eine Obsession für
Noise, die immer wieder in Kollaborationen (mit John Duncan, H3O, Francisco López oder
Pita), vor allem mit japanischen Krachophilen, sich austobte, mit Tatsuo Furudate (World As
Will, 1998 / 2002), Aube (Mutation, 1999) und natürlich Masami Akita alias Merzbow (Sound
Pressure Level, 1998, Untitled, 2001, In Real Time, 2005). Mit dem virtuellen Senssurround
Orchestra, einer Art MIMEO of Noise, als Quintessenz. Für Disambiguation (aatp15) tat er
sich einmal mehr mit Kaspar T. Toeplitz zusammen, einem französischen Unikum zwischen
New und Noise Music, Senssurround-Mitstreiter und ebenfalls Furudate-Partner, der u. a.
für die Kompositionen für die Boxeroper Battling Siki (2003) und Art Zoyds Le champ des
larmes (2006) verantwortlich zeichnete. Den Kampfnamen LE DÉPEUPLEUR (Entvölkerer)
wählten die beiden nicht umsonst. Schon der erste Schub von Noise, der aus den Boxen
bricht, macht Tabula rasa, um darauf dann 46 Min. lang eine prasselnde Masse aus grauem
Rauschen auszugießen. War Agent Orange ein Florakiller mit Nebenwirkungen, so ist Disambiguation ein Vollspektrum-Bioterminator. Zurück zur Ursuppe, zurück zum Urknall, ZURÜCK
AUF ANFANG, ihr entarteten Amöben!" [Bad Alchemy] |
2006 |
€13.00 |
|
| LEPENIK |
Atoll K. |
CD-R |
Tonto-Label-Betreiber ROBERT LEPENIK mit seiner ersten (?) CD-R, auf der orchestrale Arrangements und found sounds sehr schön digital dekonstruiert und prozessuiert werden.. "atoll k" ist der letzte film von stan laurel & oliver hardy, in dem sie stark gealtert und von schwerer krankheit gezeichnet agieren. fernab der kunstfiguren "dick und doof" versuchen die protagonisten ein image ihrerselbst aufrechtzuerhalten, das vom leben schon längst eingeholt wurde. der krasse gegensatz zwischen konstruierten idealbildern und dem davon unbeeindruckten "wirklichen" leben hat mich zu der arbeit an meiner cd "atoll k" inspiriert. das cover zeigt eine fotomontage: stan laurel im film "a chump at oxford" vor dem beinahe 30 jahre später entstandenen kunstwerk "sternenhimmel tuch" vonsigmar polke. ein chump, im film gefangen, in einem flüchtigen anfall von genialität das wahre, wirkliche leben erahnend.“ [label-Beschreibung]
www.tonto.at
|
2000 |
€11.00 |
|
| LETHE |
Catastrophe Point #5 |
CD |
"The latest in Kuwayama Kiyoharu's signature series of compositions that explore the charged, mysterious atmosphere of disused industrial sites. For this album, LETHE turns his attention to an abandoned warehouse by a pier in his hometown of Nagoya, Japan, using objects discovered in situ to perform a ritual of sonic resurrection. He brings a dead space back to life, giving it a voice and allowing it to speak. Metal chains, sheet metal, broken machinery, and factory debris are bowed, struck, and dragged across the concrete floors of the massive hall, reverberating and responding as Kuwayama and his microphones scuttle across the desolate terrain. Growling cello and unstable horns underscore the torrents of percussive clatter. Catastrophe Point #5 is a haunting album of volatile, malevolent ambience. For fans of Christoph Heemann, Surface of the Earth, The New Blockaders, Z'ev, or Organum." [label info]
www.intransitiverecordings.com
"Metgumbnerbone is not a reference that pops up all that much, nor is it one that would mean much to anyone who isn't a complete dork
about British esoteric experimental musics. But that's where we'll start for this review because that's the reference that one such dork had to make here at Aquarius (it was Jim if you must know). Metgumbnerbone was a shadowy collection of dour Brits (including Richard Rupenus of The New Blockaders) who took up residence in an abandoned factory somewhere in Newcastle and constructed a bleak ritualist music out of the refuse found within. Scraping metal and atonal horns crafted out of plumbing material abound in the Metgumbnerbone vocabulary. Such is the case for Lethe as well, the found-space project of Japanese improviser Kuwayama Kiyoharu. However, as Metgumbernone's post-electrical scrabblings were the result of a collective effort, Lethe's spatializations emerge from an orchestra of one. It seems impossible that he did not overdub many of these sounds, but the production so fully embraces the cavernous space of his choosing that Lethe's pieces sound as if they were constructed in a single take.
For Catastrophe Point #5, Lethe used an abandoned grain warehouse located on the outskirts of Nagoya, Japan. Much more than an
ambivalent shuffling or wandering scattering of clunky sounds, Lethe amasses sympathetic scrapings from pieces of metal, large and small, as they are dragged, bowed, and beaten throughout the space. Long form drones emerge throughout the performance as if he's triggering a resonant frequency of the space, echoing against itself. It's true that many of these sounds resemble those found on the impossible to find Metgumberbone records, but other references would be Organum's Vacant Lights album, Z'ev's finer moments, the recent John Grzinich constructions, and even Yoshi Wada's bellowing recordings of his Earth
Horns. Excellent!" [Aquarius Records]
|
2009 |
€12.00 |
|
| LIBEREZ |
All tense now Lax |
LP |
"Hermetically sealed and reveling in tumult, All Tense Now Lax is the most significant and developed work yet forged by Liberez. Based in main orchestrator John Hannon's remote studio No Recordings in Rayleigh, England, Liberez have expanded their palette from previous outings on Alter to produce a perfectly engineered machine that consumes the beholder." [label info]
www.nightschoolrecords.com
"It has become increasingly rare, in recent years, to hear 'industrial' records that fully merit the name. Like most experimental musical terms, it is a descriptor that has become useful only in small doses: usually in reference to artists utilising mechanical and oppressive sonic textures. This usage, however, only conveys a part of what industrial music was originally about. The great early industrial bands manipulated sound in such a way that it retained the flawed feel of human direction whilst simultaneously building a shrine to the electronic. Listening to the finest Throbbing Gristle records, for example, one is overcome by an atmosphere that is almost entirely alien and discomforting precisely because of its human element; something that even the most applause-worthy of (largely digitally based) industrial artists of today are incapable of quite accomplishing.
This, perhaps, is what makes a vaguely 'industrial' outfit like Liberez such an enticing proposition. A group that blends the electronic with the acoustic, and works on foundations provided more by improvisation than by the meticulous organisation of much contemporary experimentalism, Liberez have been stalwarts of the deepest depths of the murky UK underground for some years now, rightly eschewing genre terms in favour of constant reinvention and re-articulation of their musical aims. All Tense Now Lax, however, sees Liberez reach new heights (or lows, depending on the way you want to perceive music so undeniably gloomy) in their apparent quest to capture the beautiful in the most disjointedly unnervingly fashion possible.
Liberez’s determination to manufacture contrast is impressive from the album’s opening seconds. Intro track ‘
Of Milk’ fades in with eerie piano and ends with concrete drone, fading into the slow building tumult of ‘_Захвална породица’, complete with some mid-period Skullflower guitar wailing and clanking percussion. This is a pattern that continues throughout, with sections of fragile sound collage – rendered particularly effective by the regular presence of moaning violin – being presented along spiralling channels of paranoid distortion.
At its most overblown and overwrought All Tense Now Lax is less disturbing and more genuinely frightening. ‘How Much for Your Brother?’ is a gross exhortation of primal malevolence, retching through its four minutes with the subtlety of a sledgehammer and the abrasiveness of a sandpaper razor. At the other end of the scale, ‘Stop Your Breathing’, the following track, mutters and groans through disembodied fragments of noise, which eventually (and briefly) end up coalescing into a faintly beautiful climax. The combination of these two styles alongside one another is exhausting but powerful, like a stripped down Godspeed You! Black Emperor at most minimalistic and effective best.
All Tense Now Lax, then, is brilliant precisely because of the way it flits disconcertingly between the two extremes presented in its title, between the constant and unrestrained tension of technological progress and the contrasting looseness of our day to day existence alongside it. The overall result is an enormously adept capturing of the conundrum of the 'industrial' in a post-industrial landscape." [Benjamin Bland / Drowned In Sound]
|
2015 |
€21.00 |
|
| LILES, ANDREW |
All Closed Doors |
CD |
New work of this British bizarre-ambience composer, who is still to discover! This evokes an eerie darkness, with melancholic piano tunes, as a whole a surrealistic, day-dreamy atmosphere..
“With a title such as ‘Largactil and Dilaudin for the Soul’ this newest release from British composer Andrew Liles should give an indication of the eccentricies from where this recording is coming from. One track of stark resonating piano followed by the slow warming of the orchestra that draws you in. Once there, it tip toes, echoes and dissolves with each track re-emerging more fractured than the next. Intricacies of creaks, dull thuds, traditional instrumentation and then subtle ambient drones. ‘All Closed Doors’ could be the aural equivalent of living in a disused cupboard; dusty and empty - dark and damp. Perhaps the definitive song on the album, 'What Never Will Be' is a bizarre ghostly version of the 'que sera sera'. Edition of 500 copies.“ [label info]
|
2003 |
€13.00 |
|
| LILJEKVIST, JAN |
Dr. Jayne Insane & the gutbucket Philharmonicks |
CD |
strange strange strange music by this Swedish composer ...
“...is the latest project by the composer Jan Liljekvist. Born in Stockholm (Sweden) in 1962. Started out learning to play woodwind instruments (flute, clarinet, saxophone) at an early age. Continued with percussion, guitar, violin and viola. Played in big bands, chamber and symphony orchestras, composed theatre and film music. Has been touring in Europe, singing and playing the guitar in THE SHOUTLESS. Collaborates with the artist and painter Sten Backman in freeform group PLANLOS IRR plus in electro/improvisation project BUGMAN. Does session work playing the violin on death metal records (MÅNEGARM, MORTIFER). Has been working as the musical director of a theatre company and touring with the group TVÅ FISK OCH EN FLÄSK, (hem.passagen.se/tvafisk/), playing Swedish medieval folkmusic. Studied electro acoustic composition with Lars-Gunnar Bodin, Rolf Enström, Anders Blomkvist and Erik-Mikael Karlsson at the EMS Studio in Stockholm. The music on the record consists of pieces composed and performed during recent years.” [label info]
|
2003 |
€14.00 |
|
| LILLY JOEL |
What lies in the Sea |
CD |
" 'What Lies In The Sea' is the fruit of a ten year collaboration between singer Lynn Cassiers and keyboardist Jozef Dumoulin, and is the first release for their duo Lilly Joel. Both musicians are free spirits and true, much-lauded innovators in their respective fields.
Belgian singer Lynn Cassiers is as much a singer as she can be called a sound sculptor, using her voice, microphone, and electronics to create soundscapes.
Pianist Jozef Dumoulin (Belgium) redefined the Fender Rhodes keyboard through a scope that is at the same time fully contemporary, eclectic and highly personal.
This recording marks a milestone on their path as a band and crystalizes a moment in a universe that was carefully shaped and daringly explored. The music is straightforward, fresh and original - the focus never being the attempt to be part of some distinct genre, but only to be honest towards one's own place in a ever changing world. There are reminiscences of experimental music, jazz, rock, electro, pop, traditional music and contemporary classical music, which is totally normal considered who's at work here. Anyhow, all those influences are fully digested and serve as countless small bricks that are used to make a new big image, that stands on it own and can be watched as such.
Lynn Cassiers
Quoted to be 'one of the most remarkable voices of our improvisation scene' (enola), Lynn Cassiers' universe is one that covers a wide diversity of styles. Lynn is recognizable by her songlike approach in contexts that can range from noise over ambient to free jazz. She's part of impro-rock band Tape Cuts Tape on the sides of ex-deus guitarist Rudy Trouvé and improv-jazz drummer Eric Thielemans, and also performs with her solo project 'The Bird, the Fis and the Ball'. Besides writing music for theatre and her various collaborations with great artists and ensembles such as Marshall Allen, Octurn and The Brussels Jazz Orchestra, she is a steady member in different bands on the actual music scene of Western Europe.
Jozef Dumoulin
Known for his open and luminous approach to the piano and to music in general, always anchored in tradition without being burdened by it. Besides the Fender Rhodes solo, his own projects include The Red Hill Orchestra (a trio with Ellery Eskelin and Dan Weiss) and a duo with Benoît Delbecq. Highly-demanded as a sideman, Jozef Dumoulin has recorded and toured with the finest of musicians in the domain of jazz, improvised music, rock and traditional music. He currently lives in Paris." [label info]
www.subrosa.net
|
2015 |
€13.00 |
|
| LINDSTRÖM, MATS |
Mig |
LP |
"Mats Lindström works as a composer and a musician, often with strains of live-electronics. He often works with intermedia, scenic elements and visual arts as a complement to the music, and has worked both with music for concerts, theatre and dance as well as radio-art and sound installations. Formerly an engineer in the electronics industry Lindström has designed and constructed a number of unique electronic musical instruments and apparatuses. "Mig" produced by PRO ARTE Foundation for JSC Klimov Aviation Engines Museum, St Petersburg, Russia September 2011. 'IBM' tracks recorded at EMS Elektronmusikstudion, Stockholm April 2012. 'ONE' tracks was premiered at San Servolo, Venezia, Italy, December 2008 together with Anna Koch Scratch Memory. 'Give Us the Tools' was premiered at Theaterhaus Stuttgart, Germany July 2006. Dedicated to Hugh Davies. 'Children of Paradise' is a tape part remaining from the piece Sörmlndsk tragedi for childrens string orchestra premiered at Kulturhuset Stockholm and Sveriges Radio P2 February 2003." [label info]
www.editionsmego.com
|
2012 |
€16.00 |
|
| LINIJA MASS |
Triumph Stali |
10inch |
Martial und kraftvoll wie gewohnt...diese zwei neuen Stücke des russischen Projekts, das die Fahne des „Industrial Futurism“ weiter hochhält. Hat was triumphales, diese alles zermalmende low-fi Klangwalze, mit Maschinengeräuschen, Sprachsamples und orchestralen Arrangements & russischen found sounds....
“Brand new tracks from one of the best and the oldest russian industrial projects. Repetitive mechanical patterns with voice samples in the unique Linija Mass style, abrasive analogue sounds to create an aura of futuristic art revolt. The release comes packed in a nice cover printed on a special thick grey verged paper, limited edition of 330 copies. Total time - 20 min, 2 tracks.”[label press release]
|
2004 |
€12.50 |
|
| LOCRIAN |
Return to Annihilation |
CD |
"Ein Kapitel wird geschlossen – ein neues Kapitel aufgeschlagen. Nur wenig scheint so reichhaltig wie die Chroniken LOCRIANs. Nach “The Clearing“ und den Split-Alben mit MAMIFFER und Christoph Heemann folgt nun also “Return To Annihilation“. Eine Herausforderung dieses Albums bestand für die Band darin, dass Terence Hannum mittlerweile viele Kilometer von André Foisy und Steven Hess entfernt wohnt. So tauschte die Band zunächst Ideen via Email aus, bevor sie sich für drei Tage ins Studio einschloss, um das Album aufzunehmen.
Entlang des ersten Durchlaufs fällt auf, dass die Musiker auf “Return To Annihilation“ noch fokussierter gearbeitet haben. Die große räumliche Distanz, mit der die Bandmitglieder umzugehen lernen mussten, scheint doch eher eine nahe Ferne gewesen zu sein. Das Zusammenspiel ist noch konzentrierter, die Improvisationen sind noch besser abgestimmt. Zudem hat man das Gefühl, dass LOCRIAN durch ihre verschiedenen Kollaborationen und Tätigkeiten in den diversen Nebenprojekten Facetten freigelegt und entdeckt haben, die gleichzeitig als eine Art Türöffner für ihre neuen Ideen fungieren. Ihre schöpferischen Ressourcen zeigen sich ideenprall und die Frische sowie die Freude beim Kreieren von Musik sind dem Album deutlich anzuhören.
Das erste Stück “Eternal Return“ eröffnet hymnisch. Verschachtelte Synthesizerspuren, krachendes Schlagwerk, vorpreschende Gitarrensounds und ein bis in die tiefste Innerwelt berührender, fauchender Schreigesang lassen den Kurs des Albums erahnen. Doch jene Richtung führt nicht über vorgebahnte Wege. Es werden Schneisen ins Unterholz geschlagen, die Pfade ins Unbegangene oder hier konkret ins Ungehörte eröffnen. Im Fortlauf folgt “A Visitation From The Wrath Of Heaven“. Mächtige Electronics verrätseln diesen nächsten Gang, dazu rummst Steven Hess mit seiner Herzschlagtrommel, bevor der Gesang das Stück zu einem choralartigen Wunderwerk aufbaut, um kurze Zeit später abrupt abzubrechen. Und bereits hier lässt sich vermuten, dass sich LOCRIAN bei den Aufnahmen gegenseitig noch stärker angetrieben zu haben scheinen als auf den Vorgängerveröffentlichungen. Bei “Two Moons“ werden von Sekunde zu Sekunde andere Aspekte in den Vordergrund gerückt, dadurch entsteht ein dröhnendes Gebilde, welches sich von allen Stücken wohl am stärksten Einhegungsversuchen entzieht. Die Besonderheit dieses Albums liegt neben der Unvorhersehbarkeit auch darin, dass die Amerikaner ihrer Impulsfülle nachgeben, jedoch dabei niemals ihren Wiedererkennungswert verlieren. Der Wechsel von stürmischen und ruhigen Passagen wirkt nicht konstruiert, sondern entwickelt sich natürlich. Das Titelstück “Return To Annihilation“ führt den choralartigen Gesang fort, dazu hämmert ein Bolz-Drum, die Gitarren krachen Gewitter ähnlich. Ein orchestrales, dröhnendes Brausen zeigt dessen Entladung. Das Ambient lastige, rauschhaltige “Exiting The Hall Of Vapor And Light“ zieht hinter diesen Gewitterwolken auf und beruhigt das vorher Aufgewühlte. Dem schließt sich kontrastierend die Krachsinfonie “Panorama Of Mirrors“ an. Den Abschluss bildet das 15minütige “Obsolete Elegies“, welches alle Weggabelungen und Wetterlagen des Albums vereint und final den tiefsten, sich selbst beschleunigenden Wirbel in die eingeschlagene Schneise bricht.
“Return To Annihilation“ ist durchwirkt vom Überraschenden aus dem Dunklen. Es umgürtet die Arbeit der Amerikaner. Hervorgerufen wurde es durch wahre Passion, die sich in der dem Album inhärenten Wucht offenbart. Viele Bands verlieren im Laufe der Jahre die Dunkelheit der Anfangstage und verwalten ihre kreative Ausbleichung. Nicht so LOCRIAN – das Dunkle wird hier nicht abgeschabt, sondern in seinen Stufungen neu ausgeleuchtet. André Foisy sprach davon, dass “Return To Annihilation“ das bisher wichtigste Album in der Bandgeschichte sei. Das schürt Erwartungen. Von einem Höhepunkt, vom Gelungenen kann immer dann gesprochen werden, wenn Erwartungen ihre Einlösung finden. Wenn das Ergebnis übergroße Schatten auf hohe Erwartungen wirft, kann vom Bleibenden gesprochen werden. Dieses Ergebnis wird sich auf die Erwartungen im Vorfeld der nächsten Veröffentlichung aufprägen. Eine Klimax gen Unendlichkeit – oder die nimmer endenden Chroniken LOCRIANs." (D.L./ Blackmagazin]
"For a band so devoted to endings, the noise metallurgists of Locrian are surprisingly keen with beginnings, too. More than a year ago, Relapse Records announced they'd signed the Chicago-and-Baltimore trio. The move seemed surprising at the time, but not because Locrian’s electronics-and-effects-driven approach was at odds with the more orthodox heavy metal roster at Relapse; in fact, the label’s two decades are dotted by momentous dalliances with experimental music. Instead, before signing to Relapse, Locrian released a lot of music, a strategy that worked for a band putting out very limited editions on rather small labels but maybe not one meant for a fringe act now signed to an imprint as large as Relapse. Just how many Locrian eight-tracks or singles could and would Relapse actually handle?
Since the deal, though, Locrian have only issued three titles-- a re-release of one such short-run record bundled with new material, a glacial collaboration with kindred lurkers Mammifer, and a beautiful piece with German sound art veteran Christopher Heemann. After many consecutive years of several albums, splits, and singles each, Locrian went almost silent-- just not behind the scenes. All along, they were sketching, building, and refining Return to Annihilation, their proper Relapse debut and step into a much bigger spotlight. It's an auspicious new phase of their existence: Return to Annihilation is the most provocative and engaging Locrian album to date, a brilliant mystery that evades simplistic definitions by turning their historical din and destruction in on itself and, sometimes, back again.
In initial interviews for Return to Annihilation, Locrian-- multi-instrumentalist André Foisy, vocalist and multi-instrumentalist Terrence Hannum and drummer Steven Hess-- spoke about the influence of Genesis on their new work. It felt to some like trolling, as there was no way the intricate (and sometimes awkward) prog rock of Genesis might have a substantive pull on music so ostensibly moonless and monolithic. But Return to Annihilation is intrinsically elusive, with twists so compelling and layers so deep that each listen reveals a half-dozen new facets. The title track, for instance, is a three-part suite. Locrian begins with the primal, repetitive wallop of Swans, repurposed with industrial accessories. Despite the aggressive delivery, it feels tunefully poppy, beckoning the listener forward just before the song shifts into a cataclysmic drone. Smothering electronics battle with piercing guitars, shaping a stalemate of willpowers. Hess’ drums goad the band forward again, hitting a climax that’s dense but buoyant, like the phosphorescent coda of a melodramatic post-millenial black metal epic. Though this is a triptych of distinct sections, the parts are strangely cohesive, blending into one another as a balance of extremes.
For 50 minutes, Return to Annihilation runs like a whirlwind journey that you must mentally revisit when it’s done playing. Indeed, during the last three months, I’ve listened to this record a few dozen times, and each trip through only seems to solicit more questions about the material itself-- about its balance between corroded metal and coruscated drone, about its strange sense of enveloping atmosphere and unstoppable propulsion, about the completed puzzle and its complex constituent pieces. Sometimes its 15-minute closer, “Obsolete Elegies”, feels like an exhalation of relief, with muted piano and long-tone violin suggesting Pelt plundering the workshop of La Monte Young; other times, the quaking electronics and plodding guitar of the same piece intimate a hangman’s anthem, a steady gaze directed over and over again toward another imminent death.
What’s most rewarding about Return to Annihilation is this sense of narrative and emotional limbo, or the feeling that supposedly staunch binaries-- birth and death, beauty and brutality, triumph and defeat-- function exclusively in interrelated arcs. Sure, there are entire tracks here that feel more nihilistic or uplifting than others. The neon guitars and escalating drum patterns of “Eternal Return” are exultant enough to soundtrack an action movie’s climax, while “Exiting the Hall of Vapor and Light” fashions a great, gray canvas from static and distortion, a diorama of nothingness. But in every instance, defeat and relief seem only to be dissolving through one another, not pushing one another from the frame. The guitars in “Vapor and Light” slink into patterns that don’t resolve, but for an instant, they bubble into the sort of ebullient loop that you might hear on a Dustin Wong record; it’s like glimpsing light at the end of a tunnel that’s so big you didn’t even know you were surrounded. And “Eternal Return” takes shape around bitterly shouted imprecations and swells of background noise so strong they sometimes threaten to push the ascension off track. Return to Annihilation forever demands that you decide for yourself-- or, of course, don’t.
In the past, Locrian albums have seemed to me almost uniformly doomed, with their lyrics about industrial decay and blizzards of irascible tones creating an atmosphere of general oppression. But Return to Annihilation implicitly urged me to revisit those earlier records and to listen for, if not foreshadowing, signs that there’d been more ambiguity and complexity at work than I’d first supposed. And there is: The great Drenched Lands seems more forgiving than I’d perceievd, as if its excoriation of society is more of a way out than a mere self-excommunication. Moments of The Clearing, particularly the electrostatically foreboding “Coprolite”, sound in retrospect as if they are trying to climb out of the dark, even if they don’t succeed. Return to Annihilation, then, feels like a perfect nexus of Locrian’s past and future. This is the rare album that reveals new depth within a catalog that already seemed so deep and ruminative while proclaiming rather unlimited possibilities for a band nearing the end of its first decade. It’s a beginning refashioned from expired endings-- as it turns out, an essential Locrian idea." [Pitchfork]
www.relapse.com
www.relapse.com
|
2013 |
€13.00 |
|
| LOGOTHETIS, ANESTIS |
Hör!Spiel / Nekrologlog 1961 / Fantasmata 1960 |
LP |
"The Greek avant-garde composer Anestis Logothetis was noted for his pioneering tape techniques as well as developing his own notation system for composition that incorporated visual symbols meant to be interpreted by the performers. '"Hör!-spiel"/Nekrologlog 1961/Fantasmata 1960' collects 3 of his most famous works, realized in Vienna where he spent much of the 1940s-1960s. After completing studies at the music academy there, in the 1950s Logothetis became enamored of 20th century composers like John Cage and Earle Brown, and moved away from traditional composition for orchestras and performers in favor of fully electronic composition in the late '50s. A groundbreaking composer and electronic musician, Logothetis has long been underappreciated by the world of avant-garde and electronic musicians but Fantôme Phonographique seeks to rectify that issue with this brilliant release." |
2018 |
€18.00 |
|
| LOSCIL |
Submers |
do-LP |
"Submers is the second album from the Vancouver-based Scott Morgan aka Loscil. All of the tracks are named after submarines, the final cut being a requiem for the crew of the ill fated Russian nuclear vessel Kursk. Recorded at home on computer with samples and keyboards used as sound sources, Submers is rife with source less echoes, steely surfaces and ominous melodic and rhythmic undertows. The sifted melodies are layered over muffled, clicking and pulsing rhythm tracks with an appropriately aquatic feel to the entire album." [press release]
"Peruse the ether for reviews of this album, and surely you will see writers invoking oceans and blue depths. After all, a collection whose tracks are odes to submarines straightforwardly invites such imagery. But come to think of it philosophically, submarines are also spaceships. While engaging this work I always remember a line by Poet Malena Morling. It went something like, “I always wonder about space, how it never ends.” I believe Submers comprehends “endless space” as much as it probes “oceanic depth.”
This album, and Loscil’s work, in general, has a oneiric quality, in that Mr. Morgan helps you traverse vast spaces while remaining still. The songs are impeccably organized bouquets of circulating, oscillating, chattering, hissing, placating, and agitating layers of audible vibrations, that pool, and loop together slowly, only to (slowly) wind down and die out. To one’s amusement and dismay, Submers is primarily created by complex organizations of filtered and manipulated samples from the western classical universe.
In the feel of these tracks, there is a lingering want for something intangible and more extensive than ourselves as I am propelled into the unknown unknowns by Argonaut I, and Gymnote. The space hums with deep bass. The timbre is beautifully unique and hard to find in vinyl pressings of electronic work. These two tracks could represent the last flickering lights of a submarine shining on a giant skeleton as the sailors plummet into depths that haven’t seen the light in a million years. These tracks could also represent a voyage into luminous fractal formations of constellations in uncharted galaxies.
Speaking of which, I often felt Loscil’s work has a fractal quality where same patterns repeat to infinite depths. For example, in Nautilus the beat design is enveloped by an aura of low-frequency sounds interspersed by uncanny flutes. The tracks take us to a state where everything seems vast; after all, it could also be as if we have become tiny insects looking at the magnified world with the wonder of space travel.
I find myself walking towards Loscil’s LPs in many improvisatory and premeditated mix sets. I especially love the track Resurgam, as the melodic movements could be easily harmonized and improvised with the beauty of an evening Raga like Yaman Kalyan. In the mix Rain of Rivers (@ Queitcalm Records) I especially enjoyed playing Resurgam as an accentuated bridge between Deru’s soulfully sad 1979 and the eerily beautiful melodic journeys of Everything (by Ben Lukas Boysen and Sebastian Plano). In “My Immaculate Morsels of Sadness” I could not help but allow Submers to arrive twice in the form of Triton and Gymnote, so as to converse and juxtapose with the dramatic compositional elements of Robot Koch and Cinematic Orchestra.
If you chance upon this work, be prepared to travel, inside and out, submerged, looking through a periscope or a telescope. Perhaps someday Loscil will have an album meditating on spaceships, but until then this is it." [Drastic Steps]
https://loscil.bandcamp.com/album/submers
|
2018 |
€32.50 |
|
| LOVESLIESCRUSHING |
Girl.Echo.Suns.Veils |
CD |
"space/ambient/drone from a veteran progenitor. scott cortez’s guitar is processed nearly to the point of unrecognizability, leaving behind veils and walls of shimmery droning bliss. glossolalic female voice glides spectral and luminescent through the walls of sound; sheets of noise; glossy, ethereal. lovesliescrushing makes noise sound beautiful.
leave all the accidents: find beauty in grit, in dust, in noise. in the mess.
formed in 1991, lovesliescrushing took the my bloody valentine / cocteau twin template and added a new twist: turning the formula inside out by using the detritus, the residue from other songs, the scraps of a song, a single note, a single chord here, a melody there or a dense wall of guitar. take the parts most bands consider throwaway accidents, filler, those little parts between songs on loveless and work them to reveal their realization as a full-blown song. ‘the formula’ is simple, almost childlike. remove the drums, the bass, use no synths or keyboards, remove all of the typical rock/pop shoegaze trappings, use what is left and record on a 4 track porta-studio. simple.
that they were able to weave this all together, despite removing everything, would have made most bands run in terror. yet in that manner, lovesliescrushing found its sound.
GIRL ECHO SUNS VEILS gathers music from the vast backlog of the lovesliescrushing library. some of it has appeared before, some of it is unreleased. all of this material was reworked and perfected by cortez until he decided it was ready for release. the music is almost two decades old, but sounds like it was recorded yesterday by one of a handful of newgaze, ambient bands (fennes, belong) that have become stylish recently. llc sounds completely contemporary, and yet llc was doing it back in the early 90s, without studios, without laptops! perhaps that is the most shocking aspect to their music. it is a testament to the work of lovesliescrushing, an obscure band that could and did.
lovesliescrushing can sound like a jet engine tuned to an am radio station tuned to an orchestra tuning up or a gigantic blurry drone cloud.
GIRL ECHO SUNS VEILS is a comprehensive look at an invisible band’s influence on the space/ambient/drone scene." [label info]
www.projekt.com
|
2010 |
€14.50 |
|
| |
Xuvetyn |
CD |
INK19: “Xuvetyn is glorious from start to finish, very much in a loveless-era My Bloody Valentine-gone-ethereal vein. Genius. This is some of the most amazing music ever to come off four tracks. Loveliescrushing’s music is soaked in shimmering, fuzzy, noisy brilliance. Beautiful female vocals waft through the hazy, swirling fog of layered feedback-drenched, processed guitars. This is ethereal lo-fi at its finest”
"VEILS OF GORGEOUS GUITAR WASH AND ANGELIC GOSSAMERY VOICE. BEAUTIFUL AND GRANDIOSE ORCHESTRAL SUBTLETY AND CHILDLIKE NAIVETE, BILLOWY, FUR-LINED, MILKY SOFTNESS TO A BLASTING METALLIC ROAR. 75 MINUTES OF SPACEY DRUMLESS IRIDESCENT TEXTURES AND ATMOSPHERIC SOUNDSCAPES.
MELISSA’S VOCALS ARE GLASSY SHIMMERING AND EVANESCENT LIKE SNOWFLAKES MELTING IN YOUR HAND. SCOTT’S INFAMOUS GUITAR DAMAGE CONJURES IMAGES OF AN AURORA’S PHANTASMAGORIC MAJESTY OR A JET ENGINE’S INTENSITY. GUITAR AND VOICES SCULPTED, MANIPULATED AND PROCESSED INTO BEAUTIFUL NOISE. ANOTHER GEM OF LO-FI BRILLIANCE GLEANED FROM A 4-TRACK." [label info?]
|
1996 |
€14.50 |
|
| LUCIER, ALVIN |
Crossings |
CD |
"1990 CD reissue of prime-era Lucier product, with works from 1982-85. Features 'In Memoriam Jon Higgins (for clarinet in A and slow-sweep pure wave oscillator)', 'Septet for Three Winds, Four Strings and Pure Wave Oscillator', and 'Crossings (for small orchestra with slow-sweep pure wave oscillator)'. Said slow-sweep pure wave oscillator produces slowly swept pure waves that oscillate (on separate occasions) a clarinet, three winds and four strings, and a small orchestra. Maximum beat frequency heterodyning, often at an audible pitch. Similar acoustic phenomena as Tony Conrad/Penderecki string work and just as aurally stimulating (for those with lazy ear-ciliae)." [Hrvatski]
www.lovely.com
|
1990 |
€13.00 |
|
| |
Still and Moving Lines |
CD |
"Pogus is absolutely delighted to offer this new release featuring Australian new music ensemble Decibel performing four works by Alvin Lucier, three of which are previously unrecorded.
Ever Present (2002), the only work offered here that has been recorded before is for flute, saxophone, and piano with slow sweep pure wave oscillator and is considered by many to be Lucier’s most musical work. Carbon Copies (1989) is for saxophone, piano, flute and playback; the work investigates musicians imitating their environments. Hands (1994) is for organ with four players. The performers use their hands to subtly alter the harmonics produced from the pipes of an organ. Shelter (1967) is for vibration pickups, amplification system and enclosed space and finds Lucier offering the sounds of outside a performance space. All these works as always are amazing examples of Alvin Lucier’s fertile mind and exploring, experimental sensibility. One of the true originals.
Alvin Lucier was born in 1931 in Nashua, New Hampshire. He was educated in Nashua public and parochial schools, the Portsmouth Abbey School, Yale, and Brandeis and spent two years in Rome on a Fulbright Scholarship. Lucier has pioneered in many areas of music composition and performance, including the notation of performers' physical gestures, the use of brain waves in live performance, the generation of visual imagery by sound in vibrating media, and the evocation of room acoustics for musical purposes. His recent works include a series of sound installations and works for solo instruments, chamber ensembles, and orchestra in which, by means of close tunings with pure tones, sound waves are caused to spin through space.
Decibel are world leaders in the integration of acoustic instruments and electronics, pioneering electronic score formats, including the Decibel Scoreplayer App, incorporating mobile score formats and networked coordination performance environments. The ensemble has collaborated with composers such as Werner Dafeldecker, Agostino Di Scipio, Alvin Curran, David Toop, Marina Rosenfeld, Lionel Marchetti, Andreas Weixler and Johannes S. Sistermanns and worked with iconic Australian composers Jon Rose, Alan Lamb, Ross Bolleter, Warren Burt, Eric Griswold and Anthony Pateras. Decibel have contributed the Australian premieres of works by Fausto Romitelli, Tristan Murail, Alvin Lucier, Peter Ablinger, Mauricio Kagel and have toured monograph concerts dedicated to Alvin Lucier and John Cage." [label info]
www.pogus.com
|
2014 |
€13.00 |
|
| LUSSIER, RENE |
Completement Marteau |
CD |
For René Lussier, this album is an unexpected assembly:
“I gathered four compositions from commissions to which I responded with a maximum of freedom. They all testify to a long process of gossiping and pecking. As a proud patentee of out-of-the-box music, I have grouped them together under the title Complètement marteau, as in crazy stiff, unbridled and surprising, but also as in handcrafted, patiently and laboriously, with my self-taught tools.”
The Burletta series (2009) and the BanQ piece (2015) were recorded for a clown theater show and an architectural projection, respectively. Pour modifier vos options personnelles appuyez sur l’étoile * (quartet for guitars and electric toothbrushes, 2019) and Le clou (double bass quartet, 1999), were performed by the ensembles that commissioned them, but never recorded.
Despite the years between them, these pieces fit together easily, thanks to similar compositional processes. A pointillist approach runs through the album, with motifs divided among several voices, the sum of which draws the rhythmic and melodic phrases. All multi-movement pieces, they are interspersed here between the paintings of the Burletta suite, as if in a playful setting. BanQ and Burletta benefit from a large orchestration, with a whole lot of homemade percussions made of rubbing, mouth noises, cake spatulas, barbecue spits and styrofoam on a wet window. There is also the recurring and inimitable presence of the daxophone, an idiophone invented by the German musician Hans Reichel.
Born in Montreal in 1957, guitarist René Lussier is one of the leading figures in innovative Quebec music. He divides his practice between composition, improvisation, soundtrack, songwriting, directing and producing. He has produced some sixty film scores, the extraordinary soundtrack for Robert Lepage’s Moulin à Images (2008-2012) and some thirty recordings, including Le Trésor de la langue, Grand prix Paul Gilson in 1989, a fresco on speech and history described as a masterpiece by critics. He has initiated or been a member of numerous ensembles that have allowed him to tour throughout the world, including with British musician Fred Frith (Nous autres, Keep the Dog, Fred Frith Guitar Quartet). René Lussier has received the Freddy Stone Award “…for his artistic integrity, innovative spirit and contribution to Canadian new music” and the Canada Council’s Victor Martyn Lynch-Staunton Award “for outstanding achievement and excellence”. In recent years, he has composed for the stage, sounded installations by filmmaker Pierre Hébert, written for the ensembles Hard Rubber (Vancouver) and Bang on a Can (New York), as well as for his own René Lussier Quintet (festivals and Japanese tour in 2018), with whom he is about to record a second disc. Since 2003, he has been living and working in the countryside, where he has built a working laboratory. His activity is as effervescent as ever, in the tireless pursuit of an eclectic approach guided by experimentation.
https://renelussier.bandcamp.com/album/compl-tement-marteau
"Neues Album des kanadischen Multiinstrumentalisten und Komponisten RENÉ LUSSIER. „Completment Marteau“ erscheint als CD auf RECOMMENDED. 1957 in Montreal geboren, entdeckte LUSSIER schnell sein Interesse für Musik, lernte diverse Instrumente und schloss sich 1973 der Progressive-Rock-Band ARPÈGE als Gitarrist an. Durch seine Zusammenarbeit mit der ihn bis heute prägenden Free-Jazz / Avantgarde-Band CONVENTUM 1976 widmete sich der Künstler in den folgenden Jahren vor allem der Neuen
Improvisationsmusik und spielte bis 1985 bei Gruppen wie QUATOUR DE L‘EMMIEUX AND
LES REINS, NÉBU oder G.U.M. Zwischen 1982 und 1984 begleitete Lussier als Gitarrist auch
die Sängerin PAULINE JULIEN und gründete mit seinem erfolgreich im Improvisationsduo
auftretenden und international tourenden Partner JEAN DEROME das renommierte Label
AMBIANCES MAGNÉTIQUES, wodurch vor allem FRED FRITH auf ihn aufmerksam wurde,
welchen er von 1989 bis 1991 mit dessen Band KEEP THE DOG als Gitarrist begleitete.
In den folgenden Jahren entstanden diverse Alben und Kollaboration mit u.a. MARTIN
TÉTREAULT, CHRIS CUTLER, ROBERT M. LEPAGE und PIERRE HÉBERT. Desweiteren schrieb
er Soundtracks für mehr als 35 Filme und wurde für sein Album „Le trésor de la langue“, das
sich mit der Zweisprachigkeit in Québec beschäftigt, mit dem Grand Prix Paul-Gilson
ausgezeichnet. „Completment Marteau“ ist das neue Werk eines renommierten und
erfahrenden Künstlers, welcher nach wie vor voller Kreativität und Experimentierfreude ist."
|
2021 |
€13.00 |
|
| M.B. (MAURIZIO BIANCHI) |
Weltanschauung |
LP |
"At the beginning of 1981 Maurizio Bianchi sent some demo tapes to the Come Organisation in England; after that, they extracted and blended together the sounds to get the final work.
The title « Under The Victory Banner », an anachronistic and detrimental track for the rest of the album has been replaced by the title of the same set « Plutoniumetrio » edited in 1982 by the Come Organisation for the compilation « Für Ilse Koch », which fits much better with the other tracks.
The Come Organisation was a record label founded in London in 1979 by William Bennett, initially as a vehicle for his group Come, and later to specialise in extreme electronic or controversial music, in particular for his subsequent group Whitehouse, but also for other groups including Maurizio Bianchi, Nurse with wound or Charles Manson. When Whitehouse went on hiatus at the end of 1985, Come Organisation was dissolved." [label info]
www.rotorelief.com
Weltanschauung was first released by William Bennett's Come Organisation in 1982, with Bennett changing MB's nom de plume to Leibstandarte SS MB. These recordings have long been controversial, given that one of the tracks overlayed Third Reich speeches on top of Bianchi's wall of noise, although both Bennett and Bianchi denied responsibility for having done so. Bianchi's frigid electronic orchestrations drip with sinister echoes of bone-chilling vibrations, throbbing rhythms, deranged anti-melodies, and horrifying atmospheres. For this reissue on Rotorelief, Bianchi has replaced the offending track from the Come Organisation original with the thoroughly grim track "Plutometrio" recorded during the same sessions, sans the Nazi speechifying. Such additions were unnecessary in the first place (whoever was to blame), and Weltanschauung is much better off without them.
(Aquarius Rec.) |
2013 |
€23.00 |
|
| MACHINEFABRIEK |
Veldwerk |
CD |
"Sublime drone music and field recordings by Rutger Zuydervelt. 'Slovensko I & II' are best seen as a travel diary, recorded in Slovakia. RZ made 'sound snapshots' with a small digital recorder. A major influence both while recording and assembling the tracks was Chinese sound artist Yan Jun. 'Rusland' is a sound collage comprising field recordings and sections of live performances made in Russia. An incredible adventure and culture shock with long train journeys, bizarre venues and amazing people. 'The Breaking Water' can be heard as a sonic portrait of Rotterdam's famous Erasmus bridge. It includes recordings taken from both on and beneath the bridge, along with further sounds from the river that it crosses, the Nieuwe Maas. 'Floor & Radio' is a contrast to the outdoor pieces recorded for the the installation 'Licthung' in Radolfzell, Germany. Contrasted against the outdoor silence was the squeaking floor in the guest house and the distorted signal and static from the radio. Sometimes there's music in everything. Makino Takashi asked RZ to perform a score for his film 'In Your Star'. After a screening in Tokyo, a studio version was recorded. The result is 'Apollo', a sonic journey to space and beyond. Digipak." [label info]
www.coldspring.co.uk
" 'Field work' is the translation of this 'new' CD by Machinefabriek. It has pieces of music that deal, one way or another, with field recordings from various travels Machinefabriek made and I put the word new between '' because all but one of this pieces were released before, mostly by Rutger Zuydervelt himself as 3"CDRs but 'Slovensko' as a 7" by Champion Version. I am not sure, but I seem to have reviewed them all, so in the same spirit of this CD, I'll re-run my reviews.
(Vital Weekly 651): Recently Machinefabriek played in Russia four concerts as part of the Dutch Punch festival. Everything was duly recorded, but not released as such. The 3"CDR 'Rusland' is an extensive re-edit of all the concerts plus some additional home recording. The guitar plays the all important role here, like in more of Machinefabriek's recent work Soft tinkling, with slowly enveloping pedal work. On top there is a bit of cracks and pops and with sparsely orchestrated field recordings. A thoroughly relaxing piece of music, but one in which there is more sound than in 'Drawn'. Nice release and on the website there is another twenty-five minute piece waiting for you.
(Vital Weekly 714): For 'The Breathing Bridge' he uses sounds taped at the Erasmus Bridge and the river Nieuwe Maas, both in Rotterdam and creates two pieces of music with that, although it wasn't easy to see the distinction between both. As with many of his recent outings, Zuydervelt is all about atmospheric music, but arrives there from different ends. Sometimes with musical instruments and sometimes with field recordings, such as in this case. For the most part the music humms at a low, bass end level, until it bursts out somewhere halfway through the second piece, after which things die out again.
(Vital Weekly 709): Despite a plethora of releases, Rutger Zuydervelt never ceases to surprise. Not always I must admit, as there is a distinct style of his own, but sometimes he does something out of the ordinary. 'Slovensko' is such a thing. In September 2010 he went on holiday to Slovakia, armed with his camera (he is a designer after all) and these days also with a digital recorder. He collected a bunch of field recordings which he, back home, edited into the two parts of 'Slovensko'. No guitars this time here, but pure field recordings, edited, cut, mixed together into two lovely collages of sound. Motor sounds, dogs, voices, fences and metal gates and some more obscured sounds are put together in quite a cinematic manner. Not just a continuing ambient sound but a wonderful play of various sounds. This may very well be the first time that Zuydervelt worked so solely with field recordings. And with some fine result.
(Vital Weekly 756): This work contains excerpts of an audio-visual installation which you can actually still visit, up to December 5th at the Galerie Vayhinger, Radolfzeil, Germany. The work is a collaborative effort of Rutger Zuydervelt and Steve Roden, both responsible for the music an Sabina Burger, who did the visual component for this work. The later shows reflection of trees in water, or rain drops falling in water. The music is a duet between Roden and Zuydervelt and seems to be combining the best of both ends: the acoustic sounds of Roden (chimes, bells, cups) and Zuydervelt's careful electronic manipulation thereof. The music and film go together really well, I'd say. Poetic, silent and light. An excellent three way combination. (FdW)
(Vital Weekly 768): When I opened this up in Itunes it gave the correct title and as 'genre' it read 'soundtrack', which is quite funny. Apollo and soundtrack: how can be not avoid thinking of Brian Eno? Rutger Zuydervelt is not Brian Eno, simply because the theory side of things lack in his work (so far!), but music wise he is probably quite close to the work of the master of ambient. In this case he presents an 'alternate' edit of the soundtrack for Makino Takashi's film 'In Your Star', which I haven't seen, but its based on the Nasa flight control samples at the beginning and some highly atmospheric music, but with a slight edge to it. There are at times some piercing sounds, a glitch like rhythm here and there and it is strong atmospheric music of great stellar quality. Spacious, to stick with the theme of space travel, like the processed sound of a rocket flying over low. A particular strong work with a slight change of sound, which proofs that Zuydervelt is on the move again.
Great package too.
For all of you who missed out on these limited releases or who think CDRs suck (or vinyl for that matter) now in glorious 'ever-lasting' CD format. An excellent choice of pieces that really fit together very well." [FdW/Vital Weekly]
|
2011 |
€12.00 |
|
| MACHINIST |
Of what once was |
CD |
"Machinist is the musical project of Dutch artist Zeno van den Broek. On Of What Once Was, his first real cd after several CD-R releases, shows two sides of the man. With a background in architecture he creates music with a clear focus on the urban environment and the immersive experience of space. In Mono tone in d he creates a minimal piece of guitar drones inspired by the work of Yves Klein and in the piece Of what once was we hear an improvised piece of guitar combined with field recordings. A dense emotional piece which is a closing of a chapter in his career, and an opening to a new one." [label info]
www.movingfurniturerecords.com
"From The Netherlands hails Machinist, and when
reviewing his previous CD 'Viens Avec Moi Dans Le Vide', I closed the review with "Its about time he moved to doing real CDs, I'd say", which may or may not have been heard by Moving Furniture Records. Zeno van den Broek from Rotterdam is Machinist and this new album has two pieces of music, of which the first one is inspired by 'Monotone Symphony' by Yves Klein, a painter who painted monochrome one-color paintings, but who also scored some music. In 'Monotone Symphony' "a chamber orchestra plays only one note for twenty minutes, followed by an equal measure of silence". Machinist, being one man, uses a guitar, tuned in D and the variation is in the length of tones and different shapes of resonance. I thought this was a wonderful, open piece of music. A piece that reminded me very much of Machinefabriek (nowadays also from Rotterdam), with looping guitar tones, in various stages. From high end peeps to low end bouncing rhythms, this piece has a great quality, even when it perhaps sounds a bit Machienfabriek like. The other piece is 'Of What Once Was', an improvised piece which he played in various concerts in which he presented the more fixed piece 'Viens Avec Moi Dans Le Vide'. This is a more louder piece of music, also build around the guitar, but with more distortion and small howls of feedback. Apparently there is also field recordings in this piece, as well as computer generated tones, but they were harder to detect. In this piece, the influence of Machinefabriek is less apparent. Maybe 'Of What Once Was' is a bit long and it could have been edited a bit down, although, in his defense, I could say the longitude is also a necessary ingredient of this kind of music (and what cause some people to hate 'drone' music). Although, perhaps an extended bonus to the first piece." [FdW/Vital Weekly]
|
2011 |
€12.00 |
|
| MAGGI, PHIL |
Blue Fields in Paramount |
CD |
Nach der schönen IDIOSCAPES-Compilation die zweite Veröffentlichung für das belgische Label aus Gent. PHIL MAGGI ist Mitglied diverser Bands (z.B. ULTRAPHALLUS) und legt nach zwei CDRs seine erste "fabrikgepresste" CD vor. Seine subtilen wie ätherischen Drones werden mit field recordings aus Zagreb angereichert (Akkordeon-Folk eines Strassenmusikers, Sounds in einer Kirche), immer wieder sind im weiteren Verlauf effektierte Echo-Gitarren oder Rückwarts-Harmonien eingesetzt, die dem ganzen einen verträumt-sehnsüchtigen Anstrich geben... sehr schön, to discover !
"Blue Fields in Paramount is a very personal and fascinating opus, a beautiful introduction to the style of this talented artist, that could be qualified as 'dark psychedelia for daydream believers'. It has been mastered by James Plotkin (Khlyst, Khanate, Old, Phantom) and is out now as a limited to 300 copies ekopack release with a fantastic artwork by czech artist Jan Karpisek." [label info]
"The album contains a 39 minutes track that is formed by totally different mini suites made with loops, fields recordings (he did his sessions in a church and in the streets of Zagreb) and sampled contemporary classical music. The track starts with a dark ambient drone mood with tones inserts and follows with Zagreb sounds mixed with backward classical music. Suddenly anxious atmospheres take a hold thanks to synth sounds coupled with an orchestration of sampled/treated breaths. The tracks changes skins different times and each one is renewing like a phoenix born from its ashes and Phil succeeds into keeping the listener's attention high thanks to interesting sounds, light melodies and tension. I liked it..."" [Maurizio Pustianaz, CHAIN D.L.K.]
www.idiosyncratics.net
|
2009 |
€12.00 |
|
| MAGNETICA ARS LAB / MAURIZIO BIANCHI |
LoopKlängeNoise |
CD |
"MAGNETICA ARS LAB is the musical project founded in Cagliari (Italy) by Arnaldo Pontis, computer specialist and electronic musician, active for a long time in the electronic experimentation and sound. He was a member of TH26, Machina Amniotica and many other musical projects.
"LoopKlänge Noise" is the magnificent result of his collaboration with the father, founder and precursor of industrial sound in Italy: MAURIZIO BIANCHI / M.B.
Subtitled "Verses Without Words" and inspired by the work of Vasilij Kandinskij and by his theories about necessary contamination between visual art and music, "LoopKlängeNoise" quotes two of the most important books from the author's abstract expressionist years: "Klänge" (München, 1912) and "Verses Without Words" (Moscow, 1903).
Following the original structure of the book "Verses Without Words" the artists recorded 13 double-titled tracks, in which the "second title" is an hommage to Kandinskij's 13 pictorial works originally included in this book.
Magnetica Ars Lab and Maurizio Bianchi invited some of the best projects from Sardinia's and few important artists from Italian electronic, experimental and industria music scenes. "LoopKlänge Noise" is the result of a great collaboration release featuring exclusive guest artists / musicians on each track: Fausto Rossi / FAUST'O, SIMON BALESTRAZZI (T.A.C.), CORRADO ALTIERI (Uncodified, Monosonik, Th26), RAIMONDO GAVIANO (Svart1), MAUTHAUSEN ORCHESTRA, NICOLA BOARI (SLP), NICOLA LOCCI (Exagonal), MASSIMO OLLA (Noisedelik), ALEX NASI (Colonel XS), ROBERTO BELLI (Brigata Stirner), Kaiser Schnitt Amboss Laszlo and more.
The CD is available in a limited edition of 300 copies in slim DVD box, + a 16-page booklet with info and great photos by FABRIZIO TEDDE. All (unpublished) photos were taken by Fabrizio from industrial mining areas of the Sulcis region in Sardinia.
The booklet includes also few excerpts from writings and quotes by John Cage, Klaus Schulze, Wu Ming, William S. Burroughs, Jean Baudrillard, Luigi Russolo and more.
"We fought for painting, but painting alone will not suffice. I had the idea of a synthetic book that removed half of the old, narrow conceptions, breaking down the walls between the arts.... and finally prove that the problem of art is not a problem of form but a problem of spiritual content." Kandinskij" [label info]
www.finalmuzik.com
|
2013 |
€12.00 |
|
| MAIDA, CLARA |
In Corpore Vili |
CD |
1. Composer:
Clara Maida
2. Title:
in corpore vili
3. Performers (Studios):
Ensemble Resonanz,
Kammerensemble Neue Musik Berlin,
Ensemble Orchestral Contemporain,
Arditti String Quartet,
Heather O’Donnel
(Elektronisches Studio der Technischen Universität Berlin;
Studio für Elektroakustische Musik der Akademie der Künste, Berlin)
4. Format:
Audio CD, Digisleeve, Booklet German/English
5. Total time:
67:28
6. Catalogue #:
ed. RZ 10017
7. EAN Code:
4029455100178
8. Release date:
30. January 2010
9. Tracklist:
(1)
1. Mutatis mutandis (2008)
2. Psyché-Cité/Transversales (2005/06)
(2)
1- Fluctuatio (in)animi (2006)
(3) 2- Ipso facto (2006)
(4) 3- Via rupta (2005)
(5) 3. ...who holds the strings... (2003)
(6) 4. Doppelklänger (2008)
Eine ko-produktion zwischen Berliner Künstler Programm des DAAD, edition-rz und Deutschlandradio Kultur
"In den ersten Jahren zielten meine kompositorischen Forschungen darauf, die unbewussten, psychischen Energieflüsse, die zum Werk führen, samt ihrer Strukturen nachzuzeichnen. Parallel zu einem analytischen Ansatz, der den Zugang zu diesen unbewussten Aktivitäten begünstigt, studierte ich psychoanalytische Literatur, um mir ein musikalisches Denken zu erarbeiten, das einer psychischen Komplexität gerecht würde, die sich nur in gewissen Handlungen und unwillentlichen Äußerungen oder in Phantasien und Träumen äußert. Aus diesen Studien entstand ein strukturelles und formales Potential für eine Musik, die noch zu schreiben war, da allein die Plastizität der Klangwelt in der Lage schien, die Beweglichkeit und Instabilität heraufzubeschwören, welche die Gestaltung der Elemente des Unbewussten unablässig verändern.
During the first years of my compositional research, my goal was to mark out, in my music, the flux of the psychic energy at work in the unconscious and its underlying structure. At the time, I was going through an analytical process favouring access to this unconscious activity, and my readings in the field of psychoanalysis were helping me in the effort to elaborate a musical thinking likely to account for this psychic complexity, which only appears through unintentional acts and words, or in fantasies and dreams. A whole structural and formal model for a potential music was emerging then, since only the plasticity of the world of sound seemed to be able to suggest this mobility and instability, which endlessly alter the configurations of the components of the unconscious." [credits / label info]
www.edition-rz.de
www.edition-rz.de
|
2010 |
€15.50 |
|
| MALANGA, GERARD |
Up from the Archives |
CD |
"GERARD MALANGA: HIS LEGACY
New York poet, photograph, performer with the Velvet Underground, Gerard Malanga, was Andy Warhol's close friend and his first assistant in the golden age of the 60' Factory (paintings: Red Jackie, Brillo Box, Mao, Flowers... all the films - including Sleep, Empire, Chelsea Girls... - the Velvet Underground era...).
What we present here is really his unique legacy.
FROM WARHOL TO BURROUGHS...
First hand documents from the personal archives of Malanga - it contains rare documents with voices of Andy Warhol, Allen Ginsberg, the American poet Gregory Corso, Jack Kérouac, Willard Maas ...
Some come from unknown documents recorded by Malanga himself during the shooting of Warhol 's films...
Other great document: Gerard Malanga, poetry reading at Leo Castelli Gallery, l964... for the first exhibition of Warhol's famous "Flowers"
All begin with a conversation between William Burroughs and Malanga, about "dreams"...
UNPUBLISHED MUSIC FOR GERARD
This record also contains unpublished music by Angus MacLise (... Velvet Underground before Velvet Underground and La Monte Young Orchestra with John Cale and Tony Conrad) and new pieces by Iggy Pop and Thurston Moore (Sonic Youth). It ends with Gerard and dj Olive, live at the 'Cooler' of New York, last year...
the loop is looped." [label info]
www.subrosa.net
|
2000 |
€13.00 |
|
| MALONE, KALI |
Living Torch |
CD |
"Following her critically acclaimed album The Sacrificial Code, Swedish-American composer Kali Malone returns with Living Torch on Portraits GRM.
Living Torch, through its unique structural form and harmonic material, is a bold continuation of Kali Malone’s demanding and exciting body of work, while opening new perspectives and increasing the emotional potential of the music tenfold. As such, Living Torch is a major new piece by the composer and adds a significant milestone to an already fascinating repertoire.
Departing from the pipe organ that Malone’s music is most notable for, Living Torch features a complex electroacoustic ensemble. Leafing through recordings from conventional instruments like the trombone and bass clarinet to more experimental machines like the boîte à bourdon, passing through sinewave generators and Éliane Radigue’s ARP 2500 synthesizer. Living Torch weaves its own history, its own genealogy, and that of its author. It extends her robust structural approach to a liberated palette of timbre.
Living Torch was initially commissioned by GRM for its legendary loudspeaker orchestra, the Acousmonium, and premiered in its complete multichannel form at the Grand Auditorium of Radio France in a concert entirely dedicated to the artist.
Composed at GRM studios in Paris between 2020-2021, Living Torch is a work of great intensity, an œuvre-monde that is singularly placed at the crossroads of instrumental writing and electroacoustic composition. Living Torch proceeds from multiple lineages, including early modern music, American minimalism, and musique concrète. It’s a work as much turned towards exploring justly tuned harmony and canonic structures as towards the polyphony of unique timbres, the scaling of dynamic range, and the revelation of sound qualities.
GRM (Groupe de Recherches Musicales), the pioneering institution of electroacoustic, acousmatic, and musique concrète, has been a unique laboratory for sonorous research since 1958. Witnessing the extreme vitality of the music championed by GRM, the Portraits GRM record series extends and expands this momentum with Kali Malone’s Living Torch.
Biography:
The compositions of Kali Malone implement specific tuning systems in minimalist form for pipe organ, choir, chamber music ensembles, and electroacoustic formats. Malone’s music is rich with harmonic texture through synthetic and acoustic instrumentation in repetitive motions and extended durations. The music emits distinct emotive, dynamic, and affective hues which bring forth a stunning depth of focus.
Kali Malone has performed extensively in Europe and North America at Musica Festival, Berlin Atonal, Moogfest, Kanal Pompidou, Elbphilharmonie, Paris Philharmonie, and Radio France.
Her commission projects and residencies include the INA GRM, The Richard Thomas Foundation, MACBA, Macadam Ensemble, Orgelpark, Elektronmusikstudion and Tempo Reale. She collaborates and performs with various artists, including Stephen O’Malley, Lucy Railton, Frederikke Hoffmeier, Leila Bordreuil, Drew McDowall, Caterina Barbieri, and Ellen Arkbro. In 2016 she co-founded the record label and concert series XKatedral, together with Maria W Horn, in Stockholm."
https://kalimalone.bandcamp.com/album/living-torch
|
2022 |
€15.00 |
|
| MANGROVE KIPLING |
In between stability |
mCD-R |
New project on this new label from Berlin’s SCISS, creating repetitive small drone-explosions, scrapes & hisses & whispering voices, all well executed and with special cardboard box. Tip !
“this piece comprehends several variations on editing the environment, heard through a classic instrument, the guitar, which occupies 95% of the sound field. The computer allows the mixing process of the different samples, the latter creating the breathing of the machine. The instrument gives voice to the machine. The spatialization of the different sources in the audio field can be then organized as an orchestra in which each instrument would be an edited part of a guitar sound, played simultaneously as if by severals musicians following a pattern. Each sound has its own identity and only varies when added to another, or more, which creates the dynamic of the piece. It is the freezing of fragments revoicing a moment, in another language.” [press release]
|
2004 |
€7.00 |
|
| MANIFESTO |
Exit |
CD |
"Being a part of the alternative scene since more than 15 years past, Magnus Zetterberg's Manifesto has created a trademark of bleak and dark electronica, industrial textures and blackened ambient that satisfies a diverse taste of listening with it's manifold expression. Catching up with this act in 2008, in connection with the release of the album Core, the label found it only natural to get in touch again. Since then, Manifesto has released material on such labels as Silken Tofu and Bone Structure (to mention a few) and played live across northern Europe.
Exit is the finalization of four years of transformative work where turbulence, creation and re-creation sets the thematics. The entering track unfolds existence as elusive and impermanent and onwards the harsh sides of reality push us towards entropy." [label info]
ralignment.tictail.com
"Manifesto is the solo project of Swede Magnus Zetterberg who has been issuing material under this name since 2000. Having previously released a series of albums, splits, live recordings and ep’s, ‘Exit’ is his latest 19th release and follows 2012’s ‘Rust’ album on Silken Tofu. Sonically Manifesto deal with soundtrack styled ambient music of a darker hue (aka ‘dark ambient’ for a more straight forward genre descriptor), which also fits within the recognizable traits of such music coming from northern European spheres.
Musically speaking dank sub-orchestral drones provide the sonic bedrock, which is then augmented with a meticulous level of textual sonic detailing. The sound palate is also embedded with a high degree of mechanized tonality and jagged industrial based distortion in a few fleeting moments. Evidently Magnus has had formally trained in sound engineering and music production, with the results of this being absolutely demonstrated within the refined dark ambient approach on display. 5 tracks are featured, with each ranging from 5 to 13 minutes and which play out as variations on established dark ambient genre traits, where some pieces are dour and brooding, whilst others featuring driving and rhythmically pounding undercurrents. Yet collectively the greatest impression of ‘Exit’ is a strong ‘cinematic’ atmosphere and specifically that of a dystopian science fiction type motion picture.
Although not necessary turning the tables of what can be expected from dark ambient music in 2016, this is still a complex, diverse and enjoyable listen, to very much constitute a soundtrack to a non-existent film. Mini gate-fold cardboard sleeve rounds out the packaging." [Noise Receptor]
|
2016 |
€12.00 |
|
| MARSEN JULES |
Golden |
CD |
"Den Sommer begrüßt das Genesungswerk friedlich mit diesem Album von Marsen Jules. Auf GOLDEN treffen sich Gitarre, Piano und Elektronik zu einer harmonischen ménage à trois. Gelegentlich unterstützt von Ziehharmonika, Flöte und Geige finden sie sich nach einer Winterwanderung vor dem Kamin ein. Leise knisternd entzündet sich ein Feuer und vertreibt die Kälte aus unseren Gehörgängen. Akustikgitarre und Piano zeichnen die melodischen Linien, während sich die Elektronik einfühlend der Klangfarbe des Interieurs annimmt. GOLDEN ist wahrlich ein treffender Titel , funkeln und glimmen doch bei allen sieben Stücken die Klänge, ohne ihre Hörer je zu blenden. Sehr intim, sehr nah, zugleich klar und transparent taucht die Schönheit der Instrumente den Sommer in ein neues Licht." [label info]
Electronica-Ambience reminding at times of newer ULTRA MILKMAIDS or a more poppy WILLIAM BASINSKI...
"Close followers of these pages will already be intimately familiar with the work of Marsen Jules, responsible as he is for two of the loveliest albums we've had the pleasure of stocking these last few years. His debut album "Herbstlaub" strolled into an autumnal tundra of layered strings and neo-classical arrangements that best brought to mind the work of Arvo Part, attaining both critical and commercial acclaim from all quarters of the music scene. His dense follow-up "Les Fleurs" approached similar terrain but with a more colourful sound-pallette, creating an aural bloom of dense orchestral reductions that kept the minimal composure intact despite the rays of aural sunlight allowed to seep into Jules' unique, inspiring studio. This long awaited new album "Golden" takes little time in declaring its place as a worthy successor to both its predecessors - it's a breathtaking collection of pieces that begin from the same neo-classical starting point and unfurl in different directions, taking in acoustic guitar, barely audible electronic pulses, dense orchestral reductions and heavy filtering along the way. You'd find it difficult to get past the album's incredible opening track "Birkengefluster" without finding yourself incredibly moved by what's in front of you - another shimmering weave of elongated midnight strings and subliminal melodies consorting to force you to abandon all resistance in the face of its relentless beauty. By the time second track "Wharend" wheezes into life with its prepared piano passages and other-worldly washes of sound, you'll be unable to acknowledge anything else in your surroundings bar the music. Marsen Jules is just one of those rare artists who manages to achieve so much with such limited material at his disposal - it's both the simplicity and timeless quality of the 7 long tracks here that make "Golden" not only one of the most beautiful albums you'll hear this summer, but also one that you'll find hard to let go of come autumn. Sublime music - essential listening.'' [Boomkat]
www.genesungswerk.de
|
2007 |
€10.00 |
|
| MARSPITER |
Vigila |
CD-R |
Wagner auf Valium in einem “desolated landscape”! Slowmotion Orchester-Arrangements treffen auf Wüsten-Drones, das ganze hat einen sehr martialischen, düsteren Anstrich....
“Mars is an ancient Deity with many faces and many names. Resurrected here in a twilight gloom hovering over a mythical battlefield. The idol cracks and the voice of Ares reverberates through a mountain-valley. Operatic ritual warfare.” [label info]
“Promising debut release from an up-and-coming U.S. artist working in the field of dark ambient incorporating orchestral elements. Deep and massive soundscapes of twisted echoes, subterranean drones, barely audible voices and wind sounds combine with subtle orchestrations adding to the dramatic nature of the sounds. Pro-duplicated disc and beautiful full colour sleeve in standard jewel case.” [KAOS KONTROL]
|
2004 |
€10.00 |
|
| MARUTTI, ANDREA |
Sleepless Nights / Lysergic Mornings |
mCD-R |
we welcome back the italian artist ANDREA MARUTTI (also known under the Amon or Never Known aliases, head of the sadly defunct Afe Records label too). andrea was the very first artist to have a 3" on taâlem, and that was exactly 18 years ago!
andrea proposes here a rather psychedelic yet dark and ambient journey in 2 parts...
notes by andrea marutti:
“Sleepless Nights | Lysergic Mornings” is particularly important both for taâlem and me, because it comes exactly 18 years after my “Traces 94-95“, which on December 3, 2001, inaugurated the now incredibly long series of the label’s publications, and also because it represents my first proper release since I re-built my studio and started working on new music during the recent years.
“A Cypher For Glitchbusters” and “Peter’s Psychedelic Breakfast”, the two tracks featured on the EP in a seamless sequence, were created on purpose of a release on taâlem and were especially designed to fit the 3″ MiniCDr format.
In January 2019, as a sort of ‘personal experiment’ on myself, I worked on this music exclusively by night. For about one week I decided to sleep no more than a few hours each day during the late afternoon, and stayed awake all night to work with my synthesizers, sampler, effects and so on.
The resulting lack of rest put me in a particular state of mind, where I was less focused on the search of an ‘audiophile’ quality to the music, suggesting me to experiment with, and concentrate on, what would be usually considered ‘errors’. I intentionally included some glitches, tape hiss and various defects, and also used field recordings and other sounds which I originally recorded on cheap cassettes during the early ’90s, when I had an habit to slow down sounds with two tape decks and I usually re-recorded the same cassettes hundreds of times.
Both titles are inspired by this ‘experience’, and the tracks have a sort of ‘psychedelic quality’, or at least that is the impression they still give me months after their creation.
“A Cypher For Glitchbusters” is an attempt to describe with just a few words the practice I mentioned a few lines above, while “Peter’s Psychedelic Breakfast” is both an hommage to a quite more famous sonic breakfast – which I guess needs no further explanation – and a personal dedication to my closest friend who has been supporting and helping me ever since my memory can remember.
https://taalem.bandcamp.com/album/sleepless-nights-lysergic-mornings-alm-131
"The first disc is by the Italian artist Andrea Marutti, who used to run a label called Afe
Records and also records as Amon, Spiral, Never Known and Lips Vago. His latest 3” for Taâlem
is, as the title implies, a hallucinogenic drone that throws in some weird wrenches as it gets closer to the end. Marutti works in the post-Lustmord “dark ambient” mode here, starting out with ominous blankets with low throb and slow-motion watery threat. After several minutes, the curtains lift and with cleansing light comes children talking and roughly-recorded scrape that seems like it jumped in from a different record. It’s a neat tonal shift, one that continues into Marutti’s second track,
“Peter’s Psychedelic Breakfast”. That title is, of course, a nod towards Pink Floyd, though its
unclear who Peter is or what the Floyd connection is. This track is another drone, though lighter in mood than the opener. The strangest part os the very end, in which the sound fades and dissipates, leaving a coda of digital glitches as if someone accidentally bumped the microphone or a cord went bad… and then abruptly hits an “off” switch. Weird." [HS/VITAL WEEKLY]
"Abnormal mind expanding landscapes
Andrea Marutti is one pioneering sound art and ambient drone music producer with a large catalogue of recordings published on his own indie label (AFE — Another Friendly Edition) and well noted niche publishers such as Eibon and Nextera.
Part of his new efforts are welcomed by the Belgium based label Taâlem (whose production is mostly devoted to experimental and underground electronic music with a fancy for droney artefacts). Among those last offerings sleepless nights | lysergic mornings plays with convincing technical abilities and inspirational inclinations on the wave of radical minimalism and eerily moving vaporous soundscapes—with Vance Orchestra and Quest. As stated in the press release the psych-out and extra-sensorial dimension is put to the front in those dense, ominous clouds of sounds and sustained electronic chords. The ensemble has a beautiful and striking vintage organic feel which give a heart ahead of the electronic curves. Repetition of phrases, looped textures are subtly punctuated by abstract micro-noises and musique concrète sounds. Somewhere between Deathprod, early Cluster I & II, Folk Rabe, and early Vidna Obmana." [Igloo Mag] |
2019 |
€5.50 |
|
| MASTER MUSICIANS OF BUKKAKE |
Totem Two |
LP |
"Echoing like a long lost Werner Herzog soundtrack Totem 2 is a record of subtle Meditations and Deep electric Hallucinations from the Crystal Caves of the Northwest to the orchestral desert portals of Turkey. Totem 2 finds MASTER MUSICIANS OF BUKKAKE exploring the disappearance of the Mystic and the schisms of our age. In times when forces move against our souls these are the first sounds of music that can only be described as NO-AGE , a resistance is making itself known. Featuring members of EARTH, ASVA, BURING WITCH, THE DIMINISHED MEN, and more and special guests from SECRET CHIEFS 3 and the thriving Istanbul music scene. MMOB has now solidified into a 7-piece cosmic psych force. Like a reverse dark side of the New Age sound, on the Totem series Master Musicians of Bukkake perform ritualistic electric excursions into the outer and inner reaches. Relying more on the electric power of psyched guitars, analog synth chants, and exotic heavy percussion. This Totem Trilogy echoes with the delusions of a west coast death cult. Outer spaced gamelan, dusty fuzz rock from celestial deserts, meditations of a deranged Krishna gathering, and the Blurry acoustic guitar majesty of The Cascade mountains all reveal themselves here in epic form." [label info]
www.importantrecords.com
|
2010 |
€19.50 |
|
|
Totem Two |
CD |
"Echoing like a long lost Werner Herzog soundtrack Totem 2 is a record of subtle Meditations and Deep electric Hallucinations from the Crystal Caves of the Northwest to the orchestral desert portals of Turkey. Totem 2 finds MASTER MUSICIANS OF BUKKAKE exploring the disappearance of the Mystic and the schisms of our age. In times when forces move against our souls these are the first sounds of music that can only be described as NO-AGE , a resistance is making itself known. Featuring members of EARTH, ASVA, BURING WITCH, THE DIMINISHED MEN, and more and special guests from SECRET CHIEFS 3 and the thriving Istanbul music scene. MMOB has now solidified into a 7-piece cosmic psych force. Like a reverse dark side of the New Age sound, on the Totem series Master Musicians of Bukkake perform ritualistic electric excursions into the outer and inner reaches. Relying more on the electric power of psyched guitars, analog synth chants, and exotic heavy percussion. This Totem Trilogy echoes with the delusions of a west coast death cult. Outer spaced gamelan, dusty fuzz rock from celestial deserts, meditations of a deranged Krishna gathering, and the Blurry acoustic guitar majesty of The Cascade mountains all reveal themselves here in epic form."
www.importantrecords.com
|
2010 |
€14.50 |
|
| |
Far West |
CD |
"On Far West, the MASTER MUSICIANS OF BUKKAKE mark a turn from their Totem Trilogy. If the Totems were an expression of yang energy, then the Far West cycle is the yin that took seed within the trilogy. What happens when you travel so far east looking for enlightenment that you pass your destination and are headed west again? The mania of being lost in the mountains of the Cascade Corridor, searching aimlessly for the Northern Pacific coast. A spiritual Donner party of sorts, feeding off fantasy and mirages and imaginary shamans. Far West is the soundtrack to this expedition to the caves of light we all travel into with hopes of acquiring redemption, only to realize our bodies have dissolved—gone like rain from the sky, snow from the ground, thoughts from the mind. The sound of Far West is a progressive folk record inspired by Paul Giovanni's Wicker Man soundtrack, early Canterbury prog folk, the suspenseful soundtracks of Goblin and Ennio Morricone, Gerry Goldsmith's interwoven dark orchestrations, and Pacific Northwest folk rock. The Master Musicians of Bukkake take an earthly and shamanistic approach to these influences and infuse it with Krautrock pulses interweaved with acoustic guitars, intricately layered rhythms, hazed-out modular analog synths, brassy stabs, and cultish choirs. A true psychedelic, audiophile experience to dissolve your body in. Far West also features backing vocals by Sub Pop! recording artists ROSE WINDOWS, a deluxe cover illustration by Simon Fowler, and the amazing photography of ALISON SCARPULIA." [label info]
www.importantrecords.com |
2013 |
€13.50 |
|
| MC LEAN, STEVE |
Bridges |
do-CD |
"These recordings collect together works spanning two decades of composition and experimentation that balance traditional musical resources (the band, compositional skills, instrumental techniques, acoustic and amplified instruments) and the new technologies (computers, software, processing). The first CD showcases polyrhythmic, careful compositions (like those on his last ReR CD, Opposite of War), which still no-one has tried to emulate. The second is more meditative, abstract and electronic, moving from Koto through electric and acoustic guitars - with and without radical effects processing - to piano and virtual orchestra, putting various softwares through their paces." [label notes]
label-website: www.rermegacorp.com
|
2007 |
€19.00 |
|
| MCDOWALL, DREW |
A THREAD, SILVERED AND TREMBLING |
LP |
Scottish experimental/electronic musician Drew McDowall's lifelong interest in an elegiac solo bagpipe style called pibroch (ceòl mòr in Gaelic) has been an inspiration for much of his previous work (including Coil's legendary Time Machines). This form, often traditionally used for laments and for tributes to the dead, fuses modal drones with flickering dissonance and plaintive melody evoking an ancient, solemn mood. His latest work, A Thread, Silvered and Trembling, both incorporates and transforms these elements via exploratory electronic processing, weaving an electro-acoustic tapestry of strings, shudders, voids, and voices, alternately disembodied and displaced. Co-produced with engineer Randall Dunn at Circular Ruin Studios in Brooklyn, the collection's four pieces capture McDowall at his most elevated and elusive, in thrall to "the ineffable - that which refuses to be spoken." McDowall's palette here is unusually eclectic, sourced from a dynamic orchestral ensemble arranged by Brent Arnold and comprised of cello, viola, violin, harp (Marilu Donovan of LEYA), and french horn. Ebbing between shrouded electronics and enigmatic, sometimes spectralist orchestration, the album moves with a seething, simmering energy, surging into elegant, uneasy crescendos. The first two pieces are inspired by a liberatory hijacking and inversion of a grim biblical story (and by a cryptic and strange UK simple syrup branding). Opener "Out of Strength Comes Sweetness" shivers with short echo and resonant pads, before shifting into the album's centerpiece: the 14-minute saga "And Lions Will Sing with Joy." A murmuring electrical storm of keening strings and disorienting drones gradually grows darker and denser, until suddenly there's a crack in the clouds, revealing mutated choral voices and sparkling harp. McDowall describes the track as "an incantation to help usher in a break, and a new beginning." The record's latter half evokes a deep untamed animism shot through with spiraling radiance. "In Wound and Water" sways with harp, plucked strings and eerie cello undertows while lush layers of disorientated electronics hang in the dusk. There is no resolution, only a faint gradient of fragile dissipation, leading into the album's harrowing and climactic closer, "A Dream of a Cartographic Membrane Dissolves." Processed voices (credited on the liner notes to "The Ghosts Who Refuse to Rest") contort, whisper, and gather as the rest of the ensemble sharpens, poising to strike. Then it does - grand, tragic stabs of strings and horns lashing the sky, storming heaven by force. The fallout is poetic and inevitable, raining embers into a dark sea. But the journey and catharsis of A Thread linger long after it goes silent. Like so much of McDowall's multifaceted catalog, this is music of immanence and alchemy, attuned equally to the sacred and the profane, to the tile and the mosaic. |
2024 |
€25.00 |
|
| MENCHE, DANIEL / WILLIAM FOWLER COLLINS |
Raised Coils of the Giant Serpent of Eternity / I Heard only the Eternal Storm |
LP |
" “I traversed the worlds, I ascended into the suns, and soared with the Milky Ways through the wastes of heaven; but there is no God. I descended to the last reaches of the shadows of Being, and I looked into the chasm and cried: ‘Father, where art thou?’ But I heard only the eternal storm ruled by none, and the shimmering rainbow of essence stood without sun to create it, trickling above the abyss.” So declares Christ in the opening section of Jean Paul’s 1796 text “Speech of the Dead Christ”. The text served as inspiration for the music presented on this split album by Daniel Menche and William Fowler Collins, and in the instance of the above quote, also functions as an apt description for it - immense, harrowing, and numinous. Like the procession of images conjured in Jean Paul’s twisting passages, the sounds made by Collins and Menche unfurl in a trail of drifting shadow punctuated by convulsive spasms of light.
Opening the album with a harmonious set of gently spiraling tones, Daniel Menche’s piece “Raised Coils of the Giant Serpent of Eternity” offers only this brief moment of serenity before a headlong dive into a cacophonous abyss of darker dimensions. Suspended in pools of liquid bass, layers of molten brass hover, dissolve and reappear. Pitches rise and fall, intersecting for brief periods of melodic convergence before crumbling again into heaving slabs of rumbling dissonance. Closing out the piece a low and solemn tone emerges from the roar of Menche’s spectral orchestra, seeming less like resolve, than the final flickering breath of a dying star.
Conversely, William Fowler Collins’ offering on the second side remains in a state of subdued tension for much of its duration. Primarily constructed around the emanations of decayed strings, these glimmering filaments seem in perpetual retreat from comfortable stasis or momentous upheaval. Swaying over a backdrop of inky black, disharmonious clusters gradually pile one over the other, pulling apart and recombining, eventually forming a jagged and unsettling crest. From here bilious clouds of humming static overtake the disintegrating strings, appearing long enough to set the stage for the conclusion of the narrative. Much like the opening Menche’s piece on the reverse side, Collins’ gently cascading sheaves of brushed guitar that close out the album serve as a small enclave of comfort in the otherwise lightless caverns through which he and Menche have driven the listener." [label info]
sigerecords.blogspot.de
|
2014 |
€21.50 |
|
| MICO NONET |
The Marmalade Balloon |
CD |
Das fünfköpfige Ensemble um JOSHUA LEE KRAMER verbindet Kammer-Musik-artigen Wohlklang (Viola, Cello, Horn, Oboe) mit vorsichtig eingesetzten elektronischen Sounds - rein instrumental, Filmmusik-mäßig, athmosphärisch, luftig, melancholisch, aber nicht düster oder aufdringlich. Auf den 13 Stücken bewegen sich vor allen Dingen Streicher im Vordergrund, es sind nicht die "grossen" Melodien die hier im Zentrum stehen, sondern eher die allgemeine Stimmung die erzeugt wird, zeitlos und irgendwie "zwischen den Welten"....
Anklänge an JOHANN JOHANNSSON, RACHELS, OPION SOMNIUM.
"The five musicians at work here all have day jobs with symphony orchestra's, all over the world: from Berlin, Richmond, Baltimore to Philadelphia. Only their leader, one Joshua Lee Kramer (who is a member of Matt Pond PA) is not, and he's also the only one who plays synthesizer. He describes Mico Nonet as 'ambient chamber music' and quite right it seems to me. French horn, oboe, cello and viola are the other instruments and they play quiet chamber music that you could easily define as ambient. 'The Marmalade Balloon' is their debut album with thirteen relatively short pieces that glide by like a cold winter, sun-covered day. It's cold outside, warm inside, and this music is the perfect soundtrack for such a day. Sustained tones, glissando and pianissimo
with the synthesizer very much pushed to the background, producing an overall color, rather than adding sound. Highly atmospheric music that could come straight out of the Cold Blue Music catalogue. Peaceful music, without being a cliche or new age...[FdW, Vital Weekly]
"The Marmalade Balloon is the year's ultimate flirtation with subtlety and seductiveness. Existing somewhere between the neo-classical and the ambient, Mico Nonet fashion a world that is hazy and succinct, at times dark and haunting and others playful and inspiring, but always open to personal interpretation. The balance between musicians is gracefully maintained, where neither the electronics nor the strings are ever overly pronounced as to withdraw the listener from the intoxicating, spellbinding trance which The Marmalade Balloon invokes. The future will certainly take this musical act on a variety of different presentations, but with their strong understanding of musical space and development, we're confident that they'll be a favorite for years to come. " [Jordan Volz, The Silent Ballet]
www.micononet.com
|
2007 |
€12.00 |
|
| MILLIMETRIK |
Northwest Passage's New Era |
CD |
"Millimetrik is Québec City resident Pascal Asselin. Pascal’s music unites his love of hip-hop, electronica and ambient music, but takes these influences to somewhere entirely his own. Over the course of four albums, Millimetrik’s music has evolved, becoming less concerned with ambient textures and atmospheres, and more richly layered, warm and melodic. 2008’s “Northwest Passage’s New Era”, his first full-length release for Make Mine Music featured contributions from Ulrich Schnauss and Port-Royal. Pascal also records as half of Le Chat Blanc Orchestra." [label notes]
www.makeminemusic.co.uk
|
2008 |
€8.00 |
|
| MILLIS, ROBERT |
Relief |
LP |
"Our man Millis is a Climax Golden Twin and a noted curator of globe trotting / time traveling esoterica, amongst other accolades. In the former category, Millis and Jeffery Taylor steadily release some of the most headscratching amalgamations of avant-rock, decontextualized temple music, heightened-state minimalism, and collaged field recordings this side of the Sun City Girls (including the soundtrack to the cult film Session Nine); and in the latter, Millis has published a number of acclaimed anthologies for Sublime Frequencies (Scattered Melodies, This World is Unreal Like a Snake in a Rope, Phi Ta Khon, The Crying Princess, etc.) and Dust-To-Digital (our personal favorite, aptly titled Victrola Favorites). With his fingers in so many jars of jam, it can seem like an uncommon occurrence for Millis to release solo work although he is one to smear his sticky hands all over himself in performance, installation, and collaboration. Thus, The Helen Scarsdale Agency is delighted in presenting his latest opus, Relief.
A fever dream of blurred harmonics and ethnomusicological spelunking, Relief repeatedly returns to variations on a peculiar yet beautifully serpentine drone, whose twinkling acoustic properties meld the hallucinatory mouth-music of the Bangladeshi Murung people and the curved air hypnosis of Terry Riley. Millis bookends and interrupts his mysterious miasma with comedic interludes snatched from his lauded collection of antique 78s, maudlin piano tone-clusters, and teleported crescendos of spectral ballroom waltzes. More Nurse With Wound than The Caretaker, this polyglot raga-drone of daytime somnambulism and psychedelic slipperiness speaks to the uneasy borders at psychological, cultural, and geophysical states of being. Oh, to be a human on this planet." [label info]
www.helenscarsdale.com
"Polyglot might be just the right word to describe what Robert Millis and his Climax Golden Twins have been up to for the past two decades or so. An album might be a ramshackle collage of blisterfuck noise-rock, another might be a graceful set of murder ballads, and yet another might hypnotize the listener through an alpha-state minimalism. And then, there's Millis' acclaimed collections of olde-timey '78s and raw field recordings of indigenous folk songs, much of which has been released through those tasty labels Sublime Frequencies and Dust-To-Digital. The solo work from Millis tends more toward the dronemuzik and hallucinatory collage axis of CGT's multi-headed agenda, although he has been known to strum out a sadsack blues number that might straddle the worlds of Alan Bishop and Roscoe Holcomb; but here on the impeccable new album Relief, Millis tunes in and drops out with a blearily psychedelic album of forgotten sounds, ghostly fragments, and Pacific Ocean drones. The album begins with a comedic outburst from one of Millis' 78s with a helpful direction to "hear the secret sentence played out on the talking typewriter" followed by a jaunty clatter of a manual typewriter all wrapped in scratchy-vinyl, crackling goodness. Immediately, the album delves into a swarming tone-float of harmonic overtones pecked with trilling glissandos. The source for this sound has got to be a plung - a Bangladeshi mouth-organ used specifically by the Murung peoples living deep in the rainforest, as this sound is uniquely atonal and wrigglingly eerie in its wavering notes. Millis furthers this wooziness by rarifying these sounds into the holy minimalism conjured by LaMonte Young, Angus Maclise, and company. After swimming here in these golden pools for a good five or six minutes, Millis drops the needle on a dramatic orchestral swell that would be the envy of the Caretaker's sunken ballroom recordings. A couple of hip-swaying recombinations of temple music rhythms and Les Baxter exotica glide in and out of Millis' glassy-eyed shimmeriness and post-Eno piano constellations. The album's finale is an impressionistic driftscape of languid, temple bell & gong tones stretched into a gorgeous, expansive cloud of lush harmonics giving way to a metronomic wooden rhythm that leads to a set of solitary piano notes suspended over Mariana trench diving-bell ambience. Limited to 400 copies, and comes with the requisite download code. So fucking good." [Aquarius Rec.] |
2013 |
€16.00 |
|
| MIMETIC DESIRE |
Sacred Aim |
DVD |
" 'desire is the location of resistances to the norms of the culturalorder. mimetic desire begins by transforming models into obstacles and it ends up by transforming obstacles into models.' (mimetic, 2006)
mimetic is the solo project of jerome soudan - a drummer for european industrial and experimental bands such as von magnet or column one. his classical background is best seen by his playing of orchestral percussion and computing pieces for contemporary music performances (with art zoyd & kasper t.toeplitz). he has also composed music for dance companies like ndt2 in the netherlands. in france, he wrote a pre-thesis about industrial music for the university of lyon (1993). also while in france he contributed to the industrial music scene by organising festivals and concerts in paris. in addition he developed a network for musicians in europe and he continued this network while living in berlin.
after several releases on various european labels, mimetic has released his first dvd via a collaborative effort between ant-zen and parametric. 'sacred aim' feeds the eyes with a big collection of video clips that combine small scripts, visual effects, flashing colors, black & white pictures, moving puppet animations and more. this dvd follows mimetic's recent big tours in europa, u.s.a., canada and japan, in addition the dvd features bonus material - including an interview, a documentary about his eastern european tour, two concert tracks from canada, and some other special surprises.
if you are familiar with mimetic's powerful mix of electronica and beats, symphonic textures and incredibly well-placed samples then you now have the opportunity to stimulate your aural senses. if you are not familiar then go discover an artist who is something else - a fine addition to the audio & visual world of ant-zen." [label info]
www.ant-zen.com
|
2006 |
€7.50 |
|
| MINTON, PHIL + AUDREY CHEN + GUY SEGERS + PETER JACQUEMYN + TEUN VERBRUGGEN |
Quintet |
CD |
" 'Now let's make music with more holes in it.' (Audrey Chen)
These recordings in two movements
SR310 MINTON / CHEN
SR311 MINTON / CHEN QUINTET
can be taken as, on the one hand, pieces for two voices and improvisation chamber orchestra (which is what the musicians felt throughout the recording session) and, on the other hand, pure free improvisation.
Phil Minton / voice
Audrey Chen / voice + cello
Guy Segers / electric bass
Peter Jacquemyn / double bass
Teun Verbruggen / drums + percussions
Things get dislocated, gather themselves, spread across areas of varying intensities. More intimate or more complex song. closer to the sacred, left untouched by mediation, even slightly incomprehensible, though mostly
ambivalent and reality-piercing. At times, the music seems to lead us to a meaning that is deeper than the textual level. or is it the depth of another possible song? That's when the music takes us to areas that seem perpetually urging, more than their simple addition of voices and instruments." [label info]
www.subrosa.net
|
2013 |
€13.00 |
|
| MOLJEBKA PVLSE |
The Distant Past Resound |
CD |
https://zoharum.bandcamp.com/album/the-distant-past-resounds
About a year after the release of the great album "Borrowed Scenery", MOLJEBKA PVLSE is back with another, even better material. Four musicians were involved in its recording; Mathias Josefson, handling all the electronics, was joined in turn by Isabel Fogelklou, who rejoined the ranks of the Scandinavian project, recording her harp parts, as well as Hara Alonso on piano and Kris Kuldkepp on double bass. The contribution of each of these artists left its mark on the final shape of "The Distant Past Resounds", which to some extent is a continuation of the previously chosen direction. However, thanks to the use of richer instruments, the involvement of each of the participants of the recording session, whose input translated into richer arrangements, even bolder stylistic journeys and the diversity of the entire composition. All this makes the latest material of MOLJEBKA PVLSE an extremely interesting story, outlined in a very expressive way so as to release a whole palette of colors, moods and emotions from the sound matter, allowing you to lose yourself even deeper with each subsequent listening. We can still talk here about the stylistic convention, which can be defined as drone / ambient, but here they were treated as a base on which one of the most interesting, if not the most interesting album in the Swedish artist's discography was based.
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"The first notable difference with many previous releases from Mathias Josefson's project Moljebka Pvlse is that it is now a real group. I don't know if this is a temporary thing, but next to Josefson on electronics, we have Hara Alsonso (piano), Isabel Fogelkou (harp) and Kris Kuldkepp (double bass). It is not a surprise that these instruments are well suited to play long-form drone sounds, perhaps with some help (a bow, an e-bow), and get those strings resonating along with whatever Josefson does on the electronic side. It starts with a more abstract approach in which many overtones are ringing, which, at times, reminded me of early Organum, which is always a good thing. The CD has one long track, but on Bandcamp, there is a division into three tracks, each about twenty-five minutes. I am unsure if that has to do with the upload capacity of Bandcamp or if these are natural breaks in the piece. I don't register anything as being a separate section. As the music progresses, the instruments somewhat drift apart and become more apparent. The piano plays sparse notes, the double bass singling out notes, and from there on, the music becomes a most curious combination of what I perceive as long-form acoustic improvisation, colliding with the more composed droning of electronics. There is something orchestral about this piece at several points, certainly towards the end, which bumps with the feedback that is also, at times, part of this piece. A fascinating
release, which, for all I know, is quite a departure for Moljebka Pvlse and opening interesting new paths into the future." [FdW /Vital Weekly] |
2023 |
€13.00 |
|
| MOMMUR CHASMA |
Parelspanner |
CD |
A new promising ambient-project from Amsterdam / The Netherlands rising from the ashes of drone-band INDRA KARMUKA is MOMMUR CHASMA, doing a kind of obscure ambient-electronics where analogue drones and bizarre collageous samples meet, somewhere between NURSE WITH WOUND and VANCE ORCHESTRA maybe.. worth to check out !
“The Dutch group Mommur Chasma is a group that creates sounds based on improvisation and itself-creating structures. Using synthesizers, microphones, all kind of electronica and environmental sounds they create a sometimes dreamy, sometimes estranging atmosphere in which the sounds and rhythms lead their own existence. The music varies from low drones to more clearly noisy soundstructures. It's two members played before in Indra Karmuka.” [label description]
|
2002 |
€12.00 |
|
| MOSS, JESSICA |
Pools of Light |
LP |
180gram vinyl includes 12x24 art print poster + 320kbps MP3 download The debut solo full-length by violinist and sound artist Jessica Moss (Thee Silver Mt. Zion, Black Ox Orkestar, Vic Chesnutt, Carla Bozulich). Recorded by Radwan Ghazi Moumneh (Jerusalem In My Heart, Suuns, Matana Roberts, Eric Chenaux) RIYL: Sibelius, Laurie Anderson, Sarah Davachi, Benoît Pioulard, Loscil. Jessica Moss is known best as the violinist, co-composer, and backing vocalist with the acclaimed chamber-punk band Thee Silver Mt. Zion Memorial Orchestra (SMZ) and the avant-klezmer group Black Ox Orkestar. As fans of these projects will know, Moss has developed a distinctive and impressive approach to violin that combines a natural technical fluidity, a recombinant command of folk, classical and modern idioms, and an adventurous exploration of signal-bending and analog effects that uniquely expand the spectrum of the violin as sound source. Her solo work is deeply rooted in live performance, where she builds up and breaks down stunning longform compositions in real time with an array of pedals - including octave/harmonizers and samplers/loopers. To hear all of this rallied on her debut full-length solo release is intensely rewarding: comprised of two side-length multi-movement compositions, Pools Of Light unfolds at a stately, inexorable pace, combining sound-art and signal-processed timbres, extended melodic and contrapuntal lines, and the periodic deployment of stark, minimalist vocals. Pools Of Light is elegiac durational music at the intersection of neo-classicism, soundtrack, electronic, art-punk and avant-folk - a decidedly organic, non-academic, profoundly searching and emotive work, guided by Moss's liner note mantra: "FEELING LOVE IN A MELTING WORLD".
|
2017 |
€23.00 |
|
| MUELLER, JON |
Strung |
LP |
JON MUELLER auf Abwegen: Für seinen Beitrag in der Guitar-Series von TABLE OF THE ELEMENTS muss der Perkussionist auch an die Gitarre - und begeistert mit einem kraftvollen, loopig-hypnotischen Track... klares Vinyl !
"Peripatetic composer, performer, improviser, and designer Jon Mueller is a busy guy, and both the rock and experimental music scenes are the richer for it. As a drummer, he propels the ecstatic whorl of Collections of Colonies of Bees and the occasional guitar army of Rhys Chatham; alternately his solo project, Metals, is the most harrowingly intense percussive barrage you'll ever encounter. He also finds time to collaborate with artists ranging from Wilco's Glenn Kotche to Swans' Jarboe. Whether it's minimalist bombast, free-improv interplay, or electro-acoustic finesse, Mueller's got it covered. But what can he do with a guitar? In Strung, Mueller doesn't play the guitar; he scrambles its molecules. Laying down a photon-blast of sound, he initiates a relentless, rapid-pulse attack signal that summons wave upon wave of white noise. Think inexorable alien invasion -- The Day The Earth Stood Still, with Lou Reed as Klaatu and Metal Machine Music as the message. Earth doesn't stand a chance." Pressed on clear vinyl with great Savage Pencil etching on the b-side." [label info]
"Already noted before: Table Of The Elements love Jon Mueller, and who doesn't? Here he leaves the drum kit for what it is and plays guitar, as an addition to the labels Guitar Series Vol. 3, an one-sided LP (the other side has an etching, which is a bit hard to see in transparent vinyl) of Mueller playing the guitar as if it was a mechanical beast. Perhaps with rotating blades? A ventilator? Mueller cuts out, in a rhythmical manner, sounds and thus one strum arises, repeated, until the full guitar orchestra falls in, with full blown drones. A very consistent idea that is worked out well, and makes this sound like a great album, coming from a great tradition: from Lou Reed to Glenn Branca to Earth. At the same time it also sounds like a Mueller record, with amplified hums. Perhaps a bit too short, as this seems over before it has properly started, it seems. The built-up takes some time because it keeps shifting back and forth, adding a strange movement to the piece. This is a great record, showing a new side for Mueller I think." [FdW / Vital Weekly]
www.tableoftheelements.com
|
2008 |
€16.50 |
|
| MUNDAL, ARE |
Compilation Vol. 1 |
do-CD |
"I thought the name Are Mundal sounded familiar in my sometimes confused state of mind. It turns out I had him confused with somebody with an immensely different name. Maybe the name sounded too familiar with Gary Mundy of Ramleh. Never mind. Mundal released his first CD in 1996, his second as a CDR in 2007 and since 2020, two LPs and one 12". On this CD, we find those vinyl releases collected plus one 7", which isn't listed on Discogs and a bonus track. As I said, I had never heard of the man
before, and there is not a lot of information about him available, influences and instruments. I have to guess here, and I'd say this is a man armed with a sampler, electronics and a microphone, and the result is a dark soundtrack, the stuff of horror nightmares. Found voices in 'Track 1', which is the A-side of the 'Interloper' LP (the first track on the first CD), some looped, industrialized rhythm, and dark synthesizers. Gothic, perhaps, is a word that applies to this music, and usually, that's not my thing, but the more I play this, the more I like it. As I was way deep into doing other stuff at the same, these two CDs were kept in rotation for quite some time, and with every new play, I heard something new. There are long pieces on these CDs, as each LP had one track per side, and within each track, Mundal moves from one section to the next. From dark ambience to orchestral to a bit of rhythm, all along keeping the end on the ball, and that is to keep everything dark and atmospheric. Maybe at times a bit too tacky (as in: too gothic) for my taste, but throughout this dark trip was an excellent listening experience." [FdW / Vital Weekly] |
2023 |
€16.00 |
|
| MURCOF |
Martes |
CD |
"The latest from FERNANDO CORONA of Tijuana's NORTEC COLLECTIVE and a masterpiece of contemporary electronic music, where soul isn't sacrificed for technique. Rife with a gooseflesh-inducing aura of mystery and suspense, Corona draws together apparently divergent disciplines of classical orchestration and electronic minimalism." [label notes]
www.theleaflabel.com
|
2002 |
€13.00 |
|
| MY HOME, SINKING |
King of Corns |
do-LP |
If writing is a concentrated form of thinking then the most concentrated writing probably ends in some kind of reflection on dying. This is what we eventually confront if we think long enough and hard enough.”
– Don DeLillo
My Home, Sinking is one of the many sound projects fronted by Venetian Enrico Coniglio, whose latest album King of Corns blends live instrumentation with field recordings and strange vocals to create a neo-classical work wherein the sum of the whole is greater than its parts.
Like Baudelaire’s great book of poems, The Flowers of Evil, King of Corns seems to allude to the interplay between life and death as twin sides of the same coin. The beautiful, haunting sleeve art features the unsmiling bust of a porcelain woman with black eyes from whose neck emerges a full bouquet of roses.
Frequently the album is beautiful on its own terms. Consider the opening track, “Bird’s Eye” which features an Eno-esque piano walking over cinematic strings and a lazy harmonica. The piece sounds like an orchestra tuning up before a concert, a call to adventure for the rest of the album. Perhaps more fittingly, it reminds of latter day Talk Talk with tensile strings, errant notes, silent interludes, slow motion piano.
Further beauty exists in “Animating Old Postcards,” which is built around a minstrel’s guitar and the ethereal voice of Finnish artist Violeta Päivänkakkara and feels like a springtime return, a much-needed break in the clouds, a patch of blue after heavy storms.
With that said, the album’s title track is undeniably terrifying. Led by the quivering, indecipherable falsetto of Jessica Constable and a fearsome piano arpeggio, “King of Corns” sounds something like a witch’s curse or an oracle warning of things to come. The last track on the album, “Full Blank (No Stars)” is a dark aria and again features Ms. Constable, who is not so much singing here as reciting musically, as if in an opera.
Clearly, Coniglio’s King of Corns is a marked change in direction from the warm sounds of the last MHS album, Sleet. More sound art, the new work is riddled with anxiety, hesitation, fear. It’s hard to imagine listening to this in polite company or before going to bed. But ultimately the album is successful in that the work demands the listener engage directly with it to form her own interpretation of the material, and in this collaboration she becomes implicit in its creation, a kind of co-author of each track.
Often King of Corns sounds like a descent into madness, a journey through the forest of the dead to the darkest parts of the self. But where there is death there is opportunity for life, for new beginnings. KoC proves that Coniglio is a Romantic in the true sense of the word: one who believes that death and darkness and dreams give us secret access to the divine and help us reconnect with the life-giving principle, or what the Greeks called “Psyche” - the soul.
-Daniel Williams
credits
released September 16, 2017
Enrico Coniglio : guitar, melodica, harmonica, horn, electric organ, synthesizer, psalter, tapes & vinyls, found objects, field recordings & programming
Elisa Marzorati : piano
Piergabriele Mancuso : viola
Chantal Acda : vocals and lyrics "I Can't Help It (But This is The End)"
Jessica Constable : vocals and lyrics "King of Corns" & "Full Blank (No Stars)"
Peter Paul Gallo : vibraphone on "Love Scene" & "I Can't Help It (But This is The End)"
James Murray : organ, vocals, loops on "Along the Pipeline"; electronics on "Full Blank (No Stars)"
Violeta Paivankakkara : vocals and lyrics, glockenspiel and effect on "Animating Old Postcards (Aikaa Ei Ole Olemassa)"
All tracks written, arranged and produced by Enrico Coniglio
Design, Calligraphy, Hand Drawn Typography by Chris Bigg
Illustrations by James Heginbottom
https://infraction.bandcamp.com/album/king-of-corns
|
2017 |
€28.00 |
|
| |
King of Corns |
CD |
If writing is a concentrated form of thinking then the most concentrated writing probably ends in some kind of reflection on dying. This is what we eventually confront if we think long enough and hard enough.”
– Don DeLillo
My Home, Sinking is one of the many sound projects fronted by Venetian Enrico Coniglio, whose latest album King of Corns blends live instrumentation with field recordings and strange vocals to create a neo-classical work wherein the sum of the whole is greater than its parts.
Like Baudelaire’s great book of poems, The Flowers of Evil, King of Corns seems to allude to the interplay between life and death as twin sides of the same coin. The beautiful, haunting sleeve art features the unsmiling bust of a porcelain woman with black eyes from whose neck emerges a full bouquet of roses.
Frequently the album is beautiful on its own terms. Consider the opening track, “Bird’s Eye” which features an Eno-esque piano walking over cinematic strings and a lazy harmonica. The piece sounds like an orchestra tuning up before a concert, a call to adventure for the rest of the album. Perhaps more fittingly, it reminds of latter day Talk Talk with tensile strings, errant notes, silent interludes, slow motion piano.
Further beauty exists in “Animating Old Postcards,” which is built around a minstrel’s guitar and the ethereal voice of Finnish artist Violeta Päivänkakkara and feels like a springtime return, a much-needed break in the clouds, a patch of blue after heavy storms.
With that said, the album’s title track is undeniably terrifying. Led by the quivering, indecipherable falsetto of Jessica Constable and a fearsome piano arpeggio, “King of Corns” sounds something like a witch’s curse or an oracle warning of things to come. The last track on the album, “Full Blank (No Stars)” is a dark aria and again features Ms. Constable, who is not so much singing here as reciting musically, as if in an opera.
Clearly, Coniglio’s King of Corns is a marked change in direction from the warm sounds of the last MHS album, Sleet. More sound art, the new work is riddled with anxiety, hesitation, fear. It’s hard to imagine listening to this in polite company or before going to bed. But ultimately the album is successful in that the work demands the listener engage directly with it to form her own interpretation of the material, and in this collaboration she becomes implicit in its creation, a kind of co-author of each track.
Often King of Corns sounds like a descent into madness, a journey through the forest of the dead to the darkest parts of the self. But where there is death there is opportunity for life, for new beginnings. KoC proves that Coniglio is a Romantic in the true sense of the word: one who believes that death and darkness and dreams give us secret access to the divine and help us reconnect with the life-giving principle, or what the Greeks called “Psyche” - the soul.
-Daniel Williams
Enrico Coniglio : guitar, melodica, harmonica, horn, electric organ, synthesizer, psalter, tapes & vinyls, found objects, field recordings & programming
Elisa Marzorati : piano
Piergabriele Mancuso : viola
Chantal Acda : vocals and lyrics "I Can't Help It (But This is The End)"
Jessica Constable : vocals and lyrics "King of Corns" & "Full Blank (No Stars)"
Peter Paul Gallo : vibraphone on "Love Scene" & "I Can't Help It (But This is The End)"
James Murray : organ, vocals, loops on "Along the Pipeline"; electronics on "Full Blank (No Stars)"
Violeta Paivankakkara : vocals and lyrics, glockenspiel and effect on "Animating Old Postcards (Aikaa Ei Ole Olemassa)"
All tracks written, arranged and produced by Enrico Coniglio
Design, Calligraphy, Hand Drawn Typography by Chris Bigg
Illustrations by James Heginbottom
https://infraction.bandcamp.com/album/king-of-corns
|
2017 |
€14.00 |
|
| NAKATANI, TATSUYA |
Confirmation |
LP |
"Nomadic percussionist Tatsuya Nakatani travels worldwide, his performances blooming with ceaseless expanse. Although Nakatani is a valiant collaborator, joining with other musicians, dancers, filmmakers and beyond, solo percussion is the root of it all. Simply stated in Nakatani's own words, this album is "Confirmation of all of my acoustic solo percussion performance since 1998. Recorded live at Nakatani-kobo in Easton Pennsylvania USA during snow season of beginning of 2015. No overdubbing and used the fewest effects possible on this LP."
Confirmation is Nakatani's third release on Taiga. We initially saw the vibrant color of his collaboration with Mary Halvorson and Reuben Radding on MAP Fever Dream. Followed by Nakatani Gong Orchestra, a woven blend of heavy vibrations from his one-off group experiments on the road. Now we have number three, solo percussion, the foundation of his practice, charged with thunders, screams, sparks and countless other ineffable sonic textures.
Mastered by James Plotkin, cut direct to copper & pressed on 200g virgin compound, Confirmation is Nakatani's first solo percussion album to be released on LP. Housed in a custom heavyweight yellow paper jacket with silver & metallic black foil stamping made at Studio on Fire in Minneapolis." [label info]
www.taigarecords.com
|
2015 |
€23.50 |
|
| NEUFELD, SARAH |
Hero Brother |
CD |
"Sarah Neufeld is a violinist and composer based in Montréal, Canada. Best known as a member of Arcade Fire, she is also a founding member of the acclaimed contemporary instrumental ensemble Bell Orchestre and has performed and recorded with many other groups, including The Luyas, Esmerine and Little Scream.
Neufeld began developing pieces for solo violin in a more formal and focused sense in 2011, though she has made improvisation and solo composition part of her process and practice since first picking up the instrument at a young age. Neufeld counts Bela Bartok, Steve Reich, Iva Bittova and Arthur Russell among the formative influences for her solo work, in tandem with an ear for the textures and sensibilities of contemporary electro-acoustic, avant-folk and indie rock music.
Neufeld's debut solo album Hero Brother indeed channels all of the above, flowing through shifting atmospheres and oscillating between restrained, stately ambience, emotive études, and raw kinetic energy. Small touches of wordless vocalisation, harmonium and piano supplant the violin in a few places. The album was recorded in Berlin by pianist and producer Nils Frahm, with Neufeld's performances captured in a number of locations with site-specific acoustics, including an abandoned geodesic dome, an underground parking garage, and the legendary Studio P4 orchestral recording hall at the broadcast complex of the former GDR. Hero Brother will be released on Constellation Records in August 2013.
Sarah has recently premiered her solo music at BAM (Brooklyn), the WSO New Music Festival (Winnipeg) and Wavelength Festival (Toronto), of which Exclaim magazine wrote "the highlight of the night was most certainly Sarah Neufeld, whose compositions range from Reichian to folksy without skipping a beat; she uses violin squeals, growls, scrapes and slides to express varying emotions and stomps the stage beneath her for percussion.
Packaging notes
CD comes in a custom gatefold jacket printed on thick 24pt. paperboard with a printed CD dust sleeve. LP is pressed on 180 gram virgin vinyl at Optimal (Germany) and comes in a heavyweight jacket with black poly-lined audiophile dust sleeve, credit insert, pull-out art poster and download code for 320 kbps MP3 copy of the album. Artwork by Tracy Maurice." [label info] |
2013 |
€14.00 |
|
| NEW BLOCKADERS & VARIOUS ARTISTS |
Viva Negativa ! Vol. III : USA |
do-CD |
"Die NEW BLOCKADERS sind eine Gruppe, die mehr als jede andere die Essenz des wahren Noise sowohl in Kunst als auch Musik definiert. Ihren Einfluss auf die aktuellen Crossover Noise Künstler wie PRURIENT und WOLF EYES ist nicht zu verkennen. Seit ihren ersten Schritten Anfang der 80er in der Gesellschaft des Industrial Grind von THROBIING GRISTLE und den kantigen Power Electronics von WHITEHOUSE, standen THE NEW BLOCKADERS immer für die Reinheit ihrer Vision. Ihr erstes Album, "Changez Les Blockers" von 1982, ist Noise in seiner ursprünglichsten Form: metallisches Knirschen und analoges Feedback definierten die Grenzen von Musik neu. Die abstrakte Form und die dadaistische Konstruktion stellten alles Dagewesene in Frage. Die Band sollte nur selten und dann anonym auftauchen. Alben kamen noch unregelmäßiger und meist in kleinen Stückzahlen. Kollaborationen mit Thurston Moore von SONIC YOUTH und MERBOW in jüngerer Vergangenheit haben den Sound von THE NEW BLOCKADERS auch einer jüngeren Generation nähergebracht. Das Metallgehaue von K2, die Ungemütlichkeit von RUNZELSTIRN&GURGELSTOCK, die Dichte von MACRONYMPHIA und die Kantigkeit von MERZBOW sind nicht ohne die Einflüsse der Anti-Musik der NEW BLOCKADERS." [label info/ Cargo]
"Volume III in a series of UK / European / US and Japanese artists’ tributes to the pioneering UK Noise group The New Blockaders including exclusive tracks by:
Z’EV, The Haters, Controlled Bleeding, Thurston Moore, Jim O’Rourke, Wolf Eyes, Macronympha, Emil Beaulieau, AMK, Idea Fire Company, John Wiese, Daniel Menche, Damion Romero, Aaron Dilloway, Lockweld, Prurient, Richard Ramirez, Keith Fullerton Whitman, Jason Kahn, mnortham, Carlos Giffoni, Blue Sabbath Black Cheer, etc.
Artwork by Richard Rupenus (TNB)
The New Blockaders are a group who, more than any other, define the essence of true Noise music both in art and in act.
Their influence on the current crop of popular crossover Noise artists such as Prurient and Wolf Eyes is immeasurable. Emerging at
the beginning of the 1980s alongside the Industrial grind of Throbbing Gristle and the harsh, abrasive Power Electronics of Whitehouse, TNB stood out through a purity of vision. Their first record, 1982’s Changez Les Blockeurs, is noise in its most rudimentary form: metallic grating sounds and analogue feedback redefined what could be classified as music. Its abstract form and Dadaist construction challenged all that had appeared before. It’s anti-music approach presented a recording closer to the theory-driven work of Einsturzende Neubauten than their supposed contemporaries.They would appear rarely and when they did it would be in anonymity. The records would emerge even more infrequently with little information and in tiny runs. Collaborations in recent years with artists such as Sonic Youth’s Thurston Moore and Merzbow have bough their anti-sound to a younger and diverse audience. The metal-bashing of K2, the awkwardness of Runzelstirn & Gurgelstock, the density of Macronympha and the abrasiveness of Merzbow all owe something to the anti-music of TNB. They can truly be credited as pioneers of Noise music as we know it today.
Disc One:
Z'EV "Chips Off The New Block"
Keith Fullerton Whitman "September 27th, 1960"
Alan Courtis "Happy Blockaders Time"
Controlled Bleeding "The Latest Hole In My Head"
Plethora "Last Night I Dremt Of Anti-Fest... This Morning I Woke Up Deaf"
Macronympha "Riding Down Lost Highway"
The Haters "Mantra To Rot"
Emil Beaulieau "Anti-Vartan"
Lockweld "Catharsis Bomb"
Daniel Menche "Smoldered Blockaders"
John Wiese "Annul"
Broken Penis Orchestra "The Kill Lump"
Jason Kahn "Rille"
Disc Two:
Idea Fire Company "Les Heros De La Barricade Finale"
mnortham "Plotting Course On The Field Of Nothingness"
Thurston Moore "Corion Sound for TNB"
Jim O'Rourke "407 Seconds Over"
Damion Romero "Broken Block"
Prurient "Majdanek Slaughterhouse"
Richard Ramirez "Cultural Blockade"
Blue Sabbath Black Cheer "Untitled"
Carlos Giffoni "Richard Walks Into The Sea"
AMK "Phlegm Angst"
Aaron Dilloway "Machine Rape (Blitzkrieg)"
Wolf Eyes "Fisted Gadgets" " [label website info]
www.importantrecords.com
|
2010 |
€17.50 |
|
| NID |
Plate Tectonics |
CD |
Aufnahmen eines Konzertes aus Arnheim, Niederlande, vom Dezember 2002, in Studio-Qualität. Allertiefste dumpfe Dronescapes & verlangsamte Stimmen, Klassik-found sounds, glockige Klänge, obskure Vinyl-loops, immer dunkel & ominös & in einem dynamischen Feld voller unerwarteter Sounds. Eine recht einmalige Verbindung von Vinylloop-Plunderphonics, tiefbassigen Dronescapes und Geräuschen von selbstgebauten, oft ober-obskursten Gerätschaften und Objekten.
"Crawling back into the wound: NID 1995 – 2007. NID is an experimental group whose aim it is to challenge conventional concepts and structures of electronic music by experimenting with the source of sounds. The music is created on the spot, making each performance a genuine and unrepeatable event. It has been described as moving sound-objects, improvised electronic noise, or broodng ambient music. It has been compared to an underwater-journey, a pathway to the inner self. Given enough volume, it certainly affects the body as well as the mind. In which way remains open to the listener’s psyche. NID was formed in 1995. Over the years the core-members have performed in art-galleries, rock-clubs, bars, water-reservoirs, cinemas, as well as at industrial and electronic festivals and in record shops. In 1998 they were invited to play onboard the MS Stubnitz when it was anchored in the harbour of Stockholm as part of the “European Culture Capital” activities. They were also involved in the 2001 Six And More & R:IP jubilees, improvising with 30 other electronic free-jazz musicians. As for the group name… A “nid” is a curse or insult with homosexual connotation that was frequently in use in the Viking age. It brought a depth to the concept of honour and shame. It could be used as a challenge or simply to ridicule another (which was a challenge per se). It could reveal anyone else to be no better than he was, and it undermined social structures. NID disbanded in 2006. Chris Sidgell continues in various projects, most notably his solo project B-Tong. Jürgen Eberhard releases music under the name Feine Trinkers Bei Pinkels Daheim. This is NID’s one and only proper CD release. The sound on this work may appeal to fans of Lustmord, New Blockaders or collage post-industrial in general/experimental ambient. The music on this CD was recorded live in Arnheim by Mars Wellink
(Vance Orchestra). The cover was done by Katja Wahl..." [band info & press release]
"While not new, we only just discovered NID, and our discovery came about in a very random manner, considering various related works were right under our nose. We listed a killer 4 way split 12" a while back called One Man Drone, and our favorite track from the spit was a piece by a group called B(degree)Tong. We later discovered that the man behind B(degree)Tong was previously a member of German experimental sound-collective NID. But what we did not know was that NID was sometimes also known as Feine Trinkers Bei Pinkels Daheim, a group who had various releases on the Drone Records label, one of which is included on the recent tUMULt collection of out of print Drone singles. So now it's sort of come full circle and we have this, the only proper full length recording (as far as we know) from the group NID, aka Feine Trinkers Bei Pinkels Daheim and it's pretty amazing. Pretty bizarre too, but then with a (sometime) name like Feine Trinkers Bei Pinkels Daheim, what else would you expect?
Three looooooooong tracks. Each an epic, incredibly varied soundworld, blending found sounds and field recordings with drones and intense blasts of layered sound. The opener begins with a muted cacophony of birds and crickets, before disappearing into a roiling
black cloud of rumbling low end and distant droning guitar buzz. It almost sounds like sticking your head out of a speeding car, the wind whipping by and causing all sorts of distortions, but blurred into an impressively massive wall of sound. Within all this whipping sonic wind and rumbling whirs, are strange bits of percussion, the clang and bang of metal on metal, shakers and simple rhythms, they drift
briefly in the eye of the storm, before the drone drops again, even more furious than before, until it fades out amidst the dreamy
shimmer of female vocals and haunting minor key melodic buzz. Really intense and strangely beautiful.
The second track is another deep cavernous roar. A bit smoother than the previous number, but not for long, bit of metallic buzz surface amidst the undulating rumbles, with some serious dynamic spikes, some of which sound like brief bursts of SUNNO 0))), and others are even lower and more aggressive bits of low end exploration. There are bits of static and random buzz here and there, but mostly it's black and dark, a massive growling beast, slowly uncoiling into a monster that blocks out the sun. Near the end of the track, the darkness abates and in its place is a strange skipping stuttering snippet of music, wrapped in hazy distortion and looped into a mesmerizing rhythm, repeated over and over and over, gradually crumbling and becoming more and more distorted before erupting into a final burst of chest rattling low end, finally slowing down and sputtering to a halt.
The final track is over twenty minutes and is the most melodic of the bunch. Beginning with a looped cycle of xylophone melody, over
a throbbing low end pulse and streaks of keening distant guitar and bits of operatic female vocals. Very ominous and mysterious sounding. When suddenly everything stops, and there's a guy with a British accent ranting over someone ransacking a kitchen, breaking glass, clanging cutlery, and suddenly it's gone, and we're back in some new dronescape, a mumbled voice looped into a haunting mantra, beneath distant thunder like rumbles, and little blurs of high end melody, indistinct, but gradually building in intensity. The drones drift away leaving birds and voices, and some strange bits of hiss and skree, before transforming into a plodding doomdrone beast. A simple stretched out rhythm over cavernous thrums and the sound of subway cars, everything pulsing and throbbing, a bizarre bit of dark
collage, that manages to be strangely musical and completely hypnotic.
An amazingly weird record, and absolutely essential listening for the drone obsessed, which we would assume should be most of you..." [Aquarius Records]
"Posthumous release by this Swiss-German trio dedicated to mostly drone-bound sounds, noise manipulation, foggy samples and dialogue snatches. Here, three lengthy pieces encircle some fantastic voyages through muted hum, looped voices, gentle vibrations and the stench of noxious ooze. The last one, ‘35000 Feet Below the Ocean Surface’, clocks in at almost 22 minutes and hints at a leather-clad NWW surveying a desert of black ash. Which works a treat for me." [RJ, Adverse Effect]
|
2007 |
€13.00 |
|
| NILSEN, BJ [BJ NILSEN] |
Focus Intensity Power |
LP |
For his inaugural LP for Moving Furniture Records the Amsterdam based Swedish sound artist BJ Nilsen turns his intense aural focus and compelling narrative power away from his well-known and much lauded predilection for field recordings of organic nature or the urban built environment. The five pieces presented on this record capture Nilsen during a short residency he did in the Fall of 2017 at Willem Twee Electronic Music Studio in Den Bosch, The Netherlands – five documents these are of improvised sessions using modular synthesizers, tone generators and test and measurement instruments.
Nilsen, ever the exploratory sound experimenter, de facto exchanged his wax rain coat for the white laboratory mantle. On Focus Intensity Power he lets the machines rule supreme. Although BJ says there's no underlying major concept to the record, the quintet of recordings is tied together to form a sturdy sonic package, tied with a red thread of analog pulse, droning waves and subtle and surprising noise interventions. Washes of natural wind or condensed bustle of London traffic as we have come to know and highly appreciate from his previous works have found their machine-counterparts in sessions that retain the flâneur's touch of slowly moving, roaming open ears with keen interest in texture and timbre. And at the same time these indoor improvisations yield a tremendous poetic freedom for both artist and listener; boundless walking through layers of pure sound – freed from time and place and space.
Sven Schlijper-Karssenberg, July 2018
credits
released August 24, 2018
Music by BJNilsen recorded at Toonzaal, 's-Hertogenbosch, NL. engineerd at Odd Phasting and Echoes, Amsterdam, NL.
Mastered by Jos Smolders at EARLabs.
Published by Touch Fairwood Music.
Artwork by Zeno van den Broek.
https://movingfurniturerecords.bandcamp.com/album/focus-intensity-power
"From his first dark ambient project Morthound which had releases on Cold Meat Industry during the early 1990s, BJNilsen moved over to the Hazard moniker in the late 1990s, and from around 2004 onwards opted to record under his own name. Generally speaking, over the last 15 years BJ’s approach has been characterized by an experimental approach to sonically processing various natural and urban-based field recordings. However with Focus Intensity Power being the solo new album, it marks a decided shift away from the use of field recordings as it is a purely studio-based album, which according to the promo notes provides: ‘documents of improvised sessions using modular synthesizers, tone generators and test and measurement instruments’. Sonically this album has greater alignment with early Hazard albums than recent solo output and is certainly welcomed from these quarters. The 15-minute album opener Beam Finder is an elongated exploration of minimalist unceasing mid to lower range bass tones, coupled with micro-tonal static and machine idling drones which appear late in the track. This approach continues with The Sound Of Two Hands, although this is slightly more forceful and varied with the introduction of a ‘ticking clock’ element and other minimalist scattered electronics. The relatively short Flattened Space embodies a muted sub-orchestral tone blended with mechanical menace, while Table of Hours fits cleanly within a dark ambient drone frame of reference. The final of the five tracks, The Limits of Function, starts slow but gradually elevates with layered machine drones, and the second half of the track is driven forwards by a central rhythmic loop. In essence Focus Intensity Power is an effective celebration of sustained tonal atmospheres, which amounts to evocative sounds in their purest form. Sublime." [Noise Receptor] |
2018 |
€16.50 |
|
| NIMH |
This crying Era |
LP |
"Synästhesie Schallplatten proudly presents Giuseppe Verticchio aka Nimh for the first release, attending for March, 2012. First time vinyl release for Nimh, this guy has a solid experience and has collaborated with some genius of dark ambient / done, like Maurizio Bianchi, Mathausen Orchestra, Andrea Freschi... This Lp compiles some New material, and some material released on Silentes on K7 or cd-r released in the past 10 years. Hand-numbered edition of 100 copies, 180 gram black vinyl + insert. Nimh's biography : Born in Rome in 1965, Nimh, computer programmer, starts to play electronic music in 1994. In 1996 he moves in Koh Samui, Thailand, where he lives about one year. During this period he starts to know and love oriental traditional music, so he begins to collect various ethnic instruments and to use them in his CDs. Starting from 2001 he realized many CDs under the name of ?Nimh?. His music combines a wide spectrum of influences, he has recorded and released many works of different nature containing elements of experimental music, ambient, dark-ambient, industrial, electronic, isolationism, ritual-ethnic music. After some CD-Rs available only in limited edition, since 2004 Nimh published a lot of official CDs released by labels such as Amplexus, Silentes and Eibon, alternating solo works with side projects (Hall of Mirrors, Maribor?) and collaborations with other artists. The most important collaborations include Maurizio Bianchi/M.B., Mauthausen Orchestra/Pierpaolo Zoppo, Andrea Marutti/Amon, Nefelheim, Amir Baghiri. In these years of activity Nimh collaborated in various way open projects, partecipation to CDs and compilations, live performances, audio editing and mastering works?) with other artists/projects in ambient-electronic-industrial-experimental-ethnic musical scene, such as Aube, Eidulon, K11/Pietro Riparbelli, New Risen Throne, Vestigial, Hue, Raffaele Serra, Andrea Ferroni, Stefano Scala, Andrea Ferraris, Andrea Freschi/Subinterior, Claudio Ricciardi (ex member with Roberto Laneri of the historical harmonic chant ensemble Prima Materia?)." [label info]
|
2012 |
€18.50 |
|
| NURSE WITH WOUND |
Salt Marie Celeste - Salt |
do-CD |
"A welcome re-release, as an expanded version, of one of Nurse With Wound's most notable albums. Originally recorded in 2002 by Steven Stapleton and Colin Potter, the piece "Salt" was a limited-edition release to accompany an exhibition of Stapleton's artwork at The Horse Hospital in London. The following year Salt Marie Celeste was released as a single 61-minute-long piece of droning atmospheric sound that manages to be both minimal and maximal at the same time. A parade of strange, often unlikely, sounds appear and disappear during the voyage from Z to A. Described by many as being one of the most unsettling and/or engaging NWW recordings, it went on to feature in many "albums of the year" lists of 2003. This new edition comes in a six-panel digipack with stunning all-new artwork by Babs Santini." [label info]
"A visionary product of Steven Stapleton's mind under the guise of Nurse With Wound, the UK based imprint, Dirter, delivers a brand new, deluxe, expanded double CD, comprising two of the project's most sought after albums, “Salt” and “Salt Marie Celeste”. Created around the same time near the turn of the new millennium, each represents a radical rethinking of the terms of ambient music, responding to an ever-darkening world.
This new, expanded double CD edition makes two crucial artifacts from the project’s rare back catalog available for a new generation of listeners, after being out of print for years, making it an absolute must for every NWW fan.
Sprawling across more than 40 years of activity, few musical endeavours have been as influential and uncategorizable as Nurse With Wound. Founded as a trio in 1978 by Steven Stapleton, John Fothergill, and Heman Pathak, by the early '80s the band had morphed into a solo vehicle for Stapleton’s maverick and creative mind, remaining so over the decades since and producing well over a hundred full lengths and EPs. The vast majority of these, issued in relatively small editions, have remained long out of print, highly collectable, and difficult to find. Thankfully, the last few years have witnessed a steady stream of reissues, finally bringing them back into our hands and allowing them to be approached, appreciated, and understood for what they are. The latest of these, issued by the UK based imprint, Dirter, gathers two rare artefacts from NNW’s output in the new millennium, “Salt”, issued as a very limited LP in 2011, an “Salt Marie Celeste”, issued as a rare CD edition in 2003. Released together as a deluxe, expanded double CD, these albums represents a radical rethinking of the terms of ambient music, responding to, and catapulting the listener into, an ever-darkening world.
Nurse with Wound was easily one of the most singular projects to emerge during the late '70s in Britain; a moment that witnessed the ashes of punk’s first generation morph into radical new forms, often embracing the strategies of experimental music. Rooted in a surrealist ethos, while constantly pushing forward across a vast range of creative territory, the project utilised the approaches and attitudes of both punk and avant-garde, in new forms of music that incorporates a countless number of influences that crossed their paths; cabaret, nursery rhymes, pop music, and krautrock, not to mention the wild and wonderful touchstones that made it onto the sprawling NNW List.
In its original incarnation of Steven Stapleton, John Fothergill, and Heman Pathak, Nurse with Wound only made two albums, 1979’s “Chance Meeting On a Dissecting Table of a Sewing Machine and an Umbrella”, and 1980’s “To the Quiet Men from a Tiny Girl”. In the aftermath, it became effectively a solo project for Stapleton, within which he allowed himself a remarkable amount of creative freedom and breadth, while involving the collaborations of numerous ambitious fellow travellers in the sonic realms. One of these was Colin Potter, an experimental musician and sound engineer known for his particularly playful approach to sound that emerged in solo ventures across the 1980s, as well as within regular collaboration with luminaries in the experimental underground, including NNW, Current 93, and Organum.
Potters' collaborations with Stapleton under the guise of NNW begin during the early 1990s, and are present across a significant number of the project’s output over the coming decades. Among the most striking and significant of these is the 2003 album, “Salt Marie Celeste”, a visionary excursion into texture and ambience that has been described by many as being one of the most unsettling and/or engaging of all of the project's recordings. Once heard, there’s little question of why it went on to feature in many ‘albums of the year’ lists when it initially dropped.
Recorded in 2002 by Stapleton and Potter and stretching to more than an hour in length, “Salt Marie Celeste” is an immersive gesture of droning atmospheric sound, riding the razors edge between the minimal and maximal; its remarkable density producing a glistening effect. Deploying a vast range of sound sources - instrumental and non-instrumental alike - across the album’s gloomy journey haunting images emerge. Orchestral-like chords flutter against the sounds of passing cars, boat horns, and creaking doors, almost transforming the listener’s reality into the impression of being in a film. This may not be accidental. The piece was originally intended to provide aural ambience to an exhibit by Stapleton at London's Horse Hospital.
Encountering NNW in one of the project’s most prolific and creatively enthralling periods, continuously pushing the boundaries of experimental sound into new and unexpected territories, “Salt Marie Celeste” is unquestionably a high water mark in its output that has remained sinfully out of print for nearly two decades, making Dirter’s reissue a partially noteworthy event.
Standing as a counterpoint to “Salt Marie Celeste” is “Salt”, which was created during the same rough moment in 2002 by Steven Stapleton and Colin Potter. Issued nine years later as a limited edition LP to accompany an exhibition of Stapleton’s artwork at The Horse Hospital in London, it is cited as the source material of “Salt Marie Celeste”, and as such, in this new pairing, offers incredible illuminating effects.
“Salt” is effectively “Salt Marie Celeste” stripped back to its core; a brooding ambient expanse that wraps the listener in a sense of existential tension. A sea of sound drones under restraint, without the more tangible worldly elements - field recordings, etc. - allowing a deeper sense of abstraction and bodily loss, allowing texture and ambience to take on an orchestral bearing of scope.
Regarded as one of the key actors in the inception of industrial music, Nurse With Wound has always managed to defy its own history. As crucial documents of the project’s restless journey at the outset of the new millennium, hear just that: the rebellious child of punk and the post-war avant-garde, joined in conversation with the seminal ambient works of Brian Eno, as well as the more contemporary efforts of artists like Gas / Wolfgang Voigt.
Absolutely incredible to start to finish, Dirter's deluxe, expanded double CD of “Salt” and “Salt Marie Celeste” brings two of NNW’s most engaging and sought after releases back into print, after being virtually unavailable for year. Not to be missed." [Soundohm]
|
2022 |
€17.00 |
|
| O'CALLAGHAN, JAMES |
Espaces Tautologiques |
CD |
1st disc by Montréal-based young Canadian composer James O’Callaghan.Includes the trytich of acousmatic works that imagine the sounding bodies of instruments as resonant spaces. “Objects-Interiors” (2013), “Bodies-Soundings” (2014), “Empties-Impetus” (2014-15), “Isomorphic” (2011-14).
James O’Callaghan is a composer and sound artist based in Montréal praised for his “mastery of materials and musical form” (Électromania, Radio France) and “highly refined sense of colour” (Vancouver Sun).
His music intersects acoustic and electroacoustic media, employing field recordings, amplified found objects, computer-assisted transcription of environmental sounds, and unique performance conditions.
His work, spanning chamber, orchestral, live electronic and acousmatic idioms, audio installations, and site-specific performances, has been variously commissioned by the Groupe de recherches musicales (GRM), NYO Canada, Ensemble Paramirabo, Quasar, and Standing Wave, among others.
James O’Callaghan is the recipient of the Canada Council for the Arts’ Robert Fleming Prize (Canada, 2015), and his music has been awarded first prizes in the Salvatore Martirano Memorial Composition Award (USA, 2016), the Musicworks’ electronic music competition (Canada, 2015), the SOCAN Foundation Awards for Young Composers (Canada, 2013, ’14), including its 2014 John Weinzweig Grand Prize, and the Canadian Electroacoustic Community’s competition Jeu de temps / Times Play (CEC, Canada, 2013). His music was nominated for the Gaudeamus Award (The Netherlands, 2016) and the Juno Award for Classical Composition of the Year (Canada, 2014), and was a finalist in the the 8e Prix collégien de musique contemporaine (Québec, 2016) and the Klang competition (France, 2015).
Originally from Vancouver, he received a Master of Music degree in composition from McGill University in 2014, studying with Philippe Leroux, and a Bachelor of Fine Arts honours degree from Simon Fraser University in 2011, studying with Barry Truax.
www.empreintesdigitales.com
|
2016 |
€14.00 |
|
| O'ROURKE, JIM |
Hands That Bind |
LP |
"In addition to his day job transforming pop music with his own records, as well as those of Gastr del Sol, Loose Fur and Sonic Youth over the past few decades, Jim O'Rourke has been contracted for several dozen film scores over the years as well. It makes sense -- his abilities as an improviser, composer and producer allow him to interpret cinematic moments with a unique understanding for their construction and how they work. It doesn't hurt that Jim's a well-versed cineaste, a complete and total fan of watching films, which has given him a preternatural understanding of the role of music in movies. What doesn't make sense is how Hands That Bind is the first film soundtrack of Jim's to ever receive worldwide release! He's worked with filmmakers of international repute, like Olivier Assayas, Allison Anders, Werner Herzog and Kôji Wakamatsu! He served as music consultant on Richard Linklater's 2003 laff-fest, School of Rock! He's played in ensembles of award-winning documentaries and films alike! ... Made for an indie film that's been seen by festival audiences and not enough others, the soundtrack for Hands That Bind is a moody, atmospheric delight. Jim's roots in composition via tape-editing have evolved into a sophisticated assembly of found-and-processed sounds that achieve highly musical, near-orchestral majesty as they hang in the very air of the drama that unfolds in Kyle Armstrong's Hands That Bind. Described as a 'slow-burn prairie gothic drama' set in the farmland of Canada's Alberta province, and starring Paul Sparks, Susan Kent, Landon Liboiron, Nicholas Campbell, Will Oldham, and Bruce Dern, Hands That Bind is a spellbinding trip to the existential bone of rural working life in North America. As conflict rises over the hard-worked patches of land that provide a mere and mean existence, a desperate air settles in, as a series of mysterious, often supernatural occurrences rock the small community. O'Rourke's vaporous, serpentine musical backdrops and atmospheres reflect the obsessions and distractions of the film's principles; moods of all sorts seen or otherwise implied. Additionally, the music highlights cinematographer Mike McLaughlin's closely observed accounting of the farmers' environment, as well as the striking widescreen images of the big sky country with unnerving flair. For fans of Jim's ongoing steamroom series as well as collectors of soundtracks, Hands That Bind will provide hours of engrossing listening..." [press release]
https://jimorourke.bandcamp.com/album/hands-that-bind-original-motion-picture-soundtrack
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"The experimental producer and composer’s score for the prairie gothic film is luminous, faintly menacing, and clouded with uncertainty.
In Kyle Armstrong’s Hands That Bind, horror is hiding in plain sight. The film, which premiered in 2021 and is due for theatrical release this fall, is set amid desolate Alberta farmlands—a space whose relentless flatness you might assume allows for few mysteries. Straight roads stretch endlessly toward the horizon; barns outnumber trees by a wide margin. Any approaching threat ought to be visible from miles away. But in the world of this carefully paced prairie gothic, unsettling events arrive from out of nowhere, leading to more questions than answers. Who, or what, is mutilating the farmers’ cattle? Who’s in the black sedan making ominous drive-bys? And what are those lights swirling in the sky?
The crucial question, which drives the film’s grippingly human drama as well as its more cryptic events, is philosophical in nature: whether we can ever truly be certain about anything. “My opinion isn’t going to solve anything for you, because my opinion is that I don’t know,” remarks a bartender played by a scene-stealing Will Oldham, as he turns off a Scratch Acid song on the stereo. “Certainty is the rare exception to the rules of life. Whatever’s easiest to swallow is what most folks gravitate towards. Even if you lie to yourself, as best as you can, and look for something you call true, well, whatever your theory is, it’s probably wrong.”
Jim O’Rourke’s soundtrack is perfectly calibrated to this unforgiving space squashed between parched fields and blown-out sky. His palette—detuned piano, watery vibraphone, and a muted, amorphous shimmer that might be harmonium or synthesizer—matches the film’s dusty tones of beige and pewter and mobile-home brown. A high-end fizz resembles the incessant whine of crickets; the occasional spritz of static mimics the strange electrical phenomena on screen. Closer in spirit to the longform drone works of his Steamroom series than the fingerpicked Americana of Bad Timing or the mischievous classic rock of Simple Songs, O’Rourke’s instrumental score is, much like the landscape of the film, flat, faintly menacing, and miserly with its details. (Another comparison point might be the Boxhead Ensemble’s 1997 soundtrack to the film Dutch Harbor: Where the Sea Breaks Its Back, featuring O’Rourke alongside Chicago luminaries like Ken Vandermark and Douglas McCombs.)
It begins gently enough, with a high, lonesome harmony reminiscent of a freight train’s distant whistle. An acoustic bass plucks out a tentative melody. These opening passages move with pastoral ease. But the music quickly sours, clouded with uncertainty, as dark, shapeless figures clamber up from the lower register to disturb the tranquil upper reaches. Light is one of the film’s unspoken subjects—the implacable sun beating down on sere crops, the bokeh-like orbs cutting curlicues in the night sky—and O’Rourke’s soundtrack has similarly luminous properties. He favors soft attacks that come on like a backlist mist, and streaks of dissonance that flash out and disappear, swallowed up in the dull radiance.
The 38-minute score cycles through just a handful of themes and motifs, stirring them occasionally, as though to keep them from sticking. Halfway through, with “A Man’s Mind Will Play Tricks Upon Him,” brushed cymbals and plucked bass kick up a groove beneath a chiming piano melody; it’s one of few places where the record approaches anything resembling a song. But the moment is fleeting. In the concluding “One Way or Another I’m Gone,” the drumbeat returns, but this time there’s no lightness to it. It plods sullenly as jabbing tritones, a constant throughout the album, hint at a nameless evil. The soundtrack ends as it began, hovering in a nebulous interzone, neither major nor minor—ambiguous, ambivalent, unresolved.\\\" [Pitchfork]
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Eight years after “Simple Songs”, his last solo outing with the label, the towering talent of Jim O’Rourke returns to Drag City with “Hands That Bind”, the first LP in his long career to offer a proper release to his soundtrack work.
Composed for the director Kyle Armstrong’s 2021 film of the same name, the album\'s eight sublime musical complements interweave subtle melodic elements, bristling electroacoustic structures, and moody ambiences, collectively bridging the distance between O’Rourke\'s experimental work and his deft hand in the realms of pop. As absolutely brilliant as they come.
On the occasion of the release of “Hands That Bind” we are glad to announce a promotional sale with 15% off for members and 10% off for everybody on all available Drag CIty items, valid until Sunday at midnight or while stocks last.
The endlessly fruitful relationship between Jim O’Rourke and the Chicago based imprint, Drag City, traverses the better part of the last thirty years, with the label providing platform and support for one the great musical voices of our age. Beginning with his band Gastr del Sol\'s seminal second LP, “Crookt, Crackt, or Fly”, and running through his legendary suite of pop masterstrokes, - “Bad Timing”, “Eureka”, “Halfway to a Threeway”, and “Insignificance” - his involvement with projects like Loose Fur, The Red Krayola, and Mimidokodesuka, and a great deal more, his output with Drag City is a truly remarkable thing to behold, providing a snapshot into a restless creative mind within a collective body of intoxicating sounds. His last, 2015\'s “Simple Songs” build on the instrumental trajectory established by its predecessor, “The Visitor” (2009), but his latest, “Hands That Bind”, however, charts a new, surprising path. Composed as the soundtrack for the director Kyle Armstrong’s 2021 film of the same name, the album’s subtle melodic elements, played against bristling electroacoustic structures, bridge the distance between his more experimental work, largely housed in recent years on his own Steamroom imprint, and the pop-oriented work historically located on Drag City. Absolutely stunning from its first sounding to the last, “Hands That Bind” is yet another creative milestone from Jim O’Rourke that’s impossible to get off the turntable once the needle drops. Ten out of ten and not to be missed!
Jim O’Rourke is among the great voices of his generation. He is a true musical polymath, whose diverse efforts, since his emergence within the Chicago scene during the late 1980s, have continuously altered the creative landscape. Across more than a hundred albums, he has carved a relentless path, refusing conceptual stasis and the boundaries of genre and idiom, producing a body of work with such a profound impact and influence, that is so striking, forward-thinking, and important - while displaying a consistently unparalleled bar of quality - that it transcends the basic notions of art; becoming a network of sound, mirroring the pathways of an endlessly curious and uninhibited mind. O’Rourke’s music is thought unfolding in real time. Unbridled creativity in pursuit of the unknown.
Since his move to Japan during the late 2000s, O’Rourke’s recorded works have generally veered toward two polarities - direct, jointly billed, conversant collaborations with peers like Haino Keiji, Peter Brötzmann, Oren Ambarchi, Giovanni Di Domenico, Mats Gustafsson, Akira Sakata, Kassel Jaeger, and Fennesz, among numerous other, and privately created solo efforts falling under the banner of Steamroom - increasingly only issued as direct digital downloads. There has, however, been another body of work rumbling below the surface that has yet to receive a single proper release. Over the last few decades, O’Rourke has been composing several dozen film soundtracks for widely celebrated filmmakers like Olivier Assayas, Allison Anders, Werner Herzog and Kôji Wakamatsu. At long last, this mysterious area of the artist’s creative explorations begins to be more accessible with the release of “Hands That Bind”, composed for the director Kyle Armstrong’s 2021 film of the same name and his first film soundtrack to receive a proper release.
Anyone who knows much about O’Rourke is aware of his deep passion for film. Since his teens on the outskirts of Chicago, he has remained a devoted cinephile, which naturally, being the person and artist that he is, has cultivated an intimate understanding of the place and operation of music within the idiom. Any doubts to this end will be quickly laid to rest by the profound beauty and subtlety of “Hands That Bind”, composed for a “slow-burn prairie gothic drama” set in the farm-land of Canada’s Alberta province, that stars Paul Sparks, Susan Kent, Landon Liboiron, Nicholas Campbell, Will Oldham, and Bruce Dern, within which a series of mysterious, often supernatural occurrences, rock the small community.
Into these narratives and happening, O’Rourke composed eight sublime musical complements ranging from moody and atmospheric electroacoustic marvels that interweave long-tones and textural elements, drawn from diverse resonant sources, to more explicitly musically melodic and percussive pieces like “A Man\'s Mind Will Play Tricks On Him” and “One Way or Another I\'m Gone”, that return the ear to O’Rourke’s roots in post-rock and jazz. Joined collectively, these works evolve at glacial pace into a freestanding journey of startling proportions, building bridges within a single structure across the versatility and range that the artist has historically reserved for more discreetly located works, notably his poppier efforts for Drag City, and his more experimental works released on Steemroom.
Immersive and intoxicating, while displaying an understated elegance that only O’Rourke is capable of, whether regarded as a complement to moving image or a freestanding musical gesture, “Hands That Bind” is an absolute musical masterstroke of unparalleled brilliance, building on his long history of tape collage to construct a profoundly sophisticated assembly of found-and-processed sounds into orchestral majesty. Issued by Drag City as a beautifully produced LP, this is O’Rourke at his best. Ten out of ten and impossible to recommend enough. [Soundohm + press release ]
|
2023 |
€27.50 |
|
| OLIVEROS, PAULINE & MIYA MASAOKA |
Accordion Koto |
CD |
" 'Listening to this recording session I am lifted to a world both evanescent and yet somehow connected to a distinct culture of music making in the 21st century (Miya Masaoka) 'Though an unlikely combination - accordion and koto - it is not so much about the instruments as about the energies of the music that comes from the intensity of listening - listening as close to now as possible. We know that our consciousness is delayed by a fraction of a second that the brain interprets as now - however the body is instantaneous in its perception. Thus the phenomena of playing and becoming conscious of what has played - been played - is a continually surprising experience in such improvisation'. (Pauline Oliveros)
Miya Masaoka, musician, composer, performance artist, has created works for koto, laser interfaces, laptop and video and written scores for ensembles, chamber orchestras and mixed choirs. In her performance pieces she has investigated the sound and movement of insects, as well as the physiological responses of plants, the human brain, and her own body. Within these varied contexts of sound, music and nature, her performance work emphasizes the interactive, live nature of improvisation, and reflects an individual, contemporary expression of Japanese gagaku aural gesturalism. Masaoka's work has been presented in Japan, Canada, Europe, Eastern Europe and she has toured to India six times. Pauline Oliveros's life as a composer, performer and humanitarian is about opening her own and others' sensibilities it the many facets of sound. Since the 1960's she has influenced American Music profoundly through her work with improvisation, meditation, electronic music, myth and ritual. Many credit her with being the founder of present day meditative music. All of Oliveros' work emphasizes musicianship, attention strategies, and improvisational skills. She has been celebrated worldwide. During the 1960's John Rockwell named her work Bye Bye Butterfly as one of the most significant of that decade. In the 70's she represented the U.S. at the World's Fair in Osaka, Japan; during the 80's she was honored with a retrospective at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington D.C.: the 1990's began with a letter of distinction from the American Music Center presented at Lincoln Center in New York: In 2000 the 50th anniversary of her work was celebrated with the commissioning and performance of her Lunar Opera: Deep Listening For_tunes. Oliveros work is available on numerous recordings produced by companies internationally." [label info]
www.deeplistening.org
|
2007 |
€13.00 |
|
| ORAM, DAPHNE & VERA GRAY |
Listen Move and Dance |
LP |
The British composer, musician and audio engineer Daphne Oram was a pioneering figure in the use of electronic music. Coming to prominence through her work with the BBC "Radiophonic Workshop, which she co-founded, Oram was one of the first British composers to feature electronic instruments in her work and has been rightly hailed as helping musique concrete to become accepted in Britain. Born in 1925 and raised in rural Wiltshire, close to Stonehenge and the ancient stone circle at Avebury, Oram eschewed a place at the prestigious Royal College of Music to take a junior engineering role at the BBC in 1942, she was often tasked with creating sound effects, leading to cut-up experiments with tape recorders and the development of synthetic sound; her composition Still Point, involving two orchestras, two turntables and five microphones, was deemed too radical by the BBC, though she was promoted to studio manager in 1950, leading to the gradual introduction of electronic music and musique concrete techniques on BBC soundtracks. In 1957, she composed the music for the play Amphitryon 38, using a sine wave oscillator and homemade filters, and this and other subsequent works led to the establishment of the BBC Radiophonic Workshop the following year, but Oram soon tired of the conservative constraints of the BBC, leading to her resignation in 1959 to pursue her own vision at the Oramics Studios for Electronic Composition, located in Tower Folly, a former hop kiln located at Fairseat, near the village of Wrotham in rural Kent. Oramics was a radical sound composition technique that sought to transform images to music, enacted by drawing onto 35mm film, which would then be read by photo-electric cells; in addition to its use in Radiophonic Workshop material, Oramics was also employed for sound installations, theatre productions and feature films, such as The Innocents, though financial pressures forced Oram to seek a range of commercial engagements in addition to creating her own artistic works. The Listen Move And Dance series of BBC programmes were devised as a radical new technique to help British schoolchildren learn how to dance; on the LP releases, Vera Gray arranged short adaptations of classical pieces by Bartok, Stravinsky, Shostakovich and others, designed for “stamping, punching, kicking and jumping” movements, as well as “running lightly, dancing on toes” and “shaking all about,” which contrasted sharply with Oram’s electronic abstractions, which seemed to have been beamed in from outer space."
|
2019 |
€19.00 |
|
| ORBIT SERVICE |
Twilight |
CD |
Über BETA-LACTAM wird diese (Debut?)-CD dieser vierköpfigen Band aus Denver, CO, vertrieben. ORBIT SERVICE machen verträumten, langsamen Songwriter-Folk/Pop mit hochmelancholischer Note und schönen Instrumentalparts, dunkel, gefühlvoll & warm.... leicht elektronisch / psychedelisch, gitarrig, mit getragenen Melodica- bzw. Akkordeon-Arrangements.... erinnert an RED HOUSE PAINTERS, IDAHO, oder SYD BARRET wenn er heute noch Musik machen würde...
“Twilight, mastered by Grammy-award-winning engineer Matt Sandoski, explores dark, brooding territory with near-telepathic interplay. Seamless from start to finish, this eleven-song cycle sustains an ominous, slow-loping ambience suitable for doomsday -- or at least a rainy-morning shag. Twilight is a journey through lavish, woeful soundscapes populated by jilted lovers, sleepless nights, and friends that are friends no more. Masterfully arranged and orchestrated, the album envelopes the listener in a seamless world of soaring peaks and dismal, barren wastelands. Hope is absent, and the anger of youth has been replaced by melancholic acceptance of the world's hastening plummet at the hands of man. The album's pristine production, handled by both the band members and Grammy Award-winning engineer Matt Sandoski, blurs the line between listener and performer. Around every bend are sonic explorations that create a moving and shared experience.” [press release]
"The best way I can describe the sound of this album is to think of what you would get if you mixed PORTISHEAD, a little PINK FLOYD, RADIOHEAD, and the slower side of PORCUPINE TREE." [Jettmandude, www.peacedogman.com, May 2005]
|
2005 |
€10.00 |
|
| ORGANUM ELECTRONICS |
Quietude |
CD |
"Organum Electronics ‘Quietude’ is another intense aural experience. A dense work, consisting of buzzing washes of electronic sounds, reminiscent of the very first Organum recordings. In common with other recent works, the piece uses a carefully chosen set of sound sources, overlaid and structured to form a tapestry of shifting textures. Recorded in 2021 and edited by Alan Jones at RMS Studios South London, the CD comes in a 4-panel Digisleeve with graphic artwork by Jonathan Coleclough. UK-based composer and visual artist David Jackman began his career in the late 1960s in the experimental group Scratch Orchestra, co-founded by Cornelius Cardew. He started recording solo work in the late 1970s, mostly on self-released cassettes in very small numbers. In the early 1980s he established his main project, Organum, which evolved into a new version under the name Organum Electronics in 2019. Five OE albums have been released by Japanese imprint Siren Records. ‘Quietude’ (DS128) is the first OE release on Die Stadt.. This is the second of seven albums scheduled for release on Die Stadt up until the end of 2024. As well as several albums under the OE moniker these will include works under David Jackman’s own name." [press release]
"David Jackman sprach einmal bzgl. seiner sogenanten „Holy“-Trilogie davon, diese Arbeiten seien geprägt von „a lot of repetition; more accurately, near repetition. It is a quality which I find most elegant.“ Dieses Motiv der (Fast-)Wiederholung zeigte sich auch auf Alben wie dem 2018 erscheinenen Organum-Album „Raven“ oder auf den unter eigenem Namen erschienenen Alben „Herbstsonne“ und „Silence In That Time“. Die dort zu hörenden verhallenden Klavierakkorde, manchmal mit Glockenläuten, Orgeldrones oder dem Krähen von Vögeln, waren eine fast schon zirkuläre, vielleicht auch meditative Musik.
Dann erschien plötzlich mit Organum Electronics 2019 ein Album, das dieses Zurückhaltende, Meditative rabiat beendete. Über den Nachfolger „Stilness“ aus dem Jahr 2020 konnte man hier lesen: „Frühere Organumaufnahmen (z.B. die auf L.A.Y.L.A.H.) waren geprägt von einer Unruhe, die neuen Aufnahmen sind auf gewisse Weise etwas statischer, ganz so, als wolle Jackman seine eigene Interpretation von Wall Noise spielen. Auf 35 Minuten wird der Hörende von einem massiven Drone umgeben.“ Hier klang Jackman plötzlich wieder, wenn auch unter „elektronischer“ Fokussierung, so „noisy“, wie auf seinen frühe(re)n Aufnahmen.
Nach insgesamt fünf Alben unter diesem Projektnamen auf Siren Records kündigte Die Stadt aus Bremen vor einiger Zeit eine umfangreiche Reihe mit weiteren Veröffentlichungen an: Im Abstand von drei bis vier Monaten werden bis 2024/2025 insgesamt sieben Jackman/Organum-Alben (von denen zwei Doppel-CDs sind) veröffentlicht werden.
Gerade erschienen sind die ersten zwei Alben dieser Reihe: Die Tradition der (manchmal kurios geschriebenen) Einworttitel fortführend, sind „Quietude“ und „Darcknes“ – natürlich, möchte man sagen – von Ästhetik wie auch vom Klang sehr eng miteinander verbunden: Auf „Quietude“ gibt es einen langen Track (hier 40 Minuten lang), der den Hörer unter sich zu begraben droht (ganz im Gegensatz zu der im Titel angesprochenen „Ruhe“). Es gibt immer wieder leichte (Ver-)Änderungen, kaum wahrnehmbare Verschiebungen in der Textur, so dass diese Lärmwand –
das Label spricht nicht unzutreffend von „buzzing washes of electronic sounds“ – sich durchaus (ver-)ändert. Was im Gegensatz zu den fünf vorhergegangenen Alben auffällt, ist, dass tatsächliche neue (bzw. alte) Elemente hinzukommen. Plötzlich tauchen auf „Quietude“ nämlich inmitten des Surrens und Dröhnens Glocken auf, die auf früheren Aufnahmen zu finden waren.
Das gleichzeitig veröffentlichte Album „Darcknes“ besteht aus einem 48 Minuten langen Track, auf dem neben dem Läuten von Glocken auch noch das Krähen von Raben zu hören ist.
Es ist mit Hinblick auf David Jackmans Zurückhaltung hinsichtlich öffentlicher Äußerungen letztlich müßig, herauszulesen zu wollen, was seine Konzeption hinter diesen Aufnahmen ist, aber letztlich spielt das auch keine Rolle, schließlich sagte er selbst einmal vor vielen Jahren in einem Interview mit Paul Lemos: “Really, there’s no mystery to the music; I just make it because I want those sounds to exist. There’s no other reason.” Ich habe in einer früheren Besprechung von Jackmans Arbeit einmal – in Anlehnung an eine Studie zum literarischen Expressionismus, in der u.a. die Prosa Benns dieses Attribut bekam – diese als “absolut” bezeichnet. Man kann gespannt sein, was die nächsten Veröffentlichungen bringen werden." [MG / African Paper]
"It's never easy to review music by David Jackman, not work under his own name, or work as Organum, or as it is these days, Organum Electronics. He used the latter on five releases by Siren Records, and when they announced the fifth would be the last, I assumed (for no particular reason) that would be the end of that name. Maybe because Die Stadts hasn't been too active with new releases, I didn't realise they could release more work, as basically it's the other go-to place for Jackman to release his music. They announced a series of seven works by Jackman, and their announcement didn't say whether they'll all be by Organum Electronics. The first two are. I didn't return to the five previous albums, partly out of the usual lack of time and maybe because I thought of this as
making a fresh start. Listening to these two new releases, I remember what the previous ones sounded like. Here also comes what I find 'difficult' about reviewing Jackman's work, and that's a lot of it is very similar, but then, if you see the cover, four panels with the band name and the title, and nothing else, you know the man likes repetition. And yet, most curious indeed, one is never too sure if the repeat is a one-on-one copy or a slight variation thereof. These two works may sound the same, but they aren't. In 'Darckness', some field recordings pop up, church bells, among the dense mass of electronic sound, whereas 'Quietude' seems all electronic throughout. Both seem to have been cut from more extensive work, ending quite abruptly. The overall sound design is quite similar in both pieces, and they share a general grimness about these works, as with many of his works. Think of this as being locked up in a factory, with sounds buzzing everywhere, and reminding me of the early harshness of Organum, sans electronics: dense, minimal and dark. Can I finish with 'another excellent work'? It's most likely I have used that before in connection with Jackman's work, and I will probably repeat that in the future." [FdW / Vital Weekly]
|
2023 |
€15.00 |
|
| |
Darcknes |
CD |
"Organum Electronics ‘Darcknes’ is the sibling album of ‘Quietude’ (DS128). It is a similarly dense work, consisting of buzzing washes of electronic sounds, reminiscent of the very first Organum recordings. In common with other recent works, the piece uses a carefully chosen set of sound sources, overlaid and structured to form a tapestry of shifting textures. Recorded in 2021 and edited by Alan Jones at RMS Studios South London, the CD comes in a 4-panel Digisleeve with graphic artwork by Jonathan Coleclough. UK-based composer and visual artist David Jackman began his career in the late 1960s in the experimental group Scratch Orchestra, co-founded by Cornelius Cardew. He started recording solo work in the late 1970s, mostly on self-released cassettes in very small numbers. In the early 1980s he established his main project, Organum, which evolved into a new version under the name Organum Electronics in 2019. Five OE albums have been released by Japanese imprint Siren Records. ‘Darcknes’ (DS130) is the second OE release on Die Stadt. This is the second of seven albums scheduled for release on Die Stadt up until the end of 2024. As well as several albums under the OE moniker these will include works under David Jackman’s own name." [label info]
"It's never easy to review music by David Jackman, not work under his own name, or work as Organum, or as it is these days, Organum Electronics. He used the latter on five releases by Siren Records, and when they announced the fifth would be the last, I assumed (for no particular reason) that would be the end of that name. Maybe because Die Stadts hasn't been too active with new releases, I didn't realise they could release more work, as basically it's the other go-to place for Jackman to release his music. They announced a series of seven works by Jackman, and their announcement didn't say whether they'll all be by Organum Electronics. The first two are. I didn't return to the five previous albums, partly out of the usual lack of time and maybe because I thought of this as
making a fresh start. Listening to these two new releases, I remember what the previous ones sounded like. Here also comes what I find 'difficult' about reviewing Jackman's work, and that's a lot of it is very similar, but then, if you see the cover, four panels with the band name and the title, and nothing else, you know the man likes repetition. And yet, most curious indeed, one is never too sure if the repeat is a one-on-one copy or a slight variation thereof. These two works may sound the same, but they aren't. In 'Darckness', some field recordings pop up, church bells, among the dense mass of electronic sound, whereas 'Quietude' seems all electronic throughout. Both seem to have been cut from more extensive work, ending quite abruptly. The overall sound design is quite similar in both pieces, and they share a general grimness about these works, as with many of his works. Think of this as being locked up in a factory, with sounds buzzing everywhere, and reminding me of the early harshness of Organum, sans electronics: dense, minimal and dark. Can I finish with 'another excellent work'? It's most likely I have used that before in connection with Jackman's work, and I will probably repeat that in the future." [FdW / Vital Weekly]
|
2023 |
€15.00 |
|
| ORPHANAGE COMMITTEE |
Sol in Solus |
LP |
The Orphanage Committee is the brainchild of Orphan S.C. Wallace.
The committee in itself can be seen as a singular abstract entity, while its different faces show themselves in their different aspects of music or variety of genre they create.
Second vinyl LP for label resident Orphan Wallace!
'Sol In Solus' is a concept album about nature and self-reflexion.
An overall organic suite in ten parts comprising multi genres and instruments conceived and performed by this talented local electronic artist!
Guest appearance by Michiel De Malsche on A: V.Topsoil Girl.
Back to nature!
'For the Sun is our Force of Habit,
Giver and Taker of Life,
For our Solus is the Merit,
The Way, the Truth, the Light.'
Tracklist
A: I.Tiny Rivers II.Mother Tree III.Le Fort IV.Bound Like Blood/My Very Last Chance V.Topsoil Girl
B: I.Aquarius II.Forest Spirits+ III.As Long As I Have My Sense Of Wonder IV.Earth, Bind, Oxidize V.My Darling Thunder
Tags: abstract, ambient, experimental, field recording, minimal, modern classical
#################
" 'Sol In Solus' is already the fourth release by Belgium's Orphan S.C. Wallace, also known as The Orphanage Committee. He writes, "The committee in itself can be seen as a singular abstract entity, while its different faces show themselves in their different aspects of music or variety of genre they
create, " which may account for the slightly varying approaches in sound. The title means The Sun Alone, a concept album "about nature and self-reflexion". Ten parts spread over two sides of the record, each flowing into the next. Instruments aren't mentioned, but if I have to guess, I'd say there is an abundance of sampling going on, and many of these are samples from real instruments. Lots of percussion, keyboards, strings and such, and the result is again a diversification from his earlier work. The music is atmospheric again but in a slightly more orchestral sense of the word. The Orphanage Committee isn't using big-time-sustaining sounds but melodic sampled electronics. One name that sprang to mind was Fetish Park, but I forget which CD of theirs. The whole thing has an air of modern classical music but an artificial version. I admit not seeing the relation with nature easily here, or, come to think of it, self-reflection. Only when he mixes some field recordings do things become more nature-based, obviously with these forest sounds. It is all quite pleasant to hear, maybe too lovely and light at times; perhaps I love a bit of darkness, a bit too much, and there isn't always that much of it here. Having said that, there is enough to enjoy here, as each of the ten sections works very well as part of a whole, and there is some excellent variation in the music here. Another record by The Orphanage Committee, another variation in approaches, another winner." [FdW / Vital Weekly] |
2023 |
€20.00 |
|
| ORPHAX |
De Tragedie van een Liedjesschrijver zonder Woorden |
CD |
" “De tragedie van een liedjesschrijver zonder woorden” (The tragedy of a song writer without words) is the first normal CD by Orphax. This album contains music that has been written between April 2005 and July 2007 and retouched again in 2008 and 2010. The period these songs were written was one with many transitions in the live of van Erve. It was the end of his student years, the begin of his working years, a period where he struggled with an at that time unknown disease, a period where he was searching for answers to questions he didn't know. Inspired by this he wrote these wordless pieces.
The music on this release, at first planned for release in 2011, shows yet another look into the ever expanding work by Orphax. Even more than his other work this one is dealing with small details in the composition creating an environment that feels comfortable but at the same time grabs you by the throat. The music goes from minimal droning sounds to isolationist soundscapes and experimental ambient moods.
Orphax is the project by Sietse van Erve, born in Tilburg, living in Amsterdam, The Netherlands. Orphax works in the field of experimental electronic music once started out with ambient music slowly incorporating drone elements he now has a focus on minimalist music and lo-fi droning sounds. With every release he tries out new ways to get to his goal to create a psychedelic mind influencing atmosphere.
So far he has released several CD-R releases both private as on small labels such as Cut Hands and Verato Project, Broken20 and Moving Furniture Records.
In the past he was performed and worked with artists such as The Village Orchestra, Jos Smolders, and Erstlaub. He also shared the stage with musicians such as Charalambides, Sindre Bjerga, Zebra (Frans de Waard & Roel Meelkop), Staplerfahrer, Dirk Serries and many others.
Limited Special Edition with bonus CD only available directly through Orphax." [label info]
www.movingfurniturerecords.com
"A while in the making, this 'tragedy of a song writer without words', which was already recorded between 2005 and 2005, later reworked, in 2008 and 2010 and then left in the hands of a less reliable label, but now being released as a CD on Orphax' own label, Moving Furniture Records. Orphax, you should know, is the work of Sietse van Erve and perhaps the easiest thing to say is that he is a computer musician, and one of the few I know who works extensively with AudioMulch, a sort of build your own musical software, along the lines of Max/msp or pure data. He has released a whole bunch of things, mostly CDRs and downloads, but now his first CD, and perhaps I am listening to this differently, but it sounds great. Do I listen better, more closely because this is a CD? I would hope it doesn't make any difference, but the five pieces, all with titles in Dutch, showcase what Orphax does best. Creating glitch like music, with microscopic changes, deep end drones and it works heavily on the mind. You could wonder wether something 'new' happens here, but that's not the point I think. Orphax plays some glitch based music which is firmly rooted in minimalism and has a tendency towards noise, but unlike some of his previous releases, the element of noise is very much under control here: it's there for sure, it serves the purpose of the music but it doesn't get in the way of whatever is going on, the drones, the ambience. Carefully building sound constructions, these six pieces is each a beauty to hear. This is, and I am not exaggerating here, by far the best Orphax release I have heard. It's a great decision to have this on a real CD, a show of confidence." [FdW/Vital Weekly]
|
2013 |
€11.50 |
|
| OSSO EXOTICO |
VII (SOLD OUT) |
7 |
"OSSO EXÓTICO hail from Lisboa, Portugal, and since their early releases (three LPs) they have developed a truly unique style – an atmospheric, meditative ambience created through the use of concrete classical instruments. Their last CD Church Organ Works (on Sonoris, France) was played entirely on church organs.... This EP could be considered a follow-up to the CD. The material presented here was likewise produced solely on church organs. OSSO EXÓTICO don't play the organ in the orthodox, classical manner; they instead create a minimal lull, both orchestral & droneful, using the natural reverberation of the church, thus evoking full, other-worldy atmospheres. This EP might make you listen attentively to a different kind of organic harmony. The "music of the spheres" can be found here!!
CLEAR VINYL, COVERS CONTAIN SPICES!
ALL 7"es APPEAR IN A LIMITED & NUMBERED EDITION OF 250 COPIES." [press release]
|
1999 |
€ |
|
| OTTAVI, JULIEN |
The Black Symphony |
CD |
"The new solo work by inventive French soundartist is the true symphony, divided into several parts titled like 'Adagio', 'Allegro', 'Menuet', etc. but without any hints to traditional instruments or classical orchestration - just the pure white noise structures. A mediactivist, artist-researcher, composer / musician, poet and tongues destroyer, experimental film maker and anarchitect, founder and member of Apo33, Julien Ottavi is involved in research and creative work, combining sound art, real-time video, new technologies and body performances. Since 1997, he develops a composition work using voice and its transformation through computer. Active developer of audio/visual programs with Puredata, he has also developed since many years DIY electronics (radio transmitters, oscillators, mixers, amplifiers, video transmitters, etc) in the perspective of knowledge sharing on technological development. His practices is not limited to the art spheres but crosses different fields from technological development to philosophy / theoretical research, biomimetic analysis & experimentation. Release date is 20th July 2013. Limited edition of 500 copies in jewelcase." [label info]
www.monochromevision.ru
|
2013 |
€12.00 |
|
| OUSTAD, KRISTOFFER |
Filth Haven |
CD |
"As one half of Swedish/Norwegian industrial duo K.N.O., Kristoffer Oustad is no stranger to the Malignant roster, and yet within the broader context of the K.N.O. sound, his exact contributions were never fully known, or at least immediately recognizable. Listening to his debut solo recording, it becomes evident that the more emotive and moody qualities within those recordings seemed to be his primary responsibility. The 7 tracks that comprise Filth Haven operate on a palpable psychological level and are perhaps some of the most personal and deeply emotional recordings Malignant has released. Oustad shows an innate ability to craft intricate and detailed pieces of grey hued, analog darkness that feel suspended in time… dreamlike and meditative, yet always hinting at something ominous on the horizon, as gradually shifting textures, drifting tones and haunting melodies intersect in a hazy, somnambulant procession. While the method for composition (analog synths, guitar, and field recordings) may have been the same, each track is uniquely different than the next, but in the end, feels tightly bound together by a cinematic framework that sinks deep into your consciousness. An absolutely astounding and rewarding work for those that appreciate all manner of dark music." [label info]
www.malignantrecords.com
"Filth Haven is the first full length release published by the Norwegian Kristoffer Oustad under his own name. In the past Oustad has offered several albums and compilation works under the moniker of Kristoffer Nyströms Orkester (a power industrial duet formed with Peter Nyström of Megaptera) and Plague Machinery and the post-metal, avant-garde industrial project V:28.
Filth Haven is an ultimate bleak, demonic and epic soundscaping inferno. Massive, absorbing and grimy, the dark instrumental music rituals offered here are made of brooding droney chords, treated found sources, ultra-sonic electronic assaults, micro signals, harsh noises, disembodied chants and treated hypnotic-like percussive elements. The whole orchestration is amazingly captivating and exceptionally turbulent, as if we enter in complete nightmare-ish hallucinations which send us back to primordial origins or to some forgotten cosmic events. ‘Filth Haven’ is a tremendously hell-ish narrative album, a sublime illustration of infernal scenes of extravagance and final desolation we can appreciate in terrifying painting visions of John Martin, John Charles Dollman or Adolf Hiremy-Hirschl, just to name a few. The apocalyptic mood is interrupted by rare field recordings as in the otherworldly Acheron-like droning sound tapestry of “Row me over.”
Mesmeric splendor, compelling musical procession and dark contemplative estates that will ravish addicted fans of isolationist ambient music and anything related to post-industrial experimentalism. With this album Malignant Records proves one more time that they figure among the most iconic producers of shimmering industrial ambient music. Filth Haven is definitely a recommended album for collectors as well as beginners in the genre." [Philippe Blache, IGLOO MAGAZINE]
|
2015 |
€12.00 |
|
| PARLANE, ROSY |
Jessamine |
CD |
"Wie schon am ebenfalls bei Touch verlegten Vorgänger »Iris« finden sich auf »Jessamine« lediglich drei Tracks, nach der Betitelung wohl als Teile eines großen Ganzen zu hören, die vom Umfang her wieder eine Spieldauer von fast fünfzig Minuten erreichen. Dabei weisen deren durchwegs von Rhythmus und Melodie befreite Konturen recht eindeutige Züge klassischer Drones auf, die in den entscheidenden Momenten von monolithischem Dröhnen weg in Richtung konzentriert geschichteter Textur-Overloads tendieren und großzügig angelegte Spannungsbögen vornehmlich aus gekonnt inszenierten Intensitätsverläufen zwischen Loslassen und Verdichtung rekrutieren. Das dazu notwendige Instrumentarium ist zum Großteil akustisch und reicht von Gitarre und Piano bis hin zu Field Recordings, Radios oder verschiedenen Haushaltsobjekten. So bleibt auch nach dem digitalen Reißwolf eine, durch die glasklare Produktion eigenartig verstärkte, organische Grundstimmung erhalten, die durchaus im Widerstreit zur fokussierten, geradlinigen Ausrichtung der Tracks steht. Da gibt es kein Ausfransen, kein flächiges Abschweifen; Parlane entwirft einen beeindruckend konsequenten, fast schon ökonomischen Flow, zurrt die unruhigen Kleinstbestandteile, knackend, knisternd und Obertonfunken schlagend, zu drei hypnotischen HighTech-Ambient-Monstern zusammen und setzt auf die Dramaturgie der Dynamik. Oder umgekehrt? Während jedenfalls der erste Track noch vor dem Klimax ein trotzdem versöhnliches Ende findet und die große Erlösung im folgenden lediglich spärlich angedeutet wird, eigentlich nicht mehr als ein digitales Bäuerchen darstellt, explodiert das beinahe zwanzigminütige Schlussstück aus mittels Kaminfeuerknistern geerdetem, euphorisch verstrichenen Klanglayern zu einer wahrhaft infernalischen Wall of Sound, aufgezogen mit Hilfe von acht Gastmusikern, die ihre elektronisch verstärkten Streich- und Saiteninstrumente hier zu einem Crescendo auflaufen lassen, das seines gleichen sucht. Die Sicherheit und Konsequenz, mit der Parlane seine Soundskulpturen bearbeitet, sowie eine herbe, oft schwer fassbare Schönheit, die sich gleichermaßen durch harsche Noisewälle und entschlackte Ambientpassagen streckt, machen »Jessamine« zu einer enorm intensiven Erfahrung und darüber hinaus zu einem der besten Alben an den Outskirts elektronischer Avantgarde des vergangenen Jahres." [Tobias Bolt / Quietnoise]
"This is New Zealand-based (and former Thela member) Rosy Parlane's second full-length release on Touch. His previous album, Iris (2004), was hailed by Jim Haynes in The Wire who wrote: "Jon Wozencroft's impeccable photography and design packages Rosy Parlane's Iris inside a predominantly blue package, inextricably linking the music to the emotional resonance of the color... He flushes his soundfields with cascades of digital fragments which he separates into two distinct compositional categories. On the one hand, Parlane stretches sounds from guitar, piano and organ into unrecognizable drones that swell into dense layerings, every once in a while coalescing into fluttering half-melodies. On the other, he emphasizes the textural qualities of those digital fragments, simulating the natural acoustics of ice crackling from trees in winter or the gentle patter of rain on a windowsill. When fusing these together by placing the textures against the backdrop of the drone, Parlane effectively builds pointillist sound environments with a profoundly human melancholia." With Jessamine, Rosy develops these themes, and continues to incorporate new musical elements from unconventional as well as orchestral instrumentation. To him, everything is an instrument: from household objects to nature sounds. But it is the human element which gives his work such a distinctive sound. Ranging from ambient to noise, he gives full rein to textures of living; to start, languid and mournful; later harsh and assertive. Jessamine is a magnificent follow-up to a classic Touch debut. Rosy Parlane: electric and acoustic guitars, piano, melodica, accordion, violin, trombone, snare drum, shimsaw, amplified sawblade, bowed metal, household objects, contact microphones, field recordings, radio, computer. Additional contributions by Marcel Bear, Tetuzi Akiyama, Lasse Marhaug, Anthony Guerra, Michael Morley, Donald McPherson, Matthew Hyland, David Mitchell, Stefan Neville and Campbell Kneale." [press release]
"A little over two years ago, Rosy Parlane, made his debut on Touch with 'Iris', following solo releases on Sigma, and a membership of such bands as Thela and Parmetier. Three tracks back then, and on 'Jessamine' again three tracks. Rosy plays here electric and acoustic guitars, piano, melodica, accordion, violin, trombone, snare drum, shimsaw (an instrument designed by Marcel Bear), bowed metal, household objects, field recordings, radio, computer and contact microphone, and if that isn't enough there is also help from a whole bunch of people who played guitar. The first track starts out in common territory: ambient glitch made with bowed guitars, violins, but Parlane's music is more angular. It has a sharper edge, already in this first piece. Even a bit of old Organum could be traced in these scraping and bowing sounds. It's hard to say if all the instruments mentioned on the cover are also there, but guitars are definitely there. In the loudest part, 'Part Three' things become orgasmic loud, almost in a Merzbow manner, but Parlane keeps things nicely under control. Overall, Parlane has a richer sound than on 'Iris', there is more happening and he is stepping out of the more safer microsound glitch. Quite a leap forward!" [FdW / Vital Weekly]
|
2006 |
€14.50 |
|
| PARMEGIANI, BERNARD |
Violostries |
LP |
SIDE A
Violostries (1963/64), 16’39
- Introduction, 0’55
- Pulsion / Miroirs, 3'54
- Jeu de cellules, 2'52
- Végétal, 8'46
SIDE B
Capture éphémère (1967, version 1988), 11’48
La Roue Ferris (1971), 10’45
Violostries (1963/64), 16'39
Premiered and recorded in April 1965 at the Royan Festival - France, by Devy Erlih (violin) & Bernard Parmegiani (sound projection).
Violostries represents the intersection of several musical research directions, presented as two simultaneous dialogues - composer/performer and instrument/orchestra.
After a short introduction tutti very spatialized:
1. Pulsion/Miroirs: multiplied by itself, the violin is projected into the four corners of the sound space.
2. Jeu de cellules: concertante piece for violin and audio medium, the latter being made up of very tightly woven microsounds.
3. Végétal: slow and invisible development following a continuous time, resulting from an internal and permanent processing of the matter.
Capture éphémère (1967, 1988 version), 11'48
This work was composed in four tracks in 1967 for quadraphonic diffusion.
Remixed in stereo in 1988.
Premiered at the Studio 105 of the Maison de la Radio, Paris, May 1967.
Sounds - noises that circulate as time unfolds - continue to exist despite our recording them.
Breaths, fluttering wings: ephemeral microsonic sounds streaking space, sound scratches, landslides, bounces, vertigo of solid objects falling into an abyssal void, multiple snapshots forever frozen in their fall. As many symbols leave inside us the permanent trace of their ephemeral brushing against our ear.
Some day, a desert, a sound, then never again....
Somewhere, in my head and body something still resonates... resonance, what could be more ephemeral.
La Roue Ferris (1971), 10'45
Premiered at the Festival des chantiers navals, Menton, on August 26, 1971.
Sound projection: Bernard Parmegiani.
La Roue Ferris (Ferris wheel) spins, merging with its own resonance, stubbornly perpetuating its variations. It only sketches a regularly evolving movement around a constant axis. Each of its towers generates thick sonic layers that penetrate each other, producing a very fluid interweaving. The crackling of the origin eventually metamorphoses into sonic threads whose lightness recalls high-altitude clouds, cirrus clouds, haunted by the cries of swifts twirling in the warm air. The wondrous arises and dies off, leaving us with an illusion of duration.
https://recollectiongrm.bandcamp.com/album/violostries |
2020 |
€20.00 |
|
| PATERAS, ANTHONY |
Collected Works Vol. II (2005-2018) |
5 x CD |
"A 5-disc overview of exploratory works written between 2005 and 2018, including long-form ensemble pieces, idiosyncratic trio combinations and a collection of 10 solos investigating various potential interactions between instrument and tape.
Anthony Pateras is an Australian composer, pianist and electronic musician whose current work focuses on electro-acoustic orchestration, temporal hallucination and sound phenomena.
Pateras has created over 75 works, receiving performances from the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Australian Chamber Orchestra and BBC Symphony, commissions from INA-GRM, Slagwerk Den Haag and Südwestrundfunk Baden-Baden, residencies from ZKM, Akademie Schloss Solitude and La Becque, and fellowships from Creative Victoria, and the Ian Potter and Sydney Myer Foundations.
He has released over 40 albums including collaborations with Mike Patton, Chris Abrahams and Valerio Tricoli, guested on records by Oren Ambarchi, Sunn O))) and Fennesz, as well as working in film with director Pia Borg, producer François Tetaz and literary critic Sylvère Lotringer. Aside from solo concerts, Pateras currently performs with eRikm, Jérôme Noetinger and North of North.
Operating independently, he initiated the Immediata series in 2012 as a music and text project to create a dialogue around contemporary music making in the early 21st century.
This is the 15th and last release in the Immediata series, containing close to five and a half hours of music, beautifully presented in a silver box with black hotstamping, 24 page booklet and a ribbon.
Mastered by Lachlan Carrick at Moose Mastering, with production generously supported by the Robert D. Bielecki Foundation."
https://immediata.bandcamp.com/album/imm015-collected-works-vol-ii-2005-2018
|
2018 |
€55.00 |
|
| PENDERECKI, KRZYSZTOF |
Kosmogonia |
CD |
Unnerving, intense, bloodcurdling, sinister, dramatic – the music of “Kosmogonia” features Penderecki’s famous, unorthodox instrumental techniques, and some of the darkest music ever composed.
Hailed by The Guardian as “Poland’s greatest living composer”, Krzysztof Penderecki is the maestro behind the unforgettable, disturbing music on The Shining (including ‘De Natura Sonoris No. 2’, featured here). A complex tapestry of sound with striking use of pizzicato and flexatone, with aggressive barrages from brass and percussion, dissonant woodwind chords, spoken and hissing sounds, fervent strings, swirling organ, climactic choral and solo vocals.
Krzysztof Penderecki’s unique music has featured in films such as: The Shining, The Exorcist, Children Of Men, The People Under The Stairs, Shutter Island, and many more.
Thanks to the estate of Krzysztof Penderecki, Cold Spring are honoured to present this masterpiece in digital format for the first time since the 1974 vinyl release. Sympathetically remastered for CD by Denis Blackham and Martin Bowes.
Composed by Krzysztof Penderecki
Performed By: Chorus and Symphony Orchestra of the National Philharmonic, Warsaw
Tenor: Kazimierz Pustelak
Soprano: Stefania Woytowicz
Bass: Bernard Ładysz
Chorus Master: Jozef Bok
Conductor: Andrzej Markowski
Mastered By: Denis Blackham (Skye Mastering)
Final Mastering: Martin Bowes (The Cage)
Graphic Design: Abby Helasdottir
coldspring.bandcamp.com/album/kosmogonia-csr238cd
www.coldspring.co.uk
|
2017 |
€12.00 |
|
| PENJAGA INSAF |
Sarna Sadja |
CD |
"For several years Ingo Sauerbrey made extensive travels through Indonesia, always carrying recording equipment to collect sounds as an audio diary. During periodic return trips to Germany, he started to work on the recordings with electronic devices. Some sounds were edited, cut and transformed, while others were kept completely intact. To name a few sound sources only recordings from Water Puppet and Shadow Theatres, Gamelan and various welcoming and fighting dances like Kecak, Jegog and the Tarian Caci were used for this album. Some of those impressive performances were made of 60 to 90 men chanting and dancing while a bamboo orchestra used 4 meter long bamboo sticks playing bass drums on it. SAMA SADJA is waving together the sounds of living traditions, religions and languages with spherical ambient pads and electronically edited drones from the field recordings. This is an contemplative and intimate soundtrack from the deepest heart of South East Asia." [label info]
www.loki-found.de
"Brussels' label Ini.itu specializes in music that deals one way or the other with Indonesia, the land, the people, the nature. They should be paying attention to this release by Ingo Sauerbrey, who plays music as Penjaga Insaf. For years now he has been traveling to Indonesia armed with a recorder to tape original Indonesian music from puppet theatres, gamelan and such like, but also from countries such as Vietnam which he uses in his compositions. I didn't study the booklet very hard when I started to play this and I thought at the beginning this was some kind of ambient act using lots of digital synthesizers and a bit of percussion and some heavily processed voices, but as the album progresses the field recordings become clearer and clearer. Sauerbrey reworks the recordings pretty neatly, not beyond recognition, so you always have a clear picture of what is going on. He mixes these together with a fine blend of digital synthesizers, borrowed from the world of ambient dance music.
The whole thing is pretty densely layered and it seems like is something going on all levels at the same time. Probably just as colorful as traditional puppet play. An excellent release of highly imaginative music." [FdW/Vital Weekly]
|
2010 |
€13.00 |
|
| PER ASPERA |
Nil Desperandum |
CD |
Drittes Album dieses uns bisher noch unbekannten polnischen dark ambient-Projekts, das auf NIL DESPERANDUM eine ureigenste Vision von dunkler elektronischer Ambience entwirft, wo sehr minimal & bedächtig instrumentierte Synth-Parts of ebenso spärlich eingesetzte Sakral-Gesänge stoßen, es später aber Bezüge zu 9/11 gibt und die Klänge rauher & experimenteller werden. Ingesamt wirkt das alles sehr ausgereift & überlegt komponiert, 7 Stücke die aufeinander aufbauen.
Sehr ambitioniert und fesselnd !
"The third and the most complete release by one of the most talented ambient artists hailing from Poland these days. Unifying vast array of elements, Per Aspera once again achieves remarkably introvert but vibrant style.
Eerie industrial atmosphere seamlessly blends with serene harmonies of almost orchestral form. Cinematic, monstrous drone formations morph into pulsating abyss of dissonant disturbances and uncompromised sonic experiments, overlaid by subtle beauty of human voice and minimalist acoustic instrumentation.
All those skillful, multiformal explorations establish Nil desperandum one of those albums of complex yet stable musical concept—reflecting the incoherencies of human nature and its immanent affection to chaos and order merged together. Per Aspera tends to render tragically compound heritage of the mankind, being constantly shaped by cultural, ethnic and religious or ideologic discrepancies.
Definitely not your average dark–ambient buzz, this album stands out of the dull cliche. The sound may appeal to the admirers of T. Köner, Parca Pace, Nocturnal Emissions or Neubautens to name a few but still, expect no pattern follower.
Complemented with special A5–sized glossy digipak designed by Ibsen studio, this CD is limited to 500 copies only." [label info]
".... Whilst it’s ridiculously difficult to be overly innovative within the dark ambient genres, one of the skills a composer must demonstrate is the ability to keep the listener engaged whilst producing a sound that doesn’t show immediate comparisons to one or another artist from within this genre. Thankfully Per Aspera does a fantastic job at both and has created a set of recordings that smack of originality whilst containing a myriad of well executed compositions, rich textural sounds and a wonderfully imaginative evolving plethora of atmospheres that flow from the album. As a dark ambient release this is as good as it gets and sets an impressively high standard immediately, with a faultless album being produced from start to finish. For those who relish in the shadowy undercurrent of rich dark ambient soundscapes ‘Nil Desperadum’ delivers a fabulous journey into this style of music and is welcomed addition to the genre itself and as such is a near prefect introduction for a relatively unknown artist and a label which promises great things, if this is anything to go by." [Judas Kiss]
www.newnihilism.com
|
2008 |
€13.00 |
|
| PERESLEGIN, ANATOLY |
Fastgod: E-psalms |
CD |
Zweites Album für PERESLEGIN auf Electroshock.
“A daring, imaginative work, this album by Anatoly Pereslegin. Starting from liturgic music made with an organ, and inspired by the most severe, vengeful aspects of the biblical God, he creates a collection of sound cards which turn out to be disquieting and even frighteningly horrifying. To this end, he uses electronically distorted vocals, surrealist collages and synthetic orchestras derived from different variations of organ sounds.” [EDGAR KOGLER / Amazing Sounds]
|
2002 |
€12.00 |
|
| PHRAGMENTS |
Earth shall not cover their Blood |
CD |
"You’ve seen it before. Certain bands or artists delivering their finest work with their first recording. Then, in futile attempts to capture some of the same magic, becoming formulaic and stale, rehashing ideas and never really achieving the same caliber of work. Others, expanding on the elements of their prior releases, and through a natural maturation process, get stronger with each release. That would certainly be the case with Phragments. With their third full length studio CD, this Slovakian duo have made remarkable strides not only in quality but in scope. Equipped with an enriched sonic palate, Earth Shall Not Cover Their Blood mixes forceful brass and dark orchestral strings with rolls of powerful tribal percussion, somber wind instrumentation, ominous atmospheres, industrial clangor, and a strong and commanding vocal presence, particularly on tracks like “Over Deadlands” and “The Kin of Cain”. Cohesive, complete, and epic, this is a release that will open some eyes to new found authority of Phragments. Yours to discover. In 6 panel digipak." [label info]
|
2008 |
€13.00 |
|
| PILLOW |
From Dusk to Dawn |
CD |
"best known as the keyboarder of italy's premier post rock combo giardini di mirò, wowing fans and sceptics alike with their formidable long players and impressively intense live performances, luca di mira finally returns as a solo artist. "from dusk to dawn" is the second album he pursued on his own. 6 years down the line, pillow's sound has changed quite drastically, yet glows with the same shocking deepness. focusing on a unifying, even more orchestral sound, di mira creates his own melancholic universe. centered around the epic "silent journey", pillow demonstrates in each and every track, how music should be approached in these troubled times. merging subtle piano fragments, overwhelming string arrangements, minimal guitar melodies and even 4/4 beats, pillow has written a soundtrack no one will ever forget." [label info]
www.city-centre-offices.de
|
2012 |
€15.00 |
|
| PINTO, JOAO CASTRO |
Suntria - Imaginal Sonotopes |
CD |
"Suntria is a soundscape composition orchestrated, fundamentally, through the use of audio fragments captured from distinct locations of Sintra’s forest, near Lisbon, Portugal.
Since remote ages, Sintra’s mountains (in Portuguese, Serra de Sintra) are known as locations of worship and devotion. It is reputed that the Celts, Visigoths, Moorish and Romans were among the people who inhabited and praised these oneiric landscapes before the Lusitanos (the later Portuguese). Throughout the years, Sintra had different toponyms, it is said that the Celts referred to it as Cynthia (meaning the devotion of the moon). It is also given that some Greek and Latin scholars state that Sintra was also denominated as Mons Sacer (Sacred Mount). Ptolemy and the Romans called it Mons Lunae (Mount of the Moon) and, during the Moorish rule of the land, Sintra was denominated as Zintira, Chinra, Xintra, Sentra, until, finally, it was, before its actual designation, named Xentra. From the etymological study of the term there is a curious, but controversial, medieval designation from each Sintra is thought of being derived – Suntria. This possibility presents itself as problematic. The medieval origin of Suntria is supposed to have been derived from the Indo-European (meaning Sun or Luminous Astro). This denomination is controversial because the etymology of the word “Sun”, considering the existing Indo-European branches, puts aside any connection between the term “Suntria” and the significance of the word Sun (except when considering the Gothic [extinct Germanic language] term “Sunno”).
Suntria is the title of this composition because, and foremost, the conceptual purpose of the album is not to mimic the sonic landscapes of Sintra’s physical actual locations but to creatively interpret these spaces. Suntria is a hypothetical toponym of a determined physical location, as this composition is an interpretation and recreation of field recordings captured in Sintra’s soundscape.
The mystical ambience patent in Sintra’s forest is a national symbol depicted in literature, cinema and architecture by Portuguese and foreigner artists as, for example, Lord Byron, which lived there for a brief period.
Sintra’s fauna and flora is as rich as its environment, which configurates a micro-climate totally distinct from the one which predominates in Lisbon, from where it distances not too much. The basilar audio samples that integrate this composition were recorded in the ponds, cascades, forests and beaches of the Sintra-Cascais natural park. Additional sounds were recorded in other (natural / urban) locations of the country (check the cd sleeve for more info).
Suntria’s subtitle is imaginal sonotopes, and it is so because what is at stake in the piece is recreating combinations from elements of the soundscape, i.e., of diverse geophonies, biophonies and anthropophonies. According to soundscape ecology, a sonotope is, precisely, the spatial overlapping units or patterns advenient from these contingent conglomerations, which in their turn result on the blending of sonic elements.
Suntria is a piece that presents plausible soundscapes through the creative electroacoustic exploration and concrescence of samples that even though, in many cases, belong to the same ontic family (for example: geophony – water in streams, ponds and beaches) were originated and recorded, in terms of spatio-temporal coherence, in distinct locations. One of the main purposes of the album is, therefore, to question the sense of identity and place, concerning to the academic established postulates of soundscape composition. Sounding natural, i.e., as we phenomenologically relate to a sonotope, is one of the main goals of this composition: to make plausible the implausible.
One can expect to listen a diverse spectrum of sonic approaches, in between found sounds and abstracted composition, making use of techniques that range from transparent edit, equalization and juxtaposition (phonography) to concrete / acousmatic music procedures (manipulations in the morphological spectrum). In terms of dynamics, the composition reveals subtle quasi-silent moments as saturated and loud events. The same logic prevails in terms of spectral diversity, for Suntria outputs careful sculpting of low, mid and high frequencies, towards a whimsical sound voyage.
Finally, all the audio samples were registered through the implementation of various recording techniques: stereo (XY, ORTF [w. matched pair] and MS) and monaural (shotgun, hydrophone and contact mics). Concerning the audio recording devices, various gear was used, from the enhanced mono (low quality) mic of the iPhone and the prosumer mid-level entry recorders (as the Tascam DR-100 MKII / DR-70D), to the professional standard industry level recorders (as Sound Devices 702).
Suntria reaches for an aural acuity that invites the listener to perscrutate meaning, purpose/intentionality and ultimately to question the sense of hearing and being in the world." (João Castro Pinto, 10 May 2017) |
2017 |
€14.00 |
|
| POUSSEUR, HENRI |
Musique Mixte 1966:1970 |
CD |
Zwei Stücke aus den 60ern, eine hochdynamisch-expressive Piano-Sprechgesang-musique concrete Mischung mit theatralischem Überbau...sehr extrem, fast unhörbar, noch immer radikal wie irgendwas!
“Mixed Music : voice, pianos, various electro-acoustic devices
We come back to our exploration of Henri Pousseur's works with a four-CD series which, along with what has already been released, will cover all his electronic music and his most radical works between 1953 and 1988 - 35 years of research and experiments....
The two pieces featured on Mixed Music (Voice, Pianos, Various Electro-Acoustic Devices) are magnum opuses in Pousseur's body of work, though they are seldom heard - Jeu de Miroirs de Votre Faust has been unavailable for a long time, while Crosses of Crossed Colors is released here for the first time ever.” [from the press release]
‘Already for Couleurs croisées (Crossed Colors, 1967), my initial idea was to add an amplified voice to the orchestra, a voice that could stand up to it and would clarify and explain the meaning of the piece, in the form of a black Baptist minister-style preach. So, besides the voice ("black," if possible), we have: 5 pianos, whose assembled parts reuse almost all the harmonic-rhythmic contents of the orchestral piece.’ [Henri Pousseur]
|
2006 |
€14.00 |
|
| PUNCTUAL TRIO |
Grammar |
CD |
Lou Mallozzi: turntables, CDs, Microphones, Oscillator
Fred Lonberg-Holm: Cello
Carlos Zingaro: Violin
Recorded by Pete Wenger at Experimental Sound Studio, Chicago, 28 May 2003.
Mixed and Masterd by Lou Mallozzi and Fred Lonberg-Holm at Experimental Sound Studio, Chicago, 23 June 2004.
Produced by Lonberg-Holm, Mallozzi and Zingaro.
@2003 Mallozzi / Lonberg-Holm / Zingaro
Lou Mallozzi (b. 1957)
Lou Mallozzi is a Chicago audio artist who has been dismembering and reconstituting language, sound, and gesture on stages, sites, CD, and radio since 1986. His background is in performance, intermedia and installation art, and since 1996 an increasing amount of his attention has been focused on improvised music. Using microphones, turntables, CDs and analog mixing, he collaborates with numerous instrumentalists in improvised frameworks. These collaborators have included Carlos Zingaro, Fred Lonberg-Holm, Michael Vorfeld, Mats Gustafsson, Jaap Blonk, Sebi Tramontana, Terri Kapsalis, Michael Zerang, Guillermo Gregorio, Birgit Ulher, Hal Rammel, and many others. He has performed in this context at the Come Sunday Festival (Munich), the Logos Foundation (Ghent), Podewil (Berlin), The Empty Bottle (Chicago), Candlestick Maker (Chicago), The Renaissance Society (Chicago), Kraakgeluiden (Amsterdam), and others. He has also composed several sound poems and structured improvisational works for soloists and ensembles, including Jaap Blonk, Barbara Lüneburg, and the ensemble Intégrales.
In addition to his improvised music projects, Mallozzi also produces intermedia and sound performances, radio art works, and sound installations. These have been presented at numerous venues since 1986, including the PAC/Edge Performance Festival (Chicago), the Chicago Cultural Center, Experimental Intermedia (New York), the TUBE audio art series at the Einstein Kulturzentrum (Munich), Spritzenhaus (Hamburg), Suoni/Sound 2000 (Isola d'Elba, Italy), The Subtropics Experimental Music Festival (Miami), the Fort Wayne Museum of Art (Indiana), Percorsi 98 Festival (Montegrosso d'Asti, Itlay), the Sound Canopy public art project (Chicago), Donald Young Gallery (Chicago), Gallery 400 (Chicago), the Bechtler Gallery (Charlotte), Randolph Street Gallery (Chicago), Aether Fest (Albuquerque), New American Radio, Bayerischer Rundfunk (Munich), Kunstradio/Radiokunst on ORF Vienna, Sender Freies Berlin, ABC Radio (Sydney), the Resonance FM Festival (London), and others. Among his collaborators in these realms are Sandra Binion, Mark Booth, Heinz Weber, Antonia Contro, and Maurizio Pellegrin.
Mallozzi has two CDs on the Penumbra Music label: Radiophagy (three radio works from 1990 - 1996) and Whole or By the Slice (electroacoustic collaborations with Hal Rammel). A CD of improvised music with Fred Lonberg-Holm and Carlos Zingaro is forthcoming on Rossbin Records (Italy). He also appears on Guillermo Gregorio's Faktura and Cornelius Cardew's Material (both on HatArt, Switzerland).
Mallozzi has received a number of grants and fellowships, including a residency at the Rockefeller Foundation's Bellagio Study Center (Italy), four Artist Fellowships from the Illinois Arts Council, and grants from the Richard H. Driehaus Foundation and the Governor's International Arts Exchange Program.
In addition to his artistic career, Mallozzi is co-founder and Executive Director of Experimental Sound Studio in Chicago, and he is on the faculty of the School of the Art Institute of Chicago.
Fred Lonberg-Holm
Composer, improvisor and anti-cellist Fredrick Lonberg-Holm currently resides in Chicago. Defying categorization, his work deals only with the context of the specific musical situation in which he finds/places/builds for himself. A former composition student of Morton Feldman and Anthony Braxton, and cello student of Ardyth Alton and Orlando Cole, his ongoing projects include the groups Terminal 4, The Boxhead Ensemble, Pillow, and the Lonberg-Holm/Kessler/Zerang Trio. He is also currently a member of the Guillermo Gregorio Trio, the Peter Brotzmann Chicago Tentet, XMARSX, and Witches and Devils (music of A. Ayler). He also has been coordinating and directing performances of his Light Box Orchestra, a non fixed structured improvising ensemble utilizing a light based cuing system . In addition he has also performed in ensembles led by Anthony Braxton, Ken Vandermark, Anthony Coleman, Georg Graewe, Wolfgang Fuchs, and John Zorn. As an improvisor he has recorded and or performed with numerous musicians including Jaap Blonk, John Butcher, Gunter Christmann, Axel Dorner, Hamid Drake, Barry Guy, Joelle Leandre, Paul Lytton, Jeff Parker, William Parker, Mischa Mengelberg, Ikue Mori, Mats Gustafsson, Paul Lovens, Paul Rutherford, Sten Sandell, Hamid Drake, Jim O'Rourke, David Stackenaas, Willie Winant, Carlos Zingaro, and many others. He has also performed/recorded with the rock groups God-is-my-Co-Pilot, Wilco, the Flying Luttenbachers, Chris Mills, Janet Bean, Super Chunk, Bobbie Conn, Ahmed Elmotassem's Legal Fiction, L'Altra, US Maple, Freakwater, Lake of Dracula, Plastic Scorpions, Zeek Sheck, Smog and others. Concert works have been premiered by William Winant, Carrie Biolo, Joe Fonda and Bottoms Out, Duo Atypica, the Schanzer/Speach Duo, New Winds, Paul Hoskin, Kevin Norton, the E.S.P. Ensemble and others. He has performed throughout the US and Europe as both a soloist and ensemble member. His scores for dance have been performed at the Brooklyn Academy of Music and Dance Theater Workshop as well as many other venues. Film credits include music for a Playboy Channel short and the independant feature Animals, by Michael DiGiacomo. He has recorded for the Avant, Pogus, Occa, miguel, Explain:, Locust, Meniscus, Nuscope, Curious, Random Acoustics, Skin Graft, Hat Art, Buzz, Knitting Factory Works, Drag City, Ecstatic/Yod, Nine Winds, Atavistic, Rastascan, Box Media, 8th Day, Tzadik, Truckstop and What Next? labels as well as many others.
CARLOS “ZINGARO”
Born 1948 in Lisbon, Portugal; violin, electronics.
Carlos Zingaro undertook classical music studies at the Lisbon Music Conservatory from 1953 to 1965, and during the two years 1967/68 he studied church organ at the High School of Sacred Music. Also, during the 1960s, Zingaro was a member of the Lisbon University Chamber Orchestra. In 1967 he formed Plexus, the only Portuguese group at the time to have developed a new musical approach based on contemporary music, improvisation and rock; the group recorded a 45rpm single for RCA-Victor in 1968.
From 1975 onwards Carlos Zingaro has performed with a wide variety of improvising musicians, including: Barre Phillips, Daunik Lazro, Derek Bailey, Joëlle Léandre, Jon Rose, Kent Carter, Ned Rothenberg, Peter Kowald, Roger Turner, Rüdiger Carl, Dominique Regef, Evan Parker, Günter Müller, Andres Bosshard, Jean-marc Montera, and Paul Lovens. In 1978 he was invited by Wroclaw Technical University in Poland to participate in the 1st Instrumental Theatre Meeting, and in 1979 he won a Fulbright Grant and was invited by the Creative Music Foundation in Woodstock, New York to participate in meetings, classes and performances with such composers as Anthony Braxton, Roscoe Mitchell, George Lewis, Leo Smith, Tom Cora and Richard Teitelbaum (a regular collaborator). He also gave lectures on New Notation Concepts, Movement and Sound, and the inter-relationship of Improvisation and Body Attitude. As a soloist, or with other musicians and composers, Carlos Zingaro has performed at many of the most important new music and improvising festivals in Europe, Asia and America.
A substantial level of Carlos Zingaro's musical activities are associated with theatre, film and dance. In 1975 he completed Stage Design studies at the Lisbon Theatre High School and later served on the board of directors of the School. From 1974 to 1980 he was musical director for the Lisbon-based theatre group Comicos, being responsible for most of the original music scores performed during the period. In 1981 Carlos Zingaro received the Portuguese Critics Award for best theatre music and in 1988 he worked with the Italian theatre director Giorgio Barberio Corsetti on his Kafka Trilogy. He has also been stage and costume designer for several other theatre productions. He has produced several film scores and worked extensively with dancers and dance companies such as the Gulbenkian Dance Company, the Opéra de Genève Dance Company, Michala Marcus, Aparte, and Olga Roriz.
Carlos Zingaro was a founding member of the Lisbon-based art gallery Comicos, his work has been exhibited, and he has received several prizes for his cartoons, comics and illustrations, samples of which can be seen on a number of CD sleeves, for example, Musiques de
scène.
www.rossbin.com/rs019.htm
"Is there a mode (maybe mood, posture, or circumstance) in which you are required to set yourself in order to appreciate (maybe absorb) freely improvised music? If you are attending a live show, the location, smells, company, and certainly the visual aspects of the show contribute to your "experience." When you are merely listening to a purchased recording, what are the rules for your listening experience?
Do you meditate in a quiet room? Can you listen to it in your car? Walking with an iPod? Washing dishes? How does the experience of the improvisation mesh with your current environs? Don't ask me for answers, but consider all the stimuli that invade your senses every hour of every day. Maybe that's why the relentless beat-beat-beat of pop music is so simple... because no one's actually listening.
My point is this: no two listeners can have the same response to very highly interpretable music like what the Punctual Trio produces on Grammar.
The cast of players includes cellist Fred Lonberg-Holm, the newest member of Vandermark 5 (plus Wilco, Terminal 4, The Boxhead Ensemble, Pillow, and the Peter Brotzmann Chicago Tentet, to name just a few); Lou Mallozzi, a sound artist from Chicago who lists Mats Gustafsson, Jaap Blonk, Sebi Tramontana, Michael Zerang, and Guillermo Gregorio as collaborators; and Portuguese violinist Carlos Zingaro, who has partnered with the likes of Anthony Braxton, Roscoe Mitchell, George Lewis, Leo Smith, Tom Cora, and Richard Teitelbaum.
Simple review: you cannot dance to this disc, but I give it a ten.
The trio benefits from its choice of instrumentation. Lonberg-Holm's cello, which is seemingly at home in a range of settings from jazz standards to rock to free music, mixes well with Zingaro's violin's scraping, plucking, single notes, and complex travels. They are attuned to silence and space, as on the opener, or odd pulse and song forms, as with "Punctuation. Mallozzi doesn't drown you with samples or electronics; he places them in the mix as if he were Treg Brown, the sound editor of 1950s Warner Brothers cartoons. If you listen closely to "Punctuation, you may find yourself actually embedded inside a cartoon.
But then again, your experience with these sounds will probably be nothing like mine." [All About Jazz]
|
2004 |
€6.00 |
|
| PURE |
Home is where my harddisk is Vol. 1 |
CD |
Eine Label-Neugründung gibt es von Peter Votava, dem Mann hinter PURE, zu vermelden. Die dritte VÖ auf dOc RECORDINGS stammt von PURE selbst, mit zwei Live-Aufnahmen vom Winter 2001/2002 aus Hamburg (HÖRBAR!) und Porto.
“Consisting of two recordings of PURE´s live appearances in winter 2001/2002. The first track is the entire recording of a gig at the HÖRBAR, a monthly club in Hamburg, Germany that takes place in a small old cinema. Playing in the movie room created a very intense atmosphere as compared to other venues. The 38 min improvised piece interweaves low frequencies with orchestral sounds into dense, unsettling structures, only to dissolve them in its peaceful finish. The second track is an excerpt of a concert given at ANIKI BÓBÓ, Porto, Portugal. Its minimal algorithmic patterns slowly evolve into a swaying string figure that is finished by processed vocal parts.” [label info]
|
2002 |
€13.00 |
|
| |
Ification |
CD |
"Mir ist PURE durch seine Releases auf Mego, Feld und dOc Recordings ein Begriff, andere kennen Peter Votava schon aus Ilsa-Gold-Zeiten, als Loop- und Sub/Version-Macher und Electronica-Veranstalter. Auf Ification (Crónica 038) schafft der Ex-Wiener und jetzige Berliner erneut mit dröhnminimalistischen Mitteln sieben Soundscapes. Die lassen einen eintauchen in dark-ambiente Dunkelwolken (‚Blind Flight‘) oder lethargisch und wie unter einem Bann dahin driften durch eine Nacht, die kein gutes Ende verspricht (‚End‘). ‚Iron Sky‘ ringt mit zähen und drückenden Verstrickungen wie Laokoon mit den Schlangen, die fatalen Beats schlägt - wie auch bei ‚After the Bomb‘ - Martin Brandlmayr, die Stimme ist die der Bolzn-Screamerin Alexandra. Die hatte auch schon in der Geisterbahn von ‚Sonomatopoeia‘ gestöhnt, zu giftigem Sirren, Theaterdonner und Gewummer, während die krachig verzerrten und gewellten Impulse des Auftakts ‚Fire‘ auf der Gitarre von C. de Babalon basieren. Die dystopische Melancholie von ‚After the Bomb‘ entsteht durch gedämpfte Drones, silbrig durchfunkelt, voller sirrender Frequenzen und mit dem fernen Nachhall von Sirenen und Gefechtslärm, den Brandlmayr mit Besenschlägen und Cymbalbeats andeutet. ‚Approximation‘ nähert sich mit dunklem Stöhnen - wie von den Sirenen der Titanic oder Tubas des Jüngsten Gerichts - und diskant schrillenden Strings, spärlich durchsetzt mit perkussiven Akzenten, dem Bereich der Klassik, mit offenbar ungescheutem pathetischen Effekt. Wer in Pures Elevator
Noir einsteigt, muss sich auf einen Trip ans dunkle Ende der Gefühlsskala gefasst machen." [Bad Alchemy]
"After more than ten CDs and several vinyls under different aliases, projects or collaborations that ranged a multitude of musical styles over the last 15 years, Pure's newest release is now proudly presented by Crónica. Three and a half years later than scheduled, and six years after his previous studio CD release “Noonbugs” on Mego, Pure returns with his fourth solo full-length album — “Ification” — the outcome of a long period of live work (documented in the first two volumes of the “Home Is Where My Harddisk is” series), residencies — in France, with Johnny Dekam, where the “Reqoil Displaced Peaceoff” DVD was produced — and collaborations — the “Heart Chamber Orchestra” with Erich Berger, an audiovisual performance based on the heart-beats of an orchestra of 12 musicians. “Ification” presents a collection of seven highly diverse tracks that revolve around dense, filmic and eerie atmospheres, without ever drifting into obvious or simple harmonies. As in his previous work, Pure takes from music history whatever serves his narrative needs and appropriates it through his." [label info]
"Something entirely different is the latest album by Pure, from Vienna. He works under various guises, and this is fourth Pure CD, following 'Noonbugs' on Mego for four years ago. Seven pieces of electronic music, six of them recorded with the help of others, like Christoph de Babalon on guitar samples, Martin Brandlmayr on drums, the screams of Alexandra von Bolzn and Anke Eckardt on bass guitar. What Aubrey lacks in variation is made up here by Pure. The heavy start of 'Fire', into to post nuclear war zone with no survivors of 'After The Bomb' (an appropriate title), Pure takes the listener on a ride that ranges from subtleness to the utter crude, which ends with the nightmares of 'Iron Sky'. Excellent music for b-movies that deserve a-music. Certainly not always 'pleasant' in terms of nice background music for your living room, but unpleasant music to make your life a bit easier and less painful." [FdW, Vital Weekly]
www.cronicaelectronica.org
|
2008 |
€14.00 |
|
| R.O.T. |
L'Ecurie |
LP |
Eine wunderbare, sehr mysteriös und seltsame tönende Platte! Auch nach mehrmaligem Hören weiss man noch nicht so recht, was hier eigentlich passiert. Sehr dronig und ambientös und vielschichtig "folkig-organisch"; etwas low-fi & fliessend improvisiert erscheinen die Dronescapes, dick & undurchdringlich und auch psychedelisch...erinnert an ruhigere VIBRACATHEDRAL ORCHESTRA z.B...
"r.o.t. has gained a quality reputation in the underground scene during their six years of existence. this led to a splendid cdr- and tape discography. "l'écurie" is their first long player. each side contains two jams that sound like calm and fluently movements through sound at one time, then like a somewhat more brutal treatment at another point. the album shows nicely how r.o.t. works as a (live) band. it's not about well-thought sound poetry here, but about spontaneous improvisation where random incidents are considered as an extra band member. a slow bass that wanders gently through the acoustic droning, when suddenly an alarm clock starts to ring, followed by new almost-quietness and laidback noise. r.o.t. stands for an original approach of sound sources and a continuously seeking for the "moment". side a was recorded in an abandoned administration building in jette, a small town near brussels. the space was run by young students for six months and renamed the place "l'écurie", the french for stable. r.o.t. improvised in the dusty kitchen during three long days, mostly during the nights as well. the tracks on the b side are takes from improvisations in an horse stable. there again the album's title refers to l'écurie. this time at an old farm which is called ferme du biereau (louvain la neuve). the farm is also known as a nice venue and spot for artists en musicians." [label info]
www.kraak.net |
2006 |
€13.00 |
|
| RADIGUE, ELIANE |
Occam Ocean 3 |
CD |
Occam river II, for violon and cello
Occam VIII, for cello
Occam delta III, for violon, viola and cello
Silvia Tarozzi, violon.
Deborah Walker, cello.
Julia Eckhardt, viola.
Recorded in 2019 at l’Abbazia di Santa Maria Assunta, Monteveglio (Bologna)
With a 32 page booklet.
Occam Ocean 3 is an exceptional project, the result of collaboration between Eliane Radigue, French composer, pioneer of the exclusive use of continuous sounds, and three string instrumentalists, Julia Eckhardt, Silvia Tarozzi and Deborah Walker. Composed in Paris, the 3 pieces of this record were recorded in September 2019 at the Abbazia di Santa Maria Assunta, Monteveglio (Bologna) in Italy
Éliane Radigue stopped producing electronic music and began creating collaborative works with instrumentalists in 2001. Since then, she has produced over 70 works ranging from solos and string quartets to works for orchestra. She began creating occam ocean ‒ the series that makes up most of this prolific output ‒ in 2011. The individual pieces share a creative process that relies almost solely on oral and aural transmission: musicians visit Radigue at her apartment in Paris, often returning for multiple sessions before the pieces are completed.
Solo pieces are typically based on a combination of pre-prepared sonic materials from which Radigue selects sounds ‒ a process which she calls her “shopping” ‒ and a water-based image that guides the form and a ect of the piece. Ensemble pieces combine soloists from the project into many novel con gurations. Radigue often bases these ensemble pieces on new water-based images.
Radigue’s work may seem created almost as if by magic ‒ from thin air, vibrations or from zealous admiration ‒ but this is music that is made possible by the hard graft and meticulous concentration of expert musicians. Each piece requires a special kind of virtuosity that entwines precise muscular skill with extraordinary memory, imagination and patience. For musicians who have played in multiple ensemble pieces in the occam ocean series, the demands grow in nitely more complex, as one must remember many subtle differences between the different pieces.
This CD is the document of a special situation at a monastery in the mountains in Italy. It documents a version of these pieces that is co-created with a specific location at a speci c time. But the pieces may continue matu- ring as they continue to be played in di erent contexts. Like Radigue’s music that slips in and out of memory, we must allow these recordings to exist in the moment of listening but not as scores or xed objects.
This is music that resists remembering.
This is music that exists solely in the moment of its performance, that marries precision and uidity, that does not concern itself with written traces but only an indelible atmosphere of sonic transformation.
This is music that is experienced both privately and collectively, that merges our own inner worlds of perception with the exterior world of space, time, bodies, instruments, soundwaves and architecture.
This is music that covers its own tracks. It is a Japanese rock garden where beautiful patterns are created and then erased.
This music inhabits the far reaching corners of the room, bouncing o of beams and dancing in our ears, blending and merging into an autonomous mass of ecstatically vibrating sound. |
2021 |
€25.00 |
|
| RADIGUE, ELIANE & FREDERIC BLONDY |
Occam XXV |
CD |
In 2018 experimental festival Organ Reframed commissioned Éliane Radigue to write her first work for organ, 'Occam Ocean XXV'. Radigue worked closely with organist Frédéric Blondy at the Église Saint Merry in Paris before transferring the piece to Union Chapel for its premiere at Organ Reframed on 13 October 2018. The recording on this compact disc was made at a private session at Union Chapel on 8 January 2020.
'Occam XXV' inaugurates the very special record series of works exclusively commissioned by Organ Reframed, the organ-only, one of a kind experimental music festival, carefully curated by Scottish composer/performer and London's Union Chapel organ music director Claire M Singer.
Paris-born Éliane Radigue is one of the most innovative and influential living composers of all time. After working under Pierre Schaeffer and Pierre Henry in the late 1950's/early 60's she mainly worked with tape before developing a deep relationship with modular synthesis in the early 1970's. Over the next three decades she pushed her own conceptions of musicality forward developing a deep relationship with her ARP 2500. Through endless exploration and drawing on her personal journey as a practicing Buddhist she created an entirely new landscape of experimental sound. In the early 2000's she made an extraordinary shift into writing predominantly for acoustic instruments.
'Occam XXV' is the latest chapter of Radigue's broader series of works Occam Ocean which she has been composing in the last decade. Carefully selected by Radigue she has closely collaborated with various extremely experienced yet sensitive instrumentalists. For Occam XXV Radigue collaborated with pianist, organist, composer, improviser, artistic director of the Orchestra of New Musical Creation, Experimentation and Improvisation (ONCEIM) Frédéric Blondy, which is their second collaboration in the Occam Ocean series. 'Occam XXV' premiered in 2018, and was later recorded privately in 2020 at London's Organ Reframed headquarters Union Chapel.
"We live in a universe filled with waves. Not only between the Earth and the Sun but all the way down to the tiniest microwaves and inside it is the minuscule band that lies between the 60 Hz and the 12,000 to 15,000 Hz that our ears turn into sound. There are many wavelengths in the ocean too and we also come into contact with it physically, mentally and spiritually. That explains the title of this body of work which is called Occam Ocean. The main aim of this work is to focus on how the partials are dealt with. Whether they come in the form of micro beats, pulsations, harmonics, subharmonics – which are extremely rare but have a transcendent beauty – bass pulsations – the highly intangible aspect of sound. That's what makes it so rich.
When Luciano Pavarotti gave free rein to the full force of his voice the conductor stopped beating time and you could hear the richness in its entirety. Music in written form, or however it is relayed, ultimately remains abstract. It's the performer, the person playing it who brings it to life. So the person playing the instrument must come first. I've always thought of performers and their instruments as one. They form a dual personality. No two performers, playing the same instrument, have the same relationship with that instrument – the same intimate relationship. This is where the process of making the work personal begins. The purely personal task of deciding on the theme or image that we're going to work from.
Obviously, because this is Occam Ocean, the theme is always related to water. It could be a little stream, a fountain, the distant ocean, rivers. Out of the fifty or so musicians I've worked with no two themes have been the same. Each musician's theme is completely unique and completely personal. The music does the talking. This is one of those art forms that manages to express the many things that words aren't able to. Even at an early stage, all those ideas need to have been brought together."
- Éliane Radigue
Since its conception in 2016, Organ Reframed has commissioned artists including Low, Hildur Guðnadóttir, Philip Jeck, Phill Niblock, Mark Fell, Mira Calix, Darkstar, Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith, Sarah Davachi, hailing from London's Union Chapel, ending up also in Amsterdam and Moscow. Organ Reframed will be back this year on September 16--18 with Abul Mogard, Ipek Gorgun, Anna von Hausswolff, Claire M Singer and Cabaret Voltaire's Chris Watson.
"The idea of Organ Reframed dates back to 2006 when I was commissioned to write my first organ piece. At the time I was mostly composing in the studio and was struck by the vast breadth of the instrument and how capable it was of creating timbres that were similar to what I was working with electronically. The lush acoustic quality of the sound resonating in the space was incredible and the sonic possibilities seemed endless. I felt so fortunate to have had the time to experiment and explore the instrument and realised perhaps the reason there wasn’t a huge amount of experimental works being written for organ was because they are mainly housed in churches and concert halls so you really need to know someone with a key. From that point on I started composing almost exclusively for organ and since launching Organ Reframed in 2016 I am now able to give fellow artists the opportunity to explore what an incredible instrument it is."
- Claire M Singer.
Union Chapel's 1877 organ built by master organ builder Father Henry Willis is known to be on of the finest in the world. It is one of very few organs left in UK with a fully working hydraulics (water powered) which can be used an alternative to the electric blowing system. The organ is completely hidden from the listeners allowing to focus solely on the music.
Composed by Éliane Radigue. Performed by Frédéric Blondy. Commissioned by Organ Reframed, curated by Claire M Singer. Recorded on 8 January 2020 by Daniel Halford at Union Chapel on the organ built by ‘Father’ Henry Willis, 1877. Mastered by Denis Blackham at Skye Mastering.
Distributed by Kudos and Touch.
Cover organ photography: Daniela Sbrisny.
Manufactured by Monotype Pressing.
Designed by Philip Marshall, Berlin, June 2021.
This commission was generously supported by Arts Council England, the London Community Foundation/Cockayne, PRS Foundation and SACEM.
Designed by Philip Marshall this special edition compact disc is the first in the series of Organ Reframed releases. Packaged in a matt A5/DVD style digipack it also includes a full colour 16 page booklet containing text from Éliane Radigue, photographs of her writing Occam XXV in Paris and of the 1877 Henry Willis organ at Union Chapel.
https://organreframed.bandcamp.com/releases |
2022 |
€22.50 |
|
| REDOLFI, MICHEL |
Desert Tracks |
LP |
"In 1987, Michel Redolfi hit the California Desert road during the Fall, to catch those hypothetical poly-sensorial desert tones. He visited the Mojave Desert, Death Valley, Palm Canyon and came back with an extraordinary album of early electronic music, sparse and bright to express the crude light and the divine silences.
Released in our Early Electronic series
Michel Redolfi (Marseille 1951):
In 1969, with the co-foundation of the GMEM, Groupe de Musique Expérimentale de Marseille, Michel Redolfi pursued his passion for electro-acoustic music at an early age. During the 80s and 90s he composed collaborative works with
Luc Ferrari, Bernard Parmegiani, Pierre Henry and Jean-Claude Risset. Resident of the United States from 1973 to 1984, he carried out his
research with several new music centers, including the CME at the University of California in San Diego and California Institute of the Arts. Also during this period he developed several collaborations with American
composers. The natural elements highlighted by technology are a constant in Redolfi's catalogue: many electroacoustic pieces stylize and orchestrate sound matter, recorded in remote locations (Pacific Tubular Waves, Desert Tracks, Jungle).
He currently heads a major studio in sound design, Audionaute, based in Nice, France.
tracklisting CD
1 opening 5'49
2 mojave desert 7'11
3 death valley 11'26
4 palm canyon 10'20
5 too much sky / 10'00 extra track CD only
tracklisting LP
side 1
1 opening 5'49
2 mojave desert 7'11
side 2
1 death valley 11'26
2 palm canyon 10'20
............................................................................................................................................
MICHEL REDOLFI
Desert Tracks
ref
SRV418 LP
ref
SR418 CD
file under
Michel Redolfi
GRM
Early Electronic Music
stock date OCTOBER 12 2016
www.subrosa.net
|
2016 |
€16.00 |
|
| REED, RICK |
Music for the Rothko Chapel |
10 |
Die zweite in der Beta-Lactam 10”-Serie kommt von dem uns unbekannten Komposer RICK REED, der sich hier von einem Mark Rothko Gemälde hat insprieren lassen... herausgekommen sind dabei extrem schleichend-hochfrequente Drones, deren Textur sich langsam verändert, Musik wie gemalt (?) ... eindringlich und etwas unheimlich...
Nr. 2 in the “Lactamase”-series of 12 records. RICK REEDS compositions are high-pitched, eerie drones that crawl into the room...inspired by a large Rothko-painting located in a chapel in Houston, TX. Highly recommended! “The music like the paintings, is almost totally monochromatic. Starting with a single bit of guitar feedback, recorded, then played back into the room with additional bits of feedback added each time, recorded layer by layer until "all the brush strokes were rendered nearly invisible". The end result is not at all like feedback, but more like a huge dark cloud of electronic sound, like a totally bent orchestra with a way out string and flute section hell bent on exploring the nether regions.
|
2001 |
€12.50 |
|
| REED, STAN / GREGOR JABS / FRANK ROWENTA |
Apoplexia 1973 |
CD |
Schon fast sowas wie ein geräuschmusikalisches Hörspiel über Schizophrenie, ein einziger verstörender Psychotrip! Interview-Stücke mit Psychiatrie-Patienten (von 1973) werden verwebt mit Bombardements von akustischen "Alltagswelt"-Informationen, TV, Film & Radiofetzen & Musikphrasen, vokales Material, und elektronischen Sounds, alles heftigst effektiert und übereinandergelegt zu einer überwältigenden Schizophonie, die das Wesen dieser Krankheit spürbar & erfahrbar macht!
"Based on the reel to reel tapes from Klinischen Anstalten Aachen from 1973, this collaboration explores the intimate nature of several patients diagnosed with schizophrenia and their journey through the surreal mental landscape that a diseased mind finds itself lost in so many times. Interviews with patients are woven into dreamscapes of sound, some nightmarish, others almost childlike. Ironic samples scattered throughout the work create a beautifully disturbing listen. What movies will play in your own mind? What voices will speak to you from the inside? Stan Reed is the owner of PsychForm Records & PsychoChrist Productions. His own recording projects include PLETHORA, The Broken Penis Orchestra, The Broken Human Machine, and Blue Sabbath Black Cheer. Gregor Jabs is a new and upcoming German sound artists who records with the psychedelic outfit known as Grillhaus. His first solo CD, Stamen, is also now available on Jeans Records. Frank Rowenta has been involved with surreal sound projects since the early 90's. He is one half of the super group Rowenta/Khan, formed Grillhaus with Mr. Jabs, has recorded several solo CDs and has now started the Jeans Records label out of Aachen Germany, which promises to yield many more audio oddities in the future" [press release]
|
2006 |
€12.00 |
|
| REICH, STEVE |
Four Organs / Phase Patterns |
LP |
"This classic minimal music album is now available again on vinyl for the first time since the 70s.
In recent decades Steve Reich's music has been presented internationally at major venues, performed by high-profile musicians including the Kronos Quartet, guitarist Pat Metheny, and the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra. But in 1970, when the music on this LP was recorded, Reich's audiences gathered in museums and art galleries to hear his work interpreted by the composer himself and a group of friends.
"I am interested in perceptible processes" Reich had written in 1968. "I want to be able to hear the processes happening throughout the sounding music.' Four Organs is a radical realisation of this goal. Against the steady rattle of maracas, individual tones within a single chord are gradually lengthened. No changes of pitch or timbre occur, and the drawn out nature of the process provoked outrage at some early performances, when audiences found themselves caught up in a decelerating loop, being dragged towards stasis. Phase Patterns, composed a month later, relies on a phasing technique developed during Reich's earlier experiments with magnetic tape recordings, which he allowed to drift out of sync. Identical figures initially in unison shift out of phase, generating unexpected patterns.
When these pieces first appeared, on the adventurous French record label Shandar, they were regarded as defining works within a musical movement that had developed during the late 1960s. Reich was seen as a pioneer of minimalism, along with La Monte Young, Terry Riley and Philip Glass, whose music also featured in the Shandar catalogue. With hindsight the term is inadequate and inappropriate when applied to much of Reich's subsequent oeuvre, which includes rich and varied works such as The Desert Music for voices and orchestra, Tehillim - a setting of Psalms, and his multimedia opera The Cave. But these two works from 1970 are purely minimalist, in a way that the visual artists and sculptors who formed Reich's early audiences would have recognised.
These pieces may have clear affinity with conceptual art as well as the minimalist aesthetic, but Reich's allegiance is to making music rather than sound art or acoustic research. Characteristically, after creating Four Organs Reich looked for antecedents in musical history, and found them in the medieval organa of Léonin and Pérotin. His subsequent work has found acceptance and a substantial following within the established institutions of composed music. He has become a major composer.
In the same year that these Four Organs and Phase Patterns were written Reich travelled to Ghana to study with a master drummer. On his return to New York he started work on Drumming, an hour-long distillation of his interest in African and Balinese music and their polyrhythmic processes. It forms an impressive culmination to his use of phasing technique and is widely acknowledged as a minimalist masterpiece. But if it is the radical edge of uncompromising hardcore minimalism that you are after, this reissue of Four Organs and Phase Patterns delivers two key examples.
"Obviously music should put all within listening range into a state of ecstasy" Steve Reich in 1969." [label info]
www.aguirrecords.com
"Two of our favorite pieces of all time from minimalist composer Reich, available again! Both pieces were recorded in 1970, one at the Guggenheim in NY and the other at the University Museum in Berkeley. This is electric organ overdrive! Four Organs not surprisingly is a piece played on four electric organs (with Reich playing one as well as his good friend Philip Glass...), while beneath the organs is the repetitious shaking of maracas. The short pulsations of the organ gradually stretch out, lasting longer and longer, creating a totally dynamic tension that evokes standing in a massive and grand church that's empty except for the mesmerizing sounds of the organs lulling you into some sort of a trance. Phase Patterns manages to increase the tension with the four players using identical organs and playing to a precise strategy that Reich has calculated. These pieces predate and predict so much of the minimalist electronic and experimental music to come over the next three decades." [Aquarius Rec.]
|
2016 |
€22.50 |
|
| REYNOLS |
10.000 Chickens' Symphony |
7inch |
One of the most famous and immensely requested EPs on Drone ever by this unique group from Argentina, finally re-released!! “First 7" for this obscure group from Buenos Aires that has existed since 1993, as they entered the international cassette scene with a kind of abrasive ambient sound. Since then, they have released several cassettes & CDs on various labels, did concerts in their home country and recently worked with PAULINE OLIVEROS. For their first 7", REYNOLS did field recordings of (at least) 10.000 chickens and effected them to create a deep-frequency drone with bits of chicken sounds in it for side 1. As a contrast, side 2 shows the more original face of the recordings, a storm of unbelievably high & shrieking sounds (similar in a way to FRANCISCO LOPEZ insect recordings), which are at last also being manipulated to increase the astonishing orchestral noise the chickens produce. A very successful field-recording experiment made of pure animal sounds!!! [original Drone Records press release] 300 COPIES ON WHITE VINYL & FULL COLOUR PRINTED COVERS DESIGNED BY REYNOLS.
(originally released in January 2000)
|
2003 |
€6.00 |
|
| |
10.000 Chickens' Symphony (SOLD OUT) |
7 |
"First 7" for this obscure group from Buenos Aires that has existed since 1993, as they entered the international cassette scene with a kind of abrasive ambient sound. Since then, they have released several cassettes & CDs on various labels, did concerts in their home country and recently worked with PAULINE OLIVEROS. For their first 7", REYNOLS did field recordings of (at least) 10.000 chickens and effected them to create a deep-frequency drone with bits of chicken sounds in it for side 1. As a contrast, side 2 shows the more original face of the recordings, a storm of unbelievably high & shrieking sounds (similar in a way to FRANCISCO LOPEZ insect recordings), which are at last also being manipulated to increase the astonishing orchestral noise the chickens produce. A very successful field-recording experiment made of pure animal sounds!!!
RED VINYL WITH YELLOW/GOLD DROPS, DIFFERENT COLOURED COVERS." [press release]
|
2000 |
€ |
|
| RICHTER, MAX |
The Blue Notebooks |
CD |
"Following releases by Set Fire To Flames and Sylvain Chauveau, Max Richter’s ‘The Blue Notebooks’ was the fourth release on FatCat’s 130701 imprint, established as an outlet for more more orchestrated, instrumental material.
Richter is a British-based, German-born pianist and composer. Following 2002’s highly-acclaimed ‘Memoryhouse’ - performed by the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra and released on the BBC’s classical label, Late Junction - ‘The Blue Notebooks’ is his second solo album, a distinctive and adventurous work that is beautifully recorded and cinematic in scope.
Opening with a text from Franz Kafka over a sparse piano melody, the album moves through gorgeous, heart-wrenching string swells of ‘On The Nature Of Daylight’ (which quotes a tune from ‘Memoryhouse’); through to sparse but lyrical piano pieces; hazy, swirling atmospherics, avalanche pulse-beats and partially occluded melodies that recall Aphex twin’s ‘Ambient Works’ albums; and to reverberant organ / choir recordings.
Utilising piano, cello, violin and viola, alongside electronic beats (made using a variety of antique electronics and Reaktor), spoken word passages and the occasional field recording, other sounds were generated via old guitar pedals and vocoders. The organ music was made for a chapel near Tourtres in South-West France, whilst the environmental sounds are mainly recorded around London. The tone of the album is generally domnbeat – a series of bittersweet articulations that seem suspended somewhere between a certain dreamy sense of wonder / awe and a heavy melancholia.
Peppered across Richter’s music like diary entries (and backed with attendant typewriter clatter) are a number of literary texts or ‘shadow journals’ (lifted from Kafka’s ‘the Blue Octavo notebooks’, and from Polish author Czseslaw Milosz’s ‘Hymn Of The Pearl’ and ‘Unattainable Earth’). Apparently chosen by Richter on instinct, they were recorded by acclaimed British actress, Tilda Swinton, who has starred in films including ‘Adaption’, ‘Orlando’, ‘The Garden’, and ‘The Beach’. These brief passages muse over time, memory, and the impermanent nature of things.
With Richter playing piano, the other featured players here are his regular collaborators, Louisa Fuller (violin), Natalia Bonner (violin), John Metcalfe (viola), Philip Sheppard (cello), and Chris Worsey (cello).
Born in 1966, Max Richter trained in composition and piano at Edinburgh University, at the Royal Academy of Music, and with with Luciano Berio in Florence. The Richter family moved to the UK from Germany when Max was a young child, leaving the wider part of his family distributed around Germany. This sense of a lack of roots had an effect on his musical formation - “I have always had a sense of belonging, in some way, to the middle of Europe but not specifically to any one place…” he explains.
On completing his studies, Richter co-founded the immensely successful contemporary classical ensemble Piano Circus, where he stayed for ten years, commissioning and performing works by Arvo Pärt, Brian Eno, Philip Glass, Julia Wolfe and Steve Reich. Richter was also pro-active in developing the group’s use of live sampling.
“I have always listened to a broad range of music. In my early teens I was listening to a lot of classical standard repertoire as well as 20th century work. During this time I also built and customised a number of analogue electronic instruments and was immersed in the early electronic music scene.” In 1996 he worked closely with The Future Sound of London on their release ‘Dead Cities’. Initially involved as a pianist, he ended up co-writing a track (which they subsequently titled ‘Max’).
Following this, Richter collaborated with FSOL over a two-year period on the album ‘The Isness’, with his input ranging from programming or piano playing to arranging, mixing, co-producing and co-writing various tracks. Max’s orchestrations have also graced ‘In The Møde’ by drum’n’bass pioneer Roni Size." [label info]
www.fat-cat.co.uk |
2004 |
€15.00 |
|
| RIVULETS |
You are my Home |
CD |
"Long-delayed 3rd album by internationally acclaimed solo artist Rivulets. Featuring guests Jessica Bailiff (Kranky), Chris Brokaw (Codeine, Come, the New Year), Christian Frederickson (Rachel's), Fred Lonberg-Holm (Boxhead Ensemble), & Bob Weston (Mission of Burma, Shellac).
The contributions of these remarkable musicians adds snowy layers of wintery texture to Nathan Amundson's beautiful recordings. Like Nick Drake smothered not with layers of orchestration, but subtle textures to truly compliment the mood of the album.
Rivulets is the project of minimalist singer-songwriter Nathan Amundson. Born in Colorado, Amundson grew up in Alaska before leaving home at age 16 and moving frequently throughout the United States. He started performing as Rivulets in 1999, and currently resides in Bloomington, IN.
Rivulets is a prolific songwriter, with releases out on several labels, including Acuarela, BlueSanct, Silber, and Chair Kickers'' Union. This is Rivulets'' 3rd full length album, and 1st for Important Records.
Rivulets'' first 2 full-length albums, r i v u l e t s (2002) and Debridement (2003), were both recorded by Alan Sparhawk of Low, and released on Low''s own label Chair Kickers'' Union. These albums feature guest appearances from the likes of Jessica Bailiff , LD Beghtol (Magnetic Fields), Jon DeRosa (Aarktica), Marc Gartman (No Wait Wait), Brian John Mitchell (Remora), Aaron Molina (if thousands), and Mimi Parker (Low).
Extensive touring overseas has garnered Rivulets intensely loyal fanbases across Europe. We''re hoping this, Rivulets 1st album on Important records, will help the US to take notice as well. A few of the artists Rivulets has shared bills with in the past include: Haley Bonar, Chris Brokaw, Cerberus Shoal, Cocorosie, Mark Eitzel, Daniel Johnston, Low, Mirah, My Morning Jacket, the New Year, Scout Niblett, Piano Magic, Radar Bros., Stars of the Lid, Songs: Ohia, Swearing at Motorists, Willard Grant Conspiracy, Shannon Wright, and Xiu Xiu. Rivulets'' discography also includes numerous compilation appearances and several EPs: the aforementioned Thank You Reykjavik EP on BlueSanct; The Alcohol EPs on Silber; the Rivulets / Marc Gartman split CD (featuring Jarboe of Swans) on Tract; and the You''ve Got Your Own EP on Acuarela (the bestselling EP Acuarela have released, out-selling EPs by the Album Leaf, the Clientele, and Tara Jane O''Neil!).
This is not a folk album. This is an album about hearts breaking, tearing it down, and moving on." [label info]
www.importantrecords.com
|
2006 |
€13.00 |
|
| RLW / RICHARD FRANCIS |
R |
CD |
"First collaboration between Ralf Wehowsky (Germany) and Richard Francis (New Zealand)
On a trip from Auckland over Worpswede to Eggenstein Richard Francis visited Ralf Wehowsky on the weekend of September 28th and 29th, 2013. For the recording sessions taking place during these two days Richard used his analogue synth and electronics, while Ralf had a desktop and a laptop for producing digital electronic sounds at hand. For bridging the anatgonistic sound worlds the input of one sound system was fed with the output of the other and vice versa. For this release two of the tracks (Piece 1, Untitled 1) are presented as they were recorded, with only slight pan and volume adjustments. The third track (Piece 3) is composed of fragments of a longer improvisation, time-shifting the contributions of the two artists against each other to constitute a system of non-simultaneity.
RLW/Ralf Wehowsky
Ralf Wehowsky is a german experimental composer, active since the 80s (with the group p16.d4 then). his work is split between solo releases (under the moniker rlw) and collaborations, exploring all fields between media exchange and realtime presence recordings. collaboration partners include among others Lionel Marchetti, Merzbow, Jim O´Rourke, Bruce Russell, Das Synthetische Mischgewebe, Anla Courtis, Contrastate, Kohei Matsunaga, Annette Krebs - and Richard Francis.
Richard Francis
Richard Francis is a sound artist from New Zealand working with electronics and found recordings. He's released solo and collaborative albums on Senufo Editions, Entr’acte, Glistening Examples, Korm Plastics and Aufabwegen. Recent collaborators include Ralf Wehowsky, Frans De Waard, Anla Courtis, Bruce Russell, Mattin, Jason Kahn and Francisco Lopez."
https://aufabwegen.bandcamp.com/album/r
"In 2013, Richard Francis travelled from his hometown Auckland to Worpswede, where he was invited for a residency. He did a stop-over in various places to work, such as Worm (Rotterdam), Extrapool (Nijmegen), and the German town of Eggenstein, where he met Ralf Wehowsky, also known as RLW. They spend two days together recording music. Francis, at the time, had a small mobile modular synthesizer, some electronics, and RLW behind his desktop and laptop. Both systems were connected via in- and outputs. Of the three pieces, the two longer ones were recorded in September 2013, and I assume they also mixed these at the same time; perhaps we could see this as live-in-the-studio music. The third piece, 'Piece 3', is a recomposition by RLW, using the original recordings from 2013. As I hear the two longer pieces, I wonder whether that live-in studio thing results from extensive editing and mixing of an improvised recording. In all honesty, I couldn't say which it is. It has that complexity that we know from RLW, the aspect of multi-layered sound, the collage approach we know from musique concrète, a world of music to which RLW owes much. Francis modular electronics move around like snowflakes, like corroded spaceships, or simply recall what we call 'early electronics'. The collage principles are no strangers to both men, although more applied by RLW than Francis (certainly in recent times), and it takes the material all over the place. The rusty spaceship and
explosions of dark matter cause massive disruption, as noise isn't kept out of the equation. These two long pieces make up for a bumpy ride, neatly going all over the place, from strict noise to sheer silence, from densely orchestrated nightmares to single lines floating about. In the 2020 rework of the source material, some of the density of the 2013 material disappears, and it all becomes an opener. Here the music becomes almost like a cosmic synthesizer scape or something working with sine waves. I was surprised this piece was the opener of the CD, but because it's over seven minutes and much shorter than the other two, the spaciousness of this piece works very well as an introduction to what's coming.
In my Thursday Afternoon Talk (link below), Jos Smolders and I talk about a previous RLW release, 'Satanic Inventions' (Vital Weekly 1365) and I mention that RLW doesn't seem too prolific in recent years. My mistake: take a look at his releases on Discogs and you'll see otherwise." [FdW / Vital weekly]
|
2023 |
€13.00 |
|
| ROGALSKY, MATT |
Memory like Water |
do-CD |
Amerikanischer Musiker & Komponist mit sehr vielfältigen Stücken & Konzepten, hier dokumentiert ist live-Material der letzten 10 Jahre. Vielschichtig schimmernde sphärische Endlos-Drone-Stücke & geräuschhafte Improvisation z.B. mit Violine & Gitarre, sowie eine äusserst merkwürdige Komposition für Radio-Klangquellen...
“The six (or seven) pieces on these CDs document live performance works which span 1996 to the present. Most of the solo pieces are structured improvisations, in that they have a broad form which is repeated from performance to performance while the detail is always quite different. The collaborative pieces are less formalized and depend hugely upon the input of my co-performers. I am very grateful to have worked with them. Conceived as two halves of a single piece, Resonate (noise) and Resonate (tones) seamlessly crossfade from one to the other. Both are sustained-sound pieces, the first exploring noise textures, the second exploring dense, quasi-orchestral harmonic territory. Both pieces employ original software which generates sound using a type of granular synthesis, triggering sampled sources many hundreds of times per second.
The three works entitled Kash are all related in that they employ the same original software instrument (of that name) initially developed in 2001 and still in use today. This software enables me to interact with live performers (or other sound sources) in fluid and lively improvisational situations, accumulating and processing fragments of low-level sounds (the "spaces between the notes"). The three performances with my Kash instrument represented here show how very different the outcomes can be, depending on who (or what) my co-performers are. In each case, all the electronic sound is derived from their real-time input.
Kash (vln) is a collaborative improvisation between myself and violinist Jane Henry, recorded live. Jane is a composer-performer whose performance techniques involve, among other things, use of multiple violin bows made of different abrasive materials. Kash (gtrs) is a live studio recording featuring my brothers Benjamin and Luke Rogalsky on steel-string acoustic guitars. This performance was an improvisation based on a few suggestions as to overall structure. Kash (radios) is a live recording made before an audience at Experimental Intermedia in New York City on March 8 2001. In this case, the "performers" with whom I am interacting are two radios, tuned to talk stations. The radios are faintly heard at the beginning of the piece, but soon the direct sound disappears and only the processed sound remains.
Sprawl (western magnetics) is a document of a live solo performance. As with Kash, Sprawl is a software instrument still in current use, which I developed to be employed in many different improvisational situations. Input from a live performer, or any other sound source, can be sampled and explored at the micro-level using a granular synthesis technique controlled by an computer graphics tablet. Many textural layers of sound can be built up to a dense wall of sound but equally delicate melodic lines can be drawn out as well. On this occasion the input sounds were provided by my brother Luke Rogalsky.
Transform is a manipulation of a live radio signal, tuned to any music station; the frequency content of the source radio program is brought out by a series of tunable delays which create strong harmonic resonances. These harmonies are constantly shifting throughout the piece, which is performed in two sections, the first relatively quiet and the second fairly loud, where the processing used causes the radio to take on the character of an electric guitar constantly on the verge of feedback. Overlaid on the resonant radio in the middle and end sections are sounds of a quite different character generated with electronic feedback loops. The underlying radio signal may sometimes be heard emerging from the dense processed sound.” [Matt Rogalsky]
www.xirecords.org
|
2006 |
€15.00 |
|
| ROSE & SANDY |
Play Cat's Cradle |
CD |
"Behind this name which suggests two ladies working together we find two of Scottish finest musicians: Ruaridh Law (TVO/The Village Orchestra, Accrual and more) and Dave Donnelly (The Production Unit and more). While they both have their feet in beat driven music for their project Rose & Sandy they take a swing quite the opposite way. From improvised processing, like on their full-length debut they present here, to field-recordings and live video presentations.
Not only have they got a range of solo releases on labels such as Highpoint Lowlife and Stuffrecords, they also run the new upcoming Scottish label “Broken20” together with Dave Fyans (Erstlaub) and are involved with several concert and party events organized by Numbers (in Glasgow)." [label info]
www.movingfurniturerecords.com
"Of course Rose & Sandy are not Rose & Sandy, but a duo of Ruaridh Law (TVO/The Village Orchestra, Marcia Blaine School for Girls) and Dave Donnelley (Production Unit, Marcia Blaine School for Girls) from Scotland, but then I don’t know who is Rose and who is Sandy. The label’s website lists a long story about a zither, or actually something like a zither, being given to ‘Sandy’ by his father. A funny story which describes how it looks and what it does. I suggest you read it yourself, saving me to repeat a long story. So Sandy played the instrument while Rose did all the processing, done into two different sessions, which were edited together into the piece ‘Cat’s Cradle’. Its not easy, when listening to this almost forty minute work, to say what the instrument does, doesn’t, where processing comes in and when it leaves. It seems to me that the beginning is where we hear the instrument in its most pure form, but after some six minutes into the piece, the processing drops along and even, say somewhere around twenty-six minutes, it seems to be taking over entirely for a few minutes. But it works well. There is a beautiful grainy and sustainy quality to the piece, which makes it partly a drone piece, but there is just a bit more to it than just that. An excellent musical trip of gliding scales, buzzing electronics, hissy tapestries and perhaps more such common places. A wintery feel hangs over this music and there sets the mood on the shortest day of the year. The music dies out like the fading day light. Sad and beautiful." [FdW / Vital Weekly]
|
2010 |
€12.00 |
|
| ROSE, JON |
Rosin Box |
4 x CD-BOX & BOOK |
60th anniversary limited edition set
3 CDs, 1 data disc and a book
DVD style compact multi-case.
"Jon Rose is one of the most productive, original and focused people I know; he’s also an extraordinary musician and an inspired composer. To mark his 60th anniversary we are releasing this 3 CD box of previously unreleased works ranging from radio documentary and radio fiction to virtuoso performances - taken from all manner of contexts, using both the acoustic violin and the hyperstring interactive bow system. There’s a remarkable improvised violin concerto (the rest of the mini-orchestras’s parts are written out), as well as collaborations with Australian locals (multiple brassbands, musical whips, lounge pianists, aboriginal choirs, orchestrated corrugated iron, musical gum leaves, auctioneers, chainsaws, singing dingos, bowed saw orchestras, and so on). There’s a duo with George - an Albert’s Lyrebird, and concerts with contemporary ensembles and heavy earthmoving equipment. It comes accompanied by a great deal of extraordinary film - and some purely audio - material collected together on a supplementary data disc. Plus there’s a generous booklet of texts, documents and photographs and, of course, a souvenir sample of bow-hair." [label info]
www.rermegacorp.com
|
2013 |
€30.00 |
|
| RV PAINTINGS |
Samoa Highway |
LP |
"RV Paintings were born in California. Humboldt County, to be exact. It is nearly impossible to imagine their origins being elsewhere since the brothers Brian and Jon Pyle, who currently pilot RV Paintings, constantly mine the metaphysical properties of their homeland through a heavy-lidded psychedelia. The redwood trees that majestically rise from the rugged terrain may have been one of the endemic objects that inspired RV Paintings to "jam nature;" but Humboldt County's other major cash crop -- marijuana -- cannot be far behind. As much as the Pyle brothers channel a psychotropic animism through sound, their diaphanous drones and foggy ambient tangles spring from a schematic intelligence that belies any method acting of getting stoned and jamming in a room.
Samoa Highway is the second full album for RV Paintings, following the nature jam transmissions of Trinity Rivers published by Root Strata in 2007 and a well-suited split LP with Taiga Remains from Blackest Rainbow. Just as the debut payed homage to the rugged river system that cuts through forests and mountains of the region, Samoa Highway refers to the lengthy bridge that runs between two coastal communities in Humboldt County, one of which houses a municipal airport. A swarm of drone guitars announces the opening of the record on "Millions," with a shoegaze wash collapsing into rarified tone purity and bulging through a metallic buzz. Field recordings of airplane take-off and firework explosions punctuate the undulating bleary smear of the Pyle brothers' guitars. The result is one of levitation, even as RV Paintings seem to be plugging their guitars and electronics directly into the moss, soil, and mycelia of the Humboldt forest. Echo-soaked flutes, maudlin strings, scabrous noises unearthed from the bottom of the Pacific, and a cinematic arcs of guitar shimmer complete the beautiful and haunted miasma of Samoa Highway that falls somewhere between Taj Mahal Travellers, Organum, and The Caretaker.
Brian Pyle may be best known as one of the founders of the Starving Weirdos and records his solo work as Ensemble Economique. Samoa Highway stands the first piece of vinyl published by Helen Scarsdale Agency and includes a code for a digital download. Pressed in an edition of 500 copies." [label info]
www.helenscarsdale.com
"Two brothers, Brian and Jon Pyle are behind RV Paintings and hail from Hunbold County, California, home of redwood trees and marijuana. Bryan Pyle is also a member of Starving Weirdos and solo known as Ensemble Economique. The brothers jam about about to start with and then edit these out into fixed compositions. They use guitars and effects, I believe, and if I am to believe the press text, also flutes and strings. The recording quality doesn't seem to be something that they care about that much, or perhaps its just the pressing that is not that great? It moves into slight distortion which doesn't justify the music. Unlike many of the previous releases by The Helen Scarsdale Agency, this is drone music of a somewhat different branding. More improvised, more loosely played also, these drone based textures are a bit crude and bending the idea of static drone music, with its metallic scraping and reverb effects in the background. A bit like a toned down 'In Extremis' by Organum, with the addition of field recordings, buzzing effects and other obscured sonic debris. A bit more raw than is usual, and that surely marks a fine difference. Because its not top perfect, all the more nice." [FdW/Vital Weekly]
"Two brothers from Humboldt County are RV Paintings - one is Brian Pyle, whose name should probably strike a chord as one of the principals in Starving Weirdos and recently has been generating some impressive work under his solo Ensemble Economique moniker; the other is Jon Pyle, who occasionally makes a guest appearance in the Weirdos but also operates in Nudge with Honey Owens, Paul Dickow, and Brian Foote. For all of the method acting from the brothers Pyle in getting stoned and jamming, they have been remarkably consistent and consistently good in all of their ruminations, with RV Paintings probably the best that they've mustered. The RV Paintings debut on Root Strata is three years out but is still a timeless, gorgeous dronesmear of bowed metals and elongated guitar; this was followed by a well-suited split with Taiga Remains on Blackest Rainbow, and now, they've got this stunner on Helen Scarsdale.
RV Paintings speak about, to, and from their own immediate surroundings: the moss, mushrooms, and mycelium of the awe-inspiring redwood forests, the heavy fog that hangs at the coast and from their bongs, and the weightiness of the Pacific Ocean just off to the west. The title Samoa Highway gives the impression that the two brothers were on their own trip during a cold, wintery day, gazing off to the southwest and pondering the warmer climate of American Samoa. But no, the Samoa Highway is located in Humboldt County, connecting Eureka with the small community of Samoa on the other side of the bay which was thought to resemble that of Pago Pago in the mid-19th Century. It's also the bridge that would get you to the Arcata/Eureka Airport.
So, the album begins with field recordings of airplanes lifting off on the jawdropping track "Millions," as sitar-like harmonics and ghostly, levitating drones emanate from the distance. It's a perfectly narcotized smear of echo and drift, hanging in space as the remnants of a particularly lucid dream or the foggy headspace from an afternoon of smoking pot and staring at the sun. This is a track that could spiral onward forever. So nice! Samoa Highway continues with "Mirrors" driven by melancholy looped melody from a cello that dissolves into a flurry of shimmered guitar fuzz, whose shoegazed mantra has been submerged under centuries of felled trees and lichens. Cyclical patterns of samples from dark yet pastoral orchestral passages rounds out the album. If it weren't for the delicate freeform clamor of the drumkit, tracks such as this wouldn't be that far removed from the 'pop ambient' cuts by Gas. Citations of Taj Mahal Travellers, Organum, Grouper, Barn Owl, and The Caretaker certainly hit the mark. Music for airports? More like Music for California airports! Fuck yeah!
And a download coupon is tucked within the sleeve as well!" [Aquarius Records] |
2010 |
€10.00 |
|
| SALA |
En-trance |
CD |
Zweites Album dieses Projekts auf AUTARKEIA, dem litauischen Label. Wilder und perkussiver als „Shcut ente..“, werden hier schamanistische Tänze & Ekstasen aufgeführt, alles handgespielt und ungeordnet, Blasinstrumente, beschwörende Vocals & Geschrei.... im gleichen Geiste wie Z’EV, 23SKIDOO, alte PSYCHIC TV, aber auch VIBRACATHEDRAL ORCHESTRA oder wilde MAEROR TRI oder rituelle HYBRYDS kommen einem in den Sinn... und wieder duftet die CD nach MANDELN.
“En-trance” was recorded, but still wasn’t released by the magic-practising artists almost a decade ago. This album compiles two lasting live-recorded tracks. Ritual pulsing, archaic sound of wind instruments, deep-dark “ambient” and surrealistic, unexpected music bends immersing the audience to the swirl of phantasmagoric moods. There are some movies classified as of the “noir” stylistics, the main feature of which is highly forcible and strong atmosphere. If the records also have the classification of the “noir”, “En-trance” could be considered one of the most emphatic works of this style. Emotions generated by the “En-trance” music could be compared with the psychedelic atmosphere of the first albums of NWW, Hybryds. Interesting record and mystic ritual having sustained the challenge of social disregard during the years.
Album's tracks listing:
1. neophile gets ex-sited
2. and now s-he starts laughing
Album lasts for 40 min. 36 sec. It’s packed in a nontypical black plastic DVD case. Limited edition 500 copies. CD is covered with special lackuer which smells like an almond.“ [label info]
www.autarkeia.org
|
2005 |
€12.00 |
|
| SALIKAPALIKAU |
Calligraphy |
CD-R |
Experimental music from Latvia ! SALIkaPALIKAU create a very own kind of bizarre ambient music, using lots of strange electronic and non-electronic sounds (water, voices, electro-drones and loops, floating guitars..)... reminded us on VANCE ORCHESTRA, ID BATTERY, etc.. very interesting and well executed ! Comes in a green-yellow painted wood-cover with handwritten letters & patterns on it. |
2004 |
€15.00 |
|
| SCELSI, GIACINTO |
Pranam I (etc) |
CD |
Genius stuff here from SCELSI mainly made with strings & voice, powerful, suspenseful, spheric, not from this world ! With great / interesting liner notes about his philosophy seeing sound as a cosmic force, a material manifestation of energy.
« Giacinto Scelsi (1905 - 1988) Anagamin Celui qui choisit de revenir ou pas, Pranam I En souvenir de la perte tragique de Jani et Sia Christou, String Quartet Nr. 4, Quattro pezzi su una nota sola, Okanagon doit être considéré comme un rite et, si l'on veut, comme le battement de coeur de la Terre, String Quartet Nr. 2 Anagamin Celui qui choisit de revenir ou pas for 12 Strings (1965 (SFB 1990), Ensemble Oriol Berlin, Ltg. Sebastian Gottschick)
Pranam I En souvenir de la perte tragique de Jani et Sia Christou for voice, 12 instrumentalists and tape, 1972 Fondazione Isabella Scelsi, Rom 1972) Michiko Hirayama, Stimme, Ad Hoc Ensemble, Ltg. Vieri Tosatti
String Quartet Nr. 4 1964 (RB 1994) Pellegrini-Quartett:
Antonio Pellegrini, 1. Violine; Thomas Hofer, 2. Violine; Charlotte Geselbracht, Viola; Helmut Menzler, Violoncello
Quattro pezzi su una nota sola for chamber orchestra, 1959 (Les Disques Solstice 1982) Ensemble 2e2m, Ltg. Luca Pfaff
Okanagon doit être considéré comme un rite et, si l'on veut, comme le battement de coeur de la Terre for harp, Tam Tam and bass (1968 (Les Disques Solstice 1982) Ensemble 2e2m, Ltg. Luca Pfaff)
String Quartet Nr. 2 1961 (WDR 1979) Berner Streichquartett: Alexander van Wijnkoop, 1. Violine; Eva Zurbrügg, 2. Violine; Henrik Crafoord, Viola; Walter Grimmer, Violoncello“ [label info]
|
2002 |
€18.00 |
|
| SCHAEFER, JANEK |
Unfolding Luxury beyond the City of Dreams |
LP |
"Dekorder presents two new vinyl editions composed and designed by UK sound artist Janek Schaefer, who is known around the world for his wide variety of engaging and unpredictable works for installation, concert and composition. Following his highly acclaimed ‘Lay-by Lullaby’ album on 12k [which Pitchfork listed in the ‘Top 10 under-the-radar releases for 2014’], Janek has created and collated a collection of tracks that showcase both his more ambient works [077], and his highly charged sonorities [078]. A beautiful pair of LP’s that ideally should be experienced together for your home listening pleasure. The tracks were mastered by Stephan Mathieu and cut by Lupo at Calyx Mastering.
A1 White Lights of Divine Darkness
By chance I composed this for my brother-in-law the day he passed away. In recent years he had seen the white lights of heavens gate, but returned, and became fascinated by what he called God’s divine darkness in this lifetime.
A2 Unfolding Honey 6:06
A track from my exhibition soundtrack 'Future Beauty, 30 years of Japanese fashion' held at The Barbican Gallery, London. The exhibition featured some amazing folded garments by Issey Miyake, that inspired the unfurling fabric feeling of the composition.
A3 Luxury 3:00
An orchestral drone piece featuring an old French lady singing to her cats with an extra celestial chorus.
A4 Skyline Ascending 3:28
A Carpenters LP piano loop is layered again and again over a high sky recording, which was recorded using a helium balloon floating in the clouds over the city, with raindrops.
B1 Coda (for Sir John Dankworth) 5:00
In my early teens, I used to attend week long music camps, in tents, within the grounds of Sir John Dankworth's home with Cleo Laine. I used to know them, and composed this piece with one of their vinyl's on the day I heard he died. The installation premiered at the Sydney Cooper Gallery in Canterbury, broadcasting a 3 channel version to six 50's radios.
B2 The City of Dreams 8:28
Theme tune for the opening of “The Mill: City of Dreams” a site specific theatre production in a deserted mill in Bradford. Piano motif recorded live with my twin-arm turntable, additional overlays recorded with Mark Robinson on his old family piano.
B3 Beyond 6:30
The Carpenter’s return, sliding piano loops through recordings made in Grand Central Station at closing time when the vast hall was deserted, and the full majesty of the acoustic space could be appreciated. Stilettos pass by forming polyrhythm's, as the last train announces it’s departure...
credits
released 19 November 2014
Biography
Janek Schaefer has exhibited, lectured, and performed widely throughout Europe [Sonar, Tate Modern, ICA, Strasbourg Museum of Modern & Contemporary Art], USA/Canada, [Walker Art Center, Mutek, Princeton, XI], Japan, and Australia [Sydney Opera House 2003]. His foundsound concerts and installations explore the spatial, social and celestial qualities that sound can communicate, through the twisting of old and new technology. The context of each idea is central to its development and resolution, often exploring themes of appropriation, accident, & alteration.
Janek studied Architecture at the Royal College of Art where he worked with Brian Eno, creating “Recorded Delivery” in 1995, and discovered how important sound is in perceiving space, and place. In 2008 he won the British Composer of the Year Award in Sonic Art, and a Paul Hamlyn Award. The Bluecoat Gallery in Liverpool exhibited a Retrospective of his career to date in 2009. He is represented by the Agency gallery, London, and is a Visiting Professor at Oxford Brookes Sonic Art Research Unit. He lives and works in Walton-on-Thames." [label info]
www.dekorder.com
"The other LP has seven pieces, shorter pieces of course and it's a pity that there are no clarifications printed on the cover. They are in the press text, so we know why there were created, so we know, for instance that 'Luxury' is 'an orchestral drone piece featuring an old French lady singing to her cats with an extra celestial chorus', or that 'Skyline Ascending' is 'a Carpenters LP piano loop is layered again and again over a high sky recording, which was recorded using a helium balloon floating in the clouds over the city, with raindrops'. Shorter these pieces may seem, they essentially are not unlike his longer pieces: multi-layered sound events that create a beautiful dense, atmospheric field of sound. Careful crackles, computer processed sustaining loops (from instruments, vinyl, field recordings, nothing is sacred in the hands of Schaefer), and carefully placed field recordings in their raw state. There is obviously no reason to pick one over the other, but I think I prefer the second LP to the first, great as that one is. The second LP had more variation and the compositions were better worked out, unlike the more endless stream of sounds approach of the first. The differences are small I know, and it's probably best if you get both at the same time. This is Janek Schaefer at what he does, and what he does best. No surprises here, pleasant or otherwise." [FdW/Vital Weekly]
|
2014 |
€14.00 |
|
| SCOTT, SIMON (SIMON SCOTT) |
Floodlines |
CD |
Recorded live at Cafe Oto as part of “Touch presents…” on 31st January 2016
Simon Scott is a sound ecologist and multi-instrumentalist from Cambridge, England. His albums ‘Insomni’ (Ash International) and ‘Below Sea Level’ (12k / TouchLine) are out now (see above). His work explores the creative process of actively listening, the implications of recording the natural world using technology and the manipulation of natural sounds used for musical composition. He plays the drums in Slowdive and has recently collaborated with artists James Blackshaw, Spire, Taylor Deupree (Between), Isan + many more.
This is his first physical release for Touch.
Source material recorded in The Fens, East Anglia.
Simon Scott's blistering live set from London follows his 2015 album ‘insomni’ but features his field recordings of areas of The Fens in East Anglia that cartographically are below mean sea level. They’re complimented by underwater hydrophone recordings taken on field research trips, making the unheard audible and brings the unseen to the surface. It’s a flat landscape that was devastated by the draining of The Fens in the 17th century. The ecosystem was damaged but these areas have been left to reflood and re-establish it’s vernacular wildlife, replete with its own instrumentation and orchestras. Tapping into these, Scott's vision encourages us to explore the fertility of the flatlands of England.
www.touchmusic.org.uk
|
2016 |
€11.00 |
|
| SEASONS (PRE-DIN) |
Your Eyes The Stars and Your Hands The Sea |
CD-R |
"UK sibylline sound artist Seasons (pre-din) is a self-effacing miracle... when I heard for the first time his debut ("Above the tides fold"), an indescribable thrill took hold of me... the elementality degree of his music, and the density of its distilled emotions seemed just unreal... a total experience, and a most precious encounter for sure...
Thoroughly passionate about his creations, terribly human, Seasons (pre-din) exists in the permanent instant of "giving"...
Most of his lovely & ultra ltd elaborate hand-made releases came out via his own imprint THY-REC ("Above the tides fold", "Har Habayit Be Yadeinu", "The Canopy Falls", "By the banks go through"...)...meticulously assembling the quintessence of crepuscular forest-tinted field recordings with dissolved instrumental passages (dulcimer, singing bowl...), he reaches for a mesmeric & unique potent brew, a constant flowing dronescape opening a multitude of new channels...
What started as a discreet audio-journey for initiates has slowly turned into a small hype, mainly due to high interest shown by the Boomkat mail-order, and the Type label, which both praised copiously Seasons (pre-din)'s galvanic works, and also via some stimulating performances... Recent developments saw his sound getting sparser and more vivid, as it is now centred on piano and guitar infused orchestral loops with environmental sounds still percolating, but more subsidiary...
a festival of sensitivity...
For MS, Seasons (pre-din) remained faithful to his first emotions, outlining a flow of profuse & petrifying droning ramifications...
Closed eyes
Pale glowing firmament
Your voice babbling through the stream
Scattered leaves, cold humus, receding stones
Your smile perched on the shadow of tangled trees
A wind of rupture...
Without a word, walking wild and astray
Looking into your astral veins,
a river within you...
"Your Eyes the Stars and Your Hands the Sea"
cries out an intimate loss, an aborted love
transformed into an harrowing moment of exhilaration...
an improbable symbolist landscape
oozing mysteries of unspeakable beauty
nestling in the ruts of silence,
the folds of a lucid dream..." [label info]
www.mysterysea.net
|
2009 |
€12.00 |
|
| SECTION 25 |
Eigengrau |
CD |
"Blackpool’s most famous music export Section 25 are best known for being a legendary band on Manchester’s Factory label. They were labelmates of Joy Division and were produced by Martin Hannett in their early days. We at Klanggalerie think that SXXV are not only known and loved in the postpunk scene, but also in the avantgarde and Industrial genres. So we asked some great bands from those scenes to remix classic Section 25 tracks. The result is an incredible variety of styles and approaches, nevertheless the whole album sounds homogenic. The impressive full track list is as follows:
Girls don't count (Atomizer Remix)
Beating Heart (Absolute Body Control Remix)
Desert (7JK Remix)
Colour Movement Sex & Violence (Monoton Remix)
Inner Drive (Dust Orchestra Remix)
Looking from a Hilltop (Wrangler/Stephen Mallinder Remix)
Desert (Samy Morpheus & Erge Storman Version)
The Process (Volcano The Bear Remix)
Uber Hymn (DDAA Remix)
Desert (Shane Fahey Remix)
New Horizon (23 Skidoo Remix)
Girls don't count (Renaldo & The Loaf Remix)
Desert (:zoviet*france: Remix)
Dirty Disco (Portion Control Remix)
Experience a different and new Section 25. The postpunk roots are still there, but the collaborators have taken their songs to a new level where avantgarde meets rock and electro." [label info]
www.klanggalerie.com
|
2013 |
€15.00 |
|
| SEETYCA |
Winterlicht |
CD |
'Winterlicht' is Seetyca's third full length album to be released on the Winter-Light label.
As the album title indicates the theme is that of the winter's light and comprises of 12 new tracks, combining deep drones and sparse musical pieces to create a vast wintry landscape. The opening track 'cold morning' invokes images of sunlight playing across fields steeped in deep white snow while your cold breath disappears in to the morning air. The title track 'winterlicht' is a slowly evolving darker, deeper 13 minute drone piece. Here the heavy mantle of winter steadily envelopes the listener, drawing the darkness of the nights ever nearer, as the cold winds howl and the ice begins to form, locking the landscape in to a frozen tundra.
The play between light and dark, the subtle use of environmental sounds and carefully chosen instruments, played by a stellar array of Seetyca's friends, is what makes this album truly engaging.
'Winterlicht' was conceived, played and recorded over three summers between 2014 - 2016.
credits
released October 13, 2017
Seetyca uses e-maschinen, samplers, glass harmonica, air voice and harmonica. Technical assistance by dr. dipl.-ing. johann e. mildenberg.
Some friends gave a hand....
artin mucht: additional synths.
umanosuke yumeji: electro harmonix.
thom yeesland: environmental sounds.
madeleine madeiras: ice piano on track I.
ralf behrendt: additional atmospherics on tracks VIII & XII.
string samples on track IX by the oregon origo chamber orchestra, conducted & recorded by etheocles stevens.
gowlan roberts: bass on track XI.
the newschubert: additional sequencing on track XII.
The album was mixed by Artin Mucht and mastered by Seetyca.
The cover design and layout has been created by Midnight Sun Studio.
winter-light.bandcamp.com/album/winterlicht
|
2017 |
€13.00 |
|
| SEIROM |
Mesmerized |
CD |
'Mesmerized' is a collection of ambient and synth works recorded in 2014. Once again the aim of the material was pure emotion, pure atmosphere. Limited Edition 500 copies, 6 panel digipack
www.ksenzarecords.ru
"When one submerges themselves in as much darkness as black metal/noise maven Mories tends to, it is only natural to need a break every now and then. The need to come up from the murky depths and bask in the sunlight now and again is only human, and despite the otherworldly sounds he produces, the man is only human. Seirom is this breath of fresh air, this ray of sunlight, for Gnaw Their Tongues mastermind Maurice De Jong.
Ofttimes overlooked in favor of his more shocking material like Aderlating or Gnaw Their Tongues, Mories’s ambient synth project Seirom is just as satisfying a listen as any of his other material, and uses many of the same methods of attack, albeit to very different effect. Despite the fact that the project doesn’t seem to garner quite as much critical attention, the intrinsic value of the music contained within is undeniable, and the back-uncatalog is surprisingly extensive with multiple releases dating back since 2011, many of which are available of the artist’s bandcamp page for a ‘pay-what-you-want’ download. The newest Seirom release, the seven song EP ‘Mesmerized‘, is a beautiful and fascinating work which is a perfect place for newcomers to Mories’s lighter world to start immersing themselves.
As I stated in my review of the latest Gnaw Their Tongue’s full length Abyss of Longing Throats, Maurice De Jong is a master of creating moods and forcing you to feel; he understands how to draw certain emotions out of people with sound. Usually, these talents are utilized to terrify and repulse, but on Seirom he creates an atmosphere of contentment and peace, at times intruded upon by a sad, quiet longing. An edge of longing and mournfulness for times past, but one that is at peace with that past. A feeling that conveys the all-encompassing emotions of wistfully looking at days past and remembering beautiful times and contentedly moving forward, despite the passage of those times. Even the album art and track names seem to convey this wistful reminiscence. In this way, Mesmerized is a fitting title for this EP, for it truly does leave one mesmerized upon losing yourself to the beautiful sound and the atmosphere it creates. The base structure of the songs is not terribly different from some of Mories other more ambient releases in bands like Aderlating; however, the tone of the music and the execution is completely different. Still present are synth-laden ambient soundscapes and grand orchestral compositions, at times interrupted by washed-out samples and more conventional instrumentation, but this base formula is turned on its head by the stark change in execution and framing.
Standout tracks include the opener and titular track “Mesmerized,” and the lovely “Desensitized,” which is a beautiful example of everything Seirom does perfectly. The track begins with rhythmic strains of floating synth between washed-out, subtle electronic crunch and a programmed drum beat, and slowly builds in presence and insistence until a crashing finale of emotion, which slowly gives way to ambient nothings before rebuilding itself and then rapidly dying off again. Closer “Something New” is a perfect cap to the album, building upon the themes touched on earlier of wistful remembrance as the beauty of youth gives way to something new – not necessarily something bad, but something that is different than the things you once loved. Hypnotic piano amid light-drenched synth lead you towards the final ambient finale, slowly fading into obscurity and nothing as you leave behind the old and find the way to something new.
Another of Seirom’s releases is entitled and the light swallowed everything, and if there were ever a perfect title to describe a band’s overall sound, I think that would be it. Seirom deals in light, but it is an all-consuming light. Something that washes over you and makes you a part of it. You don’t know whether or not it is a good thing or a bad thing to be swallowed so wholly by this light, but it is certainly a beautiful thing. And as you are being swallowed, that is really all you care about." [Kira / Cvltnation] |
2015 |
€13.00 |
|
| SEVEN THAT SPELLS |
Black Om Rising |
CD + DVD |
"Wrapped intricately like a holiday present in book binding with a gatefold image of topless women and buddhas cavorting in the sky, Seven That Spells thankfully don’t say anything on the instrumental Black Om Rising. The band regularly puts out limited-run releases of abstract psychedelic narratives that fever out of control or space out into remote cosmic hinterlands. On the surface, they seem to be following the lead of Japanese noise-rock guru, Acid Mothers Temple founder, and occasional Seven That Spells collaborator Kawabata Makoto, a.k.a the most prolific recording artist in history. Yet, the Slavic foursome have likely been digging deep into the Western canon as well as the Nipponese one. On Black Om Rising, there’s traces of the propulsive intensity of motorik post-rockers like Trans Am and Turing Machine, the apocalyptic prog ferocity of Magma, and the virtuosity of The Mars Volta. There’s even traces of free jazz in Lovro Ziopaša’s sax-ranting, which uses dub echo to ominous insistence on “RA”. The centerpiece of Black Om Rising is the three act play “Lo”, which emerges from simple gothic Dick-Dale-tremolo and dilates outward into mini orchestral vignettes that are both sporadic and organically harvested. The CD’s side B, a DVD capture of a live performance, catches the band at even more frenetic and dissonant heights, proving them a most worthy import indeed." [PopMatters]
"Ed. of 500 copies in a book bound case and 8 page booklet. Audio CD plus region free DVD consisting of songs from “Black Om Rising” album performed live. Don't go round tonight, well it's bound to take your life; there's a black Om on the rise. And that black Om slugs all creation square in the gut. Seven That Spells spells, in this instance, EXPLOSION. Black Om Rising is a tightly-wound precision time piece ringing the hours with an effervescent brutality. The rhythm section growls with a low, mean thudding punch that could give the back end of The Birthday Party or Big Black the business in a street fight. Black Om Rising ascends; a beautifully bejeweled bloody stump of instrumental brilliance. Gilt post-punk edges halo the Kraut-suffused filigree of expert musicianship, that is not only capable of handling heavy progressive payloads, but also of circumventing the trigonometry of wank. Powerful, mellodious, charismatic, dynamic, weird and ballsy to the core. STS has compassed an album whose every drone, silence and screech is so slyly crafted that Mozart called from the 18th century demanding amps!" [label info]
www.blrrecords.com
|
2008 |
€16.00 |
|
| SHEA, DAVID |
The Book of Scenes |
CD |
Anspruchsvolles Werk für Viola & Piano & Sampler in 29 “Szenen”, die thematisch orientiert sind und sehr stimmungsvolle neo-klassisch-geräuschhaft-improvisatorische, z.T. elektronisch prozessierte Muster ergeben. Uraufgeführt 2003 auf dem „Why Note“ Festival.
"Return of the prodigal son: our favourite New York composer is back home at Sub Rosa.
This new CD consists in scenes with specific atmospheric tracks; a kind of open book, an open music film... and in the same time a true composer work of high level classical sampler music!
The Book of Scenes is a collection of pieces for Viola and Piano. Each piece is a single scene and scored on a single page and places the players and the instrument in different situations and relationships to each other and sampled recordings of themselves as well as the electronic environment the duo perform in. The work can be played in any order and the sequence is chosen before hand by the the players.
The scenes explore solo and duo playing, and musical roles inside of shifting contexts many related to visual references, films and iconic memories. This record presents Book I the first 29 pieces performed live with some scenes constructed electronically from samples and memories of other scenes. Many of the sections are visual in nature, for example where the alto player bows his instrument while the pianist places his hands on the viola neck and chooses the notes to be played followed by the alto player placing his hands inside the piano to mute the pianist notes as well as a scene where the players are blindfolded.
These scenes have been replaced by electronic manipulations of the live performance. The result is a flow of relationships and scored or scripted scenes living between the orchestration of the acoustic instruments and the electronic characters they engage with.” [press release]
|
2005 |
€13.00 |
|
| SHINJUKU THIEF |
Sacred Fury |
CD |
"Leaving aside the sheer viciousness of “Black Ice”, the delicate abstraction of “Black Frost” and the calm asphyxiation of his “Matte Black” albums, Darrin Verhagen on his latest release re-embraces all the dramatic theatricality his Shinjuku Thief project is best known for. Hovering midway between gothic orchestral horror and contemporary cinematic narrative, “Sacred Fury” presents us with a score from the midst of judgment. Reflective cinematic odes are strafed by brutal sound design, whilst elsewhere, bombastic homages to In Slaughter Natives pound out a march to the apocalypse in 31 beats.
This is the quintessential soundtrack for when all your best military plans turn to shit in your hands, and each new oncoming palletload of reason, ideology and faith seems more combustible than the last." [label info]
www.findesieclemedia.com
|
2005 |
€13.00 |
|
| SIDHARTA, OTTO |
Kajang |
LP |
Unreleased before music by Otto Sidharta, pionneer of Indonesian electronic music. Inspired by Indonesia's multifarious styles of traditional music, that he tries to preserve, the four pieces on Kajang express a contemplation of the self :
Otto Sidharta loves to travel, everywhere within Indonesia, in order to collect almost any environmental tones and harmonies he can gather, as an endless source of composition. He is also deeply inspired by Indonesia's multifarious styles of traditional music, that he tries to preserve, as in some remote places, they keep their own tradition very strongly.
What really interests Sidharta is musicians not interacting with other kinds of music, as in those deep villages, where one might find sounds that feel like very 'natural'. It results in works expressing Sidharta's personal impression from their music: 'I just use my own feeling, with no calculation', not using the tribals motif or style.
Kajang is the name of a tribal people living in the south of Sulawesi, a giant island in eastern Indonesia, a closed community, that Sidharta visited twice: 'They cut off their communication with the outside world. They live in a very traditional way and try to avoid any new development in culture that might impact their way of life.'
Sidharta's previous album collected early pieces under the title Indonesian Electronic Music 1979-92, released on Sub Rosa in 2017. Kajang gathers a quartet of compositions from 2015 to 2020.
credits
released April 24, 2017
Otto Sidharta is born in Bandung, Indonesia November 6, 1955. In the late 1970' he studied first in Jakarta, under guidance of Slamet Abdul Sjukur, later at the Sweelinck Conservatorium in Holland. In 2015 he accomplished his doctoral study at Institute Seni Indonesia Surakarta and finished in 2016. For years he felt isolated as a composer, not only because of living in Indonesia, but because the nature of his music lay outside the mainstream of electronic composition. Until 2019 he taught for many years in the music departments of several Indonesian universities. He also managed an Indonesian symphony orchestra for five years, a job that included setting up a tour of Japan.
https://ottosidharta.bandcamp.com/album/kajang |
2022 |
€17.00 |
|
| SIGUR ROS |
Svefn-G-Englar |
mCD |
“Formed in January, 1994, Sigur Rós are an Icelandic four-piece band who, if the startled reactions to the pre-release CDs of this 12” are anything to go by, look set to be huge. Although until now Sigur Rós have remained unreleased outside of their native country, to date they have released 3 albums in Iceland (all on the Smekkleysa label) – ‘Von’, their debut in 1997; a remix of this, ‘Vonbrigð’, a year later; and a month ago, the awesome new ‘Agætis Byrjun’, which has been number 1 in Iceland since, garnering some amazing press reviews.
First spotted playing live at a Gus Gus party in Reykjavik, at which FatCat were Dj-ing, the band forge a stunning brand of beautifully-orchestrated, deeply atmospheric music. Layering a huge, rich and emotional space through a mixture of guitars, keyboard, flute, accordian, bass, drums and vocals, their tracks become extended soundscapes that shift and slide, flowering in massive crescendos, hooking the listener and dragging him /her with them.
If you’re looking for reference points, check God Speed You Black Emperor or Rachel’s (and yes, they are really that good). What marks out a major difference though, is singer Jonsi’s distinctive vocal style. Sung in a mixture of Icelandic and ‘Hopelandish’ (the band’s own made-up language – recalling Liz Fraser’s babytalk in The Cocteau Twins), his voice slips across the music, following its rises and falls.
Just as impressive are the band’s live performances. Two tracks on the CD single bear witness to their power as a live force: ‘Nýja Lagið’ and ‘Syndir Guðs’ (both exclusive to the CD). **PLEASE NOTE THAT CD IS A REPRESS VERSION AND NOT IN THE ORIGINAL SLEEVE” [label info]
|
2006 |
€8.00 |
|
| SILVERMAN |
Blank for your own Message |
CD |
"Available late Feb. 2008. First ed. of 500 copies in a full color book bound case. Silverman should be given a degree in bio-melodics. This most recent body of collaged constructions pulsates with aspects of a living system. Slurred drones rush sonic corpuscles through electronic capillaries, imparting breath to each track. An obscured, parenthetical heart beat occasionally comes through as an unexpectedly metallic panging in the background, mostly drowned out by the fluid dynamics of localized subsystems playing out their various vital functions. Perhaps each one of us DOES sound a little like a Javanese gamelan orchestra inside if you hit the right spot. Cutting to find out is not advocated. Silverman’s fantastic voyage sounds like a spiritual dissertation on degrees of scale. The musical camera obscura sometimes finds purchase on an atomic level, aurally zooming into the humming orbits of individual atoms and even creeping up on the sounds of the electrons, protons and neutrons themselves. With this beautifully ambient series of orchestral maneuvers in the dark, Silverman may have found a tonal replacement for Gray’s Anatomy." [label info]
"The Silverman aka Phil Knight is one of my favorite musicians in the experimental ambient/drone scene. Over the past decennium he has been responsible for some of the most beautiful ambient/meditative music I've ever heard. His previous LP/CD for BLRR Nature Of Illusion is one of the best albums in this genre I have heard in many-a-year. The Silverman's solo albums have always been slightly overshadowed by his work for the Legendary Pink Dots. This is a shame, as his solo work deserves a place of its own. Perhaps this new CD Blank For Your Own Message will do the trick. Starting off life as a "zen-opera" in seven parts, the music here is more varied than Nature Of Illusion. BLRR drops the term "bio-melodics". For once I have to agree. This actually fits the music and the world of The Silverman. Although the music has seven parts, the 43 minutes that make up this album are programmed into one track. It is hard to tell the origin of some of the sounds; there are traffic tapes and acoustic sounds (percussion, cow bells) of a more ethnical nature, all mixed up with synthetic sounds. These combined make up a very strong album. Packed in one of those typical BLRR deluxe hard-carton sleeves, this is a great addition to the already great discography of The Silverman." [FK / Vital Weekly]
www.blrrecords.com
|
2008 |
€15.00 |
|
| SIRIA |
Boa-Lingua |
MC |
Boa-Língua is the second album by Síria. It departs from her former work, Cuspo, using it as a foundation for structure and duration, while following very different pulses. Boa-Língua was made from recordings of practice sessions that were not originally intended to be used or worked as songs. Boa-Língua means “good tongue”, used in opposition to “má-língua”, literally “bad tongue”, a Portuguese expression for “tittle-tattle”.
“Canção do Gato” is a version of a song recorded by Tiago Pereira from A Música Portuguesa a Gostar Dela Própria. “Nos Montes” was remixed by @c (Pedro Tudela and Miguel Carvalhais). “Senhora dos Remédios” is a version of a song as sang by Catarina Chitas and features a sample by Maile Colbert. “Belgian Shepherd” is a remix of the track by Rui P. Andrade from his album All Lovers Go To Heaven, it combines original sounds with recordings and voice, and it was previously released in Island Fever by Colectivo Casa Amarela. “Ay Işığında” is a version of the song as sang by Nərminə Məmmədova . “For Ghédalia” and “Boa-Língua” feature recordings by Los Niños Muertos (André Tasso and Bruno Humberto).
Síria is Diana Combo, who in this project joins her voice to the usual practice of combining vinyl records, field recordings, and other sound sources, in a gesture of appropriationism that she has been presenting as EOSIN.
----
Like my previous album, Boa-Língua was born and developed as a result of a subconscious will and energy, rather than a clear idea that was intended to be seen and heard.
During a season in the studio, the voice was given way to freely exist in a context of exercises of improvisation. These sessions were recorded and later heard as a tool to analyse vocal practice. Spontaneously and intuitively, these recordings began to be edited, combined and mixed, until a sequence of 9 proto-songs emerged.
Each theme waited for the sounds that intertwined with the voice. As it had happened in Cuspo. This time, however, the voice was mostly used in its original version of vocal exercises, because the work was anchored in this spontaneity and unintentionality. And it developed by itself, with me being an attentive vehicle, an open channel for the work to flourish. The sounds beyond the voice come from various sources: percussions were recorded by me in the studio, other sounds were collected from archives.
The space for introspection and self-examination that the studio provided came at a time when I felt it was necessary to find an answer to the perceived tendency for obloquy, reproach, gossip, voluntary misunderstanding, etc. I asked myself: What happens when we find ourselves in the midst of people who behave in this way, sneaky or directly? Do we become, sooner or later, the same? Do we silent ourselves as a response? Or do we resist this tendency through the opposite attitude? That's where the album’s title came from.
The repertoire of Boa-Língua consists of versions of traditional songs and chants, a version of one Azerbaijani song, two originals (one in Turkish, one in Portuguese) and two original songs in which the voice does not take the form of words.
Voice and percussions: Diana Combo
Recording, editing and first mix: Diana Combo
Post-production: Tiago Martins at Fisgastudio
Mastering: Miguel Carvalhais
Artwork: Miguel Carvalhais with photos by Diana Combo
https://cronica.bandcamp.com/album/boa-l-ngua
"So wie einem die besten kreativen Gedanken oft beim Gehen oder in der Badewanne kommen, entstehen die Releases von Sängerin Diana Combo alias Síria meist als Nebenprodukte kleinerer Arbeiten, die ganz unerwartet ein Eigenleben erhalten. So wie sich ihr erstes Album aus einer Auftragsarbeit heraus verselbstständigt hatte, ist “Boa-Língua” das Resultat einer der Stimmübungen, die Combo regelmäßig aufnimmt, um die Resultate zu analysieren. Dabei greift sie oft auf bekannte Songs in ihrer portugiesischen Muttersprache zurück. Bei den letzten Sessions dieser Art sammelten sich eine Reihe von Songs an, die gerade wegen ihres provisorischen Charmes schon fast nach einem Coveralbum klangen. Dieses musste dann nur noch um die Gesangsspuren herum produziert werden und liegt nun vor.
Dass Combo theoretisch gefällige Singer Songwriter-Alben machen könnte, das vielleicht irgendwann auch mal zum Spaß machen wird, aber bis auf weiteres nicht will, weil sie das herausfordernde, immer noch sperrige in schönen Songs mag, merkt man auch hier wieder, und so hat gerade das leicht zusammengeschustert wirkende Konnex zwischen Gesang und Soundkulisse seinen besonderen Reiz. Im “Canção do Gato”, dem Katzenlied (für Hinweise zu den Originalen den unten eingebetteten Bandcamp-Link befragen), tritt ihre Stimme über mehrere Tonspuren in Dialog mit sich selbst, was auch a capella funktioniert hätte, doch die vorwärts und rückwärts eingespielten kratzenden und schabenden Loops sorgen für die betongraue Hintergrundfärbung, die den hellen Gesang umso deutlicher exponiert.
Die schwindelerregende Orchestralsounds von “Nos Montes” mit ihren aufgeklebten Trommelwirbeln wiederum lassen das ungekünstelte des Gesangs umso mehr durchscheinen, der sich zur düsteren Pauke des hörspielartigen “Danse Macabre” geradezu trunken gibt. Beim metallenen Klappern und Hämmern von “Belgian Shepherd” und “Yarin”, aber auch beim unbestimmten Rauschen und Knistern von “Senhora dos Remédios” kommt eine dezente Spannung zum Vorschein, der den bisweilen chorartigen Gesang wie aus einer verwunschenen Anderswelt herüberwehen lässt, so wie sich beides immer gegenseitig charakterisiert.
Combo sagt, dass sie das Studio gerne als Fluchtort vor dem allgegenwärtigen Sprachgewirr der sozialen Wirklichkeit aufsucht, als Ort, der keine Antworten verlangt. In ihren dort entwickelten Songs findet sich mehr von der Flucht als vom Ziel, was “Boa-Língua” spannend macht. Ich wäre aber auch gespannt zu wissen, wie ein geplantes Síria-Album klingen würde."
[African Paper] |
2020 |
€9.00 |
|
| SKY BURIAL |
Corranach |
CD |
"As a means of giving music an expression unbound to narrowly defined genres, Michael Page created Sky Burial in 2006. Mainly dealing with noisy power electronics with project Fire in the Head, Sky Burial entered the realms of dark ambient and sonic experimentalism. Since it's start this outfit has released several albums and we're proud to have the opportunity to release it's new opus "Corranach". The three mesmerizing tracks which comprise "Corranach" play a dichotomous dirge both grounded and ethereal. Sky Burial takes us unto a journey through internal structures and outer spaces, immersed in the Kosmische ethos. With "Corranach" Michael presents his most focused and refined work so far with a unique blend of industrial and ambient elements."
ralignment.tictail.com
"Sometimes you know something is going to be painful to listen to but you know that somehow it will be worth it. I often feel that way with industrial ambient. I’m very much a nature guy so when I listen to something that is essentially the complete opposite I get antsy. I’ve learned, though, that if I just sit and listen, allow myself to be immersed in the story and the effects, rather than the sounds themselves, that the experience is a very unique one. When I first listened to Sky Burial’s 2016 opus “Corranach” I knew that I was in for a listen like no other.
I can honestly say that the “music” of Sky Burial is the most unique, strange, and outlandish that I have ever had the privilege of listening to. That being said it was one of the craziest, exhilarating journeys I’ve ever taken when listening to dark ambient. Have you ever had that dream where you were flying high enough you never saw the land? Corranach was the soundtrack to that dream. As I listened I could close my eyes and feel the ground give way. I could feel myself drifting through the air, and completely unaware of time passing.
Upon first pushing play, I immediately felt myself getting swept up in the drone, not the soft, dulcet drone that fills the air with a lot of dark ambient vibes, but piercing, unsettling drones that made me want to turn the sound down (I listen to my music at a very high volume). I knew that if I gave in I’d lose the experience so I kept faith. I could quite literally feel the soundscape in my bones. It was a crazy esoteric experience that I will not soon forget. The songs, despite not really having “music” had a very classical, orchestral dynamic. They progress with certain themes that are primitive at the beginning and by the end have fully matured, with added production, field recordings, and loops. The production itself is very clear, allowing many of the nuances and quirks in the sound to have full range and exposure.
This was a wild lucid dreaming experience, one that I would recommend. It’s vibrant and mechanical yet, at the same time, it has an organic quality transcending the industrial nature of the music. It’s not esoteric but it’s definitely surreal. Well worth adding to the collection!" [Resounding Footsteps]
|
2016 |
€12.00 |
|
| SORRY FOR LAUGHING |
See It Alone |
CD |
"Sorry For Laughing is a project by Gordon H. Whitlow who is also a member of legendary US avantgarde collective Biota, formerly Mnemonists or Mnemonist Orchestra. Their music is a mixture of modern classical, experimental sounds, noise, industrial, avant-garde, songwriting and free jazz. Their releases were published by their own self-produced label Dys between 1981 and 1986. By 1985 the group had split off into separate groups for visual and audio work. From that time, Mnemonists operated only as a visual arts collective while the musical activity was taken over by a new group called Biota that featured a few of the musicians involved with Mnemonists as well as many new members. In 1986, Gordon H. Whitlow released a cassette under the name Sorry For Laughing: 'The compositions stem from my beginning days with the avant-garde recording ensemble Biota, shortly after completion of the Bellowing Room LP.' The album was re-issued on CD by Klanggalerie in 2018 and is still available. Now, Gordon reactivated the project and changed it from a solo effort into a new supergroup: he is joined on See It Alone by Edward Ka-Spel of Legendary Pink Dots fame, and Martyn Bates of Eyeless In Gaza. Also contributing is Denver guitarist Janet Feder and Patrick Q. Wright, Kiyoharu Kuwayama and Nigel Whitlow. Together, these musicians created an exceptional album of tender music where stunningly beautiful vocals float around ambient soundscapes and minimal classical music."
"This is Gordon H. Whitlow’s project, who has a long discography in his more than 30 years of musical career, he is also a member of the legendary American avant-garde collective Biota.
For “See It Alone”, two renowned artists such as Edward Ka-Spel from Legendary Pink Dots and Martyn Bates from Eyeless In Gaza join forces, two fundamental groups of psychedelic, post-punk and avant-garde music.
In this intimate album with bucolic passages that flirts with folk, along with violin, organ and field recordings arrangements. The interpretation of the songs is in a melancholic and sober tone. When Bates sings like a crooner I can't help but remember the beautiful songs from Eyeless In Gaza that alternate with Ka-Spel's velvety voice.
This album is a gift that moves for its simplicity and intimacy that are found in gems such as “Obsolesce”, “Seven Stormy Oceans”, “Anti-Hymn” and “Fate Stars”.
[Guillermo Escudero / LOOP]
|
2021 |
€15.00 |
|
| |
same |
CD |
The Sorry For Laughing album was released in 1986 on cassette only. It is a project by Gordon H. Whitlow who is also a member of legendary US avantgarde collective Biota, formerly Mnemonists or Mnemonist Orchestra. Whitlow composed and recorded the album all by himself.The accompanying artwork for the original cassette release was made by several members of Mnemonists, the visual department of Biota. Sorry For Laughing has a different sound though. It is more varied, there are elements of post punk as well as elements of contemporary classical music. Somehow though you can hear Biota in there as well. Les Disques du Crepuscule is in the air. After all, the idea was to make a Christmas album. Whitlow says that when he lived in Colorado and worked in a bakery a homeless drifter used to come to the shop and buy the same stuff every day. With Christmas approaching, he interviewed the guy and got his Biota mates involved. Piano parts were recorded at a wealthy house-sit in Denver, others at Mulberry Street Studio, home of Biota's Bill Sharp who also co-produced the album. A most interesting album that's been lost for a long time. We are glad to bring it back into the world, remastered by Martin Bowes of Attrition. Gordon Whitlow says about it: "This is a solo musical project recorded in the winter of 1985-86 and self-released on cassette in a very small edition in 1986; this was followed by a modest limited edition cassette release on the ADN label in Italy in 1989. It has never been released to the public on any medium other than cassette. The compositions stem from my beginning days with the avant-garde recording ensemble Biota, shortly after completion of the Bellowing Room LP. The recordings feature a handful of Biota players contributing to compositions that fall outside the group’s activities. Vienna-based label KlangGalerie has expressed interest in reissuing the project as a CD. As you will hear from the initial spoken word (interview) passages, the project has a quasi-Christmas theme, but it is not overt in that sense. Rather, it is a collection of instrumentals whose moods and atmosphere are founded on largely repetitive melodic passages accompanied by “found” atonal elements. It is intended to be minimalistic with sparse arrangement (and on one track, some distant vocalization), aiming for a sense of nostalgia, isolation/loneliness, and childlike muse
https://www.klanggalerie.com/gg289
|
2019 |
€15.00 |
|
| SPAHLINGER, MATHIAS |
Morendo (etc) |
LP |
Six works of this very philosophic German New Music composer, whose works are based around the idea of “negation of order” / or to suspend common order with an own structurization, through own active listening...
his music is very sound-based & free, metal / gong-sounds and scrapings / scratchings of all kinds, pure electronic crackles & radiowaves & feedbacks, chaotic singing & laughing & voices, string-pieces, etc etc....suspensefully constructed with quiet parts & noisy outbreaks... comes with extensive liner-notes booklet. Even if you never listen to academical NEW MUSIC, this is very worth to explore !!
„...Das Werk ist klingende Philosophie. Es geht um die "Aufhebung, Zersetzung von Ordnung durch eigene Gesetzmäßigkeiten" (Spahlinger). In einem erregenden Klangkontinuum lösen sich die Flächen und Strukturen unmerklich auf, und der Hörer findet sich in einer völlig neuen Struktur wieder, deren Anfang er gar nicht bemerkt hat.“ [U. Schalz-Laurenze, taz]
Mathias Spahlinger (*1944)
Morendo, apo do (von hier), Vier Stücke, Entlöschend, Störung, Sotto Voce
Morendo for orchestra (RSO Frankfurt, dir.: F. Travis)
apo do (von hier) for string quartet (Leonardo String Quartet)
Vier Stücke (Ens. für Neue Musik, Stuttgart, dir.: E. Karkoschka)
Entlöschend for tamtam (M. Spahlinger)
Störung (electronic music)
Sotto Voce (Schola Cantorum, Stuttgart, dir.: C. Gottwald)
|
1990 |
€15.00 |
|
| SRMEIXNER (STEPHEN MEIXNER) |
A Silent War |
CD |
Artist: srmeixner
Product Title: A silent war
Format: CD
Cat no: BRCD 21-1018 / CDROT097
Release Date: October 2021
Style: Abstract, Experimental Electronics, Ambient
Black Rose Recordings and Oxidisation present the new album from Stephen Meixner (Contrastate). Initial inspiration for this project came from the 1980s recycling projects such as “Captured Music” and “Destruct”, both released on the Selektion label who described recycling as “a procedure concentrating on materials already existing on their own or as separate sources as a practical base for further reworkings”. As the project was progressing news was sent across the world of the death of George Floyd whilst in police custody. Sadly, not a new phenomenon, but a repeat of past events highlighting the unfinished business of needing to change the future. I decided to incorporate the events into the initial theme using words and specific references to carry on a dialogue that interacts with the re-interpretations of previous sound sources. It has been said that we cannot tackle the past by re-writing it. Maybe we can.
This releases features contributions from Ralf Wehowsky (rlw/P16 D4), Steve Pittis (Band of Pain), Jonathan Grieve and Stephen J Pomeroy (Contrastate), Leyden Jars, Adrian Morris, Lee Pomeroy and Simon Wray.
"There must be something in the air. Two weeks ago, I reviewed three releases from Howard Stelzer. He worked with sound material fellow musicians mailed him, which in return was based on Stelzer's primary sound material. I mentioned P16.D4's 'Distruct' (Vital Weekly 863), from 1984, which worked along similar lines. The same record is mentioned on the cover here (though misspelt as 'Destruct'), along with 'Captured Music', which also worked with the recycling of sound, more specific live recordings from a festival of the same name. Stephen Meixner, one-third of Contrastate, does have a similar approach here. He received sound material from his Contrastate buddies
Jonathan Grieve and Stephen J Pomeroy and also from Ralf Wehowsky (one of the leading players of P16.D4), Steve Pittis (Band Of Pain), Leyden Jars, Adrian Morris, Lee Pomeroy and Simon Wray. I don't know these last four. Meixner added the death of George Floyd as part of the narrative in the music, something that P16.D4 would not have done, staying away from overtly political messages. The message is not really in your face (whether good or bad, I leave it up to you). There is vocals/text in only a few pieces here, such as in a 'cover' of Nina Simone's 'Singing About Revolution'. Musicwise, Meixner doesn't copy the musique concrète approach of P16.D4 too much, even when the studio-as-instrument' method is present here. The results are pretty different for Meixner. The sounds are part of the overall composition, working from one idea and making it a 'song' rather than a cut-up or collage. Some sounds are used as guiding lights for a piece via sample/loop, and then Meixner spins the
rest around. In 'Unfinished Business', this is indeed a more collage-like form, but n 'We Demand Tomorrow (Or Business A Usual)', the percussion is the glue that holds drones and electronics together. Meixner has an excellent ear to make the right connections between this disparate sound material. It makes a fine homogenous album with subtle variations. Most of the time, I had no idea this was from various unrelated sources, which I would think is a great thing. This is quite different from the recent Stelzer albums, with both of them using friends' sounds as starting points." (FdW)
––– Address: blackroserecordings@yahoo.co.uk
"This is the work of Stephen Meixner, who is also a member of Contrastate as well as the man behind Black Rose Recordings. This disk was a direct response to the death of George Floyd while in police custody. As the artist states, “Sadly, not a new phenomenon, but a repeat of past events highlighting the unfinished business of needing to change the future. I decided to incorporate the events into the initial theme using words and specific references to carry on a dialogue that interacts with the re-interpretations of previous sound sources.” That said, let’s dive into the music and see what this sounds like.
This is kind of an odd album. The opening track, A Silent War,” features heavily processed vocals and synth drone with snippets of beat and other random noises thrown about. You can only make out bits and pieces of the vocals, such as “the police were called” that give this track a disconcerting feeling. It's ominous without being heavy-handed. Next up is “Breathe,” which is particularly unsettling with its constant incantation of “I can't breathe” and “please let me up, I can't breathe.” The subject of this track is unmistakable with its origin in Eric Garner’s murder, which then led to “I can't breathe” becoming a rallying cry within the Black Lives Matter movement. What makes it interesting is the almost mechanical way that he keeps intoning “I can't breathe,” almost as if you're listening to a public service announcement or something in an airport where they're saying that you must stay to the right. The disconnect makes this track work particularly well. “Virtue Signaling” is a synth drone composition with bits of beat drum beats thrown in randomly. It's noisy, but never quite descends into noise. One thing that makes this fun is that you can tell this intentional. This isn't a “stick a brick on a synthesizer and make drone music” composition. This is composed and well put together. “Unfinished Business” is some peaceful, mellow drone, but even here there are bits of grinding metal noise. “We Demand Tomorrow (Or Business As Usual)” keeps this feeling going with additional bits of sound that sounds like a growing mixed with metal xylophone or pipes and heavily distorted voice like listening to a radio station between stations.
Finally, we have a short piece, “Singing About Revolution,” with lyrics by Nina Simone. But in this version, imagine that someone watched 27 hours of Schoolhouse Rock, smoked a ton of hash, and then decided that they were going to recreate one of the videos, but a little different with hallucinogenic vocals. Solid.
Overall, this is an interesting disc and well worth checking out." [Chain DLK]
"Stephen Meixner of Contrastate has been recording and releasing music under this solo guise for many years now and generally speaking it involves a more abstract and darkly experimental sound than that of the main project (yet some indirectly similar sonic threads too can be noted too). With reference to this latest work the liner notes highlight A Silent War had its nexus in 2020 UK Covid lockdowns and was intended as a working basis for further recordings, but obviously evolved into this standalone work. Likewise, the liner notes provide further detail on the working methodology, which was inspired by 1980’s recycling projects and involved recontextualising sound sources contributed by close associates. Six tracks make up A Silent War which includes an element of social commentary but is which is also not overtly emphasised. This is weaved within the crisply refined electronics which slot neatly under a ‘dark ambient / experimental / post-industrial soundscape’ descriptor.
The title track opens the album exudes a performance art angle, which is mostly due to the tone provided by manipulated spoken word vocals, while the minimal shimmering soundscape is occasionally interrupted with moments of melodic percussive strikes. Breathe continues and is framed around multiple electric to semi-orchestral drones coupled with a centrally placed jittery tonal texture, while further vocal cuts up referencing the track title and its thematic aspect. The instrumental track Virtue Signalling brings more interweaving melancholic drones but also includes a wonky pitch-shifting tonal framework blended with vague mechanical rhythmic elements and other manipulated tones (piano note stabs perhaps?). In maintaining the prevailing sonic theme the minimalist but incessant plodding pulse of Unfinished Business characterises the first segments before shifting off into melancholic drone territory with fragile tonal respite. We Demand Tomorrow (or business as usual) slightly differs, given it contains some forceful electricity-toned textures, while late in the track it morphs into musically playful and percussive-driven elements. As for the final track Singing About Revolution, it is a short two-minute cut and the oddest and surreal offering of the lot, to the point of being quite jarring against the tone of the balance of the album (and therefore well-positioned at the album’s conclusion). Here there is a clear nod to Contrastrate thanks to vocals provided by Jonathan Grieve, and notable the lyrics are credited to Nina Simone to close the thematic loop.
A six-panel double gatefold cover with extensive liner notes rounds out the packaging of an expertly crafted yet equally understated album of experimental ambient & post-industrial sonics." [Noise Receptor] |
2021 |
€13.00 |
|
| STALNOY PAKT |
Russias Awakening (Probuschdenie Rossii) |
CD |
Debut-CD des St.Petersburger Projekts von ALEXANDER LEBEDEV-FRONTOV. Pompös-orchestraler Industrial, Maschinen-Noise, Propaganda-Zitate & Musik aus (konter)-revolutionärer Zeit....
“This is the first full-length CD release of the new project of A. Lebedev-Frontov (Linija Mass, Vetrophonia) after the brilliant 10” release in Prometheus series and the split 10” with Rasthof Dachau, both issued by Der Angriff. This time it is dedicated to those Russians who, being in European emigration, still tried to fight for the freedom of Russia after the Bolshevik revolution has happened. The music is in the same vein as on the previous vinyl releases – deep profound ambient with analogue noise touches and phrase samples. Non-standard sized silver-on-black printed cover, limited edition of 500 copies. 10 tracks, total time: 53.43.” [label description]
|
2004 |
€14.00 |
|
| STANISLAVSKY, K. |
End of all Things |
CD |
Zoharum opens new serie IYHHH-CDs in limited edition 444 pieces. The main idea of this serie is to show interesting, remarkable music projects, which usually have their debut by this release.But we also wish to remind You about rare, unavailable materials of these projects, which have been existed on the music scene from longer time and their side-projects etc. We can say that the main purpose is to protect this wonderful, original music from the oblivion, but also to recall and refresh it to new audience and collectors.. Albums signed as IYHHH are released on CDs, packed in unconventional ecopack in format similar to occasional card with added post card. Each part of the serie will be the same design but different cover and catalogue number.
"Debut material of polish composer Krzysztof Stanislawski- the artist who says that he’s inspired by movie music. There’s no doubt that in his works we can hear the echo of: Clouser, Zimmer or Goldenthal. All orchestral sounds are mixed with industrial bits and grates which gives new quality.
„End of All Things” could be it the same line with soundtracks of „Pi”, „Saw” or „Even Horizon” and there’s no exaggeration in it.
Imagination of this musician and his own insight in illustrative music leads listener to new, different dimension of thriller. In his works you will find no exaggerated pathos and boredom. This album is full of emotions, passion, action, tempo changes, surprising atmosphere changes.
We recommend this material to those who like classical soundtracks but also to everyone who like industrial music." [label info]
www.zoharum.com
|
2010 |
€12.00 |
|
| SUN OF THE SEVENTH SISTER |
Farben Raum |
CD |
Das totale Freak-Orchester aus Australien, bis zu 25 Mitspieler! Diese Aufnahme stammt vom Februar 2007, ein vielschichtiges Impro-Chaos, welches aber recht gemächlich und "slow" bis düster daher kommt (und teils mit deutschen (!) Sprechgesang in FAUSTischer Manier. Für Freunde von NIHILIST SPASM BAND, BORBETOMAGUS, AMM,...
auf dem RATS WITH WINGS-Label!
"Following on from their 2007 New Zealand tour triple lathe cut LP, and 6 cassette boxset on Breakdance The Dawn, comes Farben Raum, the debut CD by Sun of the Seventh Sister. This floating line-up, mushroom fuelled free-psych woolly mammoth often consists of a phalanx of between 10 and 25 players: multiple drummers, multiple electrified chordophones, horns, vocals, oscillators etc. Imagine half a dozen freak-folk ensembles congealing into a psychedelic din of Borbetomag-ian proportions. On this occasion SSS comprised members of xNoBBQx, UnAustralians, Arse Lunch, Cock Up Shitting Whore, Rats With Wings, Stasis Duo and others. The CD consists of 3 immense tracks, taken from a 3 hour straight session, lovingly recorded by the Pulled Out mobile unit, with mastering analysis for Heard Worse Records by DJ Beefcurtains." [label notes]
"Sun of the seventh sister is a collective of artists-musicians from Australia and New Zealand ranging in number from 10-25 players. Their rack of instruments is pretty immense including multiple drummers, electrified chordophones, horns, vocals, oscillators, electric guitars and pretty much everything they can put their hands on. This hord of nomad musicians reminds me of the nomadic artists of the middle-ages with everything that this brings to mind, the madness, the immersion into music, the ecstatic ceremonies. This is not just a free-jam as you might imagine or a free-folk cult (chic). This is a gigantic psychedelic beast that roars and screams and calms and bursts and back to the start featuring members of xNoBBQx, UnAustralians, Arse Lunch, Cock Up Shitting Whore, Rats With Wings, Stasis Duo (featured in our own deconstructive music triple cd compilation) and others.
This cd on heard worse records includes 3 long length nameless of course tracks and a total run time of almost 80 minutes of bodily absorbed orchestrated pray and prophecy or what you might imagine that it should sound like. Ranging from free form improvisation to ecstatic jazz and ecstatic folk this is not a record but an experience I wish I could have lived live. It worth every single second, especially the third track that is unbelievably intense!" [Random E-Zine]
|
2007 |
€13.00 |
|
| SUNDSTRÖM, ISAK |
Five Dramas |
LP |
The histrionic Swedish artist Isak Sundström (Rocks & Waves Song Circle) embraces the fascinating sound world of the "spoken word", infusing new expressive perspectives to this genre with original sensitivity. These five vocal dramas are based on the subtitles of some films by Douglas Kirk, texts that describe the sound effects and events that occur outside the screen. But the result is rather that of a new dissolved narrative, of another space that explores the boundaries of emotional imagination. In this way, the poetic interest seems to fall on the totality of human existence, in an open dialectic between earthly and supernatural, profane and religious, nature and divinity, heaven and hell, light and darkness. The atmospheric frame is supported by an electronic carpet, drops of piano fall soft and slow, while the modulations of the voice are enriched and intensified by a colorful orchestra of percussion and wind instruments. The narrator's voice of Vincent Williams has something of the typical "black" vocal emphasis of American spiritual jazz, but which alternate with moments of pathos and ecstatic transcendence typically Nordic and European.
|
2018 |
€19.50 |
|
| SUNROOF! |
Panzer Division Lou Reed |
CD |
SUNROOF ist das Solo-Projekt von MATTHEW BOWER (aka SKULLFLOWER), der sich gerne von diversen Gastmusikern aushelfen lässt..
"Beneath the usual lovely psychedelic artwork on the cover of Panzer Division Lou Reed lurks Sunroofis most explosive and assaultive record ever. The key track here in the Sunroof! evolution is the opener iSlew Plateaus #1,i with Mick Flower (Vibracathedral Orchestra) on guitar and John Moloney (Sunburned Hand of the Man) on drums. This live shot of electricity gradually ramps up from Flower and Matt Boweris dueling guitars to the point where Moloneyis drums come crashing in after about six minutes, leading to a furious crescendo that lasts for the remainder of the 19-minute track. iSlew Plateaus #2i is a lengthy collaboration with underground gadabout Mattin, whose previous collabs with Tony Conrad, Bruce Russell, Eddie Prevost, et al. hopefully prepared him for the Bower wrecking ball delivered here. The other two cuts are absolutely blistering demolition work, which, in spite of their visceral impact, reach a state of zen-like stasis after a couple of minutes, * la the best of Boweris work with Hototogisu."[label info]
www.vhfrecords.com
|
2007 |
€13.00 |
|
| SWANS |
Leaving Meaning |
do-CD |
SWANS Leaving Meaning is the band’s fifteenth studio album, the follow up to 2016’s The Glowing Man and due for release by Mute / Young God Records (N America) on 25 October 2019. Leaving Meaning will be released on double vinyl in a brown chipboard sleeve, double CD in a brown chipboard digipack and digitally.
Listen to the first track from the album, ‘It’s Coming It’s Real’:
https://youtu.be/3ZVZo30M8Lc
Written and produced by Michael Gira, the album features contributions from recent and former Swans, members of Angels of Light as well as Guest Artists Anna and Maria von Hausswolff, Ben Frost, The Necks, Baby Dee, and a Hawk and a Hacksaw – full personnel list below.
Michael Gira explains, “Leaving Meaning is the first Swans album to be released since I dissolved the lineup of musicians that constituted Swans from 2010 – 2017. Swans is now comprised of a revolving cast of musicians, selected for both their musical and personal character, chosen according to what I intuit best suits the atmosphere in which I’d like to see the songs I’ve written presented. In collaboration with me, the musicians, through their personality, skill and taste, contribute greatly to the arrangement of the material. They’re all people whose work I admire and whose company I personally enjoy.”
“Here below are the primary contributors to Leaving Meaning:
Michael Gira – Vocals, words, acoustic/electric guitar, production. I started Swans in NYC in 1982 and have been the primary songwriter, singer and producer throughout the years. In the early years I played bass, but later switched to guitar. During the years of Swans hiatus (1999 – 2010), I released several albums by and toured with a group called Angels of Light.
Kristof Hahn – Lap steel, various guitars throughout, backing vocals, generous and insightful advice on mixes and arrangements. Kristof first became involved with Swans in 1989, was a principal contributor to Angels of Light, and a core Swans member 2010 – 2017. Kristof’s other musical ventures have included the Rock ‘n’ Roll Noir band Les Hommes Sauvages and Kool Kings (with Alex Chilton). He’s currently working on an instrumental record for Lawrence English’s label, Room 40. He holds a master’s degree in Political Science, and when Swans doesn’t pay the bills, he translates books for a living. Kristof’s presence, on and off tape, is pivotal to this record. Kristof lives in Berlin, Germany.
Larry Mullins – Drums, vibes, orchestral percussion, Mellotron, various keyboards, backing vocals. Larry (AKA Toby Dammit) is a trained symphonic percussionist and all-around consummate musician. He played through the 90s with Iggy Pop and later with The Stooges. He played with Swans in the late 90s and was a main contributor to Angels of Light. He is rumored to have been involved with The Residents. His varied and numerous credits also include a stint with Silver Apples as well as recently, Shakespears Sister. His current main job is playing keyboards with Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds. I decided immediately to ask Larry to contribute to Leaving Meaning after watching the German TV series Babylon Berlin, and suddenly, unbeknownst to me, there was Larry as the main focus of various cabaret scenes, drumming behind a huge kick drum in his inimitable style. After laughing in shock for perhaps half an hour, I decided to contact him. We hadn’t been in close touch for a long time and I’m elated I reached out. Larry lives in Berlin, Germany.
Yoyo Röhm – Electric bass, double bass, various keyboards, piano, backing vocals. Yoyo came to my attention through his work with Kristof and Larry in Berlin. In addition to his excellent bass playing, Yoyo’s ears were invaluable in helping to sort out many of the arrangements. Yoyo plays with numerous left field musicians around Berlin and also works with Mick Harvey on his Serge Gainsbourg recordings and tours. Yoyo, Larry, Kristof and I rehearsed in Berlin for 3 weeks prior to recording. Yoyo is a true Berliner – gruff and determined on the outside, a marshmallow inside. He was a great musical resource for this record.
The Necks – (Chris Abrahams – piano, organ; Tony Buck – drums, percussion; Lloyd Swanton – double bass). I have been an avid Necks fan since I first saw them perform at a Big Ears Festival in 2010. They subsequently played with Swans at a few shows in Australia. Their live performances and recordings are just about any superlative you can think of – mesmerizing, transcendent, sublime. Their music is entirely improvisational – it’s my understanding that they have no idea what they’re going to play before they start. And yet, mostly using rudimentary jazz trio instrumentation, they manage to fashion burgeoning and ever-evolving, immersive clouds of sound that utterly envelop the listener as the music unfolds. I’m beyond honored and humbled that they agreed to perform the basic tracks for 2 of my songs (The Nub and Leaving Meaning). Their performances were then delicately, and (I hope!) tastefully further orchestrated upon in Berlin. Tony lives in Berlin, and also played drums on the song Some New Things.
Anna and Maria von Hausswolff – Choral backing vocals. Anna is blessed with a soaring voice, lyrical acuity and increasing facility with the church organ. I was impressed recently to learn that she often travels around Europe and visits churches unannounced, where she talks her way into being allowed to use the resident organ – some of them rather massive, I imagine – and plays and explores for hours. Her searing records and live shows reflect the courage of her imagination and have garnered her increasing, much deserved recognition. Maria is an accomplished Swedish cinematographer and director of photography. In 2017 I heard Anna and Maria singing together at a sound check for a special song they were doing in Anna’s set, was instantly enthralled, and resolved at that moment to ask them to participate together on a Swans recording. I’m delighted they agreed to come to Berlin and record for me. They were a joy to work with! They live in Scandinavia.
Ben Frost – Guitar, synthesizers, sound manipulations. Ben’s adventurous sound-craftings, sometimes harrowing and sometimes delicate and quite musical, and his powerful live shows, have afforded him much recognition of late. I’ve also been highly impressed with his soundtrack work for the HBO series, Dark. He’s an extremely talented arranger and composer. His mission for this record was intentionally ill defined. I basically wanted his ears and sensibility, with no particular part or instrument in mind. I arrived at his studio in Reykjavik, Iceland, put up the songs, and he played what he thought a song needed. I was pleasantly surprised to discover his unique approach to the electric guitar as well as his synth work. Ben also was quite helpful with arrangement and mixing ideas. Ben lives in Iceland.
Baby Dee – Lead vocal on The Nub, supported by her friends Fay Christen and Ida Albertje Michels, and Jennifer Gira. Dee has released numerous records (one produced by Bonnie Prince Billie, I think), and if you don’t know them, you should! The first time I saw her she was riding a unicycle in circles outside the now-defunct Avant club, Tonic, in NYC, playing a ukulele (or accordion?) and singing with great mirth. I saw her set that night and was won over. She’s since toured with Swans several times. Her music could loosely be called neo cabaret, but more accurately she’s totally unique and a great performer and songwriter, graced with a powerful voice and high-end ability on the piano, accordion and more. I wrote The Nub specifically for her to sing. I was stymied for words to the main guitar figure to the song, and suddenly she popped into my mind, floating through the universe in diapers, sucking milk from the stars. The song wrote itself. Dee lives in The Netherlands.
Jeremy Barnes and Heather Trost – Jeremy: Santur, hi-hat, fiddlesticks, accordion, engineering; Heather: Stroh violin, violin, viola, fiddlesticks, engineering. Together, Jeremy and Heather comprise the band A Hawk and a Hacksaw. (Jeremy played at one time with the bands Neutral Milk Hotel and Beirut). Again, if you don’t know their music, you should! They’ve released several records. It’s Balkan/Gypsy influenced, somewhat psychedelicized, with great singing, playing and melodies. They’re each multi-instrumentalists and they intrepidly travel the world, both touring and simply exploring the Balkans, in search of adventure and master musicians of the region, some of whom they simply befriend, others whom they record. They toured with Swans a while ago, and I’ve had it in the back of my mind to ask them to record on a record since. I travelled to their home studio in Albuquerque, New Mexico, presented the songs, and did the same thing I did with Ben – I said, “Now what?” You can hear them on several songs on the record, sometimes subtly, at other times more pronounced. In any event, it’s great to have such a pair of wonderful humans on the record.
ADDITIONAL MUSICIANS:
Dana Schechter – Dana played bass on the song ‘Some New Things’. Dana was a core member of Angels of Light. Her current band is Insect Ark. It’s rather heavy and great. Will be working with Dana more soon in the future and very pleased we reconnected recently.
Jennifer Gira – Backing vocals throughout and cameo vocal on Sunfucker. Jennifer has sung backing vocals on the past few Swans albums as well as lead vocal on the song When Will I Return? on the last Swans album, The Glowing Man. She’s also of invaluable help on mixing and arrangement decisions.
Cassis Staudt – Accordion and harmonium. Cassis was a core member of Angels of Light. She moved to Berlin some time ago and we lost touch. Cassis is a composer of music for films in Berlin. I’m very happy to be working with her again.
Norman Westberg – Electric guitar. Norman played on a few key moments on this record. Norman has been in and out of Swans since the beginning (mostly in) and was a core Swans member in 2010 – 2017. We’ll continue to work together into the future, absolutely. Norman releases solo instrumental records through Lawrence English’s Room 40 label. We’re touring (each solo) together in Eastern Europe soon.
Christopher Pravdica – Bass guitar, sounds. Chris played at pivotal moments on this record. He was a core Swans member in 2010 – 2017. We’ll continue to work together in the future, absolutely. Chris has recently been enlisted by Jamie Stewart for his band Xiu Xiu.
Phil Puleo – Phil played hammer dulcimer on the song Amnesia. This might be considered a severe underutilization of his considerable talents as a drummer, but there’s more to come quite soon. Phil was a core member in Swans 2010 – 2017 and played as a member of Swans in the late 90s and contributed to Angels of Light.
Thor Harris – percussion, trumpet, clarinet, sounds, bells, gizmos, additional vibes. Thor drove up from Austin to record for me at Heather and Jeremy’s place in Albuquerque. Always a highpoint to be in the presence of this committed musician and friend. Thor was a core member of Swans in 2010 – 2016 as well as Angels of Light. Certainly, more to come! Thor has his own happening combo, Thor and friends, and they make seductive and beautiful records and tour often. He also has recently been recruited by Jamie for Xiu Xiu.
Paul Wallfisch – Paul played piano to great effect here and there on the record. Paul was a touring member of Swans in 2017. He works with the glorious human chanteuse Little Annie. He’s also a musical director for theater productions in Germany, and recently landed a very fancy-pants job as musical director/composer for a theater production at a historical theater in Vienna.
Thanks to All!!!!
MG”
|
2019 |
€18.50 |
|
| |
The Beggar |
do-LP |
listen: https://swans.bandcamp.com/album/the-beggar
https://younggodrecords.com/products/the-beggar
SWANS have announced details of their sixteenth studio album, The Beggar, due for release on Mute / Young God Records (N America) on 23 June 2023. In addition, Swans have announced further dates for a tour across the UK, Europe and North America – full details below. The Beggar is released as double vinyl in a brown chipboard sleeve with a download card for accessing an additional 44 minutes of music (a 44 minute piece of music called The Beggar Lover (Three) that is included on the CD), and as a double CD in a brown chipboard digi-pack.
The Beggar was recorded and mixed at Candy Bomber Studio, Berlin, engineered by Ingo Krauss and mastered by Doug Henderson at Micro-Moose, Berlin. The album was written and produced by Michael Gira and features contributions from recent and former Swans, members of Angels of Light, as well as Guest Swan Ben Frost.
“After numerous pandemic-induced cancellations of tours for the previous Swans album leaving meaning, and an apparent bottomless pit of waiting, waiting, waiting, and the strange disorientation that came with this sudden but interminable forced isolation I decided it was time to write songs for a new Swans album and forget about everything else. They came relatively easily, always informed by the suspicion that these could be my last. When I finally was able to travel, songs in hand, to Berlin to work with my friends recording this record, the feeling was akin to the moment in The Wizard of Oz when the film changes from Black and White to Color. Now I’m feeling quite optimistic. My favourite color is pink. I hope you enjoy the album.” – Michael Gira
Primary contributors to The Beggar:
Michael Gira – Vocals, words, acoustic guitar, production. Gira started Swans in NYC in 1982 and has been the primary songwriter, singer and producer throughout the years. During the Swans hiatus (1999 – 2010), he released several albums by and toured with a group called Angels of Light. Gira recently published a book of his short stories, journals, and words for music, called The Knot. He lives in New Mexico.
Kristof Hahn – Lap steel, various guitars, vocals. Kristof first joined Swans in 1989 and was a principal contributor to Angels of Light, and a core Swans member 2010 – 2017. Kristof’s other musical ventures have included the Rock ‘n’ Roll Noir band Les Hommes Sauvages and Kool Kings (with Alex Chilton). When not making music Kristof translates books. He lives in Berlin, Germany.
Larry Mullins - Drums, vibes, orchestral percussion, Mellotron, various keyboards, backing vocals. Larry is a trained symphonic percussionist. He played through the ‘90s with Iggy Pop and later with The Stooges. He played with Swans in the late ‘90s and was a main contributor to Angels of Light. His current main job is playing drums with The Bad Seeds. Larry lives in Berlin, Germany.
Dana Schechter – Bass guitar, lap steel, keyboards, vocals, piano. Dana played bass in and was a core member of Angels of Light. She subsequently released music and toured as Bee and Flower. Her current band is the power-duo, Insect Ark. Dana is also an animator and designer in the film industry and currently lives in Berlin, Germany.
Christopher Pravdica - Bass guitar, sounds, keyboards, vocals. Chris played bass as a core Swans member in 2010 – 2017. Chris has played with the bands, The Gunga Din, Flux Information Sciences, Xiu Xiu, Yonatan Gat and Medicine Singers and has a project of his own called We Owe. Chris is a sound designer and lives in Brooklyn, NY.
Phil Puleo – Drums, percussion, vocals, piano, exotic wind instruments. Phil played drums with Swans in the late ‘90s and was a core member in Swans 2010 – 2017 and contributed to Angels of Light. Phil’s early NYC musical venture was Cop Shoot Cop and has since played with Human Impact, among others. Phil is an extremely talented illustrator and lives in Chicago, IL.
Ben Frost - Guitar, synthesizers, sound manipulations. In his own work, Ben’s adventurous sound-craftings are sometimes harrowing and sometimes delicate and quite musical. His numerous albums and his powerful live shows have afforded him much recognition. He is also an accomplished composer and arranger of music for film and television. Ben lives in Reykjavik, Iceland.
Backing vocals are provided by Jennifer Gira, Lucy Kruger and Laura Carbone.
Organ illustrations by Nicole Boitos
The Beggar 2CD tracklisting
CD1:
The Parasite (8:27)
Paradise is Mine (9:23)
Los Angeles: City of Death (3:29)
Michael is Done (6:08)
Unforming (5:55)
The Beggar (10:15)
No More of This (6:55)
Ebbing (11:04)
Why Can\\\'t I Have What I Want Any Time That I Want? (7:38)
CD2:
The Beggar Lover (Three) (43:51)
The Memorious (8:38)
The Beggar 2LP tracklisting + The Beggar Lover (Three) included on download card
Side A
Paradise is Mine (9:23)
The Beggar (10:15)
Side B
Los Angeles: City of Death (3:29)
The Parasite (8:27)
The Memorious (7:53)
Side C
Michael is Done (6:08)
Why Can\\\'t I Have What I Want Any Time That I Want? (7:41)
Unforming (6:10)
Side D
Ebbing (11:25)
No More of This (6:55)
|
2023 |
€45.00 |
|
| TANAKH |
Dieu Deuil |
CD |
"Tanakh's newest record, Dieu Deuil, commands a nautical embrace of wet boots and November days filled with rain. It sings stories of loss, hope, and transcendence amidst the swirling cyclone of mundaneness. Dieu Deuil, which takes it name from the architecture of Daniel Libeskind, successfully integrates improvisation and song writing, and communicates an interior intimacy, which previously was only hinted at in the drifting exterior world of 'Villa Claustrophobia'. Dieu Deuil is a small warm café in the cavernous arcades of 'Villa Claustrophobia,' where the air is moist with smoky teas and steam hoarfrosts the windows. 'Dieu Deuil' maintains the outer-national feel of 'Villa Claustrophobia' but focuses less on a pneumatic exotica and more on a rich interior journey that communicates the warmth of human touch and the frigid burn that such contact can leave when it is taken away. Dieu Deuil captures a particular gentleness of the 70s-era folk psychedelia inspired by the likes of John Martyn, Tim Buckley, Fairport Convention and Pentangle, both in it's inventive orchestration and in it's vocally charged delivery." [label info]
www.alien8recordings.com
|
2004 |
€13.00 |
|
| TAPE MEASURE KID [N + JIM CAMPBELL] |
Zero is an Even Number |
LP + CD |
TAPE MEASURE KID is the new live-playing duo of N, amps + guitar, and Jim Campbell (aka the preterite, www.the-preterite.com), lofi samplers, modified analog 4-track recorder and effects. On their double debut releases “Ours Is A Stubborn Monster” and “Zero Is An Even Number” they expand N's drone / ambient style to something that is at the same time drone and beyond drone, including a sort of dark and sometimes weird improv tendency. very unique and for some of you maybe as if N's sustained guitar had been mangled through a computer by some strange wizard. but in fact all you can hear happened in real time, with a cable feeding the guitar signal to jim's cassette scratch orchestra, with the possibility of real-time manipulation while playing, cutting loose from boundaries.
Both records show this special live-appeal of TAPE MEASURE KID, with the live-in-studio material on the vinyl part and the live-on-stage cuts on the CD part of both releases.
Thick covers printed on rough cardboard, 180g black vinyl, CD contains bonus material, strictly limited to 100 pieces.
https://n1511.bandcamp.com/album/tape-measure-kid-zero-is-an-even-number
|
2013 |
€32.00 |
|
| |
Ours is a Stubborn Monster |
LP + CD |
TAPE MEASURE KID is the new live-playing duo of N, amps + guitar, and Jim Campbell (aka the preterite, www.the-preterite.com), lofi samplers, modified analog 4-track recorder and effects. On their double debut releases “Ours Is A Stubborn Monster” and “Zero Is An Even Number” they expand N's drone / ambient style to something that is at the same time drone and beyond drone, including a sort of dark and sometimes weird improv tendency. very unique and for some of you maybe as if N's sustained guitar had been mangled through a computer by some strange wizard. but in fact all you can hear happened in real time, with a cable feeding the guitar signal to jim's cassette scratch orchestra, with the possibility of real-time manipulation while playing, cutting loose from boundaries.
Both records show this special live-appeal of TAPE MEASURE KID, with the live-in-studio material on the vinyl part and the live-on-stage cuts on the CD part of both releases.
Thick covers printed on rough cardboard, 180g black vinyl, CD contains bonus material, strictly limited to 100 pieces.
https://n1511.bandcamp.com/album/tape-measure-kid-ours-is-a-stubborn-monster
|
2013 |
€32.00 |
|
| TEARDO, TEHO & BLIXA BARGELD |
Fall |
12inch |
Frequent collaborators Teho Teardo and Blixa Bargeld have returned with a new EP, Fall.
Opening the A-side of the EP is a cover of Neil Young's 'My My, Hey Hey' (above) that takes the Americana expanse of the original and upturns it to become a clattering, orchestral feat.
With the pair leading the performance, Blixa's vocals being a natural standout, the composition also features David Coulter playing the musical saw, Gabriele Coen on bass clarinet and a six-piece string section.
Fall also features three original tracks entitled 'Ziegenfisch', 'Testosteron Sklave' and 'Bianchissimo'.
www.tehoteardo.com/en/opera/album/fall/
|
2017 |
€22.50 |
|
| TELETOPA |
Tokyo 1972 |
3 x LP |
"Geoffroy Collins, flute, percussion, electronics. Peter Evans, percussion and electronics. David Ahern, violin, percussion and electronics. Roger Frampton, percussion, electronics and saxophone. Splitrec is honoured to release a legendary recording from 1972. In 1968 the young Sydney composer David Ahern studied in Germany with Stockhausen where he met Cornelius Cardew. The next year he travelled onto London attending Cardew's classes in Experimental Music' at Morley College and - in a mammoth seven-hour concert at the Roundhouse on 4 May - participated (with Cardew) in performances of La Monte Young's String Trio and also took part in the realisation of Paragraph 2 of Cardew's The Great Learning which proved to be the catalyst for the formation of the Scratch Orchestra. These were revolutionary and defining moments in C20th music. Returning to Sydney in 1970, one of his aims was to set up an electro-acoustic improvisation group - Teletopa was founded in Sydney in late 1970 by Ahern, Peter Evans and Roger Frampton. Tokyo 1972 - 3LP or 2CD release - features two 50min improvisations from a radio session at NHK studios Tokyo. The group was Ahern, Frampton, Evans and Geoffrey Collins and they were completing a 1972 world tour. The group broke up on their return to Sydney. Only a small example of their work has ever been released before. The Liner notes will be a manifesto by David Ahern from a 1971 pamphlet, and there is an insert, a newly penned Potted History of Teletopa by Geoffrey Barnard, who had been a member of the group from September 1971 until July 1972. The tapes have sat in boxes for 42 years. With this release we can hear that Sydney in the early 1970's had a group at the forefront of musical experimentation with a unique take on free improvisation. This document is not just important for Australian music - it should establish them posthumously as one of the most interesting developments in experimental music anywhere in the world at this time." [label info]
www.splitrec.com
"There is, I'm sure, tons of stuff buried in archives, garages, attics waiting to be heard when someone at least finds it. Stuff from people I never heard of, like Teletopa. David Ahern, Peter Evans and Roger Frampton in Sydney founded this group in late 1970. By 1972 Geoffrey Collins was also a member. Ahern studied in Germany in 1968 with Stockhausen, and he met Cornelius Cardew, with whom he performed in London later on, such as in 'The Great Learning'. We can see Teletopa along the lines of such legendary improvisation bands AMM (especially them) and MEV, but less electronic than they were. Here we have improvisation and no rules, even when the band also performed pieces by Cardew, Stockhausen and themselves, following visual scores. The instruments are flute, percussion, electronics (Collins), percussion and electronics (Evans), violin, percussion and electronics (Ahern) and percussion, electronics and saxophone (Frampton), but they also incorporated non-musical instruments. As Teletopa they never released much work, but in 1972 in Tokyo they recorded two fifty-minute pieces of improvised music. Tapes of these recordings have been unearthed recently and now released on this double CD with some excellent liner notes about this group. The music is very strong. It's not very silent, but very loud and perhaps also not very musical, in the traditional sense of the word. Sometimes all of this seems closely to feedback, with lots of scrapings on the violin and the saxophone sounding like a balloon being rubbed on end. The second disc is perhaps a bit more introspective than the first disc, at least for the first thirty or so minutes, allowing space between the notes, before the overall sound gets a bit more thicker and richer. Here Teletopa seems to be in almost Zen like mode. This is some strong 100 minutes of improvised music. Music that comes like an endless stream sound, subconsciously improvised on a wide variety of instruments and objects. If AMM and MEV were already on your list, then this double CD by Teletopa should not be missed. An essential historical release." [FdW/Vital Weekly]
|
2014 |
€38.50 |
|
| TENHORNEDBEAST |
The Sacred Truth |
CD |
"From the ashes of Dark Ambient legends Endvra the TenHornedBeast is rising. Cryptic, menacing atmospheres erupt from droning chasms of feedback. On an altar of horn and fire "The Sacred Truth" is revealed. An ultra doom / drone epic! Presented in a matt-laminate, spot-varnished digipak. TenHornedBeast is Christopher Walton." [label info]
"With a past in the British dark ambient-project Endura in joint venture with Stephen Pennick, Christopher Walton knows exactly how to create atmospheres of the disturbingly black kind. His solo-project "Tenhornedbeast" is like a trip back to the early days of death industrial. The expression on the five intersections of the album is repetitive and slowly moving, though the approach to dark minimalism varies on the overall album. With drones based on orchestration of the dark kind the associations from beginning of the album stylishly turns towards the Cold Meat Industry-scene, more precisely towards the lesser harsh moments of Brighter Death Now around the "Necrose Evangelicum"-period. From fourth intersection titled "In the teeth of the wolf", the drones becomes more guitar-based in the gloomy drone-rock style characterizing the expression of Sunn O))), with a dark ambient-based touch reminding of Lustmord and early british industrial/metal-ambient-project Saw Throat (aka SoreThoat ). The true power of this album is Christopher Walton ability to create cinematic atmospheres of trance-like hypnotism with this great mixture of acoustic and synthetic. Impressive album." [NM / Vital Weekly]
www.coldspring.co.uk
|
2007 |
€13.00 |
|
| TESTCARD |
#23: TRANSZENDENZ - Ausweg, Fluchtweg, Holzweg? |
BOOK |
In der avancierten Popkritik genießt Transzendenz keinen guten Ruf. Im frühen Punk wurde ein explizites Transzendenzverbot ausgerufen; das bewegungslinke Lager denunzierte das »Ausklinken« als konterrevolutionär oder verklärte es im Reggae zum »antiimperialistischen Befreiungskampf«.
Als der moderne Pop in den 1950ern entstand, war er das Immanenteste überhaupt geschaffen für das reine Diesseits. Das Jenseits, die Transzendenz, tauchte lediglich ironisch gebrochen, als Diskurs zweiter Ordnung auf. Erst ab den 1960ern lassen sich explizite Transzendenz-Momente im Popkosmos finden. Und gleichzeitig wurde Kritik laut: Was ins Jenseits ausgreift, ist entweder kein Pop oder schlechter Pop. Doch Pop störte sich nicht daran, brachte das Transzendente als Leerstelle zum Schwingen und füllte diese mit Schlagworten aus dem Fundus von Esoterik, Raumfahrt und Psychedelic.
Kurz darauf wurde das Transzendente offensichtlich gemacht. Christlicher Rock und der islamisierte Cat Stevens wollten den Pop missionieren, Heavy Metal verklärte ein negatives Christentum. Und im Krautrock, im Jazz und in der experimentellen Musik diente ein Spiritualitätsgestus stets der Abgrenzung zu den Niederungen der Popkultur. In den 1990ern wurde die Transzendenz dann rehabilitiert, zumindest solange sie nicht mit säkular-moralischen Normen in Konflikt geriet. Dem Jenseits brachte man dieselbe diffuse Toleranz entgegen, wie den meisten anderen Pop-Phänomenen auch.
Heute bedienen Neo-Drone und Neo-Psych ein bestimmtes Marktsegment unter vielen gleichwertigen. Und damit macht sich Sprachlosigkeit breit. Wie reden wir über spiritistischen Neo-Folk oder Hauntology, wenn die politisch inspirierten Kategorien der Vergangenheit ebenso wenig greifen wollen wie diejenigen der Weltflucht? Und was genau ist das Transzendente an der gegenwärtigen Entgrenzung der Stile?
Inhaltsverzeichnis
Johannes Ullmaier:
Worüber man nicht reden kann, darüber. Transzendenz und ihre Rolle in Musik und Popkultur
Roger Behrens:
Der Geist der Utopie
Thomas Hübener:
Notizen zur Transzendenz im Säkularpop
Martin Niederauer:
»If you find earth boring …«. Spiritualität und Religiosität im Jazz und die Interpretationen des Unbestimmten
Holger Adam:
Spirituelle Neuorientierung jenseits von Krautrock und Neuer Musik. Peter Michael Hamels Musik der 1970er-Jahre
Volker Zander:
Moondogs Oberton-Kontinuum
Wolfgang Brauneis:
»Ich lebe in meinem eigenen Königreich«. Zu Michael Buthes Kunst der 1970er-Jahre
Tim Stüttgen:
Sun Ra: Kosmischer Noise. Eine quare Lesart von Sun Ras musika-lischer und performativer Praxis im Schatten der Sklaverei-Geschichte
?Move On Up. Die große Transzendenz-Diskografie
Frank Apunkt Schneider / Didi Neidhart:
Discotranszendenz & Distant Thunder … Transpirationen am Tag danach
Franziska Meifert:
Turn on, tune in, drop out! LSD, Musik, Transzendenz
Alexander Nym:
Vom Pilzkult zur Popkultur. Entheogene im Dienst des kulturellen Wandels
Michael Horowitz:
Tickets zur Transzendenz
Sascha Hommer / Martina Lenzin:
Parolen aus der Stadt. Abenteuer eines Wolfes. Episode zwei
Christian Werthschulte:
»Wir leben in einer Nicht-Zeit«. Ein Gespräch mit Mark Fisher über die Geister der Zukunft
David Schwertgen:
Was soll denn eigentlich verschwunden sein? Vaporwave und die Leere hinter der Oberfläche
Raphael Smarzoch:
Schwellenakustik. Liminale Klanglandschaften in und jenseits von Pascal Laugiers Martyrs
Flora Könemann:
Text, Ton, Stimme, Frequenz. Transzendenz? Das (un-)stimmige der (eigenen) Stimme
Hendrik Otremba:
Tobias Gruben und die Wahrheit. Zur Erinnerung an einen fast Vergessenen
Wolfgang Buechs / Jonas Engelmann / Jens Meisenheimer: Jurpolp From an Unknown Planet. Sun Ra antwortet
Marius Henderson:
Soft Berry Metal. Eine »häretische« Annäherung an Black Metal Theory
Gerald Fiebig:
(Verheißungs-?)Volle Dröhnung. Dronemusik und spätmoderne Zeiterfahrung
Peter Scheiffele:
Vodou. Eine politisch-religiöse Praxis zwischen Revolution und Überlebenskampf
Sandro Holzheimer:
Yeah Science!? Die Transzendenz des neuen Atheismus
Jasper Nicolaisen:
Wir sind hier nicht in Wittenberg, Martin … 95 Thesen zur Möglichkeit einer emanzipatorischen Religion
Rezensionen Tonträger
A. K. KLOSOWSKI & PYROLATOR: Home-Taping Is Killing Music
AARON DILLOWAY: Siena
AARON MOORE & THIERRY MUELLER: Today Is Yesterday’s Tomorrow
ALAHUTA: First Connexion
ANDREAS DORAU: Ärger mit der Unsterblichkeit / Demokratie
ANDY STOTT: Luxury Probelms
ANIKA: EP
ANNE-JAMES CHATON / ANDY MOOR: Transfer
ASHLEY PAUL: Line The Clouds
ASH WEDNESDAY: Love And Other Numbers
BEAK>: Beak>> / Beak>> Bonustracks / 0898/Welcome To The Machine
BORIS HEGENBART & 19 ARTISTS: Instrumentarium
BRENDA RAY: D’Ya Hear Me: Naffi Years 1979–83
BROADCAST: Berberian Sound Studio
BRR: s/t Buch
BUDHADITYA CHATTOPADHYAY: Eye Contact With The City
BUKE AND GASE: General Dome
CANDELILLA: Heart Mutter
CHAD VANGAALEN & XIU XIU: The Green Corridor II
CHARLATAN: Isolatarium
CHARLATAN MEETS THE NORTH SEA: Emerald Eyes
CHICALOYOH: Thébaïde Des Pierres Bleues / In My Garden Shed/Vol. 2 / Les Fantômes Sortent Des Racines
CHRISTINE SUN KIM / WOLFGANG MÜLLER: Panning Fanning
CHUZPE: 1000 Takte Tanz
CLASSLESS KULLA & ISTARI LASTERFAHRER: Auf & Zustände
COLIN STETSON: New History Warfare Vol. 3: To See More Light
CONRAD SCHNITZLER: rot / blau / Consequenz / CON 3
CROCODILES: Endless Flowers
DAGOBERT: Dagobert
DAVID FENECH: Grand Huit
DAVID ROTHENBERG: Bug Music
DEMDIKE STARE: Testpressing #1 und #2
DER PLAN:: Die letzte Rache
DER PLAN: Geri Reig / Normalette Surprise / Die Letzte Rache / JaPlan
DIE NERVEN: Fluidum
DIE TÖDLICHE DORIS: Losspielen
DIVERSE: Noise of Cologne 2
DOLDRUMS: Lesser Evil
DRACULA LEWIS: Permafrost EP
DROPOUT PATROL: s/t
EKKEHARD EHLERS: Adikia
EMIL RICHARDS: Stones – Journey to Bliss
ENSEMBLE PEARL: S/T
FIELD ROTATION: Fatalist: The Repetition Of History
FREIBURG: Aufbruch
GEOFF BARROW/BEN SALISBURY: Drokk: Music Inspired By Mega-City One
GHOST TIME: Ghost Time
GIANNI GUIBLENA ROSACROCE: La Piramide Di Sangue / La Mia Africa
GRAFZAHL: Der Rückzug ins Private
GRAVETEMPLE: Ambient/Ruin
GROUPER: Dragging A Dead Deer Up A Hill / The Man Who Died In His Boat
HAFTBEFEHL: Blockplatin
HANS W. KOCH / THOMAS LEHN / BEN PATTERSON / JOSEF CSERES: Requiem For A Baby Grand. Final Piano Music For 8 Hands And Tools
HECKER: Chimerization (english) / Chimerization (farsi) / Chimerization (deutsch)
HOTEL MORPHILA ORCHESTER: Schwarze Energie
IANNIS XENAKIS: GRM Works 1957–1962
IGOR WAKHÉVITCH: Logos / Hathor / Docteur Faust / Nagual / Les Fous d’Or / Let’s Start
ILLUSION OF SAFETY: Sweet Dreams
JACK DICE: Block Motel
JENNIFER VEILLEROBE: Luftlöcher
JESSIKA KENNEY & EYVIND KANG: The Face Of The Earth
JE SUIS LE PETIT CHEVALIER: An Age Of Wonder
JOHN FAHEY: Voice Of The Turtle / Transcendental Waterfall: Guitar Excursions 1962–1967
JOHN ZORN / MOONCHILD TRIO: Templars – In Sarcred Blood
JUKEBOX MAMBO: Rumba And Afro-Latin Accendet Rhythm & Blues 1949–1960
JUSTIN TIMBERLAKE: The 20/20 Experience
KETTCAR: Zwischen den Runden
KIASMOS: Throwna EP
KIKO C. ESSEIVA: Drôles d’oiseaux
KLUSTER: Klusterstraße 69–72
KOFELGSCHROA: Kofelgschroa
KOMMANDO SONNE-NMILCH: You Pay I Fuck
KUUPUU: Sous Juju / Sisar
LAURIE SPIEGEL: The Expanding Universe
LORD HURON: Lonesome Dreams
LORD TANG: Lord Tang
LUBOMYR MELNYK: Corollaries
LUNAR ABYSS DEUS ORGANUM: Atanimonni Aitnatsbus
MARCUS WIEBUSCH: Hinfort ! Feindliche Macht
MARK LORENZ KYSELA: Eins+
MATS GUSTAFSSON / PAAL NILSSEN: Love / I Love It When You Snore
MATT CARLSON: All Moments
MICHAEL PRICE: A Stillness
MILES: Faint Harted
MODERN PETS: Excessive/Organic Kidneys
MOON DUO: Circles
MUTTER: 25
MV&EE: Fuzzweed / Zebulon Residency
NATHAN BOWLES: A Bottle, A Buckeye
NEIL ARDLEY: A Symphony of Amaranths
NILS FRAHM: Screws
NILS WOGRAM / SIMON NABATOV: Moodes And Modes
NORBERT MÖSLANG: Indoor_Outdoor / The Sound of Insects
ONEIROGEN: Kiasma
ORBIT THE EARTH: Aphelion
OTIS G. JOHNSON: Everything – God Is Love 78
P16.D4: Passagen (6CD+)
PALAIS SCHAUMBURG: Palais Schaumburg
PELT: Effigy
PETER BRODERICK: These Walls Of Mine
PETRELS: Onkalo
PRSZR: Equilibrium
PTTRNS: Body Pressure
PYROLATOR: Inland / Ausland / Pyrolator’s Wunderland / Pyrolator’s Traumland / Neuland
RACHUT/LANDSCHIER: Blinder Mond
RAINER VEIL: Struck
RED MATH: Obsolete Systems
ROBBIE BASHO: Seal Of The Blue Lotus
RUTH FEAT. MUSHY: Far From Paradise
SAFFRONKEIRA: Tourette
SCHORSCH KAMERUN: Der Mensch lässt nach
SELVHENTER: Fricka B. Fricka / s/t
SLEAFORD MODS: Austerity Dogs
SPRINGINTGUT: Where We Need No Map
STEPHEN MALKMUS AND FRIENDS: Can’s Ege Bamyasi
SUN PAPA & THE FAN CLUB ORCHESTRA: An Insane Portrait
SUUM CUIQUE: Ascetic Ideals
SUZANNE CIANI: Seven Waves / Lixiviation Ciani/Musica Inc. 1969–1985 / Voices of Packaged Souls
SWEET VALLEY: Stay Calm / Eternal Champ / Jenova
THE BLACK TWIG PICKERS: Rough Carpenters
THE COSMIC JOKERS: The Cosmic Jokers
THE EX & BRASS UNBOUND: Enormous Door
THE NORTH SEA: Grandeur & Weakness
THE PETER BRÖTZMANN CHICAGO TENTET: Concert For Fukushima, Wels 2011
THE SCHWARZENBACH: Farnschiffe
THE SOUND OF GERI REIG. Düsseldorf – San José 1979. The Original Tapes
UN-KOMMUNITI: Black Dwarf Wreckordings 83–85
URBAN HOMES: Centres
V. A.: Personal Space – Electronic Soul 1974–1984
VARIOUS: Drone-Mind // Mind-Drone Vol. 2
VARIOUS ARTISTS: Your Victorian Breasts
VATICAN SHADOW: Ornamented Walls
VIRGIL MOOREFIELD: No Business As Usual / Five Ideas About the Relation of Sight and Sound
VLADISLAV DELAY: Kuopio / Espoo
WEISSER WESTEN: Weisser Westen
WILLIAM SHELLER: Lux Aeterna
WOLD: Freemasonry
WOLF EYES: No Answer: Lower Floors
XUL ZOLAR: Eternal Love/Goa Bay / Hex
YOSHI WADA: Earth Horns With Electronic Drone / Singing In Unison / Off The Wall / The Appointed Cloud / Lament For The Rise And Fall Of The Elephantine Crocodile
ZS: Score / Grain
Rezensionen Papier
DIDI NEIDHARDT / HANS PLATZGUMER: Musik ist Müll
HEINRICH DEISL: Im Puls der Nacht. Sub- und Populärkultur in Wien 1955–1976
KARL MEYERBEER / PASCAL SPÄTH: Topf & Söhne – Besetzung auf einem Täterort
CHRISTOPH WAGNER: Der Klang der Revolte
TIMME ROSENKRANTZ / FRADLEY HAMILTON GARNER: Harlem Jazz Adventures. A European Baron’s Memoir, 1934–1969
DEREK ANSELL: Sugar Free Saxophone. The Life and Music of Jackie McLean
MARKUS HEIDINGSFELDER: System Pop
PAULA-IRENE VILLA / JULIA JÄCKEL / ZARA S. PFEIFFER U. A. (HG.): Banale Kämpfe? Perspektiven auf Populärkultur und Geschlecht
JAMES KENNAWAY: Bad Vibrations. The History of the Idea of Music as a Cause of Disease
JENNIFER SHRYANE: Blixa Bargeld and Einstürzende Neubauten: German Experimental Music ›Evading do-re-mi‹
NIKOLAOS KOTSOPOULOS (Hg.): Krautrock. Cosmic Rock and its Legacy
HUNTER HUNT-HENDRIX / NICK RICHARDSON / BRANDON STOSUY: Black Metal. Beyond the Darkness
THERESA BEYER / THOMAS BURKHALTER (HG.): Out of the Absurdity of Life. Globale Musik
CORNELIUS VON JACKHELLN (Hg.): GewaltKunstWerk
STAN HAWKINS (Hg.): Pop Music And Easy Listening
ANTONIO GRAMSCI: Literatur und Kultur
DIETMAR DATH / BARBARA KIRCHNER: Der Implex. Sozialer Fortschritt: Geschichte und Idee
SONJA EISMANN (Hg.): Absolute Fashion
DIRK BRAUNSTEIN / SEBASTIAN DITTMANN / ISABELLE KLASEN (HG.): Alles Falsch. Auf verlorenem Posten gegen die Kulturindustrie
URSULA MARKUS / TANJA POLLI: Das Geschlecht der Seele. Transmenschen erzählen
ALEXANDER KARSCHNIA/MICHAEL WEHREN (Hg.): Kommando Johann Fatzer (Ringlokschuppen. Mülheimer Fatzerbücher 1)
CORNELIA VISMANN: Das Schöne am Recht
NIKLAS LUHMANN: Macht im System
WERNER FULD: Das Buch der verbotenen Bücher
DAVE MONROE (Hg.): Philosophie für Verdorbene – Essays über Pornografie
SVEN LEWANDOWSKI: Die Pornographie der Gesellschaft
CHRISTIAN KESSLER: Die läufige Leinwand – Der amerikanische Hardcorefilm 1970–1985
STEFAN SCHELER: Cumshots – Höhepunkte der deutschen Pornofilme 1 + 2
STEFANIE VOIGT / MARKUS KÖHLERSCHMIDT: Die philosophische Wollust – Sinnliches von Sokrates bis Sloterdijk
MYRON HURNA: Späte Gegenwart. Zur Historisierung des Holocaust
ALEXANDER KLUGE: »Wer ein Wort des Trostes spricht, ist ein Verräter«. 48 Geschichten für Fritz Bauer
ANNIKA SCHEFFEL: Bevor alles verschwindet
SARAH DIEHL: Eskimo Limon 9
VLADIMIR JABOTINSKY: Die Fünf
SARA STRIDSBERG: Darling River: Doloresvariationen
JOSEF WINKLER: Wortschatz der Nacht / Mutter und der Bleistift
BRIAN WOOD / MARK BROOKS / ROLAND BOSCHI: 100% Marvel 64: Wolverine und die X-Men. Alpha & Omega
WENZEL STORCH: Arno & Alice
ANKE FEUCHTENBERGER: Die Spaziergängerin
SOPHIA MARTINECK: Hühner, Porno, Schlägerei
MARC-ANTOINE MATHIEU: 3 Sekunden
TONTO (Hg.): Noise
SASCHA HOMMER (Hg.): Orang # 10: Heavy Metal
HENNING WAGENBRETH / R. L. STEVENSON: Der Pirat und der Apotheker
ATAK / MARK TWAIN: Der geheimnisvolle Fremde
CHRIS WARE: Jimmy Corrigan. Der klügste Junge der Welt
THOMAS VON STEINAECKER / H. J. BALMES u. a. (Hg.): Neue Rundschau: Comic – Form und Inhalt
KERI SMITH: Mach Mist!
MEL GOODING / JULIAN ROTHENSTEIN (Hg.): Psychospiele – Persönlichkeitstests, Spiele und Fragebögen
JÖRG VÖLLNAGEL: Alchemie – Die königliche Kunst
HARTMUT KRAFT (Hg.): Ecce BLALLA! Abstürze und Höhenflüge
PAULE HAMMER: Welt-Enzyklopädie
DIETMAR DATH / HEIKE AUMÜLLER: Verbotene Verbesserungen
CHRISTIANE ZU SALM (Hg.): Manifesto Collage
GISELA VETTER-LIEBENOW (Hg.): Karikatur & Zeichenkunst
TOBIAS G. NATTER / ELISABETH LEOPOLD / LEOPOLD MUSEUM (Hg.): Nackte Männer – Eine Entdeckungsreise
LENTOS KUNSTMUSEUM LINZ / LUDWIG MUSEUM (Hg.): Der nackte Mann
DOX PRAGUE (Hg.): Amor Psyche Aktion – Wien. Das Feminine im Wiener Aktionismus
MUSEUM MODERNER KUNST STIFTUNG LUDWIG WIEN (Hg.): Wiener Aktionismus – Kunst und Aufbruch im Wien der 1960er-Jahre
HANS-PETER WIPPLINGER (Hg.): Padhi Frieberger – Glanz und Elend der Moderne
HANNAH PILARCZYK (Hg.): Ich hatte die Zeit meines Lebens. Über den Film Dirty Dancing und seine Bedeutung
KONRAD KLEJSA/SCHAMMA SCHAHADAT/MARGARETE WACH (HG.): Der polnische Film. Von seinen Anfängen bis zur Gegenwart
CHRISTIAN SCHIFFER (Hg.): WASD – Texte über Games. Vol. 2 »Select System – Games und Politik«
GEORG SEESSLEN: Träumen Androiden von elektronischen Orgasmen? / Garten der Lüste / Future Sex in Queertopia (Sex-Fantasien in der Hightech-Welt I–III)
WOLFGANG MÜLLER / AN PANHUYSEN (Hg.): Gebärde, Zeichen, Kunst
WOLFGANG MÜLLER: Subkultur Westberlin 1979–1989. Freizeit
[Verlagsinfo]
www.ventil-verlag.de/katalog/testcard
|
2013 |
€15.00 |
|
| |
#24: BUG REPORT. Digital war besser |
BOOK |
" »Wie würden Sie das Internet beschreiben?«
»Als die Hölle in bunt, mit Nullen und Einsen. Eine binäre bunte Hölle.«
– Bernd das Brot
Bei kaum einem Medium fallen Theorie und Praxis so wenig in eins wie bei Computern und dem Internet. Wir lesen Blogs, auf denen in einer Breite und Tiefe über nischenhafte Popmusik gesprochen wird, wie es im »goldenen Zeitalter« des Pop-Journalismus niemals möglich gewesen wäre. Wir halten unsere Plattensammlungen mit Datenbanken, die von ihren NutzerInnen gefüllt werden, auf dem neuesten Stand. Gleichzeitig steht uns ein Großteil der Musikgeschichte mit ein paar Suchanfragen zur Verfügung – womöglich illegal, auf jeden Fall aber kostengünstig. Auch die testcard-Redaktion selbst, die sich zwischen drei Großstädten und einer bayerischen Universitätsstadt aufteilt, wäre ohne das Netz kaum koordinierbar.
Trotzdem hört man gerade in sub- und gegenkulturellen Kreisen Klagen, die weit über die Kritik an der Datensammlung durch Regierungen, Geheimdienste und Medienkonzerne oder mickrigen Spotify-Einnahmen hinausgehen. Von »digitaler Erschöpfung« ist da die Rede oder von »kommunikativem Kapitalismus«, von einer Verschränkung von Liberalismus und Kybernetik, der Herrschaft der Algorithmen oder vom »fucking Internet«. Zeit für eine Bestandsaufnahme jenseits von kalifornischer Ideologie und »Disruption«, aber ausdrücklich nicht auf der Seite derjenigen, die mit aller Macht ihren Einfluss von den alten Medien in die neuen herüberretten wollen.
Vielleicht sprechen wir letztlich über ein altes Problem: Was ist die Basis, was der Überbau, wie verhalten sie sich zueinander? Das Sprechen über Digitalisierung und das Netz fällt uns vielleicht deshalb schwer, weil die Form von Technologie nicht ohne ihren polit-ökonomischen und sozialen Rahmen zu denken ist. Oder sind ein anderes Computing und ein anderes Netz möglich?
Aus dem Inhalt: Sounds der Digitalisierung >> Verschaltete Welt >> Kleine Genealogie des Computers >> Digitales ABC >> Zustand und Zukunft des Webcomics >> Digitale vs. analoge »Gegenwart« >> Nathan Jurgensons Webtheorien >> Mensch-Maschinen und Roboter >> Erzählen in der Digitalisierung >> Altern der digitalen Ästhetik >> Retrospieleboom >> Ungegenstand der Musikinformatik >> Let’s Player >> Indie-Computerspiele >> Ästhetik des Post-Digitalen >> ...
Inhaltsverzeichnis
Christian Werthschulte:
(right now, please). Warum die digitale Gegenwart irgendwie auch nicht besser als die analoge geworden ist
Roger Behrens:
Digital ABC
Roger Behrens:
Digitale Frist. Computer. Pop. (Beta-Version)
eve massacre:
Network of blood. Von »Augmented Reality« bis zum »Liquid Self«: Nathan Jurgensons Webtheorien
Waltraud Blischke:
Bugs, Big Data und die UnverNETZbaren. Ein Gespräch mit Peter Bittner, Stefan Hügel und Julia Stoll vom FIfF
Marco Schröder:
Eine Maschine für alle Maschinen. Kleine Genealogie des Computers mit Implikationen für seine Anwendung in Philosophie und Musik
Raphael Smarzoch:
Rumorende Algorithmen. Die Sounds der Digitalisierung
Flora Könemann & Chris W. Wilpert:
Part of your distortion. Effekte im Zeitalter ihrer Re-Auratisierung
Julian Rohrhuber:
Dienst nach Vorschrift. Über den Ungegenstand der Musikinformatik
Waltraud Blischke:
t-cardcomp. Die Musikliste zur ungeregelten Geschmacksynthese
Jonas Engelmann:
In Love With the Modern World. Ein virtueller Roundtable über Zustand und Zukunft des Webcomics hierzulande
Carl Wiemer:
Das schnelle Altern der digitalen Ästhetik. Samuel Beckett und der Zenit ?ästhetischer Modernität
David Schwertgen:
Der Autor im Zeitalter seiner technischen Reproduzierbarkeit
Johannes Ullmaier:
Human Trouble. Transhumane Anthropologie im Turing-Test
Hommer / Lenzin:
Parolen aus der Stadt. Abenteuer eines Wolfes. Episode 3
Bettina Wilpert:
Guided by Voices. Erzählen in der Digitalisierung
Waltraud Blischke:
»Wenn man damit Geld verdienen kann, muss das ja salonfähig sein.«
Ein Gespräch mit dem Let’s Player SgtRumpel
Philipp Eichhorn:
Technology in our hands. DIY als Totengräber des Fortschritts anhand des Retrospielebooms
Fiona Sara Schmidt:
Die Geschichte muss das Medium notwendig machen. Die Spieledesignerin Lea Schönfelder über Autorenspiele, Zensur und perfekte Posen
Benedikt Frank / Thomas Schröder:
Wo andere Urlaub machen. Arbeit im Spiel, Spiele als Arbeit
Rezensionen Tonträger:
20.SV: The Great Sonic Wave
ADDISON GROOVE: Turn Up The Silence
ALOA: s/t
ALTE SAU: s/t
ALVARIUS B: Chin Spirits
AMANDA FEERY: Spells From The Ice Age
AME ZEK: Rostfrei
AMON DÜÜL II: Düülirium
ANDROMERDA MEGA EXPRESS ORCHESTRA: Live on Planet Earth
ASTRAL SOCIAL CLUB: Medow Mechanicals
BANANA PILL: Weave
BANKS: GODDESS
BART DE PAEPE: Rhode
BEYONCÉ KNOWLES: s/t
BILL ORCUTT: Daddy’s Got A Spice Rack
BILL ORCUTT: Fantomas ? Le Faux Magistrat
BIRD PEOPLE: King Of the Grove / Nightshades
BOHREN UND DER CLUB OF GORE: Piano Nights
BRIDGET HAYDEN: Just Ideas/The Night’s Veins
BUCK GOOTER: Molescules
BULBUL: Hirn Fein Hacken
CATHY LANE: The Hebrides Suite
CHRIS PETIT: The Museum of Loneliness
CHRISTINA KUBISCH UND ECKEHARD GÜTER: Mosaïque Mosaic
CICADA DREAM BAND: Bug Music
CRASH COURSE IN SCIENCE: Signals from the Pier Thirteen
DANIEL BACHMANN: Orange Co. Serenade
DANIEL BLINKHORN:Terra Subfónica
DAS WEISSE PFERD: Inland Empire
DATASHOCK: Keine Oase in Sicht
DEUTSCHE TRINKERJUGEND: Scheissegal
DIE HEITERKEIT: Monterey
DIE PARTEI La Freiheit des Geistes
DIVIL A’ BIT: In Deference To The Squeamish
DJ RASHAD: Rollin’ EP / Double Cup / We On 1
DJ SARDENA: The Voice: Studio Sardena
DJ SLUGO: King Of Ghetto House
DSR LINES: Spoel
EEK: Live At The Cairo High Cinema Institute
EIKO ISHIBASHI: Imitation Of Live
EMBRYO: Message From Era Ora
FENNESZ: Bécs
FENSTER: The Pink Caves
FILIPE FELIZARDO: Volume II ? Sede e Morte ? Guitar Variations For The Thirsty And The Dead
FKA TWIGS: LP1
GONZÁLEZ & STEENKISTE: Dimly Lit
GÜNTER SCHLIENZ: Contemplation
HAILU MERGIA: Shemonmuanaye
HALSABSCHNEIDER: Havelmusik 1982?1984
HEIN SCHOERS: The Sounding Museum: Box Of Treasures
HELEN: Witch/Zanzibar
HELLVETE: Ode
HONIGRITTER: Kellergeister in unserem Haus
IF, BWANA: Live at the Logos Tetrahedon
INEZ LIGHTFOOT: Sleep By Day / Fly By Night
ISLAJA: S U U
JA, PANIK: Libertatia
JAMMIN GERALD: Factory Funk
JASON LESCALLEET: Much To My Demise
JEFF & JANE HUDSON: Flesh
JIM O’ ROURKE / PAAL NILSSEN-LOVE / LASSE MARHAUG: The Love Robots
JIM O’ ROURKE: Old News / No.?9 / No.?5 / No.?7 / No.?6 / No.?8 / FIRE! WITH JIM
JOSHUA BURKETT: Xavier’s Birds
JUMPING BACK SLASH: Namhlanje EP
KELIS: Food
KEMIALLISET YSTÄVÄT: Alas Rattoisaa Virtaa
KILLERLADY: s/t
KK NULL + THE NOISER: s/t
KLINISCH SAUBER: Kommerz Krieg Mond!
KREIDLER: ABC
KREISKY: Blick auf die Alpen
KRISSI B: The Duke
LANA DEL REY: Ultraviolence
LASSE-MARC RIEKS: Helgoland
LAU NAU: Valohiukkanen
LEAST CARPET: Back Alley
LIEVEN MARTENS MOANA: Os Canais
LILY ALLEN: Sheezus
LIMPE FUCHS / VIZ MICHAEL KREMITZ: Kugel Haus Musik
LOS MICROWAVES: Life After Breakfast
LOUIS SARNO: Song From The Forest
LOVE A / KOETER: Split
LUKE FOWLER: Fowl Tapes II
MAMMANE SANI: La Musique Électronique Du Niger / Mammane Sani And The Workstation / Taaritt
MANY ARMS: Suspended Definiton
MARCELLUS PITTMAN: Do You Like Music EP / 1044 Coplin
MARION, FRANZISKA UND ARNULF MEIFERT: Incredible Familiar Music / Absolute Relative Music
MARK PRITCHARD: You Don’t Know Me
MARY OCHER: Eden
MERZOURGA: 52°46’ North 13°29’ East. Music For Waxcylinders
METABOLISMUS: Sus
MOUSE ON MARS: Spezmodia EP
MURENA MURENA: Ghoaster Coaster
MUTTER: Text und Musik
MY BLOODY VALENTINE: mbv
NOXAGT: Brutage / Collection 1
O’ ROURKE / Steamroom
OLIMPIA SPLENDID: Nuttu Nurin
ORACLES: Stanford Torus EP
OREN AMBARCHI, KEIJI HAINO & JIM O’ ROURKE: Imikuzushi / Now While It’s Still Warm Let Us Pour In All The Mystery
ORPHAN FAIRYTALE: My Favourite Fairytale
PANABRITE: Wasteland Cycle
PARRIS MITCHELL: Project EP
PART WILD HORSES MANE ON BOTH SIDES: Aulos’ Second Reed
PASCAL NICHOLS: Nihilist Chakai House
PATRICK COWLEY: School Daze
PETER MICHAEL HAMEL / THOMAS GUNDERMANN: Coincidence
PETER MICHAEL HAMEL:Voice Of Silence
PHARRELL WILLIAMS: G I R L
RAMBLING BOYS: True To Blue
RASHAD BECKER: Traditionel Music of National Species Vol. 1
RAUM: Event Of Your Leaving
RAZEN: Reed Bombus LFO
RODOLPHE ALEXIS: Morne Diablotins
RP BOO: Legacy
RUARI O’ BAOIGHILL: The Faceless One
RYLEY WALKER: All Kinds Of You
SCHREIN: Einszweinschrein
SIR RICHARD BISHOP: Solo Acoustic Vol. 8
STAER: Daughters
STEVE GUNN / MIKE COOPER: Cantons de Lisboa / Way Out Weather
STOSSTRUPP REVIVAL DUETT: s/t
SUN RA: Mix-Tape
SUNROOF!: Rock Power
SWANS: To Be Kind
TENSES: Howard
THE SPACE LADY: The Space Lady’s Greatest Hits / »Major Tom«/»Radar Love« / Recorded Live in San Francisco / Songs in the Key of Z. Vol. 2
THE YOUNG MOTHERS: A Mothers Work Is Never Done
THEO PARRISH: Footwork / American Intelligence / Theo Parrish’s Black Signature
TOM WU: s/t
TRAXMAN: Da Mind Of Traxman / Da Mind Of Traxman 2 / Westside Boogie Traxy Vol. 3
TREK WITH QUINTRONIC: Landing Plus
VALERIO TRICOLI: Miseri Lares
VAPOUR THEORIES: Split-LP
VENN RAIN: Crepuscular Raze
VARIOUS ARTISTS: Keine Bewegung!
VARIOUS ARTISTS: Pulsating Strings: A Collection of Psychedelic Asian Guitar Music
VARIOUS ARTISTS: 10 Year Anniversary Hybrid Vinyl Series
VARIOUS ARTISTS: Cassette Van Antwerpen
VARIOUS ARTISTS: La Psicotropia
VILLAGE OF SPACES: Gathering
WESTBAM: Götterstrasse
WILLIAM ONYEABOR: Who Is William Onyeabor?
WILLIAM TYLER: Impossible Truth
WOOG RIOTS: From Lo-Fi to Disco
ZEA: The Swimming City
Rezensionen Papier:
ALBERTINE SARRAZIN: Astragalus
ASTRID KUSSER: Körper in Schieflage. Tanzen im Strudel des Black Atlantic um 1900
BENJAMIN STEIN: Das Alphabet des Rabbi Löw
BLACK HAWK HANCOCK: American Allegory. Lindy Hop And The Racial Imagination
BRECHT EVENS: Die Amateure
CHRISTIANE BAREITHER, KASPAR MAASE, MIRJAM NAST (HG.): Unterhaltung und Vergnügung. Beiträge der Europäischen Ethnologie zur Populärkulturforschung
CHRISTOPHE BLAIN: Gus: 1. Nathalie / 2. Schöner Bandit / 3. Ernest
CLAUDIA BOSSE (Hg.): Cheap Method Edition #1. Struggling Bodies In Capitalist Societies (Democracies)
DANIEL CLOWES: Der Todesstrahl
DAVID BUCKLEY: Kraftwerk. Die unautorisierte Biographie
DAVID PRUDHOMME: Einmal durch den Louvre
DAVID SIMONELLI: Working Class Heroes. Rock Music and British Society in the 1960s and 1970s
DENNIS EICK: Digitales Erzählen. Die Dramaturgie der Neuen Medien
DIEDRICH DIEDERICHSEN: Über Pop-Musik
DIETER MERSCH: Ordo ab chao ? Order from Noise
DIETMAR DATH / OLIVER SCHEIBLER: Mensch wie Gras wie
DIETMAR DATH: Feldeváye ? Roman der letzten Künste
DOUGLAS RUSHKOFF: Present Shock
EKKEHARD KNÖRER: Battlestar Galactica
ENNO STAHL: Diskurspogo. Über Literatur und Gesellschaft
ERIKA SCHMIED: Peter Kurzeck ? Der radikale Biograph
ERWIN IN HET PANHUIS: Hinter den schwulen Lachern. Homosexualität bei den Simpsons
FANNY BRITT / ISABELLE ARSENAULT: Jane, der Fuchs und ich
FLORIAN CRAMER: Exe.cut(up)able statements. Poetische Kalküle und Phantasmen des selbstausführenden Texts
GUNNAR HINDRICHS: Die Autonomie des Klangs
HANS BLUMENBERG: Präfiguration. Arbeit am politischen Mythos
HANS-CHRISTIAN DANY: Morgen werde ich Idiot. Kybernetik und Kontrollgesellschaft
HEIKO KOCH: Casa Pound Italia. Mussolinis Erben
IAN F. SVENONIUS: 22 Strategien für die erfolgreiche Gründung einer Rockband
JAN SÜSELBECK (HG.): Familiengefühle. Generationengeschichte und NS-Erinnerung in den Medien
JOE SACCOS: Der Erste Weltkrieg ? Die Schlacht an der Somme
JONAS ENGELMANN: Gerahmter Diskurs ? Gesellschaftsbilder im Independent-Comic
JÜRGEN SCHMICH: Plattensüchtig. Expeditionen in eine andere Welt. 7 Schallplattensammler im Interview
JÜRGEN ZIMMERER: Kein Platz an der Sonne. Erinnerungsorte der deutschen Kolonialgeschichte
KATIA FOUQUET: Jonas oder der Künstler bei der Arbeit
KITTY KRAUS: Lidschlag
LINDER STERLING: Frau/Objekt
LUCIUS BURCKHARDT: Der kleinstmögliche Eingriff
MAGNUS KLAUE: Verschenkte Gelegenheiten. Polemiken, Glossen, Essays
MAISHA EGGERS / GRADA KILOMBA / PEGGY PIESCHE / SUSAN ARNDT: Mythen, Masken und Subjekte. Kritische Weißseinsforschung in Deutschland
MANUEL MENRATH: Afrika im Blick. Afrikabilder im deutschsprachigen Europa 1870?1970
MARIA JANION: Die Polen und ihre Vampire. Studien zur Kritik kultureller Phantasmen
MARK BUTLER: Das Spiel mit sich. (Kink, Drugs & Hip-Hop). Populäre Techniken des Selbst zu Beginn des 21. Jahrhunderts
MARTIN NIEDERAUER: Die Widerständigkeiten des Jazz. Sozialgeschichte und Improvisation unter den Imperativen der Kulturindustrie
MERCEDES BUNZ: Die stille Revolution. Wie Algorithmen Wissen, Arbeit, Öffentlichkeit und Politik verändern, ohne dabei viel Lärm zu machen
MICHAEL PETRY (HG.): Nature Morte ? Stillleben in der zeitgenössischen Kunst
MICHAEL PHILIPP / BUCERIUS KUNSTFORUM (HG.): Dionysos. Rausch und Ekstase
OSWALD WIENER: die verbesserung von mitteleuropa
OUMAR DIALLO / JOACHIM ZELLER: Black Berlin. Die deutsche Metropole und ihre afrikanische Diaspora in Geschichte und Gegenwart
PETER KURZECK: Bis er kommt / Angehalten die Zeit
SPRING: The ABC of Tragedy / Wunder
STEFFEN SCHOLL: Musik ? Raum ? Technik. Zur Entwicklung und Anwendung der graphischen Programmierumgebung »Max«
STEPHAN PACKARD (Hg.): Comics & Politik
STUART HALL: Ausgewählte Schriften
SUSAN ARNDT / ANTJE HORNSCHEIDT: Afrika und die deutsche Sprache. Ein kritisches Nachschlagewerk
SUSAN ARNDT / NADJA OFUATEY-ALAZARD: Wie Rassismus aus Wörtern spricht. (K)erben des Kolonialismus im Wissensarchiv deutsche Sprache
THOMAS MEINECKE: Analog. Kolumnen
TOBIAS GOLL / DANIEL KEIL / THOMAS TELIOS (HG.): Critical Matter. Diskussionen eines neuen Materialismus
VARIOUS ARTISTS: In 50 Comics um die Welt / Comics zur Lage der Welt
VOLKAN ÇIDAM: Die Phänomenologie des Widergeistes. Eine anerkennungstheoretische Deutung von Marx’ normativer Kritik am Kapitalismus im Kapital
VOLKO KAMENSKY / JULIAN ROHRUBER (HG.): Ton. Texte zur Akustik im Dokumentarfilm
WENZEL STORCH: Die Filme
WERNER SCHWAB: Fäkaliendramen
WOLFGANG HERRNDORF: Arbeit und Struktur"
[Verlags / website info]
www.ventil-verlag.de/katalog/testcard
|
2014 |
€15.00 |
|
| TEZ |
Black Bamboo II |
CD |
A series of electroacoustic/acousmatic perfomances by TeZ (known for his collaboration with CLOCK DVA and the works on 13/Silentes with Fabio Orsi), based on live processing of acoustic sounds and field recordings. The improvisation with hybrid DIY and traditional folk/ethnic instruments, environmental recordings and archive audio clips is expanded through a series of generative filters, delays, pitch shifters and harmonisers, orchestrated in ever changing feedback loops. The result is an unpredictable and evocative mix of ancestral cosmic tones with an industrial and experimental strain.
https://phonomenal.bandcamp.com/album/black-bamboo
|
2023 |
€12.00 |
|
| THE ALPS |
Jewelt Galaxies / Spirit Shambles |
CD |
"JEWELT GALAXIES/SPIRIT SHAMBLES is their 1st full album collecting the first two CDR releases from The ALPS.
Following a specially tuned internal compass that leads them from open meadowsand rushing rivers to urban chaos and decay, The Alps use a variety of soundsources (Wooden Flute, Tabla, Orchestra Bells, Electric Guitar, Omnichord,Microphone, Clarinet, Violin Bow, Acoustic Guitar, Organ, Shakers, Mixer, Voice,Cassette Tape, Sleigh Bells), This was recorded with one microphone in Scott Hewickers's living room mostly in one session on November 14 2005 and a bit in August earlier in the year." [label info]
|
2007 |
€15.50 |
|
| THE BEAUTIFUL SCHIZOPHONIC |
Musicamorosa |
CD |
"Im Schatten blühen junge Mädchen pink? Jorge Mantas jedenfalls ließ sich durch Proust inspirieren, untermischt mit von Tristesse und Abschied geprägten Liebesgeschichten von Poe bis Wong Kar-Wai, Mädchenbildern von Waterhouse und Rosetti bis Rohmer und Deville, aber auch den Erotika-Ikonen der Fotografen Guido Argentini und Roy Stuart. Mein erster Eindruck - Bilitis - war also gar nicht so abwegig. Ein Computermönch träumt von Sensuality & Sadness und schon treibt Sublimation delikate Blüten. Gefühlskitsch bekommt im Halbschatten einer künstlerischen Sensibilität gleich etwas Sublimes. Musik als Geliebte, umsponnen von einer Delectatio morosa, der Lust an sündigen Vorstellungen? Fast alle Titel stammen aus Prousts Die Gefangene. Colleen spielt dazu La Lectrice und alles wird gleich ‚Pariserisch‘. Nicht Lukas, der Hl. Antonius ist der Schutzpatron der Künstler. Das ist nicht halb so sarkastisch, wie Dionysius als Nothelfer gegen Kopfschmerzen. Ich schwanke, während Mantas mollige Drones mich umschweifen und verführerisch ihre Gestalt wechseln, zwischen Kopfzerbrechen und Gedankenverbrechen - wie denn auch anders, wenn eine Musik gleichzeitig so schön, fatal und schizophon daher
kommt. Ach wie so schwelgerisch öffnet der Laptop seine Speicher, auf deren Grund man auf Wagners Liebestod und Debussy stoßen würde. Was gerade noch knirschte wie Sand oder schäumte wie die Brandung um Aphrodites Knöchel, ist nun blinkende Gitarre, dann wieder eingedampftes orchestrales Rauschen. Als Encore folgt ein ausführlicher Remix durch @c, schnüffelnd wie eine Maus, die rosige Nackedeis wittert." [Bad Alchemy]
"Marcel Proust has been one of the main sources of inspiration to me in the last years. His ideas devoted to the affections of the human heart, his approach deeply rooted on the long literary French tradition in which love can only be lived in sadness, is something that goes much beyond pure aesthetic. So it came only natural that somehow I would try to convey this literary and philosophic interest with the sound aesthetic I pursue. The image of a sleepless solitary writer confined to a Parisian soundproof room, has everything to do with the experience of a modern laptop composer, alone in the dark of a room, in a sort of headphone ecstasy with his acoustic fragments of reality. Both experience loneliness. Both are melancholic dreamers creating from an imaginary memory of the world. Whether this music is truly related with some of the delicate emotions depicted in A la recherche du temps perdu or not, it's up to the listener to decide. Could this be a possible sound equivalent to the literary images of affection written by Proust in the early 20th century? Is the sound atmosphere of each piece loaded with some kind of sensual aura? Would ever be possible to express a sadness full of joy in the same moment of music? Probably we'll never know. But perhaps we think about it next time we'll listen to musicamorosa." [Jorge Mantas]
www.cronicaelectronica.org
|
2007 |
€15.00 |
|
| THE LAWLESS |
Habit Forming |
CD |
"Do you know the feeling when a tune sounds totally familliar to you, even though you never heared it before? When I first heared the HABIT FORMING demo, I was certain it must have been sampled from some 60s/70s B-movie soundtracks by e.g. ENNIO MORRICONE that QUENTIN TARANTINO did not exploit yet. Or a unknown JAMES BOND movie. So, I really couldn't believe it when the artist, Ross McLean, told me these were his genuine recordings, and i instantly knew I found something very rare. Over a period of more than 2 years he not only composed and produced the entire album all by himself, he also played almost all of the instruments: Bass, Guitar, Drums, Piano, Keyboards, Accordeon, Flutes, Glockenspiel, Percussion and backing Vocals.
HABIT FORMING instantly gets you with it's mysterious, charming and warm atmosphere. The catchy but decent melodies are rather breathed than sung by Fifi Dewey, wordless and unisono with the instruments, which sometimes creates a almost oriental and 60s feel. The extremely rich orchestration makes you discover more little details every time, and recording the instruments with a lot of 'room' or 'air' makes the sound even more lively.
All in all, you can't help thinking this MUST be a soundtrack... - maybe to the next Tarantino movie? The only sad thing about HABIT FORMING is that it is the best album i will ever release… -Marcus Gabler (A&R Mille Plateaux), November 2011.
HABIT FORMING introduces the new MILLE PLATEAUX ORGANIC label. It expands the range of MILLE PLATEAUX's sounds by (electro)acoustic, avant-pop or, simply put, non-electronic productions." [label info]
www.mille-plateaux.com
|
2011 |
€13.00 |
|
| THE ONE ENSEMBLE OF DANIEL PADDEN |
Oriole |
LP |
" 'oriole' is the new album by the one ensemble. bolder and more dynamic than previous albums, it showcases the one ensemble's ability to combine thrilling live playing with compositional elegance, shifting between hard-nosed rhythmic workouts and string miniatures, between wayward waltzes and open-throated song. oriole features the core quartet of shane connolly (drums and percussion), peter nicholson (cello), daniel padden (guitar) and aby vulliamy (viola and accordion). the one ensemble started life as the solo project of volcano the bear's daniel padden, but after two albums it became a live band, taking padden's experimental folk and expanding it into a fuller, more orchestrated sound. under padden's leadership, the ensemble developed a curious and strident brew of eastern european folk, chamber music, a pinch of robert wyatt and some kind of earthy psychedelic primitivism."
www.altvinyl.com
"This LP sees Daniel Padden's One Ensemble laying down some Eastern European-sounding folk business with accordions and fiddles and stuff. It's all quite dusky and repetitive and there's sometimes some vocals. It's not a straight folk record by any means, though, with the ensemble free to play around in more jazzy and experimental territory when they want to. It's not a million miles away from Leeds's finest chamber jazz-folk troupe 7 Hertz actually, and there's shades of A Hawk and a Hacksaw in its warm, bubbling fusion vibes, and Phil reckons there’s a bit of an Alexander Tucker-esque medieval feel here too, and when they take it down a notch like in ‘Chicken on a Raft’ it’s reminding me of Lungfish’s Dan Higgs.
Padden is of course best known for his work with Brit oddballs Volcano The Bear, and that's no surprise listening to this record either, as the band he's put together seem perfectly happy to switch from bustling gypsy folk to disorienting neoclassical to even more disorienting free expression without so much as a hiccup, and some of the most effective moments see them taking repeato-rock ideas and throwing folk textures all over them.
It works really well and is thoroughly charming, with the physicality of the traditional instruments really shining through in the strained, warm tones. In fact I think as far as charm and listenability go it’s the equal of his other band. Well worth investigating." [Norman Records]
|
2012 |
€16.50 |
|
| THEE SILVER MOUNTAIN REVERIES (SILVER MOUNT ZION) |
play |
CD-EP |
Neue mLP der Gruppe deren Name sich mit jedem Release stets leicht ändert – poetischer PostRock der besonderen Sorte, diese mLP trieft nur so vor einnehmender Melancholie... immer wieder herzzereissende Streicher & hypnotische Instrumental- und Gesangsstrukturen.... Anklänge an GODSPEED, RACHEL’s, SET FIRE TO FLAMES....
“The "Pretty Little Lightning Paw" E.P., originally available (on CD only) at shows during The Silver Mt. Zion Memorial Orchestra & Tra-La-La Band European tour in Winter 2004, will be released to shops on both formats in May 2004. The E.P. contains all new songs, with a total running time of just over 30 minutes.
"More Action! Less Tears!" opens the record - a noisy clarion call of chiming instrumental rock driven by a long wraparound riff & recorded live off the floor during the This is Our Punk-Rock... (cst027) sessions. This cut finds various Mt. Zion players trading/switching instruments for the rockout, with cascading tape treatments added by Efrim in the mixdown. Three more songs follow which Efrim began recording in sporadic late-night sessions at the hotel2tango in Montreal over Summer and Fall of 2003. All three were built up from Efrim's initial vocals and guitar, with co-founding Mt. Zion member Thierry collaborating closely on instrumental & backing vocal arrangements and Jessica working up violin and vocal parts as well. A four-voice choir (including two members of Frankie Sparo) lends additional vocal support.
What began as studio sketches, evolved, through a few intensive drunken nights, into a beautiful, unfettered, unbelaboured trio of songs that confirms Mt. Zion's ongoing re-invention as a vocal-driven outfit and reveals Efrim's growing strength as a lyricist. The results are deeply moving and utterly original in both poetics and sonics - songs that explicitly invoke a tender and hopeful collective consciousness wrought from mythic/mystic themes, motivated by the tiny graces and tragic failures of our contemporary communities and cultures.” [label description]
|
2004 |
€13.50 |
|
| TICKLISH |
Here are your new Instructions |
CD |
„TICKLISH sind ein elektronisches Performance-Ensemble, welches gesampelten Sound und Videos benutzt um ein kombiniertes, visuelles und klangliches Ereignis zu präsentieren, das sich zwischen vielrhythmischen Impulsen und abstraktem Aufbau bewegt. Die letzten fünf Jahre agierten TICKLISH als eine geisterhafte Erscheinung in der britischen Elektronik-Szene. Sie verweigern sich, sich einfach zu identifizierbaren (und leicht abzulehnenden) 'Bewegungen' anzuschließen und fahren fort ihren eigenen Sound zu entwickeln und immer mehr Aufmerksamkeit zu bekommen. Alle Sample, die von TICKLISH benutzt werden, sind von der Band selbst erstellt worden. TICKLISH besteht aus den Mitgliedern Phil Durrant, Kev Hopper (STEREOLAB, HIGH LAMAS), Richard Sanderson und Rob Flint aka Scopac (Video-Künstler).
“TICKLISH are an electronic performance ensemble who use sampled sound and video to present a combined visual and sonic event that moves between polyrythmic pulses and abstract textures. For the past five years TICKLISH have been operating as a spectral presence on the British electronic music scene. Refusing to comply with easily identifiable (and easily dismissable) "movements" TICKLISH have continued to develop their sound, and attract increasing attention. All the samples TICKLISH use are actually generated from within the group itself. TICKLISH are: Phil Durrant (cooperation with John Butcher, John Russell, Thomas Lehn, Radu Malfatti, the Music in Movement Electronic Orchestra) Kev Hopper (Stereolab, High Llamas, cooperation with Charles Hayward, Ex Stump) Richard Sanderson (among others, in the Chris Burn Ensemble) Rob Flint aka Scopac (video artist)” [press release]
|
2004 |
€14.00 |
|
| TIETCHENS, ASMUS |
Biotop |
CD |
Zweiter re-release in der Serie von Wiederveröffentlichungen des TIETCHENschen Oeuvres – BIOTOP erschien 1981 und ist pure analoge Elektro-Pop-Musik mit nicht zu vernachlässigem Obskur-Faktor, klingt nach 80ern wie irgendwas !
„Second in the rerelease series presenting the first of four albums that were issued by Sky Music in the early 80's. Incl. 2 unreleased bonus tracks. 1000 copies with poster booklet in jewel case. Playing time: 51:34 min.” [press release]
“ With the release of this album, a 3 year interlude began which was dominated by the use of Roland 'CompuRhythm' drum-machine. In addition, I discovered new sounds and playing possibilities on the Moog which considerably expanded my creative armoury. I also added a conceptual self-limitation: no track should be more than four minutes long. In the end, the majority of the pieces on the first two Sky albums actually clocked in at under three minutes each. In the opinion of my musical mentor Okko Bekker, their sparseness and short lenght evoked the impression of radio time-signals (Radio-Zeitzeichen), a form of acoustic station identification which was
already obsolete by then. This reference provided me with the name for my accompanying orchestra, which consisted solely of musicians from the experimental music scene in Hamburg. Because of the total absence of bass lines the commercial potential of the pieces was virtually non-existant. The album was recorded on an 8-track Otari tape-machine. The Eventide digital harmonizer and the Ursa Major 'Space Station' reverb-machine also played a part. All of the pieces were recorded in 1980. They were not commissioned by any label, the contact with Sky Records only happening in 1981. The two bonus tracks from 1979 mark a decisive break with previous work ('Nachtstücke'). 'Futurum Drei' was recorded between 6th and 9th of July 1979. 'Fast Food' came three weeks later. While the first of the pair does not totally make the break with the old way of working, the second points clearly into a new direction.
I would particularly like to thank Günter Körber (Sky Records) for his kind permission to re-release 'Biotop' and the three other Sky albums, and for allowing me to use the orignal labels in facsimile.” [from the liner notes - Asmus Tietchens]
|
2003 |
€15.00 |
|
| TIUNIAEV, ALEX |
I knew her |
CD |
"Aus ganz wenigen Mitteln großartige Werke voller Tiefe und Melancholie zu erschafffen - das können nur die Russen und ALEX TUNIAEV ist einer davon. "I Knew Her" besteht aus einem 40 Minuten langen Stück, welches nur auf Streichern, einem Chorsample und Flächensounds basiert, die langsam und leise beginnen und mit zunehmender Spielzeit lauter und intensiver werden. Eine hypnotisch wie einlullende Sinfonie voller Schönheit und Wärme, die völlig ohne Pathos und donnerndem Finale auskommt. Trotz des simplen Aufbaus erreicht das Werk eine maximal einlullende und emotional berührende Wirkung, an der die typisch russische Seele sicher nicht ganz unschuldig ist." [M.F., BLACK Magazin]
"Alex Tiuniaev is an electronic musician and producer from Moscow, Russia. 'I Knew Her' is a 40-minute long journey of heart-melting, melancholic and neo-symphonic splendour - full of choirs, strings and neoclassical orchestration. This solitary track builds to a haunting and breathtaking crescendo... then brings the listener gently back down to the warm earth. A monumental release, with influences ranging from Sigur Ros to Philip Glass and Stars Of The Lid." [label info]
www.coldspring.co.uk
|
2008 |
€13.00 |
|
| TONIUTTI, MASSIMO |
Cava XI.XI.86 |
CD |
https://fernsrecordings.bandcamp.com/album/cava-xi-xi-86
CD reissue of a cassette released in 1987 edited by Massimo Toniutti.
An unique, beautiful and mysterious work in which sounds are produced somewhere, under the earth, in a cave or cellar. Organic, out of time.
Remastered from the original tapes, including two unreleased tracks created from records of the same period.
Cava xi.xi.86 was a concept album split into two parts, side 1 formerly called gravi tracks 1-4 and side 2 le ghiaie tracks 5-7.
Mixed at the stanza delle uova (1987) using a (4+4) multi-track system.
Two more compositions have been added to this reissue:
Track 8 (cube version of gravi) and track 9 (with a little help from l\'orchestra dei becchi di Fuji), both of them using \'86/\'87 archive sessions, re-worked and digitally mixed at my ground floor studio (2019).
Re-mastered from the original tapes.
All material recorded from November 1986 to April 1987 at the laboratory and its surroundings.
sound sources : clothes horse, metal ladders, pipes, welded wire mesh, railing, metal cans, occluders, muffles, clamps, springs, mandrels, drill bits, wrenches, hacksaws and unidentified objects; processed field recordings, via sistiana\'s hammers ad venetian blinds, and trains; hi & lo-fi speakers and microphones, handheld cassette players and recorders.
Thanks to Ron Lessard since 1988 and Sébastien for his hospitality.
#######################################
\"These refurbished sounds originally recorded in-between 1986-87 are from Italian experimenter Massimo Toniutti (we covered his Il Museo Selvatico here last year). His use of metallic objects and everyday instruments, fused in mysterious ways, is one of multilayered distinctions. A special thanks to Ferns and to other curatorial imprints who preserve these sounds for first-time observers. Though you’d never know it, this came out in that ‘growing-pains’ era when glitzy acts like Sigue Sigue Sputnik ruled certain airwaves, and you’d catch faded latter-day Eurythmics on your car radio as well as Deborah Harry gone solo and so many other novelties of the time. This is far from a response to that sonic Siberia, and likely was far too gray for the neon street life.
Instead, Cava xi.xi.86 serves a vintage more akin to what The Legendary Pink Dots or Controlled Bleeding were doing at the same time, just a little more introspective in terms of construction. At times this sounds like a windstorm passing through a kitchen pantry, and at others its more a series of aural sculpture – brittle man-made contortions. There are passive moments too, and here the quiet contemplation the relative freeform nature finds its way of exorcising its own ghosts.
Cling, klang the echoes slam and achromatize in gestures that are definitive but never inferring a beat structure, instead more similar to opening and closing the doors of a horse stable. If you listened to this and heard ‘chimes’ while sitting close to a vast body of water you may not be too far off either. In other words Toniutti (working vertically) has created a lubricious sound that is bespoke in the most underground of sensibilities.
The new re-worked tracks have a methodical atmosphere, like a nightmare involving a rickety rollercoaster. At some point herein the artist did, in fact, incorporate hammers and venetian blinds but instead of something kinetic you might expect from Einstürzende Neubauten here the listener is much closer to the inversion of surfaces and gadgets being deployed. At more than one juncture in the closer, cava recovery, an open circuit seems to be present as well as a nice balance of drone – and this is couched in such a way as to hear not only echoes from objects being struck, but this inert feeling as if you are lurking around the space. As the listener surveils the temperature of shifting tonalities things quiet down to a pivotal numbing murmur.\" [Toneshift]
|
2019 |
€13.00 |
|
| TORAL, RAFAEL |
Space Elements Vol. 1 |
CD |
"Bis Ende der 90er hatte sich der portugiesische Musiker mit Gitarren-Drones auseinandergesetzt. Mittlerweile hat Toral um den für ihn paradigmatischen Begriff »Space« ein ganzes post-Free-Jazz-in-Elektronik-Universum kreiert und dies auf zahlreichen VÖs dokumentiert. Als einer der wesentlichen Gitarristen der 90er angesehen, arbeitete er u.a. mit J. Zorn, J. O'Rouke, Sonic Youth, MIMEO oder Alvin Lucier. Auf dieser CD entschlackt Toral Musik soweit, bis nur noch arrangierte Sounds übrig bleiben. Sein Vorteil ist es, dass dabei keine eklektische Futzelelectronica herauskommt, sondern ein durchaus abgefeimtes Setting, in dem Reste von Jazz und - mit etwas gutem Willen - auch Swing auszumachen sind. Klarerweise auf heutige Verhältnisse gemünzt. Mit dabei: Rute Praça (Cello), Margarida Garcia (b.), César Burago (dr.) und Torals Langzeitkumpel, der Taschentrompeter Sei Miguel. »Ernste« Musik mit hohem Spaßfaktor." [Heinrich Deisl / SKUG]
"The Space Program is Rafael Toral's long-term research launched in 2004, through which he has unearthed an innovative approach and a complete re-thinking of how electronic music is conceived and experienced. Using custom experimental instruments, Toral performs electronic music concerned with "phrasing and swing", shaping strange melodies with physicality, movement and gesture in flux. The result is a kind of alien electronic jazz. After the acclaimed, orchestral "Space" (Staubgold 2006) and the following "Space Solo 1" (Quecksilber 2007), this is the first volume of the Space Elements series, each release being focused on one kind of instruments, on small settings and including collaborations. "Space Elements Vol. I" features Rute Praca (cello), Margarida Garcia (electric double-bass), Sei Miguel's amazing percussionist César Burago, and David Toop (flute), besides a short appearance by Sei Miguel (pocket trumpet) himself." [label info]
www.staubgold.com
|
2008 |
€14.50 |
|
| |
Space Elements Vol. 1 |
LP |
"Bis Ende der 90er hatte sich der portugiesische Musiker mit Gitarren-Drones auseinandergesetzt. Mittlerweile hat Toral um den für ihn paradigmatischen Begriff »Space« ein ganzes post-Free-Jazz-in-Elektronik-Universum kreiert und dies auf zahlreichen VÖs dokumentiert. Als einer der wesentlichen Gitarristen der 90er angesehen, arbeitete er u.a. mit J. Zorn, J. O'Rouke, Sonic Youth, MIMEO oder Alvin Lucier. Auf dieser CD entschlackt Toral Musik soweit, bis nur noch arrangierte Sounds übrig bleiben. Sein Vorteil ist es, dass dabei keine eklektische Futzelelectronica herauskommt, sondern ein durchaus abgefeimtes Setting, in dem Reste von Jazz und - mit etwas gutem Willen - auch Swing auszumachen sind. Klarerweise auf heutige Verhältnisse gemünzt. Mit dabei: Rute Praça (Cello), Margarida Garcia (b.), César Burago (dr.) und Torals Langzeitkumpel, der Taschentrompeter Sei Miguel. »Ernste« Musik mit hohem Spaßfaktor." [Heinrich Deisl / SKUG]
"The Space Program is Rafael Toral’s long-term research project launched in 2004, through which he has unearthed an innovative approach and a complete re-thinking of how electronic music is conceived and experienced. Using custom experimental instruments, Toral performs electronic music concerned with “phrasing and swing” and performing strange melodies with physicality, movement and gesture in flux. The result is something you’re unlikely to have heard before, a kind of alien electronic jazz. After the acclaimed, orchestral Space and the following Space Solo 1, this is the first volume of the Space Elements series, each release being focused on one kind of instrument, on small settings and including collaborations. Space Elements Vol. I features Rute Praça (cello), Margarida Garcia (electric double-bass), Sei Miguel’s amazing percussionist César Burago, and David Toop (flute), besides a short appearance by Sei Miguel himself. From Toral’s liner notes: “Having found that jazz is the field of musical knowledge where disciplined decision-making is most developed, this music is more informed by jazz than by any other. The Space Program emphasizes articulating silence and sound, by structuring musical discourse on experimental instruments with a simple and clear sonic identity. To my surprise I found no historical precedents to this practice, being that it draws practically no information from electronic music history (which is grounded on different thinking patterns), and it draws very little from jazz history as well, since the instruments I use are inadequate to play any music based on the Western system. I regard this approach to jazz (meaning a system of individual decision-making from the standpoint of free-spectrum live electronics) as a new and exciting field of creative possibilities. I called it “post-free jazz electronic music.”
Space Elements Vol. I was mastered direct to metal and pressed on clear 200gram virgin-vinyl in a limited edition of 500 copies. The jacket was designed by Helder Luis at NOTYPE and features a collage by contemporary artist Joao Paulo Feliciano. CD Version available on Staubgold." [label notes]
|
2008 |
€14.00 |
|
| TROUM |
Nargis |
7inch |
Sehr rauhes, etwas älteres Material, basierend auf verzerrten e-bow Gitarren & extrem verlangsamten Gesang... majestätisch & unheimlich zugleich... die "heavy" Artwork stammt von MARS WELLINK (VANCE ORCHESTRA), fullcolour cover & inlay.
"Latest slab of guitar based whir and drift from these masters of the drone (they do in fact run the DRONE record label after all).
Formerly Maeror Tri, Troum embody the drone, they live, breathe, eat and sleep drones. And it shows. Their records are gorgeous and epic,
but seem so effortless, as if the sounds they create are simply channeled through their corporeal forms, but have been created in
some fiery forge at the center of an alien planet.
The first half of this single still sounds like Troum, but is unlike anything we've heard from them, strange looped high end guitar, what sounds like backwards chords, almost choral vocals, dramatic and haunting and cinematic, very much like some super stylized horror movie music almost, warbled and wavery, over a distant grinding low end tone drifting way off in the background, washed over by epic sweeping swells..
The other side is a bit more raw and intense, a seriously corrosive guitarscape, distorted and crumbling chordal buzz, looped
and layered into a strange glacial riff, strewn over deep dark swirls of slow shifting sound and haunting minor key melodies. It manages to
be intense and fierce but also gloriously washed out and blissful.
Super swank, full color covers, full color inserts, and pressed on nice thick vinyl. And of course limited, just not sure - how- limited..." [Aquarius Records]
www.vivahaterecords.com
|
2007 |
€6.00 |
|
|
Mare morphosis |
CD |
"'Mare morphosis' forms the third & final part of TROUMs so called 'Power Romantic' trilogy that started with 'Mare Idiophonika' in 2010. The basic materials & arrangements for this one long epic piece were created from 2009-2013 (partly based on the recordings for the 'Bach Eingeschaltet, Dritter Band' 7" dealing with experimental reworkings of J.S.BACH pieces) & to some extent used live in different live-programmes: A piece like an 'Ocean of Transformations', morphing through various stages of intensity. 'Mare morphosis' stands out in the history of TROUM studio-albums as their most symphonic, refined and orchestral effort so far. Cover photography by Paul Takahashi, graphic design by Tilmann Benninghaus (8 panel fold out digipack). First edition: 1000 copies.
'Mare morphosis definitely gives Troum’s music a new dimension, reflecting ancient waves, amplifying the power of Sehnsucht, drumming the drowning heart." [Denis Boyer / Fear Drop]
"Mare morphosis" ist eines der stimmungsvollsten und abwechslungsreichsten Werke von TROUM, die ich kenne. Die einzelnen Abschnitte wirken tatsächlich wie Sätze einer Sinfonie, ohne dass die Gesamtanmutung vernachlässigt wird: Es geht hörbar um die mächtigste aller Naturgewalten, das Wasser, in seinen unterschiedlichen Ausprägungen. Von ästhetisch über melancholisch bis düster und bedrohlich; vermutlich sind die 'Veränderungen' im Titel so zu deuten. Wunderschön und mit vielen Details zum Mehrfach-Hören gespickt.' [Michael We / nonpop.de]" [label info]
"What comes with the Power Romantic trilogy (which pt. 1 and 2 are: Mare Idiophonika, Grote Mandrenke) is brooding from the core of Troum’s universe. Relating Troum with strong Romantic tropisms is like sewing an endless canvas. In every musical piece they work, the two musicians BarakaH and Glit[s]ch navigate a vast sea of sound, recalling the Romantic feeling in front of deep landscapes that reflect the very soul, threatening in a voluptuous appeal the observer to dissolve in the totality. Troum’s attraction to the notion of Dissolution is felt every time that the sound waves inflate to shape a luminous drone, every time that the pulsation melts into a magmatic rumbling. And what about the beauty of sadness, celebrated since the days of Maeror Tri…
That sea of sound, of profound melancholic drones and waves gets its monument with the Power Romantic trilogy in which Troum show their skill in harmony, but not only. Drones and harmony still reign but a clear way is designed for melody and rhythms (as it already was in Tjukurrpa pt. 3). The oceanic feeling is fueled by new movements, like a storm upon and under the fluid. Mare morphosis, pt. 3 of the Power Romantic trilogy, opens as the very building of a Sunken Cathedral, with heavy rhythms like stone columns gently embraced by subtle sharpened melodic phrases. The whole soundscape navigates then by the tide and lets the strong motion of sound rumbling and driving to surface the heavy layers of undercurrents, bringing up to light their deep melancholic germ of melody. Mare morphosis definitely gives Troum’s music a new dimension, reflecting ancient waves, amplifying the power of Sehnsucht, drumming the drowning heart." [Denis Boyer / Fear Drop]
listen: http://troum.bandcamp.com/album/mare-morphosis-cd-2013
www.troum.com
|
2013 |
€12.00 |
|
| |
Syzygie |
CD |
"Formed by Glit[S]ch and Baraka[H] in 1997, Troum rose from the ashes of Maeror Tri. The duo create unbearably beautiful drones, multi-layered transcendental noise, and highly atmospheric dream-muzak.
Syzygie: Zusammenkunft und Gegenschein zweier Planeten, or: an antithetic relationship between (personified) beings of the spiritual world and their shadows.
A collection of rare / deleted tracks from compilations Vol. II (1999-2002). Everything recorded by TROUM between November 1999 and May 2002 on analogue 8-track. 9 meticulously crafted tracks, carefully compiled by Troum and delicately remastered by Martin Bowes (Attrition).
Cold Spring will release the brand new studio album from Troum in 2014.
Track listing:
1. Ater
2. Makaria
3. Ganymed
4. Fantauma
5. Uegh[Cunabula]
6. S’engourdir
7. Khan-Arachnid
8. Wit Wists Fra-Qistjan
9. Thrausmata Enos Oneirou" [label info]
www.coldspring.co.uk
"Troum is a joint venture between two members of the well-acclaimed project Maeror Tri. In 1997 the two members Glit[S]ch and Baraka[H] introduced the Troum project. Troum takes its starting point in atmospheric drones and multi-layered noise woven into an alluring sound texture. Present album titled "Szygie" is a collection of rare / deleted tracks recorded by Troum in the period November 1999 to May 2002. That "Szygie" is a compilation of tracks taken from different periods of the lifetime of Troum becomes clear as you listen to the varied expressions throughout the runtime. The expressions spans from industrial-based ambient across orchestral ambient and deep ambient to more threatening sound art. The album opens in orchestral based dark ambient. Grandiose soundscapes of melancholy drifts upon the listener from beginning. As the album continues the expression turns into beautiful moments of deep ambient resulting in hypnotic and well accomplished tripping ambient. Moments after the album takes a new step into territories of concrete noise and voices whispering in the background to add a great feeling of dream or nightmare depending on the nature of the listener. Despite the great variation in the ambient expression throughout "Szygie", the album works really well as an entire work. Everyone interested in ambient music or dying for a trip into dark hypnosis should definitely check this out." [NM, Vital Weekly] |
2013 |
€13.00 |
|
| TURNER, AARON & DANIEL MENCHE |
NOX |
LP |
"Daniel Menche is a prolific musician whose work in the fields of noise and experimentalism displays both savage tactile expressionism and masterful studio manipulations. Aaron Turner is an equally prolific artist whose output veers from violent guitar architectures to textural meditations. Consequently, their collaborative album Nox could have been a brutish exercise in punishing frequencies and aural assaults. Instead, Nox is what Turner describes as “a combo of Danielʼs more free-flowing form of impulsive music making and my more contemplative composition.” Consisting of one lone track over the course of two sides of an LP, Nox uses its allowance of time to patiently wind and unravel around Mencheʼs intuitive and free-associative vocal and drum treatments. Manipulated and wrought to the point of abstraction, this spontaneous underpinning served as the narrative backbone to Turnerʼs orchestral vocal arrangements. Over the course of the year-long development process, the two musicians maintained a continual dialogue on the direction of the album, taking turns adding their accents and embellishments to the composition. Field recordings, found sounds, and auxiliary instrumentation fleshed out the recording until Nox developed into a final ruminative experience. Menche and Turner had previously worked together on the Mamiffer/Menche collaborative album Crater, though Nox bears closer sonic relations to other endeavors in both artistsʼ canons. One can hear vestiges of Mencheʼs more percussion-based albums like Concussions or Turnerʼs more ethereal vocal-based work with Jodis on their most recent offering. And while the tactics and tools used for creating the album are very much of the modern age, the duo conjure the timeless elements of the transcendental hymns of Arvo Pärt or the tonal clusters of György Ligeti through their patient, economical approach. Ultimately, Nox creates a lush, inviting, and deeply dimensional world that belie the cold basements of Portland, OR and Vashon, WA where it was slowly brought to fruition.
LP edition of 400 copies. The LP is housed in a letterpressed jacket designed by Daniel Castrejon with photography by Faith Coloccia. Turner and Menche worked over a period of 2 years to complete the album using voice, field recordings, electronics, guitar, etc. The album was then mixed by Mell Dettmer (Earth, Eyvind Kang, Jessika Kenney, Sunn0))), etc)."
sigerecords.blogspot.de |
2017 |
€23.00 |
|
| UN CADDIE RENVERSE DANS L'HERBE |
Like a packed cupboard but quite... |
CD |
New album by Dídac P. Lagarriga from Brazil / Spain (also active with his label OOZE.BAP) with his intimate minimal ethnic interplay-music.
"not unlike his previous works which have been compared to the likes of pascal comelade, asa chang & junray, penguin café orchestra and steve beresford, the album's using repetition and simplicity, melody and warmth, charm and a positive naivity to create an addictive, often hypnotic muzak; never overloaded, full of space for tiny surprising ideas/sounds and little elements and influences to unfold their inner beauty. this is contemporary and timeless music without the urge to be (post-) modern just for the sake of being so." [press release] |
2003 |
€13.00 |
|
| UN DRAME MUSICALE INSTANTANE |
L'homme a la Camera / La Glace a trois Faces |
CD |
Un Drame Musical Instantané were founded in 1976, featuring Jean-Jacques Birgé, Bernard Vitet and Francis Gorgé. Their aim was to promote collective musical creation, co-signing their albums, which they consider as artworks in themselves, or their live shows which they tried to renew every time they played. Their sound was created with many influences: They borrowed their sources from rock (synthesizer player Birgé and guitarist Gorgé, both authors of the album, Défense de); jazz (trumpeter Vitet who founded the first free jazz band in France, together with François Tusques, as well as Michel Portal who played with many American and European jazzmen); classical modern music; as well as movies or world news; they were the first in France to give a new impetus to live music on silent movies. After having improvised freely for many years, they led a fifteen piece orchestra from 1981 to 1986, and from 1989 onwards they produced multimedia shows (live video remix on a giant screen, fireworks, choreographies). Still their music was the most important technique, they called their recordings "blind cinema". The Drame used to mix acoustic and electronic instruments in real time as well as original instruments built by Vitet (a reed trumpet, a multiphonic French horn, a variable tension double-bass, a giant balafon with frying pans and flower pots keyboard, a fire organ, plexiglas flutes, etc.). After Francis Gorgé left the band in 1992, Birgé and Vitet went on recording and producing with other musicians close to the "family" such as percussionist, Gérard Siracusa, or multi-instrumentalist, Hélène Sage. Un Drame Musical Instantané always remained independent (they always owned their own recording studio and record label GRRR) and stopped its activities in 2008, with Birgé being the only one active until this day. L'Homme À La Caméra was originally released on GRRR in 1984 and features 15 musicians. In addition to the original album, we offer you a whole new section of previously unreleased music from the time entitled La Glace A Trois Faces which is another soundtrack to a silent movie from 1927 |
2020 |
€14.00 |
|
| V.A. (VARIOUS ARTISTS) (COMPILATIONS) |
The walls are whispering... |
CD |
Dark experimental compilation on belgiums finest cassette & CDR label. Exclusive material from : Toy Bizarre (FR) Kallabris (DE)
sveen (BE) Christian Renou (FR) PBK (US) vidnaObmana (BE) Troum (DE) Steve Roden (US) Inade (DE) Dieter Müh (GB). The CD comes in a deluxe offset-printed 7" cover (gold and black print on bordeaux cardboard).
“ With PBK, Toy Bizarre, Troum, Christian Renou, Steve Roden, vidnaObmana and a host of newcomers all on one beautifully handcrafted disc, this becomes a tense and absorbing sit-down event. Toy Bizarre's opener "(Lost in Gent)" is sparsely ambient and full of enigmatic refinements followed closely by the equally spooky "Stella Polaris" by UK's Dieter Müh (Dave Uden Steve Cammack). Christian Renou consigns his nearly nine-minute opus "Apres, Bientot et Encore" like a message from an ether encircled globe. As he plays with metallics, the drone builds with laser-like thrashes and buzzing alarm calls. Intermedia artist Steve Roden's "The Presence of Copper" is this Californian's quiet investigation of truth in essential metals. Roden uses what could be a toy harp and rebellious electronics. Kallabris (J.T. 124), who offers two tracks to this collection, stirs up the "Nord" on this gothic apparition. The heavy bass drone and looming wind takes a vacant vessel into its sordid grasp and shivers its timbre. Troum completes this narrative with their uncommonly propitious and hazy rendering of "Makaria." In eight minutes, Troum envelops us a single orchestral passage. The listener is blinded in a cascade of filtered guitar phrasings creating their signature drone, though in higher tonal values. Also included here are works by Sveen, PBK and Inade. This forbidden elegy needed to be told by multidimensional sound historians, the keepers of these well-guarded secrets.” [TJNORRIS]
|
2003 |
€12.00 |
|
|
Widerstand (PROPERGOL, ORPHX, GENITOR LVMINIS, PREDOMINANCE, DREAM INTO DUST, SURVIVAL UNIT, CON-DOM, etc ) |
do-CD |
Industrial-Compilation focused on the theme “resistance”, from very harsh attacks with vocals over orchestral ambience to dark droning pure sound-stuff, this is very varied collection, reflecting the theme from different sides.
“ The final chapter in Stateart's early series of releases! This Double CD comes in a compact DVD size box with full colour inlay and 20-page booklet, containing artworks provided by all participating artists. Limited edition of 1.000 copies without re-issue!
Tracklist: Disc 01: PROPERGOL "Alpha 60" // PROPERGOL "Fahrenheit" // 4TH SIGN OF THE APOCALYPSE "Black Sheep" // ORPHX "Black Flag" // ALLGRENA "Protest" // CONTROL RESISTANCE "Blood In Your Face" // GENITOR LVMINIS "Resistance" Disc 02: BLOOD CONSPIRACY "The Wire" //
PREDOMINANCE "To Tame A Land" // DREAM INTO DUST "At The Heart Of The White Rose" // CITADEL "Radix" // SURVIVAL UNIT "Resistance Redefined" // CON-DOM "I'm Human" //
MAISON CLOSE "Escape From Freedom" // WUTANES HEER "Resistance" [label info]
|
2003 |
€18.00 |
|
|
An Anthology of Chinese Experimental Music (1992-2008) |
4 x CD |
Diese Compilation hat definitiv hat das Zeug zum Klassiker, handelt es sich doch um den allerersten umfassenden Überblick über die wachsende chinesische & asiatische Experimental & Elektronik & Noise-Szene, die hier in ihrer ganzen Vielfalt präsentiert wird. Ein guter Teil dieses Mammutswerks (48 Stücke!) bewegt sich im experimentellen Drone & Ambient-Bereich, aber es gibt auch einige Extrem-Noise Beiträge, Rhythmisches, hyper-abstraktes, Musique Concrete, Microsound. vier CDs mit für uns fast nur unbekannten Acts, eine wahre akustische Entdeckungsfahrt!! Anspieltips: DAJUIN YAO, STRINGRAYS, WANG FAN, LOGA, von denen mal hoffentlich wieder hören wird ! Mega-Digipack mit 2 Booklets, inklusive Text von Z. KARKOWSKI & YAN JUN "An Overview of Experimental and Non-Academic Music in China". SONDERPREIS!!
"Bis zur letzten Minute interessant bleibt dieser viereinhalb-Stunden-Rundumschlag durch experimentelle Musik aus China, zusammengestellt vom Aktivisten Dickson Dee, der dieses Feld seit zwanzig Jahren von Hongkong aus bestellt. Anders als der Titel suggerieren mag, konzentrieren sich die vier CDs dieser Box auf eine ganz junge Szene, die experimentellen Rock der 90er hinter sich gelassen hat und stattdessen (meist elektronisch) auf abstrakterer Stufe mit Klang experimentiert, für uns grob umrissen durch Noise, Ambient, Soundscape, in China selbst unter Sound Art zusammengefasst. Knapp die Hälfte der Stücke sind von 2007, ein weiteres Viertel von 2006; der Rest bleibt für eher punktuell scheinende Pionierarbeiten. Neben einem Booklet mit kurzen Texten zur Selbstvorstellung fast aller Künstler gibt es ein weiteres mit einem sehr erhellenden Text vor allem zur Genese experimenteller Musik in der VR China von Zbigniew Karkowski und Yan Jun, die drei Fünftel der Beiträge ausmachen (dazu kommen je ein Fünftel aus Hongkong und Taipei, plus ein Beitrag je aus Singapur und Malaysia). Dieser Text zeichnet die Linie nach von Kulturrevolution über Recycling und Piraterie westlicher Medien und klärt etwa über die besondere Ausgangslage der traditionslosen, wertungsfrei offenen Rezeptionssituation auf. Wie gesagt, das ist spannend, dennoch bemerkt man beim Durchhören eine gewisse Schieflage der Bandbreite, von der nicht klar wird, wie subjektiv sie geprägt ist. So einige Arbeiten konzentrieren sich auf Feedback und Distortion, von hier und heute aus besehen die schwächsten Glieder (Torturing Nurse verschwenden leider ihre Viertelstunde); besser gefallen mir die Sound- und Dronescapes, die oft Fieldrecordings verwenden und nicht unbedingt bahnbrechender, aber konzentrierter und eindrücklicher sind, und grade auch (aber nicht nur) von den Pionieren kommen: Dickson Dee selbst, Wang Fan, Dajuin Yao. Bemerkenswert aber auch Hong Qiles krasser, modemartiger Schreddernoise aus Fuzhou wie auch mein Favorit Loga, einer der ganz wenigen, die mit Rhythmus arbeiten, der sich bei ihm ganz unmerklich aus einer Klanglangschaft entwickelt. Dazwischen verstecken sich immer wieder isolierte Preziosen – Stimmauslotungen (Alice Hui-Sheng Chang), verträumte Popelektronika, die auch auf Noble stattfinden könnte (Nara), ein Beatstück mit Matmos-Funk (Sun Dawei), 50er-Jahre-WDR-Elektronik (Circadian), manch uneinsortierbares und offenbar folgenlos gebliebenes aus den 90ern, und man fragt sich ein wenig: gibt es da so wenig dazwischen? Beatexperimente? Oder Plunderphonics, im weitesten Sinne, wenn doch die Kultur auf Trash und Piraterie gewachsen ist? Aber das ist einfach Potential für die nächsten vier CDs, die genauso willkommen wären, wie diese hier, die natürlich ein Standardwerk ist." [multipara / de:bug]
"FOR THE VERY FIRST TIME, AN EXCEPTIONAL AND
VERY COMPLETE PANORAMA (MORE THAN 5 HOURS / 4 CDs)
SINCE ORIGINS (1992) OF ALL EXPERIMENTAL AND ELECTRONIC MUSIC IN CHINA, HONG KONG, TAIWAN, SINGAPORE AND MALAYSIA.
4 CD SET DIGIPACK
+ 2 x 16 PAGE BOOKLETS
AN ANTHOLOGY OF CHINESE ELECTRONIC MUSIC (1992-2008) from Mainland China (Beijing, Shanghai, Chengdu, Guilin, Hangzhou, Shenzhen, Guangzhou, Fuzhou, Shanxi, Harbin) Hong Kong - Taiwan - Singapore - Malaysia.
This anthology features 48 artists from within the Chinese area of influence. It is designed
as a journey through what is currently happening underground, under extremely diverse forms.
It also looks at the recent past and the key role of pioneers like Wang Fan, Dajuin Yao,
and also Hong Kong-based Li Chin Sung aka Dickson Dee who, for almost two decades, has been spreading the word about Experimental music in Mainland China. This album was curated by Dickson Dee on Guy Marc Hinant's invitation. It includes an enlightening presentation on the
short yet intense advent and history of the Chinese noise explosion,co-written by Zbigniew
Karkowski and Yan Jun.
________________________________________
The Sound of the Underground: An Overview of Experimental and Non-Academic Music in China
The Chinese Cultural Revolution (1966-76) in one way or another eradicated most of the
existing culture in China. At the same time as intellectuals were sent to rural labor camps,
countless ancient buildings, antiques, books, paintings and various artifacts were just
destroyed. This period created an enormous intellectual, cultural and artistic vacuum in
China - destruction that in a sense, time is still healing.
So tradition of music culture and especially non-academic, purely experimental music,
started from 'point blank' scratch sometime in the 80ies. With the market economy introduced in that decade and further media developments in the 90ies, there was a kind of an explosion in youth culture that had been held back for decades. Movements and music scenes that previously never reached China - like for instance psychedelic music, punk or neo-dada started to appear and expanded at astonishing pace.
The birth of these alternative rock and punk music scenes that later developed into even
more experimental trends is a direct result of global capitalism and profound change in China's position within the World Order. It however did not develop the same way as it
usually does in the West - with one eye looking forward and the other one always glancing
at history. It started with 'dakou' and with piracy.
tracklisting
4 x CD
CD1
01. Li Chin Sung aka Dickson Dee (Hong Kong) / Somewhere (1994) / 10'33
02. Zenlu (Shenzhen) / Zen (2007) / 9'19
03. Bai Tian (Chengdu) / Wet (2007) / 4'05
04. Cheewei (Singapore) / Evening has arrived (2006) / 8'02
05. Lim Giang (Taipei) / "???" (2006) / 8'41
06. Ang Song Ming aka Circadian (Singapore) / Book radio mixer (2007) / 3'02
07. Chung-Han Yao (Taipei) / Untitled (2005) / 5'02
08. Goh Lee Kwang (Malaysia) / Frong spraying (2007) / 3'42
09. Wu Quan (Beijing) / Weather forest (2006) / 5'04
10. Me:Mo (Beijing) / pro.a (2007) / 4'30
11. Wang Jong-Kuen (Taipei) / Leaving (2006) / 5'40
12. Dajuin Yao (Zuoying) / Psycho Realm (2006) / 5'29
CD2
01. Sun Dawei (Beijing) / Crawing state (2007) / 4'14
02. Nara (Beijing) / Dream a little dream (2007) / 6'54
03. WFDD / Wang Fan + Dickson Dee (Beijing/Hong Kong) / Sin (2007) / 8'36
04. Stingrays (Singapore) / 061020 (2006) / 5'18
05. Dennis Wong aka Wong Chung-Fai (Hong Kong) / para_dot (2006) / 5'12
06. Fathmount aka Wilson Lee (Hong Kong) / A yoke of oxen (2007) / 4'56
07. PNF (Hong Kong) / Chi (1994) / 3'11
08. Li Wen Tai aka Vince Li (Hong Kong) / Eat (2007) / 4'57
09. Shenggy (Beijing) / Junggy 's decay (2007) / 3'05
10. Ronez aka Zhou Pei (Guilin) / Kikusui Back (2006) / 4'57
11. Zhou Ri Sheng (Shanxi) / Noise God (2006) / 7'22
12. Fish (Taipei) / Rusty Crane Keelong (2007) / 4'46
CD3
01.Torturing Nurse (Shanghai) / Fugitive (2006) / 14'46
02. Wang Fan (Beijing) / Zero (2006) / 6'28
03. Wuwei + Ulrich Morits (Shanghai/Berlin) / Toy Ships (2003) / 2'48
04. Xper. Xr. & The Orphic Orchestra (Hong Kong) Hickory Dickory Dock (1992) / 1'01
05. Hong Qile (Fuzhou) / j gmc (2007) / 8'00
06. Ying Fan (Taipei) / L2255 mix (2007) / 3'58
07. Dead J aka Shao Yanpeng (Beijing) / untitled (2007) / 3'49
08. Z.S.L.O (Taipei) / 422189 (1997) / 3'09
09. Jedung Kying / Edging + Junky (Guangzhou/Shanghai) Dabao (2007) / 3'01
10. Tats Lau (Hong Kong) / Face The Antagonish (1992) / 2'53
11. Li Jianhong (Hangzhou) / Sod (2007) / 5'32
12. Dino (Taipei) / untitled (2005) / 6'45
CD4
01. Wang Changcun (Harbin) Through the tide of faces (2007) / 4'59
02. D!O!D!O!D! / Li Jianhong + Huangjin (Hangzhou) A dark knife (2006) / 5'36
03. Yan Jun (Beijing) / Its more than enough (2006) / 5'35
04. Loga (Fuzhou) / 620 (2007) / 9'22
05. Pei aka Liu Pei-Wen (Taipei) / Bird lady (2007) / 7'43
06. Eric Lin aka Lin Chi-Wei (Taipei) / untitled (2007) / 3'10
07. Alice Hui-Sheng Chang (Taiwan) There she is, standing and walking on her own (2007) / 3'59
08. Ching Shen Ching (Taiwan) / V-zone (1997) / Fuji Wang + Anes: electronics / 7'25
09. Dancing Stone (Hong Kong) / Two (1995) / Nelson Hui: flute + Ling Lee: voice / 2'13
10. Illuminated 6.6.6. (Hong Kong) / Enjoy the silence (1992) / 6'06
11. Juno aka Timmy Lok (Hong Kong) / Possiblilities (1995) / 3'18
12. Simon Ho (Hong Kong) / 5 (2005) / 6'53 "
[full label info]
www.subrosa.net
|
2009 |
€25.00 |
|
|
Zelphabet Vol. K |
CD |
"The eleventh installment in Zelphabet’s new series of 26 alphabetically oriented compilations of noise. Zelphabet K rides into the new year with tracks from K2, KEY RANSONE, KK NULL and KLUSTER 07 (CONRAD SCHNITZLER)." [label info]
www.zelphabet.com
"And then there is of course Zelphabet, curated by G.X. Jupitter-Larsen of The Haters fame. Now up to the letter K. Intervals are getting longer, unfortunately, as this is such a fine series that I would love to see complete one day. Two noise ends and two surprises here. The noise side is represented by two Japanese artists. K2 goes out furthest into noise land with a twenty minute onslaught of cut up distortion. It could very well be that K2 takes a bunch of his own tapes, a pair of scissors and then just crudely assembles bits of tapes into a new piece. KK Null is here also a bit louder than we are used of him in recent years, but adds a rhythm or two to his noise tapestry. More digital in approach, with the rhythm being made by skipping loops of CD players, feeding off to a line of sound effects. Both of these pieces are almost twenty minutes and perhaps at such a bit long. The two surprises is first a 1998 recording by Key Ransone. Once better known as Small Cruel Party, but since 2000 more or less gone from the scene, in order to be a chef in France. But not entirely disappeared. His 'A Tangible Bridge' is performed by the Seattle Creative Orchestra - Ransone always had something with bridging electronic music with modern classical music. This piece is entirely modern classical, with slow violin build up and after a crescendo, silence, followed by singing and strange gestures. Maybe a bit like older Arvo Part? I must admit I am not that much of a connoisseur of the genre, but this piece is actually very good. The other surprise is Kluster 07, consisting of Conrad Schnitzler, Michael Thomas Roe and Masato Ooyama, who recorded this piece in September 2007. Bouncing, psychedelic electronics with a set of more or less improvised percussion on top and more improvised bits on some synthesizers. Quite a mellow piece, but perhaps also a nice update to the earliest incarnation of K/Cluster - still a steady favorite after almost forty years." [FdW/Vital Weekly]
|
2011 |
€11.00 |
|
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Tensions at the Vanguard: New Music from Peru (1948-1979) |
do-CD |
"This new Pogus 2 CD compilation, Tensions At The Vanguard, curated by Luis Alvarado (writer, journalist, sound poet), presents some of the most important pieces of the Peruvian musical vanguard of the 1960's and 70's, offering a representative sample of works and composers from this important period in Peruvian music. This release also includes a 24-page booklet - in both Spanish and English - with an essay giving an overview of the works, the composers, and a brief musical and social history of Peru during this time.
CD 1: Edgar Valcárcel: 'Invencion' for magnetic tape (1967), Leopoldo La Rosa: 'Andes N¼1 1969' for orchestra (1969) (Fragment), César Bolaños: 'Intensidad Y Altura' for magnetic tape (1964), Walter Casas: 'La creacion' for piano (1971), Luis David Aguilar: 'Mayhuay' for string quartet (1971), Francisco Pulgar Vidal: 'Detenimientos' for violin and piano (1967), José Malsio: 'Danza' for orchestra (1948-1950). CD 2: Enrique Pinilla: 'Prisma' for magnetic tape (1967), Alejandro Nuñez Allauca 'Gravitacion Humana' for magnetic tape (1971), Celso Garrido Lecca: 'Intihuatana' for string quartet (1967), Pedro Seiji Asato: 'Quasar IV' for two pianos & contrabass (1973), Enrique Iturriaga: 'Cuatro Expresiones for violin' (1967), Arturo Ruiz del Pozo: 'Lago de Totoras' for magnetic tape (1978).
A note: A number of the tracks here are taken
from live recordings that were not necessarily intended for release. While our best efforts have been made to reduce the original broadband noise, we found it necessary to allow some to remain in order to preserve clarity. This new Pogus 2 CD compilation, curated by Luis Alvarado (writer, journalist, sound poet), presents some of the most important pieces of the Peruvian musical vanguard of the 1960's and 70's, offering a representative sample of works and composers from this important period in Peruvian music. This release also includes a 24-page booklet - in both Spanish and English - with an essay giving an overview of the works, the composers, and a brief musical and social history of Peru during this time. Thirteen works by thirteen different composers - 5 tape pieces and 8 instrumental works - give an excellent introduction to some fascinating composers who are known outside of Peru in varying degrees, if at all. These composers explored serial, electronic, electroacoustic, and aleatoric music during a time of tension between politics and the avant-garde in academic music in Latin America. The 1960s and 1970s were particularly difficult years for Latin American social movements, and a time when the concepts of vanguard, revolution and universalism enter into complex interactions. These works and their composers ask not how much experimentation occurred, but what the use of these techniques represent and to what extent did these musicians and their music engage critically with modernity ? Our hope is that the listener will find some or all of these composers and their works of interest, and will further explore the music made by these fine composers as it hopefully becomes more available over time." [label info]
www.pogus.com |
2012 |
€18.50 |
|
|
Fluxus Anthology : A Collection of Music and Sound |
LP |
Walter Marchetti, Juan Hidalgo, La Monte Young, Ben Vautier, Wolf Vostell, Milan Knižák, Robert Filliou, Alison Knowles, Emmett Williams, John Cage, Joseph Beuys, Yoko Ono, Dick Higgins, Philip Corner, Eric Andersen, Robert Watts, Nam June Paik, Ken Friedman
In collaboration with Maurizio Nannucci.
The Fluxus was a collaborative movement of artists that worked across the diverse artistic media of performance, music, dance, poetry, photography, architecture, painting, sculpture and film during the 1960s. Emerging in New York City and spreading to Europe and Japan, Fluxus was lead by recognised artists such as George Maciunas, Yoko Ono, Joseph Beuys, Nam June Paik, La Monte Young and John Cage. Fluxus Anthology is a collection of soundworks created by these visionary artists.
Side A
Walter Marchetti – Per La Sete Dell’Orecchio (Excerpt) 2:13
Juan Hidalgo – Tamaran (Excerpt) 3:50
La Monte Young – Dream House (Excerpt) 3:45
Ben Vautier – Some Ideas For Fluxus 1:23
Wolf Vostell – Elektronischer Dècoll/age. Happening Raum 3:00
Milan Knižák – Broken Music Composition 3:26
Robert Filliou – Imitating The Sound Of The Birds 0:55
Alison Knowles – Natural Assemblage. Le Vrai Corbeau 5:05
Emmett Williams – Duet 1:50
Side B
John Cage – Radio Music 4:32
Joseph Beuys – Sonne Stat Reagan 3:33
Yoko Ono – Toilette Piece 0:30
Dick Higgins – B.B. Finally Dreams About Life, B.B.’s, You Play It 1:35
Philip Corner – Car Passing At Night, Country Road In Maine 1:05
Eric Andersen – Untactis Of Music 2:32
Robert Watts – Interview 1:25
Nam June Paik – My Jubilee Ist Unverhemmet 5:15
Ken Friedman – Orchestra Requiem Variations 3:00
www.songcyclerecords.com
|
2017 |
€28.00 |
|
|
TROUM TRANSFORMATION TAPES: The 20th Anniversary Celebration (1997-2017) |
do-CD |
with: ALLSEITS, CONTRASTATE, V.O.S.(YEN POX), VANCE ORCHESTRA, TARKATAK, RAISON D'ETRE, NADJA, MARTYN BATES w. TROUM, MULTER, QST (Frans de Waard/KAPOTTE MUZIEK), URE THRALL, MYRRMAN (SAL SOLARIS), INADE, DUAL, BAD SECTOR, CISFINITUM, REUTOFF, MOLJEBKA PVLSE, and MARKOW C.
ORIGINAL INVITATION:
"Dear Friends and Dreamers,
Troum did the very first performance under this name (after the demise of Maeror Tri) in March 1997, so this year we reach our 20th anniversary. We have never done any anniversary "celebration" or "remix" projects of Troum material before, so we thought maybe it's the time now!
You can choose any existing Troum material (also taken from multiple tracks) to cover, re-interpretate, re-work/process/arrange or collage it. You can also add your own sounds, create a new track-title, watever comes to your mind! (We are certainly NOT looking for a standard "remix", so we don't send out any specific material to everyone!).
This invitation goes out to various musicians that have worked with us over the 20 years, which became friends or important for our evolution as a band." TROUM, March 2017
2. TRACKLIST:
CD 1
1. ALLSEITS - Times
2. CONTRASTATE - The Silent Fish
3. INADE - The innermost Sun
4. VANCE ORCHESTRA - Giascei
5. TARKATAK - vs. Brinnan
6. RAISON D'ETRE - Ananke
7. NADJA - Mirrored in You
8. MARTYN BATES w. TROUM - An Untitled Protest
9. [MULTER] - Sela Saiwala MNX
CD 2
1. QST - Kapotte Muziek by Troum (QST remix 2017)
2. URE THRALL - Krypte
3. 016 vs. MYRRMAN - Sen №350 (Psychic Automaton Rework)
4. V.O.S. (Steve Hall/YEN POX) - Breath Again
5. DUAL - TTN (Ursprung)
6. BAD SECTOR - Signedumiroir
7. MARKOW C. - Chaneism
8. CISFINITUM - Skaun[ei]s
9. REUTOFF - Hypoxia (Troum Spirare Cover)
10. MOLJEBKA PVLSE - Ennoia
Liner Notes from JIM HAYNES:
It was 1996 when the German industrial project Maeror Tri disbanded, and I recall being deeply saddened by the news. A few years earlier, I had discovered the project while working at a now-defunct distribution company in San Francisco. Fittingly released through Korm Plastics 'Introductions' series, Maeror Tri's Multiple Personality Disorder reflected an interested in psychological pathology as channeled through raw sound. Industrial culture has long used the metaphors of disease as a mirror to shine a light on any number of ills in contemporary society. This particular album addresses four aspects of the titular disorder, itself the most extreme form of schizophrenia which fractures the discrete personalities, which Maeror Tri identified in the general dissociative characteristics: The Administrator, The Anaesthetizer, The Revenger, The Protector. With each of these tracks, Maeror Tri orchestrated dense layers of heavily effected, sustained noise, back-masked growlings, and shimmering drones as emotionally resonant portraits to those four personality traits. With Industrial culture's penchant for sensationalized horror of autopsy and abbatoir footage, Maeror Tri's constructs were uniquely sympathetic to those who suffered from this debilitating disease.
With the posthumous release of Emotional Engramm in 1997, Maeror Tri's compositional complexity began to blossom, relying less on the hypnogogic dislocation of time-lag effects and more on the poetics and the portent of the underlying melodies that rippled through their ghostly accretions for drone and noise. Right as they called it quits, the ideas of Maeror Tri had expressed a maturity that had much more to say through the collapse of sound into an crushed, all-encompassing, cathartic tsunami.
What was to emerge in the wake of Maeror Tri's dissolution did not immediately seem clear. Founding member Stefan Knappe had already established his impeccably curated Drone Records, which initially focused on the improbable medium of the 7" single to release long-form works of dark ambient, heavy drone, and industrial din. Many of these artists that landed on Drone were unknown or under-appreciated projects, but without fail, these proved to be impressive documents and demanded that they be acquired upon sight with or without any idea of who exactly was behind the project. In this series, Knappe did commisson work from a number of highly acclaimed musicians including Inade, Francisco Lopez, Cranioclast, Aidan Baker, The Lotus Eaters, etc. but there were the lesser known acts such as the Hungarian experimental project Hideg Roncs, Holland's esoteric ambient outfit Indra Karmuka, and the hermetic tape machinist Abner Malaty. Drone released exactly 100 singles between 1993 and 2010, at which time the format switched to a four-way split LP format under the Drone-Mind // Mind-Drone banner, in addition to the 10" Substantia Innominata series, both of which maintain high calibre curation to this day.
In 1998, Knappe reconvened with fellow Maeror Tri member Martin Gitschel to form Troum. The name for this new project was taken from an archaic German word for dream and provides clear insight into their investigations manifesting universal archetypes and symbols from a collective unconsciousness into an overwhelming flood of sound. The first recordings for Troum were published on a small cassette housed in a small pillow, ascribed with the title Dreaming Muzak. As with Maeror Tri, Troum sculpt their dronescapes mostly through heavily processed guitars along with an assortment of other instruments. If the intent of Troum was to put the listener to sleep, the lulling vibrating patterns certainly have the capacity; but the overall darkness of these sounds will never inspire the most pleasant of dreams. These are shadowy, bleak, and cold sounds which permeate the album, and lend themselves to images of desolate factories spewing a constant stream of black soot in some wintery post-Soviet country.
At the turn of the millennium, Troum embarked on their ambitious Tjukurrpa trilogy, the title of which has its origin in the physical, spiritual, and psychological state of dreamtime for the Australian Aboriginals, symbolizing Troum's intention to divine transcendence through their hypnogogic compositions. They applied these ideas to the three compositional foundations to their music, in Harmonies, Drones, and Rhythms & Pulsations each of which are highlighted on the trilogies component albums. Harmonies for Troum relate to the cold ambient swirls of resonant timbres from Troum's interlocked guitars that cycle through minor-key chords bathed in a resplendent wash of effects and melancholy atmospheres. Troum's signature drones are heavy, lumbering propositions of earth-shaking rumbles and subterranean minimalism. The use of rhythm appears in Troum's work as percussive mantras with a ritualist approach to metal-bashed patterns and looped sequences.
These fundamental tools - harmonies, drones, and rhythms - represent a set of pre-linguistic symbols that Troum employs to articulate to the primal emotional responses of various psychological states. More often than not, Troum turn towards ashen, sublime, nocturnal, and grim metaphors through their work, even though rapturously golden crescendos flourish on the rare occasion in their body of work. Sigqan (2003) is a harrowing album that plunges deep into an overwhelming gloom through sustained tones and drones. Like the project's name, the title harkens to a pre-medieval dialect of the Goths that roughly translates as the setting or sinking of the sun. Here, Troum addresses the Dark Ages fear that the sun might not rise again, leaving the world in permanent darkness. The Power Romantic trilogy (which include the albums Mare Idiophonika, Grote Mandrenke, Mare Morphosis released from 2010 - 2013) finds the duo embracing the oceanic metaphors that undulate upon the cycles of the tides through billowing shadows of mournful melody and subharmonic rumble. These too are drawn towards hostile metaphors, with Grote Mandrenke referring directly to a massive storm surge that devastated Northern Europe and the Britsh Isles in 1362, sweeping some 25,000 people out to sea and to their deaths.
Through the Drone Records productions and ancillary distribution company, Troum have maintained a very healthy network of connections all across the globe. In doing so, they have also engaged in a select number of ongoing collaborations. Their first was with the occult American project Yen Pox whose collective low-frequency thumming stand at the pinnacle of the dark ambient genre. An enduring presence from the once mighty Cold Meat Industries, Raison D'etre has worked with Troum in transforming raw material through the existential lens of a vacant cathedral. Architectural reverberation and ghostly chorales flutter with a solemn, ethereal impressionism. The baroque post-punk singer-songwriter Martyn Bates of Eyeless In Gaza had long been an inspiration for Knappe and Gitschel in both Troum and Maeror Tri. In fact a dedication to Bates was ascribed to a track from the Tjukurrpa series. In 2006, Bates joined Troum for their collaborative album To a Child Dancing in the Wind, which girds Bates' beatific, lyrical vocalizations to a luminous, shimmering facet to Troum's aesthetic.
This compilation with its remixes, deconstructions, and reconstitutions of Troum's back catalogue and raw material is a celebration not only to Troum's impressive body of work but also to their ongoing and active participation in the broader communities of the avant-garde, minimalism, drone-rock, and industrial culture with unflagging dedication. These propositions respectfully build upon the fluid dynamics of Troum's sound as well as the wordless symbolism of pre-lingusitic conditions that are fundamental to Troum's work. It should be noted that both Dual and Vance Orchestra reunited specifically for this project.
Sibilant. Subaquatic. Serpentine. Ominous. Thunderous. Billowing. Haunted. Hypnogogic. Blossomed with sadness. Best Drones.
JIM HAYNES
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2018 |
€12.00 |
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National Crime History |
2 x MC |
“Belgium is a swamp, a boggy yet fertile ground in which new emergences are never clearly shaped but subtle, drifting just below the land’s muddy surface. They often remain hidden in the midst of a complex ensemble that is often made of chaos and opposition rather than order and harmony.” (Yannick Franck)
From the North to the South of Belgium, a new generation of artists are connecting the dots between classic Belgian Industrial/EBM and the contemporary electronic scenes that have emerged worldwide these last years. A ‘New Belgian Industrialist Movement’ that freely combines elements such as distorted atmospheres, analog pulsations or mantric rhythms, lingering in the grey area between experimental techno and post-industrial music.
National Crime History is a compilation curated by Belgian labels Silken Tofu and Idiosyncratics, both known for crossing borders and disregarding genre limitationsIt features Icon Template, Ripit, Onrust and Orphan Swords. The fact that these entities are now joining forces should come as no surprise. They have a long history together on many levels and now emerge as a collective that has been taking shape over the years.
Double tape edition of 150 copies (incl download).
Digital release available via https://silkentofu.bandcamp.com/album/national-crime-history" target
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ONRUST's electronic mindfuck is influenced by 80's rhythmic industrial, 90's underground techno and 00's psyched out drones & mantras. Active for now two years she has quicky become one of the most remarkable acts in the new Belgian industrial techno scene. After several releases on some notable Belgian labels, her first 12” vinyl ‘Luthuli/Tagore‘ was released in 2015 on Silken Tofu.
ORPHAN SWORDS focus on massive beatmaking, throbbing industrial soundscapes and wild live action. Their music has been released on Instruments Of Discipline, Desire Records, Clan Destine, Idiosyncratics and +Nurse+.
ICON TEMPLATE provides raw industrial hypnotism and mindblowing techno rhythms. It expresses a rebellion against the established order by instilling chaos and feed the conscious perceptions of its dark sides. After its first release on An Der Grenze in 2015, Icon template has performed in venues and festivals such as Bozar Electronic Art Festival (BEAF) or FUSE.
RIPIT began his music career as a black metal guitar player. Yet he has quickly developed into a radical electronics act, unveiling noisy and psychedelic rhhythms based on primitive synthesizer use. Nowadays his music has complexified, tending to beat micro-surgery and orchestral bombast. He extensively uses modular synths, ol’time drum machines and no-input mixers to create dancy acid music, plunging the crowd into a magma of electric textures.
--
Mastering by Nicolas Esterle at Ångström Mastering, Brussels
Photography by Yannick Franck
Design by Silken Tofu
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2017 |
€13.00 |
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Miniatures 2020 |
do-CD + BOOK |
MINIATURES 2020 - 124 ASSORTED ARTISTS - an anniversary tribute to Morgan Fisher’s 1980 classic.
Third in a noble series: first was Morgan Fisher’s classic 1980 release, then an expanded second volume at the millennium - and now we have this third, even more expanded homage. The idea is simplicity itself: invite a selected body of artists to make a piece one minute long and then group them together in through-listening blocks. There are 124 contributors here, some well-thumbed (The Residents, Fred Frith, Stewart Lee, Billy Bragg, David Thomas, John Otway, R. Stevie Moore, Peter Blegvad, Henry Kaiser, Attila the Stockbroker, Terry Riley, Half Japanese, Tom Robinson, Bob Drake, Alternative TV, The Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain, &c. and many others lesser known or as well known but in other musical circles - including members of Van der Graaf Generator, Curved Air, Zoviet France, Stomu Yamashta’s Red Buddha Theatre, Soft Machine, Fairport Convention, The Blockheads,The Stranglers, John’s Children, Alternative TV, Caravan, The Damned, Global Village Trucking Company, King Crimson, Adam and the Ants and The Monochrome Set. It’s a snapshot, a sampler, a box of variety and delights - and a window on the state of play: in all, a useful and worthwhile undertaking. 2 CDs in a slipcase with a thick book."
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2021 |
€25.00 |
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Drone Islands : Stellar |
CD |
Third volume of the series Drone Islands, "Drone Islands - Stellar" continues Eighth Tower Records' deep explorations into the realm of "drone music". The volume mainly focuses on drones inspired by astronomical events, and were originated through various musical approaches, from the well established synthesizer sounds and onto orchestral arrangements sounding like drones; furthermore, it showcases many young and talented musicians involved in the latest "drone dreamers" wave.
https://eighthtowerrecords.bandcamp.com/album/drone-islands-stellar
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2021 |
€13.00 |
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Well known Strangers - UNROCK's ARCHIVAL SINGLE BOX SET |
14 x 7 |
The Well Known Strangers 14×7“ Singles Box Set finally documents what we have been doing during the last few years…..
It features numerous excellent and adventurous contributions from Sir Richard Bishop, the weird lo-fi interpretations of Ennio Morricone songs by Alvarius B., Middle-East-All-Stars Karkhana killing it by playing the tunesian traditional Sidi Mansour which became a smash for German popsters Boney M under the name of Ma Baker decades ago. Sam Shalabi, leader of not only his fine orchestra Land Of Kush, came up with a very fine tuned hommage to Dwars Of East Agouza’s favorite Kebab shop in Cairo. You get Ava Mendoza’s (Who has been voted currently as one of the best contemporary jazz guitar players around the world) outstanding solo-version of her classic Feral Twin….
Beiruts long running free-everything outfit A-Trio (Sharif Sehnaoui, Mazen Kerbaj, Raed Yassin) messing not only around with the Grand Seigneurs from AMM, (Eddie Prevost & John Tilbury) but with Alan Bishop. The exceptional and exploding talents Of Sunn Trios young mastermind Joel Robinson from Arizona, an exclusive by Sunn Trio as an entity, which is from our point of view one of the most exciting newer bands around the planet. Eyvind Kang, a long time contributor with Sun City Girls, John Zorn and so many others, blasting the limits with his viola…..Tashi Dorji, an extraodinary experimental guitarist from Bhutan captured in Unrock’s living room, the Ivory Tower….and shiny little pearls from Dredd Foole collaborateur Ed Yazijian. W.David Oliphant, the pre-industrial legend from Arizona teamed up again with SRB, Cairo’s Dwarfs Of East Agouza are running free around the Camel Toe, Chris Corsano and Bill Orcutt unrock the house down and last but not least Clandestine Trio (Chris Corsano, Richard Bishop & Alan Bishop) flew in from Brussels, Portland & Cairo in November 2017 to play their first ever show to celebrate Unrock’s 25th anniversary as an entity……
With its 128 copies available, it will be a rare collectors item soon.
https://www.unrock.de/unrocks-archival-single-box-set-v-a-well-known-strangers-14x7/
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2021 |
€95.00 |
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FLUXUS & NEOFLUXUS: STOLEN SYMPHONY |
do-CD |
https://subrosalabel.bandcamp.com/album/fluxus-neofluxus-stolen-symphony-vol-1
This album features pieces by (in alphabetical order): Eric Andersen, John Cage, Henning Christiansen, Bengt af Klintberg, Milan Knízák, Opening Performance Orchestra, Terry Riley, Mieko Shiomi, Yoshi Wada and La Monte Young. The musicians and performers Anna Clementi, Agnese Toniutti, Deborah Walker, Werner Durand, Luciano Chessa, Miroslav Beinhauer, Petr Bakla, Nicolas Horvath, Petr Ferenc and Premysl Ondra have played, performed and declaimed the Fluxus pieces, Arditti Quartet and S.E.M. Ensemble provided one piece from their archives. Milan Knízák, Petr Rezek, Petr Kotík, Olaf Hanel, Eric Andersen, Per Brunskog, Peter van der Meijden, Pavlína Morganová, Natasha Lushetich, Joseph Nechvatal, Natilee Harren, Martin Patrick, Diedrich Diederichsen, Christopher M. Reeves and Hubertus von Amelunxen have written Fluxus-themed texts. Archivio Conz in Berlin provided access to their extensive Fluxus archives and Edizioni Conz provided co-production. Ursula and René Block made possible the realisation of John Cage's historical composition 'Rozart Mix' from the Edition Block archive. The photographic material comes from Marie Knízáková and Milan Knízák's private archive, the German photographer Wolfgang Träger, Archivio Conz's Fluxus archive and Opening Performance Orchestra's digital archive. The cover themes are paintings by Milan Knízák, while the graphic design is the work of Jaroslav Buzek. The whole release is produced by re-set production. The LP edition contains 18 pieces, new and old, live and studio, finished pieces and scores to be performed, acoustic and classical, solos and pieces for ensemble, using classical and special instruments. SIDE 1: 0. John Cage - 0'00'' (1962) (solo to be performed in any way by anyone) 0:00 1. La Monte Young - Compositions 1960 #15 to Richard Huelsenbeck (1960) 4:39 (Agnese Toniutti, piano) 2. Milan Knízák - DKH Quartet (edit) (1973) 4:40 (Arditti Quartet) 3. Henning Christiansen - Wolfsflöte (1986) 4:00 (Werner Durand, wind) 4. Giuseppe Chiari - Metodo Teorico E Pratico Per Suonare Il Violoncello (1962) 7:43 (Deborah Walker, cello) 5. Milan Knízák - White Process (from the cycle 'Processes Mainly For The Space Of Mind) (1978) 0:46 (Petr Ferenc, voice) SIDE 2: 1. Dick Higgins - Emmett William's Ear (1977) 9:40 (Agnese Toniutti, piano) 2. Henning Christiansen - Sturmsax (1986) 3:34 (Werner Durand, wind) 3. Milan Knízák - A Chromatic Scale In Countermovement (1971) 2:04 (Miroslav Beinhauer, broken piano) 4. Giuseppe Chiari - Gesti Sul Piano (1962) 4:40 (Luciano Chessa, piano) 5. Yoshi Wada - Lip Vibrator (1973) 2:24 (Ostravská Banda & Audience) 6. La Monte Young - Composition 1960 #7 (1960) 1:19 (Nicolas Horvath, piano) SIDE 3: 1. Eric Andersen - It Isn't Bad (2021) 1:05 (Eric Andersen) 2. Eric Andersen - Opus 1961 (1961) 5:29 (Miroslav Beinhauer & Petr Bakla, piano) 3. Bengt af Klintberg - Triad No.1 (2021) 5:10 (Werner Durand, bottles) 4. Mieko Shiomi - Imaginary Garden No.3 (2009) 7:38 (Miroslav Beinhauer, piano) 5. Terry Riley - Shoganigidi #1 (2021) 3:18 (Miroslav Beinhauer, broken piano) 6. Milan Knízák - Material Events (from the cycle 'Processes Mainly For The Space Of Mind') (1978) 1:28 (Premek Ondra, voice) SIDE 4: 1. Opening Performance Orchestra - Stolen Symphony (2021) 21:25 (Opening Performance Orchestra, electronics)
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2023 |
€20.00 |
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\'Музыкальное Приношение\' (Musical Offering) - |
CD |
listen:
https://coldspring.bandcamp.com/album/musical-offering-csr326cd
Available on CD (or any other format) for the first time outside USSR, five Soviet composers perform their works on the legendary ANS synthesizer.
Recorded in 1971, "MUSICAL OFFERING" is 6 tracks (42 mins) of experiments on the unique machine by: Eduard Artemiev (2 tracks), Oleg Buloshkin, Sofia Gubaidulina, Edison Denisov, and Alfred Schnittke.
"MUSICAL OFFERING" demonstrates a 'musical' machine unlike any other and has long fascinated cutting edge, modern electronic composers, notably COIL and THE ANTI GROUP COMMUNICATIONS (TAGC) / CLOCK DVA, that have both released recordings utilising the ANS.
Try to imagine a score sounding by itself without a conductor; an orchestra without musical instruments. This magic is possible by using the musical ANS synthesizer. Created by Soviet scientist Evgeny Murzin over the course of 20 years, ANS is an instrument with which a composer can not only create but also draw their music without notes. You can see the twinkling of different lamps, the rotation of grooved glass discs... The drawings on the glass are 'sounding notes'. To listen to the drawn picture, press the button and a wonderful transformation will begin.
Inside the ANS are five rotating glass discs with 144 tones printed (by hand) on each one. Light is projected through the discs and onto photovoltaic cellbank which converts the light into electricity and sends signals to the ANS's amplifiers and bandpass filters. The ANS can generate 720 tones this way and, unlike a human musician, play them all at the same time.
Murzin dedicated his photoelectronic apparatus to Alexander Nikolayevich Scriabin, hence the name ANS. Scriabin, the creator of the 'Poem of Ecstasy', and a famous explorer of synesthesia, used in his works a highly chromatic, new type of harmonic style designed to express his beliefs, views and wishes. Soviet music lovers will already know recordings made on ANS from Tarkovsky's films Solaris, The Mirror, and Stalker, Konchalovsky's film Siberiade, and others.
Presented in a digipak with the new artwork by Abby Helasdottir (who also created the compelling promo video), complimenting the ANS process perfectly.
Officially licensed from Russian state label Melodiya.
Watch promo video (YouTube): bit.ly/Musical-Offering
Copyright © – ВТПО "Фирма Мелодия" (Melodiya)
All-Union Recording Studio. Recorded in 1971.
Recording supervised by Юрий Богданов
Mastered by Martin Bowes at The Cage
Track listing:
1. OLEG BULOSHKIN - \'Sacrament\' (3:32)
2. SOFIA GUBAIDULINA - \'Vivente-Non Vivente (Alive And Dead)\' (10:44)
3. EDUARD ARTEMIEV - \'Mosaic\' (4:05)
4. EDUARD ARTEMIEV - \'Twelve Looks At The World Of Sound\' (12:53)
5. EDISON DENISOV - \'Birds\' Singing\' (5:04)
6. ALFRED SCHNITTKE - \'Stream\' (5:57)
######################
"A new batch of Cold Spring CDs, and I must say... At least with one of them, they stole my mathematic sound nerdish heart. "Musical Offering" is a sampler with Russian composers using the ANS, probably entirely up to its limits. Two tracks by Eduard Artemiev and one track each by Oleg Buloshkin, Sofia Gubaidulina, Edison Denisov and Alfred Schnittke. I only knew about Artemiev on this list because of his movie soundtracks. So to hear his work without a movie and, of course, images of empty landscapes, a brutalist-themed forgotten society and demise and a void enter my head, but fair is fair: all images were in colour. Nothing bleak or grey but the richness of the ANS is all over the place.
So for those who don't know what an ANS is all about, it's a Russian synthesizer designed over 20 years by Evgeny Murzin, and there is only one. It works with drawings on glass plates and devices that transform light into voltages, and those voltages create sounds. The glass discs spin, and well ... Wiki / YouTube is your friend here. Many artists have worked with the ANS, including Coil, The Anti Group Communications. Yes, [law-rah] also used original sounds from the ANS on their split with Cisfinitum (released on Fario). Maybe working on that release is the reason why I have a personal
weakness for this machine. I just couldn't get over how rich the sounds were that we got to use. Sure: A completely different thing than Coil being in the museum and drawing on the discs and us 'just' working with some recordings one of the museum guys did for us. Yet still ... I was impressed then, and I'm still impressed now.
For this disc, I am keeping the review smallish. Why? Because you already know if you are a) interested in neo-classical compositions by Russian composers. If you are, you will get this release and not be disappointed. It's as simple as that. If you are b) a nerd who loves different forms of synthesis like me, this album is one to consider. Because it's very varied and shows a lot of the ANS in 'its original environment': Russian composers on a Russian synth, and if you are c) curious about composition techniques, this will break your mind. Because from the ritualistic rhythmic parts in "Sacrament" (by Buloshkin), the 'voices' in "Vivente-Non Vivente" (by Artemiev) and the birds and frogs in "Birds Singing" (by Denisov), can you tell what is the origin of the sound? Is it a bird? Is it a recording? Or is it super ANS?
For me, it's not one of those reasons to love this album, and it's d) all of the above." [BW / Vital Weekly]
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2023 |
€15.00 |
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| |
Fluxus & NeoFluxus: Stolen Symphony (Part I) |
do-LP |
https://subrosalabel.bandcamp.com/album/fluxus-neofluxus-stolen-symphony-vol-1
Double LP version. Gatefold sleeve; includes 24-page large booklet.
All in all, there are more than 50 pieces, new and old, live and studio, finished pieces and scores to be performed, acoustic and classical, solos and pieces for ensemble, using classical and special instruments. This Fluxus edition features (in alphabetical order): Eric Andersen, Ay-O, George Brecht, John Cage, Giancarlo Cardini, Giuseppe Chiari, Henning Christiansen, Philip Corner, Öyvind Fahlström, Ken Friedman, Sten Hanson, Geoffrey Hendricks, Toshi Ichiyanagi, Joe Jones, Bengt af Klintberg, Milan Knízák, Alison Knowles, Larry Miller, George Maciunas, Sara Miyamoto, Nam June Paik, Yoko Ono, Opening Performance Orchestra, Benjamin Patterson, Josef Anton Riedl, Terry Riley, Takako Saito, Tomas Schmit, Dieter Schnebel, Mieko Shiomi, Yasunao Tone, Ben Vautier, Yoshi Wada, and La Monte Young. The musicians and performers Anna Clementi, Agnese Toniutti, Deborah Walker, Werner Durand, Luciano Chessa, Miroslav Beinhauer, Petr Bakla, Nicolas Horvath, Petr Ferenc, and Premysl Ondra have played, performed and declaimed the Fluxus pieces, Arditti Quartet and S.E.M. Ensemble provided one piece from their archives. Milan Knízák, Petr Rezek, Petr Kotík, Olaf Hanel, Eric Andersen, Per Brunskog, Peter van der Meijden, Pavlína Morganová, Natasha Lushetich, Joseph Nechvatal, Natilee Harren, Martin Patrick, Diedrich Diederichsen, Christopher M. Reeves, and Hubertus von Amelunxen have written Fluxus-themed texts. Archivio Conz in Berlin provided access to their extensive Fluxus archives and Edizioni Conz provided coproduction. Ursula and René Block made possible the realization of John Cage's historical composition "Rozart Mix" from the Edition Block archive. The photographic material comes from Marie Knízáková and Milan Knízák's private archive, the German photographer Wolfgang Träger, Archivio Conz's Fluxus archive and Opening Performance Orchestra's digital archive. The cover themes are paintings by Milan Knízák, while the graphic design is the work of Jaroslav Buzek.
1.
La Monte Young Composition 1960 #15 to Richard Huelsenbeck (1960) by Agnese Toniutti (Piano) 04:27
2.
Milan Knízák DKH Quartet (edit) (1973) by Arditti Quartet 04:39
3.
Henning Christiansen Wolfsflöte (1986) by Werner Durand (Winds) 04:02
4.
Giuseppe Chiari Metodo teorico e pratico per suonare il violoncello (1962) by Deborah Walker (Cello) 07:45
5.
Milan Knízák White Process (from the cycle Processes Mainly for the Space of Mind) (1978) by Petr Ferenc (Voice) 00:47
6.
Dick Higgins Emmett William's Ear (1977) by Agnese Toniutti (Piano) 09:42
7.
Milan Knízák A Chromatic Scale in Countermovement (1971) by Miroslav Beinhauer (Broken Piano) 02:07
8.
Henning Christiansen Sturmsax (1986) by Werner Durand (Winds) 03:39
9.
Yoshi Wada Lip Vibrator (1973) by Ostravská Banda & Audience (Paper Tubes) 02:26
10.
Terry Riley Shoganigidi #1 (2021) by Miroslav Beinhauer (Broken Piano) 03:19
11.
Yasunao Tone Clapping Piece (1963) by Residents of the Institute Ostrava Days directed by Eric Andersen 02:37
12.
Mieko Shiomi Direction music for a pianist (1990) by Agnese Toniutti (Piano) 26:01
13.
Dieter Schnebel An-sätze (1985) by Anna Clementi (Voice) 05:39
14.
La Monte Young Composition 1960 #7 (1960) by Nicolas Horvath (Piano) 01:20
15.
Eric Andersen It isn't bad (2021) by Eric Andersen (Voice) 01:06
16.
Eric Andersen Opus 1961 (1961) by Miroslav Beinhauer & Petr Bakla (Piano) 05:31
17.
Bengt af Klintberg Triad No.1 (2021) by Werner Durand (Bottles) 05:15
18.
Mieko Shiomi Imaginary Garden No. 3 (2009) by Miroslav Beinhauer (Piano) 07:36
19.
Milan Knízák Material Events (from the cycle Processes Mainly for the Space of Mind) (1978) by Premek Ondra (Voice) 01:31
20.
Giuseppe Chiari Gesti sul piano (1962) by Luciano Chessa (Piano) 04:37
21.
Öyvind Fahlström Morgon (1952-55) by Anna Clementi (Voice) 05:33
22.
Philip Corner A really Lovely Piece Made For & by Agnese (2019) by Agnese Toniutti (Piano) 03:15
23.
Terry Riley Ear Piece (1962) by Luciano Chessa (Oscillator) 05:02
24.
Philip Corner Small Pieces of a Fluxus Reality (2018) by Agnese Toniutti (Piano) 02:28
25.
Benjamin Patterson Paper Piece (1960) by Luciano Chessa (Paper) 06:01
26.
Philip Corner Toy Piano (2012) by Agnese Toniutti (Piano) 02:21
27.
Sten Hanson A Living Man (Poem) (1971) by Anna Clementi (Voice) 03:53
28.
La Monte Young 556 for Henry Flynt (1961) by the Residents of the Institute Ostrava Days, direction: Eric Andersen) 09:22
29.
Yoko Ono Conversation Piece (1962) by Anna Clementi (Voice) 08:07
30.
Opening Performance Orchestra Stolen Symphony (2021) (Electronics) 21:27
31.
Milan Knízák & Phaerentz & Opening Performance Orchestra BROKEN REBROKEN edit (2020) by Milan Knízák, Phaerentz & Opening Performance Orchestra 03:00
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2023 |
€25.00 |
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| VAN HOEN, MARK |
The Revenant Diary |
CD |
" "Don't look back," repeats one of several voices within Mark Van Hoen's The Revenant Diary, his fifth solo album and first release on Editions Mego. Surrounded by weighted beats, analog synthesizer drones and granular dirt, the unidentified, siren-like female voice's advice is as much seduction as warning. Tellingly so, for as well as being both Van Hoen's most ambitious and his most accessible work, The Revenant Diary is an eloquent meditation on the allures and dangers of memory, regret and nostalgia. The album's foundation was shaped by a memory and a chance encounter. While remastering some of his early '90s releases and Peel Session tracks, Van Hoen -- a founding member of Seefeel, who also worked as Locust and in Seefeel offshoot Scala and has collaborated with Slowdive, Robert Fripp, Edison Woods and Esben And The Witch, amongst others -- happened upon a track he had recorded in 1982. Attracted by its simplicity, he was inspired to record the basis of The Revenant Diary on 4-track tape, using a minimal set-up, reminiscent of his first early '80s musical adventures as a young teenager. The recollection of one of these -- a 13 year-old Van Hoen's experiment in reel-to-reel tape recording of an ineffectual pop song playing on the radio, which spuriously transformed it into a spooky amalgam of backwards church organ and unintelligible voices -- provided an evocative inspiration. The Revenant Diary pivots on this combination of complex reflection and simplified technology. A determinedly analog affair, it brims over with Van Hoen's signature sounds: immersively-decayed drones, almost broken ambient surfaces and lulling rhythms, with granular crackle providing spectral grit. Fragments of female vocals pepper the album, and notably dominate the 10-minute epic "Holy Me," one of Van Hoen's most complex compositions, in which non-verbal sounds rub delicately against each other in an otherworldly choral composition. Less song-based than his last solo work, the well-received Where Is The Truth (CCO 046CD/LP), its palette and structure are more descendants of the 1995 album Truth Is Born Of Arguments, which utilized a similar combination of decayed atmosphere against a granular/glitch rhythmic structure. Tracks like "Laughing Stars At Night" and "Unknown Host" exude a powerful emotional undertow, as alluringly woozy as they are intensely contemplative. But this is no exercise in Instagram-style disposable nostalgia. Van Hoen's adroit juxtapositions of gauzy textures evoke the blurred luminescence of 16mm film and the rich, color-saturated hues of rediscovered Polaroid photos, as the cover artwork, designed by Stephen O'Malley, acknowledges. The Revenant Diary expertly renders displaced memory daze in lushly melodic, gently delirious electronic sound. All titles composed by Mark Van Hoen. Recorded in Brooklyn & Woodstock, NY, 2011. All instruments & processing by Mark Van Hoen with additional vocals by Georgia Belmont." [label info]
www.editionsmego.com
"Over the years I didn't keep up with Mark van Hoen's solo work. I remember Aurobindo to be a nice work but haven't heard that in a long time, and also 'The Last Flowers From The Darkness' has faded from my memory, but then no less than fifteen years have passed. Van Hoen, once a member of of Seefeel, Scala and collaborator with Slowdive, discovered some old tracks which brought him in the a teenage mood again: why not use that old four track tape machine again with a minimal set up? When hearing this, I reminded of his older works again. Van Hoen plays, at least for me, pop like music, with rhythm, broken down guitar sounds, samples and occasionally a female voice dropping into the music. Grainy, down-sampled voices going back to the 2-bit sampling mood add a certain raw texture to the album. Hazy stuff, a bit blurry. Its a clash of the modern versus the old, new and ancient technology meet up in a very nice way. A well entertaining record, filled with melancholy, ambience, choir
like sounds and glitched up rhythms. I am told this is all a bit more abstract than his previous work, but I think this is some very nice alternative popmusic. Certainly the kind of popmusic I like." [FdW/Vital Weekly]
"The Revenant Diary (eMEGO 136) bringt ein Wiederhören mit MARK VAN HOEN, den ich seit den Tagen mit Seefeel und Scala oder als Locust lange nicht mehr auf dem Radar hatte. Maßgebend für die 11 neuen Tracks war, so heißt es hier,
die Erinnerung an sein jüngeres Selbst als tonbandelnder Teenager Anfang der 80er. 'Don't Look Back' und 'I Remember' halten das Motiv der Rückkehr fest, das ihn dazu bewegte, sich diesmal doch wieder althergebrachter technischer
Mittel zu bedienen. Entscheidender ist jedoch das emotionale Moment, ein Schwanken zwischen Nostalgie und Trauer. Da herrschen anziehende und abstoßende Kräfte, die auch in 'Why Hide From Me' und 'No Distance (Except the
one between you and me)' reflektiert werden. Downtempo-Triphopbeats transportieren orchestrale Samples und eine verwehte Frauenstimme (die vokalisierende Georgia Belmont). Orchestral? Vielleicht sind es schimmernde Gitarren, Klanggewölk aus Streichern? Van Hoen inszeniert da eine mehrspurige Unschärfe aus flackernden, kaskadierenden Klangfetzen. Auch Belmonts Gesang
wird dabei zu einem phantastischen Folklorechor. 'Ambient' ist wohl auch ein irreführendes Wort, Van Hoen macht phantastische Musik, durchsetzt mit tierischen Lauten ('Garabndl x'). Das poppige 'Don't Look Back' ist insofern eine schwache Nummer. 'I Remember' hat danach mit seinem verschleppten Beat einen Steampunk-Touch, der Gesang ist nur ein Schatten seiner selbst. 'No Distance' tickert wie ein elektronisches Spinett, über Synthienebelstreifen schimmert ein Knabensopran auf ü. Wieder mädchenhaft, schliert die zerhackte Stimme über das motorische Tuckern und Synthiegeflöte von '37/3d'. Die 80er und 90er im Reißwolf der Erinnerung? "Wo warst Du?" lautet die wehmütige Frage, die Van Hoen aber über krumme Beats stolpern lässt. 'Unknown Host' überbrückt als halbe Samba die Zeit bis zu 'Laughing Stars At Night' mit seinem Baritongitarrenloop über Breakbeats und Lyrics, die hier mehr sind als nur eine Catchphrase. 'Holy Me' multipliziert Belmont für ein verzerrtes Replikantenmadrigal a capella in der Kirche der verlorenen Zeit. Da darf man dann schon mal Einkehr halten." [Bad Alchemy]
|
2012 |
€14.00 |
|
| VERNON & BURNS |
The Tune The Old Cow Died Of |
LP |
This is a collection that will appeal mainly to the absent-minded coterie. All the sounds of fun and fear are here. How does a disko club sound from outside? How do you stop a tape at the right position? Have you ever listened to some tramps singing in the park? The answers to these questions can be found in the marvellous music of these two Scottish tape-musicians who are equipped with a fine sense of poetic humour. File under vaudioville, varièté concrete, documentary forgery, unsound art, whorespiel, blunderphonics, (not of this) world music, imaginary soundtreks, unimaginative soundtracks, lower case, lower class, lower quality, lower prices hurry hurry now while stocks last!!!
“They have some great sounds, strong ideas about juxtaposition, and use them in a very winning way… Whilst not setting themselves up as 'proper' experimenters along the order of Luc Ferrari or Bernard Parmegiani, this duo can often be more bold or daring than any establishment electro-acoustic musician." - Ed Pinsent, Sound Projector
“Together they splice real life audio recordings into small radio plays… Tramps on a bench, the music outside a disco or a walk in the snow. But these real life recordings have been altered, changed and added to, so that a small musical story becomes alive …small fascinating journeys”. - Frans de Waard, Vital Weekly
"With its modernistic abstract sleeve design that looks like a computer printer malfunctioning, this one certainly comes across as a bit of an oddity, but turns out to be a good example of well-crafted tape-work and sound art. Vernon and Burns are a team based in Glasgow, and both of them have been involved in radio work. (Also it seems that they perform as Boy Band Tax Returns, whatever sort of project that may be). Here they use spliced tapes, documentary recordings, found materials and allsorts, and quietly assemble a very charming and beguiling set of pieces.
What really gives them the edge over so many records of this ilk is that V & B have a great sense of humour and fun. This record shows it is possible to work in the cut-up mode without needing to resort to obscene jokes or infantile frat-boy humour. Since I've heard so many records recently spewed forth from the USA shock-jock mentality of Broken Penis Orchestra and others of a similar adolescent mentality, its extremely refreshing to find something so much more subtle and informed by a dry wit. Vernon and Burns are not trying to be 'shocking' or 'ironic', even when they use childrens' records or old educational tapes from forgotten sources. They have some great sounds, strong ideas about juxtaposition, and use them in a very winning way. At times it may come across as the work of two BBC staffers having a bit of fun with tapes from the radio archive, but then perhaps that's very close to what it is. Their unassuming stance grows on you, keeps you listening. Whilst not setting themselves up as 'proper' experimenters along the order of Luc Ferrari or Bernard Parmegiani, this duo can often be more bold or daring than any establishment electro-acoustic musician."
Ed Pinsent, Sound Projector.
https://vernonandburns.bandcamp.com/album/the-tune-the-old-cow-died-of |
2005 |
€15.00 |
|
| VINYL-TERROR & HORROR |
Nightmare Lullabies |
LP |
Odd name, odd sounds: Nice first LP from this new project from Berlin, encharming the listener with obscure loops & more...dense atmospheric industrialized fields & surrealistic collages...reminded us on VANCE ORCHESTRA for example. Lim. ed on clear vinyl !
|
2004 |
€11.00 |
|
| VIOLET |
Violet Ray Gas & The Playback Singers |
CD |
VIOLET gibt es schon seit geraumer Zeit (in der Cassetten-Szene bereits als "1348" und NEW CARROLLTON aktiv!), ist aber leider bislang im Drone-Katalog kaum in Erscheinung getreten... Dieses Album auf dem eigenen ZEROMOON-Label präsentiert rauhe, grobkörnige, experimentelle low-fi drones inkl. Einsatz von Schallplatten-Loops, Stimmzitaten & Feedbacks, zum Ende hin aber weniger noisige polyphone Sphären-Schichten, die schon fast an PHILL NIBLOCK gemahnen... ein weites Spektrum öffnet sich hier mit eigener Handschrift...
"Quite an intriguing burst of dark electronic and sample noise from Violet, whose Violet Ray Gas and The Playback Singers (ZEROMOON zero008 / SENTIENT RECOGNITION ARCHIVE SRA 10) is released in a digipack covered with Futurist-inspired monochrome images full of harsh diagonals and fuzzy dreams of the machine age. Jeff Surak arrives here from Washington DC, a hero of the 1980s cassette tape scene when he used to release music under his 1348 alias and ran his Watergate Tapes label. Consequently we can hear much stern authority and grainy power in these grim process-works. My fave so far is the opener ‘All Records Collapse’, with its implacable radio voice plucked from an indeterminate Eastern European zone, but ‘Snakehead Lapping’, ‘Plague Numbers’ and ‘Marionetki’ all communicate the requisite doses of futility. Two long tracks at the end, ‘Violet Ray Gas’ and ‘Interior Ghosts’, are somewhat more musical than atmospheric, shaped from queasy long-form drones tempered with alien sounds. Surak strives to offer ‘near-silence’ and ‘full-on tonal Brutalism’, with all shades in between." [The Sound Projector]
"... Dark and mysterious, mixing in bits of Jeck and Tim Hecker, Wolf Eyes, blending them into Violet's ominous world of sound. There's feedback all over the place, but it's far from harsh or jagged, instead it's used like color, to paint greyed out landscapes burnished reds, and melted oranges, thick tones, reverberating chimes, bits of buzz and crunch, disembodied voices, intercepted broadcasts, clouds of hiss, chugging machinery, industrial sonic detritus, warped strings, woozy synths, all wound up into dense walls of sound one second, blurred into delicate crystalline lattices the next. "Plague Numbers" is total Jeck, a skipping scratched record smeared into a gauzy washed out living portrait of sound, indistinct figures, flitting shadows, mysterious shapes, all moving as if through a thick field of static, not even four minutes, but we found ourselves wishing it would never end. Elsewhere the sound of lapping water is swallowed up by a crackling crumbling fog of burnt melodies, and slowed down riffs, a sort of sun dappled lysergic sonic swirl. The title track is a tuning up orchestra stretched out into a softly chaotic symphony of angular tones and fractured melodies, of sine waves and groaning creaking low end rumbles, augmented by curious crackles and strands of distortion arranged in patterns resembling speech, but rendered in impressionistic shards, finishing off with a gorgeous high end ur- drone, a softer Sunroof!, a field of static bagpipes, their overtones creating otherworldly patterns in the ether. Gorgeous." [Aquarius Records review]
www.zeromoon.com
|
2009 |
€12.00 |
|
| VIVENZA |
Realite de l'automation directe |
LP |
"Réalité de l'automation directe:
Bruitism is the representation of a living, biological body, not unrelated but on the contrary intimate to the substance. The nature/technique gap is totally, in The Art of Noises, the most accomplished form of a reconciliation with industrial mechanization.
By highlighting the autonomy of the dialectical movement in its inaugural tension, bruitism reestablishes this relationship with the pure objectivity of the substance, which is the cornerstone of the program of futurism and remains more than ever valid for the future of all futures. The sonorous world, the noises of life, are not just a simple residual environment but the material of a new art, The Art of Noises !
Luigi Russolo declares : « In a few years the engines of our industrial cities can all be skilfully sounded so as to make from each factory an exhilarating orchestra of noises ». The futurist objective is « a will for a back to original forces »[3], it finds in bruitism the most intense form of a participation to the universal energy of the being of the world.
Extract from L'art des bruits futuristes (The Art of Futurist Noises), Vivenza, 1982
1. L. RUSSOLO, The Art of Noises, Milan, 1913.
2. L. RUSSOLO, The Noises of Nature and Life, Milan. 1913.
3. L. RUSSOLO, The Art of Noises, Milan, 1913." [credits]
"From his first works in the middle of the 70s, Jean-Marc Vivenza places himself in the field of the theorico-political link attached to the Italian Futurists and Russian Constructivists trends whose bruitist-plastic propositions are the only theorical sources having ever been developped with consistency, and qualifies his music as « bruitist futurist » rather than industrial.
It is the re-appropriation of noise as a formal plastic aid. He explores the field of perspectives that the acoustico-plastic material offers and works on a concept that he calls « the objective materiality of noise », basing himself on the futuristic thesis of Luigi Russolo, exposed in « The Art of Noises » edited in 1913, constituting the working guide for Vivenza and remaining the base of any authentic bruitism. He is then the first, between 1976 (with the band Glace) and 1979, to build a bridge between the thesis of Luigi Russolo and our time.
The originality of Vivenza is to use industrial sonorous material in the literal sense of the word (machines, workers in action, factories) and records real industrial sonorities in factories : reality is the subject of futurist research." [biography info from the label)
http://rotorelief.com
|
2011 |
€23.00 |
|
| VOLCANO THE BEAR |
Classic Erasmus Fusion |
do-CD |
Was soll man zu dem britischen Quartett VOLCANO THE BEAR noch sagen? Wer auf der Suche nach überraschender & neuer, (noch) nicht klassifizierbarer Musik ist, die nicht am Computer entsteht, muss hier einfach mal reinhören!! Ihre Musik mit Einflüssen aus Folk, Drone, Avant-Rock & Impro-Jazz ist nicht nur oft irgendwie “weird” und verquer, sondern weist auch streckenweise grosse harmonische & elegante Schönheit auf... wie immer ist vokales Material omni-präsent!
“.... zeigt Antifolk flippernd zwischen Didgeridoo und Handy, Daumenklavier und elektrischer Störung, als Folklore des Absurden, die es fertig bringt, in raffinierter Unschuld zerebralen Goldstaub aufzuwirbeln..” [Bad Alchemy # 51]
„...Describing Volcano the Bear's music is about as difficult as identifying the instruments. The quartet's arsenal of gear is transcendant of time and space, culled from different cultures and different eras, from classically orchestral woodwinds (albeit sometimes just blowing through the mouthpiece) to African thumb piano, helicopter sounds, thunderstorm and rain and running water, medieval squeeze boxes, squeak toys, chirping or crying bird sounds, and Asian stringed things. While improvisation has been integral to the band's development, Volcano the Bear can always be counted on very cold-calculated and composed songs appearing on their official studio albums. Their arrangement is loose but never wanky or show-offey. Perhaps it's this lack of soloing and pretention that has kept them from appropriate recognition by some of the major experimental media in favor for a whole "free folk"/"weird rock"/"new weird America" obsession.“ [Brainwashed]
"VTB have crafted a strange geometry in their musique concrete between celestial duck honks and what sounds like a flood in the living room, there are more than a few occasions of heads cocked at the speaker in mundus caninus. Of course, this bodes well for humans, too. Augmented by all the dog friendly moments is a double album of sprawling musical invention. Record one births gently into a lo-fi-adelic Comus-like saline that even might even win over the Devendra crowd, if the Devendra crowd had ingested just a little too much mushroom tea on that day and left their ironic trucker hats at the door. Song becomes fever dream and then pitches into a barren place of low estate and low chanting whose Residents might well be Eskimos. With typical minimalist pageantry, VTB mutate from piece to piece, punctuating along the way with surprise sounds that the aforementioned dogs love so well; the kinds of quirks that make Nurse With Wound and P16.D4 records such fun listens. VTB spin some very melodious tales, which are subliminally hooky, after a fashion. Spiritual and surreal are sisters. Quiet ritualism queues with dadaistic and with progressive harmonies, together on the same fractured, out world, sing-along journey. And that's just record one. Record two crawls slowly from the echoey ooze, grows legs and then presents as a different and, in many ways, more dramatic creature. A long, shifting organ drone becomes a deeply psychedelic statement that bleats loud and strong like an acid bleached Spiral Insana or a sneaky This Heat.” [label info]
www.blrrecords.com
|
2006 |
€14.00 |
|
| VON EULER-DONNERSPERG, DITTERICH / FELIX KUBIN |
NNOI#01 |
LP |
NNOI#...
In this series, the recordings and documents of the actors of the NNOI Festival gather and reveal the primitive anatomy of the NNOI that sinks onto the frosted glass of nature, like the printing ink unconscious in the letters of the newspaper.
The design of the entire series is based on drawings by Frank Diersch - made for this project.
forthcoming: NNOI#2: Rashad Becker & Robert Schalinski, NNOI#3: Asmus Tietchens & Frieder Butzmann, NNOI#4: Air Cushion Finish
D.v. Euler-Donnersperg - side: unreleased tracks from his wild beehive.
Felix Kubin - side: Felix Kubin accompanies René Clair‘s silent film »Entr’acte« from 1924 live with a new electro-acoustic soundtrack, which refers to the surreal choreography, the contrasts in content and the fast editing sequences of the film in rhythmic cut-ups.
Rene Clair‘s film „Entr‘acte“ from 1924 is a real jewel of surrealism and is largely unknown to this day. The director radically experiments with cinematographic effects, provokes absurd exaggerations, which sometimes take on blasphemous proportions, and is not afraid to commit violence. The staff of actors is made up of famous artists such as Erik Satie, Francis Picabia and Marcel Duchamp, who, quite self-ironically, bounce through the image rather than stride. Men and women roles are reversed, a death procession turns into a roller coaster ride. The bizarre humor of the film also testifies, among other things, to the artistic daring of its time.
Ditterich von Euler-Donnersperg
»I hate long announcements now. Everyone writes something and brags about all kinds of information (especially celebrity names). Something has become completely uniform over time. I hate that. Simply state briefly: „The old gray gurnard from the Waterkant creaks and growls its funny and less funny ways ..“ GLÜCKAUF!
Felix Kubin„I am a child living in the body of Juri Gagarin. He is empty like a corpse. His eyes move slowly like radars. First comes the idea then the technology. Children are angels, sometimes they fall into nothingness. I am Juri‘s ventriloquist.“
Felix Kubin, messenger of exploding lungs, lives and works against gravitation. At the age of 12 he started composing electronic 4-track music. His activities comprise futurist pop, electroacoustic and chamber orchestra music, radio plays, lectures, workshops and his label Gagarin Records. He has been involved with the noise project Klangkrieg, the communist singing group Liedertafel Margot Honecker and the tetchy teenage bands Die Egozentrischen 2 and x2.
Frank Diersch - a German draftsman and painter.
NNOI - festival for 12,756 tone music, obscure teaching & organ of the world-ventriloquist-lodge.
https://www.facebook.com/donnersperg/
www.frank-diersch.de/
www.felixkubin.com
www.nnoi.de
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4YxuYqL52is
https://www.facebook.com/nnoi.festival/
NNOI - festival for 12,756 tone music, obscure teaching & organ of the world-ventriloquist-lodge
"In der NNOI Festival-Reihe werden Aufnahmen von Künstlerinnen und Künstlern veröffentlicht, die auf dem gleichnamigen Festival , “für 12,756 Tonmusik, obskure Lehren & Organ der Weltbauchrednerloge”, gespielt haben (u.a. werden noch Asmus Tietchens und Frieder Butzmann folgen). Den Auftakt macht eine Split-Veröffentlichung: Ditterich von Euler-Donnersperg, Sachwalter des Werkbunds, selbst so titulierter „Knurrhahn“ hat mit den zwischen 1996 und 2014 erschienenen “Pelzwurstliedern”, sogenannten „Reimdichtungen im Geiste Klopstocks mit elektronischem Zuspielband“, originellste, kaum kategorisierbare und von beißendem Humor durchzogene Lyrik herausgebracht. Felix Kubin hat neben zahllosen musikalischen Veröffentlichngen, auf denen auch immer ein absurder Humor deutlich wurde (im Presseinfo heißt es: „„I am a child living in the body of Juri Gagarin.“), eine ganze Reihe von Hörspielen produziert.
Auf der ersten Seite befinden sich acht bisher unveröffentliche Stücke von Euler-Donnersperg, bei denen sich das Ausgangsmaterial, was bearbeitet wurde, nur erahnen lässt: „Krebs im Schlafrock“ beginnt mit einem ratterndem Loop, man hört zerhäckselte Stimmen. Einem Teil der Stücke haftet etwas Fragementiertes an. So auch bei „Kleiner Irrtum“ mit den hektischen Wassersounds, flirrenden Tönen und dann so etwas, das sich wie ein Echolot anhört. Auf „Mit geknickten Dichterschwingen“ hört man einen Loop, der an Jahrmarktsmusik erinnert, auf „Ein letzter großer Seher“ muss man zwischenzeitlich an Vogelkreischen denken. Die drei dann folgenden Stücke nehmen das Hektisch-Fragentierte zurück: „Verlangen, den Regenbogen zu fangen“ ist von ruhigen, kristallinen, flächigen Sounds durchzogen, die teilweise an ein Theremin denken lassen. Auf „Verknausertes Korn“ dröhnt und knistert es. Bei „Angenehm müde“ meint man das Ticken eines Metronoms zu hören, am Ende scheint eine bearbeitete Stimme aufzutauchen.
Kubins Beitrag ist ein langes Stück, das als neuer Soundtrack für den 1924 entstandenen Stummfilm “Entr’acte” von René Clair konzipiert ist. Bei dem Film wirkten damals Erik Satie, Francis Picabia und Marcel Duchamp mit und gerade durch Clairs Einsatz von Effekten wie Zeitlupe und Überblendungen (ein Gesicht starrt einen aus dem Wasser an, ein Papierboot durchpflügt die Dächer von Paris) erzeugt Clair eine durchaus kurios-absurde Atmosphäre (Puppen verlieren ihre Köpfe, der Rock einer Tänzerin scheint eine Blume zu sein, ein Zauberer entsteigt einem Sarg). Der Track beginnt mit kuriosen Knarzen, Brummen, Loops, Fiepen, am Ende meint man ein Sample aus Coils “Things Happen” zu hören – in Passagen ist das durchaus nicht so weit entfernt von manchen Arbeiten Steven Stapletons und von der Stimmung und Herangehensweise ist das ein mehr als passender Soundtrack zu “Entr’acte”." [MG / African Paper]
|
2020 |
€20.00 |
|
| WAKHEVITCH, IGOR |
Hathor |
LP |
"Subtitled "LITURGIE Du SOUFFLE POUR LA RESURRECTION DES MORTS", this is probably Wakhevitch's most esoteric and occult-influenced work. Some sort of dark ritual for synthesizer and orchestra inspired by Kabbalistic writings where Igor's trademark bottom heavy electronics pulse, wizz and sweep to a backdrop of heavy tribal drumming. Elsewhere, menacing and majestic spoken word passages open us the doors to the netherworld, leading you into an esoteric sound ritual that sounds spooky, virulent, powerful, droning, entrancing and mystical at the same time. Again Wakhevitch brings together disparate elements, bridging apparently unrelated musical forms and integrate them in order to deliver another unique work that sounds strangely prescient and recalling at the same time works from Mort Garson (Black Mass), Ruth White (Flowers Of Evil), Terry Riley (Surgery Persian Dervishes), Stockhausen (Stimmung), Tangerine Dream (Zeit) or early Klaus Schulze (Irrlicht)." [label info]
www.wah-wahsupersonic.com
|
2013 |
€23.00 |
|
| WHEN |
Black, White and Grey |
CD |
Imposantes apokalyptisches Werk des norwegischen Projekts, wo es um die „Zerstörung der Erde“ geht. Eine schwer zu beschreibene Mixtur aus Filmsoundtrack, Hörspiel & Musique Concrete mit orchestralen und elektronisch-industriellen Einflüssen. Hinter WHEN steckt LARS PEDERSEN (u.a. HOLY TOY), unterstützt wird er hier mit Texten von CHRIS CUTLER. Als Bonus gibt es auf dieser CD die zweite LP von WHEN, „DEATH IN A BLUE LAKE” (WIT002, 1989), basierend auf dem gleichnamigen Roman von A.BJERKE.... dramatische Düsterkeit abseits gängiger Klischees, Bad Alchemy schrieb „Fröschequaken – Vogelgezwitscher aus dem sumpfigschlüpfrigen Uferdickicht des Blue Lake – Hundegebell – Äste knacken – Schwermut – Geheule – ‚hypnotized’ – die Geräusche schwellen an – den Kopf / die Nerven verlieren – alles dreht sich – die Ohren zuhalten – kein Ausweg....“ [MBeck in Bad Alchemy # 13, 1989]
“A complete new work plus 'Death In The Blue Lake'. Combines playing and through-composition with manipulated and environmental sound in dramatic, narrative, psychological constructions. Quite unique. 'Death' based on a novel; texts in new works by Chris Cutler. Book of artwork.“ [ReR]
|
1990 |
€14.00 |
|
| WIESE, KLAUS |
Maraccaba |
LP |
Look no further for some classic contemporary ambient music! Originally released on tape in 1982, Maraccaba is the second solo album from Deutsch electronic wizard Klaus Wiese, a Popol Vuh member during the recordings of iconic masterpiece as "Hosianna Mantra" and "Seligpreisung." Klaus Wiese was a veteran musician, minimalist, and multi-instrumentalist. A master of the Tibetan singing bowl, he created an extensive series of album releases using them. Wiese also used the human voice, the zither, Persian stringed instruments, chimes, and other exotic instruments in his music. Wiese is considered by some as one of the great ambient or space music artists alongside Robert Rich, Steve Roach, Michael Stearns, Constance Demby, and Jonn Serrie. His musical style is much more appropriately compared to the organic soundscapes of drone and dark ambient music, such as Oöphoi, Alio Die, Mathias Grassow, and Tau Ceti. In the 1990s he founded the Nono Orchestra to play the giant sheet metal instruments of Robert Rutman. Wiese is known also for his collaborations with Al Gromer Khan, Mathias Grassow, Oöphoi, Tau Ceti, Saam Schlamminger, and Ted de Jong. He collaborated with Deuter on his Silence is the Answer album in 1980 and East of the Full Moon in 2005. Edition of 500.
|
2023 |
€23.50 |
|
| WINTER FAMILY |
Red Sugar |
CD |
"Second long awaited album by duo Ruth Rosenthal and Xavier Klaine, actually based in Brooklyn.
A rare and unique audio worldview expressed by the singular approach of Ruth Rosenthal (voice) and Xavier Klaine (harmonium, organ etc..).
From the first bares of Searching Donkeys this new album creates a glowering and intense atmospheric...part nightmare, part uplifting dreamscape. It permeates and builds into a compelling whole. a reference point might be some of the output of Constellation records - indeed GYBEs Norsola Johnson plays on this record..
However it is doubtful whether any of those artists ever produced anything to match the taut tension of the title track Red Sugar..an hymn to absence. The ambition of Winter Family is evident on the expansive, orchestral epic dancing in the sun..crank your speakers, sit back and open your mind.. it WILL blow you away." [label info]
www.subrosa.net
|
2011 |
€13.00 |
|
| WIRE, THE |
issue # 285 (Nov. 2007) |
mag |
"On The Cover: Underground Resistance (The elusive Detroit Techno guerrilla cell are superheroes of the Motor City, waging electronic warfare on Capital. Founder 'Mad' Mike Banks explains campaign strategy to Mark Fisher). Features: Flying Lotus (Dave Stelfox meets California's one-man cinematic orchestra, freak-hop rejuvenator and grand-nephew of Alice Coltrane); David Watson (The well travelled improvisor brings the skirl of the bagpipes to New York's downtown scene); Daniel Menche (The Portland electronic extremist tells Nick Cain how he's knocking himself out to tame the wild beast of noise); Cross Platform: Juneau/Projects (Britain's woodcraft folk artists make hand carved guitars, drowning Walkmans and sonic skateboards); Invisible Jukebox: JG Thirlwell; Russell Haswell (A catalytic presence in British art and computer music for over a decade signs to Warner Classics for his latest act of digital decimation with Florian Hecker); Loren Connors (How Brooklyn's guitar transcendentalist spun heavenly harmonies from out of the squalor of '70s and '80s urban bohemia)." [Verlagsinfo] |
2007 |
€8.75 |
|
| WYRM + RATS WITH WINGS |
D.I.S.C (Death Inducing Signaling Complex) |
CD-R |
Strange Sounds noch und nöcher, alles rauscht & glitzert und blitzt elektronisch... wir vermeinen Rückwärts-Klänge & Flöten herauszuhören, seltsame Loops sind sowieso omnipräsent, für jeden BIG CITY ORCHESTRA - Fan zu empfehlen!
Nice collaboration by the projects from US & Australia, hard to describe whats going on here really, everything drones & sounds & glitters & blinks... a great journey into weird sounds & noises!
label-website: www.roilnoise.com
|
2006 |
€10.00 |
|
| XENAKIS, IANNIS |
Phlegra (etc.) |
do-CD |
1-1 Phlegra
Conductor – Michel TabachnikEnsemble – Ensemble InterContemporain
13:15
1-2 Jalons
Conductor – Pierre BoulezOrchestra – Ensemble InterContemporain
14:30
1-3 Keren
Trombone – Benny Sluchin
6:33
1-4 Nomos Alpha
Cello – Pierre Strauch
12:31
1-5 Thalleïn
Conductor – Michel TabachnikOrchestra – Ensemble InterContemporain
17:22
2-1 Naama
Harpsichord [Clavecin/Harpsichord] – Elisabeth Chojnacka
15:21
2-2 A L'lle De Gorée
Conductor – Huub KerstensEnsemble – Ensemble Xenakis*Harpsichord [Clavecin/Harpsichord] – Elisabeth Chojnacka
15:28
2-3 Khoaï
Harpsichord [Clavecin/Harpsichord] – Elisabeth Chojnacka
16:47
2-4 Komboï
Harpsichord [Clavecin/Harpsichord] – Elisabeth ChojnackaPercussion [Percussions] – Sylvio Gualda
18:04
Total timing: 131'01.
Includes a 16 page booklet in English, French and German.
All pieces were recording in the presence of the composer.
Recording locations: Städtischer Saalbau, Witten, April 1984 (2-4); Studio 107, Radio France, June 1987 (2-1, 2-3); Studio 103, Radio France, October 1987 (2-2); IRCAM, Paris, July 1990 (1-1, 1-2);Église Notre Dame du Liban, Paris, April 1990 (1-5), December 1990 (1-4), January 1991 (1-3).
CD 2: 4 is a Westdeutscher Rundfunk recording.
www.warnerclassics.com
|
2007 |
€14.00 |
|
| YEN POX |
Between the Horizon and the Abyss |
CD |
"Arriving on the scene in 1993 with their self-titled demo, Yen Pox immediately made their presence known with an ability to create monumental, light devouring soundscapes that transcended all that had come before it. Proceeding releases, including their debut CD, Blood Music, 2000’s New Dark Age, and the collaborative CD with Troum only solidified their standing and reputation. With Between the Horizon and the Abyss just being their first full length recording in over 15 years, Yen Pox will never be accused of being prolific. After all, with the two members spread out between Indiana and Washington State, creating new material doesn't exactly lend itself to convenience. But on the rare occasion that recordings do arise, it’s nothing short of masterful, reminding listeners why they’ve achieved such notoriety with such a limited discography, and why their recordings are consistently recognized as benchmarks within the dark ambient genre.
Time between releases has been well spent, with the new material taking the early template and expounding upon it greatly, adding layers of industrial churn and structure to the infernal kosmische sprawl they’re so adept at creating. And yet throughout its entirety, Between the Horizon and the Abyss is remarkably polished and fluid. Within its realm, no seconds feel wasted, and every sound feels purposefully placed, even as it moves and flows in perpetual motion; strains of a distant angelic choirs fall beneath a complex array of arcing tones, liquidous, molten textures, & harrowing orchestral shimmer, with fervent masses of malevolent atmospherics billowing forth in glorious detail.
While this technically falls under the banner of dark ambient, what Yen Pox has managed to create goes far beyond genre specifications and boundaries, crafting a new benchmark and adding a high water mark to an already stellar discography." [label info]
www.malignantrecords.com
"The year is 1995 and an extremely young label from Maryland has just begun to open its eyes to the world. Prior to this moment, its entire three-year existence had been dedicated to a ‘zine/compilation combination known as Audio Drudge, with a more official birth coming with a compilation of a different kind in 1994 that featured noise/industrial artists that ran the gamut from celebrated veterans in Illusion of Safety, Maeror Tri, and Contrastate, to what was at the time excruciatingly obscure in Söldnergeist, Vromb, and Kirchenkampf. It was an artist from the latter side of this list that was destined to give rise to one of the most important labels that post-industrial music has seen to this day—a label that, in the absence of Cold Meat Industry, has rightly taken its place at the helm as the leading name releasing the new generation of old-school industrial and dark ambient music today. That label is of course Malignant Records. And the artist? Yen Pox, the duo of Steven Hall and Michael J.V. Hensley, who tomorrow (May 5th) will be making their return after a full decade and a half of silence, save for a notable collaboration with another seminal dark ambient duo in Troum, Mnemonic Induction, and a little-known two-track 10″ on Drone Records, Universal Emptiness. This also requires one to overlook their respective solo projects in Veil of Secrecy and Blood Box, both of which have also been agonizingly slow to realize new music over the years.
Yes, this is the project that began the maelstrom of high-quality releases that would make Malignant the monolith of the genre that it has become today, and that in itself should leave expectations at an absurdly high level for any curious ear. For the uninitiated, the project’s name should be enough of a hint to bring about hallucinatory visions of slow-rolling drones and desperate metallic chatter. “Yen Pox” was famously written by William S. Burroughs in Naked Lunch as being “the ash of smoked opium,” which should immediately lead one towards assumptions of the surreal brilliance held therein. Indeed, “The Awakening” arrives with a bass-end rumble that moves with enough sluggish grandeur, complex drones, and vastly cinematic space that it warrants comparisons to some of the finest names in the genre including deep audio extraordinaire Bad Sector and the aforementioned Troum. It is with this impressive track that Between the Horizon and the Abyss opens with the full force of a black hole, slowing down time and stretching it infinitely over an unimaginably monstrous mass, ripping metallic atoms apart with the pulsing black heart of the cosmos. Even “Tomorrow in Ruins” somehow leaves a similar astral impression as that of Ben Frost‘s incredible recent work with A U R O R A.
There is a ritual edge present on some tracks as well, from the percussive clamoring and distant feedback howling of “Cold Summer Sun,” to the distant whispers and unnerving climaxing noise of “Grief Ritual.” However, this is only a minimal part of Yen Pox’s identity, as everything about Between the Horizon and the Abyss feels about as purely nihilistic as anything I’ve heard in recent years. The apocalyptic atmosphere present on the album is almost overwhelming at times, imparting an unforgiving amount of dread upon the listener as they float not through dreamy ethereal dimensions, but rather through the smokey black veils of what lies at the end of our journey. The intense album artwork and concise yet visionary track titles certainly don’t help one get an opposite impression though the radiant golds are an interesting and effective choice for such an atmosphere, but the music stands on its own as one of the most defining albums for dark ambient music of the past decade. Truly, at least to some degree, it sets a bar that leaves other modern releases from the genre sounding dry at best.
Between the Horizon and the Abyss is one of the few releases of the past few years that has simply come as advertised. It is a triumph of the genre and is destined to be a celebrated gem. One can only imagine that it is the lack of quantity that has provided such astounding quality on Between the Horizon and the Abyss, but with this reminder that there are still new levels to achieve, we can only hope that it isn’t another 15 years of near-dormancy before another full-length surfaces." [S.L.Weatherford / Heathen Harvest]
"A colossal record like this doesn't get made in a day, or even a year for that matter. It's actually been 15 years since Yen Pox has produced a new album. There was an excellent collaborative project the American industrial-ambient technicians did with the German pioneers Troum; and M.V. Hensley from Yen Pox has released a handful of albums under his moniker Blood Box. But, the last proper Yen Pox album, New Dark Age, arrived in the cold months of 2000. Not quite as slow in production as Giancarlo Toniutti, who took well over 20 years to issue a new solo album. But like Toniutti's immaculately conceived electro-acoustic wastelands, the records of Yen Pox are the stuff of epochal change, slowly revealing themselves through the dark veil between this world and another, or as the title implies between the horizon and the abyss. The scope of this work is suitably grandiose, following the template for the entire dark ambient genre that Yen Pox helped sculpt so many years ago alongside the likeminded projects Lustmord and Inade. The horror-laden drones that Yen Pox conceives are hardly static, as they spiral as if thrown from stable orbit by the all-consuming gravity of a black hole. The deep female vocal utterances are courtesy of the gothic siren Ruby Smith (aka Dark Muse) whose bellows and moans sporadically break through the dense clouds of Yen Pox' subterranean echo and reverb as the only ghosts of humanity to be found within this album. Bleak and heavy, to say the least." [Aquarius Records]
|
2015 |
€13.00 |
|
| YOUNG GODS, THE |
The Young Gods Play TERRY RILEY in C |
do-LP + CD |
The Young Gods release a record with Two Gentlemen, Play Terry Riley In C. Needless to say this is a fertile meeting between two monuments who have helped shape the cutting-edge music of the last few decades. Terry Riley, born in 1935, is the cornerstone on which a considerable number of artists have relied to liberate their relationship to the process and methods of creation. In the same way, The Young Gods revolutionized, from the second half of the 1980s, their relationship with rock music by converting guitars into samplers. Composed and premiered in 1964, In C is a major piece in the contemporary music repertoire of the second half of the 20th century, and a pivotal moment in its history. The score for In C is reduced to 53 musical phrases, which each musician must repeat in the order in which they appear, as many times as he or she wishes; the instrumentation is not specified; the impetus for the performance is not given by an orchestral direction, but by the musicians listening to one another. A perfectly open work, In C was the first work to offer a successful synthesis of repetition and variation. The Young Gods first approached In C in 2019 at the invitation of Benedikt Hayoz, director of the Landwehr wind orchestra in Freiburg -- this resulted in a performance of the work with 85 musicians. Other approaches were made with Ensemble Batida, a Geneva-based contemporary music collective, with the dance company Alias, and with the documentary filmmaker Peter Mettler, for his film Petropolis. In this album, The Young Gods offer a new interpretation of In C, as a trio and with their own sound vocabulary -- electronic instruments, drums, and guitars. They have chosen to follow the score and Terry Riley's indications, while allowing for some additional freedom, for example in terms of managing the sound intensity -- which evolves, in several long cycles, from almost silence to eruption and back again. They have also chosen to maintain a constant tempo throughout the live performance by building up a hypnotic flow and a continuous musical presence that meanders and oscillates in perpetually changing rings and atmospheres that transform in a perfectly fluid manner. By developing through a series of crescendos and decrescendos, by playing on the repeated addition and removal of musical phrases, by working sensitively on the sound quality (timbre, grain, alterations) of its elements, the piece aligns a series of ascents, ecstatic plateaus and lulls that give the work as a whole all the characteristics of a living form. Double LP version includes CD."
https://www.twogentlemen.net/products/the-young-gods-play-terry-riley-in-c-2/
https://theyounggods.bandcamp.com/album/the-young-gods-play-terry-riley-in-c
|
2022 |
€32.00 |
|
| ZEIT |
Waves from the Sky |
CD |
"The first solo CD by Zeit is a true revelation… After the two album in collaboration with Alio Die with a more acoustic quality, in 'Waves from the sky' Tommaso Cimò undertake electronic orchestrations with inserts of guitars and bass perfectly integrated, you can find attachments with the best mystic and cosmic music of the 70', translated with a subtle sensibility into new territories of ambient music with a very fine touch. CD packaged in an elegant three sides digipack!!" [label info]
www.aliodie.com
|
2008 |
€14.00 |
|
| ZEITKRATZER |
[old School] Alvin Lucier |
CD |
"1| Alvin Lucier Fideliotrio [1987] 12:10
for viola, cello and piano
2| Alvin Lucier Music For Piano With Magnetic Strings [1995] 13:21
for grand piano and as many as five e-bows
3| Alvin Lucier Silver Streetcar For The Orchestra [1988] 10:03 for amplified triangle
4| Alvin Lucier Violynn [2001] 09:38
for violin and tape
5| Alvin Lucier Opera With Objects [1997] 10:59 for performers with resonant objects
zeitkratzer
directed by Reinhold Friedl
|| Burkhard Schlothauer < violin, viola, objects || Anton Lukoszevieze < violoncello, objects || Uli Phillipp < objects || Reinhold Friedl < piano, objects || Maurice de Martin < triangle, objects || Frank Gratkowski < objects || Hayden Chisholm < objects|| Matt Davis < objects || Hilary Jeffery < objects || Ralf Meinz < sound ||
[1-5] recorded live at Philharmonie Luxembourg, Luxembourg, October 3, 2009
[4] recorded at GreenHouseStudios Schwielowsee, Germany, June 4, 2010
recorded and mixed by Ralf Meinz and Reinhold Friedl, produced by Reinhold Friedl
Beautyfull Lucier compositions, recorded at the Philharmonie Luxembourg. Including: Silver Streetcar, Fideliotrio, Music for Piano with Metal Strings, Violynn, Opera with Objects.
And the thirs release in the series [old school] now !
“zeitkratzer are creating a New Music, worthy of the name!”
[Rob Young, The Wire Magazine]
The internationally acclaimed “hilarious releases” [vital weekly] of zeitkratzer records go on. This is the third release in the new series [old school]. The first two CDs, dedicated to the music of John Cage [zkr0009] and James Tenney [zkr0010] have been highly acclaimed. London’s Wire Magazine wrote: “The rigour and discipline they collectively bring to this compositions make both discs utterly enthralling, from start to finish.” The new release is dedicated to the music of Alvin Lucier.
In 2011, the [old school] series will continue with two more releases, dedicated to the music of Morton Feldman [zkr0012] and Karlheinz Stockhausen [zkr0014] respectively.
Alvin Lucier is one of the most outstanding American minimalists. He could be called a sound physician and his compositions regarded as acoustic research settings. Often his pieces turn inside-out the inner properties of the room they are played in and the instrument that they are played on. zeitkratzer had the chance to work with the composer in Dijon, France in 2008, and continued to work on and to program his music in different places. The Philharmonie in Luxembourg turned out to be the ideal space for recording.
On this CD you can hear how Lucier enables zeitkratzer to create sounds, most people have never heard before. Ringing overtones, a singing piano, a thrilling concert triangle, pencils on little objects, and how irritating a violoncello, a viola and a piano can sound together creating sonic interferences. This music is not only a physical phenomenology, but becomes inherently a sensual listening experience." [full press release info]
www.zeitkratzer.de
"In der Reihe [old school] arbeitete ZEITKRATZER dieses mal mit dem amerikanischen Minimalkomponisten Alvin Lucier im Auftrag der luxenburgischen Philharmonie zusammen. Herausgekommen sind 5 Stücke die sich alle mit Obertönen und dem akustischen Phänomenen der gegenseitigen Klang-/Tonaufhebung, bzw. Beeinflußung befassen. Das Prinzip kennt jeder: Ein durchgehender Ton trifft auf einen schwingenden Ton und man meint, dass auf einmal beide Töne schwingen würden, was aber nachweislich nicht der Fall ist und eben ein solches akustisches Phänomen ist. Treibt man die Sache nun bewußt voran und lotet diese Grenzen klangtechnisch und kompositorisch aus, kann man wirklich sehr interressante Effekte im Raum und für eine Aufnahme erzeugen.Klänge verschmelzen und erzeugen dabei neue Musik! Großartig und spannend zugleich und gar nicht kopflastig, sondern wirklich sehr seltsam, wunderbar und auch noch schön anzuhören!" [Carsten Vollmer / Ox-Fanzine]
"Old School is a series of works performed by Zeitkratzer Records dealing with one composer, although they are not always 'old' (as in 'still alive'). Following James Tenney and John Cage (see Vital Weekly 724), the ten piece ensemble performs here works by Alvin Lucier, another particular hero of mine. Lucier doesn't just compose pieces of music, he explores sound, and the way they move around in space. Zeitkratzer keeps to the scores, most of the times, such as in 'Silver Streetcar For The Orchestra', in which the triangle plays an important role or in 'Opera With Objects', where the orchestra plays with small objects indeed. These are the compositions by Lucier which are 'free' in a way: a set of instructions to be performed and Zeitkratzer is, as we know, good at that. The more fixed pieces here, 'Violynn' and 'Fideliotrio' (which I must admit have never heard performed anywhere else) seem to be following the score more careful, i.e. playing the right notes at the right time. Zeitkratzer does an absolute great job at that. Lucier's originals are expanded here into small ensemble pieces and each instrument gets his own place in the composition. Five excellent executions thereof. Old master pieces." [FdW/Vital Weekly]
|
2010 |
€15.00 |
|
| [AD]VANCE[D] |
Two Events |
LP |
Waystyx goes vinyl! Fabulöses neues Werk vom niederländischen Projekt um MARS WELLINK, allerbeste atmosphärische Collagen-Musik und archaische Drone-Fliessmuster, loopig-pulsierende Strukturen in typisch VANCEiger Machart. Bisher seine überzeugendste Veröffentlichung! Limitiert auf 200 im Poster-Cover mit Postkarte!
"Not much info on this otherwise beautifully packed LP. The story should be known: following the split of Vance Orchestra, Mars Wellink started (ad)vance(d), together with Jan Dekker. The music of (ad)vance(d) is a continuation of lines set out by Vance Orchestra: that of the cross road of ambient music, bit of rhythm (mainly through samples) and a hint of industrial music. Two side long pieces, an event per side me thinks. The music slowly evolves and develops - the archetypical form of drone music, which is in these four hands in great form. Deep rumbles from below the earth's surface, which grow in intensity and take a big shape, almost without the listener realizing this. Voices (?) seem to mumble, the rattling of a bike, all against a nice, thick brick wall of sound. It reminded me of some of the best work of zoviet*france. The rotating swirls fit the medium, or the medium fits the swirls of sound. Two particular great pieces that one keeps rotating on end. Fabolous headspace
music." [FdW / Vital Weekly]
www.waystyx.com
|
2009 |
€16.00 |
|
| |
Unseen Intelligence |
mCD-R |
"once half of the wonderful VANCE ORCHESTRA, mars f. wellink still creates multi-layered soundscapes full of details. not very productive, his past works were released on absurd (one cd-r), waystyx (one lp and one dvd) and more recently on the 10" series of drone records, substantia illuminata. "unseen intelligence" is a wonderful "sound travelogue", as stefan knappe described his 10"." [label info]
www.taalem.com
"Mars F. Wellink came from Ain Towh and Vance Orchestra and since some years is (Ad)Vance(d), which is never very active with releases, but always creates a fine piece of drone music. Here he works with one Jan Dekker and its never known what they use sound wise. For all I know there is a bunch of field recordings, voices and tons of processing on going, but then its hard to say which kind of processing. Does (Ad)Vance(d) use a lot of analogue electronics, or is it perhaps in the world of computers? Its all not easy, if not impossible to tell. 'Unseen Intelligence' consists of three distinct parts. The first has a slight light metallic ring to it, with voices taped on a dictaphone. The second part, with some ten minutes also the longest, an obscure piece of crackling sounds (radio?), voices, and some sounds of scraping metal, which grows in intensity and the short third piece builds in a log fade up to the conclusion and contains, perhaps, all sounds elements as before. Its once again an excellent piece of music of a highly atmospheric nature, which should appeal to drone-heads world-wide." [FdW, Vital Weekly]
|
2012 |
€5.00 |
|
|
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