Search results for "there"
"there" entries in albums descriptions
| Artist |
Album |
Format |
Description |
Year |
Price (incl. 19% VAT) |
|
| 3/4HADBEENELIMINATED |
Speak to me |
LP |
the trio of STEFANO PILIA, CLAUDIO ROCCHETTI and VALERIO TRICOLI is back with their 6th full length release - a dense amalgam of all kinds of improvised, concrete and electronic sounds gathered through the years, re-constructed by VALERIO TRICOLI, more dynamic phases interchange with sombre instrumentals..."the listener feels confronted by the ghost of music, sonic memories echoing across a psychedelic expanse. Evacuated of any clear structure, the music becomes a reverb-saturated morass, from which... "
|
2016 |
€17.50 |
 |
| ABDUL-RAUF, LEILA |
Diminution |
CD |
third solo-album by the ex AMBER ASYLUM and current member of IONOPHERE, the death metal band VASTUM and many others projects => harmonic, lonely instrumental ambience with much warmth and emotion.. "generally longer than previous works and feel more spacious and open, where sparse melodies and gentle textural flow meet ethereal choral vocals, distant trumpet, delicate guitar, and luminous, yet melancholy drones and warm tonal drift."
|
2018 |
€13.00 |
|
| AESTHETIC MEAT FRONT |
Essence of Rituals |
LP |
extracts from four live rituals by the body art performance group around LOUIS FLEISCHAUER, who use body sounds for the creation of their music, creating a shamanistic and cathartic experience live on stage: "For example the heartbeat of Louis Fleischauer during suffocation, brainwaves at the moment of piercing and thereafter, amplified springs that are connected to the skin via hooks, the ultrasonique sound of an embryo." - lim. 200 with gatefold art cover with many photos from the shows
|
2019 |
€20.00 |
|
| AKITA, MASAMI |
Wattle |
pic-LP |
the series of picture discs on Elevator Bath (with visual artwork by the artists themselves) finally continues with a release by MASAMI AKITA aka MERZBOW, who re-worked photogrraphs of a Turkey; on the vinyl two tracks of "unidentifiable metallic clanging, crushing feedback, jagged white noise, and various effects...There are no drums, no guitars, no vocals; just scorching electronic mayhem of the highest quality..." lim. 270 copies
|
2016 |
€20.00 |
|
| ALFEO, PIER |
Works 2016-2018 |
LP (one-sided) |
PIER ALFEO = DUBIT (who had an excellent CD before on Backwards) - with three electro-acoustic compositions, revealing great details and lots of very "near" crackling sounds, sudden breaks and changes, and more calm passages, between tension - dynamism and spheric relaxation, there are wide fields to explore.... / art edition LP (one-sided, white vinyl, poster cover 60 x 90 cm with mathematical graphics , and vellum paper A4 inlay) - ed. of 300
|
2019 |
€18.00 |
|
| ALIO DIE |
Deconsecrated and Pure |
CD |
ALIO DIE further continues his "medieval ambient" direction, using beautiful vocal pieces by the Venetian 16th Century Renaissance composer CLAUDIO MERULO as source material => completely ethereal & suspended sacral music, full of solacing harmonies...
|
2012 |
€15.00 |
|
| ALIO DIE & LINGUA FUNGI |
Otter Songs |
CD |
the first collab of ALIO DIE with Finnish soundscaper LINGUA FUNGI, who works with handmade instruments & objects of organic nature, like 'otter skull ocarinas' and 'snail shells'; beautiful harmonic cither and sitar drones merge with subtle field recordings and object sounds for a "full ethereal / overtone drone" experience... caressing & mesmerizing
|
2012 |
€15.00 |
|
| AMINI, SIAVASH |
TAR |
LP |
discovery from Iran on the Swiss label with 4 excellent experimental / ethereal drone-tracks, sharing a great spatial quality and quite massive electronic / granular sounds, with classical string instruments as sound sources, powerful and sublime at the same time... highly recommended! "This is Music to get lost in" [THE WIRE]
|
2017 |
€21.50 |
|
| ANDEL, LAURA / ELECTRIC PERCUSSIVE ORCHESTRA |
In::tension:. |
CD |
Argentinan composer LAURA ANDEL and her 10 piece ELECTRIC PERCUSSIVE ORCH. with 7 complex tracks, performed on various electronic + acoustic instruments, like (electric) piano, accordion, percussion, drums, cornet, electric guitars,various electronics, theremin, vocals..." Percussive, intimate, visceral, ritualistic and electrically charged, I n : : t e n s i o n : . explores tension points and internal pulses, glimpses and gestures in a non-narrative world." - special oversized cardboard "book" cover
|
2005 |
€6.00 |
|
| ASHTORETH & STRATOSPHERE |
Between Worlds |
CD |
two Belgian (dark) ambient artists in a very fruitful collaboration, extremely ethereal and super slow driftings with occasional tones and harmonies appearing like ghosts.. - "A blurred movement on the edge of our peripheral vision... Sensed but never grasped, felt but never seen. A passing between two worlds." - nicei digipak design, lim. 200 copies
|
2020 |
€13.00 |
|
| ASIA NOVA [=ASIANOVA] |
Burns Alive! |
CD |
re-issue of a rare CDr from 2008 with finest quality live recrodings from their 2007 tour with TROUM through Europe; 70+ minutes of deeply ethereal, heavenly melancholic handplayed psychedelic / transcendental drone ambience, incl. the long "Arabian Aria" bonus impro session from Trieste... - ASIA NOVA is: the two members from VOICE OF EYE, plus URE THRALL - 4 panel digipak with numbered inlay card, lim. 100 only !!
|
2023 |
€14.00 |
|
| AUME (SCOT JENERIK & ALEPH OMEGA) |
Agere Urendum Mentis Epode |
LP |
AUME is the NEW project of SCOT JENERIK (23Five Org., F-SPACE) and ALEPH OMEGA (CHROME, etc.), their dark and electricity filled "ambient industrial" creations build lots of tension, using pulses, whirring drones, effected percussion and found sounds (voices, oriental melodies)... there are also more sublime moments in the two-side long tracks, reminding on older ZOVIET FRANCE... excellent sonics, georgously packed: die cut linen jacket with silver foil embossing, inlay, lim. 555 copies
|
2016 |
€25.00 |
|
| BAD SECTOR |
Live at Maschinenfest 2015 |
MC |
rare live tape - excellent cover art - "minimal arrangements of distorted bleeps and clicks, distant voice samples and radio recordings of numbers, technical terms or alike blend with farreaching pads, infinitely stretched with massive reverb - thereby generating the impression of moving like a cosmonaut through open space."
|
2017 |
€12.00 |
|
| BAKER, AIDAN |
Half Lives |
do-CD |
two seperate albums that shows AIDAN BAKER as singer and songwriter, loosely based on improvisations but from then formed into constructed pieces => wonderful airy and most ethereal Jazz influenced songs, super slow and melancholic smooth post-rock, often sounding hazy and dreamy, almost wavering, with AIDAN's soft voice above = a wonderful album !
|
2015 |
€16.50 |
|
| BAKER, AIDAN & THE INFANT CYCLE |
Rural Sprawl |
CD-R |
what can there be better than a collaboration between two Canadian Drone Records-artists??? lim. 250, professional full colour cover; has two tracks from the long deleted "Rural" CDR (Blade Records 2001), plus two new tracks
|
2008 |
€8.00 |
|
| BAKER, AIDAN WITH CLAIRE BRENTNALL |
Delirious Things |
LP |
first collaboration of AIDAN BAKER with CLAIRE BRENTNALL from Manchester, UK, singer of SHIELD PATTERNS... "The duo of Baker and Brentnall is one made in heaven....Baker’s compositions move from ambient brilliance to dark-wave decadence, changing the backdrop to Brentnall’s angelic, ethereal, and otherworldly vocals throughout." [Somewherecold]
|
2017 |
€16.00 |
|
| BALDRUIN |
Vergessene Träume |
LP |
musically the most 'accessible' LP of BALDRUIN so far, a strong melancholic undertone is present on all of those 13 miniatures, that could form together a long forgotten introspective film soundtrack from the 70's, often based on ancient sounding synth-patterns and sequencers, but there also acoustic instruments used and more playful and surrealistic elements... imagine the intimate melodic moments of LEGENDARY PINK DOTS or TANGERINE DREAM, appearing in an odd dream.. lim. 250
|
2018 |
€15.00 |
|
| BARAKA[H] |
ILLUMINESCENCE |
maxi-CD |
first ever solo-release by the TROUM and ex MAEROR TRI member and special jubilee release for TAALEM, a 4 track, 5" 'minimax' EP with 'songlines' of ethereal, melancholic guitar drones... " a yearning for something that is absolutely not 'visible' or tangible. i don't know what it is, but there must be something hidden in the air, in the sounds, in the sensations..." - standard ed. of 200 copies; master: STEPHAN MATHIEU; artwork: HITOSHI KOJO
|
2020 |
€9.00 |
|
| 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 |
|
| BASINSKI, WILLIAM |
Lamentations |
CD |
12 new tracks, constructed from tape loops and studies from his archives, 1979-2020 - "on his new album he transforms operatic tragedy into abyssal beauty - more than any other work since The Disintegration Loops, there is an ominous grief throughout the album, and that sense of loss lingers like an emotional vapor."
|
2020 |
€14.50 |
|
| |
Lamentations (black vinyl) |
do-LP |
12 new tracks, constructed from tape loops and studies from his archives, 1979-2020 - "on his new album he transforms operatic tragedy into abyssal beauty - more than any other work since The Disintegration Loops, there is an ominous grief throughout the album, and that sense of loss lingers like an emotional vapor." - BLACK vinyl ed. with DL card
|
2020 |
€29.50 |
|
| BASS COMMUNION |
 Sisters Oregon (first edition) |
10inch |
The newest studio material of STEVEN WILSON's experimental drone project, especially recorded for our 10" series! Based on ethereal vocal choir material the four parts of "Sisters Oregon" reach a transcendental beauty of the highest degree. first edition: 500 copies, black vinyl, excellent artwork by CARL GLOVER
- SOME LAST COPIES FOUND - SEALED!
|
2017 |
€18.00 |
|
|
Sisters Oregon (SOLD OUT) |
10inch |
the newest studio material of STEVEN WILSON's unique experimental drone project, especially recorded for our 10" series! Based on ethereal vocal choir material the four parts of "Sisters Oregon" reach a transcendental beauty of the highest degree. Excellent artwork by CARL GLOVER. // NOW AVAILABLE the 2nd edition 300 copies on sky-blue marbled vinyl & now black cover-frame
|
2018 |
€16.00 |
|
| |
The Itself of Itself |
CD |
THE NEW STUDIO ALBUM!! Status: PRE ORDER (release date Late May 2024) - "...This new album has some interesting changes. On one hand, there are sounds of vinyl and tape hiss, heavily processed yet to be recognised as such, and there is the addition of real instruments, such as a mellotron (well, maybe not 'real', but a distinctly different kind of instrument than you'll find on your usual dark ambient record. Also, there are some shimmering chords played on a keyboard (in 'Apparition 3', for instance), crippled voices in the very creepy title track, along with more mellotron (I think)..." [Vital Weekly] |
2024 |
€14.00 |
|
| BAZE.DJUNKIII |
presents Pink Minimalism |
7inch |
ENGRAVE YOURSELF! ANTI-RECORD! A completely blank PINK 7"-vinyl with no grooves at all, in order to become creative with this medium on your own and make it a very personal record...."a gift to all free spirits out there"... lovely idea! lim. ed. 120 copies
|
2012 |
€6.50 |
|
| BEAUCHAMP, PAUL |
Needs Must when the Devil drives |
CD |
the US American musician (living in Italy) and member of BLIND CAVE SALAMANDER with his third solo-album, a fine exploration into the ambience of sampled and synthesized sounds, very focused and calm for the most parts, sometimes a bit dark and ethereal, but never sounding artificial... a one-tracker of 36+ min, lim. 200 digisleeve
|
2021 |
€12.00 |
|
| BEEQUEEN |
Winter |
LP |
two new / old (does it matter? it's BEEQUEEN!) side long pieces = older unreleased material (dating back to 1988!) with new re-shaping in 2020, inspired by the ever mysterious winter atmospheres... - "Think woodblock, guitar, static radio signals, ethereal ambience. An honourable addition to Beequeen's discography and a beautiful piece of the Dutch avantgarde with historic ties to Edward Ka-Spel, De Fabriek, Merzbow and Nurse With Wound."
|
2020 |
€21.50 |
|
| 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." [M Begg] - "There are few more nocturnal musicians than Michael Begg. I do not exaggerate when I place him in a high firmament alongside ARVO PÄRT and COIL. Begg’s is a music to make the twilight last, and in that liminal area he sets his table.." [Fear Drop]
|
2019 |
€13.00 |
|
| BEGG, MICHAEL / HUMAN GREED |
Let the cold Stove sing |
CD |
a collection of 14 works for theatre, galleries and installations by MICHAEL BEGG aka HUMAN GREED, showing again the wide range of intense poetic melancholism this project can create.. "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." [The Active Listener]
|
2016 |
€13.00 |
|
| BEKAERT, JACQUES |
Jacques Bekaert |
LP |
re-issue of much sought-after self-titled album from 1981 (IGLOO), by this Belgian composer who released only two albums in total, three pieces (one is a soundtrack to a film by Akiko Iimura), very long playtime.. => electronics, field recordings and instrumental sounds interact in a most unique and surrealistic way, players were, amongst others: MAGGY PAYNE, DAVID ROSENBOOM, BLUE GENE TYRANNY, one can listen to this over and over as there are so many details.. lim. 500
|
2022 |
€24.00 |
|
| BERLINER RING |
Bardo |
12inch |
the only vinyl release (5 track mini-LP) for the Berlin based "electro-mechanical" group so far, who excite with rhythmic and subtle pulsating electronics and sounds from their self-built instruments and machines; the 4 members use: timpani, rhythm maches, a 'Heckeshorn' (hybrid slide guitar), self build theremins and analogue synths, samples, bass. osmotic dubbler, etc. etc.. for their fresh and original songs..
|
2012 |
€12.00 |
|
| BERTONCINI, MARIO |
Arpe Eolie |
LP |
ethereal noises that play themselves => wonderful sound / wind sculpture recordings from the 70's by BERTONCINIs huge Aeolian Harps and gongs (that also look phantastic, the largest was 7 metres high!), creating mysterious of drones-extensions and almost electrical sounding whisphers... a wonderful edition with extensive 4 page inlay, many photos, lim. 400, deluxe silver print cover. A must have for anyone interested in droning sound sculptures !!
|
2016 |
€26.00 |
|
| BEX |
Rosegger |
LP |
third album by this French composer + guests => very ethereal, melancholic atmospheres with passionate vocals (which often rather sound like chants), subtle, sad and desolate, full of tragic emotion...."deep and mournfoul post industrial chants"; very much recommended if you like music of the YEARNING and abyssal moods...lim./numb.ed. 200
|
2011 |
€10.00 |
|
| BLAKK HARBOR |
Madares |
do-LP |
very promising first album for a new Greek project, inspired by "moonlike landscapes" seen as sacred lands of ancient ceremonies; an electro-trance ambient album with strong ritualistic touch, sometimes it sounds like the missing link between slow MUSLIMGAUZE and THE HYBRYDS, but there are also excellent subliminal ambient/drone passages, with many traditional Cretan instruments used...
|
2018 |
€26.00 |
|
| 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 |
|
| BORGHI, ANDREA |
Fuochi Rituali Di San Giuseppe |
CD |
field recordings from a pagan bonfire ritual (where a puppet symbolizing the winter is burnt) made in the night of 19. March, 2014, in the province Lucca in Tuscany: sounds of crackling fire, people & chilrden gathered around it, the frying of oil on the fire and firewood were used and processed to create a somehow intimate composition of mysterious concrete sounds, with strange smackling and gurgling overtones... very special! lim. 200 ful colour cover with art card
|
2016 |
€14.00 |
|
| BØLTORN (BOLTORN) |
Dødsverk (Dodsverk) |
LP |
"SHIT SOCIETY" - Scandinavian dark noise industrial trio (BOLTORN NIHILIST KOMMANDO) with the omni-present HENRIK NORDVARGR BJÖRK,.. most extreme / distorted repetetive noises, pulses and strokes with disembodied vocals and aggressive found sounds... - "There’s just something invoking and holistic in their approach to noise, power electronics, and whatever else, constituting of droning walls of varying racket, discernible samples, and intelligible vocals.." - 300 copies
|
2023 |
€26.50 |
|
| CABARET VOLTAIRE |
Mix-Up |
CD |
the very first album of the electronic post punk / industrial pioneers from Sheffield UK (1979), available now as mid-price re-issue! - *a great snapshot of a brief period in post-punk UK when there was a sudden urge to grapple with a bizarre, homemade, hamfisted white dub landscape.*
|
2013 |
€10.00 |
|
| CARAVAGGIO |
Caravaggio # 2 |
CD |
after the great debut on INA GRM performing "rock music" with electro-acoustic working methods, this is only their second album... next to almost classic prog-rock passages there are also completely experimental parts and Jazz-Avantgardish explosions, performed with great profession and many surprises / changes..
|
2012 |
€17.00 |
|
| CASAS, CARLOS |
MMXX-19: 1883 (Sound Model I) |
LP |
19th release in the new series that presents 20 artists from the experimental sound-art scene with very nice design / concept => dedicated to the year 2020 there will be 20 x 20 min. compositions on one-sided clear vinyl, with laser engraved artwork by the artist on the B-Side, lim. to 500 copies => CARLOS CASAS (Barcelona) is a new name for us, he worked out a phantastic "trance / transcension" piece based on field recordings made in Indonesia and Philippines..
|
2021 |
€23.00 |
|
| CASPAR BRÖTZMANN MASSAKER |
Home |
do-LP |
with "Home" (1994), a collection of live recordings, the circle of vinyl re-issues of C.B.M albums by Southern Lord ends = simply one of the most raw and violent, ecstatic and experimental rock industrial bands that has ever existed... and there are rumours they are recording again! "Schwere Gitarren, Feedback-Wogen, ausufernde Strukturen, wuchtig bollerndes Schlagzeug, ein Noise-Sperrfeuer, aber in Blues grundiert - eine Musik, die kaum eindeutiger in den 1980er Jahren zu verorten wäre."[Andreas Schnell]
|
2020 |
€24.00 |
|
| CASTELLO, ANGELICA |
CATORCE REFLEXIONES SOBRE EL FIN |
LP |
great LP by this Mexican sound artist and "dreamworld / subsconsciousness explorer" => based on an installation with 14 objects woven with magnetic tape that interrelate to the sound and to each others, there are 14 miniatures with processed field recordings building a circle, it reminded us on some of LUC FERRARI's works, a conflation of voices, daily object sounds and more mysterious impulses, creates a spooky atmo... - lim. 300 ---
"It is uneasy music, but at the same time, it is beautiful uneasiness." [Vital Weekly]
|
2023 |
€18.00 |
|
| CECILIA |
Adoration |
LP |
strong debut album of this dream & avantgarde pop singer from Canada, like with the recent SHE SPREAD SORROW releases there's a focus on haunting, processed vocals combined with fragments of noises, beats, samples, forming a strange and threatening mind trip.. "Devastatingly restrained yet ravishing songs with haunting English, French and Italian vocals, huge recommendation if you're into Yves Tumor, Félicia Atkinson, Rabit, Teresa Winter, Portishead, Leila..."
|
2018 |
€18.00 |
|
| CHALK, ANDREW |
The River that flows into the Sands |
LP |
one of the nicest ANDREW CHALK solo-works now available on vinyl - extremely subtle dronescapes (probably based on guitar) that change between harmonic and disharmonic scales, thus creating a most ethereal, unreal atmosphere, ... lim. 300 w. oversized, handmade cover 'with tipped-on images', each print is unique; lim. 300 clear vinyl
|
2018 |
€30.00 |
|
| CINDYTALK |
touchedRAWKISSEDsour |
CD |
new studio album to the 30th (!) anniversary of his famous 'Camouflage Heart' album => quite massive and sinister, highly idiosyncratic, abstract ambient compositions with a somehow elevating effect, often filled with powerful digital distortion and waving field recordings, but there are also wonderful moments of yearning and romanticism...
|
2014 |
€13.00 |
|
| |
Wappinschaw (lim. clear red vinly) |
LP |
first ever re-issue of the fourth CINDYTALK LP from 1995, and the last of the "first phase", a most remarkable mixture of styles and approaches between beauty and aggression, as impressive as "Camouflage Heart", comes with rare bonus tracks... " As beautiful as it is strange, and as savage as it is delicate. There is no other record even remotely like it, and very few that equal it's artistic process. " [dreamritual] lim. colour vinyl version
|
2021 |
€23.50 |
|
| CLUB OF ROME |
Grosse Statik |
CD |
CLUB OF ROME is ASMUS TIETCHENS under a pseudonym, there's only one cassette existing that appeeared on the Italian label ADN in 1985; here's finally a re-issue on CD => this album marks the transition from the more "catchy" SKY releases to his more dark and bleak atonal period... starting with a strange / ironic quite from a german folk artist this developos into eerie / atonal synthscapes with a surrealistic nature, threatening, cinematic....
|
2023 |
€15.00 |
|
| COLUCCINO, OSVALDO |
Parallelo |
CD |
two shrouded field recording pieces by this Italian Contemporary Classic Music composer, captured in North West Italy at abandoned ruins from an old monastery from the 17th century.. "there is dripping of water, objects falling onto the floor, and everything reverberates through this giant space, or maybe even various spaces of varying sizes..." [Vital Weekly] lim. 200, numbered, 300gr. full colour satin paper cover with art-card
|
2015 |
€14.00 |
|
| CONTRASTATE |
A live Coal under the Ashes |
CD |
1992 saw the release of CONTRASTATE's third proper album (after two brilliant self-released LPs) on Tesco, with a packaging no one had seen before: a CD placed "inside" a clear die-cut vinyl LP; this is the re-issue of the CD with one bonus-track, their mixture of experimental ambience, ritual industrial and poetry / lyrics let's this still stand out! "There is an odd sense of mania whilst listening to ‘A Live Coal’ strange whistling, off key guitar strings and trance like paranoia" [blackaudio]; BACK IN STOCK - special priced now
|
2008 |
€8.00 |
|
| CONTROLLED BLEEDING |
Blistered Bags of Fodder Swaying |
10 x CD |
this collects material (= 10 CDs!) from the most productive C.B. period 1985-1988, 'experimenting with noise, industrial, tribal sounds, goth, ethereal, and ambient music' (including side-projects), comes in a vinyl-sized book bound format with 24 page 12" x 12" booklet, most of the releases were out of print since years, or have never been issued on CD so far // LAST COPIES SPECIAL OFFER!!
|
2018 |
€50.00 |
|
| CORNFORD, STEPHEN |
Domestic Music |
MC |
strong release by this sculptor, musician and sound artist from UK (running the CONSUMER WASTE label), based on prepared piano sounds.. => "In the atmosphere of the album, there is a diffuse sense of isolation. The recordings seem to have been made in an empty room, with enough focus on the action and a ritualistic sense of the piano manipulation, using metallic objects and wooden sticks." [soundtraag] - lim. 90 numbered copies
|
2021 |
€9.00 |
|
| COSTES |
Plastic et Magic |
BOOK + CD |
the French shock-performer with a book for children (!), accompanied by 10 "chanson" on the CD.. - "The story is about friendship and love and there are a lot of strange encounters with the Monsieur-Peur ("Mister-Fear"), a giant mole, and a lot of other animals. The texts and lyrics are in French." - 48 pages book with drawings and lyrics - seeing is believing !
|
2016 |
€16.00 |
|
| CREATION VI & UHUSHUHU |
∆ |
CD |
mystic ethno-ambient from two of the "new wave" of Russian drone-ambient projects in collaboration, this beautiful one-tracker is loaded with handplayed drone instruments, nature sounds and ethereal chants, reaching a great spatial quality and vastness... reminds very much on VOICE OF EYE, LUNAR ABYSS, VRESNIT, etc.. "A dream filled with bright colours or a psychedelic slumber with a whirling kaleidoscope of asymmetric images and visions..." numb. ed. 300 copies
|
2016 |
€13.00 |
|
| CZAJKOWSKA, INDIA & SEBASTIAN MADEJSKI |
Tance Snu |
CD |
this Polish ethereal duo with INDIA CZAJKOWSKA (known from a solo CD on Hic Sunt Leones, the ALIO DIE label) found a very own style within the "neo-classic / middle-age / folk" genre, with expressive vocalizing, elevated synths & lots of classical instruments (viola da gamba, piano, flute, frame drum, dulcimer, guitar, etc..); very sophisticated & spiritual, reminds on ATARAXIA, JACK OR JIVE, COLLECTION D'ARNELL-ANDREA...
|
2014 |
€12.00 |
|
| D.D.A.A. (DEFICIT DES ANNEES ANTERIEURS) // DDAA |
Objet: When a Cap is raising |
CD |
first re-issue of this 10" from 1988, now enhanced with rare or unpublished bonus material, for a total of 16 tracks ! => "Very little of what they do deals with conventional composition or standard techniques to play a guitar and drums (two of the ones they use a lot). None of this rock-like or even makes any sense, yet there is some great beauty here.." [Vital Weekly]
|
2022 |
€15.00 |
|
| DANIELL, DAVID & DOUGLAS MCCOMBS |
Sycamore |
LP |
favored experimental guitarist DAVID DANIELL teamed up with DOUGLAS McCOMBS, also from the Chicago scene (founding member of TORTOISE, etc.) and guest musicians like STEVEN HESS on drums, for hours studio improvisations, which were later combined and mixed... - these 4 endresults on "Sycamore" impress with their wideness and beauty.. "There's a wider dynamic range on Versions, from brutally raw to delicate to practically inaudible." - this late discovery now in stock, with DL code
|
2009 |
€20.00 |
|
| DE WAARD, FRANS / MARTIJN COMES |
Various Weights |
CD |
two long form experimental drone compositions for the complete "Mind-Drift", on this Dutch first time collaboration (both working on each other's materials) - "COMES focuses on deep sonorities and harmonics, developing his materials into a mind-expanding drone zone. DE WAARD’s 'There are no two pianos' is more subdued, hovering mysteriously at the cusp of acousmatic research and sonic minimalism." [Tobias Fischer] - lim. 150 copies only
|
2020 |
€12.00 |
|
| DIEVA, DAINA |
KAS |
CD |
finally in stock, this "emo-drone" gem by the Lithuanian sound artist and performer (closely linked to Drone Rec artists SKELDOS) => her creations are of a great suspended and ethereal melancholy, three extremely subtle and amorph dronescapes, slowly waving and filled with her beautiful chanting and voice at times.. "This haunting, psychedelic dream is filled with a sacral atmosphere, leaving its brief flashes of light to very gradually transform into a ripening darkness." [Heathen Harvest]
|
2016 |
€12.00 |
|
| DINEL, KARBE |
MMXX-09: Ouroboros |
LP |
9th release in the new series that presents 20 artists from the experimental sound-art scene with very nice design / concept => dedicated to the year 2020 there will be 20 x 20 min. compositions on one-sided clear vinyl, with laser engraved artwork by the artist on the B-Side, lim. to 500 copies => KARBEL DINEL is a sound artist from Belgium, his sublime piece drones through all kinds of overtones and resonances, but also incorporates more concrete sounds, dense & slow & otherwordly...
|
2020 |
€23.00 |
|
| DNMF (MACHINEFABRIEK & DEAD NEANDERTHALS) |
Smelter |
LP |
the second collab album of the MACHINEFABRIEK & DEAD NEANDERTHALS project now in stock! - "Prolific experimental music purveyor Machinefabriek and droning free jazz combo Dead Neanderthals team up for the second DNMF album entitled 'Smelter'. Clocking in at nearly 40 minutes, Smelter is a highly dynamic amalgam of metal, drone and dark ambient and is hard to compare to anything else out there. Have a listen and enjoy!" - lim. 300 copies, CD version available, too
|
2018 |
€17.50 |
|
| |
Smelter |
CD |
the second collab album of the MACHINEFABRIEK & DEAD NEANDERTHALS project now in stock! - "Prolific experimental music purveyor Machinefabriek and droning free jazz combo Dead Neanderthals team up for the second DNMF album entitled 'Smelter'. Clocking in at nearly 40 minutes, Smelter is a highly dynamic amalgam of metal, drone and dark ambient and is hard to compare to anything else out there. Have a listen and enjoy!" - CD version lim. 200 copies, cardboard cover
|
2018 |
€12.00 |
|
| DOC WÖR MIRRAN FEAT. RE-DRUM & S. STADLMEIER |
24.3.16 |
LP |
a meeting of 5 experimental musicians on electronics, sound objects, guitar, bass, synth, theremin and percussion [three of them as DOC WÖR MIRRAN], recorded at one day at Two Garage Studios in Fürth (Germany), connecting industrial, improvised ambient noise and krautrock.... lim. / numb. 300 copies transp. vinyl; "Statt nur ein ambientes Mantra ist das psychotrop, manchmal unheimlich, mit repetierten Riffs und Delay auch insistent" [Bad Alchemy]
|
2017 |
€17.00 |
|
| DUBUFFET, JEAN |
Coucou Bazar |
do-CD |
"my music was slovenly and dirty, and therefore anti-musical, anti-humanistic" [Jean Dubuffet]
- two versions of DUBUFFETS "Coucou Bazar" show with music from 1973/1974, one composed by ILHAN MIMAROGLU, one by DUBUFFET himself, comes with 40 p. booklet
|
2013 |
€20.00 |
|
| DUNCAN, JOHN |
MMXX-02: Panic @ 11000 Feet |
LP |
2nd release in the new MMXX series that presents 20 artists from the experimental sound-art scene with very nice design / concept => dedicated to the year 2020 there will be 20 x 20 min. compositions on one-sided clear vinyl, with laser engraved artwork by the artist on the B-Side, lim. to 500 copies => JOHN DUNCAN returns to experimental soundscapes based on shortwave frequencies and mysterious sonics, going through various stages...
|
2020 |
€24.00 |
|
| DUPLANT, BRUNO |
Zone Habitable |
CD |
French underground composer BRUNO DUPLANT loves to collaborate with others, there are only few full solo albums - \"Zone Habitable\" is a notion for EXOPLANETS with friendly conditions for humans, this 48 min one-tracker is a beautiful drone piece expansion, subtle and humming, with various (micro) sounds in the mix, from instrumental sources, field recordings and electric devices.. - lim. 100 a must for micro / drone world explorers !!
|
2022 |
€12.00 |
|
| DURAND, WERNER |
Remnants from Paradise |
CD |
aesthetic & ethereal multi-layered drone-music that has been compared to PHILL NIBLOCK - based on various acoustic instruments like Shakulimba, Bamboo & Metal Mouthharps, Tanpura, Ney & Clarinets... great album by the Berlin based droner with three long tracks (55+ min.), now back in stock! comes in special three-panel circle cover
|
2008 |
€12.00 |
|
| |
Schwingende Luftsäulen 2 |
CD |
completely handplayed, waving instrumental drone ambience performed on the self invented PAN-NEY flute that create very sublime, touching, breathing sounds...- the following album to the stunning CD from 2017 feat. additional saxophone and shruti box drones, there's something 'ancient' and magic about this music full of beauty and 'Just Intonation Tuning' harmonics... comes w. oversized gatefold-cover + 8 page fold out inlay, ed. of 300
|
2019 |
€13.00 |
|
| EKIN FIL |
Ghosts Inside |
LP |
Could there be a more gentle melancholy than this? Most ethereal, intimate and smooth drops on guitar, piano/keyboard and voice caress the listener; beautiful mournful melodies are shining through the haze... second album on HMS for this Turkish "drone-chanteuse", who transfers her shoegaze (SLOWDIVE, COCTEAU TWINS, CRANES) and folk influences into something even more amorph and elusive...
|
2017 |
€19.00 |
|
| ELODIE (TIMO VAN LUIJK & ANDREW CHALK) |
Echos Pastoraux |
LP |
debut album of new project by TIMO VAN LUIJK & ANDREW CHALK - 2nd pressing 2015 (300 copies)! -"Elodie's quiet drones, acoustic impression, smoke, shadow, and maudlin atmospheres are hardly anywhere near the 'freak folk' camp. This is much closer to what Akio Suzuki has done, although there are plenty of flourishes in the production that gives evidence of the hands of Andrew Chalk being at work. As a result, it's still spellbinding, like pretty much everything that Chalk has ever touched." [Aquarius Records]
|
2011 |
€19.50 |
|
|
La Porte Ouverte |
LP |
'An open door... an exit... an entrance... a new horizon we never know where we are... as long as the door remains open there will be light...': 2016 studio recordings feat. TOM JAMES SCOTT (LIBEREZ), moving their sounds to new areas..." Elodie have jazz and minimalism in their bones, and feeling in their hearts, and by broadening their palette so effectively on La Porte Ouverte they have created an album as close to unique as you can get in 2016." [Joseph Burnett/Dusted Mag] lim. 300
|
2017 |
€16.50 |
|
| |
Enteha |
LP |
"I wish I could show you - when you are lonely or in darkness - the astonishing light - of your own being" - ANDREW CHALK + TIMO VON LUIJK in full ethereal, impressionistic and somehow consoling mode, two new side long pieces...- "..Enteha is one of the duo's more melancholic pieces and can be seen as a human response to seasonal transition. It's one of their uniquely longform explorations of mood and atmosphere as an air of romance drifts deftly into mystery and despair.. " - comes with ART PRINT
|
2022 |
€22.00 |
|
| ENCEPHALOPHONIC |
Exhuming the Perversion |
do-CD |
"Play Loud and Fuck Yourself!" - Italian harsh noise project - these are the first three tapes "Metal Obsession", "Beauty/Death", "Chronicity of a Disease" combined on one double CD... " Of course, there is energy and ripping power, but it is razor sharp, cold and cruel and filled with destructive feel." - comes with 8 page booklet, 200 copies
|
2018 |
€16.00 |
|
| ERCETIN, TURGUT |
Panopticon Specularities |
CD |
four ambitious New Music compositions by this Turkish composer (*1983, Istanbul) who lives now in Berlin - "Erçetin's works engage with issues of sound, not as colors but as sonic entities that interface with time and space. Most of his works, therefore, are involved with acoustics and psychoacoustics as well as computer aided compositional processes." - debut CD with 32 p. booklet and label-catalogue in gatefold slipcase
|
2019 |
€15.50 |
|
| FENNESZ |
Agora |
LP |
more than 4 years after the last albums "Becs" and "Mahler Remix" FENNESZ is back with 5 tracks recorded in a much reduced way, without a studio and in his bedroom with simple equipment; wonderfully drifting ambient-scapes and glimpses of melodies, endless melancholy and elevation combined... "At times it is ethereally forlorn and at others defiantly joyful delivering some of the most uplifting pieces of music this year." [Drowned In Sound] - lim. vinyl version
|
2019 |
€22.50 |
|
| FERREYRA, BEATRIZ |
Senderos de luz y sombras |
LP |
NEW 16-channel piece which was constructed 2016-2020, inspired by astrophysics and universal questions of the pre-Big Bang and the Unconscious - there's a permanent movement of amorph and spiraling sounds in this music, of flashing by objects, of trans-morping patterns... "What connects these themes are the dark energies operating outside our knowledge, far beyond the conceptual scope of our limited thinking.." - great work, highly recommended! Embossed cover, full colour inner sleeves, DL card
|
2023 |
€20.00 |
|
| FERREYRA, BEATRIZ / NATASHA BARRETT |
Souvenirs Caches / Innermost |
LP |
two new major works by these electro-acoustic / acousmatic luminaries, plus FERREYRAs "Murmureln" (2003, first time release) using tango sounds in a most original way... - "a carousel of disembodied vocal sounds, growls and susurrations, sprinkled across the stereo image, and joined intermittently by sustained drones or ethereal, melodic whines, with a hint of prepared piano.." - ed. of 300 copies
|
2021 |
€25.00 |
|
| FESHAREKI, SHIVA |
MMXX-20: Nebula |
LP |
20th and final release in the new series that presents 20 artists from the experimental sound-art scene with very nice design / concept => dedicated to the year 2020 there will be 20 x 20 min. compositions on one-sided clear vinyl, with laser engraved artwork by the artist on the B-Side, lim. to 500 copies => SHIVA FESHAREKI is a British-Iranian sound artist and turntablist with a Doctorate in Music Composition - "Nebula" confronts us with strange loops and voice experiments in a spacey background...
|
2021 |
€23.00 |
|
| FOETUSDREAMS |
Brouillard |
CD-R |
"There is only one God and that God is man himself" - debut album for a dutch dark drone ambient project on a new dutch label, reaching out for the deep inner and outer spaces and the endless void within, always surrounded by a subtle humming... a dreaming of the impossible? 10 tracks - 62+ min, lim. 150, professional duplication & digipack cover
|
2014 |
€12.00 |
|
| FOVEA HEX |
Here is where we used to sing |
CD |
new album with 11 tracks by the group around CLODAGH SIMONDS, ethereal & most beautiful nightshading "dreambient" songwriting... feat. COLIN POTTER, MICHAEL BEGG, and many more guest-musicians like JULIA KENT, JOHN CONTRERAS, BRIAN ENO...
|
2011 |
€13.00 |
|
| FRANCE SAUVAGE |
Le Monde des Doigts |
LP |
FRANCE SAUVAGE is a French quartet performing on sax, computer, drums, voice, keyboards, records, radio, etc.. creating the most bizarre sound you can imagine.... lots of absurd found sounds / plunderphonics collide with hand-played acoustic and electronic noises, but there are also more droning and atmospheric passages... there are wild percussion parts, they do sounds with everything they can find, ecstatic & bruitistic but not without structure.. + a incredible "mad Elvis" ballad !
|
2017 |
€16.00 |
|
| FRIPP, ROBERT & THEO TRAVIS |
Live at Coventry Cathedral |
CD |
Ethereal improvised "Ambient-Jazz" recorded live in the Coventry Cathedral in May 2009
|
2010 |
€16.00 |
|
| FULLMAN, ELLEN |
In The Sea |
do-LP |
complex overtune drone music produced on her unique "Long String Instrument" in the 80's (using 25 m long strings!), culled from the two ultra rare tapes "In the Sea" and "Work for 4 Players and 90 Strings" (released after the classic debut LP from 1985), plus the unpublished piece "Work for Two" recorded 1988 at De Fabriek in Den Bosch, Netherlands (!).. "Ethereal and exquisitely paced, these rare recordings capture minimalism's quiet radiance."
|
2020 |
€27.50 |
|
| GARLAND, PETER |
Three strange Angels |
CD |
re-issue of GARLANDS masterpiece from 1992 ("Border Music"), drawing inspiration from Native American and Mexican Ritual Music, often powerful sounds are created by percussion & piano, but there are also more mellow flute & harp pieces; - the soundtrack to CARLOS CASTANEDA's "Teachings of Don Juan" ? This re-issue has additional live material not on the original release
|
2008 |
€16.00 |
|
| GENOCIDE ORGAN / PRURIENT |
Carte Blanche |
LP |
* The apocalypse has already happened * there aren’t any sunken caskets of gold * and besides * you can’t even swim. How does anyone know what’s inside another * how does anyone know what’s inside another country * there are no countries * only marketplaces* - first ever collab by the power electronics & "true" industrial legends from Germany + USA - BLACK vinyl ed. lim. 300, luxus die-cut cover, high price unavoidable
|
2023 |
€45.50 |
|
| GERRARD, LISA & MARCELLO DE FRANCISCI |
Departum |
CD |
after working together for a film soundtrack MARCELLO DE FRANCISCI and LISA GERRAD (DEAD CAN DANCE) decided to create a stand-alone album: 19 tracks that show lots of variation, there are rhythmic tracks and pure ethereal/synth-based blissings, GERRARD performs on Cymbylom and 144-Strings Yang Chin and her singing is present on almost all tracks, for a good part it feels like a true DEAD CAN DANCE continuation. with some more electonic instrumentation maybe..
|
2018 |
€14.00 |
|
| GIARDINI DI MIRO |
Good Luck |
CD |
the most "catchy" and focused album by the Italian post-/ shoegaze-rockers so far; heavenly harmonies, lovely guitar spheres, male & female vocals... first full new album after 5 years, feat. guest musician STEFANO PILIA, and others.... for any SLOWDIVE fan out there a must !
|
2012 |
€16.00 |
|
| GURDJIEFF, G.I |
Improvisations |
LP |
nine improvisations on harmonium, recorded 1949 (!) in Paris, by the controversial Armenian / Greek philosopher, spiritual teacher ("Fourth Way")... "His goal was to teach humans to reach a higher consciousness out of the 'waking sleep' he considered most to be living in... Droning and ethereal, these beautiful pieces mark a pinnacle in the work of a legend of human spirituality." lim. 500
|
2018 |
€18.50 |
|
| HAIGH, ROBERT |
Black Sarabande |
LP |
second HAIGH album for Unseen Worlds - highly praised by critics around the globe: "Simply stunning ambient/minimal release. Floored me. The structure, pacing and depth of these pieces is incredible. That's really saying something given how much ambient stuff is already out there and currently being produced. I hear shades of Eno/Budd's best work, Satie, Deaf Center and maybe even a little SOTL. Absolutely beautiful!" [T. Louth-Robbins]
|
2020 |
€20.00 |
|
| HAMNSKIFTE |
Födzlepijan |
CD |
the only album so far by a mysterious (black metal inspired) anonymous Swedish duo who mix medieval folk music with ambient and drone metal guitars... as a whole rather restrained compositions with a focus on acoustic folk guitar work and ethereal drones...
|
2012 |
€12.00 |
|
| HECKER, TIM |
Norberg |
LP |
re-issue of the EP "Norberg" (CD from 2007 ) and the rare 7inch "Apondalifa" (2010, now as one long version); ...."even though the drones drape one in the velvet of the deepest ocean depths there is contradictorily a fragile beauty, airiness and lightness evident throughout." [Heathen Harvest]
|
2015 |
€24.00 |
|
| HENNIX, PETER |
Ocean - A Rudra Veena Meditation |
CD |
a deep meditation soundtrack composed with subtle keyboards and original Indian instruments, especially the ancient RUDRA VEENA, as P. HENNIX (DEONTIC MIRACLE!) was a dedicated performer on this.. "Originally released in 2004 this remarkable album presents a flow of ambience carried ashore on the ethereal waves of a mysterious but recurring tide. Based around the ancient Indian rudra veena instrument this is a warm flood you do not want to ebb out" - comes with ext. booklet
|
2012 |
€13.00 |
|
| HENRIKSEN, ARVE |
The Height of the Reeds |
LP + CD |
A "commissioned work" / sound installation for the city of HULL (G.B.s cultural capital in 2017), celebrating the longstanding seafaring relationship between Hull and Scandinavia, becoming a very successful "soundwalk" there with 15.000 sold tickets..."a sense of the vast river but also of the overbearing man-made landscape, the loss that comes with industrial decline but also the natural renewal of wildlife, the light and shade in the Nordic soul and similarly the North-Eastern soul too" [LJN]
|
2018 |
€26.50 |
|
| HILDEBRAND, GUSTAF |
Heliopause |
CD |
finally the third full-length album for the Swedish cosmic / ethereal dark ambient project, thematically inspired to the Heliopause, the point outside our solar system where the solar wind ceases to be...
|
2012 |
€13.50 |
|
| HINO, MAYUKO |
Lunisolar |
CD |
second solo album by the "Queen of Japan Noise" and member of C.C.C.C., using a special 'six-theremin oscillator' effect unit (the only one in the world), along with other self-made instruments.. => "...swathes of densely layered noise, undulating in intensity and ferociousness. Although claustrophobic throughout, there are moments of gentle metallic percussion, punctuating the raging vibrations beneath.."
|
2018 |
€12.50 |
|
| IELASI, GIUSEPPE |
MMXX-10: Untitled |
LP |
10th release in the new series that presents 20 artists from the experimental sound-art scene with very nice design / concept => dedicated to the year 2020 there will be 20 x 20 min. compositions on one-sided clear vinyl, with laser engraved artwork by the artist on the B-Side, lim. to 500 copies => Italy's prolific composer GIUSEPPE IEALASI formed a piece with many microscopic / delicate sounds and noises (of probably instrumental sources), building weird and beautiful patterns and moments...
|
2020 |
€23.00 |
|
| IN DIE FERNE |
Ad Un Passo Dal Grigio |
CD-R |
recommended soundtrack to an imaginary film, this debut album by the Italian dark ambient artist: completely absorbing drone clouds and rumbles with slightly shimmering rainbow-tunes inside the mix, but there are also more very wide harmonic acoustic fields with a more melancholic vibrancy... lim. to 50 (prof. jewel-case edition) copies only!
|
2018 |
€8.00 |
|
| INADE |
Antimimon Pneumatos |
CD |
"Transcendent Absolute" - standard CD re-issue of the rare collectors box-set album from 2011, and indeed this must be their most ethereal and atmospheric album, collected from various live recordings..with perfect audio quality, many tracks appear only on this release, not a dull moment! - 10 tracks 55 min., 6 panel digipak
|
2024 |
€13.00 |
|
| IRISARRI, RAFAEL ANTON |
The North Bend |
LP |
10th anniversary re-issue of IRISARRI's third proper solo album from 2010, re-mastered by LAWRENCE ENGLISH, comes with download code on black vinyl, filed under: timeless foggy drone ambience ; "...shifting to much hazier and clouded affair, beat-less and ethereal, feeding on something primal and cinematic. Irisarri builded each piece from a slow recurring core theme, and expanded it outwardly from there.."
|
2020 |
€28.50 |
|
| ISHIGAMI, KAZUYA |
Cleaner 583 |
CD |
this interesting Japanese composer (formely active as DARUIN and BILLY?) has refined his style: slowly moving and inherently swirling ambient-scapes that also use undefinable abstract soundsources (probably from field recordings), there's always a certain unrealness involved in these mainly quiet expanses, higher resonances and smooth sub bass drones....after "tuning in" into these atmospheres a very rewarding experience... to discover !
|
2016 |
€13.00 |
|
| JACASZEK |
Pentral |
LP |
re-issue of this outstanding album from 2009 by the rising Polish composer, the source sounds for this album were entirely recorded in 3 churches in Gdansk and 'describe' the interiors, the architecture, the 'temple', with sounds from there (chants, organ sounds, micro environmental sounds)... a church seen as huge musical instrument... comes with gatefold-cover and DL code
|
2020 |
€20.00 |
|
| JARBOE |
Illusory |
CD |
the new JARBOE album, released on Belgium's Consouling, sublime & dreamlike 'ambient' songwriting on 7 tracks... " What remains consistent with Jarboe is her inherent, trademark vocals. They are just as haunting, surreal and ethereal as ever. She negotiates the spaces between the notes more than she sings.." [Blabbermouth.net]
|
2020 |
€15.00 |
|
| JERMAN, JEPH / JOACHIM NORDWALL |
Topology |
CD |
their first collab, five scrape, hum and grate pieces, low fi but sensual, connecting contradictions...- "Jerman's trademark field recordings are accentuated by Nordwall's electronics in a seamless fusion that simultaneously evokes the mechanical and the environmental. There are moments of subtle tension, but longtime fans of Jerman will note several instances of heightened intensity...*
|
2023 |
€14.00 |
|
| KA-SPEL, EDWARD |
High on Station Yellow Moon |
CD |
"There is a station where the train never arrives, where the Waiting Room is always occupied, where the conversation is inevitably awkward and where you're never quite alone, but perpetually almost alone." - a very special, more experimental album ["This deeply strange and proggy solo effort"- Brainwashed] with contributions by AMANDA PALMER (DRESDEN DOLLS); this CD version contains two bonus tracks not on the vinyl version
|
2017 |
€15.00 |
|
|
An Abandoned Laboratory Vol. 3 |
CD-R |
third volume of the trilogy containing lost or rare EK tracks spanning the last 3 decades, comes with printed inlay card, 150 copies - "Included in this collection is 'Amber' now revisited/remastered, hailing from the hyper rare 'handmade' vinyl edition of Trapped in Amber (there named 'Wrapped In Sand') and a previously unreleased version of "Empires Must Burn" which appears on a collaborative album with Philip Petit and Asva."
|
2018 |
€15.00 |
|
| |
Tales from the Trenches |
LP |
the successor to the "Permission to Leave the Temple" 10inch from the same label, 8 new studio tracks: *Everything may at first feel ominous or sombre in tone, but there’s also a glimmer of hope laid bare in all its sun-drenched glory poking between the cracks.* - 500 copies pressed, 250 copies on brown vinyl, 250 on black
|
2024 |
€23.00 |
|
| KALLABRIS |
Red Circle |
LP |
the follower of "Red Square" (2018) with more philosophic / dadaistic, thought-provoking impulses: "Music For Hen Meditation (In 9 Movements)", and "Music For Excited Sauces (In 4 Movements)", these are miniatures for a small modular synthesizer, KALLABRIS calls it "Layered solo-works for the 0-coast."... lim. 200 copies, silk screen cover - "On a first encounter, the music had an aleatoric feeling, but after some repeated playing, it turns out that there is order in this madness; or, maybe, I recognized order in what remained chaos?" [Vital Weekly]
|
2023 |
€18.50 |
|
| KARINI / PALADINO / SIMON FISHER TURNER |
Ghosts of Industrial Sunday |
CD + DVD |
The Poetry of Iron: short film by MARIA ASSUNTA KARINI & FRANCESCO PAOLO PALADINO (film-makers with participations at Cannes & Venice film festivals) feat. a soundtrack by SIMON FISHER TURNER (known as DEREK JARMAN film-composer, etc.), capturing the essence of 'empty' industrial working places normally filled by professional workers, showing the unreal, dreamy atmosphere there... comes with 20 p. full colour A5 booklet with great shots from the film, and extra material on the CD
|
2014 |
€15.00 |
|
| KASSEL JAEGER |
MMXX-13: Vol Sombre |
LP |
13th release in the new series that presents 20 artists from the experimental sound-art scene with very nice design / concept => dedicated to the year 2020 there will be 20 x 20 min. compositions on one-sided clear vinyl, with laser engraved artwork by the artist on the B-Side, lim. to 500 copies => Drone Records fave artist KASSEL JAEGER unfurls slowly pacing instrumental drones / drops, circuiting each other like in a timeless slow-motion dance, harmonic and dense..
|
2020 |
€23.00 |
|
| KAVE |
Dismal Radiance |
CD |
deep unorganic (but very smoothly drifting) ambience in the way of dark OÖPHOI, early CAUL, AMON or even silent droning F. LOPEZ... very minimal & totally black.. debut CD by a newcomer from the Netherlands ... "there’s no passion, no emotion, just a spooky and mystical atmosphere of desolation and helplessness" [Ave Noctum]
|
2012 |
€13.00 |
|
| KAZIMIRA, DARJA |
Monochromia |
CD |
intense ethereal ritual muzak with elegiac choir singing and a kind of very dark tuned zither, drones, and other noises, in fact these are funeral chants influenced by ancient Greek culture....- a very strong, improvised work from Latvian artist DARJA KAZIMIRA, imagine an extreme, and experimental, abyssal "drone" version of DEAD CAN DANCE at times.. - this is a re-issue of a digital only album from 2016, lim. 300 copies
|
2022 |
€13.00 |
|
| KEELER, JAMES P. |
Terrarium Dreams |
mCD-R |
second EP on Taalem for JAMES P. KEELER who is also a member of WILT, he presents three new "archaic field recording" drone pieces, full of atmospheric noises and rumbles, and industrialized effects... there are raw insect noises, object scratchings, humming loops, all formed to an surrealistic audio ritual ; NON jewel-case ed. now
|
2021 |
€5.00 |
|
| KELLER, ALEX & SEAN O'NEILL |
Kruos |
LP |
recommended debut release of these U.S. sound artists, who use field recordings and vintage electronic devices for their performances and installations... "It is difficult and challenging at times, and there is not much to grab on to as far as conventional rhythm or melody, but it excels in abstraction. In many cases the result is far removed from the source material, but the environment the two create on here is just as fascinating as any natural one that could be captured." [Creaig Dunton/Brainwashed]
|
2017 |
€20.00 |
|
| KLEISTWAHR |
Do Not |
LP |
another re-issue of early material, this one appeared as Cassette on Broken Flag in 1986... - "one of the innovators of the so-called power electronics genre yet pushing this confrontational avant-garde sensibility somewhere entirely new... Raw and seemingly unrestrained, these pieces present a robust, white-hot sonic meltdown up there with the very best from this ultimately fertile period for music from the basement" - lim. 300
|
2022 |
€18.00 |
|
| 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 |
|
| KONRAD KRAFT |
Temporary Audiosculptures and Artefacts |
CD |
first release since 15 years by this German artist from Düsseldorf who once ran the SDV-Tonträger label there; excellent electronic and concrete sound based "audio sculptures" that reminded us on earlier works of ASMUS TIETCHENS, but he's also compared with ILLUSION OF SAFETY or CISFINITUM; lim. 300 in special carton folder box
|
2011 |
€13.00 |
|
|
Quadrat |
LP |
based on graphic-geometrical structures, KONRAD KRAFT has composed seven electro-acoustic pieces (all entitled 'x-quadrat'), which sound very clear and formal like A. TIETCHENS works on one hand, on the other there are surprising field recording elements, cut ups and improvised moments appearing, manifesting a pretty idiosyncratic musical language..."A sound manifestation of imaginary, sculptural and graphic structures. " lim. 300, absolutely to discover !!
|
2016 |
€18.00 |
|
| |
Nifbin Circle (coloured) |
LP |
fourth album by the long active (since 1980) electronic producer from Düsseldorf, using I PAD app sounds as basic structures, melodic and minimally constructed.. -
"There is a great interplay of percussive moments and slightly melancholic melodies... crackling and melodic pads create a slightly dark-melancholic atmosphere... Kraft creates a very unique and idiosyncratic form of abstract electro-pop, whose "rudimentary melodies" are convincing." (African Paper). - lim. 112 copies VIOLET vinyl
|
2023 |
€23.00 |
|
| KOUW, MATTHIJS & GAGI PETROVIC |
Recalcitrance |
do-CD |
two promising Dutch drone / minimal / experimental artists on this split double album, inspired by philosopher ISABELLE STENGERS and her concept of "Recalcitrance", and starting from the same source sounds: "Anything that resists subsumption to technical rationality is seen as a threat to public order....Recalcitrant subjects ask new questions, thereby allowing the currently dominant reductionist mindset obsessed with productivity to be unsettled by space for reflection and quiet contemplation." lim. 200
|
2021 |
€15.50 |
|
| KÖNER, THOMAS |
Motus |
do-LP |
four years after "Tiento de la Luz" this new KÖNER work goes into a more electronic and strangely morphing direction, futuristic dance-drone music without dance elements.... absolutely stunning! "Motus is part of this exploration: to find dance, free of clock, and groove, free of rhythm. There is pulsation, and the downbeat connects to the downward beings as in stones and minerals, the upbeat connects to the upward beings as in grasses, flowers, trees and stars." [Thomas Köner]
|
2020 |
€27.50 |
|
| |
Motus |
CD |
four years after "Tiento de la Luz" this new KÖNER work goes into a more electronic and strangely morphing direction, futuristic dance-drone music without dance elements.. absolutely stunning! CD version finally in stock!- "Motus is part of this exploration: to find dance, free of clock, and groove, free of rhythm. There is pulsation, and the downbeat connects to the downward beings as in stones and minerals, the upbeat connects to the upward beings as in grasses, flowers, trees and stars." [Thomas Köner]
|
2020 |
€15.50 |
|
| LABELLE, BRANDON |
Concert |
CD |
SoundArt: Strange whispering concrete sounds, as a result of LABELLE’s ideas of 'Social Music'... recordings from various installations & physical interactions of visitors happening there, with lots of basic information & pictures in the booklet...
|
2004 |
€6.00 |
|
| LAMIA VOX |
Alles ist Ufer. Ewig ruft das Meer |
CD |
third album for ALINA ANTONOVAs project, a very poetic / romantic / spiritual form of dark ambient, using texts from HÖLDERLIN, GEORG TRAKL, RIMBAUD, etc.. "... a masterpiece, evocative, deeply melancholic, in a strange way erotic, sensual, it is captivating and hypnotizing. There's kind of mysticism and liberating lawlessness that is opposed to the sterile rationalism. This is dark musical esoterism in its purest form.." [Terra Relicta] - CD version digipak
|
2020 |
€13.00 |
|
| LANZA, MAURO |
MMXX-14: Fully Automated Luxury Communism |
LP |
14th release in the new series that presents 20 artists from the experimental sound-art scene with very nice design / concept => dedicated to the year 2020 there will be 20 x 20 min. compositions on one-sided clear vinyl, with laser engraved artwork by the artist on the B-Side, lim. to 500 copies => MAURO LANZA is a composer from Venice (IT), his eerie electro-acoustic drone piece is full of tension and crescending tones..
|
2020 |
€23.00 |
|
| LASWELL, BILL & PETE NAMLOOK |
Outland |
6 x CD BOX |
re-issue of the five albums released 1994 - 2007 in the OUTLAND series, plus a new "bass space drone" LASWELL album, all in a sturdy box! - " 'Outland' became a fusion of their individual musical sensibilities that resulted in a unique set of releases. At the heart of the series is an exploration of sound as a vehicle for emotion and contemplation, with Laswell's signature basslines and experimental soundscapes interweaving seamlessly with Namlook's ethereal textures and intricate sonic layering."
|
2023 |
€47.50 |
|
| LEACH, MARY JANE |
Woodwind Multiples |
LP |
four instrumental drone pieces for multi-layered expanses of one certain instrument: 4 bass flutes, 9 oboes, 9 clarinets, 7 bassoons...- very pure, organic, meditative..- *Each piece works closely with the unique sound of each instrument, combining pitches that create other, sometimes unexpected, tones, primarily combination and interference tones, as well as rhythmic patterns. What you hear is what happens naturally -- there is no processing or manipulation.* - lim. 500 clear vinyl
|
2023 |
€30.00 |
|
| LEGENDARY PINK DOTS (LPD) |
Hallway of the Gods |
CD |
STERREKRAZHNALIVSHIJAR-H ALHEMNIS - the praised studio album from 1997, back in stock! - "Massive. If the Dots had ever recorded for a major label, it would have been exactly like this era. There are too many highlights here.." [RTW]
|
1997 |
€15.00 |
|
| LEVENSLEED |
DWEEMOED |
mCD-R |
a new project of ELLENDE and MODELBAU, with one excellent experimental drone piece - "The combination or difference between ambient, drone, soundscape and experiments.... "Dweemoed" (Afrikaans for melancholy) is a 17-minute four music pieces release that combines the best of both worlds. Literally. There is the massive soundscapish approach of Modelbau, and there is more than enough happening in the periphery of the type of sounds we've found in Ellende's release." [Bauke van der Wal] - 35 copies only!
|
2022 |
€8.00 |
|
| LINDHOLM, OTTO / JEAN D.L. |
Apophenia |
MC |
first collaboration by these two GIZEH Records artists who met on a label night in Belgium (JEAN D.L. has already releases with JULIA KENT and RUTGER ZUYDERVELT / MACHINEFABRIEK), performing very dense, at times quite powerful & noisy 'experimental ambient drone' on double-bass and guitar, but there are also more quiet passages, full of tension and metallic resonances... lim. 50 printed cardboard cover
|
2021 |
€9.00 |
|
| LINGUA FUNGI |
Flowery Dreams |
CD |
FOR YOU, LITTLE SEED - the debut album of this Finnish "subconscious ethno/folk drone" project, mainly created with real instruments (flutes, guitars, bass, mandolin, various percussion tools).. "Magical journey through the strange dreams in beautiful flowery scenery, drifting and melting. No sharp line between sorrow and joy, dark and bright moments".. long waving organic ambience for fans of ALIO DIE, JÜPPALA KÄÄPIO, ORIGAMI ARKTIKA, ethereal TROUM, etc..
|
2006 |
€13.00 |
|
| LINGUA FUNGI & SHRINE |
Strange Growths / Wander |
CD |
highly recommended split release by Finnish LINGUA FUNGI and Bulgarian Drone Rec. artist SHRINE => four tracks of acoustically shining and gracefully shimmering percussive / guitarish ambience form LINGUA FUNGI's "Strange Growths", with slight folk influences a wonderful melancholy is created.... SHRINE has two long complex ambient pieces ("There", and "Back") that are like a dark mirror, a dualistic entity representing nature's mystical harmony and human industrial destruction
|
2008 |
€13.00 |
|
| LIVING TEMPLES |
Spirit of the Sands |
CD |
"Shamanic music for deep listening made in collaboration with the Curonian landscape" - this is the debut CD of this Lithuanian world / ethno / ambience project with strong spiritual influences, linked with special places from the Curonian region: a surrealistic coastline, Neolithic village, etc. => skillful, ethereal 'songs' full of beauty, based on field recordings, collected objects, synths, bass, flutes, ethno-percussion, duduk, gongs, whispers & female vocals. - oversized art cover, 10 postcards
|
2023 |
€13.00 |
|
| LLOVESPELL |
Places |
CD |
re-issues of the ONE and TWO cassettes (2016), plus unreleased material by the ex RADIO EICHENLAUB- and current ANTLERS MULM live member; "..a dance music album with a more experimental approach wrapped in the ambient sweetness of the Berliner style EM. The style of Llovespell offers a more ethereal psybient despite a superabundance, very seductive by the way, of much aesthetic sound effects since it's little used in the usual genre." [Synths&Sequences]
|
2018 |
€10.00 |
|
| LOPEZ, FRANCISCO |
La Selva. Sound Environments from a Neotropical Rain Forest. |
etched LP/USB |
one of LOPEZ most beloved / famous recordings (rainforest on Costa Rica) is finally back in print => as it was impossible to bring it in a complete form onto vinyl, the here included vinyl is EMPTY, therefore a USB audiocard is added with the full audio ("The Ultimate Mix"); LA SELVA is maybe the most intense djungle recording ever made, a different kind of 'absolute music'... numbered ed. 500 copies, signed by FRANCISCO LOPEZ
|
2015 |
€18.00 |
|
|
Untitled #370 |
CD |
there's no real press release for this exactly one hour long composition, but the following note exists: "contains substantial low frequencies, ultra-subtle materials, virtual sonic space, and other aural delicacies that are inaudible via laptop or smartphone speakers. Please use decent headphones or speakers." => awesome piece which uses lots of mysterious, somehow organic scrape and and scratch sounds and drones, mechanical repetitions on various sonic levels, etc.,. - outstanding again !
|
2019 |
€13.00 |
|
|
VirtuAural Electro-Mechanics |
USB card |
subtitled 'Machinic Pieces 1995-2018' this is the third USB-stick collection with over 8 hours of material (16 pieces)=> "developed from a myriad of original sound recordings of mechanical machines, electro-mechanical systems and industrial environments gathered over the past 25 years all over the world; from food factories to 'white rooms', from 18th-century automata to computers, from wood and wires to magnetism, from the microscopic to the monumental." - printed Memory Stick, 300 copies, signed
|
2019 |
€33.00 |
|
| |
Animast |
LP |
two surprising pieces using crunching, mechanical vinyl loops, after a while you get the impression there\'s something organic inside these machine sounds, that circle and spiral in multiple layers with great effect.... \"noisy crispness, compositional ‘loopiness’, contrasting sharp-and-thick textures and cycling dynamics..\" - lim. 200 copies only
|
2021 |
€19.50 |
|
| LOVESLIESCRUSHING |
Girl.Echo.Suns.Veils |
CD |
a collection of older archive material, unreleased or re-worked, by the unique shoegazer-ambient-noise-'glitch-bliss' duo from the US; "glossolalic female voice glides spectral and luminescent through the walls of sound; sheets of noise; glossy, ethereal. lovesliescrushing makes noise sound beautiful."
|
2010 |
€14.50 |
|
| |
Xuvetyn |
CD |
HEAVEN NOISE ! The second album by LLC, at that time described as "MY BLOODY VALENTINE goes ethereal" (you wonder how that could be possible?), 18 tracks, no rhythms at all and open for noisy outbursts. Not from this world! ...."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" [INK19]
|
1996 |
€14.50 |
|
| LOWE, ROBERT AIKI AUBREY |
Levitation Praxis Pt. 4 |
LP |
experiments on HARRY BERTOIA's sound sculptures by the man behind LICHENS (and member of OM), also using his own (high) voice, to create something unreal and ethereal... recorded in July 2016 in conjunction with the "Atmosphere for Enjoyment" exhibition at the Museum of Arts and Design in New York; out on the DEMDIKE STARE label, black vinyl ed. 500 copies
|
2017 |
€20.00 |
|
| LULL |
Moments |
do-LP |
expanded vinyl re-issue of MICK HARRIS ambient classic from 1998, which had 99 track indexes, now there are 100 "Moments" of humming drones that slowly chang into other, pretty otherworldly, forms... - " Staggeringly beautiful, glacial sub-bass sounds, deep ambient and thunderous tones, with subtle shifts" - gatefold sleeve with spot varnishing, ed. of 500 copies on BROWN vinyl
|
2021 |
€29.50 |
|
| LUNAR ABYSS / VANUM |
Ulm-Gra / Pelena Sna |
CD |
3 new tracks from LUNAR ABYSS (ethereal voice drones, mysterious harmonics not from this world, really sublime) and 4 tracks from VANUM based on old Soviet analog synth-sounds and psychedelic micro effects with a great droning drive, too...handmade gatefold cover (thick cardboard with stamp colour) , 3 stickers, super nice and enchanting.... lim. 222, almost 70 min. playtime
|
2014 |
€13.00 |
|
| LUNDVALL, TOR |
Beautiful Illusions (lim. clear blue vinyl) |
LP |
FOREVER RAIN: the painter and ghost-musician from New York with an album on the prolific DAIS label, simply the most ethereal, smooth & atmospheric, melancholic "Ambient Pop" you can imagine.. - "New album is purely ethereal. A ghostly sonic mural that perfectly represents the gloom that resides within the death throes of autumn. This one will resonate with me for a long time." [iniquitous_dusk] - lim. colour vinyl version, printed inner sleeves, DL code
|
2022 |
€24.00 |
|
| LUSTMORD & KARIN PARK |
Alter (lim. col. vinyl) |
do-LP |
"ALTER is a ritual of our times." - BRIAN WILLIAMS working together with 'nordic Pop diva' KARIN PARK - extremely ethereal and abysmal, but also beautiful and harmonic... most far away dronings collide with mournful, at times polyphonic vocalizations and choirs...- rare edition: lim. 150 copies on clear gold and silver; gatefold cover
|
2021 |
€35.00 |
|
|
Alter |
CD |
BRIAN WILLIAMS working together with 'nordic Pop diva' KARIN PARK - extremely ethereal and abysmal, but also beautiful and harmonic... most far away dronings collide with mournful, at times polyphonic vocalizations and choirs... "..it is a fascinating study of light and shade that delves deep into vast uncharted darkness."
|
2021 |
€14.00 |
|
| |
Alter (black vinyl) |
do-LP |
"ALTER is a ritual of our times." => BRIAN WILLIAMS working together with the Swedish singer KARIN PARK : extremely ethereal and abysmal, but also beautiful and harmonic... most far away dronings collide with mournful, at times polyphonic vocalizations and choirs...- standard black vinyl edition, luxurious gatefold cover w. silver foil print
|
2021 |
€28.00 |
|
| M.B. (MAURIZIO BIANCHI) |
Hibernum |
CD |
new material (three long tracks) recorded 1955/1977 ("Primaveram/Aestatem"), 1978/1999 ("Autumnum"), and 2000/2022 ("Hibernum") - there's no doubt, M.B. lives in a different space & time continuum; alien low fi drones at its best! lim. 300
|
2011 |
€13.00 |
|
| M.B. / DEDALI |
Electro Tones |
CD |
M.B. in long-time (4 years!) collaboration with Italian project DEDALI => melancholic loopy drones with shades of acoustic sounds (piano, voice) shining through, resonating in ethereal metallic overtunes... lim. 400 in soft CD case box with Obi
|
2014 |
€13.00 |
|
| MARTIN, KEVIN RICHARD |
Sirens |
LP |
KEVIN MARTIN managed PATHOLOGICAL REC.(1989-1991) and was active in diverse underground bands/projects such as EXPERIMENTAL AUDIO RESEARCH, 16-17, TECHNO ANIMAL, etc.- now this is his very first solo-album, a dark monolithic, sharp droning ambience overwhelmer (no rhythms), as if he kept the dirty, buzzing and feedbacking sounds but transformed it 10 times slower and deeper into something else..."music that’s ice cold yet intimate, barely-there - but utterly compelling"
|
2019 |
€25.00 |
|
| MASSTHISHADDHU |
Shekinah |
CD |
the only LP (United Dairies 1988) by this project with 3 of the METGUMBNERBONE members, creating "archaic" sounding ritual / occult folk industrial (chants, percussion, blow instruments) on two side-long tracks... this new re-issue has a 30 min. bonus track, previously unreleased... "Whatever words are spoken during this procession of yearning melodies and utterly ethereal voices is perhaps best left for the Gods." [Brainwashed]; re-master: COLIN POTTER, lim. 300
|
2021 |
€13.00 |
|
| MAZUREK, ROB / EXPLODING STAR ORCHESTRA |
Dimensional Stardust |
LP |
Chicago-based ROB MAZUREK and the E.S.O. ensemble with 10 new studio tracks, awesome "Minimal Jazz" with Avantgarde influences, floating and perfectly arranged..- "Crystalline and cosmic,there are so many colors and textures packed into these songs. Each one is a window into a different world." - comes in very beautiful oversized gatefold cover with OBI on white-blue splatter vinyl
|
2020 |
€26.00 |
|
| MENCHE, DANIEL |
MMXX-05: 4424 |
LP |
5th release in the new MMXX series that presents 20 artists from the experimental sound-art scene with very nice design / concept => dedicated to the year 2020 there will be 20 x 20 min. compositions on one-sided clear vinyl, with laser engraved artwork by the artist on the B-Side, lim. to 500 copies => DANIEL MENCHE's piece is based on long sustained "Zither-like" tones and deep & slow percussion, morphing into other dimensions..
|
2020 |
€24.00 |
|
| |
Dirge |
CD |
two long pieces (almost 70 min.) created through "bowed grand piano and noise" - as the title suggests, this sounds very bleak and cold, as if the metallic parts of the paino have been blown up or set up under huge vibration... in fact: MENCHE wove long horse hairs in betweehn the longest strings and bowed them.. => "Dirge was a very physical recording to make and therefore an album that truly needs to be heard physically loud and deep as possible." - CD version lim. 200
|
2021 |
€12.00 |
|
| MENCHE, DANIEL & ANLA COURTIS |
Cuspa Llullu |
LP |
after the great 'Yagua Ovy' LP in 2012 this is second time both 'advanced droners' collaborate => low overtune resonances that could come from heavy strings, all kinds of metallic scrapings, hummings and object whispers.. "Sounds here are not inert samples; there’re vibrating beings full of life and in constant mutation. Frequency-lifeforms moving everywhere in ways that can be only appreciated if we’re able to listen not only with the ears but with the whole body." - brilliant stuff again, lim. 300
|
2020 |
€17.50 |
|
| MERZBOW |
Hybrid Noisebloom |
do-LP |
MERZBOW 1997 on EMS & MOOG synths, Theremin, metal objects, effects and with his voice, a truly complex analog noise affair... => "a fascinating sonic assault, heavily driven by the presence of electronic sounds, played against the sparse interjections of Akita’s heavily processed vocals, that push toward new territories of the extreme, while subtly nodding toward historical gestures from the early years of the avant-garde." - lim. 299 copies, gatefold cover, 1st time on vinyl
|
2022 |
€32.50 |
|
| MICROMELANCOLIE & STROM NOIR |
49°05'19,3 |
CD |
very mellow, loopy, timelessly flowing 'nature-connection ambience' =, the first collaboration by these two projects from Poland & Slovakia is about a secret place that hides in the location info of the album-title, using also occasional field recordings from there... a sound postcard reflecting shimmers of light and summer, calm & peaceful, think of FABIO ORSI, ALIO DIE, VIDNA OBMANA, etc.. 2 tracks, about 50 min playtime
|
2016 |
€12.00 |
|
| MIEVILLE, EMMANUEL |
Ethers |
CD |
French composer who studied musique concrete at the GRM in Paris with his second CD for Baskaru - by using and transforming quite ordinary field recodings, he wants to "earthen" drone music and make it textured and more dense...."There is fine vibrancy in the pieces by Mieville, shifting back and forth, ignoring strict classical rules of composition. Excellent release." [Vital Weekly] - another highly interesting soundartist on French label Baskaru, to discover !
|
2015 |
€12.00 |
|
| MYTRIP |
Circle of Loss |
MC |
cassette mini-album by the favoured Bulgarian drone-act, most dark & ethereal & powerful, this EP reminds us on the great albums of Canadians AUN for example.. lim. 37 copies only !!
|
2017 |
€6.00 |
|
| MZ.412 |
Ulvens Broder |
10inch |
the return of Scandinavians "death industrial" project (12 years after the last studio album), = NORDVARGR DRAKH ULVTHARM; feat. B-Side with ORDO ROSARIUS EQUILIBRIO; limited ed. on three vinyl colours; BLACK and WHITE in stock ! "If Ulvens Broder is an indication of what’s to come in the forthcoming full-length album from these sonic geniuses of destruction, then it should be nothing short of devastating, if there is anything left that is.." [NoiseBeneathTheSnow]
|
2018 |
€18.00 |
|
| N & BU.D.D.A. |
untitled |
LP |
FULL ethereal DRONE improvisation by this undergrond "supergroup", BUND DES DRITTEN AUGES are EMERGE and B*TONG, together with N they recorded a completely hazy and thick as fog session, where multi-layered low fi drones, strange sounds and pulses float together very well.. (with post-production arrangements added later); lim. 300, great cover artwork
|
2023 |
€19.50 |
|
| N [58] & TZESNE |
Sismo |
LP |
*the third collaborative record with the Basque artist Tzesne, this time focusing on one long track twisting guitar lines with field recordings Tzesne made at Baix Vinalopó. At this place, there seems to be a deep ongoing melancholia; life seems to have stopped or is only able to go on in a slow motion that is barely noticeable ...* - wonderful drone resonances with lots of natural and electronic hissing.. - 100 copies, YELLOW vinyl
|
2023 |
€33.50 |
|
| N(36)[HELLMUT NEIDHARDT] |
Heven |
LP |
a different direction for N is established on HEVEN, gone are the deep low end drones, replaced by high pitched distortion guitar tones, still with magnetic effects... extremely minimal, ethereal, otherworldly UR drones.. lim. 100
|
2015 |
€26.50 |
|
| NADJA |
Queller |
CD |
second ed. re-issue of the Essence LP from 2014 that sold out immediately, for many listeners (and us) one of the best NAJDA LPs ever....four tracks of what is now called "DREAMGAZE", ethereal slow motion heaviness; comes in a wonderful designed oversized mini-gatefold cover, silkscreened & with die-cut bellyband and mini-poster, lim. 450 copies
|
2016 |
€15.00 |
|
| |
Autopergamene |
do-LP |
re-arranged re-issue of the CD from 2010 (Essence Music), one of the highlights in the NADJA discography! The three tracks have been re-mixed to form three side-long tracks, plus there's an unreleased fourth track on Side D, built from segments of the others... black vinyl lim. 200, gatefold cover
|
2018 |
€25.00 |
|
| NAM-KHAR & SIELWOLF |
Oppressfield |
CD |
after the great "Atavist Craft" from 2015 this is the second collab by NAM-KHAR and SIELWOLF - again they move inside the field or ritualistic ambient industrial, always circling and hypnotizing and slowly machine-like, maybe a bit more dark and colder as before... "Industrial is bleak and dark, it has to be, but beneath the grime, dust, oil, and blood, there always lies a diamond." [Fallofbecause] = dystopian trance-meditation muzak with great effekt!
|
2017 |
€12.00 |
|
| NECKS, THE |
Mindset |
CD |
new release by this great Australian "drone Jazz" trio; presenting two long tracks of their unique poly-metric & hypnotic (all handplayed) tunes, using ethereal piano-patterns, bass, drums, electronics, Hammon-organs and noisy guitars... mesmerizing, fully acoustic stuff !!
|
2011 |
€13.00 |
|
| |
Body |
CD |
the 20th NECKS album - still giving you a FRESH, awe-inspiring experience, improvised music that becames an atmospheric sculpture! "..they move as a feathered phalanx in dynamic murmuration, moving from breezy swirls of percussion over low-lying bass eddies in the first part, thru a passage of lysergic deliquescence, to a motorik post rock climax and far out into synth-curdled space jazz." [Boomkat]
|
2018 |
€13.00 |
|
| NIBLOCK, PHILL |
MMXX-12: Browner |
LP |
12th release in the series that presents 20 artists from the exp. sound-art scene with very nice design / concept => dedicated to the year 2020 there will be 20 x 20 min. compositions on one-sided clear vinyl, with laser engraved artwork by the artist on the B-Side, lim. 500 copies => PHILL NIBLOCK presents a new piece that uses the instrumental drone sounds from 4 players / instruments: 2 x cello, flute, bassoon to create a rich, full-scaled and dense drone expansion with micro movements inside..
|
2020 |
€23.00 |
|
| NODDING GOD (DAVID TIBET & ANREW LILES) |
Play Wooden Child |
LP |
a quite bizarre new project by DAVID TIBET & ANDREW LILES, a band that is 666 years old, including the mysterious "Underage Shaitain Boy" - lyrics are for 93% sung in Arkadian language... "This is a masterful record, precisely because it is not po-faced. Singing in an ancient tongue, but with galactic, futuristic overtones, it’s almost as if the voice exists out of time itself, a primal spirit that was there in Akkadia and is there in every corner of the universe." [The Quietus] - lim. vinyl ed. on PINK
|
2019 |
€29.50 |
|
| NOVAK, YANN |
The Voice of Theseus |
CD |
inspired by the Greek myth of THESEUS this is a work about unsteadiness and insecurity regarding the own perception of the world... - 9 tracks of finest, deeply emotional digital ambience feat. ethereal vocal material - *Superb album that stands out in Yann's already solid discography with strong theme's and great use of vocal elements. Favorite track: Traversing the Substrate.* [Kid606] - ed. of 300 copies, cardboard sleeve + insert
|
2023 |
€16.00 |
|
| NOX |
Opus Unending |
CD |
abysmal ambient from Croatia, the first album for this new project (aka AEGRI SOMNIA), enabling a truly dark meditation, incorp. subtle field recordings... "... It creates a strong visual effect, which has something pretty paranoiac. You get the impression there’s an invisible presence walking at your back. It’s a hostile atmosphere like appealing to awake the ghosts" [Side-Line] - lim. 200 4 panel digipak
|
2020 |
€13.00 |
|
| |
Abyssal Codex |
CD |
"Dead Archetype" = Ghostly dark ambient from Croatia (also known as AEGRI SOMNIA with releases on Cryo Chamber), the 2nd album as NOX => the processed field recordings give this an extremely mysterious and uncanny atmosphere, there's always "something going on" within these foggy dronescapes, for the perfect "cinema between your ears"... - lim. 200 in a 4 panel"digifile", 10 tracks 66+ minutes of finest black hole muzak..
|
2022 |
€13.00 |
|
| NURSE WITH WOUND |
TRIPPIN' MUSIK (black vinyl) |
3 x LP BOX |
re-issue (new master plates) of the stunning, trance-inducing 3LP box on BLACK 180gr. vinyl (as many of the first ed. coloured vinyls were badly pressed) - comes with NEW huge full colour inlay / mini poster - "There Is No Track Listing - No Side A, B Etc. This Music Is To Be Played In Whichever Order The Listener Wants To.".... "steeply psychedelic sonics that may well alter your breathing and heart rates and mental state.." [Boomkat]
|
2020 |
€51.50 |
|
| NURSE WITH WOUND / GRAHAM BOWERS |
Mutation ...The Lunatics are running the Asylum ... |
CD |
there's no chance to relax yet - it seems GRAHAM BOWERS and STEVEN STAPLETON won't stop their collaboration series until all insane people are liberated and take over => six new tracks exploring acoustic mutations, transformations, metamorphoses, an incredible number of mixed up sound sources going wild for an carnivalesque listening experience!!
|
2015 |
€16.00 |
|
| O'MALLEY, STEPHEN |
MMXX-11: Ost-Väst Sommaren |
LP |
11th release in the new series that presents 20 artists from the experimental sound-art scene with very nice design / concept => dedicated to the year 2020 there will be 20 x 20 min. compositions on one-sided clear vinyl, with laser engraved artwork by the artist on the B-Side, lim. to 500 copies => STEPHEN O'MALLEY created a dense drone piece based on field / insect recordings and organ sounds...
|
2020 |
€23.00 |
|
| O'ROURKE, JIM |
MMXX-07: In all due Deference |
LP |
seventh release in the new series that presents 20 artists from the experimental sound-art scene with very nice design / concept => dedicated to the year 2020 there will be 20 x 20 min. compositions on one-sided clear vinyl, with laser engraved artwork by the artist on the B-Side, lim. to 500 copies => on of the highlights in the series is this new piece by JIM O'ROURKE, complex entities of ebbing and flowing sound-clouds evolve slowly, strangely harmonic, into magic spiralling..
|
2020 |
€23.00 |
|
| OKAGAWA, LEO |
Zapping (Station To Station) |
MC |
Japanese "raw field recording minimalist" known from two CDs on Unfahtomless, who gathered field recordings from various metro stations during the quarantine.. => "Japanese city portrait driven by metal drones and human touches and presences lurking, ghost like, beneath the delicious clatter. Carefully constructed and meticulously crafted, the sounds, like all city sounds, constantly shapeshifting and overlapping, a living collage." [MikeHoolBoom] ; lim. 90 numbered copies
|
2021 |
€9.00 |
|
| OPEN TO THE SEA |
Another Year is over, let's wait for Springtime |
CD |
acclaimed Italian "experimental" composers ENRICO CONIGLIO and MATTEO UTTERI formed this open "ethereal / melancholic / deep electronic Pop" project, with many guest musicians (for example LAU NAU on the first phantastic track) on vocals, bass, trumpet, cello, spoken word poetry, etc., creating a most intimate "experimental song" format, sometimes reminding on old 4AD Records... - comes with full colour 8 page booklet w. lyrics
|
2020 |
€13.00 |
|
| OSSO EXOTICO |
Church Organ Works |
CD |
the legendary ensemble from Lisbon with an album of organ pieces recorded entirely in churches, highly minimal, ethereal and free floating.. sixth album of the Drone Records artist (DR-37), BACK IN STOCK, special offer now! |
1998 |
€8.00 |
|
| OTZEPENEVSHIYE (Оцепеневшие) |
Razryv Svyazi (Disconnection) |
do-CD |
this is the first proper full length release for this Russian 'supergroup' of post-industrial and experimental working ambient-drone artists, with members from CISFINITUM, SAL SOLARIS, HYPNOZ and nowadays REUTOFF, very powerful and dark aggressive 'industrial metal' or 'drone-doom', these tracks were gathered in a period of the last 10 years and feature many collaborations on the second CD: "Otzepenevshiye know how to get to the very depths and see the blackness that contains the infinite cosmic absolute"
|
2017 |
€15.00 |
|
| OVERTONE ENSEMBLE |
same |
CD |
Australian drone ensemble formed by TIM CATLIN, based on the sounds of his self-made VIBRISSA instruments (metal/aluminium rod instruments that are longitudinally stroked by hand to produce ethereal "singing" tones) => on four tracks subtle and microtonal, very high pitched, metallic drones are build, varified through the use of additional singing bowls, wine-glasses, scuba gongs, e-bowed guitars, etc... a very special form of drone experimentation, beautiful and demanding!
|
2016 |
€15.00 |
|
| PALESTINE, CHARLEMAGNE |
Interrvallissphereee |
LP |
also NYC's drone wonderchild got access to the special MOOG studio in UK, the "Moog Sound Lab UK", where he created these two exactly 25 min. long drone pieces... ""Electronic instruments were very rare & exotic in the 1960's. There were Moogs around New York but they were only in universities who preciously guarded them from us young composers. So after all this time visiting The Moog Sound Lab is like a dream come true for me"...
|
2018 |
€21.50 |
|
| |
MMXX-06: Vvvoooodddoooo Ddddooooodddddooooo |
LP |
sixth release in the new series that presents 20 artists from the experimental sound-art scene with very nice design / concept => dedicated to the year 2020 there will be 20 x 20 min. compositions on one-sided clear vinyl, with laser engraved artwork by the artist on the B-Side, lim. to 500 copies => C. PALESTINE created a multi-layered drone wave piece, performed on analog synths, with lots of cosmic dirt dispersed...
|
2020 |
€23.00 |
|
| PALESTINE, CHARLEMAGNE & SIMONE FORTI |
Meditative Sound Environments |
LP |
unreleased recordings from 1971, created in improvisation at the same time when the performance for "Illuminations" happened.. shimmering drones, female voice, ethereal atmosphere, a nostalgic low fi flair.. verr nice ! *all of a sudden they were doing a new kind of jamming together. everybody in the audience loved it because it was so dreamy and they found amazing how a man and a woman can act in that strange, very dreamlike oriental way as in trance..* - lim. 365 copies
|
2021 |
€21.50 |
|
| PALESTINE, CHARLEMAGNE / GRUMBLING FUR TIME MACHINE ORCHESTRA |
ggrrreeebbbaaammmnnnuuuccckkkaaaiiioooww!!! |
LP |
stunning recording of a performance that happened at London's 'Cafe OTO' in June 2013: PALESTINE supported by DANIEL O'SULLIVAN (AETHENOR, GUAPO) and ALEXANDER TUCKER (GINNUNGAGAP, etc.) (=GRUMBLING FUR T.M.O.), has some wonderful & wondrous ethereal, ecstatic and weird moments! "processed strings, live tape manipulations, Indian harmonium, shimmering piano clusters, bleating cattle, a Japanese orgy, disembodied vocal harmony..." lim. 500 blue vinyl
|
2015 |
€25.00 |
|
| PETBRICK |
I (split black - clear vinyl ) |
LP |
debut album by the new project of WAYNE ADAMS (BIG LAD) and IGOR CAVALERA (ex SEPULTURA (!), etc.) - extremely powerful electro gabba - industrial noise rock, dark & furious, think of MINISTRY, etc.. ".. there's a strong and convincing throughline to be found, the record hanging together brilliantly whether the duo are peeling skin from your face, smothering you with fizzling ambience or goading you to dance until you sweat your last drop of miserable life blissfully away." - lim. ed. colour vinyl
|
2019 |
€26.00 |
|
| 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 |
|
| PHURPA |
Rituals of Bön I |
LP |
authentic and purely acoustic ritual muzak from the Russian group around ALEXEI TEGIN, who explored the religious tradition of pre-Buddhist Tibetan culture for many years; on this LP with recordings from a 2013 Moscow live show there are mainly meditative/tantric vocal chants to find (very deep freq. throat singing), but on Side B it gets more louder, with huge wind instruments and metal clanging... lim. 300
|
2016 |
€20.00 |
|
| POTTER, COLIN |
The Abominable Slowman |
LP |
five psychedelia-electronic tracks created 2017 using various source material dating back over 20 years ago.. "the emphasis is on rhythm, although the rhythmic components range from conventional drum sounds to strange electronic and/or mutated outbursts, often accompanied by squalling guitars...There's constant experimentation throughout the album, a search for never-before heard sounds to create obscure atmospheres and a pleasantly disturbing feeling of disquietude."
|
2017 |
€17.50 |
|
| PROPHECY SUN / EMERGE |
Spirit Dream |
CD-R |
EMERGE collaboration with Canadian video- & installation artist "prOphecy sun", who also works as dancer & singer & theremin-player => her often wordless vocalizations combined with theremin-loops build the basis for EMERGE processings and form expressive, ghostly, amorph drone soundscapes with a dreamlike quality (also included are solo tracks by both artists); comes w. special fold out cardboard sleeve & two full colour inlays
|
2013 |
€7.50 |
|
| RABELAIS, AKIRA |
Eisoptrophobia |
do-LP |
re-workings and -processings of solo piano pieces by ERIK SATIE, BELA BARTOK, and RABELAIS himself, using a special self build software ("Argeïphontes Lyre") to create incredibly haunting and poetic atmospheres.. CD from 2001 for the first time on vinyl; "The recognisable melodies here ring out in myriad new ways, sometimes fractured and indented by patinas of crackle that echo the original contours, while, at othere, smudged into mind-bending obfuscation or spectral, timbral thizz."
|
2018 |
€26.00 |
|
| RADIGUE, ELIANE |
In Memoriam-Ostinato / Danse des Dakinis |
LP |
so far unreleased! - a 'processed tape recorder feedback' piece from 1969 , plus a performance recording from 1998 which happened at Mills College in California using ARP synth, field recordings and tapes. .- "There is tension in this composition, a certain wildness, an unpredictability of elements, those which are recognized as fundamental elements, which give structure to the universe.." - beautiful gatefold cover with extensive liner notes and display of ancient labyrinths, her "Labyrinths Sonore"..
|
2022 |
€24.00 |
|
| RAISON D'ETRE |
Within the Depths of Silence and Phormations |
do-LP |
first ever vinyl version of this dark ambient classic from 1995 (the third R.D. album, released on Cold Meat Industry) - "Layers of ethereal atmospheres and the collage of choirs, strings, bells and occasional voices slowly bleed together to create music for society whose spirituality has been rendered impotent. Soaking in this world, one is left with the impression of overwhelming sadness and profound desolation..." - gatefold cover, incl. 5 bonus tracks from same period, 300 copies black vinyl
|
2020 |
€28.50 |
|
| RAPOON |
Time-loop Anomalies |
CD |
collection of single tracks and remixes, often rhythmic & trancy in the "typical" & adored RAPOON-style (all previously unreleased)... "eerie, ethereal music lingering on the borderlands of dreamworld and reality"
|
2012 |
€12.00 |
|
| |
Darker by Light |
CD |
classic Rapoon bliss from the early "ethno-percussive" phase (1996), this album has been unavailable for many years... "static walls of sound coming as if from the distance and processed rhythms inspired by ethnic music, sometimes complemented by the sounds of flutes and pipes." [label info] - "a very atmospheric mix of celestial, spacey, ethereal and mysterious" [Andrew Garibaldi] ed. of 500 copies
|
2018 |
€12.00 |
|
| RATKJE, MAJA / EUGENIUSZ RUDNIK |
In Dialogue with... |
CD |
the radical Norwegian performer + improviser works on material from the legedary Polish composer and electronic / radio/ text-sound pioneer E. RUDNIK, two original pieces from him are also included => the material (electronics, voice) is pushed into a new context in marriage with MAJA's own sounds and effect processions, from noisy staccato attacks to more quiet micro landscapes, there's a great versatility to explore here...
|
2014 |
€13.00 |
|
| RATKJE, MAJA S. |
Cyborgic |
LP |
documentation of a wild & furious collage/cut-up/noise live performance that happened on 23. April 2008 at Blå in Oslo, Norway => totally improvised vocals (screams, singings, utterings, crazy transmuted voice poetry, etc..) , theremin, toys, and live processing in her typical ultra expressive & experimental way... really challenging, powerful stuff! lim. 500 copies, gatefold cover, incl. 16 page art booklet, numbered ed.
|
2009 |
€24.00 |
|
| RE-DRUM / EMERGE/ SVART I / LEFTERNA |
split |
MC |
great 4 way / artists split album on cassette, co-released with GRUBENWEHR => the longest piece is the memorable RE-DRUM & EMERGE performance recording made in Moscow at DOM Sept. 2018 (29 min), dedicated to DMITRY VASILYEV (MONOCHROME VISION), the other material are long full drone studio collab pieces by SVART1 and LEFTERNA, and there are rare EMERGE and RE-DRUM solo pieces added.... recycled C-90 cassette, lim. 50
|
2022 |
€8.00 |
|
| RESIDENTS |
Intruders (yellow vinyl) |
LP |
last copies of this limited vinyl colour (250 copies in yellow) INTRUDERS version, their 2018 studio album... " Is this finally, after all these years, THE REAL RESIDENTS?... Intruders is a collection of atmospheric, paranoia-tinged yet oddly accessible tracks, each forever glancing over its own shoulder and wondering just who is out there - Or are they in here?"
|
2018 |
€27.00 |
|
| RLW |
Agnostic Diaries |
CD |
highly abstract, unwieldy 'audio mind-scapes' full of demanding breaks and cuts, drones and weirdest sounds, voice processings, etc... extremely dynamic ! - RALF WEHOWSKY aka RLW proves he is still very capable of creating the most adventurous tunes and moods, MIRABILE DICTU! - "Upon repeated listening, there is every time something new to be found in this." [FdW/Vital Weekly]
|
2021 |
€13.00 |
|
| RNGMNN |
Arctic Interference |
CD |
imaginative soundtrack for a stay in arctic landscapes by this German dark ambient project.. "Field recordings, percussive elements, sampled sounds, dark electronic pads, scrapes and stabs all combine creating a sense of drifting isolation, disorientation and knee-deep, jagged movements across vast snow blown and storm battered mind-scapes. Rest assured there are plenty of variations on this album, to peak the interests of even the most wind swept and experienced Arctic travellers.." - lim. 200 digipak
|
2019 |
€13.00 |
|
| ROBERT, JOCELYN |
The Maze |
CD |
new work by this highly interesting sound artist from Canada, who creates on THE MAZE a 'map of territories" linked through himself, mainly based on field recordings gathered through the years from around the world => very abstract, obscure, strange sounds & noises, often with unrecognizable source, but also very clear & concrete material from the everyday life are set into a surprising and cryptic musique concrete stream...
|
2015 |
€13.00 |
|
| ROSTAMI, ARIA & DANIEL BLOMQUIST |
Still |
CD |
the Italian label series for the represantation of "Icy Landscapes" through sound with the second collab. release by both artists, after "Wandering Eye" (2016) => this album was created with the aim to describe how time changes, slows down and "stops" in extreme cold weather, similar to some COVID-19 experiences... - "...Gradually turning mountains to rumble and cutting out valleys where there wasn’t one before." [God is in the TV]
|
2021 |
€15.00 |
|
| SANTOS SILVA, SUSANA |
MMXX-08: Sometimes it's raining a lot |
LP |
8th release in the new series that presents 20 artists from the experimental sound-art scene with very nice design / concept => dedicated to the year 2020 there will be 20 x 20 min. compositions on one-sided clear vinyl, with laser engraved artwork by the artist on the B-Side, lim. to 500 copies => Portugesian trumpet player S.S.SILVA (more known in the impro & Jazz scene) mixes instrumental sounds, electronics, voice and field rec. for a dronish experimental journey, very nice..
|
2020 |
€23.00 |
|
| SANTOS SILVA, SUSANA / HAMPUS LINDWALL / TORBJORN ZETTERBERG |
Hi! Who are you? |
LP |
high class improvisation, kind of "jazzy post industrial / avantgarde" soundscapes by these there players: SUSANA SANTOS SILVA: trumpet ; T. ZETTERBERG: double bass, electric noise ; HAMPUS LINDWALL: pipe organ / live electronics; their second encounter after the "If Nothing Else" CD from 2015, with a full step forwards including electronic drones and sounds.. lim. 300 - ORANGE vinyl
|
2019 |
€23.00 |
|
| SARNO, LOUIS |
Song from the Forest: The Soundtrack |
CD |
absolutely stunning soundtrack to the documentary film about LOUIS SARNO, who lived 30 years with the Bayaka pigmies (a tribe of hunters and gatherers) in Central African Republic in the rainforest; this a selection from 1500 hours (!) of recorded Bayaka music => rich harmonic & beautiful chants and instrumental sounds ('tree drumming', 'earth bow', flutes..), along with nature field recordings & forest sounds, which fit perfectly together... comes with full colour booklet & extensive liner notes
|
2014 |
€14.00 |
|
| SATO, MINORU (M/S, SASW) + ASUNA |
Tottering Steps |
7inch |
MINORU SATO (aka "m/s", known from releases on Senufo and SPEKK) and ASUNA (who had a 7" on Meeuw with the sound of 100 toy keyboards at the same time) in collaboration again, creating multiple layered drones with a cryptic technical concept through casio-synths, AIR COLUMN RESONATOR und HELMHOLTZ resonator... "and there is some great interaction between all those resonances produced, keys of keyboards taped and motor being picked." [Vital Weekly]
|
2019 |
€7.00 |
|
| SAVAGE REPUBLIC |
Meteora |
CD |
what started in 1982 with the genius "Tragic Figures" album finds a continuation in 2021 with "Meteora"; although the line-up has changed completely, you can hear in every second that this IS SAVAGE REPUBLIC, rich harmonic instrumental tracks in the typical "desert rock" style change with aggressive, vocalized and more post punking tracks... the power, the emotion, the yearning, it's all still there... one track has been written be E.G. LEWIS (WIRE) - a great comeback once more !
|
2021 |
€14.00 |
|
| |
Meteora |
LP (Lathe-cut) |
what started in 1982 with the genius "Tragic Figures" album finds a continuation in 2021 with "Meteora"; although the line-up has changed completely, you can hear in every second that this IS SAVAGE REPUBLIC, rich harmonic instrumental tracks in the typical "desert rock" style change with aggressive, vocalized and more post punking tracks... the power, the emotion, the yearning, it's all still there... - this is the lim. LATHE CUT pressing (lim. 80) on 140 gr. vinyl, incl. silkscreen cover, inlay, DL code
|
2021 |
€26.50 |
|
| SAVY, PASCAL |
Simulacra |
CD |
first album on Cyclic Law for this French artist living in London, UK - "Simulacra" excites with very powerful drones, multi-layered and intense, additional pulses, strokes and noises.... there's a very eerie and violent undertone present.... the 7 tracks are influenced by JEAN BAUDRILLARD'S idea of "simulacra + simulation", and pressured through the desolation living in a "period echoed by ideas of political, social and cultural disintegration" - lim. 300
|
2023 |
€13.00 |
|
| SCANNER + MODELBAU |
Loess |
do-LP |
old school 'tape exchange' collaboration by these experiMENTALists from NL and UK, using both a FOSTEX 280 four-track machine, sending cassettes via postal mail...- 10 tracks build on various instrumental (analogue & dig.) sound sources, with additional mechanical treatments(tape-speed, etc.) - "Time seems to lengthen, and the interplay of tones and overtones create rich pathways of sound. There is a sense of space and form that envelops each piece. Unusual textures combine to form an elemental whole.."
|
2022 |
€26.00 |
|
| SCHICKERT, GÜNTER & PETER UNSICKER |
Mauerharfe |
LP + CD |
historic art & audio-installation document for the 30th anniversery of the fall of the Berlin Wall => cathartic recordings from 1990 made in Berlin, where SCHICKERT & UNSICKER used a part of the Berlin Wall as a "harp" (with piano wires), performing on the scrap metal parts, creating metallic drones, bass tones, circling noises & rhythmic clusters, to tell the "story" and basic tone of the Wall that stood there... comes with extensive 4 page 12" booklet, + bonus CD with extra 30 min track, lim. 200
|
2019 |
€22.50 |
|
| SCOTT, SIMON (SIMON SCOTT) |
Navigare |
LP |
debut full-length release for this ex SLOWDIVE-member with beautiful transcendental drone-spheres, very ethereal and experimental ! LP-version comes with bonus-track
|
2009 |
€18.00 |
|
| SEEMANN |
Hemisphäre |
CD-R |
a most spheric 40 min. piece by Hamburg's best kept drone-ambient secret, it develops from ethereal choirs into an ethno-percussive, hypnotrance-drone piece... - "eine hintergründige Spannung zwischen dem Fragment einer russischen Schellackplatte und dem archaischen Splitter einer balinesischen Feldaufnahme...." [Bad Alchemy] - comes w. self-made colour sleeve, not to be missed !
|
2022 |
€8.00 |
|
| 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 |
|
| SHEFFIELD, COLIN ANDREW / JAMES ECK RIPPIE |
Exploded View |
mCD (Minimax) |
MINIMAX mini-album with a great example of their unusual form of turntabilism (sounds derived from records but there are no recognizable repititions), complex and noisy... - "It has that great vibrant feeling of things buzzing, sparkling and flying about, sometimes staying in a place for a short time, sometimes a bit longer, but new elements are carried in, bashed on their heads and before you know melted down in the microwave into a nasty drone" - ed. of 200, digipack
|
2019 |
€7.50 |
|
| SHINKIRO |
Archive: Volumes I-III |
do-CD |
three early unreleased, re-worked albums (2003-2007) by the Japanese dark ambient project => "...captures the darkest and most beautiful moments of Shinkiro’s music: low-key synth textures merged with rhythmic cadences and slight distortions gradually unfolding roaming melodies, magnetic and cold undercurrents, ethereal epiphanies and ever present longing for the unattainable abyss...Dissolve in the myriad of mysterious emanations towards colossal eschatological pleroma"; lim. 250 copies
|
2018 |
€15.00 |
|
| SILVERMAN |
Time on thin Ice |
CD |
"... and there's an eternity with wings. It's short and it's sweet, it laughs at the mirror and always is now." Very poetic new solo-album by the second LPD mainman, feat. ALENA BOYKOVA on melodica & E.KA-SPEL on percussion, tapes & voice. Dense, melancholic ambient soundscapes..comes in beautiful oversized glossy mini gatefold-cover
|
2010 |
€14.00 |
|
| SKELDOS |
Ilges |
MC |
most favoured release by Lithuanian drone-newcomer SKELDOS - two wonderfully breathing, resonating pieces based on accordeon, voice, Lithuanian zither and guitar, plinspired by a poem from the Lithuanian writer ANTANAS SKEMA; there's so much beauty and melancholy and sadness in here, it's almost unbearable.. lim. 75 copies in handmade/printed cardboard cover with bag & download code... SKELDOS will soon appear in the "Drone-Mind" LP series!!
|
2018 |
€9.00 |
|
| SKELETON BIRDS AND THE NUMBER OF GOD |
These dark Roots of Heaven |
LP |
project of NICK MOTT (VOLCANO THE BEAR) and two members of JAZZFINGER, doing "thee most obscure acoustics", - always surprising and weird sounds & arrangements using mainly acoustic instruments & singing/voices, but there's much more almost undescribable going on... we guarantee this leaves you confused, bewildered, and heavenly delighted ! Lim. 250 only
|
2010 |
€18.50 |
|
| SKY BURIAL |
Chapel Image |
CD |
impressive new one-tracker album by MICHAEL PAGE's heavy ethereal 'ambient industrial' project... "a constantly shifting journey through the nebulous depths of drone and dark ambience with full-immersion being just held at bay by the uneasy dichotomy of low and high frequencies and punctuation of rhythmic and industrial elements." lim. 300, & still to discover
|
2017 |
€12.00 |
|
| SLAVES, THE |
Ocean on Ocean |
do-LP |
duo from Portland (OR) who could be located somewhere between shoegaze and drone-doom => a shimmering, waving darkness based on slow moving repetitive harmonies created with organ-like synths, distortion guitars, and female voice... very lush, narcotic, ethereal, without any beats... has been set stylistically somewhere between GROUPER, SLOWDIVE, EARTH and BARN OWL.... we also had to think of LOVESLIESCRUSHING; lim. 400
|
2012 |
€22.50 |
|
| SLOAN, JASON |
Deluge |
CD |
minimalistic dark synth ambience from the U.S., after many CDRs the first "fabric-pressed" CD, a soundtrack to "capture the aftermath of our world after having suffered through a grand deluge"--"The continuous live-set is an inner world ambient affair drifting into ethereal lands as it smoothly changes shape and reveals intrinsic motion along the way. Headphones are essential to discover the many fine details and hypnotic realm embedded in the carefully molded, overtly minimalist atmospherics" [Sonic I.]
|
2014 |
€13.00 |
|
| SPHERICAL DISRUPTED |
25 |
CD |
new album for the 25th anniversary of this German rhythmic ambient & IDM industrial project, with guests DARKRAD and TC75 plus diverse remixes... standard ed. - ""the best description that I can come up with is a mixture of T.A.G.C. and old Mentallo and the Fixer. There is a beat through much of it, but there is a lot of great atmosphere as well" [Chain D.L.K.]
|
2021 |
€12.00 |
|
| STARGAZER'S ASSISTANT |
Mirrors & Tides, Shivers & Voids |
CD |
STARGAZER's ASSISTANT is the solo-project of DAVID J.SMITH (with various guests), maybe better known as the percussionist from the british art rock band GUAPO (and also involved/collaborating with UNICA ZÜRN and CYCLOBE) - this is the re-issue of a strong double 10" from 2013 (UTECH), - mythic, ethereal, experimental prog ambient with a folky psychedelic edge, using piano, harmonium, guitar, vocalizations, violin, synths & sampler... ed. of 300 copies with mini-poster
|
2019 |
€13.00 |
|
| STILLUPPSTEYPA |
Beach Jolanda |
LP |
after more than a decade Icelands STILLUPPSTEYPA is back with a full album working as a DUO again, with 12 tracks recorded at various locations from 2006-2017 and diverse guest musicians involved (as BJ NILSEN or OREN AMBARCHI), showing them at their most curious => "That is the music that deals with organ sounds, rhythm machines, exotic lounge music but then totally torn apart...There is a lot to smile about with this record." lim. 400, full-colour sleeve and insert
|
2018 |
€20.50 |
|
| SUDDEN INFANT |
Things that happened |
LP |
intense noise- & bodyscapes, incredible collages, always original, organic, unescapable... documents two live-performances (Leeds 08.2011 & Hamburg 10.2007), comes in three different vinyl-colours (red, green, blue), definitely one of the best experimental noise-acts around !! Lim. 300 copies. Released on Hamburgs true underground label (& connected with the HÖRBAR / B-MOVIE association there) REDUKTIVE MUSIKEN
|
2011 |
€16.50 |
|
| TAINNOS |
Kierto |
mCD-R |
TAINNOS is the new project of HENKKA KYLLÖNEN, who once had as NO XIVIC a wonderful 7" on Drone Rec. years ago, "Kierto" (=Circulation) is meant as "an audio journey through the evolution of life on this planet: from nothingness to beasts of the wild. from early humans to civilizations controlled by artificial intelligence....in the end there are only swarms of flies left and the circle of life and death starts again." => sophisticated approach, and a most captivating, evolving dronescape (22 min)
|
2018 |
€5.00 |
|
| TAKASHI, SEKI |
Smog Moon |
mCD-R |
Ambient newcomer from Japan with two introspective tracks, based on spheric organ-like drones and acoustic guitar sounds, very peaceful.... "A drone is there to guide it and it is quite a beautiful shimmering piece of music." [Vital Weekly]
|
2017 |
€5.00 |
|
| TAMING THE OUTBACK |
1986-1989 |
CD |
anthology of 21 tracks from this overlooked 80's UK "wave" band, sounding very much like ECHO & THE BUNNYMEN, JOY DIVISION or SAD LOVERS & GIANTS; comes in a mini-gatefold cover with mini-poster & booklet and collects before released & much unreleased material.. lim. 385 copies (there's also a box / lim. 75 edition existing with vinyl 7" and badges and more.. please ask if interested)
|
2011 |
€13.00 |
|
| TARAB |
Material Studies |
mCD-R |
"Object sound" music in the truest, most concrete sense - various everyday materials (from wood and other types, not really recognizable) are rubbed, scratched, touched, hit, and build this, more a "study" than a classical composition or collage, but there is a subtle development going on...it's the sheer physicality and fragmented beauty of 'pure concrete sound' that fascinates here..
|
2021 |
€5.00 |
|
| |
Rooms |
CD |
Australian sound artist EARMON SPROUD aka TARAB surprises with every release = inside "Rooms", similar to ERIC LA CASA, he explores the aural qualities of certain places, but focuses more of the "processes" going on there....- "Re-contextualised collected sounds and tactile gestures formed into dynamic, psycho-geographic compositions; half narratives, visceral sensation, false leads and heightened awareness.." - lim. 200 copies
|
2022 |
€13.00 |
|
| TARAB + ARTIFICIAL MEMORY TRACE |
Obex |
MC |
OBEX means: "Object Activity Exchange Transformation" - and this title gives you the direction this goes, various field recordings from all kinds of natural and un-natural objects have been gathered and effect-processed, forming a kind of concrete drone ambience, what could be stones, sand, fire, metal objects, soil, but often you don't know esxactly..wonderfully complex and verstatile. => Zwei Meister der Feldaufnahmen-Geräuschkunst sorgen vereint für ungeahnte Komplexität ! lim. 100
|
2018 |
€10.50 |
|
| TARKATAK |
I II III IIII |
CD |
finally after a long break a new album from TARKATAK. shaping gorgeous drone-landscapes, with clouds of ethereal piano shimmers, often the drones move so slow that the time seems to freeze.. - "Diese vier langen, organisch wirkenden Tracks loten aus, was der Drone alles kann. Sehr schöne, auf 200 Exemplare limitierte Veröffentlichung mit einem zum Poster ausfaltbaren Siebdruckcover." [MG / African Paper]
|
2022 |
€13.00 |
|
| THALASSA |
Bonds of Prosperity |
LP |
stunning first release of a new project formed by the never sleeping AARON TURNER (HYDRA HEAD, ISIS, LOTUS EATERS, MAMIFFER, etc.) with WILLIAM FOWLER COLLINS, spreading highly contemplative and elemental acoustic drone muzak on 4 LP sides, creating subtle resonances, ethereal sirenes, noise dissolvements..." The ocean, blood, rain, sand, the desert, heat, fog -- all of these elemental / environmental forces are at play in the heavily sedimental drones and crumbled noise " lim. 300
|
2017 |
€27.50 |
|
| THE LORD |
Forest Nocturne |
LP |
doom laden debut LP from the other half of SUNN O))) and man behind SOUTHERN LORD, GREG ANDERSON! => this is dark and heavy cinematic music, especially JOHN CARPENTER and BERNHARD HERMANNs soundtracks come to mind...- "it feels less like an album and more like the score to some dark psychological thriller/horror fillm. There is an eerie vibe throughout, and the songs creep up the back of your neck like skeletal fingers reaching for your throat" [Kirk Gauthier]
|
2022 |
€20.00 |
|
| THEODOR BASTARD |
Vetvi |
CD |
second pressing of this album from 2015 by the "Russian DEAD CAN DANCE, => ethereal Eastern Folk Pop with 'heavenly' female vocals, traditional acoustic instruments merge with electronic arrangements, perfectly performed, full of emotion, width and yearning.. - collector's edition with 12 page booklet in cardboard box - *A combination of archaic percussion and magical folk instruments was used during the recording. Ritual rhythms, choirs, outstanding vocals, harps and cymbal..*
|
2017 |
€16.50 |
|
| THIRTEEN HURTS |
UVB-76 |
CD-R |
stunning noise album from this rather unknown US project, using lots of interesting crackling and feedbacking radio and shortwave sounds over loops and drones and raw booming noise... "This one is a real tickler! It has lots of noise squirts and kisses that almost sound like a lead saxophone in a free jazz jam. It also sources a mysterious crunchy Russian radio transmission. There is a ton of variety here to never sound boring. " [Nuclear Distortion] - jewelcase, prof. cover & duplication
|
2016 |
€8.00 |
|
| TIETCHENS, ASMUS |
Seuchengebiete 4 |
CD |
The "Seuchengebiete" series continues, focused on water- and underwater-sounds, with six more "Hydrophonien", adding maybe more (soft) digital synthesis effects as before, this sounds all mysterious, somehow organic and sensually touching, a masterpiece! ... - "there is something profound about the music, slow, contemplative; maybe the music is a sign of the sorry state of our times..." [Vital Weekly]
|
2021 |
€13.50 |
|
| |
Schatten ohne Licht |
CD |
"Es ist Endlich Still" - this new work is inspired by the radical theory of ULRICH HORSTMANN, who propagates the self-elimination of the human mankind, in order to come back to a peaceful mineral un-organic life... - "There is something profound about the music. It can be slow and is certainly contemplative. Maybe the music is a sign of the state of our times?"
|
2022 |
€13.00 |
|
| TIETCHENS, ASMUS & DIRK SERRIES |
Die Höfner Akten |
CD |
their second "solo" collaboration album, DIRK SERRIES delivering sounds on acoustic guitar. TIETCHENS created 16 pieces with this: " In many of these pieces, the acoustic guitar is to be recognized. Tietchens cuts up the material, creates loops, and finds interaction between these re-arrangements... there is a great variety in approaches here, as already noted, and it makes up quite a remarkable, different album for Tietchens." [FdW / Vital Weekly] - ed. of 300 copies
|
2022 |
€13.00 |
|
| TREHA SEKTORI |
Sorieh |
CD |
"claustrophic ritual ambient" from France; debut-album... *a psychic course with ethereal and nightmarish appearances* - original first ed.
|
2009 |
€14.00 |
|
| TRICOLI, VALERIO |
Clonic Earth |
do-LP |
after his great "Misery Lares" do-LP on the same label VALERIO TRICOLI is back with five long new compositions => experimental transcension drones with breathtaking streams of mind-absorbing microsounds flowing magnetically through the space, often voice material is processed, and there also weird collages with field recordings and silent interruptions... so abstract, surrealistic, mysterious and unique!
|
2016 |
€27.50 |
|
| TWELVE THOUSAND DAYS |
Field's End |
CD |
the project of ALAN TRENCH + MARTYN BATES, their second album on the long active Italian label FINALMUZIK, 12 tracks of their extraordinary poetic, ethereal-experimental songwriting style, with amazing cover versions of songs from BLACK SABBATH (!), ALASDAIR CLAYRE, BOB PEGG, and VASHTI BUNYAN... => "the seas ride up the skies/and the stars fill yr eyes/I dream the rain’s long answer/I dream the sun’s responses." - lim. 500 digipak
|
2020 |
€13.00 |
|
| TWIG HARPER |
New Lost Knowns |
LP |
JAMES TWIG HARPER's LP for the Alga Marghen sublabel, full of unclassifiable + strange low fi noises, silkscreen cover, ed. of 200 copies, white vinyl, last copies! - *There's an animalistic or perhaps even plant-like bio-logic to its devolved, dubbed-out arcana, a grunting, scraping, grubbing ecological complexity of sounds that grows, twists and bifurcates at seemingly haphazard junctions to catalyse chain reactions of constant change and multiple layers of surreality.*
|
2013 |
€21.50 |
|
| TZESNE |
Asimilacionismo |
LP |
12 years after the "Huffduff" 7" on our own label (DR-74) the first LP by the favored Basque project: field recordings and vintage synth drones+tones+pulses+sequences serve as basis for the mysterious, somehow drone-based compositions, which use lots of unrecognizable sounds, there are flickering passages, synthetic scrawls and glittering environmentals, all carefully constructed for a wonderfully inspiring brain-ride... lim. 200 copies only, on white vinyl, finally BACK IN STOCK !
|
2016 |
€20.00 |
|
| UNII & EMERGE |
Stalker |
CD-R |
the second release / collaboration by EMERGE and Japanese singer UNII documents a live recording from June 2016 (Kunstverein GRAZ, Regensburg, Germany), the surrealistic ambient noises from EMERGE appear to be quite unobtrusive and structured, processed field recordings of children and metal bangs and the ethereal singing of UNII fuse nicely for a cinematic effect... another tribute to A. TARKOVSKY's film, lim. 50 copies
|
2016 |
€6.00 |
|
| URBAN SAX |
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 |
|
| V.A. (VARIOUS ARTISTS) (COMPILATIONS) |
Heilige Feuer 6 |
do-CD |
"Heilige Feuer" was the name of a yearly festival in St. Petersburg for Industrial, Harsh Noise and Experimental Ambient / Drone...each 2 studio tracks of groups who performed there: KRYPTOGEN RUNDFUNK, THE PROTAGONIST, I-C-K, DES ESSEINTES, A CHALLENGE OF HONOUR, ANTHESTERIA, LEICHE RUSTIKAL, RADIO MURMANSK. Comes in deluxe digipack printed with bronze on designer paper, with embossed festival logo, lim. 500 - SPECIAL OFFER NOW!
|
2009 |
€8.00 |
|
|
FUCK YOU. Fucking Noise in China now |
DVD |
Is noise political? Is there music after Mao? Impressive film about the new NOISE-scene in China - a 100 minute-trip & road movie filmed 2006 between Beijing & Shanghai, feat. TORTURING NURSE, WANG CHANGCUN, WANG FAN, LI JIAN HUNG/DICKSON DEE, Z. KARKOWSKI, etc.. by GUY-MARC HINANT & DOMINIQUE LOHLE
|
2012 |
€15.00 |
|
|
Avantgarde is happening because.. |
CD |
special compilation with exclusive material only, released for the re-established "Avantgarde" festival 2017 in Schiphorst, Germany: NURSE WITH WOUND, FAUST, ASMUS TIETCHENS, QLUSTER, V!V!V!, and many more new and unknown names of projects that were performing there with lots of KRAUT and PSYCHEDELIC experimentalism...lim. 500 and almost sold out at the label as many were picked up at the festival..
|
2017 |
€14.00 |
|
|
Strain, Crack & Break : Music from the Nurse With Wound List Vol. 1 (France) |
do-LP |
a collection of artists/tracks from the legendary NURSE WITH WOUND list (1979), Vol. 1 with only French acts ("where the Seine meets the in-sane"), with pieces from nowadays more well known acts such as PIERRE HENRY, IGOR WAKHEVITCH, PHILIPPE BESOMBES, JACQUES TOLLOT, ETRON FOU LELOUBLAN, ZNR, but there are also more unknown & obscure ones: MAHJUN, JEAN COHEN-SOLAL, RED NOISE, HORRIFIC CHILD, JEAN GUERIN, DASHIELL HEDAYAT.. excellent artwork by S.STAPLETON ,gatefold cover, extensive liner notes.. a must !!
|
2019 |
€24.00 |
|
|
The Harmonic Series Volume 2 |
3 x LP |
a stunning collection of six "just intonation" drone pieces (the original tuning system that forms the base for Indian / Persian / East Asian traditional music), with: KALI MALONE, CATERINA BARBIERI, TASHI WADA, CATERINE LAMB, BYRON WESTBROOK and DUANE PITRE..- "Vast in scope, immersive, and overwhelmingly beautiful from start to finish, if there’s a compilation to grab this year, this is the one" [Soundohm]
|
2021 |
€45.00 |
|
|
Gudelnaya Polyana - Solar Systo Togathering 2020 |
3 x CD set |
once in a year there's a special "drone / ambient stage" at the 'Solar Systo Togathering" festival in the forests of the Russian Karelia area (Leningrad region); this compilation has 3 hours of material from it (= 28 artists, many unknown and few well known names): DRONE LIBERATION FRONT, MIRA DREVO, JAGATH, SIX DEAD BULGARIAN, LUNAR ABYSS, SVETLO111, SOILCULT, PETROGRAD DRONE GATHERING, NOISES OF RUSSIA, and and and.. - numb. 300 copies, 6 panel art digipak
|
2021 |
€20.00 |
|
|
To Catch a Ghost - Field Recordings from Madagascar |
LP |
a collection of musical field recordings from central and southern MADAGASCAR (12 tracks), recorded and produced by CHARLES BROOKS who lived there several years with many of the artists...- "Like the grand beauty and wonder of its flora and fauna, Madagascar’s music is completely unique. Whether the tempos are fast with polyrhythmic precision or slow in the form of a Kabosy ballad, once one gets familiar with its sound, it can never be mistaken again" - lim. 500, incl. insert
|
2018 |
€22.50 |
|
| |
Mysterium, Incubus et Terror. Music inspired by Edgar Allan Poe stories |
CD |
MORGEN WURDE, MOMBI YULEMAN, KLOOB & OLASANDER, RAPOON, MARIO LINO STANCATI and diverse other artists pay tribute to the great American writer of phantastic tales by interpretating 10 of his stories musically... - *His horrors are relatable, timeless and ultimately haunting and therefore they and Poe endure..* - lim. 200 copies
|
2023 |
€13.00 |
|
| VAN HOUDT, REINIER |
MMXX-04: Les Champs Lissajous |
LP |
4th release in the new MMXX series that presents 20 artists from the experimental sound-art scene with very nice design / concept => dedicated to the year 2020 there will be 20 x 20 min. compositions on one-sided clear vinyl, with laser engraved artwork by the artist on the B-Side, lim. to 500 copies => REINIER VAN HOUDT created a cloudy, amorph, dreamlike soundtrack for TAKASHI MAKINO's film "Memento Stella" (2018)
|
2020 |
€24.00 |
|
| VIDNA OBMANA & PBK |
Monument of Empty Colours + Depression and Ideal |
do-CD |
in the long release history of VIDNA OBMANA there were few collaborations with PBK (Phillip B. Klingler), the first two ones recorded 1988 + 1989 appeared as cassettes and showed in this combination a more experimental and dark ambient side, slowly moving long form undulations, and fully resonating ambient noise, between beauty and darkness... - 6 panel double CD digipak, 400 copies
|
2022 |
€16.00 |
|
| VIGROUX, FRANCK |
MMXX-01: Tension 24 |
LP |
first release in a new series that presents 20 artists from the experimental sound-art scene with very nice design / concept => dedicated to the year 2020 there will be 20 x 20 min. compositions on one-sided clear vinyl, with laser engraved artwork by the artist on the B-Side, lim. to 500 copies => FRANCK VIGROUX starts the series with an awesome,multi-layered overwhelming drone piece that slowly develops into something else, complex and surprising to follow in its development... highly recommdended !!
|
2020 |
€24.00 |
|
| |
Ballades sur Lac Gelee |
LP |
surprising album for the French guitarist and composer, extremely well produced, very powerful and sharp electro-futuristic post industrial, almost dancefloor compatible, extremely "dry" and to the point, but there are also cold isolationistic ambient spheres included... a tribute to MIKA VAINIO ! - gatefold-cover, printed inner sleeve
|
2020 |
€21.50 |
|
| VIKTOR, KNUD |
Ambiances / Images |
do-LP |
official re-issues of the only two albums from 1972, now rare collectors items, by this Danish ambient sound artist, who also was a painter & filmmaker (1924-2013), using lots of self recorded nature sources ; "Light became sound. The most fascinating aspect of Knud Viktor’s world is perhaps that there is a universal coalescence of all things: of artistic expressions and natural science, of painting, sculpture and installation. A paintbrush becomes a microphone. Music becomes sound."
|
2017 |
€32.00 |
|
| VISIONS & PHURPA |
Monad |
LP |
the 100th release for the now maybe most important dark ambient label around: a studio collab between PHURPA and the project of label-owner VISIONS, the typical PHURPA vocal and ritualistic instrumental sounds are drowning in a deep morass of huge reverberations, but there are also moments of complete, rather silent alienation, whispers and winds from unknown spheres, timeless and lonely harmonic rays of elevation.... a very beautiful album, highly recommended! vinyl lim. 200
|
2018 |
€20.00 |
|
| |
Monad |
CD |
the 100th release for the now maybe most important dark ambient label around: a studio collab between PHURPA and the project of label-owner VISIONS, the typical PHURPA vocal and ritualistic instrumental sounds are drowning in a deep morass of huge reverbarations, but there are also moments of complete, rather silent alienation, whispers and winds from unknown spheres, timeless and lonely harmonic rays of elevation.... a very beautiful album, highly recommended! CD version 500 copies
|
2018 |
€13.00 |
|
| VIZ MICHAEL KREMIETZ |
SUIZEN |
CD |
pure & beautiful meditation recordings on the SHAKUHACHI, the Japanese Zen-flute, by the South-German artist and performer VIZ MICHAEL KREMIETZ, recorded during his stay in the monastery of Koyasan and Ekoin temple in the mountains of Japan => main part of the CD consists of his interpretation of the "Honkyoku", a traditional piece of Zen-Buddhism, but there are also own compositions and a long (23:23 min) collage with voice & violin, as a hommage to COIL; comes with full colour booklet
|
2012 |
€13.00 |
|
| VOICE OF EYE |
Seven directions divergent |
CD |
finally the full-length album after their return ! Another masterpiece of ethereal power-drone music based entirely on acoustic instruments & sources, this time much more song- and vocal oriented with at times amazing results !
|
2009 |
€13.00 |
|
| VON HAUSSWOLFF, C.M. & CHANDRA SHUKLA |
Travelogue [Bali] |
CD |
after the highly successful "Travelogue [Nepal]" audio diary project this is the second collab by VON HAUSSWOLFF with American musician and label-maker CHANDRA SHUKLA => field recordings from diverse places in Bali (beaches, temples, market places, forests) were used to construct 5 long pieces; comes in DVD sized digipack; - "It swallows you, if you let it, and I am more than happy to. There is so much to see here, if you close your eyes..."
|
2023 |
€17.50 |
|
| VON HAUSSWOLFF, C.M. (CARL MICHAEL) |
MMXX-03: For Marietta |
LP |
3rd release in the new MMXX series that presents 20 artists from the experimental sound-art scene with very nice design / concept => dedicated to the year 2020 there will be 20 x 20 min. compositions on one-sided clear vinyl, with laser engraved artwork by the artist on the B-Side, lim. to 500 copies => CM VON HAUSSWOLFF trudges with you through a dense but mellow / somehow harmonic drone-fog that changes its 'Gestalt' gradually and suspends the passaging of time (for at least 20 minutes;)...
|
2020 |
€24.00 |
|
| WATSON, CHRIS |
Locations, Processed |
LP |
New York City field recordings by CHRIS WATSON processed and filtered through the MOOG Sound Labs System 55 (there's no synth tone to be heard on this LP!) - "an immersive journey through reverberant halls and clanging streets, punctuated by snatches of quotidian conversation and startling intrusions.... Locations, Processed manages the impossible: Amid a deluge of energy, Watson records the empty space that surrounds the people who fill it." [Pitchfork]
|
2018 |
€20.00 |
|
| WE LIKE WE & JACOB KIRKEGAARD |
Time is Local |
LP |
extremely ethereal and amorph "ghost drone" and neo classic ensemble music on this collaboration, by the Danish all-female (4 members) group WE LIKE WE (performing on violin, cello, percussion and voice) and sound artist JACOB KIRKEGAARD, based on a 12 hour live sound installation at the Thorvaldson Museum in Copenhagen, where they wandered through halls and rooms of the museum the whole day.. a must for lovers of minimal & haunting drone muzak! Lim. 500, laser cutted art cover
|
2019 |
€29.00 |
|
| WESTERHUS, STIAN |
Pitch Black Star Spangled |
LP |
STIAN WESTERHUS is a Norwegian guitarist who became more and more well known in the experimental scene lately, overcoming and transforming the limitations of his instrument => working a lot with feedbacks, distortion, noise and strange effects, but also with overlapping harmony fragments, backwards-sounds, wild staccato sounds, etc.. but there are also more fragile drone moments... this is his first album for RUNE GRAMMOFON
|
2010 |
€20.00 |
|
| WIEMAN |
Alive Futarist Minifesta |
CD |
looking for a surprise? - the project of FRANS DE WAARD and ROEL MEELKOP will surely do it with this recording from 2014 dedicated to 100 years of Futurism; concrete mechanical noises & electronic sounds & robotic beats & voice material undergo a strange marriage... and there's much more! great ! edition of 200 copies
|
2016 |
€10.00 |
|
| YASNAIA |
Oniro |
do-CD |
the only full length album of the female HYBRYDS part, originally released in 1996 (on World Serpent), now re-issued with a full bonus disc feat. rare tracks from singles and compilations plus a recording from a live performance in Munich (August 1997): - "Dark rites and ethereal psychedelia. A sexual energy channeled in rhythm driven magical tribalism..." - lim. 500, 6 panel digipak
|
2021 |
€17.00 |
|
| Z'EV & JULIEN OTTAVI |
Crash & Cross |
CD |
unpublished collaboration recordings created in Nantes, France (in 2014 when Z'EV performed and stayed there), partly live, partly studio, undergoing a long mixing process after...- the combination of typical ZEV with JULIEN OTTAVI's noise approach leads to interesting results and non-ordinary, abstract (non)-structures... - 7 tracks, 60 min. playtime, very nice 6 panel digipack with 8 page full colour photo booklet , 200 copies ohly
|
2022 |
€14.00 |
|
| ZENI GEVA & STEVE ALBINI |
Maximum Implosion |
do-CD |
this double CD collect all collaborative pieces between ZENI GEVA (KK NULL's 'noise-rock' band together with MITSURU TABATA of ACID MOTHERS TEMPLE) and STEVE ALBINI (of BIG BLACK and SHELLAC fame): "Nai-Ha" (LP 1986) , "All right you little Bastards" (CD 1993), plus the ultra rare 12" 'Superunit' - "With a huge sound reminiscent of Godflesh in its heavy bottom and impossibly high-end guitar tones, resulting in almost no mid-range, it's hard to believe that there are only three people in the band."
|
2018 |
€16.00 |
|
| ZOS KIA / COIL |
Transparent |
CD |
new edition of this cassette from 1984 containing the earliest COIL material, plus the only ZOS KIA recordings (made for example at "Berlin Atonal" festival in Demember 1983) ever released (ZOS KIA = the project of JOHN BALANCE with JOHN GOSLING and MIN); all material has been re-mastered and there are two unknown bonus tracks of AKE (pre ZOS KIA project) included
|
2017 |
€13.00 |
|
| 1000SCHOEN |
Moune |
CD |
"MOUNE is a very old word for MOON, comes out of a old language that was spoken in Germany. But it’s not german, it’s friesisch. Anyway, the moon theme is one of favourite topics in mystic circles around dark ambient genre. For Helge Siehl, who is the driving force of 1000schoen since the time he split his way with the other two former Maeror Tri members, it’s definitely one of the most important subject - in his paintings, photos and music. This album, presenting the program of his first ever russian tour in December 2010 (with Troum and Feine Trinkers Bei Pinkels Daheim), shows more ambient side of 1000schoen, leaving rhythmic path aside in favor of menacing sounds of highly personal moon rising visions. Moreover, it’s actually debut CD of this prominent german artist, who previously released his music mostly on limited/private edition CDRs. Featuring 3 tracks, with total running time of 45 minutes.
1000schoen is a trained artist, certified art therapist and surround sound acoustician. A native of Fries country, he is currently living in Bremen, where he participated in various art projects. As soundartist, he worked since 1994 in Turin (I), Amsterdam (NL), Zurich (CH), Ghent (B), Never (F), Nuremberg, Hamburg, Munich and Cologne, to name a few. Since 1995, he also created many pictorial and graphic works. For instance, he invented the famous Maeror Tri "wheel" logo, and designed some of their album covers, as well as others (Oophoi "Potala" etc)." [label info]
"The symbol of 1000schoen reflects the celestial bodies of Sun and Moon in inseparable symbiosis, which we can see (at least) in all that we can imagine. The world of 1000schoen art and experience moves in this continuum as well." - Helge Siehl
www.nitkie.ru
"Troum came from Maeror Tri. A trio reduced to a duo, so what happened to the third person? Helge Siehl started his own project, 1000schoen, and has had a few releases as such. This might very well be his first real CD release. Its not easy to review this and not to think of Maeror Tri or Troum, simply because there is a similarity between all three. Now if Siehl would have picked up the acoustic guitar and sang songs, it would have been easy: it would be very different. But in the three pieces, two long one short, Siehl continues to explore his own version of his own legacy. He does that in a slightly different way than Troum. Whereas Troum offers a very dense sound of atmospheric sound, layering many sounds together, to put the icing on the cake, it seems to me that Siehl likes a less crowded palette of sounds, stripping and reducing until he is left with a handful of sounds to work. In the final short track it seems that he is using voice only and for me it broke with the natural flow of the two longer pieces. In those he chooses to work with guitars and synthesizers, along with a bit of sound effects, but throughout in a more minimal field. The opening piece 'Moune Rising' moves along those bass lines, field recordings and finds itself eventually taken over by some more synthetic sounds, whereas 'Moune' is more a piece of gentle processed guitar sounds and rusty field recordings of large, empty factories. Not entirely surprising in the world of drone music, but then perhaps so isn't Troum either, but its quite exciting to hear this album and if Maeror Tri and Troum are close to your heart, then you'd should be lending 1000schoen an ear too. Equally good, I'd say." [FdW/Vital Weekly]
|
2010 |
€13.00 |
|
| 15 DEGREES BELOW ZERO |
Open Doors |
CD |
15 Degrees Below Zero is Mark Wilson, Daniel Blomquist, &Michael Addison Mersereau. The first release by this project was in 2000, so 21 years later we get to see how the project has progressed. Despite this album being started over 10 years ago it fully expresses a great maturity and beautiful diversity of styles. This is a truly epic album and I'm proud to present it to the world along with the members of the project.
Mastered by Thomas Dimuzio for full effect as well.
https://oxidation.bandcamp.com/album/open-doors
"For those unfamiliar with this project, 15 Degrees Below Zero is the work of Daniel Blomquist, Michael Addison Mersereau, and Mark Wilson (who also performs under the name Conure). This project began after the demise of Imperial Floral Assault Unit, and the structured improvisations that they have become known for would continue for the next 20 years. This album has been 10 years in the making. To give you a sense of how long it has been, a live version of "Horizon, Skyline" originally appeared on the Conure/15DBZ split cassette that was released on Danvers State Recordings in 2012. Still, this album still holds up as if it were recorded yesterday.
I have often enjoyed 15 Degrees Below Zero’s music because of its cinematic qualities. In previous reviews I've compared it to In The Nursery’s Optical Music series. One of the things that is consistent in 15 Degrees Below Zero is, ironically, their inconsistency. One album kind of reminded me of The Durutti Column with a little bit more of an edge to it. Others have a cinematic quality that sounds like it’s straight out of a soundtrack (they have often referred to their music as “cinematic isolationism”). This one is a slight departure in that the soundtrack would be for a very unhappy post-apocalyptic film where there is no happy ending. If you want a microcosm of this album, you can look no further than the first track Horizon, Skyline. This track begins with lush drone combined with a beautiful harmony. However, just beneath the surface is a wall of static that continually threatens to overrun the track. Toward the end we’ve achieved a kind of uneasy equilibrium with equal parts rumbling static and drone.
15 Degrees Below Zero enjoys messing with the listener and giving us what we don't expect. Just when you think they are moving back into beautiful soundscape territory, we find ourselves being slowly dragged back into a sea of squalling feedback and static. Sometimes the static comes completely to the forefront, as in “The Dead Sea.” In this track, we have high pitched squeal and harsh noise that would be right at home on any noise album. This is unsurprising, as I saw both Mark Wilson’s solo project Conure and Daniel Bloomquist’s solo project at this year’s Northern California Noise Festival.
This album is the best of all possible worlds in experimental music. In some ways, there is something for everyone. If you have a friend that wishes that bands like Godspeed You! Black Emperor would let loose and be more experimental and chaotic, hand them this disk. This is what that would sound like. Do you know someone who is not really into harsh noise because they think it all sounds the same, or they simply want something more to it? Hand them this disk. There is all of the noise, but also all of the beauty. That is precisely what makes 15 Degrees Below Zero such an engaging act. You never quite know what you are going to get but you know it's always going to be worth getting. Highly recommended." [Eskaton, Chain D.L.K.]
"Eine offene Tür ist ein ausgesprochen vielgestaltiges Symbol, und das erstrecht, wenn es sich gleich um mehrere handelt. Sie zeigen unmissverständlich, dass der vor ihnen stehende weder ein- noch ausgesperrt ist und dass jede Wand, jede Grenze durch sie passierbar ist. Dem Auge jedoch offenbart sich in einer offenen Tür nur ein rahmenhafter Ausschnitt, der meist mehr versteckt als offenbart. Und mit dem, was man durch die Tür zu sehen vermag, steht und fällt jede Hoffnung, die ihre Offenheit suggeriert. Das Ausschnitthafte, Unbestimmte, mitunter Mysteriöse offener Türen ist beinahe ein perfektes Motto für die musikalische Erkundungsreise, die das Drone- und Noise-Trio 15 Degrees Below Zero auf ihrem vor einigen Monaten erschienenen Album „Open Doors“ unternehmen.
15 Degrees Below Zero ist das Projekt der drei Kalifornier Mark Wilson (besser bekannt als Conure), Daniel Blomquist und Michael Addison Mersereau, die in den 90ern bereits unter dem Namen Imperial Floral Assault Unit zusammenarbeiteten, und machte vor allem in den Nullerjahren von sich reden. Nach Wilsons Umzug nach Berlin und der Konzentration der Musiker auf andere Projekte wurden die Aktivitäten irgendwann seltener, und so brauchte es beinahe ein Jahrzehnt, bis „Open Doors“ fertig gestellt wurde.
Wenn es einen roten Faden auf „Open Doors“ gibt, dann dass die in den einzelnen Stücken entworfenen, meist düsteren Settings nie klar definiert bleiben, sondern immer wieder ihre Gestalt durch subtile Überblendungen und Verästelungen modifizieren. „Horizon, Skyline“ – der Opener und gleich längste Track des Albums – startet mit verunsichernden Rumpel- und Kratzgeräuschen, eingehüllt in eine mysteriöse Wolke aus dichtem Rauschen. Doch von titelgebenden Horizont dringt bald ein tief erdendes Ambientdröhnen ins Zentrum des Geschehens, intensiviert sich und verdrängt alle Kantigkeit, um am Ende Platz für weitere, perkussive Details zu schaffen, und so entpuppt sich jeder Moment, in dem man verweilen möchte, als vergänglicher Übergang zu weiteren, unbestimmten Orten.
Die abgeklärte Desolatheit, die sich bereits hier erahnen lässt, scheint in den folgenden Tracks deutlicher hervor: Im „The 5:15“ betitelten Stück breiten sich rauschende Wellen wie schwerer Atem über monotones Saitenspiel aus und mutieren zu etwas, das an gequälte Stimmen erinnert – alles scheint sich hier auf eine Eskalation zuzubewegen, während das Gitarrenmotiv stoisch unverändert bleibt, bis perkussives Klopfen für etwas Erleichterung sorgt. In manchen Stücken scheint es in emotionaler, atmosphärischer Hinsicht am Ende doch so etwas wie ein kleines Fazit zu geben.
Noch weitaus unbestimmter und wechselhafter offenbart sich der Titeltrack, der sich zunächst als knarriger Ambietdowner in die Gehörgänge bohrt. Hat man sich erst einmal eingelebt in seiner resignativen Statik, so sorgen allerhand kleine feine Bewegungen für Erleichterung: Helle Sounds bimmeln wie abstrahierte Glöckchen durch den Raum, doch das wiederum ist nur die Ankündigung für einen durch donnernde Detonationen eingeleiteten Sturm, der viel ungehörtes aufwirbelt. Interessant ist dass all diese gegensätzlich wirkenden Bestandteile der Kompositionen sich nie gegenseitig in Frage stellen, sondern in all ihrer Ambiguität zu koexistieren verstehen – vielleicht ist dies am deutlichsten spürbar in “White Sands”, dessen treibende Dynamik aus dem Hintergrund wirkt und die anrührende Melodie im Vordergrund nie antastet. es ist eines der kraftvollsten Stücke des Albums.
So haben letztlich alle Stücke ihre eigene kleine innere Dramatik, ihre eigenen Brüche und Richtungswechsel, und natürlich auch ihre Schwerpunkte. Lässt der nach dem Roten Meer benannte Track eine wuchtige Ambientwelle eine fast meditative Unbewegtheit in dem mit Klappern erfüllten Raum entstehen, so offenbart sein am Ende des Albums verortetes Pendant “The Dead Sea ” die größte Ambiguität zwischen Ruhe und Unruhe, zwischen getriebener Bewegung, schönen Synthie-Soundscapes und einem rabiaten Noise, der von etwas, das an Schreie erinnert, durchzuckt ist.
“Open Doors” ist ein ungemein reichhaltiges Album und jedes enthaltene Stück würde den Stoff für einen kongenialen Filmscore abgeben. Wenn die so untermalten Stoffe – mehrere Kollegen schrieben zurecht über postapokalyptische Dystopien – durch zahlreiche Ereignisse und zugleich durch eine nie zu eindeutige Stimmung auffallen würden, wären sie der Musik am ehesten angemessen." [U.S./African Paper] |
2021 |
€13.00 |
|
| 1997EV |
Zeta Reticuli |
LP |
1997EV - "ZETA RETICULI" (rur017)
LP - marbled dark red / glittering orange /gold-marbled transparent vinyl - lim. ed. of 315 copies
Four years and several intense live appearances after their much acclaimed debut CD on Punch Records, 1997EV are back, this time on vinyl, with a new masterpiece of pure minimal post-psychedelia. “Zeta Reticuli” is a long, dark, trance inducing ritual journey verging on astral bad trip. Spooky, spacey, percussion-driven and guitar-loaded ballads unfold with a Voivod-like weirdness in the back of your mind, served by AndreaEV’s deep, hypnotizing vocals and an occasional drift of intoxicating Theremin sounds. Reminiscent of Goblin and S/T, with a hint of Earth and an overall feel of early Ordo Equilibrio on LSD, those hallucinogenic cosmic flowers will leave their imprint burnt on the retina of your inner eye long after the record has stopped spinning.
|
2010 |
€8.00 |
|
| 3/4HADBEENELIMINATED |
Theology |
CD |
Die Band mit STEFANO PILIA & CLAUDIO ROCCHETTI, filed under: seltsame atmosphärisch-melancholische Improvisationen im (entfernten) Post-Rock-Gewand [mit späterer effektvoller Nachbearbeitung im Studio ohne das improvisatorische Feeling zu zerstören]; zwei lange Stücke füllen THEOLOGY, schwebend und unfokussiert aber stets im Wandel, unter Einsatz von vielen "echten" Instrumenten (Gesang, Drums, Gitarren, Piano), mitunter blitzen Ähnlichkeiten gar mit A SILVER MT. ZION auf... die ist der "Schwester-Release" zur LP "Religious Experience".
"Soleilmoon Recordings is proud to announce the simultaneous release of 3/4HadBeenEliminated’s new CD and LP, titled “Theology” and “The Religious Experience”, respectively. 3/4HadBeenEliminated was founded in 2002 in Bologna, Italy as a trio, with Stefano Pilia, Claudio Rocchetti and Valerio Tricoli. An eponymous album was released in 2003 by Bowindo. In 2004 the group welcomed Tony Arrabito and became a quartet. The next year Hapna put out their second album “A Year of the Aural Gauge Operation”, and in 2006 the band self-released a 7 inch single “DimethylAtonalCalcine”. The group straddles the line between live improvisation and studio experimentation, blending and shaping raw sounds into living pieces, then gently dissecting the delicately structured songs into disruptive sonic excursions more evocative of moving shadows and swirling leaves than recognizable tunes. Stasis and stability are nowhere to be found here. Instead, an ever-changing dialogue between structure and chaos shifts from one performer to the next, never resting long before launching again into shuddering flight. Accoustic instruments and vocals form a familiar reference point, but studio treatments take the music into psychedelic and cinematic realms. In their words , “Improvisation is a way to experiment without thinking. When our improvisations ‘work’, the music just happens on its own. It reveals itself as if guided by its own logic, its own desire. In fact we don’t even feel like we are actually playing the music. It’s more like a stream that moves and changes autonomously. With composition (editing, overdubs, etc. etc.) we then remodel this stream, trying to make it more complex, ‘forever lasting, forever changing’, in the sense that every hearing will reveal a new perspective of the music. As a live band, we improvise 100%, and it's really risky, but when it ‘happens’, it’s the greatest satisfaction.” “Theology” is presented in a wooden box with a hinged cover decorated with layers of hand-painted tracing paper, and is limited to 450 copies on CD. The companion vinyl LP “The Religious Experience” is a reinterpretation of the recordings made for the CD. The LP is limited to 225 copies. The two albums – and their music – should be considered as mirror opposites. Where theology is a completely artificial system of belief, a religious experience is the immediate experience of the thing itself. Likewise, the music on “Theology” is complex and elaborate, while “The Religious Experience” is much simpler, going directly to the heart of the material comprising “Theology”. Thus, the two works are independent, yet relate to each other as mother and daughter." [press release]
"....and with some imagination you could say that they are a rock band. Well, an expanded rock band that crosses many lines: post rock, singer songwriter, improvisation and above all musique concrete collage techniques. Maybe the stage isn't their place but they should be safely stuck in the studio, where they can freely experiment with sound. Each member plays a wide variety of instruments, except Arrabito, who is just credited for drums. Inside the studio they find a safe place to improvise their music, but not as an end, but as a start. Recordings are separated, deconstructed and rebuilt into something. These two new releases, both lavishly packed with all sorts of nice paper, are best heard together, as mirrors of each other. The CD (limited to 450 copies) and the LP (limited to 225 copies) have however their differences, but the provide a nice view in the kitchen of 3/4HadBeenEliminated. The CD is perhaps more complex in approach. We hear lots of processed guitars, percussive sounds, organ like drones but also contact microphones scratching the surface alongside humming vocals. Not really rock by any rock standard, even when things seems to hint that way. Seemingly things move from atmosphere to atmosphere, gradually, slow, but without doubt moving.." [FdW / Vital Weekly]
"...you'll know to expect fractured and mysterious soundscapes, a densely textured drone-zone constructed from field recordings, record crackle, improvised acoustic instruments, radio static, fragments of piano melody, electronic treatments, whispered Italian voices, turntable scratchings, reel-to-reel tape manipulation, synthesizer sinewaves, scattered percussion, and more. That's a zone we LOVE to visit. There's two long tracks, lots to explore, all manner of curious creakings and cracklings, shifting rhythms and rumblings abounding within 3/4hadbeeneliminated's carefully crafted and/or improvised music. At times quiet and meditative, at others noisier and distorted, but always (to our ears) utterly gorgeous and compelling. Aligns quite nicely with the likes of the Jewelled Antler collective, the Finnish forest foraging of Kemialliset Ystavat, and of course others in the experimental underground Italian scene of which the members of 3/4hadbeeneliminated are a part." [Aquarius Records review]
www.soleilmoon.com
|
2007 |
€19.50 |
|
| 400 LONELY THINGS |
Mother Moon |
CD |
The new album from 400 LONELY THINGS, produced by WILLIAM BASINSKI, is a dark ambient, sample-based séance to the Banning Mill - a real-life decaying \"mansion\" and haven for artists, freaks and misfits in the backwoods of the American Deep South in the 1970s-1990s - and an extraordinary piece of art that lived there.
An archaeological excursion in found sound - wandering through the art and memory of a real place, \"Mother Moon\" is an origin story for 400 Lonely Things. In the 1990\'s, Craig Varian was fortunate enough to frequent the Mill in the years before it closed. It was here that he was exposed to the artwork of Richard Scott Hill. The impact is hard to overstate.
Built on the Snake River in the early 1800\'s as a textile mill, it operated until the late 1960\'s and when its doors closed on that era, and reopened on another. In 1971, the Mill was purchased by a young wealthy \"eccentric\" (to use the vernacular of the time). He was openly gay in the deeply bigoted Old South, a collector of fantastic and surreal art, a drug enthusiast, an owner of at least one mental illness, and a self-described entrepreneur with a vision. In the years that followed, he turned this sprawling, mildewed structure into a private hippie art collective, music venue and refuge for Southern misfits - gays and gender-benders, visual artists, musicians, mystics, ghost-hunters, wizards, pagans, intellectuals, poets, nerds and psychedelic explorers by the dozens drifted in and out, creating their own alternate universe in its hundreds of rooms.
One of these artists was Richard Scott Hill. Hill\'s work stood apart from everything else at the Mill. It was all black and white or hand-coloured photography - typically stark portraits of people - almost always wearing masks. These photos were disturbing and disarming, hilarious and crazed, unsettling and aggressively surreal in their confrontational simplicity. His work both captured and fed into the Mill\'s sinister yet playful undercurrents of mania and depression. By the conservative 1980\'s, the Mill became a very different place. A dark and quiet ectoplasmic hangover haunted its rooms with just a handful of tenants, remaining so until its doors closed for good in the late 90\'s.
Varian had friends that lived there, and after hearing quiet legends of the Banning Mill since the late 80\'s, was finally able to visit. While the Mill itself was transformative enough, turning down a disused hallway, Varian encountered the image on the cover of this album and quite simply became a different person. A lifetime spent as a Southern misfit had led to fruitless artistic, philosophical, spiritual and psychedelic pursuits as relief. At this time, an obsession with visual collage and audio sampling had been brewing and upon seeing this image, boiled over. He realized that the sounds and images he\'d been seeking had been sought by many others and that for a time, these seekers had lived here in the secret winding halls of Banning Mill in the wilds of the Deep South. In particular, this nude cow-faced woman was the Minotauress who sat at the heart of that maze.
Since the days of the Mill (and Varian\'s subsequent purchase of Hill\'s \"Minotauress\" shortly before the Mill closed), Varian, along with best friend and musical partner Jonathan McCall, found a thread of music they\'d been consistently making yet had previously failed to notice - melancholic instrumentals with weathered sampling at its core - going back to their earliest recordings in the late 1980\'s. Eventually, this music was called 400 Lonely Things, and eventually an album would be attempted to honor both the Mill and Richard\'s \"Minotauress\".
The Mill has been closed for about 25 years now and all that remains of it is a gutted skeleton covered in yellow caution tape. After a dozen albums, Jonathan McCall has since passed on to the next realm. But this album, born out of that first visit to the Mill, is finally here - an imaginary soundtrack to the many years of solitude the Minotauress spent hanging in that musty hallway.
For this album, Varian reached out to Mr. Hill and a friendship and artistic relationship has developed. Richard - now in his 80\'s and an established figure in the established art world - still creates fantastically bizarre works daily from his home studio, just a mile from the remains of the Mill. He says that the music of 400 Lonely Things is from another dimension and he hopes you enjoy it and his previously unpublished art gracing the cover.
Presented in a 6-panel spot-varnished digipak.
credits
released April 11, 2023
Produced by William Basinski
Additional Mixing and Mastering by Preston Wendel
Covert art by Richard Scott Hill
\"Mother Moon is a cypher that saves an important hidden fragment of cultural history from erasure.\" Ben Ponton, Zoviet France.
\"Mother Moon is darkness calling. It will take you to the outer limits and leave you there. Guaranteed to twist your mind.\" Andrew Hulme, O Yuki Conjugate.
\"A wistful, burrowing, beautiful nightmare.\" Daniel Kraus, NY Times Best Selling Author of The Living Dead with George A. Romero, and The Shape Of Water with Guillermo Del Toro.
https://coldspring.bandcamp.com/album/mother-moon-csr319cd
"It's one of those weeks... Being a former ginger/redhead, I have problems handling the moist 25-30 Celcius) heat in the Netherlands. So I hardly get to do anything, and I get distracted all the time, like work and such. So I have been trying to start a review of "Mother Moon" by 400 Lonely Things several times, and each time I end up just listening and floating away, Drifting on the waves ... And I didn't even feel bad about listening to it over and over and over ...
Produced by William Basinski, 400 Lonely Things is a project by Craig Varian inspired by recordings around, based in, or related to an old mill. A beautiful PDF was sent to us, and it might well be part of the Bandcamp download, but how you get your hands on it when you get the CD: I don't know. The 400 Lonely Things concept focuses on the arrangement of lost and found sounds, and the melancholia is certainly audible in the release. Also, the journey aspect is very well set in this release, the journey being the descriptive part of environments through sound as a medium. So in many areas where the boxes should be ticked to make a release interesting, those boxes are actually ticked.
Musicwise, "Mother Moon" is an absolute beauty. Almost 80 minutes, with deep drones, minimal melodic lines, scarce structural sounds (no rhythms), ambience and, on occasion, a mesmerizing voice preaching solitude and melancholia. And here and there, an ever so slight 'touch of Coil' (for example, in "In Darkness"). So
at this point, I would say: Get the album and don't worry too much about everything else. But the booklet and combined conceptual approach is a bit of a downer for me, as it turns out. I mean: Concepts make many releases I know/heard/have enjoyable, and I know all about it as an artist myself. But in a weird way the conceptual approach is so elaborate and massive that it almost forces me to think about it. And all I want to do is just enjoy the flow, as a psychonaut, ride the waves and not be bothered too much with all that mumbo jumbo. But that's just me. I think... I hope... Other than that: Go Flow, Go Dream, Go Listen, Just 'Be' ..." [BW / Vital Weekly] |
2023 |
€15.00 |
|
| 5UU'S |
Hunger's Teeth |
CD |
Die 5UU’s gehören zum Aushängeschild neuer “Avant-Prog-Rock” oder “Art-Rock”-Bands und wurden oft mit den genialen ART BEARS verglichen....oder als zeitgemässe Nachfolger von YES. Diese Musik ist schwer zu beschreiben: perfekt eingespielte Genre-sprengende Rockmusik, manchmal sehr strukturiert und mit Refrains die man mitsingen kann, i.d.R. mit disharmonischem oder neu-harmonischem Gesang & alles auf den Punkt gespielt; unerwartete Wechsel, fast-Krach-Parts, sehr ruhige experimentelle geräuschafte akustische Szenen, inkl. einem umwerfenden Solo-Stück von THOMAS DIMUZIO; und SUSANNE LEWIS (CORPSES AS BEDMATES) singt auf zwei Stücken.
„....Ein Charakteristikum der UU´s-Musik besteht darin, daß häufig Melodien gegen Begleitungen gesetzt werden, die nicht als Unterstützung sondern als Widerpart wirken. Es macht Spaß, beim Hören zu erleben, wie diese Melodik trotzdem als "schön" wahrnehmbar bleibt (obwohl ich mir darüber im klaren bin, daß viele Hörer einwenden würden, die Melodien seien hier als Melodien kaum noch erkennbar).... “ [Ralf J. Günter / Babyblaue Seiten]
“The re-formed 5UU's first CD, featuring, one-of-a-kind drummer Dave Kerman with new line-up- Sanjay Kumar (keyboards) and Bob Drake (Bass, Guitar, Vocals) and guests Susanne Lewis, Tom Dimuzio, and James Grigsby. Power, complexity and intelligence - an express train that can pirouette on a dime.” [label info]
“....Hunger's Teeth is the most exciting rock album I've heard this year. No, not Anderson exactly, but Robert Drake's vocals do bear a striking resemblance to the Yes man's "angelic" tenor. Is this "progressive rock" for the '90's? A celebration of intricately layered arrangements and polyrhythmic playing, effortlessly combining '70's grandeur with avant-rock, contemporary collage and computing - and only one track in 11 over six minutes! The musicianship (also David Kerman and Sanjay Kumar, plus guests) is superb, not showy, always at the service of the experimental approach to song structure - lots of convoluted instrumental passages that return almost miraculously to "refrains". Brilliant.” [Chris Blackford / Rubberneck]
„...."Mangate" is a minimalist, tape-manipulation piece created by Thomas DiMuzio. It has such a hypnotic effect, that I once missed my exit on the highway because that track had lulled me into a semi-trance. Very neat. Those first three tracks are my favorite part of the album, but it continues to maintain its high quality throughout. The ground it covers ranges from a barbershop quartet singing about barbers to philosophy about a bachelor fumbling his way through mending his own clothes. Plus there's a running theme throughout the album that has to do with horses - the one pictured on the cover, the track title "Roan" (which starts with galloping hoof beats), the rocker "Glue" ("in time, sugar and horses will both become glue") that starts with the trumpet call that begins horse races, etc. Even the album title is apparently meant to be the name of a famous race horse. The more I listen to this disc, the more layers and tie-ins to various themes I find.
This is definitely a highly recommended album, if you're a fan at all of prog's more experimental edges. For those looking to get their first 5uu's album, this would be a good place to start (if you can find it).” [Ground and Sky]
|
1994 |
€14.00 |
|
| 87 CENTRAL |
Formation |
CD |
Sanft-dynamische ambient-tunes auf dieser neuen CD von Jeff Carey alias 87 CENTRAL, einigen vielleicht von der ERS LP bekannt. Er benutzt diverse, auch konkrete field-recording Soundquellen und bearbeitet sie digital, hat ganz eigene Atmosphäre und Charakter...
“ Bridging the gap in time and sound between the debut self titled release on ERS Records (ERS003) and the recent release of Saxmower (JDK Productions), Formation (Staalplaat) builds on the tuned listening characteristic of 87 Central's no-input mixer work as its foundation while increasingly incorporating varied sound materials. Formation presents seven vector components coming from different origins and arriving into a singular sound space of evolving organic sonic life cycles. These systems exhibit growth and decomposition of layered feedback, computer processes and sample manipulations around concrete sound material.
Fragments of tangible experience set the listener on a trajectory through a soundscape of impressionistic imagery punctuated by clearly indexed natural detail. Using environmental recordings and electronics, these tracks present more than the directness of documentary field recordings and recreate experiences of active listening: the warning beacon on a jetty in the North Sea during a winter night as container ships arrive in port; the intensity and activity of crackling rhythms and the continuous energy of fire; and the night life of an urban power plant in the heat of summer.” [press release]
“ Bird calls and fire sounds in combination processed feedback and the washy sounds of Dan's guitar (only in one track though), make this into a kind of ambient record, in which happens more then the usual washes of digital synths and plundered sound effect CDs. 87 Central plays around with environmental, concrete and abstract sound, and does it with great care. The glitchy elements present on "Saxmower" are not apperent on this release, so I recommend this to all ambient hearts out there. Strong stuff.” [FdW, Vital Weekly]
|
2003 |
€8.00 |
|
| AALFANG MIT PFERDEKOPF |
Kindspechleber |
LP + CD |
"On Kindspechleber Mirko Uhlig offers a set of real disturbing tracks bsomewhere between musique concrète and cold ambient layers. The
added CD Kall Trä presents reworked sound collections from the vinyl and with this four completely new songs. As they complement
this work as whole, these recordings shouldn´t be withhold. A release which shows once more that Mirko Uhlig is just a versatile experimental musician. Comes in a very appealing coverartwork by Robert Schalinski." [label info]
www.empiricrecords.com
"This proofs absolutely nothing. What the hell do I know? Like why Mirko Uhlig once changed from using his band name Aalfang Mit Pferdekopf to his own name, and since time it's back to that moniker again. There might be a perfect logic explanation for it, but I don't know. Or perhaps I am not certain about it but the differences could be hidden inside the music. If that is the case, then I am sure these differences are quite small. Maybe with Uhlig (as Uhlig) I had the impression things were all a bit more subdued, and with Aalfang it's perhaps all a bit more louder. But maybe I just have the volume turned up more today? Here we have a LP and a CD, both of around forty minutes which offer a sufficient insight in the world of Uhlig. Mood music is the best description but perhaps not mood music in the 'classic' drone sense, but more like a story telling. Uhlig uses long form sounds, drones if you will, but cuts it along with spoken word, children's voices, radio which gives the music a strange surrealistic notion. Will you be surprised if I bring up the name Nurse With Wound in this respect? It has that same estranged atmosphere here as on say 'Spiral Insana', like a wicked radio play, or a montage of film voices from a horror movie, but also with samples from a spaghetti western towards the end of 'Les Mouches Volantes'. If I understood matters correctly, the CD is Uhlig taking the sounds from the LP into a whole new world, a recycled version as we would have said so in the 1980s. Now to proof my point I don't know much. The LP sounds differently than the CD. The CD could be more Uhlig than Aalfang (am I still making sense?). with more subdued textured tones, more ambient, more Hafler Trio than the wounded nurse. It's great that both come to us as Aalfang Mit Pferdekopf as they fit along each other quite well. First play the record to get in a scary mood, and then the CD to relax and contemplate about what just happened. Great work, I must say, but I guess I have been a converted fan for quite some time." [FdW/Vital Weekly]
|
2012 |
€20.00 |
|
| |
Mutatis Mutandis |
CD-R |
"The three tracks are based on sound material by Frans de Waard published on a tape compilation for the 25th anniversary of the Korm Plastics label, which can be heard at the beginning of the album. As Frans de Waard explains in a spoken introduction to this album, listeners were invited to remix the material, preferably with 4-track cassette recorder. The music on “Mutatis Mutandis” is Mirko Uhlig’s response to this invitation, so it is a fitting gesture that the album is also released as a cassette in tribute to the important role that 4-track machines and the tape distribution scene have played in the development of experimental musics. Thanks to Frans de Waard’s guest vocal intro, the cassette is a “tape with the sound of its own making” similar to Robert Morris’s seminal sound sculpture “Box with the Sound of its Own Making”, but the music also makes for very pleasant listening on the CD version." [label info]
www.wix.com/attenuationcircuit/attenuation-circuit
"Of course I am not the right person to say anything about Aalfang Mit Pferdekopf's 'Mutatis Mutandis', since a little silly thing from me as Freiband was the basis of this. An one minute piece released on a cassette, which people could use to remix, preferably using a four track cassette. There is an unreleased piece by Z'EV, but only Mirko Uhlig has spend a lot of time with it. He's back to using his old bandname, Aalfang Mit Pferdekopf, and there are three pieces here. One seems a straight remix of the original, followed by the title piece, which takes up thirty eight minutes. Here Uhlig takes the hiss of the original apart, adds sound effects, time stretches bits into long form drones, making an absolute great piece, ending a nice up in your face drone bit and even a short noise bit at the end - but hey of course I am not the right person to write such things. Close to the fire and such things. But to know such a short and hissy piece of loosely formed sounds can make such a great piece, I didn't know. Excellent, but of course I am not etc. And, best coup about it, its also released on cassette. Now there is something to bring to your four track machine. I know I will!" [FdW/Vital Weekly] |
2012 |
€8.00 |
|
| AB INTRA |
Henosis I-V |
CD |
"A bit more than two years after the two-disc split with 1000Schoen (ZOHAR 070-2), Ab Intra is back with a new album. After two previous successful ventures entitled “Aura Imaginalis” (ZOHAR 006-2) and “Supremus” (ZOHAR 026-2) the new release is a record of its research in the field of music.
“HENOSIS” (Greek for unity, unification) is a scene of a suggestive sonic travel; a travel uniting opposites at different symbolic levels. The sounds on the album are an attempt to reflect the transforming process expressed through color, intensity and frequency. In this sense, the album is a conceptual whole strongly interacting with the imagination of the audience.
The album released in a digipak is strictly limited to 300 copies." [label info]
"The second release from Zoharum is by Ab Intra, who is no stranger to this label, after releasing ‘Aura Imaginalis’ (not reviewed) and ‘Supremus’ (Vital Weekly 826), as well as a double split CD with 1000schoen (Vital Weekly 937). I have no idea who is behind Ab Intra, yet I do know that the title of his latest CD stems from the Greek for ‘unity’ or ‘unification’. He (assuming here actually) is someone who also loves his synthesizers, perhaps even of the modular variation like Schlienz, but his output is totally different. If Schlienz is good at playing the ‘minimal’ card, then Ab Intra plays for the maximum output. In the five pieces (all noted by triangle symbols) he feeds his modular synth work to each other and then through what sounds
like a long line of sound effects, and the endgame is what could be easily classified as power drone music. It comes across as a bunch of tormented church organs that over the course over several hundred years have been left outside in the acid rain and just recently have been dusted off to play some music again. There is some intense unity in these sounds, going from rock/drone like in the opening piece to arpeggio in the closing piece; variation through unification, if you get my drift." [FdW/Vital Weekly]
www.zoharum.com
|
2016 |
€12.00 |
|
| ABATE, MAURIZIO |
A Way to Nowhere |
LP |
Maurizio Abate rented a room in a isolated house in the mountains during the winter of 2013, bringing all his instruments there. Time was spent walking around, enjoying some dope in complete solitude and recording music at any time of the day.
Rather than being into this experience in a Thoreau sense, the surrounding landscape was just a background scenery to Maurizio, and the real immersion has been made in his room and in his head where all the sounds he had in mind were floating.
What Maurizio looked for was a way to boil down and aggregate togheter many influences he had in recent times, meditative krautism, traditional music and the inalienable passion for blues guitar. Some of the tracks were sketches to work on, others were the result of long improvisations which has been rearranged and mixed when he got back home.
The record sees contributes from good ol’ friends like Rella the Woodcutter, BeMyDelay and Alberto Boccardi and features a piece of interview with Aldous Huxley on “Towards the Outside”
released in black vinyl, 250 copies.
co-released with Black Sweat Records
blacksweatrecords.com
Cover photos by Valentina D'Accardi
valentinadaccardi.it
www.boringmachines.it
|
2014 |
€15.00 |
|
| |
The Maadi Sessions |
LP |
I visited Egypt for the first time in October 2016, spending a week there, and I went back for a longer period the next February. Both times I stayed at Sara and Alberto’s place, a couple of friends who have been living in the Maadi district of Cairo for about a year.
The first impact with the city and its inhabitants was definitely strong: I had trouble in defining the energy which pervades the streets 24 hours a day and the feeling of perpetual movement one gets from it. Although this vortex was fascinating, it sometimes originated some kind of alienation and estrangement on my behalf. I had to distance myself from the excess of stimuli.
During my first visit, I was especially struck by the sounds, so I recorded some of them over my following stay, and I tried to mix them with my electric guitar, a sort of conversation between the inner world and the outside one. During the sessions in Alberto’s house, I also experimented new techniques and effects on the guitar, approaching the instrument in a broader sense.
The sessions originated the pieces on this record, which also feature a collaboration with Alberto Boccardi on one track, named after his house and headquarters of Canale Undici.
I’d like to thank all the people who allowed me to create and publish this record: Alberto, Sara, Giovanni, Pasquale, Giulia and, last but not least, little Pietro.
Maurizio Abate
https://backwardsrec.bandcamp.com/album/the-maadi-sessions |
2018 |
€16.00 |
|
| ABBILDUNGEN VARIETE |
same |
CD |
"We discovered this incredible multimedial experimental collective from Maribor (Slovenia) on the “84” LP compilation a long time ago. After almost fourty years since these unique artists started their activities, we decided to release their very first CD with all their best recordings.
Little is known about Abbildungen Varieté. We know they existed in the years between 1982 and 1984 and that besides their eponymous cassette release (“Abbildungen Varieté”, Galerija ŠKUC Izdaja-Ljubljana, 1983), their contribution with the track “Evolucija” to the “84” LP compilation (ZKP RTVL-Ljubljana, 1984) and a couple of cassette-demo, there were no other recordings by Abbildungen Varieté. Their eponymous cassette release came out in November 1983, in an edition of 230 copies: for the most part, it is a live recording, plus a couple of studio tracks.
Tracks 01.02.04.05.06 are taken from the "Abbildungen Varieté” cassette C-40,
recorded in August-September 1983, released in November 1983 in 230 copies by ZKP RTVL – LD 0933
Track 03 is taken from the “84” LP compilation, ZKP RTVL – LD 0933, 1984
Abbildungen Varieté (1983-1984) were:
Marko Ornik, Goran Majcen, Branko Mirt, Igor Zupe, Darko Senekovič alias Leonard Rubins.
Reissue project by Igor Zupe and Final Muzik.
Images taken from a 1983 promotional video (archive Škuc-a).
This CD reissue is part of the Final Muzik's “Eighties” series. Limited edition of 200 copies, in Digi-slim cardboard sleeve.
https://finalmuzik.bandcamp.com/album/abbildungen-variete
|
2023 |
€14.00 |
|
| ABLINGER, PETER |
Regenstücke Vol. 1 |
LP |
"Peter Ablinger, composition. Hannes Gill, piano. Isabel Pérez-Requeijo, piano. Elisabeth Vth-Schadler, piano. Brian Archinal, percussion. You never know what to expect from Peter Ablinger: noise, silence, serious grotesque or black humor. And you always get a total opposition from what you have expected, which makes him so special and unique! On his first release for GODrec, he offers two pieces from his famous Regenstücke series: 'Ohne Titel / 3 Klaviere (1-6)' and 'Regenstück 1-6 / 6 (3) Schalgzeuger'.
'Ohne Titel / 3 Klaviere' involves one tone in changing octaves (and very seldom a few additional pitches). There are 6 sections, all in the same sequence of registers, like one piece written 6 times - a series, but at the same time there's an almost hidden development through the 6 sections. Coordinated by click-tracks, each performer plays independently within separate pulses that never meet within one piece. The piece focuses on the micro-rhythmical shifts between piano-attacks and their different location in space - an etude in listening to what is not obvious in its details as well as its silent evolution." [label info]
www.godrec.com
|
2012 |
€16.00 |
|
| ABNER MALATY |
Glide (SOLD OUT) |
7 |
released in August 1994 in an edition of 200 copies on light blue vinyl. Each Cover had a different coloured spiral on the front. The vinyl-labels were white stamped with the drone logo and a brain-stamp.
Press-information: "If there was ever something that could be called 'spacious' then it must be ABNER MALATY! This totally unknown musician from Indiana, USA, does a kind of mystic noise that is alien and surreal, complex and energetic. It seems to us that ABNERS view goes far beyond the earth, into cosmos or even further. It's a kind of dynamic quality that makes ABNER MALATY so unique... it's intuitive, intentional-made sound without any pathetic emotional outburst. So far, there are only existing a few limited tapes of this unconventional and original artist, this 4-track-E.P. is the very first vinyl. Exorbitant music for exorbitant people! YOU DON'T BELIEVE IN THE POWER OF SOUND? THEN YOU SHOULD INTRODUCE YOUR MIND TO THIS OUTER SPACE RIDE! Mutate again – double check."
|
1994 |
€ |
|
| ABRAHAMS, CHRIS |
Play Scar |
CD |
" Chris Abrahams ‘Play Scar’ inhabits a sound world that’s entirely uncharted. It’s a zone of in-betweens – juxtapositions and parallel lines – a realm in which nothing is certain and at any moment dynamic shifts might occur. In this unusual electro-acoustic landscape, Abrahams has crafted by far his most complex and epically beautiful record to date. It’s a series of pieces that in many ways demonstrates the full scope of Abrahams’ work as a musician and composer. ‘Play Scar’, like Thrown before it is both exotic and unfamiliar. Pieces like ’Twig Blown’ hint at Abrahams’ interest in musique concréte, ‘Lieiden’ pulses with a distinctly electronic flare, whilst ‘There He Reclined’ shimmers in a hazy procession of organ, guitar and electronics. At its core, ‘Play Scar’ is an album of unrepentant diversity, united through Abrahams astounding sense of composition and focus. In another artist’s hands these elements might be rendered too divergent and too esoteric, but sculpted by Chris Abrahams, each piece is a continent of sound, in an auditory world of his making. ‘Play Scar’ is unique, compelling and most of all visionary." [label info]
www.room40.org
"Various works of Chris Abrahams have been reviewed before, but as far as I could judge they were recordings with other people. According to the press sheet this is his fourth solo release, but the first to be reviewed then by Vital Weekly. Abrahams is, as a musician part of the Necks, which are described as an avant-jazz trio, but that's not shown in his solo release. Abrahams plays piano, hammond, rhodes, church organ, guitar, tambourine, bells, Yamaha DX7, Nord Waldorf Q+, prophet vs kurzweil, auto harp and field recordings. Mostly things with keys that is. Its not an album that is easy to pin down. The electronics are mostly atmospheric, but there are some interesting variations to be noted. For once, this is not an album of droney ambient music. A track like 'Twig Blown' for instance revolves around samples drum sounds, and owes much more to musique concrete than ambient music, while 'Running Out' has sudden bursts of guitar like sounds, amidst a bed of low humming electronics and piano sounds. The (too) lengthy 'Birds And Wasps' is a piece of more loudly sounds than quietness. The fairground sounds of 'Jellycrown', while the opening 'There He Reclined' reminded of the obscure A-Tent release on Cherry Red (still not on CD, damn it!). See: a curious hybrid of electronic music which offers a great deal of variation, but then also a great sense of unified approach. A very refined album." [FdW/Vital Weekly]
|
2010 |
€13.00 |
|
| |
Memory Night |
CD |
"Chris Abrahams' Memory Night is his third edition for Room40 - Play Scar and Thrown preceding this album. Widely recognised as the pianist for Australian liminal improvisation trio The Necks, Chris Abrahams' solo work etches out an entirely different universe. It's a place that is entirely his own, unashamedly unique and at times startling - yet always alluring. On Memory Night, Abrahams' expands his sonic palette, building on the uneasy frontiers of the highly regarded Play Scar. Never content to revisit past glories, Abrahams' charts course into unfamiliar sound spaces, where electronics and instruments meet in a constant state of tension and release. Nothing is quite what it appears upon first listen and as a result Memory Night demands an attentive ear. Recorded across 2011 and 2012, Memory Night is a haunted series of compositions that provoke and compel. Chris Abrahams has created what can only be described as a profound rendering of contemporary composition - a powerful, yet delicate evocation of sound, where instruments and electronics melt and are reformed." [label info]
www.room40.org
"Today is one of those early spring days and the doors of the balcony finally open. Birds, children playing, cars, they all enter my life again, post-winter, and I need to adjust my listening again. Certainly in 'Leafer', the opening piece of Chris Abrahams new release 'Memory Night', I am getting quite confused with the outside and the inside. Low sounds start out, with a rasping kind of sound - children outside rolling karts on the street? - but it's all in the music of Abrahams it seems. Abrahams here uses a wide range of instruments, such as piano, guitar, samples, percussion, waldorf q plus, yamaha dx 7, moog voyager, vermona mono lancet, kurzweil k2600, hammond organ and nord stage. Strange and mysterious music here, and although cut into four pieces with four different titles, you could as easily see them as four parts of the same piece. They seem to be flowing into each other, or move half way through a piece into something else. There is the seemingly out of place piano of 'Strange Bright Fact' which cuts into something altogether more noisy in the same piece. Electronic and acoustic instruments play an interesting game together, sometimes along each other and sometimes against each other, sometimes together and sometimes alone. It's music which has an excellent radio-play like quality to it, even when it's narrative is more obscured, or perhaps, better, not entirely unfolded. An excellent CD this one, full of tension, full of surprises, big and small (jazzy piano chopped up in 'Stabilize Ruined' anyone?) of something that is beyond modern classical music, improvisation, jazzy and sound art - all of that and a bit more and that bit more is what makes this a great CD. Excellent!" [FdW / Vital Weekly]
|
2013 |
€14.00 |
|
| ABSOLUTE BODY CONTROL |
Tapes 81-89 |
5 x LP Box + 7inch |
VOD37.RE ABSOLUTE BODY CONTROL Tapes 1981-89 5Lp Box with 7inch)
Reissue of the 2007 released Box-Set VOD37 including all 5 cassettes released on Body Records between 1981-89 incl. Untitled“ (Body001,1981), „Numbers“ (Body002,1982), „Figures“ (Body003,1983), „Live“ (Body004,1984), and „Tracks“ (Body006,1989) plus the 7inch Is there an Exit from 1981
https://www.vod-records.com/-1-432-671.htm
|
2020 |
€85.00 |
|
| ABTAN, FREIDA |
Subtle Movements |
CD |
Debut-Album von FREIDA ABTAN, die zuletzt als NURSE WITH WOUND-Bandmitglied & Collaborateurin auffiel. Auf "Subtle Movements" bewegt sie sich zwischen experimentellem Abstrakt-Drone und Elektro-Akustik und setzt dabei oft & gekonnt ihre Stimme ein, um z.T. sehr schöne harmonische, repetitive & sich überlagernde Texturen zu bilden. Auf zwei Stücken ist STEVEN STAPLETON vertreten. Ein sehr vielversprechender Erstling !
"Freida Abtan loves sound. Her music falls somewhere in between musique concrete and more modern noise and experimental audio. Concentrating on the visceral and inspired by dreams, she has created visual shows for and played with Nurse with Wound, and also as presented her own sound and visual work at festivals across Canada.
Subtle Movements was completed over four years from the sidelines of Abtan's other projects and during her schooling in Montreal. It's a collection of her favorite pieces, combining her love of electro-acoustic music with her love of found melody. Two of the songs that appear on the album are collaborations with Steven Stapleton of Nurse with Wound, recorded in Colin Potter's studio in Preston, England, when Abtan traveled there to play a show as part of Scribble Seven in March 2006 alongside Stapleton, Potter, Andrew Liles, Matt Waldron, Joolie Wood, and Maja Elliott." [label info]
www.jnanarecords.com
|
2007 |
€13.00 |
|
| ACCELERA DECK |
Ski |
mCD-R |
One beautiful digitalized guitar-track with nice effects, soft and melodic!
“Since 1997 Chris Jeely (who is the man behind Accelera Deck) has utilized the guitar in a variety of settings, draping it over nimble breakbreats, or twisted in with IDM. Sometimes dropping all beats and picking up the acoustic guitar and (gasp!) singing. With the release of 2003’s album “Ipsissima Vox” and the lengthy ep “Sunstrings” in 2004, Chris focused on the extremes of guitar noise. Huge walls of sound, piercing digital feedback and general disregard for the eardrums of those in attendance at any of his shows became the norm. Accelera Deck was a complete live experience, and had most venue soundpersons nervously holding there breath, waiting for a speaker to blow. Chris just smiled and asked them to turn it up just a bit more! But now with this release Chris returns with a melodic directness, and extends the song “Ski” (which will appear in a different form on “Pop Polling”) into a decaying piece of delicate beauty. A very simple and effective guitar line slowly overlaps with other melodic fragments, all the sounds begin echoing, stuttering, and slowly fading from sight. An ephemeral piece that is comparable to the work of William Basinski, or Brian Eno for the digital age. Chris, when asked about this music, replied “I personally do not know how to ski, but I might like to learn how one day.”
|
2005 |
€5.00 |
|
| ACHELOO |
Cycle |
CD-R |
" 'Cycle' is the fourth album of Carlo Luzi under the alias Acheloo. This is a wonderfully dark ambient album, the mixture of electronics and guitar create wonderful soundscapes.
The sound cyclicity in every track is the recurring element and the thematic constant, as in the tracks titles, is present in various cultures and various ambits: an ancient Chinese numeral system ("ten"), the basic units of time -60 seconds, 60 minutes, 24 hours- can all perfectly divide by twelve ("twelve"), the Tonalpohualli, the Aztec Calendar, has cycles of 13 numbers ("thirteen"), in Christian symbolism there are 9 orders of angelic choirs in 9 circles of heaven and 9 orders of devils within 9 rings of hell ("nine"), the sun spot cycle is 11 years ("eleven")." [label info]
www.acheloo.com
|
2009 |
€10.00 |
|
| ADLER, GUNTER |
Douches Dames |
mCD-R |
"Jürgen Hall? Bei so einem musikalischen Namen hätte man sich doch nicht so nibelungendeutsch umtaufen müssen. Der mit dem Grönland Orchester (mit G. Reznicek) und Augsburger Tafelkonfekt (mit S. Reier) und Soloreleases auf Staubgold und Mik unter seinem Nom de plume bekannt gewordene Aachener, der nach seinem Studium in Hamburg hängen geblieben ist, steuert zur 1000füssler-Reihe drei überdurchschnittlich attraktive Tracks bei. Das 13-min. Titelstück entstand für eine Installation im Brüsseler Bains::Connective, das in den Räumlichkeiten eines einstigen Jugendstil-Damenbads untergebracht ist. Das hat Adler offenbar zu entsprechend spritzigen Sounds und zu Unterwasserklang angeregt, durchsetzt mit knackend rumorendem Klingklang, zunehmendem Stimmengewirr und Plantschgeräuschen und einer ganz feinen harmonischen Zierlinie, zu der punktuell heptatonische Skalen getupft werden. Das kurze ‚Scheppertones‘ danach meint eigentlich einen Tauchgang auf der Shepard-Tonleiter, jenem scheinbar unendlich absinkenden Glissando aus Sinuswellenfrequenzen, das auch schon Komponisten wie Tenney oder Risset reizte und das Adler mit furzelndem Geprassel durchsetzt. ‚Mousse-Touch‘ schließlich lautmalt einen nuanciert bebenden Fond, mal flirrend aufgehellt, mal wummernd abgesenkt und von Pfeiftönen durchschwirrt aus Zeiten, als Weltraumfahrer noch Nick oder Laika hießen." [Bad Alchemy]
"Douches Dames was part of an ancient indoor swimming pool in Forest/Brussels. Today this elegant Art Nouveau building hosts the eclectic art laboratory Bains::Connective. The music, originally intended as a sound installation, is an amalgam made of field recordings from inside the building, antique heptatonic scales and synthetically produced sounds spread out painstakingly in the first movement, infinitely transposed downwards in the second (Shepard Tones) and finally hidden inside a shady atmosphere in the third, where another stimulating motif is aperiodically interrupted by sudden violent curves. In addition Gunter Adler has compiled a jumbled array of electroacoustic samples forming a zigzagged rather than streamlined path through his archives. During the roaring times, after the melting of the polar caps had begun, visual artist Isabelle Rouquette showed works on this theme from a diversity of sources and engraved them into the trapezoidal patterned floor of the pool. On the day of the opening the interior was illuminated by flowing zebra skin light projections while the music was presented in a sort of live performance, a soundtrack accompanied by a sweeping improvisation on a synthesizer and twiddling with delay effects. It has an opulent and festive character and is at home in both ancient and modern contexts.
Douches Dames 12‘55
Scheppertones 3‘31
Mousse-Touch 5‘00
About the Artist:
Born and raised in Aachen, Germany. At the age of 17 he starts experimentating with synthetically produced sounds (Commodore 64, all data lost). Moves to Hamburg, Germany in order to study physics, philosophy, music theory. From 1992 to 96 works under the nome de plume ANUBIS (see Stora Compilation from 1993). Works out his first sound installations and in 1998 co-founds the GROENLAND ORCHESTER with G.Reznicek.
Invents his alter ego GUNTER ADLER and releases his solo debut on Staubgold. Additionally works on animation film and film scores. Toured continuosly with Groenland Orchester and Gunter Adler and teams up in the duo-improv group AUGSBURGER TAFELCONFECT with Sebastian Reier since 2002. The same year he releases a split album with Klangkrieg, again on Staubgold. Following up to this his next record Minutemusic is released by the polish Mik.Musik label [run by Wojt3k from Retro*Sex*Galaxy] in 2003. Since October 2003 he is running a net label for exquisite electronic music plakatif.net. www.gunter-adler.de "
[label info]
"After reading the press text that comes with this release, I must admit I still have not much idea what it is about. It was originally intended for a sound installation and uses field recordings from ancient indoor swimming pool in Brussels. The text also mentions something about the opening, a live performance and a soundtrack, but Gunter Adler lost me there. Adler is perhaps best known as a member of Groenland Orchester (together with G. Reznicek), and later with Augsburger Tafelconfect and solo as Adler (which is not his real name). The three pieces on this release are made of highly processed field recordings, of which we no longer recognize the origins. Gliding tones, sine wave like, objects that fall to the ground and sound effects working overtime. This is quite a nice, sweet, short and highly enjoyable release, for those who love their microsound to be much more free and not tied to the strict conventions of that scene. Nice indeed." [FdW / Vital Weekly]
www.1000fussler.com
|
2008 |
€6.00 |
|
| AEMAE |
Maw |
CD |
AEMAE die zweite: Abstraktere Geräuschmusik gibt es zur Zeit wohl kaum, "irgendwie elektronisch und undurchdringlich" könnte man die oftmals in polyhochfrequenten Spitzen ausufernde Musik in einem ersten Eindruck bezeichnen. Harsche Cut-ups setzen starke Kontrapunkte in dem sonst eher kaum krachenden Universum aus zischenden, pfeifenden, quietschenden, elektronisch sirrenden Mikro-Klängen. Manchmal erinnert das an ASMUS TIETCHENS experimentellste Werke. In ihrer Unzugänglichkeit eine höchst kuriose & stimulierende Musik, jede Sekunde tun sich neue Klang-Rhizome auf.
"Second full length full length from East Bay sound technician (and AQ customer) Brandon Nickell, who spent the last year painstakingly assembling the sounds that would eventually become this here disc.
His previous full length, a big AQ fave was a blissed out collage of deep drones and thick soundscapes of high end skree, soft focus whispery minimalism and dense squalls of swirling noise. Even some shuffling skittering rhythms found there way into the mix.
On Maw, Nickell's approach is similar, although the first track threw us for a loop. A strange spacious slab of music concrete, the focal point being a strange grunting gasping reverb drenched animal sound. Like some mysterious electronic beast, confined to a tiny pen and registering his displeasure as it ruts and calls out to others of its kind. Creepy but pretty dang cool. The second track returns to more familiar waters, a super tranquil drift of burbling barely there rumble and subtle electronic pulses. A slow lugubrious crawl beneath and within the tiny sounds that make up a mysteriously indistinct low end world. After that it's another visit to the strange electronic zoo, to observe the insect enclosure, where some seriously angry winged creatures buzz wildly as they careen back and forth in front of the glass.
We move on into another long form stretch of abstract ambience, sparkling and glimmering like the glassy surface of a pond in the late afternoon, and then it's one more quick glimpse into the final enclosure, the beasts within are much more calm, lazing in the fading sunlight, their cooing and snorting, like some sort of shortwave radio static, interrupted by electronic birdcalls and the manufactured whoosh of a warm electronic breeze. So weird but strangely compelling and beautiful.
There's some definite Nurse With Wound worship here, as well as nods to Coleclough, Hafler Trio, and the like, but Nickell knows enough than to just ape his heroes, instead he takes what he needs and does some serious exploring on his own... and we like it.
Packaged in a super simple and striking white on white sleeve." [Aquarius Records]
www.isounderscore.com
|
2007 |
€12.00 |
|
| AERE AETERNUS |
Humanity needs no Funeral |
CD |
From the new wave of 'apocalyptic' or 'doom/death industrial' bands surely one of most interesting and impressive projects, AERE AETERNUS build a de-humanized soundtrack full of dark drones, over-expressive tortured voices, and devastating sounds. There is no light in this hellish Miasma, imagine SLEEP CHAMBER meeting LUSTMORD meeting dark HYBRYDS... The CD Version has video-track as bonus !
"Humanity Needs No Funeral", the first full-length album from AERE AETERNUS, was released on the French label Kaosthetik. With a multi-national and eclectic lineup, the band comprises Alex (MACABRE OMEN, THE ONE, RAZOR OF OCCAM), Claudio Alcara (FROSTMOON ECLIPSE, STROSZEK), Cyr (DARK SANCTUARY, ELKTRONIK SCIETY) and Radu. Drawing on the wide range and considerable musical experience of its members, AERE AETERNUS creates a dark, disturbing atmosphere that probably best fits within the ambient and minimalist genres, and which the band themselves describe as "half misanthropic ritual and half sex ritual." The dominant atmosphere combines a sense of impending insanity with sexual deviancy and a large dollop of occultism, creating a dark and troubling misanthropic sojourn that is relatively unique. The final track is probably the most musical, as it is centred on a guitar arpeggio, but no such concessions to convention are present elsewhere on this deeply troubling disk. The accompanying video (CD version ONLY) of "Invocation" shows a Satanic ritual in all its kitchsy glory. Recommended for those looking for something a darker than the usual entities. "When Dark Ambient meets Industrial Deviance" [label info] |
2008 |
€14.00 |
|
| AGLAIA |
Intangible Opacity |
CD |
"Aglaia is a great project from Italy, but probably still not appreciated as much as it deserves. The artist releases his albums in Stefano Musso’s Hic Sunt Leones, and it seems that his work remains in Alio Die’s shadow. Aglaia could be even bigger, but I think that Gino Fioravanti, sometimes aided by Gianluigi Toso, doesn’t really care about worldwide recognition – I figure he’s fine with his current position.
By all means however, Aglaia isn’t an Alio Die clone. Although the points of convergence can be easily noticed, Aglaia sounds less organic and prefers to focus on electroacoustics and the creation of an atmosphere by the use of more or less sophisticated electronics. This is no different in the case of “Intangible Opacity”, one of the two Aglaia albums recently published by Hic Sunt Leones.
On “Intangible Opacity” Gino Fioravanti dares to visit the place where the Earth’s atmosphere ends and the infinity of space begins, following the physical and chemical processes that occur in the ionosphere. The sound is based on warm but at the same time somehow distanced synthetic textures, and classical “el-music” as we used to say in Poland. I suspect that Fioravanti didn’t use any other instruments or field recordings on the album. Synths only.
Despite the strict nature of the music, it has a soul. Composed of zeros and ones, enchanted in the tiny box filled with chips and integrated circuits, but not allowing for the treatment of “Intangible Opacity” as only a virtually emotional, but in fact dry and mathematical record of the aforementioned processes that continually start, progress and end tens of thousands of kilometers above our heads. There’s no blackness, the sound is painted with thousands of hues, the blue and green of the earth being the parent colors. The title composition, the second to last, probably contains the most decent amount of space; the horizon seems to stretch widely, though all the tracks remain on a relatively equal level.
After several listens, I conclude that there are earlier Aglaia releases which I cherish more and will come back to more often in the future. I miss some element raging on the surface of Mother Earth. A wind shaking the barley, or wild fires. A thimble of organic sound appears in “Protonosfera”, the last one: Gino Fioravanti, at least for a while, gets back to where you can breathe fresh air, as if in spite of the title.
It’s still worth buying a ticket to the place from where there’s still a possibility to return. Aglaia still holds the fashion." [Stark / Santa Sangre]
aliodie.bandcamp.com/album/intangible-opacity
|
2014 |
€15.00 |
|
| 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.
Luis David Aguilar (Arequipa, 1950) occupies a fundamental place in the history of film music in Peru, not only because of the prolific nature of his work (which also includes music for television and advertising), but because of the singular, experimental style found in many of his scores. Aguilar's music blends modern academic composition with the use of native instruments, synthesizers, sound collages and a diversity of resources, which identify him as a key figure to understand a period of Peruvian music marked by the imprint of the avant-garde and the use of native sounds, which developed during the late 70's and the early 80's.
Aguilar belongs to the so called “Generation of the 70's”, along with Peruvian composers such as Walter Casas, Seiji Asato and Aurelio Tello, who were then immersed in the languages of contemporary classical music. But he also shares the spirit of renewal of a generation of musicians who came from the world of jazz and electronic experimentation such as Manongo Mujica and Arturo Ruiz del Pozo.
After his graduation from the National Music Conservatory, Luis David Aguilar studied at the Instituto Nacional de Teleducación, starting from 1976, which proved to be decisive. It allowed him to start a career as a composer of music for radio and television, and drove him away from the classical scene. With this experience in hand, he was then able to produce film music and to work in many recording studios in Lima. He also set up his own studio and, as a result, he is the owner of a large archive of recordings, which has been maintained without being published. “During those years I composed a lot of music: children's songs, jingles for various radio shows, as well as music for television series, etc.”, says Aguilar. “The great attraction for me was that all of the music I created was recorded immediately, and because of my academic training, I was able to write scores for symphonic orchestra. My purpose was to introduce the sounds of classical instruments in the auditory memory of a vast audience. I had never experienced this possibility before. As an academic composer, I created works that were rarely performed. Most of them gathered dust in different places or, because of my lack of order and frequent relocations, they simply got lost. But during this period, all of the music I wrote came to life. I was also able to work with different recording studios and use their fantastic technical resources. In addition, this situation allowed me to create job opportunities for classically trained musicians (who at that time were very poorly paid). Over any other consideration, this had a clear social function, and the experience was totally worthy for me. In large measure, this is why I stopped working in academic settings.”
Ayahuasca is an album that collects pieces from 1978 to 1983 and offers an overview of the different musical paths that Aguilar followed during his career as a soundtrack composer. The album opens with music from the film El viento del ayahuasca [The Wind of Ayahuasca] (1983), by director Nora de Izcue, performed by the National Symphony Orchestra and Choir of Cuba under the baton of Luis David Aguilar, with Chucho Valdés on piano. Recorded at the ICAIC studios (Cuba), it is an ambitious orchestral and vocal composition, in which you can hear the beginning of the famous melody popularized by the Amazonian cumbia group Juaneco y su Combo, which serves as an introduction to the sound world of the jungle, a dense and hypnotic atmosphere that, without a doubt, places this work as one of the most important compositions of the author's repertoire.
The next track is the music for the documentary Anónimo cotidiano [Anonymous Everyday] (1979), by director Jorge Rey, a unique experimental piece for synthesizers (played by Aguilar), drums and percussion (played by Manongo Mujica), with the addition of various Andean instruments (panpipes, charango, among others). It is a clear example of fusion of sound experimentation and timbres from the Andean world.
And finally Los constructores [The Builders] (1978), by director José Carlos Huayhuaca, a salsa which incorporates unusual sounds of tubular bells and prepared pianos.
About this diversity of genres, the composer says: “Creating film music gave me a wide perspective, because of the possibility of using all the composition techniques that I studied, both traditional and avant-garde, and even inventing some of my own, in addition to giving me the versatile craft that is needed”.
Ayahuasca: Music for Film by Luis David Aguilar (1978-1983) is the second album by Aguilar released by Buh Records, following the celebrated Hombres de Viento/Venas de la Tierra (1978-1982), appeared in 2015. The album is published in vinyl format, in a limited edition of 300 copies, as part of the Essentials Sounds collection. It includes a booklet with notes by Luis David Aguilar. The audio has been remastered from the original reel tapes by Aldo Montalvo. The artwork and design is by About Studio.
This project was awarded with the Economic Stimulus for Culture 2021 of the Ministry of Culture of Peru.
https://buhrecords.bandcamp.com/album/ayahuasca-m-sica-para-cine-de-luis-david-aguilar-1978-1983-essential-sounds-collection |
2022 |
€25.00 |
|
| AGUIRRE, MARCELO |
Contes d'Etonnement |
LP |
Voices, percussion, drums, and rather spooky electronic processing. A minimal structure onto which uncanny atmospheres become kind of interwoven. A sort of heterophony, in the manner of Japanese Gagaku or Indonesian Gamelan. An intriguing inversion seems to unfold, when the drum set takes the lead in the composition's development. We could even say the drums court the shadow of a melody, whilst the voice delivers a litany, enhancing atmospheres that are, to my ears, less sinister than they are elegiac: the longing for a primitive age, a meaningful world now lost and irrecoverable in its healthful entirety. This invocation works by way of an overlapping of sounds, always finding their source in the percussion set and in the vocal intonations.
It becomes apparent that time is the very question here, a time that is intangible and yet ‘absolute’ (if I may incur in this oxymoron), giving up any stringent historical temporality in favor of a sort of sedimentation in geological layers. Just listen to "Malaria C", a post-industrial landscape in the style of Lustmørd that brings to mind images of a universe in stasis, forever frozen in an ancient phase, while the voice underlines this ominous scenery, and the sound of tiny bells towards the end conjures a unique form of consolation as an ephemeral corollary.
In "Krakatoa", an extensive and vast sense of time lingers morosely in aural repetition, varying only slightly in intensity before the layered singing voices invoke an unlikely fulfillment. Those unmistakable chants may also resound in "Only A Mother", sort of a psalmody framed by a vehement and rhythmic acceleration which emphasizes how exacting and unavoidable is time's call.
Yet elusive, ungraspable time, resists being dissected into discrete and symmetrical units, escaping the prison of human perception; the drums go on and on, scanning their disparate metrics in an integral, unrestrained use of every component in the drum kit.
'I will follow the Time' could be guessed within "In Eternal Life". It is the only song which foregoes the drums. However, gongs recorded by close-miking bring to mind and ears the rumble of a synthesizer, coalescing with a jeremiad sung in a somber dialect that is cryptic, never discernible as intelligible language. The voice is merely another instrument, overlapping in disparate layers and warping polyphonic textures as its frequencies collide and clash, one against each other. While a voice recites an eerie mass, an incantation from another world, then punctuated by chants which resound like undulating drones.
It is difficult not to acknowledge the overall effect of some healthy dispossession, of a deliberate shedding of fineries, aimed at reducing everything to minimal expression. It is as if Marcelo Aguirre turns a cold shoulder to the weight of tradition and to the classification of musical experience with definite labels and overwrought categorization, as if he wanted to go beyond any accepted distinction of rhythm and melody, prose and poetry, or noise and harmony. Is his an appeal which knows of no precedent, a longing for an unheard form of music? A music able to transcend time and place while not relinquishing its human and historical fate? I cannot help taking note of a certain kinship that this musical inquiry of Aguirre's crisscrosses the time-honored obsession with Time, held by European philosophers from the late XIXth and early XXth Century. For instance, William James and his brother Henry's 'stream of consciousness', the 'durée' of Henri Bergson, and the transcendental subjectivity understood as an absolute by Edmund Husserl. What Aguirre may share with this company is the search for a language adept to communicate the indefinable, the flow of a temporality that does not allow itself to be captured in any given moment, instead it is music at the service of a primordial intuition. Therefore recovering an original order, harmonizing in a fullness of sense the flow of sounds. An attitude which positions itself at the antipodes of some developments in current electronic music, with its disassembling of the sound reality into beats (or bits and bytes), and an everlasting reiteration of artificial rhythmic structures, always monotonous and symmetrical even in their angularity. It is in this context of predominant musical tendencies nowadays, which blesses in a paradoxical marriage the once hostile fields of pop and experimentation, that these 'Contes d'Étonnement' reinvent a fresh appeal to the liberal imagination; a force as ancient (and eternal?) as the human species is.
[from the inlay, text by NORBERTO CAMBIASSO]
https://marceloaguirre.bandcamp.com/releases
|
2018 |
€17.00 |
|
| AJNA & ONASANDER |
Canidia |
CD |
Ajna & Onasander join forces to create a dark and brooding soundtrack to one of the most highly attested witches in Latin Literature; Canidia.
Canidia is considered Rome's first witch and had perpetrated acts of grave desecration, kidnapping, murder, black magic, and poisoning to name but a few. She is most known for being mentioned in the poems of Horace, where she has a prominent role of a demon-like figure. There is much mystery and speculation as to whether Canidia may be a myth or an actual historical figure.
These 7 tracks evoke the heinous deeds of Canidia the Witch, propelling the listener into her ancient world of nightmarish deeds and mystery.
https://winter-light.bandcamp.com/album/canidia
|
2021 |
€13.00 |
|
| ALDINUCCI, GIULIO |
Disappearing in a Mirror |
CD |
talian sound artist GIULIO ALDINUCCI drops his 2nd album on Karl: “Disappearing In A Mirror” is again a truly masterfully composed and sound-designed ambient masterpiece and a more than worthy follow-up to the critically acclaimed “Borders And Ruins” which made it onto several year’s best lists for 2017.
Over the course of four solo albums on labels like DRONARIVM plus EPs and collaborative albums (a.o. with IAN HAWGOOD), GIULIO ALDINUCCI successively has been refining his skills as composer and sound designer. His elegant style which blends ambient and field recordings came to full impact on his 2017 album “Borders And Ruins” which gained the Italian sound artist a lot of critical praise and made it onto several year’s best lists, a.o. Acloserlisten.com. ALDINUCCI’s latest effort is again not only a musical masterpiece of sublime beauty and sacral majesty, it also deals with philosophical concerns. Where “Borders …” was a reflection on the instability of borders - borders as an extreme attempt to discriminate and rationalize that turns into a source of chaos and cultural ruins on both sides - and their impact on the relationship between people and territory, “Disappearing In A Mirror” raises the very personal question of identity. In the words of ALDINUCCI himself:
“ ‘Disappearing In A Mirror’ focuses on the fluidity of the identity concept, highlighting the harmonious coexistence of contradictory elements and the transitional features that characterize every transformation. It is a reflection on the current situation of change and disruption and at the same time it is a gaze into the human timeless soul and its inner soundscapes.”
https://karlrecords.bandcamp.com/album/disappearing-in-a-mirror
"Apart from his various collaboration and split releases, Disappearing In A Mirror is Giulio Aldinucci's follow-up to 2017’s Borders and Ruins, and it is his second release for Karl Records. If you thought Borders And Ruins depicted a rather dark view on the state of the world, you’d better be ready for this new album. “Where [Borders and Ruins] was a reflection on the instability of borders and their impact on the relationship between people and territory, 'Disappearing In A Mirror' raises the very personal question of identity." Aldinucci manages to create a sonic version of a hall of mirrors, where you can get completely disoriented from the images of yourself trying to find a way out. In a striking combination of gritty distorted sounds and distant orchestral and choral arrangements that sound like a stretched Beethoven symphony, the first two tracks present a frightening dystopic view. But from there, Aldinucci [somewhat] restores the balance with 'Notturno Toscano', as if he doesn’t want to scare the listener too much. But even in this track the intensity slowly increases again. There’s no way out of the mirror maze, it seems… "Disappearing In A Mirror focuses on the fluidity of the identity concept, highlighting the harmonious coexistence of contradictory elements and the transitional features that characterize every transformation. It is a reflection on the current situation of change and disruption and at the same time it is a gaze into the human timeless soul and its inner soundscapes." If the sweat in the palms of my hand is an indicator of emotional intensity, this album definitely belongs on the top the list!" [Headphone Commute] |
2018 |
€13.00 |
|
| ALEXANDERSON, MAGNUS |
Stretched in the Dark |
CD |
Drei Stücke von dieser Neuentdeckung für uns, dem schwedischen Elektro-Akustiker MAGNUS ALEXANDERSON; seinen Stil könnte man als "dark & droney electro-acoustic" bezeichnen, v.a. das Titelstück begeistert mit schneidenden, sehr kraftvoll-intensiven Dronescapes...
"Elektron is the record company of SEAMS, the Society of Electro-Acoustic Music in Sweden. Their tenth release is by Magnus Alexanderson (1961). He studied guitar, bassoon and musical theory in his youth and later on computer music. Nowadays he works mainly in the electro-acoustic field. There are three pieces here on this release, one from 1991, one from 1997 and the most recent is from 2000, the opening piece. It's called Stretched In Dark (the word the mentioned in the title is missing here) and is listed as musique concrete, but it's wall of the sound drone could easily be listed as 'amplified electric guitar plays with a chain saw', as it has the heavy saw sounds of an amplified agricultural tool. The midiguitar is part of the second piece, Melting Points (1997) together with a sampler. Similar chainsaw effects are reached here, but it's a much more serious piece of slowly gliding sounds, occasionally interrupted by smaller sounds. The oldest piece is Fu (1991), and it's also the longest piece. It's for computer-controlled synthesizer and of a much more quieter nature. Bell like sounds open the piece, and over the course of almost thirty minutes these get stretched out and are sometimes visited by the bell sounds. A deeply atmospherical piece that is the highlight of the CD, even when the other
www.elektron.nu
|
2005 |
€13.00 |
|
| ALGOL |
All these Worlds are yours |
CD |
A fifth full-length album by _Algol_ brings to you digital and analog sounds combined with some soothing guitar tunes. A conceptual and contemplating album for virtual cosmic journeys. Enjoy!
Instruments and mastering by Daniil Kazantsev.
Album Design SeasofBlack & Kati Astraeir (inner layout)
Released by Ksenza Records
www.infinitefog.ru
_Algol_ is a project name belonging to Siberian soundscaper (scientist, traveler, photographer...) Daniil Kazantsev, who is currently based in the UK. "All These Worlds Are Yours" album is out since the middle of June 2016 as a collaborative release between Russian labels Ksenza Records and Infinite Fog Productions. My attention was immediately caught by a catchy 4-panel digipak featuring splendid artwork by Italian artist Michele Carnielli working under his moniker of Seals Of Blackening (also a vocalist and guitarist with doom metal band Kröwnn) and by our kindred soul from the Sonoran Desert, Kati Astraeir, who is credited for additional inner layout. Nice work, guys!!!
4 and a half minutes long "Accelerated Descent" reveals the journey with slightly balladic, nearly medieval-like tides, where persistently spiraling patterns commingle with aeonianly emerging, droning and evanescing, intangibly rawer vistas. "Under The Starlit Sky", clocking to 7 minutes, glides gracefully towards nocturnally fascinating realms, masterfully bridging ethereally enrapturing dronescapes with quietly permeating transcendental glimpses. "Hidden Behind The Light" is invaded by monochromatically immense expanses, intricately guarded by clandestinely sneaking ambiguous siren calls. Breathtakingly infinite sceneries fully unfold here! "Frozen Plateux" safely remains on the path of utterly enveloping amorphousness, splendorously diving into the deepest ends of atmospheric tranquility, meticulously reinforced by occasional cyber-tech breaths. Exquisitely monumental magmas, jaw-droppingly flatlined, are insistently counterpointed by warmly undulating mirages, while intriguing desolate dissonances percolate here and there. A stunningly immersing 10-minute composition, one of the pinnacles!!! The next piece, "The Sands Of Tatooine", dives into enigmatically labyrinthine domains, merging calmly enveloping panoramic quietudes with sinuously twisted reverberating vestiges. A deep space voyaging at its most engrossing continues! "The Windswept Terrain", with 11:33 the longest piece, attracts wit its mysterious dronesculpting, where static surroundings commingle with intenser nuances, displaying evocatively enveloping passages, slightly disruptive hissing undercurrents and euphorically climaxing epic magnitudes. A very good one! 8-minute closer "The Dune Sea" delves deeply into unfathomable depths, superbly amalgamating majestically droning monochromatism with spellbindingly growling and buzzing traceries and thrillingly mind-bending meridians. Enter now the gates to abyssal nothingness!!! Obviously a grand finale!
"All These Worlds Are Yours" CD, which is limited to 333 copies, is certainly a very strong debut by _Algol_ on a glass mastered format, so don't hesitate to grab your own copy, I guarantee you won't be disappointed!!! And the digital version includes 7-minute bonus track "A Fading Planet". If I am right, discography of _Algol_ features another 5 digital albums, one of them "Heaven Debris" (2011) was released also on a CDr format via Snowy Tension Pole label from Poland, but I believe this one is sold out already. And one of the digital albums, "Goldilocks Zone" was released on earthMantra. Not to forget, Daniil Kazantsev is also the mastermind behind dark ambient project Stuzha with two acclaimed albums, "Siberian Sketches" and "Butugichag". The first one was released as a CDr by Snowy Tension Pole during 2011 and now, few days ago, reshaped and reissued on CD format in a 4-panel digipak on Ksenza Records. Limited collector's wooden box is available as well. On the same label is available also "Butugichag" CD album (2015), which elaborately deals with Kolyma Gulag labor camp theme. If you are a connoisseur of venturous dark ambient explorations, don't miss these two powerful works!!! And to make the story complete, Daniil has most recently released via earthMantra his newest digital album entitled "67P" under his newest moniker Black Wanderer. A batch of exciting releases awaits to be carefully examined!
Richard Gürtler (Nov 01, 2016, Bratislava, Slovakia)
|
2016 |
€12.00 |
|
| ALIO DIE |
Hidden Spring |
CD |
"HIC SUNT LEONES presents Winter Solstice’s Spores. A reprint of two classic albums !
Two milestones of Alio Die's discography are available again after a long hiatus. This new edition offers two superb collectible digipaks printed in black on silver, in collaboration with the American graphic artist Joseph Uccello. This combination of music and artwork is an ideal celebration of this time of the year, as the Sol Niger approaches.
“In the course of life we encounter a kind of special state of consciousness – a moment at the threshold of a deep spiritual experience. At the border of the conscious mind (and perhaps with an initial feeling of disorientation), emerges a strong attraction toward a newly encountered state of being: a state that we feel is crucial in some way, and toward which we subconsciously strive, over the protests of normal rationality. On the other side of this threshold, beyond that apprehension, there is a sedimental layer of inner preparation which makes us ready for that moment. The energy evoked during artistic creation has always held similar qualities to this process; and listening again to these early works, it becomes clear to me just how vital to my music’s flow is this process of transformation and awakening. I feel that this same process informs the art of Joseph Uccello, which elegantly accompanies the music of these two re-releases.
Sit Tibi Terra Levis/ Introspective and The Hidden Spring satisfied completely this desire of immediate expression; truth calls for realization, and the feeling of 'spring water' contained in these albums has for me still something magic after such a long , long time.”
Alio Die, December 2008"
[label info]
www.aliodie.com
|
2009 |
€15.00 |
|
|
The Way of Fire (SOLD OUT) |
7inch |
Stefano Musso alias ALIO DIE lives in a small village in the mountains of Lunigiana, where he is inspired by pure nature –surroundings. There he is also running a CD-label for new ambient dream music named HIC SUNT LEONES. ALIO DIE gives the perfect soundtrack to a journey into the realms of untouched nature; listen to animal voices, flutes, long dark drones, drummings, metallic sounds, small feedbacks and thunderous explosions...
a kind of psychoactive illuminative music, the two long tracks here are in a darker vein as on recent ALIO DIE releases..
Ideal Sounds for your psychognostic daydreams!
MINT-GREEN VINYL, VERY HANDMADE COVER-ARTWORK WITH LOTS OF PAINT, STAMPS FROM DIFFERENT COUNTRIES, PIECES OF NEWSPAPERS, PIECES OF PLANTS & FEATHERS. EACH ONE DIFFERENT AND UNIQUE!
"Two spacious new E.P.s for entheogenic minds
- out on Drone in December 1998"
|
1998 |
€ |
|
|
Standing in a Place |
CD |
"released December 5, 2015
Composed and performed by Stefano Musso (bmi)
Recorded at Lunae Studio, Lunigiana between march 2013 & November 2015
Alio Die: Psaltery, zither, drones & loops, field recordings
Lorenzo Montanà: Additional electronics and effects
Photos by Linda Serra - Artwork by Hic Sunt Leones
A masterpiece of mystical wonder painted with the medium of music. I've seen him do this often in his music....but never better than this. Rsfx-amb/Bandcamp
there is only one Alio Die and the beautifully constructed listens he creates for us are such a special part of the experience of planet Earth. So expressive and emotive and spontaneously deep, we're blessed to have his music accompany our lives and reflections. thank you. Duff Egan/Bandcamp
Such exquisite complexity in this drone world by Stefano Musso (ALIO DIE). But, then again, they always are.
What an experience it would be to follow Stefano on one of his creations, and watch him meticulously stitch together such intricate works. Until that time, however, we'll have to appreciate this drone master from his finished work.
Beautifully done! Brian Bourassa/Bandcamp" [band website info]
|
2016 |
€15.00 |
|
| |
They grow Layers of Life within |
CD |
Alio Die knows the sound and this album is an acoustic cathedral, but it could also be the sound of an ancient forest or what is more pure has survived or escaped the implacable vortices of space-time.
A pure, charming, superlative album, where Alio Die opens passages, planing, flying through. There is no uncertainty, no swelling, no cracking, the sounds emerge, appear and disappear within a solid soundtrack.
Thanks to such dilated sounds the listener sees in the distance. It looks like through a crystal sphere, the trained ear reads messages that Alio Die has received from other worlds thanks to an accustomed sensitivity now capturing in every sound event the sacred and essential.
released June 21, 2017
Alio Die: Zither, Drones and Loops,
Bells, Voice, Field Recordings
Composed and Performed by Stefano Musso (bmi)
Recorded at Lunae Studio,Italy
Between January and December 2016
Photo Processing by Arianna Tondo ~ Artwork by Hic Sunt Leones
aliodie.bandcamp.com/album/they-grow-layers-of-life-within |
2017 |
€15.00 |
|
| ALIO DIE & AGLAIA |
Private History of the Clouds |
CD |
Dies dürfte die erste echte Zusammenarbeit der italienischen Projekte sein, scheinbar geht es hier um Vertonungen des Himmels, genauer: verschiedener Wolkenformationen (CIRRUS = reine Eiswolke in großer Höhe / auch Federwolke genannt; PERLUCIDUS = "durchsichtige" Fleckenwolke; NIMBUS = Regenwolke; RADIATUS = Wolken die parallele Bänder aufweisen; STRATUS = niedere Schichtwolke; CUMULS CONGESTUS = mächtige Quellwolke). Entsprechend "luftig" und ätherisch sind diese hellen Drones geraten, in die sanfte Field Recordings (Wasser, Insekten) sowie die typischen Zither-Klänge von ALIO DIE gemischt wurden... das ist "Ambient" pur, hat klanglich vielleicht nicht das allergrösste Innovationspotenzial, aber wer ALIO DIE & AGLAIA bereits kennt wie meisterhaft & einmalig sie organische Klang-Meditationen umsetzen können... Musik wie Wellenreflektionen.
"Infraction Records curates this new entry to the already considerable body of collaborations involving Alio Die. There have already been communings with the likes of Robert Rich, Mathias Grassow, and Vidna Obmana. Here, though, Stefano Musso's fellow-travellers are lesser known but closer to home. Aglaia is an Italian duo with a trio of albums on his Hic Sunt Leones label; Gino Fioravanti and Gianluigi Toso come trailing credentials in therapy, writing, painting, and teaching, to say nothing of alchemy and ortho-bionomy. In contrast with Musso, who has fully two decades of musical endeavors behind him, they're comparative novices. But you wouldn't have thought it. Theirs is a music whose apparent stasis enfolds within it endless subtle micro-variations. They bring with them from previous HSL releases an appealing aquatic/amniotic sound dimension, characterized by a combination of electronic sounds (analogies as the sleeve notes would have it) and processed acoustica moving as if in virtual circular breathing. Slow waves of soundflow suggestive of psycho-acoustic energy (if you're a believer, otherwise just go with the flow) come with peripheral fragments of sonorities, carried on the wind, drifting as if at the edges of sleep, recalling the way echo plays in open landscapes. That's part of the method of this animist collective's historical unfolding of its subjects' textures and trajectories, yielding a series of luminous aerated tracts. Animists see a spiritual force residing in every element of the physical world. Nature is believed to be alive, imputing an inner life to leaves, lakes and the like. Dwelling on Private History Of The Clouds brings this to mind before even entering its audio world, particularly in light of Alio Die's predilection for 'passion, nature and awakening' and Aglaia's for worlds of feeling ('mondi sensibili,' as a previous album was called). But, lest this kind of talk scare off those averse to nature-hugging, note that the musical Grace inspiring this project is more a familiar of Pandit Prath Nan and Brian Eno than of Wyndham Hill and Hearts of Space." [label info]
www.infractionrecords.com
|
2009 |
€14.50 |
|
| ALIO DIE & FESTINA LENTE |
Il sogno di un piano veneziano a Parigi |
CD |
“With Il Sogno di un Piano Veneziano a Parigi Alio Die and Festina Lente creates together a place of the memory where the past rest with a filmy nostalgia.. it is a dramatically joint that finally extinguish itself to the become.. there at the border where the personal moment ends, and the taste of an impersonal experience starts, with a longer breath. Like life belongs to the cosmos, and time belongs to the seasons.
After a long friendship a pianoforte met a zither, their incorporating sounds brought on wings of an ancient and lully dream, in foggy layers of impalpable feelings and in a wayward journey towards the inland. The field recordings were collected in Paris, East-Asia, and America by Alio Die, kimsonJa and Francesco Paladino such as rituals, animals, objects and spontaneous voices in the street... surround and conduce towards parallel worlds.
The ambient tracks are alternated with more intense and obscure moments, without breaking the solution of the continuum, through the organic elaborations of the sound's dye... loops of notes and silences, subtle presences of the field recordings that spy both: mankind and nature… So the treated piano and the nipped and scrubbed cords, the voices and noises, the resonances of metals... calls back the memory's body, that comes to the surface with great glangour. Dissolvent bright and dark colours, putting voices together to a poetical inspiration and a glamorous and precise lyricism of the entire inside.” [label press release]
|
2005 |
€13.50 |
|
| ALIO DIE & FRANCESCO PALADINO |
Angel's Fly Souvenir |
CD |
Immer wieder kollaboriert ALIO DIE mit neuen, uns noch unbekannten Musikern und schafft so eine Erweiterung seines typischen Ambient-Trance-Stils .... hier besonders bemerkenswert die vollen Zither-Sounds und ost-europäische Choräle, die wunderbar eingebunden werden...
“ 'Angel's Fly Souvenir': a CD by ALIO DIE & FRANCESCO PALADINO with contributes by IN GOWAN RING and JACK OR JIVE An album out of any definition, music at the same time dreamy and deep, a concrete and ethereal journey, born from the pleasure to experiment, the project was starting from acoustic sounds and voices recorded throw a long tube with zither loops, flutes, and different sonorous objects not identified at all and from the 'nose' sounds by Francesco Paladino. The album contains seven tracks, two of that are enriched by the epic collaboration track with In Gowan Ring in 'Ancient Consciousness of the End', and with the voice by Chako of Jack or Jive in 'Flowing Out from the Core of the Mountain'.
Francesco Paladino apart from his passion with video art, it's active in music from early seventies and was a member of Doubling Riders.
The recordings of Angel's Fly Souvenir were started in spring 2003, and now the Cd is finally come out to the light, with its bright and dark abisses, and its own night meditations.” [label description]
|
2005 |
€13.50 |
|
| ALIO DIE & MARTINA GALVAGNI |
Eleusian Lullaby |
CD |
"Oasen-Ambient" auf dieser Zusammenarbeit von ALIO DIE mit der italienischen Sängerin MARTINA GALVAGNI, hell klingend & klar, eine paradiesische Schönheit und Geborgenheit heraufbeschwörend, zärtlich, warm & sinnlich. ALIO DIE benutzt wieder diverse Instrumente wie Zither & Sitar und field recordings, die er auf seine typische Art und Weise verwebt...
"Eleusian Lullaby is a sensual ethereal-ambient collaboration between Italian soundsculptor Stefano Musso (aka Alio Die) and Italian singer Martina Galvagni. It is the third release in Projekt's series of Alio Die's vocal collaborations following 2001's Apsaras (with Amelia Cuni) and 2005's Mei-Jyu (with Jack or Jive). Eleusian Lullaby blends the natural, warm and earthy ambient compositions of Alio Die with the elegant, neo-classical voice of Martina, merging notes and silence into an expanded dreamscape. This is lullaby music like an aural caress from darkness into the light. The combination of the vocal melodies with the abstract qualities of the loops and instruments creates a suspended near-dream space, intimate and sensual at the same time.
The opening track, 'The Oniroid Sleep,' displays a foggy atmosphere where the voices wash beneath the acoustic layers of the cithara, sitar, kalimba and field recordings. On the second track, 'A Drone Song for Alienor,' the voice is clearer and more upfront with all its powerful beauty apparent creating an intense and fragile song with a neo-classical approach. The third song, 'Eleusian Lullaby,' was created as a totally free improvisation of psaltery and voice; the text is sung in a dialect of the Engadina language (Switzerland). Drones and loops were added later from the original recordings.
60 minutes of music, composed by acoustical improvisations with voice, psaltery, zither, cithara, bells, metals and field recordings. The original recordings were made in locations in the woods and in ancient medieval places then processed and layered by Alio Die at Temple Studio in 2005-2006.
Listen to this trance music in the dark and be lead to a tranquil earthly garden. Like in the best lullabies, you are caressed as you are transported to a mysterious parallel soundworld of peace and harmony." [label notes]
"Three elongated tracks making up a full length album of arty, filmic experimental soundscaping. Delicate and subtle, yet slightly discordant, melodies from archaic stringed instruments interweave with ambient drones, tinkling bells, and wordless vocals with Middle Eastern, medieval and folk touches, as well as sophisticated and evocative neoclassical vocals that are used as more of a focus of the track rather than the other styles that put in briefer appearances. Less song-oriented than many Projekt releases, but its ethereal nature, coupled with the slightly dark take on folk/world/classical music, fits right in with much of the label's other output. Combining elements familiar from the ambient/drone/experimental genre with creative, intellectual ideas of their own, the album is relaxing yet slightly unsettling at times, and goes beyond music and into the realms of aural art." [Bliss / Aquamarine]
www.projekt.com
|
2008 |
€14.50 |
|
| ALIO DIE / PARALLEL WORLDS |
Circo Divino |
LP |
"This is the first collaboration by ambient master Alio Die with soundscape creator Parallel Worlds. the unique sound achieved could be described as a hybrid sonic world, made out of bouncing electrons and air vibrations. the modular machines of Parallel Worlds are merged with the acoustic instrumentation and drones of Alio Die, joined by the ethereal voice of the Polish vocalist/composer India Czajkowska, resulting in a surreal, yet down to earth, listening experience. The compositions, being, at times, minimal and calm and, at other times, full of mystical darkness and microsound elements,
take the listener into a place were mental and physical boundaries have no need to exist.
The beautiful Digipack artwork is by the painter Romanie Sanchez.
Tracks:
1 Lost Fractales
2 Circo Divino
3 Nuvole di Palissandro
4 Sorinel
5 Electrostatic Forest
6 Slide of Grace
All tracks composed and produced by Bakis Sirros and Stefano Musso (BMI) between 2008 and 2009, in Milan, Italy and Athens, Greece.
Parallel Worlds : Doepfer A100, Serge, AS Integrator, Metalbox/CGS modulars, 4-Voice, VCS3, String machines, Tape Echoes, Tone & CV generators, wave shapers and modifiers.
Alio Die: Drones and Loops, Zither, Carillon, Effects and Treatments.
Voice and effects on tracks 1,3,4 by India Czajkowska recorded in Verezzi, Italy." [label info]
www.aliodie.com
|
2010 |
€16.50 |
|
| |
Circo Divino |
CD |
"This is the first collaboration by ambient master Alio Die with soundscape creator Parallel Worlds. The unique sound achieved could be described as a hybrid sonic world, made out of bouncing electrons and air vibrations. The modular machines of Parallel Worlds are merged with the acoustic instrumentation and drones of Alio Die, joined by the ethereal voice of the Polish vocalist/composer India Czajkowska, resulting in a surreal, yet down to earth, listening experience. The compositions, being, at times, minimal and calm and, at other times, full of mystical darkness and microsound elements, take the listener into a place were mental and physical boundaries have no need to exist.
The beautiful Digipack artwork is by the painter Romanie Sanchez.
Tracks:
1 Lost Fractales
2 Circo Divino
3 Nuvole di Palissandro
4 Sorinel
5 Electrostatic Forest
6 Slide of Grace
All tracks composed and produced by Bakis Sirros and Stefano Musso
(BMI) between 2008 and 2009, in Milan, Italy and Athens, Greece.
Parallel Worlds : Doepfer A100 modular, Serge Modular Music System, AS Integrator modular, Metalbox/CGS modular, modified Oberheim 4-Voice, modified EMS VCS3, String machines, Tape Echoes, Tone & CV generators, wave shapers and modifiers.
Alio Die: Drones and Loops, Zither, Carillon, Effects and Treatments.
Voice and effects on tracks 1,3,4 by India Czajkowska recorded in Verezzi, Italy.
Mastering by Stefano Musso at Temple Studio, Milan.
Cover pictures by Romanie Sanchez
www.romanie.net" [label info]
www.aliodie.com
|
2010 |
€15.00 |
|
| ALIZADEH, SABA |
I may never see you again |
LP |
Iranian composer and Kamancheh virtuoso, Saba Alizadeh releases his new album "I May Never See You Again"on the newly founded Hamburg label 30M Records.
Born in Tehran in 1983 to world-renowned tar and setar virtuoso and composer Hossein Alizadeh, Saba Alizadeh studied the Iranian Kamancheh – an ancient Persian violin – becoming one of the foremost players of the instrument of this day. Alizadeh later studied experimental sound art with Mark Trayle at the California Institute of the Arts and inspired by the conceptual approaches taught there, started composing music that deconstructs and abstracts Iranian traditions and scales into a new musical language and style.
Influenced by Iranian harmonics, musique concrète and sophisticated, forward-looking beat science, Saba Alizadeh's "I May Never See You Again" represent an incredibly exciting act of mutual inspiration - when Iranian scales and Western electroacoustic understanding powerfully unite.
The nine predominantly instrumental tracks on the album fuse tradition and innovation inspiring meditations on the subject of memory. On the one hand, the credibility and resilience of one's own memory is musically dissected, whilst on the other hand, Saba Alizadeh proceeds conceptually, deploying erstwhile dictators’ speeches in his music as a means to question the course of history.
I May Never See You Again also features handpicked collaborations with musician Andreas Spechtl and electroacoustic sound artist Rojin Sharafi. Spechtl, singer of the band Ja, Panik, found fame in the German-speaking world primarily thanks to his song lyrics, in which he deconstructs words in a similarly abstract way as Saba Alizadeh does the music.
Spechtl joins Alizadeh on two tracks for the album, while Vienna-based Iranian Sharafi joins on one.
https://30m-records.bandcamp.com/album/i-may-never-see-you-again
|
2021 |
€24.50 |
|
| ALLBEE, LIZ |
Theseus vs. Luz Alibi |
CD |
"Liz Allbee's second full length solo unwinds a cozily misanthropic sonic cloth with hidden barbs sure to draw blood. Each track treads further into unnerving terrain: sonar-pings dizzy your ears, unknown nursery rhymes warble from an abandoned tongue, a blur of wings beating in phase consumes all perception until a flat drum slowly summons resplendent horns and vocals rising to dump the entire hell onto its back.
Fasten a thread to one finger, but dare to take yourself inside "Theseus vs." Limited edition of 350, packaged in a handmade silk screened box." [label info]
www.resipiscent.com
"As a women is Liz Allbee, who lives in Berlin and her instruments are trumpet, electronics and voice. You might perhaps jump to the conclusion that Allbee comes from the world of improvisation and that's where she operates. That is only partially true. There is a lot happening on this CD: perhaps somehow, somewhat based in improvisation, but there is so much more, above all: its musical. Sometimes one gets the impression that Allbee wants to play a poptune. I have no idea what her electronics are about but no doubt some form of loopdevice to create rhythms. Perhaps using her voice, perhaps her trumpet, or perhaps there is some rudimentary form of a drum computer. But I think she loops more than just that: also her voice, also her trumpet and thus forms little melodies around she improvises her work. Maybe that seems an odd combination but its one that works surprisingly well. At times a bit noisy, at other times more like serious avant-garde, but always keen to add that (small) pop
angle. The tracks are short and to the point. A bit sketch-like perhaps, but due to the variety of approach this is a highly enjoyable and well succeeded hybrid of styles, with Allbee doing something that is surely her own." [FdW, Vital Weekly]
|
2010 |
€16.00 |
|
| ALOG |
Amateur |
CD |
"ALOG zählen seit 1997 zu den besten experimentellen Elektromusikern in Norwegen. Seit ihrem Debüt "Red Shift Swing" sind sie ihrem Label Rune Grammofon treu geblieben, wo die Nachfolger "Duck-Rabbit" und "Miniatures" erschienen. Letzteres gewann 2005 den norwegischen Grammy für den besten Electronica-Release. ALOG reisten für "Amateur" durch Norwegen und nahmen in Musikschulen und Musiksälen von Grundschulen auf, um den Sound eines jeden Instrumentes optimal darstellen zu können, was im Studio dann zu "Amateur" geformt wurde. Das Ziel aller Computersoftware ist es heute, den individuellen Sound eines jeden Musikers zu überdecken und alles gleich klingen zu lassen; ALOG gehen auf "Amateur" den genau entgegengesetzten Weg. //
Alog are duo Espen Sommer Eide and Dag-Are Haugan, and this is their fourth full-length release for the Rune Grammofon label. Since forming in 1997, Alog have been among Norway's leading performers of experimental electronic music. They are mainstays at Rune Grammofon and have been with the label since their debut album Red Shift Swing was released in 1999. They have increasingly worked with various acoustic instruments and in collaboration with other musicians for long recording sessions in special locations. Travelling around the west coast of Norway with Nicholas H. Møllerhaug and Nils Økland sidekick Sigbjørn Apeland, they recorded in music schools in an attempt to capture the unique sound of each selection of instruments found. Because of bad weather they could be stuck for days on islands off the wild northern coast recording themselves playing any instruments they could find and building more of their own. These sessions were subsequently worked on in the studio to bring out the unique spirit of this release, characterized by a curious and fresh approach to playing that is often lost in the process of becoming a virtuoso on a singular instrument. The word "amateur" originally denotes a person who is motivated by a passion or love for their activity. It has been the goal of Alog on this album to preserve and enhance this special energy in their songs, and to do this they use their "augmented acoustics" technology and bring out the hidden "amateur" energy of each song." [press release]
www.runegrammofon.com
"Music by Alog have never ceased to amaze me. The duo of Espen Sommer Eide and Dag-Are Haugan have by now released a bunch of works on Melektronikk, Smalltown Supersound and En/Of, and here return with a strange CD, once again. Apparently 'it was recorded on various locations in the western and northern parts of Norway, often using instruments found or built for the sole purpose of this recording', which is something that is hard to believe. But 'these sessions were subsequently worked on in the studio to bring out the unique spirit of the 'Amateur'. In the post-production world of the studio anything is possible, I then think. To describe the music of Alog is not easy, but 'amateur' is a good description, in the most positive sense of the word. 'Childlike' and 'naive' are two others that fit the description quite well. There are hints of minimal music, microsound, folk and improvisation - and perhaps any category in between these that could be applied to the music of Alog. They play their instruments (whatever lost and found they might be) like children, not banging around but with a curious interest in seeing what a sound does. Carefully as not make too many sounds. Beautiful electronic sound scapes, with interesting electro-acoustic sounds here and there. Very nice. Once again." [FdW / Vital Weekly] |
2007 |
€15.00 |
|
| ALTIERI, CORRADO / GIANLUCA FAVARON |
Decomposed Days |
CD |
"Decomposed Days" is the new collaborative effort by Corrado Altieri (Candor Chasma, Monosonik, Uncodified) and Gianluca Favaron (Ab'she, Under The Snow, Zbeen), two major artist in the experimental electronic scene.
Released one year after "The System of Objects", a tribute to Jean Baudrillard, "Decomposed Days" relates to the possible connections between space, time and memory, making reference to imaginary movies as well as existing ones (like Peter Greenaway's "Vertical Features").
The album's five compositions are built with a crosspollination between musique concrete, abstract noise textures, radical computer music and techno splinters, leading to surreal territories.
"Decomposed Days" is available in three different editions:
- a standard edition of 225 copies;
- a limited edition of 20 copies which contain a photographic reproduction of the five Polaroids used for the cover;
- an extra limited edition of 5 copies which contain the aforementioned photographic reproduction and one of the five original Polaroids used for the cover." [label info]
13.silentes.it
"Here's the follow-up to the CD 'The System Of Objects' by Corrado Altieri (synthesizers, electronics, tapes) and Gianluca Favaron (microphones, loops, effects, computer) - see also Vital Weekly 904. Just like that previous release, this is a rather short album (thirty-two minutes), but the tracks being a bit longer, with 'Vertical Features' even being twelve minutes. This work has less an ambient feel to it, and more a musique concrete/electro-acoustic feel. There are again the heavily treated field recordings and sounds from objects and fewer synthesizers. I might be wrong though. There is an overall sense of experiment here. More noise without being noise, if you get my drift. It's not loud per se, or rather, not at all, but to say this ambient would also not be the point. Throughout the music didn't seem very loud (or maybe I just turned down the volume?), but quite intense at this level; maybe it's just this early morning listening session that makes my judgement a bit clouded;
maybe I am not awake yet? Lots of obscure sounds from all these sources are melted down into this obscured drone music of a highly experimental nature. I quite enjoyed the radical nature of this somehow lo-fi sounding experimental noise. Lots of crackling and rust between the notes. This is, I may repeat myself, the noise I like very much." [FdW/Vital Weekly]
|
2014 |
€12.00 |
|
| |
To Found |
CD |
Experimental. To find again sequences, sounds and samples, previously elaborated for other works and live performances, decontextualizing all of them to create new original material. These are the starting points for "To Found", the third release by Corrado Altieri and Gianluca Favaron on a Silentes label, devoted to all-round experimentation and stylistic contamination through the multiple languages of electronic sound. Drone music, post-Techno rhythmic disintegrations, suggestions of the old Industrial school, field recording, abstract echoes and noise pulsations, for eight hypnotic compositions created between Cagliari and Treviso, with the precious collaboration of Anacleto Vitolo. [label info]
https://13silentes.bandcamp.com/album/to-found
"Corrado Altieri and Gianluca Favaron deliver with ‘To Found’ their third album, following ‘The System Of Objects’ (Vital Weekly 904) and ‘Decomposed days’ (Vital Weekly 945). Altieri is responsible for ‘electronics, tapes and programming’ while Favaron plays computer and percussion. The two men have quite a history when it comes to experimental music in all its various incarnations, ambient mostly, but also noise-based and in their duo work they add the element of rhythm. It is difficult to say something about the way they work. It could work either way; either this is all improvised and only comes to us via editing the best bits and pieces, or they sit down and meticulously compose this. Somehow I tend to think it is the first. The pieces they edit together are short and to the point, like the whole album is, being thirty-two minutes long. The lessons learned from Pan Sonic are used quite well in these eight pieces. The bass sound is a strong presence, stomping occasionally away like on a techno record. Yet this does not result in dance music. Whatever else Favaron and Altieri add to the mix are noises, crumbled radio waves, sine waves, feedback, field recordings and highly obscured sounds, all of which is working quite well. By keeping these pieces between three and five minutes and in which there is quite a bit happening, they make sure there is quite a bit of energy in the music, not the least thanks to those rhythms that they slipped in. I think this is their best album together so far." [Vital Weekly] |
2020 |
€12.00 |
|
| ALUVIANA |
Tonicna Negibnost |
CD |
"With 'visual prowess' very similar to Aluviana's former works, 'Tonicna negibnost' (i.e. 'Tonic Immobility') is a tour de force in fantasy made real. There's heaps of charm, plenty of improbable scenarios and lots of surprises around the corner. It manages to be serious but entertaining, sane but daft, deadly accurate before it suddenly erupts in a comedy of errors, alive but sanguine, mature but childish, sick of the world, then impetuously in love with it... The tonal vocabulary, samples and influences are so diverse that any identifications or descriptions are best left alone. This is a very clever and beautifully crafted album and one that I can imagine revisiting many times in the future. If the first impressions never do lie, then is it a mere coincidence that mine was that of a partially remembered dream told by an ancient shark, who had swum the seven seas and seen what the future holds long before you and I have ever existed ? And who said that sharks have no sense of humour, for that matter ?' Lord Ferdi the Despiser. Dark ambient noise from Ljubljana. Limited edition (200 copies-200 different hand painted covers on recycled cardboard)." [label info]
www.syrphe.com
|
2012 |
€13.00 |
|
| ALVA NOTO |
Xerrox Vol. 4 |
do-LP |
"Alva Noto returns to his much awaited Xerrox project with Vol. 4, the fourth installment of the five-piece intended series based on the concept of digital replication of source material.
Using the process of copying as a basis, the Xerrox series deals with the manipulation of data by means of endless reproduction. Due to the inherent fallacy of the procedure involving the making of copies made from other copies, everyday’s sounds become so altered that they can be hardly associated with the source material. As a result, entirely new sounds are created: copies of originals become originals themselves.
Following Xerrox Vol. 1 (2007), Vol. 2 (2009), Vol. 3 (2015), Carsten Nicolai continues the pentalogy eluding the accuracy and precise sound design for which he’s renowned, and turning to a more harmony-driven composition technique.
Unlike the previous Xerrox albums, whose starting point is a set of samples extracted from external sources and fragments of recordings, Vol. 4 compounds under a unified cinematic soundscape, warm chords, thrumming digital ambiences, liquified electronics, drones, and noise sustained by floods of strings. The tension between the organic warmth and static curves, broads tones into distant roars and electronic cascade of sounds.
While Alva Noto's oeuvre is predominantly affiliated with pristine sound design, Xerrox holds more intimate gestures and emotional sensibility. This fourth volume shuns further from the conceptualism and orderliness of prior musical outputs, ranging from heart-warming elegies to mind-bending sci-fi projections in extrasolar territories." [label info]
"It took five years for Carsten Nicolai to release the third volume to his five-part series Xerrox, and it took five more to release the fourth. At this rate, it will be 2025 when we will see the final chapter. Although there are rumblings on the intarwebs that the fourth instalment, which should be depicting the letter 'X' again of the typeface 'XERROX', is actually the first one, with the same image on the cover. I guess we'll have to wait and see. Meanwhile, one of the reasons for an interval in between the volumes can be attributed to the split between the Raster and Noton labels, which occurred in 2017, after the Raster-Noton's 20th anniversary. So, although a keen eye may notice that this particular entry in the series appears on another label, the continuity between the music, artwork, layout, packaging, and pretty much everything else, is still intact. For that we thank thee. Whereas Volume 1 was attributed to the "Old World", Volume 2 "To The New World", and Vol. 3 was "Towards Space", this fourth instalment is subtitled as "Transit Extrasolar Territories And Inner Worlds". So the trajectory is further and out, and so are the sounds, depicted within.
This fourth instalment is even more 'ambient', if one may call it that. Gone are the digital structures, copied with all of the artefacts of the process, and replaced with warm swells of organic-sounding strings, which breathe with the punctuating deep bass. I would have almost expected the opposite, as we flew into the extrasolar regions of our universe - something darker, colder, and void. But upon another reflection, fundamental sonic expressions within the fourteen pieces of the album totally make sense, since it is the human world, of the old and new worlds, that occupies within the digital domain. The rest of the creation is beyond the numbers. And yet... if digital emerged from minds and will of humans, is it not part of the organic? This, and many other questions, can be but glimpsed by travelling onboard with Alva Noto, who intricately weaves an aural frame which is by far his best in series.
Of course, I've got all of the four instalments on CD, and have aligned them all to spell out "XERRO..." but at this point, I'm leaning towards grabbing a 2x12" edition of the album, since its vibrations and pure chime must be experienced through surface listening. It's also worth noting, that this album was originally finished in February, just as the pandemic began to unfold across the globe. And, as my dear friend Peter van Cooten notes on his ambientblog writeup, "this means that the emotional impact of this music is different now than it would have been without the COVID-19 crisis," with which I wholeheartedly agree. Xerrox Vol.4 is an album worth listening to on numerous continuous repeats, and if you prefer, you can lie down and turn off the lights. And as you float out of these outer worlds and through your inner, I hope to see you on the other side." [Headphone Commute]
|
2020 |
€23.00 |
|
|
Xerrox Vol. 4 |
CD |
"Alva Noto returns to his much awaited Xerrox project with Vol. 4, the fourth installment of the five-piece intended series based on the concept of digital replication of source material.
Using the process of copying as a basis, the Xerrox series deals with the manipulation of data by means of endless reproduction. Due to the inherent fallacy of the procedure involving the making of copies made from other copies, everyday’s sounds become so altered that they can be hardly associated with the source material. As a result, entirely new sounds are created: copies of originals become originals themselves.
Following Xerrox Vol. 1 (2007), Vol. 2 (2009), Vol. 3 (2015), Carsten Nicolai continues the pentalogy eluding the accuracy and precise sound design for which he’s renowned, and turning to a more harmony-driven composition technique.
Unlike the previous Xerrox albums, whose starting point is a set of samples extracted from external sources and fragments of recordings, Vol. 4 compounds under a unified cinematic soundscape, warm chords, thrumming digital ambiences, liquified electronics, drones, and noise sustained by floods of strings. The tension between the organic warmth and static curves, broads tones into distant roars and electronic cascade of sounds.
While Alva Noto's oeuvre is predominantly affiliated with pristine sound design, Xerrox holds more intimate gestures and emotional sensibility. This fourth volume shuns further from the conceptualism and orderliness of prior musical outputs, ranging from heart-warming elegies to mind-bending sci-fi projections in extrasolar territories." [label info]
"It took five years for Carsten Nicolai to release the third volume to his five-part series Xerrox, and it took five more to release the fourth. At this rate, it will be 2025 when we will see the final chapter. Although there are rumblings on the intarwebs that the fourth instalment, which should be depicting the letter 'X' again of the typeface 'XERROX', is actually the first one, with the same image on the cover. I guess we'll have to wait and see. Meanwhile, one of the reasons for an interval in between the volumes can be attributed to the split between the Raster and Noton labels, which occurred in 2017, after the Raster-Noton's 20th anniversary. So, although a keen eye may notice that this particular entry in the series appears on another label, the continuity between the music, artwork, layout, packaging, and pretty much everything else, is still intact. For that we thank thee. Whereas Volume 1 was attributed to the "Old World", Volume 2 "To The New World", and Vol. 3 was "Towards Space", this fourth instalment is subtitled as "Transit Extrasolar Territories And Inner Worlds". So the trajectory is further and out, and so are the sounds, depicted within.
This fourth instalment is even more 'ambient', if one may call it that. Gone are the digital structures, copied with all of the artefacts of the process, and replaced with warm swells of organic-sounding strings, which breathe with the punctuating deep bass. I would have almost expected the opposite, as we flew into the extrasolar regions of our universe - something darker, colder, and void. But upon another reflection, fundamental sonic expressions within the fourteen pieces of the album totally make sense, since it is the human world, of the old and new worlds, that occupies within the digital domain. The rest of the creation is beyond the numbers. And yet... if digital emerged from minds and will of humans, is it not part of the organic? This, and many other questions, can be but glimpsed by travelling onboard with Alva Noto, who intricately weaves an aural frame which is by far his best in series.
Of course, I've got all of the four instalments on CD, and have aligned them all to spell out "XERRO..." but at this point, I'm leaning towards grabbing a 2x12" edition of the album, since its vibrations and pure chime must be experienced through surface listening. It's also worth noting, that this album was originally finished in February, just as the pandemic began to unfold across the globe. And, as my dear friend Peter van Cooten notes on his ambientblog writeup, "this means that the emotional impact of this music is different now than it would have been without the COVID-19 crisis," with which I wholeheartedly agree. Xerrox Vol.4 is an album worth listening to on numerous continuous repeats, and if you prefer, you can lie down and turn off the lights. And as you float out of these outer worlds and through your inner, I hope to see you on the other side." [Headphone Commute]
|
2020 |
€16.00 |
|
| |
HYbr:ID II |
do-LP |
HYbr:ID Vol. 2 is the second installment of Alva Noto's HYbr:ID series initiated in 2021. The new album captures the music commissioned to score Richard Siegal's Ectopia performed in 2021 by Tanztheater Pina Bausch with Shooting into the Corner (2008-09) by Anish Kapoor. Building upon the captivating blend of immersive dub and electronica from the first installment, HYbr:ID Vol. 2 takes the listener on a journey into the realm of intricately manipulated digital production. These ten compositions delve into infinity, drawing inspiration from resonance and elasticity, concepts rooted in Minkowski's four-dimensional spacetime model. Throughout the album, Carsten Nicolai summons precise rhythmic patterns that gracefully hover, reminiscent of celestial bodies orbiting in perfect cosmic unison. The sonic landscape gradually unfolds with somber and brooding tones, incorporating spacious sound design, ethereal atmospheres, and cascading metallic percussions. These elements are delicately crafted with artistic finesse, set against a backdrop of expansive dub textures. At times, the music takes unforeseen turns, as melancholic chords skitter and meander through a digital haze, evoking an atmosphere of introspection and emotion. The ten compositions are accompanied by graphic notations informed by the album's sonic and acoustic codes. Album art designed by Carsten Nicolai / Nibo Mastering by Bo @ Calyx. |
2023 |
€28.50 |
|
| ALVELOS, HEITOR |
Faith |
CD |
"Faith is the first full-length sound release by media researcher and curator Heitor Alvelos under his own name. Heitor Alvelos has been a long-time on/off collaborator of Touch, having on occasion provided photography and stage visuals for Biosphere, Fennesz, BJNilsen, Rafael Toral and Philip Jeck, as well as releasing sound pieces under the aliases Autodigest, Antifluffy and Before Surgery, on Ash International, TouchRadio and The Tapeworm.
“The essence of the present piece is autobiographical: therefore the use of my own name”, the author clarifies. “And yet it aims at being resonant to others”: in this context, resonance may be regarded as both semantic and visceral, as the sound frequencies on Faith are often of the kind that “rearrange one’s organs”, to quote the recently departed Bernadette Martou. A necessity in order to carry the gravitas inherent to the subject, a confessional confrontation with the zeitgeist.
All sources have been gathered, recorded and produced throughout five decades, all the way back to a recording by Francisco Alvelos in 1972 that closes the release. Elsewhere, sounds have been processed to various degrees, the bookends retaining their original contexts, others mutating into deep abstraction. Overall, they flow as one single composition, evocative and foreboding in equal measures."
https://touch33.net/catalogue/to97-heitor-alvelos-faith.html
Heitor Alvelos is no stranger to the Touch label, having collaborated as a visual artist with the big names of the label such as Fennesz, BJ Nilsen, and Philip Jeck, as well as issuing sound work under a variety of pseudonyms on the associated labels. Faith is a collection of processed sound recordings and “audio irregularities”, and due to their more personal and autobiographical source, it is the first record released under his own name. Essentially a single composition split into 12 segments, it is a sparse and murky record, steeped heavily in an analog sound.
Culled from a variety of unspecified recordings collected by the artist since 1972, most of Faith has Alvelos sticking to an open mix, working in bass heavy sounds at often very low volumes, conjuring a sense of space and ambiguity that often becomes unsettling. “Exodus” and “Edict” both have a ghostly rumble to them, distant and unspecific but always there. During the latter he begins to increase the volume and simultaneously the intensity.
On “Allvion” into “Pseudoself” the sound becomes deeper: a wavering expanse of noise that evolves into something with significant depth and variety, but never stops being discomforting. The latter especially sees Alvelos working with monotone electronics and a heavy low-frequency passage that slowly evolves and changes to become all encompassing, climaxing and leading into the silent passage of “Vicarious Solace”.
He builds the minimalist, rumbling hum back up on the lengthy “The Way of Malamat.” Superficially, the droning bass may seem static, but perceptible variations become prominent, at times looping into an almost rhythmic passage that again reaches a heavier, denser saturation point but never too oppressive. This continues through “Peirasmos” and “The Other,” the latter resembling the muffled vibration of machinery.
In its concluding minutes, “The Hopeful Night” has him stripping the piece back to its barest essentials, largely consisting of a low volume buzz that would not be out of place on Bernhard Günter’s work, albeit his sound being more digital than the analog warmth that is more prominent on Alvelos’ work. The single piece that is Faith never becomes overly boisterous or forceful, but its concluding passages are especially understated.
The intentionally ambiguous source of the recordings Heitor Alvelos used to construct Faith does add an extra layer of interest to the album. Rarely does anything ever resemble what we usually consider to be a field recording, so either his processing or his selection of unconventional sources are what makes this album, probably a connection of both. It is sparse and minimalist, but done with an exceptional sense of grace and poise. [Creaig Dunton] |
2015 |
€13.00 |
|
| AMBARCHI / GUNTER MULLER / VOICE CRACK |
Oystered |
CD |
Ungewöhnliche Kollaboration, aufgenommen an einem Tag in Sidney, 23.July 2002: dunkel-pulsierend hämmernde Soundflächen und sich dramatisch entwickelnde elektronische konkret-Klänge machen dies zu einer spannenden Hörerfahrung!
“ Take three Swiss tourists. Feed them top notch Sydney rock oysters, fine Hunter Valley wines and get them into a recording studio with Oren Ambarchi. That was the challenge. This is the record. If Ambarchi, Müller and the Crack have one thing in common (beyond gastronomic excess), it is their ability to get extraordinary sounds out of everyday objects. This one day recording session at Big Jesus Burger in Sydney highlights the mutual approach they share.There's such cohesion, wholeness and single mindedness to these pieces that makes identification of the individuals involved virtually impossible. So forget the 'Who's Doing
What?' game. Close your eyes and play 'Where The Hell Am I?' ... rainforest, glacier, casino, ship's hull, bowling alley or five star restaurant?” [label description]
"Clustered, pacing, stomping. The mechanics of this latest collaboration by Ambarchi, Muller and Voice Crack manipulates resonance and miniscule particles like they are playing a game with sensors that bark and bite back. The ominous nature of 'Walking Oysters' uses plotted stepping which designs the frame for the kinetics lurking inside. Over these forty+ minutes these gentlemen incorporate electronics, strings and percussion to mold something freely derived from bare open circuits and other happy mistakes. A
vernacular is built on 'Briefing Oysters' that forms slowly and largely into a vibrating dissonance - but be careful - these
authoritative sounds are so ecstatic that they literally knocked my bass woofer off the shelf (that was a first). If you play this on
headphones it is sure to be a significant mind rush. After the tremendous pinnacle the piece is treated to the equivalent of a breathing tube, charted by timed intervals inhalations (or percussive metering). Starting as a static-laden drone 'Grounding Oysters'
relies on the residues of quiet and bass thumping play between channels. Like moving lumber and bark that is electrified, the
organic quality to this track is just stunning. Not satisfied to simply use the formidable sine wave with subtle manipulation - 'Oystered' totally experiments with every aspect of frequency and sample. There are parts that test your ear drum, giving the listener a physical, sensory experience. This is active listening."
[TJN, Vital Weekly]
|
2003 |
€13.50 |
|
| AMBARCHI, OREN |
Destinationless Desire |
7" |
"Electric guitars, organ, samples, bells, percussion and motorised cymbal recorded at BJB Studios, Sydney with additional overdubs made at home 2005-2007. Gratitude to Fairport Convention and Boris D Hegenbart. This is the 5th in the series of Touch Sevens - 7 vinyl only releases. 7 vinyl was the quintessential format for popular music. Today, it is an undervalued and mostly promotional medium, used as a fetishistic signpost to a time of musical authenticity and a healthy popular culture. It might seem like another retrograde step to launch a vinyl series just as the download format threatens to dominate, and indeed there is an element of the rear view mirror... the generation of Touch artists who grew up with vinyl [and cassette] still feeling a strong emotional attachment to it. This series is more than that... an overtly critical, non-digital statement is supported by treatments of audio work which cannot be applied to digital formats - the sonic texture, the use of a locked groove, the A & the B and the additional dimension of the visual counterpoint. As for the aspect of audience participation, we choose not to specify the RPM on the label, encouraging the listener to experiment with playback options and personal preferences. An attempt to make music that works at both speeds. The front cover might actually be the back cover..." [label info]
"...Using electric guitars, organ, bells, samples, percussion and motorized cymbal (!), Ambarchi has created to dramatically different
pieces. The A side is a woozy, washed out underwater sounding loopscape, peppered with record crackle (unless that’s coming from
the record player, either way, it sounds great!), like a slightly jauntier, less melancholy Oval, major key melody, all softly sunshine- y, a dreamily hypnotic stretch of soft swirl that could go on forever.
The B side is much darker, long streaks of shimmery low end beneath haunting slowed down vocals, mournful and mysterious, the
vocals and the guitar drift and shift, all wound up in and around each other, throughout, bits of electronic glitchery, smears of muted
buzz, snippets of conversation and dialogue, but all that stuff seems to be woven into an undulating backdrop for Ambarchi’s ghostlike
disembodied blues.
As always, packaged in super striking thick matte sleeve with gorgeous photos and layout from Touch head honcho Jon Wozencroft." [Aquarius Records review]
www.touchmusic.org.uk
|
2008 |
€7.50 |
|
| |
A Final Kiss on Poisoned Cheeks |
LP |
OREN AMBARCHI's Beitrag für die neue "guitar series" auf TABLE OF THE ELEMENTS: vielschichtige Poly-Drones, bestehend nicht nur aus Gitarren-Tönen sondern auch aus elektronischen Kontakt- und Störgeräuschen & sich windenden Feedbacks; ein sehr komplexes Stück, lebendig und elektronisch ausstrahlend in 1000 verschiedene Richtungen. Wunderbar auch, wie es dann allmählich mit glockenhellen Klängen versetzt ausklingt.. AMBARCHI in Höchstform. Himmelblaues Vinyl.
"There is a vivid breadth to the guitar deconstructions of Australian Oren Ambarchi. Sometimes his work takes a delicate lilt; it can also dive into dark and deep pools of sound when he joins cowl-core ensembles Sunn O))) (with Stephen O'Malley) and Burial Chamber Trio (with Greg Anderson). Whether with those bands, solo, or in collaboration with luminaries ranging from Mike Patton and John Zorn to Christian Fennesz, he consistently reroutes his instrument into zones of arch, alien abstraction. A Final Kiss On Poisoned Cheeks offers a dizzying gaze straight into a chasm of extreme frequencies -- paint-peelingly high and bowel-churningly low -- all set atop a sub-strata of menace, angst, and contemplative beauty." Pressed on light-blue marbled, etched vinyl. B-side etching artwork by Savage Pencil." [label info]
"...Still essentially a dronescape, A Final Kiss is rife with sonic activity, so much so that in lesser hands it would be more of a mess, a sort of pretty-ish noise record, but Ambarchi, takes all manner of buzz and glitch, of scrape and hum, and weaves it into a strangely lyrical arrangement. The core of the piece is a thick, undulating low end drone, a muted Niblockian shimmer, that seems not to change so much as shift, reflecting different colors and sounds depending on the angle. Over this nearly constant thrum, exist a veritable universe of strange sounds, streaks of feedback, cricket like electronic chitter,
moaning throbbing swells of guitar rumble, brief blurs of warm soft focus fuzz, layers of crumbling distortion, all of the various
elements constantly shifting and blossoming, collapsing and then blooming again, creating a super organic flow, another instance of
leaving the instruments on the stage, guitars against amps. amps cranked, although here it seems the instruments have come to life, and
we are glimpsing their secret lives, as the communicate musically, telling some sort of story, exchanging mysterious messages, which
while indecipherable to human ears, still manage to sound magical. Guitardrone freaks will, well, freak! Subtly heavy, darkly
drone-y, slightly noisy, rich and dense and textural. Really gorgeous. And totally recommended.
Pressed on swirled turquoise vinyl. One sided, the other side with a super bad ass etching, housed in a thick vinyl sleeve, and of course, as always LIMITED!" [Aquarius Records review]
www.tableoftheelements.com
|
2008 |
€17.50 |
|
| AMBARCHI, OREN & SCOTT HORSCROFT / HADO HO |
19 Guitars / Sonic Wave 2002 Stereo Action |
12inch |
Endlich geht es in der Textile-12”-Serie (echte 45rpm’ler) weiter, mit dieser feinen Arbeit von OREN AMBARCHI auf einer Seite, wo seine sirrenden & repetitiv angeschlagenen Gitarrenschnipsel von SCOTT HORSCROFT verarbeitet werden, hier verbinden sich treibend-trancig-psychedelische Sounds mit meditativen Flächen. HADO HO steht eher in der Tradition von japanischem Impro-Noise, seine Klangattacken wirken seltsam verlangsamt, wie MERZBOW in Zeitlupe.
“Textile is proud to announce the fourth installment in its split 12 series, Oren ambarchi / Hado Ho.' Oren ambarchi & Scott Horscroft. 'Oren ambarchi is an electronic guitarist and percussionist with longstanding interests in transcending conventional instrumental approaches. Born in Sydney in 1969, he has been performing live since 1986. His recent solo releases Triste (Southern Lord, USA), and Grape from the Estate (Touch UK) have transcended the guitar into a zone of alien beauty and sonic impossibilities to critical acclaim. His work focuses mainly on the exploration of the guitar, 're-routing the instrument into a zone of alien abstraction where it's no longer easily identifiable as itself. Instead, it's a laboratory for extended sonic investigation'. (The Wire, UK). Oren ambarchi has collaborated with SUNN 0))) on their recently completed BLACK ONE and hast just completed a world tour playing guitar with the band together with Greg Anderson, Stephen O'Malley, Attila Csihar and Tos Nieuwenhuizen.'
HADO-HO is Takehito Nakazato, of DUB SONIC & DUBNESIA. 'Takehito Nakazato is a sound fetichist, influenced by an earlier generation of Japanese noise musicians as much as by old school electronics pioneers. Hado-Ho's sound is solely based on noises and sound manipulations such as feedback noises, bad cable connections, loud mic tapping, electric hum, feedback squeals. Takehito Nakazato is not as frantic as the traditional noise acts - Masonna, Merzbow etc, but there are points of reference in terms of sound manipulation and extreme frequency variations. Takehito Nakazato appears on Sonic Plate, Meme, Zero Gravity and Improvised music from Japan.' [label infos]
|
2006 |
€10.00 |
|
| AMBRE |
Le Mensonge |
CD |
Äussert interessantes und experimentelles zweites Album von AMBRE, ein kaum zu klassifizerendes & fassbares Soundscape-Geäst in dunkler Atmosphäre, mit einem grossen Reichtum an konkreten und unkonkreten Klangeffekten.. geniale Hülle auch!
“ ambre's second full length release explores a new direction in sound – this will be especially evident for those who are familiar with 'enclave'. however, there are still no rhythms in this aural universe, but it is still mighty cold and extremely dark in there. even in this cold and dark place, life forms (creatures, not machines) are created. you can hear them celebrating their rituals, you can hear them talk and you can hear them sending greetings to zoviet france's parallel universe (perhaps even a small postcard is sent to pierre schaeffer). but you can never hear them dance - never. these strange life forms don't need a purpose for what they do. do you need a purpose to exist? either do they. what do you mean... it's all a lie? turn up your stereo. put on your headphones. turn off the lights. believe. this cd comes in a folded embossed heavy cardboard cover.” [press release]
|
2003 |
€10.00 |
|
| AMINI, SIAVASH |
Serus |
LP |
" “Every night is two nights, according to Maurice Blanchot. The night the body spends in sleep is not the same as the night the dreamer spends in dreams. The sleeping body may lie under the stars, and the dreamer may dream of the stars—even of a journey to the stars—but the night of the dream is a night without stars.”
From Siavash:
The Idea of this album, when I first started drafting it, was to continue what struck me as very interesting yet simple idea; night. I became interested in different definitions of what night is, our perception of it and what night means physically to us as well as symbolically.
I came across the idea of ‘other night’ described by Maurice Blanchot, during my research. It started me recognising night as something we experience as ‘the night of sleep’; it is night that we resist in sleep, by way of dreaming.
Things became more interesting for me during many nights of not sleeping and intoxication, and an eventual nervous breakdown. This experience, culminating in me spending three days in ICU, gave me pause to think about Blanchot’s words.
Slipping in and out of consciousness my mind, which had already experienced a blurring of what one might call the ‘other night’ and the night itself, by being in half sleep most of the time. I felt myself far way from all my surroundings and at the same time being very attentive to some details in the objects around me. It was as if my body and mind where in an in-between state. I can only describe this as being distant or more precisely being in the dark. Objects and people showed themselves out of proportion and mostly dim.
A feeling to describe this sensation, the word for which I only came across later, is ‘Serus’. There was a sense of repetition and familiarity in some feelings and emotions that I had towards some objects like sensing I knew them but not exactly from where or when. It was as if my body was resisting sleep and my sleepy mind was resisting being awake, only to dream of another type of the world that I could be awake in."
https://room40.bandcamp.com/album/serus
"Crushingly dark and ominous avant-classical nocturnal scapes from Tehran-based Siavash Amini, marking his debut with Lawrence English’s Room 40. Amini’s work in ‘Serus’ is often scowlingly serious, but not without its moments of spacious, harmonic relief that bring the album’s underlying themes about sleep and dreams to life in suitably heavy-lidded, edge of nightmare fashion. One to be filed in your New Iranian Electronics folder, and another strong release in what's proving to be a vintage year for Room 40. |
2019 |
€26.00 |
|
| |
A Trail Of Laughters |
CD |
From Siavash Amini: "A series of distressing dreams started this whole thing. A few years ago someone pointed out that my repeating dreams of being lost in what seemed to be a maze of pits, reminded them of stories about wonders of wells and pits in the Book of Marvels. More than a year ago I started having those dreams again, so I read the book. There were similarities with a few of the stories but nothing more. One of the stories made an impression on me more than the others. After being done with the vein project of finding my dreams in a book from 12th century, I started obsessing about every detail of that certain story. Borrowing from distressing artifacts of my own subconscious and mixing them with all the details described or all the things left out of that particular one story, a musical project was starting to take shape in my mind. Working outside the systems suggested by 12 tone equal temperament, has been a passion of mine from the start of my musical life. I released one track on my first EP doing that, a failed experiment. After that I kept on studying the subject. Whenever I got the chance, I tested out an idea borrowing from other systems of tuning and their suggested compositional techniques. Imagining a musical equivalent to those distressing dreams and the scenes from the book was a very good opportunity to test out the oddest juxtapositions of the said systems, a formidable but suitable task. The sound, in my mind had to be murky, hazy, highly textured, crackling, resonant yet dingy and distant. It eventually took the shape of an album. The techniques I learned and used during the making of these pieces will remain in use in my musical activities for a long time. This album with all its shortcomings is about distressing dreams/realities of being lost in the darkness of a pit and the sounds/creatures that lead you to it, based on my own dreams and a few lines from an old book."
https://siavashamini.bandcamp.com/album/a-trail-of-laughters
|
2021 |
€15.50 |
|
| AMM |
Uncovered Correspondence |
CD |
"John Tilbury - piano. Eddie Prévost - percussion. Recorded at the concert hall of the Jasielski Dom Kultury (Jaslo Cultural Centre) in southern Poland on 15th May 2010. Th e performance represented by this CD took place on 15th of May 2010 in the concert hall of the Jaslo Cultural Centre in southern Poland. I had spoken to John Tilbury in 2007 about the possibility of AMM performing in Jaslo, but for various reasons the project did not come to fruition until three years later. We had not planned for a CD release of the concert; in fact, we only spoke about recording the day before. There was no opportunity for the usual setup procedures. The recording was only intended as a document of the occasion. The concert began with John Tilbury using the piano to produce a gamelan-like quality, which was quickly followed by Eddie Prévost bowing a cymbal producing subtle metallic sounds. One could feel an electric atmosphere of concentration and note the exceptional care and elegance with which the performers selected even the tiniest details of the complex sound structure. Intriguing phrases from the prepared piano and sonorous tones from percussion instruments waft ed around the huge expanse of the hall — whose excellent acoustics let the audience immerse themselves in the music — savouring the subtle sounds emerging from the silence. e changes within the slow stream of improvisation occurred in such a natural way introduced by either musician by turn. Sometimes a highly abstract motif seemed to be a logical development rather than a step into the unknown — which in reality it was. The dominant impression was that such an advanced level of intuitive understanding between the two performers was the result of many years of collaboration. In my view each sound produced during the concert was not only ‘desirable’ but also essential (inevitable) and created its own profound aesthetic justification. Especially noteworthy was the compelling way in which both musicians made use of silence, whose role in AMM is as important as sound. Th e performance of a shorter or longer period of silence entailed the same creative intervention as did playing a sound or motif. The moments when the sound structure intensified and thickened became less frequent yet did not disappear completely. Particularly embedded in my memory are two moments: one was an exceptionally loud and shattering fragment of sound when dust could be seen rising out of the piano. And, when Eddie got up from his percussion and went to the wood-panelling, playing the wall with a beater generating a very low and vibrating sound — a convincing demonstration that any object may be used as a means to create music. It is only because I attended the concert, and can recall it in my mind, that now when listening to the recording I can identify the sources of those extraordinary sounds. The music presented on this CD requires a serious commitment from the listener. However, anyone familiar with the music of AMM would expect nothing else. To uncover the hidden beauty of these lovingly craft ed improvised sound abstractions requires an appropriate level of concentration on the part of the listener. Such effort will be rewarded by a profound aesthetic experience. In organising this concert I feel honoured I have been able to contribute, albeit inadvertently, to the release of another AMM CD. Andrzej Serwa — August 2010" [label info]
www.matchlessrecordings.com
|
2010 |
€14.00 |
|
| AMON / NIMH |
Sator |
CD |
Nach langer Zeit endlich neues Material des vielleicht besten italienischen dark ambient -Projekts AMON, der hier mit Giuseppe Verticchio aka NIMH zusammengearbeit hat. Fünf lange Stücke sind hier enthalten, die sehr erdig, fast steinig-staubig klingen, man fühlt sich in endlos-einsame Felslandschaften versetzt....die tiefen Drones wurden mit teils harmonischen e-bow Gitarren und field recordings etwas aufgelockert..
"Composed, performed and recorded by Andrea Marutti and Giuseppe Verticchio between June 2005 and January 2006 in Milan, Rome and Casaline (AQ), Italy." [credits]
"The mystery of the ancient and puzzling magic SATOR square is evoked again in present time through five dark tracks entitled like the five palindromes that form its fascinating structure: SATOR / AREPO / TENET / OPERA / ROTAS.
AMON (Andrea Marutti), the most important and estabilished italian Dark-Ambient project, and NIMH (Giuseppe Verticchio), a well-known and eclectic alchemist of electronic-ethnic–acoustic-ambient sound mixtures, gathered together and worked side by side for some weeks to create their first collaborative effort.
SATOR is a granitic and majestic work, a musical journey in time and history that leads the listeners to the deepest and remote abysses of Earth through archaic and magmatic sounds, confusing them along the way with the technologic and synthetic vibrations of oscillating sinewaves, and with frosty isolationist timbres programmed through fluxes of information written in binary code...
Echoes of breathless and confused human activities falling into decay, the dark and deep Sound of Earth’s abysses, scoriae of electric buzzes and synthetic microsounds, the warmth of subliminal melodies submerged and overwhelmed by menacing and distorted agglomerates of sounds, buried fragments of an abused guitar in decomposition faded by the unstoppable march of time..." [press release]
|
2007 |
€13.00 |
|
| ANAKRID |
UnoDos |
do-CD |
".... 'Father', the first CD is a nineteen track affair, which brings out the collage man. Bicker has all sorts of sounds (percussion, cheap old tapes, microphones) which he throws together in what seems to be an audio-blender (no, don't look on the internet for this lovely device, I made up the word): sampling his stuff together, adding more electronics in what becomes a wild, hot brew of sound. The influence of Nurse With Wound is never far away in this work. It's wild, even industrial at times, but the musical element is never lost. The second CD in this package is 'Rapture Of The Deep', which takes the material into a different direction. Things happen here in a much more peaceful manner. No wild collages, longer tracks and in general a more electronic approach. It seems as if sound is captured inside an electronic system, locked in rather and from there on things start to live their own life, in that closed system. Here no real Nurse With Wound influence, but rather that of the academics of the fifties and sixties, the era of serious composed electronic music, although Anakrid is not as rigid as the old masters. His form is more free, aiming for dark effects and sounding like a good horror soundtrack. Two different sides of the music of Anakrid, now that's what I call a successful double CD package." " [FdW / Vital Weekly]
"UnoDos (Father/Rapture of the Deep) Edition of 400 numbered and signed copies each with an original piece of art by Anakrid. A 2CD set compiling the self released LPs. "Anakrid is the experimental outlet of Chris Bickel (the raconteur behind In/Humanity, one of the greatest groups of hardcore agitators of the 90s, and its follow-up, Guyana Punch Line). Here he applies the smashist manifesto against atavistic darkness of the pre-laptop variety, evoking an affected take on Nurse With Wound and their contemporaries aether in more than a few ways. This comparison is particularly apt on "Father", recorded with what sounds like a home full of disused instruments, second-hand sound sculpture, and the ideas found on countless cassette-only xpr releases of the 80s, returning to roost on the mostly empty temple of No Fun style extremity. Its balanced, rhythmically primal, fairly engaging head music that leverages the occasional reheating of landmark ideas with a refreshing purity of craft wholly missing from the current noise landscape. Rapture of the Deep subtracts the percussive elements, leaving the listener floating in a sea of blue-black death ambience, without any pre-determined boundaries. Song titles and the cover painting of a woman drowning all but spell it out for you, so Ill spare any further nautical/asphyxiatory metaphors and just inform you that this work leans toward the sedimentary, eternal evil type of drone once practiced by Coil than that airy, Stars of the Lid style; its more granular and by side two becomes quite terrifying. Its eerie, tribal, almost polyrhythmic yet not improvisational in the least. Bickel doesnt view his music as an excuse to wank off. It is deliberately composed. He eschews the use of conventional instrumentation, preferring found sounds, home-made instruments and pretty much anything that "makes a sound that can be sculpted and manipulated". I hear the abstract surrealism of Nurse with Wound or Current 93 in the creepy, industrial soundscapes, but theres certainly a thread of Stockhausens electronic period, though its not nearly as mathematical." [press release]
www.blrrecords.com
|
2007 |
€15.00 |
|
| ANDERSSON, PETER |
Music for Film and Exhibition II |
CD |
"Like baking a sweet cake or cooking an indian dish you need good ingredients and spices to get the right mouthfeel and the splendid flavor of your desire. 'Music for Film and Exhibition II' is just like that: a levelled declitre of raison d'être, a brimful tablespoon of Atomine Elektrine, a couple of teaspoons of Necrophorus and a little bit of this and little bit of that, mixed into a perfect blend of many tastes. Peter Andersson, well-known from projects like Raison d'être, Stratvm Terror, Necrophorus and Atomine Elektrine, shows here broad spectrum of sonic atmospheres, like if all of his different music projects were combined into one. From ambient-drone-textures and electronic chill-out to concrete sounds to even pure atmopsheric piano tunes. 'Music for Film and Exhibition II' is the sequel of 'Music for Film and Exhibition' (Yantra Atmospheres, 2007). While the previous output contains collected works from different exhibition projects and movies spanning from 1999-2005,
this sequel is focused on one single project; an exhibition. Peter Andersson has lately worked as a media producer at Swedish Air Force Museum and being involved with their new large permanent exhibiton about the Cold War.
Within this project Peter has worked with sound design and movie production in particular.
The sonic results are presented on 'Music for Film and Exhibition II'. Some of the tunes are used as soundtrack for exhibition movies while the main part are sonic atmospheres and soundscapes to create the ambience of the exhibition rooms. The music is presented here as stand alone productions, displaced from its original context. To fully experience the music in its environmental Raison d'être there is no other way but to travel to the Swedish Air Force Museum. Until then, you may enjoy the music on its own. The CD comes in a six panel digipak covered with beautiful Sunset painting by italian artist Christian Montagna/FLOODSart.
For same samples go here :
http://www.oldeuropacafe.com/main.php?nav=pd&prdct=10127" [label info]
www.oldeuropacafe.com
www.oldeuropacafe.com
|
2010 |
€13.00 |
|
| ANEMONE TUBE |
Death over China |
CD |
"One year after the highly acclaimed "Dream Landscape" CD ANEMONE TUBE returns with the new concept album "Death over China".
No country in history has emerged as a major industrial power without creating a legacy of environmental damage that can take, if at all possible, decades to undo. China`s rise as an economic power has no clear parallel in history; thus, its pollution problem has shattered all precedent developments.
"Death over China" is a retaliation of nature against humankind. In the same moment it is a dedication to our untamed curiosity for the essence of death and our (inherent in our collective action) secret death wish. In China`s uncompromising economical and social development we see demonstrated, how we - even with the immolation of our health, environment and tradition - are the servants to material progress. Though we are aware of the approaching ecological disaster, we hazard the consequences. Sustainability is sacrificed on the altar of egoist quest for happiness. We consume, we destroy, we thrive, we conjure: "Deathly kingdom of desire, you sustain the life in me, Black death rise!"
Using field recordings, collected in Nanjing and Shanghai in 2007, ANEMONE TUBE creates an unsettling yet intriguing, apocalyptic soundtrack with a sinister atmosphere and a depressive undertone - a unique blend of dark ambient, post industrial and power electronics in the tradition of European industrial music.
"Death over China" is the second part of "The Suicide Series", for which field recordings provide a conceptional basis. In a poetic way ANEMONE TUBE combines analytical realism of the phenomenal world with buddhist psychology and nihilist rhetoric influenced by the works of Michael Haneke, Hayao Miyazaki, H.P. Lovecraft and Yukio Mishima.All music recorded between July 2007 and December 2009.
Mastered by JAMES PLOTKIN 2010. Definitely ANEMONE TUBE`s best and most mature album yet." [label info]
www.silkentofu.org
"Anomene Tube is a noise-project formed in the Southern part of Germany in 1996. Strong influences to the compositional approach of the project is the nihilistic rhetoric works of Michael Haneke, Hayoao Miayazaki and H.P. Lovecraft combined with buddhist psychology and concrete sounds from the real world. All tracks of this album titled "Death over China", are exclusively developed from the use of field recordings. The piece "I shall forever invoke" is the only piece where there are integrations of synthesizer. For this particular piece the synthesizers adds a nice atmospheric soundscape on the background of field recordings. The piece "Prayer walk" is an abrasive beast where the noise drones makes a pure impact on the listener. Screeching noise drills into the ears with additions of distant voices adding a great apocalyptic atmosphere to the piece. Also the piece titled "Brooding haze" drills a deep impression into the listener thanks to the monotonous high frequency noise-sounds
operating on top of crushing power electronics and concrete metal sounds. "Death over China" is a part of the so-called "Suicide Series" - a series that aims to express the self-destructive tendency by the modern population due to the social and highly industrialized global development. The album comes in a beautiful art-work in dvd-sized format with early photographs and paintings from early 20th century. Excellent work of noise art." [NM/Vital Weekly]
|
2011 |
€13.00 |
|
|
The Three Worlds - Allegory of Vanity |
CD |
Far reaching pleasures will be at hand – Anemone Tube reveals a series of three CDs entitled “The Three Worlds: Allegory of Vanity / Forget Heaven / Vanity of Allegory”, referencing a cosmological treatise on the universe from the Theravada Buddhism of the 14th century, the subject matter of which is the description of three levels of existence of all beings and mythical creatures.
This extensive retrospective release contains selected tracks from various tapes released between 1997 and 1999 - mostly rare and unavailable today - as well as yet unreleased tracks recorded between 1997 and 2013, a.o. outtakes from the “Death Over China” recordings, handpicked and recontextualized by Anemone Tube, representing the project’s roughest and most atmospheric material up to date, ranging from depressive ritual experimental ambient over dark rhythmic industrial soundscapes to whirlwind noise. Sharply mastered by Hunter Barr for a powerful, contemporary sound, each CD comes in a 6-panel digifile featuring beautiful photography by Dario Lehner and is available as single CD as well as a limited edition 3 CD set in a lavish slipcase with poster, sticker and patch.
“The Three Worlds” is a work about transience on many levels, perfectly elucidated in the Buddhist Sutra “Far Reaching Pleasures”, “The three worlds are transient like clouds in autumn / Birth and death of all beings unfold like a dance / Their lives rush away like a mountain stream / Vanish like lightning in the sky”, which serves as the contextual framework for the CD series and is translated in the most beautiful and poetic fashion with three painstakingly arranged photographic scenes based on vanitas symbolism of old masters’ paintings.
The still life composition of the “Allegory of Vanity” cover references an abundance of those symbols: jewellery, a pocket watch, a catholic hymnal, skull and bones, withered flowers, a tipped over jug of wine, an extinguished candle, etc. Two collaboration tracks with Yggdrasil from 1997, two from the “Allegories for the Future” cassette and an unreleased track from 1998 are a perfect representation of Anemone Tube’s early old-school industrial / power-electronics phase, and yet proof that both the musical approach and the topical background were already fully developed at that stage.
Music composed, mixed & edited by Anemone Tube, except 1 + 2 composed, recorded and edited by Yggdrasil and Anemone Tube February – April 1997, previously released on Wald split and collaboration cassette (Darkness Productions/ Transfixional Entertainment, 1997). 3 recorded December 1998, previously unreleased. 4 + 5 recorded 1998,
previously released on Allegories For The Future cassette (Loud!, 1999).
Concept, art and design by Anemone Tube 2015/17. Photography by Dario Lehner 2015, set design, photo editing by Anemone Tube 2015/17. Mastering by Hunter Barr 2017.
Playtime: 40:20 min
CD . 6-panel digifile printed on high quality natural paper. Limited edition of 300 copies.
epicureanescapism.bandcamp.com/album/the-three-worlds-allegory-of-vanity |
2017 |
€12.50 |
|
|
The Three Worlds - Forget Heaven |
CD |
Far reaching pleasures will be at hand – Anemone Tube reveals a series of three CDs entitled “The Three Worlds: Allegory of Vanity / Forget Heaven / Vanity of Allegory”, referencing a cosmological treatise on the universe from the Theravada Buddhism of the 14th century, the subject matter of which is the description of three levels of existence of all beings and mythical creatures.
This extensive retrospective release contains selected tracks from various tapes released between 1997 and 1999 - mostly rare and unavailable today - as well as yet unreleased tracks recorded between 1997 and 2013, a.o. outtakes from the “Death Over China” recordings, handpicked and recontextualized by Anemone Tube, representing the project’s roughest and most atmospheric material up to date, ranging from depressive ritual experimental ambient over dark rhythmic industrial soundscapes to whirlwind noise. Sharply mastered by Hunter Barr for a powerful, contemporary sound, each CD comes in a 6-panel digifile featuring beautiful photography by Dario Lehner and is available as single CD as well as a limited edition 3 CD set in a lavish slipcase with poster, sticker and patch.
“The Three Worlds” is a work about transience on many levels, perfectly elucidated in the Buddhist Sutra “Far Reaching Pleasures”, “The three worlds are transient like clouds in autumn / Birth and death of all beings unfold like a dance / Their lives rush away like a mountain stream / Vanish like lightning in the sky”, which serves as the contextual framework for the CD series and is translated in the most beautiful and poetic fashion with three painstakingly arranged photographic scenes based on vanitas symbolism of old masters’ paintings.
“Forget Heaven” addresses more celestial matters and shows the artist playing with soap bubbles (a classic vanitas symbol as well, a hint at the fleetingness of the moment) – reflections of light in the dark create the image of a starry sky, the universe. The CD features the entirety of the “Forget Heaven“ cassette release, plus three compilation and two unreleased tracks. The sound spectrum is more immense, from aggravating noise to ethereal, ritual beauty.
Music composed, mixed & edited by Anemone Tube. 1–6 recorded September 1996 – February 1997, previously released as Forget Heaven cassette (Bawler Productions, 1997). 7 + 8 recorded September 1997, sounds: Thomas Gith, 7 previously released on Forget Heaven/Angel Falls CDr (Solipsism, 2000). 8 voice: Sven Birker, previously released on Basisgleiche Verschiedenheiten comp. cassette (Bawler Productions, 1997). 9 recorded September 1997, loop: Origami Galaktika, previously released on Ambient Intimacy 3 comp. CDr (EE Tapes, 1999). 10 recorded 2000, previously unreleased. 11 recorded December 1998 – August 1999, previously released on Split CDr with Tarkatak (Trümmer Kassetten / Transfixional Entertainment, 1999).
Concept, art and design by Anemone Tube 2015/17. Photography by Dario Lehner 2015, set design, photo editing by Anemone Tube 2015/17. Mastering by Hunter Barr 2017.
Playtime: 68:14 min
CD . 6-panel digifile printed on high quality natural paper. Limited edition of 300 copies.
epicureanescapism.bandcamp.com/album/the-three-worlds-forget-heaven |
2017 |
€12.50 |
|
| |
The Three Worlds - Vanity of Allegory |
CD |
Far reaching pleasures will be at hand – Anemone Tube reveals a series of three CDs entitled “The Three Worlds: Allegory of Vanity / Forget Heaven / Vanity of Allegory”, referencing a cosmological treatise on the universe from the Theravada Buddhism of the 14th century, the subject matter of which is the description of three levels of existence of all beings and mythical creatures.
This extensive retrospective release contains selected tracks from various tapes released between 1997 and 1999 - mostly rare and unavailable today - as well as yet unreleased tracks recorded between 1997 and 2013, a.o. outtakes from the “Death Over China” recordings, handpicked and recontextualized by Anemone Tube, representing the project’s roughest and most atmospheric material up to date, ranging from depressive ritual experimental ambient over dark rhythmic industrial soundscapes to whirlwind noise. Sharply mastered by Hunter Barr for a powerful, contemporary sound, each CD comes in a 6-panel digifile featuring beautiful photography by Dario Lehner and is available as single CD as well as a limited edition 3 CD set in a lavish slipcase with poster, sticker and patch.
“The Three Worlds” is a work about transience on many levels, perfectly elucidated in the Buddhist Sutra “Far Reaching Pleasures”, “The three worlds are transient like clouds in autumn / Birth and death of all beings unfold like a dance / Their lives rush away like a mountain stream / Vanish like lightning in the sky”, which serves as the contextual framework for the CD series and is translated in the most beautiful and poetic fashion with three painstakingly arranged photographic scenes based on vanitas symbolism of old masters’ paintings.
The object photograph “Vanity of Allegory” plays with the dissolution of all phenomena, the transience of all things, all allegories, featuring an extinguished candle, jewellery – and the artist himself, vacuously pointing his finger a skull laughing at the spectator from the mirror. All that is combined with poetry suggesting the dissolution of the ego, seemingly closing the circle. Besides collected tracks from old and recent cassette releases and compilations, this also features three unreleased tracks from the “Death Over China” recordings and therefore represents the newest cut from the trilogy and thus musically bridges the gap to the recent works of Anemone Tube with their profound depth and complexity of sound.
credits
released October 23, 2017
Music composed, mixed & edited by Anemone Tube. 1 recorded 2013, previously unreleased. 2–4 recorded 2007 – 2008 (Death Over China recording session), previously unreleased. 5 recorded 1998, previously released on Deafness Is Not A Gift compilation CD (Deafborn, 2000). 6 recorded 2012, prev. released on the The Transfiguration Of The Image cassette (Danvers State, 2013). 7 recorded 1998, edited 2012, previously released on Anomalous Silencer 3 comp. CD (Napalmed, 1999). 8 recorded 1998, prev. released on the Allegories For The Future cassette (Loud!, 1999). 9 recorded 2008 and 2012, previously released on This Dismal World split cassette with Dissecting Table (Black Horizons, 2013).
Concept, art and design by Anemone Tube 2015/17. Photography by Dario Lehner 2015, set design, photo editing by Anemone Tube 2015/17. Mastering by Hunter Barr 2017.
The Epicurean . cure.19
La Esencia . NER020/2017
Format: CD & download
Playtime: 37:58 min
epicureanescapism.bandcamp.com/album/the-three-worlds-vanity-of-allegory
|
2017 |
€12.50 |
|
| ANGELI, PAOLO |
Tessuti |
CD |
"Es ist wirklich kaum zu glauben, dass PAOLO ANGELI Tessuti (ReR PA3) ohne Overdubs eingespielt hat. Dabei ist seine verblüffend
polyphone Virtuosität auf der präparierten und elektrisch verstärkten sardischen Gitarre noch der geringere Anlass zur Verwunderung. Was ist
schon Virtuosität? Noch erstaunlicher sind das Material und die Arrangierkunst, die Richtung, in die Angeli strebt. Neben Eigenkompositionen
spielt er Björk und Fred Frith. Dem dabei der Geist von Tom Cora über die Schulter blickt.
Nicht nur bei Skeleton Crews ‚The Hand That Bites‘, auch bei ‚Ahead in the Sand‘ und ‚Navajo‘ von Speechless oder dem miniaturisierten ‚Lelekovice‘, Friths
String Quartet #1 (auf Quartets, RecRec, 1994, und, neu interpretiert vom Arditti String Quartet, auf Eleventh Hour, W & W, 2005). Der Cora-Touch rührt wohl daher, dass Angeli seine
Gitarre zwischen den Knien hauptsächlich arco wie ein Cello spielt. Bei seinen Interpretationen hebt Angeli neben dem
experimentellen Aspekt der trickreichen Mehrstimmigkeit auch das Frith-typische Substrat
der Imaginären Folklore hervor bis hin zu Anklängen an Spielformen der Renaissance.
Von Björk erklingen ‚Unravel‘ (von Homogenic), ‚Desired Constellation‘ (von Medúlla),‚One day‘ (von Debut) und ‚Hyper-ballad‘ (von Post). Dabei
gelingen Angeli ebenfalls erstaunliche Rückbindungen des Pathos und der verstiegenen
Poesie der Isländerin an die manieristische Tradition (minus des ‚Angeschossenes Reh‘-Timbres, das mir Björk verleidet).
Die zart angeraute Sanglichkeit der sardischen Gitarre ist durchwegs bestechend schön.
Wie Angeli dazu die perkussiven Spuren zaubert, sirrende Vibrationen und geklopfte Beats, das
ist der alte Skeleton-Crew-Zauber." [Bad Alchemy]
"The latest from Paolo on which he plays compositions by Fred Frith and Bjork - solo (though when you hear it, you definitely won’t believe it) on his highly customised and extended, electrified, giant Sardinian guitar. A tour de force of technique and a musical pleasure. There is so much subtlety and so much attention to the minutiae of sound, and so much going on at any given time that it is difficult to relate what you hear to just one person playing. Very concentrated, it rewards listening to a few songs at a time. Though strangely, you could probably also dance to it." [label info]
www.rermegacorp.com
|
2007 |
€14.00 |
|
| ANTONY & THE JOHNSONS |
You are my sister |
maxi-CD |
“Antony & The Johnsons' breakthrough album I Am A Bird Now has certainly touched fans and critics alike. The album's latest single is the anthemic and heart-rending 'You Are My Sister,' presented as a duet between Antony and Boy George. Together these two vocalists climb to the highest peak of emotional vulnerability providing for the listener one of the most touching and uncanny duets of the past decade. It's heartbreaking when Antony sings, 'You are my sister / we were born / so innocent, so full of need / there were times we were friends / but times I was so cruel / at night I'd asked for to watch me as I sleep'. With soaring and world-weary intensity, Boy George utterly commands the refrain: 'You are my sister / and I love you / may all of your dreams come true.' In 'You Are My Sister,' the pair sing from the depths of their hearts for the world. This extended single also includes three new, unreleased songs recorded during the I Am A Bird Now sessions." [label info]
|
2005 |
€7.50 |
|
| |
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 |
|
| APM |
Sprint Mill |
CD |
"At the southern gateway of entering the Lake District in the Cumbria district stands the Sprint Mill, the studio and workspace of one Edward Acland. I have never been there, but Colin Potter, Phil Mouldycliff and Chris Atkins (APM in short) have been. They have been recording the mill and the area surrounding it. Water running, rusty objects, stones and such like is what makes up the fifteen tracks on this CD. Rather than a drone like piece one would expect from these masters of the genre, they opt now for a more picture like scenery. Rusty metal objects, crackle of stones. Then a piece based on more water like sounds and in between small spoken bits. The electronic processing is surely present in these recordings but they are rather there to perhaps sweeten a bit of the sound and do not take the sound over - it stays a photographic reproduction of the field and not the starting point for something entirely different. Like I said, I never visited this area, but one can sense the quietness of the area, even when this work never drops below a low hearing point. Atmospheric music once again, but the great power of the work lies in the fact that it moves away from the traditional drone and ambient music, but also on the other hand it's not the usual set of field recordings either. That makes this, I think, not just a remarkable but also a beautiful CD." [FdW / Vital Weekly]
www.icrdistribution.com
|
2008 |
€14.00 |
|
| APSE |
Climb up |
CD |
"In the fall of 2007, around Apse's 8th year as a band, Michael Gundlach and founding member Bobby relocated to the quiet shores of outer Cape Cod, Massachusetts and began living in virtual isolation. A few months into the move and for various reasons the 2 brooklyn based members of the band were no longer in the picture, leaving only Bobby, Michael and their faithful touring bass player / contributing member John Mordecai, living 4 hours away.
Together Bobby and Michael found multi-instrumentalist Jed Armour who joined the band and introduced them to drummer Brandon Collins. Both of them highly talented musicians and long time residents of the cape, the addition of these two members greatly impacted the creative capabilities of the band as well as Bobby and Michael's understanding of - and integration into the year 'round life in the band's new home.
After rigorous preparation with the new members rehearsing for an already-booked 6 week European tour that saw them performing at ATP Vs. Pitchfork and several other noteworthy dates across Europe the band returned to Cape Cod and began writing a new album. In August of 2008 during the early stages of the writing process, All Tomorrow's Parties reissued the band's 2006 Spirit to warm critical reception. Labeled as a post-rock record by some, a genre-splicing giant to others, Spin Magazine's Kenny Herzog likely put it best: "Spirit is the deathnail for the labored beast that is "post-rock," revealing the much more alluring potential that always lurked around its sinister corners."
Since making Spirit - originally completed in 2006 and after releasing a number of smaller albums both before and after the ATP reissue, the band found itself ready to take on its next major endeavor. Just as a director might make respective films - changing subject matter, approach and format for each - the band was inspired to explore new means of composition, songwriting and production. Its range of members were influenced from a diverse array of art and music, life experience, fiction - and were unanimously uninfluenced by their surroundings - as there were little social distractions or creative camaraderies to be had.
The bulk of this writing process then took place between the fall of 2008 and the spring of 2009. Forging the album through long days and nights in the quiet beauty of the winter months on outer Cape Cod. The record that's come out of it, entitled Climb Up is undoubtedly a reflection of the very process that made it - tying into the creative methods as well as the story of the lives of the band's members as they crafted the album.
Climb Up was recorded entirely by the band in their homes. The bulk of the arrangements and mixing were authored by Bobby Jed and Michael. Drawing from a mixture of existing demos that were turned into working songs as well as full-band improvised live recordings that Bobby cut up and formed into song structures, overdubbing effects and vocals on top of them - the band ultimately chose and honed in on a final cut of 12 tracks, culled from a larger body of work.
The ever-changing obtuse creative strategies of Bobby and Michael, paired with the adept musical knowledge and performance abilities of Jed and Brandon - and the diverse inspirations of all members combined to create an album that bares a fantastic dialogue between imagination and songcraft. Climb Up is wildly unique, versatile, and inarguably the bravest yet most accessible work by the band.
The record is a major departure from the band's most notable predecessor, Spirit - which was completed 4 years prior. Where Spirit explored a dark world of reverberant guitars, ambient passages, and minimal, haunting vocals, Climb Up proves a bold step out of that darkness. The intricacies of this new world are depicted as if staggering from the world of Spirit into a very different, more illuminated place.
Not to mention its packed with more grooves, a greater use of electronics, a range of instruments both modern and classical and – notably – a much stronger emphasis on voices and melodies.
Climb Up is dense, innovative, cinematic. Apse draw from a colourful palette of different genres, techniques, instruments and approaches - and with that have made what is likely to be one of the most curious, and probably largely unexpected albums of the year. Listen, and be immersed." [label info]
www.atpfestival.com/recordings.php |
2009 |
€10.00 |
|
| |
Climb up |
do-LP |
"In the fall of 2007, around Apse's 8th year as a band, Michael Gundlach and founding member Bobby relocated to the quiet shores of outer Cape Cod, Massachusetts and began living in virtual isolation. A few months into the move and for various reasons the 2 brooklyn based members of the band were no longer in the picture, leaving only Bobby, Michael and their faithful touring bass player / contributing member John Mordecai, living 4 hours away.
Together Bobby and Michael found multi-instrumentalist Jed Armour who joined the band and introduced them to drummer Brandon Collins. Both of them highly talented musicians and long time residents of the cape, the addition of these two members greatly impacted the creative capabilities of the band as well as Bobby and Michael's understanding of - and integration into the year 'round life in the band's new home.
After rigorous preparation with the new members rehearsing for an already-booked 6 week European tour that saw them performing at ATP Vs. Pitchfork and several other noteworthy dates across Europe the band returned to Cape Cod and began writing a new album. In August of 2008 during the early stages of the writing process, All Tomorrow's Parties reissued the band's 2006 Spirit to warm critical reception. Labeled as a post-rock record by some, a genre-splicing giant to others, Spin Magazine's Kenny Herzog likely put it best: "Spirit is the deathnail for the labored beast that is "post-rock," revealing the much more alluring potential that always lurked around its sinister corners."
Since making Spirit - originally completed in 2006 and after releasing a number of smaller albums both before and after the ATP reissue, the band found itself ready to take on its next major endeavor. Just as a director might make respective films - changing subject matter, approach and format for each - the band was inspired to explore new means of composition, songwriting and production. Its range of members were influenced from a diverse array of art and music, life experience, fiction - and were unanimously uninfluenced by their surroundings - as there were little social distractions or creative camaraderies to be had.
The bulk of this writing process then took place between the fall of 2008 and the spring of 2009. Forging the album through long days and nights in the quiet beauty of the winter months on outer Cape Cod. The record that's come out of it, entitled Climb Up is undoubtedly a reflection of the very process that made it - tying into the creative methods as well as the story of the lives of the band's members as they crafted the album.
Climb Up was recorded entirely by the band in their homes. The bulk of the arrangements and mixing were authored by Bobby Jed and Michael. Drawing from a mixture of existing demos that were turned into working songs as well as full-band improvised live recordings that Bobby cut up and formed into song structures, overdubbing effects and vocals on top of them - the band ultimately chose and honed in on a final cut of 12 tracks, culled from a larger body of work.
The ever-changing obtuse creative strategies of Bobby and Michael, paired with the adept musical knowledge and performance abilities of Jed and Brandon - and the diverse inspirations of all members combined to create an album that bares a fantastic dialogue between imagination and songcraft. Climb Up is wildly unique, versatile, and inarguably the bravest yet most accessible work by the band.
The record is a major departure from the band's most notable predecessor, Spirit - which was completed 4 years prior. Where Spirit explored a dark world of reverberant guitars, ambient passages, and minimal, haunting vocals, Climb Up proves a bold step out of that darkness. The intricacies of this new world are depicted as if staggering from the world of Spirit into a very different, more illuminated place.
Not to mention its packed with more grooves, a greater use of electronics, a range of instruments both modern and classical and – notably – a much stronger emphasis on voices and melodies.
Climb Up is dense, innovative, cinematic. Apse draw from a colourful palette of different genres, techniques, instruments and approaches - and with that have made what is likely to be one of the most curious, and probably largely unexpected albums of the year. Listen, and be immersed." [label info]
www.atpfestival.com/recordings.php
|
2009 |
€17.50 |
|
| 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 |
|
| AQUAVOICE |
Grey |
CD |
"The first AQUAVOICE album on Zoharum label. "Grey", the eighth album in the project's discography, contains 10 compositions covering musical territories than before. It's pure electronics, but a bit more experimental than simply ambient or Berlin school, as previosly associated with AQUAVOICE." [label info]
"Life from other space is still a massive source of musical inspiration, perhaps because we have no clue about it. Here we have Polish musician Tadeusz Luczejko, who calls himself Aquavoice, and his microphone is up in the sky, with the opening piece 'S.E.T.I. Project'. The search for extraterrestrial life goes on, and hopefully I will not be accused of laziness when I compare this music with that of Andrew Lagowski, who sometimes works as S.E.T.I., but let's not forget SETI either, who released an album on Instinct Ambient in 1995. There are similarities in the use of the name, but also in musical approach. Lots of analogue synthesizer sounds, which are set to 'long sustain', and 'heavenly atmosphere' - both of them near the push button that says 'cosmic settings' - and we have a lift-off. Aquavoice takes us up for trip to 'Terra Incognita', to the 'Invisible World' and we see the 'Child Of The Moon' and an 'Air Sanctuary'. Holding court on earth are the sadly passed away Pete Namlook and Biosphere to see if the controls are set for the sun, and they are. Auqavoice plays text book ambient music and there is nothing wrong with that. There isn't a single moment where one could think that Aquavoice does something you haven't encountered before - especially on those mid 90s ambient/house waves - but he does it with great care for sonic detail and these ten pieces are a delight to hear. What more could you want? Every era needs it's own chill out music." [FdW/Vital Weekly]
www.zoharum.com
|
2013 |
€12.00 |
|
| |
Nocturne |
CD |
" 'Nocturne', the second AQUAVOICE offering on Zoharum, is a successor to well-received last year's "Grey." The material for both albums was created around the same time and was divided according to the following key: "Grey" - more experimental and coarse compositions; "Nocturne" - more dreamy, low-key and soothing ambient textures. The new album includes 11 new songs clocking in at 50 minutes, songs a bit darker and colder than before where one can find inspirations taken from Scandinavian art.
This 3-panel ecopak release is strictly limited to 500 copies." [label info]
www.zoharum.com
"Things in Poland seem to be booming, for quite some time actually. Monotype is a very active label, when it comes to releases, and Zoharum follows neatly. Zoharum is a label that specializes in anything that is dark and atmospheric, but not without beats. We start this particular journey with the second release by Aquavoice, the musical project of Tadeusz Luczejko, whose debut was reviewed in Vital Weekly 896. Here Aquavoice further explores the boundaries of starry nights, of nocturnal soundtracks, with dreamy synthesizer sounds, mild sequenced rhythm - more ticking than beating - an occasional voice well placed here and there. Exactly the same references as last time pass by: S.E.T.I., Biosphere, Pete Namlook and no doubt you could add many others from the field of ambient music that comes with a bit of rhythm. I don't think Aquavoice had a re-thought of what he was doing after 'Grey', but simply decided to carry on what he was doing so well already. Maybe the addition of 'real' instruments - piano, violin - is something that is new around here? Maybe not. So, perhaps nothing much new, and then what? There is nothing wrong with that. Luczejko simply explores further what he does best, what is in a tradition from Eno, via ambient house, to microsound and he delivers another fifty minutes of some excellent music. I very much enjoyed this nocturnal, cosmic ride." [FdW/Vital Weekly]
|
2014 |
€12.00 |
|
| ARABELLA'S PARADE |
Static infinite |
CD-R |
Very early release on UK’s Evelyn Records, a label with a similar approach as Drone Records. ARABELLA’S PARADISE works with radio-waves and creates a kind of low-fi shredder-ambience, very pure and bony noises… absolutely last copies !
“pure, untreated radio waves recorded between 1995 and 1999 in various parts around england. forms a brief document to the infinite range of harmonics that exist in the atmosphere, and includes dense white noise, blank drones, minimal ethereal static and morse messaging.” [label info]
www.evelynrecords.cjb.net |
2000 |
€7.00 |
|
| ARANOS |
Mother of Moons Bathing |
CD |
Für den Hirn-zerschabenden Stil-Mix alleine hätte ARANOS bereits einen Preis verdient - von klickender Sinuston-Elektronik über free-form Noise bis hin zu swingenden Songs mit Gesang ["MAMA GOT A NEW BOYFRIEND"], von Drone-Loops und Gongflächen über obskurste Geräuschtracks bis hin zu XXX kann hier einfach alles passieren....
für den Wiedererkennungseffekt aber sorgen die immer wieder präsente Violine & seine rauhe, markante Stimme, verbunden mit den verschroben-ironischen Texten. Das ganze ist auch noch verpackt in ein edelstes, Filz-artiges Cover... immer wieder, so scheint es, geht es ARANOS darum, Grenzen jedweder Art zu überschreiten, aber mit STIL... ARANOS bildet sich sein ur-eigenstes Genre.
"Aranos (pronounced Aranyosh) is a prolific composer and storied multi-instrument performer from the Czech part of Bohemia, by way of Ireland, where he lives near his friend and frequent collaborator Steve Stapleton of Nurse With Wound. “Mother of Moons Bathing” is his first release for Soleilmoon, but his lengthy discography includes releases issued by Beta-lactam Ring Records, Brainwashed, Crouton, Klanggalerie, Noise Museum and United Daries as well as his own label Pieros. The album covers a lot of ground, and refuses to be categorized, unless “Aranos” can be its own category. It opens with “Awaking Horns”, a minimalist piece built around a simple repeating click track containing absolutely no horns whatsoever. “New Boyfriend” begins as a jaunty ode to new-found love, but the conversation between mother and daughter turns dark as it’s revealed that the new boyfriend has a dodgy past with little girls. “Some Clowns Are Not Funny” and “Almost Pulled Through” are a pair of scary electro-acoustic roller coaster rides that sound like they might have escaped from Steve Stapleton’s little shop of horrors. The fifth song, “Legs Thighs Splits” returns to the gently fun whimsy started with “New Boyfriend”, but trades literal meaning for delicious texture and experimentation. “I saw Women’s Rising Fry” is a song of fearlessly eccentric lyrics married to complex, brain-tingling instrumental arrangements. “Ta-taa-ta, Taah merged” is a side dish of looped, sampled vocal minimalism leading into the the longest track on the CD, “Towards Glittering Warm Dumplings”, a rolling trance-dance weighing in at more than 21 minutes. “Invisibility Cloak of Time”, another minimalist electro-acoustic instrumental, closes the album. The total length of “Mother of Moons Bathing” is 71 minutes 41 seconds, and it’s sheer bliss from start to finish. In the face of a market dominated by increasingly bland visuals and dire throw-away packaging, this album stands apart. In the tradition of other Soleilmoon releases, the presentation for “Mother of Moons Bathing” is second to none. This time the CD comes in a hand-made silk-screened soft-textured folder with a pair a sparkly screen-printed inserts backing up the disc inside. The costly and stunning materials have work together to produce a pleasingly harmonious package that will appeal to music fans and serious collectors alike. “Mother of Moons Bathing” is limited to 400 copies. After his child was taken away and sent to slavery Carlos resigned himself to becoming low to medium quality moon fodder. Spending his days in rearranging surface molecules with his broken arms and dislocated shoulders while filling his eyes and lungs with yellow dust. All the while pondering impermanence of the unpredictable his reward was flow of hill magic and stunning sunsets. Too much knowledge gathered over the years was proving to be a mixed blessing. Change of timbre in his diabetic movement master’s voice clearly indicated a forthcoming constriction of coronary arteries, but there was nothing Carlos could do. Certainly not over the distance of four and a half thousand miles. The only thing was to accept all. Child slavery, master’s coronary, yellow dust, beautiful sunsets, flow of magic…" [press release]
www.soleilmoon.com
|
2007 |
€14.50 |
|
| |
Alone Vimalakirti Blinks |
CD-R |
"This record contains 6 tracks:
Track one, Rocket Sandals is a pizzicato furioso (as opposed to fury piza) with a silent movie pianola, noisy banga banga and klavier delayage.
Track two, this job is So Boring was inspired by years, centuries, millenia, eternities of factory work, 8.30 - 5.30. producing expensive rubbish for people to buy on credit, so than they have to work in similar jobs. Experiment which proven I do not fit this kind of madness. factory went bust due to recession, the owners even had to sell their private helicopter! Not their numerous houses and cars though.
Track three: Yelow Bedspring - a pleasant little tune to make love to gently in a waltz time. It dissolves in a swimming shimmering wetness.
Track four Better Universe No. 2 is a collection of nice noises one encounters in dreams both sleeping and waking. It depicts green and lovely countryside, birds and bees, crunchy picnics with a nice bottle of beer, band playing with feeling and fabulous bike tearing about...
Track five Seedling Awakes - out of powerful darkness of earth slowly and unstoppably live surges up. Zither recorded in a large oak box specially constructed for this.
Track six Swing Low lighthearted but slightly sad re-visiting of and old gospel song, just reminding us what that promised land beyond Jordan is like. And yes there are many Jordans, and just as many shitty places beyond them.
Message is: do not bother dreaming about promised land, work thee not in a silly factory making somebody else rich, have a nice picnic, include a vintage bike if you like." [label info]
www.brainwashed.com/aranos
|
2008 |
€12.00 |
|
| ARC |
Arkhangelsk |
CD |
Bei ARC werden die typischen BAKERschen Grundelemente (endlos lange Gitarren-Loops / Delays mit vielen Mikrodetails, die jedoch klar strukturiert sind) mit zum Teil kraftvoller Perkussion und elektronischen Effekten umhüllt....psychedelisch, improvisiert, dronig, eigenwillig.. Anklänge an TARENTEL und andere Post-Rock & Ambient-Guitar-Drone Projekte...
"Four sixteen and seventeen minute tracks, the first a glistening glimmering long form metallic shimmer, laced with rainfall like
percussion, skittery snares, long stretches of glitched out electronics, muted barely there rhythms. The second starts off like a less jazzy Necks, lots of space, softly strummed guitars, strange scattered percussion, soft swarms of electronic FX, backwards swoops,
processed cymbal sizzle, subtly ominous and haunting, eventually the drums explode and the pound out a reverb drenched rhythm, while the
guitars grow thicker and slightly more propulsive, eventually blissing out and fading out completely. The final two tracks are quite similar, beginning as deep soft shimmers and building in intensity until they become these reverb heavy tribal free jams, thick with droned out shimmers, and layers of fuzzy gauzy ambience, sort of like the Swans meets the Necks, or a blissed out Einstuerzende.
Not the sort of stuff we're used to from Baker, but definitely cool, and certainly a bit more challenging than much of his more
soothing blissed out drone / dirge output. If you dug the other one, you'll for sure dig this, and if you're looking for something a bit abstract, a bit jazzy, a bit krauty and a bit drone-y, then this could well fit the bill.
Packaged in a striking sepia tone 6 panel digipack style sleeve, and again, we have very few copies, so when we sell out, please be
patient while we try to get more." [Aquarius Records review]
www.epidemie.cz
|
2008 |
€13.50 |
|
| 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 |
|
| |
Emerald |
maxi-CD |
"It’s with great honor that present brand new material from Sweden’s most revered Ethereal / Neo Classical act, Arcana. Brainchild of Peter Bjärgö, this now legendary formation is back with a new release after 4 years of silence since their last full length album, Raspail. While 2010 saw the re-release of their first 4 albums with “The First Era” 4CD boxset, commemorating the early days of the band, we are now offered a superb follow up the their long tradition of awe filled melancholic melodies. With it’s undeniable signature sound, Peter’s years of experience as a composer and the gifted musicians and vocalists surrounding him simply shine through on these 3 new tracks. Long time fans will simply rejoice in these mesmerizing songs and new fans will in turn surely be conquered by these. This Mini CD also serves as a prelude to their upcoming full length album “As Bright As A Thousand Suns”, scheduled for a May 2012 release on Cyclic Law.
2nd Edition of 1000 copies in 4 panel eco pack. 3 Tracks. Running Time 13:33." [label info]
|
2012 |
€10.00 |
|
| ARCHITEUTHIS DUX |
Submergence |
CD-R |
Architeuthis Dux is a noise unit from Austin, TX, perhaps best known for their heavily engaging, blistering harsh noise performances. Active since 2012, the duo of Kenny Brieger and Tony Duran have created an impressive oeuvre of mostly limited CDR editions, some in quantities as low as 15 copies.
Through over a dozen releases, there have, on many occasions, been moments of what one can only call "blissed out abrasions"; Traversing territory that comes off with an almost kraut-rock oriented synth meltdown glaze, topped off with lo-fi metallic clang, skrieking industrial grit, and just generally bleak and tortured, surgical steel atmospheres.
NO PART OF IT proposed to hone in on these reflective moments, and compiled a morass of penetrating, expertly organized cacophony that serves to stand apart, or give way to, the rest of Architeuthis Dux's more aggressive power electronics and heavy electronic work. The result is just under an hour of crisp sampling, damaged percussion, and simultaneously subdued, yet clearly pissed off pedal action that could stand up to SPK's early live sets, or Nurse With Wound's darkest moments.
https://nopartofit.bandcamp.com/album/submergence
|
2016 |
€8.00 |
|
| ARS SONITUS |
Transfuturism Manifesto |
CD-BOX / object |
All recordings were recorded in 2015. There were used: sampler AKAI S1000, tape echo "Echolana", mixer Boss BX600, tape decks, broken piano, everyday and metal objects/devices, analog/digital effects, less or more known voices and urban/noise field recordings. No synths and other traditional acoustic or electronic instruments. Manifesto was written by Artur R. Sztukalski and Guillaume Toussaint (1957-2016†) in 2015. Translated by Przemek Chojnacki. Poem and other words were written by Artur R. Sztukalski. Manifesto graphic project by Grzegorz Ambroży.
Limited edition of 100 hand-numbered copies.
In 18 x 19 cm black box. Including 80 x 120 cm a flag with written manifesto.
https://thecatcherinnoise.wordpress.com/2023/02/
"It may come as a surprise (or shock), but I was never too big into the Futurist movement. Sure, I like the art of noise manifesto as a starting point in which noise is also music, but beyond that? They are a bunch of war-loving fascists. Oke, I am overdoing it, but there are some unhealthy aspects to the whole movement (I guess not many people in Ukraine today might discuss the war in terms of a tremendous musical experience). Ars Sonitus, for one, might not agree. They use a manifesto, which may or may not be called ‘Transfuturism’. Just like the futurists, they use sounds as source material, tape decks, broken pianos, every day and metal objects/devices, analogue/digital effects, urban/noise field recordings, “less or more known voices”, sampler AKAI S1000, tape echo, mixer Boss BX600, and it’s mentioned there are no synths and other traditional acoustic or electronic instruments. So much for the information side; how does it sound? Keeping up with the spirit of the original futurists is not bad at all. There are some repeated mechanized actions from old equipment, randomly used spoken words and the sounds of a demonstration. There is quite a randomized aspect to the music here, especially in the first (and longest) piece, ‘Action Directe De La Conscience De Soi Transcendantale’. It could be an excerpt of a much longer piece or a sound installation. ‘Evoking Dasein’ is the noisiest excursion here, with some nasty sounds, again with much gratitude to nearly broken equipment. ‘The Last Breath Of A Machine’ is a very ample title for the closing statement. Machines die, too; end of noise? Quite a lovely release, and ones that come in an oversized box and a flag to wave. Is there a noise day already?" [FdW / Vital Weekly]
|
2023 |
€18.00 |
|
| ARTEFACTUM |
Rosarium Hermeticum |
CD |
"This opus has already seen the light of day. It was back in 2006 when Artefactum’s preceding album Chaos Elements was still fresh out of Athanor’s cavernous hearth. Yet, on her sophomore, strictly limited and self-released work Rosarium Hermeticum, Merissa d’Erlette developed her unique style even more, granting it depth and feminine charm on a new scale. There’s mystery there enclosed within nearly an hour of otherwordly ambient music and sensual whispers that the project has been known for ever since.
Those six skillfully crafted tracks are now available again on Ur Muzik with two bonus pieces and brand new artwork. Prepare yourself to get immersed in the unparalleled sound of Artefactum. Coming out on the 1st of January 2015, as a digipack, in a limited number of 500 copies." [label info]
ur-muzik.blogspot.de
original info from 2006:
"After very well received materials "Chaos Elements" on Athanor and "Sangreal" split on Old Europa Cafe, Artefactum is back with a brand new full-length "Rosarium Hermeticum". This time even more ritual than ever, Artefactum brings back the best atmospheres of early CMI artists, esoteric Ain Soph era combined with female whispers, tribal drums and more refined sound quality. This release comes with full colour, 8 pannel A5 booklet, similar to that of recent "Sangreal". Professional CDr limited to just 111 copies! [label info]
|
2015 |
€12.00 |
|
| ARTIFICIAL MEMORY TRACE (AMT) |
Boto [Encantado] |
LP |
"ini.itu is releasing a new vinyl LP, composed by Artificial Memory Trace. Artificial Memory Trace is the long standing musical project of Slavek Kwi, who was born in Czechoslovakia, lived for 14 years in Belgium, and since 2000 has been based in Ireland. Slavek has been
making music for more than 20 years under the label Artificial Memory Trace. His works are precise combinations of restructured (mostly) environmental sounds, where the notions of perception, sensation, cognition, and ultimately reality are questioned, notably through the use of musique concrète techniques
and graphics scores, sometimes combined with elements of performance. He has collaborated with many other musicians, working on the articulation of industrial music, field recordings and musique concrète, among them PBK, Brume, Eric La Casa, Das Synthetische Mischgewebe. Since 2007 Slavek has assisted Francisco López in his Mamori workshops in the Amazonian forest, which is where some of the
source material present on this LP originates. Coupled with being a sound artist and composer, Slavek Kwi also facilitates workshops for autistic children, based on sound experiencing.
What Artificial Memory Trace proposes here is 2 sides of “decomposed and recomposed” landscapes and details, mostly centred around the Boto ( Inia geoffrensis geoffrensis ) also known as Amazon River Dolphin or Pink Dolphin. Just as the Boto is rumoured to undergo human-like transformations, most of this record is about transformation: sounds are isolated, cut, scaled up or down, modified and finally reassembled in a delicate and quite peaceful
collage. Slowly twirling around its object, time is taken to examine and explore the environment, including all other sound sources, creating a cubist perspective which is thoroughly unfolded. At times enigmatic, intimate and pastoral, it is a work that will slowly reveal its nuances. For those who need to know, the liner notes include extensive descriptions of the source sounds and a short essay on metamorphic animals." [label info]
www.iniitu.net
"On the backside of this LP you can read: 'you have the choice to consult or not some extra information on the insert. This information would influence they way you are experiencing the sounds. No comprehension whatsoever is required to access this work'. Which is actually something I like. You can choose to take in the information, or not. The information on the insert is printed in mirrored writing, so I am sure if its not really necessary to read it anyway. For the reviewer there is of course a small summary on the press text, and I learn that the sound sources are from the Boto, the Amazon River Dolphin or Pink Dolphin (making it one of the first records on ini.itu to move away from the Indonesian context that the previous records have). This record is another fascinating look in the world of Slawek Kwi, the man behind Artificial Memory Trace. Much of his work sounds like a collage of sounds, long moves and some abrupt changes. None of that on this record. The sounds are just in
long moves, and it seems a bit silent - of course that is intentional. I have no idea how the Boto sounds in the natural environment, nor any clue of the kind of processing applied by Kwi here, and oddly enough the music here sounds like insects, cicadas, chirping at night. A very meditative work, ambient if you will, slowly moving around, revealing some of its beauty only if you turn up the volume a bit more. Maybe also a strange record, for both Artificial Memory Trace and maybe also for the label. In a way I am reminded of the excellent record by Francisco Lopez for the same label. Quite mysterious, but a very good one. One of things were you keep wondering." [FdW/Vital Weekly]
|
2011 |
€12.50 |
|
|
Ultrealith |
CD |
" 'Ultrealith' is an electro-acoustic sound-adventure exploring sounds that exist on the periphery of human perception, such as underwater recordings (such as fish-songs, crustaceans etc), ultrasounds (sonar of bats and dolphins, insects), electromagnetic signals and other textures. These recordings were sourced in the Amazonian rainforest, Africa, Canadian Newfoundland, northern Australia and in various parts of Europe." [label info]
"Now a CD by Slawek Kwi's Artificial Memory Trace you can always stick on as a piece of music. Build from field recordings but always 'treated' in some way. If I understand correctly, this new CD's main work are the five parts of the title piece, lasting forty-four minutes. Its bookended with two pieces before that and one after that, making a total of almost eighty minutes. The title piece was originally a four channel composition, mixed down to stereo. Lots of field recordings and as is usual with releases by Artificial Memory Trace, its all detailed on the cover. Kwi uses elements from the world of minimal music, with repetition on a lot of small sounds, with small variations leaping in every now and then. Its some excellent music, with a great sense of collage and fine timing, transporting the listener to different places - a holiday feeling almost. Yet there are also two odd balls in this collection, both of them called 'Monochrome'. The first one is a short two minute with sixty-four tracks of Cage's voice - very apt in time for his anniversary. The second one is a musical piece recorded in a psychiatric unit in Dublin of endless strumming and mumbling voices. Not exactly, I'd say, something we should expect from Slawek Kwi, and perhaps a bit of too much of an odd ball perhaps. Maybe Kwi should consider a CD of the real odd balls in his musical output, providing of course he has more of such works." [FdW/Vital Weekly]
|
2012 |
€14.00 |
|
|
Paradox of Paradox / Interception I |
do-CDR |
"Over the course of more than two decades, Slavek Kwi aka Artificial Memory Trace has developed a body of work that encompasses live performance, sound installations, music and sound workshops with autistic children, and of course a large number of recordings published by small labels around the globe. This double CD in Attenuation Circuit’s Reissues series makes available again two albums originally published in 2004 that are characteristic for Artificial Memory Trace’s style of electroacoustic music that is characterised by a very elegant use of field recordings.
As the project name says, Artificial Memory Trace is always conscious of the fact that field recordings from nature are never natural in themselves, but become artificial in the very process of recording. Thus, even the toads that can be heard on “Paradox of Paradox” are not simply left to speak for themselves or “nature” per se, as in many pieces of “acoustic ecology” recordings. Instead, the recordings are subtly arranged to make an abstract compositional statement. Other sound sources include Christmas carols, a dysfunctional piano, and, on “Interception”, a dialogue of whistles between Kwi and an autistic child. One theme of both albums then seems to be an investigation into the ways that communities of different species, from amphibians to humans, make sense of their condition through sound. Philosophical considerations apart, the musical attractiveness of these works is based on the treatment of the field recordings which always retain just enough crispness to be recognisable as ambient noises, keeping the listener’s ears pricked up trying to find out their possible origins, while at the same time constantly being on the verge of vanishing into singing oceans of frequencies at times reminiscent of the later phases of Alvin Lucier’s “I am sitting in a room”." [label info]
www.wix.com/attenuationcircuit/attenuation-circuit
"Planktone Unlimited Editions was the label by Slawek Kwi, better known as Artificial Memory Trace. I must admit I didn't know this, so I have no idea why he is no longer working as such. Two of the works released on that label find now their way on a double CDR by Germany's Attenuation Circuit. Like much of his work, if not all, here too we have field recordings at the very foundation of the compositions. Compositions, because its Kwi's idea to use field recordings, alter them a little bit, and put them together, and not present them as pure phenomena of sound. Its music that one doesn't take too easily. There are lots of moments when sound drops to a low volume and for some time stays there, with just the sound of chirping insects. But then it cuts with a loud sound/event into something new and then a whole new world opens up. Its not easy to say what kind of techniques are used, but my best guess would be that its simply the result of layering various sound events together and then find the right compositional balance with these sounds, through editing, cutting and fading. Throughout, the music of Artificial Memory Trace isn't very loud so one has to keep full attention to this. Which makes these two discs, one that lasts seventy-six minutes and one that lasts fifty-eight, not something one would digest in one go easily, unless you either fully concentrate or 'use' it as ambient music: let it come as it comes. Either way of perceiving this music I think is pretty valid. It contains lots of beauty, poetic beauty actually, like the some what cryptic notes on the cover. Long in duration, massive in beauty." [FdW/Vital Weekly]
|
2012 |
€12.50 |
|
|
Tidal |
CD |
"Tidal zone is a fluid line between land and sea, a site of perpetual motion and metamorphoses. During 2008 - 2010 I collected a variety of sounds in coastal areas of Western and Southern Ireland and on the other side of Atlantic Ocean in Newfoundland, Canada: the remote fishing village of Conche, the ghost settlement of Crouse, and the St.Georges peninsula. I recorded underwater: crackles of decapods, dolphins, mink-whales, a breaking iceberg, a sea-otter fishing in the harbor. And on land: a wooden church crackling in the wind, engines of boats, pebble-surf, sea-gulls... all sounds and individual sequences used in the composition were recorded as-it-is. There is no other transformation than editing and mixing. Though sounds are organized in groups by the location of recordings, there is no intention to re-create an acoustic representation of the location itself. Sounds are chosen solely by morphologic associations and treated as abstractions. Recorded and composed by Slavek Kwi in July 2010 (1,2) and April/May 2011 (3,4) in Tentacles-Of-Perception Studio, Ireland." [label info]
www.aufabwegen.com
"Summer is slow and sometimes quite hot, certainly here in the VW-HQ. So my ventilator blows cool air in the house, which is nice, unless you are playing something like Artificial Memory Trace. The first time it was in the player, it went totally away in the soft machine breeze. But this morning the weather is a bit cooler, and I can sit down and listen to this under better circumstances. Slavek Kwi, also know as Artificial Memory Trace (and one of the few composers who still maintain their moniker, whereas others may have gone to their christian name by now) is a man who loves to work with field recordings of a rather delicate nature. The four lengthy pieces here all deal with recordings made in the tidal zone, 'the fluid line between land and sea, a site of perpetual motion and metamorphoses' and uses recordings from New Foundland and Ireland, from on land and under water. . Two pieces are stereo adaptions of multi-channel installation pieces. The cover lists specific places
and
things to note, like 'from pier at night (including one call of seal)'. More than before Kwi uses larger section which he puts one another, rather than overlaying them, or processing these sounds. It gives the music even more space than it did before. Maybe a holiday like feel even. This summer we don't spend time on the airplane to Newfoundland, but we stay at home and listen to Newfoundland. The two parts of that Newfoundland piece deal with sea sounds in the first part and the activities of humans in the second as well as nature events, such as a crumbling iceberg. In the piece called 'Western Island' we find at one point mechanical sounds along with high frequency bird calls, which add a weird and electronic texture to the overall composition. These four pieces are excellently, well crafted sonic trips along the sea-shore. Almost like a real holiday, but you don't have to leave the house. Almost my kind of thing, except that I actually planned a holiday." [FdW/Vital Weekly] |
2013 |
€13.00 |
|
| |
Attracted by Light (Collection 7) |
CD |
"Track 1: Originally the 4-channel composition was constructed from sounds of crustaceans, mollusks and soniferous fish (rec. underwater in Tasmania, Australia 2011), army ants attacking recording device and walking inside machine, termites and ants recorded with contact-microphone from inside tree-nests, inside nest of stingless bees (rec. Xixuau Xiparina and Mamori, Amazon, Brazil 2008-2009; inside ant-nest rec. with Francisco Lopez and inside bee-nest by Chris Fleeger and Kwi), inside of bee-hive (rec. with Vlastislav Matousek, 1994 in Novy Bydzov, Czechie), wind in chimney, fire and ice (rec. 2003-2008, Ivy Cottage, Ireland) and New Year 2008 fireworks (UK). Dedicated to Vlastislav Matousek and his beloved shakuhachi.
Track 2: Based on underwater recordings from Mamori and Yuma 2007–2011: subaquatic insect (recorded in ultrasonic range, some detected only in ultrasonic spectrum), fresh-water crustaceans (probably Decapods, crackly sounds) and electric field of Gymnotiform fish (the tonal-like sounds reminiscent of electronic sine and square waves), includes also sounds of water-pump, propellers, boat-engines and dolphins "tucuxi" (Sotalia fluviatilis).
Track 3: Based on ultrasonic echolocation and social calls of various micro-bats and insects recorded in Mamori, 2007–2011.
All sounds in Track 2+3 (and partially in Track 1) were recorded during Mamori Sound Project of Mamori ArtLab in Amazon, Brazil by Slavek Kwi. Special thanks to Francisco Lopez and Asier Gogortza for kind support." [label info]
www.semperflorens.net
"The year ended with Artificial Memory Trace and it starts with it, now on a CD release from Russia's Semper Florens. Three pieces of quite varying lengths, six, twenty and forty seven minutes, and all deal with field recordings, like almost all of Slavek Kwi's work. Much of this was recorded during the Mamori Soind Project in the Amazon, Brazil but also, in the title piece, from Tasmania and Czech Republic and even fireworks from the UK. The music from Kwi may be based on field recordings, it's never a purely, untreated piece of sound. Artificial Memory Trace uses his recordings as bricks to build a place, palace perhaps, of sound. Sometimes he treats these sounds, by fiddling around with the EQ and gets out more bass or more high end, whatever is required, and collages these chuncks together into a fine piece of musique concrete. It's quite minimal music at that. You can listen for a few or more minutes to chirping insect sounds, bees, waters, ants or what have you, but then slowly
something else is added to this biotope and without chnaging the scenery too much these two co-exist and the other may take over. You could hear in all of this the survival of the fittest perhaps, but I rather take a more positive view and would rather think of this as a journey. A journey which takes you as easily from the amazonian rain forest in summer time to the new year's eve fireworks in the UK, only to find yourself, within minutes, to be diving to the world of crustaceans, mollusks and soniferous fish in Tasmania - while along you may still hear a bit of that rain forest, which you will find on the map totally somewhere else. That's what this music does: create artificial journeys to various places at the same time. There is hardly human interference here, except for the role of the composer himself, who creates this journey. It's the natural world at the same time. In the shortest piece here, 'Pegamorsego', even in a fine musical fashion of glissandi from insects and bats, made audible in nicely gliding scales. A long journey, at some seventy-five minutes, but a most rewarding one. Excellent!" [FdW/Vital Weekly]
|
2013 |
€13.00 |
|
| ARTIFICIAL MEMORY TRACE / GERALD FIEBIG / EMERGE / PBK |
Fiction Circuit |
LP |
Artificial Memory Trace aka Slavek Kwi and PBK aka Phillip B. Klingler have been pillars of the global DIY experimental music culture for decades. Both of them have released work on attenuation circuit before. Here, they team up with label owner EMERGE aka Sascha Stadlmeier and his colleague Gerald Fiebig. Each one of the four artists contributes one track of about 10 minutes to the album. But while the four-way split LP is a common format in the global sound culture scene, “fiction circuit” is more than just a compilation.
All of the artists on this album share a love of creating electroacoustic music from field recordings or found sounds. Therefore, label manager Stadlmeier invited Artificial Memory Trace (AMT) and PBK to supply source sounds from their archives. These were then used as the basis for the compositions. Leaving the source material identifiable was not the task – it was to be used as raw material to be sculpted, very much in the spirit of acousmatic musique concrète. On the AMT side, we find the tracks by PBK and Gerald Fiebig. They both used AMT's source material to create their tracks. PBK delivers a dense, rather rhythmic track with a decidedly “industrial” feel. Fiebig's track, on the contrary, uses the front cover artwork – a digital collage by EMERGE of visual works by Kwi and Klingler, with other works by them reproduced on the lavishly printed LP insert – as a graphic score for realising a rather harmonic ambient piece. On the PBK side, Artificial Memory Trace and EMERGE “play” the source sounds supplied by PBK. The piece by Artificial Memory Trace qualifies as exuberant rhythm noise, while EMERGE goes all the way into rather meditative laminar lower-case drone minimalism. Therefore, regardless of which side of the record one plays first (“AMT” and “PBK” are engraved on the vinyl itself to guide the listener), one will experience, thoroughout the whole album, a change between very different sonic textures and temperaments that showcase the wide range of expressive possibilities of electroacoustic music. This is not the product of good luck, but of planned collective composition: AMT and PBK, as the “guests” on the label, were invited to create whatever they liked without any formal restrictions. As it turned out, both of their works were rather intense and direct in character. Therefore, EMERGE and Fiebig both made an effort to complement each side with a more subdued, quiet piece.
File under: Electroacoustic music, musique concrète
https://emerge.bandcamp.com/album/fiction-circuit
|
2019 |
€18.00 |
|
| ASHTORETH |
Rites I & II |
CD |
We’re glad to welcome Belgian artist Peter Verwimp and his shamanistic guitar driven soundscapes. The first instalment for the Rites series touches on the importance of ceremony and ritual in our daily lives. It deals with our interconnectedness with nature as a whole and the necessity to acknowledge and use this connection as an amplifier of thoughts, ideas and emotions. Minimal, meditative ambient drones with layers of meandering guitars and voices mixing elements of doom, drone and ambient experimentation. Rites I & II take a shamanic and animistic approach to our surroundings, unveiling inner and outer visual landscapes, a journey through flesh, sound and spirit.
CD Edition of 500 copies in 6 panels Digisleeve. 2 Tracks. Running Time 37:51
https://cycliclaw.bandcamp.com/album/rites-i-ii
"Slowly but certainly, Peter Verwimp is becoming the forerunner for the new wave of Antwerp ambient. Throughout the years I have seen him perform his enigmatic guitar drones and soundscapes numerous times. From petite venues and living rooms to forests and stages everywhere, Ashtoreth manages to turn everything into a place for rituals and meditation.
I think it was only a matter of time before a quality label like Cyclic Law would become interested in this shamanic approach to ambient. With 'Rites I & II', the first installment of a series, Ashtoreth delivers a long ceremony and a deep meditation.
'Rite I: Earth' opens with heavy guitars and powerful vocals. When I heard these for the first time, I wasn't sure if I was listening to Ashtoreth or to an intro for a Conan album. This is a somewhat different approach from the slowly in-fading soundscapes. But mostly, it immediately grabs the listener's attention for its brutalist approach. Gradually, however, the track evolves. The distortion fades away and other soundscapes appear. They sound like the breathing of the earth. Then, hints of melody appear, in perfect Ashtoreth tradition. In a way, this first track feels like a journey from something bad and scary to a feeling of piece of serenity.
'Rite II: Fire' is somewhat shorter but still long enough to be a narrative drone ambient highlight. It drives on gloomy drones and shamanic voices, a bit like we're used from Peter Verwimp by now, but let that not be a turn-off. This track is downright eerie, a perfect addition to the heaps of dark ambient masterpieces released by Cyclic Law. So yes, this is a stunning piece of work and it comes with equally stunning artwork by GootSlaper. I don't think this needs much more explanation. 'Rites I & II' is one of those albums that deserve a spot in your ever widening and mind-altering collection." [Merchants of Air]
"Here’s an interesting story. There was an amazing Belgian progressive, experimental hardcore band from Antwerp and their name was Maya. Until now, I consider their debut album as the epitome of hardcore progression, an utterly unrecognized gem and one of the most important hardcore albums in the history of the genre! In 2013, I uploaded Maya’s debut via Youtube, as I believed that such a gem deserves the utmost recognition. Not much time passed and I received a message from a fine gent, Peter Verwimp (Building Transmissions, Haunted Places, Station Grey, Stifled Cries) thanking me for that upload and telling me that he played in… Maya! Shocked as I was, he added that he has a new (at the time) project, named Ashtoreth! Much time have passed, people and I’m extremely pleased to review Peter’s new creation.
Ashtoreth – as I read – is in search of a shamanistic perspective, channeling at times: minimal, meditative drones with layers of meandering guitars and at others, a catharsis of doom, drone, ambient, folk, metal, noise and experimentation, always in a free and improvised form. Intriguing, right?
Rites I & II is a two-piece album, clocking at almost 38 minutes. Being heavily based on drones and ambient, it creates a certain space and a holistic appropriation of darkness, a ritual and introverted expedition into a spiritual and organic vastness. Ashtoreth’s sound is penetrating in every aspect: shamanic chanting, energy razor-blades in the form of minimal guitar, a huge embrace of bass driven currents, cathartic and certain. An aesthetic procreation and the well-perceived certainty of exquisite ambient music, that leaves a feeling of void thereafter. Music that delivers plentifully giving one climax after the other! Serene soundscapes with such power and punch!
It’s amazing to hear in this recording elements of Peter’s early works, even before Ashtoreth. The listener faces a recognizable and fine-tuned sound, with very sincere and solid continuance as developed over the years. In Ashtoreth’s case, ambient that – I dare to say – includes in it’s core, amazingly concealed, but present hardcore (!) elements. In fact, many different but related elements merged together, quite skillfully. And the album is presented as a beautifully packaged vinyl and equally beautiful, six-panel CD released by the Berlin based label, Cyclic Law.
Peter Verwimp has become an artist of his very own kind; a self-proclaimed sonic shaman and very well deserving of this attribute. Let us witness and be merry for his wonderful incantations." [Toneshift]
|
2019 |
€13.00 |
|
| ASIA NOVA [=ASIANOVA] |
Magnamnemonicon (SOLD OUT) |
10inch |
Die Nr. 2 in der neuen 10“-Reihe SUBSTANTIA INNOMINATA von Drone Records zum Thema „das Unbekannte“ ist von ASIA NOVA, dem US-Duo aus San Francisco mit URE THRALL: Experimentelle, dunkle ethno-ambience mit Frauengesang. Abgründig und ätherisch, gepresst auf pinkem / rot-weiss marmoriertem Vinyl !
“Info about this release SUB-02: ASIA NOVA is a project of Californian artist URE THRALL [ex VOICE OF EYE, etc.] and PAMELA PASSMORE with guest musicians. Paul Valsecchi and Marlon Porter "Magnamnemonicon" contains 6 parts of music spread on 2 sides, more
than 30 minutes of material: The mind as an abyss of supressed memories. Voices & sounds arise from the own dark continent, materializing in strong emotions of loss & yearning for the un-reachable. The Unknown as an eerie entity in our selves? Artwork by Gregor Schultz. Red-white / pink marmorized vinyl in a first edition of 500 copies. 33 rpm.
General info about this new series: „Substantia Innominata” is the brand new release-series from Drone Records. We are proud to present this as a 10” VINYL series along with subsequent re-releases on CD. This new series doesn’t focus on a special concept or ideology regarding the music, but on a certain theme. The theme for this 10” series is based on “The Un-known, The Un-nameable, The Un-speakable, The Un-thinkable, etc.: Various aspects related to “The Unknown”. Basically the grey matter (psychic or physical, which are bound to result the same) surrounding us / within us, but can’t be understood or recognized through the normal senses (though some may perceive it on a subconscious level). We could name it “The Unconscious”. The chosen name for this series, “Substantia Innominata”, was inspired to the fact that this Latin name represents a certain region of the brain which has unknown functions and remains a mystery for its role and existence. Therefore this name reflects well the intense fascination for this impalpable concept of “the unknown”. The invited artists for this series were asked to work around this theme, to let themselves be inspired by its abstraction. The artwork for this series will be created by the various visual & graphic artists. All in full-colour or silkscreen covers. The 10” vinyl pressings will come in an edition of 500 copies for each title.” [press release]
www.substantia-innominata.de |
2006 |
€12.00 |
|
| ASPHODEL |
Aokigahara, the Black Sea of Trees |
LP |
"Aokigahara, The Black Sea of Trees is an abstract visual and sonic story-telling which takes place in a forest located in Mount Fuji, Japan. The forest of Aokigahara, has a world-wide fame for the thousands of suicides which took place there and now has an almost mythological statue.
The forest is spread all through with ephemera and items such as photographs, letters and instruments left behind by the leavers, all untouched due to respect. almost entire forest is covered with long ribbons people used to be able to return if they changed their mind. therefore, the entire land is embodied with the vicarious objects that depict the sense of memory, loss and hope.
The auditory side of this album can be related to musical genres such as ambient and drone, but also of importance to this album is film and film abstraction; the experience of light moving in time, as for example the work of Stan Brakhage. An audio story-telling which derives from the contrast between dark and intense sounds to more delicate and quiet auditory landscapes, where the sense of an intrinsic lament is always present, and stepping into the oblivion gets distilled into pure sensation, that of belonging to life and hope. Asphodel puts an emphasis on the romantic, that of life relived through the forest.
Asphodel is a musical and visual project of Atay Ilgün and Alper Yildirim. Asphodel focuses on textural music and it's combination with experimental film. Atay Ilgün and Alper Yildirim run the Turkish label Wounded Wolf Press."
[label info]
A spooky ambient recording from this Turkish project who conceptually based this album on Aokigahara, a forest near Mount Fuji in Japan which has achieved notoriety because of the large number of people who have committed suicide amongst the trees, leaving behind considerable ephemera of their lives. Notes, pictures, objects all litter the forest floor as the final tracing of a human life. While a cascading horror is evident on the first half of this album, evinced through dynamic, tumultuous roars of caustic rumble and desolate pools of isolated tone, Asphodel conjure a shifting internal drama of emotion not limited to sadness, hope, and loss through flecks of wooden guitars and flutes, eerie reflective modulations from feedback manipulation, disembodied voices crackled through ghostboxes, and a ton of reverb. This is a very complex piece of abstraction that honestly confronts the topic at hand while not forgetting to draw from the existential bleakness in mapping out these very impressive recordings. Originally released on Asphodel's Wounded Wolf imprint as a cd-r, now issued on swank vinyl via Invisible Birds, limited of course. (Aquarius Rec) |
2017 |
€18.00 |
|
| ASTRID & RACHEL GRIMES |
Through the Sparkle |
LP |
"Through the Sparkle is a collaboration between French ensemble astrïd and American pianist and composer Rachel Grimes.
Rachel Grimes is best known for her chamber music project Rachel’s, a hugely influential group formed in 1991 in Louisville, Kentucky, releasing six studio albums between 1995 and 2005. She has also released a string of contemporary classical works in recent years on labels such as Temporary Residence. astrïd is a collective of four musicians based in Nantes, releasing records on Rune Grammofon and Home Normal.
After years of mail and email back and forth over the ocean, from Nantes to Kentucky, astrïd invited Rachel to come for a residency to make music together and play shows in France. They gathered for a few days, here and there, in 2012 and 2013 to write songs in Cyril and Vanina's home studio in the countryside.
The compositions found on Through the Sparkle glow with a unique, connected energy and a pure, instinctive musical understanding. Considered contributions from all sides allow the pieces to unfurl naturally. Each note and phrase feels like it simply couldn’t be placed anywhere else in the album.
Charming, gentle and cinematic sounds are found here in abundance. Melodies circle and reveal themselves without force, allowing the listener to focus and explore the depths of what is on offer. Musically, Through the Sparkle is an expansive and evocative album. There is a presence to be felt throughout, from Cyril Secq’s emotive tremelo’d guitars of M5 to the darker, more haunting mood of The Theme, to the tension in Mossgrove & Seaweed. Strings and woodwind coalesce around intricate piano and guitar movements creating a wealth of harmony and melancholy.
Through the Sparkle is a record of miniature symphonies, of elegant restraint. A gracious and generous offering from a group of musicians at one with each other and at the top of their game."
www.gizehrecords.com
https://gizehrecords.bandcamp.com/album/through-the-sparkle
"Man, that’s devastating! If the reverb-drenched guitar on this record’s second track doesn’t move you to tremble with tears, then the soaring strings on “M1” surely will.
Pianist/composer Rachel Grimes follows up her best-of-2015 The Clearing solo outing with the magnificent Through The Sparkle, a seven-song collaboration with the French chamber ensemble Astrïd, out today digitally, on CD and on vinyl through U.K.-based Gizeh Records. This thing’s gotta be heard to be believed.
Striking, again, with some of her finest work, Grimes’ piano flashes more contemporary flourishes than the heart-wrenching Romanticism of her landmark years with Rachel’s, everyone’s favorite post-classical ensemble. While there are still gentle, lulling notes – I’m looking to the album-closing “Le Petit Salon” and, again, the epic “M1” – Grimes’ metronomic figures on “The Herald en Masse” and “Mossgrove & Seaweed” positively pulsate with life, lending a record laced with restraint loads of emotional force.
This says nothing of Astrïd multi-instrumentalist Vanina Andreani, whose violin wraps its fingers around Grimes’ ephemeral melodies in much the way Christian Frederickson’s viola did in Rachel’s. Guillaume Wickel is brilliant on bass clarinet, drummer/percussionist Yvan Ros does a fine job anchoring the melancholy, and didn’t I already mention the eerie repercussions of Cyril Secq’s guitar? This ensemble, featuring Grimes, seems to have a beautiful way of making even the most composed moment seem instinctive, lending a gentle humanity to the proceedings.
There are less “classical” and more “post-classical” moments on the record, too, like the haunted “The Theme,” which starts with an emotive bass clarinet figure and kalimba, and expands, more often through the space between notes than the notes themselves, with an electric guitar right out of Hotel2Tango in Montreal. Or there’s “Hollis,” which punctuates Grimes’ refrains with more kalimba, subtle bass, and a shuffling, jazzy backbeat before descending into a field of mathy beeps that could be summoned from piano and, maybe, a Fender Rhodes.
The whole record is breathtaking gossamer – definite year-end-list material." [Justin Vellucci/Popdose]
|
2017 |
€20.00 |
|
| ASTROWIND |
Kaidanovsky |
CD |
"Astrowind Sound designer from Latvia Kriipis Tulo creates an amazing, deeply emotional and romantic music with help of vintage analog synthesizers and open-reel tape recorder. There is a feel of acroamatic escapism, there are these huge chords of hissing analogue synthesizers and you can even find this special kind of Slavonian melancholia (or Baltic, respectively) people use to rave about. Astrowind bring up a lot of references in their beautiful and, well, obsolete music.
Astrowind Project got the harmonies and the sound to become one of the most interesting Baltic acts to emerge from a scene rich of innovative musicians (Muschraum, Joel Tammik, Selffish, to name just the most obvious).
This first Astrowind pro-CD album is a tribute to Aleksander Kaidanovsky, worldwide well known and seminal russian actor and film director. The album consists is eight tracks filled with mind-floating contructions and de-contructions that will bring the listener to a wider dimension.
”Kaidanovsky” sounds like an oppressive, yet captivating, music experience surfing from a lysergic and mutant electronic textures to a degraded samples and hypnotic voices of the universe. A really amazing and impressive album for one of the most talented artist coming from baltic area." [label info]
www.greytone.eu
|
2012 |
€12.00 |
|
| ATARAXIC ATAXIA |
Shadow Sea |
CD-R |
Reissued from a very limited CDr on Side of the Sun Recordings, more than half a decade ago, Ataraxic Ataxia is a duo of electronics and violin by Dominick Dufner and Nicole Pizzato. Unlike many combos like this, there is a unique delivery of organic, true industrial noise mannerisms that only could have come from this configuration. It is not simply the dialed in ambiance of strings. The beauty and grit of this release is not only palpable, but also sort of regenerating and constantly transforming. The rest is enshrouded in mystery. Ataraxic Ataxia has done a recycled cassette on RRRECORDS and a few low profile releases, like an extremely limited 3 inch CDR that comes with a post card from the 30s, for instance. Dufner's solo project, Sigulda, was absolutely thrilling at Neon Marshmallow Fest in 2010, using MINIMAL electronics. This application with the expert use of string instruments by Nicole Pizzato is not to be missed. 49 minutes.
https://nopartofit.bandcamp.com/album/shadow-sea
|
2016 |
€8.00 |
|
| ATKINSON, FELICIA |
Hand in Hand |
do-LP |
Félicia Atkinson's new full length album ‘Hand In Hand’ is an expanded development of her musical compositions started with the highly-acclaimed 'A Readymade Ceremony' released on Shelter Press in 2015, and follows her collaborative effort with Jefre Cantu-Ledesma 'Comme Un Seul Narcisse' (Shelter Press, 2016).
Composed over the year of 2016 at EMS during a snow storm and at home in Brittany, Hand in Hand could be considered as the most ambitious body of work recorded by the French musician and artist.
Doubt and Optimism are the two sides of a same coin. Hand in Hand is arid and warm in its whole synchrony and opposition. Days are burning and nights are made of ice. Coyotes are exchanging sounds with rattles snakes while bunnies are hiding. Strident modular sounds are tearing apart minimal beats and drones. The stories told by A Voice to the auditor are no longer fictions and become slowly reality.
Electric waves transmitted by living creatures and machines seem to deliver special sounds and frequencies that only non-human can hear. They grow and vibrate despite of the walls and interdictions. Therefore, the human who is listening to this record might find in it a particular kind of emotion a way to take space in silence, and frame a certain vision of thinking while losing a certain notion of time, acknowledging step by step its universal environment. Plants, galaxies, animals, machines, Hand in Hand.
This record is meant to be a moment of common thinking and listening in its diversity and abstraction. In the same way a sci-fi novel by Philip K. Dick or a sculpture by Guy Mees can be percieved: trivial, sensitive and mysterious at the same time.
The opening track, I’m Following You is a bleached romantic ballad for Fender Rhodes that could be the ending title of a Martian love story, whereas Visnaga praises the resources of a desert plant through asmr voices, field recordings and evasive chords. A House A Dance A Poem is a feminist hymn composed as a pyramidal structure, referring in the same time to the A-frame houses, the yoga position of the triangle, the first letter of the roman alphabet and the feminine sex. In the closing song, No Fear But Anticipation, Atkinson offers an open hearted plea about the existentialist necessity of finding desire even when the times seem too dark to think about it. A telepathic and non-scholastic anthem for Don Delillo, Joan Didion and Jean Paul Sartre. The final Buchla sounds that close the record seem to deliver an unspeakable message that only birds and aliens could transcript.
The echo of the 80’s sci-fi anxious aethetics resonates with today’s transparency of digital sounds in the whole record. The cohabitation of simple midi textures and historical Serge and Buchla signals are convoked and confronted together by A Voice. The human instrument appears here as the epicenter of the recordings, giving to the others instruments a gravitational point.
Joan La Barbara, Robert Ashley or Delia Derbyshire are the main influences of Atkinson in their own way of inviting fiction, composition and abstraction as the essential materials of composition. For Hand In Hand, Félicia Atkinson used different sources for the lyrics and scores of her tracks: house plant instruction books, Desert Magazine old issues, architecture manuals, JG Ballard and K. Dick’s books, as well as her own poetry.
https://shelterpress.bandcamp.com/album/hand-in-hand
|
2017 |
€25.00 |
|
|
The Flower and the Vessel |
do-LP |
French poet and ASMR auteur Félicia Atkinson has frequently fixated on the elusive interwoven relationship between microcosms and macrocosms – how even the quietest creative act ripples outward in unforeseen ways, a whisper with no fixed meaning. Her latest work pursues this notion in a more literal and lasting fashion, as it was crafted while pregnant on tour, in impersonal hotel rooms in foreign cities. She describes it as “a record not about being pregnant but a record made with pregnancy.” Each day and night, finding herself far from home, she asked herself “What am I doing here? How can I connect myself to the world?” The answer gradually revealed itself: “With small gestures: recording my voice, recording birds, a simple melody.”
In truth there is nothing simple about The Flower & The Vessel. The album’s 11 songs span a vast pantheon of whispering textures, opaque moods, and surreal spoken word, leading the listener through a mirrored hall of beguiling mirages. Atkinson cites a trio of French classical compositions from her childhood as formative influences on this particular collection: Maurice Ravel’s “L’enfant et les sortilèges” (“a scary opera for kids”), Debussy’s “La Mer” (for its union of narration and music) and Erik Satie’s “Gymnopédies” (as an exercise in negative space, irony without cynicism, and “melody with doubt”). There’s certainly a shade of classicism woven within these tracks, however veiled, abstracted, or unorthodox. Melancholic piano motifs repeat then retreat into a radiant frost of shivering frequencies; processed voices recite cut-up poems and interviews over delay-refracted Rhodes and Wurlitzer; iPad gamelan patterns flutter from meditative to melancholic and back again, offset by pointillist patches of delicate software synesthesia.
Although much of Atkinson’s past discography is shaped by speech and the lyricism of language, The Flower & The Vessel ventures farther into silence, absence, and voiceless wilderness. Among her sources of inspiration were “women who wonder, dream, and create vacant spaces in their art,” as well as Ikebana flower arrangements, which reflect her own relationship with listening: “structure combined with everyday noises, selecting them to make a sparse music bouquet.” Field recordings from Tasmania and the Mojave Desert murmur beneath hushed reverberations of gong, vibraphone, marimba, softly processed into an elegant emptiness, alternately eerie and serene.
Her mode of minimalism has long been one of reduction, riddles, and curation, but here Atkinson’s synergy feels close to apotheosis, emotive but ambivalent, a ceremony of expectation and invisible forces. The 19-minute closing collaboration with SUNN O))) guitarist Stephen O’Malley, “Des Pierres,” is one of the album’s few pieces tracked in a proper studio (Music Unit in Montreuil, France) but it broods and burns with the same subliminal majesty as the rest of The Flower & The Vessel: an ember in amber, seeds planted in shifting sands. Atkinson’s voice flickers like a flame, framed by slabs of shadowy feedback. Her process may be personal is but its impact ripples to the edges of existence: “How does the act of creation connect us, not only to history, but to the cosmic? It’s a process of taking, and then giving back. It makes us belong to the world.”
The Flower and The Vessel features original artwork by Julien Carreyn, and is mastered by Rashad Becker at D+M.
https://shelterpress.bandcamp.com/album/the-flower-and-the-vessel-2
|
2019 |
€29.00 |
|
| |
The Flower and the Vessel |
CD |
French poet and ASMR auteur Félicia Atkinson has frequently fixated on the elusive interwoven relationship between microcosms and macrocosms – how even the quietest creative act ripples outward in unforeseen ways, a whisper with no fixed meaning. Her latest work pursues this notion in a more literal and lasting fashion, as it was crafted while pregnant on tour, in impersonal hotel rooms in foreign cities. She describes it as “a record not about being pregnant but a record made with pregnancy.” Each day and night, finding herself far from home, she asked herself “What am I doing here? How can I connect myself to the world?” The answer gradually revealed itself: “With small gestures: recording my voice, recording birds, a simple melody.”
In truth there is nothing simple about The Flower & The Vessel. The album’s 11 songs span a vast pantheon of whispering textures, opaque moods, and surreal spoken word, leading the listener through a mirrored hall of beguiling mirages. Atkinson cites a trio of French classical compositions from her childhood as formative influences on this particular collection: Maurice Ravel’s “L’enfant et les sortilèges” (“a scary opera for kids”), Debussy’s “La Mer” (for its union of narration and music) and Erik Satie’s “Gymnopédies” (as an exercise in negative space, irony without cynicism, and “melody with doubt”). There’s certainly a shade of classicism woven within these tracks, however veiled, abstracted, or unorthodox. Melancholic piano motifs repeat then retreat into a radiant frost of shivering frequencies; processed voices recite cut-up poems and interviews over delay-refracted Rhodes and Wurlitzer; iPad gamelan patterns flutter from meditative to melancholic and back again, offset by pointillist patches of delicate software synesthesia.
Although much of Atkinson’s past discography is shaped by speech and the lyricism of language, The Flower & The Vessel ventures farther into silence, absence, and voiceless wilderness. Among her sources of inspiration were “women who wonder, dream, and create vacant spaces in their art,” as well as Ikebana flower arrangements, which reflect her own relationship with listening: “structure combined with everyday noises, selecting them to make a sparse music bouquet.” Field recordings from Tasmania and the Mojave Desert murmur beneath hushed reverberations of gong, vibraphone, marimba, softly processed into an elegant emptiness, alternately eerie and serene.
Her mode of minimalism has long been one of reduction, riddles, and curation, but here Atkinson’s synergy feels close to apotheosis, emotive but ambivalent, a ceremony of expectation and invisible forces. The 19-minute closing collaboration with SUNN O))) guitarist Stephen O’Malley, “Des Pierres,” is one of the album’s few pieces tracked in a proper studio (Music Unit in Montreuil, France) but it broods and burns with the same subliminal majesty as the rest of The Flower & The Vessel: an ember in amber, seeds planted in shifting sands. Atkinson’s voice flickers like a flame, framed by slabs of shadowy feedback. Her process may be personal is but its impact ripples to the edges of existence: “How does the act of creation connect us, not only to history, but to the cosmic? It’s a process of taking, and then giving back. It makes us belong to the world.”
The Flower and The Vessel features original artwork by Julien Carreyn, and is mastered by Rashad Becker at D+M.
https://shelterpress.bandcamp.com/album/the-flower-and-the-vessel-2 |
2019 |
€16.00 |
|
| ATKINSON, FELICIA & JEFRE CANTU-LEDESMA |
Limpid as the Solitudes |
LP |
When is one plus one not two? When two paths converge and a new one appears. But what is this newly activated neural pathway? A Third Mind? In the 1960s, multimedia artist Brion Gysin cut through the words of a newspaper and rearranged them to reveal a new kind of truth contained within the words but not freed until his knife cut it loose. He described this as part of the Third Mind. Likewise, «Limpid As The Solitudes» cuts through sound-making techniques to enter a new zone of sonic revelations.
If you had to look for musical precedents, you might say the record recalls the turn-of-the-century Mille Plateaux glitch era, the warmth of La Monte Young’s raga-inspired microtonal electronic «dream house» drones, a sense of adventure evident in the acousmatic non-space recordings made by GRM artists in the 1960s/ 1970s, 4AD’s floor gazing guitar sound circa Cocteau Twins peak, and blissfully diverse field recordings. But you could equally equate it with entirely different recording sources. «Limpid As The Solitudes» has a widescreen sound that is both familiar and unfamiliar. Warm, comforting and also unsettling in unpredictable ways. Deliberate yet exploratory. It’s a record composed of opposites and contrasts. Following historical guidelines yet also throwing them out of the window. It’s hard to tell if the process of creating it was more akin to abstract painting but it might possibly be easier to understand if it was a large museum painting (to steal a thought from David Stubbs). To describe the album as ambient would indicate a much too passive engagement with the sound – leave it to play in the background and you’ll miss a lot of the joy.
Felicia Atkinson and Jefre Cantu-Ledesma describe the record as a series of postcards - «things and sounds that happen vertically as a slow ascension, vessels communicating in dreams.» In this collaborative recording, there is a feeling of «becoming» - things metamorphose - a concrete sound turns into a electronic sound that turns into a spiral-like melody which then furls / unfurls at the same time.
The title of the album - «Limpid As The Solitudes» - as well as track titles, are all verses stolen from Sylvia Plath’s poems – Atkinson notes «like dropped pearls from a lost collar.» Trying further to capture the records poetic impulses she notes it’s reflects «Empathy to objects and nature’s elements, meteorological states, seasons that answer to your heart, granular etchings carved and sustained to create a blurred sentimental landscape.» But notes with a sharpness that «the finale is more optimistic than Plath’s poetry. Love and lyricism win, the music soaring from deep water to interstellar galaxies.»
If you look at the cover, you’ll find another key clue - you’ll see an image created by photographer Julien Carreyn of a young women wearing destroyed jeans, playing with bubble wrap. The image is intended to give the viewer an eerie 1990’s feeling that echoes the recording. They note - «think films such as by «Trust» (Hal Hartley, 1990) or «Chuncking Express» (Wong Kar Wai, 1994).» They add «it’s the «ultra modern solitude» of characters lost in an early-digital urban vacuum, looking for a more time to wonder, a soul mate or just some compassion in the grey sky.»
Among the many other references for this album is how Google Maps have created new digital perceptions of space, Gilles Deleuze’s examination of Alice In Wonderland, Andre Bretons poems and more films including the classics «Sacrifice» (Tarkovsky), «Passenger» (Antonioni) and «Last Year In Marienbad» (Resnais). To dig into the more of the ideas and sources behind this record you’ll simply have to talk to the duo. We simply cannot give you the full depth here.
Be sure to come back to this record more than once - it’s then that it’s power will work - you’ll recall the sound of a lover, a garden you once walked through, an echo of a record you once loved. To be appreciated, «Limpid As The Solitudes» requires you to immerse yourself as if in a hot spring, letting the sounds float over you and alter your perceptions and memories.
|
2018 |
€18.50 |
|
| ATOMINE ELEKTRINE |
The Antikythera Mechanism |
CD |
"A container of all the knowledge about the universe. The motion of the gears deeply intertwine a link between micro- and macrocosm. A mechanism that simulates cosmology and senses characteristics of an eclipse, with color, size and associated winds.
Define a question, and there will be a calculated answer, even capable of astral divination. Is it an all-seeing eye, or perhaps something beyond even that; a magic entity capable of creating the cosmic events that it is supposed to measure and foretell.
If so, is it by nature auspicious or ominous. Or is it merely a representation and extension of ourselves and our senses, trying to reach both the celestial and the intrinsically unobtainable.
Winter-Light warmly welcomes Peter Andersson to our label, with his 'Atomine Elektrine' project and a stunning new studio album 'The Antikythera Mechanism'.
Here we are invited or compelled even, to delve deep into the intricacies and finely tuned mechanics of this mysterious, all-encompassing machine.
Infinitely extending it's influence across multi-dimensions of time and space, constantly calculating, cogs ever turning, gears whirring, mapping, learning, storing and moving ever onwards. Leaving in it's wake, a vast ocean of unimaginable cosmic events, left to ripple through time until they too fade away to become yet another click in the eternal cycle of 'The Antikythera Mechanism'.
Difference between the CD/Digital and vinyl version
'The Antikythera Mechanism' has a small degree of randomness built-in to the sounds which means that the output of each rendering becomes slightly different. The tracks on the vinyl are of a different rendering than the tracks for the CD/Digital version. This is a natural glitch in 'The Antikythera Mechanism' and it is more or less noticeable.
The sounds are the same but the positions in the sounds are time offset in an arbitrary mode. Any further inequalities are due to the fact that a different mastering technique has been utilised for the vinyl version, than for the CD/Digital version.
As well as there being a different final rendering for the vinyl version, the DLP also comes with an additional and exclusive track, which clocks in at 19:52."
https://winter-light.bandcamp.com/album/the-antikythera-mechanism
"This mechanism Peter Andersson is referring to in the title of the new Atomine Elektrine offering is considered as the first analogue computer. The device was constructed by the ancient Greeks to predict future astronomical occurrences and phenomenas. Even this day it’s an object of scientific researches and studies as its technological sophistication is still unexplained for XXI century scientists and scholars. One of the greatest enigmas in the history of mankind and… what an inspiring theme for a dark ambient artist to explore through music.
It’s not a secret that Peter is a truly versatile musician within the electronic underground, always efficient, no matter if he seeks more noisy approach or more atmospheric one. Atomine Elektrine was born of his fascination of science and instead of wandering through lost cathedrals and desolate wastelands we explore the secrets of space and quantum physics. Clearly, it’s not just the words in the titles and press releases, but the music is unlike his other projects as well. For 25 years the foundation of Atomine Elektrine sound was the use of analogue synthetisers, the old-school instruments cherished by the German masters from the 70s. His music was constantly developing over the years, in all projects, apart from Atomine Elektrine also Raison d’etre, Necrophorus, Bocksholm and several others. Often the inspirations were morphing one through another (for example Necrophorus’ “Imprints” has a one hundred percent Atomine Elektrine vibe), but in general high quality is practically always guaranteed.
I have to admit that while my favourite Peter’s “non-raison” release is “Drifting In Motion” by Necrophorus, it is Atomine Elektrine I value the most as a whole. Maybe not exactly the very first albums, like “Elemental Severance” where it was Jean Michel Jarre a godfather rather than Klaus Schulze, but “Nebulous” or “Laniakea” are very frequent guests in my CD player, up to this day.
Can’t declare today that “The Antikythera Mechanism” will also regain its place in my personal pantheon of all Peter’s releases as it is quite crowdy over there, but yes, it is good, it is goddamn good! The opening dark space of “Arcturus Alpha Boo” made me think of the cosmic vacuums generated by some of the Loki Foundation maestros as the deep rumblings and the feeling of an infinite expanse made me feel small and irrelevant. It calms down after a few minutes and brings a mystery of a titular mechanism to the forefront. From the universe entirety to this tiny device that can capture its secret.
I’m in love with “Metonic Spiral”. You know why? Because it’s like taken straight from “Drifting In Motion”, those delicate synth passages combined with weird bubbling and swirling sounds recall the atmosphere of that masterpiece. Yet while that one had this overwhelming aura of sadness and solitude, in “Metonic Spiral” I hear… a hope that the wonder of what hides behind the ionosphere can be comprehended by the human mind. That feeling is intensified by the second half of the track where these slow melodies and analogue sequences take it one step closer to the old-school German electronica.
In the following track, “The Exeligmos Pointer” all these rhythmic pulsations may recall a working mechanism, while the majestic background textures compliment the structure as a subject of that work. They’re huge and beautiful, they can be compared to the sun/moon eclipse, watched by you, predicted by the device. Subtly disturbing “Time Dislocated By The Mechanism” is. It may sound bizarre, but this piece have something in common with what Penjaga Insaf did on their “Sama Sadja”. While conceptually both projects couldn’t be more distant one from another.
The organic aura of “Epicylic Gearing” is represented by these cyclic sequences, coming and going, pulsating like a bloodflow, later that bass rumblings appears, like a heartbeat. And that simple repeated melody, combined with the mentioned elements develop a tremendous track, which brings another name to my mind. Predominance. Remember that one? Yes, as you can see, that Loki reference few paragraphs ago wasn’t accidental.
Such albums like “The Antikythera Mechanism” deserve an epic ending, yet one must have in mind that Peter Andersson doesn’t really like to finish his albums with a bang. “Fragment F” is not a praise of a human mind, the awe of its endless powers and capabilities. No, it’s a cosmic space, quiet, soulless, without beginning nor end.It’s like the blackest shade of black, it’s probably Peter’s most oppressive finale since “The Eternal Return And The Infinity Horizon”.
And probably one of his best works, at least within the last couple of years. This reference may sound funny, but he’s like Stephen King of dark ambient and I know that a lot of folks grumble that “it’s not the same, his older novels were classic and now he’s just reaping the benefits of his older efforts.” Not true, “The Outsider” or “Sleeping Beauties” are as good as the novels from his so-called “golden era”. Same goes with Peter Andersson, I heard more than once that what he does now is not the same as 20-25 years ago. Wrong. Don’t let nostalgia speak for you. He’s still in a very good shape and the astounding sound of “The Antikythera Mechanism” is its brightest, or rather darkest example." [Santa Sangre]
|
2019 |
€13.00 |
|
| AUBE |
Re-Chant (SOLD OUT) |
7inch |
the prolific AUBE-project surprises the listener with a complex and threatening work based only on a female voice - great!
"LIMITED+NUMBERED FIRST EDITION OF 250 COPIES.
PINK VINYL, WONDERFUL FULL-COLOUR HANDMADE ART-COVERS.
THIS OUTSTANDING MUSICAL PROJECT FROM JAPAN HAS BEEN WORKING IN THE DOMAINS OF FEEDBACK & MINIMAL NOISE FOR APPROXIMATELY 4 YEARS.
AUBE HAS RELEASED SEVERAL CASSETTES ON HIS OWN LABEL G.R.O.S.S. TAPES; FURTHERMORE THERE HAVE ALSO BEEN 5 CD-RELEASES IN THE MEANTIME.
AUBE TENDS TO USE ONLY ONE SPECIFIC SOUND-SOURCE TO DESIGN A WHOLE RELEASE. AUBE'S MUSIC CONSISTS OF A DRONING ENERGY WHICH RESEMBLES EARTHQUAKES AND WHICH CAN AFFECT YOUR WHOLE BODY.
ON THESE RELEASE AUBE WORKED WITH THE VOICE OF A JAPANESE FEMALE - WHICH WILL ASTONISH YOU ONCE YOU HEAR THE FINAL RESULT:
TWO ENERGETIC AND THREATENING PIECES OF CONCRETE SOUNDSCAPES MIXED UP WITH SCREAMS AND OTHER STRANGLEY EFFECTED HUMAN OUTBURSTS - SO INTENSE AND CHALLENGING YOU WILL NOT ABLE TO IGNORE WHILE LISTENING!
YOU WILL SHIVER WITH COLD WHEN AUBE'S MUSIC APPROACHES YOUR EARS!
" A MASTER-PIECE OF DE/RE-CONSTRUCTED MUSIC "
DRONE RECORDS DR-16/ DECEMBER 1995
|
1995 |
€ |
|
| AUTECHRE / HAFLER TRIO |
³oæh |
7 x LP BOX |
what were they? oh, sit down here, and I'll tell you. long, long ago, there were pieces of shiny matter which issued forth in an erratic manner over many aeons. and what is this? why, it's a box. and what's in the box? well, those small shiny things are now larger shiny black things. and what use are they? well, none, but you can get sounds out of them, if you treat them nicely. really? yes, really. the miracles of modern science.
all (yes, all) of the Autechre/Hafler Trio collaborations topped and tailed and groomed and lacquered and fizzed and popped onto 7 Long-Playing Stereo Microgroove Records, in a box, for purchase, by you. or someone you don't know. either is a reasonable situation.
Lp01. æ³o / h³æ
Lp02. æo³
Lp03 ³hæ
Lp04/5 5ah³eo
Lp06/7 ha³oe
180g DMM vinyl
New black artwork by Andrew McKenzie of The Hafler Trio
Spot varnished sleeves and box
Art prints in black envelope
|
2023 |
€149.00 |
|
| 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 |
|
| |
Palladium |
CD |
"Re-edition of this historical cult album first out in 1991. AutopsiA is a legendary band, they are among the pioneers of "Industrial".
This re-edition was completely remasterd using the modern sound standards and is coming with 4 additional bonus, rare and unreleased tracks.
PALLADIUM review made for the first edition some years ago >> Music of Autopsia oscillates from romanticism to avantgarde, from bizarre to sublime simplicity, from coldness to warmth, from exclusiveness to popularity. Songs of Autopsia are wanderer songs. Palladium leads us to great gates, gates through which there is no passing-by. Leads to great moments, when views into a depth of dark abysses open, in which, one day, staggering, we have to plunge ourselves. These songs are composed in ideal case, only for one man and only one man, in quietness and loneliness can listen to them.
There is something aristocratic in the music of Autopsia. Palladium is a declaration of the end - or perhaps the announcement of the beginning?
Music From The Empty Quarter, [UK] 1991
Album was completely remastered at Mustakillah Studio Prague 2013." [label info]
www.oldeuropacafe.com
|
2013 |
€13.00 |
|
| BABYLONE CHAOS |
Les machines ecarlates |
CD |
The project of BOTCHAN KARISEN (Belgium) with a new work, a deep tour de force into a electronic / technological chaos-music, with influences from Industrial, Collage-Sounds and even Electro-Acoustic, dark & ecstatic & dangerous !
"A man with a fish eye stared at me when I satisfied my computer with this CD. The artwork on this release is awesome, something which is thoughtful to do when you release your CD in a DVD case. On the front of “les machines ecarlates” stands a man pierced through his forehead with a huge piece of piping. On the back a man with a fish eye gives me a look, which keeps me away from the track listing underneath it. I must say, it pleases me to receive such artwork, I could write a good review about the artwork alone.
Babylone Chaos is new to me, not only as an artist, but the music is very new to me too. Listening to the first track “Dissect me” I got very enthusiastic. This artist knows how to frighten someone with sounds. Electronic heavy sounds flow back and forth while strange ‘ahhh’s and ‘oohh’s can be heard. A shivering breath, winds and strange electronic drums complete the picture. Shocked awake by a heavy pound on a barrel and a cracking door. Where am I at this point? The gruesome sounds I heard before are overtaken by heavenly sounds, birds and some vocals. But it was a short victory, the dark sounds kick in again and the beat starts to get back at me. I am stunned, this is not music, this is straight on sound-engineering! The second track “Scared datas” goes like the first track, but gets more of a triphop sound. Dark triphop, that could become a trend. Count me in for that genre, because what Babylone Chaos is doing here is new, refreshing and awesome. The third track “Blood on thorns” gets a lot noisier than the previous tracks and is suddenly petrifying when circus music starts. (I always had something against the circus and clowns, don’t ask why.)
Listening to the CD I found that Babylone Chaos can be compared, in a strange way, with Aphex Twin. You can hear beats, but they never last longer than a few measures. That is one of the reasons why this CD sounds so great. Babylone Chaos doesn’t care about being tagged with a genre; the artist just does what he wants. The CD isn’t one you listen to on a regular occasion. Listening to “les machines exerlates” is a trip. A trip to the beautiful, the ugly, the frightening the heaven and the hell. As I continued my exploration, I found even more interesting material. The piano pieces in the fifth track “Death crusade” are so strange. It doesn’t fit with the music, but in some way it jet [i]does[/i] fit. The tender background sounds are divided and shattered to pieces by deep noisy scrapes, pounds and scratches. This is music which can be compared with using acid. But please dear reader; don’t use it at the same time!
The tracks go well into each other, although that isn’t hard with such experimental music. Track eight, “Paranoiac morons”, made me think of a scene in the Kubrick movie “Full metal jacket”, where Joker tries to find the sniper who turns out to be a woman. I’ve always found that scene and especially, the music, incredible. But I think “Paranoiac morons” would be even better as a soundtrack to that scene.
As an overall thought I must say that this release surprised me muchly. The packaging is awesome, although I can’t stand it when a CD doesn’t fit between the regular jewel cases and digipacks. The music is refreshing and “les machines ecarlates” is more like a piece of art then a CD filled with songs. “Les machines ecarlates” brings you to the verge of your life, a leap of faith, a trip to hell and back and leaves the unprepared to wonder. This isn’t my regular “sing along in the shower” CD, this is something I admire, treasure for the special moments and certainly use in tiny portions. All those experimental fans out there, beware! “Les machines ecarlates” gives you the journey of a lifetime." [Heathen Harvest]
label-website: www.opn.fr
|
2007 |
€8.00 |
|
| |
Noises from the Attic |
mCD-R |
"seven years ago, we released a "réactions mécaniques", a 3" by botchan korisen, one of the many aliases julien cornu-kuoch uses (used?). over the years, his main project babylone chaos evolved from more electronic sounds and rhythms to more complex structures and organic sounds.
babylone chaos recently released a collaborative disc with contagious orgasm ("altered beasts" on steelkraft manufactory) and it seems like babylone chaos could be now compared to the japanese artist.
"noises from the attic" is an oppressive 17 minute track, a frightening and dense mass of sounds." [label info]
www.taalem.com
"Also Babylone Chaos is a new name, but behind it is Julien Cornu-Kuoch, of whom Taalem released a couple of years ago 'Reactions Mecaniques' under the name Botchan Korisen - which is something I can't find no evidence off in back-issues - but now sees a change of modus operandi. The sampler seems is dusted and microphones stuck in the attic, basement or outside and sampled together into a dense piece of sample mania. Cornu-Kuoch is working these days with Japanese artists Contagious Orgasm, which is something that also shows in his solo music. There is an ambient quality about this too, but it's very much unlike say Tone Color. Where's Tone Color is light, airy, and up in the sky, Babylone Chaos is dark, brooding and mysterious. More the soundtrack of a fine horror movie about zombies and life after a nuclear holocaust, ending with a fine industrial grinding of said (sad?) zombies. Very dark and very moody indeed. Quite unlike for Taalem, I was thinking." [FdW/Vital Weekly] |
2013 |
€5.00 |
|
| BAD ALCHEMY |
No.53 (02.2007) |
mag |
"BA 53/07): the hub !!!!!!!!!!; pere ubu‘s erben in cin city: by-products of america - the wolverton brothers (bernd weber); stürmischer wind? totenkopfbriefkasten? menschliche stimme: rene lussier - bob drake - alig pierce (m. beck); imaginäre folklore - possible worlds; das al maslakh ensemble; die vorwärtsverteidigung des historischen drone-pop: brennende ohrwaschl - quermeer (frank apunkt schneider); dorit chrysler und die tiny thrills des theremins (frank apunkt schneider); das erste wiener gemüseorchester (frank apunkt schneider); ralf siemers + chaos through programming (frank apunkt schneider): la société des timides à la parade des oiseaux; Das Pop-Analphabet " [BA]
|
2007 |
€3.00 |
|
| BAD SECTOR |
Storage Disk 2 |
CD |
Zweiter Teil der Anthologie mit raren Tracks vom italienischen Kult-Projekt, die beweisen dass Massimo Magrini auch auf Compilations und "kleinen" Releases nur hochwertiges veröffentlicht hat; inklusive 4 unveröffentlichen Stücke von 2002, und wieder im besonderen WAYSTYX-Design!
"2nd part of rare tracks anthology. Contains material from: "Planar Energy" picture 7" (Smallvoices), "Scrignum Vitae" box with CD and objects (Old Europa Cafe), "Ten Years Of Madness" 2 CD (Achtung Baby!), "Land:[Schaft]" 2x10" (Cold Lands), "Hover" CDr (Bastet Rec.), "L'Ame Electrique Presents Old Europa Cafe" (Ame Electrique) + 4 previously unreleased tracks recorded in 2002." [Zhelezobeton]
"...The Waystyx label focuses on Industrial based music, drones and field recordings. Behind the Bad Sector-project you find the Tuscanny-born artist Massimo Maggrini who has been active under the Bad Sector flag since 1994 with the debut cassette release "Ze" on the Slaughter Productions label followed by the CD-release "Ampos" on Dutch label God Factory in 1995. Since then it has resulted in an extensive number of releases on various labels with quite a few on the Waystyx label. Present album titled "Storage disk 2" is a compilation of later materials of Bad Sector from the period 2002-2005. The overall expression is quite dramatic combining industrial sound spheres with more downbeat ambient. Despite the downbeat expression approaching the tranquilizing sound of melancholic ambient, there are masses of industrial elements combined with interesting noisy and state of the art electronics added elements of manipulated guitars and processed human voices. The music of Bad Sector is intense and very atmospheric. Thus a pleasant overview of earlier materials from a talented Italian artist calling himself Bad Sector. Intense!" [NM, Vital Weekly]
www.waystyx.com
|
2008 |
€13.00 |
|
|
CMASA |
CD |
In jeder Hinsicht ungewöhnlich und doch unverkennbar BAD SECTOR! CMASA beruht auf älteren Fragmenten, die MASSIMO MAGRINI aka BAD SECTOR für eine Kunstausstellung in Pisa 2005 einspielte (zum Thema "River's end" - dort wo der Fluss aufs Meer trifft), darunter Klavier- und Gitarrenbearbeitungen sowie Feld- und Objektaufnahmen von Wasser und Metall. In Verbindung mit BAD SECTORs typischen (und nach wie vor unerreichten) Synth-Sounds entstehen fünf lange "Movements" voller industriell-poetischer Traum-Atmosphären; digital verfremdete "technische" Klänge in einem Meer von Nostalgie, Einsamkeit & Melancholie. Gänsehaut-erzeugend. Grossartig.
"In 2005 Massimo Magrini was invited to provide a soundtrack for the M3M art exhibition in Pisa/Italy. The exhibition was based around images of the seaside and the rivers estuary of Pisana area with CMASA airplane factory built there in it's centre vis a vis of archaic marine cottages. This marvelous seaside scenery mixed with vintage industrial locations, together with some kind of nostalgia, created an unexpected but amazing mood. To sculpture a soundtrack of this scenery Massimo Magrini was asked to use acoustic and natural sounds too and so he added for this work treated piano and snippets of acoustic guitars together with water sounds and metal samples. This may sound unusual for a BAD SECTOR release but all those new elements are perfectly blent into the massive and ambient soundwaves for what previous releases are known for and making CMASA probably to the most emotional album of Massimo Magrini to date. All initial exhibition sounds where regenerated, remastered and re-assembled during 2007-2009. Digipack.(LOKI/PAS 23)" [label info]
www.loki-found.de
www.loki-found.de
|
2009 |
€13.00 |
|
| |
Xela |
LP |
Despite the existence of Massimo Magrini's project since 1991, Bad Sector has rarely been released on vinyl. There have been a few 7 inches and one 10 inch released back in the Nineties. Now is the time for the very first vinyl in 12 inch format! Xela originally appeared on CD in 2001 and contained an edited and remastered version of a backing tape from a 1996 festival performance in Berlin, that was curated by Staalplaat.
Especially mastered for vinyl, Xela is everything that the specific sound of Massimo Magrini stands for. Deep droning waves echoing through the abyss are underpinned by minimalistic archaic rhythms and processed radio transmissions, creating an inexplicable mystery of beautiful and timeless sound sculptures.
100 copies in clear vinyl.
200 copies in black vinyl.
The cover artwork is based on photographs by Stefan Alt.
www.loki-found.de
|
2017 |
€16.00 |
|
| BAD SECTOR / SSHE RETINA STIMULANTS |
Neurotransmitter Actions |
CD |
"Originally released in 2000 this long sold out collaboration work is now available again and brings back some fine piece of well crafted deep sounding electronica from Italy. The BAD SECTOR tracks of Massimo Magrini building up again a sonic cathedral of sub-harmonic drones and rhythms while Paolo Bandera of SSHE RETINA STIMULANTS/SIGILLUM S dissects precisely the frequency oscillation and adds an intense and contemplative manifest of digital noise to the second part of this split-work. This is an outstanding example in sound research by two of the most important masterminds of the Italian electronic music scene.
The CD is presented in a beautiful cardboard package with bronze-foil print." [label info]
www.loki-found.de
"If you have been reading these pages closely over the past few years, you may know I have a soft, as yet unexplained, spot for the music of Bad Sector. One could find this odd, as I may not be known as someone who likes this dark, slightly gothic electronic music. But it seems there is always an element of computer treatments, sci-fi and humour in this, which makes that I enjoy it. In 2000 Bad Sector released this split CD with Sshe Retina Stimulants, also from Italy, and the music project of Paolo Bandera (and I have no opinion on his music, simply because I don't know it very well), and now it's been re-issued. Here we have one-track silence (why?) at the beginning, four pieces by Bad Sector, five by Sshe Retina Stimulants and one, in the middle, of them together. The Bad Sector pieces are trademark for him (the band is a solo project of Massimo Magrini): heavy slabs of electronics, ditto dark rhythms, and lots of treated vocals. This entire here more forceful, it seems, than on the more recent releases. Quite nice, again, music in the realm of industrial music. Sshe Retina Stimulants, whom I didn't know that well, seem to be more about singular synthesizer strokes in quite a noisy manner. There is something about these tracks, which may make them sound alike. Maybe its all more loop like with some sound effect treatments? Either way, it works quite well, even when it's perhaps not something I would play everyday. In the middle ground, their collaborative piece both ends are tied together and operated with a tour de force. Altogether this is fine manifestation of industrial music." [FdW/Vital Weekly]
|
2014 |
€13.00 |
|
| BAILIFF, JESSICA |
same |
CD |
Drittes Album der dream-drone-Folk Chanteuse aus Toledo, OH, auf Kranky ! Etwas herbe, getragene Songs, slow-ambience-folk mit verzerrten drone-guitars...
"Call it Jessica Bailiff, Untitled or anything you want; the third album from Jessica Bailiff is a delivery on the promise of her first two albums. Simultaneously clearer and murkier, it features a more acoustic focus and experimental sound placement. Two songs feature the violin-uke (most notably the stark 'Hour of the Traces'), there is a tin whistle on a few tracks, piano, a few computer fx, drums, smeary guitars and even sitar. The end result can best be described as narco-folk. Jessica Bailiff describes her new album as being about '...stagefright, dreams, loss of creative energy/desire, love & time, living in the same place all your life, ghosts, near-death experiences, etc..' After recording two albums with the members of Low, Jessica Bailiff created a direct, stripped back album that showcases her-strengths in both songwriting and arrangements." [press release]
|
2002 |
€14.50 |
|
| BAKER, AIDAN |
Scalpel |
CD |
SCALPEL beinhaltet vier Stücke, auf denen sich AIDAN BAKER neben seinen beliebten Endloos-Loop-Drones dem Songformat (mit sehr zurückhaltendem Gesang) annähert... das ist höchst feingliedrig, introspektiv, ausgefeilt: Akustische Magie zwischen Drone & Folk.
" ... Baker has tried his hand in many different areas of music and it’s always amazing to here the outcome, as more often than not the results are excellent. There have been records that dabble more in psych, kraut, ambient, drone, and so on. However here on Scalpel, Baker has combined a familiar ambiance within his body of work with folk music for something that is loosely being dubbed as his “folk/drone” album. I really didn’t know what to make of that at first. I suppose a description like that shouldn’t be too hard to really figure out, but still it was intriguing.
The album opens with the track “K” and greets the listener with the simple plucking of an acoustic guitar that as the song moves forward begins to merge into a dreamy backdrop of sound. Everything seems so incredibly delicate, which is only enhanced by the overall sparseness throughout the recording. One of the many things that I really enjoy about Scalpel however is the increased focus on Baker’s vocals, which have gradually become a part of Baker’s sound but not so much to the amount of attention that they receive here. Granted, his vocals are still very subdued, and like the music are softly spoken amongst the strumming of his guitar. The last three tracks on the album are where it really begins to take shape however, in the form of otherworldly drones, strings, and shimmering backdrops that gradually consume Baker’s vocals and guitar into many layers of beautiful sounds. And while drifting and sparse as it may be, there is still a certain feeling of warmth within it all that for me is what makes Scalpel worth many repeated listens. It couldn’t come at a better time either as winter begins to settle itself in here in the Midwest." [Built on a weak spot]
www.thekorarecords.com
|
2007 |
€12.00 |
|
|
Green & Cold |
CD-R |
Hier zeigt AIDAN BAKER seine Songwriter-Seele: er singt, sehr sanft, flüstert manchmal eher, dazu spielt er "richtige" Stücke, die aber durchaus experimentelle Anwandlungen und "Dronifizierungen" erfahren... ultra-sanfter dream'n'drone songwriter-Pop mit viel Emotion, auch das gelingt AIDAN wieder traumwandlerlisch & sicher...
"The innovative master of ambient guitar returns with a breakthrough album. At its core 'Green & Cold' is a a mix of drone, post-rock, and what the artist calls appropriately "deconstructive dream-pop." Memorable hooks combine with Baker's trademark huge wall of guitar constituted atmospherics. Baker's shoegazey croon floats among the stuttering clicks and cuts permeating the layers of catchy riffs and slow, intoxicating beats. As 'Green & Cold' unfolds the listener is coaxed familarly inward only to be washed over in waves of wispy, warming drones: An album of uncommon intelligence and artistry." [label info]
"Aidan Baker is back, still vying for the most prolific man in show business award (well, at least underground, free drone show business) with a double shot of washed out dreamy droniness. There's the latest from Nadja, reflecting his more metal side, and then there's this, the follow up to last year's Pendulum, which was a fantastic slab of glistening disembodied dronemusic. Green & Gold follows suit but with an interesting twist. Vocals. Lots of 'em. Baker is no stranger to singing, his whispery croon has graced more than a few of his releases, but on G & G, the vocals are a big part of the songs, and the songs are actual songs, with drums, and verses and choruses and everything. Well, sort of.
Some tracks, like the untitled opener, are indeed still just wispy slow shifting expanses of fuzzy dreamlike sound, which we can NEVER get enough of, but others, like "Chainsaw", are actual lowercase, slow motion, dark and dolorous slowcore pop songs. Simple murky guitar riffs, wreathed of course in all manner of reverb and soft focus fuzz, hovering over stripped down shuffling rhythms, while Baker croons softly over the top, a hushed almost whisper, sounding not entirely unlike Iron & Wine's Sam Beam actually. Even the music sounds a little like a blissier tarpit version of Iron & Wine. There is some definite twang there, subtle, but it's there, nestled amidst the delicate folky strum and the glistening sonic glimmer. Imagine an
even more somnambulant Low, or Spacemen 3 at 16 rpm, a ultra druggy
(druggier?) Galaxie 500, each track a pop song mumbled and murky, a moonlit crawl through a hazy landscape of shuffle and shimmer, of strum and twang, all wrapped up in soft swirls of shimmer. Essential for fans of all things Jeck and Tim Hecker and Jasper TX and Machinefabriek and Grouper and Troum and Main and the like, but also worth a listen for more adventurous fans of Iron & Wine, Spacemen 3, Galaxie 500, Low and other slowcore drugrock dreaminess..." [Aquarius Records]
label: www.gearsofsand.net
|
2006 |
€13.00 |
|
|
Gathering Blue |
do-LP |
Doppel-LP im Gatefold-Cover, edelst designed von ALAN McCLELLAND. Eine Sammlung von neuem (erste LP) und in Kleinauflagen bereits erschienenem Material (zweite LP), die beiden mCDRs "Cicatrice" (Dreamland, 2003, vier Stücke die alle mit CI beginnen) und "The Taste of Summer on your Skin" (Taalem, 2004), zwei Remixe von BAKER-Stücken von der "Remixes"-CDR (Arcolepsy, 2005) von BUILDING CASTLES OUT OF MATCHSTICKS und TROUM, sowie eine JOY DIVISION-Coverversion von "24 Hours" !!
Die Auflage von 444 Stück kommt in insgesamt drei Vinylfarben!!
"A work of blissful delight. Aidan Baker provides 4 sides of enchantment in this long-in-the-making 2xLP set. Gathering Blue provides new original material plus a stunning cover of the Joy Division track "24 Hours" as well as an extended work-out of the amazing remix of "The Cicada Sings Our Love Song" by Building Castles Out Of Matchsticks which was originally released in 2005 on the ultra-limited and long-deleted Arcolepsy Records CD "Remixes". This really is Aidan Baker at his very best and a record that is sure to charm. Comes in a gatefold sleeve, numbered card insert and pressed on heavy 180g virgin vinyl in 3 editions (55 copies on black vinyl, 95 on sky blkue vinyl [with white blend] and 294 copies on mottled peacock blue vinyl)." [label info]
"It's been a (little) while since we've had some brand new Aidan Baker / Nadja for the store, thankfully this week heralds two new
releases. To be reviewed next time, there's long awaited Nadja all- covers disc (which we'll tell you right now is great), and then
there's this, a brand new, limited double lp from Baker solo, and as always it's a doozy, sprawling and shimmery and expansive, that sort of blissed out ambient dronemusic he does so well. But it's far from more of the same. The first track we threw on was almost jungle, with skittery beats buried beneath softly undulating layers of warm whir and deep drifts of soft swirling sound. There's also a bit of Spacemen
3 like processed psych guitar, which gives way to some buzzing raga like blur, draped over still more dreamlike dronescapes, although
here, it's laced with chunks of processed alien crunch, and weird little bits of scrape and fragmented riffage. Long stretches of underwater Oval-like wooziness, shot through
with streaks of space-y effects and muted bits of glitch and buzz, some of the most washed out and wondrous space (not quite) rock ever! Warped warbly organs are stretched and smeared into warped Philip Jeck like doomy drifts, one of which is apparently a cover of Joy
Division's "Twenty Four Hours", although we could only tell by the vocals, and even then, they're so hushed and barely there, that any
sense of the original seems to melt into a gorgeously oozing expanse of thrum and shimmer and softly warped rumble. Another fantastic and gorgeous and of course WAY too limited
chunk of droney dreaminess from Mr. Baker. Released on the always amazing Equation Records, who really go all out with the packaging as well. Thick swirled/splattered blue vinyl, thick full color gatefold jacket, and a printed full color postcard, each of which is hand numbered, LIMITED TO 444 COPIES!" [Aquarius Records review]
www.chronoglide.com/equation.html
|
2009 |
€24.00 |
|
|
Liminoid / Lifeforms |
CD |
"While Alien8 Recordings has had the pleasure of releasing three full-length albums by Aidan Baker's ambient doom project Nadja, as well as his collaborative effort Fantasma Parastasie with Tim Hecker, this marks our first solo release with the artist. Although we consider Liminoid/Lifeforms to be a solo effort, there are in fact no less than eight guest musicians helping out on the recording. These include Canadian noise legend Knurl (a.k.a. Alan Bloor) who has been released three times on Alien8 Recordings prior to this recording, as well as members of Arc, Picastro, Forest City Lovers and Whisper Room. Liminoid is a composition for large ensemble exploring sonic immersion in drones and textures, rhythms and pulsations. Incorporating composed and improvised segments, the piece uses elongation of sound and layered polyph- ony in an attempt to create a liminal and/or numinous state. This recording of Liminoid is from its premier at The Music Gallery's X-Avant Festival in Toronto, October 25, 2008. The piece features a powerful vocal performance with every member sharing the vocal duties. The lyrics have been adapted from 5th-8th century Coptic Christian texts and inspired by the book Ancient Christian Magic by Marvin W. Meyer & Richard Smith. The ensemble members for this performance were: Aidan Baker (guitar/ voice), Clara Engel (guitar/voice), Nick Storring (cello/voice), Jakob Thiesen (drums/voice), Richard Baker (drums/voice), Tillman Lewis (cello/voice), Laura Bates (violin/voice) and Jonathan Demers (guitar/voice). Lifeforms is a composition for strings, prepared/effected guitar, and amplified metal works. Likewise incorporating written and improvised material, the piece was originally commissioned and performed by The Penderecki Quartet in 2003. This recording was made in August 2008 at Commonwealth Studios in Toronto. The performers were: Aidan Baker (guitar), Nick Storring (cello), Mika Posen (violin) and Alan Bloor (metal works). This recording has been both skillfully mixed from multiple recordings and mastered by James Plotkin." [label info]
www.alien8recordings.com
"The latest from the always impressive, and always prolific Aidan Baker, who creates thick wall of sound doomgaze in the duo Nadja, and much more personal, hushed drone music under his own name, but more and more has been expanding his scope with various collaborations and large ensembles. This might be the biggest ensemble he's worked with, 8 players, all contributing vocals, three guitars, two drummers, violin and two cellos. And it does sound like what you might imagine, a sort of Aidan Baker drone record / chamber music
hybrid, long languid tones, plenty of cymbal shimmer, the strings moan and sing, the sounds ebb and flow, swelling ominously, building to
swirling crescendos, before slipping back into something more minimal and contemplative, "Liminoid" is split into 4 movements, and is about as close to classical music as Baker has come, at least in the first part, the second part shifts gears dramatically, transforming into something more jazzy and propulsive, a sort of krautrock thing, but with a jazzy slow shifting Necks vibe, eventually building to a dense tribal workout, before slipping into part 3, all shimmery blissy drift, soft focus and sun dappled, the drums an understated slowcore
shuffle, leading up to the 15 minute final movement, where the vocalists team up for a haunting bit of choral drama, which explodes
into full on free jazz freakout wall of sound, finishing off with a long form spaced out drone jam, that definitely reminds us of a super
stripped down White Hills, psychedelic and washed out and very hypnotic.
The second piece, the nearly 30 minute "Lifeforms" is a smaller ensemble, Baker on guitar, with violin, cello and 'amplified metal works', the metal works had us expecting something clangy and bombastic, but instead, it's almost all warm whirling ambient shimmer,
much more in keeping with Baker's solo sounds, near the end, the sounds shift, and the strings move to the fore, weaving dramatic melodies over the slow burning drone underneath, the result very cinematic. Quite nice." [Aquarius Rec.]
"One of my favorite noise albums, "Frequency LSD" by Japanoise artist Masonna was released on Alien8 Recordings in the mid-90's. With this in mind, and in combination with the release of present two albums, there shouldn't be any questions about the the great span of styles released by Alien8 Recordings - Canada's probably most interesting label of the underground. Aidan Baker is a Canadian multi-instrumentalist and sound artist that creates music in the field from post-rock across drone ambient to modern classical. His latest release "Limonoid / Lifeforms" roughly comes across all aforementioned styles. On the album Aidan Baker has allied with concrete noise artist Alan Bloor alias Knurl / Pholde, Richard Baker on drums plus a number of other acoustic members on instruments such as cello, violin and guitars. As the title suggest the album is divided into two main sections: A section called "Limonoid" consisting of four intersections and the long and final piece titled "Lifeforms".
"Limonoid" is as mentioned earlier an interesting crossover between neo-classical chamber music, noise-rock, post-rock with associations of earlier Krautrock (first of all Amon Düül I + II) and neo-folk with elements of middle-age expressions. Quite interesting and very trippy psychedelia with vocals from Clara Engel is what the first four chapters of the albums presents. But in my opinion, the true gift is the second main section of the album titled "Lifeforms". "Lifeforms" is a lengthy piece clocking approximately 30 minutes. Where the aforementioned section was a crossover of a number of styles "Lifeforms" mainly focus on ambient-expressions but with clear interventions of classical instruments such as violin and cello meanwhile aforementioned noise artist Alan Bloor controls his usual ultra-aggressive sound equipments being amplified steel and metal as sound sources into more subtle and very attractive noise drones. The piece is quite repetitive with a long hissing drone of amplified strings but with organic interventions of concrete sounds of aforementioned instruments. Halfway though the track, hissing drone fades away giving way to more plain acoustic ambience until another drone appears. The atmosphere is hypnotic and very intense through out the running time of the piece. Very interesting album showing the wide span of Aidan Baker." [NM / Vital Weekly]
|
2010 |
€13.00 |
|
|
Pure Drone (Drone Compendium One) |
LP |
"The album title certainly does not deceive. But there is something absolutely worthy about AIDAN BAKER’s (NADJA) approach to drone composition. He employs a subtle, patient counterpoint that offers an appealing spaciousness when played loud. The music is utterly enveloping, seemingly forcing the listener into a meditative state (Do not operate heavy equipment while listening, unless that heavy equipment is speakers or a spaceship). The compelling organic majesty of these 2 long tracks wafts deep oceanic. Pure drown. One time vinyl edition of 400 copies packaged in custom made book bound sleeves and 180 gram vinyl." [label info]
www.blrrecords.com
|
2011 |
€15.00 |
|
|
Souvenirs of the Eternal Present |
MC |
"It is hard to find another contemporary artist as prolific as Aidan Baker. Since the year 2000, and across a multitude of aliases, Aidan, often accompanied by a revolving cast of collaborators, has unveiled recording after recording at a rate of productivity which makes even a year in the life of Aidan Baker (or his most prominent alias Nadja) look like the entire discography of many other well documented artists. That in itself is quite a feat, but taking that into account along with the clear, stylistic sovereignty of each of his recordings makes Aidan Baker that rare combination of multitudinousness and creative reinvention, where regardless of what elements and instruments make up a recording, they simultaneously sound unlike anything else before, yet somehow clearly possess the artistic DNA of Aidan Baker.
An aspect of this is his fondness of ethereal elements, which is a distinctive thread running through Souvenirs Of The Eternal Present. In this incarnation, and in juxtaposition to the “slow grow” of recordings more akin to the Nadja moniker, these atmospheric builds and layers are intertwined within a framework of pace quickening rhythms, akin to the end result of some parallel universe where Godspeed You Black Emperor and Bohren and Der Club of Gore are somehow commix.
In terms of art, and its relationship to its complimenting artifact, each side of this cassette (which is made up of a total of 5 separate passages in total) is meant to be taken in as a side as a whole, as one would a diptych or triptych. Thus, as a cassette presentation, one side gives way to the other at exactly the rate the reels spool, and is meant to be taken as such, as opposed to a collection of tracks in of themselves.
Thus, Anthem Records is please to present Souvenirs Of The Eternal Present in the form of a limited edition cassette tape with accompanying digital download." [label info]
www.anthemrecordsinc.com
|
2013 |
€11.00 |
|
| |
Dualism |
do-CD |
After different collaborations between Aidan Baker and other musicians, we are finally presenting you the first solo release by Aidan Baker on Midira Records. We are very proud to bring you this little piece of art called “Dualism”.
The album starts like an untamed beast with dark drone and doom sounds and it morphs into a very gentle floating ambient body. Aidan plays guitar, bass and drums, what makes the tracks sound structured but also disengaged at the same time. The all-instrumental tracks have Nadja-like moments when the sound is darker and doomy and then they transform to beautiful melodies and rhythms. So you can hear the album moving from darkness to light, from heaviness to easiness and from interlaced to clear textured. Sometimes you feel like dancing, sometimes you feel like head-banging, sometimes you feel just relaxed and all sounds and moods fit perfectly together.
The album is based on the theory of dualism. A theory enfolding several books and explanation, including different meanings. That´s what Aidan Baker thought about the Dualism theory referring to this recording:
“Dualism in philosophy refers to the theory that the mind and body are different things and while the body is necessarily part of the physical world, the mind (and thoughts) may or may not be associated with a physical, concrete reality… and the notion of a ‘consciousness bridge’ is the way one might attempt to bridge the gap, so to speak, between body and mind.”
We thought that is a nice concept, but then something unforeseeable happened. The Dualism theory overgrew the whole release project. After we decided to press the music on CD, the master tapes got lost. We were talking about what we can do, because everything was set up to be released. So Aidan Baker decided to re-record the album. After he recorded the album, the original recordings showed up again by coincidence. So we had two Dualism albums sounding completely different, both worth to be released. We decided to release both sessions as Session A and B. A circumstance fitting perfectly into the dualism theory. Then we were waiting for the CD to be finalized with a matt finished artwork. The parcel arrived from the plant, but accidentally with glossy artwork. We started to believe that there is a hex of dualism covering this project. But finally, we finished the album with 2 CDs and a handsome matt lamination.
To perfect the album package, we added a letterpress inlay including a poem by Aidan Baker (from Passing Through) and an antithetic version of the cover artwork. Manufactured by Letterjazz with some very old letterpress machines.
Some more dualism trivia in this context: The alphabetic characters A and B of both sessions does not only fit to the artist name but also to the name of our contact person at the letter press studio. Dualism fortuity.
Dualism comes as a double CD album in an edition of 200 copies housed in a 6 panel digipack, including a letterpress inlay on 650 gram LeNaBoard (grey cardboard).
|
2016 |
€18.50 |
|
| BAKER, AIDAN with KEVIN MICKA |
Green Figures |
CD |
"Aidan Baker and Kevin Micka (aka Animal Hospital) first met when they played together in Berlin (Baker’s current city of residence) in the spring of 2009 at a modest venue to an audience of perhaps five people…Despite these conditions, they recognized kindred audio spirits in each other and talked about playing and working together again. They got together again in November of 2009 for three shows: Boston (Micka’s hometown), Montreal, and Toronto (Baker’s hometown). In addition to an Animal Hospital set, Micka also played drums on some of Baker’s more song-oriented material, tunes from “Figures” and “Green & Cold.” The performance on November 28, 2009 at Casa del Popolo in Montreal, recorded by Eric Quach (aka Thisquietarmy), resulted in this album.
The addition of Kevin’s discreet drums to Aidan’s songs gives them a new and unique dimension, leaving the ethereal drone for a subtle (post-)rock. This is a new experience for Aidan’s audience. Edition of 300." [label info]
www.bassesfrequences.org
|
2011 |
€8.00 |
|
| BALL, DAVE & JON SAVAGE |
Photosynthesis |
CD |
“We started composing some quasi pop/classical pieces that gradually morphed and evolved into one, hour-long piece. Via digital recording and processing of vintage analogue sound sources (i.e. mini Moog, Sequential Circuits, Prophet 5 synthesizers etc.) the piece gradually took shape.
The title ‘Photosynthesis' was re-appropriated from the botanical process. Sitting in the garden surrounded by trees and plants on a sunny day, the idea of organisms using sunlight to synthesise nutrients from CO2 and water became an inspiration to us. This idea, juxtaposed with mankind's destruction of the planet through pollution and war gave us the inspiration to compose this soundscape”.
Dave Ball (Soft Cell, The Grid) and Jon Savage.
Comes in a beautiful 6-panel digipak, cloaked in exquisite flora art."
www.coldspring.co.uk
"One of the most wonderful things about artistic creation is that you never really know where it will take you. Even though Photosynthesis started out as an attempt to write some quasi pop/classic pieces, you’d never know that from the finished product. What the duo of Dave Ball and Jon Savage have created instead is a haunting, delightfully organic album of ambient and experimental electronica. This is a record to sink in to, letting it take you on its journey to some other place, and it has a refreshing, almost cleansing feel to its retro soundscapes.
There’s a warmth to Photosynthesis that many other albums of this sort lack, aided by the use of analogue sources, and it’s this warmth that gives the album such a special feel. Even if there are moments when it verges upon the haunting and unsettling, as during “ATM#2” with its ominous bass drone and piercing, warbling frequencies, it never feels like a dark ambient album; rather, these are moments of contrast that fit in well with the organic nature of the album. After all, nature is often a violent, destructive force, and that is captured in tracks such as this one, and that side of humanity is demonstrated here too, as it is in song titles such as “One Night In Helmand Province”.
Photosynthesis is also an album that makes clever use of space. “Passing Cloud Factory” and “The Process” are relatively sparse tracks, with elements drifting in and out over a foundation of subtle drones and strings, and the space created is just as effective as any individual sound or other element. And the way one track flows in to another creates a sense of narrative, not necessarily in the sense of a linear story, but of a cohesive whole; it feels as if the album has something to say, raising it above being a simple collection of tracks and giving it an extra sense of importance and weight. When a more obvious melody or movement does come to the fore, as on closer “Dead Neon”, the effect is all the stronger for how well it contrasts with the more sparse, ambient sections.
Not that any of this may be readily apparent. Photosynthesis is an album that requires multiple listens and proper attention to fully appreciate, but the rewards are more than worth it. It is an album full of depth, with an engaging character and atmosphere that is more than worth losing several evenings exploring." [The Sound Not The Word-blog]
|
2016 |
€12.00 |
|
| BAND OF PAIN |
Still falls the Rain |
7inch |
"After an absence of a good few years, Band Of Pain return with a 7” single for Easy Action. Steve Pittis: “Since I got the first Black Sabbath LP when I was 12 years old, the poem inside the gatefold has held a huge fascination for me. I’d read it over and over again, looking at the sleeve, and of course listening to the record. It kept occurring to me that they never used it in any lyrics, so 45 years later, it was time to put that right.”
The A Side of this record, “Still Falls The Rain” features that poem, read beautifully by Lucy Cotter, along with Pittis’ atmospherics and Nurse With Wound’s Andrew Liles’ blistering guitar. All research seems to say that the writer of the poem remains anonymous, so if you’re out there, we hope you like it.
Side B’s “Funhouse (For Karla)” deals with the gruesome misery of an execution chamber and is a powerful journey into the horrors of those barbaric places." [label info]
www.easyaction.co.uk
https://youtu.be/T_ZyNCgmPSo
http://www.andrewliles.com/10-questions/steve-pittis/
"Where most bands opting to record a take on of one of their influential favourites would opt for a more or less straightforward cover version, Band Of Pain main man Steve Pittis chooses instead to invite Andrew Liles and Lucy Cotter to join him in re-imagining the anonymous poem “Still Falls The Rain”, as found inside the upside-down cross adorning the inner gatefold sleeve of Black Sabbath‘s eponymous first album.
This they do in suitably doom-laden style, all clangour and tolling of deep-down bells smeared over with some excoriating paint-stripper guitar from Liles that bears a passing, if distended, resemblance to Sabbath. An equally ominous threnody washes over the stifling atmosphere, which Cotter’s plain-spoken words cut through the thunderstorm of sampled rain with a distracted, almost hypnotised air. Not so much metal as post-Hendrix fed-back skronk, the results waver from the suitably discordant into the eerily unheimlich, with the ghost of a mordant smile nevertheless playing faintly around the snooker hall klang. What Tony Iommi would make of it is anyone’s guess.
The flipside is yet more unnerving and gloomy, dwelling on the subject of imminent state-sanctioned execution on “Funhouse (For Karla)”, and what words there are buried so deep into the mix as to be almost imperceptible at first. Environmental flickers switch back and forth in the deep, dark mix, riding limpidly beneath relentless monotone pulsations that well up in into a tachycardic rhythm modulated to sets the pulses racing as soundbites on the death penalty pass behind the unfolding sense of dread and doom.
For dark, stormy nights, and even glummer moods." [Linus Tossio/FREQ]
|
2015 |
€9.50 |
|
| BARDOSENETICCUBE |
Ambiwax |
CD |
"New album from the acclaimed Russian master of surrealism and sonic psychedelia - Igor Potsukailo. Dense cocktail made of twisted and warped electronic passages, industrial rhythms, voice samples and all kinds of sounds not possible to identify... "Transparent bubbles of consciousness collapse and dissolve in scraps of conversation from a weird movie. There are no motives, just a brush dissecting the Moon" (from the author). The album is also available as a free web-release: http://sendem.ru/releases/40/ambiwax.html." [label info]
|
2013 |
€13.00 |
|
| BARDOSENETICCUBE / LT. CARAMEL |
Silence Submarine |
CD |
"This is the mail collaboration realized after Lt.C's trip to Russia few years ago. In St-Petersbourg, he was sharing the stage with the local project Bardoseneticcube, which is one of the most important and long running experimental music outfit in Russia. After returning to France, Lt.C and Igor Bardo/BSC found common interests in soundwork, sending the files to each other and re-processing them. The result was this collaborative CD, released by Studio Forum and distributed by Monochrome Vision." [label info]
www.studioforum.net
"Last week we reviewed in these pages a CD by Igor Potsukaylo, who is otherwise known as Bardoseneticcube. His works can be easily classified as drone music, so its quite a surprise to find a CD of him together with Philippe Blanchard, otherwise known as Lieutenant Caramel. Perhaps not the most active composer in the field of musique concrete, but with a distinct style of his own. Long sustaining sounds versus cut-up: how does that work out? Actually quite nice. I had my doubts about it, despite liking what both do in their own field, but these nine compositions tie both ends together in a nice way. Its hard to say who does what here, which I guess is a compliment. There are lots of electro-acoustic sounds, from either field recordings as well as objects, which are chopped up, but also looped around to retain that sustaining drone like character. I must admit that my attention faded a bit after a while. I thought that seventy-two minutes of this kind of demanding musique concrete was all a bit too much to take in at once. The whole second piece, track nine on the CD, lasting twenty-four minutes is were I dropped out. Otherwise, in smaller doses, a great CD." [FdW/Vital Weekly]
|
2011 |
€12.00 |
|
| BARONI, CLAUDIO F. & DARIO CALDERONE |
Ursae Minoris |
CD |
A constellation is a construct of perspective. Unfathomable fireballs ripping apart and reconstituting atoms, separated by millions of light years in all directions, are flattened into two dimensions by the human eye. From the slightest suggestion of line and form, the mind gathers them together into objects, seeing in them figurative outlines or distinct cultural reference points. Depending on one’s geographic location and culture, these groupings and their associated imagery can vary wildly. Despite being completely outside of human time and dimension, the stars are minimized and abstracted by distance and then reconstituted by social construct. This act of mental agility serves to make some small sense of the darkness around us and to serve as a memory aid so as to keep a grip on our place in the world.
As musical beings we might also wonder: What does a constellation sound like? Would we also find some meaning or a sense of place in this sound? How does a change in our observation change our reality?
With his Ursae Minoris, Claudio F. Baroni does not strive to give us direct answers to these questions. He begins to employ this process of perspective transformation, aurally converting a two dimensional abstraction of stars into points on a grid and then using this ‘data’ to generate the music, which leaves the final step of recontextualizing to the performer and the audience.
The title refers to the constellation Ursa Minor, which was ‘created’ by the Greeks around 600 BCE out of a portion of another constellation. In Latin and in the colloquial names in many European languages it means Lesser or Little Bear. It is commonly referred to as the Little Dipper in North America. Pointing the way to the North Star, this is one of the most important and well known constellations in the Northern Hemisphere.
Ursae Minoris, meaning ‘of Ursa Minor’, is the title of this work because in this album we encounter this constellation not as a singular instance but as an evolution of multiple perspectives to ruminate upon. As our view of the stars changes with time and place, the three movements of this piece each offer a different aural interpretation.
While working on his string quartet Perpetuo Motum, Baroni happened upon the diaries of Ciriaco d’Ancona (1391-1455), an Italian humanist, textile trader, and antiquarian. Within these diaries are maps of constellations that d’Ancona used to navigate at sea. He is sometimes called the ‘father of archaeology’ as he was one of the first Europeans to collect objects from ancient cultures systematically. Driven by his curiosity, he decided to depart from southern Italy across the Mediterranean to Egypt, Greece and throughout the Aegean Sea. D’Ancona relied upon Ursa Minor to locate the North Star in these travels.
The score of Ursae Minoris is based upon a celestial map centered around Ursa Minor. Using a similar process to one he used in writing Perpetuo Motum, the musical material was determined by a direct ‘transcription’ of the points on this map into predefined variables such as pitch and volume, transforming the stars into musical ‘events’. With the pitch material settled, Baroni explored other musical aspects.
Each movement focuses upon a specific technique of sound production. The first consists of short percussive sounds, especially those produced by tapping the metal end of the bow (called the screw) upon one of the strings. Constantly adjusting the placement of the screw and the length of the string, we are treated to a richly nuanced catalog of these tiny explosions. In the second movement, constant slow glissandi (pitch-sliding along the string) are played up and down on one of the strings as if orbiting around the gravitational pull of its neighboring string, which holds steady to one pitch. The last movement is entirely constructed of one long and shifting bowed tremolo (a shaking of the bow) resembling a trembling comet appearing out of silent space, grazing the ears with a roaring distance and disappearing back into the void.
While his single-minded use of instrumental technique can be uncompromising, Baroni leaves room for spontaneity in other aspects. Continuing the journey metaphor, the score consists of variable paths from which the performer can choose whichever routes and sidetracks they fancy in the moment, rendering each performance unique. Also striking is Baroni’s use of electronics as a way to deepen and refract the natural sounds of the instrument. The subtle use of a loop station gives rise to many layers of the already existing acoustic sound world, expanding it without injecting outside influences. This leaves one quite often wondering if there is just one bassist making all that sound or if there is a sky full of them.
Baroni has spent the last 10 years sounding out the depths of personal instrumental expression with his SoLo compositions. Ursae Minoris is the seventh piece in this ongoing series, each of which focuses on the unique qualities of a different instrument. Central to his process in this series is an extended collaboration with the performer to discover distinctive sounds from the instrument. He is not interested in fresh instrumental techniques for their own sake, simply to sound new or shocking, but because this is the terrain where there are more layers still to be explored. Baroni worked extensively with bassist Dario Calderone over a long period, taking time to form each movement of Ursae Minoris. Calderone’s complete commitment to this kind of music is evident in the intensity and detail of his playing. For example, in order to endure the brutal, endless tremolo of the 3rd movement, Calderone had to reinvent his bowing technique. Throughout the piece he latches onto the essence of the music and gives it a constant drive.
Forget for a moment the title and all of this background information. One doesn’t need to know anything about this composition’s connection to the stars to hear the force of the music or to feel the determined searching of the exposed performer. Baroni studiously avoids making specific aesthetic or cultural references in his music. He creates a closed sound universe with its own scale and physics wherein we can surrender to being propelled through this singular abstraction.
In the end we may be left to wonder: Where are the lines between natural phenomena, sound as sound, fragile and situated perception, and conscious interpretation? How much does each of us feel the urge to find some recognizable form and meaning in the sounds of these little points on a graph? Or we may just go along for the journey, leaving our mind’s universe behind.
https://contemporaryseries.bandcamp.com/album/ursae-
minoris
|
2021 |
€12.00 |
|
| BASINSKI, WILLIAM |
Vivian & Ondine |
CD |
"In May of 2008 I was in my studio in NY preparing for a concert at Issue Project Room. I realized I had been touring for a year and was still touring the same piece I had performed there the year before. I was interrupted by a call from my youngest brother, Patrick. As we chatted, he told me that his wife, Andrea was overdue with their daughter, Vivian. I replied in sympathy that 'Vivian' was a movie-star name and that I imagined with a name like that, she would have people waiting on her for her entire life. I got back to work and found yet another lunchbox of ancient tape-loops to go through for possible inclusion in the new piece. I came across the main theme and thought... well, this is gorgeous; let's see if we can use this to coax Viv to come out. I went through the rest of them and found another dozen or so that mixed well used randomly, just under the threshold. The next night I performed the piece at Issue with their 16 channel hemispherical speaker system set to move the sounds randomly around the room as if waves in a pool. We all had a really good time. It was mesmerizing. The next day I got word that Vivian had been born and my cousin, Terence's first granddaughter, Ondine had been born as well. I couldn't think of a more beautiful title for this piece than to name it after these two beautiful girls. This version was recorded with microphones and two Norelco tape decks live in my studio in Los Angeles in one take in September 2008. A version of this piece was commissioned by Lauren Bon and the Metabolic Studio of Los Angeles for her extraordinary project, Strawberry Flag, at the Veterans Administration Hospital in Los Angeles. It has been an honor to be a part of this wonderful project." [William Basinski]
www.mmlxii.com
"By now, if you're a regular reader of the aQ list, you no doubt know all about William Basinski, and the Disintegration Loops that introduced us to his music. And if you're anything like us, you were immediately smitten by his gorgeous slowly decaying dronescapes. The power of a simple loop, played over and over, in various states of decay, hearing the sounds literally crumble before your very ears, like getting a glimpse inside music, behind the notes, within the chords, observing the magnetic particles as they drop like flakes of soot after a fire, music transformed into inert object, and the glorious sound of that transition, from light to dark, life to death, sound to silence.
Basinski's music is rife with meaning, representational for sure, but can easily be appreciated from a purely sonic standpoint, the sounds, his loops, are blurred and indistinct and so lovely, washed out, hazy, sepia toned, they sound like they were snatched from another time, lifted from an audial scrapbook, the sounds curled up at the edges, lightly blackened, the images contained within smeared and unclear, beneath a patina of age, the chemicals reacting over time, changing the color, the texture, the emotion even, of each of those sounds.
Vivian & Ondine is a more recent work, but sounds like it could have come from the same treasure trove that produced the Disintegration Loops, dreamlike and otherworldly, hushed, intimate, and so beautiful." [Aquarius Records]
|
2009 |
€16.00 |
|
|
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 |
|
|
92982 |
CD |
"This reissue of William Basinski's 2009 album finds the composer doing what he does best, creating haunting loops and drones that have a way of burrowing into your life.
When you travel to 351 Jay Street on Google Maps you’re greeted with the image of a nondescript office building. On its ground floor is an art supply store. The rest of the scene is anonymous. Much of Downtown Brooklyn looks like 351 Jay: brutalist buildings of medium height that evoke industry and bureaucracy. Thirty-six years ago, in this building, William Basinski lived in a loft space that he called the Music Laboratories. He moved in at the beginning of the 1980s with his partner, the artist James Elaine.
Most of the work Basinski released in the 2000s consisted of remixed, reworked, and wonderfully garbled homages to the archive he started to build in the Music Laboratories. While there he made hundred of tape loops, organizing the ribbons of magnetic tape on a tree branch he kept near his mixing desk. The loops were a combination of recordings of his own compositions and incidental noise that seemed to come his way from the whirl of urban life outside his window or from the whisper of radio broadcasts seeding themselves into his recording equipment. He didn’t release his experiments at the time, choosing to record, finagle, connect. The impulse was a natural reaction to the time and place, as he later said: “I was getting all this great stuff. It was just coming from the sky.”
One day in September of 1982 he was experimenting on the fly, collecting fragments, and maybe hours later the backbone of a piece was made. He called it 92982, a clinical name designating the date of the composition, as if it was just a file to be tucked away. He released the recordings for the first time in 2009, long after he garnered widespread acclaim for his monumental 9/11 elegy The Disintegration Loops. Seven years after its initial release, 92982 has been remastered and reissued as 2xLP set of startlingly crisp and veritably haunted music.
92982 is over an hour long, and the original improvisation makes up the first two tracks, while the back half of the album includes an extended rework of a piano-based piece from Variations: A Movement in Chrome Primitive and another loop constructed from the 1982 material. Given the sources, the tracks present in 92982 seem almost unstuck from time, floating between dates and points of inspiration. The continual cutting up, editing, and processing of a tape loop was something closer to necromancy than normal composition. It’s a quality that actually infects the overall feeling of the music, creating an environment for free-floating listening.
The album’s opening track, “92982.1,” drifts, separates, grows quiet, and then rumbles loudly. The wash of noises is teeming with potential, a quality that defines the inner workings of 92982. All four tracks are open canvases, they invite the rest of the world’s sounds to participate in making the experience of listening different each time. The sound of a helicopter whirling in the atmosphere and the Doppler splatter of a police car’s siren on “92982.2” mix into the sounds of banal moments, like laying in bed, listening to the buzz of an air conditioner, the honking of cars, the rustle of leaves, the drip of an open faucet. The drifting of “92982.4”’s piano loops hang like flickering presences hovering above a room. Overall, a disembodying and strange thing slowly happens as this album keeps playing: it sucks the noises of your environment into the loop. What’s contained here is sometimes not exactly a piece of music but an experiential filter.
Basinski’s music is constantly toying with the idea that rote moments in life can be engulfed with emotion, and it has a way of burrowing into your life. As his perpetual loops drift across the surface of experience, they are incredibly porous, and invite a listener to complete them by taking a walk around their block or just go about their day. 92982 accomplishes this more successfully than much of Basinski’s work; compared to The Disintegration Loops, it’s more open to interpretation and devoid of the same weight of history or narrative. It is an extremely plastic and pliant piece of music, an eternally empty vessel that gets filled up from listen to listen." [Pitchfork]
"These 4 tracks, built upon signature William Basinksi loops date back to September 29, 1982 (hence the title), and like so many of his recent releases of archival material, they ask the question, "why did it take you so long?" The answer may not be as interesting as the
question itself, but the nostalgic look back for Basinski to his own past certainly resonates beyond any notions of solipsism and speaks to something downright universal: an optimism of a half-remembered past. Unlike the masterpiece of the Disintegration Loops, the tracks on 92982 don't crackle and crumble apart as the pieces move forward; but the dust, hiss, and fuzz that have been the trademarks of Basinski loops are all present. The first track centers on a loop of a spacious piano waltzing out of the softened drones of accumulated hiss and soft focus white noise pushed deep into the shadows. The second is a graceful swoon of a composition with delayed rhythmic pock that phases against a swelling ambient loop and occasional interjections of police sirens and helicopters, presumably recorded directly out of Basinski's open window. Another piano loop grounds the third track; this one painfully sad and lilting and made more so by the patina of tape hiss, soft static, and degradation of the source material. An elegant two note loop with a hallowed drone of floating dust completes yet another fantastic William Basinski record. Fans will not be disappointed!" [Aquarius Records review]
|
2016 |
€16.00 |
|
|
Melancholia (opaque red orange vinyl) |
LP |
Opaque Red Orange Vinyl. Originally released a year after the increasingly iconic The Disintegration Loops, a decade later Melancholia still stands as William Basinski's second most beloved album.
Re-mastered from the original recordings and pressed onto audiophile-quality 100% pure virgin vinyl, this limited-edition vinyl reissue is packaged in a stunning gatefold jacket featuring all-new artwork. It is truly a sight and sound to behold. Like many of Basinski's most soul-stirring works, Melancholia began as a series of short tape loops captured in the early 1980s. Basinski then stored them away for decades, revisiting them at a different time in his life, at which point they took on a stunning new sound all their own - one that many consider to be among the finest of the past decade. "Melancholia is probably the best of Basinski's records until now, even if this is hard for me to say given my love for each one of his releases. This music is so beautifully delicate and sad in its auto-reflective moods, it stands right there with everything ranging from the usual suspects in the 'ambient' field, to a distorted damp ghost of Claude Debussy or Maurice Ravel put into a time machine." - Touching Extremes
https://williambasinski.bandcamp.com/album/melancholia
|
2023 |
€29.50 |
|
| |
The Disintegration Loops IV |
CD |
"Teil IV der hypnotischen alten tape-loops, die in endlos-symphonischer Wiederholung wie nostalgische Erinnerungen an vergangene Zeiten wirken.. sehr ruhig & meditativ." [Drone Rec.]
“..And somehow, that personal grief comes through in these reworked 20 year old recordings. Basinski had discovered a handful of old tape loops that were oxidizing and essentially disintegrating, and transferred them digitally, capturing the strangely decaying melodies, making for an expansive suite (almost three hundred minutes) of haunting otherworldy looping drones. Muzak like melodies crumble into barely melodic throbbing pulses, swathed in reverb, allowing the already obscured snatches of music, to fade into wispy smears of sound. So beautiful.” [Aquarius Records]
"For those who missed out on the now-legendary, highly sought-after (and highly sold-out) box sets, we are now offering the four volumes of The Disintegration Loops suite as separate, individually packaged albums. The audio was remastered in 2012 from the original master tapes, and the artwork is packaged in deluxe old-style tip-on gatefold jackets. For a collection of music built around the poignant inevitability of decay, there has been a great many hopeful and inspired words devoted to William Basinski's The Disintegration Loops: stunning, ethereal, majestic, transfixing, life-affirming… and for good reason. From its 20-year gestation period to its infamously fateful completion, The Disintegration Loops is one of the most powerful manifestations of the inevitable cycle of life ever committed to tape, even as it documents the inevitable decay of all that is committed to tape. The very passage of time is its most effective instrument. Not only lauded by The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Pitchfork, NPR and dozens more, The Disintegration Loops have become considered by many to be “one of the most pre-eminent American artistic statements of the 21st Century.” [press release]
https://williambasinski.bandcamp.com/album/the-disintegration-loops-iv
|
2014 |
€15.00 |
|
| BATCHELOR, PETER |
Kaleidoscope |
CD & DVD-R |
"This release of electroacoustic music by composer Peter Batchelor contains the original (and preferred) 8 channel versions of the works (DVD-ROM) along with stereo versions (CD) for easier/speedier listening.
The idea for the Kaleidoscope works came from the composers? memories of playing with the prismatic toy of the same name as a child. The toy, of course, consists of colored beads in a tube of mirrors, whose reflections generate complex symmetrical patterns that change dramatically in density and texture as the tube is turned. With these pieces the aim was to emulate such dynamic spatial activity through sound, distributing fragmentary materials in space and immersing the listener in a rich and ever-changing sonic environment. They have been composed for an eight-channel listening environment, the speakers arranged equally in a circle surrounding the audience, and the spatial language consists of peripheral, rotational, oppositional and envelopment activities and relationships (in contrast to left/right and back/front as in stereo works and traditional concert diffusion). The works should therefore be spatially and musically coherent irrespective of audience position or orientation, and listeners should receive similar subjective weightings (relative levels) of front, sides and rear wherever they happen to be situated (even if the positions and trajectories of spatial gestures are perceived differently by each).
Peter Batchelor is a composer and sound artist living in Birmingham, UK. He has studied with Jonty Harrison and Andrew Lewis and lectures at De Montfort University, Leicester. Predominantly working with fixed-media, his output ranges from two-channel 'tape' compositions for concert diffusion to large-scale multi-channel installation work."
[label info]
www.pogus.com
"..The DVD has the original 8-channel piece of 'Kaleidoscope', but I don't have the playback for such a thing, so I am stuck with the stereo version. I never heard of Batchelor, who is a composer from Birmingham, UK and who studied with Jonti Harrison and Andrew Lewis. He works 'predominantly with fixed-media, his output ranges from two-channel 'tape' composition for concert diffusion to large-scale multi-channel installation work'. Playing with a prismatic toy as a kid inspired ‘Kaleidoscope’ and perhaps it's not difficult to see that relating to the music piece. Just like light makes different colours of different intensities, so that this music move back and forth, from front to back and back, top to bottom, left to right. I can surely imagine how this sounds on an 8-channel set-up: even better than it does on a stereo version, I imagine. This is from the world of serious electronic composing, say the world of Canada's Empreintes Digitales, but whereas works released over there are not always to my liking, I surely liked this one a lot. The gliding of tones, the processed white noise, the overall vibrancy of the pieces, the constant motion of the sounds used. This is all in the world of computerized sounds, I would think, and whatever went in to generate this sound material is something we not longer can hear. And perhaps it's also something that one should not care about? It's the result that matters and that result is great." [FdW/Vital Weekly]
|
2014 |
€13.00 |
|
| BATES, MARTYN |
Chamber Music I : Song Setting of James Joyce Poems |
CD |
"Like Barry [Gerald Barry], singer – songwriter Martyn Bates (founder, with Peter Becker, of the 80s pop group Eyeless In Gaza) has turned for inspiration to Irish folk music, and also to the poems of James Joyce. Chamber Music One is the first part of a project to set the complete poems to music. The publicity claims, rather anti-climactically, that Martyn Bates is ”one of the great English songwriters (in the tradition of Nick Drake). The song settings are simple and often same-sounding: haunting, mournful, folkish. The voice gets treated to varied reverb, and you have to get used to the shaky intonation and vocal swoops to depths he can’t manage. The prettiest and most folksy track is ’Go Seek Her Out Courteously’ with its hammered guitar backing. ’From Dewey Dreams’ – with solo harmonica and oceanic Ambience – is almost bluesy. The Ambient background is a key feature – on nine of the 27 tracks that’s all there is. An attractive and definitely not unexpressive release.” [Andy Hamilton / Wire] |
1994 |
€14.00 |
|
|
Chamber Music II : Song Setting of James Joyce Poems |
CD |
“1994 and 1995 sees the release of Martyn Bates settings of James Joyce's poems Chamber Music, Vol. 1 & 2 on Sub Rosa. Born simply out of love of Joyce's work, Bates one aim in setting tunes to the text was to bring out in notes and music all the musicality that was already written there on the printed page ... . Inspired by Shakespeare's sonnets and the airs of John Dowland, Joyce's richly musical texts lent themselves readily to the mellifluous style of Bates song writing ... with Bates envisioning the pieces as being created about and around Celtic/English folk idioms ... in a stark setting, almost a kind of essence of simplicity, like the very best folk tunes. Virtually an acapella work for solo voice, and air utilised, allowing Joyce's exceptionally beautiful poems to truly breath.
Written whilst a young man in his early twenties,Chamber Music was Joyce's first published work and is essentially the story of first love passing from illumination to disillusionment ? it's a much neglected and maligned work, often over-shadowed by the colossal heights that Joyce's later works achieved. These later works (Portrait, Dubliners, Ulysses, Finnegans Wake) are reverently treated as high art by scholars, a feast for ardous intellectual wrangling and dissection. Often coldly cerebral, this misguided approach must surely contradict the true spirit of Joyce, whose actual work is often ribald, lusty, deeply compassionate and humane ? hence Bates use of warm, loosely folk idioms in his settings of Joyce's texts, providing a musical context that facilitate Joyce's subject.
Martyn Bates Cd release sees the first complete cycle of song settings of Chamber Music's entire canon of thirty-six poems since it was written in 1902.” [label info]
|
1995 |
€14.00 |
|
|
Unsung |
CD |
"Unsung – the new solo album by Martyn Bates (voice/guitar) completed September 2012 and produced by Alan Trench & Martyn Bates. Released on November 13th.
'With Unsung Martyn Bates takes on the more traditional role as a singer-songwriter, armed solely with his guitar for accompaniment, save for the occasional sparse colouring. At this time — when this particular role has been explored and done to death & beyond by long lines of both old and young musicians — one would think that there possibly could not be much to add (not that singer-songwriters generally are out on a mission to add something to the format). But as we know from the past history of Martyn Bates and Eyeless In Gaza, they do invent, they do new things, they sound fresh over and over again. So this is exciting, indeed!
From initial listenings to the album, one happily fails to find anything reminiscent of the new breed of singer-songwriters that tend to sound so same-ish, even when they try to sound “alternative”, “sensuous” and “independent” suggesting the listener would be convinced that it (albeit artificially) “sounds so right”. Here, in contrast, you find someone who plays and sings as if no one has ever done any singing accompanied only by his own guitar playing before. The lyrics are thoughtful, the music is lush and different, the voice is superb and the music is respectful of the intelligence of the listener. Still the music is certainly not dull or gloomy, but spirited and infectious. I think you will agree.– Jerry Nilson" [label info]
www.eyelessingaza.com/asr.html
"These acoustic guitar based songs largely came from sessions relating to the Twelve Thousand Days project in which Martyn Bates collaborated with Alan Trench of Orchis in the 2000’s. Though it’s also produced by Trench , Unsung has a very different feel, and it finds Bates at his most concentrated and immediate. Bates is essentially a singer songwriter but his work in Eyeless in Gaza and other collaborations reveal he’s also adept at improvisation and manipulation of sonics. Here the latter is limited to some ambient drift and phantasmal backing vocals, which sound particularly strange on ‘’And This The Day’’. But essentially Unsung relies just on his voice and acoustic guitar, which is beautifully recorded with a big , full sound. At times his expansive picking recalls Bert Jansch or Roy Harper.
As a singer-songwriter Bates has a wide stylistic lexicon, ranging from soft susurrations to notes that feel wrenched out from somewhere deep. On ‘Muted Music’, he evokes the heightened poignancy of its inevitable transience. One of the album’s loveliest melodies, ‘Caustic’ is, however, a bleak look at how memories of events can differ between two people, with the song’s narrator the one left with nothing of comfort to recall.
His love of traditional music was first overtly stated on the Murder Ballads series he made with Mick Harris in the 1990’s, and the influence of Martin Carthy suggests itself here. But his own work is more in tune with the unfettered feelings that run through folk song. On Unsung, he seals his engagement with tradition on ‘’Love Came To My Door’’, an a cappella tale shaped as a disquieting visitation rather than a cause for celebration."
[Mike Barnes, THE WIRE] |
2012 |
€13.00 |
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Fireworks & Jewels / The Colour of Amber |
CD |
"Fireworks & Jewels is the 3rd solo album in as many years from Eyeless In Gaza’s Martyn Bates – being a collection of mostly voice/guitar pieces with a focus on the SONG – words and music stripped to core elements. Working with these elements, Elizabeth S. and Alan Trench introduce subtle colours to the body of these performances – with Trench adding particularly deft applications of electronics & tape treatments – creating a whole other supporting soundworld for the seeming fragility of Bates’ apparently often elusively private world of words & music. As Bates’ states, for him, the whole process of music-making is cathartic. On this occasion the resulting songs address some elusive and mercurial ideas and concepts. According to Bates: “ … I wanted to put across … the way that during heightened moments in everyday life – within those moments where there are “fireworks & jewels” as you might say – there’s always a spark or a thought there that flashes the colour amber – an elusive, tantalising light that you know is eternal, and forever, and yet … it’s somehow, always, always held out of reach … .” The appropriate watchwords here might well be, perhaps, Process & Effect, Illusion & Reality, or feasibly, in keeping with the album’s title, Shadow & Substance.
Fireworks & Jewels / The Colour of Amber was completed July 2015 and recorded at Bridge House Studios, on the Greek isle of Evia – the atmosphere of whose current social and political situation of doubt and uncertainty could perhaps be said to have had a noticeable influence upon the brooding & unsettled spirit at work throughout this album."
[label info]
www.eyelessingaza.com/mb.html#1
"Looking back to the year of twenty-fifteen, my audio intake was considerably pepped up by the appearance of the "Mythic Language"/"Egg Box Mask" triple c.d. set. So much so that this retrospective from British post punk/art pop duo Eyeless in Gaza was made number one with a bullet by yours truly on the Terrascope yearly poll.
So now, only a matter of months later, the Becker/Bates family tree (pictured as an ancient yew in an English country churchyard of course...), has sprouted an extra limb with the emergence of "Fireworks..."; Martyn Bates' sixteenth (!) solo outing (on almost as many labels, I might add). To discover that was certainly a surprise (thank you Discogs!), as I simply had no idea he was that prolific!
This beautifully artworked/six-panelled disc (his third in as many years...), finds Martyn joined by Alan Trench ('tronix/sundry percussives/field recordings/kitchen sink) and the mysteriously named banjo player and backing vocalist Elizabeth S. It's a baker's dozen of dream pop constructs in which a slight sense of unease might be detected which, according to the accompanying cribsheet, could be due to the fact that the recording took place on the Greek isle of Evia, during Greece's economic/political upheaval(s). Things mostly focus on Martyn's acoustic guitar work and vocalese and emphasise a concept of pure songcraft, where certain emotional states are laid bare for all to experience. Introspective soul transmissions, if you will, that come nuanced by a number of impressionistic backdops that thankfully, don't overpower the proceedings one jot. Whichever way you huffle the pack there's always seems to be something of genuine worth. Take for example an adaption of a Walter de la Mare poem "Embers, Starry Tapers"; a vision of otherworldliness, which largely comprises of solo vox humana and layered, lighter than air vocal atmospherics. Then there's the finger-cramping banjo exercises underpinning "Belong" and "The Fall", a personal favourite in which a rhythm bed of stately piano lines is deftly overturned by what appears to be a splurge of sustained feedback/sheet metal that has the signature of Master William Reid; late of the J.A.M.C. imprinted upon it. Excellent.
Copies are available through the Eyeless website (see above) and also through the auspices of Rough Trade, i-tunes (who they?) and Amazon. Order early to avoid disappointment... accept no imitations etc etc... "[Steve Pescott, Terrascope UK] |
2015 |
€13.00 |
|
| |
I Said to Love |
CD |
Within this excellent and finely crafted album of songs dedicated “to the future”, there lies a puzzle, an enigma. With Eyeless In Gaza tending more and more towards the collaged soundscaping type situation where “the studio is very much an instrument” there is also Martyn Bates’ solo work, with his albums of late travelling in quite the opposite direction, all having the distinctive feel of being performance based voice/guitar type records.
Initial listenings to Bates’ new album take all of that elsewhere however, and extend it – with the results ending up kind of schizoid in character. The more familiar ‘introspective’ songs and voice remain for sure, yet they’re often contrasted wildly with a brace of noisier and more musically complex “duo” songs played and sung by Bates together with chanteuse Elizabeth S. These ‘opposing’ styles often seem to clash at first, crazily contrasting in tone and mood, creating a not altogether unpleasant tension – which actually turns out to make more sense on repeated hearings. A good example of this would be the quiet, whispering aura of “At Last”, followed with the pummelling, disturbing melee of “Hallucination”.
Also, somehow managing to stray outside of all this sturm und drang, the album holds a different kind of gem of a song yet, in its title track – “I Said To Love” – which finds Bates pitted against a string section for the first time in eons, and … it works too – bitter, bitter sweet, indeed. Bates has never been one to shy away from tackling grand themes, with the songs on I Said to Love staying true to form – dealing with mystery, rest, space, hallucinations, hindsight, loss, pity, hope, transformation, having your soul stolen & recovered, solace, deja vu, despair, resistance, delirium, entropy, determination – amongst other similarly chewable topics. The key however is in the album’s penultimate track, the haunted “I Look Back”, where Bates eschews his usual poetic lyric style – a style that can sometimes come across as overtly personal and as an almost private language – portraying within this one lyric a peculiarly single-minded determination. Somehow, listening through these words, they seem to summon up something personal in term of locating new spirit, a new direction for Martyn Bates’ whole oeuvre – we’re looking back, and it just isn’t right … how can we hope, if our hope lives in memories? … we must face our fear for there’s no turning back: just a set of simply framed words that manage to mirror the equally plain statement of dedication to be found on the album sleeve of I Said to Love – “to the future”. On the sheer melodic strength and diversity of this music, this is one future that I will eagerly await.
www.eyelessingaza.com/mb.html#1
"I’ve been a hooked fan of Martyn Bates since his one of a kind experimental band ‘Eyeless In Gaza’. I bought everything on vinyl (and now CD) by both his band (a brilliant and endless stream of creations unlike anything I have ever heard and suspect it will remain as such). and his solos. With this, the 16th solo work by Bates, (not counting the comps, singles, EP’s, guest appearances, and many collaborations with other artists, you would think nothing could be left, but you’d be very wrong.
‘I Said To Love’ brings classic Martyn into the limelight with glorious melodies, somewhat alien elements, and rich gorgeous folkish semi siren music, with long time mate and stunning lyricist (multi-instrumentalist and angelic vocalist) Elizabeth S. Alan Trench also contributes cymbals, string machine, and ghost feathers as well as co produces with Bates. All titles composed by Martyn.
This equals the utopian ‘Red Rust September’ by Eyeless In Gaza (my all-time favorite EIG recording). Simply stunning with strings backing Martyn’s jeweled and often melancholy voice. He sounds every bit as blissful as he always has. Songs include Martyn performing guitar and vocals on fifteen tracks of storybook, fields of pastel, and things dreams are made of. The first listen left me speechless. It took a second spin to begin this review. This one will stay on my recommendation list forever. All I can say to readers who have never heard either EIG or Martyn’s solos, you need this one. A grand place to start your collection. ‘I Said To Love’ gets a massive applause from this listener." [Lee Henderson / Art Rock Magazine]
Reviewed by Lee Henderson 2 – 18 – 2018
|
2017 |
€13.00 |
|
| BAYLE, FRANCOIS |
La forme du temps est un cercle |
CD |
Neues Werk über Naturrhythmen und mythischen Bezug zum Kampf zwischen CHRONOS und AION, wie immer in eine eindrucks- und ausdrucksvolle musikalisch-experimentelle Sprache verpackt..
Vol. 15. of INA's complete Françoise Bayle series, featuring the 60-minute title piece (from 1999/2001). "Nature -- that reservoir of organisms and temporal forms -- proposes many patterns to our rhythmic imagination breathing, pulses, ebb and flow, a day's circle or the passage of seasons... My project, the idea behind this work, is to arouse the desire or pleasure of listening by presenting rather temporal perceptions based on their images, figures, impetus and vividness. Several 'moments' therefore that such entities traverse shall attempt to demonstrate special aspects of time's 'grain,' in order to prolong its emotional potential. Here then, are some of time's such figures at work. There is the one that hurries then flees, - the one that pounds and hammers, - that breaks the wave, - that moves backwards and does an about- face, - that splashes into a shower, - that trickles like rain, - that flows, while dripping off, - that slowly forms a bead, - that spurts out in jolts, - that gyrates in a whirl, - that evaporates... Variations from 'knocks' to 'traces,' from a heavy pulse to melody, from a tolling bell and its mysterious concurring powers to the furrows of clouds of dust and orbits circulating at various speeds, not to mention the various 'paces' of the pulse itself. At the end of the five stages, the listener will have completed a trajectory, one of temporal unity beginning from the finest 'grain' and progressively focusing his/her perception in order to discern and identify images and forms. Colors' transience, speeding figures will be resolved in a spiral (the three-dimensional form of a circle), by which the initial sound-image (tolling bells) will infinitely evolve into the final sound-image: that of summer crickets during a night of suspended, dream-like time." -- Bayle
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2001 |
€13.00 |
|
| BC [BRIAN CONNIFFE] |
The Day and the Night of the Body |
CD |
New two track album from Ireland's Brian Conniffe, previously known for his work with Nurse With Wound and a MLP released on LTCo at the very end of 2013. One of these lengthy pieces features the late Simon Morris (Ceramic Hobs) providing spoken word he wrote exclusively for it. The CD also arrives in Dolorosa De la Cruz artwork and includes a 4pp. booklet.
Brian Conniffe is a cross-genre musician who has worked with a long list of collaborators covering a diverse stylistic range. Although perhaps most active as a member of a variety of synth-pop acts in his native Ireland, his most interesting work is that of far less conventional - deliberately uncommerical and even intentionally esoteric - experimental projects, characterised by a fusion of the darkest psychedelia with disquieting ambience. The most noteworthy of these possibly being the limited edition collaboration of Nurse With Wound’s 'Musique Pour Faits Divers' (2016).
This album was recorded from 2007 to 2009, and consists of two expansive pieces, which - as the title suggests - are characterised respectively by bright and nocturnal atmospheres, and retain an intense physicality undiminished by the occasionally abstract nature of the wide-ranging sound pallet utilised. The first piece is symphonic tapestry of colourful noise and alien-sounding drones, constantly shifting and avoiding monotony, reminiscent in places of the work of Labradford, The Hafler Trio, John Duncan, and Aube at their best. The second piece is altogether darker and more defiant of description and comparison, based around a long text written and spoken by the late Simon Morris (author and frontman of the Ceramic Hobs), which moves from its surreal yet possibly familiar beginning into an astonishingly breathless and tumultuous confessional, a true voice of the lost. The disquieting use of samples provided by Morris provides an intense sense of the uncanny.
Brian Conniffe says of the album's collaboration, "I got into contact with Simon Morris through collecting the most obscure music from the fringes of industrial music. We quickly developed a regular correspondence, exchanging cassettes, CDs and records of rare music, eventually meeting in person. He was a naturally entertaining writer, as the readers of his books will know. These and the very strange music his band produced also offered an often astonishing and sometimes shocking insight into the life of the mental health service user: a perspective which, combined with that of this highly active participant in the most extreme forms of underground music, to create a truly unique voice.
"At the time this album was recorded, I spent almost all of whatever free time I had creating very experimental and mostly improvised music, working with anyone around me who would participate. There was essentially no commercial aspect to what was being created, I was simply making music for myself, that I personally wanted to hear. At one point, Simon recorded his spoken vocals for me, and contributed them along with a handful of mysterious samples. And so, this album was created. It remained unreleased as shortly after its recording, I began to work with bands who were producing more conventional music, who were very active live and had established audiences in my native Ireland. Now, for a number of reasons, it feels like the right time for this to be heard."
https://fourthdimensionrecords.bigcartel.com/product/bc-featuring-simon-morris-the-day-and-the-night-of-the-body-cd-lumberton-trading-company |
2020 |
€13.00 |
|
| BECUZZI, GIANLUCA |
Eternally now |
CD |
"More music by Gianluca Becuzzi (see Vital Weekly 810 for his previous release), and another one that doesn't reveal much in terms of information. Just a titles and the year it was produced. Its however some kind of concept album. The opening and closing tracks are 2:33 each, while the three tracks in the middle last 12:48. Also from the titles there are similarities: 'Culture vs Nature', 'Nature vs Culture', two parts of 'The Essential Nowhere' and 'Rings Of Time'. Probably that should give the listener enough clues - although I am not entirely sure. Becuzzi uses again quite an amount of field recordings and electronic processing thereof. We hear walking in a room, rain - with loops of percussive sound in 'The Essential Nowhere [a]', and lots of electronics coming into the scenery. Sometimes resulting in a full on electronic sound, but at other times quite sparse, such in the opening minutes of 'Rings Of Time', but it seems always that force takes over. For one reason or another I think this album has also a bit more instruments in play, although I couldn't figure which they are, since they too seem to be covered with sound effects, but taken from a multitude of improvisations. Most likely they are guitars, bass and other things with strings. It makes a crowded scene at times, but this CD is even better than that previous one. One that easily grows and one gets attached too. Great textured music, growing away from the known field of processed field recordings into a more psychedelic field of… well, why not… popmusic even (glockenspiel in 'The Essential Nature [b]'!). Excellent CD!" [FdW/Vital Weekly]
www.liscarecords.com
|
2011 |
€12.00 |
|
|
Nothing is what it seems |
CD |
"Almost 70 minutes of music, nine pieces of a sonic mosaic full of ideas and inventions? More structured compositions places side by side with more abstract numbers, built with a wide range of sounds, extremely variegated both in timbre and origin. Elaborated electronic treatments applied to sounds and noises of a concrete nature, field-recordings, drones, electronic hisses, shaked metals, cracklings, human and animal guttural cries, synthetic pads, ethereal and undecipherable voices, mechanical loops, noises from the everyday life? An incredibile and unpredictable sound universe without borders and without time..." [label info]
www.silentes.net
"Gianluca Becuzzi already established himself as the man behind Kinetix, before leaving that name behind and started again under his own name. Its not easy to note the differences between the two projects. Maybe the name change was just to establish himself as a more serious composer, without wanting to change his music very much. A lot of what Becuzzi does is from the world of computers, electronics and, perhaps, analogue synthesizers, along with a bit of field recordings and electro-acoustics. If a change took place then its most likely in that his recent work is less cold and clinical, perhaps also less calculated and more musical, explanatory in a way. If we take the title in mind, are we then sure about those train sounds in 'Portraits Of Indifference'? Maybe its not? That might be more or less the narrative aspect of this release - nothing is what it seems and somehow it might be that this is explained track by track (a leftover from the more conceptual days?): to have a few sounds which may transport the listener to a particular setting which he can relate to (actually train stations is the one I was thinking of in various pieces, but also the zoo), but you never know if it is really sounds from trains (or any such like, whatever the listener imagines, I guess). Becuzzi cleverly processed his sounds to sound like something which may or may not be related. Quite drone like obviously, and the effect of a drum machine in 'In A Filthy Nursery' may destroy that (and also seems a bit out of place, I think), but through this is quite an interesting release of imaginary soundtracks for the ears." [Vital Weekly] |
2011 |
€12.00 |
|
| |
Memory makes Noise |
CD |
"With this new release by Small Voices, Gianluca Becuzzi (ex-Limbo), for the first time, presents his work under his birth name, confining the aka Kinetix as an extension of his name. "Memory Makes Noise" is an important passage in the long career of our Tuscan sound-artist, projecting him to the achievement of his own creative dimension. Left the cold digital aesthetic, Gianluca Becuzzi, is focusing his re-search on electro-acoustic sounds, livening "Memory Makes Noise" with throbbing concrete rumors, material manipulations and deep enviromental reverberations. On the back-ground of this soundscapes, exacts and fascinating at the same time, there are the shadows of the cut up evoked by the author: from Luc Ferrari, Ivo Malec and Morton Subotnik, to Rolf Julius, Bernhard Guenter e Kozo Ikeno. "Adductionism" as activation of the memory, which rush in the present confusing with it, to avoid any kind of linear sequence. In the ethernal present time, where every sign contains its own contrary, the echo sounds before its source: "Memory Makes Noise". Released in an elegant Matt varnished digi-sleeve. Limited Edition of 500 copies." [label info]
|
2006 |
€10.00 |
|
| BECUZZI, GIANLUCA & FABIO ORSI |
Dust Tears and Clouds |
do-CD |
"Following the previous albums released, among others, by Last Visible Dog and Digitalis, "Dust Tears and Clouds" is the fifth full-lenght work born from the collaboration between Gianluca Becuzzi and Fabio Orsi. Becuzzi is an electronic / electroacoustic composer and sound artist active since the first half of the ’80s. Founder of the historic Darkwave / Industrial project Limbo, since 1999 his artistic production is characterized by a strong experimental imprint and by a clear tendency toward abstract aesthetic forms and micro/macro noises/sounds. Among his recent artistic production - in addition to what he has published under his own name - we should at least mention his projects Kinetix, Noise Trade Company and Grey History. On the other side, Orsi sits among the most interesting names of the European electronic and experimental scene. Following his early output on A Silent Place and Smallvoices, his music works have been published by many other labels worldwide, including Porter Records, Boring Machines and, of course, Silentes. His talent has become an estabilished reality thanks to his abilities in finding a nice balance between experimentation and melody. “Dust Tears and Clouds” combines two CDs in a single release. The first disc, entitled “Dust Tears and Skinny Legs Poets”, was recorded in 2007 and remained unreleased until now. It contains eight highly evocative tracks that feature American Folk samples recorded by Alan Lomax mixed with guitars and electronics. This work can be seen as the ideal follow-up to the acclaimed “Muddy Speaking Ghosts Through My Machines”. The second disc collects the three long tracks previously released by Foxglove back in 2007 as a 3x3” MiniCD-Rs extremely limited edition, with the welcome addition of an unreleased fourth track. Here Becuzzi and Orsi offers two solo efforts and two collaborative numbers; the voices and samples that graced the first disc are absent and the musicians create denser experimental plots soaked with field recordings, synthesizers and effects. Overall, the two Italian artists showcase a broad range of solutions and, once again, they create a rich work whose repeated listening will reveal more and more details." [label info]
www.silentes.net
"Deceivingly simple. That's what I thought when I noted on the cover 'contains american folk samples by Alan Lomax'. Lomax recorded a whole bunch people singing traditional songs, usually without any instruments, and that's true treasure vault if you want to spice up your abstract music with a more musical element. It almost immediately turns your music into a movie soundtrack or radio play. Easy stuff? The easy road of Moby? Perhaps, perhaps, the eight pieces recorded by Gianluca Becuzzi and Fabio Orsi, who use a lot a of guitars and field recordings here, and seem to have reduced the electronics, create some great music with not just their instruments, but use the Lomax archives with relatively fine sparseness. Not too much, not too little, and sometimes it seems they process a bit of that too, or just the insects in the background and create perhaps indeed easy music, but easy music that works very well. In the two parts of 'Talking With Ghosts' the original Lomax recordings are a bit too much with not enough 'anything else', but these are with three minutes each also the shortest ones. The other six pieces are longer, but are more in favor of new music with the Lomax samples to support it. Nice stuff, relaxing, ambient, micro sounding but with an odd twist. Just why did it take so long, as this was recorded in 2007, to release it? Maybe Becuzzi and Orsi weren't that sure either? As a bonus (?) there is a second CD with four longer pieces of which three were released in 2007 as three 3" CDRs by Foxglove, with one piece by Becuzzi and Orsi each solo and two duo pieces, of which one is previously unreleased. This is more familiar territory for both artists. Long pieces of ambient like sounds, in which all of the sources - field recordings, guitars, electronics - are further processed and make up some dark ambient music, but not in the strictest drone sense. It moves about in a calm and gentle way, but is perhaps also a bit long here and there, and a bit with form. It moves in irregular shapes and colors and is alright. Not great actually and perhaps a bit too much common ground?" [FdW/Vital Weekly]
|
2013 |
€16.00 |
|
| BEEQUEEN |
Music for the head ballet |
CD |
Wiederveröffentlichung dieser vergriffenen BEE QUEEN CD von 1996, die vier sehr ruhig schwingende Drones enthält.. (ein zuvor nicht enthaltener Bonustrack!)
" Die Musik greift in das Environment ein, formt es um und verändert die Sichtweise des Hörers auf so subtile Weise, daß die Veränderungen erst Stunden später erkennbar werden." [Zipo, Auf Abwegen # 20]. Die neue BEE QUEEN - CD ist im Gegensatz zum Vorgänger wesentlich ruhiger, meditativer und monotoner und enthält 3 lange Atmo-Tracks. Sehr schön!“ [Drone Records info 1997]
„Always a lonesome recording with it's distant organ drones quietly amassed, Music for the Head Ballet was first bestowed upon us in 1996. The now defunct Isomorphic records had the privilege of issuing these 3 pieces of lulling resonating ambience. Music for the Head Ballet has had an elusive history. There is little information about the music listed anywhere. The reviews are scarce, and those few that do make a mention are consistent in their praise of this alluring work. The original 936 numbered copies seem to be carefully tucked away on coveted shelves as it is rarely seen making an appearance in any market platform. Even the names of the tracks support it's ambiguous nature ("Days that never were", "White feathers on a dish,used to erect the pyramids" and "These foolish things"). Now after so many years of myth making, this gorgeous work has been made available again by Infraction. This reissue features new artwork as well as a previously unreleased 13 minute additional track from the original sessions. It is quite possibly the most blissful track Beequeen have committed to disc. Buy it now and hold your peace forever. Edition of 500.” [label info]
|
2004 |
€13.00 |
|
| BEGG, MICHAEL |
Titan : A Crane is a Bridge |
CD |
TITAN - WINNER of the New Music Scotland 2018 Award for New Electroacoustic / Sound Art Work.
This original commission, for Cryptic Glasgow, premiered at the Sonica '17 Festival in Glasgow.
Begg’s extraordinary electronic sound installation... with huge, swelling harmonies, occasionally building to moments of ecstatic beauty... its slow-burn, cumulative effect is one of uncompromising power and inevitable decay, both a celebration of enduring strength and a memorial to its demise
The Scotsman
Begg’s installation is perhaps the standout at Glasgow’s Sonica… The wheelhouse becomes the humming dark heart of the crane as Begg’s electronic enfolding and eroding of the raw sonic materials sets a rich and taut piece in perpetual motion… turning the iconic structure into a gently haunted compound of wind and noise.
The Wire
With Michael Begg’s instrumentation, the Titan Crane feels like a living creature. One that tells us an important story.. if only we listen.
Ambient Blog
Michael Begg makes architecture sing like no one before him.
Stephen Fruitman, Igloo
https://omnempathy.bandcamp.com/album/titan-a-crane-is-a-bridge
"For TITAN: A Crane is a Bridge, sound artist Michael Begg enlists the gigantic, titular Titan crane of Clydebank in Scotland both as a performance space and as an instrument. In the windy, beefy lattice frames and oily joints of the towering device, Begg teases out all sorts of metallic resonances and ironclad drones. Over these, he layers his own gentle instrumental additions - to great effect. At times, it resembles ‘dark ambient’ music. Only actually good. A Sonica Festival 2017 commission, the work is available on CD through Omnempathy in a glossy Japanese digipak." [Norman Rec.]
"By now there is quite a bunch of Michael Begg releases, twelve it seems, under his own name and as Human Creed and also from the group he’s a member of, Fovea Hex. A busy man, but he also finds time to create audio-visual installations and one of those was in the wheelhouse on to the Clydebank Titan, as part of the 2017 Sonic-a festival. That was quadrophonic, reduced to stereo (obviously) for the CD release. The music is made from field recordings in the area, as well as Aeolian harps Begg build over the years. The wind around the wheelhouse playing those harps is also at the foundation of the music. All of this is very ambient and as such it may seem odd (or at least I thought so) that the eight pieces are not very long; from a mere one-and half minute to six, but around four is the most usual.
It’s good to see someone who believes less is more and not plays out his ideas too much and thus spreading it thin. In all of these pieces there is an endless amount of drone material, but of a lighter nature. Delicate and sparse, rather than full and dense. I had the impression that some of these pieces consisted of just a few sounds, rather than a multitude of sources. Begg’s music may be ambient and quiet, but it is not always very gentle, which is exactly how I love these things. He knows how to add a sharp edge to his sounds, almost as if he’s aware of the hole that he can fall into, the dangerous shady world of new age music. Begg stays safely away from that world with his ringing and singing overtones, like singing wine glasses and loops of obscured field recordings (in ‘It’s All Triangles’ for instance), topped with a fine spice of dark reverb and, as easy as that may sound, that’s all you need for great album by Michael Begg." [FdW/Vital Weekly]
|
2017 |
€13.00 |
|
|
A Moon that Lights Itself |
CD |
During the 1870s, Charles François Daubigny, in the last years of his life, took increasingly to painting nocturnal scenes en plain air from his boat studio, Le Bottin. This was a period in time when the idea of the musical nocturne had progressed from being an indication of what point during the evening a particular piece of music should be played, towards becoming an articulation of the unique atmosphere and emotion occasioned by moonlight.
Elsewhere in France, Edouard-Lean Scott de Martinville conceived and produced the phonautogragh. This device, appearing years before Edison’s phonograph, enabled sound, for the first time, to be captured. Unlike Edison, however, de Martinville neglected - or saw no need - to provide the means to playback the recording. Rather, a visual representation was captured on a lamp black cylinder.
It wasn’t until 2008 when researchers at Berkley University used digital technology to recover the audio. The recording, the first ever made, was of a human voice singing Au Clair De La Lune.
Written and produced by Michael Begg
Mixed and mastered at Captains Quarters, East Lothian
A Moon That Lights Itself was premiered at the Royal Scottish Academy, Edinburgh on September 16th 2016, with cello accompaniment from Clea Friend
The work was commissioned by National Galleries Scotland, in conjunction with the major exhibition, Inspiring Impressionism: Daubigny, Monet, Van Gogh, and was completed with the generous support of the Hope Scott Trust.
https://omnempathy.bandcamp.com/album/a-moon-that-lights-itself
REVIEW:
"A Moon That Lights Itself was commissioned by the Scottish National Galleries as part of the Inspiring Impressionism exhibition, focussing on the works of Charles François Daubigny, Claude Monet, and Vincent van Gogh. On September 16th 2016, Michael Begg (of Human Greed / Fovea Hex) performed the work, amidst the exhibition space, in the auspicious surroundings of the Royal Scottish Academy situated on the Mound in Edinburgh.
Drawing on the works of French landscape artist Charles François Daubigny, Begg's commission was described as a "work for electronics, strings and moonlight". I must confess that of the three artists featured in the exhibition I wasn't at all familiar with Daubigny. Consider Begg's work with Human Greed where their first release Consolation featured a moonface in Deryk Thomas's artwork on the cover; Black Hill: Midnight At The Blighted Star, the title of a later album which included 'Dalkeith Night' speaks for itself; and even Dirt On Earth featured a blackened nightscape on the cover it's perhaps particularly apt that Begg focusses on Daubigny's later work and specifically the twilight and nocturnal scenes of his later years, from which he painted while ensconced on a studio boat on the Oise. A Moon That Lights Itself is set in the context of mid to late 19th century France, and the cusp of impressionism, modernism, together with the earliest known sound recordings by Edouard-Lean Scott de Martinville and his phonautograph invention.
A Moon That Lights Itself moves from dusk to dawn in the course of its 9 tracks. From tranquil drones overlaid with tumbling piano notes and solemn cello movements the opening track 'Le Crepuscule' moves into drifting drones before 'Moonrise' which like many of the tracks on A Moon That Lights Itself blends location recordings into the compositions. Here water in the form of lapping waves and crashing waves, bird chatter and the quack of ducks - ducks were a recurring motif within Daubigny's impressionist landscapes - are found amidst passages of glistening drone and moments of sombre piano and cello swell. Still and serene, glinting flourishes merge with stirring movements, its lapping waves resembling the tidal pull, and backward spinning electronics. 'Moonlight' bathes in the glow of light glistening sound textures set against deep reverberating rumbles and piercing glassy shrieks. Bells ring out before it moves into quieter echoed atmospherics.
Daubigny often painted from his floating studio on a boat on the River Oise, and 'Le Bottin' aptly illustrates this with watery ripples dappled with tender piano notes and broader sound shudders, flowing into an end section comprising elegiac strings and melancholic synths.
With its rippling metallic sounds, harsher noise elements and sluggish voice recordings 'The Birth Of Modernism' is much more abstract in composition. Those voices, taken from the 1860 phonautograms of Édouard-Léon Scott de Martinville, like modernism are almost blown in on a wind like drone. Scott de Martinville's recordings, sensitively mixed as another layer of sound here, were never intended for playback but recent research managed to transform these into playable sound files, discovering a male voice, probably of Scott de Martinville, singing a partial segment of the French folk song 'Au clair de la lune', which fits nicely here as in English it translates to 'In the Moonlight'. Elsewhere on 'The Birth Of Modernism' voices and bird calls are rendered as electronic squiggles, reflecting the movement away from realism to abstraction, perhaps.
Begg returns to his palette of location sounds on 'Daubigny's Reverie' where lapping water and duck quack augment the shimmering sound spans. The drone filled atmospherics create a sense of melancholy; a captivating dreamspace only broken by the call and sing of birds in flight. Those flying birds could be seen as sound metaphor for the transition from Daubigny's impressionism to a new world of abstract representations, something furthered on 'Between Two Movements' which unfurls to a two pronged approach where undulating drones and glassy shrill frequencies are cast against evocative classical strings. It could even be electronics, Begg has an uncanny ability to sidestep the listener with his use of instrumentation that sound like something else.
'A Last Dance Under The Moon' moves to doleful cello sweeps and forlorn nocturnal electronics, achieving a graceful and mournful presence, largely due to the Clea Friend's cello score. A Moon That Lights Itself closes with the arrival of 'Dawn', a classy ensemble piece of piano score and cello, contrasting sombre cello movements with more optimistic and joyful piano notes, and as the sounds coalesce it seems to herald the new whilst paying homage to the past.
Begg referred to this in a blog for his performance at the Royal Scottish Academy as being a "pochade", a sketch, "for Daubigny, for the moon, and for an extraordinary time in the development of European culture, when our sense of capturing the world around us and within us took extraordinarily bold, though markedly sensitive, steps forward." Recorded immediately after the performance, Begg once again proves himself to be a superlative composer, with a suite of evocative atmospherics using electronics, classical strings and location recordings to evoke the nocturnal workings of Daubigny. A Moon That Lights Itself is bathed in a liminal essence; a quality that defines all his work. From the Human Greed releases Black Hill: Midnight At The Blighted Star, Fortress Longing, World Fair to the Fragile Pitches collaboration with Colin Potter, Michael Begg has been behind a number of great releases. A Moon That Lights Itself now sits alongside those titles as one of his finest solo offerings in a release that is sombre, inventive and utterly captivating." [Compulsion Online] |
2016 |
€13.00 |
|
|
Sonambulo |
CD |
Shipping November 4th 2019
Sonambulo by Michael Begg
OMCD12
Ltd (150) CD edition
Sonambulo documents the work and performance completed during a residency at the Centro Mexicano para la Musica y las Artes Sonoras in Morelia, Michoacan, Mexico during November and December 2018: Sonambulo: un bebedero para pájaros compuesto por dientes para la novia del viento. (Sleepwalker: A birdbath made of teeth for the Bride of the Wind)
The residency was developed as part of Seeing Hearing UK Mexico, a three-year collaboration between the UK and Mexico made possible with the support of Anglo Arts the cultural department of The Anglo Mexican Foundation A.C; British Council Mexico, CMMAS and Cryptic.
Sonambulo’s central subject is Leonora Carrington, the British painter closely aligned to the Surrealist movement who settled in Mexico soon after the Second World War. There, Carrington’s alchemical, visionary work made her a household name. The people of Mexico accorded her a degree of admiration and respect only now starting to be echoed in her native Britain.
Michael Begg “Through meditation, and surrealist techniques including free-association, automatic writing, juxtaposition and pursuing the logic of dreams, I endeavoured to place myself at the alchemical table of Leonora, surrounded by moths, and steam, whilst impossible beasts, hags, witches, sooth-sayers, mutated archetypes and psychic golems ebb and flow through walls and shadows.“
https://omnempathy.com
"Late last year saw Michael Begg, UK's ambient composer in a residency project at the Centro Mexicano para la Musica y las Artes Sonoras in Morelia, Michoacan, Mexico. His work is about "Leonora Carrington, the British painter closely aligned to the Surrealist movement who settled in Mexico soon after the Second World War. There, Carrington’s alchemical, visionary work made her a household name. The people of Mexico accorded her a degree of admiration and respect only now starting to be echoed in her native Britain", about whom I had not heard before, and I had to Google her work. It is some strong work indeed and Begg creates music that is perhaps not as full of strange images, beasts and witches, but it does capture a weird atmosphere that works quite well with Carrington's paintings. It is, so I think, not a one on one translation of the paintings, or a soundtrack to that, but rather an interpretation of the atmospheres captures in the paintings. It is about darkness, spooky surroundings, nocturnal wanderings in dark places. I think. Begg's music is spacious, synthesizer like (did he bring a bunch to Mexico; Did they have some
over there? Or is it all laptop-based?), expansive and with a fine touch of experimentalism. His trademark sound of water glass sounds, higher-pitched frequencies appear here again. When he uses 'other' sounds they are voices from a mass in a church (such as in 'Morelia Cathedral'), obscured field recordings, such as the percussive sounds of 'Plain Chant', along with what seems screen wipers. It is the addition of these sounds that add that surrealist touch to the already haunting music. It is then in a place I like Begg at his best; it's ambient, it is spooky and it is narrative. It is a combination of many things I like in music and Begg does a great job here, and that's what we are used from him. This CD is limited to 150 copies, so be quick." [FdW/Vital Weekly] |
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 |
|
| BEHRENS, MARC |
Architectural Commentaries 4 & 5 |
CD |
“An Architectural Commentary is a form of ‘reviewing’ architecture in which functional, symbolic and aesthetic aspects of a building or
a bigger architectural structure are analysed. Inspiration for this cycle of compositions is drawn from architectural criticism, structures,
buildings, involuntary cityscapes ‘architecture without architects’)and technological noise within buildings.
One special recording session took place at Resonance FM, the London-based radio station, in June 2004. Patrick McGinley of Resonance FM
and I recorded the studio equipment itself, the drive noises, ventilation, vibrations in the machines, the studio’s air conditioning, doors…
This particular array of sound forms the sole and exclusive basic material for Architectural Commentary 5: Some Models for Resonant Behaviour
and links the cycle to earlier music pieces I constructed with sounds from computer labs. This part was commissioned by Resonance FM.
In Architectural Commentaries I composed some structures (mainly in parts 4 and 5) loosely based on Luigi Nono’s idea of ‘isole musicali’.
This means that encyclopaedic variations of themes are generated and often highlighted by silent breaks, like islands, between the individual parts, all different in form and size, but topologically similar.”
Frankfurt-based Behrens is presently best described as a ‘sound artist’, working across performance, installation and audio-visual recorded media. He also creates photographic works, designs record sleeves, and has even produced a bottle of white wine...
First edition of 300 copies." [label notes]
"There are sounds like stone on stone, for example, large stones. To the extent they offer images of cityscapes, they do so in a de Chirico sense, one of empty concrete canyons and long shadows. There’s a brief bustle or two, a sudden flurry of traffic, but then it’s back to the urban desolation. A short track separates the two main pieces; though it’s entirely of a piece with them, its concision serves to orient the listener with regard to the others. The first half of Commentary 5 is even emptier than its predecessor, a place of drips, vague, distant echoes of machinery, the occasional low thrum of some subterranean engine. Midway through, an eerie, silvery drone emerges accompanied by quasi-musical pings, backwards tape swatches and gurgles. It’s kind of like coming upon a barely functioning outpost in the ruins. It dissipates after a few minutes, bringing us back into the ozone-tinged vacuum. Behrens has created some evocative work, very effective and accomplished of its kind." [Brian Olewnick / Bagatellen]
www.entracte.co.uk
|
2007 |
€13.00 |
|
| BELLERUE, BOB |
Music of Liberation |
do-LP |
Bob Bellerue's new double-LP, "Music of Liberation," is a careful and intricate album of textured drone and shapely noise. Like the greatest works by post-industrial masters David Jackman (Organum) and Steven Stapleton (Nurse With Wound), its power lies not in harshness, but in dynamic spectral intensity. These are minutely composed pieces with very great attention paid to timbral details and variances.
Through the last few years, Bellerue has released a series of highly acclaimed long-form classics of tactile noise, including 2014's "Hollow Body" (Los Discos Enfantasmes), 2015's "Damned Piano" (Anarchymoon Recordings), and 2017's "Yamaha Deluxe" (iDEAL Recordings). These are in addition to more concise releases for labels like No Rent, Banned Production, Phage Tapes, and others, issued in a lava-like flow since the start of the millennium. And with "Music of Liberation," Bellerue's singular brand of volcanic aesthetics has reached a point of near-Hellenic refinement. The four pieces here are controlled eruptions, seeping slowly with the force of geologic synthesis.
There is a subtle poignancy at work here too: "Music of Liberation" is dedicated to Bellerue's friend and collaborator, Z'EV, who passed away during the final stages of finishing the double album. The late experimental percussionist/sound artist shared a certain sensibility and approach with Bellerue, as both artists have a longstanding interest in the power of metallic resonance, poetic dissonance, and composition in-situ.
"Music of Liberation" (née "Música de Libertação") was recorded in April 2016 at Sonoscopia (Porto, Portugal), in a raw session balancing drone feedback states with instrumental and vocal elements. The session was made possible through a variety of borrowed equipment and instruments (acoustic bass, shruti box, bowed gongs), which led to techniques and content which diverge from Bellerue's canon of work with surprising melodic moments. The unfamiliar instruments lent an inscrutable, organic quality to Bellerue's emotionally charged metallurgy. To bring out more full-spectrum sound, the recordings were played back in the old marble and plaster cavern of Issue Project Room in Brooklyn (where Bellerue works), to harness the resonant acoustics and add depth and dimension to the mono source recording.
In Bellerue's realm, volatility frequently gives way to passages of sustained beauty, compelling all those journeying with him from instability to lucidity; from repression to liberation.
“In the realm of noise and experimental music, Bob Bellerue elevates his recordings beyond the mere level of harshness into three-dimensional soundscapes that can be felt as well as heard.”
- Chuck Foster, The Big Takeover
Bob Bellerue is a noise composer, experimental musician, and creative technician based in Brooklyn NY.
"Music of Liberation" has been released by Elevator Bath as a limited edition double LP, mastered for vinyl by James Plotkin
https://elevatorbath.bandcamp.com/album/music-of-liberation
|
2018 |
€25.00 |
|
| BELLUCCI, ANDREA / MATTEO UGGERI |
The Soundtrack of your Secrets |
CD |
sps2250
ANDREA BELLUCCI & MATTEO UGGERI
THE SOUNDTRACK OF YOUR SECRETS
CD, trifold 15x15cm sleeve
"The Soundtrack of Your Secrets" is the fruit of the collaboration between Andrea Belluci (Red Sector A, Iluiteq) and Matteo Uggeri (Sparkle in Grey, Starlight Assembly).
Born and grown over the past two years, built on Bellucci's piano and Uggeri's sounds and beats, "The Soundtrack of Your Secrets" is a work that penetrates inside the soul of anyone willing to let go. Unreservedly, without any limits. Until we are naked... looking inside ourselves. Deep inside.
"Ten lines to tell what goes on in here. Ten lines to find words for it all: for each of the panorama of shadows and color, for each of the thunderstorms of noise and sound and electric shocks, for this big synthetic house made of major chords, stolen pianos and machines that seem to spit out frequencies on their own and without control... But no, there are four invisible hands bringing reasoning and suggestions behind it. Invisible hands that - above all - bring questions: this work makes you think about what encourages the building of organized sound after two years of a world war fought in millions of solitudes while another world war has already broken out. Sound that rebuilds bridges destroyed by cannon shots, sound that reopens doors kept closed and merges all our different languages in itself." - Marco Pandin
13.silentes.it/private_sounds/sps2250_bellucci_uggeri.htm
|
2022 |
€13.00 |
|
| BEREZAN, DAVID |
La face cachee |
DVD-A |
"DAVID BEREZAN (*1967, Edmonton, Canada) holte sich, wie viele seiner Labelgenossen, den letzten Elektroakustikerschliff bei Jonty Harrison an der Univ. Birmingham und lehrt inzwischen selbst an der Univ. Manchester. La face cachée (IMED 0896) ist sein Debut und
präsentiert 5 Stücke, die jeweils einen konkreten Anstoß, zugleich Klangquelle, nach einer ‚verborgenen Seite‘ hin erweitern. ‚Cyclo‘ (2003) kommt vom eigenen Geradel zu einer Symbolik des Kreislaufs. ‚Baoding‘ (2002) assoziiert ‚Handschmeichler‘-Kugeln mit Peking- und Kun-Oper. ‚Styal‘ (2004) belauscht die von einem Wasserrad angetriebene Quarry Bank Mill, eine Weberei in Styal südlich von Manchester, heute Industriedenkmal, einst berühmt für seine wohltätige Kinderarbeit - tja, Music to read Dickens by. ‚Hoodoos‘ (2007) führt einen auf den Hoodoo Trail im Banff National Park, zu Strukturen aus Wasser, Holz und Stein. ‚Hannibal‘ (2005) schließlich hat nicht Lecter oder Elefanten im Sinn, sondern basiert auf ‚Hannibal II‘, einer Skulptur von Jean Tinguely, speziell dem Klang einer schwingenden Kette. Berezan nimmt Details so unter die akustische Lupe, dass der Lauscher sich ganz winzig vorkommen muss, weil die Dinge brobdingnagsche und hochdramatische Züge annehmen, aber dabei auch sich seltsam gleichen." [Bad Alchemy]
“Cyclo (2003)”. “Baoding (2002)”. “Styal (2004)”. “Hoodoos (2007)”. “Hannibal (2005)”. DVD-Audio stereo + MP3 files. “Of all the things I have learned about my own music, the notions of revealing and discovery seem the most essential. There are two sides of myself at work here, in co-operation, and sometimes in conflict, in the creation of the pieces presented on this disc.On the one hand, I search for sound sources that are sonically appealing, and that I connect with on a personal and tangible level, in their real world and everyday setting. On the other hand, through processes of transformation, reconstruction and imagination, I create and reveal hidden spaces, characters, and substance from those sources. Within, underneath, and behind the sound objects and concepts, there are often unexpected sound worlds in terms of detail, colour, and dynamic. For me, this multi-faceted aural-vision that twists, turns, and opens into itself is the magic of the art form. It is also through this process of discovering “the hidden side” (La face cachée) that I discover as much about myself.This disc and its music is dedicated to my parents: Jennie and Victor Berezan.” David Berezan [credits]
www.empreintesdigitales.com
|
2008 |
€12.00 |
|
| BERG, MOLLY / OLIVIA BLOCK / STEVE RODEN / STEPHEN VITIELLO |
MOSS |
maxi-CD |
"Edition of 500. Moss, is a live recording from a unique collaboration by sound artists/musicians Molly Berg, Olivia Block, Steve Roden and Stephen Vitiello. This was a midnight concert at the beautiful Trinity Cathedral in San Jose, CA which was part of the 01SJ Biennial. Olivia and Steve had performed solo sets on the previous nights. The final night was meant to be a duo with Molly and Stephen but the opportunity to play with musicians/friends who we admire so much called out for an invitation to play together. As the set was entirely improvised, the billing really changed in our minds from being a duo with guests to becoming a quartet. The church itself was certainly inspiring, it’s dark wood and clean dry acoustics. There was a very small but dedicated audience. No one slept and the church crew were able to, amazingly, quiet the rowdy revelers on the street for the duration of their set.
Anyone familiar with any of the four musicians involved in this recording will know the level of craftsmanship and attention to sonic tactility that can be found within. They each exercise such incredible restraint, a feat difficult to pull off in an impromptu improvised session where musicians are often found competing for space, and allow for a sense of place to work its way through the quiet recording. “Moss” breathes like a living being lying down to sleep — a delicate wave of hushed field recordings, tape tracks and subtle electronics provides a bed for which Molly Berg’s clarinet and voice (joined at times by Steve Roden) ebb and sway, allowed center- stage, in movements across the piece’s 24+ minutes. Steve Roden and Stephen Vitiello provide guitar (lap steel and electric, respectively) while Olivia Block manipulates the tapes, field recordings and electronics.
Moss is a perfect example of how four like-minded friends and musicians can come together at a moment’s notice and create, unrehearsed, a captivating and beautiful sonic landscape. The connection between them as artists is completely evident while at the same time disappearing into the background to allow the piece move like a singular body." [label info]
www.12k.com
|
2011 |
€10.50 |
|
| BERLINER RING |
Orbital |
CD |
Subtile, pulsierende, intelligent arrangierte rhythmische Elektronik von diesem Berliner Ensemble, die auch viele Instrumente und selbstgebaute Maschinen einsetzen...
"An arresting set of 'electromechanical' pieces utilising homemade instruments and various modified electronic and percussive devices, this album hones in on resonant metallic sonorities, both in the pursuit of creating strange, alien rhythms and composing melodically cogent instrumentals. Timpanis, metallophones, Korg MS20s and something called a 'heckeshorn', which if a certain video on YouTube is to be believed is a bit like an industrial revolution-era synthesizer, complete with cogs and all manner of moving parts. There's an entire solo piece on Orbital dedicated to this curious contraption (titled 'Heckeshorn') which makes for a rather creepy jaunt into the steampunk avant-garde. Berliner Ring make all manner of bizarre noises on this record, but their real achievement is in managing to configure them into easily digestible, very musical shapes. Highly recommended." [Boomkat]
"What the London orbital is to the English capital, the Berliner ring is to Berlin: a circular highway that surrounds the city.
The first contemporary release from Art Yard amalgamates disparate elements: electro mechanical devices, invented instruments, modified keyboards, delays, customised rhythm and string machines: a half man, half machine driven trip into the Electro-Mechanical sub-underground, built around a combination of moods and themes drawn from the Berlin landscape. Berliner Ring work toward a brew of forms and techniques, creating geographical references and representations, ‘tonal landscapes’, an unfolding of ambient instrumental stereologues..
Berliner Ring is: Moritz Wolpert:: percussion, tympani, painting, inventor of the Heckeshorn -a hybrid slide guitar, triggered polychord and rhythm machine. Christian Günther: builder and designer of analogue synthesizers, rhythm boxes, theremins and painting machines.
Alexander Christou: samples, electronic grooves, songs, traditional and outside music styles, 12 string guitar. Thomas Stern: bass, osmotic dubbler, doctorate in distillery, orbiting Berliner Ring and great remixer.
A collaboration with Bomb The Bass mastermind Tim Simenon is planned for later in 2009." [label info]
www.rermegacorp.com
|
2009 |
€14.00 |
|
| BERRY, KEITH |
The Cartesian Plane |
pic-LP |
"Elevator Bath's ongoing series of picture disc LPs (each record being adorned with full-color artwork by the recording artist) continues with Keith Berry's debut appearance on vinyl: An absolutely mesmerizing cycle of deep, meditative tranquility inextricably linked to Berry's otherworldly painting which appears behind the record's grooves.
The soundscapes along The Cartesian Plane are beautifully absorbing, heavy with the slow unraveling of emotions, almost beyond belief. There is an immense weight to these recordings, the richness of which belies the careful subtlety of the compositions. The sound is expansive and unreal, a perfect complement to the record's visual aspects which seem to describe a kind of alternate existence. Like bookends, the colorful images house a wealth of experiences, wonderful and frightening. As you gaze upon the rotating colors and Keith Berry's dense dream-sounds pour out of the speakers, total immersion in The Cartesian Plane is more than probable, it is certain.
Five years have passed since Keith Berry's masterful The Ear That Was Sold To A Fish, a disc that was something of a revelation for the lucky few who were able to obtain a copy of the original release. Since that time Berry's reputation has steadily grown, even though his discography has not. Aside from a few compilation appearances (including Elevator Bath's A Cleansing Ascension), he has remained silent. The release of The Cartesian Plane then truly calls for celebration, as it is precisely the record those of us who admire Berry's work have longed for.
Keith Berry's music has been released by such labels as Trente Oiseaux, Twenty Hertz, and Crouton. He resides in London.
This picture disc LP has been released in an edition of 233 copies.
Total running time: 47 minutes" [label info]
www.elevatorbath.com
|
2010 |
€17.50 |
|
| |
Elixir |
CD |
"Our newest release is music by the british drone & ambient master keith berry who resides in l'angleterre.
the alchemist jim haynes said of his work: "like falling snow, his dreamy work drifts with a poetic chill and tranquil hypnosis through which peripheral elements tease the listener with subtle details. it's so damn beautiful..."
a bit of background on this release: one of the great inspirations for invisible birds was bernhard günter and his seminal label trente oiseaux. the releases had an enormous influence and one of the gems was keith berry's the
golden boat. it was with much pleasure when mr. berry wrote asking invisible birds to release his newest work elixir, and after listening to the wonderful kosmic washes of sound, there was no question than to proceed. the CD features abstract drawings by matthew swiezynski, and graphics by the brooklyn-based design kollektive
mount analogue (chi yun and matthew swiezynski).
mr. berry said of the release: "the source material for the heavily granular processed sound that makes up elixir stems from another album of mine titled simulacra to be released shortly by infraction. not so much a remix album
but a different take on material that had a strong pull on me, wanting me to return to it and explore the permutations that digital editing software allows."
keith berry is one who gathers many moments of sound over a period of time. the material for this recording (and simulacra on infraction records) traversed through berry's editing system like an alchemist's mystery-liquid,
distilling through his alembic and becoming a final sonic spirit that takes innumerable forms and can no longer be recognized. this process is so beyond words and creates work that is further beyond words; the listener enters a complete void.
|
2017 |
€13.00 |
|
| BERTOIA, HARRY |
Sonambients : The Sound Sculpture of Harry Bertoia |
CD + DVD |
Sonambients: The Sound Sculpture Of Harry Bertoia is a deluxe CD/DVD package containing historic recordings made in Harry Bertoia's Sonambient barn.
The DVD, a film titled Sonambients: The Sound Sculpture of Harry Bertoia, by Jeffrey & Miriam Eger, was shot in 1971 and follows Harry Bertoia in performance and interview throughout his Sonambient barn deep in the Pennsylvania woods. This film offers a rare opportunity to follow the artist in practice, listening carefully as he moves contemplativelythrough his sculptures and gongs. Interview footage offers rare insight into Bertoia's inspiration and process.
A separate CD contains four exclusive, recently discovered audio recordings. Included are thetwo earliest known collaborative tapes from Harry and brother Oreste, morning and evening sessions dated October 12, 1969, as well as a collaboration between the Bertoia brothers and their sister Ave who sings in careful unison with the overtones being produced by the sculptures. With the passing of Oreste Bertoia in 1972, these recordings mark the last meeting of all three Bertoia siblings.
A 16 page booklet includes many never before seen production stills shot by Jeffrey Eger. These iconic images capture the essence of the artist in practice. All of this is packaged in a heavy duty, tip-on style, gatefold sleeve printed with metallic inks at Stoughton Printing in California.
A limited edition version of this release, containing a letterpress printed limitation card and a piece of film from the original release can be obtained through the Harry Bertoia Foundation.
_________________________
Making the film Sonambients: The Sound Sculpture of Harry Bertoia by Jeffrey Eger
Miriam and I heard through a distant friend of an acquaintance that Harry Bertoia, a Pennsylvania artist, designer and sculptor wished to have a film made about his recent sound sculpture work. We called Harry in November of 1970 and within a week met him in his studio where he introduced us to his sculpture and to his sounds.
We ate lunch in a diner and talked about the songs of whales and wolves and his Sonambients. We then visited his Soundings Barn where everything we learned about film and its visionary possibilities became crystal clear. We absorbed the sound ambeince and left with such a bubbling excitement that we knew that it was written in the stars that we would make this film.
Within a week we spoke to Harry and he was convinced that we were the right people to bring his Sonambient world to the screen.
I sent Harry a one page description of how we would shoot the film and hopefully how the film wouldlook. He loved the one page treatment. And he reminded us that he did not want to see himself welding in the movie.
By early January 1971 we were ready to descend on the barn in Barto. We arrived with our cameraman and soundman. The interior of the barn was freezing. We set up quartz lights, checked out shots, and rigged nine hanging microphones from the loft. We had determined that in order to allow Harry to fully improvise his movement amidst the rows of sculptures, we would shoot ten minute takes without any interruptions.
In this way the cameraman would shoot handheld a continuous flowing performance. The Eclair 16mm camera and Nagra tape recorder were connected by crystal sync which was a relatively new improvement over actual cables connecting camera and recorder. Harry would be free to move unencumbered where ever the creative moment took him.
We were all ready to roll. Then the sound man took off his headphones and told us that there were occasional popping sounds on the sound track. We replayed the sound test. Popping sounds with little echoes. We city folk were baffled. Harry Bertoia with acute country sound hearing said, " Hunting season. Deer Hunting season. There is nothing we can do about it. We have to wait until hunting season was over."
A month later in the middle of February of 1971, we returned without the sounds of distant shots and echoing recoil. It took us 2 days to shoot the whole film. About two hours of footage edited down to a final sixteen minutes.
A month later we returned with a final cut and sound mix. With a rented 16 mm projector, we screenedthe film for Harry on a bed sheet hung from the rafters of his studio. He loved it and did not want one frame to be changed.And to paraphrase Robert Frost, " and that has made all the difference."
Jeffrey Eger April 9 2016
________________________
Credits for Sonambients: The Sound Sculpture of Harry Bertoia
Director and producer - Jeffrey Eger
Editor - Miriam Eger
Camera - Paul Goldsmith
Sound - Petur Hliddal
A Kenesaw Films ProductionCopyright 1971
Jeffrey Eger was born in 1946 in New Jersey. He studied English and Comparative Literature and graduated from Rutgers University in 1968. He continued his graduate work at the London School of Film Technique in 1968-69. He majored in film writing and directing.
Throughout his film career Jeffrey Eger has written, directed and produced many short and long form documentary films for museums, television, schools, international World's Fairs, and governments. He has also worked as a writer and researcher for a number of museums including the Statue of Liberty Museum for its Centennial 1986 Celebration. He is the author of numerous books and is the editor of The Journal of The Thomas Nast Society.
For the last 20 years he has been an antiquarian bookseller specializing in books, auction catalogues and periodicals in the arts.
Miriam Szamosi Eger was born in 1944 in Budapest, Hungary. She emigrated with her family to Israelin 1949. In Israel, she studied architectural drafting and building engineering. She continued her education at The London School of Film Technique in 1968-69. She majored in film editing. Her first work in the film industry was as an assistant/associate editor on the Woodstock Music Festival film. Her second film was The Sonambients film. Miriam edited many documentary films for museums, Worlds's Fairs, industrial exhibitions, and artists. She and her husband Jeffrey frequently worked together through their two film companies.
For the serious collector or anyone interested in a complete limited edition set, for $100, the exclusive edition (of 500) sets are available through the Harry Bertoia Foundation. Included:
16-minute documentary of Harry Bertoia performing in the Sonambient Barn (available for the first time since 1971)
20-minute interview of Harry Bertoia explaining Sonambient (never before released)
Full-length CD of all three Bertoia siblings – Harry, Oreste, Ave – performing in the Barn
A physical piece of the original 16 mm film
10-page booklet with color photographs of the shoot and description of the filming process
See further details at http://harrybertoia.org/shop/
|
2017 |
€24.00 |
|
| BETTIS, CHUCK |
Sonic Sigils |
mCD |
Wieder eine empfehlenswerte Ausgrabung auf SCARCELIGHT aus der sich permanent erweiternden und weiter verzweigenden Geräusch- & Experimental-Szene. CHUCK BETTIS benutzt die psychologische „Spiegel“-Technik als Inspiration und schafft hier digitale Klanglandschaften von höchster Abstraktheit, für die Begriffe wie „Noise“ oder „Ambient“ nicht mehr relevant scheinen.
Das Ganze fängt eher hektisch-dissoziiert an und bewegt sich langsam aber stetig in pulsierend-meditative Bereich.....digitale, metallische Klänge überwiegen. TIP for Explorers !
“There is some kind of menacing magic at work here. The magickal intonations captured on this disc were inspired by the acifist/psychological technique of calming people in heated conversations by catching up to the breathing of the upset person, then slowly, by utilizing your own breathing, slowing down their breathing by slowing down your own. This deluxe 3" CD features scratchy, fuzzed and distressed scrapes and burbling skittered fragments. Gorgeous graphics by Chuck himself. Contrasting mechanical whines, and tones, tiny microscopic signs of life all darting around in their droplet universe” [George Parsons./ Dream Magazine #5]
|
2004 |
€8.00 |
|
| BEYOND SENSORY EXPERIENCE (B.S.E.) |
Faint |
CD |
"With their new full-length album "Faint" Beyond Sensory Experience are back revisiting ghosts of the past to create memories of the future. Eleven divergent studies of transformation elements result in BSE’s most complete and intriguing album to date; full of liquid dark ambient soundscapes, salient samples and entrancing melodies. Hold your breath and close your eyes, when winter turns to water, day turns to Faint.
Edition of 500 copies in 4 panel digi sleeve with 12 page booklet. 11 Tracks. Running Time 60:00" [label info]
"They didn’t make us wait very long for a “Modern Day Diabolists” follow-up. Along with “Faint”, we have the opportunity once again to move away from the senses under the watchful eye of Drakh and K. Meizter. And because they’re fully fledged professionals, in this case also the trip on the edge of and even beyond the human self turns out to be very fruitful.
Fruitful, but somehow familiar. Our fellow Swedes have defined their specific path for quite a while, they have their own unique style and sound and are sticking to it, leaving the battering down of this already open door to younger and more hot-headed travelers. It’s an experienced project, their aforementioned style is usually recognizable after only a few sounds – “Faint” isn’t at all different. I think even woken up in the middle of the night it would take me maybe a few seconds to pinpoint whose creations are filtering from the speakers.
I never meant what those two nice Swedes do as dark ambient does. Certainly, the genre’s characteristics have always been to a larger or lesser extent present on previous albums, but they were never incorporating a typical, textbook darkness with particular relish. And with each consecutive release its amount becomes lesser and lesser. On “Faint” you practically won’t find the typical background-filling drones. This role is ascribed to either a stretched echo single guitar or piano tones (just listen to “Blank”), or simply silence which operates here on the same basis as the specific sounds, instruments, field recordings or samples. I always appreciated musicians who can play with silence.
As for the album’s atmosphere, I could actually copy-paste here what I wrote about “Modern Day Diabolists”. Ethereal, dreamy parts, mesmerizing in a way, sometimes serene (“Bystanders”), sometimes pulsating with a distant, uncertain threat (such as in my favorite piece, “Legacy”). Sometimes it feels as if the Swedes deliberately want to lull the listener, so that all external protective barriers are down and then hit with horror, war or apocalypse. But it never happens, though you never know what lies beyond the horizon.
Calm down, you can safely turn off for those few minutes. Beyond Sensory Experience doesn’t interfere with the bliss. It only gently wags its finger at us at times, saying that “next time there’s going to be a nightmare” (“Exhausted”), and we don’t have to believe the Swedes anyway. Probably in a year or two they’ll release another album, and again we’ll allow ourselves to be seduced by those ambient spaces, a pinch of post-rock atmosphere. We’ll smoke another cigarette, listening to the yearning, aching samples spoken in different languages… Another successful, very solid release by Beyond Sensory Experience and another – which one is it already – strong position in the Cyclic Law roster." [Stark/Santa Sangre] |
2013 |
€13.00 |
|
| |
The End of it all |
CD |
"On their third release for Cyclic Law, BSE have created an aural mirror image of underlying substructures hidden amongst the ordinary. Using their trademark sounds of lush ominous melodies and insightful theories, extinct arrangements of life mechanics unfold to reveal The End Of It All.
Edition of 500 Copies in 6 panel Digipack with Spot UV varnish. 11 Tracks. Running Time 63:33" [label info]
www.cycliclaw.com
"Beyond Sensory Experience have been making albums in the dark ambient genre for over a decade, starting with their debut, Tortuna, on Old Europa Cafe. They gained recognition during their time on the legendary, now defunct label, Cold Meat Industry. In 2013, Beyond Sensory Experience would find their new home with Frederic Arbour and company at Cyclic Law. Now, with the release of their third album on Cyclic Law, entitled The End Of It All, Beyond Sensory Experience prove that they still have plenty of landscape left to cover in their musical career.
The End Of It All does anything but break the mold when it comes to musical output by Beyond Sensory Experience. The sounds presented here will be familiar to any fan of their previous albums, especially their most recent releases through Cyclic Law. Beyond Sensory Experience have a very particular sort of sound, which seems to draw a lot of parallels to Silent Heart by The Human Voice, also released through Cyclic Law. In both these projects what we hear are albums which seem to be the perfect soundtracks to a lonely and melancholic late night, lights dimmed, conjuring retrograded mental images of a life once lost. There is no happiness to be found here. Yet the album doesn't tend to make one sad, so much as it is the perfect companion to one's own sadness, a shoulder to cry on, when no other living soul is around, during your darkest nights. Beyond Sensory Experience achieve this bleak and melancholic mood through the use of minimal droning passages, checkered with solemn and tragically forlorn piano movements. The occasional cello notes can be heard on tracks like "Ends And Histories" raising the emotional intensity to an even higher degree. There are ample vocal passages throughout The End Of It All, adding a bit of narration to further solidify the intentions of its authors. These vocal passages are almost all from different sources and different people, presumably none of which are actually Beyond Sensory Experience, which is of little consequence as the words and voices themselves are a perfect match to this somber affair.
As previously mentioned, similar to Silent Heart, by The Human Voice, The End Of It All is a soundtrack to a deep and personal ending. The intersections of beauty, despair, and a pervasive calmness give The End Of It All a powerful emotional edge. Listened to in the right circumstances, I am sure this could easily bring one to tears. This isn't a glorification of sadness by any means, more so an complete and utter appreciation for and understanding of the depression, loss, and defeat felt in the lives of everyday people. As the illusion of world-wide peace and happiness is being slowly revealed to the inhabitants of our planet, there has never seemed to be a time in the past more suitable for contemplating the weaknesses and failings of humanity as a whole. Never before have so many people, world-wide, been able to look at history, without rosy-red glasses, and see the predicaments we are now finding ourselves in as a collective whole. The End Of It All is the soundtrack to that sentiment. "Properties Of Stars", for instance, grasps this concept like few other dark ambient tracks. It is as if we are sitting in some lonely personal retreat, staring up at the stars, and yet we feel the collective of humanity at our side, all staring into the sky, wondering, pleading for some signs of a way out of our collective dilemma.
The vocal passages in The End Of It All really do play a large part in this personal feeling of loss and sadness. Many of these passages are spoken in English, but others are in some other language which I am unable to specify. One of the best tracks on the album, and the best example of the power of these spoken words, comes in "Time Travels" the second last track, which says, "I have often wondered about what it must be like to go to sleep and never wake up." and later in the track saying "To be simply not there, forever and ever." These simple statements along with some of the most melancholic piano work I have heard combine to produce quite an emotionally charged experience.
With many humans finding themselves in an existential dilemma these days, and the state of our Eco-system in utter chaos, there has never been a better time for releasing music of such a particularly dark yet contemplative and sober variety. Dark days are sure to be ahead of us, and with those dark days many of us seek equally dark music. For many listeners The End Of It All should be the perfect companion to your own personal apocalypse. I highly recommend this album to any fans of a more instrumental and vocal take on dark ambient. Also, anyone interested in melancholic neo-classical will find plenty to enjoy here. As far as readers who may not often listen to this genre, Beyond Sensory Experience showcase many of the elements which make for a perfect introduction to dark ambient and its various cousin genres."
[Michael, Terra Relicta] |
2016 |
€13.00 |
|
| BIANCHI, MAURIZIO & TH26 |
Arkaeo Planum |
CD |
Dunkle, spröde, klinisch-kühle Elektronik, effektierte Pianosounds; die erste Zusammenarbeit von M.B. mit TH26, inklusive der Stimme des kürzlich verstorbenen ROBERT ANTON WILSON !!
"After the "A M.B. Iehn Tale" release (CD - SmallVoices 2005) for the first time Maurizio Bianchi meets TH26, historical Italian project in dark electronics. After their first official release ("La Haine" CD - SmallVoices 2002) they are now back with this amazing cooperation. For this release TH26 leaves their usual rhythmical attitude, in perfect symbiosis with Maurizio Bianchi, the "father" of Italian industrial music. This work presents deep obscure minimal soundscapes, moving in the fields of dark ambient music. Arkaeo Planum is a long deep 5 tracks trip through 5 interlinked themes (Aereo, Arkaeo, Audio, Caro e TerraPlanum) togheter with a single special track titled MB Sorrow (dedicated to Maurizio Bianchi) as final sadly sequence of melting melody. Sound textures with piano incursions and samples, properly treated by M.B., involved in a magmatic and dark isolationist sonority, made by Th26." [label description]
"Antique phagocytic cells in a profound knowledge of changing habits, electromagnetic science and moribund identities, enter in contact with vertebrate contemporary abstractions. It's the unequivocal and consecrating action of the foetal twenty-first century servant, a laborious period of the cement bloodstream museums where archaic purposes have gathered together a stimulating selection of "planum" relationship. The compressed and specific hormonal aim of this provocative work, "Arkaeo Planum", is to illuminate the entire febrile dream of some unscrupulous sadness; a constant affection of soared talents in this synthetic journey to penalize the closed culture nightmare. The question asked is: are we intentionally communicating or developping some unique opportunities? The transformation process is facilitating the indecent massive infrastructures of the industrial soundscapes, nearly the neutronic unimaginable..." (Maurizio Bianchi)
|
2006 |
€13.50 |
|
| BIANCHI, MAURIZIO (M.B.) |
Ludium |
CD |
"A long and almost “solemn” track built with reverberated piano notes, a slow and rhythmical flow leaned on a background made of clashing hisses and vague, distant, rustling ambient noises… A brief interval based on obscure drones moving in circles, inexorably entangled on themselves… Therefore another long piano-based track, this time more dilated, confused, ethereal and prim, so much that it takes the distinguishing features of an indecipherable sonic mass, abstract and booming, estranging, deep and psychedelic…A few and minimal elments, “directed” in a masterly fahion and assembled in an absolutely fundamental work, from the brightest mind of Italian experimental scene and of all the music “without compromises” of the last thirty years… One of the last contributes to the History of Music from an artists that, even in a phase of extraordinarily and unstoppable creative mood, has recently choose and officially announced to quit his long artistic activity. Simply essential." [label info]
www.silentes.net
|
2009 |
€13.00 |
|
|
YNOHPMYS (special ed.) |
CD |
"This Italian electronics maestro seems to be still going strong after around 30 years with his latest release. Opener 'Ortini' is like the hazey recollection of a long train journey being put through an analogue filter bank. 'The Inflammatory Sesor' has a kind of feeling of nostalgia or distant memory that recalls William Basinski or The Caretaker. 'Oigada' sounds like two decomposing tape loops slightly out of sync creating a disorientating phasing effect. There are some very absorbing sounds here to get lost in. One for a late night in near darkness. Recommended." [Norman Records] |
2010 |
€20.00 |
|
| |
YNOHPMYS |
CD |
"This Italian electronics maestro seems to be still going strong after around 30 years with his latest release. Opener 'Ortini' is like the hazey recollection of a long train journey being put through an analogue filter bank. 'The Inflammatory Sesor' has a kind of feeling of nostalgia or distant memory that recalls William Basinski or The Caretaker. 'Oigada' sounds like two decomposing tape loops slightly out of sync creating a disorientating phasing effect. There are some very absorbing sounds here to get lost in. One for a late night in near darkness. Recommended." [Norman Records]
www.touretterecords.com
|
2010 |
€13.00 |
|
| BIG CITY ORCHESTRA |
Airre |
CD-R |
BCO (named here “Big City Orchestrairre”) are back again with another surprising release, for the amazing new british label ENTR’ACTE. Unusual instrumental sounds & loops (lots of guitar sounds), found music & radio-material, quasi-rhythmic structures, something like an oriental touch, every piece is different – and there are a lot! Oscillating between dark atmospheres, odd “somethings” and a mind-expanding “funnyness”… Again very original, almost undescribable, BCO continue to excite us !! |
2005 |
€12.00 |
|
|
Eerily |
CD |
"Underground is a difficult term. Perhaps its best defined as Do It Yourself. Not looking for the next record deal, or moving from CDRs to CDs and never wanting to do CDRs again. That sort of attitude. If one band live up to that, then today my choice would be Big City Orchestra. They have been around for ages, releasing on all formats the world of music saw, but never gained 'fame' in any way. And perhaps that's good. Let's have them underground, with us. Here for instance is a new CD by Das, the master mind behind Big City Orchestra since the beginning, but also members like Cliff Neighbours, Ninah Pixie, Univac, Jonathan Segal, Melissa Margolis and as a special guest David Aellen of Gong fame. Although Big City Orchestra was never fixed into one musical genre, there is, throughout the years an overall idea to be noted. Roughly somewhere in the grey area of ambient music, drone, narrative music and perhaps all touched with a sense of psychedelic music. These six new pieces here sum up this very well. No doubt largely conceived in the world of warm, analogue synthesizers and guitars with lots of effects. The result is an eerie (sorry, couldn't help that one), desolate sound piece with very slow, minimal shifts. Maybe to some extent they still sound the same as back in 1987 when they released cassettes, but luckily it sounds much richer now on CD. The underground is not about sticking to hissy cassettes out of some perverse love of retro, but finding the best ways to express yourself, without keeping any notion about the overground. In that respect to people who want to hear a band develop, then Big City Orchestra might be the wrong place to turn to, but I think this is great music. Mood music, dark night, late night music. Music that has not been made to please the big crowd, but a small but caring community of truly devoted fans. I may not be one, simply because I don't have everything they made, I certainly rank myself as someone who is always keen to anything new by them. 'Eerily' is a great CD." [FdW / Vital Weekly]
"One of the most idiosyncratic and original groups of the past two decades, BCO is not your standard Orchestra. Situated in the greater San Francisco Bay Area, the band has released an enormous catalog of recorded material over the past two decades. Formed in the late 1970's the ensemble continues to maintain a free-flowing roster of artists from around the world that collaborate on specific projects. Categorizing the Orchestra into any given genre can be a task, as releases continue to surprise even the most devout listener. There is never any way to precisely classify the next BCO release.
Featuring original members and introducing special guests such as Daevid Allen (of Gong fame) and Jonathan Segel (Camper Van Beethoven)
BCO 'Eerily' tracklist :
1. Garuda
2. Mister Jones
3. Protectionraga
4. Zhong Kui
5. Pink Swirl
6. Chnubis
7" cover including a unique silkscreened inlay produced by the members of BCO/Ubuibi."
[label info]
www.eetapes.be
|
2009 |
€13.00 |
|
|
New Beat for Baby |
CD-R |
"On this small finnish label there’s come the newest output of our all-time faves. “new beat for baby” is a very raw droning, nearly machine-like sounding trip into some higher intelligence mother’s womb." [BarakaH, Drone Records 2002]
|
2002 |
€8.00 |
|
| |
Kapellmeister |
CD-R |
HalTapes presents
BIG CITY ORCHESTRA
KAPELLMEISTER
oneiric collage confusion with keyboardisms infiltrated with radio hum and vinyl itch
original cover art by Rafael González
BCO STAFF WAS:
ROB WORTMAN, UNIVAC, NINAH PIXIE, CHERYL LEONARD, DAS
BCO contact:
das at ubuibi dot org
credits
released 20 May 2015
https://halmcgee.bandcamp.com/album/kapellmeister
"Big City Orchestra is a prolific (over 160 releases since 1985) group many would likely recognize as part of the 80s experimental cassette scene. From various readings and conversations with older friends, I gather they were enjoyed as a favorite by many. I get the impression that they have many tricks in their bag, and that is what makes them so impressive and special.
Please enjoy Big City Orchestra’s Discogs bio:
“One of the most idiosyncratic and original groups of the past two decades, BCO is not your standard Orchestra. Situated in the greater San Francisco Bay Area, the band has released an enormous catalog of recorded material over the past two decades. Formed in the late 1970’s the ensemble continues to maintain a free-flowing roster of artists from around the world that collaborate on specific projects. Categorizing the Orchestra into any given genre can be a task, as releases continue to surprise even the most devout listener. There is never any way to precisely classify the next BCO release. An album of authentic sea-shanties? A wall of noise? A shimmering downpour of lullabies whispered to the wind? A humorous or thought-provoking album of Sound Collages? Vocal excursions set to make Rod McKuen blush? We press play, leaning forward with slight apprehension. We await the first wave of blissful deception. We are perpetually rewarded.”
This CDR was released by Hal McGee, who was involved in distributing & releasing their music in the early / mid 80s. I assume this release results in part from that years-old positive connection.
Hal(“Ear Tampons” – poignantly preposterous?)
My first exposure, of two total exposures, to Big City Orchestra was a CDR called Beatlerape, consisting of a bizarre collection of alternate takes on and / or cut-up-collagery of Beatles songs and recordings. I don’t know if it’s ‘rape’, but what they do to Beatles music on this album is quacked out and could by many be called “wrong”. Demented looping, demented voices, demented juxtapositions of sounds. I very much enjoyed it off and on for several months in the car’s cd player. I know I’ve heard another Big City Orchestra recording, but I don’t recall which one. This matters because I remember thinking the second Big City Orchestra album I heard was pointedly different from Beatlerape, as is the present specimen, Kapellmeister.
Kapellmeister is a great mixed bag of lo-fi collage, psych, plunder, field recordings, found recordings, electronic junk bits, eclectic instrumentation / approach -but cleanly sectioned into the 10 segments they list on Side A and Side B. Track 8, “OOOOH JACK”, is a cutup of cleanly recorded, quietly speaking christian television preachers set against an ominous early-80s-industrial-mechanical-plodding backdrop. The clips of christian people are cut and assembled in such a way as to slather, playfully and mockingly, the christians’ pretensions of purity with humorous sexual innuendo. It’s simultaneously hilarious and darkly hope-crushing? This piece is on par with all of the other pieces for level of interest, pacing, composition, content, etc. Every track has its own intriguing qualities. Wonderfully surreal yet entertaining and non-tedious. Simple yet engaging and surprising. These things are hard to do with abstract sound work. I dare call it sophisticated, prodigious, genuine. The rawness of the black & white artwork is pleasant, with strangely bleak torn paper collage and digitally manipulated images by Rafael Gonzalez. There’s a cerebral surreality to the haloed white blob (photoshop air brushing likely) over the faces of an idealized couple from the..1930s? This roughness is tied together nicely with the text and with the two pillars of the repeated collage item showing two half-faces close together, reflecting their similarities and differences. These considerations tie the cover together with symmetry and an even distribution of dark and light. In comparison to a number of Hal’s other releases, this HalTapes specimen nicely balances pragmatic non-aestheticism and a tight sense of design. I enjoy the non-aesthetically charged design of the information side of the slim jewel case’s insert.
In his description for his album B12, Hal McGee -designer of this disc’s insert- tells a story about packaging design for audio recordings:
“After my three year hiatus from recording (92-95) I noticed that a lot of noise artists were doing special deluxe package releases. It seemed like every fuckin’ release by Aube had like a dead fish attached to it or a pubic hair or a bag of sewage water or some such shit with deluxe printed sleeve, etc etc etc. I purposely made the cover of my “B12” cassette as shitty and amateurish-looking as possible and I fit four of them onto one sheet of paper so that at Kinko’s each cover would end up costing me like 2.5 cents.
HalB12
I sent a copy of “B12” to Aube as a trade and told him here is my “anti-deluxe two and a half cent cover”. He was not amused and told me he would not trade with me again. This is the same young upstart who had told me previously that I had been one of his influences from the 1980s. Hahahaha. Uppity bastard!”
I presume to an extent Hal’s current design tendencies align with the thinking embodied in this frank, funny outburst. The emphasis is on what you’re doing and less on the capturing or distillation of some grand wizardly vision into an even more grand wizardly package that sells at inflated prices. This is the dichotomy of process vs. product, or maybe something less clear cut than that. I greatly enjoy both approaches (super-art-packaging and more straight forward packaging) depending on the specific example. It’s unfortunate, but for now I’m dreaming of a future time when I can support more artists putting out special deluxe products. I’m not able to spend so much money any more on music, so I don’t often acquire music releases with special (expensive) packages. Right now I can only get the occasional regular old ordinary issue releases; no fancy boxes, no extra inserts, no 3-D glasses, no diesel-soaked papyrus, no vials of blood, no hand-made folded special-stock paper delicacies. Many DIY artists and label-people have simple aesthetics based around their financial limitations; a lower budget usually costs a bit in impressiveness of appearance, but the money saved by simplifying package design can be used to release music more frequently, or for other projects. I have an interest in understanding different approaches to creative work. As long as the work comes from a genuine and specific place I’ll probably find it at least worth examining.
This CDR/tape/download is a truly excellent recording demonstrating all sorts of creative and technical prowess. That being said, it’s also presented in a remarkably unpretentious way. It’s adventurous and consistently engaging, while still being quite abstract and not the least bit catchy, unless you find certain tonal drones catchy. I rarely put in a recording and find it so impressive on a first listen. When this happens, the recording’s charm usually grows over time rather than fading." [Petriblog]
|
2015 |
€8.50 |
|
| BIOMECHANICA |
BM-01 |
CD |
"The 'BioMechanica' project marks the first collaboration between FRANCISCO LOPEZ and ARTURO LANZ (founder and member of the current ESPLENDOR GEOMÉTRICO tandem) after thirty years of an ongoing relationship. Their debut album, "BM-01", is the outcome of years of intense work in multiple cities across the world, from Beijing to Reykjavik all the way to Johannesburg. Raw power and original rhythms, together with an overwhelming sound complexity, a multi-channel spatial virtuality and a spectacular production come together in BioMechanica, synthesizing the insight and experience of two internationally acclaimed industrial/experimental music makers." [label info]
www.geometrikrecords.com
"Recently I had a discussion about musicians who produce a lot of work, and in that conversation also the name Francisco Lopez came up. A friend of mine admitted he gave up on Lopez some time ago, as he said there were too many similar works by him. You could, he argued, pick a few of the essential ones ('La Selva' and 'Buildings [New York]' being two that are always mentioned), but it was perhaps not necessary to collect all of his releases. I don't know: I am not really much of a collector but I can see his point. But I didn't hear BioMechanica when we talked about this. Lopez is, besides a producer of many CDs, also someone who collaborates with others, as he does here. Just as with remixes, it's always good to see something moving in a totally different area, and that's something that happens here. Lopez teams up with Arturo Lanz, the only original member of Esplendor Geometrico and maybe an unlikely partner for Lopez. Lanz plays 'germ rhythmic patterns' while Lopez is responsible for 'rhythmic pattern evolution, environmental recording mutations, composition, editing, mixing and mastering'. So Lanz recorded some of his trade mark rhythms, which we love for more than thirty years now, while in return Lopez adds his likewise trademark sound material. However this is not a question putting one and one together in the hope it's going to be two, which usually doesn't work. But that's not what Lopez does here. He cuts his sounds short(er) too, and creates a mechanical rhythm out of that too. His field recordings here sound like they found their origins inside a factory - hissing and bleeping of motors, sustaining sounds from mechanical devices and such like. That gives the music perhaps a sense of old fashioned industrial music but that is maybe the whole idea behind this. It works wonderfully well, especially when Lanz creates those banging industrial rhythms, such as in '01' and '05', which sound almost like Einsturzende Neubauten. A great release, almost like pop music, which is a rare thing for Lopez. So, yes, I can imagine people asking themselves why they should buy every new Lopez (related) release, but this one is actually very good - an essential one even (the future must proof this). And seeing they took a 'band' name, I wouldn't be surprised if there is more to come." [FdW/Vital Weekly] |
2012 |
€14.50 |
|
| BIONULOR |
same |
CD-R |
"The art of recycling adapted to music that is exactly what the musical project Bionulor does.
With loops from classical music the Polish musician recreates his own pieces.
Most pieces on the self-titled debut album are based on minimal samples of just one or a few notes. Most samples seem to originate from piano songs, but there are also some stringed instruments appearing.
In a way not uncommon to William Basinski we hear the loops fade in and out slowly changing their character during the progression. Though, the technique used here is not so much based on degradation and/or disintegration of sound. No, instead Bionulor uses a digital processing technique. In the pieces we hear soft filters and pitching to alter the sound. In several pieces the same source sounds are used but rendered with different effects delivering diverse results.
Sometimes it sounds a little bit too easy, but as a whole there is enough variation on the album to keep you listening.
As a debut album this self-titled album is a really good start, with a promise to a bright future for this musician. Looking forward to see the progress over the coming years." [Earlabs]
www.myspace.com/bionulor
|
2009 |
€8.50 |
|
| BIOSPHERE |
The Senja Recordings |
CD |
https://biosphere.bandcamp.com/album/the-senja-recordings
The Senja Recordings is a collection of various outdoor recordings and studio improvisations recorded on the island of Senja, Arctic Norway, between 2015 and 2018.
Boomkat: "Geir Jenssen yields a most Biosphere of Biosphere recordings with this new album recorded on a Norwegian island within the arctic circle
Leading on from recent years’ ‘Departed Glories’ and ‘Petrified Forest’, the 66 minute long and 17-track wide suite of ‘The Senja Recordings’ arguably amounts to the most significant Biosphere outing of this decade. Taking its title from Norway’s 2nd largest island, where it was conceived, the album features outdoor sounds and improvisations made during Jenssen’s stays between 2015-2018 and finds the artist more porous than ever to distorted, granular textures along with his trademark palette of elemental electronics. It’s essentially the artist getting closer than ever to his surroundings and cutting down the space between there and your ears.
From the sounds of it, one can only imagine Jenssen had a quietly blissful time making this record. There’s the expected darkness for sure, but it always resolves with strong pangs of isolationist melody, cropping up Conet Project-like in ’Strandby’; glowing like a dawn aurora behind a granite cliff in ‘Berg’; or harmonising with the birds and air in ‘Fjølhøgget’ and the Aeolian harp-like tones of his ‘Bergsbotn’ trio, so named after the small village facing out to harsh North Atlantic. factor in the natural yet unearthly sounds picked up by his hydrophone in ’Skålbrekka’, and the gloaming solitude of his sublime closer ‘Hå’, and you have a top class Biosphere album, if you like this sort of thing."
|
2019 |
€15.50 |
|
| BIRDS BUILD NESTS UNDERGROUND |
So As |
CD |
"So As is Birds Build Nests Underground’s first studio album after three years. It features four songs/compositions created exclusively with turntables and prepared vinyl records. The first of them, 'Sintordin,' is BBNU’s attempt to add something to the “jazz from hell” niche. And the idea of clashing marching bands... 'Ossifying Tongues' started, as the name implies, as a sonic description of the ossification of the mouth: the human voice material was slowly changing into white rhythmic and repetitive skeletons. However, over the years, the song has changed into a different kind of a monster and can be read as a comment on BBNU’s industrial/ambient past. 'Axe Loop' is a rock song – intro, verse, chorus, verse, chorus, instrumental break, chorus… somehow it is sixteen minutes long – after the band decided to leave out one verse. And finally there is 'Smoking Sun', a short interpretation of the band’s long-lost loop. New Romance meets clarinets on a nicely decorated dissecting table with some flowers in the pot. The fifth is a video track – a 10 minute part of BBNU’s performance from the autumn 2011, the day Freddie Mercury died. Martin Jezek shows his skills of 16mm improvisation here while Petr Ferenc and Michael Brunclík are locked in their favourite groove. The release arrives in a digipak and is limited. It is joint-released by BBNU's own Love Nest imprint." [label info]
|
2012 |
€13.00 |
|
| BJERGA, SINDRE & MICROMELANCOLIE |
Invisible Paths |
CD |
"Another instalment in the ongoing collaborative mail-art series by the duo of Sindre Bjerga and Robert Skrzyński aka Micromelancolié. The first is a well-known Norwegian sound artist that works alone and in many projects (including the excellent drone Star Turbine) and runs the label called Gold Soundz. Robert Skrzyński does not slow down his creative momentum appearing for the first time on Zoharum with a collaboration (after highly acclaimed albums "It Does not Belong Here" by Micromelancolié and "Najas Flexilis Exequiae" by ForrrestDrones).
The two parts of the title composition included on the album "Invisible Paths" is a continuation of sound exploration by both artists. The duo put on a more modest sonic arsenal than on the previous releases, which does not reduce the quality of these two recordings. In these collages there is a place for ambient textures, surreptitiously recorded conversation, oily drones, and even a little bit of tape music. Here and there scraps of melody emerge from from the bubbling magma, although, in contrast to "Prayer Calls" for example, they only serve as ornaments. "Invisible Paths" is an exercise
in focusing attention of the listener, but it's a risk worth taking.
The album is released in a 3-panel ecopak in a strictly limited edition of 300 copies. The cover is designed by Rutger Zuydervelt (aka Machinefabriek). It is mastered by Claus Poulsen (the Danish half of Star Turbine duo). The whole production process is overseen by Michał Porwet." [label info]
www.zoharum.com
|
2015 |
€12.00 |
|
| BJERGA, SINDRE & NILS ROSTAD |
Live at Moving Furniture Records |
CD-R |
"Split album between Sindre Bjerga and Nils Rostad recorded live at Moving Furniture Records HQ on 8-03-2011.
The CD-R comes in handmade eco-pack sleeves with pictures of both artists glued on them. The names are handwritten on each side.
There is also a hand-numbered pro-printed insert.
Includes unlimited streaming of Live at Moving Furniture Records HQ via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more." [label info]
www.movingfurniturerecords.com
|
2011 |
€7.50 |
|
| BJÄRGÖ, PETER |
Animus Retinentia |
CD |
"3rd full length album by ARCANA / SOPHIA mastermind Peter Bjärgö. On his solo works we hear the perfect blend of his previous incarnations where dreamy piano parts, rhythmic percussions and his now trade mark guitar, all blended into perfection. Solemn vocals filled with lyrics of distress and mournfulness lull us into the nether. Filled with nostalgia and longing of a lost world, "Animus Retinentia" forms a threshold into another world where glimpses of light always shine through. A splendid follow up to his previous solo works and dare we say, his best yet.
Edition of 500 copies in 6 panel Digipack. 11 Tracks. Running Time 45:55"
https://cycliclaw.bandcamp.com/album/animus-retinentia
"Peter Bjärgö is an artist that has left his mark all over the post industrial scene of music over the years. Going all the way back to 1994, Arcana, was Peter Bjärgö‘s first musical project to get attention. Arcana focused on a sort of medieval-ambient/neoclassical sound. The 1996 release on Cold Meat Industry of Dark Age of Reason is still to this day a reference point for many musicians. In later years, Arcana would expand its line-up. There also formed a second project Sophia, which focused on an industrial ambient sound. In 2009, Peter Bjärgö would start his solo-project, under his own name. Peter said on social media of this, “After nearly 20 years of activity with Arcana I decided to explore music as a solo artist, without boundaries, and show a more intimate side of my creativity.”
That intimate side turns out to be quite beautiful if also rather depressing. Peter Bjärgö spoke about issues of depression and sorrow, but it was felt on a more global scale, similar to the latest Sophia album, but in a much more personal manner.
Animus Retinentia takes us to this more personal place. A time in Peter’s past when things didn’t seem so bleak and depressing. A time when he had great hopes for his future, as well as the future of our world. Its a reflection on these times, through the lens of an adult who knows all too well the terrible state of affairs on our planet. Now in a time after the illusion has been shattered, looking back on childhood happiness can be a great comfort. In this way, Peter Bjärgö taps into that comfort, allowing it to blossom into a full album of music which is equally melancholic and inspirational. The senses of childhood happiness and adulthood depression are both played out masterfully, each being given its room to leave an effect on the listener. The instrumental tracks scattered through the album touch more on that adulthood melancholy, while the lyrics are often living in the memories, or reflecting upon them.
There are a few loop based instrumental tracks which split up the more active tracks. These instrumentals are full of thoughtful and emotional atmosphere. They give the listener an opportunity to reflect upon the lyrical content of the previous track. We are given an opportunity to think back on our own childhoods, times of youth when inspiration could be found in so many things. As for its comparison to the previous album, Peter Bjärgö explains through his social media outlets, “It’s not a sequel to Melancholy, that will happen later, this one is more cinematic and dreamy, reflecting on my childhood, a period when I last remembered I was truly happy.”
The vocals are at an all-time high level of quality. Peter Bjärgö has shed all sense of reservation on Animus Retinentia. He delivers each set of lyrics with a confidence that can’t be denied. There were hints at this development on the last solo album The Architecture of Melancholy, but only now has this become a purveying force throughout the entirety of the album. The delivery is in a deep bass range. It exudes the confidence and melancholic pondering of the album to perfection.
The lyrical content is well thought out and often quite emotional. The track “Transcend Time” for instance, shows the dichotomy between those childhood inspirations and the more depressing developments of adulthood. Lyrics like “… I need the curiosity now, everything was glowing, but the glow has faded, time has come to remind me.” show his inner dilemma, one which is surely relatable to many listeners.
The music on Animus Retinentia, is some of Peter Bjärgö‘s best yet. He manages to bring together a combination of looped elements with gentle synth sections, and his emotionally charged acoustic guitar parts, all coalescing into a warm and full sound. “Where Night Is Eternal” showcases a toned-down approach with a glitchy drum sequence. Then tracks like “From Agony” take a bold approach, again proving that his level of confidence in this style of music is at an all-time high.
As the album reaches its terminus on “Sleep Dep.Loop2” it’s almost as if there are thoughts trying to repeat themselves, while an increasingly present drone pushes forward from the background. The listener is allowed the sensation of trying to remain in this dream state, remembering the lost childhood naivety. While a beeping starts to push into the background, likely an allusion to an alarm clock, slowly bringing the dreamer back to a reality filled with despair and decay. A reality which played itself out full-force on the last solo album. This reality was also the reference point for the last Sophia album, Unclean, which focused on an apocalyptic reality where humanity had finally gone beyond the point of return.
After so many years making music, one would think Peter Bjärgö must be running out of ideas and inspirations. Yet, there is no sign of this. Animus Retinentia as well as Unclean by Sophia have been some of his best work to date. There appears to be no stopping him from continuing with innovations and fulfilling his duties for each project with which he collaborates. Animus Retinentia is a highly recommended album. Any fans of any variety of post-industrial and neoclassical genres should find plenty to love here. Peter Bjärgö has created an album which should have an emotional resonance with a vast number of listeners. For, how many of us truly enjoy this time in history? How many of us miss that childhood passion and naivety? If you’ve ever pondered these questions, Animus Retinentia is the soundtrack to your ponderings." [This is Darkness]
|
2017 |
€13.50 |
|
| BLACK DICE |
Creature Comforts |
CD |
Noch ein heisser Anwärter für den Seltsamkeits-award; super seltsame, surrealistische Hawai-gitarren, lazy beats, elektronische pulses, schwankend & leiernd der Sound, irgendwo befinden sich auch Stimmen (Gesang kann man das nicht nennen), kurzum: undefinierbar, unbewertbar, unergründlich. Einfach klasse schräg.
„Jim O’Rourke hat einmal so boshaft wie zutreffend bemerkt, dass es etwas anderes ist zu improvisieren oder nur improvisierte Musik zu spielen, sprich, sich selbst zu imitieren. Insofern muss man mit Creature Comforts (FATCD32) konstatieren, dass BLACK DICE keine BLACK DICE-Musik spielt, sondern BLACK DICE mit jedem Release neu erfindet. In radikaler Abkehr von der Voodoo-Psychedelic von Miles Of Smiles entfaltet ihre neue CD in unverhofft Miro’scher Heiterkeit eine elektropopig-surreale Skurrilität. Ausser dem Nenner „weird“ scheint die Bandästhetik komplett ausgetauscht. Ein flockiger Cartoon-Leichtsinn kapriolt durch acht Tracks, die aus vielen undichten Ventilen wie Gameboys dudeln und wie R2D2 zwitschern. Es eiert, loopt, wabert und schwip-schwapt auf sämtlichen Synthie-, Chorus- und vor allem Gitarrenspuren, die Percussionabteilung ist dafür weitgehend paralysiert. Das Ganze verhält sich zu Kraut wie Jad Fairs Best Wishes & Half Robot zu Punk. Heftige Dub-Effekte lassen 80s-Elektro-Trash abdriften in Richtung Mondo Exotica 2001 - Odyssee im Kinderzimmer. Vier 1-2-Minuten-Knirpse odradeken um die 6- bis 9-minütigen Freak-Epen „Treetops“, „Creature“ und „Night Flight“ und den viertelstündigen Monolithen „Skeleton“, ein tapsiges Schreckgespenst, durch dessen Rippen Gitarren und Synthies jämmerlich jaulen. Während man vorne ein Mona-Lisa-Lächeln geschenkt bekommt, steigen auf der Rückseite hinter den sieben Bergen Sprechblasen wie Rauchzeichen auf. Genau dazwischen, in der Hirnrisszone, inszenieren BLACK DICE ihr Happening, das die Nerven etlicher Mucker blank legt: „Lärmbelästigung!“ „Hirnmüll“ direkt aus der Klapse... bekloppte Katastrophe für unmusikalische Gefühlsambutierte“... „Musik von und für Nerds.“ (Intro-„Probefahrt“) Köstlich. [BAD ALCHEMY 44]
"This is the official follow-up to their DFA debut CD and Double LP Beaches & Canyons. It finds the band pushing in yet another direction, at once unmistakably Black Dice, and noticeably different. Recorded with Steve Revitte (Liars, Kill Me Tomorrow), the DFA & Nicolas Vernhes (Fisherspooner, Fiery Furnaces). Venturing further into their own psychedelic, increasingly electronic world, Creature Comforts is as expansive, experimental and structurally unique as its predecessor, but there is a new sense of playfulness and accessibility mixed with naïve wonder and not-quite-steady rhythms. It is hazy, dreamy, but they have suddenly emerged as a band with an untouchably original terrain, mixing dub, tropicalia and the entire history of psychedelic rock music into one heady concoction." [press release]
|
2004 |
€14.00 |
|
| BLACK OX ORKESTAR |
Ver Tanzt ? |
LP |
Wer auf „osteuropäische“ Harmonien steht, muss hier zugreifen !! Das BLACK OX ORKESTAR ist ein Bandprojekt mit Musikern der Montrealer Szene von SILVER MOUNT ZION, GODSPEED YOU BLACK EMPOROR und SACKVILLE, das seit 1999 besteht und osteuopäische & jüdische Klezmer-Musik mit Indie-Rock und FreeJazz-Einflüssen verbindet. Lyrics werden auf Jiddisch gesungen. Melancholische Leidenschaft pur!
“Black Ox Orkestar is a Montreal based quartet formed in 1999
The band features:
* Thierry Amar (double-bass) (Silver Mount Zion/ Godspeed You! Black Emperor/ Molasses)
* Jessica Moss (Violin, bass clarinet) (Silver Mount Zion/ Frankie Sparo)
* Gabe Levine (clarinet, guitar) (Sackville)
* Scott Levine Gilmore (vocals, mandolin, cymbalon, drums, ecc)
(Silver Mount Zion)
The Black Ox Orkestar songs filter the traditional Klezmer tunes through punk rock and free jazz, borrowing turkish/balkan/greek idioms. They are a hypnotic blend of Eastern European songbooks along with some traditional klezmer compositions. Scott Levine Gilmore and Gabe Levine also perform in "Le Petit Theatre de l'Absolu" a political theatre and puppet show. They have toured in occupied territories and have performed in Canada and in USA, France and Spain. Nowadays Klezmer music transcends its Jewish folk roots: Balkans and blues, ancient Jewish culture and prayer and history, spirit, punk rock, and jazz all mixed together and enjoyed by people of all cultures. (Klezmer in english means "instrument of song").
The lyrics are in Yiddish and concern past and current political issues. Yiddish was the language that the Eastern European Jews brought with them when they emigrated to America. At the beginning of the 20th century there were many Yiddish language newspapers and an important Yiddish tradition in theatre. Today it's hardly used as an everyday language but has left its impact on on the speech of the American Jews.
The lyrics of the song "Toyte Goyes in Shineln" are by the poet Itzik
Feffer who belonged to the Jewish Anti-Fascist Committee (JAC) and was murdered by Stalin's decree in 1952.
The album is available on CD and 180g vinyl formats, each in lovely
chipboard packaging and both featuring an 8-page booklet. The front cover artwork is an ancient kabbalistic icon and the back cover is original art by Scott Levine Gilmore.
The booklet contains historical and original images, and translation f
the lyrics "Ver Tanzt?" ("Who's dancing?"). On the back of the booklet is a prophetic message from Gershom Schol (one of the most famous researchers of the Jewish mystical tradition and the Kabbala) to Franz Rosenzweig (most influential figure of 20th century European and North American Judaism) dated 26 December 1926.” [press release]
|
2004 |
€16.50 |
|
| |
Ver Tanzt ? |
CD |
Wer auf „osteuropäische“ Harmonien steht, muss hier zugreifen !!
Das BLACK OX ORKESTAR ist ein Bandprojekt mit Musikern der Montrealer Szene von SILVER MOUNT ZION, GODSPEED YOU BLACK EMPOROR und SACKVILLE, das seit 1999 besteht und osteuopäische & jüdische Klezmer-Musik mit Indie-Rock und FreeJazz-Einflüssen verbindet. Lyrics werden auf Jiddisch gesungen. Melancholische Leidenschaft pur!
“Black Ox Orkestar is a Montreal based quartet formed in 1999
The band features:
* Thierry Amar (double-bass) (Silver Mount Zion/ Godspeed You! Black Emperor/ Molasses)
* Jessica Moss (Violin, bass clarinet) (Silver Mount Zion/ Frankie Sparo)
* Gabe Levine (clarinet, guitar) (Sackville)
* Scott Levine Gilmore (vocals, mandolin, cymbalon, drums, ecc)
(Silver Mount Zion)
The Black Ox Orkestar songs filter the traditional Klezmer tunes through punk rock and free jazz, borrowing turkish/balkan/greek idioms. They are a hypnotic blend of Eastern European songbooks along with some traditional klezmer compositions. Scott Levine Gilmore and Gabe Levine also perform in "Le Petit Theatre de l'Absolu" a political theatre and puppet show. They have toured in occupied territories and have performed in Canada and in USA, France and Spain. Nowadays Klezmer music transcends its Jewish folk roots: Balkans and blues, ancient Jewish culture and prayer and history, spirit, punk rock, and jazz all mixed together and enjoyed by people of all cultures. (Klezmer in english means "instrument of song").
The lyrics are in Yiddish and concern past and current political issues. Yiddish was the language that the Eastern European Jews brought with them when they emigrated to America. At the beginning of the 20th century there were many Yiddish language newspapers and an important Yiddish tradition in theatre. Today it's hardly used as an everyday language but has left its impact on on the speech of the American Jews.
The lyrics of the song "Toyte Goyes in Shineln" are by the poet Itzik
Feffer who belonged to the Jewish Anti-Fascist Committee (JAC) and was murdered by Stalin's decree in 1952.
The album is available on CD and 180g vinyl formats, each in lovely
chipboard packaging and both featuring an 8-page booklet. The front cover artwork is an ancient kabbalistic icon and the back cover is original art by Scott Levine Gilmore.
The booklet contains historical and original images, and translation for the lyrics "Ver Tanzt?" ("Who's dancing?"). On the back of the booklet is a prophetic message from Gershom Schol (one of the most famous researchers of the Jewish mystical tradition and the Kabbala) to Franz Rosenzweig (most influential figure of 20th century European and North American Judaism) dated 26 December 1926.” [press release]
|
2004 |
€16.00 |
|
| BLACK SUN PRODUCTIONS |
Im Gegenteil |
mCD |
BLACK SUN PRODUCTIONS beweisen auf dieser 4-track mcd eindrucksvoll, dass sie mehr sind als schwule COIL-Jünger,
elektronisch – rhythmisch – experimentell – philosophisch geprägt und sehr eigenständig klingen ihre Stücke, fantastisch das tribal-hypnotisierende „Das Gegenteil“.
“Best known in some quarters for their collaboration with Coil in some of the band's most iconoclastic live installations and for their epic performance project Plastic Spider Thing, Black Sun Productions' children of darkness are about to release the official follow up to last year's highly acclaimed operettAmorale. Black Sun Productions' Im Gegenteil unveils new material from the forthcoming full length album The Impossibility Of Silence (A Well Hung Monk; God?) as well as a two exclusive non album tracks (Clear Skies & Dark Skies; Das Gegenteil). "It's musick for the Church Of Body. There is a powerful technotic, entrancing pulse that runs through the session dancing between the sacred and the profane. Sometimes there is a strong tribalistic rhythm, at others a granular flicker of the taste of electrickery.
”Darius Akashic, Crooked Stylus"
Written, produced and performed by draZen, Pierce & Massimo. Released by Sheela-Na-Gig Sha-Na Penisring Ning [a sub of DANHUSER Org.] ”Ariot Fleischmann, black-sun-productions.com” [press release]
|
2006 |
€10.00 |
|
| BLACK TO COMM |
Fractal Hair Geometry |
CD |
"Black To Comm is the solo venture of Dekorder label boss Marc Richter. Having released two and a half albums on his own label he is slowly establishing himself as one of the more prolific drone artists out there with a forthcoming album on the American Digitalis label, a collaborative CD with Datashock on Ikuisuus, a 7" on the Irish Trensmat label and a collaboration with Xela in the works.
"Fractal Hair Geometry" is Richter's most refined and original work to date, picking up where the electrifying drone works of his monumental Double-LP left off. Like the last records this album is centered around recordings of a variety of vintage organs. While "Wir können leider..." often featured pure harmonium sounds and spacious recordings of chuch organ and mellotron, the new album opts for a more electronic, effects-laden sound, sending an old Farfisa Compact Deluxe and Casio SK-5 through an armada of analogue & digital effects pedals. The results are massive one-chord drones layered into dense & ecstatic, flickering & pulsating clusters of psychedelic electronic sound. Additional wordless vocal effects, hyperventilating & sizzling drum machines and hypnotic violin and guitar noises make for a hyperactive sound that never stands still even though most of the music is pure drones (sometimes consisting of more than 50 recording layers). Decidedly simple but gorgeous melodies shine through the mist from time to time, making a Black To Comm record always much more accessible than your average drone album.
There's even a heavy 4/4 bass drum smuggled into a track dedicated to the late Leigh Bowery, one of the most enigmatic creative figures of the mid-80's UK club scene (and singer of Minty).
Guests include Jonna Karanka (aka Kuupuu) on piano, Guido Möbius on trumpet and current Black To Comm (live) band members Renate Nikolaus on violin and Ulf Schütte (of Datashock, Aosuke, etc.) adding electronic sounds.
Along the lines of the music, seminal German artist Oliver Ross has created a massive multi-layered neon-coloured collage artwork which is printed on special ultra-heavy cardboard stock." [label info]
"..Chanted vocals, whirring organs, mysterious shimmers, squiggly melodies, buzzing Theremins, electronic glitches, analog synths, wheezing harmoniums, and those are just guesses, cuz just like that museum exhibit, it's difficult to tell what the source sounds are. We also didn't try that hard. It's like trying to peek under the table to see how a magician does a trick. We don't want to know. It's more fun
to get lost in these mysterious sounds. One track even introduces a muted techno throb, and for a brief second it sounds like the weirdest
record Kompakt never released. It's really hard to describe this stuff, which is probably why we like it so much, check out the sound
samples, and hear for yourself!" [Aquarius Records review]
www.dekorder.com
|
2008 |
€13.00 |
|
|
Alphabet 1968 |
CD |
"Marc Richter alias Black To Comm ist kein Newcomer auf dem Feld der elektronischen Musik. Als Kopf des in Hamburg ansässigen Labels Dekorder hat der Musiker und Designer die Musikfans schon mit zahllosen Kuriositäten beglückt, mit seinen eigenen Kompositionen machte er allerdings am meisten Furore. Richter ist ein Pionier auf seinem Gebiet: Mit Bandschleifen, alten Orgeln und einer Flut zufällig gefundener Sounds schuf er einen ganz eigenen, organischen Drone-Sound. Mit "Alphabet 1968" indes bewegt sich Richter eher hin zu klassischen Mustern, hin zu Songs (in Ermangelung eines besseren Begriffs). Kurze Stücke, die für ihn Meilensteine repräsentieren, die ihn wiederum an seine Lieblingsplatten erinnern. So entstanden zehn
atemberaubende Songs, die über 45 Minuten Weltmusik, Techno, Noise, Avantgarde, Ambient und sogar Exotica streifen, die Reverenzen reichen dabei von Moondog über Basic Channel bis zum Soundtrackkomponisten Bernard Herrmann. Jedes Stück ist mit elektrostatischem Radiorauschen unterlegt, das einen durch das Album wie auf einer alten Senderskala wandern lässt. // A sprawling epic of a record from Hamburg's omnipresent Marc Richter.
Marc Richter (aka Black to Comm) is no newcomer to the experimental music scene. As the figurehead of the Hamburg-based Dekorder label, the musician and designer has brought countless oddities to the attention of rabid music fans in the last few years, but it is with his own compositions that he has made the biggest splash. Releasing for a plethora of labels including Digitalis, Trensmat and of course his own imprint, he has pioneered a new, organic drone sub-genre using tape loops, vintage organs and an inexhaustible swamp of found sounds. With this latest album however, it was Richter’s intention to move away from the epic drones he had made his own and into something more ‘classic’.
The mission statement for ‘Alphabet 1968’ was to write an album of ‘songs’ for want of a better word. Short tracks which represented genre points, the milestones which stuck in Richter’s mind when he thought back to his favourite records. What we arrive at is an breathtaking ten track album which, over the course of forty-five minutes, explores world music, techno, noise, avant-garde, ambient music and even exotica. Each track is linked with a loose thread of radio static or environmental sound, dragging you through the album as if tuning in to a stray broadcast or a particularly adventurous mix.
Richter has pieced the album together from hours of recordings made at his studio with home made gamelan, small instruments and loops gathered from a collection of ancient vinyl and 78 records. The scope of the album is admirable but ignoring this it is simply a shockingly arresting collection of experimental oddities, with references ranging from Moondog to Basic Channel by way of the Bernard Herrmann. It’s not hard to fall in love with ‘Alphabet 1968’, far harder would be to place exactly where the record should fit into your collection." [label info]
www.typerecords.com
|
2009 |
€15.00 |
|
| |
same |
do-LP |
"Hamburg’s Marc Richter has been busy since his last Type appearance (2009’s genre-bending and critically acclaimed Alphabet 1968). Aside from helming the prolific Dekorder imprint, he’s put out a number of musical curios, including 2012’s excellent film soundtrack EARTH. Now Richter is back with Alphabet 1968’s proper followup , a sprawling double album pieced together with crumbling samples, vocal snippets and an arsenal of noise generators and filters.
Richter’s material has always been characterized by an air of surrealism, but it’s never been more obvious than on the the pulsing, chattering opener ‘Human Ghidrah’ or in the delirious fractured pop of ‘Hands’. There are real songs in hidden somewhere, but disintegrated by Richter’s sound manipulation techniques and dissolved into soupy extended drone marathons. The centerpiece is undoubtedly ‘Is Nowhere’, which builds slowly over 20 minutes with rumbling organ sounds and buzzing filters, never budging your attention for a second.
Black To Comm is a deeper, more challenging record than its predecessor, but one which repays the patient listener. Richter’s dusty, unique sound has never sounded more well-honed and pointed, and it’s a patchwork of ideas and fragments that only improves over time." [label info]
www.typerecords.com
|
2014 |
€23.50 |
|
| 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 |
|
| BLACKSHAW, JAMES & LUBOMYR MELNYK |
The Watchers |
LP |
"The Watchers is a historic collaboration between Lubomyr Melnyk and James Blackshaw. Both artists are well known as composers but here it is their impovisational skills that are on display. First 200 copies of the LP will ship on blue vinyl. CD version is packaged in a heavy duty digipak.
I first met Lubomyr Melnyk at a festival called Hea Uus Heli in October 2008. We were both scheduled to play that day and I was very excited to see him perform. Before the show I bought several LPs from him and mentioned as much. Lubomyr (more than modest and courteous, as he always is) asked me what I was doing at the festival and I replied that I was also performing at the festival a little later, to which he responded "I'll come and watch you", before being ushered into the hall to play one of the most staggeringly sonorous and beautiful sets I've ever heard. It was overwhelming, full of pathos and I left the hall with those incredible overtones hanging in my ears for hours.
A couple of hours later, I was onstage when I glanced up and saw Lubomyr, true to his word, stood in the audience watching me attentively. I felt incredibly nervous. It's not everyday you get to play for someone who has greatly inspired and influenced your own music. After the show, I packed up my guitar and came out to meet the crowd. The first person who greeted me was Lubomyr: friendly. full of enthusiasm and keen to hear about my music, my processes, the way in which I made music. Yet again, I was overwhelmed - for very different reasons.
"You have invented continuous music for guitar!"
I don't know if that's true or not, but I can't think of an epitaph that would make me prouder.
We also spoke about collaborating that night and via e-mail a while after, but it wasn't until January 2012, shortly after I'd moved back to Hastings, England from Ann Arbor, Michigan and Lubomyr played his first ever show in the UK at Cafe Oto that it came to fruition. John Chantler got in touch, said Lubomyr had a free day after his performance and could I come to London for a day, see what happens? He kindly agreed to record the whole thing.
We all met at the Vortex Jazz Cafe around midday. We set up, Lubomyr at the grand piano, me directly facing him with my 12-string guitar and began. I would retune at random between songs and together we would find interesting chord progressions, hints of melodies and ways in which to weave those immense overtones that Lubomyr is able to generate on the piano with those of my guitar. No more than two takes per song. Improvisation, spontaneous composition, whatever you want to call it. Either way, it truly felt as if the piano and guitar were as one - inseparable, parts of a bigger whole, a means by which for two people to make one sound. It never felt forced and never less than engaging. Lubomyr was always humble, jovial and open to ideas. The whole session lasted six hours.
I'm not a great improviser. I always want to take that raw creative element that the form brings and work upon it, to distill and refine it further. I think Lubomyr feels the same. But there is something about these recordings that would be incredibly difficult to recapture. A small moment in time, feeling perfectly and wonderfully lost within that sound.
I'm honoured.
James Blackshaw, October 2012." [label info]
www.importantrecords.com
|
2013 |
€20.00 |
|
| BLEGVAD, PETER |
Go Figure |
CD |
"After 19 years, Go Figure marks the Peter Blegvad Trio's return to the studio, in supernal form and now a quintet with Karen Mantler and Bob Drake. Peter, John and Chris first met when Henry Cow was touring with Faust, in 1972. Peter was on secondment from his own group Slapp Happy, and in the following year Henry Cow and Slapp Happy merged, making two LPs before they separated again. When John Greaves left Henry Cow in 1976, he joined Peter in New York where they wrote and recorded Kew.Rhone. Peter and John have continued to work together, on-and-off, ever since. After making two solo LPs for the still vaguely experimental Virgin Records, Peter's next LP, Downtime, was made independently by ReR -- and the core players wound up being the Peter Blegvad Trio. Bob Drake first became involved during the second trio recording, Just Woke Up, which he mixed and mastered. Karen joined the trio in 2002 for a festival in Ferrara. Bob's first stage appearance with the band came ten years later, in 2012, at the RIO festival in Carmaux. ReR has been releasing the Blegvad working group's records for 37 years and this is the fourth so far. They don't come easy."
peterblegvad.bandcamp.com/album/go-figure
"Artist, poet, illustrator, philosopher, cartoonist – so broad are Peter Blegvad’s other interests, and so protean his muse, that one sometimes has to wait for years for his attention to turn again to music. But the payoff lies in the way that those other pursuits feed back into his music in the form of songs that exult in their uniqueness. Blegvad is one of pop’s very few “true originals” whose work always bears out that status.
Probably best known for Leviathan, his long-running Independent On Sunday cartoon strip, Blegvad brings a similar level of abstruse conjecture and whimsical wordplay to his lyrics, whether he’s musing, in “Sven”, upon a leathery ancient corpse preserved “in a Finnish fen”, or offering a grim reflection, in “Mind The Gap”, on how a terrorist bomb destroys the collective isolation of Tube travellers: “Blown apart and blown together, now the two of us were one”.
However, it’s not usually that dark: “Too Much” is a jaunty ragtime rumination on excess, slipping from familiar physical indulgence to more abstract realms (“too much sturm, too much drang, too much yin, too much yang”); and in “My Father’s Face”, Blegvad pirouettes on the cusp of whimsy and something more sinister, relating how he once drew his sleeping father, then erased his face. But perhaps his most elegant and amusing aesthetic reflection resides in “Way To Play The Blues”, where he uses John Cage’s epigram “I have nothing to say and I am saying it, and that is poetry as I need it” as inspiration for a (probably apocryphal) tale of the Stones asking Blegvad to help them understand the way to play the blues, a question he denudes of dues, and ultimately of volition.
Blegvad’s band, comprising various Henry Cow alumni and sundry avant-gardists, provides flexible support for his musings, from the sinister cod-reggae shuffle of “Penny Black”, about a cursed stamp, to the more indefinable brew of languid, jazzy raunch-rock conjured to convey the enigmatic villain of “Had To Be Bad”. Elsewhere, there’s an aptly Kevin Ayers-y air to the Provençal tableau “Cote D’Azur”, while “God Detector” adopts a suitably Dylanesque tone for the tale of a man with a machine he claims can trace divinity – for which, of course, he searches in vain amongst humanity.
If there is a unifying theme to the album, it’s probably to be found in the reflections upon dissipation and the futility of ambition in songs such as “Simon At The Stone” and “Winner Came There None” – songs which don’t so much disparage notions of being and doing, as prompt enquiry about the limitless ranges of experience, and their comparative values." [The Independent]
|
2017 |
€13.00 |
|
| BLITZOIDS |
Steeling from helpless children / Look up |
do-CD |
"Old hands will remember those strange LPs imported and distributed by Recommended back in the late 80s. A studio project, audibly influenced by the Residents, but not over-imitative, the Blitzoids mixed concrete- and tape-manipulations, noise, extended playing techniques and found recordings with iterative song-like structures and open architectures. Always interesting, sometimes scattershot, avoiding any obvious style, they moved fast from one idea to the next. At the time, they were pretty much out there on their own, and achieved only limited visibility, so its good to see their work collected and reissued on this double CD." [label info]
"if comparisons must be made, then imagine putting the Los Angeles Free Music Society, Fred Lane, Fred Frith, various field recordings, radio transmissions, and a haunted house sound-effects tape into a blender. After the blender shakes violently and explodes, spraying globules of audio lunacy across the room, you giggle and dance around like a moron. That's what listening to the Blitzoids is like.
Brothers Steve and Chris De Chiara were running a Chicago record store when they started recording with Jim Nickels. Their first LP, 1987's Stealing From Helpless Children, is a work of unbridled invention, lumping together skronky jazz, tape manipulation, funny sounds, spooky textures and low-fidelity melodies. A reliance on traditional song structures doesn't make the band sound at all conventional, but merely confirms their considerable compositional skill.
Each track is a mini-movie for the ears. “Left or Right?” utilizes Donald Duck laughter for a bizarre refrain; ”Try and Stop Us” is a complex sound collage that recalls Evan Parker at one moment, Penderecki at another; ”Middle of Nowhere” shifts from a tribal jam session to an imagined Carl Stalling horror film score. It's all held together with catchy vocals, cheapo synth drums and Chris De Chiara's inspired guitar work, which can echo anything from John Abercrombie to Snakefinger. For uneasy listening, Stealing From Helpless Children is surprisingly listenable.
1990's Look Up is even more adventurous. The raw materials haven't changed—backwards tape and talk-radio excerpts abound—but each track is so densely layered that it takes many listens to absorb it all. The songs are still accessible: the lyrics to “Good Vacation” are worthy of Bob Dylan's best hallucinatory narratives, accompanied by music that is more appropriate than Dylan ever attempted.
Rounding out this reissue are eight bonus cuts, including the band's funniest achievements. “Fire on the Mountain” transforms an old fiddle tune into a hoedown from hell, and it's hard not to crack a smile through mangled versions of “A Summer Place” and “The Witch Doctor.”
The Blitzoids might have worn their influences on their proverbial sleeves, but their music stands on its own. Give them a listen if your tastes run to the left of strange, or if you just want something to listen to while you're getting blitzed.." [Brad Glanden / allaboutjazz.com]
www.rermegacorp.com
|
2006 |
€14.00 |
|
| BLOOD RHYTHMS |
Heuristics |
CD-R |
"One day it dawned on me that tons of material over the last 15 years had sort of grown an organic cohesiveness to it that is suitable to be looked at together, both backward and forward. In 2004, I had a dream about a child going through what could be said of a certain toad; that if you put a toad in a pot of water and slowly boil it, this toad would adapt and survive. If you put a toad in an already boiling pot of water, it would die immediately. In my dream, I saw a child suddenly being immersed in a similar fluid, causing him to grow up immediately. When he did grow up so abruptly, the result was a person with writing all over his body and black tar coming out of his mouth. Like the Empress in the tarot, this child lept forward from virginity to creativity. I made this photo shoot happen with my friend and photographer, Iris B., and I never knew what I was going to do with it. At one point, I thought it would be an exhibition of photography. Eventually, though, it dawned on me to de-saturate and sort of purify the images and use it to frame this material.
This material, ranging from 2000-2015, represents a lot of things I sort of hoped would be on 7 inches or prestigious compilations, or they were criminally under-released, perhaps prematurely. For instance, I went to a piano class at a local community college to learn just one song; "Viper's Drag" by Fats Waller. My final exam was to be able to get through the first page of written music, and I did it, like a gallivanting jalopy and a horse-drawn carriage of maddening, youthful frustration. My version, "Maggot's Drag (Notte Del Casu Marzu)" tells a short horror story of killer flying maggots. It was meant for a "monster music" compilation I was curating, that was more or less sabotaged by a cover artist whom I paid in advance, who didn't deliver for over two years. I got my money back after a fair amount of doin', but the steam I did not.
Also in the picture, is the audio for a performance I did with Right-Eye Rita on 06/06/2006, at a party I curated with Betty DeVoe. It was a ritual performance called "The Stifling Air", supposedly based on some works by Jacques De Molay, Grandmaster of the Knights Templar in the 13th Century. It included a custom made coffin and a nude model, and a king. I always felt it needed to reside somewhere, but only now did it make sense to put it somewhere. I could have produced the piece yesterday.
Some of my early performances exhibited a variant amount of sound structures, with me screaming the words "Remove All Doubt" over it until I felt like my vocal chords were bleeding. Featured here is one such piece, some of my more musical work.
There is also a track, "Mention This", featuring the vocals of Atalee Judy, a woman who was a kind and passionate supporter and friend early on. She'd given me a cassette of a'capella recordings, and I was inspired for weeks to create music to them. In this case, prior to knowing anything really about experimental music, I made music that is still bizarre, even to me now. Screeching synth-cellos and heavily effected broken glass, sampler percussion, among many other things, provided a back-drop for Judy's incredible voice. I once played this track to a man who did sound engineering for radio plays, and he said I'd achieved sounds and dynamic stereo ranges that he wouldn't understand how to do. Maybe he was just being nice.
Another track features Nikola Vasilic, where he and I did another piece for a Halloween compilation, with piano, organ, and lots of samples from horror movies. Yet another track was made by me with harmonica, bass guitar, sampler, vocals, and masochistic microphone abuse. I could go on and on. There is a story to every piece, and it is a diverse listen for sure. It is 60 minutes in duration, and I humbly suggest you give it a try.
SHRINK WRAPPED IN A JEWEL CASE, HIGH QUALITY INSERTS.
https://nopartofit.bandcamp.com
|
2016 |
€10.00 |
|
| |
Civil War |
LP + BOOK |
BLOOD RHYTHMS is an ongoing and constantly morphing collective spearheaded by veteran experimental artist and Chicago native Arvo Zylo. The unit's new LP, CIVIL WAR began its conceptual impetus before its vinyl debut, 2014's ASSEMBLY, which was a layered whale song / locomotive stomp of brass & wind instruments recorded in a meat locker, released in collaboration with RRRECORDS. In 2010, after a few years of makeshift group performances delivering noisy, loop-based industrial drones as a brass ensemble, and inevitably growing to incorporate a series of damaged synth/junk metal outings, the group's official debut was met with live accompaniment from legendary Chicago avant/industrial/gospel giants ONO. With that, the very beginnings of BLOOD RHYTHMS' new LP, CIVIL WAR, were set into motion.
From 2010 to 2016, Zylo exhibited either with BLOOD RHYTHMS or solo, at noise fests, radio stations, or various venues around the country, themes which evolved exponentially. Some of these pieces have been performed live close to fifty times, occasionally with as many as four drummers and a five piece brass section. Words like “cathartic” and “intense” were regularly used to describe the often blisteringly loud affairs-- with contact mic'ed heartbeats, aluminum mic'ed masks, sheet metal, belt sanders, amplified packing tape, and visceral, feedback-laden howls. CIVIL WAR is a studio culmination of nearly ten years of ongoing work; A synthesis of Zylo's main focus, and what has come to be referred to by some as outsider power electronics. The result is something that retains the meticulousness, nuance, and visionary drive of a reclusive studio rat, but without relinquishing the rawness and fortitude of a full group sonic assault.
CIVIL WAR features contributions from Bruce Lamont (Yakuza, Bloodiest, Corrections House), Mike Weis (Zelienople, Kwaidan), Wyatt Howland (Skin Graft, Blackfire, Nevari Butchers), B. Zimimay (T.O.M.B., Dreadlords), Dave Phillips (Schimpfluch Gruppe, Fear of God), Michael Krause (Death Factory), Daniel Burke (Illusion of Safety), and Richard Syska (Secret Means of Escape, Dummy Antenna). It comes on 180 gram vinyl, and there are standard editions in black, or special editions both with opaque red vinyl or metallic silver ripple vinyl. It is housed in a thick gatefold jacket with a full varnish finish, and special editions come with a 44 page art booklet which includes collaborative contributions from collage artist Bradley Kokay, and rogue taxidermist Sarina Brewer. Recorded mainly (initially) at Minbal, Chicago by Brian Sulpizio (Health & Beauty), and mastered by James Plotkin (Khanate, Khlyst, NAMANAX). Seven tracks, 38 minutes. Track A3 not for airplay. Edition of 500 copies: 350 black vinyl (180g), 100 opaque red vinyl (180g), 50 silver ripple vinyl (140g). Silver copies come with a unique piece of art.
No download code. No digital version available
Comes on 180 gram vinyl, in a high quality, glossy gatefold jacket with 44 page (mostly color) art booklet.
https://nopartofit.bandcamp.com/album/civil-war |
2019 |
€35.00 |
|
| BOB DOWNES OPEN MUSIC |
Episodes at 4 am |
CD |
"Bob Downes is most often thought of as a jazz flautist, composer and group leader, but throughout his varied career that has included such diverse musical activity as working with the John Barry Seven and playing on Egg’s second LP, he also had his own fluid conceptual group “Open Music” with principle bass player Barry Guy and drummer Denis Smith. Other players that passed through Open Music include Chris Spedding, Kenny Wheeler, Ray Russell, Ian Carr, Henry Lowther, Harry Beckett, Harry Miller, Barre Phillips, John Stevens and many others. Besides the free jazz and jazz rock influences, Bob Downes has also been involved in much experimental music. After his early 70s releases on Philips, Vertigo and Music For Pleasure there appeared a series of 3 private pressed LPs on his own label Openian that explored this more experimental style. “Episodes at 4 am” is the second in this series and is by far the strangest of the three.
Released in 1974 and commissioned by the Welsh Dance Theatre, it consisted of 10 short duos performed by Wendy Benka on zither, dulcimer and small percussion, and Downes on flutes, various percussion and plenty of electronic manipulation. Nearly every sound on this LP was processed using a variety of shimmering delays, controlled feedback, reverb and speed change to create a haunting and delerious mix of musical styles and atmospheres.
Taken from the master tapes, this 33 minute LP has been expanded for the CD release with 35 minutes of previously unreleased experimental works, mostly from the same period, that cover even more ground than the LP, including one piece made entirely from the sounds of various phone booths on the streets of New York." [label info]
www.stalk.net/paradigm
|
2007 |
€13.00 |
|
| |
It's a Mystery |
CD |
"Bob Downes was a name you’d see everywhere in the late ‘60s/early ‘70s – always up to his neck in something interesting and experimental. Last year I tracked down a composition of his for Alphorns for the Probes series (it will be in No.22) and a few months later he sent me an unreleased recording of his 1970 Dream Journey, a great dance composition that speaks volumes about the general musical climate of the time (it’s for 3 percussionists, two flautists, saxophone, trumpet and bass). I asked if there were more and we soon shuffled this compilation together, which covers a lot of ground: from solo to 65-piece wind band, recording experiments to library music and the years 1970 to 2004. And, of course, Alphorns. Several tracks feature the legendary John Stevens, classical percussionist Derek Hogg and bassist Daryl Runswick. It’s constantly engaging, inventive and a pleasure to listen to; and it’s also a fascinating window onto a (sadly) vanished aesthetic."
|
2017 |
€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 |
|
| |
Ironic Discomfort and Cheesy Manners |
CD |
It took four years.
First we didn\'t dare to do it; to cause a moral disaster.
But here we are, and we want to do it and we don\'t regret anything because the album has just been released.
In 2014 Bocksholm performed live in the outer domains of Boxholm for the first and probably last time.
Performing a mashed up \'Best of\' live-set in front of native clogs audience, amongst inbreeders and the commonly disabled, in the band\'s own natural habitat and backyard, it couldn\'t be anything but success.
Wine and vodka flooded like a deluge in everyones throats, black clogs were thrown on the stage from the very first second, the home-distilling machines went overheated, the women-raping-men rates hit the ceiling of the local ironworks and the ancestor Stenbock himself turned in his grave not only once but six times.
Now you can experience the same, if you dare to buy the Ironic Discomfort And Cheesy Manners.
Somehow this album will become a homage to the cheese manufacturing in Boxholm, that sadly will stop by the end of 2019 because of greedy owners that found a way to save money by moving the manufacturing too another town far away.
After this things will never be the same in Boxholm, a huge loss of cultural identity not only for the town itself but probably also for the Bocksholm project.
At least, there will still be iron.
Maybe... more
credits
released July 10, 2019
Executed live by Peter Andersson and Peter Andersson 2014-2015.
All pieces melted and forged by Peter Andersson and Peter Andersson 1998-2014.
K-14 level mastering by Peter Andersson 2019.
Artwork designed by Peter Andersson based on photos of the remains of Sweden\'s first electric locomotive built in Boxholm 1890.
Tracklist:
1. Scoria 06:40
2. The Horror Of Kisa 07:40
3. Stenbock And His Diciples 06:22
4. Mobil Oil 05:49
5. Forging Hammers 06:54
6. Birath, The Beast Of The Forge 06:16
7. Smiden Utaf Järn Och Stål 03:46
8. Pounding The Perpetual Nail 04:37
9. The Brittle Dross Of Irony 06:45
10. Dairy Exequies 03:17
11. Boxholm Seven Minutes After Death 06:53
12. The Koeven Nightmare 09:56
Track 01-06 recorded on 8 August 2015 at Hulterstad Sounds Festival, Granforsen, Boxholm, Sweden.
Track 07-10 recorded on 17 October 2014 at Machines with Magnets, Pawtucket RI, USA.
Track 11-12 recorded on 29 March 2014 at Wrotycz Records 10 Years Anniversary Festival, Poznan, Poland.
|
2019 |
€13.00 |
|
| BOKANOWSKI, MICHELE |
La Plague |
LP (one-sided) |
"Invisibilia - the new Canti Magnetici serie curated by Andrea Penso - is proud to introduce for the first time on vinyl a composition of Michèle Bokanowski, one of the most poetic composers in the avantgarde european music scene.
Remained unpublished until today, this composition is made as soundtrack for the short film "La Plage" (1992) created by the experimental filmmaker Patrick Bokanowski (husband of Michèle Bokanowski).
"La Plage" is probably the less "concrete" composition made by Michèle Bokanowski. It is pure liquid abstraction in sounds. It is one of those rare compositions really out of time and space.
As expressed by Pip Chodorov, editor of 4 DVDs that contain all the films directed by Patrick Bokanowski, we can feel the works created by Michèle Bokanowski and Patrick Bokanowski are a sort of "spiritual search for the overrunning of perception, and thereby oneself. Searches into abstraction in the real, mysterious blanks that recover the daily".
***
Born into a musical environment, Michèle Bokanowski studied Russian before turning to composition after reading Pierre Schaeffer’s "À la recherche d’une musique concrète".
Training in classical composition with Michel Puig, she followed a course at the Research Department of the ORTF directed by Pierre Schaeffer and was part of a group researching sound synthesis.
She composed mainly for concert and cinema (music of Patrick Bokanowski ’s short films and his two features "L’Ange" and "Un rêve solaire"), and also created music for theatre and dance performances. As a composer of electroacoustic music she skilfully employs techniques of looping, reinjection and montage scripting. Her concrete, evocative and poetic sounds find resonance within an ambiance of mystery in which expressivity is always dominant.
Single sided vinyl, limited edition of 300 copies. Unconventional 4 different cover artwork (75 copies each) on elegant embossed cardboard (2 colours version : Lavanda and Tabacco), one credit sheet inside. All on high quality recycled paper.
|
2019 |
€16.00 |
|
| |
Musiques de Concert |
4 x CD BOX |
This 4 CD box edition collects all concert musics by Michèle Bokanowski, a composer of electroacoustic music living in Paris, France.
Passionate about music from childhood, it wasn’t until later, at the age of 22, after reading À la recherche d’une musique concrète by Pierre Schaeffer, that she decided to study composition. After classical training in harmony, she met Michel Puig, a pupil of René Leibowitz, who taught her writing and analysis upon Schönberg Theory. In 1970, she began a two-year internship at the Research Department of the ORTF under the direction of Pierre Schaeffer. Between 1973 and 1975, she took part in a research group on sound synthesis, studied computer music at the University of Vincennes as well as electronic music with Éliane Radigue. She mainly composes for concert and for cinema (music for Patrick Bokanowski’s short films and for his feature films L’Ange and Un Rêve solaire). She has also composed for television, theatre and dance.
In her music, often infused with a mysterious atmosphere, she uses evocative and poetic concrete sounds, with a mastery of looping and feedback techniques and with an art of cinematic editing.
“Why musique concrète is so attractive to me, as opposed to written music… To write music implies that an idea or a thought is at the origins of the composition and that the final thing is the sound rendering of this thought. The sound is at the end of the line, in other words. Musique concrète is the exact reverse of this process: you start from sounds… sounds that will perhaps lead you to a constructive thought. Here, it’s the material that induces the thought, or the writing. The possibilities of finding or inventing new sounds and, therefore, new forms are tremendous, infinite… Moreover you can use chance to a much greater extent.”
(Excerpt of an interview with Michael Karman for Asymmetry Music Magazine 2007) |
2023 |
€37.00 |
|
| 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 |
|
| BOMIS PRENDIN / MAMA BAER |
Die Zöglinge der Dalaia Lama |
LP |
"Now here is one of those names which I remember seeing in the past, and even have a couple of pieces on that Bain Total compilation LP (from 1980), but honestly don't remember, nor having heard any of their other work. I do remember they released two flexi discs, which I thought was cool. I am quite surprised to see they are still around and apparently they never stopped. This seventh installment of split LPs by Mama Baer and Kommissar Hjuler has five pieces by them, from 1994 to 2005. Bomis Prendin sound very much like boys who never grew up. If you are old enough to remember the late 70s/early 80s were a fertile ground for experimenting with sound, usually from a rock context. Armed with guitars, bass, drums, keyboards but also toys and loose circuits they create what was then called 'no wave', and after thirty years Bomis Prendin still manages to create the same kind of music, like they never learned a bit on their guitar, or notions about melody, rhythm, timbre. A very free sound
- the real anybody can do this. I have no idea if these tracks are very representative of the old sound, but somehow I think they do. In their most recent piece they sound suddenly strangely coherent - hammering away in free rock mode. I was playing some old Metabolist record the other day, and this came close to that. Excellent (re-)discovery. On the other side we have Mama Baer, solo this time. Her work, either solo or Der Kommissar, always leaves me puzzling, to say the least. They seem to be operating very much on the outside of the musical spectrum, with what seems at times therapeutic music. Here however there is one piece that covers the entire side of the record of tape (reel-to-reel) manipulations which sound like an older Nurse With Wound record of manipulated voice (pitched up high) and a woman moaning, far away percussion and microphone abuse. Excellent piece all around. Very thoughtful, so these people aren't that crazy I thought." [FdW/Vital Weekly]
www.psych-kg.de
|
2011 |
€20.00 |
|
| BORGA, ASCANIO |
Bad Ground (soundscapes of utter desolation) |
CD-R |
Great dark drone / isolationism-ambience newcomer from Italy !
"Disquieting homemade isolationism by Ascanio Borga of Rome. "Bad ground" sounds like a biologist´s characterization of what is left behind to rot in the soil by industrial pollution, or confines where something terribly evil has happened, like a death camp. Either way, Borga´s "soundscapes of utter desolation" are no tourist sites. Released last year, this is apparently Borga´s first album in four years, but if a gestation period of that length is necessary for him to conjure up such spine-tingling "untertainment", then I´ll gladly wait until 2010 for the next one. For Bad Ground is a minor masterpiece of hopelessness.
The CDR is comprised of two suites. "The Boundary" would have made a highly serviceable alternative soundtrack to Andrei Tarkovsky´s seminal film "Stalker". As in the movie, one should heed the guide´s warning about crossing into this zone - what lays beyond is frightening, inhuman, and beyond reclamation. The scariest thing is that, despite the environment´s utter lack of fecundity, there does seem to be "life" of some sort dwelling inside the drones - but not life as we know it, or would voluntarily choose to acquaint ourselves with.
That eleven-and-a-half minute piece segues seamlessly into the thirty-five minute title track. Nothing but hostility here, either, both from above and below. With electric guitars, synthesizers and samples, Borga succeeds in turning the very earth we walk upon and the skies that vault above us into a single, leaden, threatening habitat. Almost disconcertingly, the final ten minutes feature soaring guitar chords over a bed of cozy, deeper note clusters, almost a pick-me-up; perhaps there is some kind of redemption, some sanctuary to be found here after all.
An excellent accomplishment and a worthy example of the genre." [Stephen Fruitman / Sonomu]
|
2006 |
€8.00 |
|
|
Peripheral Vision |
CD-R |
Supersoft guitarambience in the way of MIRROR, STARS OF THE LID, endlessly floating dreamscapes; a new work by this italian artist.
"Entirely improvised live in studio on a treated guitar, this album is very quiet and introspective, there is no rhythm at all, no structure, nor even struck notes, everything is distant, reverberated, stratified, smooth and slowly evolving: peripheral vision is a personal exploration of hidden psychological textures of harmony and sound." [label info]
www.ascanioborga.com
|
2007 |
€8.00 |
|
|
Xenomorphic |
CD-R |
"... It seems to me that his music has made a nice step forward. Until now it was all mainly non-rhythmic ambient music in the best Hypnos tradition of heavily treated guitar works, here he adds percussion, windchimes, Japanese carillon, frog guiro, samples, found sounds and objects. Three long pieces and one shorter coda 'Raw Ground' at the end of the release. The music is still largely in the ambient sector, with the addition of pseudo ethnic drumming and careful percussion. Somewhere towards the end of 'Apnea' e-bow guitars come in, adding an extra texture of seventies cosmic music. Still there is nothing new under the sun for Borga, but these new pieces mark an important step forward, the deepening of the sound of Borga. It makes a fuller, richer sound, still with all things beautiful. Borga wants to lull you to sleep, late at night and he does a very fine job at that. " [FdW / Vital Weekly]
"Ascanio Borga is an italian guitarist, electronic musician and independent composer. After years of piano lessons attended during his childhood, he decided to leave formal musical studies to become a self-taught guitarist. He approached rock music and computers, learning to use the famous Amiga 500 Soundtracker. He began to play in various noise-rock bands and to record instrumental pieces for guitar, piano, and sampler, progressively approaching experimental music. In 1997, at the time when he was a student at the Faculty of Cinema, he released a cassette of "lo-fi" electronics entitled "Music For Non-Airports". Soon afterwards he left University to attend a professional course of recording techniques and digital audio, continuing to play in various rock bands for some more time. Later he began to create electronic suites for synthesizers and treated instruments, introducing more personal elements in his compositions, and at the same time he undertook the study of Mathematics. In 2001 he started to publish his music in the form of self-released CD-R albums credited to his own name. In the meantime, having completed his studies, he began to work as a programmer/consultant in the software industry. As an audio technician, besides mixing and mastering his own music, he did mastering work for several other musical productions, and also produced sound effects for various stage plays. Ascanio Borga is also an occasional writer and his personal website includes various movie, music, art reviews and essay about science and philosophy. Among his recently self-released albums we'd like to mention "Inner Geometry" (2001), "Liquid Symmetries" (2002), "Bad Ground" (2006) and "Peripheral Vision" (2007). "Xenomorphic", Ascanio's latest offering on Afe, literally evokes something "with a strange form", something unfamiliar that appears alien to us, defying our logic comprehension, and therefore generating tension, disquietude and even anguish in us, but it represents something terribly vital and dynamic at the same time, something whose possibilities are still unknown. Mixing guitars, bass, synthesizers, samples, percussions, objects, field-recording and even more sources, "Xenomorphic" is probably Ascanio's most evoluted work. With its feet in Ambient territory, the album features a wide range of musical solutions, showcasing the author's will to create a work where appearently distant elements converge and experimentation is put into a more accessible form." [label info]
|
2008 |
€12.00 |
|
|
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 |
|
| |
Raw Science |
CD |
"The common ground beneath these pieces is an experimental approach to the music production process. In a classic situation, recording, mixing and mastering have a mere technical role as they are employed to capture instruments and sounds, add auxiliary effects, balance tracks, to exploit and correct sound problems. The main focus is usually on the first steps: in theory, with an ideal quality recording, subsequent phases (especially mastering) should be reduced to a minimum to preserve the original sounds with maximum fidelity. This implicitly makes the assumption that the creative part of the music (i.e. the one where lies the musical language) is oustide the whole process of music recording and production.
The last assumption does not hold for concrete and other forms of experimental music, including this one. Here, effects and sound manipulation play a primary role, mixing and mastering are part of the composition, active creative phases in which crucial modifications and ideas can be inserted, driving the recording towards completely new and unexpected directions. Every phase of music production is not separate from the others, as the whole process can be repeated several times, in any order, following a non-linear pattern. Creative elements can live in any moment between the initial conception of music until the final master. The composer has an extended palette of tools, including those of the sound engineer, to take deeper control on the sound itself. [from the liner notes]
credits
released September 1, 2016
Recording, mixing & mastering: v2k alchemical laboratory, Rome, 2013-2016
(except some parts of track 1 which were recorded in Berlin)
Ascanio Borga - electric guitar, synthesizers, samples, noises, treatments
Artwork and layout by AB
Cover painting: “Cutting The Stone” by Hieronymus Bosch
Other images: a reproduction of the Alchemical Door (Rome)
© sonic boundaries sb002
"Ascanio Borga is one discreet but continuously creative sound artist coming from Rome and whose objective is to cross various fields of electronic experimentation, from retro-ish cosmic synth excursion to vaporous space ambient and dark droning vibes. Over the years he mainly published self-releases as limited editions now available on his online Bandcamp store. One interesting fact, in 2008 he published one release on Afe Records (founded by pioneering dark ambient artist Andrea Marutti).
As stated in the press release and compared to his early materials Raw Science deliberately embraces a more sonic and claustrophobic sound universe where crackling industrial noises are melted with tripped out and freezing black noise textures. The whole concept and the visual aesthetic brought to the fore are based on antique knowledge, alchemical then hidden sources of sciences, apparently taken from medieval esoterism and the mystical kabbalistic wisdom.
The pieces gathered on this album sound quite hermetic, not easy to approach at first step but with required attention we can appreciate a tremendous gallery of fuzzed out and metallic drone rituals as in the rather industrial “Porta Alchemica” or as in the sonically grimy “Azoth.” Those kind of obsessional and textured noise ambient sequences admit comparison with the corrosive experimental assaults of Constrate or Sigillum S and the buzzing minimalism of Keith Fullerton Whitman. All in all Raw Science is a pleasant curiosity to discover in the noise / harsh psych drone territory."
[Philippe Blache - igloomag]
"With more than three years in the making, Raw Science is one of the most convoluted Borga's works. It contains four extended tracks crafted with careful stratifications, noise manipulations and other heavy sound treatment of various sources. With its unique mixture of dark electronics, guitar drones and concrete/noise elements, Raw Science occupies a musical niche similar to that of Bad Ground and Xenomorphic."
[Sonic Boundaries]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zS3iuxyZndQ
|
2016 |
€10.00 |
|
| BORISOV, ALEXEI |
A Polished Surface of a Table |
CD |
Eine der experimentelleren neuen Veröffentlichungen auf dem Moskauer Label von A. ARTEMIEV kommt von ALEXEI BORISOW.
Zu hören gibt es von ihm sehr komplexe Collagen und unendlich scheinende Überlagerungen aus „everyday sounds“ und atonal-dronigen elektronischen Klängen, Geräuschkaskaden, mutiert-technoides und vieles mehr....
“ A full-length album by Alexei Borisov is a nice thing to hear, if you need a redefinition of the experimental music. Alexei is certainly
one of the Russian artists that's gaining a bigger worldwide recognition lately, he played live at this year's Club Transmediale in Berlin few weeks ago. Before this album and besides the tracks from various compilations (released by N&B Research Digest), I've heard Alexei's live album Before The Evroremont released by N&B
Research Digest / Avanto Festival, and I liked it. I wonder what it means when a track by Alexei Borisov is titled Blue Vinyl? Does it mean he took a blue vinyl and conducted a musical massacre on it? Could be. Alexei likes to use voices in his post-electronic, post-techno, post-experimental, post-post music, one of the best post-musics I've heard. This is done truly amazing in the sixth track Dew, a complete musical slaughter, 4 minutes of the most amusing (and most gentle) sound-killing I've heard recently as a counter-point of the first 15 seconds at the beginning of the track with the appealing vocal of Angela Manukjan. Kill sound before sound kills you? Kid606, take notes. The techno moment is in Zaraza (Volume I), a track that could have been done maybe by Motor, and noone else. Could be because of the national connection. The softly distorted beats make me want to hear Volume II, if there is. The voices are sometimes used to create only noises with them, like in My Voices. Alexei Borisov's music is maybe not the kind of music you'll listen all day every day, but it's sure great to know it exists out there, somewhere, in the outer limit. Great work! Address: http://www.electroshock.ru [BR, Vital Weekly]
|
2004 |
€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 |
|
| BOSETTI, ALESSANDRO |
Il Fiore della Bocca |
CD |
"Produced in 2003 for the sound art department of a german radio station, "Il Fiore della Bocca" is one of the most controversial text sound compositions by Alessandro Bosetti. Composed exclusively with the voices of physically and mentally handicapped people, the piece displays an impressive richness, depth and variety of sound, covering the full range of musical possibilities of the spoken voice; from heavily processed to completely unprocessed, naked and direct. The piece has an ambiguous nature that lies somewhere between an experimental radio play and an extended, powerfully voice driven, noise composition. Bosetti has taken an impressive journey into what is commonly perceived as "disturbing". He has thus engaged in a process of transformation and metamorphosis with both the sound materials and their perceptions in order to develop musical beauty out of these "abnormal" voices.
A long series of conversations, where spastic, aphasic and larynx-less persons are confronted with examples of "deconstructed voice" (in the tradition of experimental music and sound poetry), has been the core of a two year long intimate relationship with those speakers and the starting point of the compositional process. All commentaries, reflections and reactions had been recorded in order to create a new composition with those collected materials. Similar to his other text sound pieces like "African Feedback", "Everyday Objects", "The Listeners", "The Mouth" or "Zwölfzungen", conversations, human interaction, comprehension and misunderstanding are essential to this piece. Since it's premiere on Deutschland Radio Kultur in 2004, it has been performed many times; in presence of the original speakers and in several live multichannel performances which provocated a wide and passionate range of reactions and discussions. "Il Fiore della Bocca", is intended as a piece in the form of a flower, either one of the red roses Claudia is singing about in the middle section of the composition, or a mouth-flower, as the title suggests. Also, a flower close in inspiration to the weathered, ephemeral and dying flowers that Zeami used to describe the quality of Nô theater actors. It's a piece based on love, human interaction and the contemplation of differences which reaches the point where the extremely different becomes the same.
Recorded and composed between September 2002 and August 2003 in Milan and Berlin.
First broadcasted by Deutschland radio Kultur, October 24th, 2003." [label info]
www.rossbin.com/rs025.htm
|
2006 |
€6.00 |
|
| BOUCHARD, CHRISTIAN |
Fractures |
CD |
"Following the completion of his college studies in guitar, he makes his first recording in 1995, Factotum, devoted to the prepared guitar. At around the same time, he collaborates on the production of radio programs where he performs his first electroacoustic attempts. A year later, these compositions will grant him access to the Conservatoire de musique de Montréal. There he completes his master’s degree under Yves Daoust and receives the Prize in Electroacoustic Composition. He receives several prizes in composition: the SOCAN Young Composers Competition (Canada, 1998); the Canadian Electroacoustic Community’s competition Jeu de temps / Times Play (CEC, Canada, 2000); the biennial acousmatic composition competition Métamorphoses 2002 (Brussels, Belgium). His music has been broadcasted in Canada and abroad, but it can also be heard on film and in installations. Christian Bouchard also works as a soundman and sound designer for film and video.
“Angle mort” (2001-02), “Trois miniatures en suite” (1997), “Parcelles 1” (2002-03), “Parcelles 2” (2003)." [label info]
www.empreintesdigitales.com
|
2004 |
€12.00 |
|
| BOURBONESE QUALK |
Hope |
CD |
Bourbonese Qualk were an experimental music group from England who where active from 1979 until 2003. The group were always obsessively and uncompromisingly focused on controlling their work – they ran their own record label, recording studio, tour organisation and music venue (the legendary ‘Ambulance Station’) – they refused to integrate into the commercial music racket turning down publishing deals from major labels – stubbornly opting for total independence. Bourbonese Qualk were also known for their political activism which was formed in the crucible of the 1980s Britain: The Miner’s Strike, Falklands/Malvinas war, Anti-fascism, Thatcherism, Moneterism, squatting/housing, local government corruption, anti-capitalism, and Anarchism – which was further re-enforced by touring Europe and meeting like-minded groups and organisations. They saw their music as a revolutionary cultural force – a belief that radical musical forms must be part of positive social change. Despite this position, the group avoided dogma, cliché and propaganda, preferring to let their audience come to their own conclusions – their work was often ambiguous and directly critical of cynical power-politics of any colour – often irritating members of the traditional ‘organised left’. In 1984 Bourbonese Qualk occupied a large empty building on the Old Kent Road in South London which they turned into a base for their activities and a co-operative for artists, musicians and writers as well as a centre for radical political activism – specifically as a co-ordinating centre for the ‘Stop The City’ anti-capitalist riots of 1984-1986. They never recorded in a ‘proper’ studio (not that they could ever afford to), choosing instead to work with their own extremely basic equipment (at a time when home studios were very unusual – the unique raw sound of these recordings is the result of their choice – which now, ironically, is in vodue due perhaps to the overwhelming obliquity of ‘clean’ audio digital production tools. If Bourbonese Qualk have a legacy, it is that ‘culture’ should be reclaimed, re-defined and owned by the people, wherever they are, however small and not by the state or the market and that ‘culture’ is a vital vehicle for debate and radical change.Hope was the group'ssecond long player, released on their own Recloose Organisation label in 1984. It features Simon Crab, Julian Gilbert and Steven Tanza. It's a masterpiece of early DIY Electronic/Industrial music and is available on CD for the first time now. Full tracklist: 1. Erector 2. Sunset Sex 3. Invocation 4. Cold Blood 5. Headstop 6. Mission England 7. Dereliction 8. Black Madonna 9. Gag 10. Something In The Air 11. There Is No Night 12. Exposure 13. Waves 14. Lost Time. Price: € 17,-/copy incl. worldwide shipping.
www.klanggalerie.com/gg317
|
2020 |
€15.00 |
|
| |
Bourbonese Qualk |
CD |
Bourbonese Qualk were an experimental music group from England who where active from 1979 until 2003. The group were always obsessively and uncompromisingly focused on controlling their work – they ran their own record label, recording studio, tour organisation and music venue (the legendary ‘Ambulance Station’) – they refused to integrate into the commercial music racket turning down publishing deals from major labels – stubbornly opting for total independence. Bourbonese Qualk were also known for their political activism which was formed in the crucible of the 1980s Britain: The Miner’s Strike, Falklands/Malvinas war, Anti-fascism, Thatcherism, Moneterism, squatting/housing, local government corruption, anti-capitalism, and Anarchism – which was further re-enforced by touring Europe and meeting like-minded groups and organisations. They saw their music as a revolutionary cultural force – a belief that radical musical forms must be part of positive social change. Despite this position, the group avoided dogma, cliché and propaganda, preferring to let their audience come to their own conclusions – their work was often ambiguous and directly critical of cynical power-politics of any colour – often irritating members of the traditional ‘organised left’. In 1984 Bourbonese Qualk occupied a large empty building on the Old Kent Road in South London which they turned into a base for their activities and a co-operative for artists, musicians and writers as well as a centre for radical political activism – specifically as a co-ordinating centre for the ‘Stop The City’ anti-capitalist riots of 1984-1986. They never recorded in a ‘proper’ studio (not that they could ever afford to), choosing instead to work with their own extremely basic equipment (at a time when home studios were very unusual – the unique raw sound of these recordings is the result of their choice – which now, ironically, is in vodue due perhaps to the overwhelming obliquity of ‘clean’ audio digital production tools. If Bourbonese Qualk have a legacy, it is that ‘culture’ should be reclaimed, re-defined and owned by the people, wherever they are, however small and not by the state or the market and that ‘culture’ is a vital vehicle for debate and radical change. BQ was the band's fifth album and was originally released on New International Recordings in 1987. It was recorded by the band's core members Simon Crab and Steven Tanza, the latter leaving the band after the recording of the album to form his own project The State. Full tracklist: 1. Skin Deep 2. On Your Knees 3. Dream Decade 4. Untitled 5. Black And Blues 6. Pipe Dreams 7. Workover 8. Shock Corridor 9. Sweat It Out 10. Dummy-Run 11. C2V 12. Obsession 13. This Is The Enemy 14. Mean Street 15. Always There 16. New Jerusalem 17. Forget 18. Lullaby
https://www.klanggalerie.com/gg414
|
2022 |
€15.00 |
|
| BRADLEY, PAUL |
Pastandpresentcollide |
CD |
A very soft and delicate one-tracker (56+ minutes), mellow like a warm breeze, but then strange voices are entering the drone-fields from the very below...
"There is no escape, grainy snapshots constantly replaying in our heads. It is futile, our every action/reaction, decision, choice, it is who we are, it is what we will become. An endless loop in our minds, it is always with us. Past and present... Brand new drone suite by Paul Bradley. Sound material collected over the years from different sources." [label info]
|
2006 |
€14.00 |
|
| |
Mas Memorias Extranjeras (2) |
CD |
"...At the basis of all Paul Bradley music is the field recording. After that Bradley manipulates the material until is a stretched out piece of drone music and the original source recordings have disappeared. That's why in the early days we thought it was a bunch of synthesizers. However for 'Memories Extranjeras' he has these recordings made in Spain, and he by and large does the thing he always does best but there is a slight difference. The original field recordings are here and there to be heard: at one point the rhythms of a marching band arrive out of a mass of sound and sounded like an odd counterpoint in this music. On other spots we hear the crowd cheering or talking in a reverbing hallway. This 'revealing' of sources is a quite nice new feature in this music. It doesn't add a whole new perspective, nor does it break the good flow in this work, but at the same time, you feel that Bradley is slowly shifting interest towards new paths. I wouldn't be surprised if he switches over one day and reduces the electronic processing in favor of the pure field recording. But that's all for later. For now, Bradley added another fine work of drone music to his already nice discography." [FdW / Vital Weekly]
www.alluvialrecordings.com
|
2008 |
€10.00 |
|
| BRANCA, GLENN |
Symphony No. 1 |
CD |
BRANCA’s erste Symphonie erschien 1981 – ein Meilenstein des monumentalen Gitarren-Orchester-Minimalismus! Reine archaische Klänge & Rhythmen von ehrfurchtseinflössender Grösse & mit unglaublichen Spannungsbögen!
"Mr. Branca's music is an aural hurricane. He has created perhaps the most impressive wall of sound yet heard."[Robert Palmer, New York Times, November 19, 1981]
"Symphony No. 1 alternates between relentless thundering guitar chords and primal rhythmic pounding. As instrumental layers build, overtones clash to produce melodies of their own and can trick the listener into hearing instruments that are not there." [Trouser Press Record Guide]
|
2000 |
€14.00 |
|
| |
Symphony # 5: Describing Planes of an Expanding Hypersphere |
CD |
" Recorded in 1984 but held up in a post-production stasis until now, this is music for 5 guitars, mallet guitar, violin, drums, bass, keyboards, that is being touted as the "most dense, cacophonous Branca symphony yet." "Glenn's music gets quite often inaccurately described as wall-of-sound/noise/guitars/whatever. A wall exists for the purpose of containment. 'Symphony No. 5' is expansive beyond limits, smashing the wall (at least sonically) between this dimension & all others. There is quite audibly the garblings of the voices of alien intelligences banging at the doors of our world as we dream of theirs."
[label info]
www.atavistic.com
|
1996 |
€14.00 |
|
| BRAZINSKIS, RIHARDS & RAITIS UPENS |
Aldaris |
CD |
"Filled with ethno-grief and admiration at the same time, “Aldaris” is a mental time travel back to such a mighty and noble age in Riga when the factories rumbled, stone houses rose up one after another and the whole city rapidly turned from a fusty medieval fortress into the modern layout of the city we still live in. It’s an adoration of a great socially economical prosperity which existed not so long ago, but quite unbelievable from the current perspective.
The historical factory of the beer brewery Aldaris (The Brewmaster in Latvian) had its inception around the year 1865. It’ a living monument of brick architecture of the industrial era which preserves and silently retells the Latvian land’s legacy of the past 150 years. Nowadays this total glory stands contrastingly in a midst of a quite humble and remote outskirt named Sarkandaugava (Red river Daugava in Latvian).
The whole territory of the factory is organized in quarters of buildings – very characteristic style of that time. Although many of the original buildings has been rebuilt or even demolished, the common look remains largely intact. The specific building we made our recordings in was neglected since 1976 till the renovation started in 2014.
During the repairing period we had the luck to freely interact with the old beer kettles made in year 1938 which now are part of Aldaris beer museum located there. Also we recorded a beer brewing process in the same building and surrounding atmospheres in the whole area. Recordings were made in several stages with the last and most extensive session hold on March 1, 2015 and thus precisely matching the release date of this CD.
As far as we’re concerned this should be the first beer related work in the world of field recording based audio expressions. And it’s an honor it’s hosted in such an important country in beer culture as Belgium. Enjoy!" [Rihards Brazinskis]
|
2017 |
€14.00 |
|
| BRESCHAND, HELENE |
Les Incarnes |
LP |
"New solo recorded in Paris, December 2013. Harp, acoustic and electric, voice. 'Hélène Breschand demonstrating her readiness to deconstruct her instrument's identity...'." [Julian Cowley THE WIRE]
www.dautrescordes.com
"Hélène Breschand plays her harp in as wide a variety of ways as is possible to imagine (and some which might be less obvious), at times sounding like she is letting rip in an electric guitar, prepared piano, zither and effects pedals all simultaneously. What it doesn’t really sound like is the limpid waftings of angels serenading the hosts of heaven, unless said host happens to be in a very avant-garde state of mind at the time. As side A draws to a melancholic close, it plinks, bends and twangs with softly swerving resonances and reverberations, plus the occasional whack of the harp’s frame for good measure.
Side B opens with notes held in soft tension, Breschand’s breath becoming more audible among slow accretions of metal strings swept and slung in a slow progress while she brings forth a long drawn-out song composed more of emotional intonations than of individually discernible words. The whole is delivered initially with echoes of the stately grace of a koto-accompanied Noh, though the piece eventually dissolves into reflective sweeps of panning delay and the arrival of harsher effects and discordances.. The way in which Breschand makes the harp resonate like a cello or violin is exceptional, and as it buzzes and shimmers into tightly-controlled flurries of feedback and reverb, the booming finale of Les Incarnés is delivered in gathering clusters of remarkable intensity.
This is meditative music, but not the kind full of new age vapidity; rather it is the sound of a musician exploring and stretching the boundaries of her instrument with a deep concentration. Her (presumably) furrowed brow and the evident rapt attention paid to the sounds she is making is audibly transmitted directly to the listener; and is a joy to be swept up by and absorbed into."
[Richard Fontenoy/FREQ]
"The harp is not an instrument we hear on a daily basis, here at the weekly HQ, but of course there are some players in this field, Rhodri Davies for instance is quite active. I never heard of Helene Breschand, who works from contemporary music to jazz, both solo as well as a chamber musician, including improvisation, musical theatre and visual arts. She has performed works by Luciano Berio, Emmanuel Nunes, Yoshihisa Taira, David Toop and Christian Marclay and has founded the group Laborintus. Both pieces on this new record are called 'Les Incarnes'. These pieces have hardly anything to do with jazz or contemporary music, unless of course radically sparse improvisation is what you call contemporary and/or jazz. She plays electric and acoustic harp and uses her voice and both pieces are excellent in a way that these are very intense, quiet most of the times but with a lot tension underneath. She uses a delay pedal occasionally and strums her instrument, bows it, plucks it and uses her voice in pretty much the same way. Not to accompany her, but to create something that fits her unworldly playing of the harp. On the B-side she bends the harp to go a bit more extreme levels and even mildly distorted, but here too it remains to have a certain austerity. Excellent record!" [FdW/Vital Weekly]
|
2014 |
€18.00 |
|
| BRIDLE WIRE |
Damper String |
mCD-R |
Einer unserer Favouriten von den vielen neuen Namen auf SCARCELIGHT ist diese kleine mCD mit einem fabulösen One-Tracker, der sich aus sphärischen Drones in monumentale, später in noisig-collagenhafte Höhen aufschwingt. TIP !
“One monolithic drone piece built entirely from samples of pianos. Who the hell knows what is really going behind the music with this one. What we do know is that Thaniel Lee (who is Bridle Wire) is a talented visual artist from New Albany, IN. who has crafted a devastingly beautiful noise track. Like Glenn Branca dipped in a digital fire.“ [label info]
“...[N]ew to me is Bridle Wire, aka Thaniel Lee, from New Albany, IN. His work was entirely constructed from using piano sounds samples. You surely heard that tune before, but Bridle Wire is a man who loves to layer his sounds ad infinitum. At various speeds these sounds drop in and out and maybe there is a moment when you hear just a few layers, overall it's a densely layered drone noise piece with classical references, especially related to the New York scene around Glenn Branca and Sonic Youth's side projects. Quite scary but nice indeed.”
[FdW / Vital Weekly]
|
2005 |
€5.00 |
|
| BRIGHTER DEATH NOW |
Breaking down Nihil-Live |
do-CD |
"Der Angriff and Indiestate Distribution proudly present a very special 2CD release of one of the most influential and famous power electronics projects in the world, a favourite child of Cold Meat Industry mastermind Roger Karmanik - Brighter Death Now. Recorded live during short Russian tour made in September 2009, it is unique since the lineup was made of Russian artists and only Roger himself was a part of the common European live incarnation of BDN. The persons behind Anthesteria and LamiaVox have joined him in Moscow while the guys from Bardoseneticube and 414 were together with him on stage in St.Petersburg. The basic parts of the tracks have been sent to them all in advance, so they have prepared their own vision of this material, thus it was nothing like a spontaneous improvisation or jam-session, but pure conceived and well-organized collaboration. Both shows have been recorded on a multi-channel devices, then carefully mixed and mastered, so the final quality is close to the studio one without losing any bit of the raw energy of live performance. The result is a very fresh and unexpected look on the well-known BDN compositions such as "Innerwar", “PayDay” and “Testing” which should be interested not only for devoted followers of the project but for the wider audience of power electronics / death industrial fans. The real gem in our roster, not to be missed! The release is limited to 450 copies and comes in a special embossed foldout envelope with cardboard inner sleeves.
CD 1: MOSCOW (24-09-2009): Innerwar / Oh what a night / Payday / I wanna die / Destroy / I hate you
CD 2: SAINT-PETERSBURG (28-09-2009): First floor / Testing / Leave me alone / Dödsambient / There is nothing left in this world / Female blood" [label info]
|
2011 |
€18.00 |
|
|
All too bad, bad to All |
LP |
"The latest BDN comes through Tesco. It looks like this is the first cooperation between both industrial dinosaurs.
“All Too Bad” starts with a noisy piece of music, not the “death industrial” style of Karmaniks project. This already returns in the second track, which has a throbbing rhythm and far away distorted vocals.
Karmanik seems to have wanted to lay more stress on the noisy side of the project this time, as the following tracks are much more in a noise direction than death industrial. Usually there is some sort of industrial rhythm in the background though.
“All Too Bad” actually is not all that bad. Perhaps a bit short, but apparently I can stand the noise side of BDN better today than I used to. Perhaps I should start listening to older material." [Gangleri]
|
2022 |
€28.50 |
|
| |
Everything is Gonna' be Allright |
10inch |
Brighter Death Now – Everything is gonna‘ be alright, 10″ LE500 clear vinyl +DDC 23,-
limited edition 500 copies clear vinyl
The Rule is: No Rule
4track 10″ vinyl
Recorded 2018-2021 by Karmanik
Tracklist
I tell the truth 6:33
Prepared for life 4:40
There is a rule 6:18
Love hard 4:52
https://tescogermany.bandcamp.com/album/everything-is-gonna-be-alright
|
2022 |
€25.00 |
|
| BROWN, HANNIS |
Severe Insomnia |
CD |
"Severe Insomnia, the second release by New York-based experimental composer Hannis Brown and his first album for Lumberton Trading Company, is a spine-chilling and unpredictable rollercoaster-ride of a listen. The 11 instrumental tracks run the gamut from musique-concrete tape collages and electroacoustic composition to works for chamber ensembles, orchestra, and solo prepared guitar. Inspired by the meandering and disjunct images that manifest themselves on the backs of eyelids during bouts of insomnia, the music is charged with an instability marked by atonal explosions of saxophones, sedate interludes of electronic and orchestral textures, and nightmarish climaxes of tone clusters. Each piece creates a unique sonic space while contributing to an overarching theme of somnipathy—the anguished screams of “Face Down At Twilight,” the chopped found sounds of “Alice’s Attic,” the churning orchestral textures of “Furies.” Incorporating the microtonal orchestrations of Pendereki and Ligeti with the electro-acoustic spatial compositions of Edgar Varese and frenzied free jazz of Charles Mingus, Severe Insomnia is colored with unorthodox textures and orchestrations. Violins gliss through streams of broken harmonics; tapped beer bottles, spinning coins, and metal garbage cans scraped with paper clips serve as percussion behind the sounds of children’s voices and spiraling woodwind clusters. Strings oscillate slowly in and out of phase with one another; hyperventilating breathing exercises cloaks muddled trumpet and flute.The result is a unique and unsettling suite of compositions: a textural concept work that pushes you to the depths of your subconscious and hold you there. Limited to 500, with the first 25 copies in special hand-painted glass packaging (only available via retail directly from LTCo). Out on 31/01/11." [label info]
www.lumberton-trading.com
|
2011 |
€13.00 |
|
| 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 |
|
|
Enola |
mCD-R |
"Does BRUME / christian renou really need an introduction? active for nearly 30 years, he's now considered as one of the french masters of musique concrete. having released more than 100 releases on many international labels (there are too many to name a few) on many different formats, he's back to taâlem for his third release, after one under his own name in 2007 ("gone with the wound") and another one under a mysterious alias (try to find which one it was!).
BRUME / c.renou: voices, taped voices, tapes, electronics, cymbals, small gong, big metal plates & tubes...
comp./rec./mix. at BRUME rec, spring 2014
"humanity is a reduction of a great hight bones loaf onto which i'm walking on. that's history!"
photography: delphine ancelle-b." [label info / credits]
www.taalem.com
www.taalem.com
|
2015 |
€5.00 |
|
| |
La Violence du Neant |
CD |
Long existing project of famous French composer Christian Renou, operating between the boundaries of musique concrète, sound collage and industrial noise.
His latest full work dated from 2019 ('The Rusty Seeds' - LP 100 cps on EE Tapes).
Here is his brand-new opus, a magnificent one-tracker (69 mins!) recorded and finished between 2020-2022.
Voice manipulations, percussive fireworks, unsettling atmospheres, eerie passages etc, it's all there and more.
This could be Heaven or this could be Hell!
Filed under: abstract, electroacoustic, experimental, field recording…
Listen and order here (CD + DL):
https://eetapes.bandcamp.com/album/la-violence-du-n-ant
"We rarely find a quote from Joseph Goebbels on a record cover, something about a repeated lie becoming a reality. I believe the quote here is not an excellent translation, but alas. It might also not be from Goebbels. So, there you go, with things being untrue. The title of Brume's latest work translates as 'The violence of the
void' if Google Translate works as it could be. Brume is the long-standing project of Christian Renou. His first cassette is from 1985, and he has been active ever since, but he has periods of fewer activities. The single piece was recorded from 2020 to 2022 using reel-to-reel tapes, cassettes, field recording (bunker acoustic; maybe that means recording inside a bunker?), DIY wind instruments, percussion, metal percussion, electronic toys, voice, and a three-string guitar. Well, 'etc.' implies there is more. Even when the CD has a single, seventy-minute piece of music, the cover has twelve titles, and it's hard to say where one begins and the other stops. I have no idea why that is, and there are clear points with very few sounds, which might indicate the start of the next. Why not separate tracks, I wonder? I always hear Brume as the music project with very little silence. Sure, there is some between the various segments, but once the music is there, something is always happening.
One of the musical changes, so it seems, is that Brume plays somewhat less abstract music and works a bit more on melody and structure. It's not that he now plays pop music, but at some point, Renou might be singing; if it is his voice, we hear. The pieces are pretty diverse, but it is a very coherent album. Deep bass sounds, neatly processed field recordings, carefully placed voices, bowed instruments, atmospheric soundscapes and looped percussion. At times, dramatic music shifts back and forth, but not humourless. High-quality music, lasting over an hour and never once leaping into boredom; I never expect Brume to do that. Another consistent landmark of quality." (FdW)
|
2023 |
€13.00 |
|
| BRUYNDONCKX, JAN |
Rails and other Tracks |
LP |
First ever release of concrete and electronic collage works by Belgian underground sound explorer Jan Bruyndonckx. This album contains autonomous compositions, music for film and documentary all independently recorded in his private studio between 1958 and 1965.
A small collection of adventurous and mysterious sound evocations with text/poetry (Paul De Vree) recited by Julien Schoenaerts.
https://lasciedoree.be/shop/lp/jan-bruyndonckx-rails-and-other-tracks-lp/
"Metaphon’s guided tour of Belgian avant garde crypts leads to a mind-blowing first ever showcase of Jan Bruyndonckx 1958-65 autonomous compositions, plus concrète and electronic works for film and documentary - a 100% must-check for early electronics heads, from Henry and Schaffer at the GRMC, to Tod Dockstader in Hollywood.
Identifying another hole in the history books of experimental music, ‘Rails and Other Tracks’ yields an overdue insight to Jan Bruyndonckx’ independent work at a private studio separate to the usual academies and conservatoires. Like a Belgian parallel to the pioneers of the GRMC in Paris, or more acutely the cartoonist-turned-concrète innovator Tod Dockstader in Hollywood, Bruyndonckx similarly worked closely with moving image during the same years, and its not hard to hear a visual quality to his own works, which form a brilliantly peculiar and proto-psychedelic world unto themselves in this collection. We’d wager one will only be left scratching their head not just at the music, but also the fact this gear has remained out of earshot for so long, excepting a couple of compilation appearances with Alga Marghen and Ultra Eczema many years ago.
Tapping into something of an enduring Belgian obsession with trains (as evidenced in recent aces by Ann Eysermans and Stroom’s Nosedrip), Bruyndonckx opening piece ‘Rails’ (1958) feels like a wilder, almost lysergic answer to Pierre Schaeffer’s 1948 locomotion study ‘Études aux chemins de fer’, and sets the tone for an utterly immersive dive into his work over the proceeding years. Considering the intensely laborious process of constructing concrète sound back then, his 10 minute piece ‘Diamant’ is hugely impressive not least for its duration, but also the vivid imagination at work within, while ‘Amen’ (1962) genuinely dropped our jaws with its uncannily prescient elision of screwed noir jazz samples and ‘Fiorucci’-esque vocal cut-ups - seriously what the actual fuck‽ Likewise his ‘Untitled’ work pre-echoes soundtracks to Eraserhead and La Jetée, and there’s a properly poetic sense of license to ‘Evanaaste’ (1963) with its Paul De Vree text recited by Julien Schoenarts over a more daydreamy-bucolic variant, whereas the cut-up vox of ‘Variaties’ (1960) is better compared with a Burroughs’ approach, and then there’s the avant Hanna Berberian animation workshop madness of ‘De Geometrische Eend’ (1965) to utterly polish you off." [Boomkat] |
2022 |
€22.00 |
|
| BU.D.D.A. |
All Der Guten Dinge Drei |
CD |
by BU.D.D.A.
Bu.d.d.A. - „Bund des dritten Auges“ is a fairly new project involving experimental musicians Sascha Stadlmeier (EMERGE, attenuation circuit Records) and Chris Sigdell (Leaden Fumes (ex-Phased), b°tong) and which plays meditative ambient drones. Sometimes they play with a guest musician, and sometimes not. For those who need names, it may sound like Troum meets Earth together with Eno… but in reality Bu.d.d.A. builds on the legacy of German industrial band NID (1995-2005), who Chris was a member of, and which released a post-humous CD on Auf Abwegen (Asmus Tietchens, etc.).
---
Chris Sigdell aka B°tong (electronics, samples, guitar) and Sascha Stadlmeier aka EMERGE (electronics, samples, voice), two of the most prolific exponents of the European post-industrial underground scene, have teamed up to form a new project which is destined to include varying guests. The punning project name, which pokes fun at the more esoteric tendencies in the scene (“Bund des dritten Auges” translates as “League of the third eye”), already hints at the fact that there is a third party involved. On this first release, which came out of a 2018 recording session at Màgia Roja in Barcelona, the third member is Dieter Mauson (electronics).
Both Sigdell and Stadlmeier have long been known as exponents of “dark” ambient, and in this collaborative project, they are both at the height of their game as far as deep, brooding textures and reverberating metallic clangs are concerned. The immersive soundscapes, abstract yet cinematic in their ominously sustained (dis-) harmonies, are punctuated, however, by subliminally throbbing microrhythms. Analogue and digital sounds interweave, and while the oceanic drones clearly pay tribute to the “industrial” legacy of acts such as Lustmord and Zoviet France, the occasional digital glitch connects the sound to the present era, where even “industrial” production is no longer only about “metal on metal,” but has become increasingly digital in itself. However, Bu.d.d.A. are clearly less interested in social commentary or the rhetoric of transgression that underpins so much “industrial music,” but rather in the fascination of the sound-in-itself. This is made pretty clear not only by the jokey project name, but also by the mock-provocative, absurdist track titles strongly reminiscent of their peers Feine Trinker bei Pinkels daheim (with members of which Sigdell used to play in Ni?): “Trommelfellatio” (phonetic pun, something like “Ear-drum-sticky blow job”), “Magischer Rochentanz” (Magic [Manta] Ray Dance), and “Menopausenmassaker” (Menopausal massacre).
www.attenuationcircuit.de/releases/36/bu.d.d.a.-all-der-guten-dinge-drei
|
2019 |
€10.00 |
|
| 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 |
|
| BUDD, HAROLD / AKIRA RABELAIS |
Avalon Sutra |
do-CD |
"Harold Budd at his very best, coupled with an extra disc featuring a 70 minute re-working by Akira Rabelais. A timeless classic on David Sylvian's Samdhisound label.
It's hard to over-estimate the contribution Harold Budd has made to modern music, his seemingly effortless take on minimalism and ambience imbuing this often academic genre with all the warmth and humility so often missing from the work of his contemporaries. Best known for his collaborations with Brian Eno and the Cocteau Twins' Robin Guthrie, Budd here delivers 14 immensely moving pieces, strewn with Piano cascades and panoramic soundscapes, drifting off into sublime, almost unbearable reflection.
It's a theme that's further developed with the second of the two cd's here, featuring a 70 minute re-working of Budd's work by the remarkable Akira Rabelais: a breathless, beautiful tapestry of midnight strings and echoes of lost piano taking time to unravel, eventually displaying all the warmth and intimacy Budd has spent a musical lifetime striving to perfect."
"On learning that Avalon Sutra will be Harold Budd’s last ever recording, I didn’t know whether to treat this release with a
sensation of happiness or gloom . It seems hard to believe that after 30 years of composing and releasing CD’s, this demi-god
of ambient music will no longer be enlightening us with more of his beautifully crafted pearls; one can only hope that Budd will
reconsider sharing his considerable talent for us all to appreciate.
Armed with this knowledge, it would be easy to write a review that strings superlative after superlative together in Budd's
honour, but the fact is, after you’ve spent a week listening to Avalon Sutra, there is little more you can do except truthfully
recognise what is staring you plum in the face; that from the day Budd released Pavilion Of Dreams in 1978, he never lost his
touch.
Still, there can be no more fitting an epilogue to Budd’s career than Avalon Sutra - 14 tracks of contemplative, blissful, ambient,
melancholy beauty, with a bonus disc, titled As Long As I Can Hold My Breath, that features an hour-long arrangement of
Budd’s work from LA-based composer Akira Rabelais - with additional production from David Sylvian.
From the haunting synthesized opening of Arabesque, featuring John Gibson’s Sopranino sax and Budd’s trademark piano
sprinkles, to the heartbreaking beauty of Budd’s own final piano-treated legacy – the closing As Long As I Can Hold My Breath,
this album is nothing short of phenomenal, and without doubt one of his greatest works to date.
Other than the sumptuous, meditative warmth of the opening track, as soon as the following It’s Steeper Near The Roses (for
David Sylvian) opens, you realise you’re in for a treat, as the painfully bittersweet violin and string arrangements envelope you in
a warmly secular cocoon. Budd then forges his way through a stunning collection of Autumnal compositions, featuring a variety
of moods that range from the achingly sad, to the medatively reflective and upliftingly beautiful, aided by a string of session
musicians (John Gibson, James Sitterly, Peter Kent, John Acevedo, Marston Smith) on saxophone, violin and cello.
Most artists end the career on a low, virtually none will end it on anything as highly creative as this. Don’t miss Budd at his best,
on stunning ambient tracks such as Little Heart and Chrysalis Nu, even his song titles carry emotion – A Walk In The Park With
Nancy (In Memory). I could go on and on trying to describe this album, but words cannot always accurately do justice to music
of such quality and depth. All I will say is that there isn’t a single wasted note on Avalon Sutra.
In a world where backslapping acclaim is over-congratulatively thrown around like breadcrumbs to pidgeons, Budd stands alone
as a class act that truly merits every plaudit handed to him. His music will be missed - in the same way that we miss the autumn
in summer and the spring in winter." [Barcode Review] |
2018 |
€18.00 |
|
| BURIAL CHAMBER TRIO |
Wvrm |
pic-10 |
ONLY VINYL IS REAL! Erst einmal fällt die beeindruckende Cover-Artwork von SELDON HUNT auf, zusätzlich zum SPLATTER-igen picture-vinyl gibt es noch gold & schwarz bedruckte klare Inlays, sehr passend zum dem unglaublichen tief-morastigen Sumpf-Bass-Drones die hier erzeugt werden, man meint die hohe Lautstärke mit denen hier die Verstärker in Schwingung versetzt wurden immer noch zu spüren, alles steht kurz vor dem ZERBERSTEN, und irgendwo da drin in diesen tiefen Feedbacks ist eine menschlichähnliche Gestalt die ächzt & stöhnt, ein sterbendes Monster... DIE BESTIE IST LOS! Selten einen so tiefgrunzend-abartigen Sound vernommen...
In der Tat, auf 33 klingts noch besser als auf 45, und es dröhnt länger.... so LIEBLICH!
"The Burial Chamber Trio is: Oren Ambarchi (Guitar, Analog Electronics), Greg Anderson (BASS/subsonics) & Attila Csihar (Vokills, invokations). Live recordings from the groups performance in Rotterdam, Holland in Jan. 2007 at club: Wurm. 10"Picture disc // with original art and packaging design by Seldon Hunt. Two transparencies with gold ink/printing on them." [label info]
"....For this outing, Ambarchi and Anderson are credited with sub bass death throb, while Attila is responsible for undead voices. And that's pretty much what it sounds like, sub bass throbs with haunting undead vocals woven into the heaving roiling mass. There seem to be some guitars in there too, maybe some electronics, but it's hard to tell, it's all smeared into a single swirling blackened mass. When we first listened to it, we played it at 33 (which we're assuming now is NOT the right speed, so hard to tell sometimes), and we thought, wow, this is even slower and sludgier than ever, but once we figured out it was meant to be 45, the sound reverted back, closer to the sound of SUNNO))) or the older records of their forbears Earth. Slow motion riffage, glacial and thick, massive and blown out and super distorted, muffled and murky, a sluggish sprawl of caustic crumbling guitars, the vocals barely audible, a haunting raspy growl way down in the mix, often just sounding like another buzzing bassline, hum and fuzz, dense and intense, all melted down into a viscous black crawl. Occasionally, the random bits of riffage and low end rumble coalesce into truly gorgeous harmonies, lovely and chordal, like some blackened church organ, but for the most part, this is the sound of guitar tones allowed to ring out forever and beat against each other, the air filled with oscillating overtones and strange tonal colorations, all beneath a patina of thick black buzz.
Amazing cover art as well, a gross out gutted worm picture disc, with a transparent skull and bugs insert on one side, and another sick silkscreened artwork overlay on the thick plastic sleeve, all courtesy of Mr. Seldon Hunt. Recorded live, in January of this year, in Holland. And of course, you had to know this part was coming: LIMITED TO 3000 COPIES!! And if it's anything like the other Burial Chamber record, it will sell out FAST." [Aquarius Records]
label: www.southernlord.com
|
2008 |
€15.00 |
|
| BURKE, DAN & KEVIN DRUMM |
Mort aux Vaches |
CD |
"In 2001 Dan Burke (aka Illusion Of Safety's frontman) and Kevin Drumm embarked on a small European Tour, bringing them also to the VPRO studios. This was the third time that Dan Burke made recordings there, the first two being previously released in the Mort Aux Vaches (and both are still available). Rather then playing under the Illusion Of Safety moniker, this was a tour of two like minded improv artists. Dan Burke has been doing Illusion Of Safety since the mid 80s, releasing many CD's and the band has seen many members besides Burke, including Jim O'Rourke, Mark Klein and Kurt Greisch. They balance on the fringe of silence and noise, always seeking out the beauty. A discography by Kevin Drumm reads like a who's who in the world of improvised music. He has released CD's with Ralf Wehowsky, Taku Sugimoto (various releases, such as for Boxmedia, Sonoris and Meme), Martin Tetreault, Axel Dorner and Lasse Marhaug (plus lots that we forget of course) as well as various solo works for Perdition Plastics, Mego and Fringes. This CD is a fine improvisation between the closely contact microphone objects, guitar and laptop of Dan Burke and Drumm's guitar and ancient analogue synthesizer. A very dynamic work, which ranges from sheer silence to sheer noise, always with a sharp edge." [label info] |
2003 |
€14.50 |
|
| BURNES, ANDREW |
Telescope |
LP |
Siebter Teil in der neuen "Gitarren-Serie" mit kunstvollem, farbigen Gravur-Vinyl. ANDREW BURNES aus dem LOREN MAZZANE CONNERS-Umfeld schafft konzentrierte Aufmerksamkeit in seinem innovativen Umgang mit seiner "steel guitar", wenn polytonale, metallisch schimmernde und sehr lebendige Drones erstönen..
"7th installment in the Guitar Series Vols. 3 & 4. Burnes is a founding member of the ethereal, post-blues ensemble SAN AGUSTIN & is also member of HAUNTED HOUSE, alongside Loren Mazzacan Connors. Telescope is a glittering chunk of sound, as Burnes transforms that particular emblem of Americana, the steel guitar, into one vast, slowly undulating drone." [label info]
"Here, Burnes, credited with just lap steel guitar, totally reinvents the instrument, subverting any idea of Appalachia or traditional steel string guitar music, instead creating a warm sidelong soundscape of muted buzz and slowly shimmering soft focus drift. The main component here is most definitely the drone, a whirring buzzy, shimmering metallic whir, that is by no means static, instead shifting colors and subtly changing shape, almost like holding your ear against an excited string as its overtones take on a life of their own. But in and around the buzz, little flecks of melody surface, almost like sparks being produced by the constant incessant vibrating steel, but these sparks are soft and sweet, like the surviving fragments of what was once some sort of Appalachia, drifting to the surface, and fluttering to the ground through Burnes' ever
expanding cloud of warm metallic shimmer. Super subtle and minimal and gorgeous. Drone music fanatics will definitely need to keep an eye on Burnes, and folks who like their country disembodied and blurred into warm fuzzy blissy drones, well then Telescope seems like it was custom created just for you! Pressed on super thick, swirled milky green black and white vinyl. One sided, the other side with a beautiful etching courtesy of the mighty Savage Pencil, housed in a thick PVC sleeve, and again like most good things in life, or so it seems, VERY VERY LIMITED!" [Aquarius Records review]
|
2008 |
€17.00 |
|
| BURROUGHS, WILLIAM S. |
Nothing Here Now but the Recordings |
LP |
In 1980, Genesis P-Orridge and Peter “Sleazy” Christopherson of (then-) Throbbing Gristle travelled to New York City to meet up at the fortified apartment, known as The Bunker, of famed beat writer and cultural pioneer William S. Burroughs and his executor James Grauerholz. Genesis and Sleazy started the daunting task of compiling the experimental sound works of Burroughs, which, up until that point, had never been widely heard.
During those visits, Burroughs would play back his tape recorder experiments featuring his spoken word “cut-ups”, collaged field recordings from his travels and his flirtations with EVP recording techniques, pioneered by Latvian intellectual Konstantins Raudive. Over the following year, P-Orridge, Christopherson and Grauerholz spent countless hours compiling various edits, each collection showcasing Burroughs sensitive ear and experimental prowess for audio anomaly within technical limitations. In early 1981, Burroughs had relocated to Lawrence, KS to escape the violence and manias of New York City life. There, P-Orridge and Christopherson put the finishing touches on the record that would be known as Nothing Here Now but the Recordings.
Released in Spring 1981, the album would end up as the final release on Industrial Records, brought about by the dissolution of Throbbing Gristle. It was quietly out of print until 1998, when John Giorno and the Giorno Poetry Systems included the album on a retrospective CD box set, which compiled the majority of Burroughs's seminal recordings. In 2015, Dais Records worked closely with the Estate of William S. Burroughs to finally re-release, for the first time in 36 years, a proper vinyl reissue of William S. Burroughs Nothing Here Now but the Recordings to celebrate the centennial anniversary of William S. Burroughs. For the 2023 edition, Dais has remastered the audio with renowned engineer Josh Bonati, and restored the original artwork with a new dedication to Genesis Breyer P-Orridge and Peter Christopherson.
|
2023 |
€25.00 |
|
| BURT, WARREN |
The Animation of Lists and the Archytan Transpositions |
do-CD |
Kompositionen für mikrotonale Stimmgabeln: einzelne glockenklare absolut „reine“ Töne, eine meditative & äussert minimale Atmosphäre ausstrahlend, erinnert an Arbeiten von CHRISTINA KUBISCH. To discover.
“There are any number of ways to hear Warren Burt's music for tuning forks; as many ways as there are listeners, probably. The most immediate one is simply to revel in its beauty and enjoy the music as sound. Or, to be more accurate, as clouds of sound; sonic colors that momentarily hover here and there, as they move slowly across the musical horizon.
Of course, Warren Burt's music may also be heard as the mature work of a major experimental composer, one secure in his craft, and still filled with a sense of sonic adventure. An explorer in sound. A composer willing to experiment with multiple versions of the same piece, not to mention one who allows chance to determine the precise placement of the composite pitches of his three individually composed lines.
For the more technically minded, these songs, for ultimately that's what they become on repeated hearing, can also be recognized as microtonal music. This is music that uses pitches smaller than a half-step; music that explores the sounds between the keys of the piano‹in this case, from 19 to 53 pitches to the octave, instead of the usual twelve. And even though most people rarely think of tuning in general, much less of microtonal tunings, it is an idea that has always been around. In the twentieth century this search for alternative tunings can be traced from Harry Partch and Lou Harrison in the first half of the century, through La Monte Young and Ben Johnston in the latter half, to Glenn Branca, Kyle Gann, and Michael Harrison today. The power of music, according to all of these composers, is, first and foremost, inherent in the tuning. So it should come as no surprise to anyone familiar with Warren Burt's music to learn that he, too, is a card-carrying member of this group. Warren is, after all, a composer who not only innately hears, but also cares greatly, about such minute differences in pitch. In his music, these differences matter on a fundamental level.
But what are these sonic differences? And what is a listener supposed to hear? Ben Johnston once described the shift in experience from listening to music played in equal temperament to hearing a microtonal performance as the sudden fine-tuning of an out-of-focus TV. Ben also once said that equal temperament could sound like varying shades of grey. Others, in less subtle terms, have described hearing microtonal music as the difference between seeing a Technicolor movie, and watching one in black-and-white. For the average listener‹once they realize that the enjoyment of microtonal music is about the tinting and the shading of the sound, and doesn't require superhuman hearing‹what they begin to notice first are the new colors and the spaciousness of the sound.
But what do I hear in Warren's music that attracts me so? I listen to the combinations of tones, each aggregate of which‹because the tuning is acoustically pure and non-tempered‹sounds clearer and more colorful, with unique personalities, and, sometimes, more of an edge. In this tuning, the chance-determined pairings of the composed lines always ring true, with even the dissonances vibrating cleanly, free of acoustic distraction, and with no sonic clutter to muddy up the sound. And within this microtonal world, sounds combine without losing their individuality, as the music slowly reveals its pitch and rhythm in slow, unhurried, chance-determined clouds of sound. In Warren Burt's hands, these tuning forks become some strange new instrument, complete with its own exotic tuning system, singing its songs somewhere on the verge of memory.” [label description]
|
2006 |
€15.00 |
|
| BUT I'M NOT (PAWEL GRABOWSKI) |
DAEMON TRANCES I-VI |
CD |
This album is about trauma and PTSD.
The music portrays the emotional loop...
the continuous reminiscing about the traumatic event
the never-ending anxiety and
paralyzing panic attacks...
... from which a traumatized person simply cannot escape.
I call this state the daemon trance
(and, unfortunately, I know it far too well...)
Recorded between January and May 2021 at SINE studio, Ireland.
but I'm not is Pawel Grabowski (processed live instruments, field recordings, objects.)
Mastering - Colin Potter at IC Studio, August 2021
Cover photo: Artur Mieczkowski (www.instagram.com/anxious_93/)
https://silenceisnotempty.bandcamp.com/album/daemon-trances-i-vi
"It's been a long time since I heard music by Pawel Grabowski (check Vital Weekly 414, 424, 492 and 508, but following that flurry of releases, it all went quiet for him. That was "mostly due to family, and life in general". Now he has a new moniker and a new label. The new name is But I'm Not (lower case, except for 'I'), and on 'Daemon Traces I-IV' he wanted to compose that captures that unique state is known only to people suffering from the
aftermath of a traumatic event". According to the cover, it is something that he is "unfortunately all too familiar with". "Each of the six compositions portrays different aspects of what a traumatized person goes through, often every day - the continuous reminiscing about the traumatic event". This is one of those things of which I think "had I not known this, would I have heard it?". I guess not, but my personal view towards music is a very 'absolute' one. Music is never about anything. Anything attached to music to make it about something is not music; they are words used, descriptions, images (a record cover), that kind of thing. Grabowski explains the nature of the trauma for none of these six pieces, which leaves something to imagine, I guess, but also a hole in our knowledge (why not go all the way). Grabowski uses "processed live instruments, field recordings and objects". It is a pity that these live instruments are not specified. I hear a piano on quite a bit on the pieces,
solemnly slow bangs on the keys, Gregorian voices in the first one (which I think that Grabowski went all gothic, but, good news, he didn't), a fair bit of synthesizers and sound effects and the samples of marbles in a bowl (also in the opener). Some of the other sounds are harder to define. Throughout the music solemn, slow and very moody. A bipolar disorder, with some extreme darkness and extreme happiness, is not to be found here. Grabowski reminded me what I thought of his older releases in a private letter, but they are so far away in the past that I don't remember them. Therefore it is not easy for me to say to what extent this new one is different from his previous releases. I think this is a solid album, a severe one, and while the subject is not very well spend on me, I can see that he's serious in creating music that paints a picture of those suffering from trauma and PTSD. [FdW / Vital Weekly]
FULL PRESS RELEASE:
About daemon trances
“Daemon trances I-VI tells a story about experiences of living with trauma and PTSD.
My objective when composing this music was to capture that unique state known only to people suffering from the aftermath of a traumatic event.
And so, each of the six compositions portrays different aspects of what a traumatized person
goes through, often every day – the continuous reminiscing about the traumatic event, the
never-ending anxiety, paralyzing panic attacks...
For my use, I refer to this state as the “daemon trance,” and the music on this album perfectly
represents what I often struggle with in life.”
About Pawel Grabowski
Pawel Grabowski (b. 1977) – composer specializing in writing deeply personal electroacoustic and drone music.
Grabowski uses prepared instruments, field recordings, and objects to create meditative and
hypnotic compositions to convey emotions and create unique atmospheres.
He refers to his music as Imaginism.
Background:
● Although he doesn’t have a formal music education, between 1998 – 2001, Grabowski
studied double bass with a famous Polish jazz bassist, Janusz Mackiewicz.
● He also took private tuition in classical composition between 2000 - 2002, first with prof.
Krzysztof Olczak, then with prof. Eugeniusz Glowski
● He also participated in international composition workshops at the Academy of Music in
Gdansk, Poland, in 2002.
● In 2002, he was selected as one of the artists representing his home city, Gdansk, at the
Art Biennale - “ArtGenda” in Hamburg. He wrote music commissioned for various
projects of the biennale.
● In the same year, he composed a piece commissioned by the Baltic Cultural Centre in
Gdansk, showcased during a presentation of composition students of the Academy of
Music.
Career:
● Grabowski founded a chamber trio, Miasto Nie Spalo, in 1998 and recorded two albums
with the band: Festspielhaus (1998) and Piesni Zalobne I-VII/Threnodies I-VII (2000 -
released on the famous polish label, Obuh recs.)
● Between 2001 – 2006, Grabowski recorded solo, publishing his music on such labels as
Drone records, Laub records, Cronica, Mystery Sea, Dark Winter, and more.
● Since 2020, Grabowski performs as but I’m not and runs a small, independent record
label, Silence Is Not Empty.
|
2021 |
€12.00 |
|
| 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 |
|
| BÜNNAGEL, JULIA |
Sounds like... Vienna |
LP |
Soundperformances im öffentlichen Raum – Ein urbaner Soundtrack für Wien. Aus Abformungen von Gehwegen und Straßenbelägen des Wiener Stadtraums stellt Julia Bünnagel Schallplatten aus Beton her. Damit bringt die Kölner Künstlerin in ihrem live DJ-Set (Turntablism) Wiener Architektur zum Klingen. Der Tonarm des Plattenspielers liest die architektonische Textur ab. Die abgegossenen Oberflächen der Straßen, die in die Schallplatten eingeschrieben sind mischen sich während den Performances SOUNDS LIKE…VIENNA mit den Geräuschen der Stadt. – überschwemmen den Platz – ein Architektur-Rave für Wien.
www.juliabuennagel.de
https://www.gruenrekorder.de/?page_id=18469
"I’ve fallen in love with this performance video. Many people make field recordings, but few cut out circles of concrete and play them like records. And then even fewer go out in public to share what they’ve done. To our knowledge, there’s only one, which makes Julia Bünnagel a true original.
Does Sounds Like … Vienna sound like Vienna? That’s a trick question. The records literally are Vienna, so from this angle yes, the record of records one receives in the mail (to save on postage, these are made of vinyl) does sound like Vienna. The counter-point is that one should not expect the city to sound like this when one visits for the first time, unless one is fortunate enough to see the artist set up on the street outside one’s hotel. But listen deeper and one might hear the real sound of Vienna, delivered in sonic metaphor, a mesmerizing blend of repetitions and jutting angles, both rhythmic and offbeat, soothing and off-putting, until it clicks and one exclaims, “Oh, Vienna!” in a tone that may or may not echo Ultravox.
The added charm is the sound of traffic, children and other passers-by, exposing just how interested the residents of the city may be in hearing the amplifications of diamond on concrete. This may be an unprecedented level of needle abuse, all for a good cause, although our guess is that Bünnagel is not using brand new needles. Would our Technics 1200s make the same sounds? Do we really want to try? The beauty of listening is sinking into the recording, finding the tempo, just as one acclimates to a new city by immersing one’s self in the culture. If this sounds like Vienna, we might come to the conclusion that Vienna is exciting, creative, and beckoning, just as it is rumbling, vibrating, and unique. The set makes us wonder about other places that might lend themselves well to Bünnagel’s technique: the volcanic rocks of Pompeii, or the famed “concrete jungle” of New York.
We’re also imagining with some amusement the reaction to the artist should she show up at a club gig with this heavy milk crate of slabs. How many people would leave the dance floor? How many would come running? The second number is likely much lower than the first, but wouldn’t they be the crème de la crème? Wouldn’t they be the most attentive, the most curious, the most dedicated, as Bünnagel teases out the sounds lying beneath their feet? A huge thanks to the artist for playing a type of music we’ve never encountered before, despite the fact that we walk on it every day." [A Closer Listen]
|
2020 |
€18.00 |
|
| B°TONG (B*TONG / B-TONG/ BTONG) |
Ov ELF and HAARP |
CD-R & object |
"ACL 1003: Limited edition of 50 in hand-painted unique packaging
AC 1003: Unlimited edition in plastic sleeve
A concept album by Swiss dark ambient/drone industrial legend B°tong which uses the conspiracy theory on the High-Frequency Active Auroral Research project (HAARP) as its basis while simultaneously infusing it with subtle and highly sophisticated artistic irony. Deep electronic drones invoking the echo of enormous rooms and sound collages oscillating between the crackle of polar snow and echo location devices pinging through secret command bases combine to form a soundtrack of subliminally brooding horror while sometimes allowing for surprising lighter moments.
These lighter moments include the almost meditative, tonal marimba sound in “Pagan Field Trip” (track 6), which is however replaced by “Stars Right Be Wrong” (track 7) taking the listener straight back into the dark with reverberating whispers and bat-like delay screeches. This album is “cinema for the ears” without the cliché, because reading the liner notes about HAARP, an attempt by the US Navy to turn the aurora borealis in a giant antenna for broadcasting in the ELF (Extremely Low Frequencies), conjures up images from a conspiracy/horror thriller on the subject, which makes it possible to listen to this album as a sort of radio drama (almost) without words. After the respective oeuvres of film composers Graeme Revell (formerly of SPK) and Brian Williams (Lustmord), this album is further testimony to the common ground between good industrial and atmospheric soundtracks." [label info]
www.wix.com/attenuationcircuit/attenuation-circuit
"The Attenuation Circuit label started out with the release of music by Emerge, and now expands to other artists, and the first one is B*tong, the Swiss artist who has already produced a fine body of atmospheric and ambient music. This new one is more or less a concept album about the conspiracy theory 'on the High Frequency Active Auroral Research project', which, according to Wiki, is 'its purpose is to analyze the ionosphere and investigate the potential for developing ionospheric enhancement technology for radio communications and surveillance purposes', set up by the US government, so you know for a fact there is a hidden agenda (not me). This sort of conspiracy theory/lunacy about such matters fits the music really of B*Tong, who is known to use radio signals, sound effects and electronics to create chilly, eerie, atmospheric music. Sometimes there are voice bits, whispering, not singing, adding a radioplay like texture to the music, which is otherwise quite inspired by the work of Lustmord: lots of reverb, but used in an effective way and not over the top. Excellent work." [FdW/Vital Weekly]
|
2011 |
€11.00 |
|
|
Hostile Environments |
CD |
"B°TONG is Chris Sigdell, former member of the German experimental industrial group NID (1995 – 2005).
With B°TONG he reaches for the nether regions of experimental electronic sound and has established himself as an acknowledged and known professional soundscape artist. His music is a choice of dark, brooding layers of sound, high-pitched tones and weird electronic sounds that give birth to images of darkness and tranquillity, the solitude of an icy polar night or the equivalent of an underwater journey into a bottomless pit. To create these soundscapes, he uses found samples and self-made recordings and processes these on the computer together with recordings of his own voice and other vocal samples. There are no traditional instruments involved. In a live-situation Chris Sigdell relies on playing metal-sheets, electric toys and various kitchen utensils. The sounds thus generated are put through various effect-pedals giving him that trademark sound.
.
B°TONG has played over 200 concerts all around Europe and in Russia, Canada and the U.S.A. He has shared stages with Aun, Batur Sönmez, Column One, Dave Phillips, Frontline Assembly, Michael Northam, Origami Galaktika, Sudden Infant, The (Law) Rah Collective, To Live And Shave In LA, Troum, Zbigniew Karkowski.
.
Sometimes B°TONG collaborates with other artists, as he has done with: Alain Courtis, Batur Sönmez, Diskrepant, Origami Galaktika, PS Stamps Back, TBC, and Tamagawa. Two new project are Tongdisklaktika, a together with Benny Braaten (Origami Galaktika) and Per Åhlund (Diskrepant) and Thee Secret Society with Jürgen Eberhard (F.T.PB.P.D.), Helge Moune (1000schoen) and Melvin Neumann (Vibrae). B°TONG has also been part of installations (“Polarkreis” & “95°“ by Brigitte Gierlich & Camilla Schuler) and video-projects (“Images” by Ulrich Fischer). He video-clips have been shown at the 2007 Miami Art Fair as part of the Urban Nomad film-festival, and in Beijing. His videos are made in collaboration with video artist Silvia Bergmann." [label info]
www.greytone.eu
"We first discovered Chris Sigdell, aka B-Tong (which, by the way, is usually written with a little circle, you know, the degrees sign, not a dash, but our website doesn't like it, so hence the hyphen), via a four way split called One Man Drone, which as you may have surmised, was a collection of one man drone-groups, and our favorite of the bunch happened to be B-Tong, whose sound was weirdly cinematic, and fantastically and psychedelically noisy and chaotic. We compared the sound to Philip Jeck mixing Goblin and Wolf Eyes! We later discovered that Sigdell played in NID, another group who utilized drones, but wove those drones into something much more cacophonous, and expansive and lushly layered. But still, ultimately, it was all about the drone.
We had always hankered for more B-Tong, and while apparently there have been a bunch of full lengths, this is the first we've managed to get our hands on, and it's just as good as we remember; and yeah, if there was ever any doubt, Sigdell firmly establishes himself as an aQ-pantheon-worthy dronelord.
The opener, is ominous and cavernous, laced with weird crackles and gritty crunch, kindred spirits with our own Jim Haynes for sure. The sounds oozing a sort of sonic decay, and some deft and subtle sample placement, makes the opener even more chilling. It's almost like some industrial doom, stripped down to its skeletal core. A moody, muted melody, playing out like foghorns in the distance, echo drenched chimes, and tinkling percussion, buried under grey washes of softly undulating thrum, lots of constantly shifting textures, and some seriously harrowing sound design reminiscent of Ben Frost. And the sound continues to drift southward as the record progresses, a virtual journey through dark caverns, toward whatever lurks below, fields of deep resonant rumbles, dripping water, distant billows of thunder, stretched out into weird glossolallic shimmers, thick chordal blurs that ooze and bleed ominously, splashing water doused in FX and transformed into a sort of garbled alien language. Plenty of barely there lowercase ambience, but also super active sprawls of electro static gristle, ultra creepy moans and gasps, sonar pings that disappear into the abyss, short wave broadcasts from beyond, lumbering behemoth beats, dulled into barely perceptible pulsations, smears of almost dub like throb, and keening high end tones dulled into bleary shimmery sonic ripples, all locked in a sort of hazy stasis, while all around, billowing clouds of black hum drift malevolently, and beneath this black soundworld, hushed melodies, and dreamlike sonic coloration, shift constantly creating an ethereally prismatic sonic backdrop. Fantastic. Essential dronemusic for sure!!" [Aquarius Records] |
2013 |
€13.00 |
|
| |
Monastic |
CD |
"Since getting to know Chris Sigdell from a distance in 2010, sending the label a promo copy of ”The Great Disintegrator”, and onwards recognising the release of his project b°tong through labels such as Attenuation Circuit, Greytone and Silken Tofu, we met up in the flesh in 2016. Since then the label invited him to master last years releases from Ajna, Valanx and Dronny Darko and now releases his project b°tong’s two new albums ”Monastic” and ”The Long Journey”.
”Monastic” is a configuration of field-recordings that Chris Sigdell recorded together with his companions Benny Braaten and Bertrand Gaude in 2010, while having a day off on tour. In the hands of Chris Sigdell ”Monastic” forms spooky and disturbing waves of sound, dripping carelessly down the spine, crushing rocks.
Don’t listen properly, behave inaccurate. Don’t be obnoxious, be quiet and feel the concrete.
CD w/ 4-panel digipack limited to 300 copies.
Released 29th September 2017."
www.reverse-alignment.se
"The other CD is all based on field recordings Sigdell made at Landbouwbelang in Maastricht
along with Benny Braaten and Betrand Gaude. Whatever you can record at Landbouwbelang
(agricultural interest?) is not entirely clear, I’d say, as whatever Sigdell does with his equipment, it is all transformed a notch or two. With both of these releases I have no idea what it is that Sigdell uses, but the best I can make of it is that it is all a mixture of analogue and digital equipment. No words are used on ‘Monastic’, but there is plenty of reverb and sounds of water dripping, so I would think it has a more cave like atmosphere. It also sounds a bit louder and grittier than ‘The Long
Journey’; it is more like being trapped in a machine hall, I’d think, than in a space ship. It’s the yin to yang here, the noisier ‘Monastic’ versus the atmospheric journey of the other. I would think that’s the reason for releasing these on separate discs; the different approaches require different discs. My
personal preference is for ‘The Long Journey’, but I see the fine quality of both." [FdW/Vital Weekly] |
2017 |
€13.00 |
|
| CAMBERWELL NOW |
All's well |
CD |
Endlich wieder erhältlich, die CD mit dem Gesamt-Material der THIS HEAT-Nachfolgeband!
"1982 lössten sich This Heat auf, bzw. verwandelten sich in Camberwell Now. Gareth Williams hatte die Gruppe verlassen und sich nach Indien aufgemacht, um neue künstlerische Herausvorderungen zu suchen (er starb im Dezember 2001). Bullen und Hayward hielten This Heat danach noch eine Weile am Leben, zeitweilig unterstützt von dem Bassisten Trefor Goronwy. Doch irgendwann stieg auch Bullen, der sich ein eigenes Tonstudio aufgebaut hatte, aus. Damit war das Projekt This Heat beendet. Hayward und Goronwy machten allerdings gleich weiter. Zusammen mit dem Klangkonstrukteur Stephen Richards hoben sie Camberwell Now aus der Taufe, benannt nach dem Wohnort der Gruppe (und auch dem ehemaligen von This Heat), dem Londoner Vorort Camberwell. Camberwell Now haben zwei EPs ("Meridian" von 1984 und "Greenfingers", 1987) und eine LP ("The Ghost Trade", 1986) eingespielt. Alle drei Alben wurden 1992 zur CD "All's Well" zusammengefasst, die beim schweizer RecRec-Label erschienen ist. Zusätzlich wurde noch ein Stück daraufgepackt, welches vorher nur auf einem Kassettensampler veröffentlicht worden war ("Daddy Needs A Throne"). "All's Well" bietet somit das komplette Œuvre der Band.
Die Musik von Camberwell Now unterscheidet sich recht deutlich von den Klängen von This Heat, obwohl es gewisse Gemeinsamkeiten gibt. Bizarr und schräg ist die Musik immer noch, der gequälte Gesang von Hayward hat sich auch nicht allzu sehr verändert und auch sein virtuoses Schlagzeugspiel ist sofort wiederzuerkennen. Gab es auf den This Heat-Alben aber rohe Klangexperimente und kaputte Songs zu hören, ist die Musik von Camberwell Now melodischer und musikalischer geworden. Experimentelles Tonschweben, industriellen Krach und bizarre Tonkollagen sucht man hier fast vergebens. Sehr virtuos musizieren Bass und Schlagzeug miteinander, treiben die Musik bestimmt und energiegeladen voran, angereichert mit diversen Sounds und Geräuschen vom Tonband und verschiedenen Keyboards, gelegentlichen Einlagen an der Gitarre und dem sehr eigenen Gesang Haywards. Auf den Stücken von "Greenfingers" gibt es zusätzlich noch Saxophon, Flöte und Viola von Maria Lamburn zu hören. Das Ergebnis sind sehr intensive, meist sehr rhythmische, etwas klaustrophobisch wirkende, schräge Rocksongs, neo-canterbury-artige Artrocker, mit Postpunk-Flair und einer unterkühlten, fast depressiven, stellenweise sehr hektischen Atmosphäre. Reichlich seltsam, rhythmisch und schwebend zugleich, kalt, aber sehr direkt ist diese Musik. Heutzutage würde man diese Klänge wohl in die Postrock-Schublade stecken.
Wer This Heat schätzt, insbesondere Haywards Gesang, oder auch die Solo-Scheiben von Robert Wyatt (es gibt da gewisse atmosphärische und stimmliche Ähnlichkeiten), der sollte versuchen sich "All's Well" zu besorgen." [Achim Breiling / Babyblaue Seiten]
"After the demise of This Heat, Charles Hayward continued to work with Trefor Goronwy, bassist from the last manifestation of the group, the two of them joining forces with Steve Rickard who, for the new band, designed the cassette switchboard a kind of proto-sampler - but thats not the half of it (Steves article fully explaining the device is reprinted in the new, expanded booklet that comes with the CD). Musically, Camberwell both followed and departed from the style of This Heat. Formally and gesturally there are common elements, but there is far greater transparency and the sound palette is quite different: the music is more placed than grown, as the slow accumulation and evolution of material in This Heat gives way to a more immediate and orderly development of the material in Camberwell Now. The songs - nostalgic, scary, quietly desperate - peer into the future to find harbour but confront only fragments of ruin. Debris and disturbance eat away at the root and corrode each shiny surface (this is mostly the musical work of the cassette switchboard). The juxtaposition of powerful, virtuosic playing and the eerie, often unidentifiable keenings, chords and constant motion of the cassettes is one of the things that make Camberwell Now so expressive of its time - when the whole social and political fabric of a no-longer-great Britain was unravelling. This definitive edition collects the entire released output of the group together (two EPs and an LP) newly re-mastered by the band and repackaged with full notes, lyrics, additional photographs and artwork." [label info]
www.rermegacorp.com
|
2006 |
€14.00 |
|
| CAPELLE, MIREILLE |
Blue Veil |
CD |
"audioMER. is honoured to announce the release of a new CD; Blue Veil with music by Mireille Capelle (BE) and HERMESensemble*.
The world of Mireille Capelle is one of music and theatre. She has performed as a singer in numerous European opera houses, under the artistic direction of the foremost stage directors and conductors. She is member of the artistic board of HERMESensemble. Mireille Capelle has a particular affinity with contemporary music and art, characterized by many encounters with the most important contemporary composers. Blue Veil is a sonic architecture composed for the exhibition I Fortuny. Una Storia di Famiglia, curated by Daniela Ferretti, at Palazzo Fortuny, in Venice from May 6 till November 24, 2019. The essence of the piece was inspired by the installation of Axel Vervoordt and Tatsuro Miki in the wabi-space of the palace."
"I took two pieces of white marble stones—both sculptural and radiant. I banged and rubbed them. In Venice I recorded the sounds of the bells of San Marco and the rustling of the water. I remembered the words coming to me. Sometimes they came very clear, sometimes barely understandable. Stemming from my fictional journey into the past, the words of Proust and d’Annunzio arrived… I catch Wagner’s breath as in his Shepherd’s Song… The whisper of a great white sail in the wind… In Blue Veil Henriette Fortuny—the silent muse—appears. Her pink dress and blue veil are floating in the wind… There is light of sounds and shadows. Blue Veil is both a quest for transparency and a path of perpetual repetition. I wanted this piece to allow us to hear the inaudible. I wanted to enlarge what is hidden in sound. “Eternity is the one who is, who will be and who was”. This sentence from Plato signifies to me that we are all particles of eternity." - Mireille Capelle
http://mireille-capelle.droppages.com/
Blue Veil excerpt
https://soundcloud.com/audiomer-label/mireille-capelle-blue-veil-excerpt
Wabi excerpt
https://soundcloud.com/audiomer-label/mireille-capelle-wabi-excerpt
|
2019 |
€16.00 |
|
| CARBON BASED LIFEFORMS (CBL) |
VLA |
CD |
"We’re happy to welcome legendary Sweden space ambient project in our roster.
Special album, different from earlier works of CBL, one hour of deepest space ambient tunes, one hour snatched from eternity, one hour of ethereal oblivion.
Very Large Array (VLA) is a radio astronomy observatory located on the Plains of San Agustin, between the towns of Magdalena and Datil, some 50 miles (80 km) west of Socorro, New Mexico. It comprises 27 25-meter radio telescopes in a Y-shaped array and all the equipment, instrumentation, and computing power to function as an interferometer. Each of the massive telescopes is mounted on double parallel railroad tracks, so the radius and density of the array can be transformed to focus on particular bands of wavelength. Astronomers using the VLA have made key observations of black holes and protoplanetary disks around young stars, discovered magnetic filaments and traced complex gas motions at the Milky Way's center, probed the Universe's cosmological parameters, and provided new knowledge about the physical mechanisms that produce radio emission.
The VLA stands at an elevation of 6970 ft (2124 m) above sea level. It is a component of the National Radio Astronomy Observatory (NRAO)." [label info]
www.infinitefog.ru
|
2016 |
€15.00 |
|
| CARR, KATE |
The Story surrounds us |
MC |
"Kate Carr melds the exquisite details of her field recordings with an ephemeral approach to the song. This Australian has relocated herself to London after many trips around the globe. With each orbiting journey, she has collected innumerable sounds from the urbane to the aqueous and from the frenetic to the sublime, contextualizing all of these into compositions rippling with primordial melodies through guitar, piano, and electronics. The Story Surrounds Us follows her highly acclaimed albums I Had Myself A Nuclear Spring (first released on her own Flaming Pines imprint in 2015) and Carr's debut for Helen Scarsdale in 2016, It Was A Time Of Laboured Metaphors.
Emblematic of her work is a gentle dislocation between the environmental sounds and her drone-dub ellipses of somnambulant melody. The clatter of a frozen dock or a vibrational shimmer from rustled objects or the unintelligible whispers displaces the sense of self amidst a sea of disparate symbols and coded thought. More a travelogue in and out of one's own body than to any particular place. Carr suggests "In a way, it is about restlessness, an uncomfortable tossing and turning in all these many different places, a struggle somehow to forge a connection between my own internal world and all these places and persons I have encountered. I think this holds a sense of unease and strain, with both beautiful and failed moments of intimacy and connection which are made either possible or impossible in the difficult and distorted context of being away. It is quite sad, really." Look to Carla dal Forno, Alan Lamb and those moments of clarity in the shapeshifting ethos from Jewelled Antler for neighboring sounds to Kate Carr's chimerical compositions."
www.helenscarsdale.com
"A rather fast follow-up to her last tape (It Was a Time of Laboured Metaphors, also on Helen Scarsdale), Australian sound artist Kate Carr's latest work is another entry in a rapidly growing discography that blends elements of both traditional composition and the unpredictable nature of field recordings. She does this and merges them together seamlessly, coming together as a beautiful set of sounds and moods from across the globe, yet still unified as a part of the human experience.
Elements of The Story Surrounds Us were recorded during Carr’s travels to Iceland, Mexico, Sweden, and Spain, all of which clearly had an influence on the work; most obviously in the natural recordings she utilizes throughout. The tape is bookended by two sets of untreated field recordings from Ólafsfjörður, Iceland that perfectly capture the juxtaposition of her work. The first, "The Creaking Door Of The Abandoned Concrete Factory" is half a minute of just that: creaking sounds of post-industrial decay, capturing the emptiness of what surely was once part of a thriving industry. The end is “Water Lapping at Ice on Melting Lake”: the sound of wet and watery nature decaying, no doubt exacerbated by the same industry.
Between these two most obvious field recordings lay eight songs that are never truly a-musical, but never become overly conventional either. "Things That Stubbornly And Resiliently Subsist Without Leave" features a lot of sparse, delicate guitar playing, but the musicality is broken up by mysterious, more synthetic-like passages that never become unpleasant. This combination also features heavily in "I Didn't Get A Lot of Sleep in Mexico", with light floating tones melded with processed guitar-like sounds, peppered with incidental found recordings and hints of music throughout.
A brilliant pairing of compositions is the untreated recordings of "Communication Wires In Tropical Storm, Si'an Kaan, Mexico", and their appearance in the more compositionally based "We Were The Pulse Of A Wire Pulled Tightly". The former recordings are simply the sound of undulating metallic cables whipped about in heavy winds, taking on an odd beauty that contrasts their significantly more frightening pedigree. On "We Were The Pulse…" they reappear as overt pulses and jittery echoes resonating within electronic swarms and insinuations of percussion. The final product is moody and expansive, but concludes on a much lighter, drifting note compared to its more menacing moments.
Other moments of this tape showcase Carr’s more conventional musical tendencies as well. Gentle melodies are the initial focus on "There Was a Lot of Whispering Involved", with a bit of plucked string being counterbalanced by the heavier subterranean rumble. On the whole it sounds much more traditional, but no less gripping. On the other hand, "1001 (Missed Connections)" begins with crackling voices on a PA system and ugly buzzing noises, but soon is realigned into sustained, yet chilly melodic moments. What even resembles a traditional 4/4 bass drum comes in, but just a bit too briefly.
Conceptually, The Story Surrounds Us continues Kate Carr's focus on studying the sounds of specific locations, as well as the effects of social decay and its inevitable renewal. However, the music is captivating on its own as well: a wonderful blend of composed sound blended with the incidental, ephemeral sounds that surround us at all times, culminating in a strange, sometimes almost alien, but never mundane experience." [Brainwashed]
|
2017 |
€10.00 |
|
| CARTER TUTTI VOID |
Play Chris & Cosey |
do-LP |
"Mit acht brandneuen Neuinterpretationen und Bearbeitungen von CHRIS & COSEY Klassikern aus den Achtziger und Neunziger Jahren. Die Idee zu diesem Album stammt von den sehr erfolgreichen Live Performances von ,Carter Tutti Play Chris & Cosey", die zwischen 2011 und 2014 zu einer bisher ungesehenen Serie von Shows im Vereinigten Königreich, Europa, Skandinavien und Nordamerika führten. Diese Shows führten wiederum zu einer großen Nachfrage, was Aufnahmen dieses Livesets anging, so dass sie Ende 2014 die komplette Kollektion der aufgearbeiteten Klassiker in ihrem eigenen Studio in Norfolk neu aufnahmen. Jedes Format wartet mit einem exklusiven Remix auf. Bei der CD ist das ,Vengeance" im exklusiven Remix, während das Vinyl sämtliche fünf Tracks von der Merchandising CD der Tour enthält.
Double LP version, includes all five tracks from the limited CD Remix Chris & Cosey (CTI RSDUK01, 2014). Reinterpretations and re-workings of classic Chris & Cosey songs from the 1980s and 1990s. The idea for the album originated from the pair's much-requested live performances of Carter Tutti Plays Chris & Cosey, taking place in an unprecedented series of shows in the U.K., Europe, Scandinavia, and North America from 2011 through 2014. These dates in turn instigated so many requests for recordings of the live set that they were inspired to re-record this collection of reworked classic versions in their own Norfolk studio. Housed in a gatefold sleeve." [label info]
"Carter Tutti. Chris & Cosey. There may be a semantic difference somewhere to be discussed, but this album brigades what those differences may be as the pair of Chris Carter and Cosey Fanni Tutti have crafted an album of material mined from the back catalogue of Chris & Cosey albums under the moniker Carter Tutti. Over the past four years, the couple has been touring vigorously, with the set including revamped / recorded / reengineered versions of the older Chris & Cosey material. So many people approached them with requests for the live recordings of these newer versions that they went into the studio to properly sequence these tracks for an album. And we gotta say that Carter Tutti offer up one hell of a recapitulation, and at times, they really do better themselves than what they had done back in the '80s. When Throbbing Gristle broke up and Chris & Cosey ventured out on their own, they adopted the seductive electro-pop subversion facets of TG to their own devices. Their albums eagerly consumed technology and fused any and all forms of electronics into the sexual / somatic rhythms of the human body. Admittedly, some times their ideas were hindered by the technologies that were at their disposal. Samplers that could only fire so fast and so much. MIDI programming that was limited by latency, memory, and timing issues. Jump several decades, and what Chris & Cosey did in the '80s with a bank of synthesizers and sequencers can now be done on any given phone. So many of these recapitulations work with the same set of melodies and sequences, but smoothed out the technological stumbling blocks. "Driving Blind" was one of the better tracks on their 1984 album Songs Of Love And Lust; and here, the two flesh out the arpeggiation of the sequences with a dense polyphony of streaming electronics above their whipcrack techno production - and Cosey's skulldrill monotone mantras are as compelling, delirious, and sexy as ever. "BeatBeatBeat" is one of the most refreshing recreations, mostly because the original was pretty damn annoying, again with a minimal, surgical set of cybernetic techno and Cosey reworking the vocal chorus into more of a celestial chime and less of a mosquito irritant. The S&M inspired "Sin" finds Cosey channelling Siouxsie more so than she's ever done in the full-throated bellows of sexual depravity above another finely tuned machine of chome-plated techno. One can hope that whatever new material comes out of this redux, it will follow this template which is pretty fucking great." [Aquarius Records]
|
2015 |
€29.50 |
|
| CARTER, CHRIS |
Chemistry Lessons (CCCL Volume One) |
do-LP |
"Chris Carter’s Chemistry Lessons Volume One is populated with insistent melodic patterns and a distinct sense of wonderment at the limitless possibilities of science. “If there’s an influence on the album, it’s definitely ‘60s radiophonic,” Carter says. “Over the last few years I’ve also been listening to old English folk music, almost like a guilty pleasure, and so some of tracks on the album hark back to an almost ingrained DNA we have for those kinds of melodies. They’re not dissimilar to nursery rhymes in some ways.”
That combination of traditional music and the backing track for exciting, potential futures gives tracks like ‘Moon Two’ and ‘Tangerines’ a sheen of inquisitiveness and quiet euphoria, while ‘Modularity’ and ‘Roane’ have an anxious, sci-fi noir charm. Elsewhere skewed voices add a calming, human note to the album. Carter explains, “Sleazy and I had worked together on ways of developing a sort of artificial singing using software and hardware. This was me trying to take it a step further. I’ve taken lyrics, my own voice or people’s voices from a collection that I’d put together with Sleazy, and I’ve chopped them up and done all sorts of weird things with them.” These moments sit alongside tracks where melodies have a dissonant, noisy, awkwardness that ties the music on CCCL Volume 1 back to the Throbbing Gristle legacy.
As a founding member of Throbbing Gristle alongside Cosey Fanni Tutti, Peter ‘Sleazy’ Christopherson and Genesis Breyer P-Orridge, Chris Carter has had a significant role in the development of electronic music – a journey which has continued through his releases as one half of Chris & Cosey and Carter Tutti and a third of Carter Tutti Void – as well as with his own solo and collaborative releases.
He is also credited with the invention and production of groundbreaking electronics – from the legendary Gristleizer home-soldered effects unit through to the Dirty Carter Experimental Sound Generating Instrument and the sold-out TG One Eurorack module designed with Tiptop Audio (issued to commemorate the fortieth anniversary of Throbbing Gristle’s Second Annual Report) – Carter has created the means to make sounds as well as making the sounds themselves.
The 25-track album was recorded in Carter’s own Norfolk studio and the artwork and accompanying videos were self-created, taking cues in part from battered old experimental BBC broadcast LPs.
Despite having been worked on over an extended period between various artistic projects in a variety of different moods, situations and circumstances, CCCL Volume 1’s experiments never feel like Carter noodling around aimlessly in his studio-laboratory. Instead there is an inner coherence and a distinctively Chris Carter approach to sound and execution that showcases the sonic scientist’s restless, questing creative spirit forever scouting for new ideas." [Mute.com]
"Architect of the present future, Chris Carter goes retro hauntological on CCCL Volume One, his first solo album in 17 years.
Since his previous album, released in the last century, he’s been busy taking his influential duo with partner Cosey Fanni Tutti to a natural close, and likewise seeing thru their trio with Nik Colk Void, while at the same time diversifying his bonds with remixes of the contemporary field, from Factory Floor to Nisennenmondai and Perc. Here, however, the enormously pivotal artist paints a sonic self portrait indulging an unswerving thing for the BBC’s Radiophonic Workshop and the malleability of modular synths, all with a mixture of wide-eyed, youthful innocence and high end studio nous executed to nostalgic degrees.
In the classic framework of hauntology, Carter’s nostalgia is for a lost, assuaged or thwarted synthetic future he experienced explicitly and cosmotically growing up during the ‘space age’, when synthesisers were vehicles for interstellar and interdimensional travel and acted as the connective ligament of counter-cultural likeminds across the world, so its easy to understand why he can’t shake that feeling here.
Like a grown up kid with all the kit he could ever dream of, Carter brings his ideas to life in uniquely tactile style, working like a sculptor with broad palette of amorphous materials that continue to react and mutate after he’s fixed them in place, at his legendary studio in Norfolk. Each of the 25 tracks feels to offer a window onto worlds of encrypted kinetic energy, fulminating figments of the imagination which come to life in shapeshifting, plasmic forms made all the more “real” and hyperstitious thanks to his application of AI like vocaloids which populate the album, cropping up as alien sirens, glossolalic darkroom murmurs, and fully-fledged “singers” in their own strange right.
The result is a uniquely absorbing album tied together by Carter’s smart internal logic, a mazy manifestation of bio-electronic feedback systems that gives voice to the machine as much as the man operating it in a way that will really speak to followers of classic electronic music." [Boomkat]
|
2018 |
€26.50 |
|
| CARVED IMAGE OF EMPTINESS / ZINC ROOM |
Lie, Illusions, Mystifications / Zinc 99,99 |
CD |
"This CD contains not even a split, but in fact 2 full-length albums of two Russian industrial projects, both coming from Ekaterinburg, Ural region. Carved Image Of Emptiness isn't so easily categorized with one term, during their half of the disc the style changes in quite unpredictable manner. The album starts with an energetic industrial track with sampled distorted bass guitar (well, when you write about noise music you can't be completely sure about the sound sources, but it sounds like bass guitar here) and various samples. Then comes unhurried, sombre and serious neo-classics which changes with more "fairy" track. Then again, a neo-classical composition in which pompous martial-like "verse" (think about Der Blutharsch) alternates with totally cartoon-style "chorus" (think about "Crocodile Gena"). During the last 4 tracks the same metamorphoses happen... I think this could be a good soundtrack for some slightly naive, but thus interesting industrial movie from 80-90-ies... Zinc Room is quite another matter! Here you can feel the addiction to the old noise school: in his tracks analogue distortion (bass guitar, percussion, steel objects) blends with field recordings and samples. The recordings are mostly not aggressive (unlike, say, Japanese act K2 who uses a lot of iron as well), but somehow sadly pensive. Like an abandoned rusty factory building standing in the field and grown by weeds long ago. However the spirits of industrialization still live there and sometimes continue their mechanical activity." [label info] |
2007 |
€10.00 |
|
| CASCONE, KIM |
Anti-Musical Celestial Forces |
CD |
"Anti-Musical Celestial Forces presents a thirty minute cinematic montage of field recordings - gathered in the fall of 2008 while on tour in Europe, mixed with computer generated textures and spoken word." [label info]
www.storung.com
|
2009 |
€12.00 |
|
| CASPAR BRÖTZMANN MASSAKER |
Koksofen |
do-LP |
"Koksofen (which translates as blast furnace), originally released in 1993, has become one of Massaker’s most popular albums. Like it’s predecessor, …Schwarze Folklore, the album took shape in Massaker’s rehearsal room below the Berlin subway station Schlesisches Tor, and was recorded at Conny Plank’s studio near Cologne, with Plank’s former associates Ingo Krauss and Bruno Gephard producing. There’s a different kind of intensity to Koksofen. The features of Massaker’s sound are in full bloom. Mountainous noises tower up and crash down, and tormented sounds rise from ominously seething grounds, haunting the entire song-scape. The feel of doom and dread hangs heavily over the five songs, and the title song rumbles, shrieks and wails, plagued by Caspar’s guttural growls of war, suffering and death.
Caspar recalls one anecdote from shortly after the original release whereby Bassist Edu Delgado called him asking to turn on the TV, thus discovering that “Hymne“ was being used as background music to a report about the death penalty in the US. A different kind of intensity indeed. Reflecting on the album to this day Caspar remarks “Koksofen is still a mystery to me,” he continues “I can still feel the troubled times in these songs.” – the effects are certainly potent for the listener too. And the album undoubtedly affirms Massaker as the fiercely original and compellingly raw musicians that they are."
https://casparbrotzmannmassakersl.bandcamp.com/album/koksofen
|
2019 |
€24.00 |
|
| CAUDAL |
Forever in another World |
LP |
Caudal is a new trio featuring Aidan Baker (CA – Nadja, Whisper Room, ARC) on guitar, Gareth Sweeney (IE – Gout) on bass, and Felipe Salazar (CO – Muerte En Pereira) on drums. Baker’s multi-layered, heavily affected guitar overlays Sweeney and Salazar’s driving, propulsive rhythm section creating music equally influenced by krautrock, post-punk, and spacerock.
The Animal: European Ground Squirrel (Spermophilus citellus)
Caudal have decided to dedicate their release to the European ground squirrel (German: Ziesel). All profits will be donated to support the protection efforts of the Austrian Union for Nature Preservation (homepage only available in German – sorry for that!).
The European ground squirrel has very specific habitat requirements. It needs short turf in order to dig its tunnel system. It finds this on the steppes and in pasture, in dry banks, on sports fields, parks and lawns. These conditions are lost when changes in agricultural practice convert grassland into arable land and forest, or grazing ceases and the grass grows coarse and scrub-land develops. Over the last ten years, the population has therefore diminished by more than 30%." [label info]
www.oakenpalace.com
|
2013 |
€18.50 |
|
| CAUL |
The long Dust |
CD |
"The Long Dust signifies the first full length Caul recording for Malignant since 1998's "Light From Many Lamps' CD, and while, stylistically, Brett's sound has evolved, there's no question it has also matured, moving further away from the climatic drift of the early works, into more structured, composed realms, adding layers of noir-ish percussion and gentle guitar melodies to the arching tones and cinematic textures that define the Caul sound. This is music that speaks of grey skies and introspection...solemn, yet abounding with serene beauty. 4 panel digipak." [label info]
www.malignantrecords.com
"Broad and dusky ambient vistas meet shuffling, shoe-gazey post-rock beats on Caul’s new release, The Long Dust. Caul (aka Brett Smith) brings a cinematic sense to his tracks, everything moving with a thoughtful slowness, the long, considered pace of deeply mulling something over. It’s like watching a series of long tracking shots, the camera panning and pulling back to reveal a lone figure. It’s moody and a little brooding, a mindset that’s strongly presented from start to finish, but which never bogs by getting maudlin. That’s due in large part to the beats and the guitar, the way they ground the ambient side. The slump-shouldered drum beats and the lazy twang of the strings serve to amplify the emotional effect of the edge-of-giving-up synth pads. The post-rock framework makes it accessible, and infuses it with a recognizable energy. The ambient side is a thing all its own. Tending toward the low end of the scale, earthy notes grumble and sigh as they spread out to form a somewhat bleak landscape. In the moments where it exists on its own, the ambient aspect is deep and potent, with its own definite beauty. The mix, therefore, ramps it up. “Relic” nails it early on with garage-band drums and a spaghetti-Western guitar. The synth pads moan in the background as Smith casually turns up the catchiness. The last 30 seconds are given over, to great effect, to the synths. This moves us into my favorite track, “Ascension.” The drums clatter, a bit on the ungainly side, over crying pads and chords. It’s a bit stark, bordering on minimal for two minutes, and then–oh, my, how it explodes in a sudden burst of power-chord joy. “Veil of Sand” also works upward from a sparse start, the loneliness of the guitar and drum combo offset by an almost hopeful-sounding blend of high pads and chorals. Even so, it retains a solitary feel. “The Road” has a roll-the-credits solemnity to it. Watch the main character walk off, only partially defeated, into a heat-shimmer sunset, accompanied by a resonating acoustic guitar. Smith builds in more elements to heighten the feel. Once again the backbeat makes it catchy even as it keeps its head-down, alone-again tone. A keening voice sings the last few notes alone.
I’ve seen this disc described as dark ambient. It’s not. It’s heavy, certainly, but it’s a stones-in-your-pockets emotional heaviness. It’s painted not in cloying blacks but in chromatic greys. It dares to show a little hope here and there. What it is, is human. This is a very human disc. It is vulnerable and sad and alone, but it’s finding its inner strength and going on ahead anyway. It has a story to share, and it’s told very well. The Long Dust will ping your emotional core and find something in there to make you a little sad, a little pensive. That’s how and why it works so very well. Another superb offering from Caul." [Hypnagogue]
|
2013 |
€12.00 |
|
| CAUX, JACQUELINE |
Anna Halprin |
2 x DVD |
These two engaging films—Out of Boundaries and Who Says I Have to Dance in a Theater—provide insights into Anna Halprin’s creative philosophy, teaching methods, and performances, serving as an informative follow-up to Ruedi Gerber’s Breath Made Visible. In lively conversations Anna articulates her ideas, describing the trajectory of her work, distinguishing her method from traditional choreography, clarifying her pioneering concept of task-oriented movement, and much more. In addition, there is footage from important past performances and revealing excerpts from the rehearsals for the 2004 performances at the Festival d’Automne in Paris.
Trailer 1: http://www.jacquelinecaux.com/jacqueline/en/documentaire-out-of-boundaries.php
Trailer 2: http://www.jacquelinecaux.com/jacqueline/en/documentaire-anna-halprin.php
These two films captures, from videotaped conversations and numerous excerpts of rehearsals, performances and rare archival footage, of fundamental changes made by Anna Halprin in the field of dance. As soundtrack its have musics by Pauline Oliveros and Terry Riley who both have, at various times, worked with her. It was born in California, in the mid-fifties, long before swarm in New York, this form of artistic expression so peculiar that we later gave the name of 'Post Modern Dance'. All those who participated in the outbreak of this phenomenon know Anna Halprin is an important pioneer. Born in 1920, she has literally exploded all agreements remained in contemporary dance by supporting research on the everyday actions, and taking into account the anatomy of men as well as his unconscious desires and his sexual impulses. She introduces in 1957 the concept of 'task' (to perform actions such as dressing, undressing, walking...). Floor of sneakers or shoes with high heels, she improvises in parking lots, construction sites, in the street On the set dancing outdoors that her architect husband Lawrence Halprin has built below their house near San Francisco, she drives in her crazy adventures - to the extreme by galvanizing their own creativity - young artists from different fields still completely unknown. Dancers such as Simone Forti, Yvonne Rainer, Trisha Brown, Meredith Monk, as well as Robert Morris (before he choose the sculpture), which then introduce in New York on radical innovations of Anna Halprin, forming the core of 'Judson Dance Theater', composers like La Monte Young and Terry Riley, she called in 1959 co-musical directors, and experimenting with her music minimalist and repetitive they are inventing. Other artists such as Charles Ross, a poet like James Broughton, filmmaker Stan Brakhage... An important step while leading it to take into account more than ever the real in work, will Anna Halprin media spotlight away from the city of New York with all the artistic means at its disposal, it will be his fight against the cancer she suffered in 1972 with a recurrence in 1975. Cured, that's when she began working with cancer patients, and later of AIDS. 'I'm not a therapist', she is to clarify, 'I am an artist who seeks to develop imaginative and personal social issues. For me, art is this: bring in a creative process things imposed on us'. Environment California has strengthened the inspiration of Anna Halprin and has enabled her to celebrate away from demonstrative virtuosity, beauty of the natural movement of the human body. This, combined with its long association with disease and death, leading to her most recent improvisations in nature such as 'Returning Home' and 'Season' or 'Rocking Seniors' with more than fifty old persons'. Jacqueline Caux
www.jacquelinecaux.com
|
2014 |
€35.00 |
|
| CELER |
Sunlir |
CD |
"All music by Will Long and Danielle Baquet-Long
Recorded in 2005-2006 at home in Huntington Beach, California
Originally self-released as a limited, handmade edition
new master by m.a.tolosa, Madrid 2011
I am a frame.
I am the frame looking at me, sleeping.
I am a frame
In a dream crooked, at me.
I am a frame shrugging
Without movement.
I am hanging
In a triangle, a knot
Not a tie,
I am a frame.
Wall habitude.
I am the frame looking at me, sleeping
I am a frame
In a dream even, at you.
I am a frame off the wall
With movement; falling,.
I am crooked,
Spun off course by a hand,
The worth of suffering
Is in time, we place ourselves between
The moss of recency
[ Dani Baquet-Long ]" [label info/credits]
www.con-v.org
"The story of Celer is probably well-known by now, certainly if you have been reading these pages before: in a relatively short time span the duo of Will Long and Danielle Baquet-Long created a whole bunch of releases as Celer, all dealing, more or less, with what we can roughly 'drone' and 'atmospheric' music. Baquet-Long died suddenly in 2009 and it was decided by Long that no more music was to be released as Celer. Anything that comes out now as Celer is either old and unreleased and re-issues of older work, such as this release, which was originally a self-released CDR (thus they gain a status like Maeror Tri, who early 90s cassettes found their way on CD and CDR by now). What can we say about this music that we haven't said before? Nothing much I guess, but that doesn't mean I say anything about the quality of the music. Apparently Celer use a variety of instruments, although none are specified here (but it was on other releases) but these are transformed into abstract glacier like masses of sound, slowly moving and lowly humming, just as pretty much anything else I heard from Celer. Its hard to say if and what the differences are between this particular releases and the others I heard. Surely they are there but appear to be minor. When listening to this CD I was thinking about all of this. Surely there are people who like music to progress, slow, quick but inevitably moving to something else and there are people (in both cases people are consumers, not musicians themselves) who like things to remain the same, no matter how many releases an artist does, and this sometimes applies to musicians who release a lot, such as Fear Falls Burning, Francisco Lopez, Merzbow or Machinefabriek (to mention a few): all with a large dedicated group of fans and Celer has joined their ranks. Be it that no more new music will appear, with their back catalogue (which is indeed vast) filled with obscurities. They surely can see some interesting, re-mastered titles in the future. Me, I belong, perhaps more to the first group of consumers, those who like some things to change every now and then. That said, I thought 'Sunlir' was a pretty fine nocturnal listening thing." [FdW/Vital Weekly]
|
2012 |
€13.00 |
|
|
Salvaged Violets |
do-CD |
"'In February of 2008, Dani and I recorded, mixed, and completed the music for Salvaged Violets. The words came as the subject line of a short poem, sent to me over email, included with an unrelated question. During these weekdays, our working schedules were almost the opposite, but we spoke over email constantly. Until recently, I did not notice how similar this was to our beginnings, sending letters as we were on different sides of the country. With no conceptual idea in mind, and since we were apart for so much time during the weekdays, we decided to begin Salvaged Violets, and see what came of it. Every night when I returned home, before sleeping, I would spend time working on the music that Dani had worked on through the afternoon, and had left on the desk. Every afternoon, she would find a different version to work on that I had left, and this continued for some time. When together, we would sip our tea, laugh at silly jokes, cook, watch television, and so on. There was no need for longing while we were together. There was always laughing, pots and pans clanging, or a muttering television. In forming Salvaged Violets, we did not mix it in a particular arranged order. It was mixed simply by the order it was first played, compiling many miniature sections rolled into one. In this case, they were rolled into two. Nothing was discarded, nothing was rearranged. As the sound changed over time, the original form did not. When it was finally complete, we listened together, for the first time. I remember how familiar it seemed, yet I also felt that so much of it was unknown, and undefined. More than a year later, in September of 2009, I revisited the recordings for the first time since 2008. At this time, it was being mastered by our good friend Corey Fuller, so I was still listening to the original. Riding my bike through the endless suburban subdivisions, through the busy downtown streets, I listened repeatedly, for days, over and over. Something was familiar, but so much I was unable to recall, and yet I was able to relate. I returned home, put my bike against the door, and took my headphones off. There, in the still silence, I think I understood finally what it was about.' -- Will Thomas Long, December 2009. 998 copies, stoughton mini-LP gatefold CD sleeve. Twelve art prints and photographs by Peter Lograsso." [label info]
www.infractionrecords.com
|
2010 |
€16.00 |
|
|
ZigZag |
CD |
"Several years ago while living in the United States, I became interested in the minimalist music of the 1960's and 1970's, and new wave of the early 1980's, with the steady pulses, the constant harmonies, and endless continuity. The music had a strong persistence, and while the listener can drift away from following it consciously, the rhythm stays grounded. In it there is something human, like a heartbeat.
At the time I had the idea to use this inspiration with my own music, giving the music a tempo, and a new pathway in a forward direction. I created Zigzag, and agreed to release the album through Spekk, but after several years, the project was delayed, and I went on to other projects, and the initial inspiration and concept disappeared.
In the summer of 2013, I found out that my wife and I would have our first child. Around this time, plans began to come together for the release of Zigzag. After missing the first few doctor's appointments, I was finally able to attend, and for the first time heard the baby's heartbeat. It seemed like such a fateful connection between the baby and the music. When new life begins, everything points toward the future." [label info]
www.spekk.net
|
2014 |
€16.50 |
|
| |
Sky Limits |
CD |
Dreams Wide Awake
"Hill towns and empty mountains pass by, but the smoothness of the train blurs the view, and it's easier than ever to fall asleep in the low morning sunlight coming in through the train's windows", writes Will Long, the artist behind the Celer moniker, in his liner notes to Sky Limits, one of his most fulfilling records to date.
First created as a duo project in 2005, Celer has been US-born musician Will Long's solo vehicle since 2009. Through the years and thanks to an astounding rate of production, Celer has become a reference in the field of ambient electronic music. The care Long puts in his ethereal albums and his flawless musical intuition have earned him the critics'praise and invites to release material on key labels such as Spekk, Glacial Movements, Humming Conch, Experimedia, and/OAR, and now Baskaru.
Sky Limits consists in a series of daydreaming-prone, strings-laden ambient tracks interspersed with field recordings of daily life in Tokyo and Kyoto. This album is a reflection on the evanescent nature of memories, dreams, and reality.
In addition to Celer, his main project, Will Long plays in Oh, Yoko (with Miko) and Hollywood Dream Trip (with Christoph Heemann). He also runs the Two Acorns label.
www.baskaru.com
"For a while I assumed that Celer was no more, due the passing of one half of the duo, but since 2009 Will Long also uses this name as a solo vehicle. He has released his music on many labels, such as Experimedia, Glacial Movements, Spekk and now Baskaru. Here we have a new album of eleven pieces, which all have a title and not necessarily form one long piece but could also be treated as such, of music that is very ambient mixed with a bit of field recordings. From his current location, Tokyo, he offers what seems to be the entire opposite soundtrack of a busy city. Much of this sounds like processed string music, not unlike the kind of strings processed by Marsen Jules. Music that floats by, really, really gentle and calm. Not the kind of stuff I would let pass without looking out the window and think of some weather related metaphor. It fits this sunny yet cold (how would I know: I haven't left the house all day) January day, and now, especially at the end of the afternoon, the
evening starts to fall and lights begin to fade: this seems to be the perfect time of the day to start this CD and then, about an hour later, it's most likely dark and we have moved to a variety of moods here, all from the various possibilities on offer from the string sounds (light, dark, somewhere in between, together, alone), which he mixes with very quiet field recordings from Tokyo, just faint traces it seems of someone talking, some sparse sound, the rumble of far away traffic; Tokyo has quiet areas too, I know. This is Celer the way we like it; it's not the kind of music that Celer wouldn't do, and that's perhaps the downside of it. It doesn't seem to be something 'new', for whatever that is worth. But perhaps that's reviewer talk; maybe the fan wants more of the same?" [FdW/Vital Weekly]
|
2014 |
€14.00 |
|
| CHALK, ANDREW |
The Circle of Days |
LP |
"Truly beautiful new LP, "The Circle Of Days", from UK sound/drone artist Andrew Chalk on his own Faraway Press imprint. Recorded in 2003-06 and created with field recordings, keyboards, guitar, bass guitar, and slide-guitar, "The Circle Of Days" includes a return for Chalk to his long-term collaboration with Daisuke Suzuki (Ghosts On Water, Lost Shadow, Siren Records et al), who features on five of the LP's 14 (relatively short) pieces. The field recordings, mostly captured from everyday home/community life, blend with beautiful fragments of minimalist keyboard runs and droning string tones that reach out, rise-up, and resonate to stunning effect, conveying celestial-like imagery of, say, light from another world shimmering in the dark of our own fog-blurred night. The sounds unfold, subliminally freezing/interrupting time, before fading into voids that sometimes leave a peculiar and wondrous sense of longing. Whilst the field recordings feel grounded in the real world, the instruments' rich sounds seem like they arrived from the ether of far-away, deep inside Chalk's expansive artistic vision. A magical, captivating piece of work that functions like a sonic parallel to the way shooting stars grip our gaze in wonder. Released on Chalk's Faraway Press imprint in an edition of 325 copies. Pressed on super-sounding black vinyl, mastered by Denis Blackham and housed in a sleeve featuring a reproduction of a pencil sketch by the artist himself, with layout design by Jos Moers." [Infinite Limits]
www.farawaypress.info
"Andrew Chalk records are the jewels of the English underground. The noise of Ferial Confine gasped with an existential blurt of obstinate tactility, violent in their self-immolation but never directing a rage outward. The gaze was inward. Then, when the drone grounded much of Chalk's classic works in the '90s and '00s, these slippery, elegiac croons of sonic impressionism dripped with an opalescent beauty that also spent a fair amount of time splashing around in the mud. More recently, Chalk has been exploring the poetic fragment, cracking the lens of British avant-folk eccentricity and scattering the results on stunningly beautiful albums like The Circle Of Days. The curious introductory track here sports a clattering of wood, recorded in situ with longtime collaborator Daisuke Suzuki, with a church nearby, whose bells chime the solemn Westminster Quarter melody. The following track pools rounded tones from Chalk's open-body electric guitar, finding a counterpart in the stoner-folk of Tom Carter's early work in the Charalambides. Piano, chord organ, and more guitar flesh out further tracks of nocturnally impressionist details that hang like constellations in the night sky, curving steadfast against the traffic of satellites, planes, and planets. The course of the second side reprises that of the first, with equally wandering expositions of intimate ambient swath, gossamer half-melody, and the soft-spoken mystical charm that has graced many an Andrew Chalk record! Very highly recommended as with everything that Chalk touches." [Aquarius Records]
"Or, where quality meets content. The name Andrew Chalk, and indeed Faraway Press and La Scie Dorée, will be familiar to any attentive Vital Weekly reader. Chalk has been releasing music since the mid 80s and has worked with people like David Jackman, Darren Tate and Jonathan Coleclough. His best know collaboration is perhaps that with Christoph Heemann under the name Mirror, creating a series of albums that belong both musically as visually to the, in my humble opinion of course, to the best that the ‘ambient/soundscape’ genre has to offer. His new solo album The Circle Of Days has been made available in two editions: 325 copies in regular sleeve and 100 in a beautiful handmade portfolio sleeve, which, if you enjoy that sort of thing, is well worth hunting down. Working again with Daisuke Suzuki, headman of Siren records, Chalk has created what can only be described as yet another gorgeous and very fulfilling album. Even though the cover features several song titles on the back, the album itself is banded as one track per side, giving the impression of two suites, which is something I really like. Plus the record features a label that is slightly smaller in size than regular LP labels, which gives the album the look of an ancient 78 rpm record, which, again, I like very much. Full points for style and design therefore. The precise contribution of Suzuki is not always clear: even though some tracks mark his name, the almost hesitant playing of instruments like guitar, keyboards, piano (in gorgeous stereo), vibes could be either of the two. There are environmental sounds added to the slow tempo music; birds, children playing, the sound of a swing, it all adds to a beautiful musical painting of endless summer days. Nothing new, nothing shocking, simply an emotionally moving musical miniature." [FK/Vital Weekly]
|
2014 |
€20.00 |
|
|
East of the Sun |
CD |
"...These recordings originally came out in 1994 as a cassette, released through Ora's in-house label, Ora being an early collective that revolved around Chalk, Colin Potter, and Darren Tate with occasional assistance from Jonathan Coleclough, mnortham, Lol Coxhill, and a handful of like-minded British drone enthusiasts. A few years later, the Italian label Hic Sunt Leones convinced Chalk to reissue the cassette in digital form. That CD version of East Of The Sun compressed the two sides of the cassette into a single 50 minute piece and was flushed out with some complementary dronescaping. Chalk was never happy with the Hic Sunt Leones version; and thus his reissue of the album returns to the original version found on the cassette, now gloriously remastered in its entirety. For those persnickety types, the 17 minutes or so which concluded the Hic Sunt Leones version is not here; but that is a minor loss compared to the pinnacle of drone-based minimalism found here.
Sure, Eno's ambient records On Land and Thursday Afternoon were milestones in the realm of ambient music, setting an impressionist context through which any number of the images, thoughts, and ideals could be imagined; but that strategy was perfected by Andrew Chalk on a couple of records. There was his ephemeral album Sumac in collaboration with Jonathan Coleclough, there was the first Mirror album Eye Of The Storm, and there's East Of The Sun. Very dark without becoming unbearably cold, East Of The Sun is a constant bloom of nocturnal frequencies, whose origins may be thoroughly blurred bass guitar or possibly some resonant artifact from Chalk's acoustic work in Organum. Regardless, the resultant drones drift with no beginning and no end, merely rippling, reflecting, and turning upon themselves in a perpetual, very slow motion turbulence. Leaves tumbling in autumnal twilight. Fog spilling over coastal hills. Moonlight tickling the agitated surface of a pond. Any of these organic references for meditation on simplicity to reach the sublime and the profound could easily apply to Chalk's East Of The Sun. Not just recommended, this is required listening." [Aquarius Records]
|
2014 |
€17.50 |
|
|
Ghosts of Nakhodka |
LP |
"You may be thinking, there was an album by Andrew Chalk with this exact same title. And you would be correct but for one small distinction - the 2009 album was called Ghost Of Nakhodka and this 2015 album is Ghosts Of Nakhodka. Ah, the difference of plurality! The album is pegged as a sister to that 2009 album though Chalk has implemented a different set of tools on this one. Instead of piano and guitar laced with placid droning effects that was found on the singular Ghost album, here he's using a monophonic synthesizer occasionally dappled with field recordings and a few choice effects.
It becomes very clear this a Chalk record through the albums' impressionist fragments spilled across 13 tracks, each rich with his languid sense of space and his elegant timing in placing this free-roaming kosmische blorp here and that swollen ambient blur over there. Brian Eno's Discreet Music and Apollo would be the closest references to what Chalk is up to here, though his production methods are qualitatively rough hewn in the synth manifestation of melancholic nostalgia with little of the portent that Eno imbues into his work. The miniatures presented are exquisite jewels coming from a craftsman keen on showcasing his work to a select few and within an deliberately intimate setting. It would seem far out of Chalk's character to broadcast works such as these at the Guggenheim or even the ICA. Instead, a humble English cottage with a sod roof and a console-sized cathode ray television as the only means of transmission. Ah, the wonders of Andrew Chalk never cease." [Aquarius Records]
www.farawaypress.info
|
2015 |
€19.50 |
|
|
Paradise Lost |
LP |
"Newly reissued on vinyl (and digitally) with beautiful new artwork, Paradise Lost was originally released as a cassette back in 2019. As is the norm for many Andrew Chalk releases, additional details beyond the fact that it exists are quite thin, but this one takes that to an amusing extreme, as the Discogs entry for the original cassette notes "label and artist name are not listed on the release." That said, I believe I can say with moderate certainty that these two longform pieces were recorded on an 8-track reel-to-reel between 2016 and 2018 and that Chalk primarily played a synthesizer. Also, his Ghosts on Water bandmate Naoko Suzuki contributed some very well-hidden vocals and created the artwork for the original tape.
To some degree, it makes sense that this album originally surfaced as a very limited-small run tape, as it does not feel like one of Chalk's more significant opuses, but it is quite an enjoyable and interesting release nonetheless. In fact, the title piece feels like legitimately prime Andrew Chalk material to me, though I suspect many longtime fans will be more fascinated by the surprising and divergent "This Pendent World." Faraway Press One interesting bit of information that I stumbled upon while researching this album was a blurb from Daisuke Suzuki's Siren Records noting that this album "strongly recalls the atmosphere of home recording in the '80s." I got exactly the same impression myself from the opening "This Pendent World," as I had scribbled down that it felt like a duel between two very different artists from the golden age of private press New Age: one kosmische-inspired synth wizard hellbent on taking me to space and another guy who just wants to lull me into a blissful, bucolic reverie with some pretty string swells.
There are also some traces of a third guy who closely resembles contemporary Andrew Chalk, as there is a loose melodic theme of wobbly, liquid tones likely originating from an electric piano. While that is certainly an odd collision to encounter on a Milton-themed Andrew Chalk record, it works surprisingly well, amiably and amorphously drifting and curling like a trail of smoke. The following "Paradise Lost" is similarly form-averse, but in a much more compelling way, as its frayed and smeared swells of warm synth tones feel teasingly just out of focus. Additionally lurking within the artfully blurred dream-fog are a slow-motion tumble of acoustic guitar fragments, ghostly traces of Naoko's lovely singing, and probably some pedal steel too. I am tempted to make a wince-inducing pun on the album title here, but "Paradise Lost" is simply too beautiful of a piece to deserve such an indignity, vividly evoking the slowly streaking and shifting colors of an especially gorgeous sunset." [Brainwashed]
https://andrewchalk.bandcamp.com/album/paradise-lost
|
2021 |
€19.50 |
|
| |
The End Times |
CD |
A first new solo album by Andrew in five years, completed in 2022 at Impression Lointaine and released by ICR.
Thirteen beautiful melodic tracks that weave in and out of focus in an almost hallucinatory manner, evoking many different moods and emotions.
This will also be available on release from :
andrewchalk.bandcamp.com
where there also be a cassette edition for sale.
https://andrewchalk.bandcamp.com/album/the-end-times |
2022 |
€13.00 |
|
| CHALK, ANDREW & DAISUKE SUZUKI |
山と梨 = Yama To Nashi |
CD |
Entirely handmade at Faraway Press (England)
Debossed design and letterpress printing, with an insert.
Recorded in Japan and England in 2016
“Somewhere in that blue sky
where you hear the sound of the waves,
I think I lost something incredible.
Standing at Lost and Found
in a transparent station of the past,
I became all the sadder”
-Sadness, Tanikawa Shuntaro
Our third full-length album in fifteen years..
"Andrew Chalk and Daisuke Suzuki have known each other for many years now, as Suzuki runs the Siren label out of Japan and had released Sumac, Chalk's masterful collaboration with Jonathan Coleclough. Suzuki is also responsible for one of the very few published interviews with the somewhat reclusive Chalk. Their friendship certainly runs deep, and out of this friendship came the impetus to collaborate once again (both Suzuki and Chalk had contributed to the now defunct Ora project well over a decade ago). The enveloping opiated drone wrapping around cold field recordings of arctic winds racing across a mountain becomes the centerpiece, reflecting just how good Andrew Chalk's sounds are. Entirely handmade sleeves, Yama to nashi (Mountain & Pear) features delicately embossed and debossed paper techniques, with letterpress texts (in Japanese), housed in a heavy card gatefold sleeve of mini LP size. Insert included with translations to English language." [Soundohm]
"The work of Andrew Chalk and Daisuke Suzuki seems as if it has been intertwined forever, so I was somewhat startled to discover that this is their first new collaborative release in almost a decade. As befits the re-convergence of these two masters of understated tranquility, Yama to Nashi feels like a relaxed and unhurried reunion of old friends rather than a bold new vision. As such, it is a somewhat minor (if lovely) addition to the Siren/Faraway Press oeuvre that mostly lingers in familiar territory, but there are a couple of divergent gems lurking amidst these new pieces that longtime fans will not want to miss.
For the most part, the languorous and glistening opening piece ("Threads From The Milky Way") sets the tone for the entire album, establishing the overarching aesthetic of sketchlike vignettes of dreamlike, liquescent bliss. It is difficult to tell exactly how Chalk and Suzuki are getting their blurred and slippery tones, but I believe there is a processed electric piano at the heart of these recordings. As the album unfolds, however, Chalk and Suzuki start to drift further and further away from their lazily glimmering and rippling sound pools and both the mood and the palette start to deepen (and darken). The first real shadows start to fall across Yama on the third piece, "Suzume," which casts a mournful spell by weaving discordant harmonies from glacially swelling strings and drifting smears of synth tones. Curiously, that veil of sadness dispels almost as suddenly and unexpectedly as it appeared, as the wonderful "Shelf on Wall" shakes off its initial moody reverie to blossom into a surreal field recording of a Japanese parade. From there, the piece continues to be a pleasantly inventive and evocative surprise, as the parade seems to partially fade away, but leaves a lovely and lyrical flute melody in its wake that dreamily drifts through a woozy fog of gentle arpeggios, crashing waves, and a few lingering tendrils of the raucous festivities (marching men, clattering percussion, children's voices). To my ears, it is the album's true centerpiece (conveniently located in the center of the album, no less), but it is not without strong competition from the album's final stretch.
Although it is considerably shorter, I am also quite fond of "A Sentry on The Roof," which augments its blearily impressionistic cascades of watery electric piano tones with the loud and fitful buzzing of a large bee. That bee makes a surprising amount of difference, which highlights an unusual trend the runs throughout Yama to Nashi: the purely instrumental pieces feel like the soundtrack to a gorgeous sunrise or seaside vista that I am not seeing, while the pieces that prominently feature field recording are considerably more effective at drawing me into the scene. I am a bit curious about why Chalk and Suzuki did not pursue that elegant blurring together of swooning, hazy ambiance and crisp, vibrant textures from the natural world more, as it definitely feels like that synthesis elevates this collaboration into something more transcendent and unique when it happens. If I had to guess, however, I suspect that the reason is that most of Yama to Nashi consists of Chalk and Suzuki's stronger improvisations that occurred on the road to composing the album's epic closing title piece. On one hand, "Yama To Nashi" is not radically different from the rest of the album, as it is built from gently tumbling arpeggios and warmly radiant washes of synthesizer (though there are some buried bird noises hiding in the mix). There is, however, an unexpectedly strong motif resembling a shuddering, digitalized bird call that periodically tears through the placid idyll. That certainly livens thing up, though it is not quite as dramatic as it sounds. The real difference is mostly just time: Chalk and Suzuki allow "Yama to Nashi" to languorously stretch out for over 20 minutes and that suits it beautifully. Duration makes a world of difference with music in this vein: a glimpse of heaven is nice, but getting a chance to linger in it is by far a superior experience.
As is true of most Andrew Chalk albums (both with and without Suzuki) there is very little to grumble about with this album: Chalk and Suzuki have a long history of making lovely and lush music together and Yama to Nashi ends a long hiatus to bring the world more of it. That pleases me. I am, however, the hapless victim of my own high expectations, as I hoped this welcome reunion would result in an enduring classic. Yama is not an enduring classic, though "Shelf on Wall" seems like a strong step towards a more ambitious and immersive future opus. Hopefully it will not take another decade for that to happen, but I am sure I can find some way to keep busy while I wait if it does. In the meantime, Yama to Nashi is a solid to return to form that adds one more quietly beautiful longform work to the Chalk/Suzuki canon." [Anthony D'Amico / Brainwashed] |
2018 |
€16.00 |
|
| |
Drifting |
CD |
listen:
https://andrewchalk.bandcamp.com/album/drifting
"In 1996, Suzuki worked with Andrew Chalk for the first time. He mailed him a DAT of "unedited pieces, recorded with found objects in his garden", which inspired Chalk to make some spontaneous recordings and a live cassette mix: quite a Lofi recording but forecasting much of their later work. Denis Blackham recently remastered the work, and is now available. Exactly twenty-seven minutes long, this is a relatively loosely organised piece of music. The acoustic sounds are blissfully obscured; for all we know, Suzuki is shuffling through the garden with a rake. There are plants and pots, grass and dirt, and whatever Chalk does remains a mystery. Something electronic is very likely, but that's about it. Maybe he, too, shuffled about and added to the music. I have no idea. The acoustic component is a firm fixture for this piece, and the electronics remain in the background. It's as carefully played as it is mysterious. I think
this is one hell of a piece of music. Short, maybe even too short, but I had it on repeat a few times, and every time I discovered something new." [FdW/Vital Weekly]
|
2023 |
€13.00 |
|
| CHAOTALION |
Tannenholzrauch |
CD |
"Dark fir woods and weird pentagram-esque runes on the cover: How can the contents of this album not be a clichéd, possibly black-metal influenced rendition of the idiotic “stay true to the soil” creed? Well, Alexander Marco has succeeded in tricking us all. His music on this album under the Chaotalion moniker is a vast expanse of breathing, pulsating ambient dreamscapes, cleverly evoking certain black metal genre elements, but totally eliding its ideology.
Marco uses guitar and electronics to create the music on this album, but his textural approach owes a good deal to his work with not-so-musical sounds. A regular participant in the Noise Factory sessions hosted by Y-Ton-G, Marco is also schooled in musique concrète and assemblage of found sounds, and this rather constructivist approach gives this release a refreshingly sober, clear, kitsch-free touch. Actually, the album, with all its packaging and teutonic titles, might well be a conceptual ‘joke’ on certain ‘black’ aesthetics, but the music is too well-crafted to allow for an easy interpretation as a simple parody.
File under: ambient" [label info]
www.attenuationcircuit.de
"Attenuation Circuit Records have been rumbling around for a while. It’s mindblowing how much effort Sascha puts up into his releases, shows, tours, and his activism on the contemporary avant-garde scene skyrocketed the label to the top. It’s no wonder why this is the case considering the number of releases Attenuation Circuit has managed to publish in previous years. The numbers speak for themselves. Tannenholdrauch by Chaotalion is just a tiny particle in the label’s vast universe, but the significant gear on the modern dark ambient scene. The album comprises of nine cleverly layered dark ambient numbers that burst with eerie atmospherics. These eerie atmospherics consist of a wide array of spacey sounds, subtle synthetic drones, occasional guitar experimentations, and delicate non-organic noises. Chaotalion uses calm tones as overtures for his compositions, perpetuated by simplistic ambient keys. The situation becomes complex when the artist includes the mentioned elements to enhance the overall listening experience. The transitions between monotone and polytone sequences are nicely composed, so Tannenholdrauch keeps attention thought complete sessions. There’s a certain accentuation of composite darkness showcased through loads of assorted half-tones. However, Chaotalion maintains a dosage of melody that sounds intentionally odd, but pleasant to the listening apparatus. The artist has also included pulsing sequences at some points to retain listeners’ attention during the exhausting monotone segments. Still, these monotone segments are incorporated to maintain a dark, depressive, obscure ambiance that lurks around throughout the complete album. If that was the intention of the Chaotalion, than the artist unquestionably nailed in his intent to depict macabre imagery through Tannenholdrauch. The album comes with minimalistic photography of the woods, characteristic for depressive black metal bands, and it includes stylized pentagram logo, which serves as a Chaotalion’s symbol. Tannenholdrauch carries the dosage of depressiveness characteristic for the vast majority of dark ambient works, but this particular one provides a more eerie atmosphere than the other artists. Tannenholdrauch has come as a compact disc, and it can be purchased at the Attenuation Circuit Bandcamp page." [Thoughts Words Action] |
2015 |
€8.00 |
|
| CHASE, BRIAN |
Drums & Drones |
CD & DVD |
"A first for Pogus! This fantastic new 2 disc set by Brian Chase, drummer for the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, contains both a CD of the music and a DVD of the music with videos by New York video artists Ursula Scherrer and Erik Z. This recording is exactly what it says it is : drums and drones - based on Just Intonation tuning theory: A tuning system modeled after a naturally occurring acoustic phenomenon known as overtones, the subsidiary tones which exist in an ordered series from an established primary tone. Stemming from this single primary tone an infinite amount of overtones can be derived. As Chase explains: Drums and percussion has seen some but not much exploration in Just Intonation, yet they are inherently designed to represent it as such: a drum head is tuned to a single pitch, one frequency, and resonates with rich harmonic detail. From there the overtone series can be uncovered and expressed. The Drums and Drones project deals directly with approaching drums and percussion from the standpoint of Just Intonation. For Chase, the genesis of this project is outlined in this brief excerpt from his liner notes: The Drums and Drones project initially came about from inspiration by La Monte Young and Marian Zazeela's Dream House installation in TriBeCa, NYC. I had spent a good amount of time, volunteering there as a 'monitor' someone who minded the installation and greeted visitors. The duration of my shift, about 4-5 hours, was mostly spent sitting directly outside of the gallery space, listening and feeling the immense sound pulsing through the door and walls, and reading up on the principles of Just Intonation and the historical background of La Monte, Marian, and their cohorts of the NYC experimental art scene. I accumulated countless hours, too, sitting in the space itself, embracing the impact of the finely tuned sound and light vibrations. The tones would dance in my head, hypnotic and entrancing, and I would hear tones that previously seemed veiled which were now resonating loudly and clearly somewhere between the air, my ear, and my brain. I was mesmerized by the power of this physiological experience. With the pieces that were developed for a Feb. 2007 concert, a starting point was formed for what was to grew into a recording project. I had the idea of approaching the project as being a series of etudes, each one a study in the different ways of the application of the Just Intonation tuning theory to drums and percussion. Eventually I did develop a basic method which laid the groundwork for most of what was to come with D & D: 1) tune the drum head to a specific frequency 2) mic the drum and run the sound into a computer 3) with recording software, use very precise, a.k.a. surgical, equalization to emphasize and boost the frequencies of the drum's overtones. Also as part of the setup was a loop pedal, but at this stage it was used more for live performance. Another important method that I developed at this stage was getting sustained feedback tones generated between the resonating drumhead and the stereo speakers. To do this, I would boost a specific frequency on the EQ corresponding to the fundamental or a low harmonic, and this would encourage the drumhead to vibrate at that frequency. A feedback loop would get going between the drum and the speakers. Often times I would need to raise or lower the pitch of the drumhead ever so slightly to 'dial in' the tuning of the feedback tone. Each etude developed at this time would highlight a different set of overtones and showcase a specific playing technique. Brian Chase is a drummer and composer living in Brooklyn, NY. Growing up on Long Island, he started taking private drum lessons when he was 5 that led to earning a Bachelors of Music from the Oberlin Conservatory in Ohio. Though he works in a variety of contexts, Brian is probably best known as a member of the rock group Yeah Yeah Yeahs, a band that has toured extensively throughout the world and has been nominated for two Grammys. Other recorded projects include the Seconds, a minimalist punk rock band that has two albums on the 5rc label, a duo ensemble with saxophonist Seth Misterka that has a record on the Heathen Skulls label, and Jeremiah Lockwood's Sway Machinery with a record on JDub. Performance collaborations have included Matt Welch, Jessica Pavone, Mary Halvorson, Stefan Tcherepnin, Alan Licht and Okkyung Lee. Brian is also interested in the Just Intonation tuning theory and is heavily influenced by the work of La Monte Young introduced to him by guitarist Jon Catler." [label info]
www.pogus.com
"The next release is the first DVD release by Pogus, with the same music on CD. I went to straight to the DVD. Brian Chase is the drummer for the Yeah Yeah Yeahs (which name I may have come across, but surely not their music, as far as I know), a rock group. I must admit I didn't know what to expect from a disc in which the title already tells us what's going to happen. But exactly how drums create drones, or how the two are going to be married, is of course the big question here. Inspired by LaMonte Young and Marian Zazeela, Chase started to tune the drum head to a specific frequency and 'mic the drum and the sound into a computer' and then using software with very precise equalization to emphasize and boost the frequencies of the drum's overtones. In a concert situation he would also use a loop pedal. That was one starting point, the other was to have drum heads resonate with feedback loops between drum and speakers. None of this is actually be seen on the DVD, and the images, created by Ursual Scherrer and Erik Z, which are mostly abstract affairs of multi-layered images, that fit the music rather well. In many of these pieces one hardly has the idea one is listening to anything that is even remotely drum like, except perhaps 'Stick Shot Harmonics Drone', which is also one of the pieces in which the video seems to be running along with the music - in sync. But many of the other are like sustaining tones of sometimes sine wave like sounds, waving slowly and majestically about. If you listen closely you may recognize a bit of drum here and there, maybe more apparent if you play the CD and not be distracted by the visuals. As someone who loves drones, I must say I was quite taken by this release." [FdW/Vital Weekly]
|
2013 |
€18.00 |
|
| CHASSE, LOREN |
Characters at the Water Margin |
CD |
"These recordings were made at the edge of Washington state’s Olympic Rainforest, where the Hoh River meets the Pacific Ocean. The point of entry to this landscape, named Oil City on the map, is no more than a place where the road widens before coming to an end at a trailhead. Just north of the road, through the trees, and on the homestead of the late Captain Hank who one day disappeared at sea, is the ghost of an oil rig and some comings and goings along a plank road. Early 20th century settlers had been ambitious to start an oil industry here but it never took off. Chalá-at–or Hoh–legend describes a race of upside down people who once lived on this shore and went about their domestic lives rather inefficiently until a transformer-god, K’wati, set them upright. Can it be inferred, then, that the Chalá-at also listened at ground level?
Massive cedar, Sitka spruce, and Douglas fir logs pile up here on a dense litter of granitic pebbles and driftwood, all worn smooth by the sea. The surf resonates in countless hollows across this implied architecture. Elevated walkways bridge the sea wrack and lead to secluded rooms with makeshift furniture and fire rings on floors of stone and sand. A dense rainforest rises steeply behind this beach. Human passage between Oil City and the mouth of the river, and at the jut of rock on the way to Jefferson Cove, is strictly regulated by a fearsome tide. The animals of this seashore, though rarely seen, have upon each and every surface left a shadow scattered." [Loren Chasse, January 2014]
"Now here's a name I haven't heard in quite a while, Loren Chasse. His last work before this one 'The Footpath' on Naturestrip, which didn't make it to these pages, I think. That was in 2008. What Chasse was up to in the meantime I don't know. Maybe other, non-musical activities required his attention. Here he has a work of nine pieces of sounds he recorded at the 'edge of Washington state's Olympic Rainforest where the Hoh River meets the Pacific Ocean'. This point is called oil City, but the oil industry never took off. I must admit I have no idea what I am hearing here. Yes, there might be the sound of water, maybe birds, but what else? That is hard to say. It sounds like Chasse has been rumbling through the woods, shuffling logs, pushing stones and such like. Likewise I have no idea to what extent there is something done after these sounds are recorded. Is there anything done post-recording? Some kind of sound processing? Digital and/or analogue? Hard to say. Very few moments I thought it was, and then perhaps not at all. Nowhere, never. All of these things I was thinking about while playing this release. Lots of questions, but altogether it make up for some truly fascinating music. It's partly like an audio diary, of someone exploring an area full of lumber, small creeks, birds and searching for a hide out, to spend the night. Setting up camp, listening to wildlife somewhere, nocturnal humming and crafting a boat. I might be all wrong actually. It makes up quite a fascinating release altogether. Quite intense, quite unsettling even, but also quite beautiful. Great stuff." [FdW/Vital Weekly]
|
2014 |
€14.00 |
|
| CHASSE, LOREN & MICHAEL NORTHAM |
The Otolith |
CD |
58 Minuten voller Wunder und Geheimnis! Mehrere Jahre haben LOREN CHASSE (THUJA, etc.) und MICHAEL NORTHAM eine unglaubliche Fülle von Klängen zusammengetragen (Field Recordings, Aussen-Objekt-Aufnahmen, Instrumentalsounds) und daraus auf acht Stücken Räume voller konkreter Details und dröhnender Sphären erschaffen, es tönt so soft und obertonreich und doch nie beliebig, Originalsounds bleiben oft im dunkeln aber betören stets in höchstem Maße. Das ist "organischer Ambient" oder "Microsound Musique Concrete" in Vollendung!
"The recordings of Loren Chasse and Michael Northam begin and end with the great outdoors. Yet, the well-documented wanderlust of these two kindred sound artists is only part of the equation. Field recordings of wind, water, and stone intertwine and hybridize within private rituals of droning psychedelic ragas that return as a folklore reiterating the mystery of the natural world around us. Through his numerous contributions to the multi-faceted Jewelled Antler as well his solo work, Chasse has long postulated the microphone as an extension of his ear, which magnifies and probes the surface of the earth for a tactile grit that permeates all of the sounds that he generates. Northam claims his inspiration from vast geographies, microscopic detail, and severe weather, which he compacts through various techniques to explore what is between improvisation and acousmatic composition. Both Chasse and Northam entertain such notions through an alchemy of arcane instruments: autoharps, ouds, flutes, bells, gongs, bowed wires, harmonium, and Northam's magnetic table harp. The Otolith is the result of several years of work, with sounds gathered collectively in the San Francisco Bay Area and throughout Europe. The album speaks as a bramble of fence wire and chaparral scrub oak, acquiring an unkempt collection of rubbish, cobwebs, insects, and soil within its tangle. As the wind pushes in one direction, this mass emits a quite if scratchy melody as if the ghost from a forgotten song; but when the wind changes directions, it bellows a rasping din of metal and vine cracking against itself. This sodden calliope tumbles into a miasma of droning atmospheres, softly rasped distortion, and very subtly rendered lulabies lurking deep within the overgrowth." [label info]
" Throughout the Marin Headlands just north of the Golden Gate Bridge, the coastal mountains are dotted with countless bunkers which were built during World War II in anticipation of the Japanese invasion that never came. Nearly 70 years later, these bunkers have been weathered by wind, fog, rain, and of course the sodden folks who tromp through the Headlands on a daily basis. These concrete structures with small portals facing the Pacific all have amazing reverberant qualities; and it shouldn't be a surprise that the more frequented bunkers and passageways inevitably echo with the sound of children dying to hear their own voices tossed back to them. The Headlands have been a favored destinations for Loren Chasse, who has sought many of the lesser known and lesser travelled environs for field recordings and jam sessions that would eventually work their way
into all things Jewelled Antler (Thuja, Franciscan Hobbies, The Blithe Sons, Of, Ov, etc.). In his recordings, Chasse extracts a profound mystery and grand sense of wonder from that echo, the bunker's grit, the soft recurrence of surf bleeding through those walls, and the distant bleat of a foghorn.
Back in 2005, Chasse took his fellow globetrotting wanderer Michael Northam to the Battery Townsley where the two set up long
string wires and various handheld instruments to begin a series of recordings which took a few years to complete after Northam left
California. The two did manage to meet up once again in Estonia, there exploring the Soviet industrial ruins that pock the Estonian landscape with similar intentions. Out of the bramble of overgrown weeds, rebar, concrete, dirt, rock, wind, and water, Chasse and Northam straddle those psychedelic leanings of Jewelled Antler and the more studied aspects of minimalism.
The Otolith begins with an acoustic clamor, as if billions of iron filings were brushing against each other under the direction of a
couple of hefty magnets, before shifting into a harmonium blur of sustained tones hinting at a melody well beneath these clouds of tousled energy. Softer drones and Aeolian fragments flutter forth out of bowed strings and gently tapped gongs amidst a golden hue of opiated atmospherics. Scrabblings across the surfaces of leaves, rocks, mud, and metal fuse with field recordings of wind and water, as a continuing demonstration of Chasse's alchemy with naturalist sound to bring forth stately ragas and dreamtime psychedelic lullabies.
Chasse and Northam work amazingly well together, having produced this thoroughly amazing album. Think Popul Vuh, Parson Sound, Pandit Pran Nath, Harry Bertoia, and Eric La Casa. Totally beautiful and mesmerizing." [Aquarius Records review]
www.helenscarsdale.com
|
2008 |
€13.00 |
|
| CHATHAM, RHYS |
Outdoor Spell |
CD |
"Rhys Chatham has trailblazed a course through late 20th century music, equally aplomb in post-minimalist composition as he is in punk. Not since Roebling laid his span across the East River has there been an artist who builds bridges in both how we hear music and how we can appreciate art. His latest album, Outdoor Spell, is a further document in that direction. Here has has eschewed 100 guitars, or even himself playing a single guitar, for the trumpet and voice, both electrified and dry. www.myspace.com/rhyschatham" [label info]
|
2011 |
€13.00 |
|
| CHAUVEAU, SYLVAIN |
Singular Forms (Sometimes Repeated) |
CD |
"Stripped: dekonstruierte "Popsongs" des französischen Elektronikers.
Es ist kaum zu glauben, dass zwischen Sylvain Chauveaus letztem Album "Down To The Bone" und "Singular Forms (Sometimes Repeated)" ganze fünf Jahre liegen. Dazwischen gab’s Reissues, diverse Kollaborationen und Soundtrack-Arbeiten, dennoch ließ sich Chauveau Zeit, bis seine Ideen die Reife hatten, umgesetzt und auf Tonträger gebannt zu werden. Die Depeche-Mode-Songs, die er auf "Down To The Bone" erkundete, brachten ihn auf die Idee, ein Album mit Songs aufzunehmen. In vielerlei Hinsicht ist "Singular Forms (Sometimes Repeated)" wie ein normales Album mit Hooks und Melodien konstruiert. Dennoch dekonstruierte Chauveau die bekannten Formen auf ihr Grundlevel. Vokalpassagen fallen aus den sparsamen Klavierarrangements wie Äpfel im Herbst. So wie Carsten Nicolai und Ryuichi Sakamoto klassische Musik dekonstruierten, hat sich Chauveau vorgenommen, die Wurzeln der Popmusik freizulegen. Jedes Stück klingt zunächst so, als könne mit ihm ein Drei-Minuten-Pop-Stück beginnen, bevor dann alle Teile allmählich wegbrechen. Eine herausfordernde, intensive Hörerfahrung." [label info / Indigo]
"It is hard to believe that five years have passed since Sylvain Chauveau’s last ‘proper’ album. Of course there have been re-issues peppering the years since ‘Down To The Bone’, as well as more than a few collaborations and soundtrack appearances, but Sylvain has purposefully waited to allow his ideas to come to fruition. On mentioning his new album to me a few years ago, Sylvain commented that he didn’t think it would appeal to everyone and that he wanted to take a fresh direction. The Depeche Mode songs he had explored on ‘Down To The Bone’ had given him ideas he felt he needed to explore, and ‘Singular Forms (Sometimes Repeated)’ is his attempt at an album of ‘songs’.
In many ways, ‘Singular Forms (Sometimes Repeated’) is constructed the way albums used to be – it is compact and filled with vocal hooks and melodies, yet Sylvain has deconstructed the musical forms he grew up listening to and reduced them to their base level. Vocal snippets fall through the stereo field and his signature piano motifs splutter and cough through processed digital hiccups. As Carsten Nicolai and Ryuichi Sakamoto deconstructed classical music, Sylvain attempts here to study and dissolve the roots of popular music. Each piece feels like it could have started as a three-minute pop sing-along before the accompaniments were stripped away and the component parts reduced to merely a backbone.
‘Singular Forms (Sometimes Repeated)’ is a daring and challenging listening experience. The widescreen theatrics of Sylvain’s previous work have all but disappeared, leaving an album that is stark and incredibly beautiful. It is an album rooted in a love of art and music, both minimal and mainstream and celebrates Sylvain’s influences. One listen might only reveal surface details, but listen again and you will find much, much more." [label info]
www.typerecords.com
|
2010 |
€15.50 |
|
| |
Singular Forms (Sometimes Repeated) |
LP |
"It is hard to believe that five years have passed since French composer Sylvain Chauveau's last "proper" album. Of course, there have been re-issues peppering the years since Down To The Bone, as well as more than a few collaborations and soundtrack appearances, but Sylvain has purposefully waited to allow his ideas to come to fruition. The Depeche Mode songs he had explored on Down To The Bone had given him ideas he felt he needed to explore, and Singular Forms (Sometimes Repeated) is his attempt at an album of "songs." In many ways, this album is constructed the way albums used to be -- it is compact and filled with vocal hooks and melodies, yet Sylvain has deconstructed the musical forms he grew up listening to and reduced them to their base level. Vocal snippets fall through the stereo field and his signature piano motifs splutter and cough through processed digital hiccups. As Carsten Nicolai and Ryuichi Sakamoto deconstructed classical music, Sylvain attempts here to study and dissolve the roots of popular music. Each piece feels like it could have started as a 3-minute pop sing-along before the accompaniments were stripped away and the component parts reduced to merely a backbone. Singular Forms (Sometimes Repeated) is a daring and challenging listening experience. The widescreen theatrics of Sylvain's previous work have all but disappeared, leaving an album that is stark and incredibly beautiful. It is an album rooted in a love of art and music, both minimal and mainstream and celebrates Sylvain's influences. One listen might only reveal surface details, but listen again and you will find much, much more." [label info]
|
2010 |
€16.50 |
|
| CHEN, TANIA & STEVE BERESFORD |
Ointment |
CD |
Tania Chen: objects, toys, violin, piano
Steve Beresford: objects, electronics, toys,
trumpet, water
Pieces beginning with 'C' recorded by Tim Fletcher at The Bonnington, Vauxhall, London on December 18 2002. Event organised by Adam and Jonathan Bohman.
All other pieces recorded by Steve Beresford in west London - pieces beginning with 'L' on August 7 2003 and the rest on June 12 2003. All pieces composed by Tania Chen and Steve Beresford. Edited by Steve Beresford in March 2004.
Not to rub it in, but this is a very effective fast-acting selection from two of England's finest sonic alchemists. Applied liberally to the ears, 'Ointment' will both soothe and alarm you. Tania Chen and Steve Beresford coax a galaxy of timbres from toys and unidentified objects to produce a series of astonishing tableaux.
The album commences with the monastic 'Gel', a stinging vesper for rasp and strigil. We are wheeled into the phosphene diorama of 'Lotion', awash with images of giant ants, ducks and a campfire idyll. 'Serum' is administered,
seemingly innocuous, but then run through with a desert laser like blue cheese, it scrubs up a storm. The title track is shaken and stirred. Dextrose organs sugar the espionage.
In the aftermath there is 'Balm', an aquatic fanfare with lemon notes and a hint of playdough. 'Liniment' evokes traffic-smeared London. It is essentially a road work. A suburban ballad for mandrill, cricket and toffee guitar. 'Embrocation' steams forth, ideal for the brushing (and flossing) of teeth, it is hygienic and brief. The seasonal downstroke of 'Demulcent' counts the rings around it's carbonated core. Regular music with a soft touch.
The last two squirts of 'Ointment' are live recordings. 'Cerate' begins as a gentle seduction, waxing rustic before stiffening at the conclusion. 'Chrism' puts the funk into unction, it marks time and pierces austerity, the rhythms played out on a leash.
Chen and Beresford are quick-change artists on the fly. 'Ointment' captures them. Side effects for the listener? A sharpening of the senses which may persist for some time after the album has finished.
(Jonathan Bohman)
TANIA CHEN: pianist of the younger generation, Tania Chen, is fast becoming a leading exponent of contemporary piano music. She studied at the Royal College of Music and pursued advanced studies with Stephen Coombs and Artur Pizarro in London. She continued her postgraduate studies, specialising in contemporary music with acclaimed contemporary pianist, John Tilbury, and was awarded an MMus with Distinction from Goldsmiths College, University of London.
Tania is a recent recipient of the Shelley Scholarship in Performing Arts, enabling her to undertake performance projects in Rome and Venice. She has recently performed in masterclasses with Mtslav Rostropovich and has recorded pieces by Cornelius Cardew with Apartment House for the Matchless label. She has worked closely with Earle Brown, Yuji Takahashi, Terry Riley, Michael Parsons, Andrew Poppy, Laurence Crane, and James Saunders amongst others, and has given many performances in London, Japan and Europe. Tania has recently played music by Chris Newman for piano and voice and she has also written her own music which is composed as well as improvised for piano, electronic sounds and voice.
|
2004 |
€6.00 |
|
| CHORA(S)SAN TIME-COURT MIRAGE (=CATHERINE CHRISTER HENNIX) |
Blues Alif Lam Mim |
do-LP |
Having already unearthed three collections of archival ‘70s recordings by Catherine Christer Hennix, Blank Forms continues their annual illumination of the visionary Swedish composer’s music by turning to more recent work with this first-time vinyl edition of Hennix’s “Blues Alif Lam Mim in the Mode of Rag Infinity/Rag Cosmosis,” a 2014 piece first released as a CD in 2016 (Important Records).
The double album captures the April 22, 2014 premiere of Hennix’s composition by by the Chora(s)san Time-Court Mirage, her expanded just intonation ensemble, featuring a brass section of Amir ElSaffar, Paul Schwingenschlögl, Hilary Jeffery, Elena Kakaliagou, and Robin Hayward; live electronics by Stefan Tiedje and Marcus Pal; and voice by Amirtha Kidambi, Imam Ahmet Muhsin Tüzer, and Hennix herself. Intended to reveal the blues’ origins in the eastern musical traditions of raga and makam, “Blues Alif Lam Mim in the Mode of Rag Infinity/Rag Cosmosis” has its roots in Hennix’s 2013 realization of an “Illuminatory Sound Environment,” a concept developed in 1978 by anti-artist Henry Flynt on the basis of Hennix’s own “The Electric Harpsichord.”
As Hennix explains in Other Matters, Blank Forms’ 2019 collection of her writings:
“Rag Infinity/Rag Cosmosis presents fragments of ‘raga-like’ frequency constellations following distinct cycles and permuting their order, creating a simultaneity of ‘multi-universes.’ When two such ‘universes’ come in proximity of each other and begin unfolding simultaneously along distinct cycles, there is a kaleidoscopic exfoliation of frequencies as one universe is becoming two, but not separated—the effect of cosmosis is entrained, binding two or more frequency universes into proximity where their modal properties interact and blend, creating in the process entirely new microtonal constellations in an omnidirectional simultaneous cosmic order with phenomenologically ‘transfinite’ Poincaré cycles (cyclic returns to initial conditions).”
As with Hennix’s best work, the organic unfolding of this quivering drone belies a precision that opens onto the infinitesimal. Upon its mesmerizing ebb and flow, the vocalists incant a devotional poem written in Arabic by Hennix and featuring quotations from the Quran. Also reproduced on the album’s gatefold jacket, Hennix’s reduction of the sacred text to its most elegant formulation invites the contemplator to bring their inner knowledge to the composition for use as a prompt for meditation. Yet the piece offers depth to even the most secular listener willing to immerse themselves in music brimming with such serene intensity.
Catherine Christer Hennix (b. 1948) started her creative life playing drums with her older brother Peter, growing up in Sweden where she heard jazz luminaries, such as John Coltrane, Eric Dolphy, Dexter Gordon, Archie Shepp, and Cecil Taylor perform from 1960 to 1967. Directly after high school, Hennix went to work at Stockholm’s pioneering Elektronmusikstudion (EMS), where she developed early tape music, incorporating computer generated speech done at the Royal Technological University (KTH), where she was an undergraduate student. After traveling to New York In 1968, she met artists Dick Higgins and Alison Knowles who invited her to stay at the Something Else Press Town House where she had the opportunity to meet, among others, composers John Cage, James Tenney, and Phil Corner. During the following years she developed fruitful collaborative relationships with many composers in the burgeoning American avant-garde, including, most significantly, Henry Flynt and La Monte Young. Young introduced Hennix to Hindustani raga master Pandit Pran Nath and she would later study intensively under him as his first European disciple. While Hennix continued to make music performing alongside Arthur Russell, Marc Johnson, Henry Flynt, and Arthur Rhames, she also served as a professor of Mathematics and Computer Science at SUNY New Paltz and as a visiting Professor of Logic (at Marvin Minsky’s invitation) at MIT’s Artificial Intelligence Laboratory. In recent years Hennix has led the just-intonation ensemble the Chora(s)san Time-Court Mirage, which has featured musicians Amelia Cuni, Amirtha Kidambi, Chiyoku Szlavnics, Hilary Jeffrey, Amir El-Saffar, Benjamin Duboc and Rozemarie Heggen. She currently resides in Istanbul, Turkey pursuing studies in classical Arabic and Turkish makam.
https://blankformseditions.bandcamp.com/album/blues-alif-lam-mim
|
2021 |
€37.50 |
|
| CHORD |
Flora |
CD |
"Neuer Drone-Monolith bestehend aus Kyle Benjamin (guitarist for Chicago´s Unfortunaut), Jason Hoffman (a.k.a. darkwave composer Anatole), Trevor de Brauw (of Chicago instrumentalists Pelican) und Phil Dole (of über-dronists X-Bax). Folgende Herangehensweise: Es gibt einen Chord und jeder der hier Teilnehmenden spielt davon eine einzelne Note - Monotonie in seiner reinsten Form. Da brummen die Boxen, glühen die Kabel, vibrieren die Eingeweide, vorausgesetzt, selbstredend, natürlich, wo denkste hin, ´maximum volume yields maximum result´. Ein ´sonic titan´ zwischen Lotus Eaters und Growing." [Flight 13]
"Evanston, IL. - CHORD was formed at Dr. Wax, a once thriving record store (now sadly closed, but immortalized as the title inspiration for prolific casio-rocker Wesley Willis’s 2000 full length) that was an appealing gathering place for musicians and music aficionados alike. Amid endless musings about the finer points of texture, tone, and Jimmy Eat World’s rousing single “The Middle”, Kyle Benjamin (guitarist for Chicago's Unfortunaut), Jason Hoffman (a.k.a. darkwave composer Anatole), Trevor de Brauw (of Chicago instrumentalists Pelican) and Phil Dole (of über-dronists X-Bax) devised an outline for CHORD that lived for many months in the realm of conversation. With a shared appreciation for the works of Tony Conrad, and Glen Branca the group formulated a collective vision: exploit and explore the sonic depth of a single chord.
CHORD performances consist of each player being assigned one note from a pre-selected chord. They are then expected to consider all ranges of flexibility concerning octave, rhythm, playing style and effect treatments. The overall effect CHORD generates is that of a single note being rendered into an unsolvable riddle – a harmonic Gordian knot that creates an almost pastoral feel of being blinded by the sun. The rejection of melody and structure in favor of sweeping and epic tones inspires a sense of rousing apprehension. Shrouded in the individual tunings of each player the pieces never become diluted, instead finding resolution in collective dissonance and consonance. To be in the presence of chord achieved is transcendent.
CHORD first performed during February 2004 at Evanston's Nevin's Live, stunning a sold out crowd who had gathered on a combination of word of mouth and their appreciation for the other folk-rock acts on the bill. A few select shows followed including coveted opening slots for Jakob, Savage Republic, Growing, and The Austerity Program, as well as a headlining appearance in Brooklyn at a benefit for The American Red Cross. CHORD released its debut recording FLORA on Neurot Recordings in spring 2009." [label info]
"...It's all quite dramatic and epic, quite beautiful, stately at certain moments, almost chaotic and crumbling at others, anyone into Conrad, Cale, Maclise, Flynt and especially Branca and Chatham will definitely dig this. As well as guitardrone freaks who count Fear Falls Burning, RST, Seconds In Formaldehyde, Elm, Continuum and the like among their favorites." [Aquarius Records review]
www.neurotrecordings.com
|
2009 |
€14.00 |
|
| CHORE IA |
Postscriptum |
do-CD |
https://zoharum.bandcamp.com/album/postscriptum-neogolizmowa
It's a new album by Jacek Wanat aka CHORE IA, released in cooperation with Antenna Non Grata. "Postscriptum" brings five long compositions, which are an extension of the style that was outlined on previous publications. It is a resultant of drone, ambient with elements of experimental electronics. The album, although it sounds very fresh, is kept in the spirit of music from Obuh Rec. We are dealing here with compositions with a slightly poetic character, building a contemplative atmosphere, sometimes taking on a slightly somnabulistic, even ethereal form. This edition has been enriched with the second disc "Neogolizmowa", containing material from both cassettes and a few bonuses from the same period. 2CD edition in a 6-panel eco-pack with artwork, based on Jacek Wanat's graphics and paintings.
Recorded at Studio Czad
Bass, Cello, Voice, Electronics, Other sound objects by Jacek Wanat
Cover artworks by Jacek Wanat
Design by Maciej Mehring
Music & lyrics by Jacek Wanat
"Postscriptum" was recorded at home in Konin
"Neogolizmowa" was recorded by Sławek Mizerkiewicz in Studio CZAD, Swarzędz, October 19, 1994 (cassette released by OBUH Records in 1995)
CD2 contains also 2 additional tracks from 1995 and 3 bonus tracks recorded in the twenties of this century.
cooperation coordination :) Marcin Olejniczak
"Chore IA is the brainchild of philosopher, bassist and avant garde rock enthusiast, Jacek Wanat. Originally releasing material as far back as 1995, Wanat spent many of the intervening years making music with Radek Dziubek, Tomek Maliński and Waldek Paziewski in the band Blimp before eventually returning to his earlier project in 2018 with the album Schizophrenia. Spread across two CDs the latest Chore IA album, Postscriptum / Neogolizmowa is an unabashed festival of weird ambient electronica. The first disc, Postscriptum, is made up of 5 long pieces of psychedelic ambient drone, whilst the second disc, Neogolizmowa, is made up of previously released material, including tracks from the two cassettes that were released on OBUH records, as well as other material taken from that same period.
The opener on disc one is I’m Waiting for Nothing to Happen, an experimental psychedelic experience featuring drones and some spoken words. It’s a great opener and really hammers home the wyrd electronic aspect of the albums sonic core. I Die/ Respirateur is an epic 17-minute drone piece that features a plethora of creaky atmospheric found sounds that give the whole piece an unsettling, creepy vibe. The shorter Revers is at times prettier in feel, however there remains something slightly unsettling about the track that you just can’t pin down. They Say Nothing/ Ils Son Morts follows and takes us further down the wyrd experimental pathway that started with the album opener. Intense, with a sinister vibe, there is a lot more going on here that will keep the listener hooked on future plays as thing start to unravel and you start to pick out the different instrumentation that is going on. The final track on disc one is I’m Raining, it sounds almost like a partner piece to the album opener, bookending what is pretty much an intense musical experience.
Disc two features sixteen tracks and sounds quite different to the first. Firmly rooted in rock music, as opposed to electronic drone, this disc is best described as avant-garde rock weirdness, with a little bit of experimentation with drones and electronics. The key is that there is much greater emphasis on traditional rock instruments, drums, guitars, and keyboards as well as a greater emphasis on melody. It does however, make a really interesting accompanying disc as it hints at Wanat’s musical roots prior to releasing Postscriptum.
Overall, this is a really nicely presented set of interesting experimental music that spans Jacek wanat’s career, acting something like a compilation highlighting the evolution of his music. Disc One is my favourite, featuring some really strong psychedelic drones, peppered with found sounds and smothered in general weirdness. It’s a far darker affair than disc two, but it has to be said they both complement one another well, despite representing different sides of the same artist. This release from Zoharum also looks fabulous with some rather lovely digipak artwork housing the two CDs. This is a great slab of weird electronic drone that should find favour with fans of creepy atmospheric horror drones as well as fans of avant garde rock." [Musique Machine] |
2023 |
€16.00 |
|
| CHROME |
Ghost Machine |
CD |
Chrome was founded in San Francisco in 1975. Their sound wasn't easy to label - being ahead of their time, Helios Creed and Damon Edge created music that featured heavy elements of feedback and distortion.They experimented in mixing synthesized noise with rock instrumentation, therefore they are now seen as part of the post punk movement (even when punk was still in full flow at that time). Their breakthrough came in 1977 with their second album Alien Soundtracks. The band largely abandoned conventional rock compositions, instead employing cut-up and collage techniques and heavily processed sound to create a kind of sci-fi punk style. The album was given 4 out of 5 stars in the UK music paper Sounds, and Chrome began gradually to gain a cult reputation in the UK and in Europe. In the 1980s Damon Edge released several rather electronic records under the Chrome name, but Helios Creed had by that time left the band. He pursued a solo career but picked up the name Chrome again after Damon Edge died in Paris. The album Ghost Machine came out in 2002 on the German Dossier label. It is an often overlooked gem in the band's discography and has been out of print for over a decade. Creed reinstalled all the Chrome trademark sounds mixing electronics with his distinct guitar sound, and unusal production and mixing methods. This new edition comes in a digipack and with remastered sound.
www.klanggalerie.com
|
2017 |
€14.50 |
|
| CINDYTALK |
The Crackle of my Soul |
CD |
"Written and recorded by gordon sharp at belmont shore (ca), mid-levels (hk) & kobe (japan) 2001-2009. mastered at piethopraxis, july 2009. dedicated to matt kinnison (1965-2008).
Cindytalk have been active since 1982, which we won’t go into here (a quick Google search will satisfy that need). During the 80s and 90s their sound was defined by broken down rock structures and abstract piano ambience. A third side to their coin emerged at the dawn of the 21st Century with a turn towards obscure computer usage pushing all resemblance of melody and conventual texture to the outer edges.
‘The Crackle Of My Soul’ is the first full length to come from this new direction, starting in 2001 and now finally ready for release. Its also the first Cindytalk album since the 1995 release of ‘Wappinschaw’. Although very abstract in nature these 10 tracks still echo the vocal brilliance and subtle beauty that they become known for, as well as pushing back the boundaries making this an essential listen regardless if you are aware of the back catalogue or not.
This is the first in a series of already finished releases, which will see the light of day throughout 2010." [label info]
www.editionsmego.com
"Cindytalk on Mego? It was a shock to see that pairing. Cindytalk has been the sporadic project of Gordon Sharp with a shifting ensemble over the past two and half decades. At first, Sharp's abject post-punk took a gritty, almost industrial growling to the ethereally dark tunes of the Cocteau Twins. Sharp's voice in many ways is the masculine equivalent to Liz Fraser's, just as beautiful and haunting; and the two had paired up on a few tracks through This Mortal Coil and the Cocteau Twins. Cindytalk's two releases in the '80s - Camoflage Heart and In This World - have been secret gems to all those who had uncovered that work, with Cindytalk only emerging a few times since. There was the impressionist Ambient piano record The Wind Is Strong and 1994's underwhelming Wappinschaw. Then, a decade of
silence followed by a limited edition single from 2003 and a brilliant one-sided 10" of drone-rock beauty in 2008. So, it was hard to know what to expect with a 2009 full album from Cindytalk, especially from the digi-centric label Mego.
Here, Cindytalk is just the work of Gordon Sharp; and The Crackle Of My Soul certainly sounds like a Mego record on par with the likes of Pita, Kevin Drumm, and BJ Nilsen, as shards of digital noise are looped and phased into building compositions that glow with a very intense high-end piercing. Not quite Whitehouse territory, it's actually far more glacial and icy in tone. Nevertheless, Sharp's electronics have a way of drilling into your skull. Voice and piano occasionally creep into the mix, but not to the extent that you would hear on any of the earlier records, even the aforementioned album The Wind Is Strong. We have to admit that we didn't love this record as much as Camoflage Heart and In This World; but it's sort of a different beast, and there's a lot of very strong electro-acoustic renderings to be found here..." [Aquarius Rec.]
|
2009 |
€13.50 |
|
| CINDYTALK / ROBERT HAMPSON |
Five Mountains of Fire |
10inch |
"Cindytalk - Five Mountains Of Fire: Gordon Sharp (electronics), Paul Middleton (drums), Dan Knowler (Guitar), Gary Jeff (Percussion) and Sherrill Crosby (Electronics). Pre-mixed and re-played by GS at Roi Vert, Okamoto, Japan, March 2009. Robert Hampson - Antarctica Ends Here: Dedicated to John Cale. Recorded and Mixed at Thirst 2007Ð2009 in London and Paris. Design: Dave Coppenhall. Cindytalk's Gordon Sharp and Robert Hampson (Loop. Main...) are 2 characters of legend circulating on the periphery of London (and beyond) underground music over the last 2 plus decades. It may come as a surprise then that this stunning split 10 is the first meeting of these two singular minds. 'Five Mountains Of Fire' by Cindytalk is a cracking track taking their recent brittle electronic experiments and charging them with firecracker like percussion to create a pleasantly disorienting soundscape. Flip it over and Hampson delivers the practical polar opposite with Antarctica Ends Here. An exceptionally beautiful piece utilizing piano and carefully placed electronics so as not to break the ice, a tribute to John Cale's 'Antarctica Starts Here' (from 'Paris, 1919' album). Limited to 500 copies." [label info]
www.editionsmego.com
"Eine eher unlikely Split, die aber zwei schöne aktuelle Entwürfe des Experimentellen zeigt. Die entzündeten Berglandschaften von Cindytalk klingen wie aus einem Jodorowsky-Film entsprungen: erdig, ekstatisch und irgendwie religiös. Die sirrend-dronige Klangfläche wird in einem Bandkonstrukt mit Gitarre und Schlagzeug erarbeitet und dann in der Nachbearbeitung zerlegt. Besonders die rukelnden Percussion, die sich in der zweiten Hälfte des Tracks in den Mix schiebt, läßt neue Hoffnung für die Kombination von Elektronik und Instrumentarium aufkommen. Der eher scheue Robert Hampson (Main, Loop) hat sich mit seinem konzentrierten Beitrag, nicht wie es scheinen will auf den Eternal Music Cale berufen, sondern sich wohl explizit vor John Cale’s ‘Antarctica Starts Here’ (aus Paris, 1919) verneigt. Der Track klingt wie eine traurig-zerfleischte Geigenmelodie im Lockgroove, angereichert mit Mikropartikeln und schwüler Atmosphäre. Eine unbedingt lohnenswerte Veröffentlichung!" [Zipo, Auf Abwegen]
"Cindytalk is back, thanks to Editions Mego. The CD released last year (see Vital Weekly 702) was mainly the solo effort of Gordon Sharp, and saw him move towards the computerized music, say that of microsound, ambient, drones and such like, so much to my surprise its a band line up here again. Besides Sharp, who gets the credit for electronics, there is also drums, percussion, more electronics and guitar. The pieces was recorded in Japan last year (in concert?) and consists largely of sustaining notes played with bows on the cymbals, drones created from the guitar and electronics having quite an obscure role in this. Great mood music. Which is exactly what can be said of Robert Hampson on the other side. Great mood music. Just like Cindytalk, Hampson has been active in the underground of the UK music life since more than twenty-five years, as Loop and as Main, and since the last decade mainly under his own name, working in that obscure niche where popmusic meets musique concrete.
Popmusic? Things with guitars, more likely. His piece is dedicated to John Cale, another such character on the crossroad of many musical styles. Followings Cindytalk's full sound spectrum approach, Hampson goes out with just a few sounds on his hands. A bowed guitar, some far away crackles and maybe the odd field recording. Carefully constructed as opposed to the somewhat 'live in concert' approach on the other side, but both pieces are complimentary to eachother. An excellent record. I have no idea if Cindytalk now returns as a full band, or that it will continue to confuse us. I hope the latter." [FdW, Vital Weekly]
|
2010 |
€12.50 |
|
| CINEMA PERDU |
2 Compositions with Found Sounds |
mCD-R |
cinema perdu is the dutch sound artist martijn pieck. here's what he says about "2 compositions with found sounds":
"in my project cinema perdu i work with field recordings as starting point for my compositions. with all kind of manipulations and additions from other sound sources like synthesizers and contact-microphone recordings i recreate the feeling of a place during a certain time, sometimes more factual, sometimes more storytelling. in this case the 2 tracks are evolved around 'found sounds’ in an urban environment."
aside from working as cinema perdu, martijn is also co-composer in the [law-rah] collective next to bauke van der wal since 2008 and together with jon unger formed woodbender.
reviews:
vital weekly 1150
It wasn't for nationalistic reasons I started with Cinema Perdu, the Dutch musical project of Martijn Pieck. It was just the first one that I played. Pieck is also a member of [law-rah] collective next to Bauke van der Wal since 2008 and together with Jon Unger formed Woodbender (see Vital Weekly 1077). His latest release as Cinema Perdu was the excellent CD 'Amsterdam CS' (see Vital Weekly 1127), in which he used field recordings at the Amsterdam Central Station. Taking field recordings and feeding them to his extended modular set up. I recently saw a concert by him and the field recordings disappeared in there, just they do in these two pieces here. They are just called 'found sounds' and are not specified in any way, just from an 'urban environment'. I don't even want to go in there and think about it; I don't care that much, as I was lost easily in the dark currents produced by Cinema Perdu that hold the middle ground between a grinder and synthesizer, playing some darker chords. This is quite an un-earthy rumble that is going on here, exactly the spooky tone in combination with a delicate atmosphere that I like so much. (FdW)
|
2018 |
€5.00 |
|
| CIRCLE |
Soundcheck |
CD |
"Recorded in Finland in October 2009, the band describes Soundcheck as “the most contemporary document possible of a Circle soundcheck/concert experience. For this concert Circle was reinforced by the guitars of J. & P. Jaaskelainen, who may be familiar to some from the ranks of Circle’s brother-in-arms Pharaoh Overlord. On the album, this expanded line-up explores the experimental possibilities of concert staples “Virsi” and “Nopeuskuningas” further than possibly ever before.”
“The first part offers two new tracks, beginning with the brief “Kukkakaalia Kapteenit!”, a wispy swirl of shimmery synths, laid back tribal drumming and some dramatic, emotional crooning, very cinematic sounding, almost like it could be some lost 4AD single, dreamy and ethereal, giving way to the way more rocking and intense “Tuhatsata”, which takes up most of the side, a slow burning, blackened bit of Finnish krautrock, super epic, with dueling vocals, crooning versus grunted and growled, fusiony keys, still more tribal drumming, spidery guitars, the track pulsing and pounding, building to multiple crescendos, frenzied freakouts that always lip right back into more looped mesmer.
The album progresses with two instantly recognizable live set staples, first up, “Virsi”, dramatically progtastic, with that super soaring epic intro, all dynamic shifts and huge bursts of instrumental crunch, with vocals howling and wailing almost operatically, before lurching into some rad atonal krauty, fusiony, jazzy, hypno groove skitter. The second track, another Circle classic, and live staple, “Nopeuskuningas”, explodes right out of the gate, with its chugging almost surfy, ZZ Top-ish boogie riff, locked in groove, the whole thing stretched out over the remainder of the side, the band solid, and hypnotic, and intense, and rocking and tight as fuck. Their showstopper for sure, and it clearly did the job at this show as well.
In so much as between albums, Circle, like Grateful Dead, crank out killer live record after killer liver record, often with some of the same songs, always including a few live staples, familiar enough to hit the spot, but different enough that a Circle fan could be forgiven for needing them ALL!” (Aquarius Records)
A stunning and truly unique live album approach by the Finnish masters of hypnorock and unusual sounds.
Originally released as a very limited vinyl edition via J. Lehtisalo’s own imprint Full Contact Records and instantly sold out, Soundcheck is now back to life housed in our luxurious, heavy tip-on mini-LP gatefold packaging featuring fantastic expanded photography and artwork by Jussi S. Karjalainen. Limited edition of 800 copies.
|
2011 |
€13.50 |
|
| CISFINITUM |
V |
CD |
Nach Jahren endlich die erste fabrikgepresste CD von CISFINITUM ! Das Warten hat sich definitiv gelohnt, V ist von einer melancholisch-düsteren Atmosphäre geprägt; schwere, rauhe & nostalgische anmutende Sounds prägen das Bild, Anleihen von klassischen Arrangements tauchen auf... special coverpackage mit vielen inlays !
Finally the first „fabric“-pressed CD by CISFINITUM! V ist based on a melancholic & dark atmosphere; heavy & raw & nostalgic appearing sounds are floating through the album, classical music elements also.. a true masterpieces of dark melancholic drone-Industrial !
"V" is follow-up to the most high valued album "Landschaft" and you can hear some echoing sounds from there. Four long tracks will drive you further into abysmal depths of mind prospectives. "V" is the aural extension of audiochemy method developed by both Cisfinitum
members (Voronovsky and Norvila) in Audioform studio during recent two years, using synthesis of classical composition, industrial aesthetics and tonal noise layers. Listening to Cisfinitum music, everyone can feel physically the exclusive aloofness and impartiality
preceding the heterogeneity and time collaps. Long transitions between initial states, sudden dynamic outbursts and again desolate spaces where apprehensions are the only way to think. This album is notable not only by background contents but by sounding too: the deliberately reduced quality is remained in the past, agressive alienation changed to the introspective one. The atmosphere of sci-fi cinema of the 70-80s is back - cold, dark, mysterious but nevertheless open-minded and reality engaged. For those of you who like to use PC-CDROM for anything labelled with "compact disc" logo, the nice surprise is waiting.” [press release]
|
2003 |
€13.00 |
|
| |
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 |
|
| CISFINITUM & THE [LAW-RAH] COLLECTIVE |
[ANS]werk |
CD |
"Russian one-man outfit Cisfinitum and Dutch duo The [Law-Rah] Collective are both dark ambient masters. They dedicated this split and common work to one of the very first synthesizers in the world, the ANS. The ANS, created by Russian engineer E. Murzin from 1937 to 1957, is an incredible response to the synesthesia theories (the letters ANS stand for Alexander Nikolayevich Scriabin who linked tones to colours). The ANS synthesizer (only one copy exists and is kept in Moscow) generates special frequencies from drawings ("it plays what you have drawn") and in the opposite it can also create a visible image of a sound frequency. Artists such as Coil, Edward Artemiev (for Tarkovsky's Solaris soundtrack) and Alfred Schnittke used the ANS in their compositions.
For this album, The [Law-Rah] Collective and Cisfinitum based their music on original sounds from the ANS as well as additional recordings of various analog synths, fractal and granular synthesis, voice, violin, field recordings.
They give birth to an intense cold and grey music upon which fly ghosts of melodies, archaic or yet to come...
* Track listing :
* 1. the [law-rah] collective - broken gl[A]ss (9:12)
* 2. the [law-rah] collective - broke[N] mirrors (7:38)
* 3. the [law-rah] collective - broken dream[S] (9:08)
* 4. cisfinitum - tr[ANS] (22:52)
* 5. cisfinitum / the [law-rah] collective - [ANS]werk (7:02)" [label info]
www.feardrop.net/fario
"Fario is not quick with releasing their series of split/collaborative works, but they are usually something to watch out for. There are original tracks by each of the two groups involved and a collaborative piece. At the core of this new release stands the ANS synthesizer, of which only one exist, in Moscow. It was developed by E. Murzin from 1937 to 1957 stands for Alexander Nikolayevich Scriabin, the crazy composer with synesthesia problems. The synth translates drawings into sound, and was used by the likes of Coil, Edward Artemiev (in the 'Solaris' soundtrack) and Alfred Schnittke. I am not sure, but I don't think that Eugene Voronovsky, a.k.a. Cisfinitum and the Dutch duo The [Law-Rah] Collective actually used the ANS, but they use sounds from the machine, as well as voices, polivoks, violin, field recordings (in Cisfinitum's case) and analog synthesizers and electronics (in the Collective case). Cisfinitum's piece lasts almost twenty-three minutes of utter dark textured ambient
bliss. Dark haunting, like a couple of mad monks chanting in the desolated abyss, before going out on a murder spree. Excellent dark trip. In their collaborative piece things sound slightly less dark and more conventional, in a sort of serious avant-garde way, the sort of Planet Of The Apes soundtrack. In the three pieces by The [Law-Rah] Collective things go under again, into the undercurrent of the styx with dazzling sizzling buzzing and ringing sounds of the analogue domain. Though their pieces are less of monolithic block of drones than Cisfinitum, The [Law-Rah] Collective have a somewhat more open sound, grey rather than black. Not really the type of music to be played alone in the dark. Keep candles burning until the end. An excellent display of the darker world of sonic depth." [FdW/Vital Weekly]
|
2011 |
€13.00 |
|
| CIULLINI, DANIELE |
Cosmetic for Mannequins |
CD |
All tracks written and produced by Daniele Ciullini
Manipulated field recordings, toy instruments, noises from radio, turntable, tape deck, automatic voices
https://lucesia.bandcamp.com/album/095-daniele-ciullini-cosmetics-for-mannequins
"From former Trax (famous Italian label) member Danielle Ciullini, I reviewed a previous release, ‘Great Events Are Coming’ in Vital Weekly 1254, and now he returns with another album, a short one; eight pieces in thirty-one minutes. As before, the credits are for “manipulated field recordings, toy instruments, noises from radio, turntable, tape deck, automatic voices”, and the result is a wackadoodle mash-up of styles, ideas, concepts and sounds. Try and imagine what it would sound like if you had a bit of noise, some plunderphonics, some click n-cut, cut-up, some drones, lots of voices (not sung, no sound poetry), computer technology and all of that went into a blender, and twisted at high speed. If that makes any sense, then you may have an idea. None of this takes control, so it’s never too noisy, plunderphonics, or such a thing (not wanting to repeat the whole list). Keeping his pieces short, between three and five minutes, and adding quite some variation within each of these pieces, using a massive pile of sounds, means there is some great speed on this album. Yet, Ciullini knows how to keep fine pacing in his music. It never becomes an amorphous mass of sound, as he cleverly adds breaks and changes in his songs, such as in the best of the lot, ‘Mass Loneliness’, which has the markings of a pop song, for the lack of a better word. Overall a great album and one that could have been longer, say, the length of an old-fashioned LP. Maybe next time!" [FdW/Vital Weekly]
|
2023 |
€12.00 |
|
| CIUTA, DARIUS |
l2di-(3) |
CD |
"1. The condition was chosen that there should be an interval of at least 1.5 hour in between recording sessions.
2. The recordings were made during the daytime (11am – the earliest/6pm – the latest).
3. The sound sources were selected by activity – the most active of them were recorded.
4. The places where recordings were made were sky photographed by a mobile phone camera as a light source.
5. Every sound recordings has its own photo of lightness at that particular moment.
6. 24 recording situations were collected at different time of the day and with different intensity of light.
………………………
A. All recordings are grouped by their photo of light – from the lightest to the darkest.
They’re connected into one whole.
B. All recordings loose their succession in a common entirety which becomes a documentary of 5 days.
C. Final entirety of sounds is presented in its most natural form -
as a cycle of day (sun is rising in the morning and sets in the evening)…”the final result is dual”.
(darius ciuta, March 2013)" [label info]
www.unfathomless.net
"This might very well the longest release on Unfathomless so far, clocking in at seventy-three minutes. A long time ago, Darius Ciuta worked as Naj and as such had a release on Pure/RRRecords, but since working with field recordings he calls himself by the name his parents gave him. He is from Lithuania and he recorded at Curonian Spit the sound material he uses here. The cover lists a bunch of conditions, such as there should be 'an interval of at least 1,5 hour in between recording sessions' and that they 'were made during daytime (11 am - the earliest/6 pm - the latest) etc and that all recordings 'are grouped by their photo of light - from lightest to the darkest'. This process took five days and presents a cycle of a day (less the night). Not a lot of releases on Unfathomless go this far to describe the concept. So, cut together as one piece it's not easy to 'follow' the conceptual guidelines as set out by Ciuta. It all sounds like an environmental work, and if you listen superficially it may sound like an uncut piece of nature sounds, but if you listen more closely you can hear all these edit points, changing over the course of this piece. Lots of insect sounds, crackling of leaves, and maybe birdcalls. It makes all together quite a fascinating environment. You can listen to this very concentrated, like you would when listening to something that requires your full attention, or you just could simply walk around, take a nap, read book or have a phone conversation, or even mix it with your environment, by opening your window. True music of ambience I'd say." [FdW/Vital Weekly]
|
2014 |
€14.00 |
|
| CLADE, |
Holonic Sadism |
CD-R |
limited edition compact disc.
screen printed on 4 panel 375GSM stock, hand-assembled, bound in crepe and sealed, edition of 100.
"the self can never be completely represented in its own awareness, nor can its actions be completely predicted by any conceivable information-processing device. both attempts lead to infinite regress." [website info]
"It's been a while since the first release by Clade, which was reviewed in Vital Weekly 821. Clade is from Oklahoma, but it says in the information that the recordings were made in 2010 in Chicago, and 'we apologize for the delay'. Perhaps Clade was on tour, and they stayed for a couple of days in Chicago, since the tracks are called 'Thursday III' and via Friday ends with 'Saturday III (Long)'. I am not sure, but I guess that they record this music also in one take, just like the previous release and that the instruments are still lots of guitars and electronics. Clade plays drone music, but there is a bit of difference with the previous release. Whereas then we found traces of noise/drone metal, that seems to be have disappeared here. The mood in these seven tracks is very subdued, calm and highly atmospheric. It's a wall of sound, but then of a relaxing nature, introspective. More Troum than Earth, if you catch my drift. It's however still not the most varied release that you could imagine, but these seven pieces, spanning some forty-eight minutes, are clearly various shades of the same color, and not many colors. The previous encouraged 'chemical accompaniment' - although not required - but then the forceful character of the music may have caused some damage. You'd better save those chemicals for this one, as this is the perfect music for such chemical enhancement. I thought this was the better release of the two I heard so far and I would certainly hope they would continue to explore these roads further." [FdW/Vital Weekly]
www.cladistic.org
|
2013 |
€10.00 |
|
| |
Klavierstücke |
CD-R |
"san francisco, march 2012: the scottish delegation arrives on the sun-drenched american west coast. studio is rented, microphones selected, supplies procured. 7 days later they emerge, blinded by the light.
oakland, december 2013: over the course of 7 more days some 12 hours of raw materials are in turns cajoled, caressed, genetically modified and burnt beyond recognition, at long last distilled into the 12 pieces we present you with here.
as these recordings utilise piano, organ and keyboard as the most salient sound sources they will no doubt remind some listeners of last year’s ‘vietnamese piano’ release. in point of fact the present recordings were completed some months prior to the session in hanoi that produced clade 2.5, but while that release was effectively entirely improvised the ‘klavierstücke’ have undergone a much more rigorous process of composition, editing and post-production. at once delicate, haunting, and cinematic, the result is the most mature and rewarding clade release to date.
file next to: deaf center, stars of the lid, jonathan coleclough, AMM, harold budd with a migrane
with apologies to k.s. " [label info]
cladistic.bandcamp.com/album/klavierst-cke
"More mysterious music by Clade, whose bandcamp these days says they are from Edinburgh these days - although maybe they always were? The cover and CD print look like a nice modern classical recordings rip-off and we find here twelve pieces, called 'Klavierstück' (piano piece, in case you were wondering), of which the last four are four parts of 'Klavierstück IX'. The first four pieces are dedicated to Harold Budd, the second four to David Jackman, and the last four to Otto Totland. Apparently recorded over a seven-day period in March 2012, and a further seven in Oakland in December 2013. The first seven to record the piano sources, the next seven to 'cajole, caresse and genetically modify' them. Not unlike their previous, 'Vietnamese Piano', this is a further exploration of the world of quiet music; highly atmospheric and sparse. The treatments are kept to an interesting minimum, or perhaps they are done to such an extent that we no longer recognize them as treatments; maybe the
treatments are kept more natural? Like being played in a large and natural reverb becomes part of it? All of these things you could wonder about while listening to this music. But better is to sit back and enjoy. I am not sure if the three dedications are reflected in the music, even when I know Jackman's best and Totland's music not much, but it seems to me that all twelve are along similar lines. Much reverb suggests much atmosphere, and it works very well. Sometimes it sounds like a William Basinski piece, but then trimmed down a lot in length and there is quite an amount of variation in these pieces also which makes this a most enjoyable album. An excellent album in fact of some imaginative ambient music." [FdW/Vital Weekly]
|
2014 |
€13.00 |
|
| CLEMENT, JODA |
The Narrows |
CD |
“When I was born, my family moved to a remote farm in north Ontario, known as ‘Setle’. Situated in the woods, ‘Setle’ was without electrical power during much of our stay, so much of my father’s work involved using power from a generator positioned 400 feet away, connected by a series of extension cords. By integrating sounds recorded from these and other remote locations, he created a form of ‘environmental music’ that expressed the beauty and solitude of the Canadian wildnerness. When we later moved the city, he would take me with him on recording missions, so as I got older field recording became like second nature. I record mostly in urban environments, but my appreciation for sound is deeply rooted in my formative years.
Following the release of The Cherry Beach Project (on Mystery Sea) I set out record a ‘site-specific’ piece as a follow-up, although I didn’t have a particular location in mind. Without specific theme or purpose, time gradually eroded my initial intention for site specificity, as I gathered a tremendous archive of sound materials. Merging various threads into one mass, the construction of the piece seemed to take on a life of its own. As hundreds of sources blurred together to the point where I forget where many originate, I slowly came to look at the piece as a continuation of my father’s idea of ‘environmental music’ – coloured by memories and impressions of those early years in north Ontario, yet re-imagined through the dense and shifting sound pallete of Toronto, where I live and work." [Joda Clément]
www.unfathomless.net
|
2011 |
€14.00 |
|
| CLEMENTI, ALDO |
Collage |
LP |
Alga Marghen presents the previously unreleased Collage 2 and Collage 3 (Dies irae) for magnetic tape, both realized at the Studio di Fonologia Muisicale RAI in Milan with the technical collaboration of Marino Zuccheri. These pieces are precious testimonials to Aldo Clementi's intense and ongoing interest in electronic music in the 1960s. The electronic composition Collage 2 dates from 1960. It was the first experiment with electronic music for Clementi whose original and consistent adherence to structuralism is reflected in several of his instrumental works written around that time. The first idea of Collage 3 dates back to 1966, in the form of a short electronic collage on the Beatles' song "Michelle." The composer wanted to replace old concepts and clichés which had become popular and common, through the use of "natural wells of timbre, live and organic, springing from a world of symmetry and fixed blocks." This original idea underwent a drastic transformation when the RAI (the Italian radio) commissioned Clementi to write a longer work. To his initial desire to start from scratch was added the problem of a longer duration. It was only when Clementi had almost completed the piece that he gave it its final title of "Dies irae," owing to the extreme tension that accompanied its composition.
###############
Having already issued some incredible LP by Gavin Bryars, Phill Niblock, Damião Experiença, and Hans KRUSI in 2023, Alga Marghen returns with an absolute stunner, “Collage”, dedicated to seminal Italian composer Aldo Clementi.
Comprising two previously unreleased works for magnetic tape - “Collage 2” (1960) and “Collage 3 (Dies Irae)” (1967) - both of huge historical importance, alongside a brand new rendering from 2022 of the composer’s brilliant “Fantasia su roBErto FABbriCiAni” - a work composed for flute and magnetic tape in between 1980 and 1981 - the importance of this beautiful LP can’t be overstated; bringing to light a previously inaccessible period of the great Italian composer’s career, and illuminating a crucial body of work at the heights of 20th Century musical Neo-Avantgarde.
Aldo Clementi
“Collage”
(LP)
Over the course of nearly three decades of activity, the Italian imprint, Alga Marghen, has continuously cast light into the shadows of historical sound practice, offering particular focus to underappreciated artefacts at the juncture of visual art, sound-art, experimental music, and sound-poetry. With each subsequent release, the label has helped to reform our understanding of 20th Century, and the voices that made it what it was. Over the years, they’ve brought forth an unprecedented range of early and archival material by seminal composers like Charlemagne Palestine, Walter Marchetti, Philip Corner, Henri Chopin, Robert Ashley, David Behrman, Max Neuhaus, Éliane Radigue, and numerous others. Further this mission, their latest, Aldo Clementi's “Collage”, presents some of the most extreme musics ever issued by the label, at the same level as Robert Ashley's “Wolfman”, Max Neuhaus' “Fontana-Mix Feed” or Philip Corner's “Oracle”. Representing an entirely singular sound and approach to tape music that was unique to Clementi alone, once again Alga Marghen has cracked it wide open and rewritten our understanding of the history of sound.
Born in 1925 in Catania, Sicily, Aldo Clementi began his piano studies at the age of thirteen, for which he immediately showed great promise. Three short years later, in 1941, he embarked upon the study of composition under Alfredo Sangiorgi (a student of Arnold Schoenberg) who introduced him to the twelve-tone technique, leading to his attendance of the Rome Conservatory and Darmstadt. In 1956, Clementi met the Italian-born, German conductor, composer, and teacher, Bruno Maderna, attending the Studio of Phonology in Milan - the electronic music studio (RAI) founded by Maderna and Luciano Berio in 1955 - which instigated a decisive turning point in his career and work. It was there that he composed two key works in electronic music - “Collage 2” (1960) and “Collage 3 (Dies Irae)” (1967), issued here by Alga Marghen for the first time.
While Clementi would become primarily known for pieces, composed for acoustic instruments, that were characterized by a calm, consistent sound, with their materiality rooted in a unity of concept and procedure - lacking highs, lows, and any sense of forward movement - that became almost self-generative, closely connected to the approaches of Pittura Informale, his early endeavors in electronics and tape music remain among his most important works. Despite having only rarely been encountered since, in 1961 “Collage 2” was presented at the Accademia Filarmonica Romana in Rome, and subsequently won the International Society for Contemporary Music’s prestigious competition that year.
Realized at the Studio di Fonologia Musicale RAI in Milan in 1960, employing the technical collaboration of Marino Zuccheri, Aldo Clementi’s “Collage 2” was the composer’s first experiment with electronic music, about which he explained: “The title and the technique, both of the same name, are the result of my having conceived the work in terms of compositional planes created independently and later superimposed; this gives rise to absorption or emergence, intersection or isolation, all absolutely and deliberately unpredictable. The difficulties implicit in the acoustics, and consequently in the effect, of this kind of treatment, are taken for granted and accepted from the start”. The result is striking; a bumbling expanse of textures and muted tones that foreshadow (and possibly lay the groundwork for) his subsequent development of techniques that would render the sound, lacking highs, lows, and any sense of forward movement, for which he would become famed, illuminating a far more pointed and arguably aggressive sense of pop possibility for the conceptual framework.
Conceived in 1966 as an electronic collage of the Beatles’ song “Michelle”, and realized the following year, also at Studio di Fonologia Musicale RAI in Milan, with the technical collaboration of Marino Zuccheri, in from a markedly different root, “Collage 3” encounters Clementi endeavoring to replace old concepts and clichés through the use of “natural wells of timbre, live and organic, springing from a world of symmetry and fixed blocks”. The outcome, while clearly a work of sound collage, renders the composer’s source material virtually unrecognizable in a swirling, shattered expanse, the extreme tension of which compelled Clementi to add the words “Dies irae” ("the Day of Wrath”) to the title, in a strange and fascinating reference to the idiom of Requiem Mass.
The final piece on Alga Marghen’s “Collage” LP is “Fantasia su roBErto FABbriCiAni”, composed by Clementi in 1982, and thus offering a fascinating counterpoint to its predecessors, establishing a point of contact between his early electronic pieces and more well know acoustic works, and illuminating the enduring engagement with electronic process that stretched across his career. Composed for flute and magnetic tape, the piece is based on the notes corresponding to the letters in Fabbriciani’s name according to the German musical nomenclature (B flat, E, F, A, B flat, C, A). Describing the ideas at the root of the work, Clementi stated: “My stylistic purpose was to create a delirious labyrinth around the solo instrument like an enormous growth of vegetation that chokes out a little plant…”. The result, rendered here in a brand new realization, recorded live in 2022 by Alvise Vidolin, is a remarkable meeting of conceptual rigor - where the idea is the generative drive - and complex structural notions of composing. Against haunting sheets of dissonant tonality, a flute traces through the notes established by pieces conception, floating above in flirtations with melody that never fully form.
Truly amazing on creative and conceptual terms, and engrossing in its sonorities, Alga Marghen has done an hugely important work with their issue of Aldo Clementi’s “Collage”, illuminating a little-known aspect of his output, and delivering this seminal voice of Italian Modernism to an entirely new generation of listeners. Ten out of ten and impossible to recommend enough.
SOUNDOHM
|
2023 |
€22.50 |
|
| CLOAMA |
same |
CD |
This is dark experimental ambient with a very piercing edge, evokes a very unsettling and eldrich atmosphere....the other, dark & abysmall side of CLOAMA...
“.....This recording, marking a debut for artist / group on the New Old Sentinel label and for the label itself, is five tracks of experimental ambient music limited to 500 copies. Experimental ambient. Two words guaranteed to send most people running off in sheer apoplectic fright. The fear of the unknown. Ambient in all its forms they can cope with but…‘experimental’…too weird. Too challenging. Never assume. On this recording the balance between the differing genres has been implemented in such a seamless and gratifying manner that its only when the recording has finished do you suddenly realise what a strange aural experience you have lived through.
Track one ‘Radiation Amplifier’ starts with what sounds like Tibetan instruments being struck before the piece swiftly introduces musique concrete electronic effects and a sample before ending in something being strummed. Whoa!! Far fucking out maaan. Track two ‘The New Old Sentinel’ throws a whole caboodle of multi effects into the mix merging part drone / part black ambience / part electro acoustic over ghostly voices. Double whoa!! Double far fucking out maaan. I think you can gleam from this what the other tracks are going to sound like. Manipulated electronic sounds and voices resonate predominately. The music continually fluctuates. To move, evolve and grow. Putting out searching tentacles to probe and envelop. Building up pieces which are then demolished before starting anew all within the same track. This combination, which will happily throw dark and light together and damn the consequences, isn’t afraid to take risks. These are minuscule forays into every genre. Picking the finest flecks and combining them into one ethereal state. The music is abstract enough to be confounding and innovative but it never alienates the listener. Instead you feel a guiding hand leading you gently into the more surreal pieces whilst cooing soothing words of comfort are spoken into your ear as you stand hypnotised at the sonic sculptures unfolding.
If this is a foray into uncharted waters, away from the normal Cloama sound, then long may it continue. To produce a piece of work that is structurally complex and yet easily accessible, without falling into the pitfalls of self absorbing wankery, is a feat many aspire to. Cloama have achieved this easily and comes highly recommended to the more adventurous spirits amongst you. “ [Auralpressure]
|
2005 |
€10.00 |
|
| |
Embargoed |
CD |
Latest album from ambient-industrial artists active for 20 years! Embargoed is good continuation from Municipality Of Marionettes LP or At The Mountains Of Paranoia CD, but still expands the atmosphere and gloomy industrial soundscapes to wider. Massive opening track shows Cloama skilled in working without synthesizer sounds. Making impressive gloomy post-industrial soundscapes from wide variation of sound sources. Eventually tracks move closer to two past albums, including eerie guitar-drone and synth oscillations as well as subtle synthesizer pulsations combined with ethereal female chants. Highly atmospheric and experimental full length certainly belongs to the very best of Cloama!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vezIdrXLl14
|
2018 |
€12.00 |
|
| CLOSING THE ETERNITY |
Northern Lights Ambience (SOLD OUT) |
7inch |
Das Projekt aus Sibirien mit einer Single auf Drone, auf der Sounds von Nordlichtern benutzt werden, „kosmischer“ Noise mit einem inhärenten Drang ins Objetklose.... jedes Cover mit aufgeklebtem, handgeschnittenen Metal-Logo („CTI-Key“) !
“CLOSING THE ETERNITY is a siberian “cosmic drone”-project from Ekaterinburg, with only few released CD-Rs so far it gained already kind of cult-status for lovers of bleak drone-minimalism. The first vinyl-release shows CTI using original ‘northern lights soundings’ together with synths, implementing very cosmic soundwaves with electronic whirs & sinus-tones and small raspy craters inside. There’s a drift into objectlessness and dissolution in these sounds, and urgo into non-existence or transformation into a higher existence-form? This is the perfect soundtrack to the ‘red dawn of the north’ !
Filed under: Aurora Borealis-Drones
DARK BLUE VINYL, BLACK COVERS; EACH COVER COMES WITH HANDMADE / LASER-CUT CTI - METAL-LOGO / KEY STICKED ON IT !!!” [press release] RELEASE DATE: 30. April 2006 !
|
2006 |
€6.50 |
|
| CLUETT, SETH |
Objects of Memory |
CD |
"beneath the fabricating and universal writing of technology, opaque and stubborn places remain . . . hidden in customs, rites, and spatial practices . . . only fragments in language . . . like the deteriorating pages of a book” - Michel de Certeau, The Practice of Everyday Life
1. objects in stillness for bassoon, viola, guitar, percussion, and four sine tones (2006). Clogs: Bryce Dessner, Rachael Elliot, Thomas Kozumplik, and Padma Newsome.
2. a radiance scored with shadow for amplified paper, bowed vibraphone, bass drum, and compressed air (2007). So Percussion: Douglas Perkins, Adam Sliwinski, Jason Treuting, and Lawson White.
3. a murmur which redoubles for three guitars, electric bass, and four sine tones (2006).
4. doleros (audio tourism at ringing rocks) reclaimed building materials, steel, baler twine, speaker cones, light, and 12.1-channel audio (2008). Catch Guitar Quartet: Wiek Hijmans, Seth Josel, Patricio Wang, and Mark Haanstra.
5. untitled (objects of memory) live performance at NYC Sound Festival, Centre d’Arts Plastiques Contemporains/Musée d’Art Contemporain de Bordeaux, France.
Seth Cluett (b. 1976, Troy, NY) is an artist, performer, and composer whose work ranges from photography, and drawing to video, sound installation, concert music, and critical writing. Engaging the boundary between the auditory and other senses, his work is marked by a detailed attention to perception and to sound’s role in the creation of a sense of place and the experience of time. The apparent tranquility of Cluett’s work – at once gentle and un-nerving – is concerned with the rapidly shifting sensory landscape of technological development and urbanization." [Credits]
"These works occupy a position between an expanded notion of composition and a gallery-based art practice. The content of the works presented on this disc produce a slow series of gestures that give the illusion of stillness amidst a texture of continually developing material. The central concern in all of these pieces (the three fully scored works, the installation documentation, and the live-performance) is the construction of a sound world that is able to be environmental rather than temporal, proceeding slowly enough that it might be explored without the anxiety that it will move away too quickly. Like much of my output, I am interested in providing the listener with material that allows for an active agency of perception and that affords the ability to move through the sound autonomously. Whether the work is gallery-based, conceptual, or created for a concert hall, I am interested in viewing simple, everyday actions at extreme magnification, acknowledging failure by amplifying impossible tasks, and exploring the role of memory in forms that respect the contract between the composer, performer, and listener." [Seth Cluett]
www.lineimprint.com
"Less productive is Seth Cluett in terms of releases, or perhaps they escaped my attention. Cluett's work is also minimal, but also more 'traditional'. By this I mean that sometimes his work deals with a variety of instruments and players. More like a classical composer that is. Take for instance 'Objects In Stillness', which is a Niblock like piece for bassoon, viola, guitar, percussion and four sine tones. The next two pieces are alike: minimal, classical, introspective and simply beautiful. The other two pieces here are much longer and don't seem to involve any traditional instruments. Yet this is no break with the previous three pieces. In 'Dolores' he uses 'reclaimed building materials, steel, baler twine, speaker cones, light and 12.1 channel audio'. While there is a soft percussive element to the music, there is also the low humming bass sound, that over the course of the piece changes towards a more mid-ranged sound and a bit louder. If anything, I was reminded of the music of Steve Roden here. Sine waves also play a big role in the final and longest piece 'Untitled (Objects Of Memory)', which also uses cassette dictaphones, circuit-modified portable cassette player and controlled feedback. Despite it being the longest piece, it seems to have the least sound information, but its an excellent piece. Almost alike Alvin Lucier, but just with that extra bit to make it more 'musical'. This could have been a fine (if not short) CD by itself. This CD may serve as a fine introduction in case Cluett is a new name for you." [FDW/Vital Weekly]
|
2011 |
€13.00 |
|
| COH |
To beat |
CD |
"Recorded May 2013 - January 2014. All music and lyrics by Ivan Pavlov / COH. Picking up right where the last track on the previous COH release RETRO-2038 left off, the new album is focused on the use of beats within the similar aesthetics. While most of the previous COH records openly shy away from accentuated beat structures and instead build up their rhythmical content by layering waves and pulses, every track on To Beat is padded with just that - beats. The music transition is illustrated in the album's artwork, displaying transformation of a sine-wave, a tone, into a waveform which is beat. This mathematical progression is made audible in the album's opening track Wave To Beat. The rest of the album, however, steers clear from dull math and presents the beats in their more traditional context of what could be referred to as adventurous dance music, taking the listener through various examples of beat use with the sense of playfulness and joy. The final piece, Beat to wave, wraps it up by dissolving a simplistic post-techno piece into a tonal chord. This brings back the album's main idea, where tone and beat are essentially one and the same, like vowels and consonants in a language, like Yin and Yang in music." [label info]
www.editionsmego.com
"I enter the airlock of TO BEAT: an isolated zone away from the logic and consequence of a linear life, where rebellion and transformation materialise in time and then dissipate into the files of forgotten memory. The opening track tracks the compression of a constant sine tone into sharp punctuations of beat – dynamic curvature compacts into sheer right-angles. For the following 45 minutes, the eternal, fluid unwind of being is chopped up into square and unambiguous blocks of rhythm; life pixelates momentarily, and the endless string of insatiable curiosity becomes a finite ribbon of understanding I can hold in my hands. Once it’s over I shall never speak of it again, taking the airlock out the other side via “BEAT TO WAVE”.
The album’s interior is a strange emulation of dance music. The melodies are tangible and thick – riding 4/4 like an unforgettable congregative chant (it feels somewhat Eastern at points, although I feel ignorant thinking that) – yet the beat emphasis falls in eerie places, causing my body to jut out in a series of unnatural angles. It’s an inhuman sound but far from clinical, and while the combination of hum and pulse evoke a sort of chorus of stable spacecraft monitoring equipment, none of these tracks are sheened with mathematical precision; there are bubbles of warm mid-frequency and the sliding voices of alien worship, placing TO BEAT in an error void between abstract calculation and the music of corporeal organisms.
There are moments that fling themselves into the lust of nightclub strobes: the sterile pump of blood around a dancefloor, puppeteered by rhythms that speak to the instinct to move. For instance, “ungear moi” sends the drip of neon sweat into half-time as rave synthesisers flit between subterranean corners like lasers, or perhaps surveillance cameras. And then there’s “Moonviewhigh”, whose mixture of major-key colour and geometric certainty depicts it as a Rubik’s cube rotating in front of my face – a flicker of squares in digital contrast, punctuated by a sloping reverb that mockingly emulates the spaces that exist beyond TO BEAT’s four titanium walls. It’s a simulated reality, and to step inside is to subvert gravity and co-ordination for just a short while." [ATTN:Magazine] |
2014 |
€13.50 |
|
| COIL |
Swanyard |
do-CD |
"150 minutes of previously unreleased material from Coil, strewn with parts that would eventually metastasise into ‘Backwards’, and ultimately ‘Black Light District’ and ‘Musick To Play In The Dark’. We hardly need to stress that ’Swanyard’ is a bounty for Coil nuts out there, but equally a fascinating listen for anyone attempting to get to grips with their unfathomable catalogue - especially DJs and listeners currently digging into the underbelly of the ‘90s.
The material was all written and recorded between 1993 to 1996 and was selected and assembled by Danny Hyde (Electric Sewer Age, ex-Coil, ex-Psychic TV, ex-Black Light District) from the studio archives. As he outlines in the liner notes, these 23 tracks offer unforetold snapshots of Coil’s constant work-in-progress during an important phase of exploration. Tracks were usually seeded in Peter 'Sleazy' Christopherson’s dreams, and rendered thru the prism of his myriad sample bank, with Jhon Balance pulling from his notebooks for lyrics, and Danny Hyde would aid in engineering, editing and mixing, animating their studio gremlins and mental apparitions to an almost complete form.
The ’Swanyard’ is effectively as close as you’ll get to being in their notorious studios during the pharmaceutically-fuelled peak of the ‘90s, at the point where dark ambient, electronica and dance music were mutual bedfellows, and mutated the framework for where we are today." [Boomkat]
|
2019 |
€25.00 |
|
|
The Ape of Naples |
3 x LP set |
"The Ape of Naples" is a deeply emotional and uniquely rewarding album. In its immediate accessibility it is somewhat reminiscent of Coil's mid-1980s classic "Horse Rotorvator" sharing that album's wild variety of sounds and styles as well as its overriding sombre mood. Originally released in 2005 and in many ways the band's ultimate swan song, it is now considered one of the go-to albums for introducing new listeners to the unparalleled magick of Coil. Compiled and released by Peter Christopherson one year after Jhonn Balance's tragic deadly fall, it includes reworkings of the live favourite "Amethyst Deceivers" and "Love Secret's Domain"'s "Teenage Lightning" as well as several songs originally intended for the ill-fated "Backwards" album like the haunting and preminiscent "Fire of the Mind" and the superb "Amber Rain". Other tracks were created using unfinished song ideas from around "Backwards", sampling tiny bits of Balance's live vocals from songs only ever performed in concert once like "Triple Sun". Using the lyrics of the theme tune for the 1970s BBC sit com series "Are you being served?" for the unbelievably haunting "Going up", this album's final track and the last song Coil ever performed live, is maybe the most poignant example of Balance's and Christopherson's method of turning base matter into pure sound gold, and like the title of the album, derived from an imaginary adult video an equally fine example of the often underappreciated humour of the boys.
Christopherson with the help of long-term sound wizard Danny Hyde and using some of the talent of Coil touring members managed to craft an album which feels and flows like a true Coil classic.
The Infinite Fog version is the third Coil record receiving the fully remastered and enhanced 3LP/2CD treatment supervised by Danny Hyde.
All of the original material has again been carefully and sympathetically remastered by Grammy-nominated engineer Jessica Thompson who has been previously lauded for her splendid job on its sister release "The New Backwards". Coil fans old and new will be thrilled over the inclusion of more than an hour's worth of 9 rare and largely unheard bonus tracks from Danny's vaults completing the set. The astounding design of the original box-set release is restored for the gatefold 3LP sleeve using the fully-licensed artwork by Ian Johnstone (making it easy to differentiate this new vinyl version from previous un-sanctioned LP releases using poor reproductions of the original CD art for the front cover), the CD will be available in two versions with the original and well-loved original CD cover art and for the first time using the former vinyl-only cover art.
If you do not yet own a physical copy of the "Ape of Naples", or if you always wanted an enhanced version of this masterpiece, there has never been a better time to make that wish come true.
Written & Produced by Coil & Danny Hyde.
Mastered by Jessica Thompson.
Front artwork by Ian Johnstone.
Artwork licensed from The Estate of Ian Johnstone.
Layout Oleg Galay.
https://infinitefog.bandcamp.com/album/the-ape-of-naples
|
2022 |
€46.00 |
|
|
The New Backwards (extended edition) |
do-CD |
"The New Backwards" was conceived by Peter "Sleazy" Christopherson in 2007, revisiting stray tracks which hadn't seemed to gel with the material he had chosen for the more somber "Ape of Naples" from 2005, COIL's initial posthumous release, a sort of requiem and a kiss-goodbye to his then recently deceased partner John Balance.
Significantly different to its sister release, this album collects the brilliantly chaotic and outrageously rhythmic material from the original sessions for the album that was begun as early as 1993 and had originally been conceptualised as the follow-up to "Love's Secret Domain". These songs are as diverse and wild as the places they originated from, partly infamously spawned in Sharon Tate's former home in the Hollywood Hills, the Nine Inch Nails home base in New Orleans and London's Swanyard, co-composed, remixed and restructured with the help of long-term friend Danny Hyde in Thailand, this collection has its own unique flow and an atmosphere not found on any other COIL release.
Both "AYOR" and "Backwards" had by the time the album was first released already become favourites in COIL's manic live performances. Some of the other tracks had only leaked in demo versions and are here presented updated and polished as Christopherson and Hyde intended them to be heard. It is interesting to consider Balance's vocal contributions, too. Whilst on the albums COIL did release at the time this material was first put aside ("Black Light District" and "ElpH") his voice is all but absent, his vocal performances and his lyric writing here are arguably more closely indebted to the previous "Love's Secret Domain" era, especially the epic "Copacaballa" is noteworthy in that respect.
The New Backwards" effectively became the final official COIL studio release of all new material whilst Peter was still alive and is here presented for the first time fully supervised by Danny Hyde, its co-creator.
The stunning cover uses a detail from artist Ian Johnstone's "Cubic Raven" painting, licensed from the estate of IJ..
It is high time to rediscover this timeless album with the Infinite Fog release, first time available on vinyl in its full form without 3 skipped tracks! Besides that boasting nine further tracks of previously unheard material from the same sessions, rough working stages and surprising remixes which will surely delight the dedicated COIL archaeologists, as they shine yet another light on the creative process and on what could have been.
credits
released March 30, 2022
Recorded at Swanyard, London and at Nothing Studios, New Orleans, 1996.
Thanks to everyone there, especially Trent Reznor who made it all possible.
Written & Produced by Coil & Danny Hyde.
Remixed by Peter Christopherson & Danny Hyde, Bangkok 2007.
For that session Coil were: Peter Christopherson, Jhonn Balance & Drew McDowall.
Mastered by Jessica Thompson.
Front artwork by Ian Johnstone.
Artwork licensed from The Estate of Ian Johnstone.
Layout Cold Graves and Oleg Galay.
https://infinitefog.bandcamp.com/album/the-new-backwards-extended-edition
|
2022 |
€26.00 |
|
|
Constant Shallowness leads to Evil |
do-LP |
"The first-ever official vinyl edition, completely remastered by Josh Bonati.
The turn of the millennium ushered in an apex visionary phase for English esoteric duo Coil. Relocating from the city to the coastal quiet of Weston-super-Mare freed them to follow even more fringe obsessions, fully untethered from peer influence. During a single six-month stretch in 2000 they released the devious underworld sequel to Music To Play In The Dark, arcane drone summit Queens Of The Circulating Library, and a malevolent hour-long synthesizer exorcism prophetically titled Constant Shallowness Leads To Evil. This latter work remains one of the group’s most miasmic and mind-expanding creations, on par with Time Machines – a sustained divination of shuddering, psychoactive noise, rippling with the motion sickness of an all-seeing eye.
Thighpaulsandra characterizes the album as “an exercise in brutality,” born from a thorny patch of his Serge modular unit that Peter “Sleazy” Christopherson found entrancing. Processing this sliver of electronics into a ravaged labyrinth was a trial and error process, aided by Christopherson’s visual sense of sound, stretching and manipulating it for maximum spatial disorientating. Frequencies nauseously crawl across the stereo field, burrowing into the ear like a sinister brainwashing experiment.
An outlier / centerpiece is the 13-minute alien tribalist sea shanty, “I Am The Green Child,” guided by John Balance’s sung-spoken free verse concerning vengeance, oblivion, and insanity, culminating in the memorable refrain, “We're swimming in a sea of occidental vomit.” But the rest of the record seethes in unhinged instrumental chaos, divided into 18 micro-movements of a composition called “Tunnel Of Goats.” Intended to scramble the functionality of a CD player’s shuffle mode, the piece throbs, thrashes, and flatlines in compressed frenzies of twisted synthesis, at the threshold of some bottomless purgatory, forbidding and unknown."
https://coilofficial.bandcamp.com/album/constant-shallowness-leads-to-evil
|
2022 |
€33.50 |
|
|
Constant Shallowness leads to Evil |
CD |
The turn of the millennium ushered in an apex visionary phase for English esoteric duo Coil. Relocating from the city to the coastal quiet of Weston-super-Mare freed them to follow even more fringe obsessions, fully untethered from peer influence. During a single six-month stretch in 2000 they released the devious underworld sequel to Music To Play In The Dark, arcane drone summit Queens Of The Circulating Library, and a malevolent hour-long synthesizer exorcism prophetically titled Constant Shallowness Leads To Evil. This latter work remains one of the group’s most miasmic and mind-expanding creations, on par with Time Machines – a sustained divination of shuddering, psychoactive noise, rippling with the motion sickness of an all-seeing eye.
Thighpaulsandra characterizes the album as “an exercise in brutality,” born from a thorny patch of his Serge modular unit that Peter “Sleazy” Christopherson found entrancing. Processing this sliver of electronics into a ravaged labyrinth was a trial and error process, aided by Christopherson’s visual sense of sound, stretching and manipulating it for maximum spatial disorientating. Frequencies nauseously crawl across the stereo field, burrowing into the ear like a sinister brainwashing experiment.
An outlier / centerpiece is the 13-minute alien tribalist sea shanty, “I Am The Green Child,” guided by John Balance’s sung-spoken free verse concerning vengeance, oblivion, and insanity, culminating in the memorable refrain, “We're swimming in a sea of occidental vomit.” But the rest of the record seethes in unhinged instrumental chaos, divided into 18 micro-movements of a composition called “Tunnel Of Goats.” Intended to scramble the functionality of a CD player’s shuffle mode, the piece throbs, thrashes, and flatlines in compressed frenzies of twisted synthesis, at the threshold of some bottomless purgatory, forbidding and unknown.
https://coilofficial.bandcamp.com/album/constant-shallowness-leads-to-evil
|
2022 |
€15.00 |
|
|
The Ape of Naples (White) |
3 x LP set |
"The Ape of Naples" is a deeply emotional and uniquely rewarding album. In its immediate accessibility it is somewhat reminiscent of Coil's mid-1980s classic "Horse Rotorvator" sharing that album's wild variety of sounds and styles as well as its overriding sombre mood. Originally released in 2005 and in many ways the band's ultimate swan song, it is now considered one of the go-to albums for introducing new listeners to the unparalleled magick of Coil. Compiled and released by Peter Christopherson one year after Jhonn Balance's tragic deadly fall, it includes reworkings of the live favourite "Amethyst Deceivers" and "Love Secret's Domain"'s "Teenage Lightning" as well as several songs originally intended for the ill-fated "Backwards" album like the haunting and preminiscent "Fire of the Mind" and the superb "Amber Rain". Other tracks were created using unfinished song ideas from around "Backwards", sampling tiny bits of Balance's live vocals from songs only ever performed in concert once like "Triple Sun". Using the lyrics of the theme tune for the 1970s BBC sit com series "Are you being served?" for the unbelievably haunting "Going up", this album's final track and the last song Coil ever performed live, is maybe the most poignant example of Balance's and Christopherson's method of turning base matter into pure sound gold, and like the title of the album, derived from an imaginary adult video an equally fine example of the often underappreciated humour of the boys.
Christopherson with the help of long-term sound wizard Danny Hyde and using some of the talent of Coil touring members managed to craft an album which feels and flows like a true Coil classic.
The Infinite Fog version is the third Coil record receiving the fully remastered and enhanced 3LP/2CD treatment supervised by Danny Hyde.
All of the original material has again been carefully and sympathetically remastered by Grammy-nominated engineer Jessica Thompson who has been previously lauded for her splendid job on its sister release "The New Backwards". Coil fans old and new will be thrilled over the inclusion of more than an hour's worth of 9 rare and largely unheard bonus tracks from Danny's vaults completing the set. The astounding design of the original box-set release is restored for the gatefold 3LP sleeve using the fully-licensed artwork by Ian Johnstone (making it easy to differentiate this new vinyl version from previous un-sanctioned LP releases using poor reproductions of the original CD art for the front cover), the CD will be available in two versions with the original and well-loved original CD cover art and for the first time using the former vinyl-only cover art.
If you do not yet own a physical copy of the "Ape of Naples", or if you always wanted an enhanced version of this masterpiece, there has never been a better time to make that wish come true.
Written & Produced by Coil & Danny Hyde.
Mastered by Jessica Thompson.
Front artwork by Ian Johnstone.
Artwork licensed from The Estate of Ian Johnstone.
Layout Oleg Galay.
https://infinitefog.bandcamp.com/album/the-ape-of-naples |
2022 |
€48.50 |
|
|
The Ape of Naples |
do-CD |
CDs come in a 6-panel Digipak with a booklet and poster. Artwork by Ian Johnstone.
"The Ape of Naples" is a deeply emotional and uniquely rewarding album. In its immediate accessibility it is somewhat reminiscent of Coil's mid-1980s classic "Horse Rotorvator" sharing that album's wild variety of sounds and styles as well as its overriding sombre mood. Originally released in 2005 and in many ways the band's ultimate swan song, it is now considered one of the go-to albums for introducing new listeners to the unparalleled magick of Coil. Compiled and released by Peter Christopherson one year after Jhonn Balance's tragic deadly fall, it includes reworkings of the live favourite "Amethyst Deceivers" and "Love Secret's Domain"'s "Teenage Lightning" as well as several songs originally intended for the ill-fated "Backwards" album like the haunting and preminiscent "Fire of the Mind" and the superb "Amber Rain". Other tracks were created using unfinished song ideas from around "Backwards", sampling tiny bits of Balance's live vocals from songs only ever performed in concert once like "Triple Sun". Using the lyrics of the theme tune for the 1970s BBC sit com series "Are you being served?" for the unbelievably haunting "Going up", this album's final track and the last song Coil ever performed live, is maybe the most poignant example of Balance's and Christopherson's method of turning base matter into pure sound gold, and like the title of the album, derived from an imaginary adult video an equally fine example of the often underappreciated humour of the boys.
Christopherson with the help of long-term sound wizard Danny Hyde and using some of the talent of Coil touring members managed to craft an album which feels and flows like a true Coil classic.
The Infinite Fog version is the third Coil record receiving the fully remastered and enhanced 3LP/2CD treatment supervised by Danny Hyde.
All of the original material has again been carefully and sympathetically remastered by Grammy-nominated engineer Jessica Thompson who has been previously lauded for her splendid job on its sister release "The New Backwards". Coil fans old and new will be thrilled over the inclusion of more than an hour's worth of 9 rare and largely unheard bonus tracks from Danny's vaults completing the set. The astounding design of the original box-set release is restored for the gatefold 3LP sleeve using the fully-licensed artwork by Ian Johnstone (making it easy to differentiate this new vinyl version from previous un-sanctioned LP releases using poor reproductions of the original CD art for the front cover), the CD will be available in two versions with the original and well-loved original CD cover art and for the first time using the former vinyl-only cover art.
If you do not yet own a physical copy of the "Ape of Naples", or if you always wanted an enhanced version of this masterpiece, there has never been a better time to make that wish come true.
Written & Produced by Coil & Danny Hyde.
Mastered by Jessica Thompson.
Front artwork by Ian Johnstone.
Artwork licensed from The Estate of Ian Johnstone.
Layout Oleg Galay.
https://infinitefog.bandcamp.com/album/the-ape-of-naples |
2022 |
€23.00 |
|
| |
The New Backwards (special edition) |
3 x pic-LP |
"The New Backwards" was conceived by Peter "Sleazy" Christopherson in 2007, revisiting stray tracks which hadn't seemed to gel with the material he had chosen for the more somber "Ape of Naples" from 2005, COIL's initial posthumous release, a sort of requiem and a kiss-goodbye to his then recently deceased partner John Balance.
Significantly different to its sister release, this album collects the brilliantly chaotic and outrageously rhythmic material from the original sessions for the album that was begun as early as 1993 and had originally been conceptualised as the follow-up to "Love's Secret Domain". These songs are as diverse and wild as the places they originated from, partly infamously spawned in Sharon Tate's former home in the Hollywood Hills, the Nine Inch Nails home base in New Orleans and London's Swanyard, co-composed, remixed and restructured with the help of long-term friend Danny Hyde in Thailand, this collection has its own unique flow and an atmosphere not found on any other COIL release.
Both "AYOR" and "Backwards" had by the time the album was first released already become favourites in COIL's manic live performances. Some of the other tracks had only leaked in demo versions and are here presented updated and polished as Christopherson and Hyde intended them to be heard. It is interesting to consider Balance's vocal contributions, too. Whilst on the albums COIL did release at the time this material was first put aside ("Black Light District" and "ElpH") his voice is all but absent, his vocal performances and his lyric writing here are arguably more closely indebted to the previous "Love's Secret Domain" era, especially the epic "Copacaballa" is noteworthy in that respect.
The New Backwards" effectively became the final official COIL studio release of all new material whilst Peter was still alive and is here presented for the first time fully supervised by Danny Hyde, its co-creator.
The stunning cover uses a detail from artist Ian Johnstone's "Cubic Raven" painting, licensed from the estate of IJ..
It is high time to rediscover this timeless album with the Infinite Fog release, first time available on vinyl in its full form without 3 skipped tracks! Besides that boasting nine further tracks of previously unheard material from the same sessions, rough working stages and surprising remixes which will surely delight the dedicated COIL archaeologists, as they shine yet another light on the creative process and on what could have been.
Recorded at Swanyard, London and at Nothing Studios, New Orleans, 1996.
Thanks to everyone there, especially Trent Reznor who made it all possible.
Written & Produced by Coil & Danny Hyde.
Remixed by Peter Christopherson & Danny Hyde, Bangkok 2007.
For that session Coil were: Peter Christopherson, Jhonn Balance & Drew McDowall.
Mastered by Jessica Thompson.
Front artwork by Ian Johnstone.
Artwork licensed from The Estate of Ian Johnstone.
Layout Cold Graves and Oleg Galay.
https://infinitefog.bandcamp.com/album/the-new-backwards-extended-edition
|
2022 |
€79.00 |
|
| COLECLOUGH, J. & LETHE |
Long Heat |
CD |
Collaboration von JONATHAN COLECLOUGH mit dem japanischen Cellisten & Impro-Droner LETHE ! Far-away drones, die man kaum fassen kann, dicht & subliminal, unwirklich & undurchdringlich, zeitweise sehr kraftvoll & konkreter werden in Mikrosound-Bereiche hinein, alles andere als statisch, mit überraschenden Wendungen.
“It's a pity that there is not much information on the cover of this CD, since it would be interesting to know what is going on here. Lethe is the Japanese Kuwayama Kiyoharu, who has released a CD on Trente Oiseaux of his cello/drone music aswell as a couple of releases on his on own label (and a collaboration with Kapotte Muziek is forthcoming on Intransitive). The reader who has been paying attention knows the name Jonathan Coleclough as being on this reviewer's favourite drone artists. Now, why would it be nice to know just a little bit more? Is it Lethe sending sound material to Coleclough? Perhaps. It seems to me the most logical thing upon hearing this CD - well, two actually. If you want you can order a copy and order an extra bonus CD with 'Long Heat - Second Part'. It has the majestic sounds that is the trademark of Coleclough. These long drone sounds that slowly change shape, change colour. But that's only one part of the game. Coleclough adds another layer of heavily reverbed sounds of falling objects. An additional third layer is used for utter dry sounds – scratching the surface. Three distinct layers of sounds that over the course of each disc start to intermingle with eachother, they slowly merge together, but it's not that a blurr arises, not at all. From these slowly merging masses a new distinct and powerful drone arises above the field which slowly moves on and follows it's own course. Once this course is gone, the material falls apart like small particles, suddenly, without warning.
But like said: is this what is done, or is it the work of Lethe producing this work with the use of Coleclough soundmaterial? Something says here, this is not the case. Hard to tell why, so it remains mere guessing. But is it important, all this guessing? Perhaps not, I am sure it is not important at all. Isn't this were the result counts? I am sure it does. And sure it does count. This is a beautiful work of drone music. Majestic stuff, moving slowly forward. Great stuff, but maybe I'm a little biased here.” [FdW / Vital Weekly]
|
2005 |
€14.00 |
|
| COLLECTIONS OF COLONIES OF BEES |
Six Guitars |
LP |
Dies dürft der erste Teil (man könnte auch sagen: das erste Sammlerstück) der neuen "Guitar Series" auf Table of the Elements sein! COLLECTIONS OF COLONIES OF BEES wurden von JON MUELLER & CHRIS ROSENAU 1998 gegründet, hier schichten sie 6 Gitarren im minimalen Breitwand-Modus übereinander, das hat was von meditativem GLENN BRANCA...super! Auf klarem Vinyl, einseitig bespielt mit SAVAGE PENCIL - etching auf der Rückseite.
"Their sound is expansive, vast, and billowing; full of ringing guitars, soaring in the best traditions of the Chatham/Branca standoff; meanwhile, beneath the clouds sprawl dewy meadows of gently rolling electronica. Six Guitars is just what its title states, yet so much more. Wildly versatile drummer Jon Mueller follows the rules by hammering on an electric guitar with mallets, enhancing the Steve Reichian vibe (compare this with Mueller's face-melting solo onslaught Metals). The band sparkles accordingly, lifting to a dazzling climax. It's epic minimalism in exquisite registration, and the perfect selection to introduce the Table Of The Elements Guitar Series (fans will be happy to hear that Mueller is on deck with a solo contribution to the series as well). Beyond the music, there's the similarly spectacular packaging. It's a one-sided, 12-inch LP, pressed on clear vinyl; the reverse is laser etched with an original illustration by acclaimed UK artist Savage Pencil, whose credits include album art for The Fall, Big Black, and Sonic Youth. It's a limited-edition pressing, so get it while you can -- disks from the label's original Guitar Series in 1993/1994 are now some of Collectorville's must coveted treasures." [label info]
www.tableoftheelements.com
|
2008 |
€17.00 |
|
| COLLEY, JOE |
Deformation of Tone |
LP |
Joe Colley’s skeleton key is an intra-dimensional sense of humor. It exists in a place between and beyond dry, deadpan, and defeatist, and is not actually funny. He has a knack for unlocking the essence of the absurdly uncomplicated, elevating it to a place of near-iconic significance and leaving it there. Hovering in a void. Or mashed in the jowl of an insect getting doused with regurgitated chyme and rumen bacteria. Consistent with his past efforts, Deformation Of Tone contains no sturm und drang or exhausting drama. This spectacle-free album delivers abrasive-adjacent electronic judders cloaked in a feeling of intimacy distilled from primordial ooze. Opening voices dissolve into Lucierian mosaic yammer, and plummet into a negative space populated by an unadorned clicking, that most elemental physical manifestation of audio phenomena, the antithesis of awareness and enlightenment and transcendence. Of sentience, even. A quintessential example of his streamlined, efficient hilarity. The episodes continue without pause, as if one is moving through an exhibition. Compared to Colley’s work, which he once described as “little noises arranged on a piece of plastic,” a lot of other noise seems hell-bent on shameless over-compensation. Embarrassingly so. His material has always been low-key, and Deformation Of Tone finds him shuffling in a colder, harsher, more desolate direction. The single-malt rasp of an unnamed conspiracy theorist / motivational speaker, present more for his intonation than anything else, punctuates this rather sculptural 33 minutes of machines whirring, devices beeping, blank-face rotary drones swelling and merging with unnaturally regimented hive rustlings and perfectly unpleasant high-gain squelch — all constructed with a master’s timing and sense of scale.
– Seymour Glass / Bananafish
https://totalblack.bandcamp.com/album/deformation-of-tone
|
2022 |
€21.50 |
|
| |
Acting As If |
10inch |
"When Joe Colley speaks about his work and even about his life, he shrugs in an awkward attempt to stave off an existential frustration that not only his work addresses but also seems to consume his identity. There are numerous metaphors through his titles that allude to endless failures and a nihilism full of contempt, but Colley also implores a desperate urgency to express these poetics no matter how painful they may be. For three decades now, Colley has been a central and persistent figure in the California noise community. First recording under the moniker Crawl Unit and running the short-lived Povertech label, Colley presented a preternaturally strong acumen of electro-acoustic techniques and abstraction through a vast language of blistered textures, atonal noise, and gnarled drone. By 2000, he dropped the Crawl Unit moniker in favor of his own name with an ongoing discography of damaged yet exploratory electronics.
Colley returns to Drone Records for this 10" on the Substantia Innominata series, many years after his Crawl Unit "Tuscon Mon Amour" 7." In describing "Acting As If," Colley offers a vague series of descriptors: unheimlich, terror of the familiar, and no faith in what is "real." Within the sustained movements of scrabbling textures, motorized abrasions, and uncomfortable harmonics, such conditions are made manifest and Colley amplifies them into something eeriely sublime. All of that held within a self-contained logic that works within and against his deep knowledge of drone-on minimalism, musique concrete dynamics, and the explosiveness of noise culture. His swarming masses, throttled rumbling, and smoldering tension are all encircling and folding in on themselves. Rhizomes of sound that speak poison. Drink up, if it doesn't kill you, it will only make you stronger."
[Jim Haynes / Northern California, 2023]
listen to various CRAWL UNIT + JOE COLLEY tracks here:
https://aftersilencepodcast.bandcamp.com/album/as-31-from-crawl-unit-to-joe-colley
https://www.last.fm/music/Joe+Colley
"MECHANICAL RITUALS: 23 years after his EP for Drone Records (DR-28, as CRAWL UNIT) we are proud to release another / new work of conceptual / minimal / object drone artist JOE COLLEY from California.
We think JOE COLLEY (*1972) is a master of using mechanical object sounds and electronic static, but also strange low fi found sources and field recordings, creating alienating, surrealistic effects, similar to the likes of SMALL CRUEL PARTY, JIM HAYNES, DAS SYNTHETISCHE MISCHGEWEBE or even the more experimental side of ZOVIET FRANCE...
His newer compositions seem always to be filled with electro-magnetic hummings, strange hissing and the pourings of metallic objects as a basis, but you never find the use real instruments, synths, or masses of effect procession. Thus a very own scent of mystery appears, as all of these radiations are not really from this planet, without any "cosmic" connotations..
For the creator, these sounds are connected with unreal emotions of "Being Lost", a mistrust in what may be called reality, and a general feeling of alienation... - you can only wonder how this can result in such beautiful droning expanses..
Presented here are over 30 minutes of very best new COLLEY material (entitled "Limit / Limit" und "Always I / Always II") => through these drones of strangeness the mind is thrown inside an unrecognizable and confusing realm of broken electricity and something like audible-made atmospheric pressure..
Lim. 300 copies with artwork by dutch designer and micro label hero MEEUW, using a special silver print (on reverse board), BLACK vinyl. glossy black inner sleeves." [press release]
"I don't keep up with Joe Colley's recent releases for reasons I am unsure of myself. Not that there are many of them, but I only heard a few. Maybe his work is these days within installation work or performing? This new record shows Colley as I know him best. He is a man with an ear to the ground or wall; he hears stuff we don't. I believe he uses very few 'real' instruments, and for convenience, I include all things synthesizer (modular, digital, analogue). With his equipment, he records the unwanted sounds from our world. Buzzing, whirring, near broken cables and other forms of electric debris. It's never clear whether his recording devices are great or lo-fi. It could go either way, I think.
Maybe you need great some great electro-magnetic devices to pick up these sounds, but at the same time, when they are relatively low-key, they might have another attractive quality. Get my drift here? We live in a world with many sounds, at least many of us. I like to think I live in a quiet street, but here too, there is a lot of noise pollution. This pollution, so I believe, is Colley's playground. He collects and collates this material into pieces of dystopian nightmare. Coley's music sounds like I imagine the sound of a leaking nuclear power plant, the last breath of a machine park, and the death rattle of our post-industrial society. Unlike some of the other work I heard from Colley, this new work is relatively 'smooth', I must say. There aren't many hard cuts to indicate the final breath of a sound (but they are also not entirely absent), but Colley, this time, uses smoother transitions in the music. Many fragments are slowly cross-faded into the next section, revealing a less brutal element in his work. Or, perhaps, one could say, it makes his music all the more gentle? Or even more musical? Colley applies all the techniques from musique concrète here but keeps much of his source material in what seems to be a pretty rough state anyway. It's dark; it's real, scary, weird, haunting and haunted and, ultimately, beautiful music." [FdW/Vital Weekly]
|
2022 |
€18.00 |
|
| COLUMN ONE |
Electric Pleasure |
CD |
"Formed in Berlin in 1991, René Lamp and Robert Schalinski were working together on short-film projects and decided to expand their scope to include audio and multi-media projects among their repertoire. The next thing you know, Column One was born.
On this highly detailed and wonderfully crafted CD (their fourth), the band have dragged the look and feel of 1950s American science-fiction films deep into their underground laboratory, flicked a few switches and have mutated them into an absolute monster of a release, bringing to life a world of Kraftwerkian rhythms and Forbidden Planet background ambience all cohesively joined by an interesting narrative structure; the tracks ebb and flow into one another not as separate entities but as an entire parable of technology overpowering humanity.
On tracks like Re-Start To Move, the low-bitrate hip-hop tracks bounce along with a curious intent, just as a determined robot would as it seeks its next human prey, while on MZ4, the mood is much more melancholy, clearly showing the more human side to the mechanical creatures contained therein.
The band here have clearly done their homework both in terms of studying classic 80s electro as well as the sounds that brought those tracks to life. The bands label, 90% Wasser is also based in Berlin and is a self described non-profit artist label for electro-acoustic-minimal-spoken-digital-ideological-tonal & atonal-electronic-music plus video-releases, writings & picture-art. It may be a mouthful but this suits the release perfectly as both Column One and their parent label go way beyond the typical concept CD or multimedia project.
Column One have come up with a really classy and incredibly detailed release that deserves repeated listening not only because it will make you dance, but to fully appreciate the narrative content. Electric Pleasure works well on its own, but combined with a live audio/visual experience, the band could very well be unstoppable. Just like the robots contained therein. Highly recommended." [BBC Music Reviews]
www.bbc.co.uk/music/reviews/w3n8
|
2001 |
€13.00 |
|
|
Feldaufnahmen I |
CD |
"Limited edition of 500 copies, CD in digipak, 16 pp. booklet. Feldaufnahmen I is the first release in a series of pure filed recordings by german multi-disciplinary experimental group COLUMN One. The 12 recordings where collected in east Germany in the Polenztal within the mountain range called Elbsandsteingebirge in 2000-2001 with the simplest equipment. The recordings where edited and rearranged by Robert Schalinski in Berlin in 2006. Feldaufnahmen I is a new üphase for Column One whio have continued to change and evolve in their musical career. The group was renowned for post-industrial atmospheres, media collages and cut-up dadaist humor now they enter the terrain of sound ecology with their own twist. The 12 pieces on the disc radiate with beauty - they demonstrate the full spectrum of sounds that can be found in any relatively quiet natural resort: dogs barking, humming of insects, crackling of twigs, footsteps, wind and more. The CD Feldaufnahmen I is is presented in a full colour digipak with a 16 pages booklet with full colour reproductions of photographs taken by Column One in the area where the sounds were recorded.
Column One was founded in Berlin, 1991 as the IDEOLOGICAL BASIS for an (aesthetic) approach to structures, philosophical ideas & media of the (now) western world. At that time Rene Lamp & Robert Schalinski already had been working together on short-film projects. The philosophical ideas of RADICAL CONSTRUCTIVISM (Paul Watzlawik etc.), the paths of the CUT-UP demonstrators such as W.S. Burroughs, Bryon Gysin & Jürgen Ploog, the experiments of POP-TERRORISTS like Genesis P-Orridge with Psychic TV & the films of directors like Andrew Tarkowski, Derek Jarman, Ingmar Bergmann, Lars von Trier, Alexandro Jodorowski have had greater influence on the foundation and the work of Column One. However, the crucial point & the main motivation for the work of Column One is the TOTALISATION OF COMMUNICATION. Meaning: to bring back into consciousness communication in its unavoidable consequence & presence.... thus, it's about decoding information, the utilisation, cutting up & decoding of which is presented to us as REALITY & of what we constantly present to ourselves. In order to succeed in this decoding process Column One utilises existing forms of communication & its media & generally considers everything as raw material, basic element or finished product.
Column One operates as collective. Besides the founding members a changing amount of various members changes from project to project: Andrew Loadman, Jerome Soudan (aka Mimetic), Wojcek Czern (aka Zia Siodma Gora), Jürgen Eckloff (also: Kein Zweiter), Leo Solter (also: Kein Zweiter, Tornow), R.U. Brain-Bridge..." [label description]
"Over the years Column One has been a group that loved electricity - to connect their synthesizers, samplers, computer or whatever. Their music was strongly rhythmic and there was always a media edge to the music. Nothing so on 'Feldaufnahmen 1', the first in what is going to be a series of pure field recordings (as that is what the title means actually). Column One member robert Schalinski went out in East Germany to the Polenztal and recorded twelve different sound events. For whatever obscure reason they are titled in French, but the title leaves nothing to guess: 'The Insects', 'The Forest/The Dog', 'Water/Insects'. We hear dogs, children, rocks, all in a pure form. Very easy? Yes, very easy, but as someone who likes sounds, I must admit I pretty fascinated by these recordings. Simple and pure, phonography in it's purest form. I am not sure what the hardcore fans of Column One will think about this, but I thought this absolute break with the past is a great move and the result is likewise." [FdW / Vital Weekly]
www.aufabwegen.com
|
2007 |
€13.00 |
|
|
AntiphoNA |
10inch |
" 'ANTIPHONA AD INTROITUM'! Finally on SUBSTANTIA we can present to you the highly regarded German masters of experimental dadaism & de-construction, whose releases are always a thoughtful play with hidden meanings, conceptions & contradictions: 'Learning to play. Disorder. Destruction of programmed Solutions. Learning to see.'
COLUMN ONE is a long existing collective of multimedia artists hailing from the Berlin-area with frequently changing members; their performance & artworks are as important as the music (see also their impressive website: www.column-one.de). On this mysterious 10" you will disocver two pieces that sound completely different: ANTIPHONA is a bewildering work of musique concrete, changing between very fast moving collages and quieter parts, always surprisingly fractured, using an amazing quantity of different sound-sources of all kinds. The second piece INTROITUM is a meditative overtone bowl-drone recorded at the legendary "Sibirische Zelle" in Berlin with three microphones in three different rooms, resulting in strange sound-effects and audio interactions. Both tracks can be regarded as anthiponies forming a single whole.
For us these are metaphors for the emergence of the "Irrational" and "Sacred" in the daily profane lives, using notions from religious scopes in a new context. Side A ends in an endless groove, the artwork comes from SEAN HILLEN, pressed on bleak vinyl in an edition of 500 copies." [label info]
www.substantia-innominata.de
"Following Illusion Of Safety's 'Sweet Dreams', Germany's Substantia Innominata (daughter of Drone), returns with another fine work of some the older garde of experimentalists, Column One from Berlin. They have been around for quite some time, and for them the presentation is equally important as the music, and there is always some sort of link with dada, even when it's quite well hidden, like on the b-side 'Antiphona' 10". Or the a-side, depends which one you play first. I started out with 'Introitum' in which a salad bowl is played. It's recorded with three microphones in three different rooms. I wouldn't be surprised to learn that Peter Hollinger, who played the bowl, was walking around, as to catch the overtones in various ways. The location was a masonry, so there is quite some natural reverb. He plays it graciously and it makes up a wonderful simple but lovely piece of 'drone' like music. The title piece can be found on the other side of the record and shows the dada side of Column One. All of the members seem to donates 'sources' as well as Antoine Chessex playing saxophone and Robert Schalinski on zither, voice, gongs, saw, acoustic instruments and field recordings. The editing was done by by Jurgen Eckloff. This is a fine piece of instrumental passages by the duo of Schalinski and Chessex and taped media excerpts by the others. Set next to each other, rather being superimposed on each other. Its hard to say what this piece means, if anything at all. I'm sure it does however. It's perhaps not a piece one easily expects from this label, better known for music such as captured on the other side, but it's a daring out-of-the box movement of said label, and therefore needs our applause. And Column One? They just always surprise us." [FdW/Vital Weekly]
|
2013 |
€12.00 |
|
| |
Mädchen in Schmutzigen Schürzen |
CD + BLU-RAY |
This is the Soundtrack to the Kärma Burg film "Die Versuche des Naum Kotik" (The Experiments of Naum Kotik), released in a box set together with the film on Blu-Ray Disc. Recorded 2010-2021 at various places, compiled and organized by Egg-Love at Z. Film and soundtrack were only released together in this set, not separately.
8-panel Digifile, including 4 postcards. Edition of 300 copies.
Dedicated to the memory of Hellmut Köntges-Eckloff (1949-2022).
Column One were:
Andrew Loadman - Tapes
Robert Schalinski - Types
Eyn Lump - Wooly Hat & High Profile
Naum Kotik Jr. - Voice & Thoughts
Jürgen Eckloff - Cut & Connection
Mastered by Rashad Becker
https://columnone.bandcamp.com/album/m-dchen-in-schmutzigen-sch-rzen
"This has been on my desk for too long, but I kept delaying to work on the review. Not owning a blue ray player, which is the prefered format for the DVD here, didn't help, but also because I hardly consider myself a music reviewer (more an enthusiast who tells you about new releases), let alone that I know anything about film (or, for that matter, literature, choreography, sculpting, video art, performance; you name it and I am sure I couldn't write a review). Granted, I do go to the cinema, and I have a subscription for several years now, so I go up to three times a week (sometimes, not every week), but that makes me more of an enthusiast. We discuss what we saw with friends and if we enjoyed it, but that hardly qualifies me as a film critic.
I also faced this dilemma: first, see the movie or play the CD? To watch the DVD, I need to be in the right mood (hence some of the delay explained), so in the end, I first played the CD but found it hard to get my head around it. Now that I have seen the DVD, the music makes more sense. Which is, perhaps, odd, as I am sure I didn't understand all of the movie. Kärma Burg made a film slash documentary about the Russian neurologist Naum Kotik (1876-1920), who was interested in transference, telepathy and psycho-physical energy. His grandson explored this further and made a script
and film, ' Mädchen In Schmutzigen Schürzen', girls in dirty aprons. The grandson is being interviewed, and the subtitles are presented rather peculiarly, which doesn't enhance the understanding here. So far, so good, but the thought that can move objects? Lots of the movie (and I mean the aprons thing, which is in two versions, I think, as I'm unsure) is stop motion. The editing is great, and it works really with the music, for which the credits to Robert Schalinski. He's one of the three members of Column One.
The CD can be understood as 'the soundtrack to the movie', and if you play it straight after seeing the movie, you'll notice some overlap, but like the movie, it is all a strange surrealist affair. The CD is more like a radio play, which stands alone very well by itself, but it is also a vital feature in the movie. The sound is as important as what you see and makes quite the hallucinating experience. Just exactly what it is about, or how it works? Maybe this is real or a mockumentary (and no, I won't spoil the ending)? How old is this grandson if his granddad died in 1920? Just one of those questions that came up. I have no idea. I admit I gave up at one point and just enjoyed it as a non-narrative. Someone explained something (in Russian? or Swedish? I don't know), but there are also lengthy passages in which we see some animated action and hear these, mainly acoustic sounds. Lots of scratching and scraping of objects, which further elaborated the radio play drama, but then made visual. Strange or weird doesn't even capture what I saw and heard. But even with my total lack of understanding, I very much enjoyed this for its aesthetic qualities." [FdW/Vital Weekly] |
2023 |
€25.00 |
|
| COMES, MARTIJN |
Interrogation of the Crystalline Sublime |
do-CD |
Martijn Comes - Interrogation Of The Crystalline Sublime
"The human being knows himself only insofar as he knows the world; he perceives the
world only in himself, and himself only in the world. Every new object, clearly seen,
opens up a new organ of perception in us."
— Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
I hear atmospheres, sound shapes, gestural narratives, spectral trajectories, stochastic rhythms and phasic space when I encounter an environment rich in sonic phenomena.
But in order to be open to this meta-sensory information, I must first get my ears out of the way. I don't listen with my ears but with an inner sensory apparatus, what Goethe called "organs of perception," that I have developed over the years.
Once opened to this world sound becomes something very different—it's as if one could previously only see in black and white and suddenly were able to see in color. One becomes a witness to a full range of qualities and events that were previously inaccessible.
The drone is not a steady-state sound but a constellation of sound objects that lie hidden beneath a simple surface. The listener can penetrate this surface when they allow time to exist in a space where the past and future collapse into an infinitesimal, yet infinite, moment.
Once inside this space the drone serves as a conduit to other planes of existence and explains why spiritualized cultures around the world have used the drone in their worship for millennia.
The drone integrates us with the supernal, a synesthesia takes place, all of our senses become a singular super-sense: there is no longer a distinction between sound and sight, or taste and touch.
When we experience the world in this way we see the vast web of interconnections and how we deprive ourselves when we divide the world into the narrow-band regions of our senses. It is by transcending these boundaries that we become more fully human and open to the richness the world has to offer us.
Kim Cascone - San Francisco, Nov 20 2015
https://movingfurniturerecords.bandcamp.com/album/interrogation-of-the-crystalline-sublime
"Martijn Comes is a Dutch composer specialising in new media, sound design and electro-acoustic composition. His hour-long deep-drone piece Interrogation of the Crystalline Sublime was published on the spectacular Drone Cinema 2015 Raspberry Pi (!) release – the kind of gem every dronehead will probably dream of, but with a price tag only few can afford.
So it’s a good thing that the Moving Furniture label decided to reissue this piece in a 2-CD version (ánd digital download of course): CD1 containing the hour-long Interrogation by Martijn Comes, and CD2 containing 8 remixes of that piece by Scant Intone, Mitchell Akiyama, Zeno van den Broek, Alberto Boccardi, Haarvöl, Juan Antonio Nieto, Giulio Aldinucci and Orphax.
Comes describes his work as ‘livingroom music’ (possibly distinguishing itself slightly from Erik Satie’s ‘Musique d’Ameublement’ (Furniture Music), which was meant to be played by live performers).
He set out to “write a piece that is equally meditative as it is harmonious and melodic, or at least it would hint at large subtle progressions of harmony, in a way that is magnetic to the imaginations, while the body remains in a meditative, relaxing state.”
It’s an immersive drone, with hints of a shore in the background, that gradually grows intense and inescapable in its first half and then gradually recedes again.
It is not often that drone material like this gets remix treatments by different artists, so it’s interesting to hear what other artists do with sonic material like this.
Some of the remixers focus on the drone aspect, emphasizing different frequencies thus altering the overall feel. Others filter out artefacts (which can hardly be heard in the original), or add their own material to create abstract electro-acoustic compositions that hardly seem related to the original. Some focus on emotional aspects, others take a more analytic approach. Most of them venture into sonic extremes, thus losing some of the ‘livingroom’ aspect of the original.
But each one of these remixes sound completely different – like if they were original compositions in the first place." [Ambientblog]
|
2017 |
€16.00 |
|
| COMES, MARTIJN & GIULIO ALDINUCCI |
Crystalline Tragedies |
LP |
For this collective release, Martijn Comes and Giulio Aldinucci neither worked in the same studio together, nor did they share and exchange materials. The two pieces on this LP were composed privately and without any sonic input of the other. And yet, it is far more than just a 'split'.
Both pieces were loosely based on a pair of opposites first proposed by Nietzsche: The moral codex of society, as represented by the Christian church. And the realisation that only by surrendering completely to emotion can we live life to the fullest.
Using a single field recording of a procession in rural Tuscany, Aldinucci investigated how sacred rites are capable of defining new soundscapes. Blazing a trail through three distinct sections, Comes's "Crystalline Tragedies", meanwhile, takes strong feelings evoked by certain life passages into a poetic dimension.
Never particularly strict or academic about their inspiration, the same conceptual source lends a strong sense of unity to the music – making it.
Tobias Fischer, May 2018.
https://movingfurniturerecords.bandcamp.com/album/crystalline-tragedies-the-procession-distant-motionless-shores
"And finally what seems to me (I could be wrong of course) the split release by Martijn Comes
and Guilio Aldinucci; both have been reviewed before and, generally speaking of course, belong
to the wide, wide world of ambient music. Not really the world of abstract drones, but more or less ambient with a strong musical touch; processed guitars, synthesizers and such like. For this split LP they took as a concept two observations by Friedrich Nietzsche; Comes says about this that "for our album, we stripped them down to a simple pair of opposites: The moral codex of society, as represented by the Christian church. And the realisation that only by surrendering completely to emotion can we live life to the fullest." Each of them has a composition that fills the entire side of a
record. In 'Crystalline Tragedies', which is the title of the Martijn Comes' piece, there are two
distinct sections to be noted. In the first half there is guitar playing (courtesy of Constantine
Skourlis), set against a bed of layered drones, which could have been derived from the self-same
guitar playing and some less easy to define sounds, which could be humming. The other half of the pieces is a synthesizer section of mid paced arpeggio tones with an almost bouncing rhythm; it imitates a wind like sound and with a beat I would have said it is Porter Ricks like, but without the beat, as it is now, it is nice tumble of barren land. Aldinucci's piece is called 'The Procession (distant motionless shores)' starts out with field recordings in the leading role. It is the recording of a procession in rural Tuscany, which he takes apart, folds together, unfolds and expands again, but all along you will keep recognizing sounds from the procession; people humming, church organ and church bells. It is not easy to say to what extent Aldinucci uses his computer
transformations here; the eighteen minute is a very fine collage of all of the field recordings
captured during this procession, even including what seems to be animal sounds, building and
growing but slowly taking matters to a quiet conclusion. Two quite different sides are here to this record, perhaps a pair of opposites I should/could think, but it works very well, while the rest of the Nietzsche may be a bit lost on me." [FdW/Vital Weekly]
|
2018 |
€16.50 |
|
| CONCERT SILENCE |
9.22.07 [2-3 P.M.] |
CD |
"Concert Silence is a collaboration between Charles Buckingham and Matthew Cooper, currently both residing in Portland, Oregon. An ongoing conversation between the two began in 2004 when they met over a shared interest in live sound manipulation. 09.22.07 was the first major outcome of discussions regarding symbiotic cultures and their implications to music. A live performance set up was designed, allowing each player to have equal input and manipulation control, (which can be seen in a diagram within the artwork of the album). After the completion of a live session recorded to minidisc, the two decided to release the unmastered un-edited music for free download via their website. A short while later the free recordings were taken down from the site. Infraction Records is now releasing a previously unheard professionally mastered recording of the session in its entirety. Housed in a 6 panel cardstock folder." [label info]
"The sound of piano, both pure and processed, has become almost a sub-genre of its own within ambient electronica. There's a Satie-authored lineage stretching from Budd/Eno through to Sakamoto's collabs with Alva Noto and Fennesz, with signs to other off-beat sites. Buckingham's background in visual art makes his contribution to Concert Silence somewhat enigmatic. He had previously co-opted Cooper for the audio of an online ambient audio-visual collaboration in the Window Exchange project; Cooper's signature is clearly recognizable, for all that the pianism of his earlier Eluvium work are tweaked and tampered with here. Six discrete movements, an affair of edgy ambience, with lilting lulling passages ceding to digital depredations. Some parts subtly infiltrated, others strewn with the detritus of error-smithery. 'Part Two,' for example, sounds as if it's slowly spontaneously combusting in the player, gradually growing into a larger conflagration, culminating in a veritable firework display of pops, crackles and wayward woozy pitch shifts, eating itself in echo and fuzz, before returning to the opening lull of barely audible soft-pedaled piano purism. Overall the Cooper-Buckingham pairing puts a distinctive slant on the compositional tradition mentioned above, finding a beguiling blend of the worlds of piano concerto and that of digital signal processing, with its random reversals, glitch flurries, and drone. Yet, for all its peculiarities of pitch and microsonic mist, strong melodic lines serve as binding, stiched together, lending poise to noise. " [Alan Lockett]
www.infractionrecords.com
|
2010 |
€13.00 |
|
| CONIGLIO, ENRICO |
I |
MC |
"Luckily there is Enrico Coniglio to bring back ambience and ambient into the room. More the kind of music I expect from this series. Coniglio is a member of Herion and recently (see Vital Weekly 769) had a solo CD reviewed. Here he stays in ambient land with both feet firm in the ground. Glacial like tonal drifts on side A, and on side B, low humming bass sound hovering closely over the surface. Whereas its unclear what the soundsources are on the first side, the second side seems to have heavily processed guitars. It sounds altogether made in the digital domain, which may take a bit of warmth away, but, after Alo Girl, certainly a delight to hear." [FdW/Vital Weekly]
www.silentes.it/tapestry
|
2011 |
€7.50 |
|
| |
Teredo Navalis |
CD |
"This work represents a further step into my on-going research on the Venetian Lagoon. I was interested to keep an ecological perspective while focussing on a precise aesthetic. In fact, I considered field-recording practice as a tool for critically investigating the territory. The album is based on sounds recorded via electromagnetic sensors, binaural microphones, hydrophones, contact and condenser microphones. It combines compositions where the sound of water, in itself, is almost left behind. All sounds where gathered during night time in the north side of the lagoon, between the islands of Murano, Burano, Sant’Erasmo and their surrounding sandbanks. Here it is possible to find, on the one hand, aquatic spawning grounds for crabbers, high-tide roosts for gulls and native terns; on the other, boats for the public transportation are moving along the main navigation channels. The result is not a sonic postcard, rather a research process documenting through sounds those marginal areas of the lagoon facing a fragile balance between natural environment and man-made actions."
https://www.gruenrekorder.de/?page_id=18209
|
2020 |
€13.00 |
|
| CONTAGIOUS ORGASM |
Ripple |
CD |
The always genre-crossing project from Japan with a great album, dark & experimental, more rhythm based stuff, (but these are stranged out rhythms, not danceable ones!), but the usual "unlistenable" collage / found sounds-tracks are present too, the more the album continues, the weirder it becomes... again quite unique & not classifiable.
"packaging: special transparent paper booklet w/ inlays + jewelcase. hiroshi hashimoto started releasing music twenty years ago as contagious orgasm. right from the beginning listeners knew that there was something very unique and special about c.o.'s sound - differing from the typical japanese 'industrial scene'. the initial aural transformation of track and release titles were soon replaced by something quite different. themes became more abstract and surrealistic; influences came from various collaborations and often seriousness was undercut with a wink... as on previous c.o. releases you can hear musical and stylistic sources from many cultural areas; for instance on 'ripple' you can hear indian chants, dub bass, electronic clicks/cuts, gongs, a piano, even straight beats and minimal sequencer grooves. styles range from free form to dance music to idm to noise and to ethnic sources. in hashimoto's works these ingredients cease what they were before - they are now transformed into coherent music (without being a eclectic cliché). an example: often many artists use voice samples in their work, to explain or to engross thoughts. hashimoto's usage of samples take the 'instruments of speech' out of their initial contexts - used in c.o.'s metaverse they entirely lose their initial intent and function. if we go further and think about 'rhythms', 'melodies' and 'textures' instead of 'voices', we might have a key to c.o.'s self conception. this album should be experienced with all senses wide open. enjoy this anniversary and look forward to the next twenty years of a great artist." [label description]
"Three years ago I had the great honor of reviewing the first album on Ant-Zen Recordings by legendary Japanese sound artist Contagious Orgasm. Since I had always connected Hiroshi Hashimoto ( a.k.a. Contagious Orgasm) with the Noise scene, thanks to his contribution to various Noise compilations, among others Relapse/Release Entertainment's "Japanese/American Noise Treaty", I was quite surprised to listen his "Dessert Addicts Will Return To This" (Ant-Zen, 2004). This latest album continues the strange landscapes of numerous musical styles. Dealing with everything from drone-based as well as collaged noise, across clicks'n'cuts to almost danceable electro-inspired techno and eerie soundscapes of beautiful ambient, it is an impossible task to finish this album only within a few listens. It is a complex musical voyage, that atmospherically varies from icy minimalism reminiscent of Pan(a)Sonic to militant electro of Kraftwerk until towards the end where the album turns more dreamy and dramatic with a mixture between experimental ambience and gentle acoustic post-rock reminiscent of Tortoise. "Ripple" is a continuation of the style of "Dessert Addicts Will Return To This", and the result is even more intense and clever than the aforementioned. Turn off the light and let yourself fall into the psychedelic tones of Contagious Orgasm. Excellent!" [NM / Vital Weekly]
label website: www.ant-zen.com
|
2007 |
€14.00 |
|
| CONTAGIOUS ORGASM + KADAVER |
A Tragedy without a Border Line |
CD |
"Collaboration between Hiroshi Hashimoto from already legendary Contagious Orgasm and Michael Zolotov from Israeli power electronics and noise band Kadaver. "A tragedy without a border line" is a mixture of ambient, PE and noisy sounds. Consists of 3 long pieces of musick without frontiers... Bubbling drones, sampled voices, crashes and hums. All packed in a 6 panel digipack. Format: CD digipack. Total time: 55:21"
www.wrotycz.com
"Just so is stated up front, I will admit that I am not intimately familiar with the musical outputs of either of these contributing projects. However I am at least aware that the Israeli project Kadaver works within a broad power electronics and death industrial sound, whilst the long active Contagious Orgasm from Japan has traversed many sounds across experimental, noise, industrial and ambient spheres over the last 25 years.
For this collaborative album, three lengthy tracks are presented spanning between 17 and 21 minutes each. However in actuality the three tracks give the impression of being part of a singular and much larger album length piece, which spans aspects of experimental industrial, noise, and ambient. Given the sprawling nature of the tracks the relatively loose and freeform nature of the compositions is openly displayed, which flow and evolve through multiple segments, rather than adhering to a more focused and composed structure. As such some diverse sonic elements are utilised, ranging from flaying noise, micro-tonal field recordings, humming synth textures, spoken vocals samples, sampled and treated string quartet/ piano samples, pulsing distortion, hazy ambience and droning soundscapes etc. Likewise with the loose combination elements it achieves a hallucinogenic aspect to the bizarrely tinged atmospheres. Effectively the album’s success is in its ability to evokes a dreamlike state, where tracks veer from the intensively nightmarish to the outright weird without being jarring or disjointed.
With my lack of familiarity with both projects I can’t really say which aspects of this may lean towards each individual project, however this may be a moot point as this album has certainly been a surprising and unexpectedly challenging listen. Given the ‘out there’ aspects, clearly this would be an album suited for the more sonically adventurous, rather than for those wanting their fix of a particular genre." [Noise Receptor]
|
2011 |
€12.00 |
|
| CONTINUUM [STEVEN WILSON & DIRK SERRIES] |
Continuum Recyclings Volume One (expanded re-issue) |
do-LP + CD |
Continuum is project by both Bass Communion and Vidna Obmana. On the first album Continuum - Continuum there is track called 'Construct III'. Bass Communion prepared 1-hour long mix of that track called 'Construct III Immersion Mix'.
Continuum / Bass Communion & Vidnaobmana* - The Continuum Recyclings, Volume One consists of some tracks done by Vidna Obmana around this extended mix.
'Construct III Immersion Mix' remained unreleased until this edition and is included as CD.
Limited edition on 180 grams black vinyl with bonus CD in spot-varnished gatefold picture sleeve.
|
2016 |
€32.00 |
|
| CONTRASTATE |
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 |
|
| CONTROL |
World of Lies |
CD |
"Control "World of Lies" album, that came out c. 15 years ago. There was couple albums between this and Algolagnia. I suggested artist, that what if he would intentionally break the template a bit, of course not completely abandon his style, but my suggestion was to make first vinyl LP of Control, and my hopes was that it would be a bit noisier, a bit less complex, more harsh and direct, a bit more upfront mix of vocals. Kind of capture the aggression we could see in live settings during these years. It felt like LP format would be ideal for it, as it would benefit from more stripped down approach and less massive sub-bass levels and stereo efx that work best on CD.
As a result, World of Lies happened. It was certainly all Thomas Garrison's vision, and 100% Control, but indeed mentioning possibility that what I would hope for, resulted Control doing one of his most aggressive and fierce albums!" [Freak Animal]
https://control-exsanguinate.bandcamp.com/album/world-of-lies
|
2022 |
€13.00 |
|
| CONTROLLED DEATH (MASONNA) / MAYUKO HINO |
Split |
pic-LP |
Two giants of the Japanese Noise scene present exclusive material on a special limited vinyl release.
Controlled Death is the nom de plume of Maso Yamazaki (MASONNA), who unleashed his claustrophobic Death Industrial / Blackened Electronics debut for Cold Spring last autumn (the sold out split LP with Rudolf Eb.er). "Devil's Sacrifice" (in 6 parts) continues Maso's obsession with heavy, Korg MS-20 drones. Deranged vocals choked under impenetrable, blood-soaked atmospheres of doom, death and decay, saturated with washes of anxiety, paranoia and alienation.
Mayuko Hino, 'Queen Of Japanese Noise', delivers two lengthy tracks. While the first track is filled with feverish, dense noise and swathes of savage electronics, the second, mind-melting electronic piece (reminiscent of her debut album 'Lunisolar' for Cold Spring) descends into a diseased, suffocating maelstrom, finishing on the verge of psychosis. In addition to self-made instruments, Mayuko plays noise with her six-theremin oscillators (in bright pink) - the one and only in the world, specially made by Ryo Araishi (a.k.a. ichion). Mayuko is most well-known for forming C.C.C.C. (Cosmic Coincidence Control Center) in 1990, together with Hiroshi Hasegawa, Fumio Kosakai and Ryuichi Nagakubo.
Picture disc LP. Ltd x 400 copies in a heavy PVC archive sleeve. |
2021 |
€26.00 |
|
| COPH NIA / MINDSPAWN |
Erotomechaniks II |
CD |
raubbau is delighted to present this transatlantic collaboration, sequel to the enormously well-received, yet regrettably rare first part of 2005.
“erotomechaniks II” is a dark ambient delicacy in seven parts, all very concise tracks with a defined structure, never getting lost in sound as
such. the overall subject matter is perfectly specified by the title: the meeting of machinery with eroticism, of precision with yearning, of industrial
with human sounds.
it was after his occult pop masterpiece “lashtal lace” in 2014 that mikael aldén aka coph nia felt a certain creative drain, so obviously he turned
away from the song structures and emotional range of said album and sought to return to what is his own roots as well as his shared history of
dark ambient industrial with us-based artist mindspawn: gene williams is a recognized multifaceted visual and musical artist, as much a
seasoned producer (active since around 1980) as he is obscure. the combination of these two creative minds makes for the special tension of
their collaborative work. “erotomechaniks I” was one of those albums that were received with rave reviews and enormous enthusiasm, but
never found the wide audience it might have deserved due to the limited nature of its release. now, with a definite resurgence of interest in that
particular style, it’s the perfect time for erotomechaniks II.
it’s from the very first hum of “hive mechanics” that the listener feels a fragile comfort, an inescapable enchantment to the otherworld, before the
antagonistic metal scrapes set in – and from there the trademark dualism of the album perseveres: the continued clash of the carnal with the
constructed. erotomechaniks II is perfectly balanced, with the industrial sounds never pushing towards overt aggression, and the human
sounds - like the subtle moans in “lust transformer” - never diverting the abstract nature of the album. all of the tracks clock in around the sevenminute-
mark and build an intriguing suspense; that, combined with the sublime sound design, makes erotomechaniks II a prime choice for the
dark ambient massive.
www.raubbau.org
|
2016 |
€13.00 |
|
| CORBO COMBO / DANGER |
same |
do-CD |
CD 1 Recorded live at CCL des Coteaux - Mulhouse by Claude Vorburger - 1978. All the music was played live in total improvisation.
CD 2 Recorded live at MJC de la Meinau – Strasbourg – 1979. All the music was played live in total improvisation.
Double CD in metal boxes including 12 paged b/w booklet with photos and Bruno de Chénerilles' memories.
200 copies.
https://alesiacosmos.com/out-now-alen-disko-corbo-combo-danger/
"Impulsy Stetoskopu is also well-known as a label for re-issuing some of the most obscure music from the past. I must admit I have no idea where the label finds them. On two CDs, we find two groups with a connection. Danger is a duo of Michel Froehly and Bruno de Chénerilles on electric guitars. They both play the same instruments in Corbo Combo, but Froehly adds bass, De Chénerilles, drums, trumpet, and trombone. The other members are Dominique Gasser on alto saxophone, tuyau (whatever that is) and Marie-Berthe Servier on voice and objects. I believe Corbo Combo was there first and existed for a short time. Danger was even around for a shorter period and played only three concerts. The other connection is the free-form music they play. In Corbo Combo, the saxophone adds a certain free jazz vibe to the music, but that doesn’t tell the complete picture. There is also an element of free rock in the music, reminding me of Smegma in similar times; the recordings from both discs are from 1978 and 1979. Danger’s free-wailing guitar improvisations are less jazzy/rockier. Occasionally they slip in a riff or the start of one, and their guitar techniques are not as extended as they would become during post-punk. But there is enough freedom here to enjoy. According to the booklet, some concerts ended in a riot, and it’s easy to hear why this in 1979 wouldn’t go down very well. Of the two discs, I prefer the Danger one, reminding me of seeing Sonic Youth on perhaps their first Dutch tour when Moore and Renaldo did an extensive improvisation at the end. Corbo Combo sounded interesting too, but maybe due to its free jazz connotations not so my thing. I can imagine seeing them live would be great, though!" [FdW / Vital Weekly] |
2023 |
€15.00 |
|
| CORRAL SHUT / RESIDUAL / TYHJÄ PÄÄ / HAUDAT |
same |
CD |
Here are four recent Finnish noise artists cooking up a split with outstanding harsh noise, on a release that stands on its own feet. If you’ve been following what's happening in the scene, you should already know that these artists can definitely deliver. On top of everything, on this split they've found a common thread to make this release feel like a proper album, a rarely achieved feat with splits or compilations. There is also a double cassette metal box of this material released by Relictual Tapes, but it's probably already sold out due to its extremely limited nature. Enjoy the powerful sound of Finnish noise!
https://satatuhatta.bandcamp.com/album/4-way-split
|
2023 |
€12.50 |
|
| CORRUPTED |
Felicific Algorithim |
12inch |
"CORRUPTED is a mysterious Japanese doom metal band, formed in 1994. Immensely downtuned guitar and crushingly slow bass are shrouded under deep layers of feedback. They are rightly hailed as one of the heaviest and darkest doom metal bands of all time.
"Humankind's folly it its continuing idiocy. This is the beginning of the "Hollow" series. The schoolyard of the school was buried in the mountains of radioactive contaminated rubble. We cannot hear children's voices from anywhere. I hear it is the world of sound of only footsteps and the warning sound of the Geiger counter..." (Chew Hasegawa)
This record isn't your standard doom fare. The title-less tracks are to be played at either standard vinyl speed. Therefore (and at the band's request), no samples or download code.
The limited 12" is accompanied by a foldout poster."
|
2018 |
€20.00 |
|
| COSTA, RUI & FRIENDS |
Sightseeing for the Blind |
CD |
"Ausgehend von der Idee, dass Touristen beim Besuch einer Stadt die Eindrücker derselben unbewusst mit ihren Wünschen, Vorstellungen und Ideen des Ortes abgleichen benutzte Rui Costa Empfehlungsrouten aus einem Lissabon-Reiseführer quasi als Instruktionen für eine Klangarbeit. Sightseeing For The Blind ist eine knapp halbstündige Soundmap der persönlichen Art geworden. Costa hat in der Folge der Fertigstellung seine Rohmaterialien seinen “friends” zur Verfügung gestellt, unter ihnen Gregory Büttner, Marc Behrens, Bill Jarboe u.a. Einige haben eher mental-psychische Kommentare abgeliefert, andere haben ihre eigenen Feldgeräusche mit dem Ursprungsmaterial vermengt und lösen so den direkten Zusammenhang zwischen Aufnehmendem und Geräuschpostkarte auf." [Zipo / Auf Abwegen]
"The idea for the piece first came to me in 2005, when I was invited to develop a sound project with the city of Lisbon as its theme. I decided to wander through the city, making a series of sound recordings using a pair of binaural microphones. What I concluded from these recordings was that, more than capturing the sound of the place or its “atmosphere”, they reflected a lot about me: my decisions of where to go, what places to avoid, how fast to walk, how long to linger in one place… preconceived ideas of what I wanted to be captured on tape. Later I followed up on this idea by introducing an element of “sonic sightseeing”. I grabbed a tourist guide of Lisbon, walked along the recommended hiking routes and made recordings with binaural and shotgun microphones. I wrote down my impressions, states of mind, mental associations and decisions and then mapped the recorded sounds against these notes, considering them as “instructions” or “cues” for a sound composition. I suppose that the experience that tourists get from a city is in great measure determined by the randomness of these almost unconscious impressions, of a permanent mapping out of what they see against their desires, preconceived ideas, memories, etc. All in all, my intention was to convert this process into a method for sound composition using field recordings. (Rui Costa, 2009)
Sound recordings made by Rui Costa between 2005 and 2008 in Lisbon, Portugal. Composed and mixed by Rui Costa in 2008,
About the Artist:
Rui Costa is a sound artist from Lisbon, Portugal. He has been publicly presenting his work since 1997.
From 1999 to 2003, Rui Costa collaborated with the Spanish musician Iñaki Ríos, under the name ja_dijiste. This duo explored improvisational and compositional techniques based on Max/MSP and Lisa computer software and developed a series of site-specific works in the village of Nodar, Portugal, with subsequent presentations in sound and media arts festivals in Spain.
In 2007, Rui started collaborating with the Italian vocal performer Manuela Barile, through a large scale intermedia project entitled ‘La Scatola’, which was conceived as a series of installations and performances. Rui developed processes that captured the reverberations of the voice inside the body (laryngeal microphones, amplified stethoscopes) so that the spoken word is invested with a musicality and spatial dimension that further extend the expressive capabilities of the voice.
Rui has performed in many venues and sound art festivals in Portugal, Spain, Italy and the United States. He has played with such musicians as Maile Colbert, Iñaki Ríos, Manuela Barile, Pablo Rega, Nilo Gallego, Toshio Kajiwara, Casey Rice, Lê Quan Ninh, Richard Antez, John Herndon, André Gonçalves, Carlos Santos, Pali Meursault and Cédric Anglaret.
Rui Costa is a founding member and artistic director of Binaural, an arts collective dedicated to the promotion of context-based sound and media arts. Binaural runs an artist residency space in Nodar, a small village in the north of Portugal.
Rui Costa’s current artistic research is centered on the use of the psycho-acoustic characteristics of sound to create “sonic fictions” where the notions of space, perception and meaning are submitted to a process of recontextualization and of creation of improbable and unstable relations. He investigates the different ways of making the space audible and of studying the place of the listener within the triangle formed by him/herself, the sound and the space. By capturing the sound resonating through the materials that structure a given space, manipulating it in real-time and then projecting it into the same space, it is possible to create “sensorial extensions” that configure a sonic architecture that operates in real-time and is therefore fluid and unstable. An example of this approach is his ongoing project “The Future Memory”, with the American sound and video artist Maile Colbert, where they visually and sonically map abandoned and almost silent spaces to create poetic fictions around them." [label info]
www.1000füssler.com
|
2009 |
€12.00 |
|
| COUNCIL ESTATE ELECTRONICS (JUSTIN BROADRICK & D. DALTON) |
Arktika |
CD |
"The original concept for COUNCIL ESTATE ELECTRONICS was for Justin K Broadrick and Diarmuid Dalton, via analog synths and electronics, to pay tribute to the synthesizer music they were influenced by in their youth : Tangerine Dream, Throbbing Gristle, Kraftwerk, Cluster, etc. Set to the imagery and geography of the council estate in Birmingham in which they were both raised; Shard End and the surrounding areas. Once the duo set to work on the music they found other influences seeping in - seventies dub like King Tubby, Scientist, etc and early dub techno founders Basic Channel, Maurizio, Chain Reaction label, etc, thus expanding the sound palette and the geographical environment that was to be the theme for the project. The Arktika, launched in St Petersberg, is the first of a new class of ships known as Type LK-60YA, ordered by Russian state nuclear agency Rosatom (eventually there will be three vessels). Its task will be to smash a path through the ice of the Northern Sea Route. Raw power counts for a lot in icebreaking, and by bringing 80,000 hp (60 megawatts) to bear, Arktika will be able to break through floating ice almost ten feet thick. The icebreaker will lead convoys along a route that otherwise would be impassable."
www.glacialmovements.com |
2016 |
€13.00 |
|
| COURTIS, ANLA |
Greatest Hits |
CD-R |
Wenn der ehemalige REYNOLS – Mastermind von “Greatest Hits” spricht, dann sind das ätherische Schwingungen feinster Güte, halluzinogene Shortwave-Kaskaden, verzerrte backwards Gitarren-Drones & irgendwo tauchen auch Stimmen auf....
When the former REYNOLS-masterminds speaks of „greatest hits“, it means finest ethereal vibrations, hallucinogenic shortwave-cascades and distorted backwards guitar-drones... cheap cover, but great music !
|
0000 |
€10.00 |
|
| |
Tape Works |
CD |
Eine Art Retrospektive von Solo-Arbeiten des REYNOLS-Kopfes ANLA COURTIS, mit Material datierend von 1991-1998, und das waren wirklich TAPE-Kompositionen im klassischen Sinn, da COURTIS ausschliesslich mit 4-Spur-Rekorder arbeitete…die CD enthält hervorragendes elektro-akustisches Material, kraftvollen Loop- & Schnipsel-Noise, sehr abwechslungsreich und furios....
...und endlich wird auch einmal erwähnt, dass C.D. (CHRISTIAN DERGARABEDIAN) zur Urbesetzung von REYNOLS gehörte (von 1993 bis Anfang 1995, damals noch unter dem Namen BURT REYNOLS ENSEMBLE).
“Anla Courtis continues to produce music and was even quite prolific during his time in Reynols. It goes without saying that Courtis learned a thing or two from his experience in Reynols; and there's a fundamental constant to all of his work: the cassette. One of Reynols' most infamous albums Blank Tapes was pieced together from the endemic hiss from, you guessed it, blank tapes. Far from being an empty album of silences, Blank Tapes is extraordinarily dynamic, amplifying the magnetic energy of the tape hiss into undulating fluctuations that mirror the somatic patterns of the human body. Reynols' tapes have a heart beat, blood pumping through their veins, and oxygen rushing through their lungs.
This crudely built anthropomorphism continues in Courtis' work today, as the cassette and the tape deck remain primary tools in his compositional sensibility. Courtis himself explains: "Well to be honest for many years the cassette was the only medium I had to record music. Maybe this is because Argentina is always a bit behind in technology, or because I was never interested in having "the new thing." It might sound ridiculous but mainly my overdubbing work until now has been basically in a Portastudio. Maybe, this is just an old friend I don't think is necessary to leave; but on the other hand, there is a lot you can do with 4 channels... I mean there is no sense to discard old technology because you have a new one. A pen is technology; you don't need to kill the pen because now you have a mouse! In fact there are some things you can do with my old reel-to-reel that you cannot do with a disk drive, I mean pushing the tape, changing the aleatory speed... there are a bunch of unpredictable irregular things you can do with this old machine. In this sense, I think we should find a way to make different technologies live somehow together." It is in this context that Anla Courtis presents Tape Works, a collection of material that dates back to the early '90s. Here, Courtis splatters dense slabs of petrified tones with spasmodic algorithms, dissembodied vocal samples that spiral into a electric chorale, and hot-wired musique concrete techniques, all buried under the weight of the mighty distortion pedal. Once again, all things are possible for Anla Courtis. - Jim Haynes (from the liner notes)
"Talking about a tape-works record in the Œ90s might sound rather anachronistic but, be it because of Argentina¹s technology lag or for some other mysterious reason, I did not get hold of a computer to work with sound until 1999. That¹s why the sound experiments I¹ve worked on throughout the last decade are mainly tape explorations. This CD contains a selection of re-mastered tape-works dating from the period 1991-1998." [Anla Courtis]
www.pogus.com
|
2006 |
€15.00 |
|
| CRAB, SIMON |
Demand Full Automation |
CD |
"Simon Crab has a long history in music. He is anti-capitalist, a practicing anarchist and strongly against material acquisition. Many years ago, he offered the complete back catalogue by his former band Bourbonese Qualk as free downloads. Nevertheless, people like product, so the Qualk catalogue will be-reissued physically, and Klanggalerie are happy to release his second solo album on Compact Disc. Crab considers himself a non-musician, yet is oddly quite good at playing instruments like the guitar, clarinet, gamelan-percussion and especially electronics. In fact, his favourite musical instrument is the computer. Whereas classically trained musicians often assert that there is no artistry in computers, Crab asserts there is no artistry required to play a musical instrument well. Crab's 'music career' spans nearly four decades and continues until this very day. Demand Full Automation presents our society's choice of either liberating the working class through automation, or further subduing them with it. Enter this rich, and meticulously crafted mostly electro-acoustic narrative with some instrumental excursions, that emphasizes more synthetic than natural textures, and on occasion, a sublime melding of the two. Demand Full Automation continues the narrative; ambient-atmospherically pensive some moments, but mostly energetic and upbeat, and relentlessly marching towards progress. But what kind of progress? Says Crab "At the moment, the proletariat is being replaced by the precariat. It is a really interesting time, apart from all the kind of 'rise of fascism' and globalization. The big issue that nobody is looking at is automation and it seems to me that it can go one of either two ways; that can be the neo-liberal way in which corporates are going to use automation as a way of enriching themselves even further, irrespective of the workforce. The workforce is going to become completely irrelevant. That is the neo-liberal take on it which is a dystopian view of the world and it is clearly not going to end very well. The other view is that if you take more of a Marxist approach, taking control of the means of production, if the workers themselves control automation for the good of themselves, then there is a better future. Automation doesn't have to be a dystopian horror. It can easily be a liberating future."
www.klanggalerie.com/gg269
"About a month or two ago everybody on Facebook seemed anxious to list their top 10 records ("No
explanation needed"; why not, I wondered) and I got away because nobody asked me. Thank god. I
hate chain letters. A record that certainly would be on my list as an all-time favourite is 'Hope', the second album by Bourbonese Qualk, which is something that should be no surprise; I mentioned this when discussing their 'Archive 1980-1986' boxset in Vital Weekly 1065. Ever since buying that LP in the early 80s I am a big fan, still owning all the original vinyl and CDs. I always thought that Bourbonese Qualk had a distinct sound, combining industrial beats with guitars and an odd-pop touch, which others perhaps call leftfield. Bourbonese Qualk ceased to exist in 2002 and their catalogue was online for free download, but I am told will return in a remastered and no longer free form. Plus some of their very early records will be released on vinyl again, which I guess is good news, but why not go for something new (and yes, in our conservative time I realize this is a most
daring proposition) by Simon Crab, erstwhile one of the main members of Bourbonese Qualk. He
returned to the world of music with 'After America' (see Vital Weekly 981), pushing for me all the right buttons again. It had the musical variety of Bourbonese Qualk, but perhaps a little bit more streamlined and electronically enhanced. He now has a 'real' CD out, 'Demand Full Automation', on Klanggalerie, who are known to release music from 80s musicians, such as Hula, Eric Random, and lots of Residents off shoots. I didn't bother deciphering the cover to find out the titles of the pieces (they are on the label's website anyway), but I sat back and enjoyed these forty-eight minutes immensely. Still sweating away in summer's heat, Simon Crab plays some lovely music, all with the use of computers, samplers and electronics. One push button music, you may ask, looking at the title, and maybe it is true, but these machines ooze life, melody and freshness. For Crab it is all about the workers taking control of the Automation process and "then there is a better
future", which message I can't subscribe too (not being a Marxist as you may remember), but I
could argue that even a non-musician, as Crab calls himself, is well-off with some automated
process in the production of music. No longer, here's a guitar now play three chords, but here's a button and you need one finger to push it. It is impossible to ignore Crab's previous, almost forty years output and experience, as otherwise it would have been impossible to craft these lovely tunes together. It is again very melodic, not as dense or dark as Bourbonese Qualk once could be, but fresh, light, moving from ambient to techno to hip-hop rhythms; rhythms play anyway an important role here, along with neatly bouncing synthesizer patterns. This is a great album. Intelligent as well as accessible and as poppy as it is ambient. Excellent! (FdW) |
2018 |
€14.00 |
|
| CRESHEVSKY, NOAH / IF, BWANA |
Favorite Encores |
CD |
Split-Album mit vier Stücken von NOAH CRESHEVSKY und seiner HYPERREALISM-Musik, dazu 3 Stücke vom POGUS-Label Betreiber und experimentellen Urgestein IF, BWANA. Anspruchsvolle & aufregende Neue Experimentalmusik, basierend auf instrumentalen & vokalen Klangquellen..
"A split cd of works by Noah Creshevsky (4 tracks) and If, Bwana (3 tracks). While on the face of it this may seem a somewhat odd pairing, the pieces recorded here comment on and highlight each other. And as the above quotes suggest, an aural adventure is indeed in the offing.
Trained in composition by Nadia Boulanger in Paris and Luciano Berio at Juilliard, Noah Creshevsky has taught at Juilliard, Princeton University, and Brooklyn College. He was director of the Center for Computer Music (1994-2000) and is currently Professor Emeritus at Brooklyn College of the City University of New York. His musical vocabulary consists largely of familiar bits of words, songs, and instrumental music that are edited but rarely subjected to electronic processing. The result is a music that obscures the boundaries of real and imaginary ensembles though the fusion of opposites: music and noise, comprehensible and incomprehensible vocal sources, human and superhuman vocal and instrumental capacities. Creshevsky's most recent hyperrealist compositions explore the fragmentation and reconstruction of pre-existing music in combination with original synthetic and acoustic materials. Moments suggest musical environments of indeterminate ethnicity--simultaneously Western and non-Western, ancient and modern, familiar and unfamiliar.
Hyperrealism is an electroacoustic musical language constructed from sounds that are recognizable parts of our shared environment ("realism"), handled in ways that are exaggerated or excessive ("hyper"). Hyperrealist music exists in two basic genres. The first uses the sounds of traditional instruments that are pushed beyond the capacities of human performers in order to create superperformers--hypothetical virtuosos who transcend the limitations of individual performance capabilities (e.g., Mari Kimura Redux, Intrada, Favorite Encores). Hyperrealism of the second genre aims to integrate vast and diverse sonic elements to produce an expressive and versatile musical language. Its vocabulary is an inclusive, limitless sonic compendium, free of ethnic and national particularity (e.g., Shadow of a Doubt). Hyperrealism celebrates bounty, either by the extravagant treatment of limited sound palettes or by the assembling and manipulating of substantially extended palettes.
Al Margolis has been working under the musical pseudonym If, Bwana since New Year's Day 1984. There are often collaborators in this project‹both knowingly and unknowingly. Both are represented on this recording. Xyloxings was a concept-based work that in the end had the concept discarded for compositional considerations. Lisa Barnard's vocals were recorded with her direct knowledge. Scraping Scrafide uses a portion of Tony Scafide's piano part from a prior work of mine‹3 Out of 4 Ain't Bad‹and processes it. Cicada #4: Barnard Mix is part of my "discipline" series‹an open set of works‹and uses Barnard's vocals from other sessions to create one of many possible versions of this work." [press release]
"... Creshevsy choose the term 'hyperrealis' for the typical electro-acoustical music he developed. In three compositions on this cd ('Mari Kimura Redux'‚ 'Intrada' and 'Favorite Encores') Creshevsky "uses the sounds of traditional instruments that are pushed beyond the limitations of individual performance capabilities". Creshevsky is a master in the field of audio-collage and plunderphonic-like procedures and leaves us with many questions. For example we often hear violins in his work, playing in a style that we are used from normal classical music. But I'm not sure whether he takes samples from already existing (violin)works by others, or whether he composes pieces for violin first to be used consequently by him in his collage work. Comparable to how Biota works. His compositions make the impression of staying close to classical musical structures, but transcended to unknown heights through his virtuoso manipulation work. The music has an enormous speed and drive, combined with an enormous flexibility and maneuverability. In each piece we are constantly exposed to an intensity and complexity that we don't often find in music. His works open dazzling dimensions and perspectives. On the other hand the music remains fluent and accessible, very lively and of an appealing dramatic. Great work! 'Intrada' is of special interest because of the use of (samples of) the fantastic voicework by Chris Mann.
If, Bwana is the pseudonym Al Margolis uses already since 1984 for his musical output. As a guest he was present on Creshevsky's 'To know and not to know'. Between the highly informed and complex music of Creshvesky, the works of If Bwana offers us some rest. His pieces develop in a slower pace and are built from a smaller set of soundmaterial. In 'Xyloxings' and 'Cicada # 4; Version Barnard', the voice of Lisa Bernard plays a prominent role. For 'Scraping Scrafide' If, Bwana makes uses of the piano playing of Tony Scafide, taking from an earlier composition by If, Bwana. In comparison to maximalistic efforts of Creshesky, the works If Bwana are more of a minimalistic approach." [DM / Vital Weekly]
www.pogus.com
|
2008 |
€13.00 |
|
| CRETA |
Creta |
LP |
CRETA is the new project by MASSIMO PUPILLO (ZU, LANIAKEA), electronic artist LUCIANO LAMANNA and string instrument virtuoso ROBERTO ZANISI. As trio they explore an adventurous sonic territory between COIL in their ambient moments, dark bass pulses and bucolic-mediterranean string sounds.
CRETA is a new trio of artists coming from very different backgrounds: ROBERTO ZANISI is a finger picking guitar player and a virtuoso on strings of all kinds, including “exotic” instruments like the Turkish Cümbüs, the Greek Bouzouki or the Albanian Cifteli. Since 2003 he has been active in many contexts: he worked with GIOVANNI VENOSTA producing sound tracks for SILVIO SOLDINI’s movies, took part as soloist musician in STEWARD COPELAND’s tour “La Notte della Taranta (Night of Tarantula)”, played with the American musician AMY DENIO and performed with SAINKHO NAMTCHYLAK. LUCIANO LAMANNA’s main characteristics are experimentation, analog synths, vinyl and a big love for techno. In 2015, the resident DJ at Ex Dogana, Roma and member of the Italian artist collective LSWHR launched the modular synthesizer project BALANCE (with DAVIDE RICCI), and in 2017 he released the album “Divus” with ZU member LUCA T. MAI, to name a few of LAMANNA’s many releases on labels like EARACHE, BORING MACHINES, SCUDERIA et.al. And, last but not least, there is MASSIMO PUPILLO, highly acclaimed bass maniac with ZU, LANIAKEA and in countless other constellations (a.o. PETER and CASPAR BRÖTZMANN, FM EINHEIT, CHRIS CORSANO). As CRETA, they create outlandish sonic pieces that blend sci-fi ambient atmospheres with dark bass pulses and bucolic-mediterranean string instruments – an unique and yet coherent mix of elements that adds consequently to the oeuvres of the three artists!
Tracklist:
1 … And Everything That Shines
2 Babe In The Egg Of Blue
3 Future Humans In Form Of Aur
|
2018 |
€18.00 |
|
| CRISTAL |
Homegoing |
CD |
"J. Anthony, G. Darden and R. Donne (Labradford, Spokane, ex-Aix Em Klemm) journey through simmering electronic, wide-screen vistas to seismic, swelling and undulating soundscapes. From the shifting-sand textures of “Yoke” (replete with deeply moving, melancholic cello sifting through the ether) and “Streaming Wisdom,” to the ever-so-slightly somber tones of “Dead Bird,” Homegoing is a wondrously thought-provoking, uplifting aural adventure—a technicolor travelogue of things possibly lost, possibly not. File alongside latter-day Biosphere, Deathprod (especially both Helge Sten and Cristal’s attention to the minutest sonic detail), and the later, electronically based Zoviet France releases. Pour a glass of your finest tipple, sit back and be transported to a very special dimension. Cristal’s Homegoing has it all, and more." [label info]
“Ultra-deep ambience, a sound both subterranean and subaquatic, metallic shimmering high-end washes over everything like some sort of alien sheen, fields of glistening, cricket-like chitter adds texture to otherwise slow, shifting, smooth expanses of warm soft swirl, dreamy and ethereal." [Aquarius Records] |
2013 |
€13.50 |
|
| CROUCH, ROBERT |
Sublunar |
CD |
"Robert Crouch is an artist and curator whose work encompasses sound, performance, and technology. As an artist, he locates his work with the intersection of post-phenomenological listening practices, conceptual sound art, and contemporary electronic music. At its core, his work can be understood as a conversation between tonality, context, history, and subjectivities. Similarly, Crouch's curatorial work focuses on the overlapping disciplines of sound, technology, movement, and performance. Sublunar continues Crouch's inquiry into the complex relationships between sound, context, and meaning, first proposed in his 2016 release, A Gradual Accumulation Of Ideas Becomes Truth. The four tracks which comprise Sublunar were composed using field recordings from and audio files originally created for mas gestos y mas caras, a collaborative performance with artists Rafa Esparza and Yann Novak. mas gestos y mas caras was a durational performance incorporating sound, breathing, and a series of repetitive actions and gestures, choreographed within an architectural installation of adobe bricks fabricated and designed by Esparza. Sonically, Sublunar is a radical departure from the originating performance, yet these tracks remain tethered, literally and aesthetically, to the processes and context of their construction: Esparza's labored breathing, cautious footsteps, a soft cascade of water, dust, soil. The title itself, Sublunar, reinforces an attachment to the Earth and the physical world, and intentionally resists metaphysical interpretation or decontextualization. It is precisely through this tethering that Crouch seeks to open up a diversity of possible approaches to the work, rather than confine our reading to a primarily or exclusively musical text. The first track, "Descension", opens with sounds of breathing, muted movements, and environmental noises, and serves as an acknowledgement of our collective understanding of sound, of these specific sounds, as physical phenomenon. By extension the listener is allowed to consider this particular organization of sound itself as a kind of sculpture, architecture, and choreography. The body becomes the primary oscillator and architect, delineating boundaries and defining the work as a space within which the listener might inhabit. Presented live in Los Angeles. Source material originally developed as part of mas gestos y mas caras, a collaborative performance with Rafa Esparza and Yann Novak, presented at the Hammer Museum on July 8, 2016."
|
2017 |
€10.00 |
|
| CRYPTIC SCENERY |
The Radar Society - a sonic dystopia - |
CD-R |
"German project from Berlin and the main music outlet of Christian H. Sötemann. Cryptic Scenery is active since many years with several releases with various styles.
"The Radar Society - a sonic dystopia" contains the most sinister and darker music under the name of Cryptic Scenery. Very intensive sounds with minimal moments and drone parts. Dark music, but neither dark nor sombre... There is something like a melancholic feeling in this sounds. Not a negative sense, it's sounds like the word and feeling "saudade" in Portugal. The artist says: "the perfect soundtrack for a romantic date... in 2080"." [label info]
"Christian H. Sötemann is someone we also know for some time with his project Cryptic Scenery. I would have probably called Cryptic Scenery 'ambient' and 'drone' too, but listening to 'The Radar Society - A Sonic Dystopia' I wouldn't be that sure. It seems that this opens up a more darker side in the work of Sötemann, with strange metallic samples, more abstract drones than pleasant ones and throughout a somewhat unsettling mood. Only in a piece like ;Glittering Figment' we recognize the music of Sötemann: sustained guitars with much sound effects. I must say that this new album is quite nice. It breaks with the 'old' work, even when not fully, and expands the musical horizon with a varied album of textures, moods, experiments and ambience. Unsettling but therefore quite nice." [FdW / Vital Weekly]
www.tosom.de
|
2009 |
€10.50 |
|
| CURRENT 93 |
Invocations of Almost |
CD |
Current 93 have dreamt a new album, Invocations Of Almost, using music from her FuturePast and her PastFuture, to accompany David Tibet’s art exhibition, Invocations Of Almost.
"The CD version of Invocations Of Almost is 59-minutes long, as it is launched on David’s 59th BirthDay, March 5, whilst he is in LA for the official opening of his show on March 9. There will also be a vinyl LP edition, which sings a slightly shorter version, mixed specifically for the 12”. The music on Invocations Of Almost will be played on a continual loop in The Begovich Gallery whilst the exhibition is open."
|
2019 |
€15.00 |
|
|
Invocations of Almost |
LP |
Current 93 have dreamt a new album, Invocations Of Almost, using music from her FuturePast and her PastFuture, to accompany David Tibet’s art exhibition, Invocations Of Almost.
"The CD version of Invocations Of Almost is 59-minutes long, as it is launched on David’s 59th BirthDay, March 5, whilst he is in LA for the official opening of his show on March 9. There will also be a vinyl LP edition, which sings a slightly shorter version, mixed specifically for the 12”. The music on Invocations Of Almost will be played on a continual loop in The Begovich Gallery whilst the exhibition is open."
|
2019 |
€20.00 |
|
|
If a City is set upon a Hill [coloured vinyl] |
LP |
"Das neue Current 93-Album verweist mit dem auf den ersten Blick untypischen Fliesen-Artwork, auf denen der Mord Kains an Abel dargestellt ist, auf Current 93s „Rockalbum“ „Aleph At Hallucinatory Mountain“, auf dem es hieß: „In the beginning was the murderer“. Musikalisch-personell knüpft es stark an das 2018 erschienene Album „The Light Is Leaving Us All“ an, wurde „If A City Is Set Upon A Hill“ doch in fast der gleichen Besetzung aufgenommen – im direkten Vergleich ist „If A City“ vielleicht etwas elegischer und mit seinen sieben Stücken und 37 Minuten Laufzeit recht kurz, dabei allerdings nicht weniger gehaltvoll.
Schaut man in die Entwicklung Current 93s, dann ist es sicher kein Zufall, dass viele der als Referenzwerke gesehenen Alben aus den 90ern, die nicht unerheblich zum Kultstatus des Projekts um David Tibet beigetragen haben, durch eine relativ stabile Kernbesetzung eingespielt wurden und darüberhinaus eine Vielzahl starker – solch ein Begriff mag bezogen auf Current 93 vielleicht etwas profan anmuten – Songs enthielten. Die Qualität der einzelnen Stücke trug dann auch sicher nicht unerheblich dazu bei, dass das 2018 erschienene „The Light Is Leaving Us All“ das vielleicht stärkste Album seit “Black Ships Ate The Sky” war.
Seit “The Light…” erschienen die weitgehend instrumentalen, von Soundscapes durchzogenen Alben „Invocations Of Almost“, „If A Star Turns Into Ashes“ sowie die beiden Soloalben Tibets („Ferelith“ und „Fontelautus“), die in ihrer somnambulen (Alp-)Traumatmosphäre und atmosphärischen Dichte zumindest zum Teil an das Verstörende und Irritierende des Frühwerks anknüpften.
Das schon vorab veröffentlichte das Album eröffnende „If A City…“ legt den Ton, die Stimmung fest: Im Zusammenspiel von Drones, Klavier und Geige entsteht ein elegisch-melancholisches Stück und Tibet, der hier – wie schon auf seinen Soloalben – nur noch unter seinem Vornamen firmiert, intoniert: „If under G+D’s Wing/By the JawBone and HeeHaw/The donkey creeps silently/Through the door in the hall/Then plague and mice/And the woodlice stream…“. Wenn man einem Instrument eine tragende und zentrale Rolle zusprechen will, so dann sicher der von Aloma Ruis Boada gespielten Geige, die das gesamte Album prägt. Auf „There Is No Zodiac“ setzt der dezente Einsatz von E-Gitarre leicht dissonate Akzente. Auf dem dann folgenden „Joke Moon“ gibt es ein fantastisches Zusammenspiel von Alisdair Roberts wunderschön gezupfter Gitarre und der Violine. Auch auf „A Column Of Dust“ erzeugen Gitarre und Geige und der dramatische Gesang Tibets eine beeindruckende Atmosphäre – man möchte dem von ihm besungenen “Final Express Train” nicht unbedingt begegnen. „The Child, And Fire” erinnert mit seinen Pianopassagen entfernt an „Soft Black Stars“.
Textlich finden sich die thematischen Obsessionen, die das Werk Current 93s seit Jahr(zehnt)en prägen: Apokalyptische Szenarien werden entworfen: „It it rains razors, and murders, and slaughters“, „The Moon is dead now—Joke Moon!“, „A castle or Moloch“, „And the noise in your eyes/Has the rumours of wings/And the fly and the hornet/From the Scorpion RainBow“, „In the walls the colourful cartoons/Are covered with sores“), das Zusammenspiel von Profanem und Erhabenem („In time for tea, in time for end“), Nursery Rhymes („By the butcher, and the baker, /And the candlestick maker“, “Just memories stretched out/From nursery rhymes or spectres”), (der) Gott in all seiner Ambivalenz: „Vengence in His Eye/I AM THE LORD! – THE KILLER AND THE CREATOR“.
Muss man beim Titel des Albums vielleicht unweigerlich an die von John Winthrops aus der Bergpredigt (“You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden“) entlehnte Fortmulierung denken, der so eine zentrale Rolle beim Selbstverständnis der amerikanischen Nation zukommt, denken, erfährt man im Booklet, dass die Inspiration für das Album ein akkadischer Text namens „If A City Is Set Upon A Height“ ist. Passenderweise dankt Tibet im Booklet seinen Hebräisch-, Akkadisch-, Koptisch- und Ugaritischlehrern, erneut sein Interesse an (ur-)alten Sprachen, am logos betonend, der ja “im Anfang” war.
Letztlich ist es so erfreulich wie erstaunlich, dass nach dem fast 40-jährigen Bestehen Current 93s, “your favourite hallucinatory skipping-rope”, wie es auf dem Albumcover heißt, noch immer Alben entstehen, die beeindrucken können und beeindruckend sind und ein Spätwerk einläuten, das viel verspricht." [MG, African Paper] |
2022 |
€37.50 |
|
| |
If a City is set upon a Hill |
CD |
"Das neue Current 93-Album verweist mit dem auf den ersten Blick untypischen Fliesen-Artwork, auf denen der Mord Kains an Abel dargestellt ist, auf Current 93s „Rockalbum“ „Aleph At Hallucinatory Mountain“, auf dem es hieß: „In the beginning was the murderer“. Musikalisch-personell knüpft es stark an das 2018 erschienene Album „The Light Is Leaving Us All“ an, wurde „If A City Is Set Upon A Hill“ doch in fast der gleichen Besetzung aufgenommen – im direkten Vergleich ist „If A City“ vielleicht etwas elegischer und mit seinen sieben Stücken und 37 Minuten Laufzeit recht kurz, dabei allerdings nicht weniger gehaltvoll.
Schaut man in die Entwicklung Current 93s, dann ist es sicher kein Zufall, dass viele der als Referenzwerke gesehenen Alben aus den 90ern, die nicht unerheblich zum Kultstatus des Projekts um David Tibet beigetragen haben, durch eine relativ stabile Kernbesetzung eingespielt wurden und darüberhinaus eine Vielzahl starker – solch ein Begriff mag bezogen auf Current 93 vielleicht etwas profan anmuten – Songs enthielten. Die Qualität der einzelnen Stücke trug dann auch sicher nicht unerheblich dazu bei, dass das 2018 erschienene „The Light Is Leaving Us All“ das vielleicht stärkste Album seit “Black Ships Ate The Sky” war.
Seit “The Light…” erschienen die weitgehend instrumentalen, von Soundscapes durchzogenen Alben „Invocations Of Almost“, „If A Star Turns Into Ashes“ sowie die beiden Soloalben Tibets („Ferelith“ und „Fontelautus“), die in ihrer somnambulen (Alp-)Traumatmosphäre und atmosphärischen Dichte zumindest zum Teil an das Verstörende und Irritierende des Frühwerks anknüpften.
Das schon vorab veröffentlichte das Album eröffnende „If A City…“ legt den Ton, die Stimmung fest: Im Zusammenspiel von Drones, Klavier und Geige entsteht ein elegisch-melancholisches Stück und Tibet, der hier – wie schon auf seinen Soloalben – nur noch unter seinem Vornamen firmiert, intoniert: „If under G+D’s Wing/By the JawBone and HeeHaw/The donkey creeps silently/Through the door in the hall/Then plague and mice/And the woodlice stream…“. Wenn man einem Instrument eine tragende und zentrale Rolle zusprechen will, so dann sicher der von Aloma Ruis Boada gespielten Geige, die das gesamte Album prägt. Auf „There Is No Zodiac“ setzt der dezente Einsatz von E-Gitarre leicht dissonate Akzente. Auf dem dann folgenden „Joke Moon“ gibt es ein fantastisches Zusammenspiel von Alisdair Roberts wunderschön gezupfter Gitarre und der Violine. Auch auf „A Column Of Dust“ erzeugen Gitarre und Geige und der dramatische Gesang Tibets eine beeindruckende Atmosphäre – man möchte dem von ihm besungenen “Final Express Train” nicht unbedingt begegnen. „The Child, And Fire” erinnert mit seinen Pianopassagen entfernt an „Soft Black Stars“.
Textlich finden sich die thematischen Obsessionen, die das Werk Current 93s seit Jahr(zehnt)en prägen: Apokalyptische Szenarien werden entworfen: „It it rains razors, and murders, and slaughters“, „The Moon is dead now—Joke Moon!“, „A castle or Moloch“, „And the noise in your eyes/Has the rumours of wings/And the fly and the hornet/From the Scorpion RainBow“, „In the walls the colourful cartoons/Are covered with sores“), das Zusammenspiel von Profanem und Erhabenem („In time for tea, in time for end“), Nursery Rhymes („By the butcher, and the baker, /And the candlestick maker“, “Just memories stretched out/From nursery rhymes or spectres”), (der) Gott in all seiner Ambivalenz: „Vengence in His Eye/I AM THE LORD! – THE KILLER AND THE CREATOR“.
Muss man beim Titel des Albums vielleicht unweigerlich an die von John Winthrops aus der Bergpredigt (“You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden“) entlehnte Fortmulierung denken, der so eine zentrale Rolle beim Selbstverständnis der amerikanischen Nation zukommt, denken, erfährt man im Booklet, dass die Inspiration für das Album ein akkadischer Text namens „If A City Is Set Upon A Height“ ist. Passenderweise dankt Tibet im Booklet seinen Hebräisch-, Akkadisch-, Koptisch- und Ugaritischlehrern, erneut sein Interesse an (ur-)alten Sprachen, am logos betonend, der ja “im Anfang” war.
Letztlich ist es so erfreulich wie erstaunlich, dass nach dem fast 40-jährigen Bestehen Current 93s, “your favourite hallucinatory skipping-rope”, wie es auf dem Albumcover heißt, noch immer Alben entstehen, die beeindrucken können und beeindruckend sind und ein Spätwerk einläuten, das viel verspricht." [MG / African Paper]
|
2022 |
€18.50 |
|
| CUSACK, PETER |
Baikal Ice (Spring 2003) |
CD |
“Location recordings” vom (teilgefrorenen) sibirischen Baikal-See, dem wahrscheinlich ältesten und tiefsten See der Erde. Sehr konkret und “unprocessed” hat PETER CUSACK v.a. Sounds von brechenden und knirschenden Eisflächen aufgenommen, Eisstücke auf Wasser,
Steine, knirschen & knacksen verschiedenster Coleur, diverse herumschwirrende Tierlaute, irgendwo vorbeifahrende Züge, vokales Material von ihm selbst und EIS, immer wieder mysteriöse EIS-Sounds....
“Subtitled: Spring 2003. "Over the last thirty years Peter Cusack has built a reputation as an improvising musician, and is often to be found plucking an array of string instruments, including guitar and balalaika, while simultaneously triggering live electronics. Peter had known for some time about the extraordinary Lake Baikal, a 600 kilometre long lake in Siberia. It is thought to be the world's oldest and deepest lake and holds one fifth of the earth's fresh water. It was only recently, however, that he came across a reference on the internet to the mysterious noises made by the ice, which covers the lake from autumn to spring to the depth of a meter. The sounds are most spectacular when the ice melts and breaks up, and the lake transforms itself back into water. This album is a document of Peter's journey, on a mission to record these sounds. There are humorous incidents, as when a telephone engineer unexpectedly falls through the ice while Peter is recording (he made it out to safety!), or when the local children take over the village's PA system. There are haunting vignettes; a young girl burst into song on the train, on the small branch of the Trans-Siberian railway part of which runs along the shore of the lake; an accomplice of Peter's performs bell-like angular music on the broken metal fountain which they find in the town of Angarsk. But centre stage belongs to the sounds of the ice break-up itself, as ghostly creaks and agonising groans emerge from the tinkling, sparkling flow. Baikal Ice is comparable to Chris Watson's pristine sound recordings, to be found on the Touch label." [press release]
www.rermegacorp.com
|
2003 |
€14.00 |
|
| CUTLER, CHRIS |
Solo |
CD |
„Ein elektronisch verstärktes Drumset und daneben stehend ein Tisch voll diverser, ebenfalls zum Teil elektronisch verstärkter Klangerzeuger wie Eierschläger, Violinenbogen, Cocktailmixer, Feuersirene oder Ping-Pongbälle, bieten die Spielfläche für ausgelassene Improvisationen. Live sieht man einen achtarmigen Cutler zwischen Drumset und Tischset hin und herflitzen, Klangschalen schüttelnd, hier ein Gerät kurz anreissend, Tischtennisbälle rührend, während an Effektgeräten und Mixer zeitgleich die Einstellungen justiert werden, aber dann sitzt oder steht er schon wieder am Schlagzeug und wirft so nebenbei feine Patterns ins Geschehen ein. Es hüpfen und springen die Materialien scheinbar unkontrolliert durch die Luft und werden durch den Jongleur im Chaos zum Funktionieren motiviert. Die fünf Live-Stücke dieser CD bieten den Beweis. Unterschiedlichste und farbenreiche Klangschichten werden mit musikalischem Feingefühl improvisiert und bewegen sich im vibrierendem Dreieck zwischen Rhythmus, Collage und Noiseanklängen. Aufgenommen wurden die Stücke in den Jahren 2001/2002.
You listen to acoustic drums amplified and modified with standard electronic processors. There is a table with a few tambours, a frying pan and an egg-slicer- also amplified -, a miscellaneous collection of sticks, battery operated cocktail mixers, some ping pong balls, a fire bell and a massager. On stage an eight armed Cutler is changing quickly between these pieces of equipment. It seems like an chaotic act but it’s for finest improvisation between rhythm, collage and noise sounds. With it’s five tracks this CD will give you a further example for Cutlers musical sensitivity. All material was recorded live between 2001 and 2002 on different locations. Without further processing these are the sounds you would have heard at the concert.” [Peter Schlewinski for Drone Records]
www.rermegacorp.com
|
2001 |
€14.00 |
|
| CYCLOTIMIA |
Music for Stockmarkets |
CD |
Das russische Projekt mit einem kritischen Werk zur Konsumgesellschaft & Finanzwirtschaft, eingespielt auf original russischen "Vintage Electronic" Geräten!
"Cyclotimia is a project from Russia and have created some very good and interesting albums. Albums like ‘Same Time Same Place’, ‘Wasteland’ and ‘Celestis’ are a combination of spatial ambient and IDM glitch, aided with the use of lush synthesizers. The music often times is very deep and free interpretable. A recurring theme for this project is the world of stockmarkets. With this new album ‘Music for Stockmarkets’, stockmarkets is the essential theme and motive. Though the album ventures into the typical Cyclotimia topics, it doesn’t sound at all like the former albums. Well, maybe in some places, but its most of all a totally different experience. Gone are the deep soundscapes as the music is stripped to its bare essential. With a fast listening, it reminds me of music created in the Amiga era, but upon closes inspection, the music is rather layered and there is a lot to be discovered here. The album consists of a lot of bleeps and clicks and cuts, but there is also room for the occasional (piano) melody, together with different sampled sources. The great thing about this album is that it’s very subliminal and can sometimes have a rather disturbing feeling to it. A lot of tracks are very clinical in its approach, but it is interspersed with more layered tracks and deeper sounds. This is really an album which should be listened to with headphones and requires your full attention. If listened to rather superficially, the album can seem somewhat boring, because all the details are missed, which is the essential of this interesting work.
It is music that can be difficult and cryptic, but that’s also the beauty of this album, which turns the music into a piece of art. The music therefore isn’t for everyone, because it’s not a ‘fun’ album. It’s maybe more academic, but with a more human approach. Hard to describe, you just have to listen to it. The artwork is also very nice and really makes the experience complete. The album gets a high recommendation because of its originality, but only to the more advanced listeners of experimental music, but a great album nonetheless." [Gothtronic]
"Cyclotimia is most probably the only project in the world which has chosen the creation of a soundtrack to "globalisation" and life of the "consumer society" as their concept. The project members more than anyone else are immersed into the magic of finance and probably therefore has their creative intuition allowed them to compose the main part of "Music for Stockmarkets" with its unforgivingly precise name "Wallstreet Requiem". Today the whole civilised world is listening to this requiem the first cords of which were played on Wall Street itself... The "Music for Stockmarkets" album with its radically experimental nature stands out in the extensive discography of this Moscow project. The 64-minute album includes 32 tracks divided into three conceptual parts: "Wallstreet Requiem" (25 minutes, recorded in 2004-2007), "Trivial Pleasures" (26 minutes, recorded in 2002, this part was the only one released as a seperate CD in 2003) and "Financial Glossary" (13 minutes, recorded in 2003)... The music material itself is nothing like the one heard in the previous records of Cyclotimia. There is no apocalyptic soundscapes of "Wasteland" times, no cybernetic hi-tech and media madness of "E$chaton", no cosmic downtempo of "Celestis: Space Ceremonial Music"... Minimalism, academic sterility, surgical accuracy and meditative ataraxy prevail on "Music for Stockmarkets". Then again it is not the familiar "idm", "glitch", "noise", "clicks and cuts" and not "minimal techno"... The sound of the album is chrystal-clear and warm at the same time. "Vintage" lovers have a wonderful chance to listen to the masterpieces of Soviet music production (such as Rhythm 1, Rhythm 2, Aelita, Formanta UDS, Formanta EMS-01, Polyvox) in pure sound, unprocessed by effects." [label info] |
2008 |
€13.00 |
|
| CYESS AFXZS & SCATHING |
Sunken Dimension |
CD |
Cyess Afxzs and Scathing both represent the newer wave of harsh noise, with prolific output in recent years, coming up with top notch releases one after another, and in a way I feel it was only a matter of time for this fruitful collaboration to happen. These artists have a musical ear for harsh noise. We've been hearing it in their works with compositional, cinematic qualities. Perhaps because they live on different continents, the idea of them working actually together had not occurred to me before, but when I first time heard about this collaboration, it clicked in my head immediately: of course! A match made in heaven. This CD is a full-on collaboration, and you can recognize both artists’ hand prints, but they’re still creating something new together. I've been told that when you think it sounds like Cyess Afxzs, it's probably Scathing, and vice versa.
https://satatuhatta.bandcamp.com/album/sunken-dimension
"This one, absolutely recommended if you feel noise album should be like... proper album. Not just one session of something. Despite it doesn't sound exactly like it, it makes me think of more playful 90's Merzbow stuff. Stuff that is noise, but ain't just all harsh, but somewhere in lineage of Dadarottenvator, Mercuriated, Rainbow Electronics and so on. Always lots of things going on, always lots of things coming, and listening album few times will not consume it. Just makes you want to re-play more, as there is a lot to be listened." [Freak Animal]
|
2023 |
€12.50 |
|
| CZAJKOWSKA, INDIA |
Cosmospir |
CD |
Very expressive ethereal vocal ambience from this female Polish singer, who also plays prepared piano, synths & flute, with guest musicians on cello & bowed guitar. Next to the vocal-based pieces there are also more experimental free floating instrumental tracks, the atmosphere oscillates between sacral beauty and melancholic slowness, its not really "east-european" or "folk" influenced but rather based on classical music and electronica..
" “Cosmospir” is a debut album from Polish singer/improviser and composer, India Czajkowska. Her music overturns categories through a fluid blend of classical instruments, experimental vocal technique and electronic spectrum arrangements.
The dark alchemic laboratory in a deserted factory, the walls of which are breathing still with industrial noise. The space is sinking into strange sacral whispers and through the broken panes birds are flying in. The roar of the wind and the dripping of raindrops. From this mosaic of sounds the golden ringing of voice appears, cutting the thick air. This abstract landscape came to me from the sounds of the Cosmospir album.This is music for those who aren’t afraid to plunge into the deep, and sometimes, even dark areas of their own soul. Especially for those who love to travel far away, without going out, just focused on listening to fascinating sounds."
[Joanna Kasztelaniec]
www.aliodie.com
|
2008 |
€14.50 |
|
| D'HERS, RUBEN |
El Reflejo en las Hojas |
CD |
We have no info at all about this artist which seems to come from Venezuela, his album on our beloved weirdo-label JEANS RECORDS (run by FRANK ROWENTA) is a hybrid of all kinds of instrumental, electronic, sampled and environmental sounds, sometimes more introspective & nice in a folky, droney or electronica-way, sometimes quite obscure & "difficult", electro-acoustic collages or even free-jazzy improvised with wild samples..... hard to pin down what it is really, but the 9 tracks offer a very broad cross-over of styles, from "serious" to "weird", a kind of mixture of minimal short sketches and longer tracks, most stays in the more silent areas.. very idiosyncratic, there's definitely something to discover here. For adventurers.
"Electric and acustic guitars, voices, ambient and noises, piano, keyboards and violin by Rubén d'Hers. Clarinet on track 05 and 08 by Gorgias Sánchez. All tracks composed, recorded, mixed and mastered by Rubén d'Hers in la maleta estudios. Caracas, Venezuela 2006. Original photography by Rubén d'Hers. www.dhersmuzik.com
Art direction and design by Marius Schillak. www.graffixyz.de
Published by Jeans Records. www.jeansrecords.com " [label info]
www.jeansrecords.com
|
2007 |
€12.00 |
|
| D'INCISE |
(aral) |
CD |
"Geneva based, very active and free electron of an exploratory music with diverse accents, d’incise (whose real name is Laurent Peter) keeps on eating up the miles away from arbitrary categorizations… As well as being a graphic designer, coordinating the Insubordinations label, and having collaborated with a host of artists (Cyril Bondi, Jason Kahn, Tomas Korber, Norbert Moslang, Jacques Demierre, Jonas Kocher, to name a few…), he’s also fond of sound installations, manipulations of objects, and improvisation, and tours actually quite a lot…
Borrowing from musique concrète, electroacoustic music, drone, electronica, field recordings…, d’incise plays skilfully with acoustic sources, giving birth each time to powerful sound microcosms, catalysts of engulfing listening moments…
Here, a flux of particles, an effervescent gush, like an elementary wave with countless appearances…
(aral) sprays, letting curls and sulfurous steams slip in suspension…
sizzling blanket with an irregular & intricate weft, granular quiverings in bareness, a sea that never dies/remains…always the same, ever differing…
(aral) shakes the sediments inducing minuscule frictions, lashings…
an immersion in the course of an hidden side into the muddled and the turbulent…
Beyond the roughnesses, the pseudo-linear, looms then like an evidence, the emergency of another gaze…" [label info]
www.mysterysea.net
"From the slowly growing empire of Mystery Sea and Unfathomless this week a new release on the first label by our man from Switzerland, D'Incise, behind which we find Laurent Peter, who has perhaps a likewise growing empire of releases. Other than his musical talent, he is also a designer, working for the Insubordinations labels and as an improviser he played with Cyril Bondi, Jason Kahn, Thomas Korber, Norbert Moslang and others. Looking back on his previous releases, I think there is an upwards curve in terms of sound treatment, production and composition. He seems, but that's how I perceive things like this from the outside, more and more in control of his methods and creates some interesting computer music. No doubt there are a bunch of field recordings at the core of this, but none of them are easily be traced back to their origins. One should think sea sounds, sea shores and dunes, based on the crackles and sustaining sounds intertwining each other here. It works really well, and D'Incise uses the dynamic spectrum in an excellent way. Being very low end and very high end, and the whole forty some piece is clearly divided in various parts, each with its own character. Slow and peaceful but with some nasty undercurrent. Like the sea itself!" [FdW/Vital Weekly]
|
2013 |
€13.00 |
|
| DAIJING, PAN |
Jade |
LP |
"LP on white vinyl! What if a song was not a culmination but a singe, an imprint, or a crater left in the wake of creative process? On her new record "Jade", Pan Daijing composes at a different scale than that we've come to know. Since the release of her groundbreaking LP "Lack" in 2017, Daijing has expanded her operatic vision into a series of major commissioned exhibition-performances at institutions including the Tate Modern, Martin Gropius Bau, and the Haus der Kulturen der Welt. Developed for full casts of opera singers and dancers, and reaching for an all-encompassing durational experience of intensity for both performer and audience, the development of these works was for Daijing as emotionally disarming as it was thrilling. In order to continue accessing her own limits, Daijing had to develop a place of sanctuary within her own practice. Its nine tracks written and recorded over the last three years, "Jade" is the sound of solitary release and refuge, of creative self-sustenance. Written without the imperatives of direct address to performers or audience, "Jade" speaks inward, while inviting a kind of rhetorical listening. The artist draws on materials familiar from her previous work: namely, ascetic electronic textures that rumble and pierce, and voice bent in irreverent directions. In place of catharsis, however, her arrangements here linger in tension, extending curiosity towards the delicate void that nourishes extremes. They toy with the minor capacities of song: repetition, chant, observations that conclude without resolving. "Jade" comes from a vulnerable place, tender as in an undressed wound caught in the midst of healing over. Vocals, mostly Daijing's own, arrive as wordless sequences of notes soaring alongside a drone, or plain laughter, or in a few places spoken word. What is said or sung provides fragments of experience and reflection. In the process of piecing together these fragments, the listener is confronted with the tender parts of her own. "Solitude is like an immense lake you're swimming through," says Daijing of these songs. "Sometimes you dip your head in and sometimes you lift it above. On album centerpiece "Let," she speaks to us over the sound of rippling water, returning between anxious scenes to a refrain: "I take my bath in the ocean." We are not just consuming Daijing's story; we are being invited to join her in the water. The album is mixed and mastered by Rashad Becker, featuring artwork by Pan Daijing, cinematography by Dzhovani Gospodinov & design by NMR."
"High-minded noise operatics and ruptured spoken word experiments from PAN mainstay Pan Daijing on her second album for the label.
If Daijing's PAN debut "Lack" was operatic body horror, all fireworks and theatrics, "Jade" drags that body inside, dumps it into a grimy bathtub and locks the door. It's an anxious, solitary album that twins basement noise aesthetics with Daijing's cathartic performance, playing her signature vocals against screaming oscillators, booming Wolf Eyes-esque percussion and uncomfortable analog bass.
'The Goat' allows her words to creep slowly over a backdrop of slithering, industrial distortion. Her voice is barely audible, whispered in the spaces between muted squeals and repeating pulses. On 'Dictee', Daijing wails and hums over distorted cello moans; on 'Dust' there's the suggestion of a song, shattered into pieces and rebuilt using ill-fitting replacement parts.
The album's most successful moment is when Daijing allows a crack of light to shine in through the tightly-drawn curtains. 'Let' layers disarmingly sweet synthesizer chimes over Daijing's cool, confident vocals. "Could it be possible, I take my bath in the ocean, I can't get out," she repeats ominously as synth tones creep into view.
It's a suffocating album, made in solitude to represent the visceral anguish of the void. Fans of '80s industrial drone tomes from Ramleh or M.B. or more recent noise plates from Puce Mary, LINGUA IGNOTA or Pharmakon should investigate without delay." [Boomkat]
https://soundcloud.com/pan_hq/pan-daijing-dust-pan-113
|
2021 |
€23.50 |
|
| |
Tissues |
do-LP |
Pan Daijing's exhibition-performance Tissues premiered in the Tanks at the Tate Modern in autumn 2019. A five-act immersion in performance, sound, movement, space, and most of all emotion in its most distilled and conflicted states, Tissues engaged with the conventions of opera and tragedy to present a searing representation of the embattled human psyche in space and time. While the ambitious multi-sensory artwork made use of the range of Daijing's artistic capabilities, music, particularly the voice, was at its formal and emotional core. The vinyl and digital release of Tissues on PAN serves as a record of that work, in the form of an hour-long audio excerpt: an invaluable archival document from Daijing's expansive live practice. Tissues is both a solitary work and a formal study in relation. Composed, directed, designed, written, and performed by Daijing (alongside a cast of twelve dancers and opera singers), the work_its libretto written in a mixture of old and modern Chinese_lingers inside a single human perspective. Daijing conjures states that are by turns delicate and severe, the tension between opposing modes animating the work as it unfolds. And yet, for all its interiority, Tissues foregrounds an intimate relationship with its audience through details like its engulfing visual landscape and its rattling, confrontational narrative arcs. Daijing uses the opera form as a prism through which to question the boundaries of music itself: perhaps, she proposes, music is much more than simply what is heard. It is in the relationship between voice and electronics that this limit is most clearly breached. Across the four acts gathered in this documentation, a counter-tenor, a soprano, a mezzo-soprano, and the artist herself voice a mixture of stunning laments and cries over an instrumental landscape, built out from industrial texture. Meant to be heard in a single listen, rather than track by track, the work unfolds through tender hollows and agitated peaks. At its crescendo, the operatic vocals melt away and the synthesizers themselves seem to howl with grief. Daijing uncovers an essential, sometimes painful, music in all that surrounds us, inviting something like catharsis but also a greater understanding of the thing she and her cast conjure and draw close. A tissue, after all, is both a disposable object one uses to wipe away a tear, and the building block of our fleshy human forms. Daijing reaches and excavates the roiling core of what it is to be alive and full of feeling. Music from Tissues, an opera of five acts at Tate Modern, London on Oct 2nd, 4th and 5th, 2019 Composed, written, produced and directed by Pan Daijing. Performed by Anna Davidson, soprano ; Marie Gailey, mezzo soprano, Steve Katona, countertenor and Pan Daijing, additional vocals. The recording is mixed by James Ginzburg , Jan Urbiks and Pan Daijing, mastered by Rashad Becker. *2xLP comes in a gatefold cover, and includes an obi strip and a booklet containing images from the performance & liner notes, as well as a postcard granting access to exclusive video documentation*
https://pan-daijing.bandcamp.com/album/tissues
|
2022 |
€26.50 |
|
| DAS SYNTHETISCHE MISCHGEWEBE |
Gleis3eck / Görlitzer Tunnel |
do-CDR |
"The long-running (22 years and counting) German-spawned outfit Das Synthetische Mischgewebe (The Synthetic Mixture of Fabrics in English) has a long history of site-specific performances and recordings, two of which are documented on the two CDs comprising this release. Recorded around the time the group departed from Germany for Barcelona and then France, it’s fitting that both of the sites here represented no longer exist. In 1986 and 1987, Berlin was still a victim of the Wall, and deserted spaces were seemingly easy to come by. One such was the Gleisdreieck, a railway junction where DSM set up their electronic and acoustic instruments for an extended recording, of which some 85 minutes are hereby presented. The second location, of which 46 minutes is included, was the Gorlitzer Tunnel, a pedestrian
underpass several hundred meters long under Kreuzberg. It would be of no avail to try to determine exactly what instruments, items and gadgets were used to make the sounds heard in these recordings – and that mystery suits these CDs well. It’s useful to recall that this was around the same time as Einstürzende Neubauten, also in Berlin, were releasing Halber Mensch and Funf Auf Der Nach Obenen Richterskala, their strongest statements. Berlin at that time (beautifully documented in the Berlin Super 80 DVD/book package) had more than its share of
experimental artists, and DSM’s sounds were emitted from the least-accessible cracks in the city’s pavement. From quiet rumblings, these performances grow via distorted hissings, squawks, clanks and grindings into a soundscape akin to a futuristic factory stamping out robots. Metal is scraped, mechanical contraptions buzz and squeak,
feedback squeals and vibrations summon deep groans. The second track on disc 2, the Gorlitzer tunnel set, is on the whole a quieter, more eerie evocation of the location’s deep reverberations, with what may be a generator rumbling quietly in the background. The occasional vocal interjections, echoing in the tunnel, are unexpected and deeply strange in the context of the overall darkly mysterious sounds. Limited to 200 copies, the two CDs come packaged DVD-style with a beautifully-printed insert of text and photos on translucent paper. The liner notes by member Guido Huebner nicely describe the place and time.
These recordings are marvelously evocative: of lost places, of a time and location that was certainly unique, of a group’s early works from 20 years ago, and of surreal, often intimidating imaginary places summoned by the mysterious equipment. One would hope that many more than 200 people would want to investigate these places."
[Mason Jones / Dusted Magazine]
"These days it's probably no longer known, but Das Synthetische Mischgewebe was a band, and not the project of G.do Hübner, which it is since some time. Before people like Yref, Chazev, T.O.W. Richter, Isabelle Chemin and Jean Rene Lasalle were member at one point or another. The recordings on this double pack are in more than one way historical. They are old, twenty years to be precise, but they were also made in the then divided Berlin, in a place you can't find anymore. Das Synthetische Mischgewebe used an old tunnel and a subway station going from East to West Berlin to rehearse for concerts that were later held. Abandoned industrial areas, in which they could easily find material to play their music on. Everything you hear on this double pack is recorded on the spot, using what ever is available there. Industrial tools, scraping metals, obscure objects which we can't visualize and such like. But they are played like musical objects and rather than trying out what the sound
possibilities are, the actors in Das Synthetische Mischgewebe want to play a piece of music with those objects, so they carefully move about and create pieces of improvised music with these objects. Battery run amplifiers and a walkman to record the whole thing onto give this a slightly rough edge, although I must say that the sound quality is more than excellent. Cut into sessions of thirty minutes, this can't be engaging to hear from beginning to end without leaping into a moment of boredom, but throughout I thought this was a very fine release. Not loud or heavy industrial as some of the early work was (or perhaps that's just a wrong memory? Apparently Vinyl On Demand is releasing some LPs with older work), but rather pre-dates a lot of the onkyo type improvisation of the last few years and a very fine work of electro-acoustic music. Topped off with a nice presentation and a most enjoyable set of personal liner notes. Great archival release." [FdW / Vital Weekly]
|
2006 |
€18.00 |
|
| DATASHOCK |
Kräuter der Provinz |
do-LP |
Crossed the desert? Check. Seen the pyramids? Check. What's next? "Kräuter der Provinz"... Herbs of the Province. Smoking dope with Edgar Reitz (the man who made Heimat)? A homage to regional cuisine or a celebration of backwoods origins? Absolutely not. But two for the price of one can't be bad and a pun a day keeps the critics away. Still, how to get a handle on what's going on here? Can it even be explained?
Datashock 2018: Eighty fingers playing, but what are they all up to? Are Datashock in command of their instruments or is it the other way around? What we do know – this is freely improvised music, complete with rattles, rumbles and whistles. Music as a social happening, both in terms of process and outcome, where individual and collective development can thrive – an ecstatic experience! Sheesh! No, really! This much you already knew? Well, no harm in saying it again, is there?!
Imagine gathering eight people under one roof and ushering them into a recording studio – everybody's busy nowadays (sometimes in precarious situations, but always doing one thing or another, incessantly), this being the age of late capitalism and all that. Anyway, diaries checked and off we go. Next stop: Oetinger Villa, Darmstadt. Kolter has already swept the place clean, DJ Ulf Eyes has brought beer from the waterfront, MC Cobra is dressed in the latest threads from Berlin, McWerner and Cha Cha have everything they didn't forget to bring from Cologne and up the Rhine and – natch – El Haze and Biber Bergi line up alongside LL Cool P from Saarbrücken. Pizza delivery number dialled, bottles opened, lights, camera, action. Machines bleep, a violin cries out, a clarinet howls, guitar and bass weave their way around the drums. The spell lasts for several days, then the magic goes back in the box, the recording is done. Everyone heads back to where capitalist realism awaits in fifty shades of gloom. Alas, it was over so quickly! Luckily, a tour is in the offing, a chance to see one another again!
Groups like Datashock are few and far between, more's the pity – raise your glasses to friendship! – groups who, in spite of everything, meet up regularly to record free improvisations and then hit the road to share their experiences with an audience. It's a trust thing. So: bring on the herbs! Not provincial in the slightest – but they get everywhere, into every last nook and cranny. They may not have any songs to speak of, but they do have their instruments.
Salvador am Ei
German:
Die Pyramiden besichtigt, die Wüste durchquert, und jetzt? „Kräuter der Provinz“. Kiffen mit Edgar Reitz? Eine Hommage an die regionale Küche oder die Feier hinterwäldlerischer Herkunft gar? Natürlich nicht. Wie immer gilt: doppelter Boden hält besser, und ein Kalauer am Tag die Kritik auf Abstand. Wie aber sich nähern oder erklären gar, was vor sich geht?
Datashock 2018: Achtzig Finger im Spiel aber was wird gespielt? Spielen Datashock ihre Instumente oder spielen die Instrumente Datashock? Es rappelt, rumst und pfeift - soviel steht fest. Hier spielt eine frei improvisierte Musik. Musik, die im Prozess und dem Ergebnis ein soziales Ereignis ist das sowohl die individuelle Entfaltung als auch eine gemeinsame – mithin sogar exstatische! – Erfahrung ermöglicht. Sheesh! Aber hallo! Kennt man schon? Na und, das kann ruhig noch mal gesagt werden! Warum auch nicht!?
Aber wie muss man sich das vorstellen? Acht Leute unter einen Hut bzw. in einen Aufnahmeraum zu bringen – weil alle doch so (teilweise prekär aber natürlich dauernd mit irgendwas anderem) beschäftigt sind, ist doch immerhin Super-Spätkapitalismus und so! Aber dann, Terminkalender gecheckt, los geht’s, nächster Halt: Oetinger Villa, Darmstadt. Kolter hat schon durchgefegt, DJ Ulf Eyes bringt Bier von der Waterkant mit, MC Cobra hat die neusten Modetrends aus Berlin dabei, McWerner und Cha Cha kommen mit allem, was sie nicht vergessen haben, aus Köln den Rhein hoch und – klar – El Haze und Biber Bergi rücken nebst LL Cool P aus Saarbrücken an. Pizza bestellt, Flaschen geöffnet und dann geht’s los. Maschinen piepsen, die Geige ruft dazwischen, die Klarinette jault, die Gitarren und Bass schleichen ums Schlagzeug herum. Wenige Tage später ist der Spuk vorbei. Aufnahmen im Kasten und alle müssen erstmal wieder dahin, wo der kapitalistische Realismus in all seinen trüben Facetten auf sie wartet. Schade, war wieder viel zu kurz! Aber bald ist ja auch wieder Konzertreise angesagt, dann sieht man sich wieder!
Es gibt längst nicht genug Gruppen wie Datashock, die – ein Hoch auf die Freundschaft! – regelmäßig und trotz allem zusammenkommen, um frei improvisierend aufzunehmen und durch die Gegend ziehen, und so ihre Erfahrungen mit dem Publikum teilen. Das muss man sich natürlich auch erstmal trauen. Insofern: Kräuter, gerne! Provinz, mitnichten – aber sie kommen überall hin, noch in den letzten Winkel. Songs haben sie dann zwar keine dabei, dafür aber ihre Instrumente.
Salvador am Ei
LP version in a 3 color Gatefold cover.
The 2-Vinyl Version (indcluding CD) comes with a bonus track!
design by Manuel Wesely
https://datashock.bandcamp.com/album/kr-uter-der-provinz-2
|
2018 |
€26.00 |
|
| DAUBY, YANNICK |
Alisen |
mCD |
Ein one-tracker von YANNICK DAUBY auf MICHAEL NORTHAMs neuem Labe ALISEN! Zu hören gibt es recht hochfrequente Klangwellen, die sich sehr sanft ausbreiten... das ganz tönt mysteriös und höchst „lebendig“, ursprüngliche Klangquellen sind nicht auszumachen.....wieder sehr schön, einer unserer Favoriten unter den field recordern.....
“An ethereal sketch of high frequency acoustic feedback phenomena originally recorded at STEIM, Amsterdam in 2002. Total Length : 19:43 Yannick Dauby - born in 1974. had spend most of his time between mediterranean sea and the alps. makes sound works mainly based on processed fields recordings. involved in improvisation using computers and found objects. started some theoretical works about soundscapes and is highly interested by animal acoustic communication.” [label info]
|
2005 |
€10.50 |
|
|
La Riviere Penchee |
LP |
Faszinierende, sanfte Flusslandschafts - field recordings from “magic acoustic reality” – Meister YANNICK DAUBY ! Stark limiertiertes Vinyl-Album.
"Yannick may be best known for his collaborative work with mnortham and Thomas Köner. La rivière penchée is located near his home in Lyon. From what he has told me, there is a rock shelter-like structure on one of the banks of the river where he decided to collect these recordings. We have the pleasure of hearing richly textural compositions made up of recordings taken at the rivers' banks, the manipulation of found objects, and some electronic elements. As one might expect, the record reflects a snapshot of a place -- running water, stones, soil, metallic timbres, wind, rain, and even bats -- all electronically altered so the sounds become something recognizable, but different. He has woven these sounds together into six pieces that span about 40 minutes. For some reason, we felt that the music found here is best suited for vinyl. Perhaps it is the organic quality of what Yannick does. Strictly limited edition to 280 copies." [label press release]
“Yannick Dauby succeeded in producing a more than excellent LP, which fit a small but strong tradition.” [FdW/Vital Weekly]
|
2004 |
€15.00 |
|
|
Tai-pak thia sa pian |
CD |
"Produced by Kalerne Editions and published in Taiwan by Atelier Hui-Kan. 'Three sound compositions (2008, 2009, 2011) by sound artist Yannick Dauby, based on field recordings of Taipei city and its surroundings. Inspired by the Ghost Festival and the ambiences of Summertime, by the evolution and modernity of the urban environment, by the now extinct plain aborigines who once lived in the Taipei basin, these works are reflecting three ways of listening the urban soundscape of Taiwan's capital. Produced by Kalerne Editions and published by Atelier Hui-Kan in Taiwan, December 2011. 'Nous, les défunts' Field recordings and composition : Summer 2008. Commission by SilenceRadio.org Belgium, 2008. 'Taipei 2030'. Recorded and composed between June and August 2009. Commission by The Positive Soundscape, UK, 2010. First presentation during the festival Expo Leeds, UK, September 2010, organized by Sound and Music. 'Ketagalan' Commission by Purepresence, first presentation at Parisonic Hear & Now, Paris, june 2011." [label info]
www.kalerne.net
"Its not easy to write something about a disc like this. Yannick Dauby lives since four years in Taipei, which he both loves and hates. Like any good composer would do is to tame the noise of the city by recording it and that's what he does here. In these years he received three commissions dealing with the environment of Taipei, from Belgium, the UK and France. These three commissions are now collected on this CD. Taipei is not a city I have been too, or in fact any far East city, except for some Japanese cities, which are perhaps more western oriented - I am merely assuming here. So without ever sensing the noisiness of Taipei, I think these three compositions give me a very accurate impression of what that city is like. Lots of traffic noise, public transport system, people talking on the market and the electricity that sometimes comes with it. Towards the end of 'Taipei 2030' there is also quietness and tranquility with just a few sparse sounds. Maybe Dauby envisages himself as
the mayor of Taipei banning all noise? Maybe not. The final piece 'Ketagalan' is also not very noisy and loud but seems to be concentrating on the more ethnic sounds of the city, like a search for some original Eastern ethnicity in the country. It deals less with the modern city bursting with noise than with background of the country itself. This makes that these three pieces differ quite a lot from eachother, each bringing out a certain aspect of city sounds and make this a highly varied work. Excellent work of composed field recordings." [FdW/Vital Weekly]
|
2011 |
€15.00 |
|
| |
Fushan & Taipingshan |
BOOK + CD |
A project (Book+CD) by Yannick Dauby about sounds and stories of low and middle altitude mountains of Yilan, North East of Taiwan.
The book (in English and Chinese) features interviews with five persons who have special knowledge and experience about the forests of Taipingshan and Fushan : Lue Kuang-Yang, Kacuzi Hacyo, Wu Chiu-Hsiang, Lai Chun-Piao, Lai Bo-Shu. Notes about listening and sound recording practice by Yannick Dauby. Identification of animal sounds with Chinese, English and Latin names.
The 75 minutes audio CD contains field recordings realized in Fushan Botanical Garden and Taipingshan Forest Area between 2013 and 2015, edited and mixed in 2016.
There is currently no option for a digital only version.
2013-2015年間，長居台灣的法籍聲音藝術工作者澎葉生，屢次遊走福山植物園和太平山區，觀察和聆聽，同時紀錄下那裡的生態聲音。他於2016年底完成編輯和混音，完成全長75分鐘的山林聲音作品。
這是一個從田野錄音出發的創作計劃，但不只於此，與聲音內容可能同等重要的，是收錄的訪談。呂光洋、曾勝二、吳秋香、賴春標、賴伯書，五位對太平山區和福山地區分別有深入認識或獨特生命印記的敘述者。此外，澎葉生也寫下他個人對於聆聽和錄音實踐的心法筆記，書中並附有專輯內發聲動物的物種名稱（中/英/拉丁學名）與出現時間對照表。
(目前暫不販售純數位檔案的版本)
credits
released January 20, 2021
Produced and published by Kalerne Editions and Atelier Hui-Kan in Taiwan in 2021.
2021 年由Kalerne Editions與回看工作室製作出版
https://kalerne.bandcamp.com/album/fushan-taipingshan
|
2021 |
€19.50 |
|
| 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 |
|
| DBMG/RAF (DIE BAADER-MEINHOF GRUPPE / RED ARMY FACTION) |
same |
CD |
Radikaler Elektro / Noise / Rhythmic Industrial aus Kanada mit starker politischer, antikapitalistischer Ausrichtung (das RAF-Logo auf dem Cover), dabei musikalisch abwechslungsreich & überzeugend arrangiert, teils fast rockig-tanzbar, teils extrem krachig!
"Die Baader-Meinhof Gruppe / Red Army Faction is Joshua David Richardson with a revolving door of collaborators, which include: Scott E. Farmer (Russian Futurists), Sam Devos (For Greater Good), and Edwin Vanvinckenroye (Tribe) amongst others.
According to Richardson, DBMG/RAF is a chance for musicians and multi-media artists to explore the use of violence within their chosen medium for the expressed purpose of destroying the economic, social, and artistic structures imposed on them by Late 20th and 21st Century Capitalism. It is inspired by the actions of West-Germany’s Red Army Faction (also known as the Baader-Meinhof Group), which sought the violent overthrow of West-Germany’s post-war governments from the 1970’s until its official disbandment in 1998.
Politics aside, this is one freshing new release that actually lives up to being true INDUSTRIAL music. It is noisy, chaotic, harsh, violent, full of anguish and torment while still carrying a strong beat. This is the kind of industrial that will immediate clear the dancefloor at your local goff-idustrial club, will sort out the real rivetheads from the poseurs, and have noise music enthusiasts begging for more. There’s a good amount of variety on this CD too- a post-punk “Peter Gunn” inspired rhythm track with whacked out old school analogue electronics, middle-eastern Indian ambience with the sound of war in the background (perfect for planning your next Jihad), Deutsch Nepal and Memorandum inspired beats with radio transmissions in the background, slabs of whale-toned cries from the deep, broken and distorted sonics over a militant backbeat with appropriately painful processed vocals, wacky distorted rhythmic melodies, and much more. It is experimental without being unlistenable. Alienating while still being engaging. Even when Richardson is using those overly-familiar sounds and elements, they never seem dated or clichéd. When it comes to this kind of music, this guy obviously seems to know what he’s doing and doesn’t wear his influences on his sleeve like so many others who’ve attempted it. If I had one thing to nit-pick about, it might be the use of overuse of spoken word samples, which is a pet peeve of mine in any music genre. Purists can argue as to its appropriateness, but I feel that a constant barrage of it is a bit clichéd. Thankfully, Richard tempers it with other interesting elements.
This release has an awful lot going for it and has so much variety that it has a very high replayability factor, something that I haven’t heard in a good number of harsh music projects that I’ve reviewed positively. It is also not a constant torrent of torturous sounds; there are quite a few quieter moody moments. Nothing is overly-long or intolerable. If this was released on CMI, it might be the album of the year in Europe. Red Army Faction is like having the best moments of bands like Mental Destruction, In Slaughter Natives, Esplendor Geometric and Brighter Death Now rolled into one steaming package.
Perhaps it’s due to the duality of the name Die Baader-Meinhof Gruppe / Red Army Faction and its association that makes this music project totally oblique in a Google search. If you want this music, you REALLY have to know where to look. You can find it on iTunes (Die Baader-Meinhof) or CD Baby (http://cdbaby.com/cd/baadermeinhof) but I’d recommend just going directly to the website since there videos, more info and purchase options there. Definitely recommended!" [Steve Mecca / CHAIN D.L.K.]
www.dbmg-raf.com
|
2009 |
€13.50 |
|
| DE FABRIEK |
Terugkeren |
LP |
The world of noise, ambient and cosmic sounds doesn’t get much obscure than De Fabriek. They have been active since the late seventies, as a band and a label of the same name, and in the 80s they were very active players in the world of cassettes and exchanging sounds through mail. We haven’t heard anything from them in ages. This new release, their first on over a decade, sees some old players again, such as Klaas Mons (who was once responsible for the three concerts De Fabriek ever did), Nico Selen (from O.R.D.U.C.), Alex Nanuru (who contributed voice to Neveleiland, one of De Fabriek’s best LPs from the 80s) and Richard van Dellen himself. Other members (‘workers’ is how De Fabriek, translated ‘the factory’, called them in the past) here are Simon Steiner and Jan Peter van Aalst.
What is De Fabriek and their new LP TERUGKEREN all about? That is not an easy thing to say, as there is no defined De Fabriek sound. Over the years the group experimented with ambient music, with noise, with rhythms, industrial music and perhaps even cosmic music. This release of Terugkeren sees a bit of all of this and that makes release a nicely varied journey as well as an introduction into the world of De Fabriek, and we find the gentle guitar strumming of Machinerie/Luide Muziek next to a heavy guitar sound in Verleden, dark ambiences of De Terugkerenden and Zwarte Engelen or radio play like Rustpunt, with Alex Nanuru’s voice reciting a story (this could have easily been an outtake of Neveleiland). Guitars play quite an extended role here, but are transformed by the use of sound effects, without sounding too droney. De Fabriek keeps their pieces short and to the point. It is all in all a wonderful collection of pieces and it’s great to hear something new from De Fabriek. (txt with thanks to Frans de Waard).
TERUGKEREN is manufactured on 180 grams vinyl, and packed in a deluxe triple foldout sleeve with insert. The LP is limited to 300 copies. Release date: September 29, 2017.
https://tonefloat.com/2017/08/29/de-fabriek-returns-with-terugkeren-lp/
|
2017 |
€19.00 |
|
| DE FABRIEK & P.FUNK |
Music for Hippies |
CD |
Remix of the legendary 1988 cassette release by DE FABRIEK & P.FUNK.
Another special release in the 35th year of our existence at EE Tapes.
DE FABRIEK and our label have had an excellent connection for many years. We did some releases before on cassette, CDr and CD, and now the big chief of DE FABRIEK was so nice as to give us the exclusive rights for a BEL(gian) version of his newest baby (De Fabriek FABPROD27 / CD 100 cps / NL).
Needless to say we still adore DE FABRIEK after all these years! First come, first served.
Limited to 75 cps with different cover and CD-print
Tags: abstract, ambient, experimental, freestyle
https://eetapes.bandcamp.com/album/music-for-hippies-remix
"Years and years ago, I went through my collection of old cassettes and transferred many of them. Within the dark corners, I found some rarely played cassettes by De Fabriek, and when I heard those again, I realized why I hadn't played those a lot. One was with P. Funk and called 'Music For Hippies'. Today I learned that not all those old cassettes will be re-issued on CD, which I think is good. I also learned that behind P. Funk there are a few people already involved in playing music with De Fabriek (with one of the band's sporadic live performances), such as Robin van Vliet, Rob Prenger, Moniek, Maurits de Weert, and Roberto van Veen, but they also dabbled in other bands. P. Funk, the name holds a promise.
We find traces of funk music indeed here. But none of it is very traditional. As I was playing this and thinking about the title, knowing Richard van Dellen (the primary factory worker), I realized I never thought of De Fabriek as a band inspired by the world of krautrock. Now I made the connection, only after knowing their music for close to forty years, it only seems logical. Many of the pieces here are free form jams involving many guitars, bass guitars, drums. As ever with releases by De Fabriek, it is tough to say who does what; the cover, as ever, has minimal indication. It is not a re-issue of the original cassette but rather a complete make-over, sounding much better than the old cassette. Both in terms of technology used but also in terms of the music itself.
The music here is rocky, funky, freaky, but never too rocky, funky or freaky. Things are kept within reasonable boundaries; the goal is not the freak out jam session but playing music other people might want to hear. It is a wild one, this new release, and may expand whatever you thought De Fabriek was about; I know it did for me." [Frans de Waard / Vital Weekly] |
2022 |
€14.00 |
|
| 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 |
|
| DEAD BODY LOVE |
Emetic |
LP |
https://phagetapes.bandcamp.com/album/emetic
Re-edition of an old DEAD BODY LOVE album originally released by "Labyrinth Recordings" in 1997.
Best Italian Power-Electrinics Industrial from the first era by master "Gabriele Giuliani".
New cover art by Paul Van Trigt.
Limited edition of 150 copies
Tracklist:
A. Spasms 21:00
B. Excretions 19:58
"A very crunchy release. The A-side, Spasms, is composed of a lot of loop-based sounds which I wasn't expecting. Crunchy loops that last for 5, 10, or 20 seconds and then move on to a newer quasi-rhythm, all while staying very harsh and textural. I've been listening to some earlier Macro material from the 90 to 92-ish era recently as well and there are similarities in method to that sound. While never straying away from being overtly harsh, there is a bit of variety in the sense that I hear some buried samples, vocals, and other elements sprinkled beneath the waves of harshness.
B-side, Excretions, is more free-flowing electronics but still has some loop elements, but far less. A good mix of mid and lower-end frequencies. Really punishing sounds. Full-spectrum press. While side A was good, side B for me is definitely the star of the show and top-tier DBL. The man really was doing the harsh full spectrum stuff that influenced so many in the mid-2000s crunchy noise scene. I just heard The Rita or The Cherry Point before I heard DBL due to the timing of getting into noise and what was available. Excellent LP." [Fistfuck Masonanie] |
2023 |
€25.00 |
|
| DEAD CAN DANCE |
Dionysus |
CD |
"This second release from the recently reawakened Dead Can Dance is quite a delightful surprise, radically departing from its uneven predecessor and displaying a striking degree of creative reinvigoration. Rather than another stab at recreating classic DCD fare like Aion, Dionysus is a conceptually rich and structurally inventive plunge deep into the folklore and spirit of Dionysian rituals and festivals. An intriguing concept does not necessarily lead to an intriguing album, of course, but Dionysus finds Dead Can Dance at the peak of their instrumental powers, unfolding as feast of wonderfully vibrant rhythms, esoteric instrumentation, and inspired arrangements. It is quite a remarkable and improbable achievement, as it sounds very little like prime Dead Can Dance, yet absolutely feels like prime Dead Can Dance. If Dionysus had come out in the band’s golden age of the late '80s and early '90s, there would most certainly be a small but devoted contingent of fans that viewed it as dark horse contender for the duo's finest album.
If I am being completely honest, I truly did not expect Dead Can Dance to ever record another great album, as the feeling I got from the reunion tour and Anastasis was that Brendan Perry and Lisa Gerrard are now far more like two loosely entwined solo artists who periodically collaborate than they are a united creative force these days. For the most part, Dionysus does little to dispel that sense, but it definitely seems like the duo have found a way to flourish within those conditions. Based on all that I have read about this album, it is quite clear that Perry was the album's driving force and that it was a labor of love birthed from a deep fascination with how pagan/Dionysian beliefs have spread, transformed, lingered, and evolved in the wake of the Roman Empire. Perry was originally drawn to the theme by European spring and harvest festivals, but the reach of the album seamlessly dissolves boundaries in culture, time, and space like only Dead Can Dance can do. For example, Perry's field recordings alone touch upon South America, New Zealand, and Switzerland and his musical inspirations are even more widespread, delving into traditional instrumentation that spans just about the entire globe. While there some wonderfully exotic and otherworldly sounds occasionally appear, such as the eerily flute-like see-sawing tones and jungle-like chirps in the closing "Psychopomp," that unusual instrumentation is less of a focus than it is a set of specialized tools that Perry used to get exactly the feel he wanted. In fact, Dionysus is largely a very percussion-driven affair, an approach that is especially effective on the muscular and propulsively off-kilter opener "Sea Borne," which abstractly evokes Dionysus's mythical arrival from The East.
While the album's bookends are both quite strong and easy to identify, the delineation between individual pieces on Dionysus is quite a purposely blurry one, as the album is structured as a two-part oratorio with different movements that tie to different aspects of Dionysian myth and folklore. For example, "Dance of the Bacchantes" is inspired by a rite in which women "abandoned their domestic duties for trance-like processions and dances," while "Liberator of Minds" celebrates hallucinogens and "The Forest" is a "call to abandon worldly and material pursuits and return to a primeval enlightened state of being." Happily, Perry opted to keep the narrative arc an abstract and impressionistic one, so this concept album deftly eludes the perils of dubious lyrical content or exposition. Curiously, it does sound like Perry is singing actual words in some language in the two closing movements, but the language is a fictional one, as Perry wanted to "convey emotion beyond the boundaries of language itself." In lesser hands, such a conceit would likely end in disaster. In this case, however, it not only flows seamlessly but seems like a crucial part of establishing the timeless and ritualistic headspace that the album inhabits. Recognizable words would have killed the spell. The music is not quite as liberated from the constraints of existing culture, however, as Perry is quite fond of Middle Eastern scales and melodies. The overall feeling is not entirely Middle Eastern though, as some medieval-sounding touches certainly bleed in, as do some sounds that seem plucked from real or imaginary tribes hidden deep in the heart of a tropical rainforest. At Dionysus's best, all of those threads combine into something that resembles an alternately raucous, sensuous, and ritualistic village dance that pulses with visceral rhythms, call-and-response chants, and primal eruptions of ululating yelps.
Admittedly, tt feels a bit weird to love a Dead Can Dance album in which Lisa Gerrard plays a noticeably reduced role, as she only takes over lead vocals on "The Invocation" (I think). However, her voice continually surfaces throughout the album as an added choral layer or to echo or harmonize with Perry's own vocals. That might not sound like much, yet her essence pervades the proceedings in a deeper way, as Dionysus bears little resemblance to Perry's solo work. This simply is not a vocal-centric album in the traditional Dead Can Dance sense, nor does the mood quite suit Gerrard's hammered dulcimer talents and the duo have the good sense not to awkwardly shoehorn in touches that do not belong. In fact, Perry and Gerrard show an almost supernatural instinct for avoiding false notes or missteps, favorably calling to mind a time in the distant past (The Serpent's Egg) when they seemed like an absolutely infallible force of nature and each new album felt like a communion with something deeper and more meaningful than anything the present era offered. There is not a weak moment to be found here, as my sole caveat is that the album feels all too brief at a mere 35 minutes. None of that time is squandered at all though, so it is hard to grumble: if the perfect arc is just over half an hour, then that is the proper length for the album to be. I had hoped that Perry and Gerrard might have some more classic songs or a return to form lurking in their shared future, but Dionysus has easily transcended those modest expectations by feeling like the beginning of an extremely promising second act to their long and illustrious career. Nostalgia and welcome familiarity are great, but reclaiming relevance and forging into compelling and unique new territory is far better." [Anthony D'Amico] |
2018 |
€16.00 |
|
| |
Dionysus |
LP |
"This second release from the recently reawakened Dead Can Dance is quite a delightful surprise, radically departing from its uneven predecessor and displaying a striking degree of creative reinvigoration. Rather than another stab at recreating classic DCD fare like Aion, Dionysus is a conceptually rich and structurally inventive plunge deep into the folklore and spirit of Dionysian rituals and festivals. An intriguing concept does not necessarily lead to an intriguing album, of course, but Dionysus finds Dead Can Dance at the peak of their instrumental powers, unfolding as feast of wonderfully vibrant rhythms, esoteric instrumentation, and inspired arrangements. It is quite a remarkable and improbable achievement, as it sounds very little like prime Dead Can Dance, yet absolutely feels like prime Dead Can Dance. If Dionysus had come out in the band’s golden age of the late '80s and early '90s, there would most certainly be a small but devoted contingent of fans that viewed it as dark horse contender for the duo's finest album.
If I am being completely honest, I truly did not expect Dead Can Dance to ever record another great album, as the feeling I got from the reunion tour and Anastasis was that Brendan Perry and Lisa Gerrard are now far more like two loosely entwined solo artists who periodically collaborate than they are a united creative force these days. For the most part, Dionysus does little to dispel that sense, but it definitely seems like the duo have found a way to flourish within those conditions. Based on all that I have read about this album, it is quite clear that Perry was the album's driving force and that it was a labor of love birthed from a deep fascination with how pagan/Dionysian beliefs have spread, transformed, lingered, and evolved in the wake of the Roman Empire. Perry was originally drawn to the theme by European spring and harvest festivals, but the reach of the album seamlessly dissolves boundaries in culture, time, and space like only Dead Can Dance can do. For example, Perry's field recordings alone touch upon South America, New Zealand, and Switzerland and his musical inspirations are even more widespread, delving into traditional instrumentation that spans just about the entire globe. While there some wonderfully exotic and otherworldly sounds occasionally appear, such as the eerily flute-like see-sawing tones and jungle-like chirps in the closing "Psychopomp," that unusual instrumentation is less of a focus than it is a set of specialized tools that Perry used to get exactly the feel he wanted. In fact, Dionysus is largely a very percussion-driven affair, an approach that is especially effective on the muscular and propulsively off-kilter opener "Sea Borne," which abstractly evokes Dionysus's mythical arrival from The East.
While the album's bookends are both quite strong and easy to identify, the delineation between individual pieces on Dionysus is quite a purposely blurry one, as the album is structured as a two-part oratorio with different movements that tie to different aspects of Dionysian myth and folklore. For example, "Dance of the Bacchantes" is inspired by a rite in which women "abandoned their domestic duties for trance-like processions and dances," while "Liberator of Minds" celebrates hallucinogens and "The Forest" is a "call to abandon worldly and material pursuits and return to a primeval enlightened state of being." Happily, Perry opted to keep the narrative arc an abstract and impressionistic one, so this concept album deftly eludes the perils of dubious lyrical content or exposition. Curiously, it does sound like Perry is singing actual words in some language in the two closing movements, but the language is a fictional one, as Perry wanted to "convey emotion beyond the boundaries of language itself." In lesser hands, such a conceit would likely end in disaster. In this case, however, it not only flows seamlessly but seems like a crucial part of establishing the timeless and ritualistic headspace that the album inhabits. Recognizable words would have killed the spell. The music is not quite as liberated from the constraints of existing culture, however, as Perry is quite fond of Middle Eastern scales and melodies. The overall feeling is not entirely Middle Eastern though, as some medieval-sounding touches certainly bleed in, as do some sounds that seem plucked from real or imaginary tribes hidden deep in the heart of a tropical rainforest. At Dionysus's best, all of those threads combine into something that resembles an alternately raucous, sensuous, and ritualistic village dance that pulses with visceral rhythms, call-and-response chants, and primal eruptions of ululating yelps.
Admittedly, tt feels a bit weird to love a Dead Can Dance album in which Lisa Gerrard plays a noticeably reduced role, as she only takes over lead vocals on "The Invocation" (I think). However, her voice continually surfaces throughout the album as an added choral layer or to echo or harmonize with Perry's own vocals. That might not sound like much, yet her essence pervades the proceedings in a deeper way, as Dionysus bears little resemblance to Perry's solo work. This simply is not a vocal-centric album in the traditional Dead Can Dance sense, nor does the mood quite suit Gerrard's hammered dulcimer talents and the duo have the good sense not to awkwardly shoehorn in touches that do not belong. In fact, Perry and Gerrard show an almost supernatural instinct for avoiding false notes or missteps, favorably calling to mind a time in the distant past (The Serpent's Egg) when they seemed like an absolutely infallible force of nature and each new album felt like a communion with something deeper and more meaningful than anything the present era offered. There is not a weak moment to be found here, as my sole caveat is that the album feels all too brief at a mere 35 minutes. None of that time is squandered at all though, so it is hard to grumble: if the perfect arc is just over half an hour, then that is the proper length for the album to be. I had hoped that Perry and Gerrard might have some more classic songs or a return to form lurking in their shared future, but Dionysus has easily transcended those modest expectations by feeling like the beginning of an extremely promising second act to their long and illustrious career. Nostalgia and welcome familiarity are great, but reclaiming relevance and forging into compelling and unique new territory is far better." [Anthony D'Amico]
|
2018 |
€28.00 |
|
| DEAD FACTORY / ATUM |
Extinction / Zona |
CD-R |
"Split of two polish dark industrial projects. Cold and dark fusion of industry, factory halls and musical space - it all make over 50 minutes of music on the "Strefa".
Unconventional issue: 150 x 140 mm format. Made from a 70 cm, grey, printed cardboard on which two pockets are placed. In pockets there are two photographs chosen from six different and a steel net. In the front of the cover there is a photography in 120 x 120 mm format. All is foiled and hand-numerated to 213 items. Professionally made cdr." [label website info]
|
2006 |
€10.00 |
|
| DEAD PIANO (ANDREA BELLUCCI + DEISON) |
Dead Piano |
CD |
"The idea of "DEAD PIANO" was born from the intention of using the sound of the piano in a different context, compared to what we are used to listen. Can this instrument become a different 'sound generator'? Beyond what has been done in the past, when many composers used a 'prepared piano', where they placed microphones near the strings, or pieces of metal that generated particular sounds resonating with the strings, the most recent technology offers many tools to manipulate that same sound, so well-known and unmistakable, and transform it into something quite different. Therefore it is possible for the piano to become a generator of percussive sounds, pads and drones, creating a sound palette that is reconciled with other sound sources becoming a cohesive and intriguing whole. The piano sounds manipulated by ANDREA BELLUCCI, are perfectly integrated with the atmospheres generated by CRISTIANO DEISON's machines, creating 'sonic landscapes' which complement each other. Not only melody then, where the piano can be considered 'the instrument' par excellence, but also the search for atmospheres and environments that can involve the listener, perhaps giving unexpected emotions. DEAD PIANO is a project by ANDREA BELLUCCI and DEISON.
Available here : store.silentes.it/catalogue/standa1806.htm "
https://soundcloud.com/silentes-13/dead-piano-dead-piano |
2018 |
€12.00 |
|
| DEAD SHALL NOT HAVE DIED IN VAIN / DYSTHYMIA |
split |
7inch |
"Diophantine Discs is pleased to announce our first 7", a split between Dead Shall Not Have Died In Vain and Dysthymia.
It gives me great please to release this new vinyl on Diophantine, featuring the work of Marc Benner's Dead Shall Not Have Died In Vain project, and my own Dysthymia project. Though started in 2000, DSNHDIV became most active five years ago and has released a number of limited CDrs and cassettes on RRRecords, Tape Fiend, Turgid Animal, and Marc's own Pottersfield label. His track here shows a more subtle and experimental side to this usually noisy project, with flowing ambient and the crashing and cracking of metals. Dysthymia began in late 2004 and the first release was a split cassette with Dead Shall Not Have Died In Vain. Since then there have been a number of cassettes and CDrs on Pottersfield, Self Abuse, BloodLust!, and Tape Fiend. The track here shows Dysthymia's dense analogue industrial/noise style.
Pressed on clear vinyl and housed in a custom printed color wallet. Edition of 300 copies." [label info]
http://discs.diophantine.net
"A split 7" on Diophantine Discs. Dysthymia is Kyle Wright, also the man behind the label, whose first release was also a split with Dead Shall Nor Have Died In Vain. That is the project of Marc Benner, who started in 2000. He has a bunch of releases on RRRecords, Tape Fiend and Turgid Animal as well as his own label Pottersfield. Apparently, since this is the first time I hear his music a more noise based outing, but here with an ambient industrial tapestry, with heavily reverb on the metal sheets that rumble on top. Dysthymia on the other side is more noise based, with crashing loop of industrial sound. The sound and the fury, but Wright keeps things well under control. I like both sides actually, but this is not 7" music, if such a thing exists (obviously it doesn't). Both sides seem to be out takes of longer sections, something that more music suffers from that is released on 7". Here a 10" would have been in place and then with a more appropriate beginning and end. Not that die hard fans of the genre would matter of course." [FdW / Vital Weekly]
|
2010 |
€7.00 |
|
| DEAD VOICES ON AIR |
Fast Falls The Eventide |
do-CD |
"Fast Falls The Eventide is aural provocateur Mark Spybey’s 11th album as Dead Voices On Air, and across a multi-decade career stirring pots experimental, existential, and otherwise, his is a sound that summons any number of nocturnal beasties from the ether. Blink twice, listen carelessly and you'll fail to discern the minutiae Spybey meticulously works into every one of the 15 pieces sprawling across the first disc of this 2-CD set’s eminent domain. Spybey works hard at his art so you don’t have to: rather, as the listener, the participant, the absorber, it’s more important to ignore categorical tags such as “industrial”, “ambient”, “soundscape”, et al, and instead gorge deeply on a wriggling, sometimes confrontational puzzlebox of sounds erupting from a bevy of mysterious sources.
The title of this collection notwithstanding, Spybey’s been having his way with rhythm and noise for so long that the motifs he’s ascribed over the years are practically commonplace amongst the novice post-industrialist - or, hell, the post-whatever. Throughout the last 25-plus years, he’s plied his trade and remarkable sonic mojo both solo and in the company of many a forward-thinking electronic engineer, from guitarists such as Michael Karoli and James Plotkin, to fellow artisans like Skinny Puppy’s cEvin Key or Rapoon’s Robin Storey (with whom he feints sounds as Reformed Faction). It’s as Dead Voices On Air, however, that some of his most startling ideas emerge fully-realized and fully-armed; of course, to hear Spybey tell it, once art leaves the nest it’s up to (once again) the recipient to assume the role of engager: “My work is created in isolation from external references. That is the ideal I strive for. Only in this way is it possible to allow the listener an opportunity to create their own understanding of the music, or, as the artist Joseph Beuys once said, ‘One should resort to interpretation only in an emergency.’”
Perhaps. Still, there’s much expressive bounty to be gleaned from these dark, dusky, evening-soaked works, from the first disc’s mix of ethnological drum cabals, windswept electronics and scraped edits, up through the immense near-quarter-hour title track, which finds Spybey revisiting the mortal atmospheric coils of former colleagues :Zoviet*France:. And pulling the whole enterprise together is the second disc’s first-time digital unveiling of Spybey’s opening salvo, the 1994 cassette Abrader, in conjunction with two unreleased tracks originating from the artist’s early gestations featuring contributions from the aforementioned cEvin Key. New or old, Spybey’s continuing vitality ensures these Dead Voices remain gloriously alive and kicking.
Fast Falls The Eventide is a two CD set featuring the all new recording Fast Falls The Eventide on Disc 1. Disc 2 features the long out of print first release by Dead Voices On Air - Abrader - originally released in 1994 on cassette by Japan's G.R.O.S.S. label. This digitally remastered version of Abrader features two previously unreleased tracks featuring cEvin Key. Abrader and the two bonus tracks are only available on this CD release.
Packaging: 2xCD w/6-panel insert in jewel case featuring artwork by Mark Spybey
Release Date: September 15, 2009
Running Time: Disc 1 - 60:22, Disc 2 - 53:54"
[label info]
www.lensrecords.com
|
2009 |
€16.00 |
|
| DEAD VOICES ON AIR & SIMON FISHER TURNER |
MzMzLaLaLa |
7inch |
"This single is a double A side and is the first of the DVOA@20 series.
Side A is entitled, ‘MzMzLaLaLa for Peace,’ and Side A is entitled, ‘MzMzLaLaLa Sing-Song-Sing.’
Simon Fisher Turner
Simon had a highly successful career as a child/young hopeful actor, appearing in movie and TV roles from Black Beauty, Tom Brown’s Schooldays to The Big Sleep (re-made with Robert Mitchum). Aged 17 he signed to Jonathan King’s UK Records and released the album “Simon Turner” in 1969. He then discovered tape recorders and ended up playing with the legendary Portsmouth Symphonia with musicians such as Brian Eno.
Simon first worked as a runner on the sets of films by Derek Jarman, before becoming Jarman’s favoured soundtrack composer. Simon’s association with Jarman was lasting and massively fruitful. “Caravaggio”, “The Last Of England” (with contributions from Barry Adamson and Diamanda Galas), “The Garden” (with the Balanescu Quartet), and “Edward II”, were amongst the most innovative film sound projects of the ’80s and early ’90s, most of them surfacing as CDs though Mute. His final film with Jarman was the powerful, poignant “Blue”, where a soundscape recorded by Simon at Eno’s country house, plus Jarman’s AIDs inspired spoken words, stood in for the visuals - only a blue screen was projected. Simon also worked under the name of The King Of Luxembourg and has collaborated extensively. He has released many albums and in addition to his work with Jarman has contributed to numerous other film soundtracks for directors such as David Lynch.
Simon and Mark Spybey first met backstage at a Can concert at the Barbican in London in 1999. They work together, in spurts and fits, under the name MzMzLaLaLa and this single is their first release. They recently played a concert in London together under a railway arch.
DVOA @ 20 Anniversary Series
Since leaving :zoviet-france: in the late eighties Mark Spybey has released fifteen albums as Dead Voices On Air. He’s appeared on over 80 releases in the past twenty years. When the late Michael Karoli, the seminal guitarist, put together a band in the late nineties to celebrate the 30th anniversary of Can, it was Spybey who he asked to help him.. He has made a career out of collaborating extensively with a wide range of musicians, film- makers and visual artists. He was a member of Download and formed Beehatch with Phil Western of Download and Reformed Faction with ex-:zoviet-france: members, including Robin Storey of Rapoon. Between 1992 and 2000 he lived and worked in Vancouver, Canada and has toured extensively around the world with a variety of collaborators including Karoli and Damo Suzuki of Can, The Legendary Pink Dots, Pigface, Michael Rother of Neu! and Dieter Moebius of Cluster. He’s remixed Neu! and Faust amongst others. His has worked with labels such as Kranky, Nettwerk, Soleilmoon Recordings, Invisible, Spoon, Scratch, Cleopatra, Lens and for the 20th anniversary seven inch single series, Tourette Records of Houston Texas." [label info]
www.touretterecords.com
"To celebrate twenty years of existence, Dead Voices On Air, also known to mankind as Mark Spybey, will release a bunch of 7"s in collaboration with people who he has worked with in those years. The series kicks of with Simon Fisher Turner, perhaps best known for scoring soundtracks for the films of Derek Jarman (Caravaggio", "The Last Of England", "The Garden" and "Edward II") and also with David Lynch. he met Spybey at a concert of Can in 1999 and worked together since as MzMzLaLaLa, but this 7" is their first release. I am in a bit in the dark wether this 7" is t45 or 33 rpm, and I decided for 33. One side has an interesting tape collage of sounds and spoken word in a very film noir like style, while the other side ('MzMzLaLaLa Sing Song Sing') is more a pop like track with a very sparse guitar, a wacky percussive sample and a sad voice. This side did less for me, I think, maybe its too short, or perhaps too vague, but the other side is in fact very good. In the future there will be 7's with James Plotkin, Troum, Edward Ka-spel, Cevin Key, Robert Hampson, Robin Storey, Jochen Arbeit, Dave Wright, Ryan Moore and Orbit Service, which me thinks looks a promising series. Great cover too." [FdW/Vital Weekly]
|
2011 |
€10.00 |
|
| DEAF CENTER |
Low Distance |
LP |
"Low Distance is Deaf Center´s third full-length studio album and perhaps the most focused effort by the Norwegian duo to date. After their last record Owl Splinters (2011) was quite an eclectic endeavor, Erik K Skodvin & Otto A Totland draw their sound back into something more quiet and minimal.
The record starts with a piece of sweeping analougue electronics. It´s a spacious, yet dynamic opener that leads directly into the static tones and piano motivs of Entity Voice, which balances a new sense of abstractation with the classic Deaf Center sound. It´s warm and close while sounding like it´s set in the outer horizon. Overall Low Distance feels both alien and familiar with its atonal synths, close pianos and drowned out noises.
After meeting in studio for the first time since 2011, the recordings came out of a 3 day session in 2017. It was then mixed at both EMS Stockholm and at Erik´s home studio over a longer period to create a blend of deeply layered as well as stripped down pieces. Both Erik & Otto have been active individually since their last meeting as Deaf Center: Otto released 2 solo piano albums, while Erik has furthered his descent into musical abstractation both under his own name and as Svarte Greiner. It´s long overdue to hear them connect their personalities into something new. Low Distance is a welcome return replete with beauty, mystery and uncertainty."
"So I managed to fall into that pattern again, whereby a long-anticipated album by a beloved project sits awaiting just the right time. I need a "perfect" mood and setting to experience Deaf Center, and I must not be interrupted in any possible way. And so I put it to the side. Meanwhile, I procrastinate with promos and suggestions and releases which are all sub par. Then I finally reach out, and I listen for the very first time. Then the second and the third. And time goes by. A month or two. I play it sixth and seventh time, and no, not yet, I'm not prepared to say the right things... I must find certain words to share my thoughts. And time goes by... That is the pattern. Until I recognize it for its block and rip the bandaid off and share. The time has come. Of this I'm certain.
Since their 2014 release, Recount, put out by Monique Recknagel's Sonic Pieces imprint, the duo of Erik Skodvin and Otto Totland have massively raised the bar on their third full-length studio album, Low Distance. I've generally used the word "texture" in the past, to describe the intricate granular details that give a particular recording more depth, complexity and substance, and yet, on Low Distance Deaf Center takes it to a whole new level. Seemingly accidental noises, clips, and circuit howls become the foundation for the platform of this moody record, where Totland's piano finds the courage to reveal its beauty to the world. The heavy fibered bow scrapes at the cello strings to make the instrument convulse and shudder. The sonic gravity of the atmospheric treatments paired with the poignancy of the melodic heartache propels Low Distance into the ranks of albums of the decade, where every coveted position is meticulously picked.
A total masterpiece for anyone inspired by the fine details stitched in a microcosm of harmonies and timbres. One which I will treasure for the many years to come, and with these words I hope you'll too. Highly recommended for anyone delighted by reductionist pianism, isolationist ambience, coarse minimalism and granular spaciousness. Yes, I've authored some of those stylistic genres just for you. But seriously, if you're into anything from the amazing Miasmah (which Skodvin runs), dark and organic drone mixed with evolving soundscapes by the likes of Rafael Anton Irisarri, Ben Lukas Boysen, Brambles, Richard Skelton, and Lawrence English, among the many appearing on this site, you'll be in for a treat. Highly recommended!" [Headphone Commute]
|
2019 |
€35.00 |
|
| DEATHPROD |
Occulting Disk |
do-LP |
OCCULTING DISK is an anti-fascist ritual. Recorded in Oslo, Reykjavik, Cologne, Berlin and Los Angeles between 2012 and 2019. It is the first Deathprod album to be released since the 2004 album «Morals and Dogma». Liner notes by Will Oldham (note: not the above below). LP cut by Rashad Becker at D&M, Berlin. Artwork by Kim Hiorthøy and Helge Sten.
“I remember driving over a mountain with my mother, she was in the passenger seat and we were being mauled and cuddled and battered and fried by sound; together. We were together experiencing something previously unimaginable, and we were facing the same direction, and we were moving through space and time knowing that a geographic destination some way ahead would bring an end. And the sound surrounded us, and for once our mutual silence was loaded with good. Because we were in the presence of each other, and we knew so much about how we had failed each other (it wasn’t a mystery any more), and we knew how we had maimed others when we worried too much about ourselves, how we had contributed to the faults of others simply by focusing in instead of out. Our mutual silences were laden with what that could only be called love. I used to hear love in music until I learned to hear love in sound. “ (Will Oldham)
Hinter Deathprod verbirgt sich der norwegische Musiker Helge Sten, seines Zeichens Ex-Mitglied bei Motorpsycho und Supersilent. Neben seinem Pseudonym Deathprod nahm Sten auch unter dem Namen Audio Virus als auch unter seinem eigentlichen Namen zahlreiche Alben auf. Zudem kollaborierte er mit Biosphere, Arve Henriksen, John Hegre, Lasse Marhaug, Sidsel Endresen, Christian Wallumrod, Nils Petter Molvær sowie mit seiner Frau Susanna Wallumrod, als Sängerin vor allem unter dem Namen Susanna bekannt. \"Occulting Disk\", das erste neue Album von Deathprod seit fünfzehn Jahren, ist ein antifaschistisches Ritual. Aufgenommen in Oslo, Reykjavik, Berlin, Köln und Los Angeles zwischen 2012 und 2019, ist es das erste Deathprod-Album seit \"Morals And Dogma\" aus dem Jahr 2004.
https://deathprod.bandcamp.com/album/occulting-disk
\"The Norwegian dark ambient artist Helge Sten, or Deathprod, is a master of atmosphere. Since 1991, he has been harnessing apocalyptic dread through immersive electronic sound design and bone-rattling live performances. For his first solo LP in 15 years—the follow-up to 2004\'s Morals And Dogma—the Oslo producer has conceived a politically minded album that considers the ways in which we confront fear and hate. The liner notes from Will Oldham dig deeper into Occulting Disk\'s political character. \"If you hear hate in the voice of another, it is your job, as the identifier, to address that hatred and reduce it by its opposite,\" he urges.
Stern expresses these political ruminations using a complex and chilling series of beatless, wordless tracks that command focus—his vision of ambient differs from Eno-led notions of the music as soft wallpaper. Occulting Disk serves a more confrontational, instructive purpose. Knowing the anti-hate messages at the album\'s core, it could be viewed as an amulet to ward off hate and bad energy, its unrelenting honks and bellows stirring up the hopeful sounds of protest. Stern\'s use of repetition is powerful and carefully considered, making space for deep thought and reflection.
Pockets of silence strengthen this concentrative quality. The opener, \"Disappearance / Reappearance,\" sends out a duo of ear-splitting foghorn blasts, an allusion perhaps to the album title\'s maritime reference—occulting light is a navigational beam used by ships. Thick walls of insectoid buzzing on \"Occultation 2\" urge you to step outside yourself, reeling you in with ugly-beautiful effect.
The LP summons a raft of mutated sounds from Stern\'s \"audio virus\" set-up—an array of electronics that has included homemade devices, tape echo machines, theremins and analog ring modulators—that feel eerily familiar and sinister. Case in point: \"Occultation 4,\" whose creaking, dissonant drones give the impression of dive bombers circling each other, while the weeping, warbling synths on \"Occultation 1\" are as evocative as human tears. The album\'s crushing \"Black Transit Of Jupiter\'s Third Satellite\" is a tidal wave of distortion, suggesting a final evacuation of dark energy. Stern\'s gift is to make that feel both unsettling and immersive.\" [Resident Advisor]
|
2019 |
€24.00 |
|
| DECONDITION |
Sukellan Tuntemattomiin Syvyyksiin |
CD |
"Sukellan tuntemattomiin syvyyksiin" ("I dive into unknown depths" FOR english) is Decondition's debut ALBUM after a tape released in 2006 on Freak Animal, The Universal Nothingness". The new album contains thirteen tracks recorded before and after the "Universal Nothingness" sessions. Using electronics, sampler, effects, field-recording, processed vocals, tape-voices, DECONDITION creates hypnotic, repetitive pieces of noise, mixing power or rhythmic electronics with real industrial sounds. The atmosphere is obscure, weird and very personal, most of the tracks dealing with death and the resurrection of the ego. Nordik P/E, Noise & Dark-Ambient
"Decondition are a Finnish project previously unknown to these ears, although a prior cassette ‘The Universal Nothingness’ was released by Freak Animal back in 2006. Evidently the 13 tracks featured here were recorded during various sessions both prior to and after ‘The Universal Nothingness’ sessions, and with the title translating to ‘I Dive into Unknown Depths’ it appears a hefty dose of nihilism is the conceptual underpinning of the album. To provide a quick overview of their approach, Decondition inhabit a sonic realm which is an amalgam of overblown distortion, off kilter factory clatter, clanging junk metal arrhythmia and occasional segments of respite.
From the opening passages of the album the crumbling waves of distortion and squalling static articulate the sonic timbre of harsh noise, yet there is a semblance of structure due to cyclic loops, imbedded samples and occasional barrage of unintelligible aggressive vocals which provides an industrial verging on power electronics angle to the sound. The third track functions to prove this point, where when ‘Dark Clouds Over My Inner Landscape’ arrives it demonstrates a focused, loosely rhythmic and pulsing power electronics track. Despite it clattering intensity mid album piece ‘Disease Within’ manages a partially meditative quality, which is mostly due to its grinding cement mixer rhythmic loops (…as agonised vocals yell a sermon of angst and inner turmoil). ‘Wheel of Change/ Passage of Time’ is another standout due to it pulling back on the heady distortion of preceding material, instead utilising a rhythmic militant industrial approach. Late album track ‘Aistiharhojen Luoma Todellisuus [ Sukellan Tuntemattomiin Syvyyksiin ]’ is another example of restraint (and one of the longer album tracks at just six and a half minutes), with a subdued soundscape of cavernous industrial drones and slowly manipulating textures. This paring back of intensity bleeds into to the final album track ‘Deep Sleep In My Dreams’, but on this piece accommodates a more suitably drugged and hazy atmosphere to match its title.
On a cursory level this album appears rather punishing and admittedly Decondition do deliver a strong set of industrial/ noise/ power electronics for the underground genre fanatic (which is further complimented with suitable decaying factory images). Yet there is also clear variation to be discovered within its general harsh abrasiveness. In effect this is a solid, hour’s length album of noisy, distorted, arrhythmic to rhythmic industrial noise abuse, mixed with elements of power electronics aggression and offset by moments of restraint." [Noise Receptor]
|
2014 |
€6.50 |
|
| DEEP |
If you drive a Traktor |
CD-R |
"With a line-up consisting basically of two bass guitars and effects, Deep have been extending the textural and compositional vocabulary of the rock bass guitar for the past 15 years. In the two instrumental tracks (30 and 15 minutes) of this album, they are at the height of the powers. They manage to combine driving indie-rock flavoured riffs with walls of sound reminiscent of Earth or Sunn O))) to create ambient atmospheres but still retaining a sense of groove.
Although Deep sometimes use distorted power chords and bowed drones in some places to pile up static walls of sound, for the most part the album has a definite mid to uptempo groove. However, through quasi-mantric repetition of the chords and layering of the two bass parts, the feel conveyed by the music is not “speed,” but rather a soothing, trance-like quality that is always based on subtle melodic lines indicative of the fact that earlier Deep releases, mainly featured on the band’s own Dhyana Records label, have proven them capable of writing compelling indie rock songs (complete with vocals) in the vein of Dinosaur Jr or Notwist. This album is co-released on Attenuation Circuit and Dhyana Records in tribute to the ground-breaking work of Dhyana Records for the formation of the experimental music network that now supports Attenuation Circuit." [label info]
www.wix.com/attenuationcircuit/attenuation-circuit
"Another trio of releases on Attenuation Circuit, although the first one is a co-release with Dhyana Records - hence a somewhat different package. Deep is a duo and consists of two bass players, Stefan Vetter and Bernd Spring. No doubt there is a string of sound effects attached to the bass guitars. One long, thirty minute track and one that lasts half of that. Now with a band name such as Deep and with two bass guitars and effects, you could expect that this is all about deep ambient music, but that's not the primary interest of Deep. At times, many of them, Deep is more interested in playing rock like structures, less drums, not as much melody, but also with a certain groove going round. But the length of the pieces adds a long duration to both pieces and one could say that this adds to a more drone like character of the pieces. Think of a more mellow version of Earth and you have Deep. Minimalist avant-rock. Very nice." [FdW/VitalWeekly]
|
2011 |
€11.00 |
|
| DEISON |
Quiet Rooms |
CD |
On Quiet Rooms, the experimental artist builds four enchanting ambient soundscapes from field recordings of empty hotel rooms.
Delicately layered and processed, these lonely urban soundtracks evoke powerful tensions between serenity and alienation. In the he ethereal opener, “Room 1” Deison has captured the anxiety of isolation. Drones builds to such dystopian density that the sounds of our world become science fiction. In “Room 3”, with the inclusion of distinguishable ambient hotel noises, Deison listens in on forgotten stories trapped in the walls. Doors open and close, phonecalls fail to reach their recipient, a distant cat meows.
These are the intimate moments and mysterious lives of hotel guests.
Further adding to the tension of this powerful release is the 16 panel poster designed by Bas Mantel.
Lock yourself into these stationary images and slow moving sounds. Spend time in Deison’s Quiet Rooms and you will never look at an empty hotel room the same again.
Electronics, Synthesizer, Tape, Sounds [Field Recordings] by Deison
Design by Bas Mantel
Sounds were recorded on various locations in hotel rooms in Barcelona, Venice, New York, Los Angeles and Milan.
Processed and edited at #1st Floor Studio, Italy. |
2012 |
€13.00 |
|
| DEISON & MINGLE |
Tiliaventum |
CD-BOX & object |
"One needs a poet’s heart to appreciate the wrapped gift of Tilaventum: a stone from the river included with every physical purchase. Mine is a perfectly rounded skipping stone, so I’ll need to resist the urge to try it in my own sea. An instant connection is formed across bodies of water, across continents. The photos show that many stones are ringed; my grandfather once told me that such stones are good luck.
Stretching from the Alps to the Adriatic, the 111-mile gravel bedded Tagliamento River (whose Latin name is used in the title) incorporates glacial melt and the shade of black pines. It serves as a border, but is known more for its beauty. The current project, designed by Sandra Tonizzo, offers a tactile impression to accompany the music and keepsake box. One holds the stone in the palm and wonders at the impact of a river so beautiful that it turns the music of Deison and Mingle from dark to light.
Yes, this is the same duo whose music has been (pleasantly) unsettling people for years. But there’s something about the Tagliamento that calms the soul, and is translated to this release. The CD feels different from the duo’s other projects: more restrained, even reverent. The beats are still present, but the textures are more important. The river itself makes an appearance on “Tilament”, along with the sounds of birds in the trees. One imagines a river journey by boat or on foot. For a while, the album simply flows, awash in ambient touches like floating leaves. Not until the fourth track do we hear the expected Deison | Mingle sound, as the drums presage the entry of a nearly industrial timbre. At this point, it comes as a surprise, an accumulated density that imitates the collection of debris around a bend. After this, one begins to imagine the album not merely as a reflection of a river, but of the things that might happen along the river. The Tagliamento is not just a body of water, but an ecosystem, a divider, a bearer of history.
The processed river sounds add a sense of mystery. “Sotteraneo” (“Underground”) is as murky as its namesake, a descent into unknown territory, while “Grave” rattles with dark pulses. In these tracks, we are able to form a connection to the duo’s prior material. But there’s also a sense of excitement, found in the splashing of “Pietra Viva” (“Living Stone”). Water is the foundation of life, and life and death are always intertwined. In “21.00.12”, the battle finally breaks the boundaries, with electronic horns like trumpet calls and the sound of clashing swords. The banks are overflowing. But then, as they are wont to do, as they have been doing since the beginning of time, the waters recede, revealing soft placidity. The cycle is complete, ready to start anew, as sure as the stone thrown in the river will eventually find its way back to the banks." [Richard Allen / A Closer Listen]
deison.bandcamp.com/album/tiliaventum
|
2017 |
€16.00 |
|
| DEISON / K.K.NULL |
Into |
CD |
Listen: https://deison.bandcamp.com/album/into
"Penetrating “Hi-tech” music, always on the border between sound, silence and noise… Splinters of sonic fragments, buzzings, electronic hisses, pulsations, hypnotic loops, ambient textures, sudden rays of light… A kaleidoscope of syntethic sounds and digital glitches, in a universe dominated by binary codes, that evolves through the cold-hearted control of sophisticated algorhythmic mutations programmed by human entities that already reached a level beyond the borders of our earthly knowledge…" [label info]
"Quite an extended part of the work of KK Null deals with collaborations, such as with Z'EV, Alexei Borisov, Zbigniew Karkowski, Jim O'Rourke and loads more. His primary instrument was once the drums (as with his bands Zeni Geva and Absolute Null Punkt), but in these collaborations Null deals with electronics. Here he teams with a man who met him fifteen years ago, when he was setting up concerts for Zeni Geva in Italy: Deison. He has worked with Lasse Marhaug and Sshe Retina Stimulans and ran the Loud! label. They collaborated, I guess, through mail, sending back and forth sound material. If you'd expect some heavy noise based stuff, then you are mistaken about the work of Null (and perhaps of Deison too, but I must admit I don't know his work that well). It moves these days from brutal noise attacks to very clean, mild, almost ambient like works and this work is a fine example of that. The closing piece is 'To' and quite brutal, feedback like. In the nine pieces before this we have been on a great journey of electronic music. Always abstract, always electronic, but almost never the same thing twice. From soft passages to loud ones, from clicking, rhythmic sounds to dense fields of waving electronics. Its all there. A great variety is presented here, which for once doesn't stand in the way: this remains a very coherent release. It may not appeal to the pure noise heads, but it should broaden their mind a little bit, I guess. Great one." [FdW/Vital Weekly]
|
2009 |
€13.00 |
|
| DEISON / MATTEO UGGERI |
In the other House |
LP |
"Final Muzik label presents a new limited edition release: it's a collaboration work by our label's backbone DEISON and Italian musician MATTEO UGGERI. It has been co-released with Old Bicycle Records and Oak Editions + the artists (through their own labels Loud! and Grey Sparkle). "It was not born as a concept album, but as it was slowly becoming like the music inside it the sound work of Cristiano Deison and Matteo Uggeri ended up finding itself, step by step, enclosed between the narrow walls of an exceptional home. Arriving there from different places and positions, and never actually meeting, Friulian and Milan found themselves, perhaps inspite of themselves, together in uncomfortable rooms which were populated by dark invisible presences. It is not the scenario of a horror movie, there is no tragedy or fear, just the knowledge that somewhere else or the escape itself may be less reassuring than one has hoped. Therefore Francesca Mele's photos, both a seal of the workand source of inspiration for the music seem to further cloak the place in that sense of quiet desperation that daily life often implies." Limited edition of 300 copies." [label info]
www.finalmuzik.com
|
2015 |
€15.00 |
|
| |
In the other House |
CD-R |
"It was not born as a concept album, but as it was slowly becoming like the music inside it the sound work of Cristiano Deison and Matthew Uggeri ended up finding itself, step by step, enclosed between the narrow walls of an exceptional home. Arriving there from different places and positions, and never actually meeting, Friulian and Milan found themselves, perhaps in spite of themselves, together in uncomfortable rooms which were populated by dark invisible presences. It is not the scenario of a horror movie, there is no tradegy or fear, just the knowledge that somewhere else or the escape itself may be less reassuring than one has hoped. Therefore Francesca Mele's photos, both a seal of the work and source of inspiration for the music seem to further cloak the place in t that sense of quiet desperation that daily life often implies."
https://matteouggeri.bandcamp.com/album/in-the-other-house
Zwei jüngere italienische Soundbastler treffen sich hier. Beide haben schon vielfach ein Händchen für atmosphärische Landschaften bewiesen; DEISON (komplett: CRISTIANO DEISON) unter anderem hier auf NONPOP mit "Quiet Rooms", einem Album über die Stimmung in leeren Hotelzimmern. Auch UGGERI (komplett: MATTEO UGGERI) hat sein sicheres Gespür für beeindruckende Klangwolken schon aufgezeigt, unter anderem in Zusammenarbeiten mit DE FABRIEK oder MAURIZIO BIANCHI. Beiden Künstlern gemein ist die wohltuende Zurückhaltung bei Veröffentlichungen, man hat nie den Eindruck, dass sie den ohnehin übersättigten Markt der entsprechenden Genres fluten würden. Ihr erstes gemeinsames Album erscheint nun auf FINAL MUZIK (in Kooperation mit OLD BICYCLE RECORDS und OAK EDITIONS), wobei sich die Musiker kein einziges Mal persönlich gesehen haben – Arbeiten im digitalen Zeitalter. Der Titel des Albums sowie die Namen der einzelnen Tracks geben natürlich eine ganz klare Idee vor, aber – und dies ist das erste Kompliment für ein gelungenes Album – es geht auch ohne.
"Fessure" (01) fühlt sich an wie das Hinabsteigen in eine pilzige, fluoreszierende Höhle. Warme, aber gleichzeitig aufschreckende und unruhige Sounds umwabern den Hörer, es ploppt und droned. Sehr atmosphärisch und, außer zu einer Höhle, auch passend zu der wohl toten Frau auf Vorder- und Rückseite des Covers, die ich eben entdeckt habe – Film noir-Feeling. Ein bassiger und unregelmäßiger Beat kommt langsam dazu, ebenso ein schräger Streicher. Und immer kurz vor einer Melodie nimmt die Komposition die nächste Abzweigung. Das äußerst filmische Ambiente bleibt in "So Detached" (02) bestehen. Türen quietschen, Schritte rascheln – hier wird eine Story erzählt, ein ganzer Storyteppich voll von organischen Klängen ausgerollt. Ich höre aufmerksam und angespannt zu, weil jederzeit etwas passieren könnte. Zunehmend freunde ich mich mit der titelgebenden Idee eines fremden Hauses an, durch das wir als Hörer schleichen. Das "Micro Drama" (03) spielt sich in der Küche ab, melodiös liegen gezupfte Piano-Teilchen auf dem Tisch, ein dickes Brummen und Summen zeugt von Insektenleben, und die Streicher quietschen immer wieder dramatisch. Passend zum Besuch im Bad ("Stasis", 04) plätschert Wasser, die Sounds wechseln in noisiges Quietschen und Rauschen, und insbesondere die Cluster aus Blasinstrumenten beeindrucken mich. Menschen räumen Möbel in "Worried Stagnation" (05), verursachen dabei lange, ewige Drones. Und mein Lieblingssound des gesamten Albums erklingt auf der Treppe und im Keller ("Prelude, Largo", 06) – ein Tuba-ähnliches Brummen, welches die sich abwechselnden Passagen zum einen aus ruhigen Ambientflächen, zum anderen aus mächtigen, majestätischen Drones inklusive Piepen und Klingeln umrahmt, wobei sich alle Ebenen mehr und mehr übereinander schieben.
"In The Other House" ist ein wirklich beeindruckender Hörfilm, der mich an andere starke filmische Werke wie zum Beispiel die LAND-Trilogie ("Praha | Wien | Budapest", NONPOP-Besprechung) erinnert. Schleichen durch ein fremdes Haus, Erkunden einer dunklen Höhle, Hauptrolle in einem Film noir – das Album ist fast unabhängig vom möglichen Thema eine fesselnde Reise, und zwar von der ersten bis zur letzten Sekunde. Eine der bisher schönsten, weil stimmungsvollsten Basteleien des Jahres.
Michael We. für nonpop.de |
2015 |
€10.00 |
|
| 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 |
|
| |
Drachen |
LP |
"News from Ici D'Ailleurs Mind Travels Series: Mathias Delplanque is an artist from Nantes who was born in Burkina Faso and has close links with the ambient, electronic, electro-acoustic and concrete musical spheres as well as dub and field recordings. His approach is therefore intimately intertwined with the creation of sound. Sound in the physical sense of the term, sound which goes through your body modifying your perception without ever giving into the academism which can sometimes be found in music in the field of pure musical sound research. There is no question of theorization here - rather questioning all the possibilities which enable an artistic vision to be pushed to reach its pinnacle. Mathias has been perfecting this approach to music for 15 years name under his own name or different pseudonyms (Bidlo, Lena). However, the premising underpinning the album we are discussing today is slightly different from that of his other productions. Normally Mathias takes his time to finely and obsessively sculpt his work down to the smallest detail but here Drachen (Dragons in German) reveals itself to be a much more direct and incisive album. Taking the idea that impurities can also give life to music as a starting point, he set himself a constant working rhythm and the aim of adding interference rather than the sublime going so far as to create actual interference with his mobile phone to disturb the rhythm and harmony of his compositions. By his own admission, he works urgently to induce mistakes or accidents to liberate himself from his own automatic reflexes. Drachen is therefore a dangerous album both for its author and for listeners. However the result remains impressive because, even though questioning accepted ideas is an essential facet of the record, there is an intact sensibi lity which provokes emotion. All sorts of instruments (guitar, bass, melodica, kora, synths etc.) are run through live electronic processing and he manages to bring a beautiful melancholy - even a certain tenderness - out of this sonic mass despite the roughness of the overall sound. The record is made up of 7 highly distinct pieces which nevertheless fit together as a coherent whole. Although instrumental, Drachen is a largely narrative album which recounts its own story. It is a necessary reminder that just sound and consequently silence are fantastic vectors for communication. At the end of the record, an eighth track makes an appearance to prolong the story and provide a conclusion for the album. The track is introduced by 2008 field recordings from the village of Gandefabou in northern Burkina Faso and offers a calm environment full of humanity.
It is heavy with meaning given the current situation of this region of the world struggling with jihadism. "Vielleicht sind alle Drachen unseres Lebens Prinzessinnen, die nur darauf warten uns einmal schön und mutig zu sehen".
"Perhaps all the dragons in our lives are princesses who are only waiting to see us act, just once, with beauty and courage." RAINER MARIA RILKE, Letters to a Young Poet " [label info]
www.icidailleurs.com
|
2015 |
€16.00 |
|
| DEMEULENAERE, STIJN |
Latitudes - September 2016 |
CD |
Stijn Demeulenaere is a sound artist and field recordist from Belgium.
‘Latitudes - September 2016’ is the recording of a live set played in his Latitudes series at Q-O2 in Brussels. Latitudes is a project where he brings sounds from North and South together. On the album, the bulk of the sounds come from South-Africa and Iceland. Further recordings were made in Ostend, De Biesbosch, Amsterdam and ‘t Kuipke (Ghent). The album combines a mixture of natural sound recordings and heavily processed sounds.
The album is a cd in a custom A5 sleeve and comes out in a limited edition of 149 copies.
Latitudes is a project where Stijn collects and records sounds from all over the world. He brings these sounds together and explores the relation between climate, geology and how a place sounds. He looks for ways to have the sounds interact with each other and researches the ways nature sounds generate expectations and how one can play with these expectations.
Stijn uses the material to develop installations and live sets where he explores the sonic material, creating new sonic structures juxtaposing the sounds, or melting them together. Latitudes is a project in continuing development: the sounds from Iceland and South Africa are being mixed with sounds from other spaces, nature sounds with industrial ones. If there is enough time and space, Stijn also makes recordings in the cities and places where he performs, and works this material into his live sets.
Amongst others, he made recordings in the northern tundra climate of Iceland and the subtropical climate of South Africa. The recordings in Iceland were made during a Wildeye residency guided by Chris Watson and Jez Riley French in 2015. The sounds from South Africa were recorded during the 2013 Sonic Mmabolela residency under curatorship of Francisco López. Apart from traditional equipment, he also uses a myriad of unconventional microphones and transducers in his search for sound.
"You may not know this name, unless perhaps you visit Belgium quite a bit, as that’s where Stijn
Demeuelenaere’s activities as a sound artist mostly take place. Not really to release his music on CD but as part of sound installations, video work and dance pieces. ‘Latitudes - September 2016’ is his first release, and it is a registration of a concert at Brussels’ Q-O2, and it uses only field recordings, from his trips to South Africa, Iceland and The Netherlands (that man has time and money to burn, I was thinking!), in this piece, just under twenty-four minutes. That is a bit short, I thought. If I understand well there is not really a narrative Demeulenaere is telling his listeners, but more or less puts together sounds from all over the world, choosing and selecting together what he thinks fits best together. There is, so it seems to me, a love for sounds that involve water. In the opening sequence this
sounds like the sound of rowing, along with birds, insects and from there on he expands further into wildlife. It is hard, or perhaps for me impossible, to tell what it is that he’s doing with these sounds, if anything at all that is. This might be a work of pure, untreated sound events stuck together for all I know, but just at the same time it might also be that Demeulenaere creates loops out of his sounds, or
uses quite a bit of sound processing. Only towards the end there is definitely loops and processing going as Demeulenaere creates some odd rhythms out of his material, and whatever was the sound originally we no longer know. For much of the rest of this piece we don’t know if that is the case as well. Now, of course, after hearing the whole thing a couple of times, I would think it is the case; everything is some way or another a bit processed and enhanced. Overall I enjoyed this piece quite a bit, but found it perhaps a bit too short. Why not add another recording, from another concert but
within the same context and double the pleasure for the listener? Now it’s a fine but short debut, hopefully with the promise of more to come." [FdW/Vital Weekly]
https://silkentofu.bandcamp.com/album/latitudes-september-2016 |
2017 |
€13.00 |
|
| DENT, LOREN |
Anthropology Vol. 1 |
CD |
"It's as if Dent had returned, irrevocably altered, from an ambitious and expansive field trip through nothing less than the history of digital and analogue ambience to splice his findings with the DNA of late-modernist classical. Loren Dent's intent is no radical re-think of genre; his bent is more recontextual, a fine tension between the vectors of New Music, minimalism, ambient, post-rock and space music. It's a trajectory traversing considerable terrain. Opener, 'Introduction - Dreams and Concrete,' for example, moves from Feldman to Niblock, before picking up on Pärt, in the transition to 'This Thing We Enjoy,' where the borders of melancholia are skirted, and a quiet glow is flirted with, before abandoning itself to a swooping digi-orchestralism and fibrillating fizz closer to the Kranky oeuvre of Tim Hecker and Christopher Bissonnette on 'Another Rural Fantasy' and 'Winter During Wartime.' The parade of references is by way of a rough guide, but the music of Anthropology is more maximalist in its articulation, more sweeping in its scale than all the aforementioned, with great gushes of tonalism surging through the soundfield. And those influences are dissolved, becoming trace elements in a blend of welling and swollen symphonics wrestling with pop ambient pointillism, all couched by Dent in his
own tones." [A. Lockett]
"BEHOLD! An offering from the ambient gods of Infraction. Dust off thine finest goblet, pour from your favorite bottle, remove thy clothes and be pure. Get back to nature and absorb the wonder of pure ambient beauty and message from the heavens that is Loren Dent's 'Anthropology Vol.1'. From the moment I hit play and shiver at the beauty of the intro I realize I'm destined to experience a journey into myself and the wonder of life. The tones here are profoundly uplifting (although there are some darker moments of uncertainty) and moving in a way I am simply unable to articulate. Sadly I'm no "Ambient Shakespeare" but I will say that this is like a soundtrack to life itself, one of joy, love, fear, pain, loss, grieving, euphoria and one which transcends time. Emotions that are integral to the human spirit, despite the age/time in which it exists, be it a modern or an ancient world. This stuff is deep, DEEP material. At one point I was almost reduced to tears, as I felt like I was the only living thing on the planet and felt very lonely... Man the power of music, the sound of those strings. Loren Dent is an extremely gifted artist to the point where it almost feels like there has been a divine hand in the creation of his sound world. His wondrous layers of sound are rich and constantly evolving, always emotional and hypnotic. His tools are both analogue and digital and his use of both is a joy to behold. For any ambient music lover that may have been disillusioned lately and possibly feels that the genre has been reduced to mere simple drones, then I'm fairly sure this will restore their faith in the genre. This deserves a prestigious place in the hearts and minds of all music lovers. To reference particular tracks, for me would be a pointless exercise as this really serves as a complete work..." [Norman Records] |
2009 |
€13.50 |
|
| DESACCORD MAJEUR |
La Lumiere des Jours |
CD |
this is a taâlem release - alm 144 - september 2023
composed and mixed by Jérôme Mauduit - december 2022
text on track 4 by Michel Foucault
mastered by Flavien Gillié
photography and design by Désaccord Majeur
Presented in a recycled cardboard gatefold sleeve with a photo sticker on the front and an insert inside.
Limited to 250 numbered copies.
https://taalem.bandcamp.com/album/la-lumi-re-des-jours-alm-144
"The Taalem label took a rest after their long line of 3"CDRs but now returns with a factory-pressed CD by the long-running musical project Désaccord Majeur. Jerome Maudit, the man behind Désaccord Majeur has been going for many years, with a debut release in 1989. Yet, there have been only ten releases, this one included. From 2003 to 2020, it was total silence. I know I heard many, if not all, of these releases, and yet, I don't have a clear picture of what Désaccord Majeur is all about. After hearing the five pieces on 'La Lumière Des Jours', I still don't know. The music is all electronic, mostly ambient and usually all in a slightly more sequenced way. Not because there is a lot of rhythm, but through sampling and sequencing, many small and bigger elements repeat. Somewhere in the back of my mind, it says that in the past, Désaccord Majeur's music was heavily influenced by Muslimgauze and Rapoon, and maybe it was and still is, but there is something unique about the music of Désaccord Majeur.
Less 'ethnic' (if that is a word we can still use), maybe a bit more 'dance-like', and with sufficient additional sounds, such as the distortion in 'Les Nombres Transfinis'. The music is quite moody and atmospheric, darkish, but it's not for dark for the sake of darkness. We find the shortest piece at seven minutes and almost fourteen the longest. Désaccord Majeur takes his time to let his music develop; it is time well-spend. Nowhere I had the idea that it was too slow (or rushed!), just the right amount needed to let it all develop naturally. Beautiful stuff that made me realize I should, when I have some more time, also return to some of the previous releases." [FdW/Vital Weekly]
|
2023 |
€12.00 |
|
| DESIDERII MARGINIS |
Years lend a golden Charm |
CD |
Kollektion des frühesten Materials von den ersten drei Tapes, hier klingt alles noch reduzierter, einfacher, elektronisch & rhythmisch, aber schon mit deutlich melancholischem Einschlag, erinnert an andere frühe COLD MEAT INDUSTRY-Tapes aus dieser Zeit. Wohl v.a. für D.M. Fans interessant, oder für Tape-Nostalgiker, dies hat den "typischen" Tapesound!
"To gain a deeper understanding of what is, it is necessary to examine what was ¬ to go to the sources and the origins. With the emergence of this brand new offering by Desiderii Marginis, ‘Years Lend a Golden Charm’ we are invited to experience the very birth of what is now a well established and worldwide recognised project within the dark-ambient industrial scene. The contents of the new album is made up of some 73 minutes of material from the first three tapereleases from 1993. Highly sought after by collectors but only available in a mere dozen of handmade copies, these songs are now finally made available to a greater audience. When you listen to the music with the knowledge that hindsight brings - it is obvious that these are the roots and the foundations, not only of the first full length album ‘Songs Over Ruins’, but of every succesive release up to the latest ‘Seven Sorrows’. In 1993 there was no set course, no long term plan ¬ and still, maybe it couldn’t have turned out any other way?" [label info]
www.eternalpride.ru
|
2009 |
€13.00 |
|
| DET KÄTTERSKA FÖRBUND |
Lidaverken Del I: Att I Vådeld Förgås |
CD |
Cold Spring Records presents two Swedish titans -- Nordvargr (MZ.412) and ᚦᛟᚦ ᚷᛁᚷ (Trepaneringsritualen) -- teaming up for a bludgeoning dose of death industrial majesty. Det Kätterska Förbund, consisting of the two giants dominating the death industrial world -- Thomas Ekelund (Trepaneringsritualen, Dead Letters Spell Out Dead Words) + Henrik Nordvargr Björkk (MZ.412, Pouppée Fabrikk, Folkstorm, etc.) -- has been slowly and methodically working for almost five years to finish the first album of this double-headed abomination. Patience richly rewarded. You can instantly feel the presence of lurking unease as the album slowly opens up a distorted world of familiar sounds and voices, but there is something special about these recordings; the menacing aura that has been created adds new elements to the otherwise rigid tropes of the genre. Punishingly heavy rhythmic tracks, with savage incantations from both Thomas and Nordvargr, gratifyingly familiar to fans of the artists' main projects, are flanked by these death-scarred lamentations.
https://coldspring.bandcamp.com/album/lidaverken-del-i-att-i-v-deld-f-rg-s-csr265cd-lp
|
2021 |
€13.00 |
|
| |
Lidaverken Del I: Att I Vådeld Förgås |
LP |
Cold Spring presents two Swedish titans - NORDVARGR (MZ.412) and ᚦᛟᚦ ᚷᛁᚷ (TREPANERINGSRITUALEN) - teaming up for a bludgeoning dose of Death Industrial majesty.
Det Kätterska Förbund, consisting of the two giants dominating the Death Industrial world - Thomas Ekelund (Trepaneringsritualen, Dead Letters Spell Out Dead Words) + Henrik Nordvargr Björkk (MZ.412, Pouppée Fabrikk, Folkstorm etc) - has been slowly and methodically working for almost 5 years to finish the first album of this double-headed abomination. Patience richly rewarded.
You can instantly feel the presence of lurking unease as the album slowly opens up a distorted world of familiar sounds and voices, but there is something special about these recordings; the menacing aura that has been created adds new elements to the otherwise rigid tropes of the genre. Punishingly heavy rhythmic tracks, with savage incantations from both Thomas and Nordvargr, gratifyingly familiar to fans of the artists' main projects, are flanked by these death-scarred lamentations.
CD in debossed digipak.
LP on 180g vinyl in debossed sleeve:
Ltd x 250 copies on olive green vinyl (via Cold Spring and the artists only)
Ltd x 500 copies on black vinyl
https://coldspring.bandcamp.com/album/lidaverken-del-i-att-i-v-deld-f-rg-s-csr265cd-lp
|
2021 |
€22.00 |
|
| DEUPREE, TAYLOR |
Mur |
LP |
Deupree describes the album title “as if there’s always something about my music that’s like a murmur”, resulting in a murmuring effect when pronouncing the names of each track. Mur is a personal journey through the challenging year that 2020 has been.
Taylor Deupree is an American musician and mastering engineer based just outside of New York. As a former member of the American electronic band Prototype 909, Deupree has had numerous collaborations with artists such as Ryuichi Sakamoto, Stephen Vitiello, Alva Noto and Marcus Fischer. Curating 12k, a New-York based music label, is another aspect of Deupree’s career and brought together over one hundred releases since its beginnings in 1997. Having some similar artists in our catalog (Federico Durand, Will Samson and Steinbüchel for example), it’s safe to say that Deupree’s new release through Dauw will be in good company.
"Mur is a profoundly tender work, made for close listening; the waters of its meditational, memorial stream of flowing minimalist ambient run deep." (Loud and Quiet, 7/10)
https://dauw.bandcamp.com/album/mur |
2021 |
€23.00 |
|
| DEUTSCH NEPAL |
Staring at my Wall |
CD |
Staring at My Wall consist of eight psychedelic pieces of industrial music, ambient beauty and darkness. What else is there to be expected when Lina Baby Doll open up his distorted brain to the world and exposes his wildest fantasies in the creative process of producing another excellent and genuine album? Concrete sounds mixed with buzzing noises, drums banging as if all ancient armies in history were standing outside the door about to break down, not only the door but the hole town and leave it as a cloud of dust swaying over a surrealistic sculpture.... then I crawl through my fluid mirror... life's so easy when travelling there... buy your ticket and follow.
https://deutschnepal.bandcamp.com/album/staring-at-my-wall
|
2019 |
€13.00 |
|
| DEYHIM, SUSSAN / BILL LASWELL |
Shy Angels. Reconstructions and Mix Translation of |
CD |
"The previous three artists whose work was revisited by Bill Laswell are Miles Davis, Bob Marley and Carlos Santans... we were therefore both honored & thrilled when the mighty Bill (whose credentials as a producer include names such as Laurie Anderson, Afrika Bambaataa, George Clinton, Yoko Ono, and most recently Herbie Hancock) accepted to create a new interpretation of Iranian diva Sussan Deyhim's "Madman Of God" album.
The result is magnificent and provides a continuous, 45 minutes listening experience which includes re-arranged versions of all albms's songs, featuring new performances by musicians including Karsh Kale, renowned Indian tabla player Zakir Hussain and others, on top of the original albums's line-up (Reggie Workman, Glen Valez, Reza Derakhshani etc).
"Madman of God", which came out in 2000, is Sussan Deyhim's uniquely personal reading of devine love poems by Rumi, Saadi and other Persian Sufi masters, set to a mixture of traditional Persioan music and delicate electronics, her extraordinary vocals being the central focus.
Deyhim's live performances in 2001 were few but memorable (including a steaming set at the Montreux Jazz Festival and an acclaimed appearance with Ornette Coleman's group in London). A series of not-to-be-missed festival dates in Europe are planned for this year." [label info]
www.crammed.be
|
2002 |
€13.00 |
|
| DIAMETRICS |
Options |
CD |
" „Diametrics“ or, say, 'exactly opposite', someone told us some time ago, „gosh, that sounds so edgy, mathematical, New Wave-ish…“. Well, whereas we couldn’t give a damn about the former ideas, we definitely like the latter one. BUT don’t you even dare to think we’re a retro outfit – no fucking way! Just go on reading and let us explain. First of all, there was this trio from Bremen called ILSE LAU, the "post and noise rock monolith from the river Weser." (Szene Hamburg). During the ten years they played together, they released several albums on labels such as Fidel Bastro and Klangbad, before they split up in the Summer of 2007. Guitar player Ansgar went missing for good. So - time for a fresh start. Drummer/singer Henning, who had been intent on giving up hitting cymbals and skinks anyway, took over the vacant six-string position, while Fokke remained true to his bass. In Bremen, there's a saying that there are no drummers in the city. Proven wrong entirely after after just one try. Curtains for Jörn: hello to a fabulously good stickman and technician. First songs and a self-produced CD-r are finished after a few months only. So are initial live shows. The audience states: 'Indie rock' > naah, Diametrics know a few more strange chords. Or the audience says 'Math rock' > Sorry, we don't have calculators with us when we play. Says audience: 'Noise rock' > wrong. The band's too hooked on good melodies. Some even say 'Post rock' > sorry, we're a wee bit too loud for such assumptions. What we want to bring across? We just love finding ourselves in between chairs. We rather get our stuff from everywhere than using the most boring phrase in the music world, i.e. 'We can't be categorized'. You're still keen on adjectives? There you go: aesthetically dirty, consonantally discordant, metrically (in)constant music - partly with English or German lyrics. To be filed somewhere between the likes of SST, Amphetamine Reptile, Too Pure, and the Neue Bremer Schule. The press calls Diametrics "boisterous and feverish New Wave alongside precise stop-and-go Noise rock." (Szene Hamburg). In Summer2009, our first album 'There Is' (produced by Gregor Henning, who had been working with Ilse Lau all along) was released on Fidel Bastro. And more to follow this year. The mixing of the band's second album 'Options' has just been finished, and it's going to see the light of day in late Summer 2011, with supporting live shows to follow. .." [bandinfo]
|
2011 |
€12.00 |
|
| DIDKOVSKY, NICK |
Tube Mouth Bow String |
CD |
Fünf Stücke des Impro-Gitarristen & Komponisten NICK DIDKOVSKY (bekannt von DOCTOR NERVE & Zusammenarbeiten mit FRED FRITH, er spielte aber auch mit KEITH ROWE, ERHART HIRT, etc..), der mit einem Streicherquartett zusammenarbeitet und konzeptuell auch Computersoftware einsetzt. Fette Drones, Violinen, recht abseitig und rauh, Polydrones mit noisigen Ausbrüchen, sehr intensiv & klasse arrangiert, definitiver Drone-Tip !
"....These pieces are about the details of musical evolution that emerge from rule-based compositional systems. Using electric guitar, string quartet, electronics, and computer software, we explored territories held together by systems of agreements, forms specified in software, real-time musical choices, and notation.
Two of the compositions here, She Closes Her Sister With Heavy Bones and What Sheep Herd, are process pieces whose scores fit very economically on one page. Each score specifies melodic material and a short set of rules. The music precipitates from the interaction between the score¹s specifications and the decisions that the musicians make during performance. By contrast, Tube Mouth Bow String is a through-composed piece which notates foot pedal movements, vocal behavior, and bowed string performance, overflowing very uneconomically onto many pages which we pasted onto large poster boards and set before each player. Though this piece leaves no real-time performance decisions to the ensemble, Tube Mouth is a process piece in a very real sense, as the process was first specified, executed, and auditioned in software, and finally transcribed to common music notation for live performers. Improvisation (simultaneously the easiest and the most difficult of all real-time process pieces to perform) is included here as well, with a solo MachineCore performance providing a bridge between She Closes and Tube Mouth. Closing the CD, Just a Voice That Bothered Him sounds like it could have been composed systematically but evades rules instead, being composed intuitively by ear. The piece emerged in opposition to one vividly frustrating weekend of fruitless systematic composition, and for that, gets the last word." [credit notes]
www.pogus.com
|
2006 |
€13.00 |
|
| DIE ANARCHISTISCHE ABENDUNTERHALTUNG |
#1 |
LP |
LP version. Marbled vinyl. In 1995 the self-titled full-length debut of Die Anarchistische Abendunterhaltung (DAAU) was released. The band consisted of four young, "classically derailed" musicians who played their own compositions exclusively with their with acoustic instruments such as violin, cello, clarinet and accordion. Their work contained influences from Roma music, Eastern European folk, klezmer and jazz, and was performed with energy and true punk spirit. DAAU was part of the fertile Antwerp scene, which also produced dEUS, Zita Swoon, and Kiss My Jazz, and soon signed an international record deal with Sony Classical. The group's influential first record, which has been out of print for a while, is now finally being released again and is available on vinyl for the very first time.
https://subrosalabel.bandcamp.com/album/1
In those early days, DAAU consisted of four young, classically trained musicians who tackled their instrumental compositions with a true punk spirit. 'If we'd had guitars, bass or drums at that time, we would probably have been just another rock band', says accordionist Roel Van Camp, who, together with his schoolmates Buni Lenski on violin, the latter's brother Simon on cello and Han Stubbe on clarinet made up the Antwerp quartet. 'With our acoustic instruments we tried to create our own version of the music we loved listening to, from sixties rock and prog to new wave.'
The quartet, which initially played in streets and cafes, appealed to a diverse audience and sometimes joked that they were a classically trained unit that had 'gone off the rails'. 'As befits teenagers, we wanted to shake things up', Stubbe remembers, 'even though we always kept cherishing our classical backgrounds.' Van Camp: 'Our education was never supposed to feel like a straitjacket. We were free-spirited enough to ignore the laws and regulations of the music academy and to create our own sound. Our compositions were
open to influences from Roma music, Eastern European folk, klezmer and jazz'. 'That eclecticism was a direct result of the zeitgeist', Han Stubbe adds. 'We loved different styles and happily mixed them together'.
The monniker Die Anarchistische Abendunterhaltung was derived from Steppenwolf, a novel by German writer Hermann Hesse about a character who was outside society. 'In the book, the narrator talks of a theatre', Van Camp explains. 'And at the entrance there is a warning sign sign that says: if you go in here, you are guaranteed to lose your mind. That was an apt description of the way our music worked'.
Almost all tracks on DAAU's first album were 'Drieslagstelsels' (or 'three-course rotations'). The term referred to an agricultural method of the early Middle Ages, but also to the fact that each song of the group consisted of three major movements. Van Camp: 'The titles of those pieces referred to our method of writing. We piled up a huge bunch of ideas, because we wanted to tell more than just one story. With each composition, we took the listener for a ride'.
|
2023 |
€17.00 |
|
| 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 |
|
|
Mutus Liber |
CD |
"Initial Dieter Müh recordings from 1993-1994, never before released on CD !!
About the reissue of this rare promo tape, here's Steve [Cammack] in his own words:
<< At the beginning of 1995 we played a gig at the 1 in 12 Club, Bradford with Zoviet*France. It went quite well and folk were asking about releases etc and we had nothing. So Dave [Uden] quickly knocked up a compilation of recordings we made in 1993-1994 at his (various) home(s) in Nottingham. I can't quite remember which tracks were recorded at which location.
Because Tim [Bayes] was involved in the 'live set up' he included the extract from the gig at The Narrowboat. Tim is not on any of the studio recordings. Only a handful of people received this give away tape.
There is no master as such. You probably have the only copy.
Colin Potter approached us at our gig in York in 1995 and offered time at his ICR studio for cheap - if he could 'produce' [which resulted in Black Square, first official Dieter Müh release from 1997]. I think that is why we did not "push" Mutus Liber. >>
Join us on this exciting ambient noise trip !!
Limited to 200 copies in sealed digipak"
|
2019 |
€13.00 |
|
| |
The Bjorn Tapes |
LP |
"This is a entire reissue of a limited to 50 copies C45 audio cassette originally released by Xerxes (Japan) as ES-27 in April 1999, later re-released as a limited CDr by Blade Records (Italy) in 2004. All material recorded live on 30 January 1999 in Nottinghem, U.K., edited and produced by Dave Uden during February 1999, re-mastered in September 1999.
using electronics, semples, tapes, bass-guitar, vocals, the English duo created here three long tracks of hypnotick electronic music / ambient noise in the "old-school" experimental genre.
White vinyl housed in a three-panel folded silkscreened cover released in a limited edition of 320 handnumbered copies. Released in November 2018."
"I'd like to think the world has finally woken up to Dieter Müh, the long-running industrial ambient project once consisting of Dave Uden and Steve Cammack, which since 2009 has been the solo project of the latter. EE Tapes recently resurrected Mutus Liber, a 1995 giveaway tape compiled for interested listeners and reissued it on CD. The Bjorn Tapes was another short-run cassette released by Dieter Müh first released on tape in 1999. It was a year that would see Dieter Müh share bills with The Grey Wolves, Con Dom, AntiChildLeague and Colin Potter. Colin Potter had a hand in their debut album Black Square, recording and producing it at his studio in Yorkshire. Dieter Müh at this point were Steve Cammack and Dave Uden, both inspired by the possibilities brought forth by the punk/DIY spirit of the seventies. It is industrial music that seeps into their sound, and you can hear it in the drone and noise ridden layers of electronics, manipulations, tapes and field recordings found within The Bjorn Tapes, which was recorded live and later edited in the studio. The entire Dieter Müh discography is littered with some wonderful short run releases on labels such as Tesco, Hanson Records, Harbinger Sounds. The Bjorn Tapes first surfaced on the Japanese label Xerxes run by Yoshida Yasutoshi of Government Alpha.
The Bjorn Tapes was recorded live in Nottingham in January 1999 and edited and produced a few months later. I don't see a show listed in the Dieter Müh gigography so I'm guessing this was a live in the studio affair. It was soon after this recording I first caught Dieter Müh live, where the duo would be huddled over banks of synths, twisting wires and twiddling knobs. I've really no idea how they produced the sounds they did but whatever they did it resonated with depth, feeling and power. The Bjorn Tapes captures the essence of a live Dieter Müh performance.
Silence, space and a keen sense of sound gestation play a role on 'Herma'. Distant throbs and samples ebb into windswept drone terrain mixed with shuffling textures before it seeps into harsher drone based layers. It is a fine example of their ambient sound vibrations where nothing is rushed or overbearing and you really need to listen closely to pick up on the dynamics.
Even though their sound is based in drone based experimental electronics, Dieter Müh are often regarded as an industrial ambient group. If that's the case then 'Herma' focusses on the ambient side of their industrial ambient sound, while the other two tracks emphasise the industrial side of that description. 'Low Feed' mixes industrial churn mixed with tape manipulations where voices become almost alien. An electronic throb pulses underneath, like blood through coursing through the body. Electronics shimmer, whirr and echo, broken by sudden glints of crashing noise. This is the Dieter Müh I remember from the live shows I witnessed where they slipped seamlessly from subtle drones into denser, harsher sound layers writhing with distended, disembodied voices, sampled percussive clatter and chasms of noise. Unsettling, unnerving and oppressive 'Low Feed' is a great track.
The 23 minute side long piece 'Aghor' unfurls in various movements. The opening ambient sonics are laced with taped voices and intermittent bass thuds. It cut to crunchy, textured manipulations, followed by a passage of processed tapes of mutterings, utterings and whisperings shadowed by electronic oscillations, spliced with clicks and micro tone shudders. At this point there's a sense of ritual to be found within the soundscapes and primordial intonations before bass rumbles enter and underpin a dizzying morass of sound, where manipulated and disembodied voices are enveloped in waves of fluctuating distortion and noise and the flickering haze of frequencies. It is an impressive build up of sound, texture and intensity proving Dieter Müh's dexterity and firm grasp of composition. As it unwinds the loose bass tones and taped voices almost take the form of a live Throbbing Gristle performance, surging with brief bursts of vocals, rendered in a power electronics style sinking into silence and then edging out in queasy electronic oscillations.
Originally issued on cassette by the Japanese label Xerxes run by Yoshida Yasutoshi of Government Alpha and subsequently reissued on CD-R by the Italian label Blade Records The Bjorn Tapes is now released on white vinyl housed in a three-panel folded silkscreened cover released in a limited edition of 320 handnumbered copies on the Nuit et Brouillard side label Force Majeure. It's a handsome edition and well worthy of your time, especially if you've missed this group whose roots in early industrial inspired some fine releases, such as Cari Saluti and Tertium Organum, which collaged the sounds of industrial, experimental, ambient, ritual and noise to great effect. For more information go to Force Majeure" [Compulsion Online] |
2018 |
€18.00 |
|
| DIFFERENT STATE & SIGILL |
Spazmatic(k) Spell |
CD |
"This album, dedicated to A.O. Spare include 60 minutes of pure magic[k]al sounds conceived by two projec[k]ts: Different State and Sigill. Each of them represents a slightly different approach, although they are both connected by mystic[k]al, alc[k]emical, ritual character.
Marchoff (Different State) describes his music as alchembient. This sums his work up perfectly. It’s a mix of illbient a bit in the vein of Coil or Psychic TV, a great deal of alchemical incantations and moans, there’s a lot of elements so characteristic for Different State. In conciving the following material, Marchoff was aided by Laura Marchoff (angelic[k] voice, custom made generator A-23), Tom Westbum (clarinet, sax, alto sax, trumpet) and Janusz Sokolnicki (tube AMP, lead guitar).
Sigill is a project consisting of brat salo and Nantur-a duo creating electronic lunar spaces and astral soundscapes using samples and ancient instruments. The material was conceived during winter solstice 2006.
The disc is packaged in a deluxe 3-panel digipak." [label description]
www.zoharum.com
|
2008 |
€13.00 |
|
| DIMUZIO, THOMAS |
Amid Zero Echo |
do-10inch |
"Thomas Dimuzio's Amid Zero Echo marks the new release from this US underground legend from San Francisco, whose massive hypnotic soundscapes already released in the 90's were much ahead of the time!
Four new transcendental drone masterworks abstracted from electric guitar bristle with life through the dense, rich and detailed sonic expanse of Dimuzio's glorious sound world. Vibrating wires of the electric guitar inform a digital musique concrete modus operandi replete with unheard studio techniques which form a music with a strong organic core. These four drones open wide rooms for phantastic aural imaginations: like flying over endless grounds of unknown origin, sensing a heavy suction of extreme gravity, moving towards a black hole center... or driving into a totally dark mining tunnel with all the metallic ore and dust around.... These are drones that LIVE from the inside! Striking gatefold artwork by Mars Wellink showcases two clear vinyl LPs in an equally compelling and beautifully designed package.
Thomas Dimuzio is a musician, composer, sound designer, mastering engineer, label proprietor, and music technologist residing in San Francisco, California. Inspired as much by John Cage as Led Zeppelin, Dimuzio's music forms a sonic excursion that transports the listener into other worldly aural realms. “His work has a narrative, filmic tug that will draw you into its dark corners, ears alert… brilliant and rarely less than entertaining.” [Peter Marsh, BBC]
Long regarded as a musical pioneer for his innovative use of live sampling and looping techniques, Dimuzio has earned a deserved reputation worldwide as an avant-garde sound artist in touch with the aesthetic pulse of time and technology. A true sonic alchemist who can seemingly create music events out of almost anything, Dimuzio's listed sound sources on his various releases include everything from 'modified 10 speed bicycle' and 'resonating water pipe' to short-wave radios, loops, feedback, samplers, synthesizers and even normal instruments such as guitar, clarinet and trumpet. Dimuzio's eclecticism bespeaks a career equally informed by a profound dedication to his craft and collaborations with friends, artists and technologists alike.
Dimuzio's recordings have been released internationally by ReR Megacorp, Asphodel, RRRecords, No Fun Productions, Sonoris, Drone Records, Record Label Records, Odd Size, Seeland, and other independent labels. Among his collaborators are Chris Cutler, Dan Burke, Joseph Hammer, Anla Courtis, Nick Didkovsky, Due Process, Voice of Eye, Fred Frith, David Lee Myers, 5uu's, Matmos, Wobbly and Negativland." [label info]
www.substantia-innominata.de
"Attending a Thomas Dimuzio performance is like lying underneath a web of freeway bridges with your eyes closed; blocking out all visuals except the brief daggers of light that flicker with each passing car. There is a sense of probable dread—metal, wooden or cigarette debris from the vehicles could fly off and injure you—but also one of hypnotized calm, thanks to the amplified hum of Michelin and Goodyear against greased concrete." [Cameron MacDonald, Pitchfork Media]
"While I was listening to this double 10" record, I was thinking that Thomas Dimuzio has a very distinct sound, although I would not go as far as to say that I could pick him blind in a contest. The four pieces on this record are what we know from Dimuzio and what we love; at least that's what I do. It's never easy to know what Dimuzio is doing, and perhaps I have some romantic notion about it: take a teeny tiny fragment of sound and capture that is an endless range of sound effects, samplers, oscillators and filters and what else he got down in his studio. The cover says 'guitar and processing', so there you go: what do I know. Like so many others he knows how to manipulate the guitar beyond - light-years beyond actually - the sound of the guitar and it sounds like this dark, slow moving landmass; Drone Records, who are behind this series, calls him a sonic alchemist, and that term is perhaps over-used, but maybe not in this case, I think. Dimuzio creates the kind of drones that many
dream of and few can actually do: that of a constant swirl up, down and side ways spin, always moving and changing, never in state of standstill. It's music that could as easily work for as a soundtrack for a film, but is best enjoyed on it's own, in a barely lit room at night and at a louder volume: only then, I would think, the true beauty will be fully uncovered. Music as a total immersion event. The only downside is you have to get and change the record a few times; on the bright side, you have four pieces and the choice to release this as a double 10" is a great one. One day on CD, perhaps, please?" [FdW/Vital Weekly]
www.substantia-innominata.de |
2014 |
€20.00 |
|
| DIRAC |
Emphasis |
CD |
"Our way to create a record is based on the simple principle of direct-recording – which means the shape and form of our music is basically created within one moment. It is not only about meeting in a studio to do the recordings, but to stay together at one place with a focus on creating music and concentrated listening each day. The isolation from other musical inputs and the reduced input in general, being far off from bigger cities, far off an everyday-live takes you to the point when you don’t want to sound like something you know, you just want to search, experiment and play. John Cage said, that experimental music is where the outcome can’t be foreseen. These things happen through passion and not ambition.
For ‘emphasis’, we again went to Salzburg, where we could set up our gear in the basement of Florian’s parents house for one week – the same place we recorded our first album ‘dirac’. We recorded about 4 hours everyday , experimenting with different materials and instruments. We later listened to the results at the studio garnison7 in Vienna and did more editing work in a small hut up in the snowy austrian mountains in February 2008 – it was cold, electricity was short, but it was silent.
The record contains many details that have personal aural connections to us. The bell which reappears on emphasis is an old-cuckoo-clock from the hut. The crows that fly away are a field-recording from vienna´s augarten park – we went in there during the night and triggered the birds with a short lightimpuls from a flash light. The kids playing were recorded in a village in northern India were Daniel and Peter spent some time doing field-recordings. The trumpet appearing in Bantu was recorded by Peter on a frozen mountain lake in Austria – thereby the natural reverb of the valley is transferred onto the record. The cover-picture shows the roof of an old abandoned farming-house, close to the mountain hut where we worked on the record." [Peter Kutin, DIRAC]
www.spekk.net
|
2009 |
€15.50 |
|
| DISFATUM |
Death Instinct |
CD |
"Death Instinct is the debut album of DisFatum and delights us with dark ambient and black atmospherics ambience spiraling us towards an absolute pureness - there where nothing is needed nor nothing remains.
Taking the inspiration from the Freudian psychology, this album suppresses the equilibrium of being by combining the formless ambient drones and quietly sung vocals, harsher guitar and industrial ritualistic bits.
The album takes us on a delightful dark journey within the confines of the psyche, which is trying to survive a world ablaze. It conveys a mirror reflection of the outside into the inside and a natural wish to escape from the material - non material to a super position. A state from which there is no desire to return…ever.
Written, Performed by Ksenya Sirin."
|
2019 |
€12.00 |
|
| DMDN (DVA MET DVA NICHTS) |
Kapotte Muziek by... |
7inch |
" 'This is number 5 in a series' it says on the cover, although there are already 13 available. With an odd catalogue number – kp 8098. What the hell is going on? When Korm Plastics started the series ‘Kapotte Muziek by’, it was for friends to remix very specific recordings by Kapotte Muziek and quite early on it was decided that our friend DMDN should do one. Obviously a long term friend for all members of Kapotte Muziek, and co-bandmember of THU20. Enthusiastic he set to work and by the time he was ready to mix down what he had something broke down and everything was ruined. DMDN was no able to fix it, or repeat it and the whole project was shelved.
On February 26th 2010 DMDN took part in the 25th anniversary activities at Extrapool as the DJ of the ceremony, using a variety of turntables, cassette decks, CD players all loaded with Kapotte Muziek work from those 25 years (and slipping in some Goem, but we don’t mention that) and out of the blue send us 2 edited highlights – ‘here it finally is’. Now the series started out as a 7” series, then turned CD, but to honor DMDN for just once we go back to 7” – we have 100 pressed up and co-release it with DMDN’s own Antenne Records (although no mention of that on the cover, but he has half the edition, so when in Tilburg, The Netherlands, move over to Noordstraat 82 to visit his excellent store, or visit www.antenne-tilburg.nl). Two excellent dense pieces of electronics colliding and bumping in the hazy night. This might be the final installment in this series, since we have now completed it." [label info]
www.kormplastics.nl
www.kormplastics.nl
|
2012 |
€12.00 |
|
| DMT |
Ultimatum |
CD |
"DMT “Ultimatum” is the second album in “Die Zeichen” series run by kultFRONT and ZHELEZOBETON labels. The first part was released in 2013 - Sal Solaris “Die Scherben 2004-2010”. The new album is a tribute to Dmitriy Tolmatskiy who unexpectedly left us in 2009. Dmitriy was one of the few journalists who popularized the alternative culture in Russia. In late 90-ies he created the web portal RWCDAX and his famous “Industrial Culture Extended FAQ” which unveiled previously unknown layers of post-industrial art for many Russians.
“Ultimatum” shows the varied musical and stylistical planes of DMT. It mainly consists of compositions never officially released before, taken from CDRs which Dmitriy gave to his friends. There are also a few tracks from the compilations he had time to participate. Unfortunately not always were there notes and years of recordings. One track was digitized from an untitled audiocassette kept by the musician’s friends in his native city of Saratov. The album provides a glimpse into various periods of DMT’s sonic experiments from 1999 to 2008. It also features fragments of a live performance together with Alexei Borisov in St. Petersburg in December 2005.
For bandcamp users there is a bonus archive of three compositions. One remix by DMT of the Species Of Fishes track. One remix of DMT track by the Ghost Reflection project. And an extended version of the title track from the unreleased album “Cold Autumn in Belgrade” recorded in 2000." [label info]
kultfront.bandcamp.com
|
2015 |
€12.00 |
|
| DOCKSTADER, TOD & DAVID LEE MYERS |
Bijou |
CD |
„Bijou (ReR TGM2) ist nach Pond (2004) erneut ein Generationen übergreifendes Gemeinschaftswerk von TOD DOCKSTADER (*1932, St. Paul, MI) und dem New Yorker DAVID LEE MYERS. Während Dockstader mit seinem charmanten elektroakustischen Sonderweg seit Anfang der 60er zu den frühen Gurus der amerikanischen Musique concrète zählt (Eight Electronic Pieces, 1961, OWL-Recordings, 1966), trat Myers unter dem Pseudonym Arcane Device Ende der 80er Jahre an die Öffentlichkeit mit seiner eigentümlichen Feedbackmachinen-ästhetik (Engines of Myth, 1988, Also sprach Zarathustra, 1991, Diabolis Ex Machina, 1992), von der er sich in Kollaborationen mit etwa Asmus Tietchens (Speiseleitung, 1996, Flussdichte, 2001) und Thomas Dimuzio (Uncertain Symmetry, 2002) zunehmend löste, eine Entwicklung, die er auch durch die Verwendung seines Familiennamens unterstrich. Myers teilt mit Dockstader, mit dem er lange vor ihren Kollaborationen bereits im Briefwechsel stand, mehr als nur eine Vorliebe für Frösche, der sie mit Pond frönten, während Myers einen Frosch namens Beaumont als Held eines Kinderbuchs auftreten lässt. Bijou ist pures Cinema pour l‘oreille, das sich aus 27 kleinen Szenen entfaltet, mit ratterndem Vorführgerät als illusionistischem Vor- und Abspann und schmetternden Hollywoodfanfaren als ‚Credits‘. Dass das audiovisuelle Moment bei Dockstader immer eine große Rolle spielte, zeigt schon seine Recorded Music for Film, Radio & Television: Electronic (1979/1981). Zusammen mit Myers blättert er im „unconscious lexicon of sound“ (Chris Cutler), das als Bodensatz von millionenfach geteilten Stunden vor TV-Bildschirmen und Kinoleinwänden dem modernen Bewusstsein eingeschrieben ist. Dabei wurden Verbindungen gebahnt und Signale verankert, die rein auf klanglicher Basis so evokativ wirken, dass über das Gehör unwillkürlich ‚Atmosphären‘, ‚Stimmungen‘ und ‚Imaginationen‘ rückgekoppelt werden. Jeder weitere Werbeclip, jeder neue Film basiert auf solcher Konditionierung, solcher ‚Medienkompetenz‘. Bijou ist aber nur insofern der ‚totale Film‘, dass in ‚Dementia‘, ‚Scene of the Crime‘, ‚The Cringing Unknown‘, ‚Battle Finale‘ etc. Elemente aus Thriller, Melodrama, Doku, Film Noir, Kriegsfilm, SF usw. anklingen. Das Cover zeigt ein Psycho-Motel, der Soundtrack ist aber kaleidoskopischer, auf narrativer Ebene überwirklich und ambig, wie Erinnerungsfetzen, die nur von Traumlogik und Traumdeutung zusammengezogenen sind. Dockstader löst seinen Anspruch, „trying to push the sound a little farther forward toward Something we hadn't heard before“, insofern ein, dass er und Myers eine aus dem Medialen destillierte ‚Metasprache‘ finden mit der nahezu magischen Kraft von Klängen, die mit nichts als gewellter Luft und dem Reservoir medialer Erinnerungen im Stande sind, effektvoll Raum und Zeit auszuhebeln.“ [Rigobert Dittmann, Bad Alchemy # 49]
"A subtle, moody, rich and wide-ranging work, in which atmosphere, emotion and dramaturgy lead the ear far beyond music into a world of hints, evocations, anticipation and association -- and, in passing, reveal a complex metonymic language that, at a deep level, invokes that mostly unconscious lexicon of sound we have all absorbed collectively and subliminally in the course of a century of movie-going, television viewing, documentary recording and electroacoustic experimentation. Once sounds have been abstracted from events, they are free to act and interact as signs; they are no longer indications of the real. And from their use as indicators we learn new meanings (the low drone from Jaws, the shower strings from Psycho, a TV theme -- these are all as directly meaningful to us as a barking dog or an approaching train; after 1000 movies, the sound of a helicopter has as many fictional as factual meanings, and these accretions make experience imaginatively richer. This is the language Dockstader and Myers explore, and although, in a sense, such signs are weightless (there is nothing there) nevertheless we cannot unhook them and they conjure instinctively fragmentary narratives, events, places, situations and meanings. Where their last CD (Pond) abstracted sounds from real life (in fact, documentary recordings of frogs), this one invokes a fictional life invoked in a language of purely mediated abstraction." [label description]
|
2005 |
€14.00 |
|
| DONIS |
Без Гражданства (No Citizenship) |
LP |
This long-planned LP is dedicated to a very close man of the author – his grandfather. Based on the story of his life, it reflects the post-war Lithuanian near border residents’ fates. Some were killed, others exiled or remained in the occupied territory of the Soviet system, which is an equivalent to the internal deportation or capitulation and surrender, hypocrisy. However, it turns out that even in such circumstances there’s possible a silent one person's resistance against the entire system. In the dark Soviet times album’s hero dared to defy the executive instructions of their actions on the grounds that he was not a citizen of this country. In the events of turmoil, it can be considered a miracle that the latter had survived, but had not been exiled to the northern camps. He was issued an identity document “БЕЗ ГРАЖДАНСТВА” (in Russian, “No citizenship”).
Album compositions encode the post-war era’s symbols from child’s memory while listening to the stories of relatives. "So called Wolf's children – children wandering alone in East Prussia, which were protected by good people. "Flowering Gardens" – a generous harvest greeting exiles that returned home. "Cult servant" – a multi-layered and complicated personality and social status. "GEBURTSORT: SZINDAITSCHEN" – inscription in grandfather's personal documents indicating the place of birth, current Žindaičiai town. "1977” – the symbolic year in which the album’s hero died, and a few months later, LP’s author was born.
The record is done using only acoustic instruments and ambient sounds of the authentic grandfather's life places: the remaining houses, attics with old craftsman’s tools, native whistling winds of Žindaičiai and chirping birds, church, yellow rusted documents and photographs, squeaky steps in Jurbarkas’ town cemetery...
"БЕЗ ГРАЖДАНСТВА" is a melancholic, atmospheric instrumental ambient album for the human condition, when you become a stranger in your own homeland, imprisoned in a trap and a hard choice: to flee or to stay.
www.autarkeia.org
|
2016 |
€23.00 |
|
| DONZEL-GARGAND, BERNARD |
Still to be a Storyteller |
CD |
"No easy listening" hier von dem bisher nur durch eine CD auf PLATE LUNCH hervorgetretenen französischen Komponisten, dafür offenbart sich gleich ein ganzes Universum an schräger Geräuschkunst und weirden Klängen, alles sehr lebendig & überfordernd, viele field recordings & original Zitate werden benutzt & verfremdet, seltsame elektronische Sounds sind überall, das kommt uns manchmal vor wie die Schnittmenge aus BRUME, NURSE WITH WOUND und ASMUS TIETCHENS, viel weniger klassisch "elektro-akustisch" als das vielleicht bei seinem Werdegang zu vermuten gewesen wäre.
"The 20 years anthology of creative work from the french composer,consisting of only previously unreleased material. Fantastic soundscapes, drawing images without any visual similarities and presenting the best ever sense of acousmatic music.
BIOGRAPHICAL NOTES
Bernard Donzel-Gargand is the unique musician and composer. He is a celebrity in Annecy but unfortunately less known abroad, especially
because he published just one CD of fabulous works on Plate Lunch in 2001. Before discovering electroacoustic music in 1978, he participated in the free jazz movement and improvised music. Since that, he is the author
of acousmatic music, works for animation, dance and interactive contemporary art. In 1981, he founded the Collectif & Cie studio, together
with Philippe Blanchard, Alain Basso, Philippe Moenne-Loccoz, and Peter Ernrooth, amongst others. Later on, with Philippe Blanchard he founded Studio Forum and the yearly festival "Le Bruit de la Neige". Bernard was born in 1955 and composing the music since 70s, he knew personally Pierre Schaeffer and received some prizes at GMEB concours in Bourges.
He influenced Blanchard a lot, and his music was perfect example for many other young musicians in Annecy. But his musical career was not so active, because Bernard prefers to work alone in his studio rather than promote his music for publicity. But his works can be compared with the best electroacoustic music coming from France, and his name should be
mentioned with celebrities like Michel Chion, Xavier Garcia, Bernard Parmegiani, Luc Ferrari and Francois Bayle. His pieces are breathtaking
and transcending the sense of time.
'Bernard was my teacher there during 5 years between 1983 and 1988. With his help, I learned all inventives and sophisticated events in the sound art. I remember we have met together Pierre Schaeffer at a memorable concert that drew our way up to today. In such pieces as "Eloge de la folie" or "Erasme 1509", his music starts from a thought and constructs philosophical idea suggested by Mary, who was his muse for many years and until today, they used to travel together in the limbo land of the
universe and more beyond... Poetic! - it's the best word to explain the music of Bernard, his stretches of tones, sounds from nature, animals,
thunder, crazy cycle and subtle combinations of electronic sounds and field recordings. I also remember this early morning when we were waiting
for the rumour of a hunting horn in the distance of country, only to have a new life experience. For over ten years, we have established the Studio Forum and the Festival "Le Bruit de la Neige", this is a place where we work and develop our ideas, for which we may die one day! And defend also all projects of composers we invite each year. Finally, it is pure pleasure to be lost elsewhere in Bernard's music, primitive chaos, a confused state of the
elements that preceded the creation of the world. I hope this CD will interest a large audience because Bernard Donzel-Gargand is a unique composer and storyteller!'
Philippe Blanchard, May 2009 " [full press-release]
www.monochromevision.ru
|
2009 |
€13.00 |
|
| DORELLA, BRUNO |
Paradiso |
CD |
Italian musician and producer Bruno Dorella guides us to \"Paradiso\", his new solo album, with the music for the homonymous choreographic project of gruppo nanou, to be released on CD and digital on November 25th, 2022 by the independent label 13 / Silentes.
\"Paradiso\" was born for the choreography of the new show by gruppo nanou, a contemporary dance and performing arts company, founded by Marco Valerio Amico, Rhuena Bracci and Roberto Rettura. The collaboration between Dorella and the company has started almost a decade ago and over time has also involved Ronin and OvO, the main bands of the Ravenna-based musician - OvO were on stage in 2021 for Canto Primo: Miasma | Arsura, an encounter between sounds and infernal images, with Dante\'s recurring reference.
But there is more than this. \"Paradiso\" is also the first electronic music album made by Dorella who, during the lockdown period, focused himself more and more on softwares. The tracks are composed according to the bodies and the choreography of the show. Dorella says: \"The composition took a long time. The choreographic needs, and the effect of music on the bodies, often led me to think with a broader perspective. Me and the members of gruppo nanou started the work from mutual suggestions and gradually we understood each other faster and faster. We defined a common conception of rhythm, deciding to work on apparently \'off-grid\' rhythms, creating the illusion of something wrong together but perfectly timed. In reality, these rhythms are parallel planes that travel in time with each other, even if out of phase.\"
\"Saturno\" is the first single taken from \"Paradiso\" and contains the fundamental elements of the entire work. That is, parallel, overlapping, sinuous rhythms, apparently out of phase but which \"turn\" together. In addition to abstract guitars and breath as the only source of voice.
According to gruppo nanou: \"Bruno has composed a choreographic work. We have verified together how sound can accommodate the body and be in dialogue with the scenic action. It was a transitive operation between scene and sound, bodies and the material density of sounds, vibrations and motion. The beauty of this musical work is that it is concrete matter and at the same time it is a precise thought. All the rules and limitations that we set for the creation of the show - regarding choreography, sound, lights and scene - have managed to be assimilated to become creative resources and therefore to become exact viscera.\"
The journey of \"Paradiso\" is articulated into thirteen tracks and ends with the title track, which is also the brand new single from the album and the only episode that can be assimilated to an \"alien\" song-form, featuring Francesca Amati (Comaneci) on vocals. Dorella speaking: \"We always thought that, at a certain point, we needed a \'song\'. With Francesca there is a long-standing collaboration and gruppo nanou loves her tone of voice, so it has always been clear that she would be the one to sing the song. But she had to do it in a non-existent and unidentifiable language. So, I broke down the syllables of what Francesca had sung, recomposing them with a new result.\"
In Dorella\'s long and eclectic career, \"Paradiso\" is only his second solo record, following \"Concerto per chitarra solitaria\", created for a contemporary classical music festival and released in 2019 by Bronson Recordings. \"I always thought of ensemble music, never really in the solo dimension, and I always imagined that if I ever made a record on my own and with my name on it, it would be related to pure composition\", Dorella explains. Active since the late 90s, Bruno Dorella is also known under the pseudonym Jack Cannon and was a member of Wolfango, as well as founder of OvO, Ronin and Bachi da Pietra, and more recently of Tiresia and the GDG Modern Trio, as well as an element of Sigillum S. \"Paradiso\" is the first record that testifies his experience in the field of theater music, developed through collaboration with various theater and dance companies.
\"Paradiso\" is a collective effort among the contemporary research dance company gruppo nanou and the artist Alfredo Pirri. Its path begins in 2021 and continues until July 2022 through appointments, called sketches, intended as the progressive deepening and development of research and tests for the construction of a performative process that removes the concept of the beginning and end of a performance, as well as its front use.
The space is intended as an active place in which to immerse oneself, creating an impromptu community that accesses the performance as it happens in a museum exhibition. \"Paradiso\" is the beginning of a common journey starting from the Third Canticle of Dante Alighieri’s Commedia; as a paradise, it is an elsewhere space, inhabited by light and evanescent figures; a long cinematic shot in which to immerse yourself thanks to the music of Bruno Dorella. The stage space consists of a mirrored dance floor obtained by combining different layers of silver and gold carpets where reverberating spaces and territories, intertwined and choreographed by gruppo nanou. Indirect lighting allows the carpet to reflect the surrounding space, welcoming it inside visually and creating a floating perception and making the floor like a pond where the bodies in movement flake with evanescent contours. The place determines each time the use and arrangement of the scene created by Pirri; the space, as well as the bodies and the light, is reflected by the mirrored surface of the carpets, redesigning the geometry of the space itself. For this identity of relationship between place and scene, each Paradise is unique and unrepeatable, thus finding the impossibility of describing a Paradise uniquely, as Dante wrote in the beginning of the Third Canticle.
The gestures lose all trace of naturalism to turn into an abstract choreography, whose meaning is in the desire to bridge the distance between the gaze (of the viewer) and the bodies in action. The limit of the backgrounds is forced, torn, deteriorated by the body that attacks it with its choreographic action. The choreographic images are produced “accidentally”, and the bodies are immediately pulverized thanks to the process of abstraction that produces pure plasticity that surpasses all other instances. The evidence of every research step or residency is called sketch and, even if is still a studio form, it shows how the performative device works on the space, its architecture or lack of it, recreating and rethinking both the stage and how the audience interact with it. As it will be in his final form, every sketch is different from the others; not a step forward but a step in deep the research. In each different spaces there will be different sets and choreographic compositions. A difficult experience to tell.
Album credits:
Music composed, played, recorded and mixed by Bruno Dorella
Mastered by Giuseppe Ielasi
Vocals on 6 & 13 by Francesca Amati
Vocals 4, 9 & 10 by Elisabetta Da Rold
Voices treatment on 1 by Bruno Dorella & Giovanni Lami, 5 includes parts of Old Vogue Dancer by Bruno Dorella, 11 includes a sample by Stefano Ghittoni
Layout and artwork by Marco Valerio Amico
Photos by Daniele Casadio
Project credits:
Project: gruppo nanou, Alfredo Pirri, Bruno Dorella
Choreography: Marco Valerio Amico, Rhuena Bracci
Scenic space: Alfredo Pirri
Music: Bruno Dorella
Lights: Marco Valerio Amico
Colors: Marco Valerio Amico, Alfredo Pirri
Costumes: Rhuena Bracci
With Carolina Amoretti, Marina Bertoni, Vera Borghini, Rhuena Bracci, Francesca Dibiase, Andrea Dionisi, Agnese Gabrielli, Marco Maretti, Emanuel Santos, Sofia Pazzocco, Michele Scappa
And the graduates (2019) of the Post Diploma – Dance Course of the Civica Scuola di Teatro “Paolo Grassi” of Milan: Livia Bartolucci, Alessandra Cozzi, Elisabetta Da Rold, Agnese Gabrielli, Nicolò Giorgini, Simone Mazzanti, Camilla Neri, Francesca Rinaldi, Pablo Ezequiel Rizzo, Bruna Romano
Production: Nanou Associazione Culturale, Ravenna Festival
Contributon: MIC, Regione Emilia-Romagna, Comune di Ravenna, Fondazione del Monte di Bologna e Ravenna
Collaboration: Civica Scuola di Teatro “Paolo Grassi” di Milano
Support: Centro di Residenza della Toscana (Armunia-CapoTrave/Kilowatt), E Production, ATCL Circuito Multidisciplinare del Lazio per Spazio Rossellini Polo Culturale Multidisciplinare della Regione Lazio, C.U.R.A. Centro Umbro Residenze Artistiche, Spazio ZUT!, Indisciplinarte, La Mama Umbria International
https://brunodorella.bandcamp.com/album/paradiso
13.silentes.it/private_sounds/sps2258_bruno_dorella.htm
|
2022 |
€12.00 |
|
| DOYLE, ROGER |
The Ninth Set |
CD |
Noch aus UNITED DAIRIES-Anfängen bekannt ist ROGER DOYLE - sein 66 minütiges prämiertes Werk "The Ninth Set" überzeugt mit raumfüllenden atonalen Sphären-Drones, so rauh und symphonisch wie einige KAYN-Stücke! Durchsetzt von elektro-akustischer Spannung
schaffen "stehende" Wellen von Klang tiefe suggestive Räume, harmonische Wechsel geschehen unerwartet und zirkulär, Lautstärkelevel verändern sich dynamisch. Mitreissend!
"Irish composer Roger Doyle's first release on Die Stadt is his prize-winning work The Ninth Set, a 67 minute masterpiece in 5 parts. He was awarded the Magisterium Prize at this years's Bourges International Electro-acoustic Music Competition in France for parts 4 and 5. The award, which is one of the most important prizes in the world for electronic music, is open to composers having at least 25 years of professional experience in the field, and its objective is 'the promotion and diffusion of works that might become milestones in the history of electroacoustic music'. Previous works of Doyle include a 5-CD set Babel which took ten years to compose, where each track corresponds to a room or place within an imagined tower city; and the 3 hour Passades, music made from software that freezes sounds like a freeze-frame in DVD. He's also known for his project OPERATING THEATRE which released the classic "Rapid Eye Movements' album - consisting of 4 works composed between 1968 - 1980 - on Steven Stapleton's (Nurse With Wound) own United Dairies label in 1980. Furthermore he guested on Fovea Hex's 'neither speak nor remain silent' EP number 2 'Huge', alongside among others Clodagh Simonds, Brian Eno, Percy Jones and Colin Potter. More at http://www.rogerdoyle.com.
The CD comes in a color digipack in a first edition of 600 copies. Total playing time: 66:29 min." [press -release]
"...Through the five lengthy pieces of The Ninth Set, Roger Doyle cycles through rumbling episodes of recontextualized tumult and industrial heft, with every sound recorded and presented with impeccable digital clarity. At times, his work mangles Ligetti-esque vocal chorale through timestretching DSP tricks and thick digitally swabbed crescendos of grey noise; at others plucked cords, wires, and strings congregate into an unsettled mass with opaque rumblings and seasick swells. Throughout each movement, there's plenty of pregnant
interludes of relative quiet with punctations of rapidly approaching noise that halt at its peak with a razor cut to silence. Uncool, it
may be; but The Ninth Set is a brilliant record." [Aquarius Records review]
label-website: www.diestadtmusik.de
|
2007 |
€15.00 |
|
|
Chalant - Memento Mori |
CD |
"The latest album by the godfather of Irish electronica is surely the artist’s finest moment. Roger dusts down his old answer machine messages from his parents, son and close friends and skillfully blends these with his trademark piano & string arrangements.
After the haunting narrative tale of Cool Steel Army in 2009, Psychonavigation Records is proud to present the latest project by Ireland’s Godfather of Electronica Roger Doyle. When speaking about the project recently Roger said “I have composed music around telephone answering machine messages left on my machine from the late 1980s: from my now-deceased parents, my son when he was ten (he is now a father himself), Jonathan Philbin Bowman, and the morning after the opening night of Oscar Wilde’s Salomé at the Gate Theatre, for which I composed a 2 hour onstage piano score. There’s a presence, an atmosphere of nostalgia around these messages. Perhaps it is something to do with irretrievable time and the distance of 24 years that has passed since they were left.”
These intimate verbal time capsules have been interspersed with instrumental compositions evoking a world of an ancient race memory, giving a hint of exotic imagined cultures. Both ideas are forms of time signatures.
In 2011 The NOVA programme presented by Bernard Clarke on Lyric FM broadcast a one hour profile of these new works of Doyle. The programme which is built around Chalant was then chosen as one of the Top 5 winners in the prestigious Prix Europa awards in Berlin.
Album Of The Week in The Irish Times (30 March 2012), the digital copy of this album can be bought via our Bandcamp site here." [label info]
www.psychonavigation.com
|
2012 |
€15.00 |
|
| |
Babel |
5 x CD |
"This is a phenomenal listening experience of Wagnerian dimensions from composer Roger Doyle — and, arguably, also one of Wagnerian ambitions. Each of the five discs is separately titled: “Temple Music”; “Chambers & Spirit Levels”; “Delusional Architecture”; “Earth at Full-Moon”; “Leisure Pursuits.” The idea is that each piece in the first three discs is seen as an individual “room” within an overall city (Babel). Some are more explicitly physical spaces (“The Stairwell”; “Mrs Brady’s Room”, “The Dressing Room”) than others. Both discs two and three begin with “Entry Level” tracks, comprising montages of other music from the “house.” The final two discs are supposedly from a (fictitious) radio station of the Tower of Babel, KBBL.
The whole concept is amazing. Pieces are interlinked not just via the translocation of snippets, but via imagined stories (an instrumentalist heard in one track might be warming up for his/her solo in another track, for example). The rooms of the tower are individually characterized, along with the invocation of a panoply of imagined spaces: the orientalisms of the initial “Concert Music — Pagoda Charm,” for example. Doyle’s composition is virtuosic; his imagination seems to know no bounds. His technique of voice cut-ups and snippets of sound, which seems to owe a debt to the electronic music of Stockhausen, is perhaps heard in its purest form in “The Room of Rhetoric” from the “Chambers and Spirit Levels” section. At one point it seems to threaten to quote (or even morph into) Gesang der Jünglinge ; the vocal slides (near-groans) of the next track, “Spirit Levels I-IV” seem to link to the sliding God names of another Stockhausen piece, Stimmung . Yet while there are debts here, the “Cantilena” from “Temple Music” reminds us that, while using gestures linked to this composer, Doyle has a voice all of his own.
Doyle’s music can be tremendously evocative. The use of solo horn in the nocturnal scene that is “Yummus” from “Temple Music” works extremely well. He can do delicacy, too: the keening phrases of “The Stairwell” from “Chambers & Spirit Levels” are a case in point. But it is the unpredictability of much of what we hear, coupled with the ability to create a whole new individual universe, is what appeals here.
Finally, for Babel , the disc entitled, “Delusional Architecture.” The next track, “Dark Scenery Court Games,” seems to hearken back initially to the orientalisms of the opening of “Temple Music” before gaining its own trajectory. Drums seem to introduce a more primal, human element (the overall impression so far is, unsurprisingly, otherworldly); electronic slashings seem to seek to counteract the tendency to bring the music to Earth and its inhabitants. But for sheer zaniness, “Vertical Figures in Stone” takes some beating. Olwen Fouere is wonderful here. The track only lasts five minutes, but seems to encapsulate all that is special about Babel : virtuoso composition, an ear that can imagine entire (and musically consistent) universes; humor; otherworldliness; and a curious depth that seems to imply some sort of extraterrestrial otherness. The humor is carried over into “Beautiful Day” (whatever you imagine this piece as sounding like, I would bet money that you are wrong). The entire edifice ends with a death: “Mr Foley’s Last Moments”, a dark conclusion to a kaleidoscopic listening experience.
The final two discs are of the imagined radio station broadcasting from floor 25 of the Tower of Babel. The first is “Earth at Full Moon.” It opens with “The Morning Show” and an announcer giving the weather report (“Always a nice day, here in the Tower”) and moves on to far more human concerns than we have heard so far, all pinned together by Doyle’s brilliance with electronics. Singer Elena Lopez seems to imply that the vocal lines of her song “You must be in” are derived from the music of Puccini. The news report is impeccably humorous (we get traffic and hilarious ads with out-takes, too, plus a rather restrained jingle that informs us that they are broadcasting “in a language of your choice”). World music is up next, with “Surface du Monde,” a collage of musics from around the planet. Some of the music could almost come under the “easy listening” classification. The 16-minute “Trapeze in Full-Moon Nights (four acts from an imaginary circus)” is magnificently evocative. Waltzes appear, distorted in an aural mirror; think of the fairground from the popular TV series Heroes and that should give some idea. It is all great fun.
Finally, “Leisure Pursuits,” split into two “shows.” First up is “The Entertainment and Leisure Pursuits Show,” complete with adverts. This is the slow side of radio, with a twist. The implication, from the phone-in on the second show, “The Nightshow” (“We’re going to transfigure the night,” says the announcer), is that the show is piped into everyone’s home whether they want it or not (track 24), and can’t be turned off. The adverts for a sleeping pill (from “Soma Pharmaceuticals”) imply that to be the only escape. Heard on their own, the last two discs might be shrugged off as clever, but so what? Heard in the context of the preceding three discs of Babel , they take on a whole new level of meaning as part of a story, part of an impeccably imagined alternative world experience. Fascinating, and well worth the time required to properly immerse oneself in the weird and wonderful contents of Roger Doyle’s head." [Colin Clarke]
|
2013 |
€35.00 |
|
| 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 |
|
| DREAD (LUSTMORD) |
In Dub |
CD |
"dread is a newly formed project of legendary sound artist brian williams who began working under the name lustmord in 1980, and since then his dark sound sculptures have been highly influential not only in music genres such as ambient and industrial, but also in film and games. besides these genres, williams is also addicted to the sonic potential of dub music, which was reflected in various dub mixes he made for other artists, in an entire remix album for the puscifer project, and in a dub remix ep for the lustmord album [other] in 2009. for quite a while it was his desire to form an individual project dedicated to the dub genre, and after years of preparation and recording ant-zen is glad to present dread's debut: in dub. the mightiness and intensity of this album is both tense and trance inducing, drawing attention to the shape and depth of the space between sounds as well as to the sounds themselves. the instrumental tracks drenched in echo and reverberation ebb and flow, dropping in and out of the mix, and are kept together by the prominent use of varied deep bass application. the usage of implemented voices, acoustic drums and an alectric guitar played by wes borland (limp bizkit) create a distinctly organic feel to the music, even though the effects are electronically created. both unique and original, this release meld seamlessly into the tapestry of brian williams' work. breathtaking, dark, unshiftable and solid, this is the kind of dread where you're not sure where the evil force lurks, but you know it's out there searching for you... highly recommended."
lustmord.bandcamp.com/album/in-dub |
2017 |
€13.50 |
|
| DRUMM, KEVIN |
Humid Weather |
LP |
"Microphone, electronics, field recordings. Initialy published by Kevin Drumm himself in a very limited CDR edition. A mixture of field recordings and microtonal drones with intercepted voices." [label info]
www.bocianrecords.com
"A Bocian Records regular, Kevin Drumm, with another new LP of his work, which he recorded in July and August 2012, and perhaps there was humid weather in Chicago back then? There is not a lot of information on the cover, with regards to instruments and such like. The title piece spans side A, and on side B we find 'Heat Stress' and 'Humidity Can Suck It'. To start with side B is to start from an obvious point of entry. We know and love Kevin Drumm as a noise maker and these two pieces are very much like you would expect him to do. You could wonder if that's a good thing, but I quite enjoyed these two massive slabs of noise. Maybe there is some field recording in there, but there are effectively transformed by the use of effects and analogue synthesizers. It's what he does best, and Drumm isn't exactly of the Wall of noise school guys, but he's certainly one heavy composer. Chaotic it bounces around, like the finest Merzbow piece. It's great, but it's what you expect. The big surprise is to be found on the other side. Here we have a piece which is build from field recordings, lots of rain and thunder sounds, but also bits of street sounds. That's about one-third of the piece, the rest is made up from a very low ambient sound, mostly electronic I'd say, of a few loops howling around in the far distance, and nothing much else. This is great piece, unlike much, if not all, you may have heard from Drumm. A fine piece of ambient music, humming away in the background, almost like a very quiet Brian Eno piece. That perhaps is the biggest surprise - well, at least for me it is." [FdW/Vital Weekly] |
2013 |
€16.00 |
|
|
Trouble |
CD |
"Recorded Winter 2013-2014 at Frostbite, Chicago, IL. Mastered by Russell Haswell. 'Trouble' is the brand new dispatch from the assorted output of Kevin Drumm and sits as one of the quietest in his entire catalogue. A single continuous 54 minute excursion into the netherworld of the audio spectrum, 'Trouble' is neither ambient nor drone but a more complex investigation into the deep recesses of sound. One which discreetly works itself into the mind of a listener willing to invest in the path laid out in this extremely subtle, beautiful and exceptional release." [label info]
www.editionsmego.com
"Kevin Drumm has been known to wield an iron fist on his recordings—records like Sheer Hellish Miasma, Impish Tyrant, and Electronic Harassment are titled that way for a reason—but Trouble may punish you in different, and sneakier, ways. This is the quietest record I've heard since Bernhard Günter and Francisco Lopez's hushed microsound works from the turn of the millennium. It is so quiet that you'll need to turn the volume up very, very loud to hear it well, or indeed, at all. In my case, that involves several steps—one volume control on the laptop, one on the audio interface, and one on the DJ mixer that it all runs through on the way to a pair of studio monitors—as well as closing the window in order to shield Drumm's filament-like drones from the rumble of traffic outside. Suffice to say, this is an album that requires some effort, and part of that effort might involve just sitting still.
I thought I might get some multi-tasking done—file maintenance, email cleanup, general absent-minded mousing around—while I sat and zoned out to a first run-through of what might be the Chicago noise musician's most ethereal recording since 2009's Imperial Horizon. But I had forgotten about the computer's default alert sounds, and when I went to delete a document, I was startled by the noise that suddenly tore through my speakers—a sound like boots crunching through snow, almost painfully loud. The sound, of course, came not from Drumm's Worse than Burning Offal studios, but from a lab in Cupertino. But it was tempting to imagine that moment of sonic violence as a part of the piece, in a way. Kevin Drumm wants your full attention, and he has mastered Trouble in such a way to practically guarantee it.
Another, perhaps better, option is just to leave the album on in the background at a natural, almost inaudible volume, and let it sink in like incense. That's the same line of thinking behind Imperial Horizon's lone, hour-long track "Just Lay Down and Forget It", presumably. I can think of few passive listens that might be less taxing than this shimmering, 54-minute piece, divided into two halves and separated by a minute or two of actual, total silence. As far as wallpaper music goes, Brian Eno's Music for Airports scans as a clash of gaudy op-art prints compared to Drumm's almost invisible layer of atmosphere. Still, per the title, Drumm's disappearing act amounts to a kind of uneasy listening, even at an almost imperceptible volume. This is the sound of fingertips slowly tracing crystal rims; of whale song heard from the opposite end of the ocean; of ghost trains braking in the dead of night. It is the sound of mountains slumping and mist settling. Its deathless peal is a dead ringer for the music of the spheres—all that friction, all that reverb, nothing but shivering frequencies, from here to the ends of the known universe. It's the ghostly microwaves of cosmic background radiation.
Despite Drumm's noisy reputation, his music can be overwhelmingly sensual even at its loudest. Sheer Hellish Miasma's "Hitting the Pavement", for instance, is a full-body rubdown of distortion—part airplane engine, part power sander, yet still, above all, a welcoming embrace. And that goes a thousand-fold for the sublime Trouble, an album that invites you to dive into its clutches with the promise of never hitting bottom. The noise floor is a very, very long way down." [Philip Sherburne/Pitchfork]
|
2014 |
€14.00 |
|
| |
Inexplicable Hours |
do-LP & CD |
Inexplicable Hours is the sequel of the successful six-CD boxset Elapsed Time, also released by Sonoris in 2017. The first LP documents a new direction in his music, with some of his last electroacoustic experimentations with audio generators, field recordings, and various electronic devices. The second one explores the same ambient/drone territories as the boxset, with tracks less static and more complex than it appears on the first listen. And as always with recent Kevin Drumm’s music there’s a sense of majesty, of mystery and a melancholic beauty that is uniquely his own.
Some words about the boxset are also appropriate for this record:
“Despite Drumm’s noisy reputation, his music can be overwhelmingly sensual even at its loudest, providing a form of minimalism replete with a delicate, melancholic motion. How wildly divergent emotions rise, hover, and fall using so little is a mystery that only Kevin Drumm can provide.” (Soundohm)
“The vast array of styles and works to be had here makes it an engaging challenge, one that can differ widely from disc to disc, but never lacks the cohesion and touch of a master craftsman and composer working at the top of his game.” (Brainwashed)
“These pieces, despiste their lenght, are like perfect miniatures, timeless puzzles that you try and unravel through close listening. And their sense of place, of home, of sanctuary, feels more important than ever right now.” (The Wire)
Mastering by Giuseppe Ielasi.
2 LPs packaged in a deluxe 6-panel/double gatefold sleeve, with CD version in cardboard cover included. 700 copies.
|
2018 |
€27.00 |
|
| DUAL |
Fall (live in Berlin at the Drone Rec. Festival April 2000!) |
do-mCDR |
Hier ist der fantastische Auftritt DUAL’s im Berliner Podewil während der drei Drone Records-Konzertabende im April 2000 dokumentiert. Ein einziger Sog aus pulsierendem Drone und dichtem Klang, mit perkussiven Elementen versehen, stimulierend und absolut erhaben!!
Recording from the fantastic gig DUAL made in Berlins Podewil during the three Drone Records-concert-events there in April 2000. This is a sole suction made of pulsating drone and dense sound, with percussive elements, stimulating and sublime !! PURE ELATION !
|
2003 |
€12.50 |
|
|
Klanik |
7inch |
Nahezu weiss in weiss ist die dezente Gestaltung für die Klanik / 4tH-EP.... DUAL gehören für uns definitiv zu einer der besten wirklich experimentellen "ambient-guitar“-Bands ...Wiederveröffentlichung der EP von 1999!
"DUAL hail from Doncaster, now based in London, England and have so far released two cassettes and a 7" on Dirter Promotions. Their music is a mixture of mighty guitar-drones with massive sub bass undertones & slight rhythmic structures that evoke feelings of total transcendence and grandeur. On Side A (KLANIK) there seem to be cascades of tuneful layered guitars that speak a special language of their own, on Side B (4tH) more concrete elements (rumbling and squealing) and unpleasent feedback arising, added by strange backwards sounds creating a rather eerie and challenging feel to it. This is highly demanding incremental experimental guitar-music with a very individual style!” [original label info August 1999]
|
2005 |
€6.00 |
|
| |
Klanik / 4tH (SOLD OUT) |
7 |
"DUAL hail from Doncaster, now based in London, England and have so far released two cassettes and a 7" on Dirter Promotions. Their music is a mixture of mighty guitar-drones with massive sub bass undertones & slight rhythmic structures that evoke feelings of total transcendence and grandeur. On Side A (KLANIK) there seem to be cascades of tuneful layered guitars that speak a special language of their own, on Side B (4tH) more concrete elements (rumbling and squealing) and unpleasent feedback arising, added by strange backwards sounds creating a rather eerie and challenging feel to it. This is highly demanding incremental experimental guitar-music with a very individual style!
BLACK VINYL, WHITE PRINTED INLAYS, HANDMADE WHITE COVERS BY DUAL." [press release]
|
1999 |
€ |
|
| DUENN |
On Layer |
CD |
Duenn (Fukuoka, Japan) is an electronic musician and composer producing minimal works, using a minimum of equipment. With "On Layer" he brings us 5 fragile dreamscapes reminding of the late, great Oophoi, which says a lot about the impact of the music...
Duenn (Fukuoka, Japan) is an electronic musician and composer producing minimal works, using a minimum of equipment. Through collaborations with other artists, both sonic and visual, Duenn seeks an expansion of self. In 2017, Duenn formed the experimental collaborative unit 3RENSA with Merzbow and Nyantora. Duenn co-hosted the ambient event "Hardcore Ambience" with Nyantora.
Duenn's works have been published by Entr'acte (UK), SicSic Tapes (DE), New Motion (COL), OnmyÅdÅ Cassette (US), Grumpy Records (UK), Slowdown Records(JP), Progressive Form (JP), White Paddy Mountain (JP).
duennjp.tumblr.com
https://soundcloud.com/silentes-13
"The latest from Japanese electronic sound artist Duenn is Pattern. This recording is laid out in two parts, or two lengthy ambient ‘patterns’. The sonic soundscape drifts, or rather it glides along extremely fluidly. Any slight ripple is noticeable in this rather minimal composition of secluded harmony.
About five minutes in most listeners will dip slowly into a quasi consciousness. The light layers, many of them, overlap just slightly, all quite transparent, but in succession create a haze induced by a low-slung reverb and a glaze of light static. Though a cloudy density is certainly well built, the impossibility of gravitational disconnect is presented. These resonances seem incurably weightless. I’m reminded of countless documentaries of rockets zooming toward outer space, as the atmospheric layers are pierced, parts of the ship are discarded to make way for the central navigation pod, think Apollo 9 and its more glorious successors. Consider space as a whole, and altitude, and the complexity of being untethered to Mother Earth. It’s daunting, and somehow as soothing as any sleep concert I’ve ever attended.
On the flipside Pattern [part II] opens in darkness, but quickly opens with split warm and chill tonalities. We are now on a journey it seems, and the synths here are aligned with smoothly brushed lines making for quite a meditative piece. The inflections developed are more ranging in the second part, rising to a brighter hue that seems to continue expanding with each gentle modulation. If sound were nature, this would be a waterfall upon a high mountain peak." [Toneshift] |
2019 |
€13.00 |
|
| DUNCAN, JOHN |
Da sich die Machtgier... |
CD |
DUNCAN macht sich hier über einen CIORAN-rezitierenden ASMUS TIETCHENS her, dessen Vokalisationen (v.a. Silben) zerschnitten, de-fragmentiert und wieder zusammengesetzt werden zu höchst kuriosen Ergebnissen. Neben der Kreation dieser neuen Sprachlichkeit entwirft DUNCAN auch wieder die so beliebten, ins Infinite schwelgenden Monumental-Drones, und schreckt auch vor harschen Prozeduren nicht zurück. Das alles basiert auf den Stimmbändern unseres alten Lehrmeisters ASMUS T.
New work with DUNCAN working on TIETCHENS voice recititing CIORAN. His words are cut, de-fragmented and put together again to build a highly obscure new language.. also DUNCAN creates his beloved monumental-drones that spread into infiniteness, and even harsher procedures are to find on this very nice work !!
„ John Duncan about 'Da sich die Machtgier...': ASMUS TIETCHENS proposed that he and I work together years ago -- many years ago. For a variety of reasons it didn't happen , and at this point I don't remember any of them. Finally we agreed to start: I asked him to send a recording of his voice and said I'd work with it, send him the result and continue from there -- figuring that he would add to my gestures, then I'd add to his, ect., until we were both satisfied. Asmus sent recordings of him reading two excerpts from texts by E.M. CIORAN. Asmus had already processed his voice on both tracks, which are left more or less intact here on track 3.
After eighteen more months I started working on them, and a couple of weeks afterward send him the results. Asmus liked what he heard, said he felt it was already finished -- and since he hadn't participated directly in the composing process, he couldn't accept credit for involvement in it. We still disagree on this, but it's useless to insist that someone accept what he doesn't feel he's earned. So although I remain convinced that Asmus deserves to be acknowledged as an equal, we've agreed that this project would be credited to me alone.”
And here’s the CIORAN QUOTE:
"For thousands of years, the appetite for power being dispersed in countles tyrannies, great and small, which have raged here and there, the moment seems at hand when that appetite must finally collect and concentrate in order to culminate in a single power, expression of that thirst which has devoured, and still devours the globe, last word of all our dreams of mastery, the consummmation of our hopes and abberations. The sattered human herd will be united under the guardianship of one pitiless shepherd, a kind of planetary monster before whom the nations will prostrate temselves in an
alarm bordering on ecstasy. The universe brought to its knees, an important chapter of history will be closed. Then will begin the disintegration of this new reign and the return to the primal disorder, to the old anarchy; the smothered hates and vices will reappear and with them the minor tyrants of the bygone cycles. After the Great Slavery, mediocre ones. But as they emerge from their monumental servitudes, the survivors will be proud of their shame and, incomparable victims, will celebrate its memory.” -- E.M. Cioran, 'Learning from the Tyrants' [press release]
|
2003 |
€15.00 |
|
| DUNCAN, JOHN & C.M. VON HAUSSWOLFF |
Our Telluric Conversation |
CD |
„John Duncan und Carl Michael von Hausswolff sind bestens bekannt für ihre Erkundungen auf dem Gebiet der minimalen Klangbereitung. Schon für sich allein vermeiden beide den Überfluss und das Geplapper. Zusammen nun sind sie der reduzierten Form noch ein großes Stück näher gekommen. Ihre zweite Kollaboration beweist den brillianten Umgang mit hohen und tiefen Klangfrequenzen und Geräuschelementen, die sie dem Kurzwellenempfang, Oszillatoren und mikrofonbestückten Drähten entlocken. Auf dieser CD sind drei entsprechende, langförmig gestrickte Dronekonstruktionen zu hören. Auf spürbar tiefem Grundraunen werden Geschichten geflüstert. Ströme unterschiedlicher Qualitäten, zwischen weissem Rauschen und scharf peitschenden bis hoch tönenden Wellen oszillierend, spielen zusammen, überlagern sich und sind doch fein abgesetzt voneinander. Während man damit beschäftigt ist, verirrte Digitalsplitter abzuwehren, drückt der Stereoeffekt einen, alle Materie unmerklich deformierenden, schleppenden Brei aus dicker Watte in den Raum. Diese Form der Meditation ähnelt dem ersticktem Schreien. Doch kann man in den Minuten, in denen man subtil auf Herz und Nieren geprüft wird, wunderbar im 40seiten Booklet nachblättern, warum Unterhaltung auch Schmerz bedeuten kann. Eine gummiartige Ummantelung, der ein Titel in Brailleschrift eingeprägt wurde, hält Booklet und CD zusammen.
_Duncan and Hausswolff are wellknown for their explorations in the fields of minimal sound settings. Both names are standing for an almost minimal musical gesture.Together they have found their way to reduce it yet again. Their second collaboration shows a brilliant handling of deep and high frequencies and noise elements from shortwave, data streams, oscillators and wire tapping microphones. Three pieces of long-form drone constructions are assembled on that CD. Deep background noises, controlled white noise and streams of sharp high tone waves are growing slowly up from the nowhere. A hypnotical continuum of sound forces the listeners full attention, nudging him into airless space through sudden breaks in it. There is also a quiet interesting 40 page booklet with an interview between Duncan and Hausswolff about their histories, ideas, and methodologies, explaining also their accurate purity. It is a very good completion to a music which is composed from the point of psychology research and visual art. All together in a card board embossed with braille and covered with a rubbery coating.” [Peter Schlewinski for Drone Records]
”23five Incorporated proudly presents Our Telluric Conversation -- the second collaborative album from John Duncan and Carl Michael von Hausswolff. This is an album which Duncan describes as having been galvanized by magnetism. In a semantic sleight of hand, Duncan and Hausswolff reveal magnetism through a duality of meanings. One on hand, they speak of the physical phenomenon of charged objects that exert an attraction or repulsion upon other objects; yet on the other, magnetism can be defined the psychological influence wielded by charismatic individuals. Our Telluric Conversation maps out the complexities that emerged through the collaborative pursuits of these venerated sound artists.
The tools that the two employed for Our Telluric Conversation are common to their respective catalogues of recordings, with Duncan bringing his shortwave, data streams, and uncanny use of the human voice while Hausswolff employed oscillators, sonar, and wire tapping microphones. The album opens with the mechanical rotation of modulated sonar, providing a hypnotic pulse which slowly submits to an obstinate surge of rumbling noise, that in turn collapses into focused white-noise turbulence and tone-bent SSB transmissions. All of this abruptly detours with a protracted spoken narrative from Hausswolff who whispers a Pynchonesque text about a maggot-infested individual who seeks to remedy his affliction by communing with cobras and geckoes. Afterwards, Duncan and Hausswolff entertain the seduction of the long-form drone constructions; however, their sublime minimalism is so brilliant in its beauty as to be piercingly acute through the purity of honed sinewaves. The final entry from their Conversation is the perfect marriage of the established Duncan and Hausswolff aesthetics, with a spare low-frequency hum deadening the sonic architecture before a static charge of crackled ether supplements the auditory smoldering.
Our Telluric Conversation stands as a bold, expressive piece of sound art, confident in its multiplicity of perspectives caught in a constant flux of attraction and repulsion. The recording comes with a 40 page booklet with an interview between Duncan and Hausswolff about their histories, ideas, and methodologies; furthermore, the packaging is completed by a curiously tactile O-card, which has been embossed with braille and covered with a rubbery coating.....” [press release]
|
2006 |
€14.00 |
|
| DUNCAN, JOHN & GIULIANA STEFANI |
Palace of Mind |
CD |
"... a really mind-blowing journey into pure sounds - same concert as he played during his small tour in Germany December 2000. Needs to be played loud. Our favourite DUNCAN-album so far. Mysterious, powerful, organic. A real experience." [Drone Rec. 2001]
label: www.allquestions.net
"Palace Of Mind is the 2000 recording collaboration between John
Duncan and Giuliana Stefani. Mr. Duncan has long been one of AQ's
favorite experimentalists, having started things out back in the '70s
LA performance art community only to quit the US to pursue his own
intense psychological research into sound, projection, installation,
photography, and the like. Stefani is a mathematician by training and
became acquainted with Duncan through a collaborative project they
began in Amsterdam in 1996. For this album, the two sifted through
digital treatments of shortwave transmissions, wire-tapped data
streams, and voice. In turn, they work the album into labyrinthine
composition that can hold any number of potent metaphors: the neural
synapses of the human brain, the schematics of a computer, or simply
an architectural set of overlapping resonant spaces. Rareified tones
set with motoric vibrations transition through the fluttering of (or
rather the lack there of, as this sounds like the empty spaces between
the bands marked by a mechanoid oily hiss) and onto slashing digital
drone. Here, one can think to Duncan's exceptional field recordings
made at the Stanford Linear Accelerator in the early '90s. Within the
movement from an irritable data-stream purity to the gossamer haze of
shortwave distortion to gaping drones of treated vocal vibrato, Duncan
and Stefani have set a trajectory deep into the heart of their sonic
architecture, with each 'room' saturated with an anxiousness for what
may be on the other side of the door. You won't find Duncan firing a
gun at your head (seriously, he did that as performance piece called
Scare back in the late '70s, using blanks mind you), but Palace Of
Mind revels in an interlocking network of chambers that resonate and
breathe with a profound beauty. Highly recommended!" [Aquarius Records]
|
2000 |
€15.50 |
|
| DUNCAN, JOHN / KONTAKT DER JÜNGLINGE / C.M.VON HAUSSWOLFF |
Untitled |
CD |
Übriggebliebene Kopien einer CD die anlässlich eines DIE STADT-Konzertabends in Brüssel (18.10.2007) veröffentlicht worden ist: Ein langes live-Stück von JOHN DUNCAN (San Francisco July 2007) -> wieder spürt man man hier die rohe & archaische Kraft von reinem Klang und die grossen Dynamikeffekte von eingesetzer "fliessender" Stille (24+ Minuten). Überraschenderweise dann ein älterer live-Mitschnitt von KONTAKT DER JÜNGLINGE, und zwar vom Mai 2003 aus Montreal, der sie sehr rauh und ausserweltlich dronig zeigt, auf verschiedenen Klangleveln (gefällt uns natürlich ausgezeichnet).
Bei CM VON HAUSSWOLFF geht es wie gewöhnlich noch 'ne Ecke verschrobener zu, wenn beim "All Tomorrows Parties"-Festival (?) rhythmisch wiederkehrende Quietsch- oder Sinustöne zu vernehmen sind.... diese CD funktioniert sowohl als rares Bonus-Material für die Fans, aber ist auch für Drone-Novizen geeignet, die sich in die Materie hineinzoomen wollen.
"To be on Die Stadt as an artist seems to me a great thing. Besides great looking releases, they organize events for you, and for such an occasion they usually release a CD or a 7", which can be bought on the night, but there is always a left-over for the unlucky who didn't make it. Last month there was an event in Brussels with three stable mates: John Duncan, CM von Hauswolff and Kontakt Der Junglinge. Perhaps Die Stadt asks too much of their artists, and none did a new studio recording, but you could also think it's interesting to capture a live track by them. So three live tracks here. Duncan's piece was recorded at the Compound, earlier this year, and although it's a while since I last heard studio recording by John Duncan, it sounds like a trademark piece for him: micro tones, composed from heavily processed shortwave sounds, make up a fine piece shifting from intense loudness to careful and delicate. Very nice. Kontakt Der Jünglinge, being Asmus Tietchens and Thomas Köner, present a recording from 2003, at the Mutek festival. They too present a characteristic piece for them with computer processing of acoustic sounds. Loads of dark rumble and high pitched processed sounds. Hauswolff's piece seems to be made with bird sounds, looped around and with a crescendo of noise coming in and more insect like sounds. Nice but not his best. Three good introductions of three great artists (well, four), in case you ever would need that." [FdW / Vital Weekly]
www.diestadtmusik.de
|
2007 |
€13.00 |
|
| DUNCAN, JOHN / M. LE DONNE-BHENNET // TOM MARIONI |
Auftauchen |
LP |
Collectors Item / Art-Release on the Dutch label SLOWSCAN, specialised on (re)-releasing rare- & live-material from SoundArt-Composers. On this LP we find one very early JOHN DUNCAN-track called “MAYDAY” from 1983 (10 min.) using raw radiowave-sounds, speech experiments by MICHAEL LE DONNE-BHENNET (1980), and the whole B-side is filled with a great minimal rhythmic piece by TOM MARIONI (“Drum Brushing (on sand paper)” from 1978.
We don’t know if this is a re-release of an older re-release or has to be put together randomly, as there’s no info given from the label. Numbered edition of only 99 copies and high price unavoidable!!
|
2005 |
€39.00 |
|
| DUPLANT, BRUNO |
Quelques Usines Fantomes |
CD |
"As a listener, I’m always intrigued as to what attracts me or doesn’t with regard to works in the field recording vein. The same applies to other areas of music as well, of course, but it’s especially interesting in these works composed of sounds generally taped on site and, to a lesser or greater degree, assembled back in the studio. They’re simply sounds, after all, more or less what I could hear on my own by concentrating on my surroundings at any given moment (allowing for different sources from different locations) which I often do anyway. Why be so absorbed by someone else’s impressions?
Two things, I think, at least. One is a basic affinity with the assembler as far as particular sounds that he or she finds beautiful, fascinating, notable, resonant. As much as one might consciously think that such hierarchies are entirely beside the point, there remains that nagging tendency, whether culturally or genetically inculcated, to prefer one sound, or combination of sounds, to another, at least to the extent one hasn’t fully assimilated Cage et. al., often a more difficult, thornier task than readily admitted. Second is the way these sounds are ordered, layered and contrasted, certainly as subjective a judgment, but one having to do with an appreciation of the composer’s poetic sense, in the perceived “rightness” of the sequence of sounds, ultimately not so different, I think, to one’s enjoyment of post-AMM improvisation.
Though I’d heard examples of this approach since college days, the first such music to really make a strong impression on me was probably Luc Ferrari’s “Presque Rien”, and shortly thereafter, Toshiya Tsunoda’s “Scenery of Decalcomania”. They certainly, for me, contained the two elements described above and, more, evoked an extremely realsense of place, in the manner that I hear things, a very self-centered view, but one I think comes part and parcel when listening to work in this area. Over the years, hearing countless examples of field recording as it has become more and more pervasive (often mixed with live improvisation, sometimes set to disc untouched, often manipulated in the studio), I’ve often questioned myself as to why this example failed to move me while that one did. It’s usually very hard to quantify, somehow even more so than determining the relative value in a free instrumental performance.
I was thinking through this while listening to Bruno Duplant’s “Quelques usines fantômes” (which would be translated into English as “some ghost factories”). Why is this particular collection and distribution of sounds so appealing? They seem to have been drawn, largely, from a waterside area, perhaps a canal, not an overly busy one but where a certain amount of activity is taking place, maybe early in the morning a la Ferrari’s classic work. Duplant eschews going for overt watery sounds, contenting himself with low-level, subtle lapping, the soft creaks of hull on wooden piers, the gentle puttering of a small outboard motor, etc. These serve as the spine of the piece and are consistent throughout (after the first few minutes, at least), another aspect I tend to find compelling: choosing a given sound world and sticking to it, investigating its features in detail, allowing it time to generate a larger effect than mere sonics. There are plenty of other sounds, to be sure: metal objects dropping to the floor, unidentifiable hums, an odd, theramin-like wavering tone, wind billowing in enclosed spaces—at least this is how I hear them; who knows their actual source? But that’s of no import; one accepts this world, which is a basic thing for me. As in any good story or film, the reader/viewer has to accept the presented world as valid, as internally consistent, as “real” at least in the mind of its creator. “Quelques usines fantômes”, whether one picks up on the spirits being manufactured or not, readily achieves this. One is immersed in the world, deriving both sensual enjoyment and, more, generating one’s own narrative, trusting that one is on solid ground. The periodic, electronic-sounding hums that surface give the world a bit of a science fiction or otherworldly sheen, perhaps appropriate given the work’s title, though it’s those real world sounds that anchor the piece for me. Duplant has said he wanted to create a “between world” and I think he has.
A full, rich work then, one of the better things I’ve heard in this lineage in recent years and very much worth losing oneself in.”
(Brian Olewnick, May 2011)
www.unfathomless.net
|
2012 |
€14.00 |
|
| |
Nox |
CD |
The sound piece Nox (in addition to reflecting the traditional nocturnal effluvia specific to the title) is based on the multiple meanings and interpretations that can be made of the incomplete form of the dactylic hexameter and palindrome In girum imus nocte ecce et consumimur igni. This Latin phrase, pictorial and poetic, most often attributed to Virgil, refers to the moths that circle around the candle before burning themselves, and which means: “We go around in circles in the night and we are devoured by fire “. It is also, much closer to us, a French film directed by Guy Debord in 1978. The film (lasting 95 min) describes the consumer society and capitalist alienation, applying to highlight the condition of modern slaves. Today even more this Latin expression takes on a new meaning with the phenomena of ultra-liberalism and major climate crisis. Man, like moths, burns his wings on the fires he himself lit and continues to maintain despite warnings and threats. Are we witnessing the end of the Anthropocene, of the consumer society and capitalist alienation described by Guy Debord?
~
La pièce sonore Nox (outre le fait de refléter les traditionnelles effluves nocturnes propre au titre), repose sur les sens et interprétations multiples que l’on peut faire de la forme incomplète de l’hexamètre dactylique et palindrome In girum imus nocte ecce et consumimur igni . Cette locution latine, imagée et poétique, le plus souvent attribuée à Virgile, fait référence aux papillons de nuit qui tournent autour de la chandelle avant de s’y brûler, et qui signifie : « Nous tournons en rond dans la nuit et nous sommes dévorés par le feu ». C’est aussi, beaucoup plus près de nous, un film français réalisé par Guy Debord en 1978. Le film (d’une durée de 95 min) décrit la société de consommation et d’aliénation capitaliste, s’appliquant à mettre en évidence la condition d’esclaves modernes. Aujourd’hui encore plus cette expression latine prend un sens nouveau avec les phénomènes d’ultra-libéralisme et de crise climatique majeure. L’Homme, tels les papillons de nuit, se brûle les ailes sur les feux qu’il a lui même allumé et qu’il continue a entretenir malgré les avertissements et les menaces. Assistons-nous à la fin de l’anthropocène, de la société de consommation et d’aliénation capitaliste décrite par Guy Debord ?
(Bruno Duplant, May 2022)
Release Date : June 20, 2022
Duration : 40:00
Format : glass mastered CD/digital
Track : nox
Regular Edition : 165 hand-numbered copies
Packaged in clear vinyl sleeve with folded insert + additional art card on 350gr satin paper.
Cover design, card & treatments by Daniel Crokaert
Based almost exclusively on photos by Bruno Duplant and some additional textures from
Unfathomless' archive
"It seems as if no week passes by without a new release by Bruno Duplant, the French composer of whom I never seem to know much about. Releases for Unfathomless deal with field recordings, and this one is no different, except, perhaps, for the fact that many of these field recordings are made in one place. Duplant
recorded his material in Waziers, Berlin and London, without being very specific about the exact locations. That too is sometimes different on this label. And lastly, Duplant uses some instruments here. I believe to hear a piano and some instrument played with a bow; that might strings or a cymbal. The title refers to "the multiple meanings and interpretations that can be made of the incomplete form of the dactylic hexameter and palindrome In girum imus nocte ecce et consumimur igni. This Latin phrase, pictorial and poetic, most often attributed to Virgil, refers to the moths that circle around the candle before burning themselves, and which means: “We go around in circles in the night and we are devoured by fire". I am not that smart. More explanations on the Bandcamp page. Maybe the piece is indeed a palindrome. At least when I opened it in an audio editor it gave that impression. As with some of other recent works, Duplant seems to be layering a lot of sounds that may not have
many relations with each other and then finds a dialogue among them. By slowly fading up and down particular sounds, he creates a very rich sound world. I am not sure to what extent this is to be understood as random in the John Cage-sense, or if the composer willingly allows sounds to be louder or quieter in the mix. There are some massive, drone-like rocks, very detailled small field recordings, the occasional piano tone, the bow across the cymbal/violin, crackles and it all works very well. 'Nox' lasts exactly forty minutes, but I am sure this could be twice as long and still be interesting. I know this, because I had it on repeat and didn't notice the change over that much and it wasn't until much longer that I realized it started again. The overall tone of the piece is quite moody and atmospheric, but I guess such is the nature of densely layered field recordings. High quality work, as usual." [FdW/Vital Weekly]
|
2022 |
€14.00 |
|
| DURAND, WERNER & AMELIA CUNI & ULI HOHMANN |
Clearing |
LP |
"In addition to the unique musical proposals and the large body of work that they have developed separately, Amelia Cuni and Werner Durand have been performing together as a duo as well as in collaborations (Tonaliens, Born of Six) for more than 20 years. Fusing her Indian Raga singing in the Dhrupad style with his minimalist and experimental approach, they have expanded the reach of their soundworlds as well as proposed new paths for contemporary music. In this occasion, Uli Hohmann joins them in a range of hand drums from the Middle East and North Africa, plus a dulcimer-sounding hammered guitar. Durand's various self-made wind instruments, soprano sax, and blown kalimba shine along with Cuni's astounding vocals, which are sometimes sung through a mirliton (a medieval type of kazoo). Clearing is the trio's first published recording. With a condensing sound going from Buddhist morning chants down to Indian festive traditional music, the title track, which closes the album, is the most vibrant of all, permeating a bit of commotion through buzzing drones and galloping percussion. Without disorder, yet without measure. Clearing is therefore this shuttle into the distance, this space that weaves, unites, and tenses the different cords that we are made up of. When the clouds advance silently, gray, until they become dark in a few minutes, it means that the monsoon is coming. It reaches us without apparent noise, but then resounds in its images, leaving behind lightness, freshness, clarity, and a tremendous luminosity that comes from so far away: from the Himalayas, from so ancient, from Sanskrit, from a sound where the darkness and the divine, where the concrete and the landscape, where the rock and the humidity leave a mark that brings together and ties a sky loaded with new clouds."
|
2023 |
€24.00 |
|
| DÄLEK {DALEK] |
Untitled |
LP |
"One track, 40 minutes over 2 sides. The eagerly awaited and legendary Latitudes session finally sees the light of day. Vinyl comes in a limited run of 700 black and 300 purple and includes an insert and a sticker.
from the liner notes:
July 2005 was a crazy time in my universe. John Loder, my mentor and surrogate big brother, who I had worked alongside at Southern for 20 years, was very ill - battling a brain tumour diagnosed 18 months earlier. Dälek were holed up in my flat, on the sharp end of reducing their number from three to just two. They were recording a session for our relatively new Latitudes imprint - spending days in the studio laying tracks and nights in my living room, working on ideas. We got to know each other, really. (I have the photos of Alap passed out drunk in his boxer shorts to prove it.) I discovered that the hip-hop bravado and crushing beats were only one layer of these guys. They had a secret Metal past, a serious Alt-Country present, and hearts as big as New Jersey. Their love and knowledge of music ran deep.
On the 7th, I got up to head into the office/studio, and left them sleeping away. Half way to the bus stop I got a call from Tony saying turn around, go home, don't get on the bus or the tube. He said there had been explosions in the Underground. I turned around, went home and turned on the news. Alap and Will sat with me and watched London's own version of 9-11 unfold, and then, full of determination and grit, headed into the studio to finish recording. And what did they produce?
Why it's taken this long for this recording to be released is only down to me, and the battles that I've fought in the intervening five years. In August of 2005, John Loder left us. Since then I've had to work very hard to keep Southern going, and though we had to close our warehouse and as a result lose most of our staff last year, we've survived, and actually come out all the better for it. It's like the old days - we're compact, which means we can fight our battles like guerilla warriors - which is pretty much what you need to do to make ends meet these days.
None of this has much to do with the epic grooves that Dälek laid down on this session. And it has everything to do with it, at least when I listen to what MC Dälek is saying. Sonically, this session is a real departure from Dälek's albums. It's a gorgeous, multi-cultural melting pot of sound and space, a serious shot to the head, an opening of the third eye. I strongly urge you to explore the magnificence of this session on headphones, in a darkened room, and let it take you away.
I love it so much that I guess I wanted to keep it to myself for all this time. But it's time to share, and to apologise to you all for taking so long. - Allison Schnackenberg, August 2010" [label info]
http://blog.southern.com/latitudes
|
2011 |
€15.00 |
|
| DÖRING, ROGER & KONRAD KORABIEWSKI |
Komplex |
LP |
The project was created over two years in Seyðisfjörður, Iceland and in Berlin, Germany, and is an evolving conversation between Döring’s improvisation on acoustic instruments such as clarinet and saxophones, and Korabiewski’s electronic live treatment and composition with Döring’s sounds. A third compositional element is contributed by the particular ambiences of the spaces in which the recordings took place, as Korabiewski and Döring came together to record at sites with personal and acoustic resonance, from Döring’s apartment in Berlin to an abandoned herring factory by the sea in east Iceland.
Musically Komplex moves seamlessly between ethereal ambient re- frains, to a somber, churning low end, to a hypnotic looping rev- erie that slowly disintegrates as if under the burr and scratch of a gramophone needle. Melodic elements occasionally distort and peak into noise, lending the simplicity of solo instrumental im- provisation an atmospheric density, and revealing the material and spiritual limits of the fragile musical moments around which the album circles. The track titles, made of German expressions and short sentences, refer to the restless transience of creative life, much like that of a journeyman craftsperson centuries ago. The result is a highly expressive, dark, and deeply felt, honest album, reflective of shifting emotional states and uneasy sagas from the north.
Side A
06:02 kremmenerstraße [baritonsaxofon ]
03:07 seelischer konflikt [baritonsaxofon ]
06:24 flucht [baritonsaxofon ]
04:03 hof [tenorsaxofon ]
Side B
04:44 wenn es gehen will laß es gehen [klarinette ]
02:09 aber langsam gehe ich meinen weg – langsam [klarinette,diktaphon ]
05:34 wohin des weges, wandersmann? [klarinette ]
04:24 zeit heilt alle wunden [tenorsaxofon ]
8 Tracks (36′29″)
Vinyl (300 copies)
www.gruenrekorder.de
|
2015 |
€16.00 |
|
| EARTH |
The Bees made Honey in the Lion's Skull |
CD |
"... und die „bees" ist dann so etwas wie die positive „hex": die kräfte sind gesammelt und fast mit einem fingerschnippen rollen die riffs (in typischer earth-manier, zweifellos, aber sie rollen und verharren eben nicht in ihrer eigenen statik wie zuvor). wie ein soundtrack zu einem extrem verlangsamten cruisen. dazu die in einzelfällen uplifting melodieführung... da könnten einzelne freunde der erde schon dran zu knacken haben... in ihrer mischung aus hypnotisch (die wiederholungen) und dem neu entdeckten drehmoment (der innere, ja, swing) plus dem offenen sound und der harmonik aber einfach ein sexy gesamtpaket." [N, Unruhr.de]
"...After refaceting some old gems for greater illumination on "Hibernaculum". The band returns once again to it's continuing evolution. Where "Hex" reveled in dark satanic twang and austere american beauty, "The Bees Made Honey In The Lion's Skull" finds Dylan Carlson and the band growing into a harder, more rock, american Gospel and improvisitory direction framed by truly psychedelic production and blazing guitar sounds. Earth shows it's affinity with a nod to the best elements of the more adventurous San Francisco bands of the late 60's and 70's, and the more spiritually aware and exciting forms of Jazz-Rock from the same era. This is no nostalgia trip but a thoroughly inspired and original metamorphosis. Earth is also very honored to be joined on this record for three songs by legendary and virtuoso guitarist BILL FRISELL (doing some of his most fuzzed out playing in years!) . Bill Frisell adds a brilliant texture and counterpoint to the scintillating and inspired riffs of Dylan Carlson and the band. Adrienne Davies joins again on drums lending a classic and steady feel to the proceedings. Steve Moore also returns adding heavy hammond organ and his intense jazz inspired piano playing. Live Bassist Don McGreevy also makes his full length Earth debut on this record. Earth will begin touring throughout the world when the album is released, Australia, Europe and a full US campaign and on from there. The new songs are equally compellinglive where EARTH takes the vehicles and expand and explore them for further musical and meditative exploration..." [from the label notes]
www.southernlord.com
|
2008 |
€15.50 |
|
| |
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 |
|
| EASTLEY, MAX |
Installation Recordings (1973-2008) |
do-CD |
"This 2CD is essentially a retrospective of Eastley’s installation work. As such, it updates and adds many new examples to the 1975 release “New and Rediscovered Musical Instruments”, which was released as a split LP with David Toop on Brian Eno’s Obscure Records.
This is Eastley’s first solo CD. Of the 35 tracks, only the last 2 have any guests or ‘playing’ (the most virtuosic moment being George Lewis playing a grass blade). All the other pieces are either powered by the natural forces of wind and water, or else are motor driven gallery installations.
The ethereal sounds of the aoelian harp, the haunting aeolian flutes, and the violent tension of his aerophone installations are hallmark Eastley sounds. These sounds, and many others, sit amidst a wide range of acoustic settings, from windy hill tops to quiet brooks, residential street scenes to coastal shores. The indoor recordings are no less varied, ranging across a rich variety of acoustics and gallery spaces from tiny micro sounds to large scale amplification. Wood, metal and stone are brought to life with electricity. Although there are many photos in the 20 page booklet, much is left to the imagination to work out how the sounds are made. With this limited access to the visual, the focus is pulled towards the musicality of the sounds themselves. This musicality is reinforced by the slow crossfades of most of the pieces from indoors to outdoors to form a series of suites.
The recordings mostly date from the mid 70s, but there are pieces from later decades. Nearly everything was recorded either to Revox or Uher and occasionally cassette, using what microphones were available at the time. Recent recordings are digital. The varying quality of the recording set-ups across this 2CD adds yet another dimension to the shifting sound fabric of this anthology." [label info]
www.stalk.net/paradigm
"Max Eastley begann 1972 damit Skulpturen mit Klang zu verbinden, indem er Bewegung und Materialien seiner Skulpturen mit den Grundprinzipien des Instrumentenbaus verband. Dies führt für die vorliegende Retrospektive, die Aufnahmen aus den Jahren 1973 – 2008 auf 2 CDs enthält, notwendig dazu, dass nur Klang dokumentiert wird, doch die ihn erzeugenden Installationen trotz der zahlreichen Fotos nicht adäquat abgebildet werden können. Immerhin kann man auf ihnen die verschiedenen
Instrumente zumindest sehen. Die Aerophone sind teilweise sehr schlanke Kreuze, deren Arme im rechten Winkel außen mit Saiten verbunden sind, die im Wind schwingen, und erinnern beinahe an Antennen, in deren Zentrum noch ein Stück bunter Stoff geknotet wurde. Auch an den schmalen dünnen aufrechten Kästen der Aeolian Flutes finden sich diese bunten Bänder wieder, so dass sie an abstrakte Figuren erinnern, deren Schals im Winde wehen. An den Hydrophonen fällt ihre Schlichtheit auf, wie sie als verschieden lange dünne Rohre aus dem sie antreibenden Wasser ragen. Klanglich erinnern die Skulpturen überwiegend an vom Wind betriebene Klangspiele und – meist archaische – Drones sowie verfremdete Tierstimmen und seltener an präparierte Saiteninstrumente. Da bei den Innenraum-Installationen die natürlichen Kräfte fehlen, um sie erklingen zu lassen, wurde auf mechanische Antriebe zurückgegriffen, die jedoch die unregelmäßigen Strukturen natürlicher Ereignisse nachahmen sollen. Nichts desto trotz erinnern einige ihrer Aufnahmen eher an Loops als an Klangereignisse, denen jedes Muster fehlt. Für diese Retrospektive wurden alle Aufnahmen auf „radiotaugliche“ Ausschnitte von oft nur zwei bis fünf Minuten gekürzt. Doch da die kinetischen Installationen keinen kompositorischen Aufbau haben, der einen bestimmten Anfang und Ende „erfordert“, lassen die als einzelne Tracks dokumentierten Ausschnitte fragen, ob eine einzelne Installation auf einer eigenen – dann wohl leider weitgehend unverkäuflichen – CD nicht besser repräsentiert worden wäre, da dies dem fortdauernden Klang einer Installation angemessener wäre. Ohnehin sind die Mehrzahl der Aufnahmen durch Ein- und Ausfaden zu collagenartigen kleinen Suiten arrangiert, was dem Material eine dem bloßen Hören angemessene neue Form gibt. Da die Ebene eines Dokuments, das den für Eastley gleichberechtigten visuellen Teil ausspart, verlassen wird und etwas Neues entsteht. Damit wird ebenfalls deutlich, dass auch eine kinetische Kunst letztlich das Werk eines – oder mehrer – Künstler ist und damit einen sozialen Charakter hat. Leider findet sich dazu nichts in dem 20seitigen Beiheft, das keine konzeptionellen Überlegungen enthält. Mit dieser Eastley-Retrospektive macht Paradigm Disc einmal mehr Musik zugänglich, die sonst kaum auf Tonträgern zu bekommen ist. Denn nach der 1975 auf Brian Enos Obscure Records Label erschienen Split-LP New And Rediscovered Musical Instruments mit David Toop, ist diese Doppel-CD erst die zweite Veröffentlichung, die Eastleys Klanginstallationen dokumentiert. Wer sich für Musik jenseits chromatischer Tonleitern, in der Zufall eine zentrale Rolle spielt, interessiert,
dem ist diese Doppel-CD sehr zu empfehlen."
[Ingo Techmeier / Bad Alchemy]
|
2010 |
€20.00 |
|
| EAVIL |
Les Fleurs du Mal |
CD-R |
Pro CDR comes in jewel case with full color inserts and shrink wrap.
"EaViL" was a simultaneously unwieldy and timid odd couple of queer synth pop outsiders. For ten years, E. Al Dente and N. Vilches released home-made CDRs in EP format, almost always containing one or two cover songs.
EaViL were either indifferent or untoward regarding the unspoken obligations of your average musical acts, while still maintaining a sort of resolute hermetic diligence in terms of promotion, regardless of their intentions. There are no overwrought affectations, no "ersatz bad boy" aesthetics, no self-conscious posturing, no Machiavellian bullshitters, and no obnoxiously ambitious go-getters here. Rather, in the place of any particular over-arching gimmick, is a general "take it or leave it" tone to the work, which is brimming with a sense that the listener is being welcomed as a guest into the artists' home; and with it, the kind of spiraling raw inspiration mixed with studio-rat isolation vibes that so many of us crave. Nevertheless, the audio/visual performances of this yin/yang dynamic were nothing less than stimulating.
What initially rose out of the ashes of membership in a precociously noisey Indian Jewelry related band, The Electric Set, was a series of modest, yet earnest and gentile nods to the history of performance art , as well as italo disco, among other things. Odd masks, warped videos of Diana Ross, and lyrics about EaViL's cats ("Patsy" and "Edwina"), Alfred Hitchcock movies, their south side Chicago stomping ground (McKinley Park), or "Tarantula Juice" and other surrealismo permeate the lo-fi synth soundscapes, which at times just happen to tip-toe similar territory as wide-ranging as BeNe GeSSeRiT, Atari Teenage Riot, Giorgio Moroder, or Le Forte Four.
Initially, EaViL were an all-analog group, slowly evolving to embrace laptop technology. During their tenure, they performed on the famed "Chic-A-GoGo" public access TV show, and opened for popular "electro-glam" duo Glass Candy, among other ventures, but as far as we at NO PART OF IT are concerned, their collective musical candle went out too early.
"Les Fleurs du Mal" is a kind of anthology of favorite tracks, including some highlights from an unreleased/unfinished album called "DeciMaL" for your personal enjoyment. The digital download contains more than twice as much material with hidden bonus tracks, including some more experimental dimensions from the outfit, not to mention some particularly deconstructed covers of Prince, Yaz, and Siouxsie.
Includes unlimited streaming of Les Fleurs du Mal via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more
https://nopartofit.bandcamp.com/album/les-fleurs-du-mal |
2018 |
€8.00 |
|
| EB.ER, RUDOLF / JOKE LANZ / GX JUPITTER-LARSEN / MIKE DANDO |
Wellenfeld |
CD |
"The grande finale of 'Extreme Rituals - A Schimpfluch Carnival' held at Arnolfini, Bristol UK on December 2nd 2012.
In memory of Urs Schwaller.
Four leading figures of the international Noise circus team up for a unique performance, solely based on their brainwave activity. Each performer is wearing a wireless electroencephalograph (EEG) headset. The EEG signals sent from the stage are received by soundengineers, transformed from data into sound and processed to emerge through eight speakers surrounding the audience. The performance took place without prior tests or rehearsals. The performer develops and gains control over his own brainwave patterns during the performance, by listening to the sonic results of his mental activity. By changing electric impulses of the brain during meditative and ecstatic trance, the performer begins to sculpt the sound through the mind alone." [label info]
www.fragmentfactory.com
"A while ago, December 2012, saw Bristol celebrating twenty-five years of Schimpfluch activities via a three-day festival called 'Extreme Rituals', with their various members performing (Dave Phillips, Rudolf Eb.er, Sudden Infant) and various guests, such as Con-Dom and The Haters. The festival ended with 'Wellenfeld: for amplified brainwaves (in memory of Urs Schwaller)'. To quote the cover: "Four leading figures of the international Noise circus team up for a unique performance, solely based on their brainwave activity. Each performer is wearing a wireless electroencephalograph (EEG) headset. The EEG signals sent from the stage are received by sound engineers, transformed from data into sound and processed to emerge through eight speakers surrounding the audience. The performance took place without prior tests or rehearsals. The performer develops and gains control over his own brainwave patterns during the performance, by listening to the sonic results of his mental activity. By
changing electric impulses of the brain during meditative and ecstatic trance, the performer begins to sculpt the sound through the mind alone." It looks, I'm sorry to say (and no doubt I am not the only one to notice this), a bit like Alvin Lucier's 'Music For Solo Performer', although a bit different. The twenty-six minute piece, by the performers mentioned above, mixed by Rashad Becker onto an eight channel system surrounding the audience, is a quite a noisy piece of loud tones, which may sound like simple, hand build synthesizers, but with some extreme activities. If you look films of this on the net, you see Eb.er moving and shaking at one point, and the others not moving at all. I think I would have preferred if none moved at all, and it would keep Zen like thing with as little activity as possible and take away the 'extreme' performance element (which to me looks all very 'un'-extreme, very regular performance art; I wondered if there was any body there who wasn't dressed in
black) and focus on the interesting aspect of creating music this way, which is something I liked very much. Quite a nice release; noisy but very interesting and that's how I like these things." [FdW/Vital Weekly]
|
2014 |
€13.00 |
|
| EBTEKAR, ATA & THE IRANIAN ORCHESTRA FOR NEW MUSIC |
performing works of Alireza Mashayekhi: Ornamentalism |
CD |
"An Organic Electrocution: perfect follow-up to the highly acclaimed Persian Electronic Music (SR277), this new Persian Music album involves a cast of seasoned musicians performing works written by legendary Iranian composer Alireza Mashayekhi; in which Ata Ebtekar (aka Sote) was granted complete creative freedom by Mashayekhi himself to transform these compositions into fully realized pieces using his techniques of synthesis and electronic manipulation. it's an organic electrocution without sacrificing the beauty of the performance. these sound sources and compositions were metamorphosed via electronic processing, rearranged and decomposed using sound generators, effect boxes, modular synthesizers and samplers. finally, Ebtekar programs synthetic sounds and adds new electronic harmonies, melodies and soundscapes to the sonic palette of Western classical music and Persian instrumentation for a unique musical experience. Sote unites the grace and symmetry of noise and silence inside the magic circle of electronic music composition.
________________________________________
The Tehran Contemporary Music Group: cofounded in 1993 by Farimah Ghavensadri and Alireza Mashayekhi. in 1995 Mashayekhi established the Iranian Orchestra for New Music as a performing entity. the Tehran Contemporary Music Group's main goal is the presentation of new music in order to promote young composers and performers. the Group has also helped to establish the Biannual For Composing and Performing of Contemporary Music in Iran.
________________________________________
Alireza Mashayekhi: a short biography.
Alireza Mashayekhi was born in 1940 in Tehran, Iran. He is one of the pioneers of modern music in Iran. Mashayekhi's works have been performed in Iran and abroad for more than 35 years. Mashayekhi believes that contemporary composers should create music in wide range of styles. His own compositions have tended towards three
major direction: pieces that are directly inspired by Iranian music (e.g. Symphony No. 5,
Persian Suite and Shahrzad) and compositions that are not directly related to Iranian music
(e.g. Symphony No. 6, Concerto for Violin and Orchestra,Sonata for Piano) and multicultural
compositions (e.g. Symphony No. 8 and the electronic composition East-West).
'At the time of Stalin in the USSR, many pieces were composed with predetermined identities
in honor of Marxism and Leninism by the request of the governmental authorities or by the
artist's own whishes. Among these pieces those with artistic rightfulness remained and they
were honored in both East and West, but the political weight of the other ones did not succeed to help them survive.'
[Alireza Mashayekhi]
'Alireza Mashayekhi is regarded as a pioneer Iranian avant-garde composer whose ideas and
works, which have been performed in Iran and abroad for more than 35 years, have greatly
influenced the contemporary music in Iran..'
[Hooman Asadi of the University of Tehran, Iran]
________________________________________
Ata Ebtekar aka Sote: a short biography.
aka Sote is an Iranian-American electronic composer and sound artist. he was born
in Germany to Iranian parents, spent the first eleven years of his life in Iran and the next
six years in Germany. at the age of seventeen he moved to the United States and lived in
the Bay Area for fifteen years. he has spent the last few years living in Tehran and working
on several projects. one of these projects was released in 2007 as a double disc set called
'Persian Electronic Music - Yesterday and Today' (sub rosa SR277) for which he compiled early electronic music from Alireza Mashayekhi who had created these compositions forty years ago. disc two features Ebtekar's own electronic compositions to present a timeline in modern Iranian music history. Sote's compositions are sonic tales synchronously decoding and regenerating customary patterns of thought in nature; aural designs of crisis and harmony where contempo meets folklore, orchestrating an artificial saga with a variety of illuminations and analysis. he believes that music is a cultural habit of sound and anti-sound (silence). therefore, he generates music without a specific culture, which he believes to be 'The Other Sound'. He has released several cds and vinyls on Dielectric/RLR, Spundae and especially on Warp." [full label info]
www.subrosa.net
|
2009 |
€13.00 |
|
| |
Ornamental |
do-LP |
Subtitled: Ata Ebtekar and the Iranian Orchestra for New Music Performing Works of Alireza Mashayekhi.
"An ambitious, extremely complex, and sonically rich project that gives us an immense pleasure to release. An incredible collaboration between Ebtekar and Alireza Mashayekhi's Iranian Orchestra for New Music in Tehran, Iran involving dozens of trained musicians. Ebtekar has recently returned to the Bay Area from his three year stay in Iran where he closely worked with legendary composer Alireza Mashayekhi. The album spans 50 minutes, crystallizing acoustic instruments and electronic music composition with ten tracks fully realized by Ebtekar and Mashayekhi's orchestra. Ata Ebtekar (b. 1972, Hamburg Germany) aka Sote is an Iranian-American electronic composer and sound artist. His compositions are sonic tales synchronously decoding and regenerating customary patterns of thought in nature; aural designs of crisis and harmony where contempo meets folklore, orchestrating an artificial saga with a variety of illuminations and analysis. Presented here is a full-length album involving dozens of trained musicians performing works written by legendary Iranian classical and electronic music composer Alireza Mashayekhi in which Ebtekar was granted freedom by Mashayekhi himself to arrange and transform these compositions into fully realized pieces using his techniques of synthesis and electronic manipulation. Ornamental continues to explore even further than that which was presented in Sub Rosa's 2007 anthology, Persian Electronic Music (Yesterday and Today 1966-2006). The album also continues the radical experimental departure from his early electronic music work as Sote in the 12"'s published by Dielectric and Warp Records. Ebtekar's work continues to be painfully singular and shines bright in its ability to eliminate barriers the world over between noise, silence and modern electronic music composition. All music recorded in Tehran, Iran. Limited to 500 copies on black vinyl on full color spot-varnish matte jackets. Mastered by Thomas Dimuzio at Gench Studios in San Francisco, CA. Artwork and design by Brandon Nickell." [label info]
"....The sounds are varied and wondrous, from fantastical flurries of wild freaked out electronic flecked free form soft noise, to delicate tinklings and hushed moonlit drift, spacey metallic shimmers to haunting alien music box like lullabyes, Eastern sounding folk fragments drifting in soft swirls of rumble and hiss, long stretches of barely there melody and wispy streaks of distant rumble. Really quite mysterious and beautiful, whether you're into modern classical, electronic music, abstract dronemusic, or all of the above. ESPECIALLY all of the above.
Beautiful screened sleeves, with a printed insert, detailing the project, as well as the various performers and composers." [Aquarius Records review]
www.isounderscore.com
|
2008 |
€22.50 |
|
| ECHOES OF YUL |
Tether |
CD |
"Zoharum presents ECHOES OF YUL in their new release entitled 'Tether'. After two longplayers ('Echoes Of Yul' and 'Cold Ground') and a split CD, it's time for the next release, atypical in every respect. It's not a full album in the exact meaning of this word. 'Tether' is an extended play which has a record running time for such a release which clocks at 78 minutes. It's a stylistically varied project which is the result of the collaboration with many artists of different backgrounds. 'Tether' contains 4 new tracks full of slow heavy riffs, sounds from broken synths and ethereal atmospheres plus a number of reinterpretations by Different State, iconAclass (MC Dalek), James Plotkin (OLD, Khanate), Maciek Szymczuk, Stendek, Steve Austin (Today Is The Day). All compiled to sound not like a compilation, but a stand-alone cohesive album with many unexpected twists and turns." [label info]
www.zoharum.com
|
2014 |
€10.00 |
|
| EIMERT, HERBERT |
Epitaph Für Aikichi Kuboyama / Sechs Studien |
LP |
Herbert Eimert was a German music renaissance man, with his expertise ranging from theory to composition, editing, radio production, and criticism. He wrote numerous books on music theory, worked for years at the British occupational forces run Nordwestdeutscher Rundfunk. It was there in 1951 that he established a studio for electronic music that he ran until 1961, which hosted recordings from Stockhausen, Xenakis, and Cardew, among others. This brilliant work begins on side A with 'Epitaph Für Aikichi Kuboyama', a brilliant piece of voice and electronics dedicated to a Japanese fishing boat radioman, who lost his life from complications related to radiation poisoning in 1954, after the ship he worked on was contaminated from fallout after the USA's nuclear testing at Bikini atoll. In addition to being a brilliant piece of electronic musique concrete, it is a damning indictment of nuclear warfare, as prescient now as it was during The Cold War. Side B is made up of six studies in electronic music, showcasing Eimert's talents which are as impressive as his more famous contemporaries. Essential early electronic music.
|
2018 |
€18.50 |
|
| 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 |
Kollaps |
LP |
2003 Re-issue of the legendary first LP from 1981
"Kollaps. The first album from Einsturzende Neubauten, released back in 1981, found the band as a trio with the wild-throated frontman
Blixa Bargeld buttressed by the anarcho-rhythmicists N.U. Unruh and F.M. Einheit. The band photo of Neubauten on Kollaps is quite telling, as a it parodies Pink Floyd's grand collection of instruments that emblazoned the back cover of Ummagumma. Instead of the marching band sized collection of drums and mallets, there's an assortment of hammers, pipes, a couple of drills, a cheap looking synth, an ax (yeah, there is a guitar, but there's also an ax!), and sheet metal twisted in the shape of drumheads. These are the instruments that Neubauten uses in the hyper-primitive, industrial-punk tracks found on
Kollaps. Neubauten's amplified junkyard was a clearly a bold statement of DIY primitivism, this trio was not without their structural
prowess, crafting anthemic blasts out of their rhythmic churns, bristling with sparkplug noise and rabid distortion. "Tanz Debil" is
curiously catchy in its amplified shopping cart bashing which Unruh & Einheit hammer out to accompany the demon-then-zombie vocal delivery
from Blixa Bargeld. The title track is a 8 minute monochord mantra, and the band actually pulls off an instrumental cover of Serge
Gainsbourg's "Je T'Aime." Very rough around the edges, but there is a serious-minded, infernal poetry of pain, anger, and rage focused
through these scrap metal arrangements. It's great to have this in stock, as Kollaps is a tremendous record." [Aquarius Records]
|
2007 |
€20.00 |
|
| |
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 |
|
| EIRIKURA |
Reflections of a Higher Realm |
CD |
"The varied enchanting soundscapes of Eirikura are created using familiar instruments s.a. guitars, strings (violin, viola, cello), grand piano, flute, oboe, trumpet, drums and more unconventional ones, such as bandura, zither, bowed psaltery, musical saw and various percussions. The eclectic sound ranges in genre from neo-folk and neo-classical to ethereal and ambient." [label info]
"Reflection of a Higher Realm is the debut album by neoclassical/ ambient music project Ēirikura, released by Wrotycz Records, consisting of artists from several different German bands, plus Irish poetess Johanna Doyle. With thirteen tracks – Reflection of a Higher Realm, Wassara, Flowers, Eirikura, Annabelle Blue, Oh, roses for the flush of youth, Fornocht do chonac thu, Today's Eulogy, Dance into Images, Like an out-dated Pre-Raphaelite, Gerds, Ramawas Warta and Reflection of a Higher Realm (reprise) – this is a beautiful, formidable and astonishing record, probably the best neoclassical album that I have heard. Fulfilled by references of art and literature – with original and adapted poems as well – Reflection of a Higher Realm is a fantastic, bright and marvelous journey throughout a serene, ordained, sensible and sincere universe, where a colorful ocean of hope can be seen involving worlds of incommensurable delight, in a warm and complete embrace of patience, immutability and beauty. With great tenderness and delicacy, the music of Ēirikura is a marvelous journey throughout an intelligent and thoroughly elaborated universe of supreme art, created with the sentimental, but pragmatic axiom of a truth that comprehends all the virtual and literal necessities of the human soul.
Reflection of a Higher Realm couldn’t have been a better title for the album, because all tracks in this outstanding and vigorous work – without exceptions – seems to transmit exactly this sensation: reflections of a higher realm. You almost feel you are looking, touching or making contact with the omnipresent consciousness of a higher dimensional existence, parallel to our mundane and ordinary world. These songs appear to descend from a transcendental reign of underlying and subjective, but overwhelming beauty, that came to rescue us from our suffering, fatalist misery and insignificance. With folk and regional elements beautifully inserted in the songs as well, the pure and consecrated density of this work goes beyond the infinity of its majestic tenures of beauty, aggrandizing artistry and emotional virtuosity.
With a succession of beautiful songs that cohesively forms in the universe of its sensible context a marvelous cosmos of original creative strength and sagacity, Reflection of a Higher Realm is an unbelievable, sensational and monumental record. Its imperial, but graceful and gentle expansive movements liberates the engines of a fragile and hidden existence, made primarily of tenderness, humanity, art and a genuine capacity to sonorously create, evoke and reproduce higher dimensions of dense and meaningful sensibility.
With wonderful songs like Fornocht do chonac thu, Today's Eulogy and Like an out-dated Pre-Raphaelite – the seventh, eight and tenth track, respectively –, which are my favorites, Ēirikura offers you the possibility to travel to the extremes of your own soul, making you discover and decipher, in the process, the most profound and consistent devotional diagrams hidden in the depths of your own consciousness. But even if they were devoid of this ability – although they aren’t –, the music itself will be a reason strong enough to make anyone anxious to embark on this fantastic symbolic journey of expressive moments, filled by delightful redemptive skies of infinite grace." [Wagner/Merchants of Air]
|
2017 |
€12.00 |
|
| EITR |
Trees have Cancer too |
LP |
"Pedro Sousa, saxophones, electronics. Pedro Lopes, turntables, electronics. Recorded between 2008-2011. 150 gr vinyl, 350 gr carton cover, 150-copies limited edition.
Liquid, high viscosity, between amber (Pedro Sousa) and gas (Pedro Lopes). Music is always dual and eternally renewed, at the present time (recorded live), the first person singular.
"Duo of Pedro Sousa and Pedro Lopes, two portuguese young musicians, and some of the most exciting in the plastic, tonal and energic exploration of sound in a long time. Using sax (Sousa), turntables (Lopes) and a communal use of electronics, their music is admittedly nervous, obsessively bent over the following moment.” (Outfest press release, 2011)
"The pieces on this grimly titled record were recorded between 2008 and 2011, in Portugal and Berlin. Improvised music no doubt, but I wouldn't be surprised if there is some careful planning ahead of recording. The music of Eitr is closed off: everything seems to be together, in the same dynamic frame, somewhat below the level of mid-range frequencies. In 'Forth Twice', the first piece on the b-side they use some Russian instruction record, and a bumping rhythm, whereas the saxophone plays a melancholic tune, and the whole things gets a surprising musical touch. That is less apparent in the second (and last) piece on this side and the side long piece on the other side. There is an odd sense of acoustic drones on this release, very austere and dark, with the saxophone being with held, with drawn, bathing in this sea of repressed sounds. It never bursts out, this music, it never wails about, but instead has a lot of tension, perhaps due to the fact that much of this hoovers around the edge of feedback, but never bursts out into this. You wait for this enormous blast to happen, but it never comes around to do so. I thought this was a great release. Very intense for the players - probably - and for the listeners - surely for me. Every time I play this I hear something new, which made me think 'oh, no, its much more electro-acoustic than I thought', 'damn, it's much more composed' or 'what a refined way of improvising'. Excellent record all around." [FdW in Vital] |
2013 |
€18.50 |
|
| EKIN FIL |
Inflame OST |
MC |
Istanbul's drone-pop producer ekin fil turns her sites to the big screen for the first soundtrack in her impressive catalogue of recordings. inflame (2017) is a psychological thriller laced with paranoia and nightmares, directed by ceylan özgün özçelik and was showcased at the berlin international film festival and the sxsw film festival, amongst others.
in making her cinematic debut, ekil fil turns synths and electronics, in building the score that in part is brimming with tension and claustrophobia through out all the blank spaces. always known for her restrained compositions that float amidst ethereal pools of drone and whorl, ekin fil sets forth haunting minor-key melodies, monotone arppegiations and plenty of seance-fiction dread. scattered bits of the film's sound design flicker at the edges of these tracks, as an aural hallucination that dissolves as quickly as it becomes evident. dubbed electro rhythms creep through the recursive leitmotifs and variations on themes always cast in a dim, crepuscular light.
less informed by the retro-garde aesthetics of carpenter and argento, the spectral electronics of inflame's soundtack finds its neighbors in the skeletal sprawl of raime and the darker ambient propositions sponsored by posh isolation.
|
2017 |
€10.00 |
|
| |
Maps |
LP |
Ekin Fil continues her quietly complex dream-pop oeuvre on Maps. For many years now, this Istanbul musician has been writing mysterious and haunting songs, rich in heavy-reverb effects and an introspective torpor. With each successive album, her songwriting has blossomed through broader instrumentation and more intricate melodic phrasing, though the somber atmospherics and ghostly manifestations remain a judicious constant. Minor-key, tear-stained notes of piano, organ, and guitar veer along elliptical orbits as a soft-whisper lilt of Ekin’s voice narrates more by emotive decree than by literary couplet.
Maps addresses the distance and dislocation of the self from the bustling center of Istanbul, where Ekin FIl (neé Ekin Üzeltüzenci) had once called her home. Having spent her first winter on a relatively quiet island in the Sea of Marmara (while still in the greater metropolitan umbrella of Istanbul), Maps is “lonely, different, kind of isolated,” according to Ekin, who also noted that the island had “too much silence around. There is no other choice but to concentrate, I guess.” Her poetics of silence on her previous recordings had been noted as an antidote or a dream capsule of sound in response to Istanbul’s cauldron of politics, culture, and philosophy that has been boiling almost since the beginning of civilization. Maps bends that maritime silence into wind-swept smudges that complement her already spacious compositions.
The saddest songs of The Durutti Column excised of rhythm and those few plunges into sorrow by Harold Budd make for apt comparisons to Maps, in addition to the drone-on classics of Grouper, Slowdive, and Sarah Davachi.
|
2018 |
€19.00 |
|
| ELECTRIC SEWER AGE |
Bad white Corpuscule |
CD |
"Electric sewer age was thought up in 2006 by a man called John Deek (r.i.p). The original idea was for likeminded souls, amongst particularly the coil fraternity, too compose music, which would be released, with no credits to the creators.
This would allow the listener to listen, and not have a preconceived bias, as to which song they liked best, based on their favourite composer etc.
While in Bangkok 2006, I talked with Peter Christopherson (r.i.p) about the project and he jumped aboard. He supplied many loops which made their way to Texas and onto the UK.
These segments might or might not be used in here, you explore.
Danny Hyde continues his fantastical journey in sound with this second release under the ESA name and completely moves beyond expectations.
Disproving the doubters, this EP is pretty much just him in his studio wrenching new creations out of his equipment; the trainspotters amongst us will no doubt pick out some of the shards he pulls from his past.
But he doesn't make them the focus of what is going on here, they are there merely to accent, to add a bit of depth and help illuminate how many years he's been at this.
Does he follow a muse?
If so, it must not be one that operates in the traditional sense. Perhaps it is more of a compulsion to create and then endlessly refine what you've done down to the most primal of elements.
There are ghosts all over this thing, you can feel the weight of their absence and at some points you swear you can actually hear them.
Tricks of the sound field, the mirror casting back shadows. If anyone else is on here, they have come out of the ether to make an appearance. Don't be afraid, put on your headphones and immerse yourself into a symphony that Hyde terms "an ode to loss".
He'd know.
We can all see from the outside what happened over the last decade but for him, it was all right there. Up close and personal. Through the usage of heavily processed vocals and arcane terrestrial instrumentation, Hyde lives up to his reputation for creating amazingly detailed yet extremely dark electronic compositions.
The symbiosis of organic and synthetic influences would be his forte and he's not holding anything back this time out, believe me, there's a feel to what is on here that isn't easily conceived. To just sit down and begin knocking out what 'Bad White Corpuscle' contains I don't think could be done unless you had planned and plotted out every last possible contingency down to the millisecond.
I've played this a lot but by comparison he's probably got mixes and additional versions of what's on here that could fill terabytes of hard drive space without batting an eye.
Electric Sewer Age exist between two worlds: the one of now and an older, more disturbing place which with the passage of time only becomes more savage and terrifying to visit.
As it appears he's chosen to put Aural Rage to bed, we have these excursions to look forward to; every few years Mr. Hyde will come out of seclusion to reveal where he's at and where he's going.
Clearly, this project is a form of therapy for the guy and having researched precisely what a bad white corpuscle is there's an uneasy feeling that foreshadowing is being employed here.
I'm not privy to whom this refers, I can only hope they know what they're doing.
This is so intense, so unflinchingly expressive that I come away completely drained.
Up by Sunday.
Peter.
Very elegant electronica, as you are used from best Coil's albums.
Dreamy and doped muzak for the real dreamer.
Tracklist :
01. Grey corpuscle 3.56
02. Corpuscular corpuscle 5.11
03. Amber corpuscle 5.12
04. Rising corpuscle 8.40
05. Bad white corpuscle 6.27
06. Black corpuscle 5.20 " [label info]
www.oldeuropacafe.com
|
2014 |
€16.00 |
|
| |
Moon's Milk (in four phases) (lim. clear vinyl) |
3 x LP BOX |
About "Moon's Milk (In Four Phases)"
First compiled as a double CD in 2002, Moon’s Milk (In Four Phases) is a suite of four EPs that Coil released seasonally via their in-house Eskaton imprint across 1998. The line-up for these sessions were John Balance, Peter "Sleazy" Christopherson, Drew McDowall, and William Breeze. Recorded primarily at their home studio in Chiswick, London on the eve of a permanent relocation to the small seaside town of Weston-Super-Mare, the collection has long loomed as a pivotal and pinnacle work in the group's discography, but has never been officially reissued, or repressed on vinyl. Time has only ripened its tapestry of regal strangeness.
Arranged sequentially in tribute to the equinoxes and solstices, Moon's Milk captures Coil at a revelatory crossroads, leaning deeper into improvisation, spontaneity, and sound design. "Moon's Milk or Under an Unquiet Skull" initiates the proceedings on Spring Equinox, a two-part netherworld organ séance woven from vocal drones, cathedral keys, seasick strings, and opiated undertow. From there, Summer Solstice skews lighter but no less incantational, with Balance embracing his voice-as-instrument across lucid dream torch songs ("Bee Stings"), purgatorial spoken word ("Glowworms/Waveforms"), sultry chamber pieces ("Summer Substructures"), and falsetto ravings ("A Warning From The Sun (For Fritz)").
Autumn Equinox exudes more of a pensive and twilit mood, from the Rose McDowall-sung folk ballad "Rosa Decidua" ("I hear your voice sing near to me / I've put away the poisoned chalice (for now) / And lie down amongst the flowerbeds") to hall-of-lords hallucination "The Auto-Asphyxiating Hierophant” to the liminal string-plucked classic "Amethyst Deceivers," featuring excellent alien guitar by Breeze layered with Balance’s oft-quoted couplet: "Pay your respects to the vultures / For they are your future."
The album’s final chapter, Winter Solstice, is its most swooning, remote, and ceremonial. Opener "A White Rainbow" stirs strings, layered choral vocals, and shivering rhythm into an imploding burial hymn. "North" oscillates bleakly, a ghost in the machine murmuring opaque prophecy ("This black dog has no owner / This black dog has no odour"), while "Magnetic North" is its inverse, a guided meditation of gently flickering software and surreal chakra poetics ("Red rose filling the skull / Yellow cube in the lower pelvis / Silver moon crescent below the navel"). The suite fades to grey with a traditional English carol ("Christmas Is Now Drawing Near"), rendered like an executioner's song by Rose McDowall’s doomed, beautiful voice.
The Dais box set includes the entirety of the rare Moon's Milk Bonus Disc CD-R / 2019 Threshold Archives Copal CD, which includes three collaborations with Thighpaulsandra. This material is as rich and intoxicating as the previous four phases, ranging from electro-acoustic singing bowl rituals ("Copal") to dissonant electronic recitations of visionary Angus MacLise poetry ("The Coppice Meat") to ominous classical melancholia ("Bankside"). Once again, Coil confirm the vastness of their confounding, infinite alchemy, explored and refined across decades of experimentation – both sonic and bodily. From post-industrial to post-everything, theirs is an art untethered, in the wilds of its own desig
|
2024 |
€63.50 |
|
| ELECTRIC URANUS / X-NAVI:ET |
Voices of the Cosmos |
CD |
"Project "VOICES OF THE COSMOS" is an educational-artistic initiative created by two artists from Kujawsko-Pomorskie: Rafał Iwański (X-NAVI:ET) and Wojciech Zięba (ELECTRIC URANUS). Both of them have lot of experience in creating experimental and electroacoustic music. In recordings of this album original extraterrestrial sounds captured from space by radio-telescopes (pulsars), sounds from space missions and the space itself.
Every artists created 3 tracks that form the 40 minutes album. Instrumental tracks played and recorded in rhythm with tones of "space sounds", are made manually with use of electronic and acoustic instruments. All that makes this project very unique. It is the only type of it in Poland. The project had also gain reputation in science circles. "VOICES OF THE COSMOS" is the electroacoustic dark ambient (although it should not be genered this way), it's music that in 100% the title itself explains - the voices of cosmos. We watch the sky and the stars, we know many photos of heavenly bodies, other galaxies. All that fascinates us, is beautiful and colorful. But those are not environments kind to us. They are terrifying, cold or extremely hot places. And this how this album is. It can take you out there but it can scare you too.
As a bonus two tracks are added in video version, made with exclusive video-art by Chris Konky. The "VOICES OF THE COSMOS" is released by Beast Of Prey and Eter Records in a three panel digipack." [label info]
www.beastofprey.com
"Rafal Iwanski is the man behind HATI, a percussion group from Poland, but in his spare time he is also the man behind a solo project called X-Navi:et, which is all about electronic music. Here he works with Wojciech Zieba, also known as Electric Uranus. They already released an album in 2011, which was more a split album, which each of them playing three pieces. The name, Voice Of The Cosmos, should be taken literally: they use recordings from out space, picked up with a 32 meter radio telescope in Torun. Here they have five pieces which they performed live at the the Planetarium and Astronomical Observatory in Grudziadz, plus two solo pieces each. You could, perhaps all too easily, think this is the kind of early long form synth music, with pieces that last twenty minutes, lots of arpeggio's on the keyboard, bouncing jolly forward. This is not the case here. These men keep their pieces actually quite short for this type, and not exclusively build with the use of synthesizers, but also with samples from space and even a heavily processed voice. This is the kind of music that is actually striving to be a pop song, even when the music is not entirely 'pop' like. The structure of the pieces is all to be a rounded song structure, and not a more open ended free fall of synth sounds. The use of long wave sounds in this music add a nice experimental component to the music. The solo tracks, aren't the divided sum of the total, but more along similar lines, so perhaps you could wonder if perhaps this could have been entirely in solo mode, but of course the element of creating together adds that a bit of extra tension to the music. It's worth picking up their 2011 album, the split one, and get a more complete picture of the development. Excellent cosmos music, something just out of the ordinary, but not too estranged." [FdW/Vital Weekly]
|
2011 |
€12.00 |
|
| ELIAN |
Whispers, then Silence |
CD |
"To say Michael Duane Ferrell (the man behind the Elian moniker) is a patient man would be something of an understatement. But then the work of Elian is all incredibly understated anyway, so it all fits nicely. I first heard Elian’s work through mutual contacts, my first experience being ‘We Are All Visitors Here’ on the rather wonderful Test Tube label. In fact, if you go over the work he has released, you will instantly notice a person who clearly takes his time and treats each album as a labour of love in the fullest sense.
The album ‘Whispers, Then Silence’ was actually one of the first albums I got for release on Home Normal, all the way back in December 2009. Along with Celer, offthesky and Library Tapes, it was one of the albums which defined exactly what Home Normal would be for me. Its very special that we have been able to wait, tweak and just get everything timed perfectly for the release, which it duly has. The album is about as broad a record as we’ve released and about as ambitious a work that I have ever heard. From the opening vibraphone of its title track, through the interspersed white noise static and disturbing light-dark-dark-light melodies sourced from various instruments, you are left with the feeling of absolute and complete imagination. Always changing, never still, it keeps you suspended in its entirety, in (as one friend of mine said) ‘a horror film state’.
Whilst I get this, it doesn’t fit for me. There is often a very limiting split in so called ‘minimal’ work for me: light airy fluffy drone or dark ‘doom’ drone work, and quite frankly I am bored of both. Where this work is truly great is in its ability to cross the line between organic and electronic, accessible and inaccessible, dark and light. The melodies are totally unique and its a voice quite unlike anyone else out there today. It doesn’t fit into any scene or exact definition, and whilst that may put some people off, it shouldn’t. For those who are as patient as the man himself, sit down and enjoy, you are in for one incredible ride." [label info]
www.homenormal.com
|
2010 |
€15.00 |
|
| ELIZABETH S. |
Gather Love |
CD |
Elizabeth S., long time contributor/performer with duo Eyeless In Gaza is about to release her first solo album. Happy in the past to remain on the sidelines with her collaborations she is now ready to reveal some of her story. These songs are her personal journey through many stormy years and the development of this work was many years in the making. All the songs were written, performed and produced by her with the only additional contributions being made by Martyn Bates and Alan Trench. In a recent review (www.bigbeautifulnoise.com) Lee Henderson wrote that her work extends from an almost mournful reminiscence to ethereal portraits and symbolic aural illustrations. Elizabeth S. has an approach that combines electronic treatments while having a tight grasp on her early British folk beginnings: this in-depth collection is a beacon on dark and intensely stormy years and yet it still offers a warm invitation to inspire hope and goodness to the human race. Consisting of twelve tracks of such an intimate autobiographical diary this body of work leaves the listener with no doubt that we have been allowed into a very private space inhabited by most of us at some point in our lives - with Elizabeth’s music gently moving from the tender to the abstract, all the while staying firmly rooted within a range of sparse musical arrangements. Elizabeth S. has been likened to a curious hybrid of Dolly Collins, June Tabor, Laurie Anderson and Kate Westbrook – but, it is truly difficult to label her music, and this is a task that we leave to the listener. Full tracklist: 1. Misborn 2. Will Your Love 3. The Carer 4. The Carter Girl 5. Weathered Life 6. Measured Greed 7. The Hill 8. The Long Farewell 9. Wanderlove 10. Gather Love 11. No Rain 12. To.
https://www.klanggalerie.com/gg384
"Warum Elizabeth S., langjährige Mitwirkende bei der Band Eyeless in Gaza, erst nach Jahrzehnten ein Album im Alleingang produziert hat, ist nicht weiter bekannt. Schon die ersten beiden Tracks ihres vor kurzem erschienenen Debüts “Gather Love” geben jedoch bereits eine Vorstellung von der enorm aufwühlenden Emotionalität, die sich in unterschiedlichen Facetten durch das ganze Werk zieht. Ein solches Album braucht nicht nur eine Weile, um fertig gestellt zu werden, sondern noch mehr Zeit, um überhaupt als Idee heranzureifen.
Ein solches Album ist, so will es die Redensart, keine leichte Geburt, und so beginnt “Gather Love” wie ein Donnerschlag mit dem heftigen “Misborn”, bei dem die Sängerin inmitten einer lärmenden Karambolage aus Drums, Noiserockgitarren und anderen Instrumenten beschwörende Verse anstimmt, während kleine Melodiefragmente auch hier bereits die Sanftheit ahnen lassen, die im weiteren Verlauf immer deutlicher in den Vordergrund treten wird. Alles dreht sich um den titelgebenden Begriff, und es scheint, als wollten Gesang und Lärm durch eine unsichtbare Wand dringen. Hinter der verbirgt sich vielleicht die gelöste, sehnsuchtsvolle Trauer, in die das darauffolgende “Will Your Love” getaucht ist – dieser vielleicht eingängigste Song des Albums, dessen eindringliches Gitarrenspiel und feuriger Gesang die Energie des Folkrevivals der 70er channelt, stellt die Frage nach einer Liebe, die den Tod überdauert. Alles in diesem Stück scheint dem Schmerz abgerungen und ist dabei frei von jeder lieblichen Romantik.
Die zwölf Stücke, in denen die oftmals verschwimmenden Klänge von Gitarre, Piano, Melodica, dezenter Elektronik und Streichern den Sound prägen, drehen sich immer wieder um Themen des Verlusts und des Vermissens und strahlen dabei eine große Zärtlichkeit aus, die mehr als alles andere die Wertschätzung des Verlorenen deutlich macht. Der Journalist Lee Henderson, der einiges über die persönlichen Hintergründe des Albums weiß, erwähnt den Bezug einiger der Songs auf die Familie der Sängerin. So enthält das verweht dröhnende “The Carter Girl” eine Tape-Aufnahme, die Elizabeth als Kind von ihrer Mutter, einer Opernsängerin, machte, die später an Alzheimer erkrankte. Andere Songs wie das so entrückte wie exaltierte “Weathered Life” erzählen in ihren Texten von den Herausforderungen, mit denen der Sängerin nahestehende Personen leben und kämpfen mussten.
Was die Opulenz der Stücke betrifft, die in ihrem unklaren Ort zwischen dunklen Folkballaden und abstrakteren Soundscapes immer wieder auch an Elizabeths Stammband erinnern, könnte “Gather Love” durchaus das Werk einer Band sein. Und doch bleibt stets der Eindruck einer persönlichen, autobiografischen Stimme, wie sie nur in wirklichen Soloarbeiten sprechen kann – ganz gleich, ob die Sängerin sich dabei wie in dem schleppenden, fast an No Wave erinnernden “No Rain” oder im gemächlich rauschenden “The Long Farewell” eher zurücknimmt und den Instrumenten den vorderen Platz überlässt, oder ob sie auch gesanglich wie in “The Hill” oder dem monumentalen “Measured Greed” alle Barrieren durchbricht und sich in fast wahnhafter Ekstatik Ausdruck verschafft.
Zu den gemächlicheren Stücken zählt auch das Mason Williams-Cover “Wanderlove”, bei dem mit Alan Trench (Temple Music, 12 Thousand Days u.v.a.) und Ehemann Martyn Bates auch Gäste mit Drones und begleitendem Gesang zu Wort kommen. In das sanfte Dröhnen mischt sich etwas unruhig drängendes, das sich durch die emotionale Grund-DNA des ganzen Albums zieht, eine sich heftig aufbäumende Eruption, die gleichermaßen rastlos und konzentriert, magisch und kathartisch ist. Erst im kurzen Abspann von “To” glätten sich die Wogen – wie auf der letzten, versöhnlichen Seite einer autobiografischen Erzählung. Zweifelsohne ein mehr als gelungenes Debüt." [U.S./African Paper]
|
2022 |
€15.00 |
|
| ELLENDE |
Odyssey, A Sentimental Journey |
BOOK + 2 x 10inch |
Odyssey, a sentimental journey: Ellende’s latest release sees the band bringing together an album based on a trip Wim took to Japan to visit his cousin in the early 1990’s. Most of the music in the records was recorded live at The Plantation in 2018, with a few minor overdubs added at various locations (Tokyo and London). The music might sound a bit nostalgic, the ambience of warm February nights in Cape Town while the sounds of old French movies seep through a badly tuned piano. Sometimes the doors are shut and large metal sheets are heard processed through guitar pedals. A modular synthesiser, analogue synths (Roland SH-101, Juno 6, ARP Solus, Solina) and guitar have been used as well throughout the album.
Dave “Slave” Mbambi: Guitar, Drones, Synths
Lodewikus Pretorius: Piano, Modular, String Synths
John John: Synths, Bows, Percussion,
Martinus Antonius: Recording, Mix, Tapes, Phasers
Rafael Anton Irisarri: Mastering
Richard Hart: Design and Art Direction
https://ellende1.bandcamp.com/album/odyssey-a-sentimental-journey
"For quite a few reasons this release is a big surprise. First of all, I had not heard of Ellende in many years. The last time was back in Vital Weekly 772 when I reviewed a live cassette from the group. That was after some hiatus, but between Vital Weekly 346 and 444, there were no less than ten different releases reviewed in these pages (I even wrote “by now Ellende seems to appear in every new Vital Weekly”) including the all-revealing 'Kut Met Peren' 3"CDR. So that is Dutch and so is the word Ellende, which stands for 'misery'. That is one surprise. The next one is that this release doesn't fit the previous somewhat lo-fi aesthetic of the old work, but this a lovely, beautiful release. The records are packed inside the front cover of a hardcover book (actually an oversized dust-cover, and some thirty-six pages of text and images, all in beautiful black and white. The third surprise is that Ellende is still around and still very little is known about them. Wim Bontjes and his cousin Martinus Antonius start it out with tape experiments. Bontjes committed suicide in 1995 and the group continued with his "conceptual ideas", even when these ideas remain unnamed. Over the years many people have been a member, all in steady flux. This new record was recorded in South Africa, as, mystery solved, they are from there and not The Netherlands, with Dave "Slave" Mbambi on guitars, drones and synth, Lodewikus Pretorius on piano, modular, string synths and John John on synths, bows, percussion while Antonius is responsible for recording, mix, tapes and phasers. Bandcamp is a bit more specific: "Sometimes the doors are shut and large metal sheets are heard processed through guitar pedals. A modular synthesiser, analogue synths (Roland SH-101, Juno 6, ARP Solus, Solina) and guitar have been used as well throughout the album. "The release is about a trip Wim made to Japan to visit his cousin (I assume Antonius) and the stories are about a "pitiful chase of sex', portrayed by "women's death-masks-like faces", as such by Richard Hart in the book. I mist admit that I re-read some of the old reviews to remind myself what Ellende was all about; I forgot after all those/despite all those releases. I must say I very much enjoyed this new release. There is an excellent dark mood depicted here, fitting the likewise dark images of the book and the tales of sordid sex. An endless stream of synthesizers mingles very pleasantly with sustaining guitar sounds and sound effects used to place accents in strategic places. Sometimes the guitar is strummed in a more traditional way, such as in 'Girlfriend Experience' but against a doomy backdrop of much reverb. Throughout this album carries on the torch of Ellende's previous work with fuzzy and busy drones, beautifully colliding. This is one damn fine release; one that is just perfect, both in music and packaging. It is almost like a pre-programmed collector's item. I am very curious if Ellende will slip back into another period of hibernation. I hope that is not the case." [FdW/Vital Weekly]
|
2019 |
€38.00 |
|
| |
Unintentional Consequences |
10inch |
Unintentional Consequences is the second part of a trilogy of which Ellende’s previous release the double 10” album Odyssey, A Sentimental Journey from 2019 was part one.
Unintentional Consequences
For this release Ellende was a core of three original members plus a guest musician. The album was recorded between May to August 2020 in Cape Town, Johannesburg, Tokyo, and London. The release contains a twelve page booklet with artwork by Richard Hart. The autobiographical text in English and Afrikaans is of a trip taken to Cape Town in the mid 1970’s where two teenage cousins are confronted with the consequences of their shared family history.
The music can be described as ambient; the sounds are multilayered, often a bit dusty and slow moving. Some of the tracks sound like they have been recorded on old tapes giving the whole album a nostalgic atmosphere. Often a piano acts as the leitmotif, there is plenty of droning and throughout the tracks bits of texts from old French movies float in and out. Most of the music is made with vintage analogue synthesisers such as the Arp Solina, Prophet 5, ARP Solus, Juno 6. Most of the piano’s, Rhodes and Wurlizters are from the late 70’s as well.
All the tracks have been recorded on tape, often played back on half speed. Mastering again was done by Rafael Irissari, whose own ambient work we greatly admire.
Unintentional Consequences is the second part of a trilogy of which Ellende’s previous release the double 10” album Odyssey, A Sentimental Journey from 2019 was part one.
Ellende was:
Martinus Antonius: ARP Solus, Casio VL-Tone, Eurorack, Recording and Looping, Processing, Mix;
Carina Bruwer: Flute;
Richard Hart: Graphic Design and Art Direction;
Rafael Irisarri: Mastering;
John John: Wurlitzer, guitar, Juno 60, Tape, Mix, Processing;
Lodewikus Pretorius: Piano, Rhodes MKI en MKII, Prophet 5, ARP Solina, Mellotron.
https://ellende1.bandcamp.com/album/unintentional-consequences
"Although Ellende is from South Africa, this new release was sent to me from Japan (just like the previous one) by one of the band members (if not the core of the group). Recording for this new record took place in Cape Town, Johannesburg, Tokyo, and London. Maybe that shows the diversity of the floating membership of this group, but, more mundane, it also has to do with the Covid thing. I doubt that under normal circumstances, these people would team up. Ellende means misery, which is in this age is the most appt name, of course, for the state of the world. As with the previous release, this comes in a beautiful package, 10" gatefold sleeve, booklet with a text in South-African (which is related to the Dutch language, but not always to understand for me), and English. If the previous release (Vital Weekly 1206) was already a step towards ambient music, then this indeed is another step further down that road. Sound material supplied by Carina Bruwer (flute), John John (Wurlitzer, guitar, Juno 6, tape) and core member Martinus Antonius (ARP Solus, Casio VL-Tone, Eurorack, recordings, looping and processing; he's the man in Tokyo). The story in the booklet is about the family history of Antonius and his cousin Wim, who committed suicide in 1995. It is an interesting read when playing the music. Still, I returned to the music again, without taking too much notice of the text and enjoyed the dark, pastoral ambient tones, from long, sustaining synthesisers washing ashore, along with field recordings from around the house. Just a few notes that all there seems to be to it. It fits in a way the current wave of lo-fi drone music, with those cassettes that ran out of Ferro, so the music isn't captured very well, sparse synths and shady field recordings. In the variation of Ellende this is all very ambient, peaceful and subdued. In this variation, the use of voices from French films from the 70s (which relates to the text enclosed) adds further to the music's dreamlike quality. All of this is more spacious than their earlier work. You could say this is a step forward, but instead, I'd like to say it further expands musical interests." [FdW/Vital Weekly] |
2021 |
€18.00 |
|
| ELLICIST |
Point Defects |
LP |
"Creating a composition means making decisions. During times in which you virtually have all sounds that have ever been recorded at your availability, composers must choose between infinite possibilities. The duo Ellicist does not perceive this contemporary ocean of possibilities as too much choice, they are swimming in it. Ellicist are weaving thick textures from the most diverse tones and rhythms. Their tracks are placing synthetic buzzing, the croaking of frogs, low frequency billowing and humming, flutes, the droning of flies, and the whole spectrum of the digital creation of sound next to one another. This intensity of sensations is not supposed to overstrain the listener, it invites them to follow a process. This music does not have a strict structure; instead, it is breathing openness at every moment.
Ellicist are incessantly oscillating between abstraction and elements of pop music. Melodies are being hinted at, and sounds are being piled up, at times tirelessly. Fragments of etheric choirs or field recordings are unfolding their associative power. The melodious Ink is a track full of touching intimacy and is in constant motion until it eventually pauses to create a silent ocean of sound. Passage People is permeated by a groove of throbbing synths. The tapestries of sound of Ponds & Graves, on the other hand, are creating the foundation for expressive percussions. Ihnen Steg is almost a dub track. During the opener Hennepin and its follower Lilei sounds of palpable corporeity are being combined with ones that are hardly tangible.
Point Defects has a incredible spatiality. At one point you might believe that you are able to precisely localize the sounds in an imaginary system of coordinates. And then the whole systemization crumbles. It is an astonishing production: you can almost taste the sounds.
Biographical Notes:
Ellicist are Thomas Chousos & Florian Zimmer. Chousos studied composition in Greece before moving to Berlin, where he is working as a producer and sound engineer under the moniker Tadklimp. Florian Zimmer has been playing with several groups. Besides Ellicist he is a member of Saroos and Driftmachine."
https://ellicist.bandcamp.com
"Springs have sprung on the opener, Hennepin, and the duo Ellicist (Thomas Chousos & Florian Zimmer) is off to an eventful start on their latest Point Defects. Their murky, quirky sound combines elements of abstraction, noise, electronics and synthetic nature. There’s is a swampy universe where engines don’t kickstart, where sluice-like regurgitation is the norm while night creatures devour the surroundings. The first three tracks (also including Lilei and Passage People) uniformly fold into one another.
The highlight here, aside from the wondrous sound effects, is the assorted, moderated and otherwise unexpected percussion. It’s as though layers of warm static and a beehive have collided mid air in slow motion and as they slowly tumble to the surface even that gives way, almost like a video game that just added a new level. There are hazy synth blurs by way of random chords that abruptly vanish. And suddenly a little post-techno gem, Ihnen Steg, is before our ears. Roughly translated to “your jetty” the sparkles and spray-paint can jitters and like a flowering ground cover shivering in the breeze. As it moves deeper into the track, the more retro-cosmic cinema it becomes. And in between there are plenty of pops, hiss and wavering filters that arbitrarily mask and reveal what could be pieces of encoded messages.
Somehow I’m nudged with elusively vague reminders of the incidental post-rock music of either To Rococo Rot, Kreidler and/or hints of Labradford. It’s only through the haze and transistor-like bits, croaking and jerking on the wild-style outdoorsy Ponds & Graves (listen above) that I begin to partially understand their off-Earth conjuring. And for all this sophisticated rumination it’s essential to point out that this is these gents’ debut! For that, alone, I am floored. Though it doesn’t deter my further listening, nor my appetite for more.
On the closer, Trace, they continue with the moody rhythmic points afloat and rocking, swaying, back and forth. It’s a dreamlike world, slightly discombobulated, but reflective of fleeting out jazz and post-electro-pop. They make no pint in covering small defects, and utilize sounds of falling, of movement, quite effectively, and in doing so keep your ears active between channels." [TJ NORRIS/ TONESHIFT]
|
2019 |
€18.00 |
|
| ELODIE (TIMO VAN LUIJK & ANDREW CHALK) |
La Lumiere Parfumee |
CD |
"The second album by Timo van Luijk & Andrew Chalk. While the debut album 'Echos Pastoraux' ( La Scie Doree) had the sentiments of a homely
sketchbook memory,'La Lumiere Parfumee' is a new collection of eight pieces, bringing
a more elaborate repertoire with delicate acoustic and electronic arrangements
in an impressionistic pallette of pastel shades and shimmering opalescent rays.
Packaged in handmade mini LP style gatefold cd sleeve. Release date : 30 December 2011
Catalogue No. : Faraway Press 020
Edition of 400 copies
1.Aubade
2.La Boite aux Souvenirs
3.Ame Pale
4.Mirage
5.Rayons Irises
6.La Voix du Lac
7.Arcade Oblique
8.Souffle de Cendre
Mastered by Denis Blackham at Skye Mastering." [label info]
www.farawaypress.info
"Andrew Chalk and Timo van Luijk's ongoing research in the world of atmospheric music adds another chapter through their latest album 'La Lumiere Parfumee'. Armed with a handful of acoustic sounds, rusty metal, a piano, flutes, violin, wine glasses and such like they play intimate music that sounds improvised. Which I guess is an odd thing since you could expect something more drone like, but that's simply not the trick of their trade. Through sparse notes they create a sense of emptiness, desolateness and melancholy. Electronics, when used, are only there is a very sparse way. 'Arcade Oblique' seems to me the only piece that use more of them, but it fits well with the more acoustic pieces. Very intimate music, reminding me of Idea Fire Company's 'Music From The Impossible Salon'." [FdW/Vital Weekly]
|
2011 |
€16.00 |
|
|
Traces Ephemeres |
LP |
"An eclectic ensemble of 18 instrumental arrangements evoking an epic and existential soundtrack determined by the power of momentary destiny and reflective sentiment. Music played by Andrew Chalk and Timo van Luijk. Clarinet by Jean-Noël Rebilly. Piano and koto by Tom James Scott. Edition of 350 copies." [label info]
www.lasciedoree.be
"When not playing his own music, Timo van Luijk is busy with recording music with other people, and with some of them as part of an on-going collaboration, such as In Camera with Christoph Heemann and Elodie with Andrew Chalk. This is Elodie's fourth full length release (see Vital Weekly 781 and 828) and like before the album has rather shortish pieces, even more fragmented, it seems, than before, eighteen in total. It therefore isn't one of those 'one drone, one side, LP done' sort of releases. This is all highly atmospheric music as you can surely imagine given the reputation of both of these composers, but then played on a wide variety of instruments, of an acoustic and electronic origin. The carefully strummed guitar (Chalk), the flute, percussive bits, (both van Luijk) along with electronics - no computers I should think - play short and sketch like pieces. Not refined oil paintings on canvas but pencil sketches on paper. Introspective music, moody, but also airy and light. Moving like clouds on a blue sky, some white, some grey, some times rainy. Textured music, like you have textured paper, with spots of ink on them. Excellent stuff here." [FdW/Vital Weekly]
|
2014 |
€18.00 |
|
| |
Miniatures Persanes |
LP |
"Fourth album by Andrew Chalk & Timo van Luijk. 'A musical fantasy in two movements symbolising the evocative power and poetry of ancient illustration'. Edition of 300 copies." [label info]
www.lasciedoree.be
"Elodie’s Miniatures Persanes (‘Persian miniature’ I would venture) is the fifth album of Chalk’s collaboration with Timo van Luyk and released on Van Luyk’s private label La Scie Dorée. Available on both vinyl and in one of those beautiful handmade portfolio/slipcase covers that are also produced for Faraway Press albums, this record features two side long tracks that indeed conjure up images of Persia. The instrumentation and feel of Miniatures Persanes is not unlike that of The Circle Of Days, but there are differences that set it apart. The first side long track, Le Doigt d’Etonnement (The Surprising Finger?), is a slow drone-like piece, filled with reverbed instruments, backwards tapes and what sounds like wind (electronic or real), giving it a thick rotating sound. Despite the lack of some breathing space and, indeed, surprise in the track itself, this is a fine musical piece. The second side, Illuminations, fares even better with more pensive and transparent playing, that much-needed breath of air and even a hint of melody. With more variety in its structure and playing, I prefer this over the first side. Miniatures Persanes is a beautiful and reflective record, that works very well on a quiet winter evening." [FK/Vital Weekly]
|
2014 |
€17.50 |
|
| 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 |
|
|
Galaxies full-electro |
CD |
" 'Galaxies' (Warsaw version), electro-acoustic alone. Fully electro-acoustic version of Anâhata / Galaxies realized on the composer's personal computer from the original electro-acoustic recordings of this work. Electronic music studios where the original Anâhata / Galaxies were 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. Jean-Claude Eloy: 'In 1994 I had (for purely practical reasons) to remove these big electro-acoustic parts making up the two Galaxies works from the piece they were connected with until then: Part III of my Anâhata cycle, entitled Nimîlana-Unmîlana (that which awakens - that which slumbers). An electro-acoustic work integrating instrumental acoustic parts that required the performance of a Shô player from Japan. Those electro-acoustic parts were substantial enough to warrant a new configuration ensuring their stand-alone nature, independent of whether a performer was available or not. Therefore I used (apart from the two Galaxies) a set of particular sounds that I had generated during that production (all of them resulting from Shô sampled sound processing and modulations) entitled sons d'infinitude (sounds of indefiniteness). These sustained sounds were very fixed, quite contemplative, almost motionless or maintained through short fluctuations that were more or less regular. They were five of them altogether. Four of them were grouped together into a consistent set and occurred after the first Galaxy, before the Shô solo. I had used them to compose a sequence called Awakening, which formed the first Shô appearance in the version realized for the Donaueschingen Festival in 1990. The fifth one took place at the end of the second Galaxy and was used to support the conclusion played on the Ô-Shô. In this purely electro-acoustic version the first four sons d'infinitude came quite naturally as a bridge between both Galaxies. The fifth sound kept its conclusive place, making it bigger and using it as a genuine extension sound that could be infinite, with no limit!" [label info]
www.hors-territoires.com
|
2013 |
€15.00 |
|
|
Le Minuit de la Foi (The Midnight of the Faith) |
do-CD |
" 'Le minuit de la foi' ('The midnight of the faith') (2014) for electronic and concrete sounds, around selected sentences by Edith Stein recorded by German actress Gisela Claudius. New work from Jean-Claude Eloy, a long piece under the power of expanded sounds and sacred words.
'Le minuit de la foi' is a double album, each CD of which forms a stand-alone entity. Each CD can therefore be listened to separetly. However, you do need to listen to the full album for it to become meaningful through its complementary balances, and to grasp its very essence." [label info]
www.hors-territoires.com
|
2015 |
€21.00 |
|
| |
Gaia-Songs |
do-CD |
“Gaia-Songs” (1992 - revision 2015). Songs for the other half of the sky n° V - VI. For a soprano (or mezzo-soprano) solo and an actress voice (Sprechgesang technique) with electro-acoustic (fixed sounds).
Anne-Lisa Nathan, mezzo-soprano. Helena Rüegg, actress voice.
“First there’s this relation between sung voices and spoken voices with regard to the electro-acoustic parts. The sung voice is quite often separated from the electro-acoustical parts accompanying it. They may sometimes overlap each other but rather briefly. Those parts often highlight octave ratios, fifth ratios, thirdratios, etc. Hence more harmonious and consonant acoustic ratios. By contrast thespoken voice fullt covers the electro-acoustic parts dedicated to it and made out of more complex material. Hence more dissonant acoustic ratios turned towards noises spectrums.” JC Eloy from the liner notes
|
2017 |
€21.50 |
|
| EMERGE |
Steps |
CD |
What is it that we're hearing? Is it the wind? Is it the sea? Is it the crackle of a burning fire? Where are we? A great sense of loneliness pervades the quiet setting which we cannot quite make out. And then suddenly living creatures enter the sonic scene. Birds and people, their voices and their steps. They seem to be walking, walking past us, towards a destination we do not know. We cannot understand in what language or languages they are speaking – or can we? It is hard to make out, because everything they say is strangely muffled, although they are not speaking in a low voice. Everything we hear feels either too loud or too quiet, too close or too distant. As if some shock had happened to our hearing before we started listening to this album. Like a bomb exploding in close proximity to our ears. Or something so unimaginably terrible that it bent the acoustic space in the place from which these sounds come through to us. This is how the album “steps” begins.
The album “steps” is composed exclusively from field recordings made at the Dachau Concentration Camp memorial site. It is not possible to represent the horrors of concentration camps in music, and – a lesson learned from the many failures in the history of “industrial music” – the attempt to do so will inevitably result in trivialising kitsch, at best. Therefore, the album “steps” does not claim to be an album “about” a concentration camp, it is an album about a memorial site. Like the modern-day classic on the subject, “Gurs. Drancy. Gare de Bobigny. Auschwitz. Birkenau. Chelmo-Kulmhof. Majdaneck. Sobibor. Treblinka” by Stéphane Garin & Sylvestre Gobart (2011), “steps” goes to show to what extent contextual information about the sonic subject matter of a piece influences our listening. This artistic strategy can also be read in political terms: Only if we know the history behind these sounds – and the history of the place where they were recorded – are we able to make sense of the present.
For part 2, EMERGE invited sound artists from all over Europe to give their characteristic processing to the original audio field recordings. The resulting audio fragments are fed into the performance, symbolising a peaceful, solidary encounter of cultures – in deliberate contrast to the fact that people from many European countries were brought together in the Dachau concentration camp by utmost force.
File under: electroacoustic music, field recordings
-----
Was hören wir da? Ist es der Wind? Ist es das Knistern von offenem Feuer? Wo sind wir? Der Ort lässt sich nicht genau bestimmen, aber er ist ziemlich still und fühlt sich sehr einsam an. Und dann treten plötzlich lebendige Wesen auf den Plan. Vogel- und Menschenstimmen, Schritte. Anscheinend gehen Leute an uns vorbei in Richtung eines Ziels, das wir nicht kennen. Wir können nicht erkennen, in welcher Sprache oder welchen Sprachen sie reden – oder doch? Es ist nicht leicht auszumachen, denn alles, was sie sagen, ist irgendwie eigenartig gedämpft, obwohl sie nicht leise sprechen. Alles, was wir hören, scheint entweder zu laut oder zu leise, zu nah oder zu weit weg. Als ob sich ein Schock ereignet hätte, bevor wir begonnen haben, das Album anzuhören. Wie eine Bombenexplosion ganz nah an unseren Ohren. Oder etwas, das so unvorstellbar schrecklich ist, dass es den Raum verbogen hat, aus dem diese Klänge zu uns dringen. So beginnt das Album “steps”.
Das Album “steps” wurde ausschließlich aus Fieldrecordings komponiert, die in der KZ-Gedenkstätte Dachau aufgenommen wurden. Das Grauen der Konzentrationslager musikalisch darzustellen, ist unmöglich, und der Versuch muss unweigerlich in verharmlosendem Kitsch münden – oder Schlimmerem. (Die vielen Negativbeispiele in der Geschichte der Industrial-Musik sprechen hier für sich.) Das Album “steps” maßt sich jedoch gar nicht an, ein Album “über” ein Konzentrationslager zu sein. Es ist ausdrücklich ein Album über eine Gedenkstätte. Ähnlich wie das Referenzwerk der letzten Jahre zu diesem Thema, “Gurs. Drancy. Gare de Bobigny. Auschwitz. Birkenau. Chelmo-Kulmhof. Majdaneck. Sobibor. Treblinka” von Stéphane Garin & Sylvestre Gobart (2011) zeigt auch “steps” auf, wie stark Kontextinformationen über das Klangmaterial unser Hören prägen. Diese künstlerische Strategie kann auch politisch verstanden werden: Nur, wenn wir die Geschichte hinter diesen Klängen kennen – und die der Orte, an denen sie aufgenommen wurden –, können wir die Gegenwart verstehen.
Für Teil 2 hat EMERGE Soundkünstler*innen aus ganz Europa eingeladen, die originalen Fieldrecordings auf ihre jeweils charakteristische Weise zu bearbeiten. Die dadurch entstandenen Audiofragmente sind in die Komposition mit eingeflossen und symbolisieren so eine friedliche, solidarische Begegnung der Kulturen – als bewusster Gegenentwurf zu der Tatsache, dass Menschen aus vielen Ländern Europas im KZ Dachau mit äußerster Gewalt zusammengezwungen wurden.
File under: elektroakustische Musik, Fieldrecordings
https://emerge.bandcamp.com/album/steps
|
2020 |
€13.00 |
|
| |
Indulgence |
CD-R |
"There is only one sound artist whose knowledge of the underground is so reliable that it knows out to bring out the best literal sounds of sand, gravel, dirt and mysterious mysteries from the lower levels. Emerge is the artist that I’m writing about.
Many of Emerge’s releases are shimmering, softly crawling into the shadows of suburban city lights and below the surfaces within sewer systems. However this time with this new release things are different; here Emerge doesn’t go for the sound of after night city lights, subway systems or drainage, but indeed literally goes under the ground as being the polar opposite of astronauts that would go out into space.
Here Emerge explores the sounds of the real underground, as the vast amount of dry dirt and mud is being slit through in order to reveal sound places that nobody (except Emerge) really knows about; underground rooms in which the private artist and explorer hides out in all his privacy; places from which genially engraved holes provide the sounds of a controlled sea, the one that you could hear in snail shelves, or in toilet bowls; but yet never heard before!
With the help of Emerge you don’t need to do anything at all; just listen to this release as it will take you deep under the underground surface for your recreational, or even scientifically approved purposes.
I say recreational as in one moment of slipping through the microscopic sand rocks the artist seems to handle over a ping pong table tennis racket for a friendly underground game.
Afterwards Emerge transforms the audio surroundings into a real cozy one; a pleasant underground cave with a damp feeling and pleasurable water drips & muffled sounds of possibly bad weather above surface; nothing is better than being dry, warm, cozy and among a good friend deep down below; while others are above ground getting soaked while struggling with opening their umbrellas.
Emerge will keep us all thoroughly entertained by leading the way through even deeper surfaces, a dense hallway that seemingly picks up the sounds of a long and lost highway now sophistically beamed down in Emerge’s underground network.
Let Emerge be the eye opener to a place of the beautiful underground world that we normally just step over." [Yeah I know it sucks]
https://emerge.bandcamp.com/album/indulgence-2
|
2021 |
€10.00 |
|
| EMERGE / THORSTEN SOLTAU / RLW |
Acker und Seche |
CD |
"Let me see if I can summarize the 'how' and 'why' here. In 2016 Swiss Radio commissed music by Thorsten Soltau. He used piano and electronics for the six resulting pieces. In November 2017, these recordings were then used by Sascha Stadlmeier, also known as Emerge, to further treatment, mix, or whatever you call it, and added field recordings and electronics. Then Ralf Wehowsky received the material and created a seventeen-minute collage out of all the material. For Wehowsky, this has been part of his work ever since working as P16.D4, and later on solo as RLW, working with sound material from others. Stadlmeier (also known as EMERGE) is of the next generation doing similar things and has an impressive list of collaborations. Over the years, Staldmeier's music matured and moved away from the all to obvious repeating samples, and noisy crescendo's
into carefully built sound constructions. EMERGE has the first five pieces and the last one, while RLW is sixth. There are some interesting differences between the approaches of EMERGE and RLW. It seems to me as if EMERGE here goes for the method that is all sparse. Sure, he bends his sounds with electronics, staples a drone or two, adds some reverb to a solid bang on the piano, but all of this is finely dosed to precision. I already compared his work with that of Asmus Tietchens, and this is, even more, the case here. But it is not a one on one copy. EMERGE cleverly adds his personal touch to the original sound material and adds his sound material sparsely. RLW, on the other hand, has a slightly different approach, connecting more with a musique concrète approach, and throughout his piece, he moves through more sound material than EMERGE, or at least, so it seems. Maybe he likes it all so much that he wanted to use it a lot. RLW's piece is a collage of sounds, with full stops and
starts, taking the piece to entirely different pastures. It is throughout a louder piece of music than the five by EMERGE, but I very much enjoyed this approach. All of this release reads 'classical collaboration spirit'.[FdW / Vital Weekly]
|
2021 |
€13.00 |
|
| EMERY, MATT |
Empire |
LP |
Emery's music is described by The 405 as "ebbing from soft whispers to an ocean of sound that would calm even the roughest of seas." Their words are apt. Though learned and erudite, Empire, A record that echoes the grandeur and myriad complexities of Greek mythology, is experienced less in musicality but in mood. From the swooping strings of the album's title track to the fluttering piano of 'Effervescent', to the intensity of 'Orpheus', it is evident that Emery has a heavy heart. There is melancholia, jubilation, tension, beauty, dark ambience all deftly navigated within its various movements. Emery's profile as a composer has benefitted from several placements across cinema and television, accumulating an incredible 30 million views on YouTube for his GoPro online ads. His music was used for the trailer of Anton Chekhov's Seagull play at Regents Park Open Air Theatre in June-July 2015. Other placements include trailers for the British Academy's Literature Week in 2015 and 1883 Magazine's ife Less Ordinary' - behind the scenes photo shoot amongst many others
|
2017 |
€22.50 |
|
| ENCEPHALOPHONIC |
Alone |
7inch |
"Geez, this boy is fucked. Fucked raw. Raw. That's the fucking word, you fuck. Wonderfully blown-out sonics from A to B. A to Z. Whatever, you fuck. It's three in the goddamn morning, the earholes are absolutely mangled and here I am flipping over again, and again, you fuck. I did say raw, right? But I could have been letting the essence get to me. The stench. Encephalo has certainly expanded his sound. Or upped the gear. These are surprisingly full-bodied workings-through of fantastically flavorsome fudge-punchies. And surprisingly bereft of the more spastic inclinations of yore. Y'know, like, way back in, what was it, 2013? Yeah, those were the days, lemme tell ya. In them days, Encephalo was more noted for, well, how shall I put this? YOUR MOTHER SUCKS COCKS IN HELL! Now, he seems to have settled down to a more focused brutishness. SOUNDS FOR BUTTPHONE! For the moment, anyway. Side Peace-Signing Asian Kid starts with the familiar looped stuttering, slams into the familiar acoustic hacklery, dips into the familiar pincer grip, then rasps in fits and starts through unhealthy hawking splurt. Then he breaks out his surgery utensils and gets down to a pointed, business-like, needlepoint seethe. Come to think of it, this was just about as spastic as ever, but perhaps the clarity of elements set in motion renders a different species of perversion. Less agitating to push the shit out, more plain grim. Side Pierced Chick With Handsaw In Mouth is perhaps the more settled, thus to be second. Thunk-thunk-thunk-thunk. Ground-up propeller fizzle. A seemingly undercooked shit-bed acquires a threatening quality by successive increments. You'd think we were going to launch into the wacked-out Encecphalo we know and crave. And we do- almost. The knives are out! A few glinting spasmodic incisions threaten to rip the fabric apart before heavier densities roll into view, start to encircle the periphery, come into focus, then to escort proceedings to an impeccably subdued denouement. Nicely crafted bit of faux drama there, really had me going, think I'll flip over for more Peace-Signing Asian Kid."
www.audiodissection.com/Encephalophonic.aspx |
2014 |
€15.00 |
|
| ENGLISH, LAWRENCE |
Cruel Optimism |
LP |
"Cruel Optimism is a record that considers power (present and absent). It meditates on how power consumes, augments and ultimately shapes two subsequent human conditions: obsession and fragility. This pyramid is an affective ecology of the (ever)present moment.
This edition owes its title and its origins to the wonderful text of the same name by American theorist Lauren Berlant. I had the fortune to come across her writing almost a half-decade ago. In Cruel Optimism, I found a number of critical readings around the issues that have fuelled so much of the music I have been making recently. Beyond her keen analysis of the relations of attachment as they pertain to conditions of possibility in the everyday, it was particularly her writing around trauma I found deeply affecting. It was a jumping off point from which a plague of unsettling impressions of suffering, intolerance and ignorance could be unpacked and utilised as fuel over and above pointless frustration.
When I made Wilderness Of Mirrors, clouds of unease were overhead. As I have worked through Cruel Optimism, what seemed an unimaginable future just a few years prior, began to present as actual. Over the course of creating the record, we collectively bore witness to a new wave of humanitarian and refugee crisis (captured so succinctly in the photograph of Alan Kurdi’s tiny body motionless on the shore), the black lives matter movement, the widespread use of sonic weapons on civilians, increased drone strikes in Waziristan, Syria and elsewhere, and record low numbers of voting around Brexit and the US election cycle, suggesting a wider sense of disillusionment and powerlessness. Acutely for me and other Australians, we've faced dire intolerance concerning race and continued inequalities related to gender and sexuality. The storm has broken and feels utterly visceral.
Cruel Optimism is a meditation on these challenges and an encouragement to press forward towards more profound futures.
Beyond the motivations forging the record, the process by which this edition was created was unlike many of my other records. Having worked largely alone in recent years, I wanted to shift away from that approach. I wanted the opportunity for exchange, to trial new ideas in various spaces and to find myself surprised by the perspectives of others. It was this desire that led me to reach out to friends, old and new, and invite them to contribute to Cruel Optimism. It also led to me using a range of studio spaces to explore new techniques, informed by what I had learned taking Wilderness Of Mirrors on the road for the better part of two years.
I count myself exceptionally fortunate to have been able to call on so many fine musicians in the making of this album. Some of these collaborations were at the foetal stages, acting as important catalysts. Specifically, contributions from Mats Gustafsson, Mary Rapp and Tony Buck were important during this period. Some contributed from afar, including Chris Abrahams and Werner Dafeldecker, who both responded so very kindly to my cryptic notes and hopelessly poetic evocations. Some artists came to visit here in Brisbane such as Norman Westberg, Brodie McAllister, Australian Voices, Vanessa Tomlinson and Heinz Riegler. Others, such as Thor Harris, kindly invited me into their homes to work together. The richness of experience afforded to me during the making of Cruel Optimism is difficult to summarise. It was ultimately a truly rare pleasure to have these exchanges.
I leave it to you then, to listen as you can. This record is one of protest against the immediate threat of abhorrent possible futures. It’s an object of projection, from me to you and onward from there. I couldn’t be more pleased to share Cruel Optimism with you." [label info]
"This record is one of protest against the immediate threat of abhorrent possible futures."
I open the glass door of my bookcase and run my finger along the spines. All these words, written ago, from one mind to another. What does this all really contain if not the essence of another person's life? Perhaps a historical recount, or a scientific principle, or a story wrapped around a thought, philosophy, or an idea. What do all these people want to really say? Is there a warning in between the pages, a lesson for the generations, sent into the future through the might of words? I turn towards the records on my shelves and think the same. Perhaps not certitude or fact, but certainly their own reality, their truth, and their emotions are being locked inside those grooves, awaiting one more magic spin to sing and be alive. This is why music stands in time, outside of dates, and schedules, and agenda. A great record will always simply be.
And then sometimes the books and music come together...
All this rumination and one must wonder if it's simply not a pretext to an album I have sat on for so long. In fact, Cruel Optimism has been on rotation for nearly nine months now, slowly appearing and then disappearing again, awaiting proper time to share its point, only to be put away again, for yet another slice in time. It's possible that consuming this latest opus by Lawrence English requires a specific state of mind, a bit unease and agitation, some mortal metaphysical discomfort with a dash of existentialism and reflection. It's not a truly dark experience per se, but it's certainly not sunny waves and roses. The ominous sound of this album at times conveys a sense of an electric shock, mixed with a wall of noise, and joy of drone, and pain of silence. The oversaturated frequencies slam like a jet-fueled engine in your brain and send you flying through the haze of obtuse worlds, compact in time and dense in sound.
And then there is the concept...
Cruel Optimism is a record that considers power (present and absent). It meditates on how power consumes, augments and ultimately shapes two subsequent human conditions: obsession and fragility. This pyramid is an affective ecology of the (ever)present moment [...] Cruel Optimism is a meditation on these challenges and an encouragement to press forward towards more profound futures." -Lawrence English
Lawrence English has been known to draw inspiration from books. Back in 2011, he released The Peregrine which was driven by a book by J.A. Baker. Now, this Australian experimental composer, and owner of the magnificent Room40 label, extracts a seed of thought from a text by the same name by American theorist Lauren Berlant. Based on the rise of the unstable geopolitical landscape, the music of Cruel Optimism is a reflection of a modern world, in all its furious, distressed, and wrathful glory. Where self-destruction is no longer just a horrid dream, physical catastrophes and spiritual implosions are just around the corner. Just take a look around (but don't turn on TV) and witness the inflicted war on (human) nature - there is no need for extra words.
Cruel Optimism is not exactly a solo record either. Having mostly worked alone in his past years, this latest album sees English invite a few of his friends for the collaboration and try out new ideas in various recording spaces, exploring new techniques in a somewhat bidirectional exchange of musical conception. Here we are introduced to Mats Gustafsson, Mary Rapp, Tony Buck, Thor Harris, Norman Westberg, Heinz Reigler, and Chris Abrahams among the many. It is difficult to pinpoint the exact contributions of these musicians (I hold on to a separate credits sheet just for that), but then again, you shouldn't try and peel apart this piece, instead just let it hit you straight out of your emotionally suppressed hibernation if you haven't been already wide awake." [Headphone Commute]
|
2017 |
€26.00 |
|
|
A Mirror Holds The Sky |
CD / BOOK |
From Lawrence English: "In late months of 2008, I had the great fortune to spend some weeks in the Amazon. The visit, facilitated through Francisco Lopez's Mamori Artlab residency, remains one of the most deeply affecting experiences I have had . . . Living in Australia, tropical rainforests are not foreign to me. I would even say I am rather at home in them. My family, who lived and worked on the land of the Ngajanji people, had an admiration for, or in the very least a respect of, the rainforest. What makes time spent in the jungles of the Amazon different however is the scale and sheer volume (metaphoric and literal) of the life that inhabits it. Hundreds of thousands of narratives are in play moment to moment, their interactions flow together forming a perpetual cascade of arrival and departure, fertility and decay -- these fundamental states are intrinsically linked and constantly informing one another . . . To listen in the jungle is to listen in close relief -- in every square meter, thousands of insects cry out, their voices reducing the horizon of listening to a matter of centimeters at certain times of the day (and night) . . . The abundance of birds, mammals, beetles, flies, ants and so many other creatures are a source of constant and evolving fascination. In the lakes and rivers too, the hydro-sonic environments are perpetual and effortlessly deep . . . A Mirror Holds The Sky is in some ways an act of acoustic and temporal compression. It is a rendering down of the lived-in moments and environments that became points of intense listenership. If I am to be honest, it has taken me the better part of a decade to know how to approach this archive of materials. I owe a debt of gratitude to Chico Dub at Festival Novas Frequências, who very gently encouraged me to realize a piece for diffusion as part of his program in 2019. That invitation retuned my ears and in the process unlocked a way of approaching the mammoth 50+ hours of recordings I had gathered during my time there. I also owe a special debt of gratitude to my wife Rebecca, who was instrumental in gathering some of these recordings. Her ears reflected an entirely other set of interests than my own and without that, this piece would be substantially less than what it is." 48-page perfect bound book featuring photographs by English, taken on location in the Amazon.
https://lawrenceenglish.bandcamp.com/album/a-mirror-holds-the-sky
|
2021 |
€24.00 |
|
| |
Viento |
CD + BOOK |
In 2010, Lawrence English made field recordings in Patagonia. You can hear abandoned buildings, lone trees folded over in fields of tundra-like grasses, quivering road signs, wailing fences and other objects shaken into life by the wind. In the booklet, the sounds are accompanied by pictures.
Artist statement: "In the summer of 2010 I had the opportunity to visit Antarctica through an invitation extended by the Argentine Antarctic Division. It was nothing short of life-altering, as I am sure anyone would suspect. Upon departing from Buenos Aires for the iced continent the Hercules transport aircraft, under direction of the Argentine military, made a routine stop at an airbase outside Rio Gallegos.
What was meant to be a few hours layover turned into several days as, on landing, a strong wind storm blew in unexpectedly. Conditions exceeded expectations, and before long it was clear the transport could not take off. The situation was only compounded by adverse weather along the Antarctic Peninsula.
Whilst the scientists and military personnel we were travelling with bunkered down in their quarters, I found myself drawn outside into the howling air. The wind in Patagonia is, well, breathtaking. Literally, there were moments where it was so physical, that it was difficult to catch my breath. Across three days I recorded abandoned buildings, lone trees folded over in fields of tundra-like grasses, quivering road signs, wailing fences and other objects shaken into life by the wind. It wasn't a comfortable experience by any means, but the multiplicity of sounds I was able to capture, I hope, speak for themselves.
The Antarctic recordings were made during two blizzards at Marambio and Esperanza bases. During the blizzard in Marambio, the temperature dropped to -40 degrees centigrade (with wind chill) which made recording particularly challenging. The wind battered the base’s structures and telecommunications equipment, making a range of unsettling, phasing choral drones and deep low frequency vibrations that resonated inside the base itself. The blizzard at Esperanza was mild by comparison, but still strong enough to coat penguins in layer of snow as they huddled together during the worst of the storm.
This year marks the 10th anniversary of completing these compositions and since that time, I have had the pleasure to diffuse them on numerous occasions. With those experiences in mind, as well as the format on which these works are now being made available, I have revisited them and completely remixed and remastered the pieces.
Listening back to these recordings I am struck by the sheer physicality of the wind. It's rare that you feel physically reduced by the motion of air, but in both Patagonia and Antarctica that is just how I felt. A small speck of organic dust in a howling storm."
https://lawrenceenglish.bandcamp.com/album/viento
|
2022 |
€23.00 |
|
| ENO, BRIAN |
Music for Installations |
6 x CD BOX |
Though containing music that goes back to 1985, Music For Installations is hardly a retrospective in any traditional sense. It’s more a whimsical line connecting ideas in Eno's own personal Long Now.
Not long after Brian Eno coined the term “ambient music” in the late 1970s, he generated another Eno-ism with an extended lifespan, one with an appropriately slower dissemination.”I want to be living in a Big Here and a Long Now,” the producer wrote in a notebook. He thought of his then-recent recordings as sound “suspended in an eternal present tense.” Perhaps unconsciously channeling Baba Ram Dass's brand/mantra, Be Here Now, the always-conceptual Eno began to expand his sense of scale. Two decades ago, Eno helped start the Long Now Foundation, working to connect the present moment to the far-extended arc of human history. One project was the 10,000 Year Clock, for which he created patterns for the clock's chimes, each to be rung once and never repeated.
By the mid-’90s, the period representing the general starting point of the six-disc Music for Installations, Eno's “ambient” work had largely fallen under the subtly different rubric “generative” (that is, music that is created according to a system of algorithms, only partly under its maker’s control). Each piece here represents its own individual slice of one possible Long Now, with Eno providing the finely considered coordinates so that the music itself can run infinitely, changing into new patterns like a river or an ocean. Grown from mid-’80s experiments with four tape recorders looping cassettes of differing lengths, Music for Installations contains what are essentially field recordings from a series of different environments, each its own universe. Filled with gorgeous washes of bells and drones and unidentifiable luminous shimmers, deep vibrations moving across widescreen stereo fields, one might imagine them all as separate galleries and vestibules in a vast museum, each filled with light and sound, running constantly as night and day change outside and the seasons pass. Though Music for Installations contains sound created for specific situations and places, as a box set, it might be used to step outside of time.
Of course, a streaming service might still label all of the above as “ambient,” part of the new chill-out economy seemingly driving Spotify to its own kind of generative musak. But what Music for Installations proves beyond a doubt is that, to paraphrase Chevy Chase, he's Brian Eno and they're not. Though containing music that goes back as far as 1985 (”Five Light Paintings”), Music For Installations is hardly a retrospective in any traditional sense. It’s more a whimsical line connecting ideas in Eno's own personal Long Now.
Eno is everywhere and nowhere in this music, much of it not so much performed by him as willed into existence, like a character from a science fiction novel who dreams in sound. On several of the longest pieces, such as the 44-minute 77 Million Paintings, low rolling notes played sparsely at long intervals seem to indicate melodies unfolding too slowly for immediate comprehension, perhaps even direct continuations of the similar motifs from 1978's Ambient 1: Music for Airports. Released in DVD editions in 2006 and 2007, 77 Million Paintings constitutes the audio accompaniment of a generative video program Eno created. As he recounts in the liner notes, when he first set it up, he began to document individual frames of it with a still camera, shooting off some 800 pictures before surrendering to the ephemerality. The feeling of listening to Music for Installations is often similar. Its pieces are beautiful and always different, and yet always the same, generic without losing character.
Much of it is resolutely not chill-out music. The nearly 40-minute piece “I Dormienti” is filled with a ceaseless moving richness that's hard to reconcile with the idea of machine creation. High-frequency electronic tones and clusters of upper register piano notes flutter between percussive samples of vocalist Kyoko Inatome, amid other layers. Composed for a joint installation with the sculptor Mimmo Paladino in the subterranean space beneath London's Roundhouse, the music is perhaps more suited for the kind of contemplation that goes along with quietly freaking the fuck out, an accompaniment to Paladino's haunted work as it was seen in the darkroom, pieces displayed on the floor like strange creatures preserved after a Pompeii-like disaster.
The set's final two discs don't actually contain music for installations, except in ever more conceptual ways. Making Spaces was a CD sold at installations, and little of it feels generative in composition or structure, though the liner notes don't clarify. In the context of the box set, it feels not only like a separate, hidden Eno album of its own, but a brilliant one, demonstrating that Eno is still perfectly capable of seizing the means of production. The nine pieces feel less like spaces and more like the objects inside, sculptures with distinct shapes and boundaries and artistic intentions. The unearthly “New Moons” features a sparsely strummed guitar part with defined chords (and even a bridge), aglow from start to finish, perhaps one haunted vocal away from fitting perfectly onto the song-based album some strata of Eno fans always want dearly. “All the Stars Were Out” contains a background flutter that could equally be the sound of crickets or the flicker of a film projector, but is just one more expressive tone carved out by Brian Eno. Each of the tracks contains its own inventions and deployment of color-forms or unexpected tonal voices or structural turns.
The set-concluding Music for Future Installations, meanwhile, is perhaps the box's cheekiest conceit, music for new places, new situations that haven't yet happened.”I often find it helpful to have an alibi for making a piece of music,” he observes, and the seven discs of Music for Installations might serve many contexts. Music For Airports was never for airports (though it certainly is capable of providing calm inside one), and the function of Music for Installations is wherever the listener might like to install it, less about the purpose of the music and more about the listener's desired level of engagement. But no matter what level of engagement one chooses, Eno will be there, too.
The set's 60-page liner notes are filled with documentation, though it's sometimes unclear which recordings correspond to which installations, if any. More, though, it acts as a Little Red Book of Eno-isms, where he lays out one deeply awesome hot take after another.”I thought of television as a light source rather than a narrative source,” he writes about his video installations, “at that time the most controllable light source that had ever been invented.” (I… had never thought of it like that.) No matter how vibed-out the music may get, there is always the sense of a voice and mind behind it. Even when trying to abdicate the order and arrangement of the notes being played, Eno's control over sound remains at a practically spiritual level. “Eno is God,” ran the early ’80s graffiti, and depending on how you define his domain it might still be true, manifesting in the smallest of breezes and the tiniest of bleeps.
|
2018 |
€55.00 |
|
| ENSEMBLE PEARL |
same |
CD |
"Cosmic heavy amplified rock drops and ripples, auras radiate and expand into cloudforms, through which lightning bolts. Tides rise, the moons wax upon a place somewhere between Link Wray, Hex-era Earth and early Tangerine Dream. The echoes return, leaving a trail that blows and drifts, creating a separate piece. The metal of coils is the metal of the earth, the air... the meteoric and primal elements found in space. ENSEMBLE PEARL reaches through the clouds and atmospheres and brings it all back down to the ground, to forge further creations for woman and man. This music production is inspired by rock from the classic era (’50s through ‘70s) and acousmatic contemporary composition alike. Ensemble Pearl are ATSUO, WILLIAM HERZOG, MICHIO KURIHARA and STEPHEN O’MALLEY. Their debut album also features the elemental forces of EYVIND KANG and TIMBA HARRIS. These players have all moved air and earth in many other projects and can create monolith and river alike on their own—but for Ensemble Pearl they give and take, knowing and understanding each other’s strengths and lack of weakness. Rather than blast sheets of air-filling sound, their contributions float the space with positive and negative dynamics. There are no borders being patrolled, allowing Ensemble Pearl to move from place to place unhindered. Over the course of six sides of music (and four sides of vinyl) they ride the jet stream as the world revolves slowly below, static almost, shimmering imperceptibly, mostly water. In and amongst the sprays of foam, there’s a wash of twin-lead psych-proggery, a raft of tribal-beat sun worship, a passing rumble of neck-stretching, some delicate noiseblowing, a bit of float-and-drone and finally, a majestic drift into the deep waters of dub atmosphere. From these heavy vibration masters, with their ear-shattering antecedents, these are new horizons, first dreamed of, then visited and played upon." [label info]
www.dragcity.com |
2013 |
€15.50 |
|
| ERIK M (eRikm) |
Sixperiodes |
CD |
Kollektion von sechs sehr unterschiedlichen Stücken für Tanz, Theater und Kino (2001-2004) von dem aussergewöhnlichen französischen Komponisten & Klangkünstler, der mit Computern, Turntables, Objekten & was auch immer arbeitet. Feinste konkrete Mikro-Sounds wirbeln hier herum und bilden doch kohärente Klangmuster, ob Drones, Pianotupfer, elektronische Sounds, konkrete cut-ups, ERIK M erschafft eine musikalische Sprache für die es noch keinen Namen gibt, die dynamisch-aggressiv aber auch sehr poetisch und surreal-zart sein kann. Für Sound-Explorer !
"sixpériodes departs from composed and improvised fragments of different media from dance or theatre performances, silent films or dance-conferences. far from standard soundtrack music, each creation here is accomplished using diverse approaches and techniques that demonstrate the most personal skills of erikm in combining different material - digital and acoustic sounds, field recordings and vinyl manipulations - in a unique way. his primary aim is no longer simply to quote his system of references but to create for himself a bank of singular material to compose without referring to other works, thus approaching a subtle abstraction and a sense of pause within contemporary sonic agitation. erikm has collaborated with the likes of fennesz, otomo yoshihide, musique concrète composer luc ferrari and avant turntablist christian marclay. he has released on such labels as hathut, for4ear, asphodel, metamkine, sonoris and others." (label info)
“Described as a "display of ErikM compositions for dance, theatre and cinema between 2001 and 2004", this album is a charming alternative in the congested field of laptop/acousmatics, being imbued with a determined research for a sonic biology whose purpose goes far beyond the "soundtrack" definition. ErikM's target appears to be the action of freezing what moves into aural snapshots: he reduces his perceptions to the bare minimum, using fragments of intuition and sampled snippets to find a connection with the functions of the body, which most of this music seems to represent in an almost graphic manner. It feels like there is a strong correlation with the automatic reactions of our nervous system, most sounds zapping around like a stimulated grasshopper, therefore effectively fulfilling their scope of demarcating choreographic schemes and underlining images. This music is indeed extremely visual, yet absolutely suggestive when taken as pure electroacoustic circumstance, completely original and honestly transcendental but at the same time very substantial.” [Massimo Richi / Touching Extremes]
“....It's hard to tell what is on those records and tapes, but throughout everything jumps and skips around like crazy, creating things to be very vibrant and lively. Most of the times rhythmical in a sort of non-linear way (even when it's a dance record!), combined with elements of noise and musique concrete, this also jumps stylistically all over the place, moving from strict improvised parts, such as the opening 'Les Paesines' to the more straight forward, almost industrialized rhythms
'Paris Qui Dort'. But that keeps the adrenaline of this disc going round and round. I enjoyed many of his collaborative works already, but as a first introduction to his solo work, I am even more impressed. Very good material...” [Vital Weekly]
|
2006 |
€15.00 |
|
| |
Steme |
CD |
"Steme" ist eine Arbeit über "Fragmentierung, Genese und Erneuerung", basierend auf einer Auswahl von zehn 1minütigen Klangstücken von einer defekten CD. ERIK M ist ein Meister im improvisierten Konstruieren und Dekonstruieren von Klangschnipseln; hier klingt das unfassbar abstrakt, zerschnipselt & geräuschhaft, von Gekräusel & Rauschen durchsetzt, aber es gibt auch schillernd-elektrisierte Drone-Parts....muss man gehört haben...
"Between his reputation as swift shifting improviser, concréte composer and turntable deconstructionist, Marseilles based artist ERIKM has earned himself an enviable position in the European music community. With Stéme, his most ambitious and fully realised compositional work to date, he devolves and recontextualises the boundaries between sound source and sound media. In essence, Stème originates from a selection of ten one minute long sound pieces burned on a CD which was deliberately damaged. These media (music on modified media or field recording) formed the basis of multiple improvised session including multiple stages of construction and destruction of these acoustic matters using my different electronic real time live music systems (3k-pad system & MD or CD-dj and electronics). The resulting sounds are truly distinctive – filigree like sonic details are brought into sharp focus, tuning the ears with their paced spatial movements. Occasional grabs of the source sound material appear and are erased equally as quickly. A genuinely powerful statement of compositional intent." [label info]
"...Unlike say Oval, ErikM is not interested in creating some new (old?) form of popmusic out of it, but rather tries to use all these blocks in a large composition of a highly delicate, electro-acoustic nature. With the exception of 'White Out' which operates more from the drone end, and there for seems a bit out of place here, all the seven other pieces are of a collage like nature, which adds a great vibrancy to the material, bouncing all over the place while the listener only can submit to this with full attention. That 'White Out' piece could have been easily left of from this, and it would have been a perfect CD, now it's near perfection." [FdW / Vital Weekly]
www.room40.org
|
2007 |
€13.00 |
|
| ESMERINE |
Everything was forever until it was no more |
LP |
Deluxe 180gram vinyl edition comes in a foil-embossed and die-cut cardstock jacket with printed inner sleeve and additional 12x12 art cards featuring the collages of Maciek Szczerbowski. All the art interacts with the die-cut jacket framing. Edition of 300. Rooted in a distinct and immediately identifiable sound_with the cello of Rebecca Foon (Saltland, Set Fire To Flames, Thee Silver Mt Zion) and the marimba of ex-Godspeed You! Black Emperor percussionist Bruce Cawdron at its core_Esmerine has long embroidered emotive chamber works using threads of post-classical, post-rock, Minimalism, neo-Baroque, jazz, pop and a wide array of folk traditions. Multi-instrumentalist Brian Sanderson, who joined the group in 2012, has furthered Esmerine's melodic and ethnomusicological sensibility ever since, expanding the ensemble's palette as its third core member with guitars, ngoni, ekonting, hulusi, brass horns of all sorts, and more. Since 2003, six stately and filmic instrumental albums have inscribed compositional landscapes through epigrammatic miniatures, longform multi-movement chronicles, and all manner of evocative musical prosody between. Marked by an inimitably turbid yet tempered pastoralism, alternately lit by dappled dawn and disquieted dusk, Esmerine's musical narratives balance asceticism and romanticism, melancholy and hope, stillness and wanderlust. Esmerine now shares Everything Was Forever Until It Was No More, its seventh full-length album and first in five years. The band surprise-dropped the full album digitally on 06 May 2022, with the CD and Deluxe 180gram LP editions hitting stores on official release date 26 August 2022. Following an acclaimed run of mid-career records on Constellation through the 2010s_the last three of which have all been finalists or winners of Juno Awards for Instrumental Album of the Year and/or Album Packaging of the Year_Esmerine began working on new music at decade's end. Under the auspices of a grant from the Canada Council for the Arts, and a summer 2019 residency at Le Château de Monthelon (an artist commune in France where the band has cherished long-standing spiritual, creative, and personal connections), compositional seeds were planted_and then pandemic rooted everyone in place. In between lockdown waves, at the respective rural Québec homesteads of Cawdron and Foon, longtime co-producer Jace Lasek (The Bernard Lakes) began capturing the band in various stripped-down configurations with spartan remote equipment. More fulsome arrangement and overdub sessions at Foon's converted barn during the summer of 2021 brought the album to full fruition_where a notable increase in the use of acoustic piano also poured forth, with just about every band member having a go. The record also signals the definitive integration of bassist Philippe Charbonneau_having joined Esmerine as a touring member pre-pandemic, he plays throughout the album on upright and electric bass, with turns on piano and synth, as well as sound design contributions via tape echo and other processing. Everything Was Forever Until It Was No More grapples with the existential tensions between atmosphere and airlessness, seclusion and claustrophobia, forbearance and coalescence. In many ways it is one of Esmerine's most restrained records. Only a few passages are driven by full percussion. There is palpably less Sturm and Drang or overt crescendos compared to its recent predecessors. The new album roils with a different sort of dynamic intensity, where instrumental densities ebb and flow within an overtonal centre, melding into each other with gauzy timbral warmth, sometimes tracing fleeting tendrils outwards, but always rotating around a saturnine gravitational force. Everything Was Forever Until It Was No More is like a dark forest lit by a closely-orbiting opalescent planet; it could be the alternate score to Von Trier's Melancholia or Cormac McCarthy's The Road.
https://esmerine.bandcamp.com/album/everything-was-forever-until-it-was-no-more
|
2022 |
€27.50 |
|
| 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 |
|
| ESPLENDOR GEOMETRICO |
Pulsion |
CD |
"Pulsión is the new album of Esplendor Geometrico, the influential and acclaimed Spanish duo of survivors of the second Industrial wave on the first eighties. It includes nine tracks recorded between november 2008 and May 2009. Some have been already played in their last performances in Leipzig, Madrid and Barcelona with great success. Pulsión is in fact the album that follows Compuesto de Hierro (2003) as 8 Traks and Live (2007) can be considered as a transition, being a record made to go with the DVD, and contained some tracks that were in fact versions of older ones. Esplendor Geométrico style continues having a unique and unmistakable mark that distinguishes them from later bands they have had influence onto. At first sight, Pulsión is pure Industrial hypnosis based on the electronic manipulation of sounds together with irresistible rhythms, repetitive, machine-like, industrial, hypnotic, sometimes tribal, sometimes danceable, that mix up with voices and chants. Some of them are taken fom traditional arab and oriental musics (Mongolia, China,Tibet…) to be later electronically manipulated, others are simply speech fragments, as the one of a leader of a radical political party in Japan, Che Guevara, or an anti-occidental harangue from an islamist leader. But the idea of EG is not to transmit any political or ideological message, the spurces have been chosen for their strength and sonority. The first edition in CD is in digipack + booklet. There will be also a limited vinyl edition (500 copies) on mid September containing four tracks of the CD and two exclusive tracks for that format. Recorded in Beijing and Roma (2008-2009) by Arturo Lanz and Saverio Evangelista. All tracks composed by Arturo Lanz." [label info]
www.geometrikrecords.com
|
2009 |
€13.50 |
|
| ETANT DONNES |
L'Etoile Au Front |
CD |
Etant Donnes is a French duo named after Marcel Duchamp's last major work. The group consists of brothers Marc and Eric Hurtado, born in Morocco and working mainly as performance artists and musicians. Their sound can be described as a mix of field recordings, found sounds and sometimes whispered, sometimes violent vocals. They describe their sounds like this: "Through Marc and Eric, it is the volume of each word that becomes an object-sculpture, together with the power of their bodies expressing their voices. Each event is a scream - indeed even the glissando - of the strength of the word that sometimes abruptly becomes a rock, a solid surface, not in the least fluvial, as is the narrative of a tale, novel or poetic epic. With both of them, there is no more trace of ancient prosodies, no more trace of the incomprehensible Sainte-Beuve who could claim: "I have to collect a volume of prose". The word, the voice, the volume take shape with each other, unveiling a theatre that theatre usually ignores, which has given it such things as a Samuel Beckett's Fin de Partie." Over the years Etant Donnes have collaborated with people like Lydia Lunch, Michael Gira, Alan Vega and Genesis P-Orridge. L'Etoile du Front was the band's third album, dating back to 1982 and originally issued on French Bain Total label (run by Philippe Fichot of Die Form). For this CD re-issue we have added a long bonus track not on the original album. Full tracklist: 1. Les 4 VSD 2. À Temperature D'Or 3. Les 4 Eux Deux 4. Experimentation Langage 1 5. 4 Poste Des Eux 6. Music from the film Des autres terres souples Part 2.
www.klanggalerie.com/gg324
|
2021 |
€15.00 |
|
|
Bleu |
do-LP |
Following the first ever vinyl reissues of Aurore and Royaume/Aimant + Aimant, Penultimate Press make available the final part of this extraordinary trilogy. Bleu is the final gesture and culmination of this period of creation where poésie and la nature form a magical alliance that resonates as an alchemical wedding. Having the conviction that Bleu was the ultimate arc based on the purity of natural sound and poetry, leaning towards a mystical spiritual search towards their own souls the band moved into comradery and collaboration with friends and ideals such as Lydia Lunch and Alan Vega.
A1. Aime - Moi
A2. Droite
A3. Mercure
B1. Sirène
B2. S'envole
C1. Pierre Lune
C2. Comète
D1. Force De L'amour
https://penultimatepress.bandcamp.com/album/bleu-2
"There are artefacts within the history of recorded music that stand entirely on their own; bound to the circumstances of their moment, while owing allegiance to none. Such is the case of Étant Donnés’ Bleu, originally issued by the legendary Staalplaat imprint in 1994, now receiving its first ever vinyl pressing by Penultimate Press. The final instalment of a tetralogy of field recording based works by the duo, preceded by Aurore, Royaume and Aimant + Aimant - also previously reissued by Penultimate Press - the album’s subtle textures, natural ambiences, and disarming vocalizations are imbued with a startling sense of intimacy, weaving a free-standing aural context from the inner and outer worlds of the singular minds that brought it to be.
Founded in 1977 by Morocco born brothers, Eric and Marc Hurtado, Étant Donnés - taking their name from Marcel Duchamp's last major work - belongs to the flowers of sonic creativity and experimentation that developed in the wake of punk, hybridising the techniques and approaches of the avant-garde and DIY with countercultural attitudes, across a body of work more than 30 albums deep - including collaborations with Alan Vega, Genesis P. Orridge, Michael Gira, Lydia Lunch, Philippe Grandrieux, Mark Cunningham, and Bachir Attar - that traversed the fields of experimental film, performance, musique concrète, field recording, and experimental music.
Bleu, originally released in 1994, is the fourth in a tetralogy of records that includes Aurore, Royaume and Aimant + Aimant, each being works of musique concrète built from body of field recordings and poetic utterances by the duo. Like its predecessors, the album not only defies all standard notions of genre, but deftly avoids orthodox perceptions of what its core practices usually entail.
Eight works - spanning four sides of the double LP - rise as meetings of whispers - the whispering voices of the brothers intervening with the whispering textures produced by nature and discreet acts - seemingly resting at the verge of a violent scream that never comes. Field recordings of natural occurrences and intentional actions intertwine, blurring the boundaries purpose and chance, as subtle deployment of sound collage challenges the location of the artist’s hand, laying a striking foundation for the raw and unmediated vocals that punctuate the album’s length; the sounds of splashing water, scraping pebble, crackling fire, percussive rhythms, the rustles of nature, and the human voice building an uncanny body of magical narratives that points the brothers’ roots in the work of Duchamp.
Fascinating, immersive, deeply personal, and remarkably tense, Étant Donnés’ Bleu is a revelatory inner world; a creative wonder unlike any other that gives the impression of having appeared fully formed.
Issued by Penultimate Press in its first ever vinyl edition - spanning a full twoLPs - and its first ever reissue of any kind since its original 1994 CD release, this one is not to be missed." [Soundohm]
|
2021 |
€35.00 |
|
| |
Ceux Qu'On Aime - Ce Que Je Hais |
CD |
"Etant Donnes is a French duo named after Marcel Duchamp's last major work. The group consists of brothers Marc and Eric Hurtado, born in Morocco and working mainly as performance artists and musicians. Their sound can be described as a mix of field recordings, found sounds and sometimes whispered, sometimes violent vocals. They describe their sounds like this: "Through Marc and Eric, it is the volume of each word that becomes an object-sculpture, together with the power of their bodies expressing their voices. Each event is a scream - indeed even the glissando - of the strength of the word that sometimes abruptly becomes a rock, a solid surface, not in the least fluvial, as is the narrative of a tale, novel or poetic epic. With both of them, there is no more trace of ancient prosodies, no more trace of the incomprehensible Sainte-Beuve who could claim: "I have to collect a volume of prose". The word, the voice, the volume take shape with each other, unveiling a theatre that theatre usually ignores, which has given it such things as a Samuel Beckett's Fin de Partie." Over the years Etant Donnes have collaborated with people like Lydia Lunch, Michael Gira, Alan Vega and Genesis P-Orridge. Ceux Qu'on Aime - Ce Que Je Hais was the band's fourth album, dating back to 1983 and originally issued on French Bain Total label (run by Philippe Fichot of Die Form). For this CD re-issue we have added a long bonus track not on the original album. Full tracklist: 1. Ceux qu'on aime - Ce que je hais 2. Les Cents Pas 3. Mieux vaut se retourner que regarder dans le reflet 4. Music from the film Des autres terres souples Part 3."
https://www.klanggalerie.com/gg396
"Das vierte Studioalbum (1983) des französischen Experimental- / Performance-Duos ETANT DONNES mit einem einen zeitlos spannenden Mix aus Industrial / Noise, Avantgarde-Klängen und Musique Concrete. „Ceux Qu‘on Aime - Ce Que Je Hais“ erscheint erstmalig als
CD im Digipack-Format mit Bonustrack auf KLANGGALERIE.
1980 in Grenoble von den beiden Brüdern ERIC und MARC HURTADO ins Leben gerufen, legte das nach einem Werk des französisch-amerikanischen Dadaisten/Surrealisten MARCEL DUCHAMPS benannte Experimental- / Performance-Duo, das seitdem mit Genregrößen wie GENESIS P-ORRIDGE, ALAN VEGA, MICHAEL GIRA, MARK CUNNINGHAM und LYDIA
LUNCH zusammenarbeitete, schon ein Jahr später sein Albumdebüt „L‘Opposition Et Les Cases Conjugues Sont Rconcil“ vor. „Ceux Qu‘on Aime - Ce Que Je Hais“ war das vierte Album der Band aus dem Jahr 1983, das ursprünglich auf dem französischen Label BAIN
TOTAL (unter Leitung von PHILIPPE FICHOT von DIE FORM) nur als Kassette veröffentlicht wurde. Für diese CD-Neuauflage wurde ein langer Bonustrack hinzugefügt, der nicht auf dem Originalalbum enthalten ist („Music From The Film Des Autres Terres Souples Part 3.“)."
|
2022 |
€15.00 |
|
| ETIENNE, YVAN |
Feu |
CD |
"On Feu (APOSIOPÈSE apo10) there is a very striking long suite called ‘De La Charge’ which is like having your head inserted in the centre of a lengthy electrical discharge, making your hair stand on end with its wild tendrils of direct current, and threatening to clean out your pores once and for all with its vibrant force."
[The sound projector]
"Yvan Etienne is active as a sound experimenter interested in issues surrounding site-specific audio installations and as a composer proposing weighty reflections on perception and the physicality of sounds in space.
Etienne has not been lacking for collaborative work in recent years, undertaking projects and performance with the likes of Phill Niblock, Yann Gourdon, Richard Glover, Brice Jeannin, Patrice Grente, Julien Ottavi, Robert Poss, Paul Panhuysen, Marie and Verry Joachim Montessuis, to name a few, as well as acting as curator and director of the Ohcetecho aux Presses Du Réel collection. For the three tracks of his first solo album Etienne manipulates various field recordings, a Serge modular synthesizer and a hurdy-gurdy (whether ancient or modern is not known). The result is a sound simultaneously fluffy yet stinging, replete with ambient noise, drones and sparse sequences that feel grainy and menacing, hovering somewhere between organic and inorganic. The impressive scores are very dense and layered, building to a crescendo that is harmonious and addictive, despite the fixity of the narration. Strongly iterative, immersive and resonant, the work reflects a keen sense of spatiality and dynamics. The listening is pleasant but never too conciliatory, favoring moods that are rather spacey and sidereal, infused with vintage synths, tools made popular in the mid-seventies by artists such as Frank Zappa, Jon Hassell, Sonic Boom, Richie Hawtin and Vince Clarke that have now achieved “cult” status among fans of modular analogue gear." [Neural]
Composed, recorded and mixed by Yvan Etienne :
Serge Modular, Electronics, Field recordings, Hurdy gurdy.
Recorded at "2 princesses" & EMS/Stockholm.
Produced by Aposiopèse, 2014. Cd. Aposiopèse_10.
Artwork by Claire Willemann.
Layout + Lettering by Nicolas Bardey.
Release page : www.aposiopese.com/pages/feu_y_e.html
Artist website : wyy.free.fr
https://yvanetienne.bandcamp.com/album/feu
https://label-aposiopese.bandcamp.com/album/feu
|
2014 |
€12.00 |
|
| |
Twist |
LP |
listen: https://label-aposiopese.bandcamp.com/album/twist
YVAN ETIENNE
TWIST
A1 : Cinq réflectances inversées - 21:38
B1 : L’énergie du non - 18:59
_
Composed and recorded by Yvan Etienne.
Serge Modular, Field recordings.
CD : Mastered by Yvan Etienne / LP : Mastered by Giuseppe Ielasi.
Cut by Mike Grinser at Dubplates & Mastering, Berlin.
Artwork by Gregory Weiss / Design : Yvan Etienne.
Produced by Aposiopèse.
For Serge Modular and field recordings.
French artist/activist Yvan Etienne, is engaged in research in the field of sound art. As a musician, he composes and plays pieces using electronic, phonography, analog synthesizers and the hurdy-gurdy. His sound art research questions the perception and physicality of sound spaces. Collaborations with Phill Niblock, Yann Gourdon, Richard Glover, Brice Jeannin, Patrice Grente, Robert Poss, Paul Panhuysen, Marie Verry, la novia, Perinne Bourel…
CD : Mastered by Yvan Etienne / LP : Mastered by Giuseppe Ielasi. Cut by Mike Grinser at Dubplates & Mastering, Berlin. Artwork by Gregory Weiss
"In an edition of three-hundred copies, here is the sophomore effort by French artist / activist Yvan Etienne. Twist is quite welcome as we haven’t heard from him since 2014’s Feu which was a great debut, also on Aposiopèse, who have been quietly putting out minimal sounds for nearly fifteen years now. There are two long tracks here, so let’s get right to it. From the outset it’s a textural affair, one of granular microsound and distant tone. The open mic is quite fresh, clear as it drags and burrows through a ground of hiss and light crackling. The first pregnant pause is stultifying but leads to an airy adjacent passage. Cinq réflectances inversées presents observations in staring into a mirror way too long (?) or the sense of stasis when one is at zero gravity knowing that might change at any given moment. Etienne manages to fluidly switch between left and right channels to keep your attention between vignettes. There’s a lot to contemplate about this modest composition in tonal slide and play on lightness. The blunt rise and fall of hum dips and writhes as heavy metal (not the genre) is toyed with. Everything induces a sense of slowness, until the clang of metallic objects enters the fray – suddenly there’s a sense of upheaval like a prisoner squirming in shackles. Obviously this is broken into five parts, that accounts for the quiet lulls, and each tells its own story. The last of these catches the listener in a moderate rainfall, with a sonar or scanner of some sort buzzing as it surveills the area. There’s a Orwellian sensibility embedded herein. L’énergie du non starts with a singular high pitch tone, that sounds as if it has been split down the middle. It grows in voluminosity and scope, spreading far and wide with various high and low tendrils of modulation. This shifts and winds, and continues for nearly six minutes – which is alarming. Once it dies out there is a lull, and a lower and more gravelly buzz begins and peters rather quickly only to linger in the background. Is this some sort of force field being tested (?), am I being told to beware/stay out (?), or have I landed in some transitory space where various transmissions are yet un-encoded. This low grade yet seemingly robust under-the-surface energy is supposedly of ‘not‘ though there lies the tension. It’s what you can’t see, but only imagine, that will have you conjuring any number of questionable entities. Fortunately about midway this becomes an homage to old school microsound clicks and hiss. And with each rotation this literally begins to swirl with a windy effect that brings the static energy into the center. The end is a mix of field recordings of stacking and cracking wood, of rain slick streets and a hi-tone that separates the real world from that which is just beyond our immediate scope." [TJ Norris / Toneshift]
|
2019 |
€18.00 |
|
| EVAPORI |
Rehearsals for Objects |
CD |
"1000füsslers industriell gefertigte Releases erreichen einen neuen Maßstab. Neben Tietchens und der sehr schön angelegten Heizungs-CD ist Evaporis Beitrag zum CD-Labelkatalog ein weiteres ungewohnt klingendes Zeugnis Neuer Musik. Völlig losgelöst vom Digitalkrach oder jedweder PlugIn-Klangmasse erscheinen die hier versammelten Stücke wie alte Schneidetischexzesse eines digital aufgemöbelten Walter Ruttmanns. Die raumklangtechnisch ausgesteuerten Klänge und Geräusche werden mittels ihrer Aufnahmeposition verfremdet und steuern damit gegen den sonst allgegenwärtigen digitalen Verfremdungsprozess. Klanglich angesiedelt zwischen einer ausziselierten Kapotte Muziek Komposition und einer Esseiva Etude passiert im zeitlichen Rahmen dieser CD anfangs eine Menge: feine Schleifklänge wechseln teils in rapiden Wechseln ihre Soundzustände, lösen sich auf und bilden feine Schnittkanten, an deren teils gratfreien Oberflächen allerlei konkretes Material sich ansammelt, ehe es mit einem schnellen Schnitt in andere Ebenen gehoben wird. Der zweite Satz zeigt die stärkste Dekonstruktion mittels Audioschnitt und Collaging, weicht doch der geschickte Einsatz der Stille teilweise radikalen Rückwärtsrichtungen des Quellmaterials, ehe der letzte Akt der CD in teilweise recht droniges Basisbrummen gleitet und etwas schlüpfrig den Weg aus der Komposition weist. Evaporis Ansatz einer völlig raumklangbezogenen Kompositionsweise macht vor allem dann Sinn, wenn die ohnehin sehr liquiden und scharf gestellten (Rest)geräusche in teilweise verzweifelt wirkender Flucht ihre Plätze suchen. Die in endloser Rotation wiederholten Brummschleifen unter den gestreuten Sounds macht es fast schon wieder interessant, mal selber die Lautsprecher um einige Zoll im Raum zu verschieben und den damit verbundenen Akustiksituationen zu lauschen. Ganz schön interaktives Material." [Thorsten Soltau, AEMAG]
"The aim while composing was to create a sound landscape that is exclusively made up of recordings which are not processed by computer effects (so-called plug-ins). The sounds are influenced by the way they are recorded, e.g. by the positions of the microphone and the sound source in a room. The resulting sonic situations are the basis of the the composition. The sounds – most of them of an everyday nature – were transformed using computer editing only, in order to leave the recognizability of the sounds untouched, create tension and to arouse the listener‘s curiosity through different atmospheric cadences.
Recordings were made at Rauchhaus / Berlin, Fundbureau and Christianskirche / Hamburg
Mastering by Guy Saldanha
Artwork by Nicolas Wiese
Thanks to Celia Herrero and Christoph Lohse"
[label info / credits]
www.tausend-fuessler.de
"Das nenn ich doch mal eine Produktinformation: „Die größtenteils aus dem Alltag stammenden Klänge wurden am Computer ausschließlich durch Schnitttechnik verfremdet, um die Erkennbarkeit der Klangquellen offen zu halten, Spannung aufzubauen und durch verschiedene Stimmungsbögen bei dem Hörer Neugier zu wecken.“ Das hat man nicht oft, dass ein Geräuschkunstmacher auch mal an seine (potentiellen) Hörer denkt und dass er das Ziel seiner Bemühungen angibt - Stimmung, Spannung, Neugier. Oliver Peters ist in BA schon bekannt als AIC-Macher und, obwohl in Berlin aktiv, für seine guten Verbindungen zur Hamburger Szene, zur Hörbar, zu Guy Saldanha (Knistern), der hier das Mastering besorgte, zu Uli Rehbergs Walter Ulbricht Schallfolien, wo zuletzt seine LP Fumes (2007) herauskam, zu Gregory Büttner, der ihm auf 1000füssler bereits zum zweiten Mal ein Forum bietet. Was hier die Neugier weckt, sind Übungen, Turn- oder Tanzübungen von Gegenständen in einem menschenleeren Raum. Nur die vermeintliche Abwesenheit von Beobachtern oder Lauschern ermöglicht diese leicht gespenstischen, zumindest ominösen und odradekhaften Verspieltheiten. Es huscht, trappelt, kullert, von ganz feinen Drones umspielt. Vielgliedrig tockt, ratscht, schabt und klickt Holz an Holz, Metall an Metall, Was? an Was? -kreuz und quer durch den Raum, an Wänden und an der Decke. Odradek-Hockey? Odradek-Mikado oder -Kampfsport? Ein ‚interlude‘ zwischen ‚rehearsal I & II‘ lässt keine Atempause, sondern verdichtet sogar die Aktionen, mit fast menschlichen Zischlauten. Das hat nichts ‚Ambientes‘, sondern eine spielerische Dramaturgie, die allerdings ihr Geheimnis - wer sind die Spieler und was proben sie? - nicht Preis gibt, denn wir sehen nichts, wir können nur lauschen und rätseln." [Bad Alchemy]
"Oliver Peters, the man behind the AIC label and the musical project Evapori, likes his sounds to be free of computer plug ins. Take an object, place a microphone and record the object. The placing of the microphone is essential as it alters the sound. Take a whole bunch of objects, record them and then make a CD out of these recordings. The computer is merely a recording device, where, in good musique concrete tradition, cuts can be made, stereo adjustment and balancing the various sounds. That is most commendable, I think, as most computer plug ins do tend to sound too similar. What Peters does here, is not done a lot. Using natural space to create reverb, he carefully touches his objects and makes a very intense sound collage out of it. One that requires full attention. At times I was reminded of the live sound of Kapotte Muziek, but then multi-layered and with more concentration - but then of course the computer here can cut out all the unwanted sounds, which live is more difficult. By adding machine hum towards the end of 'Rehearsal 1', he manages to sound like drone music too. I think this is a great CD, but there is one thing I don't understand: why call this rehearsals? Rehearsal for what? It gives the impression that this is unfinished business, unless Peters wants us to cut further in this material, but somehow I don't think that this the case here. Why not go full on and state that these are 'compositions'? " [FdW / Vital Weekly]
|
2009 |
€13.00 |
|
| EXIT IN GREY |
Moments ( Моменты ) |
CD |
Frozen Light presents new Exit in Grey album – "Moments". This album contains one long track comprised of two live recordings fragments: from the festivals "Notmusic - Itisnothere" (18.03.2017), and "Drёma VI" (21.12.2014). First part of the track is a sort of dark droning guitar ambient with Exit In Grey trademark sound; second part has more bright melancholic mood and synth sound. Space, knowledge, dreams, travel within and beyond yourself. Magic forest and endless spaces in anticipation of the wind.
https://frozenlightlabel.bandcamp.com/album/--12
|
2018 |
€13.00 |
|
| EXPERIMENTALIEN |
Nine Triads |
CD-R |
"Slovakian-based artist I.v.Martinez is active in a variety of projects with different styles, but ExperiMENTALien is one of the more psychedelic ones. The nine tracks on this album fuse morphing digital dronescapes with subsonic pulsations that would make a great addition to the soundtrack of any remake of “Solaris”.
The shapeshifting nature of the sounds that drift in and out of harmonic fields is mirrored in the titles of the pieces, which – like the project name ExperiMENTALien – fuse several words. Trainput, Universelection, and Noiserenity are perhaps the most programmatic. The album constantly oscillates between associations with biomorphous and psychic images, which is why the “Solaris” reference immediately comes to mind: Couldn’t this be the sound of a thinking, living planet? You could think of this as the “Kosmische Musik” of Krautrock revisited through a post-industrial sensibility, but most importantly, the results sound convincing.
File under: drone, ambient, psychedelic" [label info]
www.attenuationcircuit.de
"From Slovakia hails L.V. Martinez, who works with a variety of (unnamed) projects with different styles and one of these is ExperiMENTALien, as the spelling should be. There are nine pieces on this CD, hence the title, I guess, and I have no idea what he does, but my best guess is that Martinez uses a lot of sampling of sounds, lots of effects (boxes, digital, who knows) and effectively melts down his sources into nine nightmarish pieces of detailed nuclear meltdown. Quite noise based, very industrial, but without any of the images that may come along such a ride. ExperiMENTALien keeps matters relatively abstract; more like the soundtrack to a movie that deals with such matters as apocalypse, zombies, mad max, robotic slavery and what else have you in the department of blackness. Even when he keeps things at a more limited volume, such as 'Electrip', it's still forceful and alien (indeed). Long pieces, clocking in at six to eight minutes and sometimes that seems a bit long for the amount of sonic information it has to offer in a piece, but on a more mind penetrating level, the psychedelic side of all of this, I must admit this worked rather well. Nothing for the weak of heart or mind or both."
[FdW/Vital Weekly]
|
2015 |
€8.50 |
|
| EYELESS IN GAZA |
Plague of Years : Songs and Instrumentals 1980-2006 |
CD |
'Songs and Instrumentals 1980-2006'. Noch eine EIG-Zusammenstellung, die aber mehr auf die experimentelle Seite zielt, 21 Stücke die die ganze Bandbreite der Band aufzeigen, mit einigen sehr raren Stücken. Special low priced !
"One of the great bands that emerged post punk... They were truly unique.... I still love them..." [Alan Mc Gee / March 2005]
"this CD deals with two sides of the group. first is its deeply lyrical vein, with summits like See Red and Lights of April, tracks that have almost never been included on "best-of" projects, despite the fact that they represent some of the most moving songs these musicians ever wrote. this collection also explores the group's more adventurous side through a number of instrumental pieces. this aspect of their output is little known and often neglected, even though it was there from their very beginnings. these two combining currents, where experimentation precedes lyricism (and the other way around), turn this album into a truly new way of (re)discovering Eyeless in Gaza. This unique architecture creates the impression that each side strengthens the other one's presence. probably for the first time ever, the 21 tracks so redistributed provide the band with irrefutable arguments toward its rebirth. Yes, Eyeless in Gaza is one of the most underrated groups. in this world of ours, will integrity finally pay off ?" [label info]
"Plague of Years is a single-disc retrospective by Peter Becker and Martyn Bates, aka Eyeless in Gaza. The duo began recording with minimal instrumentation -- Becker's piano and keyboards, some primitive drum machines, a guitar here and there, as well as a traditional drum kit (or at least the snares and cymbals) -- and made music in the post-punk era that was both challenging and hideously beautiful. The reason for that description comes from the sound of Bates' voice: nasal, emotionally overwrought, and often flat, it was a voice that expressed things in his utterly naked and poetic words that the heart could comprehend, but that the intellect often could not. Long before Morrissey ever warbled, Bates ripped the door off the closet of his fear, longing, love, and disappointment, framing it with colors that held many shades of gray, but also held out the glimmer of gold for hope. There are 21 cuts on this set, beginning with their earliest tracks from 1980's debut album, Photographs as Memories ("John of Patmos"), and the amazing "Every Which Way" from 1981's Caught in Flux, issued by Cherry Red, and moving through their utterly brilliant albums Drumming the Beating Heart, Song of the Beautiful Wanton, Orange Ice & Wax Crayons, and Back from the Rains. There are cuts from compilations, such as "To Steven" and "Sun-Like-Gold," that appeared as two parts of a three-part suite on Sub Rosa's Myths. Instructions., singles such as "County Bizarre" on NDN, and the gorgeous "Falling Leaf/Fading Flower" from the 12" Pale Hands I Loved So Well, which was a bonus disc tucked inside the Drumming the Beating Heart CD. There are also cuts here from Bitter Apples, the album they released for World Serpent in 1995, and Saw You in Reminding Pictures from the Ambivalent Scale label. This is but a taste, of course, since Eyeless in Gaza needed to be taken album by album, but one honest encounter with one of their songs will send the listener scrambling for more. The music here is beauty that is so out of place in this world, it can scarcely be borne." [Thom Jurek / Allmusic.com] |
2006 |
€12.00 |
|
|
Rust Red September |
CD |
"A welcome re-promotion for this early and much sought after classic Eyeless In Gaza album. Martyn Bates and Peter Becker married a rare lyricism with technology in a unique way, enabling their work to still sound fresh and contemporary. This cd is augmented by 6 additional bonus tracks. Finally, for those film buffs out there, Eyeless In Gaza were recently included on the soundtrack to the controversial 'Intimacy'." [label info]
www.cherryred.co.uk
|
1994 |
€14.00 |
|
|
Summer Salt & Subway Sun |
do-CD |
Erweiterte Neu-Auflage des letzten EIG-Albums, kommt mit einer kompletten Bonus-CD in einer dickwandigen / überformatigen Box mit 16 Seiten Booklet! 600 Stück.
"Martyn Bates offers the following commentary on this huge set of recordings. "For me, one of the key impulses at work behind this set of recordings is an understanding of "The City", where individuals are clearly a microcosm within the macrocosm -- a distinct sense of a
'person' as a player on a stage with activity going on below them, around them, above them and also within them. The feeling is of
something at work that is always subterranean … a sense of the invisible machinations of men and Gods. This is evidently something
material -- namely, work being done in the here and now. It is an expression of something non-corporeal, however … of something bigger than 'spiritual', you might say. And yet it is holistic, and 'of the body' somehow. For me, this is a 'big picture' that makes perfect
sense: this context of living, as a body and a sprit -- where the THE CITY is resolutely an outward manifestation of the human psyche. This warming and awe inspiring thought was with me during the writing, arranging and recording of this mammoth set of recordings." [EIG mailing list]
"Standard 2CD edition. Standard edition of 600 copies are packaged in a deluxe full color book bound box, 16 page lyric booklet , full color book bound cd cases. Eyeless are an earful. Messrs Bates et Becker have miraculously come trembling through the decades musically unscathed. And yay though it is within the office of many bands to have precedents in other bands, EIG really only sound like Scriabin saw. Or like Stonehenge weeps. Or like cumulus clouds unite to make bunny shapes. Caught in flux, as usual, EIG are absolutely in top form. Martyn is in brilliant voice and sounds like an angel, and the harmonic house in which Peter and Martyn domicile this angel is the Taj Mahal. Or is it as simple and small as a poor carpenter’s cup, which some would call a grail? Either way, this is dope! The familiar old chunking guitar and baleful organ-synth are there as well as the swelling minor chord miasma of texture and noise that no human could possibly evoke. Oh wait, that’s right, humans ARE doing it! Care to go on sublime, long-form instrumental excursions through the centre of the Green Man’s bindu? EIG got it! Been itching to rock out to well written, post punk pop tunes? EIG got it!! Have you and your family been craving that astrally projected experimental fondue pot of swirling beauty and skewed rhythm that makes you feel like you’ve crawled back to the womb and the best chill room ever was there? EIG got it!!! Have you ever wondered if anyone can combine virtuoso musicianship and studio effects in a truly magical way that doesn’t make it seem like everything has been CGI’d in? EIG GOT IT!!!! Ebb and flow; high and low; cooked and raw. See Martyn. See Peter. See Eyeless. GO!!! Pulchritudinous all the way…as in ravishing…as in splendorous…as in metal pipes rattled in a driveway while someone is playing the piano. So many soft little things. So much perfectly appointed emptiness. Such sweetly crafted, quiet headbangers. Prosetry in words and music. Songs and un-songs. Some cadences and atmospheres even smell a bit like cosmic third stream jazz. This must be the 4th stream. Float down it. For once 2 CD’s isn’t even enough. How can it be that 2 people have made their umpteenth truly sublime album? Rumour has it they bought the stratosphere." [label info]
www.blrrecords.com
|
2008 |
€19.00 |
|
|
Everyone feels like a Stranger |
CD |
"The edition is limited to 1000 copies and as with other Eyeless In Gaza albums, we do not know when or if there will be more editions coming, so get it now. The album is song-focussed and the running time is 46 mins 52 secs. The 12 tracks are: 1. Voices, 2. Dance of Hours, 3. Much Wants More, 4. Morning Singing, 5. Seeing/Book of Days, 6. Among the Gathering Skies, 7. So You Appear, 8. Slow Eve, 9. Childhood Knives, 10. Dreaming Body, 11. If I Could Live as the Sun Does, 12. Endless Trees.
Dance of Hours, Childhood Knives and So You Appear have appeared in pre-view versions on radio programs and on YouTube, but have been perfected for the final release here. Morning Singing is a new take on the Martyn Bates solo classic from 1982, but since Eyeless In Gaza has performed this live as a band several times lately, this reflects how it is interpreted these days as a song by Eyeless In Gaza.
Martyn Bates writes about the new album:
Through the Summer of 2011 while we were putting together the tunes for Everyone Feels Like a Stranger, an unexpected pattern began to emerge. Clearly, as we were recording and completing pieces, much of this new work was showing a distinct prejudice /alignment to the form of songs, as opposed to instrumental explorations and improvisations, pictures without words. Now of course, all of the music we make has a story to it – much as we are all stories, because, well … that’s all we have really: stories beautiful / terrifying / ecstatic / anecdotal / awake / asleep etc. etc. These particular song-stories all naturally feed into Eyeless In Gaza directly, and, as far as I’m concerned, the songs then go on to take on a life of their own.
That being said, I was already aware that these particular songs seemed to have arrived coloured with something that struck me as being particularly inward looking and reflective, for the most part. It was Peter Becker who first suggested that we title this album of songs Everyone Feels Like a Stranger – and initially I was unsure, as I felt that somehow this phrase ran the risk of conveying the ‘wrong kind’ of negative connotations. However, I see now that he was right. What we have here within these songs is a collective meditation upon the double-edged sense of exhilaration and closeness that can occur when one enters that peculiar state of mind and being that being alone can sometimes give.
Where to ‘feel like a stranger’ oddly brings about a wayward sense of subtle happiness or comfort. And where distance and separation somehow connect with a sudden elevation and insight, and link in with an unsettling sense of security within that isolation. Where being ‘alone’ takes on an almost religious intensity .Where you are connected to the Quiet, the calm, the silence. Where Everyone Feels Like a Stranger, true … but, at the same time, no-one ever feels like a dispassionate collaborator.
Dance of Hours – a YouTube film directed by David Black for Black Creative Limited with additional footage from Elizabeth Bates, recorded at Mont St. Michel out of the shores of Normandy in late August 2011.
My own initial reaction to Everyone Feels Like a Stranger – not as negative in mood as the title might suggest. This is an album that is hard to tell why one should hold in high esteem, but one should, because it is greater in some ways than previous albums. It shows a deep respect for the song format and that is at the core here. I might find more improvisational material more exciting, but here they really bring out the best of what is central to making music – melody/harmony, wonderful voice, thoughtfulness, inventiveness, atmosphere, colouring and all without sounding presumptuous, nor trying to live up to what others might regard as great, but rather define it. An album not to be missed!" [website info]
www.eyelessingaza.com
|
2011 |
€13.00 |
|
| |
Sun Blues |
CD |
"An album of unusual songs, sounding both exotic and as a new take on things, but somehow familiar and the music comes together in a way only Eyeless In Gaza music can. The music often sounds stern and sometimes deeply melancholic, with exciting and successful soundscapes. I am sure this album will stand out as one of the more memorable albums from last 10 years, but we never know where they go from here. Always an exciting adventure to follow as it unravels!
Listen to Tamarisk (early version) on YouTube, which gives an idea of what to expect from the album, even if the album cover quite a big territory:
https://youtu.be/Lv1uXVByACw
Martyn Bates : e-guitars/voices/clarinet/kybds.
Peter Becker : bass/drums/e-guitars/voice/percussions/slide-guitar/piano/wasp/drum-machine/tapes/all engineering & recording.
❖ First album of all-new Eyeless In Gaza material since 2014’s Mania Sour.
❖ Completed August 2016 recorded at A-Scale studios Warwickshire, the Bates/Becker produced Sun Blues sees Eyeless In Gaza offering a 2016 styled distant cousin to 1982’s classic Pale Hands I Loved So Well. In an environment where the studio is very much a musical instrument, the band deliver a collection of filigree musics created via an organic osmosis, layering techniques, together with a painstakingly considered collaging of all elements. Here are instrumental discoveries & improvisations/pictures painted with words – songs that have an inbuilt claustrophobia and sonic density – playfully investigating the soundworlds/territories of the kosmische.
❖ On Sun Blues, of particular note is the combination of Martyn Bates’ at times melancholic, sometimes passionate vocals – which come across exceptionally strongly – teamed with the extraordinary, mercurial bass guitar work of Peter Becker. Sun Blues album would seem to be a groundbreaking distillation of everything that Bates & Becker have ever produced during their 36 year lifespan. Quite simply, Sun Blues is already being acclaimed as the definitive Eyeless In Gaza album."
www.eyelessingaza.com
"Eyeless in Gaza have had several trajectories since their original lo-fi outings in Coventry and Nuneaton in the early 1980s. The duo of Peter Becker and Martyn Bates seemed to be heading towards pop at one point, but en route diverted through textural soundscapes, improvisation, avant-folk, sonic experiment and occult rock; indeed, they still visit these places. Picture the Day is a well-overdue compilation that actually covers all the band’s output, including both the Cherry Red releases from the 1980s and the self-released albums on Ambivalent Scale that have been issued since the 1990s.
The story of course starts with Ambivalent Scale and a 7 inch single, following some cassette releases. The edgy, synth-driven ‘Kodak Ghosts Run Amok’ is tucked away here in the middle of the first CD (unfortunately the superb ‘Feeling’s Mutual’ from the B-side isn’t) which selects from the band’s Cherry Red releases. Listeners are edged into the music with some of the more accessible end of things, a quick drift through some folkier songs and then the gorgeous emotive instrumental ‘Falling Leaf/Fading flower’ before restlessly moving on, from genre to genre, or more often falling between genres.
The second CD features the Ambivalent Scale recordings, and is a similar mix of work. If more recent work isn’t as familiar to me it’s mainly due to growing up and not being able to spend time with new music in the same way that being a teenage and then a student previously facilitated with the original LPs. It’s clear I need to get my act together and have a relisten – this stuff is great.
Together, the two CDs paint a broad, involving picture of this peculiar and engaging band. I like the fact it in no way pretends to be a ‘best of’ or ‘greatest hits’, but simply showcases some of the highlights from their numerous releases. I’d like to have seen the uplifting brassy pop of ‘Sun Bursts In’ here, but otherwise it is a perfect snapshot of one of my favourite bands, lovingly compiled and superbly sequenced.
Eyeless’ new CD, Sun Blues, shares one track, ‘Tamarisk’ with Picture the Day and is a set of new music from the more experimental end of things. Having said that it’s more about mood and texture than the wild excesses of the band’s early output, although ‘Ill-Star’ is intense and loud, with some great honking sax in the pulverising maelstrom of sound. Elsewhere, Martyn Bate’s warm vocals are positioned within rich, dense music that both propels and entwines the songs and the listener. There are also three instrumental vignettes, two back to back in the centre of the album, the third a coda or finale.
It takes some time to truly ‘hear’ the layers and complexities of this album, in the same way it takes time to grasp the width, breath and achievement of Eyeless in Gaza’s musical history. But time spent will be rewarded: Eyeless in Gaza remain one of the most accomplished and interesting bands to have emerged from the music-making underground post punk and postpunk. Here’s to further decades of experiment and beguilement." [Rupert Loydell/ International Times]
"After nearly half a century performing together, Martyn Bates and Peter Becker must seem like a married couple – finishing each other’s sentences, telepathically sensing where their individual muse is leading them and effortlessly hopping on and enjoying the ride. With an extensive catalogue of well over two-dozen releases, they still sound as fresh and invigorating as that ground breaking EP, “Kodak Ghosts Run Amok” that started everything way back in 1980. Looking back to those early releases, the duo suggest their latest is a “distant cousin” to 1982’s classic Pale Hands I Loved So Well. But this is another century, and technological advances have enabled them to use their studio almost as an additional instrument, layering sounds, playing with various improvisational techniques, and offering, perhaps, a third pair of ears and hands to the proceedings.
Yet at its heart is the combination of Bates’ breathy, almost theatrical vocal styling (a little Antony Hegarty, a tad Andy McCluskey) and intelligent, thought-provoking lyrics, revealing numerous layers of meaning and intent as each verse trickles off his soothing, emotional delivery, and Becker’s inquisitive bass lines, harmonic tape manipulations, and various percussive effects. While tracks like ‘Solar Logic’ may initially sound like a simple love ballad, further listening reveals intricate harmonic vocal interweaving, funky, almost African percussives, and the perfect placement of bells and tape manipulations that demonstrate how much the studio has been welcomed in to add lustre to their creative juices.
‘Tamarisk’ envelops the listener in swirling effects and percussive embellishments that wouldn’t be out of place on a Peter Gabriel album, while ‘New Take/Notkar’ offers a harsher splash of ice water in the face, evolving out of an almost industrial percussive backbeat and syncopated guitars that push the listener towards Faust or Nine Inch Nails gut crunchers. But never ones to fall into a rut, the following ‘Longing Song’ is an uplifting, lilting lover’s plea that rises from the ashes of desolation “To bring the morning alive...to be amazed/n you’ll be mine....”
The duo occasionally include improvisational instrumentals in their albums, and the cinematic, provocative and evocative ‘Wind, Sand, Sea & Stars’ pretty much covers the gamut of the external universe – a breakneck journey through land, sea and sky, while ‘Unborn’ traverses the inner universe, wallowing, swallowing mouthfuls of life-giving amniotic fluids on the 9-month journey into a cold, shattering life that no one asked for or had any choice in bringing to fruition.
But before we get too deep, let’s enjoy the sprinkling, sparkling, shimmering flourishes of duelling ukuleles, thumb pianos and glockenspiel on the celestial ‘Juniper’, and the soft, reflective instrumental closer ‘Long Gon Pa’, full of meticulous slide and acoustic guitar and Becker’s fascinating, dreamy devices and tape loops. An imaginative, emotional, headswirling buzz to wrap up another fascinating release from the always reliable duo, who never fail to excite us while eliciting nuances of emotional responses that are all-too-rare in this cookie-cutter, commercial world of Voices, Idols, and other nameless, brainless distractions."
[Jeff Penczak/Ptolemaic Terrascope, November 2016]
|
2016 |
€13.00 |
|
| FABRIS, FRANCESCO & BEN FROST |
Vakning |
LP |
"More recently best regarded as soundtrack composer, Ben Frost here follows work with interdisciplinary sound artist Francesco Fabris on the ‘Dark’ OST with a plunge into purest rock music, as in the actual sound of molten material rising to the surface and solidifying. With an
impressionistic-artistic license also found in work by Chris Watson, Jana Winderen or Giuseppe Ielasi, the duo uncompromisingly revel in the sounds of nature’s biting point, using various production methods to make audible the sound of the earth beneath our feet in the process of
creation, on location at Fagradalsfjall, Reykjanes Peninsula Iceland. Here’s label boss Lawrence English on the subject “As stable as we might choose to think it is, this planet is anything but that. A paper thin crust,
the zone in which we find ourselves, and mostly concern ourselves with, exists as a modest veil cloaking a dynamic seismic turbulence that is as powerful as it is unknowable. There are moments though where ruptures occur. The pressure from within carves its way to, and through, the surface of the planet simultaneously delivering destruction and virgin landscapes, as primordial as any we might care to imagine. It is here, in these places, where we can literally see the living
planet, that geologic time is condensed and world building is made visible, and audible to us, in an
unrestrained and provocative detail. These volcanic ruptures, such as those captured on Vakning by Francesco Fabris and Ben Frost, speak to the very living geology of Earth. These recordings, captured at close range, exist at a nexus where liquid rock becomes solid. They capture moments of transformation, of obliteration
and of creation, often all at once. These are recordings of a living, material planet, dynamic and
unrestrained.”
https://benfrost.bandcamp.com/album/vakning
|
2023 |
€27.50 |
|
| FALX CEREBRI (FâLX çèRêBRI) |
Trials Textures Errors |
CD |
"Almost 7 years in making, finally this milestone of pioneering & legendary german noise outfit is released - more than 25 years after the last recorded FâLX çèrêbRi track, compiles several contributions to compilations, as well as outtakes, erratic experiments, live cuts and unreleased tracks.
Release date is 28th July 2014. Limited edition of 500 copies in jewelcase." [label info]
"If it wasn't for a German guy named Graf Haufen I would probably not have started a record label, even when it was a cassette label at that time. This was thirty years ago, the summer of 1984. I had a made a booklet, a sort of 'discogs-on-paper', listing all Dutch cassette releases and Graf Haufen wrote about it in his German fanzine, Die Katastrophe. He then informed if I'd be interested in compiling a cassette with the 'loudest' Dutch electronic music acts, which became 'Katacome Vol. 3', which was then co-released by his Schrei Records and my own Korm Plastics label. The second release was 'Rite 64', a tape by Falx Cerebri, the musical project of Graf Haufen. I was envious of what he did: selling music, doing art, doing fanzines, mail-art, music, studying and I was surprised to learn he was even four months younger than I was. For a while I assumed he was much older. While I am hardly an archivist of any kind, I still have a mailer right here, containing all of the correspondence I received from him, including all his fine print catalogues and we see a friendship grow and crumble together. Graf Haufen went into Neoism, was a bit too critical about my releases and mail-art - quite rightly probably - and quickly we lost contact. He went into art and video circles and I stayed with music. In the late 90s I re-issued all of the Korm Plastics cassettes on CDR and tracked Graf Haufen down, then owning a video store in Berlin, who gave me some nice bonus material for the Falx Cerebri CDR re-issue. In the very early days of the Vinyl On Demand label there was talk of some highly limited Falx Cerebri LPs, but they never emerged, so this CD is the first true document available (the CDR also disappeared a long time ago, sadly). But, so you may ask, was the music all about? Was it really something special? Browsing his old catalogues, Graf Haufen was interested in what he called 'anti-musick', by which he understood not just industrial music, but also cruder forms of musique concrete. On 'Rite 64' it's all a bit more 'classic' industrial, with synthesizers, radio snippets, tape-loops and delay, and thus perhaps a bit more musical, but on this CD the emphasis lies more in the electro-acoustic aspect of his work. I played both this one and 'Rite 64' again, and while I still like the latter, this new compilation of pieces is stronger. Here we have quite a bit of contact microphone abuse, 'Scanning No. 2' for instance, vocal pieces, field recordings and synthesizer pieces, such as the 'The Eighth Enochian Key'. Rudimentary tape loops are used, but also cut-up/collage/montage techniques, scratchy records and all of that and it make up a more than excellent release. The only thing, but really that's just me, I would have liked to know more about these pieces, where they were released, live, unreleased etc. A documentation of some kind if you will." [FdW/Vital Weekly]
|
2014 |
€12.00 |
|
| FAR BLACK FURLONG |
same |
CD / CDR |
Sehr poetischer Impro-Drone eines uns bisher unbekannten Kollektivs aus England, das meiste Material wurde im Freien auf akustischen Instrumenten eingespielt; einer limitierten Auflage von 150 Stück liegt das erste Album der Band ("HAIDD 2") in remixter Form bei, ein one-tracker Kleinod mit subtilen endlos entfernten Drones, melancholisch schimmernd...
"Far Black Furlong' is a rapturous, symphonic work in six movements. The music describes tides - from the summer breeze through barley, to the shimmering stretch of a vast ocean extending to the shifting birth pangs of stars. Much of the music was recorded at outdoor locations - such as the barley fields of the Clun Forest - and is performed on acoustic instruments. FBF comprise of baroque oboist Mark Baigent, composer Richard Moult, dulcimer player John Letcher, the Candian flautist Amanda Votta (of the group The Floating World), Shropshire poet Bryony Lees, guitarist Ian Tengwall & Andy Cotterill on electronics. ’Haidd 2’ a beautiful 34 minute remix/reworking of their previous album." [label info]
"... They are a band of oboist Mark Baigent, dulcimer player John Letcher, flautist Amanda Votta, guitarist Ian Tengwall, Andy Cotterill on electronics, along with composer Richard Moult and poet Bryony Lees. Outside in Clun Forest - and I mean outside - they performed much of this work, thus adding the outside world as part of the music. The six pieces, I am told, describes 'tides from the summer breeze through barley, to the shimmering stretch of a vast ocean extending to the shifting birth pages of stars'. It seems to me that the music is largely improvised but in a quiet and peaceful manner. Perhaps a little less modern classical than the Mouldycliff piece, although they get close. And in a good ICR (and Die Stadt) mode there is a limited CDR of music from the CD that is remix/reworked by Cotterill. Perhaps because he doesn't seem to be very present on the CD (or the electronics are save for some delay that is used), he gets his way in a full out treatment of the material, adding spooky electronics to the material, or perhaps feeding the material through electronics. Long sustaining sounds that sound a bit creepy like a wait for something veil and nasty to happen, which of course (spoiler coming up) doesn't happen. However the drone like character of this piece brings us back to the start of this review. ICR does drone music of an outstanding kind, but it's not at all exclusively to that, and offer various fresh views on the subject at hand." (FdW)
www.icrdistribution.com
|
2007 |
€18.00 |
|
| FAUST |
j US t (Just us) |
LP & CD |
"Die Hamburger Krautrock-Pioniere mit einem Überraschungspaket aus Avantgarde, Dada und Folk.
Die Hamburger Band Faust gehört zu den großen Namen, die der Krautrock der 1970er-Jahre hervorgebracht hat. Als Jean-Hervé Péron und Zappi Diermaier 1971 ihr Debütalbum vorlegten, wollte das in Deutschland niemand hören, im Ausland jedoch verkauften sich "The Faust Tapes" über 100.000-mal. "There is no group more mythical than Faust", schwärmte der englische Musiker und Krautrock-Kenner Julian Cope Jahrzehnte später. Mit "Just Us" setzen Faust ihren musikalischen Weg fort. Während Diermaier seinem Handwerk - Schlagzeug und Perkussion - treu bleibt, integriert Peron allerhand unübliche Klangquellen in sein Bassspiel, verschiedene Streichinstrumente, Klavier und sogar eine Nähmaschine als Metronom. Tracks wie "Nur nous" und "Ich bin ein Pavian" zeigen, dass Faust nichts von ihrer Vorliebe für Avantgarde und Dadaismus verloren haben. Ausflüge ins folkloristische Gefilde ("Cavaqui-ho", "Gammes") runden das wahrhaft faustische Überraschungspaket ab. //
j US t - pronounced "Just Us" - is the new album from legendary Hamburg band Faust. Founder members Jean-Herve Peron and Zappi Diermaier have laid down twelve musical foundations, inviting the whole world to use them as a base on which to build their own music. The tracks presented by Peron and Diermaier are clearly, intrinsically typical of Faust in their own right, yet offer enough space for completely different works to develop. Which is exactly what they hope will happen. Whilst Diermaier largely remains true to his habitual handiwork - drums and percussion - Peron, as we might expect, incorporates all manner of unusual sonic sources alongside his bass, various string instruments and piano, even using a sewing machine as a metronome. Tracks like "nur nous" and "ich bin ein pavian" show that Faust have lost none of their predilection for avantgarde Dadaism and improvisation. Peron and Diermaier actually surprise us with folkloristic excursions ("cavaquinho", "gammes"). In short, there is something for everyone to work with here. Peron and Diermaier await the results with bated breath. Faust will follow the same principle on the accompanying tour by inviting local artists to collaborate with them on stage." [label info]
www.bureau-b.com
"Faust’s intentions have never been easy to discern. Over their 40-plus years of morphing, discontinuous existence, they’ve been so good at dodging expectations and confounding analysis that even when they’re playing it straight, you wonder if something else is going on. So when the press sheet for j US t (pronounced "just us") claims the band is "inviting the whole world to use [the album] as a base on which to build their own music," it’s hard not to get suspicious. Is this a decoy? Do Jean-Hervé Peron and Zappi Diermaier want you to imagine other music so you won’t focus on theirs? Is it simply a way to say "if you don’t like it, make your own"?
Perhaps Faust truly are earnest about wanting this album to inspire public collaboration. But the idea does point to something that’s always been intriguing about Faust’s music: it’s often just as much about what they aren’t playing as what they are. Their work is full of implications and innuendos, spaces waiting to be filled in. j US t doesn’t necessarily have more of that than most Faust albums, but implication does seem to be a main theme here. This is music in which every note suggests many more possibilities.
j US t begins by proclaiming more than intimating, and in this way it bears an uncanny resemblance to the last Faust effort, 2011’s stellar Something Dirty. That record began with three bold, practically rocking tunes, and so does this one. Based around simple riffs and looping beats, these songs are like free-form post-rock, sturdy in their rhythms but opened-ended in their direction. And despite how well-defined the base of each track is, there’s also tantalizing space in each one. Take "80Hz", whose simple two-note bass figure flows beautifully with the well-timed accents of Diermaier’s percussion and Peron’s sonic grab bag. At times it dips to near-silence, in other places it crests to frantic peaks, but throughout it maintains a tension that compels attention.
The balance between action and suggestion tips more toward the latter for the rest of j US t, in ways both fascinating and frustrating. Some songs maintain the attraction of anticipation, hinting at where they might go without ever fully abandoning other options. But others feel more flat than ripe, not so much flirting with tense silence as drifting into empty inertia. One in particular, the seven-minute "Palpitations", is mostly limp. Its intermittent percussion and electronic squiggles sound more random than impulsive, making it the only instance on the album where I find myself wishing I could already hear other bands filling it in.
It takes a few tracks to recover from that mid-album drop, but Faust manage to rebound on closer "Ich Sitze Immer Noch", whose slow, rising lope sounds like a sunny homage to Spiderland-era Slint. Like the bulk of j US t, it offers a lot worth hearing and just as much worth daydreaming about—in other words, it achieves the band's stated goals. Maybe Peron and Diermaier really did mean what they said." [Marc Masters / PITCHFORK]
|
2014 |
€22.00 |
|
|
Punkt |
LP |
After the overwhelming success of the 1971-1974 box set release (BB 374CD/LP), containing the first four studio albums and for the first time ever this lost "last" album recording, Punkt gets a deserved and necessary standalone release.
"The band called it 5½, fans referred to it as the 'Munich album' and for almost fifty years it's been the missing chapter in Faustian mythology. Now for the first time, the German iconoclasts' previously unreleased fifth album sees the light of day as Punkt . . . Punkt is Faust at their most unhindered, untethered and unstoppable. Returning to Germany after a loss-making U.K. tour and after their manager Uwe Nettelbeck had split with them, the group dusted themselves down and planned their next project, what would have been their second for Richard Branson's Virgin. Joined as always by their engineering genius Kurt Graupner, the band took residence in the Arabella High Rise Building, the luxury hotel which housed Giorgio Moroder's Musicland Studio in its basement . . . Faust spent their nights below ground, creating the sublime cacophony which courses through these seven tracks. Driven by Diermaier's primitive repetition and Péron's rabid low-end growl, 'Morning Land' stomps its way through almost ten minutes of heavy psychedelia . . . A Luciferian spirit courses through the beatless 'Crapolino', a tumult of scorched guitar chords, strident FXs and disembodied vocals which bares all the hallmarks of a black mass. And just like that, the group summon some demonic hunting party for 'Knochentanz' (bone dance), arguably their most immersive creation . . . The storm clears for a second to allow a celestial chord progression to emerge from the darkness before the heavens open and Sosna's snarling, sawing guitar rains down from above, carrying 'Knochentanz' through its final iteration, a collision of muscular fretwork, percussion freakout and bleeping organ which completes the most psychedelic recording you've never heard. The frazzled optimism of 'Fernlicht' buzzes away like an acid Beethoven bathed in neons, before the breathless 'Juggernaut' stretches the definition of blues rock to its limit as squirming sine waves, clattering cymbals and corrosive guitars pan, reverse and overlap, each following its own unhinged rhythm. Then for a time the sound and the fury abate, making space for the frankly sublime 'Schön Rund', a piano-led diversion into the soul-swelling realms of ECM jazz and fin de siècle impressionism, which rivals anything else in their catalogue for pure beauty. And in case you thought they'd gone soft, Faust sign off with the guttural groans and course drones of 'Prends Ton Temps'..." --Patrick Ryder
https://faust.bandcamp.com/album/punkt
|
2022 |
€22.50 |
|
| |
Punkt |
CD |
After the overwhelming success of the 1971-1974 box set release (BB 374CD/LP), containing the first four studio albums and for the first time ever this lost "last" album recording, Punkt gets a deserved and necessary standalone release.
"The band called it 5½, fans referred to it as the 'Munich album' and for almost fifty years it's been the missing chapter in Faustian mythology. Now for the first time, the German iconoclasts' previously unreleased fifth album sees the light of day as Punkt . . . Punkt is Faust at their most unhindered, untethered and unstoppable. Returning to Germany after a loss-making U.K. tour and after their manager Uwe Nettelbeck had split with them, the group dusted themselves down and planned their next project, what would have been their second for Richard Branson's Virgin. Joined as always by their engineering genius Kurt Graupner, the band took residence in the Arabella High Rise Building, the luxury hotel which housed Giorgio Moroder's Musicland Studio in its basement . . . Faust spent their nights below ground, creating the sublime cacophony which courses through these seven tracks. Driven by Diermaier's primitive repetition and Péron's rabid low-end growl, 'Morning Land' stomps its way through almost ten minutes of heavy psychedelia . . . A Luciferian spirit courses through the beatless 'Crapolino', a tumult of scorched guitar chords, strident FXs and disembodied vocals which bares all the hallmarks of a black mass. And just like that, the group summon some demonic hunting party for 'Knochentanz' (bone dance), arguably their most immersive creation . . . The storm clears for a second to allow a celestial chord progression to emerge from the darkness before the heavens open and Sosna's snarling, sawing guitar rains down from above, carrying 'Knochentanz' through its final iteration, a collision of muscular fretwork, percussion freakout and bleeping organ which completes the most psychedelic recording you've never heard. The frazzled optimism of 'Fernlicht' buzzes away like an acid Beethoven bathed in neons, before the breathless 'Juggernaut' stretches the definition of blues rock to its limit as squirming sine waves, clattering cymbals and corrosive guitars pan, reverse and overlap, each following its own unhinged rhythm. Then for a time the sound and the fury abate, making space for the frankly sublime 'Schön Rund', a piano-led diversion into the soul-swelling realms of ECM jazz and fin de siècle impressionism, which rivals anything else in their catalogue for pure beauty. And in case you thought they'd gone soft, Faust sign off with the guttural groans and course drones of 'Prends Ton Temps'..." --Patrick Ryder
www.bureau-b.com/faust71-74.php
https://faust.bandcamp.com/album/punkt
|
2022 |
€16.00 |
|
| FAVARON, GIANLUCA |
Surfaces |
LP |
"Gianluca Favaron returns on Silentes with the second release in the prestigious “Private Sounds” series. Besides having published some solo works, Favaron is part of Under The Snow along with Stefano Gentile and collaborates with Ennio Mazzon on the Zbeen project. In the past he has released music as Ab'she and was part of Lasik Surgery along with Pierpaolo Zoppo. Among his most recent releases we remember his collaboration with Corrado Altieri entitled "The System of Objects". "Surfaces" is a modern electronic composition that was inspired by a series of Polaroids pictures taken by Favaron himself, whose basic idea is to create some patterns based on the repetition of small sound particles obtained with the fewest possible sources. The six parts of “Surfaces” were created recording the sounds of individual objects (... paper, scissors, stones, kitchen items, etc.), which were subsequently treated - mainly with two delay machines - and then assembled in the computer domain. A few digital sounds were added for good measure, but always trying to use the fewest number of sound sources in every part of the composition. The finished result is a series of particular sonic events that keep on chasing each other and give life to a microcosm populated with slowly evolving rhythmic loops that lull the listener into a sort of pleasant inner dance.
Mastered by Giuseppe Ielasi, "Surfaces" is a single-sided 12" record released in a standard edition of 86 copies. A special "Art Edition" is also available: the 13 copies of this edition contain a 30x30cm print reproduction from the Polaroid series that inspired the audio work, and the corresponding Polaroid picture." [label info]
http://13.silentes.it
"And then, finally, a solo work of Favaron, also on an one sided LP - both of these LPs are highly limited to less then 100 copies and are pressed on grey vinyl. Skip what I said about drone/ambient in Favaron's work, as on his solo LP he's taking the work he did with Corrado Altieri to another level. Here we have clearly acoustic sounds, which the cover describes as 'objects', and 'effects'. It seems to me these objects are being strummed, hit or banged and then sampled and fed through a bunch of effects. Here too we are dealing with the more louder areas of musique concrete, but unlike the CD with Altieri, the pieces are shorter here, almost in a sketch like fashion, going all over the acoustic spectrum, cutting in and out with the electronic transformations there of. The objects are used clear and dry, even when not revealing what these objects are, but in the process of mixing, all sorts of transformations are used to make a nice vibrant mix of all stages of the transformation
process. Not always very noisy, such as in the fourth (and longest) piece, but it's a fine mixture of loud and quiet, through some highly intelligent compositions/improvisations (hard to make up my mind here). I thought it was fine that Under The Snow was a single sided record, but here I wouldn't have minded a second side with more music. This all sounded great." [FdW / Vital Weekly] |
2014 |
€18.00 |
|
|
Equivalent XI |
CD |
"Following the publication of the extremely limited single-sided 12" record “Surfaces”, which occurred just a few months ago and is now hopelessly sold-out, Gianluca Favaron returns on 13 with a new solo work released in the prestigious "Private Sounds" series.
Besides having published a few solo works, Favaron is part of Under The Snow along with Stefano Gentile and collaborates with Ennio Mazzon on the Zbeen project. In the past he has released music as Ab'she and was part of Lasik Surgery along with Pierpaolo Zoppo. Among his most recent releases we remember his collaboration with Corrado Altieri entitled "The System of Objects".
"Equivalent XI" continues the path undertaken with "Surfaces", also benefiting from some excerpts that were already included in the aforementioned work, which are proposed again on this new CD.
Starting from simple recordings of sounds produced by everyday objects (…such as paper, scissors, kitchen stuff etc.), treated mainly with two delay machines, Favaron has collected eleven compositions. The idea behind this new release is to create some patterns based on the repetition of small sound particles obtained from a single source.
In the eleven tracks on the album, mostly of short duration, we witness the proliferation of particular sound events that, sometimes wandering alone or sometimes by congregating into small throbbing and vital lumps, generate a vibrant microcosm characterized by short loops, slowly but constantly evolving. In some cases, as for example in the more long-lasting closing number, the simplicity of the construct and the infinitesimal tonal progressions are appreciated for their intrinsic hypnotic quality.
Mastered by Giuseppe Ielasi, "Equivalent XI" is released in a limited edition of 250 copies that stands out for its essential graphics; the first 50 copies of the CD contain a real hand-numbered photograph." [label info]
13.silentes.it
"On this new work he continues what he started on his previous record, 'Surfaces', a limited piece of vinyl which we didn't review (or hear), but which apparently deals with every day sounds - songs from the kitchen sink? - such as paper, scissors, kitchen stuff, which are treated with two delay machines and the result is eleven short pieces, from less than a minute up to five minutes. This is a most strange release, and if you know me, strange is not a word I use easily. This music has a certain naivety, or perhaps something rather 'simple' with the objects being played with relatively ease, but then captured or locked into a system of living electronics, bending and moving these 'easy' sounds around. Maybe it's all done in a very simple and direct way, much like it is suggested. And there is nothing 'wrong' with that. In the end it's the result that counts and that is result is something I like very much. It's very quiet music, almost accidental, 'I couldn't help it, it just happened', but of the variety that is usually associated with the label and the styles we know it for, ambient and drone." [FdW/Vital Weekly]
|
2014 |
€12.00 |
|
|
Variations (Fragments Of Evanescent Memories) |
CD |
Gianluca Favaron (Under the Snow, Zbeen, Ab'she) returns with a new work based on the study of repetition. "Even variation is a form of repetition": quoting Arnold Schönberg, Favaron has elaborated his concept of repetition by frangling the sound to break it down into infinitesimal parts. Therefore adding a new piece in his discography that represents an essential starting point for new research. In the sound. Of sound.
|
2018 |
€13.00 |
|
| |
Exploration # 4 |
MC |
yesterday i listened to a radio program.
one of the guests explained his assumption.
i grant that this is obviously true to some extent.
i trust that there is no need to further clarify.
any addition would not provide more information.
"play the tape quite loudly for as long as you want or can stand"
https://abshe.bandcamp.com/album/exploration-4
|
2020 |
€14.00 |
|
| FAVARON, GIANLUCA / ANACLETO VITOLO |
Zolfo |
CD |
"Zolfo" is born by the collaboration between Gianluca Favaron and Anacleto Vitolo. Both involved in many projects and music collaborations - Favaron with Corrado Altieri, Deison and in groups like Lasik Surgery, Maribor, Zbeen and Under The Snow; Vitolo with Doublebass player Francesco Galatro, Viola player Michela Coppola, Domenico Stellavatecascio (Internos) and many other.
The album was composed, recorded, and mixed between January and May 2016 and is a mix of several music elements and techniques, such as tape loops, cymbals, microphonic works and live electronic processing. The result is a combination of musique concrète, noise and drone music.
Gianluca Favaron:
As electroacoustic musician, his work focuses on the processing of concrete sounds using software made on purpose. Field-recordings, drones: an approach that uses different music languages, to elaborate, merge or transform sounds made by everyday objects into something different, both taking them out of context and/or processing and modifying them with various effects. .
In 2015 he has released the CD albums "Entretien" on 13/Silentes and "Forget About Any Non-Gray" on MFU /Concrete
Anacleto Vitolo:
Anacleto Vitolo A.K.A. AV-K / K.lust / Kletus.K part of several collectives such as X(i)NEON, Internos and Algebra del Bisogno, born August 2, 1985 in Battipaglia (SA), Italy.In 2010 and 2014 took part in “FLUSSI” festival sharing the same stage with some of the most important musicians of the contemporary electronic scene as Murcof, Thomas Fehlmann, Vladislav Delay, Retina.it, Emanuele Errante, Mokira, Mount Kimbie, etc. In 2013 signs a contract as Publishing Artist with FatCat. In 2015 takes part to MiRA festival in Barcelona with Andy Stott, Ben Frost, Richard Devine, Prefuse 73, Nosaj Thing and many others. He's the CO-Director of Manyfeetunder label, alongside with Vincenzo Nava ( dramavinile, UHVA) and Cogwheel Press Rec. Active with a lot of collaborations and releases.
credits
mfu/c 010 | sps1616
Gianluca Favaron : tapes, objects, microphones, analog and digital effects
Anacleto Vitolo: live electronics, cymbals, laptop, objects
"Crispy, crunchy, and crackly ~ these are the sounds of Zolfo. In real life, we hear such sounds in crumpling paper and leaves underfoot. In the electronic realm, they surface in cellphones, computers and amplifier feedback. Blend organic and electronic, as Gianluca Favaron and Anacleto Vitolo have done, and one will hear a padded melange, thicker than the timbres one is accustomed to hearing outside of a factory setting. So yes, that may be a church bell in the title track, stuttered and looped ~ but it may be the imitation of a church bell, the mind struggling to define and categorize what it is hearing.
To prepare this album, the artists used a wide variety of sources, from cymbals to laptops, along with the vague term “objects”. Favaron in particular is enamored with decontextualization. Just because something sounds like a singing bowl (“Infrasound”) doesn’t mean it is a singing bowl; and if it is, Favaron and Vitolo have found a new purpose for its thrum. And all the while, drones and hums intrude, eager to colonize the sonic field, while glitches and pops decorate the drones like sparkling debris in a raging river.
This is the thicker, busier end of the electroacoustic spectrum, a genre that lacks distinguishing tags, simply because there is so little of it. I call it particle accelerator music (PAM), as it sounds like agitated atoms. “Oblivion” highlights a scuttling sound, like that of the crablike creature racing across the floor in the medical lab of Aliens. Because the sonic field is constantly in motion, it’s hard to get a handle on the heart of these compositions; one drinks them like carbonation. On “Fold-in”, a welcome warmth is added by bells and horns, although the title makes one think of an egg dropped in batter. Thankfully, the metaphor fits. “Reflection” seems to contain power tools, sirens and broken glass, intimating a shattered mirror, or by extension, a shattered sense of self. Only in the album’s closing seconds does humanity make an appearance: pleasant banter and laughter, the lab coats packed away, the atoms free to collide, no longer performing under watchful eyes." [Richard Allen/A closer listen]
https://manyfeetunderconcrete.bandcamp.com/album/zolfo |
2016 |
€10.00 |
|
| FEAR DROP |
No. 15: SAIWALA - enquete sur l'esthetique musicale du vent |
mag & CD |
"Au sommaire : La belle ambiante, pour une cinématique des musiques bourdonnantes - Saiwala - Analogies : nature et musique - De l'arbre chantant à la harpe éolienne - Wind drops : Chris Watson et BJ Nilsen - Winds(c)haft : autour de disques de Francisco López, Alan Lamb, Yannick Dauby et Wan-Shuen Tsai, Tarab, Eric La Casa, Leif Elggren, Michael Northam, Bruno Moreigne - Les traces du vent dans le travail de Cédric Peyronnet / toy.bizarre - Vers la plaine. (par Denis Boyer, Julie Ramos, Jérôme Langlais, Cédric Peyronnet, Laurent Margantin)" [label info]
www.feardrop.net
"... My French, despite my name, is not really that good (anymore?), but I gather it as to be very obvious that all of these pages and pieces deal with wind, the sound of wind. In the magazine there are articles on drone music via three principle labels, Afe Records, Taalem and Drone Records, of nature and music history, BJ Nilsen & Chris Watson, an in-depth tale of CDs that deal with wind and Toy Bizarre. Probably a nice read, as far as I can judge that. We find many usual suspects on the CD, like Jana Winderen, BJ Nilsen, Michael Northam, Bruno Moreigne, Cedric Peyronnet, Francisco Lopez and Chris Watson, who all deliver their wind inspired pieces. The main power lies however with pieces by others, who use wind sounds to create more musical pieces. Some, I suspect, even use fake winds sounds coming from synthesizers. Here we find pieces by the [Law-Rah] collective, Thomas Koner, Tetsuo Furudate, Black To Comm and Philippe Petit. Frederique Bruyas has a spoken word piece on wind. Greatest surprise is to have a piece by Mike Harding, headhoncho of Touch, with a pretty rare musical piece of himself. The mixture of pure field recordings, processed field recordings and musical pieces is a great one, put together with some idea of how these things should be done. Excellent, even when the language is a bit of a barrier." [FdW / Vital Weekly]
|
2010 |
€12.00 |
|
| FEAR FALLS BURNING |
When Mystery prevades the Well, the Promise sets Fire |
LP |
deluxe edition (gatefold-cover, 180 gr. vinyl), ed. of 500 copies on black vinyl
Stilwechsel für das beliebte Guitar-Drone Projekt: WHEN MYSTERY PREVADES.. droned weniger dunkel und verzerrt, eher oberton-tänzelnd, verschwimmend, mysteriös....
"Mystisch wirken die Dronen auf "When Mystery Prevades The Well, The Promise Sets Fire" allemal. Zart, sanft und trotzdem mit einer Macht, der man sich nicht entziehen kann, lullen die Dronen den Hörer ein, umgarnen ihn, wollen ihn holen und einspinnen. Subtile Percussion-Variationen heben die beiden langen Stücke aus dem Drone-Einerlei heraus und machen diese Platte zu einem eher einzigartigen Hörerlebnis. Ist das Tor auf dem Cover noch verschlossen, so öffnet es sich dem Hörer zunehmend und zieht ihn unaufhörlich weiter in einen verwunschenen Garten, in dem es aus allen Ecken und Enden flimmert und schimmert. Fragile Hintergrund-Gitarren und helle Percussion, vordergründig mehr ein durchgängiges Dröhnen und brummen. Rein technisch gesehen sind einerseits auf "When Mystery Prevades The Well, The Promise Sets Fire" neue FFB Dronen enthalten, und andererseits hat FFB Kopf Dir Serries die Herangehensweise an sein Schaffen etwas neu konzipiert und strukturiert. So bringen die genannten Hintergrunddetails (Percussion) eine neue Dimension in das musikalische Oeuvre von FFB ein. Es entstehen weitere Dimensionen und deutlich mehr Vielschichtigkeit, auf subtiler Ebene. Beide Stücke sind harmonisch und kraftvoll und begeistern mich einmal mehr." [Creative-Eclipse]
"... with its highlight being the full-length studio album 'frenzy of the absolute' for the belgian conspiracy records, scheduled for release in 2008, this exclusive vinyl for tonefloat is the initiation of a change in method and playing for fear falls burning. not only has he turned around his studio in order to accommodate the new performances but the subtle incorporation of new elements will bring out an extra dimension in the vintage fear falls burning drone. this lp features two pieces, one per side, that are equally harmonic as powerful. fear falls burning's approach to playing the guitar chords changed, the production is different and the inclusion of guest musician dave vanderplas on subtle cymbal percussion marks this new tonefloat release as the first gentle step in fear falls burning's further exploration of the drone. when mystery prevades the well, the promise sets fire (tf38) is out now and can be ordered from our store." [label info]
"'When Mystery Prevades Well, The Promise Sets Fire' is a beautiful gate-fold sleeve LP with two pieces, one per side. Glacier like music in which it seems that the effects have a bigger role than the guitar. It's quite hard to recognize the guitar in this music, with moves in a minimal way. More Eno)) than Sunno)) I'd say, although there is a creepy undercurrent in Fear Falls Burning's music. This record sees Dirk moving away from the signature sound from before: the endless crescendo wall of sound building up, suddenly collapsing and stays more on the ambient side of things. Maybe a bit more Vidna Obmana than Fear Falls Burning - but I'm sure that would not be his intention. Very nice!" [FdW / Vital Weekly]
www.tonefloat.com
deluxe edition (gatefold-cover, 180 gr. vinyl), ed. of 500 copies on black vinyl
|
2007 |
€10.00 |
|
| |
The Carnival of ourselves |
CD |
"... beide CDs sind da natürlich erstmal für die interessant, die die limitierten LPs nicht haben, aber, nicht nur für die: neben schickem cover-artwork (martina verhoeven + carl clover/aleph) und genau so schicker ausführung als pappschuber, kommen beide reissues mit je einem, dafür gleich ellenlangen (27.57 + 34.22) bonustrack: "and the land torn down" (live aufgenommen von ronald marien am 16. may 2006 bei den audio-unit living room concerts in hamburg) und "dead wisdom". ersterer in unbedingt vergleichbarer qualität zu den auf "the infinite sea of sustain" kompilierten 6 konzerten, allerdings, im gegensatz zu den meisten der dort versammelten (und auch im gegensatz zu dem auf "the rainbow mirrors a burning heart" konservierten live-set) vollständig auf langsamen, fast endlosen aufbau setzend; ohne breaks, ohne harmonische veränderung, fast ein suchspiel, was sich / ob sich überhaupt etwas verändert / ab einem bestimmten punkt (etwas) verändert hat. perfekte ergänzung der oben genannten und musterbeispiel für "wie lange laufzeiten gleichzeitig hypnotisch UND abwechslungsreich anlegen“. "dead wisdom" dann gleich vom start weg sperriger; passt ja, ist / war die original "numb" ja auch schon. und viele der sounds auf "dead wisdom" sprechen dafür, dass alle drei stücke aus der gleichen session stammen. siehe z.b. die von mir damals als fast twang / surf / dub abstraktionen etikettierten, leicht schrägen, abstürzenden flächen, die auch hier, schon innerhalb der ersten 10 minuten, auftauchen. und nach ungefähr der hälfte der spielzeit auslaufen und vorgeben, das stück beenden zu wollen. nach dieser antäuschung dann der echte auslauf, fast 20 minuten lang...
und tatsächlich: die "numb" bleibt auch in der extended version noch immer so ein ding ohne fassbaren anfang, ohne fassbares ende... irgendwie faszinierend." [N, Unruhr.de]
"when the carnival of ourselves and i'm one of those monster numb with grace were originally released, dirk serries had only just started recording under the name of fear falls burning. the albums turned out to be decisive in shaping his vision of an ongoing drone-manifesto: during several exploratory sessions initiated in mid-2005, he quickly expanded the project's catalogue by a staggering eight releases within a single year. these would take the cosmic, post-rock- and kraut-infused production of his early recordings into new directions and eventually lead up to his current, raw and unpolished symbiosis of hypnotic guitar power and percussive thunder. the carnival of ourselves was the first full-length to follow the double-album »he spoke in dead tongues« and pointed towards an immersive and ghostly ambient sound. an extensive european tour, however, catalysed the inclusion of rock elements and heralded the advent of a more edgey and tribal approach: i'm one of those monster numb with grace, especially, was an important record, as it aligned the more refined studio output of fear falls burning with its direct and passionate live sound.
as these strictly limited releases sold out in no time (resulting in numerous requests for a second print), tonefloat and fear falls burning decided to leave the legacy of the vinyl untouched and to reissue both albums on cd - featuring new cover designs and bonus tracks culled from the abovementioned sessions. the astounding quality of these discoveries from the vault should convince even those already in possession of a vinyl copy: the twenty-eight-minute »and the land torn down« (on the carnival of ourselves) at first seems to build into a dense, dirge-like drone-sheet but intruigingly cools off to a disturbing soundscape haunted by muffled feedback and echoes of theremin-chants. the monumental bonus track to i'm one of those monster numb with grace, »dead wisdom«, meanwhile, would have made for a complete album in its own right: thirty-four minutes of subcutaneous feedback hum lead the listener down a spiral staircase into a place of deep calm and tantric concentration." [label info]
www.tonefloat.com
|
2009 |
€12.00 |
|
| FEARTHAINNE |
same |
do-CD |
FEARTHAINNE ist ein Band-Projekt mit den zwei Leuten von FAUNA, die mir ihrem Debut-Album kürzlich beeindrucken konnten. Auch hier sind ihre tracks episch angelegt und minimal instrumentiert, und nicht minder emotional wirkungsvoll. Nach einem fantastischen Poly-Drone Intro setzt sich ihr erhaben trauriger Akustik-Gitarren Folk (der an ruhigere NEUROSIS bzw. STEVE ON TILL oder MICHAEL GIRA erinnert) in Szene, der von Sehnsucht nur so durchdrungen zu sein scheint, begleitet von sparsamer Perkussion; auch Zither & Violine werden sehr schön integeriert. FEARTHAINNE entwerfen hier auf ihren urlangen Tracks die stets mehrere Teile haben, eine Art ambienten "Ritual Drone Folk" mit starkem Naturbezug, der einen nicht kalt lässt.. und wieder glänzt GLASS THROAT mit so einem wunderschönen grossformatigen Doppel-Klappcover aus speziellem Karton..
"I have the tremendous honor of announcing, what is to be our Winter Solstice 2008 release. From Cascadian soil, FEARTHAINNE will bless us with a pure nostalgia for being. A debut full length 2xCD, embracing four deeply potent healing crafts of acoustic mourning & regeneration. Featuring the two spirits of Cascadia's Ritual Black Metal atavism FAUNA.
Fearthainne's first release represents the nadir of a journey into earth. Conceptualized and written in wild environments in the West, this collection of songs is a picture of the labyrinth traveled by a human organism, seeking life outside the long shadows of unremitting gray. The seekers masquerading as musicians who have created this document have used these sounds as a conduit for the reconnection with being, and have chosen to make it available to those who might hear the voice of the Others speaking to them from within. Exclusively utilizing acoustic instrumentation, Fearthainne is the unending rain that calls forth the blossom, the harbinger of the organic future we inevitably face. A sonic expression of green in all its capacities, this project is a document of the search for Home, a declaration that we will never settle for existence in the meaningless maze of history.
As beings we have struggled for many years to imbue our lives with depth, bending our ears towards the chorus of elders that the natural world is. Brought to fruition in a culture whose theme is loss, we recognize the wisdom of Earth in the various shifts that will unravel these ten millennia of aberration, and celebrate the dawning of day for what is truly human. As participants in this calamity, we call forth those spirits of the land, sea and sky who have always borne witness to our cyclical lives, the deep mind of which we are only a part, to see us and hear our voices as we proclaim our allegiance to Life. May this blood that flows from us cleanse the land of its wounds. May our animal bodies shield our battered hearts as we break the hands of Time. May this be the end..." [label info]
"... But in Fearthainne, all of the buzz and lbuster have been replaced by delicate crystalline guitar, gruff emotive vocals, deep ominous drones, all woven into a slow, drifting, meditative mountain folk. On the same label that in the past has brought us mysterious sounds from At The Head Of The Woods, The Elemental Chrysalis, Ruhr Hunter, Alethese and Beneath The Lake, Fearthainne sound right at home, blending dense whirring minimal soundscapes, with gentle meditative folk rituals. Long long tracks that slowly blossom, smoldering, clouded in warm browns and cool greys, strings weep and moan, effects gently cradle the various elements, adding texture more than changing the sound. Mesmerizing, trancelike ruminations on nature, on death, on the beyond. Simple percussion demarcates sprawling folk strum and fields of lilting shimmer and and delicate flutter. The vocals are a strange contrast, almost atonal, moaned more than sung, reminding us of solo records by either of the Neurosis frontmen, giving the proceedings a much more ominous vibe, ritualistic and hauntingly spiritual. Gorgeous in its simplicity, mysterious in its minimalism, Fearthainne is the soundtrack to a land outside of time, of trees towering over a world unspoilt, clouds drifting across empty skies, night turning into day, the cycle of life continuing on, the world and the universe around it gradually moving into a new, more magical existence. Beautifully sublime. Incredible packaging, full color 6 panel oversized sleeve, amazing images of ancient forests, late night rituals, and the band gathered beneath a mighty tree, cradling a baby, dressed like witches, and looking like a band of bearded forest dwellers (which they may very well be!)." [Aquarius Records review]
www.glassthroatrecordings.com
|
2009 |
€18.50 |
|
| FELIX KUBIN & ENSEMBLE INTEGRALES |
Echohaus |
do-LP |
"This latest project by the Hamburg-based musician, composer, and futurist, Felix Kubin, (his second release on Dekorder) is a collaboration with the contemporary music chamber group, ensemble Intégrales, and the reknowned German underground pop producer and sound engineer, Tobias Levin.
Echohaus was recorded in and around Levin's Electric Avenue studio in the basement of WESTWERK, a former squat and cultural centre for non-commercial art and music in Hamburg. A special recording technique was developed for the project whereby the musicians played simultaneously in separate rooms, connected to one and other only by headphones. This was done in order to achieve a lively,“cinematic" sound that made use of the particular dynamics of the rooms and amplified mechanical details. The rooms, each of which had a different acoustic character, were used as natural echo chambers. Kubin and the composer Burkhard Friedrich, former member of ensemble Intégrales, provided the musicians with simple graphic scores or basic descriptions of the compositions; all subsequent material was developed on the fly. Kubin was in the mixing room giving instructions and suggestions, while the musicians played and improvised, adding their own ideas to the project.
No artificial reverb or effects were added to the recordings. The different types of rooms and microphones, noises inside and outside of the studio, as well as the unusual interrelationship between the physically isolated players became part of the process. All the tracks were recorded in one take without any additional layers or track-by-track recordings. After a five-day recording session Kubin and Levin created various mixes which Kubin then edited over a period of several months.
The final results mark yet another radical departure from Kubin's trademark Sci-Fi Pop sound, blending the aesthetics of academic contemporary music, film soundtracks and improvised music with a strong focus on room-specific natural acoustics." [label info]
www.dekorder.com
"Branching out into conceptual composition with Ensemble Intégrales, Felix Kubin acted as a sort of central engineer/conductor for this piece, with each instrument recorded live with no overdubs in separate rooms at the Westwerk cultural centre in Hamburg under Kubin’s supervision, and the results edited by him down into the resulting album. As a result, each room sound is almost as important as the tones recorded for the instruments concerned, and the results certainly resonate with the nuances of each space in the final mix, especially when listened to on headphones – which is probably the best way to appreciate the textures of the recording.
It’s also perhaps inevitable that the terms electro-acoustic and musique concrète will crop as reference points when describing both the techniques and sounds of Echohaus – and justifiably too. There’s plenty of scraping, creaking, twisting and plinking, honking, squittering electronics and keening breaths, mournful drones and pizzicato strings among the synthesized interventions, in between the electro-mechanical susurrus and thumping among gentler ripples on piano and violin, with vaporous electronic reflections trickling subtly or otherwise across the dissociated (but not disembodied) studio space. The improv is strong here, quite happy to let rip into spine-tingling moments very close indeed to the fingernail/blackboard interface.
So drumkits give their best falling down the stairs impressions (though it frequently does seem like that baskets full of household good are being given a good thrashing ), and there are moments where stereo-panned strings rise in counterpointed waves which could quite possibly drag the listener into a state of panicked delirium. What is particularly enjoyable are those moments where the music moves through space as Kubin manipulates the mix, with deep bass throbs and high-pitched whines circling the clatter of percussive motion across the soundscape he creates with the Ensemble’s sounds. Is that the sound of one room bleeding and/or receding into another, or is it just the natural echo? Who can tell, and does it matter too much?
To keep calling this sort of music avantgarde is perhaps to hang onto a term which sometimes seems to be almost backward-looking, given the decades in which this modernist form has developed (or otherwise) – but even so, the recording technique is, if not at the advance guard, at least experimental in some form or other. But so much for labels – this is largely a fine piece of work where dissonance and discordance, horripilation and disconcerted listening teeter into sometimes quavering moments of reflexive beauty. Echohaus engages the senses fully, and the way in which it was recorded and produced being ultimately secondary to the results, which, while often difficult – or flat-out challenging – listening, are certainly none the worse for that." [Freq.org] |
2010 |
€18.50 |
|
| 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 |
|
| |
In Stereo |
CD |
"Written and performed by Christian Fennesz, Jim O'Rourke & Peter Rehberg. Recorded and mixed at Studio GOK Sound, Tokyo, October 2009. Mastered at Piethopraxis, Köln, December 2009. 'Thats right, they're back! After a hiatus of almost 9 years the legendary trio of Christian Fennesz, Jim O'Rourke and Peter Rehberg have returned with a new studio album. Technically the first studio album as previous releases were edits of live performances. They spent a week in Studio GOK Sound, Tokyo to lay down some stunning electronic works. Whereas previously the emphasis was on a chaotic blend of found samples mangled through their mobile computing systems to create a humorous oddball sound, 'in stereo' implements a more wider instrumental palette of analogue & digital synthesis, guitar, piano, bass and percussion. What they do maintain is the ability to make a near psychedelic audio blend where its impossible to determine who does what. Released as CD digipack and gatefold double vinyl which features an extra slice of classic fenn O'Berg magic beauty. 'in stereo' ...for you." [label info]
www.editionsmego.com
"Is there something that you really want? That one coming release that excites you very much? In the world of reviewers: hardly. There is tons of music coming out every week, and everything is examined carefully (we do out best). But sometimes there is a release coming which even excites the overloaded reviewer. Say a new album by Christian Fennesz, Jim O'Rourke and Peter Rehberg, who work as Fenn O'berg. They released two albums almost a decade ago, classic works of computerized madness, culled from live shows. Mayhem, plunderphonics, laptop a gogo (recently re-issued as double CD - see Vital Weekly 685). Workload was also heavy for these musicians, always touring, recording, touring and recording. In October of last year they meet up again, for a week, in Tokyo, to sit together and record their first studio album. Six tracks and what a difference from the previous two. Its no longer laptop madness, but a fine blend of that with analogue sound material, guitar, piano, bass and
percussion. I must admit its not easy to spot these instruments in these pieces. The music has changed though. Its not a wild and vivid collage of sound, but more concentrated efforts of sound, more composed than improvised. I think they laid down all the various sounds in an improvised form and then mixed it together into quite dense music, which has partly an ambient character (in a rather unique way) and also a strangely psychedelic atmosphere. Sometimes the computer processed sounds play a role, such as in 'Part VII', but by and large its not easy to spot here. Its an excellent release, I must say. Especially the first four tracks are great here, where they really go out into their own form of psychedelic music. 'Part III', the opening of the CD is perhaps the standout track of the CD. An excellent release, as said, well worth waiting so long for, but let's hope the next one will come sooner."
[FdW / Vital Weekly]
|
2010 |
€13.50 |
|
| FERIAL CONFINE (=ANDREW CHALK) |
The full use of Nothing |
CD |
"A timely and welcome reissue of the first part of the trilogy of recordings by Ferial Confine dating back to 1985. Here sensitively remastered by Denis Blackham from the original master tapes at Skye Mastering and with a beautiful facsimile mini LP style sleeve, made in Japan. The Full Use Of Nothing was the first serious publication of music by
Andrew Chalk/Ferial Confine on cassette in the mid-eighties. Early experimentation in acoustic percussion and primitive multi-tracking techniques shaped the sound and spirit of these formative recordings, somehow very tentative but leading to an on-going fascination with subtle shifts in balance and nuances of sound within a limited palette, albeit in a wild and free series of performances here.
As the first part of the projected Siren re-issue trilogy; 'The Full Use Of Nothing' (1985), 'Meiosis' (1985) and 'First, Second And Third Drop' 1986), the primitive energy and somehow primeval expression of the first album is a vital key to the distinct changes and subsequent refinement that would follow afterwards and contains the pure essence of the project, from a different period almost 30 years past. It is therefore fitting this being the first part of the trilogy.
The Full Use Of Nothing is in an edition of 500 copies with Japanese language obi and features the original reproduced artwork by Andrew Chalk for the album. The CD was manufactured by in Japan. Layout by Magda Stepien, translations by Daisuke Suzuki." [label info]
|
2013 |
€15.00 |
|
| FERRARI, LUC |
Son memorise |
CD |
„In Entwicklung zum ersten P.R. von 1970, dessen einzigartige Aura ja schon beinahe schmerzt, scheint das ‚beinahe nichts‘ des Presque Rien #4 einem ‚allmählich alles‘ gewichen zu sein. Luc Ferrari hat allerdings von P.R. zu P.R. den Erinnerungen immer mehr Pinselstriche hinzugefügt, und ist auch selbst immer mehr Bestandteil der Hörbilder geworden. Wird also beinahe nichts mehr weggelassen? Zögerlich ist nach eigenem Bekunden Ferraris kompositorische Herangehensweise. So brauchte es zur Realisation des Presque rien #4 ¬ La remontée du village 8 Jahre. 1998 vollendet, spannt es nun als „opener“ den Bogen der vorliegenden CD zu einer Studie über die Wirklichkeit von Erinnerung und wie sie sich im Nachhinein als immer verfremdet darstellt. So erzählt „Promenade symphonique dans un paysage
musical ou un jour de fète à el qued en 1976“ (1976-1978) von einem Spaziergang in eine Stadt. Ein Mann stimmt einen erotischen Gesang an, auf dem Marktplatz beginnt eine Trommelgruppe zu spielen, Passanten kommen zusammen, Schüsse knallen, zum Abend hin kündigen Frauenrufe den Auftritt der Hochzeitsbraut an. Die Party steigt bis die Trommelgruppe tanzend in den zur Nacht vergehenden Abend verschwindet. Durch Hervorhebungen einzelner Passagen und der behutsamen Bearbeitung der Klänge insgesamt, offenbart Ferrari das Nichtreale der Tonbandaufnahme. Die illusorische Vorstellung einer objektiven Realität wird dem Hörer unterschwellig, fast unheimlich (schön) offenbart, wenn Ferrari mit subtilem Feingefühl in weiser Lässigkeit auf den Grenzlinien zur Manipulation spazieren geht. „Saliceburry Coctail“ (2002) ist ein ebenfalls ca. 1/2stündiges Werk. Wie in einem Cocktail die Zutaten so eingerichtet sind, das Aromen sowohl verstärkt als auch ausgeblendet werden können, wurden hier realistische sowie synthetische Sounds vermischt, geschichtet, transformiert. Was es mit diesem Stück genauer auf sich hat und warum es sich charakterlich von den vorhergehenden unterscheidet, ist aus den beiliegenden Kommentaren des Komponisten zu erfahren.
Presque Rien #4 seems to be ‚about everything‘ instead of the ‚almost nothing‘ from 1970. However, Ferrari has developed his „Presque Rien“ pieces in a more and more extensive way. There has always been hesitation on his part before releasing a „Presque Rien“. To release the fourth one took nine years. Now it’s the opener of this CD starting a study about the reality of memory and the problem of it’s transfigured portrayal afterwards. So „Promenade symphonique dans un paysage musical ou un jour de fète à el qued en 1976“ (1976-1978) tells about a walk in a nearby city. A man starts an erotic singing, on the market place a drum ensemble is playing, passerby are crowding around them, shooting armguns, in the night woman are announcing the wedding bride. The party is rising until the drum ensemble disappears in the night still dancing. Through empasize of special parts
and the carefully processing of sounds, Ferrari reveals that there is nothing real, it’s just a tape recording. „Saliceburry Coctail“ (2002) is also a 30minutes work. Just as in a cocktail the incredients are used to intensify or to tone down the flavour of the drink, real and synthetical sounds have been mixed, layered and transformed.” [Peter Schlewinski for Drone Records]
“This is the second of three Sub Rosa releases of instrumental works by this important artist. Luc Ferrari is considered one of the most legendary musical figures of the twentieth century, whose work and aesthetic continues to influence several generations of contemporary composers. Director of the Groupe de Recherche Musicales which he established with Pierre Schaeffer in Paris from 1958-1966, he is also one of the masters of musique concrète who influenced and expanded the genre with electro-acoustic instrumentation. Right from the start, the idea had been to release three very different CDs: one hörspiel, one of concrete music (new and older pieces) and one CD of instrumental works. Les Anecdotiques was the first step: a vast sound-film of more than an hour that explores in 15 steps the intensity of re-composed sounds from his continual travel around the world, with electronic additional structures. This album is the second step -- one that offers a retrospective -- the previously unreleased \"Promenade Symphonique dans un Paysage Musical\" from 1976-78, the final \"Presque Rien #4\" and a fresh reflection dating from the last months of 2002, \"Saliceburry Cocktail,\" a large-scale composition exploring the idea of hideout, scrambled listening -- a tortuous entanglement of concrète and electronic. The forthcoming third and final release will be three recent instrumental compositions for electronics, piano and viola which were recorded under Luc\'s supervision -- the last works he ever recorded, as he passed away in August 2005.” [press release]
|
2005 |
€13.00 |
|
|
Labyrinthe de Violence |
do-LP |
Capturing the four soundtracks conceived in 1975 for the multimedia/audiovisual performances at Galiéra Museum in Paris, the previously unreleased Labyrinthe de Violence stretching across two LPs represents a peek into Luc Ferrari's creations connected to his Atelier de Libération de la Musique experiences. Luc Ferrari was always keen to disrupt habits and engrained practices, to open his mind to new ways of apprehending the world of art, considering it not so much as a separate realm but as an inroad into society. In keeping with the spirit of 1968, he advocated taking part in daily life, casting a critical, but amazed, eye on the world around us, and always questioning the meaning of the occupations and preoccupations the world imposes. From the 1970s, Luc also wished to shed the solitary status of the artist, and to truly communicate with society. He thus gathered around him a group of people from different backgrounds with an aim to create, together, new ways of working and new forms of expression that would address unusual audiences rather than traditional concert audience. Having created his Studio Billig in Paris in 1973, Luc wanted to make the most of that place to promote exchanges with other artists, to share, think, and improvise together. This is what gave rise to the Atelier de Liberation de la Musique workshops, whose objective was to "Liberate music from the constraints of style and esthetics." The idea was precisely to free the artist from abstraction, leading him to perform accessible and intelligible actions; to promote the imagination; to use the dramatic dynamism of sound and image to trigger ideas; to ignore the sensational and instead to observe our social environment and daily life with an intuitive eye-ear; to invite the visitor to come up with their own analysis. This craving for collaboration led Luc Ferrari to create, in 1975, a collective of musicians with Martin Davorin Jagodic, Philippe Besombes, Alain Petit and David Jisse. That year, they worked at Labyrinthe de Violence, a looped audiovisual labyrinth which evoked the violence of contemporary society, and was a reaction to the political situation of the time. It was a multimedia work, spread across four rooms, on the following themes: Power/Profit/Violence/Pollution. Each side of this 2LP set reproduces the sonorization of one of the four rooms in the Museum, automatically mixing in the central space. The same recordings focus on questions of utopia through many of the same themes. As in the rest of his work, pleasure was also at the heart of these pieces. First press limited to 500 numbered copies; gatefold sleeve.
A1. Pollution
B1. Violence
C1. Pouvoir / Profit
D1. Mecanique / Paysage / Danse |
2021 |
€37.50 |
|
| |
...Et Apres |
do-LP |
PLANAM presents ...et après a suite created by Ensemble Laborintus highlighting their collaboration with Luc Ferrari and well underlining the creative heights reached by the composer during the last years of his career. Laborintus, so named in homage to Luciano Berio, was an ensemble born in 1993 and dissolved in 2014, formed by Hélène Breschand (harp), César Carcopino (percussions), Sylvain Kassap (clarinets), Franck Masquelier (flutes) and Anaïs Moreau (cello). The main vocation of the ensemble was to give voice to the music of today by working in close collaboration with living and active composers, confronting current technologies, as well as practicing improvisation and musical theater. Laborintus developed a special relationship with composers, with Luc Ferrari in particular. Each creation was the occasion for an in-depth encounter. For Laborintus, the music of Luc Ferrari was always a bearer of joy, a carnal joy -- a joy of sound, and a joy of playing. There is a balance between the concrete character of the sounds that builds a poetic topology, and the virtuosity of the score, which allows a pleasurable physical involvement in the heart of sound. Bristling with stunning dances of acoustic and electronic sound, ...et après -- collecting a full two LPs worth of material -- presents the final unreleased work that Ensemble Laborintus created in collaboration with Ferrari, including "Bonjour, comment ça va?", two realizations of "Tautologos III" featuring the voice of Brunhild Ferrari and a new version of Ferrari's work "À la recherche du rythme perdu", created under the supervision of Brunhild Ferrari for harp and percussion; as well as an homage to the composer, composed by Sylvain Kassap titled "Arezzo" and Hélène Breschand "L", for flute, clarinet, cello, harp, percussion and fixed sounds. Both "Arezzo" and "L" were composed using sound archives by Luc Ferrari. This double LP also includes as a "bonus" the realization of Ferrari's "À la recherche du rythme perdu", recorded live by Hélène Breschand and eRikm in 2019. The selection of tracks and the title of the album ...et après were chosen in the spirit of a continuation with the legacy of Luc Ferrari: a balance between heritage, transmission, and continuity, transformation over time. Like Russian dolls that fit together Luc encouraged encounters and bonds are still forged today, through his music. Privately produced by Laborintus and issued by PLANAM. Gatefold sleeve; edition of 500.
A1. Luc Ferrari - Bonjour, comment ça va?
A2. Sylvain Kassap - Arezzo
B1. Luc Ferrari - À la recherche du rythme perdu
C1. Hélène Breschand - L
D1. Luc Ferrari - À la recherche du rythme perdu |
2021 |
€38.50 |
|
| FIBREFORMS |
Treedrums |
CD |
"Long before KILN turned to the sunset-soaked textures of Dusker, and the sonic-carousels of "Thermals", they made music as fibreforms. Treedrums (1996) documents their transition from live performance trio to sound-art synergists, balancing symbiotic instrumental spaces of kit-drums and treated guitars with lost&found sound to evoke moments that are at once invigorating and tranquil. Seventeen years later, Treedrums is presented here as a re-amped, remixed, and properly restored archival edition of this once buried treasure of sonic curio. One-time numbered edition of 300. Includes two previously unreleased tracks from that early era. These will be housed in a Stoughton mini-lp gatefold sleeve along with an 8 page full color booklet." [label info]
www.infractionrecords.com
"...Following Berry I turned to Fibreforms, a trio of Kevin Hayes, Kirk Marrison and Clark Rehberg, who call themselves these days Kiln. They are from Michigan and somewhere along the lines they changed names. 'Treedrums' is an album from 1996, now nicely repacked (all of these releases look actually great, no rush jobs, nothing cheap). Repacked, but also 'economized, re-amped, remixed, and properly restored', so altogether a different release. I looked at the cover of the original on discogs and it might have been something I heard before. Their ambient is of a different nature; it's more the rockist agenda that is being played, and in particular the post-rock variation. All of this is instrumental of course, with lots of spacious guitars, reverb on the drums and much electronics. Think Tortoise, think Trans AM, Windy & Carl, but I also would like to mention something like O Yuki Conjugate; not because of the ethno rhythms, but of the ambience Fibreforms puts forward when the rhythm plays a more minor role. This ambient of the rock variation is actually very nice, certainly when it's part of a larger ambient bundle. It offers that bit of variation that you may need here. It also proofs that there are more ways 'to do' ambient than just computer processing field recordings. It sounds dated, perhaps, and then it also sounds entirely fresh. Great CD." [FdW/Vital Weekly] |
2013 |
€13.00 |
|
| FIEBIG, GERALD |
Gasworks |
CD |
„Gasworks“ by sonic artist Gerald Fiebig collects his sound installations, radiophonic compositions, and live performances relating to the former gasworks in Augsburg-Oberhausen. They were created between 2010 and 2016, some in collaboration with colleagues EMERGE and Christian Z. Müller. Among the compositional materials of the album are processed recordings of the sounds of gas and industrial machinery, stories told by a former gasworks employee, and live improvisations in the echo chamber of the large gas tank.
Liner notes by Gerald Fiebig:
Cities phosphorescent
on the riverbank, industry’s
glowing piles waiting
beneath the smoke trails
W.G. Sebald, After Nature
The former gasworks in Augsburg-Oberhausen (not to be confused with the better-known Gasometer in the city of Oberhausen in the Ruhr area) have been a subject of my artistic practice for more than a decade. This album collects all the works related to the gasworks except a site-specific installation version of Echoes of Industry that did not lend itself to documentation as a recording.
Opened in 1915, the gasworks are a testimony to the spirit of what one could call the ‚heroic‘ age of industrialisation. The architecture of the ovens and machine halls features stylistic quotes from the façade of Augsburg’s renaissance city hall as well as from cathedrals. Technological progress is presented as both raison d’état and religion. This stands in stark contrast to the extremely hard, dangerous and – for a very long time – poorly paid working conditions described by long-time gasworks employee Johann Artner in Nach der Industrie / After Industry. From our contemporary viewpoint, informed by climate change and the impending end of fossil resources, the optimism expressed in the beautiful architecture of the gasworks also appears less than justified for ecological reasons: until 1968, the gasworks actually produced gas by burning coal in large ovens. They then continued to operate as a distributing station for fossil gas from transcontinental pipelines into the local network. Operations ceased in 2001.
After almost two decades of merely intermittent use for festivals and other events, 2019 saw the re-opening of the gasworks area as an arts centre featuring a theatre as well as artists‘ studios, rehearsal rooms, and office spaces for creative businesses. This seems to imply that it has now entered the ‚post-industrial‘ age where clean, almost immaterial computer screens have replaced the factory floors once so dirty and dangerous.
In fact, there is no such thing as a ‚post-industrial‘ age, just globalised capitalism increasingly outsourcing the dirty and dangerous work (manufacturing the microprocessors for the ‚post-industrial‘ devices, for example) to poorer countries. And of course industrial manufacturing still does form an important part of economies of the global North, even if the leading role in ideological narratives of growth and prosperity has been taken over by the ‚post-industrial‘ businesses.
Both post-industrial, which is partly based on processed sounds of a metal tool factory quite close to the gasworks, and Echoes of Industry can be heard as reminders of these ambivalences. Echoes of Industry brings the space of the gasworks into contact with the sounds of textile machines. This is a reference to the fact that the decline of the gasworks as an industrial site paralleled that of Augsburg’s once-thriving textile industry. It also alludes to the role of the textile industry as one of the most prominent examples for the exploitative use of cheap offshore labour.
But my interest in the gasworks is not only due to its historical ‚echoes,‘ documented so well by the committed friends of the gasworks, or Gaswerksfreunde Augsburg. As an artist working with sound, I am constantly fascinated by the literal echoes inside the large metal gas tank, 84 metres high and 45 metres in diameter. This unique sound effect is at the heart of Echoes of Industry, as well as the two live performances I did inside this space in 2016 under the title Ohrentauchen mit Echolot / Ear-diving with Echo Sounding. Doing this live improvisation in which acoustic sound-generators, from hammers to whistles, interacted with the physical features of the room as well as with its resonant properties, I felt it brought to completion the work I had begun in 2007 with a tour of the gasworks, guided by members of Gaswerksfreunde Augsburg, and the interview with the late Johann Artner.
This album is dedicated to his memory.
Excerpts:
1. post-industrial
Excerpt of a sound installation in the so-called Apparatehaus during Grenzenlos festival, 2014
Sounds of hissing gas from a kitchen stove, processed by Gerald Fiebig, are combined with field recordings from a nearby factory in a building even older than the gasworks, processed by EMERGE.
Composed & realised by Gerald Fiebig & EMERGE
Commissioned by Christa Spaniol (Künstlergruppe 38/40)
2. Ohrentauchen mit Echolot
Excerpts from performances in the large Gaskessel during Asche zu Farbgut festival, 2016
Various unamplified tools, toys, and instruments, as well as Gerald Fiebig’s voice and body, were used to create sounds inside the 84-metre high metal chamber. This included hitting the metal surfaces themselves. The performance took place in the centre of the chamber, with the audience walking around the performer.
Live sound mix: www.yetiplanet.de
Commissioned by Christa Spaniol (Künstlergruppe 38/40)
3. Nach der Industrie
Sound installation at Lange Kunstnacht festival, 2010 (reworked version)
The late Johann Artner worked at the gasworks from 1947 to 1989. He was interviewed by Gerald Fiebig in 2007. Excerpts from more than two hours of recorded material were arranged and combined with processed sounds of gas from a kitchen stove. A transcript and English translation of Johann Artner’s narration can be found at www.geraldfiebig.net/gasworks.pdf.
Narration: Johann Artner
Commissioned by Elke Seidel (Stadt Augsburg – Kulturamt)
4. Echoes of Industry
Radio piece for Radioatelier on Radio Vltava, Czech Republic, first broadcast on 29 May, 2015
Two of Augsburg’s major industrial monuments meet in this piece: sampled recordings of textile machines (heard in part 1 of the piece) from the State Textile and Industry Museum Augsburg are played back inside the large Gaskessel. As they are transformed by the echoes of the room, a saxophone takes up an improvisational interaction with both the samples and the echoes. Part 2 of the piece is composed from live recordings of these improvisations in the gas tank. As the ‚remembered‘ machine sounds of industry become increasingly blurred, the theremin in part 3 gestures at the ambivalent perspective of a disembodied, ‚virtual‘ future of digital production.
Christian Z. Müller: saxophones, theremin
Gerald Fiebig: sampler, field recordings, processing
Composed and realised by Gerald Fiebig & Christian Z. Müller
Commissioned by Michal Rataj (Radio Vltava)
5 Tracks (68′18″)
CD (500 copies)
Credits:
Composed and realised by Gerald Fiebig except where noted
Audio mastering: Tomislav Bucalic and Tobias Schmitt
Design: Martina Vodermayer – www.martavictor.design
Photography: Sigrun Lenk, Martina Vodermayer, Gaswerksfreunde Augsburg
Thanks to: Tobias Brenner, Oliver Frühschütz (Gaswerksfreunde Augsburg); Julia Quandt (Museen und Kunstsammlungen Augsburg); Wolfgang Riß, Annette Trass (Stadtwerke Augsburg); and to Jutta Weber, Manuel Schedl, Bonnie Lee Turner, and Tine Klink.
Archival photographs are used by kind permission of Gaswerksfreunde Augsburg.
www.gaswerk-augsburg.de
The completion of this album was made possible by a residency at ELEVEN artspace, Starzach-Börstingen, Germany, in August 2018.
The production was generously supported by Arno Buchegger Stiftung, Augsburg, and Kurt und Felicitas Viermetz Stiftung, Augsburg.
www.gruenrekorder.de
|
2019 |
€13.00 |
|
| FINGER / PLOTKIN / ZABELKA |
Pleasure-Voltage |
LP |
BENJAMIN FINGER, JAMES PLOTKIN and MIA ZABELKA craft a mesmerizing sonic world that buzzes and drones, glitches and slithers, eventually careening into unexplored musical territory.
“Pleasure-Voltage” was born in the mind (and studio) of BENJAMIN FINGER – a composer, electronic music producer, DJ, photographer and film-maker based in Oslo / Norway who in recent years has become quite a prolific artist, expanding his stylistic palette from piano miniatures and off-kilter pop experiments to lysergic, dream-like sound collages spiced with gentle warmth and sublime melody. These ingredients are also characteristic on this latest work where FINGER set the musical frame before passing it on to his inspired collaborators: MIA ZABELKA who for decades now has been involved in countless projects, be it as musician (violin / electronics), curator or founder of the international sound art centre klang.haus and who has worked with a.o. JOHN ZORN, FRED FRITH, ELECTRIC INDIGO, ROBIN RIMBAUD (SCANNER), DÄLEK or PHIL MINTON. And last but not least there’s JAMES PLOTKIN who entered the scene with his first band OLD LADY DRIVERS (or OLD) on EARACHE in 1987 and later was a member of KHANATE (with a.o. STEPHEN O’MALLEY) while also exploring the areas of dark ambient and electronics by working with or remixing SCORN / MICK HARRIS, K.K: NULL and many more.
On “Pleasure-Voltage” which had its live-premiere at the REWIRE festival 2018, the trio crafts a mesmerizing sonic world that buzzes and drones, glitches and slithers, eventually careening into unexplored musical territory somewhere between ambient / drone / psychedelia.
https://karlrecords.bandcamp.com/album/pleasure-voltage
|
2019 |
€18.00 |
|
| FIRE IN THE HEAD |
As the nest burns |
CD |
Exzellenter Trauma-Harsh-Noise von diesem neuen US-Projekt mit surrealen und manischen Qualitäten, verstörend veränderte Stimmen und Sounds überall, extrem düster & psychotisierend! Intensiv ! Lim. 400
“Fire In The Head” is probably one of the garish artists of “noise/power electronics”, representing the famous school of the USA. The project’s author Michael Page previously participated at live performances of the legendary Giovanni Balistrer’s project SLOGUN, also closely linked to the livery of NY sound terrorists. “As The Nest Burns” is short, but highly hysterical, brutal and dark album of “noise/power electronics” stylistics. Michael Page masterly plays with amplitude of different tracks intension. Slackened, leaden, psychedelic sounds overgrow into the avalanche of terribly aggressive and hysterical noise, gradually flooding back as unusual and uncomfortable sound stream. “As The Nest Burns” is a sort of element of otherworld civilization, starting its sudden extension, transformation and smashing attack. There are many fragments of distorted vocal in this album, making the tracks especially threatful. This is a completely new, reformed attack of USA “power electronics” tradition against the normal and moral world. Do you know what happens as the nest burns??? Then the children burn!!!“ [Written by Lashisha]
"As The Nest Burns” is an album about the darkest depths of psychosis, about the delusions and actions over which one has no control when entrenched in a manic state and the nightmares from which some never awaken. It is an album born in the blackest of times, to be listened to in the blackest of times. With this recording F/I/T/H experiments with new arsenal of sounds and techniques adding a heavily psychedelic edge to his mix of noise/power electronics/drone. These are the straight-jacketed screams from the bowels of a mental institution.”[wrten by Michael Page, FIRE IN THE HEAD]
www.autarkeia.org |
2005 |
€13.00 |
|
| FIRST, DAVID |
Privacy Issues (droneworks 1996-2009) |
3 x CD |
"Featuring Chris McIntyre and Peter Zummo, trombones; “Blue” Gene Tyranny, keyboards; and The Black Jackets Ensemble. “This was something unexpected and truly different: pulsing electronic textures that derived their rhythm from the beating patterns of closely-tune pitches - as if Alvin Lucier and Philip Glass had gone on a blind date to CBGBs... David put the beat in beating patterns.” - From the liner notes by composer Nic Collins (on his initial exposure to First's music in 1987). Long overdue overview of composer David First's drone works. This special and specially priced set (3 CDs for the price of 2) is comprised of nine works composed between 1996 and 2009. “1996 was the beginning of a new period for me”, says First. “I had spent the prior five or six years creating a lot of music for other players and larger ensembles - culminating in 1995 with a couple of mountings of my opera, The Manhattan Book of the Dead. I was a little burned out on this and decided to return to a more personal, intimate format - one that ended up including an even more extensive exploration of tunings, alternative compositional softwares and how my playing techniques interacted with these things. I think I just wanted to go deeper and have more control over the results. During the ensuing years I've had a few pendulum swings - forays into beat-oriented pop music with lyrics & vocals and, of course, the re-animation of my rock band from the late 70s - the Notekillers. But I've continued, through all of the changes, to maintain my grounding in my love of the drone & associated acoustical phenomena - a love affair that began in my teenage psychedelic years and will, no doubt, be a most significant aspect of my music path for as long as I am at it. The tracks here represent almost every major work created from 1996 to the present and I'm grateful that they will be heard by a wider swath of people than those who lived in NYC or happened to be at one of my touring performances during these years.”
David First's musical life is filled with opposites and extremes. At the age of twenty he played guitar with renowned avant-jazz pianist Cecil Taylor in a legendary Carnegie Hall concert. Two years after that he was creating electronic music as an "after-hours" artist-in-residence at Princeton University and leading a Mummer's String Band in Philadelphia parades. He has played in raucous drunken bar bands and in pin-drop quiet concert halls with classical ensembles. As a composer First has created everything from finely crafted pop songs to long, severely minimalist drone-works. His performances often find him sitting trance-like without seeming to move a muscle, unless he is playing with his recently re-formed psychedelic punk band, Notekillers, at which time he is a whirling blur of hyperactive energy. First has been called "a fascinating artist with a singular technique" in The New York Times, and "a bizarre cross between Hendrix and La Monte Young" in The Village Voice. A 45 single released in 1980, The Zipper, by Notekillers, was cited by Sonic Youth's Thurston Moore as one of the songs he played for the rest of the band when they were starting out. Moore called it a “mind-blowing instrumental single” in the British rock magazine Mojo and “a big influence” in the Philadelphia Inquirer. First's music has been performed in the USA at The Kitchen, Bang On A Can, Central Park Summerstage, the CMJ Music Marathon, Joe's Pub, SXSW, The Stone, The Knitting Factory, Tonic, Issue Project Room, Monkey Town, Merkin Hall, CBGB's, and The Spoleto Festival. He has also been presented extensively in Europe - appearing, at Podewil, the USArts Festival, Institut Unzeit (Berlin) as well as at De Ijsbreker (Amsterdam), the Heidelberger Festival for Experimental Music and Literature (Heidelberg), ZwischenTone Festival (Köln), The Impakt Festival (Utrecht), Het Apollohuis (Eindhoven), and the Brugge Concertgebeouw (Brugge). First has also presented sound installations at Kunstforeningen (Copenhagen), the Uppsala Konstmuseum (Uppsala), Exit Art (New York), Voorkamer (Lier) and Studio Five Beekman (NYC). An installation - Dave's Waves, a Sonic Restaurant - ran during the summer of 2006 in the Sonambiente Festival of Sound Art in Berlin. He has also been featured in numerous publications. There have been articles about him in both Guitar Player and Keyboard Magazine as well as in MusikTexte (Germany), Arude, Atlantica (Spain) and Tape Op. There are chapters about his music in the books American Music in the Twentieth Century (Gann/Schirmer) and La Musica Minimalista (Antognozzi/Edizioni Textus), Music Downtown (Gann/UofC Press) and Rifugio intermedio - Il pianoforte contemporaneo fra Italia e Stati Uniti (Arciuli/Teatro di Monfalcone). First received Honorable Mention from Leonardo/ISAST for his article "The Music of the Sphere: An Investigation into Asymptotic Harmonics, Brainwave Entrainment, and the Earth as a Giant Bell". He has received grants from the Foundation of Contemporary Performance Arts, the National Endowment for the Arts, the Aaron Copland Fund for Music, the Mary Flagler Cary Charitable Trust and the Meet the Composer Commissioning USA program." [label info]
www.xirecords.org
"Although I didn't keep up with the entire out-put of Phill Niblock's Experimental Intermedia label, the releases I did hear usually a very good, and also usually bring me composers I never heard off. Like David First. I never heard of him as a composer of drone works, nor of his band the Notekillers. In 1995 he finished an opera 'The Manhattan Book Of The Dead' and decided to play something that was more personal and intimate and thus a phase of composing drone music started. Although First is primarily a guitarist he explored various instruments in this drone phase. This three CD starts out with a thirty-five minute piece for Theremin, the longest piece here for a solo instrument. Other pieces are for slide whistle, computer, e-bowed guitar and even an odd one for transistor radios (the shortest actually, at just one minute). Two pieces, under which the CD long 'Pipeline Witness Apologies To Dennis', are pieces for a small ensemble. In the 'Pipeline' for four trombones, tuned
keyboards, e-bow guitar and computer, whereas violin, clarinet, guitar, bass and e-bow appear in 'My Veil Evades Detection'. All of this shows, I think, a wide interest in how to approach drone music, and First does an excellent job. In 'Pipeline' we could recognize some influence of Phill Niblock, whereas in the other pieces First keeps a great balance between material that is partly very loud and present, piercing almost, like in 'Zen Guilt/Zen Blame' or 'Belt', to hectic nervous pieces such as 'Aw!' or very much computer based as in'The Softening Door'. Altogether a great release, quite long of course, spanning more than three hours of music, but with this diversity I must say this is all great. An excellent introduction." [FdW/Vital Weekly]
|
2010 |
€23.00 |
|
| FIVE ELEMENTS MUSIC |
VarunaGhat |
CD-R |
"To the food industry, water is increasingly turning into a lifestyle product. For Russian artist Sergey, it is source of great purity which should be treated thoughtfully and with respect. On “Nameless Droplet”, his recently released and already all but sold-out Mystery Sea debut with his main project Exit in Grey, the metaphors were still covered by dark clouds and hidden in musical metaphors. The album represented a shoreless sea slowly being sucked down a vast and increasingly vociferous vortex. Under his “Five Elements Music” disguise, however, the metaphors are facing themselves in a Kirlian mirror, their souls exposed and their true nature revealed.
Samples of various water recordings, therefore, are at the heart of “VarunaGhat”. For an artist who holds the traditional drone ethos even higher in his solo work than in his collaborational activities (which, on “Nameless Droplet” allowed for diversifications such as sombre guitar figures), this can hardly come as a surprise.
With its complexly vivid inner pulsation and a constant outward frequency, after all, the sound of water is essentially a drone itself and compliments the suspended harmonies of the genre perfectly. On the other hand, Sergey is not content travelling to the same places others have already visited. Just like Exit in Grey caused minor erruptions by fluently shaping their intangible compositions into very concrete textures, Five Elements Music finds a niche between a traditional and a progressive use of its field recordings.
Rhythm especially plays a vital role in this concept. There is a very simple logic behind this thought, as water in itself is silent and only becomes audible through movement. Whether it isparkles from a fountain, rushes through a ravine, gallops like fugitive horses or murmurs peacefully, Sergey concentrates on its pulse as well as its irregular gravitational centre. He doesn’t need all too many exterior extrapolations to achieve this effect and instead choses to leave most of the natural emmissions intact. His work lies rather in developping the samples through timbre and by allowing different sources to overlap and form new patterns.
Simultaneously, he contrasts these waterscapes with the expansions of his drones. The vast, twentytwo minute long opening track takes this to extremes, as a single recording is awarded emotions ranging from aggression to tranquil zeal, while the sky is increasingly covered by black cumuli and distant lightning flashes.
On the second untitled track, a sinus tone is softly stretched, forming a tender, wooly surface. Here, the basic technique is most apparent, as organic and surgically dissected material are brought together, while immobile frequencies clash with the underlying stillness.
One has to see this as a decided step against the arbitrary use of water in electronic music. Many recent releases have both shown the great effect it can still have, as well as the danger of ending up a cliche. On “VarunaGhat”, no drop of water is carelessly spilt. It relies on the beauty of its path through nature, yet changes its course whenever this offers a chance for creating new sensations. You need to listen closely to this album to actually become aware of this seemingly insignificant but really quite important shift. If you do, however, there are great rewards lurking underneath its surface." [ By Tobias Fischer / Tokafi ]
"Russian project Five Elements Music is a shoot coming from exit in grey's rich compost of sound experiments, and also Sergey's solo highly organic vehicle... the name comes from a vedic concept of "Five Elements" (ETHER, Air, Fire, Water, Earth) needed to have a global approach of reality, one that goes beyond appearances, words and consciousness for an enhanced experience of Life both on an emotional, physical & spiritual level... ETHER is the central element of this bouquet, holding all forms & colors, and the human body is the perceptual tool...
Five Elements Music paints a sound canvas, trying to reach a sort of supra-awareness through the manipulation of chosen sensible sonic fragments coming from some essential elemental sources...
-
On "VarunaGhat" we share a common mystery
with a pool of trembling water,
being both in a dormant state,
waiting to bloom while listening to its nocturnal flow...
an imperturbable stream
in phase with the world
we speak as a river,
our voices among stones, singing into the liquid
like a choral of fluctuating micro-energies...
In all those elements lies a detailed universe
Drink its traces, slip into its convolutions, sense its immanent drift
till your awakening..." [label info]
www.mysterysea.net
|
2007 |
€12.00 |
|
|
Nexus |
CD-R |
"Electroacoustic ambient made from field recordings. The album consists of two long tracks. The first one, unlike many F.E.M. recordings, has dense and saturated sounding. The second one is more smooth and calm in atmosphere, but not less in density of sound - several sonic layers collide and create multifarious wave pattern drawing inside like a swirl in which you can notice every tiny detail while drowning..." [label info]
"Nexus is an earlier album from the ever prolific [S], the same Russian sound artist who recently blew our minds with his zombified tape smoldering noise under the name Radioson, and continues to work with the drone based projects Five Elements Music and Exit In Grey. While there clearly a difference from the operations of [S] as Radioson, the boundaries between Five Elements Music and Exit In Grey are far more porous. Environmental recordings, found object manipulation, and electronics are all common within these two bodies of work, accreting into hypnogogic drones and pools of deep ambience. Nexus dates back to 2008, but is one that we've not had the pleasure to delve into until now; and it like so much of the work by [S], is a gem. Here we have an almost literal transubstantiation of five elements (presumably earth, water, fire, air, and ether) into sound itself. There's an incredibly rich tactility that ebbs and flows throughout these two longform pieces, which seamlessly melds brittle fracturings of ice, infernal rumblings of burning embers, and murky clumps of sodden earth. Out of these textures, resonant and mesmerizing drones emerge. While not quite as intense as Small Cruel Party, Nexus easily parallels the luminous, environmental soundscaping of early BJ Nilsen, Jonathan Coleclough, and John Grzinich. Hard to say how many of these cd-rs are left in the world. Our guess, probably not many." [Aquarius Rec] |
2008 |
€10.00 |
|
|
Rishikesh |
CD |
"In this work, I present two acoustic environments. These sounds are born in India. Rishikesh is located in the foothills of the Himalayas of which it is a gateway to. Within this piece are sounds that were recorded near the flowing mountain streams of the Ganges; they have been captured at night time, where small streams of water eventually grind coastal rocks. There is also the echo of prayer wheels, and the noise of the slow Ganges and streams flowing from the mountains… and many more other sounds that were hanging around me.”
Vrindavan (27 ° 34.50. N 77 ° 42.02. E)
“This is the place I always wanted to visit. This is a city with an ancient history. It tells that Vrindavan is located in several spaces that are not detectable through simple vision. The city is the place where the God Krishna was once born. Almost all the recordings were again made at night along a small interval from 11:00 pm to 3:00 in the morning, when the city sleeps. I was there in Kartika time, and many people from all over India come in Vrindavan. At this moment, the city becomes filled with the sounds of religious mantras, people’s screams, songs, cars horns, noises of rickshaws and bicycles as well … And also during the day one can add sounds of birds, monkeys, dogs and cows. … Anyway, I wanted to reflect the sound of the advancing night … as such this is not a pure documentary work, but humble sound art trying to portray an intangible atmosphere…”
(Sergey Suhovik – respectfully revised by Daniel Crokaert)
www.unfathomless.net
|
2012 |
€14.00 |
|
| |
Oborot |
CD-R |
"A project by Sergey Suhovik (Exit In Grey, Sister Loolomie, etc.), this time detouring from processed field recordings towards the arsenal of concrete objects. The instruments were record player, radio, metal, wood and stones. All came out into 4 long pieces with hypnotic textures painted by seemingly familiar sounds, but often twisted in spiral coils, sometimes going into the realm of ultra low frequencies, sometimes stretching to dark resonating spaces." [label info]
"The final release might be from the label boss himself, who goes by the name of [s]. (that
includes the . at the end), and who sometimes works as Five Elements Music, but also Sister
Loolomie for the somewhat stronger forms of ambient industrial music and Exit in Grey. As Five Elements Music his interest lies more in the ambient variations of ambient industrial music.
For the four pieces on this release he uses a vinyl player, radio coils, metal, wood, stones,
effects. On his previous releases [s]. melted all of that to some highly distilled, quite dark
drone music, but in these pieces there are faint traces of rhythmic particles (which I guess are hard to avoid when using a turntable), of rotating hiss, of metallic object dangling in the wind and field recordings of an indefinable nature. Some of these sounds are pitched way down, to get
the max out of the lower regions of the sub-sub bass sounds and you know what you get: a high
quality, dark drone release. Maybe it is all a tad noisier than some of his earlier work but of
equal fine quality." [FdW/Vital Weekly]
www.ss.semperflorens.net
|
2015 |
€9.00 |
|
| FIVE ELEMENTS MUSIC / JIM HAYNES / ANDREA MARUTTI |
Tri-Ton |
CD |
"Three drone-centric artists from three different parts of the world... Five Elements Music is a Russian isolationist / ambient project spawned by one of the members of the similarly minded Exit In Grey; Andrea Marutti is an Italian dark ambient practitioner with a number of occultish recordings under the moniker Amon; and Jim Haynes is a Bay Area artist who "rusts things" and also happens to work here at aQuarius. Both Marutti's and Haynes' compositions are responses to the piece made by Five Elements Music. A massive tectonic rumble emerges from the onset of the Russian track, as if the resonant echo from a meteor striking the heart of Siberia were captured through the felling of a million trees. Out of these frequencies, Five Elements Music evolves this sound into a growling dissonance more dialed into those rasping drones that Oren Ambarchi or Birchville Cat Motel might broadcast from time to time. Over the 23 minutes, this track becomes steadily more placid and inviting, eschewing the desolate horror at the beginning for something beautifully introspective. Marutti builds from the bleak horror where Five Elements Music began, producing cavernous hues of black and grey on amorphous clouds of mist and fog. Marutti's work parallels those blackened static movements of Yen Pox and Inade. For Haynes' part, the theatrical cloak and dagger of Thomas Koner's isolationism comes to mind in his response to the Five Elements Music track, albeit constructed from his distressed textures and fluttering shortwave radio manipulation. Easily the most dynamic piece of this triptych, Haynes deftly transitions pools of nocturnal drones into snarling crescendos of volatile motors, turbines, and Kevin Drumm-esque guitar dissonance which morph into an evocative movement of super-slow-motion heartbeat rhythm and radio frequencies detuned into sweeping, ghostly sinewaves, captured from within one of those WWII era bunkers that dot the California coast. Haynes presented a version of this at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art in a collaborative, expanded cinema piece involving a massive diorama, lots of old scientific gear, a couple of surveillance cameras, and a toy train. Alas, there's little video documentation of that performance, but the audio here works amazingly well on its own." [label info]
|
2011 |
€13.00 |
|
| FLOWER-CORSANO DUO |
The undisputed dimension |
7 |
Ecstatic Power-Drone & Free-Noise vom Edinburgher Perkussionisten CHRIS CORSANO im Verbund mit MICK FLOWER (VIBRACATHEDRAL ORCHESTRA, etc.), straigt & rumpelnd-wuchtig auf der A, wild improvisiert auf der Flipside.. what a furious duo !
"The unholy alliance of Mick Flower and percussive everyman Chris Corsano: Corsano has been widely hailed as the next chapter in the story of out-there drumming - he's played with everyone worth mentioning at the massive freenoisefolkpsych crossroads. Similarly, Mick's renowned for his work with Vibracathedral Orchestra and Sunburned Hand Of The Man, amongst many others. Together they construct a devilishly beautiful psychedelic maelstrom, Chris like a polyrhythmic octopus on the kit, Mick conjuring sublime lysergic ragas from the shaahi baaja." [label info]
"... It's lodged somewhere inbetween Jimi Hendrix and Thurston Moore, with a stop-off in outer Mongolia for posterity and has inhaled so much Opium that it no longer knows the difference between old and new, sound and silence. This is heady, involving music, breathtakingly visceral and daring you to bust your speakers with. I challenge you to find a more jaw-dropping 7" experience this year! Huge recommendation." [Boomkat]
www.no-fi.org.uk/label.php
|
2007 |
€8.00 |
|
| FLYING SAUCER ATTACK |
same |
CD |
"1993 debut from Dave Pearce, with the assistance of Rachel Brook and Matt Elliot (aka Third Eye Foundation), which in retrospect is still the touchstone for the whole Bristol "scene" that emerged shortly thereafter. Roughly a blend of half "songs" and half far-out instrumental doodles, the record builds an atmosphere of dour beauty that sustains itself over the course of the entire program, no small thing. "My Dreaming Hill," "Wish," and "The Season Is Ours" are couched in fuzz and whispery reverb, but are beautiful and accessible tunes, able to stand on their own in any context. "Popol Vuh 1" and "Popol Vuh 2" are straight up tributes to the now much better known German masters, steeping in the hushed atmosphere of the best PV records (if not exactly the sound). The jarring cover of "The Drowners" is a strange interlude in the middle of the otherwise very cosmic second half, but most people seem to like it, so what do I know? 10 tracks, 50 minutes." [label info]
www.vhfrecords.com
|
1993 |
€13.50 |
|
| FORSYTH, KEELEY |
Debris (gold) |
LP |
"The songs comprising Keeley Forsyth’s debut are, she states simply, “like blocks of metal that drop from the sky.”
With its minimal arrangements placing her recollections and dissections of sometimes harrowing experiences front and centre, Debris showcases her elemental voice and an outpouring of candid, haunting lyrics detailing the seismic ruptures which take place behind closed doors. “There was a lot going on in my life that was heavy and hard,” she adds. “Songs were made under that moment.”
Born and raised in Oldham, Forsyth first made her name as an actor, and while the creation of music has been a constant feature in her life, she’s taken the long road to its release. A deeply intuitive and singular musician, she began writing several years ago, accompanying herself on harmonium and accordion.
“I came up with lots of songs in a very short space of time,” Forsyth recalls. “Most songs were written in the time it took to sing them. But I held them close, and often thought I needed to do something with them. It never felt right to go out and look for it. I felt like I needed to wait and move when I felt inspired.”
That inspiration struck one evening while listening to the radio, where she first encountered pianist and composer Matthew Bourne’s work. “I heard his music and suddenly I could hear them both together,” she says of her songs and his compositions. “I felt compelled to write to him. He got straight back and said he loved what I was doing.” What followed were quick and instinctive collaborations with Bourne and producer and musician Sam Hobbs, with the initial burst of momentum Forsyth felt when writing carried through into the studio, preserving the intricacies and accidents that make an album human.
Keeley Forsyth - voice
Sam Hobbs - Fender Rhodes, synthesisers, drums & percussion, programming
Mark Creswell - guitar, bass
Matthew Bourne - piano, harmonium, LAMM Memorymoog, cello
https://keeleyforsyth.bandcamp.com/album/debris |
2020 |
€23.00 |
|
| FOSSIL AEROSOL MINING PROJECT [FAMP] |
August 53rd |
LP |
The Fossil Aerosol Mining Project continues their post-industrial dialectics through their "songs of enhanced decay and faked resurrection." This cryptic ensemble from the American Midwest has been quietly producing such works since the '80s, with a deep catalogue highlighting a uniform brilliance in the exquisite reconstruction of exhumed cassette tapes and moldering 35mm film stock.
On August 53rd, Fossil Aerosol has collaged their reclamations of found sounds into an inquisitive, dynamic cinema of the ear. The tape loops and recombinant samples create elliptical orbits and vertiginous spirals. Down-pitched, disquieting rumbles form the foundations for much of Fossil Aerosol’s compositions, which mutate the fractured, crumbled, and mildewed artifacts into patterned yet shifting phrases. The result seems like hybrid, time-compressed mimicry of the evolution of our media-driven language.
The official statement from the ensemble reads as such:
"This album, arranged specifically for Helen Scarsdale, might be considered a prequel to The Day 1982 Contaminated 1971, featuring the damaged remains of certain pop culture pleasantries in a less decomposed state than found on the previous vinyl release. August 53rd, a month extended to accommodate a changing climate, predates the day 1982 contaminated 1971."
Such inquiries characterize the many non/fictions that contextualize the work of Fossil Aerosol. Through the process of decoding lost melodies and dialog of the 1960s, '70s, and '80s, Fossil Aerosol intentionally or unintentionally deflates the vanity of consumerism while at the same time providing an archaeological view of contemporary culture.
These conceptual frameworks would be meaningless if Fossil Aerosol did not deliver on the aesthetics. And deliver the Project most certainly does. August 53rd harbors the rich enigmas of distressed sound collages found in the work of likeminded artists such as Philip Jeck, Felicia Atkinson, and of course Fossil Aerosol’s occasional collaborators :zoviet*france:.
Noted photographer Michael Eastman (Vanishing America, Havana) contributed the artwork used for the cover of the album, specifically selecting imagery from decaying landscapes of the American Midwest.
"One of The Helen Scarsdale Agency’s most prized units, Fossil Aerosol Mining Project vent a cryptically elusive, hauntological suite of mid-fi compositions working on the cusp of ambient noise and avant-garde electronics in a way that should resonate with fans of the recent Pendant album on West Mineral Ltd, the romance of William Basinski’s knackered loops, or the shoegazing tinder of Jefre Cantu-Ledesma. We warmly recommend shutting your eyes and wrapping yourself up this one for a properly gauzy and deeply synaesthetically heightened trip." [Boomkat]
"Amazing what can be done with old tapes going back decades and found sounds and spoken voice recordings from the recent past – on this album, these materials have been assembled into a series of collages, either set in the present and proposing how society in the future will evolve, or rather devolve into a post-industrial world cannibalising its own history and reworking it into myth, the foundations of which will be purposely obscured (so that the masses won’t ever discover the reality); or set in the future and detailing that gradual decline into a ghost culture. Snippets of melody from unidentifiable sources, lost voices, unexpected and unknown rhythms, all heard through a misty invisible plasma patina that blunts the edges of sounds and renders them slightly blurred or warm in tone, perhaps in a state of mildewy decay, pass through briefly, never to be heard again.
The soundscapes revealed in each and every track are often beautiful and gorgeous in their rich tone and in what they might suggest to each individual listener: they might suggest an alternative America that didn’t squander its wealth on fighting useless wars around the globe just for the sake of being No 1, but used it to create a happy and secure if not super-rich society for all its people; they might also suggest an endless 1970s-era of beach parties and kids riding in open-top Cadillacs on highways across prairie and desert landscapes without end. In each track, a new aspect of this world opens up matter-of-factly but also unobtrusively; there is no deliberate in-yer-face provocation from the Fossil Mining Project folks here. Listeners take whatever message they find in this album, be it a positive one or a discomforting one.
With such evocative pieces, I hesitate to nominate favourite tracks since these will depend on what listeners bring to their listening experience. “Aestas Anatis” is quite an intimate piece with seductive voices and the track that follows, “Retail Retrospect”, is eerie and dark in a way that recalls early David Lynch films. All seven tracks on the album show much care and thought in their composition.
If ever you find yourself in a shack on top of a hill, looking down on a city and seeing, day after day, week after week, month after month, year after year, that city’s lights slowly turn down and cut off, its noises and traffic gradually wind down, its utilities finally cut off, and the citizens flee, leaving the streets and buildings completely derelict, this recording would be an ideal accompanying soundtrack." [Sound Projector]
|
2018 |
€23.00 |
|
| |
Scaath Catfish |
CD |
Songs about the river are a common trope in the history of music. Psalms of being cleansed, being baptized, being redeemed. There are ballads of murder, lost love, jealousy, and all sorts of rank human emotion reflected in the surface of the water. Respect, praise, and worship of the river are other themes often channeled through music as well. Even in the realm of ambient music, digital mimesis of the aquatic is commonplace. Fossil Aerosol Mining Project, in their ongoing archaeological approach to a post-industrial sound design, offers their own variant on this topic with considerable differences. It is not only the sediment, the debris, the waste, the scum, the mud, and the rot that are the source materials in Scaath Catfish, but also what is preserved in those elements and new forms of life fostered in this conceptual framework.
Sibilant mutations from Fossil Aerosol’s multiple sources (field recordings, found sounds, etc.) spill forth as dilated tones, mesmerizing echos, clattering loops, and harmonic distortions. Floods of dense sonic accretion give way to languid mirages with human intervention complicating matters. Fossil Aerosol gives a preternatural language to the river, one that parallels their occasional collaborators in :zoviet*france: as well as the environmental ruminations of Biospshere and the practitioners of power ambient (Rafael Anton Irisarri, Fennesz, Tim Hecker, etc.)
Fossil Aerosol addresses the album this way:
Scaath Catfish was recorded in the spring of 2016, implementing field recordings made in the Illinois River valley and instrumental material found on a homemade cassette recording. The field recordings were made along the banks of a backwater lake and in the shadow of an aging power plant, following a spring flood. Twenty-six years earlier, one of the members of Fossil Aerosol purchased a homemade instrumental cassette tape recording (marked only “sacred”), at a thrift store in downtown St. Louis, Missouri. In 2016, fragments of the found cassette recordings were mixed with those made in the mud along the river. The result was Scaath Catfish.
https://www.helenscarsdale.com/published/famp-scaathcatfish.htm
|
2020 |
€15.50 |
|
| FOVEA HEX |
The Salt Garden III |
10inch + CD |
Janet Records, in association with Headphone Dust and Die Stadt present
Fovea Hex The Salt Garden III
Cat No HDFH1034 (vinyl) / HDFHCD32 (CD)
(Bonus CD Cat. No: HDFHCD33)
Shipping Date - 26/11/2019
Ltd Edition - 10" vinyl + CD + bonus remix CD
Standard Editions - 10" vinyl + CD / CD / DL
"The starlit nocturnes of Fovea Hex bind electronics, drones and voices into song-spells that are untimely in the best possible sense; their intimacy and raw emotional power feel centuries old, but the experimental sound-design can be shockingly modern." Drew Daniels (Matmos)
The new EP from Fovea Hex THE SALT GARDEN 3 will be released on November 26th 2019 on Steven Wilson's Headphone Dust label.
The Salt Garden 3 is the final word, and the concluding instalment to the critically lauded The Salt Garden Trilogy. Issued in 3 standard editions; 10 inch vinyl + CD, CD only, and Digital Download. There will also be a limited edition release featuring a bonus remix CD by Steven Wilson. The pre-sale for this limited edition, featuring 4 remixes by Steven, presented in individual and combination treatments, will only be available online via Janet Records.
The core ensemble of Clodagh Simonds, Michael Begg, Colin Potter, Cora Venus Lunny and Kate Ellis is joined by special guests Guido Zen, and the Medazza and Dote Moss choirs.
Critical Reaction to The Salt Garden 1 and 2
5 Against 4 (UK)
"Whenever Irish experimental electronic folk group Fovea Hex put out something new, it's not just a cause to rejoice but a guarantee of something unique and indescribably wonderful..."
The Wire (UK)
"...fragile baroque instruments and synthy atmospheres surround Simonds's singing and songwriting, both on better and less predictable form than ever... A Robert Wyatt's Rock Bottom for the 21st Century: emotionally deepens with extra listens"
Brainwashed (US)
(Readers Poll Winner: Single of the Year, 2016 for Salt Garden 1)
"Another beautiful piece in a flawless catalog..."
Igloo (US)
"The superlatives left to describe this unique chamber ensemble are fast running out..."
Dusted (US)
"... a blending of acoustic and electronic that attains a kind of smooth, vatic timelessness. Every element feels precisely placed and oddly haunting... Spellbinding".
Subjectivisten (NL)
"...an almost indefinable sound...the music is a hybrid of (dark) ambient, experimental music, neoclassical and ethereal folk and yet no label feels completely comfortable. . It is of an unearthly beauty!"
Touching Extremes (IT)
"no actual comparison is conceivable - sonic poetry"
Gonzo Circus (NL)
"if you like unique sirens like Nico, Dead Can Dance and This Mortal Coil, you will also unconditionally embrace Fovea Hex."
Fovea Hex Background
Having first emerged at the tender age of 15 as the main writer behind 70s cult Irish psych-folk band Mellow Candle, and with sessions for both Thin Lizzy and Mike Oldfield under her belt by the age of 21, Irish singer Clodagh Simonds relocated to New York and subsequently "went quiet" for almost two decades, before re- emerging in 2005 with Fovea Hex, supported by an extraordinary assembly of friends and colleagues, including Brian Eno, Robert Fripp, Carter Burwell, Donal Lunny, Roger Doyle, and Steven Wilson. Their first trilogy of eps, NEITHER SPEAK NOR REMAIN SILENT, was, upon its release, greeted by a growing momentum of critical acclaim. Their nascent cult reputation was further affirmed by a personal invitation from David Lynch to perform live in Paris at the Cartier Foundation in Paris as part of his THE AIR IS ON FIRE exhibition.
In 2008 a full length album, HERE IS WHERE WE USED TO SING, was released, to yet more glowing reviews. The album made several end-of-year lists and was awarded album of the year in periodicals in the UK, North America and Italy.
THE SALT GARDEN 1 was released in 2016 and THE SALT GARDEN 2 in 2017, consolidating and deepening the high esteem and critical regard in which this most beguiling of ensembles continues to be held.
The frequently claimed "impossible to categorise" tag applies well to Fovea Hex. The songs are dominated by a voice that's too strong to be deigned ethereal, but remains too otherworldly to file alongside more conventional female singer-songwriters. The pace tends to be languid, the arrangements intricate and fragile. Comparisons have been made to This Mortal Coil, Emily Dickinson, Nico, Dead Can Dance, and even Schubert, but really this music is quite unique, a mix of electronic and acoustic sounds from a palette which ranges from state-of-art to ancient and arcane.
"If Emily Dickinson had ever been allowed to make a record, this is probably what it would have sounded like" (The Wire)
janetrecords.com/SG3/press-release.html
"2019 findet die “The Salt Garden”-Trilogie mehr als zwei Jahre nach Veröffentlichung des zweiten Teils ihren Abschluss. Das Projekt von Clodagh Simonds – die (u.a. mit Mellow Candle) schon in den 60er Jahren Musik machte – kehrt mit „The Salt Garden“ wieder zur kleine(re)n Form der EPs zurück, mit der Fovea Hex in der zweiten Hälfte der 00er Jahre debütierte. Erneut beeindruckend ist die Konsistenz und Kohärenz dieser drei EPs.
Anlässlich des ersten Teils der Trilogie wurde Fovea Hex hier attestiert: “[Die] Musik, die Begriffe wie Ambient, Folk oder experimentelle Musik überflüssig erscheinen lässt, ist erdverhaftet und zugleich entrückt, ist ebenso traumwandlerisch wie meditativ. Die meisten der getragenen Stücke haben starke Songqualitäten und sind doch von der verschwimmenden Struktur abstrakter Kompositionen. Und was in dieser Musik emotional passiert, lässt sich besser empfinden als rational erfassen.” Über das 2011 erschienene Langzeitdebüt “Here Is Where We Used To Sing” schrieben wir: „[T]rotz aller hypnagogischen, traumhaften Momente [...] verlier[t] sich [Simonds] nie im Unterholz und inmitten aller getragenen Momente gibt es auch immer die Gewissheit des Gelingens” und diese zumindest vom Rezensenten so wahrgenommene „Gewissheit des Gelingens“ trifft die auf dem dritten Teil von “The Salt Garden” evozierte Stimmung gut. Denn obwohl die Musik wieder getragen und elegisch ist, sollte man die vier Stücke nicht als Soundtrack zu einer Reise in den Untergang verstehen. Sucht man nach (eigentlich unnötigen) Vergleichen, so kommen einem manche Soundtrackarbeiten Hilmar Örn Hilmarssons oder aber (geographisch vielleicht etwas naheliegender) Richard Skeltons immer wieder von Orten und Plätzen geprägten Streicherdrones in den Sinn.
Eröffnet wird die EP von „The Land’s Alight“, einem von Keyboarddrones geprägtem Stück, auf dem Simonds singt: “I dreamed I flew, the whole night long…./Ah but the light is on the land/and the hand upon the heart/and the open road is a real thing”. Diese Haltung erinnert an Coils “Bee Stings”, auf dem es heißt: “Don’t believe A.E./See for yourself the summer fields”. Wenn Simonds dann intoniert, “The land’s alight/And this vital eye/and the view…”, dann bekommt ihr Gesang etwas Hymnenhaftes. “Trisamma” ist ein instrumentales Stück, auf dem dezente Klavierpassagen mit Streichern kombiniert werden. „A Million Fires“ ist das vielleicht beeindruckendste Stück: Simonds’ Gesang wird von Harmoniumdrones und den Stimmen des The Date Moss Choir untermalt. Wenn sie singt “glory be upon the hapless writer/ glory be upon the spotless page/to call the woman with the fire inside her/to bring the luminous from age to age”, dann kann man das fast schon programmatisch lesen. Beendet wird diese Veröffentlichung und damit die Trilogie mit “The Given Heat”, auf der traurige Streicher zu hören sind, wobei es am Ende heißt: “suddenly there it is –/ the molten gold on the city street”.
Wie auch schon bei allen anderen EPs liegt einer limitierte Version eine Remix-CD bei. Steven Wilson hat unter dem Titel “Is Lanza Light & Given” die vier Stücke zu einem Track verschmelzen lassen und gerade zu Anfang gibt seine Neuinterpretation den Stücken einen leicht entrückteren Charakter." [MG/African Paper] |
2019 |
€17.50 |
|
|
The Salt Garden III |
CD-EP |
Janet Records, in association with Headphone Dust and Die Stadt present
Fovea Hex The Salt Garden III
Cat No HDFH1034 (vinyl) / HDFHCD32 (CD)
(Bonus CD Cat. No: HDFHCD33)
Shipping Date - 26/11/2019
Ltd Edition - 10" vinyl + CD + bonus remix CD
Standard Editions - 10" vinyl + CD / CD / DL
"The starlit nocturnes of Fovea Hex bind electronics, drones and voices into song-spells that are untimely in the best possible sense; their intimacy and raw emotional power feel centuries old, but the experimental sound-design can be shockingly modern." Drew Daniels (Matmos)
The new EP from Fovea Hex THE SALT GARDEN 3 will be released on November 26th 2019 on Steven Wilson's Headphone Dust label.
The Salt Garden 3 is the final word, and the concluding instalment to the critically lauded The Salt Garden Trilogy. Issued in 3 standard editions; 10 inch vinyl + CD, CD only, and Digital Download. There will also be a limited edition release featuring a bonus remix CD by Steven Wilson. The pre-sale for this limited edition, featuring 4 remixes by Steven, presented in individual and combination treatments, will only be available online via Janet Records.
The core ensemble of Clodagh Simonds, Michael Begg, Colin Potter, Cora Venus Lunny and Kate Ellis is joined by special guests Guido Zen, and the Medazza and Dote Moss choirs.
Critical Reaction to The Salt Garden 1 and 2
5 Against 4 (UK)
"Whenever Irish experimental electronic folk group Fovea Hex put out something new, it's not just a cause to rejoice but a guarantee of something unique and indescribably wonderful..."
The Wire (UK)
"...fragile baroque instruments and synthy atmospheres surround Simonds's singing and songwriting, both on better and less predictable form than ever... A Robert Wyatt's Rock Bottom for the 21st Century: emotionally deepens with extra listens"
Brainwashed (US)
(Readers Poll Winner: Single of the Year, 2016 for Salt Garden 1)
"Another beautiful piece in a flawless catalog..."
Igloo (US)
"The superlatives left to describe this unique chamber ensemble are fast running out..."
Dusted (US)
"... a blending of acoustic and electronic that attains a kind of smooth, vatic timelessness. Every element feels precisely placed and oddly haunting... Spellbinding".
Subjectivisten (NL)
"...an almost indefinable sound...the music is a hybrid of (dark) ambient, experimental music, neoclassical and ethereal folk and yet no label feels completely comfortable. . It is of an unearthly beauty!"
Touching Extremes (IT)
"no actual comparison is conceivable - sonic poetry"
Gonzo Circus (NL)
"if you like unique sirens like Nico, Dead Can Dance and This Mortal Coil, you will also unconditionally embrace Fovea Hex."
Fovea Hex Background
Having first emerged at the tender age of 15 as the main writer behind 70s cult Irish psych-folk band Mellow Candle, and with sessions for both Thin Lizzy and Mike Oldfield under her belt by the age of 21, Irish singer Clodagh Simonds relocated to New York and subsequently "went quiet" for almost two decades, before re- emerging in 2005 with Fovea Hex, supported by an extraordinary assembly of friends and colleagues, including Brian Eno, Robert Fripp, Carter Burwell, Donal Lunny, Roger Doyle, and Steven Wilson. Their first trilogy of eps, NEITHER SPEAK NOR REMAIN SILENT, was, upon its release, greeted by a growing momentum of critical acclaim. Their nascent cult reputation was further affirmed by a personal invitation from David Lynch to perform live in Paris at the Cartier Foundation in Paris as part of his THE AIR IS ON FIRE exhibition.
In 2008 a full length album, HERE IS WHERE WE USED TO SING, was released, to yet more glowing reviews. The album made several end-of-year lists and was awarded album of the year in periodicals in the UK, North America and Italy.
THE SALT GARDEN 1 was released in 2016 and THE SALT GARDEN 2 in 2017, consolidating and deepening the high esteem and critical regard in which this most beguiling of ensembles continues to be held.
The frequently claimed "impossible to categorise" tag applies well to Fovea Hex. The songs are dominated by a voice that's too strong to be deigned ethereal, but remains too otherworldly to file alongside more conventional female singer-songwriters. The pace tends to be languid, the arrangements intricate and fragile. Comparisons have been made to This Mortal Coil, Emily Dickinson, Nico, Dead Can Dance, and even Schubert, but really this music is quite unique, a mix of electronic and acoustic sounds from a palette which ranges from state-of-art to ancient and arcane.
"If Emily Dickinson had ever been allowed to make a record, this is probably what it would have sounded like" (The Wire)
janetrecords.com/SG3/press-release.html
"2019 findet die “The Salt Garden”-Trilogie mehr als zwei Jahre nach Veröffentlichung des zweiten Teils ihren Abschluss. Das Projekt von Clodagh Simonds – die (u.a. mit Mellow Candle) schon in den 60er Jahren Musik machte – kehrt mit „The Salt Garden“ wieder zur kleine(re)n Form der EPs zurück, mit der Fovea Hex in der zweiten Hälfte der 00er Jahre debütierte. Erneut beeindruckend ist die Konsistenz und Kohärenz dieser drei EPs.
Anlässlich des ersten Teils der Trilogie wurde Fovea Hex hier attestiert: “[Die] Musik, die Begriffe wie Ambient, Folk oder experimentelle Musik überflüssig erscheinen lässt, ist erdverhaftet und zugleich entrückt, ist ebenso traumwandlerisch wie meditativ. Die meisten der getragenen Stücke haben starke Songqualitäten und sind doch von der verschwimmenden Struktur abstrakter Kompositionen. Und was in dieser Musik emotional passiert, lässt sich besser empfinden als rational erfassen.” Über das 2011 erschienene Langzeitdebüt “Here Is Where We Used To Sing” schrieben wir: „[T]rotz aller hypnagogischen, traumhaften Momente [...] verlier[t] sich [Simonds] nie im Unterholz und inmitten aller getragenen Momente gibt es auch immer die Gewissheit des Gelingens” und diese zumindest vom Rezensenten so wahrgenommene „Gewissheit des Gelingens“ trifft die auf dem dritten Teil von “The Salt Garden” evozierte Stimmung gut. Denn obwohl die Musik wieder getragen und elegisch ist, sollte man die vier Stücke nicht als Soundtrack zu einer Reise in den Untergang verstehen. Sucht man nach (eigentlich unnötigen) Vergleichen, so kommen einem manche Soundtrackarbeiten Hilmar Örn Hilmarssons oder aber (geographisch vielleicht etwas naheliegender) Richard Skeltons immer wieder von Orten und Plätzen geprägten Streicherdrones in den Sinn.
Eröffnet wird die EP von „The Land’s Alight“, einem von Keyboarddrones geprägtem Stück, auf dem Simonds singt: “I dreamed I flew, the whole night long…./Ah but the light is on the land/and the hand upon the heart/and the open road is a real thing”. Diese Haltung erinnert an Coils “Bee Stings”, auf dem es heißt: “Don’t believe A.E./See for yourself the summer fields”. Wenn Simonds dann intoniert, “The land’s alight/And this vital eye/and the view…”, dann bekommt ihr Gesang etwas Hymnenhaftes. “Trisamma” ist ein instrumentales Stück, auf dem dezente Klavierpassagen mit Streichern kombiniert werden. „A Million Fires“ ist das vielleicht beeindruckendste Stück: Simonds’ Gesang wird von Harmoniumdrones und den Stimmen des The Date Moss Choir untermalt. Wenn sie singt “glory be upon the hapless writer/ glory be upon the spotless page/to call the woman with the fire inside her/to bring the luminous from age to age”, dann kann man das fast schon programmatisch lesen. Beendet wird diese Veröffentlichung und damit die Trilogie mit “The Given Heat”, auf der traurige Streicher zu hören sind, wobei es am Ende heißt: “suddenly there it is –/ the molten gold on the city street”.
Wie auch schon bei allen anderen EPs liegt einer limitierte Version eine Remix-CD bei. Steven Wilson hat unter dem Titel “Is Lanza Light & Given” die vier Stücke zu einem Track verschmelzen lassen und gerade zu Anfang gibt seine Neuinterpretation den Stücken einen leicht entrückteren Charakter." [MG/African Paper]
|
2019 |
€10.00 |
|
| |
Salt Garden (Landscaped) |
LP + CD |
Les Disques du Crepuscule presents The Salt Garden (Landscaped), an album of extended pieces by acclaimed quiet music ensemble Fovea Hex, featuring longform remixes by British songwriter and producer Steven Wilson and Serbian soundscape artist Abul Mogard, as well as a previously unreleased mix by Peter Chilvers.
"Formed in 2005 by Irish musician Clodagh Simonds, Fovea Hex have since released 3 albums (Neither Speak Nor Remain Silent, Here Is Where We Used to Sing and The Salt Garden), drawing favourable comparisons with Nico, This Mortal Coil, Ligeti and even Schubert.
The Salt Garden (Landscaped) is pressed on crystal clear vinyl, and comes packaged with a CD version featuring 4 tracks in total. The outer sleeve is printed in white reverse board and features an image taken by Crepuscule designer Joel Van Audenhaege during a recent trip to Greenland. The inner bag offers detailed liner notes as well as an interview with Clodagh.
As well as Steven Wilson and Abul Mogard, other high-profile admirers include film director David Lynch, who invited the group to play at his Cartier Foundation exhibition in Paris in 2007, and Brian Eno, who has described Clodagh’s work as “some of the most extraordinary songs I’ve heard in years.”
The Salt Garden (Landscaped) gathers together 3 long ambient remixes of tracks from the Salt Garden EP trilogy, originally released between 2016 and 2019. The core album is pressed on crystal clear vinyl and showcases ‘Solace’ and ‘Is Lanza Light & Given’, both re-worked by musical polymath Steven Wilson. “I’ve long been a fan of Fovea Hex,” explains Steven, “which for me is some of the most sublimely beautiful music ever recorded. It’s a mix of electronic and acoustic sounds played on instruments ranging from state-of-the-art to ancient and arcane.”
As well as the two tracks reworked by Steven, the bonus CD enclosed with the vinyl album also finds room for ‘We Dream All the Dark Away’, the widely-acclaimed re-interpretation by Abul Mogard of ‘All Those Signs’ from the Salt Garden II EP. By turns haunting and sinister, but always beautiful, the piece features vocals by both Clodagh and Brian Eno, as well as cello by Kate Ellis, and modular synth and effects by mysterious soundscaper Mogard.
An additional special bonus track on the CD is an unreleased remix of lesser -known 2015 digital single ‘By the Glacial Lake’ made by musician Peter Chilvers, best known for his collaborations with Brian Eno, Karl Hyde, Chris Martin and Tim Bowness.
“I feel truly honoured!” says Clodagh Simons, who began her career in cult folk-psyche band Mellow Candle, and since then has guested on albums by Mike Oldfield, Thin Lizzy, Russell Mills, Matmos, Current 93 and Steven Wilson. “It’s been fascinating to witness how these pieces have been so imaginatively and skilfully revisioned in the hands of Steven, Abul and Peter. Each piece has emerged into a completely fresh new light, with a different vibrancy, yet remains grounded in what was there before.”
|
2021 |
€31.50 |
|
| FOX, HARDY (THE RESIDENTS) |
same |
LP |
First solo album by former Residents composer Hardy Fox after the Charles Bobuck era. An album full of minimal love songs, a portrait of the young Hardy Fox. This is what he says about this solo debut: "Here’s a new idea. How about writing a love song? Oh, you say it’s been done, maybe overdone. So why would I be so foolish as to tackle such a subject so fraught with cliches and meaningless sentiment. Probably because I am stupid. But also because I have been led around by love in some form for my entire life. That isn’t really a complaint. Seriously, there is isn’t much in the world that is as interesting as love and its many related variations: attraction, obsession, sexual fantasies, broken hearts. It is the fuel that many of our lives run on. The question remains. Why join the hoard of people trying to say something new about love? I suppose that the emotional state is, more or less, unique to each person. Each of us has our approach to dealing with and surviving the chemical and hormonally driven state of mind. For me, I am still able to love as an older gentleman, but the intensity of love always takes me back to my youth when all was new and strange. Each element that drove sexual exploits had to be explored, considered and digested. Now older, I am able to gain some objectivity to set memories to music. This album is a glimpse into my younger self. Well truthfully, probably not. It is likely yet another fantasy of an aging man, still led around by his dick." This is the LP version released under license by Secret records, USA, who have done a great job..... beautiful green vinyl and comnes with a yellow flexi disc!
https://secretrecords.bandcamp.com/album/hardy-fox-s-t-2018-electronic-sr14 |
2019 |
€25.00 |
|
| FOX, TERRY |
552 Steps through 11 Pairs of Strings |
do-LP |
Bubbling below the histories of sound-art, fine-art, and avant-garde music, there are a handful of remarkable figures who bridge all three - collapsing the barriers between creative limit, context, location, and aural experience. Of these, Terry Fox long occupied a place of respect and renown for those in the know - among the best of the best, but, within the broader narratives of each discipline, he has never entirely received his due - lingering just out of view, responsible for so much of what followed in his wake. In recent years, the imprint of Edition Telemark has emerged as a definitive voice in boundary breaking territories of sound - issuing releases by the Maciunas Ensemble, Wolf Vostell, Joe Jones, and others, as well as their brilliant recent editions of Ernstalbrecht Stiebler’s Kanon / Torsi and Peter Behrendsen's Nachtflug / Atem Des Windes. As luck with have it, they now turn their gaze to Terry Fox, with the stunning double LP 552 Steps Through 11 Pairs of Strings, drawing on a long lost recording from 1976.
Terry Fox emerged from the fertile ground of San Fransisco’s 1960’s and 70’s conceptual art scene, during an era when the dominant institutions of fine-art, seeing it as a backwater, refused to pay California any mind. Unlike his peers Bruce Nauman and John Baldersari, he neither went to NY, nor waited it out - leaving permanently for Europe before the 70’s were through. Fox represents an incongruence link within the history of conceptual practice - both embracing the sculptural materiality of nature, the industrial, and the every day - bridging territories explored by Joseph Beuys with those of Minimalists like Carl Andre, and land artists Walter De Maria, and Robert Smithson, while also recognizing, similarly to Nauman and Baldersari, that material was only a vehicle for an idea. As his practice progressed, Fox increasingly turned toward the performative and the multidimensional possibilities of an object - its ability to occupy space, and generate sound.
During the mid 1970’s, years before Ellen Fullman began to build similar instruments which brought her renown, or Alvin Lucier conceived Music on a Long Thin Wire, Fox began to experiment and perform on sculptural objects comprised of extended long strings. Tragically, the artist has remained largely absent from the historic narrative of the practice he helped invent. This is partially a consequence of the private nature of his performance, and the obscurity of his recorded releases, against the timing in which they emerged. Fox is incredibly well represented in the artifacts of sound art - appearing in one of its earliest exhibitions at the Museum Of Conceptual Art in San Francisco during 1971, and on the seminal Airwaves, Sound, Revolutions Per Minute, and Audio By Visual Artists compilations, but recordings of his string works did not begin to emerge until the 1980’s, first on Linkage, issued in 1982 by the Kunstmuseum Luzern's imprint, and then on Berlino / Rallentando, which appeared in 1988. Linkage has long offered an important clue, with it’s earliest working having been recorded in 1975, but, until 552 Steps Through 11 Pairs of Strings - recorded in Fox's San Francisco studio during 1976, nothing from is important period has yet to emerge.
552 Steps Through 11 Pairs of Strings, which, as with most of Terry’s Fox’s works from the 1970’s, draws its ideas from the labyrinth at Chartres Cathedral in France, is the result of a 4½ hour performance where the artist stretched 11 pairs of piano wires of 11 different thicknesses across the floor - creating a giant horizontal harp. The audience was positioned in the dark loft on the floor below - within what became the instrument’s resonant chamber. Fox played the the strings with a soft mallet in one hand and a score - a 34-foot string tied with 552 knots, in the other. Each knot represented a step in the Chartres labyrinth, with the 34 turns indicated by either a piece of wire in a knot (a move to the next longer pair of wires) or a rubber band around a knot (a move to the next shorter pair). The outcome, as it appears on this remarkable double LP, are stunning - a revelation in idea, practice, and sound - an unrecognized precursor to the work of Ellen Fullman and Arnold Dreyblatt. Comprised of four selections from the performance, its presents an resonant world of rhythm and bass - a deep rumbling, which often uncannily recalls the artists most famous work - The Labyrinth Scored For 11 Different Cats.
If ever there was an important document from the history of sound practice to emerge, 552 Steps Through 11 Pairs of Strings has got to be it. As seminal as archival releases come - two stunning LPs, including images of the score and instrument, as well as the invitation card to the performance, and texts by Terry Fox and Alan Scarritt. For anyone interested in the histories of sound-art, fine-art, and avant-garde music, this is moment not to be missed.
|
2017 |
€35.00 |
|
| FRANCIS, RICHARD (ESO STEEL) |
Together alone, together apart |
CD |
Tief wummernder microwave / field recording-drone des Neuseeländers RICHARD FRANCIS (aka ESO STEEL), der hier herrlich rauschig & undurchdringbar tönt, v.a. in den mittleren Frequenzbereichen offenbaren sich feinste Details, ein Genuss! Filed under: mysterious drones opening mysterious ways!
"Tracks 1 and 2 recorded 2006-2007, track 3 recorded 2003 and previously released on V-A "Audible New Frontiers" CD (Physics Room-Radio NZ). Sound sources: field recordings of indoor and outdoor spaces; handling of fabric, wood and plastic; self noise of home stereo amplifiers, loudspeakers and record players." [label info]
"Sound artists like Matt Shoemaker, Loren Chasse, and Steve Roden are some of the very few who are successful in turning found objects and field recordings into thoroughly engaging compositions that don't rely upon the flashiness of techniques to make their work successful. Add New Zealand's Richard Francis to that gaggle as well.
It's been a while since any solo work has been available from Francis, who has previously recorded under the moniker Eso Steel; and more recently, he's been entertaining many a collaboration with his fellow NZ noiseniks such as Campbell Kneale and Michael Morley.
On Together Alone, Together Apart, Francis turns to the miniscule events of daily life whose peculiar sounds capture his imagination. It could be a crackle from rain falling or the distant surf of the Pacific Ocean or a creaking electric radiator or the hissing static from television snow. It's these small sounds which Francis has recorded and stretched into relatively longer compositions. These rattling, crackling streams of softened white noise move in a synchronous fashion, much like the way that a huge flock of starlings can gracefully circle in the sky without bumping into each other, all moving organically in three dimensions. Think Loren Chasse, as if he were reworking any of Bernhard Gunter's compositions, making them rougher, in line with Chasse's Hedge Of Nerves disc. Headphones are certainly recommended for this album, as the last track is awfully quiet... at least, it is when there's a record store full of people. Very well done!" [Aquarius Records review]
www.cmr.co.nz
|
2007 |
€13.00 |
|
| FRANCK, YANNICK |
Hierophany | Иерофания |
CD |
"In such conservative genre like ambient there is not easy to find something to discover, but the music of Yannick Franck can change this widespread prejudice. Infuenced by recent trip to Russia and the orthodox culture, he composed the continuous suite of three movements, showing his personal vision of the ancient rite. Release date is 29th December 2012. Limited edition of 500 copies in jewelcase." [label info]
www.monochromevision.ru
"Oily drones be found on Hierophany, an album released on the Russian imprint Monochrome Vision, inspired by the ancient rites of Russian orthodoxy, and produced by a Belgian on a working holiday whilst touring to the east of his homeland. Over the years, Franck has worked with Pietro Piparbelli (aka K11) with the two of them collaborating on a project based on recordings from Aleister Crowley's Abbey of Thelema (yes, K11 has released at least three other albums drawn from Thelemic residues). Theological differences aside (which are obviously massive), Franck's interest in both Crowley and the Russian Orthodox church seems to find common ground in the gnostic mysticism of meditation rituals and their capacity to introduce the process of transcendence. The massively thrumming drones that Franck presents on Hierophany seem to be based on field recordings made within a cathedral during a service, with the bell tones and chants reflecting into a gray wall of steely reverb and delay. Elements of human speech sporadically bounce within his system of acoustic and processed sound, creating something of a feedback loop of particular sonorous frequencies, reinforced and thickened by Franck's sonic sensibilities. The album quickly hits a uniform plateau of saturated environmental and electronic din, slipping rather subtly from one complementary movement to another. Well executed work that conceptually and aesthetically may have more than a few similarities to Current 93's early tape collage days." [Aquarius Rec.]
"More field recordings, but perhaps a bit differently when it reaches the point of release, is the new release by Belgium's Yannick Franck. He's been releasing on various labels before, such as Silken Tofu, Young Girls Records and Silentes, and has worked with K11, Craig Hilton, Alan Trench and Esther Venrooy. Here however he is solo and he uses instruments and 'non musical objects', voice, radio signals and field recordings. Perhaps so far not much difference, but it's the way Franck executes his music. Instead of using the collage form, Franck sets wheels in motion, and when they are all in motion, then he subtly moves them about. Perhaps the word 'drone' music could apply to his music? Derived from various sources, his music is played altogether at the same time, adding and subtracting on microscopic level, all along using minimal changes in the use of sound effects. Quite a dense sound he arrives at here and like with the other release, the three pieces flow nicely into eachother. In the final part, 'Dying Down', you realize you are in a church, with whispering voices, and a far away choir practice. And then it seems like the other two pieces shared that same sort of big hall/cathedral reverb. That makes it perhaps all a bit too religious for my taste, but throughout I thought this was a very refined disc of challenging drone music." [FdW/Vital Weekly]
|
2012 |
€12.00 |
|
| FREIBAND |
Ice field |
mCD-R |
"...The music on 'Ice Field' is not exactly what you would expect from Freiband either, but contrary to 'Spaarzam' it's the grittiness that comes as a surprise here. Partly recorded in 2005 for a planned release on Ideal, which never materialized, and partly recorded in May 2007, the rather short tracks span the whole range of digital austerity, from insistent pulses to exercises in crackle and hiss. They are of a sketch-like character, each one exploring a small set of sounds and variations. Not everything works equally well, but there is enough tension throughout and the first and the last track stand out in particular as strikingly focused and intense." [Magnus Schäfer]
www.kormplastics.nl/moll
|
2007 |
€6.00 |
|
| |
Mutatis Mobilis |
CD-R |
"ACR 1028: CD-R in plastic case with transparent paper sleeve
Made in 2012, this release is a tribute to the creative experiments made possible in the 80s by the advent of the 4-track tape recorder, and whoever still owns one should get the limited cassette edition of this album. On a 4-track machine, listeners can create different mixes of these humming, pumping, whizzing ambiences that evoke steampunk-style industrial settings as well as the sounds of a harbour. On a normal tape deck, each side is a stereo track in its own right. The tracks from the CD can be loaded into a multi-track audio software, such as the freely downloadable Audacity, to digitally recreate the experience of the 4-track recorder for the 21st century.
Freiband used both source material of their own creation as well as material from Aalfang mit Pferdekopf’s album “Mutatis Mutandis” (ACT 1001 / ACR 1014) which is in turn based on sound sources by Freiband’s Frans de Waard. This collaborative spirit rooted in the 80s tape scene and continued in today’s digital world by the many collaborations on Attenuation Circuit, among many other labels, shows how important the 4-track recorder was as the first medium that made “studio” work accessible to a wide range of artists with an experimental approach to sound. With “Mutatis Mobilis”, the liberation of creative energies on the part of the producer is extended to the listeners. A seemingly old-fashioned medium is used for a musical work that offers active participation on the part of listeners, more so than most formats of the so-called interactive digital world." [label info]
www.attenuationcircuit.de
"Freiband is of course Frans de Waard's guise for digital sound manipulations. This release is different from Freiband's others because it has a strong conceptual element. It contains two thirty minute tracks that divide up into four separate mono tracks on left and right channels, that could be mixed in a multitrack environment. Are you still with me? So yes, there are basically sixteen mono tracks on this disc. And you, as a listener, are invited to mix it up. So far so good. Nice idea, not new but hey, what's new anyway? But then: are you ready to go through all the trouble of doing a mix of your own? I don't think so. Even I (as a musician) think this is no good and I am not going to bother with it. So that's a bit of a problem then, right? Well, no. To my big surprise the idea of doing a mix yourself etc. is just plain nonsense. These are beautiful pieces of drone work, different on left and right channels, but blending together perfectly. A work with soft and gentle changes in texture, almost zen like in nature. There is no need whatsoever to mix this in a different way, because it is just right as it is. So that leaves me with a question: why state the concept when it has become obsolete? On the other hand it partly explains the process of creation. I leave it up to you to decide for yourself, but I do urge you to listen to this. It's very well worth it." [RM / Vital Weekly]
|
2013 |
€8.00 |
|
| FREIWILLIGE SELBSTKONTROLLE (F.S.K.) |
Freiwillige Selbstkontrolle / Teilnehmende Beobachtung |
LP |
"Before their debut album "Stürmer", originally out in 1982 and reissued by a-Musik, there were two 7"s by Freiwillige Selbstkontrolle. Both the eponymous 4-track EP (1980) by Justin Hoffmann, Thomas Meinecke, Michaela Melián and Wilfried Petzi and the 7-track EP "Teilnehmende Beobachtung" from 1981 were released on Alfred Hilsberg's legendary Zickzack Platten. With "Moderne Welt" and the literally endless "Deutschland, Deutschland", the rare "Freiwillige Selbstkontrolle" single contains two of the most brilliant tracks ever recorded in the Federal Republic of Germany. "Teilnehmende Beobachtung" was produced by Wirtschaftswunder's Tom Dokoupil and established F.S.K.'s status as one of the most singular (and back in those days controversial) phenomena in the (west-)german postpunk/pop/underground history. The LP reissue of these two 7"s comes with a printed inner sleeve and a 8 pp. booklet with extensive linernotes (in german) by Tim Klütz." (label info) |
2021 |
€20.00 |
|
| FRET (=MICK HARRIS) |
Over Depth |
do-LP |
"MICK HARRIS (SCORN, QUOIT, PAINKILLER) returns after several years of hiatus with ten tracks of blasting landmine bass and interlocking shrapnel rhythms.
I’ve been asked to write a press piece for the dark lord MICK HARRIS.
Where does one even start? Especially for someone with decades of releases over various solo projects, collaborations and pseudonyms, whether it’s doing blast beats in the original NAPALM DEATH to crushing techno brutality as MONRELLA, or savage drum & bass as QUOIT. Then of course there’s the mighty SCORN and his numerous collaborations with fellow luminaries such as JOHN ZORN and BILL LASWELL (in PAINKILLER).
Rather than being tied to genres or scenes, MICK HARRIS is one of those producers who creates a whole sonic world uniquely of his own, in which varying tracks, styles and tempos take form, but yet in which everything sounds unmistakably characteristic of the creator. Needless to say his work has influenced legions of producers like SURGEON, REGIS, ONTAL, VATICAN SHADOW / PRURIENT, FAUSTEN, SHAPEDNOISE et al, and pretty much anyone in the world of powerfully dark, abrasive music you could name-drop. And yet after all this time, it is impressive that HARRIS still stands way above his successors and has never been surpassed in his own production/performance game.
After a hiatus of several years, he is back with a new album under the guise of FRET.
Working at a faster tempo than his SCORN material, the FRET project first surfaced years ago on the DOWNWARDS label, rooting it firmly in the dark, industrial and technoid world, and appeared more recently on Tresor (Kern mix by OBJEKT), maintaining the characteristic colossal bass-heaviness and textural depth.
And now a full album on KARLRECORDS, Berlin.
HARRIS fans will be delighted to know that despite the 130 bpm tempo, the newest FRET still resolutely avoids any straight four-on-the-floor kickdrums; every track lurches, stumbles, staggers and charges forth with beats in beautifully broken asymmetry.
We get 10 tracks of crushing, percussive destroyers, each itself a storm of precision chaos, with colossal low-end frequencies that’ll cause stampedes in the right circumstances. The classic HARRIS sound is there; searing waves of feedback distortion, intricate, interlocking rhythms and cold, abattoir atmospheres, especially track 6 “Stuck in the track at Salford Priors” which sounds like you’re being continuously suspended in the air from multiple explosions all around, each kickdrum throwing you up in the air, the next one going off before you can fall completely back to the ground.
The lazy-minded would probably lump it in with the term “techno”, but the disciplined brutality, blasting landmine bass and interlocking shrapnel rhythms are clearly HARRIS’ own trademark style, sitting somewhere between SCORN and QUOIT.
The tracks appear deceptively chaotic on the surface, yet each is meticulously and masterfully composed with great attention to layering and detail. MICK HARRIS fans rejoice, the dark lord still remains at the top of his game."
Derek Szeto / Fausten / Combat Recordings)
karlrecords.bandcamp.com/album/over-depth |
2017 |
€25.00 |
|
| FRITH, FRED |
The Happy End Problem |
CD |
"The Happy End Problem beinhaltet zwei Tanztheaterkompositionen, die Fred Frith im neuen Jahrtausend für Amanda Miller und ihre Pretty Ugly Dance Company komponiert hat. Uraufgeführt wurden die Stücke im Stadttheater Freiburg, im May 2003 ("The Happy End Problem") bzw. im April 2004 ("Imitation" - die Tracks 1-9). Recht akustisch wirkt „Imitation“, welches von Streichinstrumenten, Gitarre, Piano und etwas Perkussion bestimmt wird. Dazu kommen sehr verhaltene elektronische Sounds und Klangspielereien von Patrice Scanlon. Für Frithsche Verhältnisse ist "Imitation" erstaunlich melodisch und zahm ausgefallen. Fast elegisch und sentimental, sehr klassisch-kammermusikikalisch und entspannt kommen hier die Klänge aus den Boxen. Einzig die Pianolinen entwickeln ab und zu eine gewisse betriebsame Hektik. Ansonsten schreitet die Musik getragen, sehr schlicht, fast karg dahin. Recht prominent in der Musik steht Carla Kihlstedts Violine, die häufig die Melodieführung übernimmt.
Das lange Titelstück ist dagegen etwas anders gestrickt. Deutliche elektronischer in der Ausrichtung, angereichert mit einigen Tonbandeinspielungen verschiedener Naturgeräusche, wirkt die Komposition fremdartiger und komplexer, wie ein großformatiges Klanggemälde, welches im zweiten Teil kurzzeitig zu einem recht wirren, schrägen und minimalistischen Elektro-RIO-
Kammerrockdurcheinander gerät. Trotzdem ist die Nummer vielleicht das elektronischste Stück, welches ich von Frith kenne. "The Happy End Problem" ist ein weiteres Beispiel für die Vielseitigkeit des ehemaligen Gitarristen von Henry Cow. Wer die Musik von Frith schätzt, wird mit diesem Album sicher keinen Fehlkauf tun!" [Achim Breiling / Babyblaue Seiten]
"A new recording, and instantly a Fred classic. Two, related, small-ensemble works for 6 and 7 musicians respectively - mostly strings of one sort or another, with percussion, flute and clarinet occasionally, and electronics. Fred, violinist Carla Kilsteht and percussionist Willie Wynant play throughout, providing continuity across the pieces as the music constantly unfolds into new textures and dialects. Melody, harmony and rhythm are omnipresent, though not always obviously colluding, and the music moves with constant assurance, never hesitating and never marking time. There are some affinities with Nicola Kodjbashias luminous Solitary Walker (which it predates) in its use of minimal instrumentation to maximum effect, popular materials, exquisite articulation and a kind of modest transcendence. The necessity and simplicity of these pieces conceals a catalogue of experimental techniques and novel ideas; there are those whod have squeezed a score of albums from this material. A gem. Buy it. Carla Kilsteht shines throughout." [label description]
www.rermegacorp.com
|
2006 |
€14.00 |
|
|
Technology of Tears |
CD |
"FRED FRITH erfand The Technology of Tears (ReRFRO011) 1986/87 für eine Choreographie von Rosalind Newman. Er konnte dabei auf Henry
Kaisers neuem Synklavier im Maximum an Samplingtechnologie jener Zeit schwelgen. Der Duktus ist hämmernd und zuckend, das Klangbild gesättigt mit synthetisierten Gitarren- und Geigensounds. Dazu schrillt im ersten Drittel ‚Sadness, its bones bleached behind us‘ John Zorns Altosax und Tenko skandiert kläffend ihre Kampfkunstschreie. Mensch und Automat, heiß und kalt, reiben sich im ostinat hackenden Chop-chop-chop des Maschinenbeats. Die beiden folgenden Teile behalten die Motorik bei, ein
tänzerisches Hmtata, aber zunehmend auch ein kniebrecherisches Zickzack, gespickt mit Tenkos Ha!s und Ho!s, mit repetitiver Gitarrenarbeit
und Geigenstrichen in Frith-typischer ‚Imaginary Folk‘-Manier, d. h. eingetaucht
in urbane Dynamik und auf sarkastische Weise futuristisch statt idyllisch und nostalgisch. Der Beat ist dabei so ‚imaginär‘ und dominant
wie bei Skeleton Crew. Christian Marclay stiftet Phantomklänge per Turntable, die den ‚Palace of Laughter‘ mit plunderphonischem Trubel rocken. Für ‚Jigsaw‘, ebenfalls eine Tanzmusik für Newman, die mit ähnlicher
rhythmischer Hartnäckigkeit motorische und dynamische Anstöße gibt, machte Frith das Meiste selbst, sogar die Schreie und skelettierten Gesänge. Vielspurig häuft er Gitarren-, Geigen-, Bass- und Drumloops und
diesmal stößt Jim Staley mit der Posaune dazu. Das Ganze hat einen Schwung, der immer und immer wieder angriffslustig gegen die Fassade
von Trägheit und Unlust rammt. Doch bis heute gilt: Man muss sich Sisyphos als glücklichen Menschen vorstellen." [Bad Alchemy]
"With an all-star line-up that features Tenko, John Zorn and Christian Marclay (with guest Jim Staley on trombone), Technology of Tears started life in New York in 1986 as a dance commission by Rosalind Newman. Fred took this opportunity to experiment with Henry Kaiser's brand new synclavier (the absolute state-of-the-art sampling and processing technology of the time - Henry had to take out a second mortgage on his house to buy it). It was the sophisticated sampling that fascinated Fred, and the piece is characterised by technological "comparisons" between real and virtual voices which constantly merge into one another. Tenko and Zorn tear through it all with breathless intensity. Parts two and three, which follow, couldn't be more different, for them Fred adopts a completely different methodology, playing everything himself mostly on low-grade instruments, then inviting turntablist Marclay to add plundered parts. Here is a completely different approach to "sampling": exploring dense layers of quotation intercut with melodies formed using random editing processes (with subsequent transcription and re-performance). Lastly there is Jigsaw, a later work, also made for Rosalind Newman, reflecting the frustrations experienced making Technology... where, every time Fred would complete a stable version, Rosalind would ask for changes (incidentally, sending the recording way over budget). This time Fred decided to make a modular piece that could be re-assembled in any way requested - and having no pre-determined structure at all. The original composition consisted of dozens of musical cells, each recorded separately in increments of between 3 and 12 measures; all at the same tempo, and in the same key. The idea was to play the elements separately and then ask Rosalind how she would like them constructed. Ironically, the test assembly, made as demonstration of what was possible, won instant approval, and no reconstruction was ever necessary." [label notes] |
2008 |
€14.00 |
|
|
Nowhere Sideshow Thin Air |
CD |
"Three commissions for dance (3 different choreographers), one [2000] performed by Fred and Carla Kihlstedt, one [2001] by Fred and Carla with Fred Guiliano, (samples) and Gail Brand (trombone) and the last [2007[ with Fred, Hande Erdem (violin) and Theresa Wong ((cello). Layers and plateaux, modules and colour." [label info]
www.rermegacorp.com
|
2009 |
€14.00 |
|
|
Propaganda |
CD |
"Written for theatre in 1987 using a host of avian and mammalian voices, snippets of unidentified musical material and electroacoustic noise-sculpting, as well as invented and real instruments played by Fred. This was a hard time and the mood is intense, lean and not cheerful, though there are some gruesomely cheery inserts. There’s no fat but a lot of meat here." [label info]
|
2015 |
€14.00 |
|
| |
Stepping Out (Volume 3 Of The Fred Records Story, 2001-2020) |
9 x CD BOX |
"Third of a three box collection by one of the most innovative guitarists and composers of his generation, containing eight ReR CDs, a bonus Fred title and a fat historic booklet with artwork, photographs, extensive notes and other comments by Fred, all packed into in a sturdy box -- and at a budget price. Box three contains: Technology of Tears, Propaganda, Allies, Accidental, The Previous Evening, Happy End Problem, Nowhere, Sideshow, Field Days. Plus, bonus CD Inimitable (previously unreleased). Biographical: Recipient of Italy's Demetrio Stratos Prize for his life's work in experimental music and Professor Emeritus at the legendary epicenter of American experimental music, Mills College in Oakland, California, Fred still teaches in the improvisation master's program at the Musik Akademie in Basel and as visiting faculty in the Universidad Austral in Valdivia, Chile, where he has been collaborating on the creation of a new School of Music and Sound Art. Also appearing: Tenko, John Zorn, Christian Marclay, Jim Staley, Joey Baron, George Cartwright, Tom Cora, Christian Kaya, Claudio Puntin, Heike Liss, Bernd Settelmeyer, Bernd Weber, Kikutsubo Day, Carla Kihlstedt, Theresa Wong, William Winant, Patrice Scanlon, Gail Brand, Fred Giuliani & Hande Erdem Cover photo: Heike Liss. 'Fred Frith makes music that incorporates transformative, disruptive, revolutionary wisdom while constantly expanding his range of sonic subversion' --lsole che Parlono."
https://fredfrith.bandcamp.com/album/stepping-out-vol-3-of-the-fred-records-story-2001-2020
|
2021 |
€66.00 |
|
| FROM THE WHITE CHIMNEYS |
Nautilus with Wings |
CD-R |
Amorph-Drones, Ätherischer Ambient, Transzendental-Muzak! Ein neues Projekt von BEN FLEURY-STEINER (PALLADIN, LIGHT OF SHIPWRECK) und dem Dänen DANNY KREUTZFELDT. Einzelne Field-Recording Elemente sind auszumachen, ansonsten ist der amorphe Gehalt sehr hoch, lädt zum "Verschmelzen" mit dem Klang ein und zum Einnehmen einer "Binnenperspektive", in der die vielen Mikrodetails "sichtbar" werden.. NAUTILUS WITH WINGS nimmt am Ende nochmal gut "Fahrt auf", wird geräuschhafter und druckvoller, den Drones wachsen Flügel !
"Behind From the White Chimneys' curtains, we have a duet of inventive, vibrant experimental-ambient shapers, as it's actually an original collab of Ben Fleury-Steiner & Danny Kreutzfeldt... Wimington, Delaware based Ben Fleury-Steiner is the instigator of the fertile Gears Of Sand label, but also a craftsmusician & meddlesome passionate sound artist... present on many fronts, he has already a solid bunch of works to his credit, and that under versatile aliases (Eneg, Light Of Shipwreck, Paradin...) on GOS, Dissonance, Mystery Sea, Umbra, Taâlem, just to name but a few...
Danny Kreutzfeldt is Danish and equally productive, both in terms of creations (for Databloem, Tibprod, Practising Nature, etc...) and aliases...with early influences coming from a certain electronic scene (Basic Channel, Biosphere...), he quickly veered off to nurture his very own brand of detailed engrossing ambient...
Here on "Nautilus with wings", they join forces, and undertake a journey of discovery mainly stemming from a recent fascination with the hydrothermal vents of the Mariana Trench...
The resulting work is highly evocative... a compelling, almost physical dive with all senses wide awake...
Above, a ceiling of heavy waters
as only witness to a rusted sinking shell,
a compressed hull in streams of scoria...
Preliminary to an irrepressible descent, further below
an osmotic slow drowning in primeval liquid
till the hazy bottom...
There, bowels spit long columns of dust,
floating straps pointing to something else,
& silent yearnings...
"Nautilus with wings" is our inner ship,
and its elemental drift a cleansing gate
where our passing make us feel in peace with the world...
MS49 cd-r ltd to 100 copies and numbered
sleeve design and artwork by Chalkdc." [label info]
www.mysterysea.net
|
2008 |
€12.00 |
|
| FROZEN FACES |
Broken Sounds of a Dying Culture |
CD |
Re-issue of self-released first LP from 1997, plus tracks from the 7" "Religion of Hate". Project of Lina / DEUTSCH NEPAL. large cardboard cover.
"The year is 1996 I was surfing on cold waves through the very heart of Linkopia, night after night it was all the same. Sleeping in the Karmanik basement seduced by delerium echoing between white concretwalls. I could hear the equiptment slowly disintegrating as I put out the light, broken sounds of a dying culture. This might be the erosion of history eternally scraping on the crown of mankind...or was it just the decline of my personal belongings after years of abuse... and was there any difference between the two theories? I streched out my limb and pressed the record-button." - Lina Baby Doll.
Originally released by Entartete Musikk in 1996 as a limited edition LP. Now available in cd format with totally remastered sound, new artwork and bonus tracks from the Religion of Hate 7" in original extended versions. A must for all the fans of Lina's works who somehow missed the vinyl version! Fomat: CD, A5 folding cover" [label info]
www.wrotyczrecords.prv.pl
|
2007 |
€10.00 |
|
| FUHLER, COR |
Stengam |
CD |
Wenig ist uns bekannt über COR FUHLER, aber durch die untenstehende Vital Weekly Review führt kein Weg an ihm vorbei. Auf STENGAM benutzt er ein Klavier, welches er mit elektrischem Geigenbogen und Magneten bespielt. Nach einem konkret-geräuschhaftem Beginn werden die Stücke immer welliger, schwingungsreicher und obertoniger, oder die Drones bekommen einen "metallophonen" und Gong-artigen Charakter. Herausragende Drone-Muzak die ohne Effektierungen auskommt, Anklänge an OREN AMBARCHI, RAFAEL TORAL oder ELLEN FULLMAN. Tip!
"Music by Cor Fuhler has been reviewed before in these pages, but one has to know where to look. Fuhler has been a duo with Gert-Jan Prins under the name of The Flirts, of whom I once saw a brilliant concert, but also improvising with anybody in the Dutch improvisation scene, and beyond, such as with Mimeo. His main instrument is the piano, but "he seeks to take it musically beyond usual perceptions, specializing in sustained sounds with use of various string stimulators: 12 ebows, rotating threads, spinning disks". In addition Fuhler also plays an EMS synthi AKS, as well as building his own instruments, such as a violin with keys: the keyolin. On his new solo CD, he plays an 'acoustic grand piano, using ebows and super magnets. No overdubs, no electronics, no electronic treatment'. Which is something I read on the cover after I heard the CD. Fuhler could have fooled me. I recognized indeed the piano, and yes, there are long sustained overtones, but just as easily I could have thought there was electronic treatment in these subtle walls of droning and sustaining sounds, with sparse interception by the piano itself. So there are none. Wow! Along the lines of Alvin Lucier, but in a much more musical context. Whereas much of Lucier's work stays on the somewhat clinical and conceptual sides of things, Fuhler expands beyond it, and makes great, careful music. It hardly sounds like a disc of improvisation music, as one may expect from this label, but more a disc of composed music. Great stuff." [FdW / Vital Weekly]
www.potlatch.fr
|
2006 |
€15.00 |
|
| FUKUDA, HIIRAGI |
Seacide |
CD |
Hiiragi Fukuda turned a lot of “heads” with his 2013 album “My Turntable Is Slow” - released on NY label Selection Records. For many outside of his hometown of Tokyo, Japan it was their first introduction to the guitarist...
www.troubleinmindrecs.com
"Japanese experimental artist Hiiragi Fukuda returns with his third stateside issue, as Trouble in Mind Records reissues the guitarist-synthesist’s 2014 Seacide on LP and CD (originally issued on cassette by Sloow Tapes). It would be shortsighted to call Fukuda’s rhythms minimal, as that word only describes his recording set up for this release. With one synthesizer, one guitar, delay pedal, and microphone, the artist weaves patterns that bleed beyond repetition into open, breathtaking ceremonies. In the streaming embed below, you will find that Fukuda is a patient player, to say the least, as he works with limited note sequences as long as physically necessary for the next narrative set. Harmonic feedback might be that story, or a shift in pitch or slight lead line. If the listener follows the standard story that original krautrock artists sought a form of music that transcended traditional influences and rhythms, Fukuda reduces that line to its most orthodox interpretation, thereby opening its grand potential: this is music that speaks truly through its bare elements, shedding unnecessary move or obstruction. Seacide is available from Trouble in Mind Records on March 31." [Decoder Magazine]
|
2015 |
€13.00 |
|
| FUKUOKA, RINJI / MICHEL HENRITZI / LUCA MASSOLIN |
Weather Report |
LP |
"BACKWARDS is proud to announce a mind-blowing album of cosmic improvisation by the trio of musician / producer Luca Massolin (Golden Cup, Golden Jooklo Age), French avant-garde guitarist Michel Henritzi and Rinji Fukuoka, formely member of Overhang Party and currently of Majutsu No Niwa.
Recorded in November 2011, eight months after the Fukushima disaster, ‘Weather Report’ is an onirical yet political soundpiece, developed in two long movements, ‘A Chuva Obrigado’ and ‘Radioactive Arigato’.
The first side is a cornucopia of ghostly shapes and haunted tones, with Massolin’s dreamy organ and heavenly electronics blessed by Fukuoka’s elegiac violin lines. The piece evolves soon into an improvised blues for flamenco-like guitar (!!!), percussions and abstract electronics, building up tension until Henritzi’s lapsteel joins with waves of ectoplasmic electricity, and finally exploding into a blast of cathartic free noise.
The other side is when the piece starts vibrating, with Massolin’s electric bass pushing the whole thing into full-on shoegaze mode, Henritzi combining long, doomy drones and Fukuoka playing the most emotionally violin ragas you got to hear in an improvised studio album. There will be room for more ghosts until the end of this side, taking us to a landscape of wintry trees, empty streets, an abandoned city devoid of human presence.
This is the soundtrack of an echological disaster, a picture taken right after it happened, a warn about the risks of pushing the limits of human technology against nature. Images translated into sounds by improvised free music in its purest form: evocative, political, magical. How can you not be affected?
Limited edition of 260 copies of which 50 are on BLUE vinyl, and the remaining on standard black wax." [label info]
www.backwards.it
|
2014 |
€15.00 |
|
| FULLMAN, ELLEN |
Staggered Stasis |
CD |
Einer der letzten Veröffentlichungen des Seattler Labels ANOMALOUS war diese CD von ELLEN FULLMAN, die hier mit ihrem “long string instrument” wunderbar metalloide Oberton-Drones erzeugt, die tönen, als wenn man auf einem “Klangbett” liegt. Unglaublich volle, vielfältig sirrende, in allen Farben flackernde Drone-Strahlen, zwei Stücke die bereits in den 80ern entstanden sind. Still to discover !
“Over the last two decades, Ellen Fullman has been perfecting her Long String Instrument. This unique instrument of her own design is some 80 feet in length and played by literally walking through it. The resulting sounds are beautiful gliding tones with a rich harmonic content. The CD presents two works from her time in Austin, Texas in the late 1980's which beautifully display a sound you can get inside of. These long tracks envelope you in their cascading overtones. Even though she has performed widely in the United States and Europe, this is only Ellen's third solo CD, following previous releases on XI Records and New Albion. So hearing these gorgeous and important pieces from her archive is cause for celebration.
Staggered Stasis (1989) was commissioned by the Deborah Hay Dance Company for part 1, The Navigator in Hay's trilogy, The Man Who Grew Common In Wisdom. Microtonal shifts in the coloring occur in a staggered fashion, traveling on an axis of Pythagorean intervals, (the circle of fifths). Chords created by stacking 3/2s, or fifths, are referred to as suspended chords. There is a flatness in this drama, what I imagine it must be like in the middle of an ocean, continually moving yet appearing the same. The four part score was plotted on a timeline. Each track was recorded and performed by myself. An excerpt of Staggered Stasis was released on the Arial CD series.
Duration (1986) was composed as a 13-limit study for the Long String Instrument, in the key of C. The fundamental tone is continually sounded, under chords constructed with pitches from the overtone series. The intention of the piece was to listen to the variations within each chord, as it is sounded continually while the performer walked the length of the instrument. As the performer's position changes, one clearly hears a cascade of overtones. Duration was never previously released.
The original recordings were made direct to a PCM digital processor using a vintage AKG C24 stereo tube condenser microphone placed about 15 feet from the resonators.” [label description]
|
2004 |
€15.00 |
|
| G*PARK |
Sub |
do-CD |
"The most enigmatic of the Schimpfluch-Gruppe, Marc Zeier in the man behind G*Park; and here, he presents his first major album since the acclaimed 2008 album of cryptic electro-acoustics entitled Reuters. Many years in the making, Sub is a sprawling masterpiece of modern day musique concrete, reflecting the early pioneers' use of razor cut tape with a grandiose revelation of an existential horror. Zeier describes this album as the manifestation of amorphous conditions that lead to (or interfere with) representational forms or states of being. His examples of the shifting patterns from clouds of blackbirds or the clinging masses from algae blooms are rudimentary entry points for his rhizomatic, chimerical work.
For every malignant drone and turgid thrumming, Zeier will puncture his fluttering, frozen methane surfaces with jagged incisions, pneumatic hammerings, and decompressed gasps. This fragmented punctuation is a signature to the G*Park aesthetic, used highly effectively in mapping his clinical situations turned septic. The titles to the tracks on Sub address the physical attributes of the source material that went into each track, with some decidedly specific ("Swine", "Wasp", "Stone") and others nebulously abstract ("Purge", "Glow", "Pulse"). For Zeier, the exact nature of the sound object is informed more by a shadowy deconstruction than by a direct representation, thrust into an absurd existence as an abomination, a violation, a monster.
Sub locates itself near the psychological minefields of Luc Ferrari, Steven Stapleton's prediliction for windows, and the cruel x-ray visions from fellow Swiss aktionists Sudden Infant & Dave Phillips." [label info]
www.23five.org
"When the first G*Park record was released, on Schimpfluch, it blew my mind. For one, it didn't seem to fit on the label, with their harsh, cut-up styled aktionist music, and it seemed to be all ambient and quiet music. It's good to have expectations blown away. I followed him a bit, in the mid 90s, when he released some CDs on Zabriskie Point, but his output was quite sparse, so I missed out on his releases on Tochnit Aleph, but here's a new sign of life, in the form of an all new double CD on 23Five Incorporated. G*Park, the solo project of Marc Zeier, works exclusively with field recordings, which is offers either as a raw block of sound, or something heavily treated, layered and such like. Now, of course, there has been lots of field recording based music since the first G*Park LP, and we might have become a bit more critical, but boy, G*Park is still as unique as always. His music has a drone like character, from layering various events together, or simply taping events of such nature (gas lamps, heaters) and on top he placed animal sounds with a more haunting character. There seems always to be sudden move in here, like a violence lurking underneath, maybe a menace in these sounds, which makes this perhaps both narrative and scary. It's like a radio play, but entirely without words. A horror radio play if you with these sustaining sounds, loops of squeaking doors, and a swift montage to enter another room. Some hundred minutes of music here and it's not a minute too long, or too short. Very imaginative music, both in the way it's made but also a soundtrack for imaginary films. This is an excellent release, restating what great composer G*Park is." [FdW/Vital Weekly]
|
2013 |
€16.00 |
|
| G.A.M.S. (GUIDO MÖBIUS & ANDI STECHER) |
G.A.M.S. |
LP |
The first album of the new duo G.A.M.S. (ANDI STECHER / drums and GUIDO MÖBIUS / feedback) with special appearances by MICK HARRIS (EX NAPALM DEATH, PAINKILLER, SCORN a.o.) and YUKO MATSUYAMA (HULA HUT & THE SEVEN SEAS).
Feedback leads a life of it’s own. It is an uncontrollable sonic accident, usually ear-numbingly loud but sometimes also delicately ethereal. The essence of feedback is being released from bonds, its path is always one of intensification and escape. Its a physical phenomenon and hard to predict.
The duo G.A.M.S. makes music on the edge of losing control. A restless drummer works his way through waves of feedback, which span the full spectrum of frequencies from pumping bass to the highest tones. With the pulse of the feedback ANDI STECHER's drumming, at times feverish and driven, then distanced and abstract, creates polyrhythmic structures. What comes into being is a maelstrom of sound and rhythm - music beyond every style, the power of which lies in its rawness.
STECHER and MÖBIUS switch the roles of desired and undesired sound and thereby create pieces like archaic sculptures. Their music is raw and powerful, but can also be soft and etheric. Sometimes it feels like a delicate organic painting. But here's one thing that G.A.M.S. music certainly isn't - predictable. The duo uses freely improvised spaces and reacts to unplanned sonic events. And despite all it's seeming randomness, G.A.M.S. still manage to compose clearly structured pieces and to reconstruct these in their live program.
Through a cut-up technique patterns of feedback sound fragments are juxtaposed and interlocked in varied combinations. These hypnotic loops move between rhythm and melodies, a web that is carried along by a driving drum set, accents of sub-bass and layers of feedback drones.
The playful drum style of ANDI STECHER is far from conventional rock drumming. Instead he experiments with various materials - for instance by preparing his cymbals with chains or putting different objects on the skin of his drums. He makes offbeat meters and complicated grooves sound easy and light. The same goes for changes in timing or dense textures comprising ghost notes. On the other hand he plays straight forward beats dynamically and with power.
STECHER’s partner in G.A.M.S. is GUIDO MÖBIUS who (with the help of a guitar amp, a microphone and effects) creates live feedbacks which can be massive and noisy but also fragile and gentle. Fleeting and concrete sounds join into dense textures. Feedback is never static rather always in a process of change.
Musical guests on the album are ex-NAPALM DEATH drummer and eletronic producer MICK HARRIS (SCORN, FRET) contributing drones and field recordings and the versatile singer YUKO MATSUYAMA (HULA HUT & THE SEVEN SEAS).
https://karlrecords.bandcamp.com/album/g-a-m-s
|
2019 |
€18.00 |
|
| GABER, HARLEY |
The Winds Rise in the North |
do-CD |
One long multi-layer drone-minimalism piece (more than 100 minutes, in 4 movements) played on five strings, which reveals lots of inner micro-movements and developments (kind of intense micro-(dis)harmonics) with almost dramatic effects, a great piece by this modern US-composer. Originally released on Titanic Records in 1976 as do-LP.
Linda Cummiskey (Violine), Malcolm Goldstein (Violine), Kathy Seplow (Violine), Stephen Reynolds (Viola), David Gibson (Violoncello)
" "Natürlich verstehe ich" - so räumte Harley Gaber, der Komponist, ein - "dass dies nicht jedermanns Sache ist". Er meinte sein 1973/74 entstandenes und über hundert Minuten dauerndes Streichquintett "The Wind Rise in the North", dessen magische, rau schimmernde Klangwelt sich in vier Abschnitten nur extrem langsam wandelt - ohne erkennbare temporale Textur, ohne Eindeutigkeit und ohne Ziel. Man könnte beim Hören an das Lied einer verstimmten Äolsharfe denken, die, bespielt vom schroffen Wind an den Klippen Irlands, von den Unendlichkeiten des Meeres singt. Doch wer es versteht, konzentriert lauschend die subtilen energetischen Wandlungsprozesse wahrzunehmen, von denen diese Musik getragen wird, der schult nicht nur sein Ohr, dem fließen vor allem Heiß und Kalt zusammen. Es hat schon seine Richtigkeit, dass vom CD-Cover der geschmackvoll ausgestatteten Produktion flammenden Blickes, mit drittem Auge auf der Stirn, eine Gottheit die Dämonen im Zaum hält. Das gold-braune Thanka-Bild aus dem Umfeld des tibetischen Buddhismus öffnet den Assoziations-Raum, dem die Musik sich verdankt. Gaber selbst erlebte sein Werk als einen "Spiegel, in dem man sich selbst und dann auch dahinter schauen kann". (Kein Geringerer als Pierre Boulez hat übrigens mit Musikern der New Yorker Philharmoniker Teile daraus aufgeführt.)
Die 1976 dezidiert nicht in einem Studio entstandene Aufnahme des einzigartigen Quintetts für drei Violinen, Viola und Violoncello erschien nun digital remastered auf einer Doppel-CD bei der Berliner Edition RZ - bei einem Label mithin, das immer wieder für Glanzlichter der besonderen Art zu sorgen weiß. Bewundernswert sind die Konzentration und der Musiziergeist der fünf Interpreten. (Malcolm Goldstein spielt mit, ein Geiger und Komponist, für den John Cage oder Christian Wolff geschrieben haben und dessen Affinitäten zur New York School und der Kunst des Abstrakten Expressionismus evident erscheinen.)
Harley Gaber selbst wurde 1943 in Chicago geboren. Er gehört zur bunten Gilde amerikanischer Künstler, die prägende Eindrücke in Europa empfangen haben (in den 60ern u.a. bei Aldo Clementi, Franco Evangelisti, Darius Milhaud) um dann im Zeichen jenes spezifischen Freiheitsgeistes ihrer Heimat neue Wege zu beschreiten. Im New York der siebziger Jahre schien seine Kunstproduktion zunächst zu versiegen, um dann in Kalifornien in den Bereichen Photographie, Malerei, Klanginstallation und Mixed-Media erfolgreich und nachhaltig wieder aufzublühen. Zu seinem Quintett meinte Gaber, man möge es als Ganzes anhören wollen/können oder auch nicht. Ein verkrampftes Durchhalten würde dem Geist des Stückes jedoch nicht entsprechen. Und er gab der Musik einen Text des Dschuang Dsi mit auf den Weg, in dem es fragend heißt: "Die Wolken bewirken den Regen, der Regen bildet Wolken. Wer ist's, der sie hernieder sendet? Wer ist es, der weilt und uns diesen Segensfluss schickt? Der Wind entsteht im Norden. Er weht bald nach Westen, bald nach Osten; bald steigt er auf als Wirbelwind. Wer ist's, der ihn blasen lässt?" [Helmut Rohm, BR-online]
" Questions
How endlessly the heavens turn.
And yet the earth remains at rest.
Do the sun and the moon quarrel as to their positions?
Who rules over and orders all these things?
By whom are they in harmony?
Who effortlessly causes and maintains them?
Is there, perhaps, some hidden tension
that prevents them from being other than as they are?
Must the heavenly bodies move as they do, powerless to do otherwise?
Look how the clouds drop the rain!
And how the rain rises again to form the clouds!
Who moves them to this abundance?
Who effortlessly produces the primary orb and stimulates it?
The winds rise in the north and blow to the east and west.
Others move upward uncertainly.
Whose breath moves them?
Who effortlessly causes them to blow?
What is the cause?
[Chuang Tzu] " [from the label info]
www.edition-rz.de
|
2008 |
€21.50 |
|
| GABURO, KENNETH |
Lingua II: Maledetto / Antiphony VIII |
CD |
"The work and thought of the American composer Kenneth Gaburo (1926-1993) exhibited many striking changes during his lifetime. In fact, while the world of commercial endeavor still insists that artists develop a recognizable personal "style," Gaburo's life-work can be seen as one of continual change and exploration, rather than one of codification and promotion. Some of these changes are beautifully illustrated by the two works on this CD, Maledetto, for seven speaking voices, from 1967-68, and Antiphony VIII (Revolution), for percussionist and electronic tape, from 1982-3. Both are intricate and powerful works, both take their inspiration from "non-musical" materials, and both require virtuosity of a most uncommon order. However, beyond that, the two works could not be more different.
Maledetto is a wild choral piece, a great complex cry, a work that, while reveling in a surface texture of innuendo, word play, and pseudo- and real- history, spoken/shouted/sung by 7 amazing speakers, contains within itself a deep and profound celebration of the body, the physical, the sexual. It is one of the earliest of Gaburo's works where his concern for holistic thinking and art-making comes to the fore. This sort of thinking was in the air, of course ¬ many works were written at this time that were multi-layered in their meaning and intent, but Maledetto seems unique. It's combination of profundity and what might be called adolescent sniggering, and almost every emotional state in between, seems unprecedented. The subject of the piece is the word screw, in all its connotations, from the sexual to the mechanical, from the mildly obscene to the boisterous, with diversions along the way into topics such as perfume manufacture, printing, classical design, and structural linguistics, all of which connect with the small ridged, groovy object of attention.
Speaking voices also figure in Antiphony VIII, but here they are the voices of people giving their heartfelt reactions to the notion that nuclear war has made their lives expendable. This work was created at least 15 years after Maledetto, and the boisterous energy of the Sexual Revolution, one of the earliest counter-cultural movements of the mid-1960s, has given place to the grim organizational determination of the various Anti-Nuclear movements of the 1980s. Gaburo's attitude has also changed. If Maledetto is a celebration, Antiphony VIII is a wake, and a wake-up call. Not content merely to protest, or to document people's reactions, the percussion, electronics, concrete sounds, and voices in this piece each embody within them Gaburo's analysis of the most common attitudes people have to the problem of governments treating them as expendable - helplessness, indifference, anger, uncertainty, and presents them all to us as a summary, and a questioning of our own attitudes to the problem. Gaburo the deep analyst of phenomena is still here, but now his analytical mind is dissecting not just a problem, but the wide variety of people's responses to that problem ¬ both as a structural resource, and as a means perhaps of intuiting the way forward."
[Warren Burt (from the liner notes)]
"Gaburo (1926-1993) is one of those many pioneering US-composers like Cowell, Cage, Nancarrow, Partch, etc. But he is one of lesser known ones. With this cd Pogus makes two works by him available. The first one 'Lingua II: Maledetto' (composition for 7 Virtuoso Speakers), composed in 1967-68, was first released on CRI in 1974. The liner notes Gaburo wrote for this release are reprinted here. The recording of this composition however is another one then released by CRI, but dating from the same period. June 10th, 1973 to be exact. The track opens with high pitched non-verbal throat sounds. After a few minutes the narrator starts reading a text about the all the connotations and meanings of the word 'screw'. Then two other voices join, reciting also texts concerning this word, etc., etc. Later on to be followed by a quartet. Sometimes the voices speak simultaneously, sometimes one after another. Sometimes several voices speak the same text. At other times not. Sometimes there is a out of phase reading of the same text by several speakers. It sounds very theatrical. No wonder as Gaburo composed this work as a part of a massive 6-hour theater work Called LINGUA. In 'Maladetto' Gaburo experiments with language and meaning, trying to create a dramatic and theatrical situation. I'm not completely sure but I think this is a live recording, using no overdubs and editing. The second composition 'Antiphony VIII' is written for tape and percussion in 1982-83. The percussion is played by Steven Schick. The recording dates from 1984. Alas the voices on the tape sound very muffled, and one cannot always hear what they say. The percussion playing becomes more and more intense during the piece, becoming increasingly involved in what the voice speaks about (nuclear war). So also in this piece theatrical aspects are present. Because of this quality it may be that both works on this cd still sound very much alive." [DM /Vital Weekly]
www.pogus.com
|
2008 |
€13.00 |
|
| GAL |
Hinaus: in den, Wald |
CD |
Very interesting work inspired by the poetry of the famous Swiss schizophrenic patient ADOLF WÖLFFI, with printings of his art in the inlay!
“In 1986, SPK's Graeme Revell released an album entitled "Necropolis, Amphibians and Reptiles". The recordings were based on the work of Swiss art brut artist and mental patient Adolf Wölfli. Some 15 years later, Austrian composer Bernhard Gal used Wöfli's poems as the basis for a sound installation at modern art museum Essl near Vienna. Now, in 2004, Klanggalerie are proud to present you a CD version of this outstanding composition. There are male and female voices bordering between meaning and non-meaning, footsteps and field recordings. Headphone listening highly recommended! If you need comparison think Robert Ashley, Paul De Marinis or Trevor Wishart.” [press release]
www.klanggalerie.com |
2004 |
€13.00 |
|
| GALBRAITH / NEILSON / YOUNGS |
Belsayer Time |
LP |
Folk-Drone at its best, ätherisch-erhabener Gesang von RICHARD YOUNGS und organische Drone-pulses, rollende Glas-Drones und sowas wie elektrisch aufgeladene wandernde Kugelblitze, am Ende ekstatische Entladung...
Grosses Vollfarb-Cover inkl. Einlageblatt mit eingeprägten Credits & einzeln geprägter Nummer !
"Fully mind-blowing dream collaboration from Alastair Galbraith, Alex Neilson & Richard Youngs. All serious international underground sound weavers in their own right, this trio collaboration lifts things ever higher... for the last 20 years or so Alastair Galbraith has quietly been releasing some of the most stunning outsider/psych/folk/drone work to ever come out of his New Zealand homeland, and we couldn't be more thrilled to have him back on the scene. Richard Youngs makes a nice UK parallel with a vast and equally impressive catalog of sub-underground avant/drone/folk wonderment to his name. And while Alex Neilson's name might be a bit new, he's been bending many a mind under his directing hand solo guise, as well as collaboration with MV & EE, Taurpis Tula and others. Oh yeah, and that small fact that Alex & Richard backed Jandek at his first ever live performance is pretty cool too... musically, things are way fucking deep in the zone here folks. Side one glides along in slo-mo dream state, hovering with Richard's beautiful and unmistakable vocals soaring and refracting into echoes, quietly fluttering and droning electronics, otherworldly sounding synth melodies, rolling splashes of free percussion, backwards effects, and syrupy sound pools of acoustic strings. Beautifully lulling and deeply psychedelic... but the second you flip the LP, the bottom drops right out with a real electro jammer, blasted with throbbingly heavy free drumming, vibrating walls of synth, and yowling bird-of-prey electronic squeal... and things just get more abstract from there... really amazing stuff for those who dig a headspinningly deep listen... packaged in a stark but beautiful full color offset printed & debossed heavy art board cover, with debossed insert. 180 gram virgin vinyl. Numbered edition of 900 copies." [press release]
|
2006 |
€22.50 |
|
| GALBRAITH, ALASTAIR & MATT DE GENNARO |
From the Dark (South Island) |
CD |
"ALASTAIR GALBRAITH ist der Klebstoff, der den Underground von Neuseeland zusammenhält. Ob er nun schmerzhaft-schön Geige für so verschiedene Künstler wie PETER JEFFERIES oder THE BATS spielt oder sich mit dem Feedback bei A HANDFUL OF DUST beschäftigt oder zusammen mit dem Amerikaner MATT DE GENNARO neue Performances im Stile der Soundskulpturen von HARRY BERTOIA erschafft. Auf ,From The Dark" verwandeln sich architektonische Eigenarten in hypnotische Sounds. Stahlseile, die manchmal länger als 30 Meter sind, werden durch den Raum gespannt. Wenn die Seile noch mit geharzten Händen oder Lederstücken angeschlagen werden, schicken sie vibrierende Resonanzen zur ihren Fixpunkten. Nicht die Seile erzeugen Geräusche, sondern die Wände, Geländer oder Fensterrahmen, an denen die Seile befestigt sind. Das Resultat, eine Sinfonie in totaler Dunkelheit, ist eine wunderschön gruselige Zusammenstellung von Zufall, Architektur und Improvisation." [press release]
"Alastair Galbraith is the glue that binds the New Zealand underground. His work ranges from achingly lyrical violin for artists as disparate as Peter Jefferies and the Bats, to the feedback squalls he conjures as member of A Handful Of Dust, to the otherworldly miniatures he crafts for his own solo albums. However, in recent years, Galbraith, along with American Matt De Gennaro, has developed another remarkable performance idiom, one that is positioned closer to the sounding sculptures of Harry Bertoia. In From the Dark (South Island), architectural idiosyncrasies are transformed into nuanced and hypnotic audio. Wires _some as long as 100 feet_ are affixed throughout a building. When the wires are taut and stroked with rosined hands or a piece of leather, longitudinal vibrations are sent to the points of attachment, creating a natural resonator. It is not the wires that make the sound, but the wall, railing or window frames at their end; wire length and room acoustics determine the pitch. The result, achieved in a veil of total darkness, is a beautiful and eerie confluence of chance and accident, architecture and improvisation. As Galbraith puts it, "There is some quite magical feeling of communion turning the lights off and making the building sing." [press release]
|
2006 |
€14.50 |
|
| GALERIE SCHALLSCHUTZ |
Montauk Project |
CD |
...ambitionierter Release des “anti-mind-control”-Projekts GALERIE SCHALLSCHUTZ, gewidmet dem MONTAUK PROJECT, das in den 70er & 80ern ein geheimes Forschungsprogramm der USA zur elektronischen Bewusstseinskontrolle gewesen sein soll (und bis heute existiert, wie man kürzlich auf NTV sehen konnte): Elektromagnetische Felder, Radarwellen, Quantenmechanik, Wetterbeeinflussung, etc... all das scheint sich hier in bedrohlichen elektronischen Klängen wiederzuspiegeln, man hat das Gefühl durchleutet & gescannt zu werden. Zu jedem Stück gibt es weitere Informationen zu Details des MONTAUK PROJECTs. Das ist zeitgemässer, gesellschaftskritischer Industrial wie wir ihn sehen wollen, jenseits der üblichen Klischees! Kommt im Spezialcover mit Vexierbild.
“Finally 3 years after the ‘Haarp’ CD, Galerie Schallschutz comes with another superior release and again with strong thematic content...We all know something is out there, but we're not sure exactly what. Galerie Schallschutz at long last, begins to provide some solid clues.
“Montauk Project”, also called the Phoenix Project during some of its phases, was a covert government's ultra-top-secret electromagnetic mind control and time experiment project that took place during the 1970's and early '80s at an abandoned Air Force radar base at the southeast tip of Long Island, New York.
Much evidence has surfaced indicating that the base and the subterranean facilities were and still are used for a tremendous amount of top secret, ultra-classified research and experimentation into interdimensional technology, quantum and particle physics, black hole simulation, super-powerful electrical and electromagnetic fields, weather control, psychotronics (interfacing mind and machine), particle beam technology (HAARP transmissions…), and electronic and drug- based mind control...! Galerie Schallschutz provide you with the perfect soundtrack to go further into this secret world. ENTER NOW !
ATTENTION: this recordings will change your mind.” [label info]
www.tesco-germany.org
|
2005 |
€16.00 |
|
| GAMLASKATTEN |
Voltage |
CD |
"Voltage" is the debut album and follow up to the well received "Brutalism" EP (auphnet024).
Using the momentum, this release is straight and aimed directly to the club floors. Heavy beats, moving sequences and a pace that you cannot escape. As it's predecessor the tracks are heavy influenced by oldschool EBM, dark techno and industrial elements.
Demanding your attention from the first bit to the last note!
https://audiophob.bandcamp.com/album/voltage
"Genre/Influences: Industrial-Techno, Techno-Body.
Format: Digital, CD.
Background/Info: This is a German solo-project driven by Ralph Gatzen. Audiophob last year released the EP “Brutalism” and now unleashed the debut album “Voltage”.
Content: The debut part of the work is mixing hard loops of Techno- and Industrial music. New elements are progressively emerging like Acid, Psy-Trance and finally solid EBM bass lines with screaming effects on top. It’s a diversified piece of music but totally adapted for dance floors.
+ + + : The opening part of the album has something visionary. Gamlaskatten is not just bringing Techno and Industrial together but there’s something extra on top. It sounds brutal and pretty sexy at the same time. The Acid sequences at the title track are pretty cool as well. The second part features heavy EBM bass lines creating a perfect, and aggressive, fusion between Techno and EBM.
– – – : The only single track that couldn’t fully convince me is the last one which definitely sounds as an ‘outro’.
Conclusion: I’m not used to hearing Techno-driven productions released by Audiophob but the harsh, Industrial, dark and intelligent approach of this artist is definitely appealing for the lovers of the German label." [Side-Line]
|
2022 |
€12.00 |
|
| GAMMELSAETER & MARHAUG |
Higgs Boson |
LP |
Runhild Gammelsæter and Lasse Marhaug are two Norwegian musicians/sound artists. Both started in the early 1990s music underground and have worked in many constellations with a wide range of collaborators. Despite knowing each other for a long time, Gammelsæter and Marhaug's first collaborative work was the Quantum Entanglement LP in 2014. The project lay dormant until Stephen O'Malley and Greg Anderson invited them to open for Sunn O))) for a special gig in the St. James Church of Culture in Oslo in 2019. The two gathered for a long series of rehearsals, and after the successful performance, it was clear that it was time to start working on new compositions and recordings. That process initiated in late 2019 and continued to early 2021, before and after the lockdown. The result of this long development to be heard accumulated upon their new album Higgs Boson on Ideologic Organ. Marhaug drew inspiration from concepts informed by the structuralist experimental cinema of Japanese directors Takashi Ito and Toshio Matsumoto, futurist worlds of French comic book artists Philippe Druillet and Jean Moebius Giraud, landscape photography of Fay Godwin, Kåre Kivijärvi, and Tamiko Nishimura, amongst others. It became a metaphysical juxtaposition involving Gammelsaeter's research and lyrical ideas based on several seemingly unrelated principles. A process of association inspired by The Glass Bead Game (1943) by Herman Hesse. The discovery of the Higgs Boson as a confirmation of the physical universe. The work of Ernst Schrödinger on the uncertainty principle. The four forces of physics. The Force. Helplessness under armed forces -- as the war sailors in World War II. The influence of magic as expressed in tarot. Gammelsæter experiments with a boundary involving the thresholds amongst various states of focus and legibility by forensic experimentation with techniques such as exclusive expression of consonants, syllabic repetition, retrograde text vocalizations and multi-lingual layering. Her vocal inspirational sources include Sidsel Endresen, Diamanda Galas, Natacha Atlas, the choral works of Rachmaninov, and the bands Carcass and Grave. Two worlds coming together, making the music special. Mixing hard facts with science fiction helps create a kaleidoscopic cross point between the complex realities of the past and a possible future. Across eight parts, the two artists brought a broad palette of instrumentation and sound on Higgs Boson. Electronic and acoustic, objects and field recordings, and pipe organ define the structures of which the center is Gammelsæter's magnificent voice. She In the mix, Lasse approached the instrumental elements like landscapes, then Runhild's vocals as characters that inhabit those worlds. Often, Gammelsæter multiple characters fused with the landscape. As an album, Higgs Boson is direct and focused, drawing on song structures. Within these tracks are vast strata of sound, an immersive multi-dimensional depth of music.
A1. The Stark Effect (2:52)
A2. The Magus (4:44)
A3. Static Case (3:56)
A4. Ondes De Fase (4:00)
A5. Forces (5:50)
B1. Propeller Arc (6:46)
B2. Hadron Collider (5:35)
B3. These Questions (9:55)
"Two totemic Norwegian artists bombard and fizz the senses with a powerful invocation of metal and noise energies on a new album for Stephen O’Malley’s radical Ideologic Organ imprint.
The thrilling complex of ’Higgs Boson’ furthers Runhild Gammelsæter & Lasse Marhaug’s fascination with the field of physics following 2014’s ‘Quantum Entanglement’ with Milwaukee’s uncompromising Utech Records. Gammelsæter, a one-time vocalist for O’Malley & Greg Anderson’s legendary pre-Sunn 0))) band, Thorr’s Hammer, and regular contributor to O’Malley’s subsequent projects, is also a professional biologist with a PhD in cell physiology. Marhaug is the prolific, multifarious figurehead of Scandinavian experimental music who surely needs little introduction on these pages. The duo collapse a spectrum of non-musical influences into an immensely compelling sound that, as their LP’s title suggests, strives to confirm the meta- and physical presence of the universe thru opposing forces, and the unquantifiable, uncertain energies produced therein.
Gammelsæter’s vocals are evidently a big attraction on ‘Higg’s Boson’, naturally drawing on 30 years of extended works to project a range of unearthly inflections and affective tonal colour unmistakably forged in the belly of radical metal. As her relatively short but perfectly realised catalogue with Thorr’s Hammer, Khlyst, Sunn 0))) (notably ‘Gates of Ballard’!), proves, few can match her might.
Summoning structural concepts from the Japanese experimental cinema of Toshio Matsumoto, french comic book futurism of Phillippe Druillet and Jean Moebius Giraud, and landscape photography of Fay Godwin, Kåre Kivijärvi, and Tamiko Nishimura, Marhaug, in turn, galvanises the personalities of Gammelsæter’s voice to extraordinary degrees, conjugating their mutual spirits in vast, electro-acoustic and illusively noumenal space with frankly shit-the-bed results comparable with everyone from Diamanda Galas’ tempered rage to the catharsis of Carcass and Rachmaninov’s choral arrangements.
A genuinely unsettling summoning of dark energy." [Boomkat]
https://ideologicorgan.bandcamp.com/album/higgs-boson
|
2022 |
€24.00 |
|
| GAPIK, CEZARY |
Contrast I |
LP |
"The White Box label presents a release by Polish electronic experimental/harsh ambient drone musician Cezary Gapik. Gapik's deeply unsettling soundscapes go beyond the primal "power electronics" assaults (which the label adores and thrives on), of early Whitehouse and Sutcliffe Jugend. They go far beyond the capabilities of many of the supposed "dark ambient" artists releasing music today. Primitive forms have been discarded in favor of an articulate attention to detail, all for the benefit of the discerning listener. Fans of diverse, forward-thinking sound artists such as Philip Jeck, Kevin Drumm, Tim Hecker, Carlos Giffoni, Phill Niblock, Peter Rehberg, Fennesz and other SERIOUS people should take note. Gapik's sonic assaults and tonally perverse audio structures house such progressive depth, that upon discovering this music, White Box concluded there was simply too much good material to contain in a single release. Presented here is part one of a triptych; "Contrast I" comprises two pieces, and perhaps not surprisingly given its title, features two very different compositional approaches from the same artist. From the opening moments of side A's monolithic "#0473 [Tremor]," Gapik's music asserts an unflinching, confrontational prowess all its own; an articulate slab of cold, metallic sound, unrelenting, aurally oppressive and executed with total precision. If we're talking power electronics here (and as far as side A goes, we are), it doesn't get much more forward-thinking than this. Side B track "#0458 [Drowsiness]," offers an altogether different approach to its side A counterpart, its peculiar, clustered tones slowly creeping in and out of phase, seemingly designed to throw off the listener, traversing dark psychedelic territories. White Box will be releasing "Contrast" Parts II and III further into 2011. Limited edition vinyl release of 400 copies only. Features gorgeous sleeve art from Berlin-based painter Suse Kipp." [label info]
www.whiteboxrecordings.co.uk
|
2011 |
€20.00 |
|
| GAS (=WOLFGANG VOIGT) |
Rausch |
do-LP |
Rausch with no name / My beautiful shine / You are the sun / This is where I want to be /
Rausch with no morning / This is where we burn / The Stars sparkle / In a sea of flames /
Horns and fanfares / Fanfares of joy / Fanfares of fear /
The wine we drink through the eyes / The moon pours down at night in waves /
Careful with that axe Eugene / Personal Jesus / No beginning no end /
Eighteenth of Oktember / The night falls / The king comes / The hunt starts /
Freude schöner Götterfunken / The long march through the underwood / Trust me there’s nothing / Once upon a time there was a bandit / Who loved a prince / That was long ago /
Spring Summer Fall and Gas / There is a train heading to Nowhere /
Drums and Trumpets / Future without mankind / Warm snow / Alles ist gut /
The bells toll / You are not alone / The murmur in the forest / The murmur in the head /
Light as mist / Heavy as lead / Music happens / To flow like gas / A clearing / Heavy baggage / Debut in the afterlife / Death has seven cats /
World heritage Rausch / Finally infinite
Wolfgang Voigt 2018
https://kompakt-gas.bandcamp.com/album/rausch |
2018 |
€25.00 |
|
| GASTRIC FEMALE REFLEX |
same |
CD-R |
Kanadische Noise-weirdness, völliges Hirngeschwurbel mit eigener Schönheit. Konkrete Collagen für die Ewigkeit. Wir denken an RATS WITH WINGS, RAYMOND DIJKSTRA, NWW, und andere low-fi concrete noise masters.....
“...The music is generally rather low-key with some wonderful bursts of noise...All kinds of weird instruments are being amplified and recorded through different devices, there's a bit of tape manipulation and electroaccoustic clatter and rumble... All mashed together and whipped up for your listening pleasure... You get flashbacks of "classic" NZ noise (Surface of the earth, Sandoz labtech etc...) and perhaps some of that Dylan Nyoukis or American Tapes madness.... numbered edition of 50 copies, the actual disc is beautifully handpainted and the covers are
individually made.” [label info]
|
2004 |
€7.50 |
|
| GEINS'T NAIT & L. PETITGAND |
Je vous dis |
CD |
"Geins't Naït is a project initiated in 1986 with a first album released by Thierry Merigout (drummer with Kas Product on their 1981 tour) and Vincent Hachet, who quickly stepped back from this project to work on his film-maker career.
The L'or'n Cät album's release in 1987 marked the arrival of Laurent Petitgand, a singer-songwriter recognized for his composing work for (the late French singer) Bashung and original soundtracks for film directors such as Wim Wenders (including Tokyo-Ga, 1985, Wings of Desire, 1986, and the future The Salt of the Earth, scheduled in 2014), Paul Auster (The Inner Life of Martin Frost), as well as ballet music for Angelin Preljocaj (Liqueurs de Chair, Amer America).
Bases are thus set down. While Geins't Naït offers rough pieces of music as an extension of its punk attitude which deeply moved the Berlin scene years ago, Laurent Petitgand is busy refining them and creating some musicality within the post-industrial collages, adding guitars, piano or any classical instrument.
In 1993, following the release of C/O Lisa on the Permis de Construire label, noise gave way to a silence that lasted 20 years.
Coming from nowhere, Si j'avais su, j'aurais rien dit, a particularly tormented album which, against all odds, revived the project in 2011.
An album which showed an increasing alchemy between the two musicians whose different routes, this common project aside, seem to fit perfectly well now.
Now, and more than ever, the duo's approach is based on an in-depth field. To sharpen the sounds, give them some kind of balance, a density and a mark.
More than anything else, to make sure that music is a langage, an experience in the deeper meaning of the term.
In its form, the collaboration between Geins't Naït and Laurent Petitgand echoes the adventurous musics from the eighties and is the French counterpoint to experimental british scenes (Coil, Current 93, Test Dept) and german scenes (Einstürzende Neubauten, Sprung Aus Den Wolken), so much so that this new work is difficult to label in its totality, entering ambient or industrial fields, as well as minimalist or repetitive music.
Je vous dis is obvious in its ability for listeners to give life to the smallest element which is part of it, would it be a sample, a piano melody, or even the amazing work on voices, which, as well as instrumentation, assume a central part in the tracks balance.
Melancholic, with a retained violence, sometimes even with a fearsome violence, Je vous dis surprises and captivates in its way to subtly catch the listener, thanks to a disturbing nocturnal mood, but also to an unsettling humanity.
But this record is far from being an hermetical work : it's quite the opposite. Difficulty is not to get in this world, however particular or deviant it is, but to get out.
More than just music, Je vous dis is a visceral obsession about detail, a sound sculpture with changing forms and various aspects, an unsleeping creature with inscrutable soul.
As soon as one believes to have understood it, the next listening brings the listener back into doubt and questions.
As in a situationist movie for which that album would be a perfect soundtrack, each complete immersion offers its lot of news interpretations and details, with were unkown until now but are definitively obvious in the end.
A real masterpiece for the mind : complex, poetic and sophisticated, even in its darkest moments." [label info]
www.icidailleurs.com
"Years and years ago I worked in a space, which also functioned as a record store, and before, that I was a volunteer at another record-store/mail-order. In both 'stores' I saw the name Geins't Naït, but for whatever reason I no longer recall, I never played any of their records or CDs that we sold. Maybe it was because there was so much other great stuff to play? Let's keep it at that. So up until this CD I never heard their music properly, but in my defense, they didn't have any new release since 1993. The name Laurent Petitgand (not to be confused with Dominique Petitgand) I never heard before, despite the fact that he did soundtracks for Wim Wenders and Paul Auster as well as being a singer-songwriter. In 2011 he and Geins't Naït worked together for the first time and now there is a new album. But for me this is maybe a first introduction all around. And I am quite surprised. The label makes references to Coil, Current 93, Neubauten, none of which are really particular favorites
with me, but in these hands it works out differently and actually quite well. There is quite some drama in this music, through the use of samples, melancholic piano bits and the dark voice of Petitgand. Geins't Naït provide a rather minimal set of music - not as in 'empty', but as in 'repetitions', which makes rather odd pop music. Petitgand's voice is most of the time heavily transformed (vocoder perhaps?), which makes that a rather darker atmosphere hangs over these pieces. It bumps and collides but that I think is the beauty of this music, it's rather unusual atmosphere. Tacky and clichéd it seems at times but it works out quite fine. Maybe because there are some cliché's in here, but also some more unusual aspects, that it all makes up for something strange and estranged. A most enjoyable album, I thought. A fine introduction indeed." [FdW/Vital Weekly]
"Das Duo mit dem exotisch klingenden Namen Geins’t Naït entstand irgendwann im Dunstkreis der legendären Coldwaver von Kas Product und existiert nun bereits seit fast dreißig Jahren, bei denen allerdings eine lange Pause mitgerechnet wird. Hierzulande überwiegend frankophilen Kennern ein Begriff, ist die Band auf der anderen Rheinseite kein Geheimtipp mit ihrem eigenwilligen Stil an der Schnittstelle von Punk- und Industrial-Einflüssen, Songs und Soundscapes sowie technoiden und klassischen Arrangements. Der Sänger und Komponist Laurent Petitgand arbeitet auf “Je vous dis” zum zweitenmal mit GN zusammen und bringt klassische, v.a. akustische Elemente ein. Das Label zieht Vergleiche zu den Neubauten, Coil und Test Dept., was natürlich eine respektable Messlatte darstellt.
Wollte man in dem ausgesprochen welchselseitigen Album so etwas wie einen roten Faden benennen, so ließe der sich eher noch in einer immer leicht aufgekratzten Wehmut finden, als im Sound, der leicht retrolasigen Akustikklängen ebenso Raum gibt wie hallunterlegter, leicht housiger Elektronik, bei der ich tatsächlich an Coil-Werke wie “Love’s Secret Domain” denken musste. Viele Songs wecken filmische Assoziationen und versprühen einen nostalgischen und oft auch ein wenig naiven Charme. In den Passagen vor dem Einsetzen zum Teil vertrackter Rhythmen lockern reichliche zitathaft integrierte Klangbrocken den Wohlklang auf und versetzen die Szenerie an einen nur schwer zu ortenden Schauplatz, den Petitgand mit seinen mantraartigen Stimmbeiträgen, die teilweise wie versoffenes Bellen klingen, dominiert.
Oft entfalten sich mehrere musikalische Erzählstränge simultan, und selbst da, wo es schlicht auf die Schönheit der Unordnung hinausläuft, entsteht nie der Eindruck, dass es um bloßes Muckertum geht." [U.S./African Paper]
africanpaper.com/2015/03/28/geinst-nait-laurent-petitgand-je-vous-dis/
|
2014 |
€13.00 |
|
|
Je vous dis |
LP |
"Geins't Naït is a project initiated in 1986 with a first album released by Thierry Merigout (drummer with Kas Product on their 1981 tour) and Vincent Hachet, who quickly stepped back from this project to work on his film-maker career.
The L'or'n Cät album's release in 1987 marked the arrival of Laurent Petitgand, a singer-songwriter recognized for his composing work for (the late French singer) Bashung and original soundtracks for film directors such as Wim Wenders (including Tokyo-Ga, 1985, Wings of Desire, 1986, and the future The Salt of the Earth, scheduled in 2014), Paul Auster (The Inner Life of Martin Frost), as well as ballet music for Angelin Preljocaj (Liqueurs de Chair, Amer America).
Bases are thus set down. While Geins't Naït offers rough pieces of music as an extension of its punk attitude which deeply moved the Berlin scene years ago, Laurent Petitgand is busy refining them and creating some musicality within the post-industrial collages, adding guitars, piano or any classical instrument.
In 1993, following the release of C/O Lisa on the Permis de Construire label, noise gave way to a silence that lasted 20 years.
Coming from nowhere, Si j'avais su, j'aurais rien dit, a particularly tormented album which, against all odds, revived the project in 2011.
An album which showed an increasing alchemy between the two musicians whose different routes, this common project aside, seem to fit perfectly well now.
Now, and more than ever, the duo's approach is based on an in-depth field. To sharpen the sounds, give them some kind of balance, a density and a mark. More than anything else, to make sure that music is a language, an experience in the deeper meaning of the term.
In its form, the collaboration between Geins't Naït and Laurent Petitgand echoes the adventurous musics from the eighties and is the French counterpoint to experimental british scenes (Coil, Current 93, Test Dept) and german scenes (Einstürzende Neubauten, Sprung Aus Den Wolken), so much so that this new work is difficult to label in its totality, entering ambient or industrial fields, as well as minimalist or repetitive music.
'Je vous dis' is obvious in its ability for listeners to give life to the smallest element which is part of it, would it be a sample, a piano melody, or even the amazing work on voices, which, as well as instrumentation, assume a central part in the tracks balance.
Melancholic, with a retained violence, sometimes even with a fearsome violence, Je vous dis surprises and captivates in its way to subtly catch the listener, thanks to a disturbing nocturnal mood, but also to an unsettling humanity.
But this record is far from being an hermetical work: it's quite the opposite. Difficulty is not to get in this world, however particular or deviant it is, but to get out. More than just music, Je vous dis is a visceral obsession about detail, a sound sculpture with changing forms and various aspects, an unsleeping creature with inscrutable soul. As soon as one believes to have understood it, the next listening brings the listener back into doubt and questions. As in a situationist movie for which that album would be a perfect soundtrack, each complete immersion offers its lot of news interpretations and details, with were unkown until now but are definitively obvious in the end. A real masterpiece for the mind : complex, poetic and sophisticated, even in its darkest moments." [label info]
www.icidailleurs.com
"Years and years ago I worked in a space, which also functioned as a record store, and before, that I was a volunteer at another record-store/mail-order. In both 'stores' I saw the name Geins't Naït, but for whatever reason I no longer recall, I never played any of their records or CDs that we sold. Maybe it was because there was so much other great stuff to play? Let's keep it at that. So up until this CD I never heard their music properly, but in my defense, they didn't have any new release since 1993. The name Laurent Petitgand (not to be confused with Dominique Petitgand) I never heard before, despite the fact that he did soundtracks for Wim Wenders and Paul Auster as well as being a singer-songwriter. In 2011 he and Geins't Naït worked together for the first time and now there is a new album. But for me this is maybe a first introduction all around. And I am quite surprised. The label makes references to Coil, Current 93, Neubauten, none of which are really particular favorites
with me, but in these hands it works out differently and actually quite well. There is quite some drama in this music, through the use of samples, melancholic piano bits and the dark voice of Petitgand. Geins't Naït provide a rather minimal set of music - not as in 'empty', but as in 'repetitions', which makes rather odd pop music. Petitgand's voice is most of the time heavily transformed (vocoder perhaps?), which makes that a rather darker atmosphere hangs over these pieces. It bumps and collides but that I think is the beauty of this music, it's rather unusual atmosphere. Tacky and clichéd it seems at times but it works out quite fine. Maybe because there are some cliché's in here, but also some more unusual aspects, that it all makes up for something strange and estranged. A most enjoyable album, I thought. A fine introduction indeed." [FdW/Vital Weekly] |
2014 |
€16.00 |
|
| |
Like This Maybe or This |
LP |
Five years after the release of "Je vous dis" in 2018, Geins't Naït and L.Petitgand's second album from the "Mind Travel" and "Make Dogs Sing" collection on the German label "Offen", the duo are now writing a new chapter in their story with this fascinating poetic tale. The same mysterious and heady atmosphere which characterises the two musicians is present in this new work but clearly they have never ceased refining and polishing their sounds to give their compositions even more power and depth. Geins't Naït and L.Petitgand here offer twelve new tracks with names as enigmatic as the title "Like this maybe or This" itself and the record's whole universe. In reality, these mysterious names lead us to let ourselves be taken to the deep meaning of their creation. The subject matter is certainly difficult to grasp and invites us on an inner journey while leading us to doubt and question ourselves incessantly. There is a perfect alchemy between these two artists though this was far from self-evident as they come from two very different schools. Thierry Merigout, who is now the only representative left from the late 80's experimental project Geins't Naït in Nancy, comes from the post-industrial scene. As for Laurent Petitgand, he is a pure melodist who is best known for his work as a composer of music for films and live shows and has collaborated with Wim Wenders and Paul Auster in particular.
https://mindtravels.bandcamp.com/album/like-this-maybe-or-this
|
2021 |
€18.00 |
|
| GEINS'T NAIT + SCANNER + PETITGAND |
OLA |
CD |
Since 2014, when the Mind Travels [Ici, d'ailleurs] series was created, Geins't Naït and Laurent Petitgand have been working on one project after another with a great deal of sonic experimentation and with an unbroken passion. It is therefore not surprising to find the fifth album "OLA" from this collaboration on our collection dedicated to "ambient, neo-classical and industrial" music. After "Je vous dis" 2014, "Oublier" 2015, and "Like This Maybe Or This" in 2020, the group that we will call GN+LP is a figurehead of our sub-label and this new release "OLA" reinforces this association.
Geins't Naït and Laurent Petitgand have been music activists for more than 30 years, two very singular musicians, coming from two different schools and whose collaboration was far from obvious: the industrial and experimental scene for Thierry Mérigout (the last active member of the group Geins't Naït) and for Laurent Petitgand, well known for his movie soundtracks, especially for his collaboration with Wim Wenders. These two artists have different visions at first sight, but share common roots and a mutual respect. They were also recently featured in a documentary directed by Otomo de Manuel: "So Young But So Cold", a feature film about the Nancy Punk/No Wave scene.
For the album "OLA", the GN+LP duo is joined by an artist far from being unknown by ambient and IDM fans, namely Scanner alias Robin Rimbaud, to be pronounced /ˈrɒb.ɪn/ because, in spite of a French-sounding name, he is English and lives in London. The Englishman is a virtuoso of sound collage, a sound plastician, one of the most present on the electronic scene since the 90s. He has produced more than twenty albums on labels as prestigious as Sub Rosa or New electronica. A fan of collaborations, he has had the opportunity to work with many artists during his career, Kim Cascone or Alva Noto to name but a few.
We can say that this combination: Geins't Nait + LP + Scanner is explosive. From the first track, "MT26", we quickly understand the potential of this trio formula. After three rather calm introductory minutes, scattered with modified voices and field recording, the track progressively evolves with a rhythmic. The loops merge and repeat, sometimes disintegrating and filling up with industrial sounds and more or less heavy metals. This structure can be found on several tracks such as "OLA" or "MOUCHE", two hypnotic tracks of more than seven minutes that could remind us of Autechre or Muslimgauze. We also discover a tribute to Gilles Deleuze on the track "GILLES" in which GN+LP+Scanner rework the conference of this philosopher "What is the act of creation? Gilles Deleuze is regularly featured in Geins't Nait's work.
More industrial and colder than the previous albums "Je vous dis" or "Like This Maybe Or This", the album "OLA" is difficult to classify. Some tracks tend towards dark-ambient like "MORPHENG" "9.95MW", others are closer to techno like "BRA".
Dense and complex at first sight, "OLA" is a work to be experienced. Intense and immersive, GN +LP + Scanner's work gives off an atmosphere: a timeless sound space, the perception of a cold, mechanical but strangely reassuring world. A universe that some might compare to a combination of David Cronenberg's "The Fly" and Wang Bing's "West of the tracks".
https://mindtravels.bandcamp.com/album/ola
|
2023 |
€13.00 |
|
| GELSOMINA |
Santa Sangre |
mCD-R |
Rare GELSOMINA-release with frenetic noise (except the last of the four tracks which seems to use voice-material from the legendary film SANTA SANGRE, sold out at the label !
"Finnish harsh noise with power electronics elements and some drone touches. There should be NO pauses between the tracks. The disc + track titles refer to the legendary Jodorowsky's film "Santa Sangre". The last track is rather untypical Gelsomina with strange dark elements. Limited to 100 copies." [label info]
|
2006 |
€5.50 |
|
| GENDREAU, MICHAEL |
55 pas de la ligne au no 3 |
CD |
MICHAEL GENDREAU, bekannt mit seiner Arbeit als CRAWLING WITH TARTS, mit seiner ersten Solo-CD: zwei lange Stücke mechanisch brummende drone-soundscapes mit repetitiven Mustern, deren Parameter sich allmählich verändern.
“ Long-time San Francisco based sound artist, internationally known from his extensive discography as Crawling With Tarts, releases his first full length solo work. 55 pas de la ligne au no 3 is a microscopic study of dense sonic landscapes buried within antiquated turntable motors and furnaces. Gendreau, an acoustician by profession, utilizes high sensitivity accelerometers to map detailed frequencies from a variety of old turntable motors and mechanics. This is a rare exhibition of the creative potential within this kind of technology. (Randy Yau's favorite album of the year... And soon to be Jim Haynes' too!)
” In its puzzling bellows, the 35-minute title track leads the listener astray as it rambles in its physics and amplified world of micro-sound. Here there are hints of data transfer and voice
channeling that has at once a startling approach and tectonic finish. The repetitive churning of teeny motorized units, in their climbing, distorted frequencies will have you hanging on each transition. Some of the finer sources play with the idea of scale, while at times these palm-sized worlds grow into 300 foot tall super coasters, and in moments they are again transformed smaller than a pinhead. 23five is ready to challenge our ears with visionary work that pushes the barriers of the noise/sound envelope.” [Vital Weekly 332]
label: www.23five.org
|
2002 |
€13.00 |
|
| GENOCIDE ORGAN |
Civilization |
do-CD BOX |
"This release was already planned in 2011 for the 20th anniversary of „Save our Slaves“. The implementation and the restoration of the original source material took a lot of time, especially the sound-files of the 1990 pre-release concert which are completed for this set for the 1st time. Genocide Organ had to dig deep into long-forgotten parts of the archive, to reconstruct as many as possible of the original photo-materials, reconstruct, extend and re-view them.
The work on the new album „The Obituary of the Americas“ delayed the completion as well, but then also accelerated it, as both publications were cut across thematically. Now it is done!
A further stone fits into the wall of the bands historical back catalogue.
LP version:
Limited numbered edition 500. The deluxe linenpaper covered Hard-Slipcase is foilblocked and debossed. The record sleeves and the additional artwork sleeves are all debossed and spot-varnished in the typical Genocide Organ artwork finish you know from : Obituary of the Americas: album. The artwork sleeve is filled up with extensive large 24p booklet, numbered certificate, inlay for the Live LP and embroidered patch.
CD version:
Limited first edition comes as deluxe linenpaper covered, foilblocked and debossed Hard-Slipcase, incl. Coverpak with double CD and extensive large 24p booklet. Only this first edition comes as special Hard-Slipcase Set with the additional Live CD.
Musical contend on both formats:
The complete material of „Save our Slaves“ originally released in 1991.
„The Lever Sunlicht Shooting“, reflecting the complete performance of Genocide Organ Live 15.12.1990 in Mannheim in front of an invited audience.
Compilation Tracks from:
Perpetual State of Oracular Dream LP 1991
Natural Order 2LP 1997
Sound of Hate Vol.7 MC 1992
Exploration One CD 1995
Trans-Action MC 1992
+ both tracks from:
Klan Kountry 7″ 1998
all material from original source material re-mastered by Jerome Nougaillon and Genocide Organ.
:CONTEXT:
Released on Tesco Organisation in 1991, Save Our Slaves arrived as the second album for Genocide Organ, following the debut Leichenlinie released 2 years prior. Although the impact of Leichenlinie is undeniable in establishing the group within the noise industrial / power electronics scene, upon reflection Save Our Slaves is the release that cemented Genocide Organ’s cult underground status. This cult status has been generated via their musical approach, coupled with lavish handmade packaging and the presentation of strong, potentially controversial thematic material in an impartial and ambiguous manner; which incidentally some have interpreted as being ‚politically incorrect‘. Save Our Slaves stands out as the landmark release that definitively executed each hallmark element of sound, visuals and thematic content with flawless accuracy.
:THEME:
Conceptually, Save Our Slaves is an album renowned for its direct engagement with many taboo aspects of America’s history. Consequently, without shying away from the darkest aspects of America’s past, Save Our Slaves is concerned with: slavery, racist movements such as the Ku Klux Klan, radical right wing political advocacy group The John Birch Society, and the struggles for suppression, dominance and/or liberty on both sides of the civil rights movement. There are seemingly implied references to Dr Martin Luther King (the vinyl side dubbed Birmingham perhaps referring to Birmingham, Alabama and the 1950-60’s civil rights movement), whilst the track Violent Coordinating Committee appears to be inspired by the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee – an important ‚direct action‘ organization of the 1960’s civil rights movement. Save Our Slaves also contains more direct references to other civil rights figures including James Meredith – the first African-American student admitted to the segregated University of Mississippi (a flashpoint of the civil rights movement); and Sarah Patton Boyle – Virginia’s most prominent white civil rights activists during the 1950-60s.
Yet to expand the thematic content further, the album also makes reference to American Imperialism of the 1950’s to 1970’s, which included covert CIA operations in the Middle East, Africa, South America, and Indochina / South East Asia. Specifically, such operations involved the facilitation of military instigated coups and provision of financial and military support to various dictators in the ideological fight for capitalism against communism and socialism.
Accordingly, within the broadly coveted discography of Genocide Organ, Save Our Slaves stands out as one of their pinnacle releases by fact of it being one the of most sought after. The album’s revered status is also demonstrative of the manner in which Genocide Organ combine music, theme and artwork to transcend the creation of albums designed merely to be ‚enjoyed‘. Save Our Slaves functions as a politically charged, controversial declaration and socio-political manifesto that analyses American society, the roots of America’s history and culture and its role in shaping the modern world. As exemplified by its sound, visuals and thematic content Save Our Slaves stands as a strong and clear testament to the initial rise and early establishment of Genocide Organ’s cult status.
Richard Stevenson: editor of Spectrum Magazine (1998-2001) / current editor of noise receptor journal (print ‚zine & blog). |
2017 |
€28.00 |
|
|
The Truth will make you free |
LP |
"Debossed Cover, comes with numbered insert. 20 years after „The Truth will make you free“ saw light for the 1st time, this last Brick in the wall of Genocide Organ´s back catalogue gets re-issued. First released in 1999 as vinyl only release.
Here Tesco offers this album in the typical art-style that all Genocide Organ records come in.
„The Truth will make you free“ is an album yet to discover featuring many dark rhythmic industrial pieces filled with the agony of a dying world. All the confessions made there were true and the presence proved them right.
The Truth will be twisted and turned around as often as someone wilst it and then it becomes a lie and suddenly the lie becomes truth just to turn lie again."
https://tescogermany.bandcamp.com
|
2019 |
€25.00 |
|
| |
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 |
|
| GEORGE & CAPLIN |
Electronic Eulogy |
LP + 7inch |
Überraschend musikalisches auf Beta-Lactam Ring! GEORGE & CAPLIN arbeiten in 80er Jahre Tradition mit Drumbox, Gitarre, Synths, Gesang. Melodisch & melancholisch, nicht wirklich düster...
Elektronische Wave/Pop-Grössen vergangener Zeiten fallen einem ein, SOFT CELL, NEW ORDER, FOR AGAINST, aber auch die Label-Kollegen WHITELODGE...
Again a more „Pop“-oriented discovery on Beta-Lactam: rather simple electronic beats, backwards-guitars, harmonic synths, very melodic, we had to think on poppier / more electronic SAVAGE REPUBLIC or FOR AGAINST.....
“Third album by george&caplin and also available on vinyl with bonus 7"! This might be a future college entrance question, so pay attention: Ceramic Hello is to Soft Cell as what is to Ladytron? If you answered G&C, then you probably cheated, which is perfectly allowed as owning any of their 3 releases makes you a better person. Clearly one of the bright spots to rise up out of the so-called Electroclash debacle. Where groups like Chicks On Speed and Felix Da Housecat ultimately end up creating dance-floor anthems, G&C have been that weird brother hiding in the corner making minimalist masterpieces with dusty equipment. G&C's brand of minimal synth on Electronic Eulogy is a dark wave of another colour. Like underground synthesists of old, such as Ceramic Hello, or John Ruth, or even very early New Order, G&C's musical omniverse is a beatific one filled with lush, polychromatic chord progressions presented within a spare and melancholic framework. The wave is cold, but not blanched (as opposed to the repetitive sturm und drang of, say, Snowy Red or Suicide). An album of introspective quality, Electronic Eulogy steals seeds fostered in the glitch garden and grows them into a wholly unique and very melodious Tannen-baud. Those sweet electonyxx click, wash and whirr, counterpointed occasionally by acoustic guitar and/or vocals on a few tracks (a kind of perfectly flat and distant vocal delivery, somewhat like Dean Wareham. In fact, 'Dictionary Dream,' which happens to feature the guitar upfront, is something of a synth pop take on Galaxie 500). That's just the thing with G&C...they are like some long lost Factory or Cherry Red or 4AD cold/dark wave group, before there were deeply established camps within the synth and post punk worlds. Second Layer meets Shox? Minny Pops vs Insides? The Fast Set has a scone with early Arms Of Someone New? The opening 'Promenade,' with its brilliantly twisted boomerang timing structure and analog buzz, is like some kind of electro-crack. All in all, just lovely sequenced rainy day electronic head-music. It'll have you praying for rain.“ [label description]
|
2005 |
€18.00 |
|
| GERARD, PIERRE |
ENVIRONMENT & gesture |
CD |
"I would like to improvise with the most minimalist element, which shares our everyday life each minute when we are there. This improvisation does not come in a domination of the one on the other, but in an integration. Hoping that the sound which I produce would have been able to be without my participation.
I would also love that this work infiltrates into a notion of time, temporality. No as a fear of to see it to fly away, but as a soft impression of to feel it to slide. In this exercise the presence of the movement allows a sound, this sound gives an acoustic presence to the author, to the actor, to the musician. The produced sound is only the result of the movement. The movement has its resonance own, its particular light touch." [Pierre Gerard]
|
2011 |
€12.00 |
|
| GEROGERIGEGEGE, THE |
The Gerogerigegege |
12inch |
Straight after the gorgeous album„Moenai Hai“ from 2016,
The GeroGeriGeGeGe are back with a new fantastic 12“ vinyl record.
On April 23rd 2003, The GeroGeriGeGeGe hits the road on 8 city west coast tour.
They would them make history by partaking in the first ever all scratch music tour.
The unique thing about this record is that most of the sounds were designed and
arranged before the group actually rehearsed it. In other words, you will hear this
record and be challenged with the question on how to use the sounds just as they were.
With less than 2 weeks to practice, the member took bits and pieces of sounds from
this record, and created the vibe featured on this tour.
Like any The GeroGeriGeGeGe releases, this is not your average record,
this is an instrument featuring custom made sounds, vintage synths, as well as samples from
seminal albums such as „Sketchbook: An Introduction to Good Music“.
Wether you’re trying to mimmick the song performed on the tour and album, create original
good music, or producing tracks traditionally,
there’s enough samples to bang out multiple albums.
A piece of history on wax.
limited edition
pressed on virgin black vinyl
full colored recordssleeve
scrotumrecords.storenvy.com |
2017 |
€12.50 |
|
| GHEYSEN, FILIP |
Tabletop Guitar |
CD / DVD / BOOK |
"Filip Gheysen (1979) is a musician and audio artist, living and working in Ghent, Belgium, with a passion for sound and experimental music. Using only a tabletop guitar, effects and the occasional autoharp, he creates abstract droning soundscapes, stripped of all unnecessary elements, focussing solely on the timbre and tone of his instrument. It's this timbre that is vital in his musical works, in that the harmonic spectrums of the drones and the enhanced sounds he typically produces with his electric tabletop guitar are progressively shifting. Synonymous with timbre is the quasi-poetic phrase tone colour. These elements are equally visible in Gheysen's visual art, consisting mostly of abstract prints and paintings. There is obviously a play with the tones of a colour, thus an inversion of the aforementioned musical term. This pertinent
in- and decrease of saturation and of temperature in the pictorial field is comparable to what is going on in his music.
Moreover, these are features which are obviously emphasised in the videos the artist has been creating since 2011. They show lines dance rather timidly, make turns or float along accompanied by passing spots and travelling smears in a scenery of inks and paint. The imagery, strongly reminiscent of his prints and paintings, is enlivened by humming guitar sounds. As an inspired symbiosis between his visual art and his music, the video clips constitute a logical step in Gheysen's intriguing body of work that doesnt cease to amaze. Although appearing here for the first time under his own name, Filip Gheysen has been very active in different projects. He is the founder of Glasvocht Records and has released albums under the monikers Picturesque, Teledroom (with Portables-guitarist Wio) and is a member of the band 4 Black Boxes (with Jürgen De Blonde aka Köhn and Tom Vangheluwe). Trained as a graphic designer, he has also studied printmaking at the academy of Ghent and had several expositions. Tabletop Guitar presents both his musical and visual art and adds a third field of interest. His videoworks are the culmination of his two main outlets, giving a new dimension to his art." [label info]
www.silkentofu.org
|
2013 |
€20.00 |
|
| GHOSTS ON WATER |
Senshu |
CD |
"Ghosts on Water is Andrew Chalk and Daisuke Suzuki and together the produce some of the finest quiet music around. On his solo recordings Andrew treats sound as a sort of misting or blurring of the senses. He blends the individual sounds into a multi-coloured expressionist colour-field. Daisuke's presence adds an extra dimension to the sound. There are sketches of melody in the slowly tumbling strings that, in places, give the work a vaguely eastern exoticism. Indeed it is the presence of what could, admittedly with a little stretching of the definition, be classed as melody that makes this album so impressive. It has an inherent lyricism that flows along and even across the broad, washing tones upon which everything is built. As ever, heartily recommended." [Wonderfulwoodenreasons.com]
www.farawaypress.net
|
2008 |
€19.00 |
|
| GIANNICO, FRANCESCO |
L'Immagine Di Me Lontano |
CD |
CD, 6-panel digisleeve, ltd. 200 copies
Timeless sounds merge into a singular experience, giving birth to "L'Immagine di Me, Lontano," where timeless samples, devoid of memory, reimagined through the constant employment of granular synthesis, blend with echoes of distorted strings and distant pianos. Sounds excerpted from the sonic fabric of the world metamorphose into fragments of emotions, suspended between reality and imagination. The recordings, rich with unknown atmospheres, unveil their deepest essence, revealing a hidden language that transcends human comprehension. This is an album made by drawing on multiple sound materials that were reworked and layered with extreme care over the course of a year and a half. The goal was to achieve a rich sound composed of multiple layers that maintained the dynamics and uniqueness of timbre of the various instruments and sounds used. From time to time, the use of soundscapes came in handy, such as in the form of reworked recordings or transformed into actual instruments. But the particular use of reverb also created a fourth dimension, linking all the elements into a more organic production. The resulting acoustic image was meant to be a memory of my childhood. That's why sometimes you will hear harder, more melancholy tracks and sometimes freer, more out-of-the-box tracks. This exactly represents my current situation, that of a 43-year-old father with a midlife crisis, a bloody boomer basically :)
https://francescogiannico.bandcamp.com/album/limmagine-di-me-lontano
"There's a bewitching darkness to be found in Italian electroacoustic composer and producer Francesco Giannico's recent collection L'immagine di me, lontano, an album of sonic soundscapes that feel like a wordless, imageless movie; one full of neo-noir scenery and shady characters. Having written a thesis on the history of film music for university, Giannico merges his academic sensibilities with unhinged experimentalism on the often exigent, always rich nine tracks.
Replete with spluttery electronics, tenebrous ambiences, and sinister motifs, the album is a transient and deeply meditative collection of freeform electroacoustic musings. Comprising a multitude of auditory sources collected over a year and a half period, Giannico attempts to recreate the memory of childhood by colliding disparate elements together, seemingly at random though held together by reverb. The result is an illusory and often vague hodgepodge of sounds that never want for intensity, though they may lack any graspable structures for the less adventurous listener.
The gentle backbone of "Anxiety" is given flairs of erratic wind instruments and, at over eight minutes, is the longest track on the collection, feeling like its oceanic centrepiece. Elsewhere, on "Le cose che ti hanno sorretto", sweeping cinematic strings play under disturbing industrial clatters, while the closing track, "Dall'interno", hints at a hidden beauty that was there all along. More than anything, this album imbues a sense of inquisitive dread on the listener, who finds themself thrust into a chaotic world of equally perplexing and fascinating abstract music. Unyieldingly visceral, L'immagine di me, lontano finds Giannico at the top of his obscure and often challenging game. " [No Transmission]
|
2023 |
€12.00 |
|
| GIFFONI, CARLOS |
Eternal Noise |
CD |
Vier Stücke mit hyper-minimalen Analog-Drones, zwischen rauh-knarzigen Texturen und sanften Wellen a la ELEH.
"Carlos Giffoni knows no mercy. Of all the noise terrorists on the loose today, Giffoni causes the most upheaval. We know he specialises in brutal and invincible noise collages, but there is so much more to it than that. There is always a glimmer of hope that shines through the dense clouds of noise. His noise lives, broods and swings. His latest album for Bottrop-Boy is a true revelation in this respect, not just for the listener, but also for the artist himself. After all, the Venezuelan artist, who is based in New York, has conceded that this is a new style for him. With Eternal Noise Carlos Giffoni enters the holiest of holies, his noise nirvana. Even though Giffoni’s earlier works already sounded impressively organic, with Eternal Noise he is heading for new heights. His customary thick layers of noise sound more subtle than ever before. The four-part suite maintains physical impact, but all faces are turned to heaven, towards eternity. Rather than a noise exercise that sounds like a wrestling match in the dirt, this recording represents ascension towards the sun and open heavens. At times you will find yourself almost drowning in the feedback splashing against you, at other times you will find yourself breathlessly captivated by the peregrinations, whirls and swells of sinus tones. Giffoni is genuinely inspired by the avant-garde music of the 20th century and the results are miraculous.
How Giffoni creates his compositions is of no importance. This is all about their effect on your mood, the spectacle of your ravished soul. You find yourself asking how it is possible that such loud and intense music can be so tranquil and meditative at the same time.
Eternal Noise reconfirms Giffoni’s status as the uncrowned king of contemporary noise. Bottrop-Boy is proud to release this key work in Giffoni’s oeuvre." [label info]
".... The eternal is the easier word to parse. Giffoni here deals exclusively with shape-shifting drones, mostly around the lower partials of the overtone series. Each of the four tracks doesn’t evolve so much as amorphously change emphasis at a geologic or tectonic pace, almost a history of the Earth heard from the inside or the sound of individual molecules vibrating, a kind of nano-counterpoint. Even where there is a pulse within the drone, it serves not as a driving teleological force but rather as a mere marker of the passing time, alluding to the stasis of the most ambient of krautrock tracks. On top of that, Giffoni seems to be evoking a kind of throat singing where the vocal chords have been replaced by charged wires that crackle, buzz, and distort as they vibrate. Each overtone has its own individual color of noise, so the composite is like the gradual color shifts of oil on water or of a dissolving Gobstopper.
Were those flavors of noise not so harsh around the edges, this album could almost be meditative. It is fitting that the liner notes are mostly pictures of Japanese temples, since their serenity is clearly behind almost every sound here, even the harsh ones. And when each track cuts off suddenly, it feels as if you're being unwillingly wrested back into reality." [Dan Rucchia / Dusted Mag]
www.bottrop-boy.com
|
2008 |
€12.50 |
|
| GILLIE, FLAVIEN |
Nonante-neuf fragments harenois |
CD |
Haren is a Brussels commune where deserted industries have supplanted the farmlands. Here, plenty of rail hubs bind and unbind while planes don’t take off anymore from its missing airport, but from nearby Zaventem.
Despite it being unattractive though desirable, I felt immediately at ease over there, at the frontier of abandonment & forgetting ; I could listen to & gaze at desolate spots with a constantly renewed amazement of still being in Brussels.
The Wanson factories where I have recorded in 2011 have since been destroyed, they’ll make room shortly for a mega-prison. The Hamesse garden city left in a state of ruin will be renovated.
The recordings are always an archive of a disappeared now ; in Haren more than anywhere else, I’m aware of the ephemeral, the impermanence.
I wanted to record a lot to keep all those sound environments, all those places in memory ; then I recomposed them to make them mine for a moment, before handing them over to for listening.
www.unfathomless.net
|
2016 |
€14.00 |
|
| GLASS OUT |
Never force a left handed Child |
mLP |
"LTCo presents the debut release, Never Force A Left Handed Child To Use Their Right Hand, by solo artist Andrew Dewar Ainslie, a UK-based composer given to creating atmospheric music from textures, tones and gentle oscillations with a somewhat melancholic or reflective slant. Comprising three songs, ‘Manifesto’, ‘Wild Strawberries’ and the side long title track, this adds up to over 30 minutes of music plus features the late Jhonn Balance on the piece ‘Manifesto’, delivering a very rarely heard reading of the Coil manifesto which was itself first broadcast on Holland’s VPRO station. The release is set to appear during April 2011 and will be strictly limited to 300 only, with the first 50 also featuring a CDR and a selection of hand numbered/signed additional inserts (the remaining 250 will also randomly include some extras). These are exclusive to the label's mail order wing and can only be ordered directly." [label info]
www.lumberton-trading.com
"Its all semantics of course, but this is announced as 12", mini LP, with three tracks, still spanning around thirty minutes and its the first in a series of six (which is going to include Philippe Petit/Cindytalk, Brian Conniffe, Human Greed, Main and Theme), although I am not sure what ties these together. I never heard of Glass Out, being the project of Andrew Dewar Ainslie. Main sales point here is the reading of the Coil manifesto by Jhonn Balance (from a rarely heard session by VPRO Radio) on the piece 'Manifesto'. Electronic music this is, with slow oscillating beats, melodies and spoken word. Quite gentle music here, slowly evolving and highly atmospheric. I am not sure if this is all done with a bunch of synthesizers (analog or digital), or if there was perhaps some other instrument in play here. But the thoughtful atmospheric pieces of music work pretty well here. Its a pity that its only three pieces since it would be interesting to see what other tricks this guy has up his sleeve." [FdW/Vital Weekly]
|
2011 |
€12.50 |
|
| GLOBAL SYSTEMS SILENTLY MOVING |
Altering the Air |
CD |
"Quiet, flowing, rivers of murky low-fi atmospheric haze, with deep, distant, sub-bass pulses that seem to come from underground. Waves of shortwave noise roll up to the listeners feet like water on the shore. Introspective movements to get lost in. Repetitious, hypnotic sequences transmitted from an ethereal universe. All-pervading, and infinitely elastic. Widescreen glimpses into seven perpetually moving soundscapes that have no beginnings or ends. Epic patterns... rolling until the end of time. Lost souls wandering in a dense audio-fog. These are archival analog recordings made in Detroit (1996), and seem to be somehow affiliated with the "deepchord brotherhood" (recorded by/produced by DC), however... the actual artist here is not completely clear." [label info]
|
2007 |
€12.00 |
|
| GLORY FCKN SUN |
Vision scorched |
CD |
"Formed in 2003 as a conduit for intense ritualistic sonic exploration Glory Fckn Sun is the ecstatic psyche-noise trio of Antony Milton (guitar/electronics), Ben Spiers (guitar/violin/electronic) and improv percussionist Simon O'Rorke (gongs/percussion).
'Vision Scorched' collects together one studio track and two live pieces. These range through long form rumbling distorted deep space explorations (complete with supernova and the odd blackhole), intense yet ethereal harsh noise to close with a droning metaphysical raga-esque paean to the great cosmic inevitable of the collapse of the sun, And of light itself. Glory Fckn Sun have been described as having a sound that is like a cross between Flies Inside the Sun and Keiji Haino.
Nearly 2 years in the making and continuing in the PseudoArcana tradition of fantastical over-the-top packaging (...) 'Vision Scorched' is presented in a professionally bound 72 page picture book of sun related imagery with hand printed covers. This is a limited numbered edition CD of 200 copies." [label info]
label: www.pseudoarcana.com
|
2007 |
€16.00 |
|
| GNOME & SPYBEY |
At Willie's Place |
CD |
"I get the honor of announcing Mark Spibey's collaborative release with Gnome (aka Tony D'Oporto). Gnome and Spybey's At Willie's Place will be released in July on Tourette Records in a limited edition of 400 copies. I've had the distinct privilege of hearing the album. It's a gorgeous journey from the heights of the clouds to the forest floor. It's an album of detailed synthetic warmth populated by remotely ethnic melodic figures which roam the tracks like living creatures. The album reminds of Ariel Kalma, the Residents at their most serene, Coil at their most reflective, Aphex at his most ambient, and Eno at his most melodious. It's mood music for those times when you just aren't quite sure what mood you're in, a beam of welcome morning light pouring through the window after a sleepless night of worry. At Willie's Place is the most vibrant record of electronic music I've heard in quite some time." [label info]
www.touretterecords.com
"Mark Spybey goes on and on, here teaming up with somebody called Gnome, which is one Tony D'Oporto, of whom I never heard. Perhaps a spoiler to the end of the review, but Spybey is not a man to change his tune very much. And why should he? He's happy to play atmospheric music of any kind. Sometimes very ambient, sometimes a bit more krautrock inspired and like on 'At Willie's Place' somewhere in between all of that. The synths play moody, sustaining notes, with occasional arpeggio's, a dash of rhythm is faded in and out and that's it. There is hardly a sense of composition - Spybey and Gnome like the flow of sounds it seems. Now that may all sound like I don't like this record, which is not true. In terms of doing something 'new', I'd say its not on this record, but when we look at this in musical terms, its a great record. It reminded me of ambient house, more than a decade ago, with those arpeggio's, sea sounds, bouncing rhythm occasionally and spacious synthesizers. Music that was once vastly popular, and now is nowhere (although, who knows a revival might be imminent). Not something I hear everyday and that's why I was particular interested in this. Should I have more time in the slow summer period, I'll start my own revival and dig out some lost treasures (Aphex Twin, Silent Records) and play this one as if it were an oldie too." [FdW/Vital Weekly]
|
2010 |
€10.00 |
|
| GODFLESH |
Decline & Fall |
CD-EP |
"J.K. Broadrick's most-recognized band, the influential and innovative GODFLESH, who formed in 1998 with bassist Ben Green, disbanded in 2002 and reformed in 2010, present 'Decline & Fall' 4 tracks on a 23 minute mini album." [label info]
www.avalancheinc.co.uk
"Listening to “Ringer”, the first track on Godflesh’s new Decline And Fall ep, it would be easy to imagine that this wasn’t in fact the duo’s first new record since 2001, the sound, as we were assured by folks who heard it before us, was very much like old Godflesh, and now that we -have- heard it, we most definitely concur. Sure there are some subtle differences, the production for one, less raw and abrasive, a bit warmer, as well as some strange sonic filigree that sounds like it could have been lifted off of a Jesu or Pale Sketcher record, and more dynamics too, with some cool psychedelic passages, and more minimal soundscapey bits, but at it’s core, and for the bulk of the ep, the new Godflesh hews pretty close to the old. The guitars gristly and crunchy and abrasive, the bass thick and buzzing and corrosive, the drum machine locked into churning, unwavering, industrial rhythms, Broadrick’s vocals the same sort of pre-Jesu bellow, the songs strangely catchy, with the occasional soaring melody draped over that instantly recognizable industrial machine metal, laced with shards of feedback, and arc of grinding down tuned crush. The whole thing tranced out and hypnotically headbangable, and a serious return to form, one that has us hankering for a proper full length." [Aquarius Records]
https://godflesh1.bandcamp.com/album/decline-and-fall-ep
|
2014 |
€11.00 |
|
| GOLOWIN, SERGIUS |
Lord Krishna von Goloka |
LP |
"In 1973, Rolf Ulrich Kaiser's visionary powers acted as a catalyst for an authentic combination of acid, music and spirituality: the mystical LSD-fueled musical project Lord Krishna Von Goloka. For this adventure into Indian and Oriental mythologies and legends, Kaiser asked esoteric Swiss artist (he was a friend of Giger's), poet, specialist on Alpine folklore, and friend of Timothy Leary, Sergius Golowin, to join a group of musicians including Klaus Schulze and members of Wallenstein and Witthüser + Westrupp. It was perhaps mere coincidence that Golowin's classic treatise on witches, herbs, and magic mushrooms was published that same year (Magie Der Verbotenen Märchen); the book was fast becoming a cult item -- iit was secretly xeroxed in what was then-Communist East Germany, and later distributed in the hippie-underground there. Sergius Golowin's intellectual and spiritual world of occultism, popular legends, and shamanism were the foundation for the project. He was responsible for the lyrics, which consisted of incantatory recitations in German over the multi-textural compositions." [label info]
www.zyx.de
|
2013 |
€16.00 |
|
| GOLYSHEV, NIKITA |
Solaris |
CD |
Auf dem Moskauer Label MONOCHROME VISION erscheinen nicht nur Fundstücke aus der Experimental-Historie, sondern auch Newcomer der russischen Szene. NIKITA GLOYSHEV spinnt feinste microwave-drones, die sich sachte verwandeln, mit leicht mechanischem Touch und untergründigem Brodeln versehen.
Ultra-minimal & wahrnehmungsverändernd...
"The debut CD album of one of the most promising russian underground musician, presenting his own unique vision of ambient music. Combining the deep layers of machine-like hum and minimal melodic keys, Nikita creates highly emotional and dramatic journey to the netherworld. Two parts of this one hour long suite are the partly presented in the program of Add Noise II festival on May 15th, 2007.
Beginning in 2003 as the part of duo aptly titled CD-R, Nikita Golyshev quickly became the one of the most promising electronic musicians on the russian underground scene. His output progressed from rhythmic noise mayhem to diverse and heterogeneous experiments, ranging from machine improvisation through bleak drones to pure processed acoustic minimalism. He released some CD-Rs and published many works online, as well as on his own Musica Excentrica, Electrosound and Share My Wings imprints. He finally recorded the debut CD album under his real name." [label notes]
".... 'Solaris' is his debut solo CD and it's hard not to see this as a soundtrack to the Tarkovsky movie, even when there is no such reference on the cover. The music spread out over two pieces of around thirty minutes could have been alternative soundtracks to that movie. Golyshev's plays some interesting under water and under world like drone music of a great kind. Golyshev keeps things minimal but too such an extent that changes appear at the right moment - the true power of drone music, I guess. Don't be a bore, don't let changes come to quickly, everything on the right moment. This version of 'Solaris' is great and surely the name Golyshev is worth keeping an ear open for. " [FdW / Vital Weekly]
www.monochromevision.ru
|
2008 |
€13.00 |
|
| GOSLINGS |
Spaceheater / Perfect Interior |
CD |
“Spaceheater/Perfect Interior collects the first two EP's from husband-and-wife duo the GOSLINGS, originally released as short-run CD-Rs on low-fi/indie noise imprint Asaurus Records in 2003-2004. Working with a signature palette of melted, low-fi indie pop and muggy/smeared psych-drone ambience ground through overdriven amplifiers and shot out into pools of swirling basement shudder, The GOSLINGS adorn their gorgeous powermurk with eerie field recordings, ghostly subterranean vocals, and crackling cable buzz. If SUNN O))) had, in actuality, been a late-80's dreampop outfit on 4AD Records, or if cult shoegazers MEDICINE had ever collaborated with drone-axe sorcerers EARTH, the resulting fug may have been similiar to this black-sugar avalanche. Simultaneously ethereal and blown-out,angelic strains of four-track mud-majesty shaking the walls of the ancient well it's buried beneath.” [label info]
|
2006 |
€13.00 |
|
| GRASSOW, MATHIAS |
Tamanoshima |
CD |
"Travels on dim ethereal oceans of mystery should be familiar waters to those of you who have been following gterma for some time now. On Tamanoshima, Mathias brings us into unchartered vistas for a slightly mindbending and hypnotic journey into minimal soundworlds. A warm and glowing drift based on material composed in the summer of 2013. Album comes in the regular jewelcase with 16-page booklet." [label info]
http://gterma.blogspot.se
|
2013 |
€13.00 |
|
| |
Isola |
CD |
On the outskirts of our civilization, life tends to happen at its own pace. While there may be no chronometer in sight, every living thing is aware of, and follows, the continuous solar cycle. It is an enigmatic and confusing phenomenon that we carry within us in our very own blood.
Isola is created from archival recordings composed between 2009 and 2012 and flows along with the day/night cycle as seen from some remote locations. Album in jewel case with 8-page booklet.
https://gterma.bandcamp.com/album/isola
|
2022 |
€14.00 |
|
| GRASSOW, MATHIAS & THOMAS WEISS |
Outland |
CD |
"A reflection from outer spaces in between the universe of our mind.
A miniature of the endless space from far behind mankinds tangibility.
To understand the real essence of the heart of the matter, often it is necessary to take a look from the distance. Just this distance shows structures and connections, which are otherwise impossible to see and grasp – because everyone himself is part of a certain situation. Therefore “Outland” stands for a journey into an “outer land”, to become an advanced view for realization. Luxury pack with artworks of Markus Vogt." [label info]
www.faria.ru
|
2007 |
€12.00 |
|
| GREENHAM, LILY |
Lingual Music |
do-CD |
"Britain’s best known sound poet is Bob Cobbing, but it’s hard to come up with a list of other sound poets working in Britain in the 60’s and 70’s. It’s equally difficult to think of any female sound poets working anywhere. Lily Greenham was Danish, but spent her childhood in Vienna. After several relocations across Europe she settled in London in 1972 with her British husband (musician and poet Peter Greenham), where she lived until her death in 2001. Nearly all of her own writings and compositions date from after her arrival in London, but prior to her arrival in London she had been involved in two major European art movements. In the late 50’s she had been an active member of the early Wienner Gruppe, performing in their wild experimental theatre works and reciting the new poetry of young artists like Gerhard Rühm, Konrad Bayer and A.C. Hartmann, but before the Wienner Gruppe had established itself as the important art movement it was to become, she had moved on and changed her working practice.
In 1964 she was back in Paris for a second time, but this time she was working as a visual artist specialising in optical art. She was soon directly involved in group shows with the ‘Groupe de Recherche d’Art Visuel’. For the second time she was at the centre of an emerging art movement that was exploring new ground, but predictably enough she moved on. Once in London she began to record her own text based compositions that used a mixture of sound poetry techniques, electronics and multi-tracking. The term ‘lingual music’ that she coined for her compositions refers to her technique of using tape loops of text to create complex and dense musical structures. Her most well known composition in this style is ‘Relativity’, which was made in 1974 in collaboration with the Radiophonic Workshop at the BBC. She also worked with quite a few musicians, both via the early LMC network in London, but also on an international scene. A list of musicians she worked with includes John Tchicai, Wolfgang Dauner, Bob Downes, Barry Guy, Hugh Davies, Max Eastley and Peter Cusack. This 2CD set compiles a wide variety of her own work, including live solo performaces, film soundtrack pieces, as well as many tape pieces. There are also examples of her performing works by Cobbing, Rühm and other sound poets, as well as recordings of her work with Bob Downes Open Music. The recordings date from between 1968 and 1984." [label info]
www.stalk.net/paradigm
|
2007 |
€16.00 |
|
| GRIM |
Message |
LP |
Grim is the one-man project of Jun Konagaya - formed from the ashes of White Hospital, his legendary early 1980s noise duo with Tomosada Kuwahara - which, accepting a long hiatus in the middle, has bridged the worlds of industrial music, power electronics, and noise for nearly three decades. Belonging roughly to the first wave of Japanese noise, Konagaya is particularly noteworthy among his peers for casting an eye further afield, drawing influences from bands like Whitehouse and SPK, rather than members of his own scene, as well varied reference points as far afield as the traditional folk music of Tibet. That understood, nothing was likely to prepare the context of Japanese noise for what was delivered by his 1987 EP “Message”.
It belongs to a body of three releases created by Grim during the 1980s, including the full length, “Folk Music”, issued by Eskimo Records in 1986, and the EP, “Amaterasu”, released by G.A. Propaganda in 1985. While its two predecessors are brilliant and more or less what you might expect from a seminal artist of Japanese noise, “Message” follows a markedly different path, delving toward the realm of pop and folk via a series of six songs that emit a stronger connection to Daniel Johnson, Syd Barrett, Sebadoh, and Tenniscoats than anything the noise scene has ever produced; it feels like walking through an ancient fairy tale forest, all hazy, magical and slightly eerie.
Dreamy and meandering, drawing on '60s psychedelia, DIY aesthetics, and folky undercurrents, Grim’s “Message” is a masterstroke in underground Japanese pop, pushing radically forward, while challenging the boundaries of the scene to which the project predominately belongs. Following the album’s original release in 1987, Jun Konagaya followed different paths beyond the world of sound, before unexpectedly relaunching an incredibly prolific career, returning to more explicit territories of noise. As such, “Message” remained a coveted, rare artefact of a road less traveled and a window into the diverse talents and temperaments that rest below all of his output.
One of the most distinct and unexpected artifacts of the Japanese scene during the period, rather than the full throttle fury for which it has been widely known, here we encounter the one-man project of Jun Konagaya weaving stunningly beautiful passages within the realm of pop and folk, incorporating elements of '60s psychedelia and Lo-Fi DIY, with Yukio Nagoshi, founding member of the Vasilisk unit, on guitar and percussion and A. Takahashi on vocals, with collaboration and technical support from Tomosada Kuwahara, partner and co-founder with Jun Konagaya of the legendary group White Hospital. First ever reissue of the album furthers these insights, extending the original EP with an entirely new body of noise-oriented reworks by Grim of the original six tracks, effectively doubling in length to a full-length release.
https://urashima.bandcamp.com/album/message
"Hätten die subkulturellen Phänomene, die irgendwann von Juristen und Journalisten als Wreckers of Civilization oder England’s Hidden Reverse bezeichnet worden sind, ein Pendant in Japan gehabt, dann wäre Jun Konagaya alias Grim wahrscheinlich das zentrale Flaggschiff dieser Bewegung gewesen, denn sein Interesse am Abseitigen hatte – in Ansätzen bereits bei seiner Band White Hospital – Züge des okkult-autistischen Dandyismus, die man häufig bei den englischen Kollegen beobachtete.
Nachdem Konagaya bereits einige Erfahrungen mit lärmenden Soundcollagen gesammelt hatte, entdeckte er Mitte der 80er seine Leidenschaft für das Songformat und für eine Art folkigen Pop, der Schrägheit mit gut dosiertem Kitsch verbindet, und so erschien 1986 das heute als heimlicher Klassiker geltende Album “Folk Music” auf Grims eigenem Label Eskimo Records. Zu dessen Nachwehen gehört auch die im Jahr darauf erschienene EP “Message” (ebenfalls Eskimo), die mit einer Handvoll an Gästen eingespielt wurde und jüngst von Urashima Records neu aufgelegt wurde.
Während Grims Wurzeln in der Geräuschmusik in “Folk Music” noch deutlicher zu hören waren, könnte man diese in “Message” eher subtil in einer unterschwelligen Unbehaglichkeit aufspüren, denn rein stilistisch bewegen sich die sechs Stücke fast komplett im Bereich poppig angehauchter Folk-Lullabies, in denen sanfte Gitarrenakkorde und dazu passender Gesang, bei dem nicht immer ganz klar ist, ob man gerade eine Sängerin oder einen Sänger hört, das Bild prägen. Der Opener “Heritage” startet gleich mit Picking und lieblichem Gesang, und schon in diesem Stück fällt in der gefühlvollen Mollastigkeit eine galoppierende Euphorie auf, deren verhuschte Exzentrik durch die launige Trompete gegen Ende noch einmal extra unterstrichen wird.
Jedes der Stücke hat seine eigenen Marotten: Bei “Deep in Meditation” ist es das Zusammenspiel von Walzertakt und etwas, dass wie eine Melodika klingt, bei “Parable & Cole” das Paradox einer lieblich-pastoralen Monotonie als Kulisse intimer Flüsterstimmen. Bei “Mooncalf’s Walz” der leicht verzerrte Moment zu Beginn, der aber recht schnell einer noch fiepsigeren Lieblichkeit die Tür öffnet. Diese erreicht bei “Klara’s Song” den Höhepunkt an Kindlichkeit, und trotz psychedelischer Twangs schwebt über all dem eine 80er Jahre-Stimmung, die sich neben der rauen und sicher gewollt einfachen Klanggestaltung einem Esprit verdankt, den man nicht künstlich erzeugen kann. Man sollte als weitere Klammer aber auch das leicht unbehagliche Element einmal mehr betonen – eine seltsame Weltfremdheit, die sich in den allzuschönen Arrangements bei genauerem Hinhören offenbart und den Eindruck entstehen lässt, dass dieses Idyll nicht nur von Feen und Folksternchen bevölkert ist, sondern ebenso sehr von dämonischem Gesindel.
Heute werden gerne renommierte Sängerinnen und Sänger aus Folk und Psychedelic der Jahre um 1970 genannt, wenn man sich auf Grims hier durchgezogenen Stil einen Reim machen will. Wer allerdings zu Konagayas eigener Generation gehört und mit undergroundigen Songs der 80er und 90er sozialisiert worden ist, hat vielleicht spezifischere Assoziationen, und die können von Strawberry Switchblade über frühe Psychic TV und die Legendary Pink Dots bis zu den ersten folkigen Versuchen von Current 93 oder Death in June reichen – ein merkwürdiges Kuriosum, bei dem ich nie ganz über den Gedanken hinweg komme, wie nah das alles an einem potentiellen Pop-Hype vorbeigeschlittert ist. Interessant und hervorhebenswert ist dabei, das Grim eine solche Musik bereits perfektionierte, als diese auch in Europa erst im Entstehen begriffen war.
Der Wiederveröffentlichung, die diese Songs erneut auf Vinyl präsentiert, sind einige Remixe als Bonustracks hinzugefügt – ultranoisige Versionen, die die Spuren späterer Entwicklungen Konagayas tragen, die aber die süßlich säuselnden Stimmen immer noch geisterhaft im von Lärm erfüllten Raum schweben lassen." [U.S./ African Paper]
"Returning off the back of an incredible run of deep dives into numerous historical contexts of noise, Urashima brings us the first ever vinyl reissue of Grim's legendary 1987 EP, “Message”, now expanded to a full album's length.
One of the most distinct and unexpected artifacts of the Japanese scene during the period, rather than the full throttle fury for which it has been widely known, here we encounter the one-man project of Jun Konagaya weaving stunningly beautiful passages within the realm of pop and folk, incorporating elements of '60s psychedelia and Lo-Fi DIY.
This highly sought-after holy grail of the 1980s underground is issued by Urashima in a limited edition of 199 copies, and won't sit around for long.
Grim
"Message"(LP)
Since its founding during the late 2000s, the Italian imprint, Urashima, has become a definitive voice in the landscape of noise, sculpting a singular vision of one of the most vibrant and revolutionary bodies of experimental sound to have graced the globe. Already in 2022, they’ve delivered beautiful, ambitious limited edition releases like Controlled Death’s “Death Synth Box”, Merzbow’s “Collection 001-010” and “Hybrid Noisebloom”, as well as Masonna’s “Masonna Vs. Bananamara” and Hijokaidan’s “Zouroku No Kibyou”.
Beginning the label’s final push toward the end of the year is the first ever vinyl reissue of Grim’s legendary, highly sought after 1987 EP, “Message”, now expanded with new material to a full LP in length. An inexplicable hybrid of folk, indie pop, electronic music, and experimentalism, there’s almost nothing like it within the territory and context of sound within in which it rests. A true holy grail of the 1980s Japanese underground, with original pressings commanding crazy money on the collector’s market, this very limited edition of 199 copies is going to be gone in a flash. Don’t sleep!
Grim is the one-man project of Jun Konagaya - formed from the ashes of White Hospital, his legendary early 1980s noise duo with Tomasada Kuwahara - which, accepting a long hiatus in the middle, has bridged the worlds of industrial music, power electronics, and noise for nearly three decades. Belonging roughly to the first wave of Japanese noise, Konagaya is particularly noteworthy among his peers for casting an eye further afield, drawing influences from bands like Whitehouse and SPK, rather than members of his own scene, as well varied reference points as far afield as the traditional folk music of Tibet. That understood, nothing was likely to prepare the context of Japanese noise for what was delivered by his 1987 EP “Message”.
“Message” belongs to a body of three releases created by Grim during the 1980s, including the full length, “Folk Music”, issued by Eskimo Records in 1986, and the EP, “Amaterasu”, released by G.A. Propaganda in 1985. While its two predecessors are brilliant and more or less what you might expect from a seminal artist of Japanese noise, “Message” follows a markedly different path, delving toward the realm of pop and folk via a series of six songs that emit a stronger connection to Daniel Johnson, Syd Barrett, Sebadoh, and Tenniscoats than anything the noise scene has ever produced.
Dreamy and meandering, drawing on '60s psychedelia, DIY aesthetics, and folky undercurrents, Grim’s “Message” is a masterstroke in underground Japanese pop, pushing radically forward, while challenging the boundaries of the scene to which the project predominately belongs. Following the album’s original release in 1987, Jun Konagaya followed different paths beyond the world of sound, before unexpectedly relaunching an incredibly prolific career, returning to more explicit territories of noise. As such, “Message” remained a coveted, rare artefact of a road less traveled and a window into the diverse talents and temperaments that rest below all of his output. Urashima’s first ever reissue of the album furthers these insights, extending the original EP with an entirely new body of noise-oriented reworks by Grim of the original six tracks, effectively doubling in length to a full-length release.
Visionary, wild, and weird, this beautifully produced LP is issued in a very limited edition of 199 copies, and is an absolute must for any fan of Grim, Japanese noise, and '80s DIY psychedelic pop." [Soundohm] |
2022 |
€29.00 |
|
| GRINBERG, ANATOLY |
The Dreams and their Meanings |
CD |
"dreams are like the brain’s video playback machine. they’re made up of bits and pieces of memories, images, products of the imagination, and feelings. the brain arranges these into a story - usually a slightly weird one! most people dream up to 6 times a night, but there are those who don't dream at all. whether this is legitimate or they just never remember their night time stories, nobody really knows. these are 7 types of dreams and anatoly grinberg's musical interpretation of them.
it’s a finely crafted and sophisticated ambient album, straddling the axis between industrial, electronic, contemporary modern classical and improvised noise with raw emotion and a continuous cinematic tension. a sonically rewarding journey through our dreams.
all tracks written and produced by anatoly grinberg in moscow, russia in 2020-2021. artwork by stefan alt. this is ant-zen act410"
https://ant-zen.bandcamp.com/album/the-dreams-and-their-meanings
|
2021 |
€13.00 |
|
| GRKZGL |
Esque |
mCD |
Very complex digital experimental music from a new act from Montreal on this fine Canadian label, not easy to categorize, strange sounds & kind of rhythms everywhere…… recommended for explorers of the digital sphere….
“ 'Esque' is the first 3" mini-cd ep release on Angle Records. To create the music Grkzgl uses laptop, synths and bass, plus there is metal percussion on the last 6th track, which is the most noisy of all. Otherwise, the sound is in the atmospheric glitchy areas, loosely improvised but with a clear direction of where it's going, sometimes even a rhythmic patterns appear. Grkzgl is obviously inspired and influenced by the post-industrial ambience, not being too minimal or too harsh, but still merging all those styles into one whole piece, divided in 6 tracks which are mixed into each other. Very nice ep for this artist and hopefully more releases in the same format to come on the label.” [BR / Vital Weekly]
|
2006 |
€6.50 |
|
| GRUNTSPLATTER |
The Aberrant Laboratory |
CD |
Not as raw & overwhelming earthquake-droning as previous releases, this latest GRUNTSPLATTER album is rather striding through dark ambient fields, slow and isolationistic but highly dynamic and vivid, like a breathing organism, with lots of tiny details in the mix...there's some real dark beauty-chaos to reveal here.
" finds Gruntsplatter exploring more ambient and disorienting planes in an effort to contextualize the ramifications of renegade science and deviant medicine. Framed against a somewhat literary backdrop, it is one of the more concrete conceptual works from the project and creates a different kind of listen than past releases. The familiar components of the sound that has sustained Gruntsplatter for the last 10 plus years are intact, and are perhaps at their most effective in allowing the listeners thoughts to wander with this outing. Brooding ambience, and cutting frequencies combine with odd melody and an enveloping, fluid mix that lead you through the dirty laboratories and hovels of taboo science where genius and atrocity meet on level ground." [from the website info]
www.going-underground.de |
2006 |
€13.00 |
|
| GUS COMA |
Color him coma |
do-CD |
"The first CD in this set is a reissue of an obscure cassette release from 1983 that was originally released in a small edition on the London based, It’s War Boys label. This C60 consisted of 2 distinct halves. Side 1 was formed around several mixes of an experimental track, constructed from a room-sized 24 track loop. A version of this track first appeared on the LP Flagellation by The Just Measurers (who were C. D. Greyt, Yakkö Banovic and Narki Brillans).
Side 2 is a collage of mostly unused (and some remixed), excerpts from what became the title track of the Milk From Cheltenham LP, Triptych of Poisoners. This LP track consisted of a tape collage of the live mixdown of 17 cassette recordings of locked record grooves, simultaneously, with stray radio and an infernal matchbox. The full Milk LP is now available on CD via Alga Marghen. Both these LPs were also originally It’s War Boys projects.
As with other releases by these guys nobody worked under the same name twice, but if you are familiar with their soundworld then there will be no mystery, only astonishment. Nearly all the session material here was engineered by Chris Grey, best known for his work with The Homosexuals.
No production master was ever found for CD1, so one of the actual cassette edition had to be used in its place. However, whilst looking through the archive for the master tape, an alternative version of the tape was found, which although it followed a similar blueprint to CD1 it also contained some very different music, some primitive disco drum programming, and a somewhat more sophisticated sound quality. It was difficult to choose which version to release, so both versions appear here, but at the generous price of a single CD.
Each CD also contains an additional much longer bonus track at the end that was originally intended as working material for the unfinished Milk From Cheltenham LP 2.
The guest musicians on this CD set are many and varied, but it’s all put together by Gus Coma, Lepke B’s dwarfish cousin, who renounced show-biz to work as a Heavy Goods Vehicle driver. All in, the material here is the strangest and most experimental music to come from the It’s War Boys scene. Expect gigantic tape loop symphonies, sundry plunderphonics, lo- fi Sparks and the voice of JFK, a William Burroughs interview (on one track), and a worn out teach yourself English tape. Color Him Coma!" [label info]
www.stalk.net/paradigm
|
2011 |
€15.00 |
|
| GUS, LARRY |
Iasmos |
CD |
Larry Gus - Iasmos CDR
Lovely baby pop electronica with live extracts.
Limited to 252 handnumbered copies
Very special package in five folded wagon parts like a train
Artwork: Hara
Released: 04/04/2009
Tracklisting:
18 untitled tracks
Total time: 33:05
"Somewhere in the more remote area of Xanthi there is family who treat their two children with unusual birthday gifts, usually specially played recorded CDs. One Larry Gus played some music for the second birthday of Orion (who I saw being baptized, but that's another story), which seems partly based on field recordings of a children's party and, for a larger part, on electronic keyboards, loop devices and a bit of vocals. Eighteen short pieces here of highly improvised music - there is a story about the original master being and it had to be restored or recreated in a short time span, but it sounds quite nice altogether. Childlike, obviously I'd say, intimate and also at times joyous. At thirty two minutes also having the right length for such a thing." [FdW, Vital Weekly] |
2009 |
€7.00 |
|
| 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 |
|
| GUTHRIE, ANNE / RICHARD KAMERMAN |
Sinter |
CD |
"Sinter injects vast amounts of oxygen into the room, air swirling and echoing in huge spaces, light shimmering and hazy. In metallurgical terms, sintering is the making of objects from powder and powdery, especially with a metallic connotation, isn't the worst term you could use for much of this music. Field recordings (and, per the sleeve, domestic recordings) are mixed with electronics throughout; nary a French horn in sight though I think I pick up a bit of Kamerman's small clattering devices here and there. [] An extraordinary piece capping one of the finest recordings I've heard in quite a while. Excellent work'. Brian Olewnick. ErstAEU, a new sub-label to 'document the work of young American experimental musicians working in a post-electroacoustic vein'." [label info]
www.erstwhilerecords.com
Dusted Reviews
Artist: Anne Guthrie / Richard Kamerman
Album: Sinter
Label: ErstAEU
Review date: May. 15, 2013
"Erstwhile Records has just rolled out a new sub-label, ErstAEU. In the tradition of AMM, the AEU is not explained. Despite the paucity of officially sanctioned information — you won’t find any explanatory text on the label’s website — there’s a definite aesthetic angle at work here. The label’s first three CDs are all the product of American-born duos, and all of the participants are in their 20s or 30s. Conventional instruments aren’t completely absent, but they often take a back seat to captured or processed sounds, as well as disorienting manipulations of time and space. One thing the albums do not share is a particular methodology. Graham Stephenson and Aaron Zarzutski’s Touching is a straight-up improv encounter; Joe Panzner and Greg Stuart’s Dystonia Duos combines played and processed sounds into hard-shelled containers of noisy electrical activity; and Anne Guthrie and Richard Kamerman’s Sinter, an assembly of “field recordings, domestic recordings, composition, improvisation, and processing,” which inhabits some zone that doesn’t really have a name yet.
For clues about how to understand it, one can look to the album’s name. Sintering bonds powdered clay into a pot without melting it; even after it’s fired, the ceramic’s texture will make you think of clay. The disparate elements of “Civil Twilight: 5:23” — dancing electrical buzzes, slow-changing mechanical hums, under-the-breath counting, close-up paper shuffling, and distant outdoor sounds — likewise retain their essential individual characters even though they have been configured into a hefty yet spacious block of musique concrète. But the way the sounds hang together doesn’t tell you why they were made to sit in that configuration, or how you should respond to them. They just are what they are.
So you might either be thinking about now, “I gotta hear this record,” or “Why the hell would I ever want to hear this stuff?” You know who you are, and either way I’d tell you to listen to your inner voice. Having spent a lot of time with it, I’m on both sides of the fence. On the one hand, there’s “Re(Z)=Piper, Im(Z)=Andrej,” an amalgam of cleanly recorded exchanges in Italian (I think), fuzzy room sounds that might come from a mall or train station, and mightily distorted monk chants that sound like they’re being played Alvin Lucier-style from a busted speaker into a resonant room. I’d heartily recommend it to anyone who likes their noise non-macho and genuinely unpredictable. On the other, listening to “Porcellino”’s layers of distant banging and close metallic clanking is an exhausting Cage-ian exercise in using applied attention to pry interest from boredom.
The most rewarding piece is the longest, the last, and the one that feels most musical. Taking a cue once more from nomenclature, “Several Or Many Fibers” feels to me like a tapestry. I’m not sure that its journey — from footsteps and a hovering synth note through sounds of water striking different surfaces to a late burst of weather reporting — is intended to say anything at all. But the way these sounds succeed each other implies a narrative whose inscrutability makes there passage compelling." [Bill Meyer, DUSTED magazine]
|
2013 |
€15.00 |
|
| H.Ö.H. |
Superorganism |
LP |
"Finnish obscurity has reached small cult status with his tape releases. Utterly primitive totally analogue noise experiments, have been most often self published by artists, but there exists sold out and sought after CD anthology consisting some of the early tapes. This vinyl album is all new material, exclusive for the LP. Tape loops, broken primitive electronics, tape hiss and distortion crackles, with really tasty sound and perfect vinyl sound."
https://freak-animal.net/2020/12/20/hoh-lp-amek-maj-moozzhead-freak-animal-2020/
|
2020 |
€20.00 |
|
| HAARVÖL |
Ridge of Humming Spoils |
CD |
The Portugese trio Haarvöl returns to Moving Furniture Records with the last part in their trilogy. After Bombinate and Peripherad Debris they conclude this journey with Ridge Of Humming Spoils.
"Psychoanalysis refers to the frontier as an empty signifier: it embodies an interior and an exterior. The last album of the trilogy we set out to puts us there. On top of a vast set of remains whispering to us. Remains, because they have been left behind, because they are no longer useful. And yet, usefulness is something that tells little or nothing to us, artists. Quite the opposite. For this very reason, this new album is made up of these testimonies that whisper their condition very strongly to us. From the top of this pile of whispering remains we have achieved something that is precious to us: time, in its three dimensions, and not enclosed in that kind of perpetual present where they want to force us into, in a timeless time.
Here, at the top of this ridge, we can look back and ahead. Because it interests us. Because we want to.
We started the trilogy in a noisy place, but still with views to the center, we walked towards the periphery and now we find ourselves at the top of an empty signifier, on a border metaphor. It would have to be this way in a project where the important thing is the escape from formulas and repetitions: maintaining coherence without falling into concessions has always been our motto. Naturally, as we are at the border, its outside is much more appealing to us (it has always been this way until today. The continuous migrations of the past and of the tragic present prove it so) with its uncertainties and unfamiliarity, but also with the certainty of the difference. Is this not, after all, the appeal of art: that attraction for the unknown? Therefore, we have a certainty that is continually whispered to us by these remains that can be heard now: we will move on to the outer side, of course. The border, here made up of this ridge of whispering remains/humming spoils, has naturally closed the cycle. That is what borders are for: to interrupt, to limit; ultimately, to try to block. In our case, to be crossed affirmatively – as we well know, there are no walls that can prevent it.
We will continue exploring the sounds that interest us: sounds that contemplate time and attention as decisive elements, sounds that can appear as specters, asynchronous, almost incongruous with this time with no time to have time, this autophagic time. But already outside. In a utopia of an exile that carries no form of negativity, it affirms itself as positive otherwise because it allows the necessary distance to a placement that wants to be creatively critical.
One last note for something that sometimes appears in a completely innocuous way: the track titles. That is not our case. Here, just as it has been common throughout the rest of our discography, the titles we choose try to connect the real that surrounds us and that we don’t want to be oblivious to. After all, they embody this whole metaphor of abstract sonorities built up in trilogy, but, very attentive to the real. So is our stated intention to close the record with a small tribute to that remain of an already distant past, which yet continues being present, asynchronous. It is called Éliane. Maybe it’s a synonym of future. Who knows? Psychoanalysis refers to the frontier as an empty signifier: it embodies an interior and an exterior. The last album of the trilogy we set out to puts us there. On top of a vast set of remains whispering to us. Remains, because they have been left behind, because they are no longer useful. And yet, usefulness is something that tells little or nothing to us, artists. Quite the opposite. For this very reason, this new album is made up of these testimonies that whisper their condition very strongly to us. From the top of this pile of whispering remains we have achieved something that is precious to us: time, in its three dimensions, and not enclosed in that kind of perpetual present where they want to force us into, in a timeless time.
https://www.movingfurniturerecords.com/haarvol-ridge-of-humming-spoils/
https://haarvol.bandcamp.com/album/ridge-of-humming-spoils
|
2020 |
€12.00 |
|
|
Seeking the Intimacy of Silence |
CD |
One of the things the pandemic brought us was an eerie silence: imposed, artificial.
Together with the silence, it brought a concomitant isolation. It left its mark on all of us, in different ways, but a distinct mark which still remains today.
This new release which we bring you now, holds, at its core, this recent experience.
That is why we wanted to address what we decided to call a kind of intimacy with silence. Above all, it is a question of highlighting the difference between the previous artificiality and imposition by another relationship: now free, now real. To be intimate with silence is to recognise its existence and importance (as CAGE taught us many decades ago) and thus to attempt an approximation to try to bring reality into the sounds we have built. A part of that reality, at least, the one that is detached from anaesthesia; the one whose silence is active.
The pandemic and the forced isolation brought us another need: to be with others again, to share life and reality (without screens or other devices to disguise the distance).
That\'s also why this record was built in a different logic from all our previous ones: in face-to-face sessions, in which the tracks were being built in a live environment that we had never tried before. What is heard has been played and experienced in a continuous sound dialogue, and yet without a safety net. Perhaps the pandemic has brought us closer together and more eager to enjoy the present.
It was, therefore, the sounds that approached and brought us closer to this longed-for conviviality with the idea of silence.
Togetherness extended to the collaborations we love so much. To collaborate is to enhance sharing. On this record, we can hear Martijn Comes\'s guitar or Xoán-Xil López\'s cello in a crossing of intentionalities and sounds that feed our desired approach.
A few words, too, for the importance of words.
On this album, we built the track titles as if they were a poem. It was a deliberate choice to preserve its unity, its whole. This is an album that refuses the fragmentary, but rather is made of fragments. Fragments of a whole. And that whole is the result of this kind of poetic metaphor that is embodied in its title.
May the approach to silence thus be an allegory of a time and reality that are ours and with which we want to interact intensely, even if we interfere in its most intimate moments, or in other words, its silences...
Indeed, CAGE again, or memory as a device to nullify distance.
All compositions by FJP, JF. Martijn Comes, guitar (1); Xoán-Xil López, cello (3). Haarvöl are Fernando José Pereira, JoÃo Faria (music) and Rui Manuel Vieira (images).
Artwork by José Carneiro
Mastered by Jos Smolders at EARLabs
https://haarvol.bandcamp.com/album/seeking-the-intimacy-of-silence
|
2023 |
€12.00 |
|
| |
Indite |
CD |
Haarvöl, a collective project based in Portugal with three permanent members, has been active in the field of experimental music since the end of 2012.
Haarvöl’s music is conceptually developed in the exploration of the properties of sounds in order to achieve cinematic and imaging environments. The sounds are not restricted to their medial origins: both digital and analogue sources are used and mixed in intricate compositions with special attention to detail.
The emphasis on non-illustrative interaction of sounds with images is evident in the videos purposely prepared for certain compositions. They can be viewed on the Vimeo page of the project (vimeo.com/haarvol).
In 2014 Haarvöl released their first album, “Hebetude”, at PAD - Easy Pieces label, where it is possible to hear the first attempts to embody all the premises the group want for their music.
"Indite" is Haarvöl’s new album and was composed during 2014. It is the second release, and so there are endemic links with the previous affirmation of their own sound. However, there is an effort towards obtaining a singularity in the new compositions. The tracks of the album try to form a homogeneous but not monolithic body of work to produce a diverse set of sounds with resonant similarities which do not repeat themselves, though. We find again the wide-ranging compositional structure already present in the previous album, that is, the use of non-hierarchical of analogue sounds as well as their electronic and digital counterparts in a joint effort to build the themes. The cinematic intentionality of the music attempts to reveal in detail the relationship with reality – here embodied by the intense use of field recordings as important components in the compositional process.
In Old English, "Indite" refers to the creative process of composing. This is perhaps one of the most relevant features of this new album: rather than the sonic intensity or wide experimentation, it is on the complex and dense composition of the themes that the rigorous structure, which decisively affirms the album, is built.
https://haarvol.bandcamp.com/album/indite
|
2015 |
€12.00 |
|
| HAARVÖL + XOAN-XIL LOPEZ |
Unwritten Rules of a Ceaseless Journey |
CD |
Haarvöl’s three permanent members — Fernando José Pereira, João Faria, and Rui Manuel Vieira — collaborate with Xoán-Xil López, a Galician sound artistic working on field recording and experimental music.
Haarvöl develops cinematic soundscapes, with analogue or digital sound sources weaved in complex and detailed compositions. They have been active since 2012 and have thus far released albums at PAD and Moving Furniture Records, presenting now their first release in Crónica, "Unwritten Rules for a Ceaseless Journey".
This album documents three pieces composed for dance, commissioned by Ballet Teatro for the play "Revoluções" (Revolutions) by choreographer Né Barros. The work is divided in three parts, embodying formal idealisations of the three decisive layers of time — past, present, and future.
First moment: Something’s Missing (Utopian)
Theodor Adorno and Ernst Bloch discussed the problem of utopia as a possibility in a heated debate they produced in 1964 and later published in the book The Utopian Function of Art and Literature. It is in this context that Bloch launches the notion of “something's missing”, to seek to configure the utopian possibility. It is also from this notion of Bloch that the possibility of thinking and forming forms the whole utopian revolutionary essence that presides over emancipatory developments. This "before" is decisive for the understanding of the idea of revolution. It is here that the necessary possibilities are produced and, above all, the utopian aspirations of fracture and change. The Blochian “something’s missing” leads to the emancipatory idea from that place without place that is utopia. Or, putting it another way, it powers the immensity of thought without limitations. The revolutionary effervescence of the before is, perhaps, the most essential condition in the approach to the idea of revolution. Exactly because it does not come across any limit, because it is located in this place without place. But it is from this realisation that we can deal with the power of free thought, with the immense intentionality of this missing something which, being above all a naturally porous and cloudy thing, offers itself to the immense beauty of total openness. It will be there, in the dematerialised embodiment of free thought, that the whole process develops and is also in the possibility of art as a place of freedom (another place with no place that exists only between the artist and his work in a utopian dimension) it has its approximate representation.
Second moment: Pulsating Waves (Reality)
Pulse tone waves are frequencies embodied in a pulsar that is at the same time decisive for all humans and, metaphorically, for the revolution. Feeling the pulse of events, of agitation, of breaking, is essential for the revolutionary moment. It is this kind of continuous auscultation that determines success or, rather, the inversion of the whole emancipatory movement in the process of pragmatic transfiguration which, by obvious ineffectiveness, becomes implosive. The pulsations of events thus assert themselves as a decisive engine, and yet, in the face of the weakening of the utopian drive in its inevitable collision with reality, everything changes. The passage from one moment to the other brings with it the presence of the now and the consequent structural modifications that the utopian impossibility needs to maintain itself as an emancipatory impulse. It will then be in the programmatic transfiguration of the revolutionary event that its pulsation is played, more or less strong, but never absent. The decisive clash also affirms the reality, stripped of all the romantic drive that forms the revolutionary utopia. The fracture induces realism, and this is never the dreamed face of emancipation. We are told in the last book of the Invisible Committee that “All the reasons for making a revolution are there. There is none missing. The wreck of politics, the arrogance of the powerful, the reign of the false, the vulgarity of the rich, the cataclysms of industry, rampant misery, naked exploitation, the ecological apocalypse ... do not deprive us of anything, not even being informed of this. ‘Climate: 2016 beats record of heat’ says Le Monde in its main title, now already like almost every year. All the reasons are met, but not the reasons that make revolutions; are the bodies. And the bodies are in front of the screens.” Right.
Third moment: Don’t Look Back, Run (Trauma)
Says Hal Foster in his seminal book The Return of the Real: “An event is only recorded through another that recodes it; we become what we are only as deferred action (Nachträglichkeit). This is the analogy that I want to emphasize for the modernist studies of this end of the century: historical and neo-vanguard vanguards are similarly constituted as a continuous process of protension and retention, a complex retransmission of anticipated and reconstructed futures-that is, in a deferred action that abandons any simplified scheme of a before and after, cause and effect, origin and repetition.” The same scheme of thought can be used to analyse the revolutionary event in its complex structuring and temporality. An emancipatory event can only be constituted if it recodes traumatically past past events which will obviously mean a learning that will bring you the possibility of introducing the necessary changes to be made. That is to say, still according to Foster, that the emancipatory events are, therefore, less new and more deferred. Suppressed in part, they will return and continue to return, and yet they will return from the future, such is the paradoxical temporality of utopia.
Note: At a certain point in Giorgio Agamben's book The State of Exception, he refers to a determinant question: the point of view that, in this context, is determined by a legal order that requires recognition by another that opposes it. Quoting Italian jurist Santi Romano, he says: "... after having recognized the anti-legal nature of the revolutionary forces, he adds that this only works in this way in relation to the positive law of the State against which it is directed, but this does not it means that, from a very different point of view, from which they define themselves, it is not a movement ordered and regulated by its own right. This also means that it is an order that must be classified in the category of originating legal systems, in the sense that is attributed to this expression. In this sense and within the limits that have been indicated one can therefore speak of a right of revolution." That is to say, still in Agamben's view, that the idea of state legal ordering is the only one, by effectively opposing what is usually called chaos, is first and foremost reductive and fallacious. One thing, however, is correct: all the mental structuring concerning the duality exclusion vs. inclusion simply depends on the point of view. And this is perhaps the most important point to make clear the relationship that is intrinsic and impossible to conceal, first of all, because it is also the source of the essentiality of the politician, that is, the necessary verification of antagonism. It is, therefore, the place where we want to be.
https://cronica.bandcamp.com/album/unwritten-rules-of-a-ceaseless-journey |
2019 |
€13.00 |
|
| HAIL |
Hello Debris |
CD |
Nach über 10 Jahren Pause ein neues Album des Projekts von SUSANNE LEWIS und BOB DRAKE, die durch CORPSES AS BEDMATES, 5UUs und THINKING PLAGUE bekannt wurden.. das ist zeitgemässer "intelligenter Progressive-Pop" mit vielen schrägen Einfällen, überraschenden Wendungen, einer ganz eigenen Harmonie...
"After a break of almost 15 years Susanne Lewis and Bob Drake have reconvened their classic partnership. In the meantime rock and post rock has mainly moved away from the song and its classic shapes, leaving commercial pop to straighten them out and endlessly repeat the same tropes and tricks. Hail is rare amongst bands in its adherence to the notion that what makes a song interesting is the application of imagination and skill to its arrangement, performance and recording. The plan is not to drag songs away into other domains by grafting on bits of jazz, classical or electronic vocabulary, but to make them more what they are; to concentrate and distill them. Susanne Lewis's voice is extremely personal, never generic, Bob Drake's signature rhythm section work always exemplary. The songs are real rather than clever, and the production constantly invents contrapuntal detail and colour. This is a virtuosic album that never shows off. For those who wish there were more good songs on the experimental side of transfigured pop." [press release]
"....Hello Debris' consists of 18 short tracks of twisted, oddly-charming prog-like rock music with a punkish edge. Songs often start off in one direction and soon mutate into something completely different. "Celestial Heartbreak" opens with majestic keyboards yet soon features some baroque harpsichord-like keyboard. The booklet includes the strange lyrics of many of the tracks, yet the vocals are often buried deep in the mix or are not even there at times. What's interesting is that some of these tunes are sewn together from disparate parts, but they somehow fit together like an intricate psychedelic jigsaw puzzle. I wonder how a more mainstream rock listener would view these quirky pieces... intrigued, mystified or perhaps even confused? I find these short ditties to be buried treasures waiting to be discovered those with curious tastes." [Downtown Music Gallery]
|
2006 |
€14.00 |
|
| HALL, FRANK |
I remember you (O.S.T.) |
CD |
We are extremely proud to release the official soundtrack to the cult Icelandic horror film 'I REMEMBER YOU' (Is: "Ég man þig"). 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. Digipak.
Watch the trailer: youtu.be/UWIh4wgrHLg
The soundtrack was created at the old industrial area of Grandi in Reykjavík, at a studio due to be 'gentrified' and forcefully emptied of the artists. "I was alone in this large building in this deserted area, working late hours, making music for a horror movie. It was during winter... wind blowing, darkness. There were some tense moments...".
"As soon as I read the script I heard low brass in my head and that kind of stuck. We used a lot of brass instruments, filtered and processed throughout. I also ended up using a lot of bowed guitar, sometimes doubling the brass, sometimes more like a sound effect". Hall also used analogue synths on the special climactic track "Montage".
On the finale, Hall reminisces: "Móðir mín í kví kví (My Mother In The Sheep Pen) is an old Icelandic folk song. The lyrics are based on Icelandic folklore about a woman who had a baby which she couldn't afford to have and left it outside to die, wrapped in a rag. The infant then becomes what we Icelandic call "Útburður" - the ghost of a child who has been left out to die. Some time later the woman wants to go to a dance but has no pretty clothes to wear. She is in the sheep pen attending to the sheep when she hears this whispering outside: "My mother in the sheep pen, don't you worry because I'll lend you my rag, my rag to dance in". It's a rather ominous lyric and this song is sometimes sung for Icelandic babies as a lullaby... a little odd custom perhaps. I remember my mother singing this to me. This is one of my favourite Icelandic folk songs, and when I created the music for "I Remember You", which is about a lost child that haunts people, I suggested to director Óskar Thór Axelsson that I should make an Icelandic choir version of it and use it as a theme / credit song. He loved the idea".
'I Remember You' is based on the internationally acclaimed novel by Yrsa Sigurðardóttir, the "Queen of Icelandic Crime".
https://coldspring.bandcamp.com/album/i-remember-you-skar-th-r-axelsson-o-s-t-csr287cd
|
2021 |
€13.00 |
|
| HALO MANASH |
Se Its En |
CD |
"Se Its En is the first official release of Halo Manash and was originally released in an edition of 100 copies by Finnish underground record label Blue Sector in 2003. After a long period of unavailability the album is now re-released through our Stellar Mansion series.
The quintessential tunes for the tracks were received from in seven specific dreams and captured on tape during the following morning under the guidance of awakened subconscious forces. The album as a whole, however, should not be considered only as a self-centered work or a mere outcome of lucid dreaming sessions of the personnel involved; Se Its En serves as a continually living and assisting metaphysical implement that guides and enlightens travel in The Great Elemental Current. The seven surrealistic tracks were composed by using manipulated bowed string instruments, percussions, analogue synthesizer, human and inhuman vocalisations & other surreal recordings. Se Its En is the key to the gate leading to Sacral Meeting with Halo Manash.
The album is enclosed in a customised and silk-screen printed Stellar Mansion cardboard covers including an 8-panel black on black printed booklet and a silk-screen printed insert card. The regular edition is limited to 468 copies." [label info]
www.auralhypnox.com
"Finland strikes back again! New project on a new label, which brings us haunting and secretful post-industrial drone-spheres with various subliminal effects... dark and beautiful." [Drone Rec. info 2003]
“ Halo Manash 'Se Its En' follows the same direction as I.corax (being a solo-project of the other member), but whereas I.corax is more like a continuous flow of sound, Halo Manash is more structured and minimal. Also the general soundscape isn't based that much on field recordings etc, but is mostly created by a guitar through a wild bunch of effect processors. There are even some kind of strange melodies that are spiced up with occasional lyrics of spoken word and simple, ritualistic percussions. There are two versions of 'Se Its En' available; a normal slimcase with pro-printed covers and an insert, and a version that comes in a cool hand-made black cloth bag (insert and covers included, naturally).” [orignal label description 2003]
|
2014 |
€13.00 |
|
| HAMMER, JOSEPH |
Roadless Travel |
CD-box |
"LAFMS musician Joseph Hammer creates unparalleled works of tape manipulation. However, as yet there are comparatively few solo albums by this phenomenal artist. To rectify this situation, Art Into Life has decided to release Roadless Travel, his latest album. The album comes with a dense 24 page booklet of liner notes (essentially a full history of Hammer) by T. Sakaguchi, who has enjoyed a long friendship with him and is the foremost Japanese historian of the LAFMS scene. Liner notes - Takuya Sakaguchi. Translation - Alan
Cummings." [label info]
|
2014 |
€18.00 |
|
| HAMPSON, ROBERT |
Vectors |
CD |
"Robert Hampson (geb. 1965 in UK) ist Gründungsmitglied der Bands "Loop" (1985-90) und "Main" (1990 -96). Nach dem Ende der Band "Loop", konzentrierte siche Hampson im Rahmen der neuen Band "Main" darauf, den charakteristischen Sound der Gitarre für sich neu zu interpretieren und umzuformen in dem er sich im Detail mit dem Stil des Instrumentes beschäfitgte. Er kreierte so neue und abstrakte Sounds. Je mehr sich die Band "Main" entwicktelte, desto mehr lösten sie sich von dem eigentlichen Sound der Gitarre und kamen ihrem eigenen revolutionären Stil nahe. Mittlerweile komponiert und spielt Hampson unter seinen eigenen Namen. Er widmete sich nun mehr und mehr der Akusmatik, einer Weiterentwicklung von natürlichen Klängen, aufgehend in einer Kombination dieser mit synthetischen Klängen. In einer gleichberechtigen Zusammensetzung dieser, gelang es ihm völlig neue Sounds und Ideen umzusetzen.Umbra :Das Phänomen der "Umbra" - des Kernschattens, ist es was die Arbeit an diesem Stück inspirieren sollte: Geräusche die in den Schatten anderer eingefangen zu sein scheinen, die immer mehr Form annehmen, sich entfalten und materialisieren bis sie selbst einen Schatten werfen.Ahead -Only The Stars (2007) beauftragt vom Label "Vibrö" für eine Performance im Planetarium de Poitiers in 7.1. Surround Ratio.Inspiriert von dem ,Austronauts of the NASA Mercury Missions" Programm und dem wohl größten Piloten aller Zeiten: Chuck Yeager. Ihm ist dieses Stück auch gewidmet.Nach einer Einführung der überwältigenden und beeindruckenden Jets-Sounds, ist das Stück durchsetzt mit Radio-Transmissionen, die den künstlerischen Rahmen dieses Werkes bilden.Dans le Lointain (2008) - Geräusche kurzwelliger Funktöne, aufgenommen von Hampson in den frühen 80er Jahren und neulich auf einer Kassette wiederentdeckt, wurden neu auf klassische Art und Weise bearbeitet und digital neu interpretiert. Der Titel des Werkes bezieht sich auf die Distanzen, die Radiowellen fähig sind zu meistern, so aber auch soll es die Zeitspanne darstellen, beginnend mit der Aufnahme auf Kassetten Anfang der 80er bis in die jetzige Neuzeit der High Technologies."
[label info / Cargo]
www.myspace.com/roberthampson
"A long time I met Robert Hampson and talked with him about the movie '24 Hour Party People'. What I didn't knew is that Hampson and his band Loop toured with the Happy Mondays, so he shed some extra light on those scenes involving the Mondays. I was thinking of the curious career of Hampson when listening to 'Vectors'. The rock days of Loop merging into the ambience of Main to the electro acoustic of Hampson, who no longer uses the name Main anymore. I liked Loop, I truly loved Main and sometimes I found myself thinking 'what is Robert Hampson doing these days?'. Its been some years since his last Main release, but apparently his into France these days. All three pieces here were recorded for things in France, festivals, commissions of INA GRM. Indeed a curious career. Robert Hampson - serious composer. Who would have guessed? One could see it coming I guess, as the last Main releases forecasted the music on 'Vectors': computer manipulated electro-acoustic music, brought to you in the form of an audio collage. If you need to compare it with something, then the whole microsound posse comes to mind, but Roel Meelkop in particular. Hampson shares the same sensibility of creating intense audio compositions, with slow curves, occasional rapid change and a keen ear for atmospherics. Crackling, ambient, computer treatments of acoustic objects. Well crafted compositions, that never seem to leap into the doodling that some of the 'real' (what is real anyway?) acousmatic composers in this scene seem to be doing. Challenging music of the highest order. Its only a pity that there is not so much of that from Hampson. Let's hope the next one is not three years away." [FdW / Vital Weekly]
"... On Vectors, Hampson teases with repetitions of astronaut bleeps, electrical warblings, digitally vaporous static, and wisps of sound design that could build into something off of Hydra-Calm or Motion Pool, but
don't. Many folks (including some here) have been frustrated by Hampson's work after Motion Pool, and that sentiment probably won't be changed with Vectors. The three lengthy pieces on Vectors are all commissions with lofty goals of avant electronics; and two of the commissions came by way of the legendary GRM studio in France. In this context as opposed to the Loop / Main axis, Vectors turns out to be a smoldering musique concrete album with acousmatic allusions to the work of Michel Chion and Luc Ferrari." [Aquarius Records review]
|
2009 |
€15.00 |
|
| HAPSBURG BRAGANZA |
Hatchling |
CD |
"Phil Begg is a young british improviser and composer based in Newcastle. He became known in Belgium for the improvisation sessions that he was playing in every corner of the country during the summer of 2006. Armed with a few effect pedals, loopers and microphones, various objects and his mobile mono soundsystem, Phil amazed us with his intense improvisations. Whether brutal and powerful, whether quiet, flirting with some lowercase and minimal electronics influences.
Since we invited Phil to play at idioLABOAT festival in 2006 under the name of Chalfont, where he brought us his instant dives into abyssal psycho-active soundscapes and lightful envolées, we absolutely wanted to release one of his works on Idiosyncratics.
Hatchling is a slow-burning electroacoustic piece, integrating dense atmospheric collage of field recordings and concrete sound source
with highly textural drones and warm subtle harmonics. A very personal and breathtaking piece, both in the heritage of Francisco López and Charlemagne Palestine.
Artwork by Yannick Franck." [label info]
www.idiosyncratics.net
"Behind the strangely named Hapsburg Braganza we find one Phil Begg from Newcastle, who ended up on Belgiums Idiosyncratics, because 'he was playing in every corner of the country during the summer of 2006', armed with effect pedals, loopers, microphones, various objects and a mobile mono soundsystem'. I don't think I came across his name before, but the forty minute piece 'Hatchling' is indeed a very fine piece. The cover lists such instruments as Indian Harmonium, cymbals, acoustic guitar, piano, acoustic/concrete sounds and field recordings, which are specified on the cover). Somewhere there is mighty rainfall to be spotted, but otherwise the listed instruments aren't that easy to spot in this piece. The piece falls apart in three separate parts, which all flow into each other. The first part deals with electro-acoustic sounds, the second with the aforementioned water sounds and then finally a drone piece for overtones. The label calls this 'the heritage of Francisco Lopez and Charlemagne Palestine', which is quite understandable, especially when it comes to the drone piece that sounds like Palestine at his organs. The rain sounds are perhaps too obvious to be Lopez like I think. Overall, Begg does quite a fine job, and his piece, though not 'new', is one with a remarkable beauty. Moving and morphing into various genres, musique concrete, field recordings, minimalist music, this is one solid sound experience. Very nice work!" [FdW / Vital Weekly]
|
2009 |
€12.00 |
|
| HARTH, ALFRED 23 & WOLFGANG SEIDEL |
Five Eyes |
CD |
"Credits:
reeds, trombone, key, misc: Alfred 23 Harth
drums, percussion, misc: Wolfgang Seidel
vocals: Nicole van den Plas, Bill Shute (04),
Boris Stout (06), A23H (08)
compositions:
Alfred 23 Harth, Wolfgang Seidel-Meissner
recorded in Berlin and Seoul
produced & mastered by A23H at LaubhuetteStudio Moonsun, Korea, 2014
cover drawing: Wolf Pehlke
cover: Robert Schalinski
Thanks to Bill Shute from Kendra Steiner Editions for triggering this album.
Five Eyes Long Distance Call
Seoul und Berlin – das ist weit voneinander entfernt. Bei heutiger Musikproduktion sind geografische Entfernungen kein Hindernis. Und die beiden Komponisten von Five Eyes sind sich zugleich nah und fern, gibt es doch in unseren Biografien trotz unterschiedlicher Wege und Orte immer wieder Punkte, wo wir aus unterschiedlichen Richtungen kommend zu gleichen künstlerischen Fragestellungen gelangt sind. Alfred Harth ist in der Nähe von Frankfurt/Main geboren, wo man in der Philosophie und Kunst nach Westen, nach Frankreich und über den Atlantik blickte. Ich bin im selben Jahr in West-Berlin geboren, das damals eine mit viel Subventionen künstlich am Leben erhaltene Geisterstadt, der Hinterhof der westlichen Welt war. Für Alfred war Jazz die klangliche Verheißung, dass es etwas anderes geben muss, als das verdruckste Nachkriegsdeutschland. Für mich als Hinterhofgöre und in einer Stadt, die keine nennenswerte Jazz-Szene hatte, erfüllte Rock n’ Roll die gleiche Funktion. Für Alfred führte der Weg in die freie Improvisation, seine Gruppe Just Music verkündete Ende der 60er in einem Flyer als Konzept ein „Modell für annähernd herrschaftsfreie Kommunikation und Interaktion“ sein zu wollen. Zur selben Zeit passierte eine ähnliche Entwicklung bei denen, die von der Rockmusik her kamen. In der experimentierfreudigen Phase des Psychedelic Rock lösten sich vorgegebene Strukturen auf. Das brachte uns das erste Mal am gleichen Ort zusammen, in Conrad Schnitzlers Zodiak Free Arts Lab, wo sich für ein knappes Jahr Free Jazz, Happening und das, was später mal Krautrock genannt werden sollte, mischte. Die Sessions mit Conrad Schnitzler, die in eine langjährige Zusammenarbeit mündeten, waren meine erste Begegnung – wie es ein Flyer verkündete – mit „Total freie[r] Musik“. Schnitzler, ein Beuys-Schüler, bezeichnete sich als Intermedia-Künstler, um bewusst alle Kategorisierung und alle Begrenzung auf ein Medium zu vermeiden. Auch wenn Alfred diesen Begriff nie verwendete, würde er auf ihn passen als jemandem, der gleichermaßen in der Musik, Literatur und den visuellen Künsten unterwegs ist. Für beide war Fluxus und die Begegnung mit Künstlern wie Nam June Paik eine Weichenstellung.
Den nächsten Schritt vollzogen Alfred und ich von unterschiedlichen Ausgangspositionen in dieselbe Richtung – hin zum gesprochenen oder gesungenen Wort. Ich schloss mich einer Lehrlingstheatergruppe an, aus der dann die Band Ton Steine Scherben hervorging, die Rockmusik und radikale, auf Deutsch gesungene Texte zusammenbrachte und auf deren erster Platte auch ein Stück von Hanns Eisler zu hören ist. Mit dessen Musik und der Verbindung von Musik und Poesie jenseits des Jazz und Lyrik-Klischees beschäftigte sich auch Alfred zusammen mit Heiner Goebbels. Während die Scherben das Straßentheater bald zugunsten der Rock-Bühne hinter sich ließen, gehörten die beiden zu den Mitbegründern des Sogenannten linksradikalen Blasorchesters, das die Musik auf die Straße brachte. Der nächste Schub kam durch Punk und vor allem durch die in dessen Windschatten blühenden Experimente, die Stilmittel der musikalischen Avantgarde, Collage- und Montagetechniken mit der Energie von Rock zusammenbrachte. Für Alfred war das dann unter anderem die Band Cassiber zusammen mit Chris Cutler, Christoph Anders und Heiner Goebbels. Für mich war das in Berlin die Gruppe Populäre Mechanik, die noch als reine Gitarrenband in der Rocktradition begann und sich mehr und mehr Elektronik, als auch durch die Erweiterung mit Bläsern Jazzeinflüssen hin öffnete. Diesmal bewegte sich Alfreds und mein musikalischer Weg so weit aufeinander zu, dass es tatsächlich 1983 zu einem gemeinsamen Konzert kam.
Ein Ausschnitt aus diesem Konzert fand dann seinen Weg auf Alfreds Platte Sweet Paris, einer 1990 erschienenen Text- und Musikcollage – ein multimediales Tagebuch, in dem Alfred seinen Briefwechsel mit dem damals in Paris lebenden Maler Wolf Pehlke – er machte die 5E-Coverzeichnung - umsetzte und in das Solos, Fieldrecordings und Ausschnitte aus zahlreichen musikalischen Begegnungen einflossen. Zu Cut-up mit seiner Eröffnung neuer Zusammenhänge und zu Collage, mit der man Realität in die Komposition holen konnte, hatte Alfred vor allem auch über Literatur, über Brinkmann und Burroughs, und seine Arbeit als visueller Künstler gefunden. Die Entwicklung des Samplers machten die vorher ans Studio gebundenen, geduldigen Techniken der Musique Concrète musikalisch handhabbarer und zu einem Ausweg aus einem linearen Zeitbegriff, der sich mit seinem Versprechen einer höheren Ordnung in der Musik immer weniger durchhalten ließ.
Für mich führte der Weg von der noch von diesem Heilsversprechen angetriebenen Musik der Scherben, über die Auflösung der Zeit in psychedelischen Krautrock-Erfahrungen in die Fluxus-inspirierte Zusammenarbeit mit Conrad Schnitzler, der Ende der 1970er mehr als ein Dutzend Kassettenrecorder stapelte, mit denen er eigenes und gefundenes Material bei Konzerten mischte.
Mit Five Eyes, für die wir monatelang Tracks her- und hinschickten, auseinandernahmen und neu zusammensetzten, konnten wir den Faden wieder aufnehmen – denn nach der Session, die auf Sweet Paris dokumentiert ist, trennten sich die Wege erst einmal wieder. Für mich gab es Ende der 80er mit dem Untergang des alten Westberlins auch persönlich eine Umbruchzeit, die dazu führte, dass die Musik erst einmal weitgehend Pause machte. Als ich dann wieder anfing, aktiv zu werden, sah man sich als Musiker einer veränderten Situation gegenüber. Eine Musik, die sich mehr oder weniger gradlinig auf ein Ziel bewegt, war endgültig obsolet geworden. Die Durchsetzung von There-Is-No-Alternative als herrschender Ideologie brauchte ebenfalls eine musikalische Antwort. Dazu kommt die durch die Digitalisierung gigantisch beschleunigte Bilderflut, in deren Geflicker alle Konflikte dieser Welt gleich aussehen. Die Frage nach Gut und Böse reduziert sich da auf die Frage, welche Seite die emotionaleren Bilder liefern kann, die dann am effektivsten wirken, wenn sie an vorhandenes Ressentiment andocken können. Als dann beim Anschlag auf das World Trade Center etliche Antiimperialisten im Anblick der Katastrophe applaudierten, wurde klar, dass man noch einmal neu nachdenken muss.
Alfred zog es nach Südkorea, das in den letzen 100 Jahren von der Geschichte nicht gut behandelt wurde. Japanische Besetzung, Unterdrückung und Ausbeutung, dann der Koreakrieg, in dem das Land nur Figur auf dem Schachbrett des Konfliktes zwischen Ost und West war. Jetzt ist das Land eingezwängt zwischen dem autoritären Nordkorea und dem wirtschaftlich dominierenden Japan, das nie eine Debatte über seine gewalttätige Vergangenheit geführt hat. Ich dagegen brauchte keinen Ortswechsel vorzunehmen. In Berlin wechselte sich der Ort in rasantem Tempo selber aus – zumal aus der Sicht des Westberliners. Aus der verschlafenen Nische wurde eine Wir-sind-wieder-wer-Hauptstadt eines Landes, das ziemlich schnell an seine alten Hegemonialansprüche anzuknüpfen begann. Nach außen wie innen wurde dies zunehmend aggressiv durchgesetzt, begleitet und gefeiert von einem Kulturbetrieb, der mehr und mehr nationales Pathos produziert.
Vor ein paar Jahren kam über den inzwischen verstorbenen Conrad Schnitzler der Kontakt zwischen Alfred und mir wieder zustande. Dabei stellten wir fest, dass wir von den beiden Enden der Welt, an denen wir inzwischen gelandet waren, zu ähnlichen Überlegungen gekommen waren. Zumal die Enden der Welt sich immer ähnlicher werden. War in den 60ern ein Lied, dass man gerne sang, Break on through to the other side, ist man heute damit konfrontiert, dass es auf der anderen Seite genauso oder schlimmer aussieht. Die Propaganda für das Bestehende funktioniert heute nicht mehr durch Lügen. Man gibt alle Kritik zu, um dann darauf zu verweisen, dass alles andere schlimmer ist, was durch den tatsächlich stattfindenden Angriff der Barbarei auf das Bisschen erreichten Fortschritts eine fatale Komplizenschaft erzeugt. Wie positioniert man sich als Musiker in einer Welt, die sich gleichzeitig in zwei nur scheinbar entgegengesetzten Richtungen entwickelt? Auf der einen Seite eine fast unendliche individuelle Freiheit, die keine Emanzipation von gesellschaftlichen Zwängen ist, sondern bloßes Selbstunternehmertum in einem Dog-eats-dog-Kapitalismus. Parallel dazu entwickelt sich der Staat, den die neoliberalen Apologeten angeblich mindestens verschlanken, am liebsten aber abschaffen wollen, zu einer immer perfekteren Kontroll- und Repressionsmaschine.
Mittlerweile ist eine Generation herangewachsen, die gar keine persönliche Erinnerung mehr daran hat, dass irgendwann einmal etwas Anderes war. Dabei war das Andere nicht automatisch besser, aber allein durch seine Existenz machte es klar, dass die Beschaffenheit der Gesellschaft, in der wir leben, verhandelbar ist. „Herrschaftsfreie Musik“ ist nach wie vor eine mögliche Antwort. Wobei das nicht nur heißt, frei von einer vorgegebenen Komposition oder einer Führungsfigur zu sein. Herrschaft maskiert sich heute vor allem als Sachzwang. Dagegen steht eine Musik, in der die Musiker stets die freie Entscheidung über die Musik und ihre Weiterentwicklung haben, als eine ständige, für den Hörer nachvollziehbare Verhandlung. Die andere Antwort ist das Hereinnehmen und Rekontextualisieren von ausgewählten Klangsplittern als Spuren von Realität, Zitate, Field-Recordings, um das abstrakte Medium Musik mal assoziativ, mal verwirrend und zum Neudenken auffordernd an die umgebende Wirklichkeit anzubinden. Beides kann zu einer Entdeckungsreise werden.
Wolfgang Seidel, 23.10.2014" [credits & liner notes] |
2014 |
€15.00 |
|
| HATED BRUIT KOLLEKTIV |
Aktion One |
CD-R |
Noisiger Zusammenschluss dreier polnischer Projekte auf neuem Label, nach einem ironischen Jodel-Folk Song Einstieg breitet sich ein gut arrangierter Industrialnoise One-Tracker aus, eher im bassig / tiefnoisigen Bereich, mit sehr schönen atmosphärischen, fast dark ambienten Abschnitten.. Kommt in grossformatigem, dicken Postercover.
"HBK is an ephemeric project held among musicians behind Genetic Transmission, Moan and Nojsens. Three minds, three individualities, tree artists sharing one inspired vision. These are people we know for years so it became somehow natural to invite their bastard child to our NN therapy group finally, starting the "Harsh Kontakt" series of relases from now on.
The sound sculpture presented hereby has been captured at Bez Kontroli Fest 2007 as probably HBK's best gig to date. Expect the unexpected, as they have gone the whole hog, without no mercy to the audience or themselves. OK, it's all there: refreshing traditional industrial, warming harsh noise, stoned bruitist plunderphonics, and last but not least—good taste and the fucking clue, VSOP.
The packaging consist of a huge, A2-sized heavy stock poster folded to form A5 sleeve housed in a solid plastic wrapper. Limited to 250 hand numbered copies." [label info]
www.newnihilism.com
|
2008 |
€10.00 |
|
| HATI |
Recycled Magick Drones (SOLD OUT) |
7inch |
Das polnische Duo begeistert mit kontemplativen Drones, eingespielt auf einem Arsenal an ethnischen und archaischen Instrumenten; die Klänge werden später im Studio noch weiterbearbeitet, was interessante Erweiterungens des Sounds möglich macht...
"The Polish duo HATI is a very active live group, using an array of archaic and ethnic instruments such as gongs, cymbals, north-African drums and clarinets, wooden trumpets, horns and flutes. What’s more, their music also includes found objects of scrap metal, plastic or wood. Their first release on vinyl presents two pieces of multi-layered gong drones, nicely processed for full trance effect and enriched with whistling and rattling sounds and delayed percussion. Above all these sounds, there’s a mighty overtune buzz with heavenly droning contemplation wafts. File under: archaic Trance Drones
RED VINYL, SILKSCREEN-PRINTED COVERS (TEXT & VISUAL), INLAY" [press release]
|
2007 |
€7.00 |
|
| |
Works for Scrap Metal |
CD |
Sehr schöne Edition (dickes Siebdruck-Falt-Cover, Booklet) und Verdeutlichung ihres Konzeptes "Recycled Sound Installation".
Alle erzeugten Klänge wurden auf Alltags-Schrott-Materialien (sowie daraus selbst gebauten Instrumenten) & rein akustisch aufgenommen.
Die Benutzung von "Abfall" in einer eigentlich sinnentfremdeten Art & Weise kann aus HATIs Sicht zu einer erhöhten Sensibilität & neuen Zugangsweisen für die Ästhetik der Alltagswelt führen, und somit das Bewusstsein verändern oder erweitern. Im Vordergrund stehen dabei Gruppenerfahrungen von Katharsis, die während der Konzerte stattfinden sollen (weshalb HATI auch v.a. eine live-Band sind).
"Works for Scrap Metal" beinhaltet eher ruhiges Material, HATI kitzeln dronig metallurgene & rauschende Pulses & Obertöne aus ihren Objekten, nicht nur live ist das ein Erlebnis, ein fast schon rituelles Eintauchen in die Mikrostruktur von Klang !
"New CD - includes music composed and performed on recycled instruments. Performed and recorded 'live in studio' by Rafal Iwanski and Dariusz Wojtas, Studio Eter, Torun, Poland. Track list: 1.Springs; 2.Barrels I; 3.Shakers; 4.Chaingong; 5. Barrels II; 6.Lidgong; 7.Coverchains; 8.Barrels III. Works for Scrap Metal is the intrinsic part of the project 100% Recycled Sound Installation. The booklet contains photos and 2 articles - by Rafal Iwanski and dr Darek Brzostek In the land of intonarumori ( historical outline of using recycled instruments in music on 20. century and nowadays). Texts in polish and english.The cover and the booklet are made of ecopapers = really nice edition." [label info]
"There's a really elegant economy of means about HATI's approach to music - out of quite humble, often improvised, acoustic instrumentation, they manage to create eloquent and evocative works. I'm tempted to dub what they do musica povera, after the arte povera art movement epitomized by the mixed media work of Joseph Beuys. But regardless of what you call it, HATI's music is innovative and inspired. As far as I'm aware, nobody else is doing quite what they're doing at the moment, although they have affinities with Z'EV (who's both toured and made an album with HATI) and ritual ambient acts like Terroritmo, COTA and Chaos As Shelter" [Simon Collins, JudasKissMagazine]
www.hati.info
|
2007 |
€13.00 |
|
| HAUSCHKA |
A NDO C Y |
LP |
"Limitiertes Vinyl mit Remixen von DEVENDRA BANHART und ELUVIUM. Im letzten Jahr veröffentlichte HAUSCHKA (alias Volker Bertelmann) mit ,Abandoned City" ein Album von Klavierstücken, die von vergessenen Orten inspiriert wurden, die langsam verfallen und zurück in die Natur übergehen. Das Album war prachtvoll und einzigartig bewegend - Kritiker applaudierten und HAUSCHKA unterstrich einmal mehr seinen Status als Mitglied der Elite moderner Komponisten. ,A NDO C Y" ist eine Fortsetzung der Geschichte von ,Abandoned City", erzählt über zwei Seiten. Seite A versammelt fünf Tracks aus den Sessions zu ,Abandoned City"; eine Suite aus Songs, die sich zu einem ausnehmend stimmigen Ganzen fügen. Diese Songs verarbeiten minimalistischen Techno ebenso wie moderne Komposition, was die Tracks wie gemacht für Remixe erscheinen lässt. Auf Seite B interpretiert die Folk Ikone DEVENDRA BANHART ,Agdam" von ,Abandoned City" neu - zu Fragmenten aus einzelnen Klavierbeiträgen und aufbrausenden Synthies. Im Vergleich ist die Interpretation von ,Stromness" von ELUVIUM beinahe schockierend euphorisch, während Kaskagen aus Verzerrung sich über einzelne Klaviertöne ergießen. Als Download gibt es hier noch überdies ein atemberaubendes Livealbum, das Ende 2014 in Japan aufgenommen wurde. Die 40-minütige Performance teilt sich in zwei 20-minütige Improvisationen, die sich auf Themen von ,Abandoned City" gründet.
A NDO C Y is a continuation of the Abandoned City story, told as a tale of two sides. Side A features five tracks conceived during the Abandoned City sessions, a suite of songs that together form an exceptionally resonant whole. As with Abandoned City, these songs owe as much to minimalist techno as modern composition, which makes them particularly conducive to remixes. On Side B, experimental folk icon Devendra Banhart distills Abandoned City standout, "Agdam", to barely-there, fractured clusters of solitary piano strikes and swelling synths. By comparison, Eluvium's transformation of "Stromness" sounds almost shockingly euphoric, all cascading waves of distortion washed over a plethora of plucked piano pings. Included as a special bonus download is a stunning live album recorded in Yufuin, Japan in late 2014. The 40-minute performance is split into two 20-minute improvisations built on themes from Abandoned City. It's a gorgeous glimpse of live Hauschka, a world where songs you think you know become entirely new works of art at the mercy of Bertelmann's whims.
LIMITED EDITION OF 1,000 COPIES" [label info]
www.temporaryresidence.com
|
2015 |
€20.00 |
|
| HAUSER, FRITZ |
Deep Time |
do-CD |
FRITZ HAUSER ist ein Schlagzeuger und Komponist aus Basel. Seine Komposition DEEP TIME, die viele extra hergestellte „Klangsteine“ und verschiedenste Uhren-Sounds verwendet, dient hier PAULINE OLIVEROS, DAVID GAMBER, URS LEIMGRUBER und FRITZ HAUSER selbst als Vorlage, um darüber mit accordion, saxophone, percussion und „expanded instrument system electronics“ zu improvisieren (Oktober 1994 in NYC). Zwei verschiedene Versionen sind so entstanden, in denen die Performer behutsame Impro-Drone-Tonkunst produzieren: jeder Ton, jedes Geräusch hat seinen Platz & seine Berechtigung, eine Art komplexe Reduziertheit wird hier etabliert...
„Pauline Oliveros, accordion & Expanded Instrument System; David Gamper, Expanded Instrument System electronics, misc. small instruments; Urs Leimgruber, soprano & tenor saxophones; Fritz Hauser, percussion
DEEP TIME is a tape composition commissioned in 1991 by the
Pauline Oliveros Foundation for Deep Listening Band. Fritz Hauser's tape features recordings of sounding stones (manufactured by Arthur Schneiter) and various watches and clocks (thanks to the Bucher family in Switzerland for permission to record that family clock!). The performers improvise with the tape. On October 26, 1994 Pauline Oliveros, David Gamper, Urs Leimgruber and Fritz Hauser recorded 2 versions of DEEP TIME. Both of these 32 minute recordings are included here.
Fritz Hauser is a drummer and composer from Basel, Switzerland. He has developed his sound language in varied ways. From solo concerts, in diverse ensembles, through multi-media projects (theater dance film radio) and many recordings, he has contributed to the development of the drumset from a mere timekeeper to an instrument in its own right.
Known internationally as a composer, accordionist and teacher, Pauline Oliveros's work in improvisation, electronic techniques, teaching methods, myth and ritual, and meditative and physical consciousness raising has changed the course of American music. She left the University of California at San Diego in 1981, at the rank of full professor, in order to support her ideas, creative projects and collaborations. All of her work emphasizes attentional strategies, musicianship and improvisational skills. Oliveros' compositions have been performed worldwide.
Composer/performer David Gamper is especially concerned with music performance electronics. He received a BA in mathematics in 1967 from Bowdoin College, and returned there in 1969 to study composition with Elliott Schwartz and establish their electronic music studio. He then went on to the University of California at San Diego where he studied composition with Pauline Oliveros and Roger Reynolds and received his MA in music. Since moving to New York in 1989 he has been working primarily with Pauline Oliveros. He is director of development for the Expanded Instrument System (a project of the Pauline Oliveros Foundation) and performs and records around the world with Oliveros and as a member of Deep Listening Band.
Urs Leimgruber has been active for many years in the areas of contemporary improvisation, composition, jazz and new music. One of his earliest associations was as a member of the electric jazz/free music group 'Om' with Christy Doran, Fredy Study and Bobbi Burri, and he later formed the 'Reflexionen' quartet with Don Friedman and Bobby Burri in New York. His own projects have included 'Ensemble Bleu', 'Xylem', e_a.sonata 02 with the ARTE saxophone quartet, as well as a long association with Fritz Hauser: as a duo with the ongoing Music for saxophone and percussion; in the Leimgruber/Roidinger/Hauser trio; a trio with Joëlle Léandre; and a trio with Marilyn Crispell. More recently he formed 'quartet noir' with Marilyn Crispell, Joëlle Léandre and Fritz Hauser and a trio with Jacques Demierre and Barre Phillips.” [label description & liner notes]
|
2005 |
€16.00 |
|
| HAYNES, JIM |
Inauspicious |
LP |
In a recent interview, the California artist Jim Haynes was asked to name his top five noise albums. In quick fashion, he listed off Kill The King, Send, Desnos, Persona, and Carcinosi. Since then, he's equivocated on which albums to choose, but the artists behind such works remain as the adjacent signposts and landmarks to his own constructions of industrial noise. How those records connect to the output from Haynes is found in their unique combination of smoldering dynamism and psychological inquest. For over twenty five years, Haynes has been an autodidactic clinician into the processes of corrosion, decay, and rust, turning his attention away from visual practices and more to the metaphoric crucible of noise and sound. By now, it seems like a cliche that the pandemic changed everything; but since that viral encroachment, there is a noticeable shift in Haynes' work post 2020. It's more aggressive and yet more controlled: a rarification and telescoping of the research into decay for more potent noise and more potent metaphor.
The tools for Haynes' work remain limited: motors, electronics, shortwave radio, found objects, all applied with considerable pressure. Compositionally, Inauspicious is a very rough moire pattern from overlapping elliptical structures that can negate and obfuscate just as easily as they can compound and aggregate. The album surges and collapses upon the two twenty minute chunks of controlled noise that follow an internal logic that snakes from brooding power drones, spectral radio transmission, and an aktionist demolition cast upon metal, glass, and unfortunate wooden objects. Rupture and release. Purge and pulse.
|
2023 |
€22.50 |
|
| HECKER, TIM |
Norberg |
maxi-CD |
"....Imagine if you will sitting on the sand of some enchanted beach somewhere, precisely at the intersection between land and ocean, where the waters break upon the shore. This is like an endlessly crashing wave of drones and rumbles, the sound swirling around one’s ears, initially breaking into myriads of liquid cut-diamond arpeggios glinting in the pure sunlight and submerging the body in womb-like warmth; and then slowly and infinitesimally receding, the music clinging longingly, almost reluctant to let go. Paradoxically, one doesn’t feel stifled or as if grasping for breath; instead, there’s a feeling of timelessness and limitless freedom, as if one could be absorbed by the waters and somehow find oneself a part of every single drop of water in the oceans and seas. Also paradoxically, even though the drones drape one in the velvet of the deepest ocean depths there is contradictorily a fragile beauty, airiness and lightness evident throughout." [S:M:J63, Heathen Harvest]
"Recorded at the Norberg Festival (Sweden) amidst the mineshafts and cluttered buildings strewn throughout parts the city, this 21 minute live piece summarises much of what makes Tim Hecker’s music so vital and compelling. Adept at counter-pointing the most ferocious of distorted platters with smooth beds of ambient sound and potent melodic overtones, Tim Hecker creates music with a vast depth. On Norberg, this depth seems almost endless, as layer upon layer of sound are compiled into a swelling and all together visceral oceanic sound wave.
Recently touring Australia and New Zealand and performing at ROOM40’S annual festival Open Frame, this CD comes on the back of some incredible live performances in the Southern Hemisphere." [label info]
label-website: www.room40.org
|
2007 |
€10.00 |
|
|
Love Streams |
do-LP |
"Zwischen Noise, Ambient und Minimal: Elektronische Musik, die in keine Schublade passt.
Für die Werke des Kanadiers Tim Hecker, der als einer der wichtigsten Musiker in der E-Musik-Szene gilt, eine Schublade zu finden, gleicht einer Herausforderung. Er selbst nennt seine Ergebnisse »fake church music« oder »neo metal drone«. Tatsächlich verbinden seine Sounds an der Schnittstelle von Melodie, Dissonanz und Lärm so ziemlich alles, was - vielleicht? - nicht zusammengehört, aber dennoch gut klingt.
Mal sind das Kirchenorgeln, mal Samples von Streichern, Pianos oder elektroakustischen Komponenten, die in eine rauschend-ozeanische Klangwelt ausufern: tiefgründig, majestätisch und eine Brücke zwischen Noise, Ambient und Minimal schlagend. »Love Streams« entstand Ende 2015, nachdem sich Hecker für längere Zeit nach Los Angeles bzw. zusammen mit Johan Johanssen und Ben Frost ins isländische Greenhouse Studio zurückgezogen hatte.
Das Album ist das vielleicht ambitionierteste Werk in der mittlerweile fünfzehnjährigen Schaffenszeit Heckers sowie ein konsequente Weiterentwicklung seiner Schlüsselwerke »Radio Amor«, »Harmony In Ultraviolet« und »Virgins«, die in den Jahren ihrer Veröffentlichung sowohl von Kritikern wie auch Fans jeweils in allerlei Bestenlisten gewählt wurden." [label info]
www.4ad.com
"Ah, Tim Hecker signs to 4AD. The modern-day maestro of digital etherealism recording for a label that was once defined by the siren-song haunt from Liz Frazer's voice and Robin Guthrie's guitar, with many a 4AD act through the '80s consciously or otherwise paralleling that aesthetic. Hecker's "power ambient" luminosity and the scope of his music continue to be very much his own, and this album seems all the more baroque and exaggerated than his previous spirals of pixelated noise and dusted drone. Much of the source material for Love Streams originated with the vocals from an Icelandic choir, whose melodies were arranged by Johann Johannsson. The content of the choir's plainsong may have begun with a 15th century score, with the lyrics reversed from the original Latin and then wholly obliterated into mere phonemes of language by Hecker. So, yeah, there's voice... but a voice that utters only its connection to humanity and not any philosophical musings. That task is for Tim Hecker and Tim Hecker alone, whose romantic crescendos of manipulated, re-manipulated, and lushly re-drafted electronic smear and pointillist melody is wrapped up in the tapestry of detail and a magnificent luxury of his surface. The compositions bluster and quiver as semi-gelatinous chunks of sound, rippling with somewhat extemporaneous electro-glockenspiel melody and Icelandic vocal deconstruction, all self-aware of their shimmering beauty." [Aquarius Rec.]
|
2016 |
€27.50 |
|
|
Love Streams |
CD |
"Zwischen Noise, Ambient und Minimal: Elektronische Musik, die in keine Schublade passt.
Für die Werke des Kanadiers Tim Hecker, der als einer der wichtigsten Musiker in der E-Musik-Szene gilt, eine Schublade zu finden, gleicht einer Herausforderung. Er selbst nennt seine Ergebnisse »fake church music« oder »neo metal drone«. Tatsächlich verbinden seine Sounds an der Schnittstelle von Melodie, Dissonanz und Lärm so ziemlich alles, was - vielleicht? - nicht zusammengehört, aber dennoch gut klingt.
Mal sind das Kirchenorgeln, mal Samples von Streichern, Pianos oder elektroakustischen Komponenten, die in eine rauschend-ozeanische Klangwelt ausufern: tiefgründig, majestätisch und eine Brücke zwischen Noise, Ambient und Minimal schlagend. »Love Streams« entstand Ende 2015, nachdem sich Hecker für längere Zeit nach Los Angeles bzw. zusammen mit Johan Johanssen und Ben Frost ins isländische Greenhouse Studio zurückgezogen hatte.
Das Album ist das vielleicht ambitionierteste Werk in der mittlerweile fünfzehnjährigen Schaffenszeit Heckers sowie ein konsequente Weiterentwicklung seiner Schlüsselwerke »Radio Amor«, »Harmony In Ultraviolet« und »Virgins«, die in den Jahren ihrer Veröffentlichung sowohl von Kritikern wie auch Fans jeweils in allerlei Bestenlisten gewählt wurden." [label info]
www.4ad.com
"Ah, Tim Hecker signs to 4AD. The modern-day maestro of digital etherealism recording for a label that was once defined by the siren-song haunt from Liz Frazer's voice and Robin Guthrie's guitar, with many a 4AD act through the '80s consciously or otherwise paralleling that aesthetic. Hecker's "power ambient" luminosity and the scope of his music continue to be very much his own, and this album seems all the more baroque and exaggerated than his previous spirals of pixelated noise and dusted drone. Much of the source material for Love Streams originated with the vocals from an Icelandic choir, whose melodies were arranged by Johann Johannsson. The content of the choir's plainsong may have begun with a 15th century score, with the lyrics reversed from the original Latin and then wholly obliterated into mere phonemes of language by Hecker. So, yeah, there's voice... but a voice that utters only its connection to humanity and not any philosophical musings. That task is for Tim Hecker and Tim Hecker alone, whose romantic crescendos of manipulated, re-manipulated, and lushly re-drafted electronic smear and pointillist melody is wrapped up in the tapestry of detail and a magnificent luxury of his surface. The compositions bluster and quiver as semi-gelatinous chunks of sound, rippling with somewhat extemporaneous electro-glockenspiel melody and Icelandic vocal deconstruction, all self-aware of their shimmering beauty." [Aquarius Rec.]
|
2016 |
€13.00 |
|
|
No Highs |
CD |
"The latest by Canadian composer Tim Hecker serves as a beacon of unease against the deluge of false positive corporate ambient currently in vogue. Whether taken as warning or promise, No Highs delivers -- this is music of austerity and ambiguity, purgatorial and seasick. A jagged anti-relaxant for our medicated age, rough-hewn and undefined. 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 (including exquisite modal sax by Colin Stetson), and cathedral keys. Throughout, the pieces both accrue and avoid drama, more attuned to undertow than crescendo. Hecker mentions 'negation' as a muse of sorts -- the sense of tumult without bombast, tethered ecstasies, an escape from escapism. His is an antagonism both brusque and beguiling, devoid of resolution, beckoning the listener ever deeper into its greyscale alchemies of magisterial disquiet.
|
2023 |
€14.50 |
|
| |
No Highs |
do-LP |
"The latest by Canadian composer Tim Hecker serves as a beacon of unease against the deluge of false positive corporate ambient currently in vogue. Whether taken as warning or promise, No Highs delivers -- this is music of austerity and ambiguity, purgatorial and seasick. A jagged anti-relaxant for our medicated age, rough-hewn and undefined. 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 (including exquisite modal sax by Colin Stetson), and cathedral keys. Throughout, the pieces both accrue and avoid drama, more attuned to undertow than crescendo. Hecker mentions \'negation\' as a muse of sorts -- the sense of tumult without bombast, tethered ecstasies, an escape from escapism. His is an antagonism both brusque and beguiling, devoid of resolution, beckoning the listener ever deeper into its greyscale alchemies of magisterial disquiet.
https://timhecker.bandcamp.com/album/no-highs
#########################
The veteran ambient musician pushes back at the hollowing out of the form with a burly, physically imposing release peppered with moments of gentle beauty.
Ambient music is in crisis. Passive listening is no longer an alternative or fringe idea but the model on which the entire streaming industry is built. YouTube radio stations guarantee hours of chilled-out, challenge-free audio, and albums on Spotify fade into endless loops of sound-alikes. How to preserve the tradition of thoughtfully made ambient music in a market inundated with corporate-friendly fluff, or to convince listeners of the importance of artistic vision when an AI program can churn out a perfectly good drone? On No Highs, a self-described “beacon of unease against the deluge of false positive corporate ambient,” Tim Hecker gives his answer.
The Canadian musician’s first album in four years isn’t a grouchy get-off-my-lawn statement, nor is it an abrasive audience-thinner like Vladislav Delay’s Rakka. In fact, it’s less confrontational than a lot of Hecker’s albums, even ones that don’t seem intended to be difficult, like his recent experiments in Japanese gagaku music Konoyo and Anoyo. What No Highs argues for instead is the importance of a wizard behind the curtain. The album is strongest when it makes you aware of the artist’s invisible presence, standing behind the scenes and summoning thunder and lightning at will, playing the audience like the director of a good thriller.
The most satisfying passage comes less than two and a half minutes in. “Monotony” begins with one of the many Morse code-like, single-note sequencer patterns we’ll hear throughout. Atop that, Hecker creates a wilderness of sirens and street sweepers that begin to slow and morph into grand minor chords. Then—here is the moment—Hecker introduces the magisterial growl of a church organ, blowing the track’s low end wide open with vivid color and high drama. It’s a sound he’s used many times over, and it comes across here as a personal stamp, like Shinichi Atobe’s echoing piano or GAS’s kick drum. It’s his way of saying, You are listening to a Tim Hecker album, a reminder that this stuff couldn’t be made by just anyone.
No Highs can be physically discomforting to listen to, not because it’s particularly noisy or dissonant but because it seems to consciously resist syncing with the bodily rhythms of the listener. “In Your Mind” introduces a throbbing sequencer pattern in its first few seconds, but Hecker keeps slowing it down and speeding it up, fading it in out, preventing the brain from getting a foothold. Saxophonist Colin Stetson appears throughout the album, exhibiting his usual burly, physical approach to his instrument. As he commences his endless runs on “Monotony II,” the clack of his keys clear as day, the listener might actually find themselves contracting their lungs in sympathy with his gobstopping breath control. This music is not going to align with your chakras.
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But No Highs can be beautiful in passing, and its last 10 minutes are devoted to two remarkable tracks that conjure the spirit of ambient’s early years. Mewling steel guitars make “Sense Suppression” a cousin of Daniel Lanois’ work on Brian Eno’s Apollo, a ghost of a country song drifting on the wind. “Living Spa Water,” meanwhile, is based on a metallic twinkle reminiscent of Laraaji’s zither, even if Hecker undergirds it with big synth blats that that gentle soul would probably find disquieting. These two tracks nod to ambient as a tradition—a noun rather than an adjective.
For a state-of-the-genre address like this to work, the music has to present a viable alternative to whatever it’s railing against, and the physicality of Hecker’s approach allows the music greater range and freedom than if it were merely trying to set a mood. But Hecker’s primary concern here appears to be staking out a certain patch of turf rather than experimenting or expanding the possibilities of his music, and he shies away from extremes. No Highs is muted in comparison to the Gothic grandeur of Harmony in Ultraviolet, the buffeting noise of Ravedeath, 1972, the thorny ruggedness of the underloved An Imaginary Country. But Hecker’s title seems to already anticipate this criticism, and No Highs ultimately works as an example of what ambient music can be, rather than a suggestion of where it might go.
[ Daniel Bromfield / Pitchfork ]
|
2023 |
€32.50 |
|
| HEGRE, JOHN |
Colors Don't Clash |
CD |
"Hegre ist vermutlich bekannt durch sein projekt Jazkamer mit Lasse Marhaug und ihr famoses Album "Metal Music Machine" von letztem Jahr. Der Opener seines Solo-Albums "Don't" aber läßt aufschrecken: die 1003. Gitarren-Ick-hab-auch-Laptop-CD? Schnell wird jedoch im Verlauf des Albums klar, dass Hegre wesentlich besser wird, wenn es ums Aneinanderreihen der schnellen und eher kaputten Sounds geht. Vornehmlich produziert mit Gitarre, Drums, Bass und Digitalität schert sich der Norweger um keine Vorgaben und kappt schnell die laut stehenden Wände dreckiger Schwärze mit Orgeldrone und Schattenmond ("They"). "Never" erinnert leider etwas zu stark an Earth und bleibt seltsam unkräftig und eindimensional, "Do" schabt sich durch kantige Rothko-Referenzen und schwappt in ein vergnügtes Ende mit palawernden Kids. Durchwachsen, verspielt, ernsthaft und im Grunde spannend, da von Hegre mit Sicherheit noch richtig gute Alben kommen werden." [ed **** DEBUG]
"...On his debut release, Hegre plays guitar, like he used to do before turning all things laptop. It seems as if Hegre wants to convince us that he knows how to play the thing, since it starts out with a rather soft and sweet multi layered guitar piece of gentle guitar sounds. However Jazkamer fans shouldn't worry: noise is here too, just as in 'Worry', 'They' and 'Never' (the five pieces read as 'Don't Worry They Never Do' as a response to the title of the CD - all to be said by Snakefinger in an interview in 1987 just before he died), both of which die out in a very slow manner. Hegre's version of a blues piece closes the CD and that is the only piece in which there is an actual band playing, including bass, drums and Tore Boe and family on vocals. 'Worry' is for me the best piece, since it combines in a single tracks various approaches, but make throughout a great piece of music. Hegre shows us all the possibilities of the guitar as an instrument, or perhaps, his instrument, and as such he produced a pretty varied album, but we can wonder if it's perhaps not a bit too varied. One could wonder: what does Hegre want with this? A display of his no doubt great skills, but the coherency of the album is somewhat gone. But fans of Jazkamer, once again, will pleased with this." [FdW/Vital Weekly]
|
2006 |
€10.00 |
|
| HELDEN, JOHANNES |
Sketchbook |
CD |
Höchst introspektive und verhaltene erste Veröffentlichung (?) eines Schweden: angenehm warme Soundbrisen und -wellen mit manchmal konkreteren Feldaufnahmen, ein wahrer KlangHAUCH entsteht hier.
“..Based on field recordings Johannes made while traveling from Sweden to Russia via Norway, Sketchbook is a quiet, moody work of great atmosphere and devoid of all pretention. In an essay I wrote for the Digital Narcis label’s new website you will find the following statement: ‘’In my earlier days as an artist, I believed that there had to be something called ‘Kunstwille’ in German (i.e., the will to
create art) and a specific gesture (I called ‘the art gesture’ in my own terminology) to turn a given material into a work
of art. This can indeed bring about excellent results, but there is also an inherent danger in this when the will to create and the ‘art gesture’ become the masters, and artistic sensibility is lost. Nowadays I have come to distrust the ‘artness’ in art, and feel that I should do without the ‘will to create’ and the ‘art gesture’ to create art just the same way one eats, sleeps and breathes. I’m thinking of the descriptions of Kendo practice Mishima Yukio has put in some of his works: the real master has to forget the sword, the enemy, the will to kill the enemy, and the wish to be a master.’’ [press release]
|
2002 |
€14.00 |
|
| HELL, RENE |
The Terminal Symphony |
LP + CD |
"Latest & possibly greatest moniker of U.S. noisenik Jeff Witscher (IMPREGNABLE, SECRET ABUSE, MARBLE SKY). Synthesized kosmiche sounds - but unlike many of his contemporaries, instead of delving into nostalgia, there is something decidedly modern about Witscher's compositions. The bubbling, effervescent synthesizer sequences & percussive patterns seem to twist & turn over each other with a near-techno precision. This is pure electronic music - songs created with analog circuits & half-baked patch cables, dusty cassette tapes & greased-up potentiometers. Ltd vinyl edition comes with a full-length bonus CD entitled Rogue Camera." [label info]
www.typerecords.com
|
2011 |
€21.00 |
|
| HELVACIOGLU, ERDEM |
Altered Realities |
CD |
"Meine erste Post aus Istanbul macht mich bekannt mit einem mehrfach preisgekrönten Elektroakustiker mit weltweiten Performance- und Installationserfahrungen, mit einem breiten Fächer an Sounddesigns für Film, Theater, Tanz, an Produktions- und Sessionjobs, an Auftrags-kompositionen, Kollaborationen (etwa mit Kazuya Ishigami von Neus-318) und Kompilationbeiträgen. Bei seinem Beitrag Kicking Memories zum Projekt Audio Elf beim ScoreCologne-Festival zur letzten Fußball-WM zeigte er polyglotte Fußballerinnerungen als global gemeinsamen Nenner. In seiner Performance Living in Istanbul zur Ausstellung BLUT & HONIG - Zukunft ist am Balkan (2003) operierte er u.a. mit Soundtracks populärer türkischer B-Movies und, ähnlich wie bei seinem CDDebut A Walk Through The Bazaar 2003, mit Straßenmusik und dem Alltagslärm von Istanbul, den er zusätzlich elektronisch abwandelt. Trash und Mischmasch ist das einzig ‚Folkloristische’ und ‚Balkan-spezifische’ dabei. Abwandeln, to alter, scheint Helvacioglus Leitmotiv zu sein - wo Blut [türkisch kan] war, soll Honig [türkisch bal] werden. Seinen neuen Arbeiten gab er Namen wie ‘bridge to horizon’, ‘sliding on a glacier’, ‘dreaming on a blind saddle’ oder ‘pearl border’. Sie entsprechen vollkommen dem impressionistischen, träumerischen,
eskapistischen Charakter der Klänge, die er mit einer akustischen Ovation Custom Legend 1869-Gitarre erzeugte und gleichzeitig liveelektronisch mit Multieffektprozessor, Midi foot controller und Audiomulch-Software so modulierte, dass Wohlklang betont schwerelos und frei veränderlich sich entfaltet. Der folkloristische, mehr kosmo-politische als rein orientalische Aspekt des Saitenspiels wird transferiert durch ein Hightechmorphing, das ungeniert Wohlfühlsignale ausstrahlt, Entspannung jenseits so erdenschwerer Trivialitäten wie EU-Beitrittsverhandlungen, unbewältigtem ‚Armenierproblem’ und ‚Beleidigung des Türkentums’. Ohne Scheu vor Kitschverdacht lässt Helvacioglu seine Gitarre harmonieverliebt und zart blinken und all seine virtuosen elektronischen Manipulationen scheinen das Ziel zu haben, zuckersüßen Tee zur Entspannung zu servieren und spielerisch Veränderlichkeit zu realisieren. Einfacher sagte es Ishigami: "Ich fliehe in den Klang, es ist die Flucht aus einer kleinen Welt in eine große." " [Bad Alchemy]
"Altered Realities is an album of solo acoustic guitar and live electronics. All of the compositions were recorded in real-time, directly to DAT (Digital Audio Tape) without any overdubs, mixing, editing, post-processing, or the use of previously recorded material. All of the textures were created based only on the acoustic guitar signal with no other sound source used during the recording. Within these textures, there are long sustaining single notes, beautiful shimmering chords and rhythmic clusters.
During the making of this album, Ovation Custom Legend 1869 acoustic guitar, TC Electronic Fireworx multi effects processor, Behringer FCB1010 midi foot controller and the software Audiomulch were used.
With no post-processing, no editing and no use of previously recorded material, the moment that is recorded is the moment that we hear on the cd." [label info]
www.newalbion.com
|
2006 |
€14.00 |
|
| HEMATIC SUNSETS |
Aroma Club Adieu 5 |
LP + 12inch |
"Final release by Asmus Tietchens’ death lounge project Hematic Sunsets
Farewell greetings by Michael Rother, Felix Kubin, Heinz Funk, Okko Bekker and more
The Hematic Sunsets shut down the Aroma Club with a final release. The album “Aroma Club Adieu” features 12 exquisite pieces of death lounge electronic pop performed on electronic organs and entertainment devices of various kinds. Under the moniker Hematic Sunsets, legendary avantgarde composer Asmus Tietchens has explored his love of the Darth Vader organ sound – a cheesy, spooky, deranged but still catchy form of electronic pop. The body of work of Hematic Sunsets stands out as unique, displaced and in a sexy way out of fashion. As a bonus to the final album of the project artist friends of Asmus Tietchens have composed short hommages and farewell greetings that are included here in the form of a single sided 12” on white vinyl. Among those saluting are such illustrious musicians as Heinz Funk, Felix Kubin and Michael Rother." [label info]
https://aufabwegen.bandcamp.com/album/aroma-club-adieu
"And so it ends for the Aroma Club, adieu, so long and farewell. The fifth album by Hematic Sunsets, with such illustrious members as Hans Tim Cessteu, Assistent Meuch, Titus Mascheens, Suse Mittach sen and Asmus Tietchens. Or if you are clever, just Asmus Tietchens since all the other names are anagrams. Hematic Sunsets, check the anagram, is Tietchens' love for cheesy electronic music, which resulted in five LPs and two Christmas songs. The organ plays an important and I would think one of those organs that people had in the '70s. Well, my cousin had one, complete with a ton of ditto cheesy rhythms and chords and a big speaker below; the easy two-finger method of play. I seem to remember my cousin was pretty apt at it. I'd love to have one. Tietchens loves the sound of such organs as well as other machines that produce similar cheesy stuff. In the early days of his record
releasing career, Tietchens did four albums for Sky Records, which had a more poppy electronic streak, and later he decided he enjoyed doing that stuff resulting in the fictitious Aroma Club, which, no doubt, in Tietchens mind was a place where you could drink coffee and smoke your cigarette. In the corner there would be such an organ and someone playing his take on lounge music, But, this is Tietchens, a man with quotes of Cioran on most of his record (replaced by Klopstock on Hematic Sunsets releases), so this Aroma Club is not necessarily full of colour and on second thought the lounge music is not so cheesy and lounge-like at all. It comes with a strange hook, a dark undercurrent, and on this fifth album it all seems a bit darker than before, maybe the dark times we experience and with all clubs closed (well, here in The Netherlands at least). This is, however, still great dark lounge music, with those minimal rhythms, and melodies, ranging from lightweight to almost industrial, showing the veracity of the music. Excellent album, once again.
As a bonus, there is a one-sided LP which gives space to friends of Tietchens to say goodbye and bow their heads to the Aroma Club. There is Okko Bekker (owner of the studio in which Tietchens works), Felix Kubin, Michael Rother (early Kraftwerk member, and of Neu and Harmonia), Jetzmann, Heinz Funk, Ebinger, Chestnut Ameis, Maik Willing & Der Botox Lucas Chor and Unknown Singing Objects, who all have their take on Hematic Sunsets; spacious guitars, obviously, for Rother and Kubin with some fun pop song madness, or the super slick jazzy flutes of Ebinger. Maik Willing & Der Botox Lucas Chor tops it all with a schlager (look that up for yourself) going out of control. This is all a fitting tribute to the fun side of Tietchens. It could very well that you think it's stupid, but I think it is great fun." [FdW/Vital Weekly]
"Auch wenn fast jede Veröffentlichung Asmus Tietchens von einem Cioran-Zitat begleitet und geziert wird, so hat sich schon immer auch Humor im Werk des Hamburgers gezeigt, was sich u.a. teilweise in der Titelgebung seiner Tracks widerspiegelte, jedoch war dieser Humor nie so dominant wie auf seinem „death lounge project “ Hematic Sunsets (auf dem seine anagrammatischen Mitspieler Achim Stutessen, Assistent Meusch, Hans Tim Cessteu, Mischa Suttense und Tussi Schemante heißen), auf dem Tietchens seiner Liebe zum – wie es in der Pressemitteilung heißt – „Darth Vader organ sound“ frönt; Attribute wie „cheesy, spooky, deranged but still catchy“ zeigen das Spannungsfeld, in dem sich diese Musik situieren lässt. Das erste Album erschien 1998, diese finale Veröffentlichung, auf der jetzt „Adieu“ gesagt wird, besteht aus einer LP mit neuen Kompositionen und einem weiteren, einseitig bespielten Album, auf dem Weggefährten „Tschüss“ sagen, da es sich „Ausgeduftet“ hat, wie es bei Jetztmann heißt.
Die Hematic Sunsets-LP ist voller kurioser und zum Teil natürlich durchaus „catchy“ Tracks: Da gibt es die skurril-zerhäckselte Stimme auf „Zum Geleit“, das in TOPY-Diktion betitelte „Thee Church Ov Aroma“ mit seltsamen Stimmen und unheinlichen Flächen, das fast schon zu düster für dieses Album ist. Auf „Ungesungene Tanzrückstände“ hört man monotone hochrfrequente Loops. Es gibt das großartig betitelte „Stuhlwasser“ mit Billigorgel oder die seltsamen Kirmesstimmen bei „Der im Keller“. „Liebelei“ mit cheesy Streichern und Gesang hätte den einen oder anderen Partykeller in den 70ern beschallen können. Auf „Schrittbinder“ hört man kuriose Schellen, „Fiasko“ wäre in einem Paralleluniversum vielleicht ein Soundtrack zu einer Krimiserie gewesen, zu einer Zeit, als es nur zwei Fernsehprogramme gab. Interessanterweise hätte man ein Stück wie „Dem Morgen graut“ durchaus auch auf einer reinen Tietchens-Veröffentlichung der letzten Jahre finden können. Das lapidar betitelte „Das war’s dann“ schließt die erste LP ab.
Chestnut Ameis eröffnet das zweite Album mit der seltsamen Kirmesmusik von „Speckpumpe“. Otto Bekkers lässt den Hörenden bei „Peyote-Melodie“ zu Bontempiorgel schunkeln, Unknown Singing Objects, die bisher ein paar Singles veröffentlicht haben, steuern eine seltsame Ballade voll “Blut” und “Knochenmark” bei. Auf “Phantomschmerz” ist Felix Kubin mit Retroscifi Lounge zu hören. Sehr schön ist “Martellato” des 2013 verstorbenen Heinz Funk. Jetztmann „endet lo-fi mit dementen Vocals.
Im beiliegenden Blatt wird die Geschichte des Aroma Clubs augenzwinkernd dargelegt. Höhepunke waren etwa „Mikadotanz-Abende“, „Kriechkeller-Parties“ und „Hodenbaden unter der fachkundigen Observanz von Dr. Kurt Euler“ – ob die Liedertafel Margot Honecker dabei Lieder schmetterte, bleibt unerwähnt." [MG / African Paper]
|
2020 |
€32.00 |
|
| HENNIES, NICK |
Work |
CD |
"Nick Hennies makes music from work - and work into music. Simply put, work is process and one of Hennies' goals as a composer is to shape the possibilities of a given instrument as well as its sonic imprint. The result is austere, lyrical solo percussion music that focuses on resonance, natural overtones, room acoustics and slowly developing structure. As Hennies' art matures, it has become clearer and more refined, whether appearing to be finely tuned adjustments to previous approaches or something altogether unheard. Hennies now lives in Ithaca, New York, though he was based in Austin, Texas for many years, where he was a member of the Austin New Music Co-Op and played drums in doom-folk outfit The Weird Weeds. Work is Hennies' latest release and first for the revamped Quakebasket label and it consists of two pieces. The first is a ten-minute solo vibraphone piece called 'Settle,' which as it evolves, brings out electrifying resonances that evoke the early piano music of Charlemagne Palestine or even the lush dogma of Brian Eno and Michael Nyman. Hennies has famously explored the shapely vibrational properties of woodblocks, making them truly sing in a way that few Western percussionist-composers have, so it should be no surprise that his coaxing of metal lamellae, cylinders and sustain pedal would result in a panoply of interlocking and unfolding shapes. These shapes are patently the result of refined action - striking, damping, and measuring intervals - but reducing their behavior to stimulus and response oversimplifies the comely beauty that his instrument produces. The bulk of Work is made up of the forty minute 'Expenditures,' which shows a side of Hennies' compositional strategy for ensemble (something that's been emerging gradually on recent releases). His vibraphone is joined by several Austin new music regulars, including bassists Ingebrigt HŒker Flaten (The Thing, The Young Mothers, Scorch Trio) and Brent Fariss, drummer Chris Cogburn, clarinetist Jon Doyle, trombonist Steve Parker, and violinist Travis Weller, with the horns and strings also doubling on percussion in the piece's closing minutes. As Hennies puts it, 'the goal of the piece is for the musicians to play sustained tones on the same pitches as the vibraphone and then eventually to play 'work music,' where the players each come up with their own phrase to be repeated until the end of the piece. 'Though the first fifteen minutes are rooted in gently nattering repetition and the ghostly shapes that emerge from ringing sustained drones, the ensemble's whispers at first seem to follow suit before their weight vis-à-vis personality emerges rather quickly. Thus, while initially this music might seem to espouse the arid mathematics of minimalism (albeit with rare poiesis), the individualism of each player as an improviser within a surprisingly unruly collective vision emerges. The effect is something like Gunter Hampel's Galaxie Dream Band playing Terry Riley's In C. Though far from a traditional avant-garde improviser and avowedly distant from free jazz, it's entirely fair to place Hennies' piece within the pantheon of conducted/directed improvisation from such minds as Laurie Scott Baker, John Stevens, Gavin Bryars and Radu Malfatti. As Hennies said in a 2011 interview with online journal Ni Kantu, 'What I really want to do is harness my natural inclinations rather than decide to 'do' certain things, and that's why there's a wide variety of music that I've put out recently. I'm a little self conscious that I have music that doesn't sound like it was made by the same person, but I would like to think that over several years there would be a palpable connection between these things. I would like to create a body of work that gives one an example of where I was at certain points, and this is one of the biggest influences I got from John Duncan, where he says that 'all of my work is about self-discovery and trying to learn about [himself].' As singular as Work may appear, it is a fascinating outgrowth from a decade-strong book of generative themes and processes, all reflecting on a committed, physical engagement with the implements of sound production." [label info]
"Percussion player Hennies belongs currently to one of my favoured minimalist composers. His pieces are deceivingly simple and highly hypnotic. So far, I think, the pieces I heard from him where solo pieces, for such instruments as snare drum and vibraphone, but here we have two pieces, one for solo instrument and one for small ensemble. In the solo piece 'Settle' Hennies has a multi-track recording of him playing the vibraphone in his 'usual' style. Stead fast with overtones ringing through. Maybe there is some sort of post-production in this music? Like out of phase placing of the various layers? Maybe, but I doubt that. It sounds more like an exercise in controlling the instrument and various ways to play the same thing over and over. Over the course of the ten pieces the piece gradually dies out, and reaches no particular place in nowhere land.
The small ensemble piece is called 'Expenditures' and is for percussion, sine waves, clarinet, contrabass, vibraphone, trombone and violin, in which Hennies himself plays the vibraphone. This piece starts out, for a long time, to be a piece for vibraphone solo again, or so it seems, but the sine waves play very nicely along and gradually the piece seems to be falling apart - like in 'Settle', dying out - and the ensemble takes over. A very spacious piece of music then evolves - seemingly out of nowhere, seemingly going nowhere. But it keeps unfolding. One could think this was improvised rather than composed but what do I know? Maybe it's somewhere in between? The instruments bending forever, making small gestures, plucking strings, maybe with objects and all such like. It has that jazz like feel, like that recent release by The Necks, but also electro-acoustic and modern classical. It's perhaps not something I would expect from him, but it sounds no less great!" [FdW/Vital Weekly]
|
2014 |
€13.00 |
|
| HENRY COW |
Stockholm & Göteborg |
CD |
"The first new release for 30 years from this legendary audience-splitting British group, and the first featuring Georgina Born, the group’s bassist between 1976-78. Remixed and re-mastered from the original Swedish radio tapes.
‘Henry Cow, me favourite band in the world’ [Robert Wyatt, 1973]
Henry Cow were never going to fit in. Their compositions were way too composed and their improvising was way too improvised - a tendency that only got more extreme as time went on, as these recordings from 1976 and 1977 demonstrate. Stockholm and Goteborg fills in some of the missing history between In Praise of Learning (1975) and Western Culture (1978) and offers music that has not been heard on record until now. First is Tim Hodgkinson’s late and fiendishly complicated epic composition ‘Erk Gah’ (a working title), that took many months of sweat to learn and resolutely eschews any hint of riff, solo or modular assembly. At the other extreme are the two wide-ranging improvisations built around heady extended instrumental techniques, aleatorics, quotations, more-or-less randomly inserted prepared materials and a blithe disregard for genre rules. Between, constantly shifting ground, are a straight-ahead version of Phil Ochs’ No more Songs (one of only two covers ever performed by the band), an unreleased composition by Fred Frith, and a version of the Ottawa Song: a typical live set from that period. Finally, Stockholm is a snapshot of a band of exceptional talents having fun. And it reflects what the studio albums could not – that Henry Cow’s natural habitat was the stage - and the real-time pressure of public performance - because it was there that the music could live and breathe. And evolve.
Stockholm and Goteborg is the first volume of a 9 CD and one DVD set of unreleased material commemorating the band’s 40th anniversary.
Georgina Born. fretless bass, cello
Lindsay Cooper. bassoon, flute, recorder, sopranino sax, piano
Chris Cutler. drums, electrification (13) and piano
Fred Frith. guitar, xylophone, piano
John Greaves bass, voice
Tim Hodgkinson. organ, alto saxophone
Dagmar Krause. singing. "
[label info]
|
2008 |
€14.00 |
|
| HENRY, PIERRE |
Un Monde Lacéré |
LP |
"Transversales Disques announce the release of the never released before piece Un Monde Lacéré by electroacoustic music pioneer Pierre Henry. This piece is a special tribute to Jacques Villeglé and his work. It is the world opening performance of this opus, recorded in studio Son/Ré.
Pierre Henry was born in 1927 In Paris. He started studying music as early as the age of seven. In 1944, guided by Olivier Messiaen, he imagined and started composing music for the future. His meeting with Pierre Schaeffer was crucial for his creation. Inventing new technical composition processes which in time have become widely used on a large scale, he has constantly given this music a far reaching power no one expected at the start. He has also invented his own sound, as easily distinguishable as the sound of the most famous jazz musician." [label info]
"Starting 2021 off with a bang, Transversales Disques is back with an absolutely stunning LP, 'Un Monde Lacéré', comprising a never before released, long-form work by Pierre Henry. A mind-bending example of the heights of Musique Concrète, by one of its most important pioneers, it remains years ahead of its time and challenges the perceived notions of how electronic music is understood to sound.
Over the last few years, the Paris based imprint, Transversales Disques, has set a remarkable standard for archival releases, bringing us a treasure trove of previously unreleased recordings by Bernard Parmegiani, Pharoah Sanders, Luc Ferrari, Igor Wakhevitch, Philip Glass, Ariel Kalma, François Bayle, Ennio Morricone, and numerous others. While by no means the limit of their focus, the imprint has offered special attention to works by French pioneers of electronic music, particularly those associated with Groupe de Recherches de Musique Concrète (GRMC) and Groupe de Recherches Musicales (GRM). This incredible initiative now extends to one of the most important composers of them all, Pierre Henry, with the stunning LP, Un Monde Lacéré.
Comprising a previously unreleased, long-form composition dedicated to the life and work of the artist Jacques Villeglé, Un Monde Lacéré is an absolutely stunning example of the heights of the late period in Henry’s visionary career. Transversales Disques has done it again, bringing forth an incredible body of sounds that doubles as a fascinating illumination of historical discourses between visual and auditory language in among the 20th and 21st century avant-garde.
Electronic music sprang from utopian dreams. Its creators deployed new technologies in an attempt to liberate composers and audiences from the cultural, economic, and educational limitations that had haunted the music of the past. For a great many artists, this all began with musique concrète / tape music, a musical idiom, first theorized by Pierre Schaeffer during the early 1940s, that deploys pre-recorded sounds - sourced from virtually anywhere - as its raw materiality. Truly revolutionary in every way, perhaps more than any other avant-garde form, musique concrète radically expanded the notions of what music is perceived to be, what it is comprised of, and by whom and how it is made. There’s a strong argument that it was so radical and ahead of its time, that we’ve yet catch up. Among the idiom’s pioneers, few were as important, influential, or forward thinking as Pierre Henry.
Henry was among the earliest adopters of musique concrète in France, joining Pierre Schaeffer at Club d'Essai studio at RTF in 1949, leading to a fruitful period of collaboration between the pair, and the subsequent founding of The Groupe de Recherches de Musique Concrète, as well as the first purpose-built electroacoustic music studio in 1951. A true maverick who deployed an intuitive and energetic attitude to the idiom, unlike many of his peers who increasingly veered toward the use of synthesis, Henry remained deeply dedicated to tape music until his death in 2017, often pointing to a relationship between the sound objects of music and those of spoken and written language. This was a notion echoed by many visual artists of his day, notably Jacques Villeglé, widely regarded as a pioneer of college and decollages, as well as for his alphabet of symbolic letters.
Born only a year apart, while working in different mediums, Henry and Villeglé belonged to similar creative zeitgeists and mindsets. Each embraced a decidedly avant-garde philosophy, while deploying ‘found” materials to create new, democratic languages. The common ground and mutual respect shared between these visionaries of collage led to several meetings over the years, as well as a number of shared exhibitions. The first, taking place in Poitiers at at "Le Confort Moderne" during 1999, produced the only widely available document of this creative connection, Henry’s album Apparitions Concertées, paired in its release with a catalog of Villeglé's ‘sound posters’.
Composed and recorded by Henry in 2008, Un Monde Lacéré is a long-form work - stretching across both full sides of the LP - paying homage to the life and work of Jacques Villeglé. Divided into 8 sections, the mastery of the composer’s craft is impossible to escape. Immersive abstractions comprised of intricate detail unfold within Henry’s controlled fury of energy. Sounds captured from a vast range sources - instrumental and non-instrumental - collide in fields of rhythm, tone, texture, and ambience, appearing at moments to be far closer to acoustic, real-time free improvisation than most recognizable forms of electronic music. If it were not for the diversity of the sounds themselves and the composer’s manipulation of the tape, the ear could be easily led to believe that it was witnessing an artifact of one of the wildest bands it had ever heard.
Filled with life, astounding energy, and remarkably forward-thinking creative attack, even at the age of 81, Pierre Henry, across the length of Un Monde Lacéré proves to have been one of the most vital forces in contemporary experimental music, all the while still bearing the utopian torch lit at the outset of avant-garde electronic music and musique concrète into his final years. Once again, Transversales Disques has raised the bar for the field of archival releases. A truly astounding piece of work that can, at long last, be heard."
[Soundohm]
|
2020 |
€25.00 |
|
| HERBST9 |
:Enenylyn: (SOLD OUT) |
7 |
“Probably the most well-known band of the new Drone Records 7”-releases. This is the first non-LOKI release by the German dark/transcendental ambient-duo from Leipzig, who already gained cult-status. The two pieces on this EP are filled with roaring feedbacks & amorphic sounds. Deep reverberations evoke impressions of endless vaults, halls & tunnels way down deep below this Earth. In addition to this music whereabouts, there’s an intense emotional imprinting, like being in the middle of a sacrificial or shamanic ritual. This music has the psychedelic drug power to evoke ancient gods.
~ Filed under: sacrificial / shamanic drones ~
WHITE VINYL. BLACK COVERS WITH HAND-PRINTED BANDEROLE.” [press-release]
|
2004 |
€6.50 |
|
| HEROIN IN TAHITI |
Casilina Tapes 2010 - 2017 |
LP |
"Hailing from Rome, cult duo Heroin in Tahiti fuse analogue synths, garage-y guitars and skittering drum machines to gloriously lo-fi effect. This collection of previously unreleased tracks covers material recorded in their studio from a 7-year period. Their unique psychedelic vision touches on everything from beat poetry, house music and Ennio Morricone soundtracks." [Norman Records]
"Heroin In Tahiti is a duo from Rome, Italy hailing from the Roma Est scene, a sort of local community based in the crumbling and deteriorated neighborhoods which were already eternalized by Pasolini and Neorealist Cinema (think of Pasolini, De Sica, Visconti, etc.) The duo plays a variety of cheap guitars, analog synths, drum machines, and pedals, achieving a dirtiness which is tragically lo-fi and out-of-time at the same time: a "Spaghetti Wasteland", as they call it. In 2012 they released on Boring Machines their debut album Death Surf, a title which spoke for the music played on the record. The label said of the album: "Think of drinking a frozen daiquiri on a solitary beach while watching a poorly tuned TV broadcasting loops of If You Meet Sartana Pray for Your Death (1968), while Mururoa tests are happening at the horizon." When mentioning Italian occult psychedelia, Heroin In Tahiti seems the best choice to sum up the sound and the references that stay at the core of this all-Italian scene. With albums like the mammoth double LP Sun And Violence (2015), the minimalist Canicola (2014) and the monolithic Remoria (GRA 001LP, 2017), Heroin In Tahiti became a cult band for their particular signature. Casilina Tapes 2010-2017 is the latest (and probably last) output from the cult Italian duo. It's a collection of unreleased tracks recorded in their basement studio in Rome in the last seven years while building up their thematic albums. The label listened to the single tracks at once and they found out there's a coherence between them even if they have been created in different periods. Actually, they show a coherence that only Heroin In Tahiti, with their kaleidoscopic vision of how Italy secretly sounds, can properly conjure up. Boring Machines calls it "total music". You may find elements which reminds of long lost Morriconian soundtracks for cheap westerns or giallos, library music to accompany documentaries on Superstudio radical architecture, urban tribalism, beat poetry festivals on the seashore, and house music. Recorded in Rome, 2010-2017. Artwork by Francesco de Figueiredo. Screen printed covers by Legno, Milano." [label info]
|
2018 |
€20.00 |
|
| HET ZWEET |
Het Zweet |
CD |
"Reissue of a classic tribal Industrial album by Dutch project Het Zweet, originally released in 1987, comparable to the music of Z'ev. Het Zweet (Sweat) was the band project by Marien van Oers, native of Breda in the Netherlands active from 1983 to about 1988. The music consisted of long 10-minute percussion pieces played on self-built instruments (shopping trolleys amplified with pickups, blown cardboard tubes etc.) with repetitive shouted vocals by Marien. The music was often placed in the industrial camp and linked with the likes of Test Dept. but in fact Het Zweet were more concerned with 'tribal' music, physicality and trance effects like Z'ev. During concerts he often performed together with other players. Marien Van Oers sadly passed away in 2013. This self-titled album originally came out on the great Dossier label in Germany in 1987. The bonus material included on this reissue consists entirely of previously unreleased material. There's three untitled tracks and two live excerpts presented as long experiences that belie their disparate origins with a unity of sound and purpose. Van Oers' percussive nous and distantly yelled chants certainly sound capable of working up a sweat in both the performer and any movement-minded listeners, but maybe the most striking thing about Het Zweet is how vital it still sounds, despite its age and relative obscurity." |
2022 |
€15.00 |
|
| |
2XLIVE88 |
CD |
"Strictly from a personal perspective, it is great to see renewed interest in Het Zweet. I think that interest started when Staalplaat released an expanded version of Het Zweet's only LP (see Vital Weekly 1343), which Klanggalerie released on CD. A label from Greece, Modal Analysis, released a double LP with archival work, judging the content pieces from compilations and some previously unreleased work, plus a 1984 live recording. I haven't heard this one, but today, there is a CD with two live recordings from 1988. That is interesting as this is also the year that Het Zweet started to wind down his activities because of shifting musical interests. In 1988, Het Zweet supported Bourbonese Qualk in The Netherlands, and I am sure I saw them on a different evening, but I have no recollection. Therefore, I also have no idea if Het Zweet was also opening up that night. I believe this CD has the complete concert of that April 1, 1988 show in Club Utopia in Elsloo (I had to look that up), and it offers an exciting variation of the music Het Zweet plays. Mostly known for his more rhythmic music, that side still plays a significant role in the music here, ominous industrial drumming, tribal-like metal percussion (Neubauten, Z'EV), but a song like 'We Hear Your Soul' is more... an actual song, with Van Oers, Het Zweet's operator, singing, with a keyboard present, and some loops. Loops of instrumental bits return in other pieces, and by using delay, those also have a more tribal feeling. I was pretty surprised by this approach because I didn't know much about Het Zweet in the later stages of his career. It's an exciting variation here, with Van Oers going for what, I think, is a more song-based approach, next to the loops, tapes (slowed down voices; very 1980s) and metallic percussion. With some production value, this music could easily have found its way into the early catalogue of the Cold Meat Industry.
The other concert on this CD was recorded five days later, at Radio Militia in Belgium, and is about half the length, approximately twenty minutes. This is along similar lines, but interestingly enough, not a repeat of the same material, and a song like 'The Last Straw' sounds completely different, and so does 'Ein Kreuz Part 1'. In the surroundings of the radio station, it all sounds a bit more controlled than on stage. Both have their charm, and this latter-day Het Zweet opens for me a perspective I didn't know. It's a great historical document, prompting me to please once more for a Het Zweet box set with (almost all) his work." [FdW / Vital Weekly] |
2023 |
€13.00 |
|
| HIGASHI, YOKO & LIONEL MARCHETTI |
Okura 73°N-42°E |
CD |
“Musica Genera presents another album from French musique concrète composer Lionel Marchetti (in 2005 MG had released the CD “Docteur Kramer (you are not you)” by Lionel Marchetti and Emmanuel Petit), this time realised together with his artistic partner Yôko Higashi, Japanese performer, dancer and vocalist. The album contains three compositions of musique concrète, one by Marchetti, one by Higashi and a collaborative work by both artists. Each of the tracks is an elaborate sound construction of individual characteristics and unique sound aura. “Pétrole 73” is the artistic fruit of Marchetti’s stay at the “Stubnitz” trawler, the one of a kind ship rebuilt as a floating cultural centre. Analogue drones, radio voices and mechanical sounds of working hull create the atmosphere that contrasts with next composition. “Okura” was realised by Higashi basing on the sound material gathered in Mozambique. Field recordings of African nature and surprising electronic interventions interweave with fragments of ethnic music, leading the listener towards the final, collaborative track. “Pétrole 42” captivates with it’s sonic depth and uncanny, ethereal aura created by delicate synthesiser passages, distant, unearthly voices, chants, breaths, punctuated with disturbing, aggressive concrète sounds.”
|
2009 |
€13.00 |
|
| HIGGINS, GARY |
Seconds |
LP |
"The music business is full of funny stories -- and some of them aren't that funny at all. Take Gary Higgins. In the early 70s, he made a great record, the culmination of years of listening and playing and work. Then he went to jail for marijuana possession, a short stint, but still, the kind of crime that's almost not a crime these days. The record came out -- but without him to promote it, almost nobody heard it, until... 2005: Red Hash, Higgins' megaobscure psychedelic folk-rock masterpiece is reissued on CD, drawing all kinds of acclaim and selling thousands of copies. Shows are played, interviews are done. But how to answer the question, why haven't you made another record since then? 2009: Gary Higgins' Seconds. is here to answer the question. It's a beautiful acoustic-based record featuring careful, melancholy arrangements in the tradition set by his famous previous record -- but with a few unpredictable musical touches. Additionally, Seconds. weaves black threads of lyrical reflection into its sleeve in the shortlived Higgins tradition. His was never a hippie-dippy perspective -- back in the day, his songs featured a thoughtful, but worldweary, occasionally even paranoid perspective. And today, he opens Seconds. with the couplet 'I got demons on my back/they don't travel nice.' Gary is from the original singer-songwriter wave of rock and roll. There's no need for him to pretend that his songs are being sung from another point of view. And so Seconds. strings together moments of life, working through regrets and reflections on fallibility, the odd flashback, and a few hopes for the future over the course of seven deep songs. Whether the material has been gathered in the years since his reemergence in 2005 or over the longer stretch since the last released Higgins material, it flows with oneness. And accompanied by his fellow travellers (including a couple Red Hash players as well as his son), he's put together a bold and colorful statement of where he's at today. Seconds. ain't no Sweet Baby James, or anyone else for that matter. This is the sound of Gary Higgins, making music and digging it once again." [label info]
www.dragcity.com
|
2009 |
€15.00 |
|
| HIRANO, MIDORI |
Invisible Island |
LP |
Invisible Island is a fitting title for an album that seems to exist in a place quietly removed from the problems of the world. It's playful and imaginative, living in a soundscape filled with exotic fruits that fall from invisible trees. The record feels like a continuance from her album Minor Planet (2016) that shines through as an ethereal fog.
Although the pieces on the album mostly centre around the piano - played in a soft, minimal way - it's the way they are presented that creates the personality that defines Invisible Island. The keys are coated in sound experimentations, perfectly accompanied by layers of synthesizers. It's a dreamy album that seems to emanate from a fantasy full of warmth, channeling both classic Japanese ambient music and a more modern electro-acoustic sound. Midori has a special sense of creating touching, melancholic pieces that float on the borders. As someone who grew up in the outskirts of Kyoto for then to later move to Berlin, one can sense the influences of both places - without ever settling down on either.
Midori's Invisible Island is a safe place. Though it's one full of life and colours : birds, animals, wind and waves, fond memories of lost or unknown places and people that exist only in the hidden edges of this album. This especially comes to light for the albums centrepiece, the beautiful Belong, featuring Christoph Berg on violin. It's as if the protagonist - after roaming around the island for a long period, lost in its intrigue - finally finds what he/she has been searching for. A few tracks later the album ends on the title track, an uplifting ending that seems somehow unreal once the album stops and we ́re back to reality. Though the piano seems to keep performing in ones head with its repeating chorus and slowly drowning theme. An album of true visible beauty.
https://midorihirano.bandcamp.com/album/invisible-island
|
2020 |
€29.00 |
|
| HIS DIVINE GRACE |
Le Grand Secret |
CD |
Auf dem Schwesterlabel von TREUE UM TREUE erscheint dieses hochmelancholische und philosophische Werk des französisches Projekts, dass uns in seiner "sad ambient" - Melodiosität an frühe REUTOFF erinnert hat...
"Inspired by the works of the Traditionalists and the lives and deaths of Sekens Murdock and Leontin V. Abilgaard, Moonchild Erik’s fourth CD album “Le Grand Secret” (The Great Secret) takes the shape of a metaphysical reflection on the deceptions of human language, in which Murdock and Abilgaard saw the main cause for the world of confusion we live in. Musically more accessible than “Eurydice” or “Reverse Aleph”, this very diverse new opus is the worthy successor of “Die Schlangenkönigin”, hovering from emotional soundscapes and spacey dub rhythms into gloomy, awe-inspiring drones with even noisy elements. An initiation through pure sound." [label info]
"...Tackling literary philosophical surrealism is a rather daunting task yet His Divine Grace has successfully extracted the subtle nuances of this newest muse and has distilled the rudimentary literary aesthetic into a long audio voyage filled with mystery and esoteric darkness. The album explores a wide array of carefully constructed dark ambient and experimental soundscapes as it leads the listener through imaginative and stimulating sonic worlds that shimmer like mirages. Dark ambient drones and electronic sounds are contorted into breathtaking monuments of sound that lay long shadows across barren wastelands of uninhabitable terrain. Like titans fighting battles long forgotten each track makes a definitive and powerful statement as His Divine Grace unfolds contemplative compositions that inspire and demand reflection.
The CD is spilt into three definitive chapters. Chapter one titled “These – Sekens Murdock” showcases the musical tribute to Murdock and establishes the musical introduction. Track one tilted “Les chevaux de feu” begins the album with an epic dark ambient anthem that combines churning industrial strength noise with interlacing drones and thunderous industrial sounds. Elusive samples of organ and choir enhance the experience lending a humanist emotional depth to the somber apocalyptic decimation established the industrial side of the music. Track two titled “Les gardiens du grand secret” features a shift in sound as His Divine Grace sheds the tormented confines of dark ambient music and steers the listner into ethereal ambience. Using a simple collection of finely articulated electronic sounds His Divine Grace sculpts a luminous song that elevates the spirit as it transports the listner into a sonic domain of alternating tones of purity. Track four titled “Verbum, lux et vita” unfolds with an element of suspense and an unknown presence dominating the tentative atmosphere as if invisible dwellers rove beyond the perimeter of the senses. Track four titled “Le voile levé” concludes the first chapter of the CD with a lonely and lengthy composition that combines delicate sonorous tones with tamed industrial rhythms and tuba like notes that resonate from the depths. “Le voile levé” is reminiscent of the organic ambient flow once achieved by O Yuki Conjugate though slightly darker and freed from the constrains of any ethnic influence.
Chapter two titled “Antithèse - Leontin Voigt Abilgaard” features five compositions themed around Abilgaard. The chapter begins with song five titled “De la nécessité de se taire.” “De la nécessité de se taire” leads the listner once again into yet another independent composition whose identity is only tenuously connected to its peers. The song begins with ominous drone music that is paired with voice samples and recorded sounds of water. As the song progresses the atmosphere darkens significantly as a threatening tone is established. Feelings of loneliness and isolation begin to creep up on the listner as His Divine Grace conjures forth an experimental ambient ballad that breathes with an uneasy rasp as it guides you through reflections of emotional carnage and fragility. Track six titled “Frayeurs initiatiques” continues the journey of isolation though the subterranean depths of the previous song seem somewhat further away. Using simple electronic tones and drones His Divine Grace subdues the listner with a hypnotic assault of suffering ambience. Track seven titled “Pourquoi... toujours pourquoi” sees light beginning to pierce the darkness as a slowly churning palate of voice samples dances with steadily growing waves of electronic sounds that drift awash in a delicate tapestry of sound. Like hope rising from the ashes of defeat the music gently stirs the listeners spirit to remember what has been lost and to react and reclaim. “L’opposition tacite” retreats once again into another suspenseful ambient narrative filled with dark ambience and ritualistic overtones that combine to offer a song filled with primal elements and an esoteric darkness that is tangible. “Le quatre-heure de crystal” ends the Abilgaard chapter of the CD on an experimental note as His Divine Grace abandons the listner to musical surrealism with a strong mind bending psychedelic tinge. Like witnessing events from the perspective of a heavily tranquilized yet conscious person the music washes across the listner like fragmented waves of conscious thought disarrayed and decaying.
Synthese et Syncretisme is the third and final chapter of the Le Grand Secret CD and it features a single song titled “Le Principe immuable.” ‘Le Principe immuable” is the most contemplative of all the tracks on the album and it lasts for more than sixteen minutes allowing for total submersion in the music. The finale does not end with a bang but rather on a very gentle note as His Divine Grace coaxes an incredible amount of sentiment, reflection and emotion from some of the simplest musical elements ever applied. Oscillating notes tepidly induce a spell that closes the album with brilliance and delicacy.
His Divine Grace is the type of electronic music that I covet. Grounded in industrial and ambient music His Divine Grace expertly melds his industrial musicl foundation with the openness of experimental composition. Each song is like a living entity, some transcendent and others primal and raw. Le Grand Secret sees His Divine Grace come to full fruition as he seizes upon literary figures deserving of his creativity. Le Grand Secret is an awesome display of imagination and musical surrealism and I highly recommend the album to those seeking to revel in previously undiscovered musical domains. Those who like bands like Propergol, Tordoih, Dusk Of Hope, and other promising dark filmic ambient music are encouraged to check out Le Grand Secret." [Malahki Thorn / Heathen Harvest]
|
2006 |
€6.00 |
|
| HIS MAJESTY THE BABY |
Hope for Madness |
CD-R |
"On the occasion of Syd Barrett's 75th birthday, in 2020/21, Gonzo Records released "Love You: A tribute To Syd Barrett", practically all of the "boy's" albums remade by a host of groups from around the world. The more than competent SHINDING magazine listed among the best tracks "FEEL" by His Majesty The Baby, an Italian ghost band, actually Francesco Paolo Paladino (an old acquaintance: Atrox, Doubling Riders, and many solo albums) and Luca Chino Ferrari (poet, music writer, free thinker). On the strength of such a successful debut HMTB have worked tenaciously to build, chisel and breathe this album for Silentes, "Hope for Madness."
Let's say right away that HMTB are a very strange group: Paladino is in charge of composing (and performing) all the music, while Ferrari takes care about the lyrics. Then there are the guests - and what guests! Most of them step in to sing and interpret Ferrari's lyrics (and we are talking about Martyn Bates, Edward Ka-spel, Alison O'Donnell, In Gowan Ring, Kitchen Cynics, Serena Nono, Maria Assunta Karini, Enomissosab); then there are the musicians/sound saboteurs who already collaborated on Paladino's previous albums: Mauro Sambo on woodwinds, Stefano Scala with his stralunate percussion, Maurizio and Roberto Opalio with their frosted noise entity, the Cavalazzi trio, Tiziano Popoli. And then we find again the unmistakable voice of Fiorella Gentile, host of legendary radio programs back in the days of our youth, who had already collaborated with Franco Battiato on "M.elle Le Gladiator".
As the title itself suggests (a clear reference to early Soft Machine) the land the incredible brigade tackles is the "dada" territory of the early 20th Century, which, through chemical mutations that are difficult to recount, morphed into the 1967-69 adventure of the more adventurous Beatles and the fascinating Zappa psychedelia. It is a true journey through 14 tracks that cling to each other, separate and find each other through inventions and references (not least the early Philip Glass) that glide swiftly, building a topography that is both unprecedented and evokes a thousand scents. "Hope for Madness" is a refined latticework of influences and novel solutions, a calembour worthy of the best Canterburian seasons, winking at both "200 Motels" and the bravest Italian prog. It is no coincidence that the final track is a haiku recited by Fiorella Gentile greeting Franco (guess who...) wherever he is now. The circle is reconstituted and we can certainly say that some oxygen is still breathing in this old sick planet."
|
2022 |
€15.00 |
|
| HISS |
Zahir |
CD |
Hiss is an improvisational quartet made up of one Englishman and three Norwegians with an instrumental line-up that is unremarkable enough, but with a sound that is fairly unique. Keyboardist/electronicist Pat Thomas is a veteran of the British free improv scene while guitarist Ivar Grydeland, bassist Tonny Kluften and percussionist Ingar Zach -- though the latter three are younger -- are mainstays of the Norwegian free jazz and improv cultures. The reasoning behind the Arabic-sounding track titles remains obscure. The music herein has some of the spikiness and general clamor associated with the post-SME scene in England, and leavened with allusions to contemporary electronica and even a tinge of rock-based fills. One might even be able to pick up the slightest influence of the very early Jan Garbarek groups: Grydeland sometimes brings to mind Terje Rypdal at his most extreme. Had the latter (a Norwegian saxophonist) stayed true to the aesthetic displayed in albums like Sart and Afric Pepperbird, it's just possible he might have been creating music like Hiss in 2002! For all their abstractions, the pieces hover in more of a free jazz vein than a non-idiomatic one. Though there are no solos per se; there is very much a sense of four individuals playing with less regard for the overall group sound than with creating a ruckus: a goal they reach often enough to make the album a fairly successful, noisy joyride. Listeners familiar with Company Weeks of the past, or the music produced along the Derek Bailey/Barry Guy/Evan Parker axis over the last several decades, may find nothing terribly groundbreaking here (though the title cut edges into intriguing territory). But overall it's a solid effort; very clearly recorded; that pays its own dividends.
|
2003 |
€6.00 |
|
| HISS TRACTS |
Shortwave Nights |
CD |
"180g Vinyl mit Kunstdruck und Downloadcode. 'Shortwave Nights' ist das Debüt von HISS TRACTS, einem neuen Duo aus David Bryant (GODSPEED YOU! BLACK EMPEROR, SET FIRE TO FLAMES) und Kevin Doria (GROWING, TOTAL LIFE). Die beiden trafen sich 2004 und begründeten eine musikalische Freundschaft, die in drei GROWING Alben mündete, die im The Pines Studio von Bryant in Montreal aufgenommen wurden und in mehreren Kollaborationen mit z.B. dem experimentellen Filmkünstler Karl Lemieux. Probebänder für ein Underground Film Festival in Lausanne 2008 wurden zur Basis für HISS TRACTS; David und Kevin arbeiteten zwischen 2009 und 2013 daran, doch vieles von der Magie der ersten Versionen ist noch immer greifbar. Kevin und David sind instrumentale Musiker von ungewöhnlicher Tiefe und Intensität. HISS TRACTS eröffnet neue kollaborative und erzählerische Pfade, um die beiden Musiker die Soundlandschaft von Komposition und Produktion erforschen zu lassen. Beide sind Gitarristen und die E-Gitarre erscheint als Quelle von 'Shortwave Nights', doch die Fülle an zusätzlichen analogen Quellen und Signalen stellt sicher, dass dieser Sound hier nicht mit gitarrenbasiertem Drone, Noise oder Postrock verwechselt wird. 'Shortwave Night' setzt sich über solch engmaschigen Genrebegriffe hinweg und lässt sich ebenso wenig in die vorherrschenden Subgenres einordnen. Wenn Drone jedoch der Orientierungspunkt ist, dann liegt das sicherlich an dem Mix, der die einzelnen Elemente zu einer Wall of Sound in Stereo vereint. Dies ist keine Elektro-Platte und 'Shortwave Nights' begibt sich auch nicht in die Welt von Ambient oder Wave, vielmehr lässt sich der Sound hier im breiten Abstammungsfeld von Post-Industrial und Musique Concrète verorten. //
Shortwave Nights is the debut album by Hiss Tracts, a new duo featuring David Bryant (Godspeed You! Black Emperor, Set Fire To Flames) and Kevin Doria (Growing, Total Life). The two met in 2004 and struck up a musical friendship that led to three Growing records being made at The Pines (Bryant's recording studio in Montreal) and a separate collaboration between the two, initially in conjunction with experimental filmmaker Karl Lemieux (also GY!BE's current 16mm auteur/projectionist). Rehearsal tapes from a set of sessions for a Lausanne Underground Film Festival performance in 2008 became the foundation and starting point for Hiss Tracts; David and Kevin continued working throughout 2009-2013, but much of the material from their earliest session is still present, in one state or another, within the tracks on this debut album.
The sonic preoccupations of Bryant and Doria are well-known and well-documented across many highly acclaimed recordings over the past fifteen years, from the organic, group-based, semi-improvised collage albums of Set Fire To Flames to the glimmering, immersive minimalism of Growing and the more maximalist full-spectrum noise works of Total Life. David and Kevin are instrumental music practitioners of uncommon depth and intensity; Hiss Tracts opens new collaborative, procedural and narrative pathways for these fine musicians to continue exploring soundscape-based composition and production. Both are guitar players, and the electric guitar figures as both recognizable and unrecognizable source instrument on Shortwave Nights, but the deployment of a wide range of additional analog sources and signals ensures that there is no confusing this for a guitar-based drone, noise or post-rock record.
Shortwave Nights defies categorization by terms like "drone" or "ambient" and it does not easily slip into any of the predominant subgenres that have proliferated around studio-based soundscape work in recent years. Insofar as drone is a touchstone, this has mostly to do with the approach to mixing, which tends towards a transcendent/trance-inducing integration of elements into a unified, saturated, wall-of-sound stereo field. The album contains no beats or programming and very little that is identifiably loop-based or overtly sampled and sampler-driven. Occasional deployments of digital signal processing remain firmly in the service of Hiss Tract's overriding framework and commitment to analog sources and human instrumentation. This is not an electronic record, nor does it sit comfortably at either the pastoral or spooky/sinister poles of any ambient or 'whatever'-wave spectrum; it can perhaps best be placed within the broad lineages of post-industrial and musique concrète.
Meditative and visceral, humming with the electromagnetic atmosphere through which all manner of frequencies, transmissions and surveillances pass and collide, Shortwave Nights strikes an evocative balance between sonics captured-channeled-harnessed vs. composed-sculpted-performed, with an almost documentary rigour and restraint that nonetheless remains profoundly charged and engaged. Constellation is thrilled to introduce this new project with a brilliant debut album that has heavily infiltrated our brains and bloodstreams since Bryant and Doria first played us the nearly-finished recordings in the fall of 2013. Thanks for listening.
Release date: 13 May 2014
Running time: 44:28
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." [label info]
www.cstrecords.com
|
2014 |
€14.50 |
|
| HLADNA |
Melting Water |
CD |
Lobenswerte Re-issue dieses frühen HLADNA-Albums, mehrschichtige Schwälle von metallisch-fliessenden Lava-Klang, heruntergetunte Gesänge, alles verliert sich in unendlich grossen Hallräumen... auch wild ekstatisch-krachige Parts kommen vor... frühe MAEROR TRI sind hier auch nicht weit..
"The reissue of early album from Saint-Petersburg noise artist Nikolay Kalmykov's project Hladna. Recorded in 1998-1999 and released as a very limited CDR, it is still one of the best records ever made by Russian industrial scene and the CD edition was long overdue. This is ritual ambient with some additions of noise and metal percussion, reminding of some classic Lustmord, Cranioclast or early Hybryds tracks, but the sound is more raw and harsh. The overall atmosphere of industrial decay is rather brutal and rusty than profound and mystical here, but there are obvious strong primordial currents in this music that wake up your archaic patterns. The release comes as a beautiful paper folder limited to 300 numbered copies." [label info]
|
2007 |
€13.50 |
|
| HOARFROST & INNER VISION LABORATORY |
Decline |
CD |
"Both Hoarfrost and Inner Vision Laboratory are young projects, but it would be an understatement to call them 'newcomers.' Each of them has already released debut albums alongside numerous split releases, collaborations, web extended plays and compilation tracks. Thanks to them they gathered a substantial following among experimental music listeners.
It was just a question of time when the men behind the projects would collaborate on a release. The result is 'Decline' – a tale of descending into the pits of madness in 8 parts. Inspired by two poems, 'Madman' and 'Modern Icarus,' takes you on a journey into the realms of dark thoughts. With such a clear concept, it's no wonder that the music is cinematic, thus slowly building images in the listener's head. Face the stillness, but remember: something is lingering in the corner." [label info]
www.zoharum.com
|
2010 |
€12.00 |
|
| 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 |
|
| HODGKINSON, TIM & MILO FINE |
Teshuvah |
CD |
"TWO BLOKES FINDING SOUND IN THE MIDST OF
A Sort of Macrocosm
Insufferable and absurd. But, what else to expect? Because we are (imagine ourselves to be?) sentient, or rather, due to the manner in which western "civilization", an infectious disease which has managed to inculcate almost every indigenous culture on the planet, has manifested this sentience, we are an utterly disingenuous species. Our actions, in one way or another, are, for the most part (exclusively?) unintentional manifestations of what lurks beneath; unacknowledged, suppressed, repressed, willfully unknown. Our behavioral watchwords? Rationalization and justification. Why? Well, fear of course, Knowing we will cease to exist, or, perhaps more accurately, lacking the ability to fathom the eternal (or what we imagine it to be), we turn to so-called power, material wealth, fame and the like as pathetically meagre compensation. Now, there are those who would, in the current lexicon, argue that "it's all good", which is nothing but a rephrasing of essential tenets found in any number of belief systems/philosophies. And while there is no doubt that truly existing in the eternity of every moment, to treat what we generally separate into "good" or "bad"/ "positive" or "negative", as nothing but unified energy of which we are simply a part -- to, in other words, maintain a sense of calm and "being" regardless of life's circumstances -- would likely be ideal, or close to it. But, given the essence of humanity's overall conditioning and wiring, this state is, sadly, more or less impossible to attain, never mind sustain. Not to say that it isn't worth considering and attempting. But, in the meantime, let's drop the pretense; the state of the world -- inner and outer -- makes it clear that it is not all good, and to excuse our behavior is to propagate the missteps that personify humanity.
Certainly A Microcosm
Social gatherings are all, to one degree or another, insufferable and absurd. Fraught with rampant hidden agendas and their manifestations -- positioning (hierarchal maneuvering) and networking (careerism) -- and underscored by insecurity and thinly veiled desperation (a bit thicker for those with truly sociopathic tendencies), how could they be otherwise? And, having such a gathering in the name of "art" only compounds the unbearableness, because the meaningful realization of the creative impulse should have at least something to do with transcendence. Not "transcendence" as a marketing tool or an image mongering label, but transcendence. So, when a local academy hosted yet another insular affair -- in this case, a "festival of electronic music and arts" -- wherein the invitees ranged from graduate students to out-of-town guests (underwritten by their own academies to come and display their wares; that is to say, add yet another line to their curriculum vitaes), the resultant lack of transcendence can hardly come as a surprise. And, indeed, just on the surface, there's abundant evidence as to how brilliantly this event works at cross purposes. First, it's centered around technology, which, these days, as one knows, means lap top gimmickry (and slow downloads). Second, there's a preponderance of hackneyed and merciless expropriation of indigenous musics, a clear sign of wrong-headed political correctness. Third, as part of ever elusive "audience development", there is much pandering to rock/pop influences. Fourth, the programming style is all pastiche -- a little of this, a little of that -- catering to short attention spans. (And, do I need to mention how the curator and others high in the food chain, get to present their work in the better, more prestigious venues? I thought not.) In all, it's fascinating how an event so concerned with creativity is, for the most part, so utterly bereft of same.
Tim and I first met when he came to town with Konk Pack (a trio which also includes Roger Turner and Thomas Lehn) in the fall of 2007. In addition to playing a duo set with Roger that evening, I had served as a middle man of sorts in setting up the gig, which, due to the curator dropping the ball vis a vis communications, almost didn't happen. (And, even when it did, the evening itself was filled with an assortment of additional miscues, which Tim -- the group's de facto "tour manger " -- and I handled well, and, perhaps more importantly, with good humor.) Tim and I didn't talk a lot that evening or at brunch the next day, but, as evidenced by our on-the-spot problem solving and the exchanges we did have, there was an obvious overlapping of sensibilities and interests. Evidently, Tim thought so too. I was, however, surprised and amused when Tim let me know he was returning to participate in this, as we say in the states, "dog and pony" show (i.e., an empty showcase). (That he was a member of an ensemble not playing his music -- a hired hand, so to speak -- mitigated my surprise.) In his e-mail he expressed an interest in finding some time to hang out amongst the rehearsals and performances. I countered by suggesting we get together to play. So, we elected to attempt both, but, naturally, given logistical concerns (schedules and transportation) the path to something simple was replete with small stumbling blocks. Enter filmmaker/videographer Mike Yaeger. Part of my unexpected and last minute middle man duties on Tim's previous visit was to find accommodations for Konk Pack. For several reasons, three people would have been a bit much at my place. Particularly in the light of Roger having opened his home to me for several days in 2003 while I was in England, his staying with me was a foregone conclusion. Fortunately, in an inspired moment, I remembered Mike had a long standing admiration for Tim's work. So, I contacted him about the possibility of Tim and Thomas spending the night at his house. Having met and had quite a long conversation with Tim the preceding year, Mike was delighted. This time around (late winter 2008), Tim had already alerted Mike to his return, but Mike was unaware that I had suggested our getting together to play. This prospect was especially exciting for him, because, in addition to his abiding respect for Tim's music, Mike has expressed a deep appreciation for my work as evidenced by his recurring bursts of support. (That a virodha bhakti -- devotion by defiance -- undercurrent informs our relationship is not surprising, as it is a recurring theme in my interpersonal dynamics.) He was, therefore, very keen on videotaping our session. And, because the audio on his camera is of mediocre quality, he suggested, no, almost insisted that I record it with my DAT equipment (consisting of a recorder, mixer and four microphones). I, on the other hand, just wanted to keep things simple and make some music. But, Mike, in his unbridled enthusiasm, can be extremely persuasive, and so we compromised. I'd record it, but with a basic stereo mike set-up.
Looking at the festival schedule, I noted the first day I was available to hear Tim, and made tentative arrangements to meet and go out with him and Mike. But that, of course, entailed the concerted effort of entering a domain that, despite my efforts to place occurrences in a broader context, nonetheless so irritates my nerve endings. Thus, with as much of an accepting attitude as I could muster, and keeping open the option that there just might, might be something of interest to hear (which, as it turns out there was, but just barely), I entered the venue where Tim would be playing and, once inside the performing space proper, immediately detected the pervasive stench of heightened self-importance and the politics of music as, first and foremost, a career path. A sort of existential nausea washed over me. With a demeanor of subtle defiance, I found a place to sit as some vacant post-modern design-form morphed on the stage's screen. Within moments, I spotted an enthralled Mike, who, for all his perspicacious opinions concerning artistic endeavor, can, in certain circumstances, be quite a, shall we say, forgiving listener; and Viv Corringham, one of my regular collaborators, whom I mercilessly (and, if I may be so bold, justifiably) tease for regularly showing up at these sorts of affairs. (However, as she actually participated in this event the previous year, her presence was de rigueur. Moreover, given that Viv has a genuine arts degree, one readily recognizes the force of habit extending from a good indoctrination, er, education.) During breaks between pieces, and almost trembling with displeasure, I asked Mike when we could get out of there, phrasing it along the lines of, "When the fuck can we get out of here and get something to eat?". He seemed perplexed and annoyed, to the point where, a bit later, and subsequent to Tim and I having warmly reestablished contact, Mike indicated he wouldn't be able to give Tim a ride to the session on Saturday, because he didn't want to miss any of the concerts (and, additionally, would have his young daughter, Alice, in tow). With no other viable options, I said I'd fetch Tim and get him back afterwards. Slight tensions aside, the four of us decided to get together for a meal prior to to Tim's next appearance that evening. The dinner at a small Indian restaurant was lovely; the usual push-pull banter amongst new and old comrades (Viv having known Tim for quite some time). Naturally, a fair portion of the conversation centered around the event at hand. And while Mike would have loved to find an ally in Tim concerning positive aspects of the festival, Tim was having none of it, and even went so far as to regale us with some wonderful and revealing behind-the-scenes stories. As the evening went on, Mike, in particular, was concerned about getting to the next venue in time to get a seat. I was, of course, in no great hurry, never imagining, in the light of the afternoon event's modest audience, that the place would be filled to capacity. Much to my chagrin, however, that was indeed the case, perhaps in part because it was a smaller venue. (Despite his being a performer in the evening's second half, even Tim wasn't allowed entrance.) Thankfully, my companions forgave me for filibustering at the restaurant. And, as we were in good spirits, and the ushers a good audience for our persiflage, we enjoyed our time in the lobby. Expectedly, some people left during the interval, so there were more seats to be had. I stayed to hear Tim, and then beat a hasty retreat.
Encounter
Saturday. Mike bringing Tim after all. Cart the smaller drum kit upstairs. Set it up. Open the piano. Assemble the clarinet. Set up the recording equipment. And, naturally, wait. Chronicling via cell phone: delayed rehearsals, concerts predictably running late, the convolutions surrounding their finding a place for a quick meal before arriving, and Mike's ongoing "negotiations" with Alice. Having a sense as to when Tim had to be back "on the job", I started thinking we'd have no time to play at all. Another call, they're almost here. Arrival. Mike and Tim set up their equipment, and, given the time constraints, we eschew a sound check. Then, without a word, the music starts. Now, if I may back up a moment. Previous to his hearing me play clarinets with Roger the year before, Tim knew fuck-all about my music. And my exposure to his work was limited; the early progressive/art rock, the raucous, improvised environs of Konk Pack (which didn't involve much woodwind playing), and the frugal bursts characterizing his contributions to the festival. So my expectations (like assumptions, a tricky business) were of a spare, lyrically-tinged aesthetic, perhaps informed by some "noisy" eruptions. But, when Tim put his horn to his mouth, it was all technically sharp, inventive fire. And I was delighted, as much for the music that was there, that moment, and to come, as for the fact that my expectations had been wonderfully circumvented. Improvisation. My lifework.
Acknowledgments
Mike, thanks very much for all your help, and, particularly for suggesting, er, insisting that I record the session.
(And, thank you to Kevin Cosgrove, whose serendipitous mentioning the word "renunciant" in a conversation just after my having essentially finished these notes, brought the track titles into focus.)
-- © milo fine (july 2008) " [label info / credits]
www.rossbin.com
" 'Teshuvah' reflects a first meeting between of two experienced veteran improvisors: Tim Hodgkinson (Henry Cow, Konk Pack, etc.) and Milo Fine. The career of Fine goes back to 1969 when he started The Milo Fine Free Jazz Ensemble. Throughout his career he was dedicated to free improvised music. I guess both gentlemen are more or less of the same age. Also Hodgkinson has a longlasting relation with free improvisation, as it was already part of the Henry Cow. They combined rock and free improvisation. In the last few years Hodgkinson tours regularly with his trio Konk Pack (Roger Turner, Thomas Lehn). During a concert in Minnesota he met Fine and the idea for a duo-session came up. It was realized in Fine's home, on a day in march 2008. Two long extended and one short improvisation made it to the CD that has Fine playing piano, drums, b flat clarinet and voice and Hodgkinson on b flat clarinet. While listening one feels the joy they had in their fabulous interactions. Never a dull moment during these sparkling, catch-me-while-you-can improvisations" [DM / Vital Weekly]
|
2009 |
€12.00 |
|
| HOFFMAN, KAY |
Floret Silva |
LP |
"Wiederveröffentlichung einer raren LP von 1985 (bereits 1977 aufgenommen) dieser Schweizerin, die inzwischen als Tanz- & Trance-Therapeutin in München tätig ist (www.kayhoffman.de). FLORET SILVA benutzt Texte der „Carmina Burana“, jener Gedichtsammlung aus dem 12.Jahrhundert, und bettet diese in mittalalterliche Folk-Melodien und ein „progressives“ Gerüst ein, gesungen meist von JACQUELINE DARBY. Eine avantgardistische Hippie-Platte mit meditativ-mystischer Ausrichtung und wunderschönem Gesang." [Drone Rec. info]
"Sounding at times like Vashti Bunyan fronting Sunforest, "Floret Silva" is a haunting mix of medieval music and progressive / psych / folk with Latin lyrics straight from the Carmina Burana book.
The "Floret Silva" project was born when minimalist composer Kay Hoffman went to Italy in the mid–70s. Once there, she met with welsh soprano Jacqueline Darby, who had recently been working with the Italian avant–prog band Pierrot Lunaire. Jaqueline was working on new compositions with RCA producer Vincento Miccocci in Rome and she asked Kay if she was interested in getting involved in a new project. Kay agreed and Gaio Chiochio and Arturo Stalteri of Pierrot Lunaire also joined them on this new venture. Gaio travelled from Rome to play the guitar and other friends of Jacqueline also offered their collaboration.
In a short time, Kay wrote all the material, inspired by the Carmina Burana book and her love of Medieval and Renaissance music. Kay also contributed vocals, clavinet and piano and together with Jacqueline Darby – on haunting vocals – plus an impressive cast of jazz/rock/progressive musicians, they recorded "Floret Silva" during 1977–78, under the guidance of Vicento Micocci.
Sadly, RCA backed off and the album went unreleased until a copy of the masters found their way to Japan, where the great Belle Antique label put out the first vinyl edition of "Floret Silva" in 1985. In 2006, US label Robot Records resurrected it again for the first CD release.
After many years out of print on vinyl, we present a new edition of this lost piece from the 70s Italian underground scene. A visionary album which anticipated the sound practiced by many neo–folk bands some decades later.
RIYL: Jan Dukes de Grey, Vashti Bunyan, Sunforest, Wicker Man, Pierrot Lunaire, Opus Avantra, Current 93, Nico, Gal Costa, Wooden O, Giles Farnaby’s Dream Band…
Master tape sound
4–page insert with detailed liner notes by Richard Allen and photos.
"This album is like the prettier, more elegant companion piece to Nico’s somber medieval explorations on The Marble Index" – Brainwashed.com
"This should appeal to experimental psych–folk fans for sure, even if this unique treasure is really something outside almost any genre designation you’d care to come up with!" – Aquarius Records
"…An almost perfect fusion of styles that when combined with the archaic language is both haunting and entrancing reminiscent perhaps of the otherworldly atmosphere created by Bo Hansson on his Lord of the Rings album." – Richard Allen
Iste Mundus – Floret Silva – Exorcismus – Intermezzo (Chume, Chume) – Ich Will Truren – Rondo – Mai Tanz – Quot Sunt Horae – Tot – Sonus Dulcis Lyrae – Ouverture – Zum Fest – Intermezzo (Fagott Sommer Nacht Promenade) – Tempus Instat – Langueo (Vacillantis) – Chume, Chume – Nummus – Post Communio Sancti Cyrilli "
www.guerssen.com
"We've had the cd reissue of this gem before, but now for the very first time it's been reissued on vinyl, too! What does Floret Silva sound like, you ask? How about RennFaire gone Rock In Opposition? Italian prog meets medieval madrigals?? We're still puzzling about how to describe this wonderful, wonderful disc, a reissue of a rare lp which was recorded by composer Kay Hoffman in Florence, Italy in 1977, though not released until 1985, on vinyl in Japan only!
Hoffman and her collaborators, including members of the very excellent and arty Italian prog band Pierrot Lunaire, took a trove of medieval Latin poetry known as the Carmina Burana - poems written by anonymous authors around 1200 AD that are both religious in nature as well as very earthy and real, about such subjects as love and money - and set them to music. The settings are diverse (as befits the variety of these texts), and the results are often eerie and pretty and even a little bit groovy, with quirky chamber ensemble/prog rock backing and even the use of field recordings. Utterly magical for the most part, most especially due to the delicate vocals of Jacquline Darby. One song reminds us strongly of Stereolab, others call to mind (rather more obscurely) that Flamen Dialis album we've raved about before. This should appeal to experimental psych-folk fans for sure, even if this unique treasure is really something outside almost any genre designation you'd care to come up with!" [Aquarius Rec.]
“1977 avant/folk progressive masterpiece from minimalist composer Kay Hoffman. Includes collaborative performances from Jacqueline Darby and Gaio Chiocchio--members of the legendary, Italian progressive group Pierrot Lunaire. Originally slated for release on RCA/IT (Italy) in ‘78, the album was later rejected due to recording deadlines, release schedules, and requests by RCA for other artistic/musical considerations. However, many years later, Floret Silva did end up surfacing on a very different shore. Copies of the masters found their way to the highly eclectic Japanese label Belle Antique, whose musical director had heard rumors about the early project in the mid-1980’s. As a result, Floret Silva was finally released eight years after the completed sessions in 1985 as a small edition, but very well received LP (Belle Antique 8502, Japan). Apparently, not many copies of the record were exported outside Japan. This merely created even more mystery surrounding the recordings as well as rumors associated with a Pierrot Lunaire-related project. The recordings were based on the Carmina Burana--a collection of medieval poetry written by various authors of which little is known. Floret Silva was an attempt to find a voice for these anonymous authors in the late 1970’s in Florence. Now, nearly 30 years after the completed sessions, Floret Silva blooms again….this time in the US. Available for the first time on CD with remastered sound, including a 12-page booklet with full lyrics and English translations. A lost (but now reclaimed) gem from the Italian progressive underground.” [label info for the CD release]
|
2016 |
€22.00 |
|
| HOLLOWAY, IAN |
Silent Spring |
CD-R |
"1 long drone track, of beautiful sounds and a calm yet unnerving atmosphere like a deep scene of a silent spring. Theres a thoughtful underlaying mood thru-out the flow of the soundscape. Since early part of the decade Ian Holloway has been moving us thru space and time, this really fills what you were missing." [label info]
www.darkmeadowrecordings.com
|
2011 |
€6.00 |
|
| HOLLYWOOD DREAM TRIP |
Second Album |
CD |
listen:
https://christophheemann.bandcamp.com/album/second-album
"As much as I try to 'follow' some musicians' actions, I don't always keep up. I am pretty sure I knew that Christoph Heemann (once of HNAS, Mimir, Mirror, but mostly of himself) had teamed up with Will Long (mostly of Celer fame, but also doing other ambient music projects, but also works with minimal dance music as
Long Trax). From the small discography of Hollywood Dream Trip, I understand that they work together whenever Will Long is in Europe—three albums in 2013 and two (digital) ones in 2021. One of the three from 2013 is 'Would You Like To Know More', a line from the Paul Verhoeven movie 'Starship Troopers'. They also recorded 'Second Album' in 2013 (no release is called 'First Album'), which they released as a CDR in an edition of 50 copies for the tour they did that year—now finding its way to a broader audience and quite rightfully so. Armed with a Moog Rogue, Roland MC-202, Lexicon PCM90, Electro Harmonix Random Tone Generator and tapes, they set out to record this forty-two-minute piece of slow-moving drones. There seem to be some field recordings in this piece, but they are hard to find here. In the beginning, there is a slow bump, like a heartbeat during sleep, which slowly alters as the piece evolves and the sound opens up. Becoming a tad lighter and brighter, maybe the heartbeat is the same, but it feels different because of the changing synthesiser sounds. It's not the kind of music I recommend when sleeping (in fact, I would never recommend any music during sleep, but that's my occasional insomnia speaking), as the overall tone remains dark. Especially around the thirty-minute mark, things roughen and could create a nightmarish scenario. It's not as relaxing as it could have been, which is good. This has all the markings of a live-in-the-studio recording, not trying to smooth things out too much. I enjoyed this work a lot, especially for that direct, in-your-face quality; nothing all too fancy, yet never anywhere close to being a full-on noise thing (far from it); just the sort of drone improvisation I love. (FdW)
"Stephen Meixner hat neben seiner Arbeit mit Contrastate und Soloaufnahmen auf seinem kleinen Label Black Rose Recordings in den letzten Jahren eine Reihe von Alben anderer Künstler aus dem weiten Feld der Geräuschmusik veröffentlicht – zuletzt wurden bei uns noch hervorragende Alben von rlw und Asmus Tietchens besprochen.
Nun wiederveröffentlicht er das zweite Album von Hollywood Dream Trip, einem aus Christoph Heemann und Will Long bestehenden Duo, das um 2013 aktiv war (und insgesamt drei Alben veröffentlichte), dem Jahr, in dem auch das lapidar „Second Album“ betitelte Zweitwerk in Aachen aufgenommen wurde. Ursprünglich war „Second Album“ nur als auf 50 Exemplare limitierte CD-R während einer Tour von Heemann und Long erhältlich.
Eingespielt u.a. mit Moog Rogue und einem Roland MC-202 beginnt „Second Album“ mit dunklem, reduziertem Dröhnen und Pulsieren, zu dem nach und nach melodische flächige Sounds hinzukommen, die anfangs im Hintergrund bleiben. In weiteren Verlauf der 40 Minuten zu einem lauter werdenden, an- und abschwellenden Drone steigern. Als vor etlichen Jahren auf diesen Seiten Hollywood Dream Trips „Would You Like To Know More?“ besprochen wurde, konnte man lesen, man könne den Namen des Projekts „aber auch als Hinweis auf das Unterbewussste, Somnambule sehen – auf das, was dem Verstand oft nur indirekt zugänglich ist. Letzteres kommt einem beim Hören der zwei etwa 20-minütigen Tracks dann auch schnell in den Sinn.“
Letztlich passen diese Überlegungen auch zu dieser Veröffentlichung. Das ist nämlich, um auf das zweite Substantiv im Projektnamen zu kommen, tatsächlich eine im wahrsten und beiderlei Wortsinne „traumhafte“ Musik“ und es ist ein interessanter Kontrast zwischen dem doch recht prosaischen Titel des Albums und dieser Musik, der fortwährend ein Moment des Ver- und Entrücktseins innewohnt. Man kann sich problemlos eine nächtliche Fahrt durch die Hollywood Hills vorstellen, während man die CD hört und an David Lynchs Haus vorbeifährt. Zu dieser durchgängig somnambulen Atmosphäre passt dann auch das von Christoph Heemann gezeichnete Cover." [MG/African Paper]
|
2023 |
€13.00 |
|
| HOLOTROP |
Manifestation de l'Antinatalisme |
LP |
"dark ambient activist holotrop returns to raubbau after his 2017 offering „dead bird calling“ - and again he fathoms the darkest and doomiest realms of his art. his nihilism seems almost prophetic considering the course of the world, a world which is literally in flames! replete with philosophical references, „manifeste de l’antinatalisme“ conjures up a truly dystopian vision of the world. this lp is a sinister swan song to consumerism, eternal growth and progress, a eulogy for humanity as such.
and yet, there’s a sense of irony in the fact that holotrop puts across his message in the most refined musical way, a subtly complex approach he has developed in recent years, a versatility that enables him to make his statement as simple and concise at it is: immersive synth drones lure the listener to the edge of the abyss, pounding beats send him into the vortex of despair.
better to never have been born!"
https://raubbau.bandcamp.com/album/manifestation-de-lantinatalisme
|
2020 |
€20.00 |
|
| HOLTERBACH, MANU |
23 Panoramas de Frequences |
BOOK + CD |
"23 Frequencies Panoramas - Urban and peri-urban sound-images of Lyon, Saint-Etienne and in between. This record contains about twenty sound images: recordings, or edited recordings, which have been carried out for a few years in Lyon, Saint-Etienne and in betweens. The used recordings have never been distorted or transformed, except a slight filtration when necessary, to reduce some undesirable frequencies, or to reinforce others, which are highly desirable. These sound images deal with listening to the landscape. They reveal moments when I chose to stop by and listen. They are both extremely familiar and exotic sounds. They are like fragments from our (more or less) everyday environment, which are so subtle and discrete, that everyone passes by without necessarily paying attention to them. However, they are beautiful sounds, which are worth listening to, and which I love gathering. They are these indications of a spontaneous poetry, which is part of the most commonplace or neutral things and situations. Listening actively to these phenomena enables one to make the world his, in an intimate manner, and therefore to get into one of the most poetic part of reality.
The sounds of these sound images stand as found objects. None has been generated on purpose, they are not a "creation". They are noises and sounds of our environment: sounds of machines, electrical devices, vibrations, natural phenomena, animal calls, echos and resonances due to the spatial parameters of different places, etc. This record aims at revealing the eerie beauty of these sound phenomena.” E. H.
This a beautifull CD + book of 64 pages of 15 x 21 cm with color photos. French / English texts by Lionel Marchetti and E. Holterbach. Photos by E. Holterbach. From mole-crickets chorus in a field to flying bats through flashing neon light. Highly recommended !" [publishing house info]
|
2010 |
€17.50 |
|
| HOLTERBACH, MANU & JULIA ECKHARDT |
Do-Undo (in g maze) |
CD |
"Do-Undo is a project that emerged out of Q-O2 Werkplaats, a sound-art laboratory of sorts based in Brussels. Julia Eckhardt, one of the artistic directors of this workspace, has been building an archive of recordings, comprised of long-form viola pieces played exclusively in G. This archive, in turn, has been passed on to various musicians, who can use those recordings as they see fit. Enter Manu Holterbach, a French sound-artist, field recordist, and ingenious instrument builder, who had taken part in several Q-O2 residencies; and it was there that he met Eckhardt and was presented with part of the archive of those minimalist viola recordings to use as source material. Eckhardt's recordings seek the rich, if occasionally dissonant, overtones that have been central to the minimalist works of Tony Conrad, Phill Niblock, Eliane Radigue, and Ellen Fullman. And in his reconstitution of her recordings, Holterbach populates his compositions with field recordings whose turbulent textures and bristling movements sympathetically weave amidst the rasping drones from the viola. On a rather technical level, Holterbach's field recordings on his composition 'Two Stasis Made Out of Electricity' -- an arc lamp, the sounds of Parisian subways, an electric power plant -- all naturally buzz with the same G of Eckhardt's viola, without the benefit of digital pitch shifting. The resulting drones transcend any conceits of conceptualism and strategic intent, instead seeing no difference between the sounds of the environment (man-made or otherwise) and the sounds of the academy. As such, Do-Undo (In G Maze) will undoubtedly please those with an ear for the aforementioned Phill Niblock as well as the controlled impressionism of Andrew Chalk. A letter-pressed edition of a mere 300 copies." [label info]
www.helenscarsdale.com
"In Brussels we find a sound-art laboratory called Q-O2 Werkplaats which is run by, among others Julia Eckhardt, who is also a performing musician herself. Over the years she has build an archive of viola recordings played exclusively in G. People who visited the Q-O2 Werkplaats could use these recordings. One of them is Manu Holterbach, who works primarily inside field recordings. He brings to the table recordings of an arc lamp, the sounds of Parisian subways and an electric powerplant - all of which happen to be in G. too. All of this is combined in 'Do-Undo (In G Maze)' which is a lovely work of acoustic drones and field recordings. Quite an intense piece of work actually, that, despite the fact that this is all acoustic and field recordings alike, sound pretty much 'electric', rather than 'electronic'. A big buzzing, ringing enters your environment, with some excellent changes that add a further vibrancy to the material. Cut into two pieces, the first one seems to draw the attention to the acoustic side, while the second is more about the electrically charged sound. Think a refined meeting between Phill Niblock and Alvin Lucier and you get my drift. Limited to just 300 copies, so grab it while you can." [FdW / Vital Weekly]
|
2010 |
€13.00 |
|
| HOLTKAMP, KOEN |
Field Rituals |
CD |
" 'Field Rituals' is the first solo album to come from Koen Holtkamp, an artist probably better known as one half of ambient duo Mountains. Based in Brooklyn, Koen created the album slowly and as a love letter of sorts, taking in delicate field recordings and using them like faded photos representing his distinct memories of the people and places he chanced upon. Some may have heard the incredible ‚Make Haste’ which appeared on limited edition vinyl earlier in the year, but this was only a taste of what Koen has to offer on ’Field Rituals’.
Taking cues from the classic ambience of Brian Eno and fusing it with the instrumental subtlety of Sweden’s Tape, Koen has come up with an aural book on his subject matter. Each track feels entwined in the next and feels like a part of something much bigger. Sure we’ve heard field recordings, synthesizers and guitars before but rarely have these instruments been injected with such a lightness of touch and with such a delicate open ear. Each listen reveals more, like peeling back layers of onion skin – take the album’s epic centrepiece ’Sky Flowers’ for example, which blends slow-moving synthesizers with good-natured environmental recordings and shimmering strings. The result is explosive somehow, with the grandeur more usually exploited by Arvo Part being framed with a distant electronic ambience.
The slow-burning pace is probably the single most important facet and reveals an artist at ease with his musical choices, something unusual in a genre brimming with young hopefuls. A good comparison might be Stars of the Lid, but Koen’s music is more organic and more humble somewhat than the ex-Texan duo. In the end we are just proud that Koen has allowed us a look into this most personal of works." [label info]
"Here be the first full length album from Mountains-man Koen Holtkamp. You may recall we got in (and sold out) his contribution to
the A Room Forever series of LPs commissioning artists to match a field recording on one side with a sympathetic composition on the other. Where his offering there was a dark-hued, ominous crescendo of crackled drone sourced from acoustic guitar, Field Rituals has its
head in the clouds. Holtkamp begins the album with a lovely round of brightly rendered acoustic guitar finger picking with some tricked out ring modulation effects giving each of the tones a sun-flecked glow and funhouse mirror curvature. Sustained drones from loops of melodica and harmonica mutate into an ersatz harmonium with the soaring overtones and sweeping fluctuations of tonalities gently crashing into each other. The loops every once in a while coalesce into a rhythmic underbelly, but mostly they settle as a effervescent bubbling of overlapping delay patterns and softly shimmered ambience. On top of all of this, Holtkamp dapples everything with his shimmered guitar and occasional crackles of tactile objects (he mentions water, seeds, ice, and paper) as well as field recordings of giggly children romping in a playground. The effect is somewhere between the immaculate pieces from Keith Fullerton Whitman's recordings and the bright-eyed naturalist
wonder of the Jewelled Antler camp. Really gorgeous stuff from the ever impressive Type label." [Aquarius Records review]
www.typerecords.com
|
2008 |
€16.00 |
|
| 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 |
|
| HOLZKOPF & EMERGE |
Craft |
CD |
"This is not a split release, but an album of two co-composed tracks by
two apparently very diverse artists. Canadian artist Holzkopf is mainly
known for his leftfield take on drum’n’bass and improvised vocals,
while EMERGE is often labelled a “drone ambient” artist. Here, they
combine their respective mastery of synths and the processing of
sampled ambient sounds to create two textural, yet highly suspenseful
half-hour pieces.
The track titles “masonry” and “metallurgy” give the listener some
clues as two the sources of the sounds used. Y-Ton-G, a
long-standing presence in the German underground experimental music
scene and close collaborator of Asmus Tietchens, is credited with
supplying some of the source material for EMERGE’s samples, and given
Y-Ton-G’s predilection for the sounds of metal, these probably gave
shape to the samples featured on “metallurgy.” This is not to say that
any of this music sounds at all anecdotal. The great achievement of the
album is in the way it manages to combine seemingly concrete,
referential sounds with abstract, brooding frequencies. The mixture of
found and sythesised sounds, some of them by Holzkopf and others
supplied by mutual label mate and analogue-synth noisician ORiFiCE,
creates a kind of cinema for the ear which conjures emotionally
compelling atmospheres while never forcing any obvious visual
associations on the listener." [label info]
www.attenuationcircuit.de
"Also on the next CD Emerge is present, but then in collaboration with Canada's Holzkopf, who sometimes works inside the area of drum 'n bass, but also takes on as easily noise and ambient. Also on the plate here are sound samples by Y-Ton-G treated by Emerge. Two long pieces here, each around thirty minutes, and maybe the titles give away something, 'Masonry' and 'Metallurgy', which one might conclude this deals with some sort of metallic ringing and singing. There is a loose structure in order here, in which these sounds seem to be improvised and everything arrives in a playful mood/mode. I am not sure how this was made; by mail or Internet I would assume, but it sounds like they have been together and improvised these two pieces on the spot. Feeding it through a variety of boxes and laptops, with (obviously) moments that could be weeded out by more rigorous editing, but it's a free flow of sounds that has its appeal. It's perhaps the kind of thing that you would find on a cassette release, but why not a CD? Why not! Indeed!" [FdW/Vital Weekly]
|
2014 |
€10.00 |
|
| HONEYMOON KILLERS (LES TUEURS DE LA LUNE DE MIEL) |
Les Tueurs de la Lune de Miel |
CD |
"Fronted by the late Yvon Vromman, The Honeymoon Killers were a provocative band with a strong pop sensibility. This album made them the darlings of the music press all around Europe (including in the UK, a rare feat for a French-singing act), and their delirious live shows gained them a strong following. Les Tueurs also included vocalist Véronique Vincent, Gerald Fenerberg, Jeanf Jones Jacob and Aksak Maboul/Crammed originators Marc Hollander & Vincent Kenis.
The album originally came out in 1982. It was first re-issued on CD in 2003, augmented with 4 previously-unreleased live tracks from 1981 (with Aksak Maboul), a track recorded for a NME tape, and the 3 tracks from the "Subtitled Remix" EP (it had been strongly suggested to the band that they could broaden their audience if they recorded English versions of their songs. The Killers chose instead to “subtitle” them, or rather to add new, English-speaking characters to the songs: The Copter-hater, who lives a parallel story to that of the heroin of “Histoire à Suivre”, Mummy and Jason who comment the actions of the quarelling couple in “J4”, and Dr Stone, Max and Colonel LaFièvre, who turn the instrumental “Ariane” into a mini-space opera entitled “A Deep Space Romance”)." [label info]
www.crammed.be
Les Tueurs by Gilles Verlant:
"The main quality and the main problem of the Honeymoon Killers is that they saw everything in duplicate. It's a recurrent drama with Belgians in general and artists in particular: they are often seriously schizophrenic. Let's start with their name. The Honeymoon Killers, like Leonard Kastle's 1970 film about a couple of serial killers ? Or Les Tueurs de la Lune de Miel, with this amusing contrast between menacing (Tueurs) and comforting words (Miel) ? They can't decide, so they'll put both names on the cover and the public will have to sort it out for themselves. And then who's the leader, or at any rate, who gets photographed for the press ? Is it Yvon Vromman, who is unshaven and ugly with his big round nose, but makes you die laughing (actually he's the one who'll die, far too early), a real bundle of nerves, the kind of psychopath which blows up in your face as soon as something goes wrong ? Or is it the evanescent Véronique Vincent, an ex-model and journalist ? In 1982 the New Musical Express doesn't think twice: the girl will make the cover. You can imagine Yvon's face: after all, he's the one who started this band! In the end, this internal competition will undermine them and make them explode in mid-flight. But there was even more schizophreny in the Killers: they were clearly going in several musical directions at the same time. Raw energy stemming from punk and new wave on the one hand, and serious musical skills of some band members on the other. What united them is the desire to have laughs, to experiment, to subvert influences without giving a damn about what's in and what's out (and maybe that's why their songs haven't aged, which is a thing you can't say about that many albums recorded back in 1981 !). Hey guys, let's make provocative versions of songs by Sheila and France Gall (two French pop stars from the '60s) ! They were only slightly more respectful with Charles Trenet's classic "Route Nationale 7", which went on to become a radio hit in France, while the press went apeshit.
In reality, the Honeymoon Killers were a band from the 21st century which had unfortunately fallen into a spatio-temporal flaw. Today, all the things they were fighting for with their little fists tightly clenched (and their little tongues firmly screwed in their cheeks) have become totally obvious: being quirky and imaginative, not taking oneself too seriously, bravely mixing electro-and-pop-and-world-and-jazz etc. The Tueurs must absolutely reform. Yvon, don't act stupid, come back, all is forgiven !
[GV writes books and television programs. He is the author of the definitive Serge Gainsbourg biography.]
www.crammed.be
|
2003 |
€13.00 |
|
| HOOR-PAAR-KRAAT |
A Doorbell of Earbows for Brefix |
LP |
Geheimtip aus den Staaten! Wer auf rauh-chaotische Collagenmusik mit hohem Objekt-Noise Anteil steht, die trotzdem stimmungsvoll atmosphärisch ist, sollte hier unbedingt mal reinhören. Die vier Stücke schwanken zwischen wirren, sehr konkreten Impro-Geräuschmusik-Passagen und eher dronigen Parts in denen auch vokales Material auftaucht, immer mit dem Hang, die wahrhaft ungewöhnlichen Klänge und Arrangements herauszuarbeiten...
"Grainy loop tracks, vocal tracks (which may or may not also be from tape), and surrealist music which isn't miles away from early Nurse With Wound. Richard Vergez (Drowning the Virgin Silence, Gray Girls, Mothersky), Duane Hosein (A Jealousy Issue, Hand Carved Gentleman, ex-Poison the Well). BRANDON SAMDAHL (Mr Entertainment and the Pookie Smackers) and ANTHONY MANGICAPRA bathe the entire thing in foggy reverb and mysterious scratching and shifting, which pulls it all together. It makes sense only as a dream transcribed onto recording equipment. The A side contains material previously released on The Huntington Chapters three-inch CDR (Small-Doses) and the B side is all previously unreleased recordings from the same sessions. Mastered by JAMES PLOTKIN." [label info]
"...The A side, previously released on Small Doses, is a tripped out burst of mysterious musical abstraction. Two tracks, clocking in
at about 18 minutes total, an abstract and spacious drift through some lost alien soundscape. The first track is all tinkling melodies, glistening high end, strange rumbling fluctuations way off in the distance, bits of creak and scrape, everything bathed in foggy reverb and warm wet swirls of tape hiss and atmospheric whir. Melodies creep in and out, as do bits of field recordings, it all feels like some cinematic bleary eyed wander through a hazy druggy flashback, a washed out world of lost memories and fragmented dreams. Here and there guitars grind and reverberate, and strange percussive sonic events drift into earshot, like an even more abstract Wolf Eyes maybe. Quite gorgeous and dreamlike. The second track starts out the same, a smear of high end
shimmer, but instead of spreading out into languid pools of blurry sound, things get decidedly more abrasive, the high end becomes
sharper, the percussion is more clattery and jarring, a disembodied voice intones some creepy monologue over the top, effects swirl and swoop, deconstructed riffs chug and churn, everything dizzying and disorienting, like the nightmare analogue to the opening track's dream.
The flipside also offers up two tracks, the first begins with a swirl of creaking metal, sizzling cymbals, clattery percussion, until suddenly the clang and crunch are transformed into a strangely rhythmic crunch, the metal sounding much deeper, more of a resonant bellow, all very chaotic and cacophonous, underpinned by deep distant rumbles. Which leads right into track number two, all birdsong and tinkling chimes, whispered voices, random sonic detritus, sharp slivers of momentary buzz, soft smears of static, very haunting and ominous and like the first side, quite cinematic. Beautifully packaged as always, pressed on thick vinyl, housed in full color sleeves with super striking artwork from HPK mainman Anthony Mangicapra. We know it's LIMITED too, just not sure to how many." [Aquarius Records review]
www.goat-eater.blogspot.com
|
2008 |
€15.00 |
|
| HORIST, B. / K.K.NULL |
Interstellar Chemistry |
CD |
Unusual and undescribable wild surroundings on this collaborative effort with great guitar-sounds which reveal a deeper beauty after a while.. ! And every track is different !
“ No laptop music here! Real instruments played by real musicians. Ah, the flowers of romance. In this instance, as it turns out, Bill is Horistaculturalist to Null's garden of unearthly delights. Boom Shankar: Null plants the seed, Bill grows the seed, and we EAT the seed. What in Hell's name am I going on about? Well, it's like this: Null provided sonic source material which Horist then organised, manipulated and added on to. So what happened? Scrumptious musical confectionaries with surprise flavour centers! Much of it is like IDM with the boring removed. More deep and less bleep. The drum machinations pound out strains reminiscent of Ikue More (ala Death Praxis) or latter day Bruce Gilbert with a bit of controlled early Nurse With Wound wail thrown in as if this amalgamation were the soundtrack to an old Atari video game (see also Haruomi Hosono). And then comes the second track! Horists' guitar techniques are exciting, weird, rhythmic, Harry Partch-like ('Luminous Lullaby'), indescribable, explosive, ugly and beautiful. And just when it gets nuts, a melancholy paean to Boards Of Canada cuts through the noisy silt to round the experience out. Tietchensian insect jitters skitter throughout the tracks, no two of which can be said to be quite the same. And this is the wonder of the whole thing; Bill has crafted a cohesive statement out of all these musical explorations which, in many ways, smells of the tectonics of "OG" electro-experimental records of the early 80's and late 70's. There is both a bold adventurousness and a wonderful simplicity to the compositions that is like re-embracing that pivotal moment when noise first made sense and all the Zeppelin records went into the bin. And then you needed a pack of cigarettes and had to fish through the bin to sell the Zeppelin records. It's like that! “ [press release]
label:
www.blrrecords.com |
2002 |
€12.00 |
|
| HOTOTOGISU + BURNING STAR CORE |
Volume One |
CD |
"Five tracks, totaling approximately fifty minutes by the time-defying duo of MATTHEW BOWER (SKULLFLOWER, RAMLEH, SUNROOF!, TOTAL) and MARCIA BASSETT (DOUBLE LEOPARDS, GHQ, ZAIMPH) collaborating with C. SPENCER YEH, ROBERT BEATTY, and TREVOR TREMAINE (the latter two of HAIR POLICE, EYES AND ARMS OF SMOKE, SICK HOUR). Originally released as a tour merch CDR, this edited and re-sequenced edition begins with an appropriate invocation and from there punches blindly through one stone cloud after another, coughs and gasps from exhaustion, stumbles and lies motionless. The ritual concludes with a moment of naked acoustic/instinctual spasm. Packaged in a black polycase with black-and-white inserts and a special randomly-selected one-inch button (five button variations in all). All different material from the companion volume HG/BxC II released by the Heavy Blossom label." [label info]
".... And what in fact happens, is a big sprawling chaotic blown out spaced out free rock noise jam. The addition of drums makes a huge difference, grounding the sound in 'rock', but said drumming is free and abstract enough to let the music breath and expand and spread out like a black fog. The opener is a static Dead C style jam, a simple plodding beat, cymbals and kick drum mostly, while all around, dizzying swirls of guitar fuzz and thick swaths of distorted synth, and in there to some damaged electronics and of course some of Yeh's FX drenched violin. The backdrop is a constantly shifting swirl of noise and sound, but the simple plodding rhythm makes it sound like some ultra gritty lost krautrock rehearsal tape.
The second track is a bit more unhinged, the background of the first song, brought to the fore and allowed to swallow everything up.
The drums this time are just an incessant clanging buried in the mix, like a railroad crossing bell heard from within a tornado. Part way through some of the noise seems to coalesce into sort-of-riffs, and suddenly it a strangely propulsive slab of white hot white noise, albeit with a bit of groove to it. The next track is the most melodic, a gothy, doomy sort of glacial dirge, almost like an ultra lo-fi Hawkwind, crushing drums and more of that noisy blown out squall jammed into every crevice. The drums drop out almost entirely for the next number, the guitars and synths and violins and vocals spread out into long effulgent streaks, super noisy, but strangely hypnotic and dreamy.
The final track is a sort of throwaway, a brief sputter of creaks and clatter, scrape and grind, angular and atonal, a blown out noise coda, but it's the loooooong tracks that make up the rest of the record that really hit the drone-dirge-noise spot.
Packaged in a cool, black plastic case with a black and white cover, black and white insert, and each copy includes a button, one
of 5 different designs chosen at random." [Aquarius Rec.]
www.dronedisco.com
|
2006 |
€13.00 |
|
| |
same |
LP |
"Hototogisu -- the duo of UK experimentalist Matthew Bower (Skullflower/Sunroof et al.) and New York-based-guitarist Marcia Bassett (Double Leopards/Zaimph/GHQ) -- are all about impact, about taking the physical aspect of sound and hallucinating it to the point of abstraction, so much so, that for all of the complexity of their music, it often sounds like it's standing still, simply hanging in the air and vibrating without anything approaching a 'plot' to bring it to a point. By contrast, Burning Star Core, the trio of drummer Trevor Tremaine, Robert Beatty on electronics (both of whom also play in Hair Police alongside Mike Connelly of Wolf Eyes) and C. Spencer Yeh on violin and electronics, are more overtly propulsive, usurping 'classic' rock form via electronics and drums, but still focused on momentum, on the jam as a form of structural gravity, on the unfolding of action via development over time. This all-improvised studio meeting is the perfect reconciliation of both tendencies, of Hototogisu's obsessive layering of strata after strata of violently-conceived noise and of Burning Star Core's epic, post-Kraut thunder-punk style. Bower has long been on record about his opposition to anything approaching 'dialogue' in improvised music, favoring a senses-devouring simultaneity over anything that might pass for actual exchange, so it's no surprise that there is little on this new record that sounds even close to conventionally-improvised music. Instead, it feels more focused towards the zone where energy begins to spontaneously birth form, where the monomaniacal pursuit of the nowhere zone bears fruit in the shape of a music that transcends its constituent parts while being totally based around -- and rooted in -- the individual response to the moment. BXC play it ginchy and garage-pop right from the start, simultaneously inverting and amplifying Bower and Bassett's vertical constructs with drums that sound like they might have been lifted straight from the most flower-power parts of the Silver Apples' back catalog and bass patterns that are as tactile and rock-anchored as Can's Holger Czukay. To hear Hototogisu's music given this kind of injection of dynamic energy makes them seem more obviously sourced in 'classic' rock music than you might otherwise have guessed, with a dense, implosive sound that feels like a hyper-distilled take on all of rock's most outlaw aspects, the feedback that makes you feel like you could explode in a ball of electricity, the anti-gravity effect of heavy fuzz, the seductive, alien tongues. It's certainly the most 'garage band' side that either of the groups have cut to date, albeit in the form of a Gnostic, post-acid re-think where the vibration is more important than the outer forms, where energized enthusiasm makes for a more fundamental guiding principle than verse/chorus/verse and where the only direction left is out. Which is another way of saying it feels genuinely bad-ass. In an era where even the best groups seem polite, pro, participatory, democratic, this is music that is disregarding in its overwhelming power, exhilarating in its irresponsible spontaneity. And in an underground scene where self-conscious notions of avant-garde and 'free improvisation' have long displaced any concept of an intuitive rocks-off style, well, it feels like a re-connection to the source. So file this one closer to Kill City or Sticky Fingers than Persian Surgery Dervishes or The Black Album and feel the gravity of your whole record collection shift." [David Keenan, Glasgow, November 2008] |
2008 |
€15.00 |
|
| HUDAK, JOHN |
Miss Dove, Mr. Dove |
CD-R |
Zu den innovativsten, aber sicherlich auch am schwierigsten zugänglichen Neutönern gehört seit längerem JOHN HUDAK, der v.a. in den 80/90er Jahren mit ober-obskuren Tapes eine kleine Anzahl von Fans glücklich machen konnte. Seine stark konzeptlastige Musik basiert oft auf einem bestimmten Objekt-Sound oder einer Idee, die neue Zugangsmöglichkeiten für das Hören an sich erschliesst. Auf dieser (wie immer im exquisiten Cover ausgestatteter) AFE-CD sind Klänge von TAUBEN & dazugehörige Aussenaufnahmen verfremdet worden, das Ergebnis ist an seltsamem Klang & eigenartiger quasi-Rhythmik kaum zu überbieten..
"John Hudak has been interested in sound and music from the age of four when he began to play a variety of instruments. At the University of Delaware (BA, English 1981) and Naropa Institute for the Arts (1979), he studied video, photography, creative writing and dance. He then began to create taped soundtracks for his solo performance-art/dance pieces that later developed into sound-only pieces. In recent years, he has concentrated solely on sound, particularly natural sounds. Hudak’s current work focuses on the rhythms and melodies that exist in our daily aural environments. These sounds usually remain hidden, as we tend to overlook their musical qualities, or their musical qualities are obscured through mixture with other sounds. In simplified terms, what he is doing could be considered "re-framing what is already there so that it can be admired." His work has been published by labels such as Alluvial Recordings, and/OAR, Korm Plastics, Aesova, Intransitive Recordings, Digital Narcis, Presto!? and many others.
"Miss Dove, Mr. Dove" was especially created by John Hudak for a release on Afe. Here's a description of the album inception in his own words: "During the late spring of 2007, my family spent some time visiting relatives in the Czech Republic, in a small village outside of Prague called Pelhřimov. One morning there, I woke to the sound of many doves. The building we stayed in was directly across from another similar building, and the space between the two created a wide echo. The birds sat on the adjacent building, making their plaintive sounds, at the crack of dawn; their sound mixing with the sounds of people talking as they left for work, and the sounds of trucks idling while making their morning deliveries." The original field-recordings were manipulated via software treatments to create a one hour long composition which is intended to be played as background sound/music." [label notes]
"Since many years I closely follow the work of John Hudak. In the early days it came on cassette and then on CD and CDR. One thing has remained a constant factor in his music and that his interest to explore one theme per project. On cassette always two actually, one per side, but these days its one piece per CD/CDR release. On 'Miss Dove, Mr. Dove' he uses field recordings made in the Czech Republic, recording doves at dawn, while traffic and people on the street increases. These sounds are treated with some kind of unnamed software and the entire piece lasts an hour. 'It is intended to be played as background sound/music', it says on the press release, and that's quite right. The music has changes, but throughout they are quite minimal, with envelopes on specific sounds being opened with great care. Music to be played while doing something - reading being my preferred kind of activity. Non-intentional music, the perfect back-drop. Like Satie intended with his music for furniture. Ambient music as Eno intended, but of a somewhat stranger kind. The bird like sounds are rhythmical, cut-up and not endlessly flowing. Very nice. " [FdW / Vital Weekly]
www.aferecords.com
|
2009 |
€12.00 |
|
| HUM |
Flesh of the Soul |
CD |
Nach vielen selbstveröffentlichten CDRs hier endlich die erste "grössere" Veröffentlichung von HUM, "Flesh of the Soul" besteht aus neun mantrischen Drone-Meditationen, die einen sehr sanft und fast unmerklich umschlingen....Musik wie das geheimnisvolle Wispern der Natur, wie der hörbar gemachte Gesang des Äthers. Klänge die das Mysterium der Existenz ausdrücken & wiederspiegeln, dunkel aber überhaupt nicht depressiv...
HUM schafft es immer wieder, die Drones nicht "banal" klingen zu lassen, sondern voller emotionaler Tiefe... und höchst authentisch!
"Being well-known to the inner circles of russian industrialists for his long-time work under different names, Hum didn’t have such an attention that he deserves until now, when Quag decides to change the situation and to offer the first CD of this brilliant russian talent. His mystical cold ambient explores the nature of soul and the soul of nature, the mysteries hidden in the sky, the earth, the water, the forest. Simple and minimalistic musically, Hum is very complex in its influence on a listener’s perception. Quiet unconstrained sound sorcery opens the higher realms of the unseen. Being far from dark and depression Hum is even more far from New-Age-like garbage. Recommended for those who wants to have a rest from darkness without dipping in syrup. The first edition of 300 copies in a special “Quag-pack” printed silver-on-black. IST 024 CD" [label info]
"Finally, after the numerous CDRs and one 7” on Drone Records, this is the first factory-pressed CD of this brilliant drone-ambient project. “Flesh Of The Soul”, which is definitely one of the best works Dmitry Chistov has ever done, is a real masterpiece of cold transcendental soundscapes. The album is filled with majestic melancholy, it is clear and soothing, there’s a plenty of veiled melodies and celestial harmonies hidden inside its simple sound structures. It sounds a bit nostalgic cause Dmitry uses only old-fashioned tape-technique and analogue synth loops, utilizing digital devices just for the final mastering, but the atmosphere is very special, reminding of early Zoviet France, Maeror Tri, Tesendalo or Aidan Baker. It could seem very peaceful and calm, but beyond this bright and peaceful surface the sorrow and darkness is hidden. The beauty of this music is enchanting and it is hard to resist its magical spells, so it might be difficult to fight the desire to play this album over and over in yearning to experience again the tender touch of this unearthly Flesh Of The Soul. The album is limited to 300 copies and comes in special package printed silver on black. Very recommended!" [press release / Indiestate]
|
2007 |
€13.00 |
|
|
Caldron of winds |
mCD-R |
"Three beautiful tracks mixing dones and natural sounds from this talented & prolific russian artist (previous releases include a 7" on drone records and a cd-r on mystery sea). full-colour printed 3" cd-r with artwork by cyril herry." [label info]
"..More field recordings can be found on the release by Hum, also known as Dmitry Christov from Russia, or perhaps his other aliases, such Sphogha, Maw, Mikosterion or Small Town Zombie, all of which I never heard. Hum had releases on Mysery Sea and Drone. There you are. Here he has three untitled piece of slow enveloping ambient/drone music. A bit of field recordings is set against some obscure electronics, which are hard to pin down. Synths? Computer process? Can't tell really. It's a nice lo-fi affair this one, not high and mighty on the recording side, but full of raw intent." [FdW / Vital Weekly]
http://taalem.free.fr/
|
2007 |
€5.00 |
|
| |
The Spectral Ship |
10inch |
Eine Huldigung an den "Klang an sich", der nicht erzeugt wird, sondern seit Anbeginn da ist. HUMs Beitrag für unsere 10" Reihe über das Nicht-Erkennbare.
"Two great new pieces by this russian artist from the Moscow-area, most sensible & emotional drone-ambience, a graceful dance of acoustic reflections & resonances. "Spectral Ship" and "Tidal Fire" appear like universal mantras, revealing the basic HUM of the universe. These works seem to represent perfectly the concept of the SUBSTANTIA-series: Sound that exists but which is not originating from the impact of two subjects in contact. Sound that is simply "there", with no beginning or ending.
Edition of 500 copies on silver-coloured vinyl, with a full colour sleeve design by DANIEL CROKAERT / MYSTERY SEA." [label info]
www.substantia-innominata.de
|
2008 |
€12.00 |
|
| HUM / SMALL TOWN ZOMBIE |
Stupefactions |
CD-R |
65 min / 9 tracks collaboration work of these two Russian projects, ultra-slow & deep abstract & ethereal drone-ambience, like listening to the air 10 km above the earth. Strange & mysterious, softly roaring sounds, in no way monosonic as there’s enough variation between the tracks...
“...this work is dedicated to stupor state, contains pieces recorded between june 2003 and january 2005. (except last part, recorded in august 2001). Some parts was taken from tapes recorded as Small Town Zombie (real-time processed street noise), others - hum stuff ( various-sources drones and processed tapes & field recordings)” [HUM]
“....How aptly this is named, a soundtrack as an ode to those moments when we become amazed, jaw dropped and paralyzed due to the subsequent emotion...a state of short catatonia where reality ends up distorted, twisted, blurred, revealing something new and unknown along the process... really excellent (will end up in my end of the year list of fave albums !)...” [Daniel Crokaert/Mystery Sea]
|
2005 |
€9.50 |
|
| HUMAN GREED |
Fortress Longing |
CD |
"Human Greed's fourth album " Fortress Longing: The Internal Campaign for the Safe and Complete Return of the Sleeping Egyptian to the Desert" is night-music at its most acute - unsettling, uncanny, beguiling, bewitching, and often profoundly moving.
Founder Michael Begg releases the work on the back of an exhaustive wave of activity. The last 18 months have seen him pack out cathedrals with the sonic swells and squalls of Fragile Pitches, his collaborative project with Nurse With Wound's Colin Potter, contribute to releases by Blind Cave Salamander, 48 Cameras and Laura Sheeran, and also play a core role in the emergence of the debut album by Fovea Hex, Clodagh Simonds's cult ensemble, with whom he has performed and recorded since 2007.
Rather than thin the mix, however, the insights and juxtaposition of the various disciplines exerted by all this extra curricular activity have helped forge Fortress Longing as the definitive work of melancholic extremism.
(A term coined by the Polish press during the band's 2008 tour of that country) Begg is joined, once more, by erstwhile visual artist Deryk Thomas, and a handful of other performers and friends: Antony and the Johnsons cellist Julia Kent once more lends grace to the proceedings, whilst Fovea Hex colleague Laura Sheeran provides vocal arrangements and harmonies.
Nicole Boitos - who painted the blue lamb featured on the cover of the recording also provides a reading voice to Begg's texts, as does the Norwegian singer Tommy Aashildrod.
Further vocal chants and singing bowls are provided by Charlemagne Palestine collaborator and 48 Cameras leader Jean Marie Mathoul.
The record makes stunningly effective use of the broadest palette of acoustic and electronic tools yet proposed by Human Greed.
Pianos (treated, bowed, prepared), cellos, violins, dulcimer, autoharp, guitars, singing bowls, glass armonica, gamelan, all fold, dovetail, and swap identities with synthesised, processed and eroded digital files and field recordings gathered from the trips Begg undertook in researching the record to Ile de Re, Athens, Heraklion, Frankfurt, London and Poznan.
A number of formally spoken texts even allow Begg to seemingly make peace with the written word after almost a decade of self imposed silence.
The work moves as a single mass, shedding skins and identities as acoustic instruments increasingly take on the role more commonly occupied by ambient electronic beds, whilst the electronics, synths and signals, and manipulated samples and field recordings are teased into releasing their hidden melodic potential.
Again and again in Fortress Longing, the discipline of musical form that Human Greed has so thoroughly deconstructed and undermined in their decade long journey, rises out of the boiling, roiling landscape of restless foreboding.
The effect - particularly on the elegiac cello arrangement by Julia Kent on The Green Line - is simply heart breaking.
Human Greed has delivered a singular and hypnotic work of disagreeable beauty, and Begg the composer, author and producer, is in complete control of his craft." [label info]
|
2011 |
€14.50 |
|
|
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 |
|
| |
World Fair |
CD |
"Michael Begg: This is my 5th record as Human Greed, 7th if you include the non-ensemble pieces Dirt on Earth and the OMEGA soundtrack I released last year for Moscow’s blackSKYwhite theatre company. This one has been cooking for two years and has seen me attempt to up my game with regards to formal musical theory and composition. There is a lot going on in there and I don’t know how to begin marking out its foundations for you. Possibly best just to remain relatively quiet on the matter and hope it can speak for itself over a few listens. However, the songcraft has its roots partly in the 16th century – from where also arises the preoccupation with melancholy and mortality- and there is much to be owed to the second law of thermodynamics, entropy, the singularity and heat death of the observable universe. That is all touched upon lightly, though I was keen to explore the potential for that science to be represented in a devotional mode more associated with faith.
The ensemble this time is notable particularly for the number of voices that come into the recording. This, in itself, is unusual for someone like me so closely associated with ambient drifts and drones.
So, aside from my long time partner, Deryk Thomas, Chris Connelly (Revolting Cocks, Ministry) gives a stylish reading of a traditional Scottish folk song, Scottish Jazz institution Sophie Bancroft joins the fold (I worked with her in the late 1990s running music and memory recovery workshops in dementia wards) and Sukie Smith from London’s Madam is also here. Nicole M. Boitos, sleeve artist for Swans, and James Blackstock, as well as my own Fortress Longing album shows that she, too, can hold a note. And I love her spoken word reading of the central World Far text on Waiting In A Car.
Colin Potter (Nurse With Wound, Monos) being a long time collaborator both through Fovea Hex and Fragile Pitches is once again on hand to contribute to the treatments and I am so thrilled to have worked with Steven R. Smith (Ulaan Khol, Hala Strana) on a composition called Chrysler. Steven’s work always, to me, sounds like an advancing desert storm and my vision of such a storm tearing down a city really came to life here. The sound of his home made spike fiddle! Wow!
Two gifted kids from the village helped out on the strings, and Pietro Riperbelli allowed me to plunder his archive of field recordings of cathedral interiors." [label info]
www.omnempathy.com
World Fair, album of the year : "There used to be a trinity of Nurse With Wound, Current 93 and Coil. Now the sonic gate keepers are a quartet; Nurse, Current, Cyclobe and Human Greed.” Was Ist Das (UK)
www.omnempathy.com
"This is the fifth album by Human Greed (or Michael Begg's seventh if you count the other ones under his own name) and he worked for the last two years on this, and that's something that shows here. While Human Greed is mainly himself and Deryk Thomas, there is a whole bunch of musicians helping them out, on cello and violin but mainly in the vocal department, such as Chris Connelly (Revolting Cocks, Ministry), Sukie Smith and Sophie Bancroft. If I understand well the album is about exploring 'the potential for that science to be represented in a devotional mode more associated by faith', and Human Greed harks back to the 16th century, both for that and the song craft here. It's not that easy to detect I must say, but then: I am no expert on 16th century music either. In the past I compared the music of Human Greed with Fovea Hex, and it's still on a similar line. The mood is a bit dark, with string instruments playing minor chords, aided by dark and moody soundscapes, field recordings, spoken words, and sweet sung melodies, although Human Greed is less folky than the music of Fovea Hex. There are also links to the musical world of Current 93, especially when things are a spookier and more textured here, Colin Potter and Andrew Liles may be inspirations here, and the whole thing has no doubt something very English about it. The creepy country castle atmosphere, the mechanics of a broken doll perhaps. Human Greed moves between the soundscape textures and the more song based structures of some of these pieces, and with pieces fading into each other, this sounds like one long trip, a journey if you will, moving through this fine, yet somewhat dark landscape. In good Fovea Hex tradition there is also a bonus CDR available, in which Begg and Thomas take the whole music of the CD apart and make an entirely new studio construction out of that. You hear little bits of the original in here, sometimes you may recognize a cello, or a violin, some voices but it's otherwise heavy on the use of sound effects to create even denser atmospheres; the cloud on the CD is perhaps more grey; here's it's more black. More abstract perhaps too, and less with a story to tell us. This is an excellent form of sound recycling - to avoid the word 'remix'. An excellent release, all around." [FdW/Vital Weekly]
|
2014 |
€14.00 |
|
| HUMAN QUENA ORCHESTRA |
The Politics of the Irredeemable |
CD |
Instrumental Apocalyptic Doom Ambience! Musik von erdrückender Intensität & urwüchsiger Kraft! Heftige Gitarren-Drones, wuchtige ultralangsame Pulses, Schreie, Noise... So brutal wie wunderschön. Gehört mit zum intensivsten, was es im Bereich "Industrial-Rock" der schleppend-zermahlenden Sorte zur Zeit gibt, natürlich muss man an alte SWANS denken, aktuell fällt uns sonst nur noch TRANSITIONAL, KHANATE oder BUNKUR ein. Das zweite Album!
"Ein bisschen Fantasie vorausgesetzt, stelle man sich folgendes Szenario vor: NAPALM DEATH wären keine Grindcore-, sondern eine Black-Metal-Band, und als Justin Broadrick sie 1986 verließ, um dann GODFLESH zu gründen, hätte er neben Industrial, Noise und Ambient eben auch einen Teil Black Metal in sein Projekt gebracht, aber mit dem Wissen, wie sich so etwas eben 2009 anhören müsste. Ein alberner Vergleich vielleicht, aber das aus Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania stammende Duo HUMAN QUENA ORCHESTRA schafft es mit seinem zweiten Album, eine ähnlich bedrückende Atmosphäre aufzubauen, wie es einst GODFLESH konnten und das eben mit ganz ähnlichen, aber noch heftigeren Mitteln, denn auf einen nachvollziehbaren Rhythmus und eine Songstruktur muss man verzichten. Eine den Songs als Fundament dienende Geräuschkulisse, darüber Schreie, Noisefetzen und ein sich ständig wiederholendes brutales Riff, das nur alle zehn Sekunden zusammen mit einem Drumschlag auftaucht: „The Politics Of The Irredeemable" ist statisch und undynamisch, wie eine massive, undurchdringliche Wand, die so dunkel, hoch und breit ist, dass du ihre Dimensionen nicht abschätzen kannst." [André Bohnensack, OX-Fanzine]
"Human Quena Orchestra first took shape as a solo project from Ryan Unks, who had previously played guitar in the final lineup of the Pittsburgh metal band Creation Is Crucifixion. After moving from CIC, Unks began to work on a new project that would incorporate elements of black metal, crushing drone music, extreme psychotropic noise and psychedelic/krautrock influences into a sound that would be much heavier any of his previous projects. The first album from Human Quena Orchestra was released in 2007 on Daft Alliance; Means Without Ends was a disturbing, introspective slab of blackened industrial doom that stood out in stark contrast from the rest of the slow n' low extreme doom scene, utilizing layers of harsh textured distortion and electronics to create a caustic form of monstrous doom that shared as much of industrial music's cold, machine-like aesthetic as it did the ultra-slow riffage of the most extreme variants of doom metal. At the same time that the bands debut was taking shape, Unks was joined by another former member of Creation Is Crucifixion, Nathan Berlinguette (who was also a member of the dark ambient project M.Kourie and the deathdrone duo 5/5/2000). With the addition of Berlinguette's skilled application of dark ambience and expansive soundscapes, Human Quena Orchestra began to move into even more textured territory which has culminated with the second HQO full-length, The Politics of the Irredeemable, a series of apocalyptic visions and epiphanies of endtime realization, prophetic screeds that look to a future rendered pustulent and war-stricken by the failed machinations of the human race, presented as six chapters that enter your consciousness through a delivery system of extreme industrial dread. The Politics of the Irredeemable is crushing and oppressive, a crawl through abstract fields of low-end sound that move from punishing blasts of ultra-heavy machine-doom and earth-shaking tectonic riffs, to thick fogs of black electronic ambience that shimmer with subsonic pulses and celestial drones, the presence of malevolent electricity crackling in the air around the lumbering, nightmarish electro-sludge monstrosity of the Human Quena Orchestra. And at the same time, there are passages of immense beauty on this album that lurk at the peripheries of HQO's malevolent crush; the track "Aspirations" for instance, where pummeling slow-motion industrial percussions grinds in an infinite loop beneath a swirling nightsky of kosmiche synthesizers and heavenly, blissed-out ambience, the drums becoming like distant mortar blasts heard over the horizon as terrified screams ring out and stars fall dead from the skies. Total deathmachine grind ambience. The CD is packaged in a heavy gatefold jacket with murky, dismal images of blasted city streets and torched monuments, with lyrics and quotations relevant to the apocalyptic themes on the album printed on the inside jacket. Comes with three 1" color buttons featuring artwork from the album." [label info]
www.Crucialblast.net
|
2009 |
€12.00 |
|
| HUNTSVILLE |
For the middle class |
CD |
Sehr schwungvoll-polyperkussive Instrumental-Melangen dieses norwegischen Ensemble, absolut hörenswert !
"Die drei Musiker von HUNTSVILLE - Ivar Grydeland, Tonny Kluften und Ingar Zach - stammen allesamt aus Norwegen. Grydeland und Zach gründeten zusammen das Sofa Label für improvisierte Musik und tauchten schon zusammen in ebenso unzähligen wie vielfältigen Gruppen wie dem Improvisations-Ensemble NO SPAGHETTI EDITION oder gemeinsam mit dem britischen Keyboarder Pat Thomas im Quartett HISS auf. Die Tatsache, dass alle Mitglieder von HUNTSVILLE Multiinstrumentalisten sind, zeigt, dass die Band um Lichtjahre von einem konventionellen Trio mit Gitarre, Bass und Drums entfernt ist. Grydeland mischt akustische und elektrische Gitarre und am Banjo mit Fingerpickung, verschiedenen Bögen und obskuren Effektgeräten. Ebenso benutzt Kluften am Bass unterschiedliche Bögen, Stöcke und Gummibänder, während Zach dies mit den diversesten Klängen seines Drumkits untermalt. Am Ende ist es ganz unmöglich, herauszufinden, wer welches bizarre Geräusch zu Tage gefördert hat. HUNTSVILLE treiben den polyrhythmischen Zugang, wie ihn ORNETTE COLEMAN bei "Lonely Woman" kultiviert hat, auf neue Höhen. Verschiedene Tempi der Instrumente konkurrieren miteinander und kommen am Ende der Reise doch als homogenes Ganzes im Gehör des Zeugen an. //
_This is the debut release for Norwegian trio Huntsville. Huntville are Ivar Grydeland, (guitars, banjo, pedal steel guitar, etc.) Tonny Kluften (double bass, etc.) and Ingar Zach (percussion, tabla machine, sarangi box, shruti box, etc.) Grydeland and Zach founded the Sofa label for improvised music in 2000 and appear together in various projects on several of the label's releases. They have worked with Kluften since 1998, as the core of improvising ensemble No Spaghetti Edition and in the quartet HISS with British keyboardist Pat Thomas. The HISS CD from 2003, Zahir, shows the group's intense application of so-called free improvisation. The Huntsville project contrasts sharply with their earlier work, and this release reveals a quite different, more groove-based approach with strong elements of composition. Zach comments, "... during the last two or three years, our interest in country music and electronic music has developed into a sound we really wanted to investigate -- also Feldman and Cage, drone music, folk music..." The group's multi-instrumentalism means that this is no conventional guitar-bass-drums trio. On acoustic and electric guitar as well as banjo, Grydeland mixes finger-picking techniques with various types of bow, as well as acoustic and electronic devices. Tonny Kluften on double-bass uses various bows, sticks and rubber bands, while Zach produces a wide range of sounds on drum kit. They make striking use of a marvelous polyrhythmic approach pioneered by Ornette Coleman on "Lonely Woman," and Zach's locomotive groove is contrasted by the free tempo of plangent, folk-like acoustic guitar, in a kind of fractured descendent of the railroad blues. Alternately, the drums set up a tight and furious high-tempo, with the other instruments either at a slower tempo, or out of tempo completely. When the group lowers the energy levels, soft arpeggios on acoustic guitar are heard against percussive objects and a lone, rather erratic bass drum -- these effects are spare, haunting and quite beautiful. For The Middle Class displays a genuinely musical use of unexpected sounds and textures, allied with echoes of traditional genres in a radical new conceptual language." [press release]
"Pretty incredible long-player by the Norwegian trio of Ivar Grydeland, Tonny Kluften and Ingar Zach, who’ve long been involved with the free improvisation world already documented by Grydeland’s Sofa label on a number of releases since 2000. Here, however, they utilise all manner of instruments from guitars, double bass, banjo, tabla machine and various others originating from India to explore a more recent interest in drone, country, folk and electronic music. Opening song, ‘The Appearance of a Wise Child’, tethered to around 15 mins worth of driving, hypnotic percussion and snatching some random vocals along the way, largely sets the tone for the remainder of the release. Organic textures snake around each other, rhythms staple everything to that juncture where everything points to an apex of unadulterated ecstasy, and discernible ur-strums combine with frenetic bows and scrapes for that only too important raw effect so hard to find in this day of software-generated sterilisation. Only second track, ‘Serious Like a Pope’ loses its grip slightly as the pace is whittled back to a near Fahey-esque approach rendered better on fourth and final cut, ‘Melon’, which furnishes us with a comparatively stripped and gentle touchdown to the proceedings. Nonetheless, Huntsville sound like their experience within such realms of music is paying off. The product of people who know their game without having let their imagination or yearning to voyage to new places suffer. Fucken dandy in my book, I have to concede." [RJ, Adverse Effect]
|
2006 |
€10.00 |
|
| HURTADO, MARC & ALAN VEGA |
Sniper |
CD |
"Alan Vega is literally a legend. Suicide, formed by the duo Rev and Vega is the spearhead of a punk trend which immersed all of a sudden in a fusion of waves and electronic loops. Since that period Vega became an icon for rock music and electronic generations... Vega’s flow, and the scansion of this white hot crooner sound fractured and charismatic. Everything is Rock, his leather jackets, his art and soul highly charged. So aesthetic, a rockabilly singing in a breathless style, wearing dusty pink and yelling metal make up. He is nowadays a Myth all around the world.
Marc Hurtado gained his experience in the 80’s with his brother Eric, they were called “Étant Donnés”. Their albums, films and performances are highly appreciated in Beauboug,the Fondation Cartier, the Rennes Transmusicales,the Barcelona Sonar Festival, the Kitchen in New York and The French Cinematèque. In the years 2000, Marc Hurtado produced some original soundtracks (for Philippe Gandrieux and Jessica Hausner), but he is also known for his collaborations with Lydia Lunch, Genesis P-Orridge (Throbbing Gristle and Psychic TV), Michael Gira (Swans), Gabi Delgado (DAF), The Hacker, Sky Saxon (The Seeds), Les Maîtres Musiciens de Jajouka, his project Sol Ixent with the German singer Saba Komossa (Delkom)... and of course Alan Vega. Hurtado recorded four tracks in the album Re-Up in 1999 and were together on stage in France and Europe (Centre Pompidou, Lieu Unique de Nantes with Christophe) and he also produced in 2009 the film “The Infinite Mercy Film”) dedicated to the art work of Alan Vega.
Sniper was born from this artistic collaboration and complicity, it was recorded in 2010 at the 6/8 Studios cherished by Suicide. This is a blazing star, an album made of fever and chaos but it also remind us the synthetic ballad you can find in Vega’s early solo albums.Whithout mentioning Lydia Lunch’s participation in “Prison Sacrifice” already a cult song, there is the sublime one “Saturn Drive Duplex” in its first original version which could lead to inspiration in the future. With at least 13 tracks of rage and shiver where words and electricity are intertwine to show this threatening apocalyptic and violent world but also the desire to flee towards new possibilities and to explore the universe.
This album follows the release of infinite Mercy, a monograph dedicated to the art work “Ghost Rider Man”, which came out in September 2010 at Presses du Réel and where you can find some texts from Marc Hurtado, Alan Vega, Henry Rollins, Ric Ocasek and Martin rev. Neon lights sculptures are on the outer cover and inside it, it’s a prestigious flamboyant release." [label info]
www.maquismusic.com
|
2010 |
€15.50 |
|
| HYBRYDS |
Mythical Music from the 21st Century |
CD |
"This is the second volume in the ongoing series of Hybryds reissues on Zoharum and it coincides with the 30th anniversary of artistic work of Sandy Nys and company. "Mythical Music from the 21st Century", the first full Hybryds release, collects tracks recorded between 1983 and 1986 scattered on various compilations. Yet they form the first representation of their venture into the world of sonic rituals and magic. Their perspective on sound still has not been imitated or copied and even after 30 years they still sound fresh.
In the words of Sandy Nys:
The first recordings were made in 1983. During the next years more recordings and musical rituals were created with different people in different places. In this first release about 20 people were involved. The recordings were a field trip, a diary of my life. The recordings became a story. The mythical story of NaHeMa. Most of the songs were sent for compilations on independent labels, yet the complete story was released in 1986 for the first time as a cassette on 3RIORECORDINGS (there was also a very limited edition in a box of 30 copies with the Dream Machine building prints.) In 1990 it was re-released by Nuit et Brouillard (France) as a cassette in a small box. In 1998 a limited picture disc in an edition of 666 copies was released by Triton (Germany). This version is shorter than the cassette one. This new CD release contains extras: the unreleased live version of "Sacred Voices," performed live on Radio Centraal and an unreleased mix of "Octahedron" by the Alpha Project.
The album has been digitally remastered from the original stereo cassette master by none else but Sandy Nys, who also provided the cover based on the previous editions. This is the ritual music at its best. Now you can enjoy it in the best digital quality." [label info]
www.zoharum.com
|
2013 |
€13.00 |
|
|
The Rhythm of the Ritual / Ein Phallischer Gott |
do-CD |
"Zoharum continues reissuing past works of one of the most interesting projects coming from the 1980s underground - Hybryds. ”The Rhythm of the Ritual / Ein Phallischer Gott” is the fifth instalment in the reissue series of Hybryds classic releases.
Sandy tells a few words about the period: In the 1990s only small independent labels existed which had their own area to cover distributionwise hoping to spread our music in the world. ”The Rhythm of the Rituals” (1994, Charnel Music) and ”Ein Phallischer Gott” (1997, Crowd Control Activities) shared some songs. There were no official media supporting this world of “underground” music. Acid and rave became popular in the “commercial” scene. Pro Tools was the magic word. But we made our music live on the 8-track. The only sequences were the drum machines. We stayed loyal to working the old-fashioned way. It's the more rhythmical and ethnical site of Hybryds, lots of percussion, played acoustically, or sampled and looped, or from drum machines. Some of the basic music was from the 1980s but by then we worked on a reel-to-reel 8-track tape recorder with a bigger mixing desk. Livewise we started to transfer to our cyberpunk period (as visible in the live version of ”Whisper”). Depending on the demand we had two live shows, the “magical” or the cyberpunk. It was also the time when Yasnaïa and me did the live shows alone. We did not work live on stage with others anymore. We had a manager, Patty Hele from Motherdance. It was easier to travel and perform with two people only. Yasnaïa released her solo album and started playing live with her solo project.
The first CD collects tracks from two studio releases ”The Rhythm of the Ritual” and ”Ein Phallischer Gott”. The live CD contains live versions of the studio CD (some taken from the live Obuh vinyl LP) and some extras, like an unreleased song ”Dusk Falling”." [label info]
www.zoharum.com
"Neben dem Backcatalog anderer Bands taucht in den letzten Jahren auch immer wieder ein Album der HYBRYDS via ZOHARUM auf. Mit „The Rhythm Of The Ritual/ Ein Phallischer Gott“ ist man dabei bei zwei Werken von 1994 bzw. 1997 angekommen, die nun ergänzt um Live-Aufnahmen aus der Zeit als Doppel-CD, wiederaufgelegt werden. Hierzu ist allerdings anzumerken, dass nur drei Stücke des „The Rhythm Of The Ritual“-Albums enthalten sind. Die drei anderen wurden bereits mit der (Wieder-)veröffentlichung von „The Ritual Should Be Kept Alive“ 2015 erneut ans Tageslicht befördert. Auch nicht alle Stücke von „Ein Phallischer Gott“ haben es auf diese Zusammenstellung geschafft. Dafür taucht z.B. das eindrucksvolle „Call Of The Tuareg“ auf – ein Compilation-Track aus jener Zeit. Auf die fürchterlichen, quietschbunten 90er Jahre Computer-Cover der Originale wurde zum Glück nicht zurückgegriffen. Stattdessen wurde dem Release ein absolut stimmiges Artwork verpasst, das sich in die aktuelle, künstlerische Darstellung der HYBRYDS einpasst.
Dass die vorliegenden Aufnahmen um die zwanzig Jahre alt sind, lässt sich tatsächlich nur schwer heraushören. Frei von damaligen Trends wirken die Stücke eher zeitlos. Die stark Ritual-, Tribal-lastige Musik wird zumeist von einem Rhythmus-Loop zusammengehalten, über den nicht durchgängig aber hin und wieder YASNAIAs Stimme gelegt wurde. Daneben erklingen Flötenklänge und Synthesizerpads, so dass der Gesamtsound mal organischer und mal elektronischer wirkt. Beteiligt waren an den Arbeiten damals auch illustre Gäste wie HERMAN KLAPHOLZ (u.a. AH CAMA-SOTZ) oder MOON FAR AWAY.
Die Live-Aufnahmen und Proberaumaufnahmen der zweiten CD stammen ebenfalls aus der Zeit – zumeist 1996. Neben anderen Stücken, sind hier auch einige Tracks noch einmal in der Live-Version vorhanden, die auf der „Studio-Seite“ bereits zu finden sind. Der Sound ist dabei bis auf einige Ausnahmen durchweg recht gut.
Wie oben dargestellt ist „The Rhythm Of The Ritual/ Ein Phallischer Gott“ keine Wiederveröffentlichung im eigentlichen Sinn, sondern eher eine Zusammenstellung von Stücken aus einer zeitlichen Periode, die in sich aber absolut stimmig und geschlossen wirkt und mit den zusätzlichen Live-Versionen und Outtakes einen gewissen Mehrwert mitbringt. Hörer, die sich für rituellen und Tribal-lastigen Ambient interessieren, sollten ruhig ein Ohr riskieren, da die Musik ohne Frage gegenüber der heutigen Konkurrenz mithalten kann – mindestens."
[Tony F. für nonpop.de] |
2016 |
€16.00 |
|
| |
The Ritual of the Rave |
do-CD |
For the past several years Zoharum has been reissung the subsequent albums of the Belgian independent scene legend, Hybryds; so far five has been released. "The Ritual of the Rave" is the sixth installment in this series and is an expanded version of the 1995 album. It has not lost its freshness in those years. It is electronica with strong ambient and ethnic music influences locked in six long, slowly developing compositions. Here there are rhythmic elements directly taken from techno (which announced further changes in the Belgian project's repertoire.) "Icarus" or "Sjamanistic Dream" are still classics in the Hybryds catalogue.
This is also one of the expanded editions of their classic albums. The second disc shows what Hybryds was like at concerts during the period when the recordings were made (live tracks compose the first five tracks recorded in 1995). In addition, we have three studio compositions here here. The first one belongs to the collaborative Hydra project, whose only official recording appeared on the compilation "The Uncertain Future" on Antler. The other two are the early recordings from 1988 by Magthea with Mark Burghgreave of Klinik. One of them, "Octahedron", appeared on the absolutely first single of the project.
The album has been digitally remastered from the original master tapes by none else but Sandy Nys, who also provided the cover based on the previous editions. The CDs are housed in a digipak sleeve and the album is strictly limited to 500 copies.
https://zoharum.bandcamp.com/album/the-ritual-of-the-rave
|
2017 |
€15.00 |
|
| HYPNOZ |
Breath of Earth |
CD |
CISFINITUM-Fans aufgepasst! Aus dem Umfeld des grandiosen Moskauer Projekts stammt HYPNOZ, und auf diesem Album ist CISFINITUM aka E. VORONOVSKY auch bei 5 von 7 Stücken mit dabei. BREATH OF EARTH ist voller pulsierender elektronischer Ambience, dicht & spannend arrangiert, leicht rhythmisch und mit gewissen Reminiszenzen an die "kosmischen" 70er Jahre, aber mit ganz eigener Note..
"Hypnoz is a project of Dmitry Zubov, a musician from Moscow suburb Fryazino, the town that endowed the lovers of post-industrial music with such names as Hum and Staruha Mha. His first composition was recorded in 1993, and during its existence Hypnoz has released one CD on the Moscow label Insofar Vapour Bulk, which gathered tracks from different periods, a couple of very limited CD-Rs, and participated on the compilation "Iznutri" by the Ewers Tonkunst label with a fragment of a composition from this album. Aside from Hypnoz Dmitry plays in several other projects: Zuboff Sex Shop (post-punk / new-wave), Circle Of Iron Tape (harsh noise), BRZB (electronics, with Alexey Borisov), etc... The basis of most of the tracks for "Breath of Earth" was recorded by Dmitry together with Evgeny Voronovsky (Cisfinitum) during their joint night psychedelic sessions, and this is evidently felt in their mood. Stylistically this can be called tranquil electronic ambient with a remarkable experimental touch – but who thinks about it while recording? Slowly twisting sound helixes, drawing inside the astral subspaces, pulsating rhythms, cosmic sounds of old analogue synthesizers, – all this produces an appropriate effect on the listener's mind, and there's nothing more to demand from music." [label description] |
2008 |
€12.00 |
|
| I.CORAX |
Kuilu |
CD |
"Kuilu' by I.corax, originally limited to only 40 copies is the last album released by Blue Sector in 2004. The album is finally available through our Stellar Mansion series. 'Kuilu' is a live recording of I.corax's first live performance held in NuKu, Oulu, Finland on 2nd of March 2002. These four slowly evolving compositions bring forth a mesmerizing and ethereal atmosphere; swirling analogue synthesizer, subliminal electronic-triggers, monotone yet dynamic rhythmic elements are accompanied with haunting un-organic textures, human words and field-recordings captured on tape in the woods under a crescent moon. All in all the material on this album is simpler and more straight forward than on the other I.corax releases. It presents a stimulating historical overview of the duos past practises; numinous passings through the chasms into and beyond the abyss. The album is enclosed inside a newly designed and silk-screen printed cardboard covers including three offset printed insert cards and a four panel booklet. Limited to 500 copies. AURAL HYPNOX [AHSM06]" [label info]
www.auralhypnox.com
|
2014 |
€13.00 |
|
| I:WOUND |
Ram Nam Satya Hai |
CD |
"Mixed from 5 hours of samples recorded during an overland journey to and in India in 1996/97. The title is the traditional hindu praise for the deceased first shouted by one person, then responded echo-like by those carrying the corpse. It is translated as: "The Name of Ram is Truth"."
"Endlich die erste CD des Ethno-Industrial-Projektes von Sascha Karminski. Wieder geht es thematisch um Indien, diverse Originalaufnahmen werden eindrucksvoll verarbeitet, mit Rhythmen gemischt und effektiert.
So we hear a mixture of different original sounds like voices, singings, music, tabla-drummings, flutes, bicycle-bells, gongs, birds, train-noises, etc. which were then de- & re-constructed afterwards. Sometimes the voices are coming from everywhere, sometimes there are rhythms underneath, sometimes the atmosphere is very meditative, and you may feel the spirit of India "in the air". The concept reminded me on some of Francisco Lopez' works, although I:WOUND uses more effects to modify the original sources (without destroying the special mood). Or think of RAPOON on LSD.
The titles of the tracks (like "city of Shiva", "city of Kali") point on several holy places in India, where the sound-recordings were made. So this is a kind of real ethno-experimentalism. A very interesting work anyway." [Drone Rec. info 1998]
|
1998 |
€12.00 |
|
| 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 |
|
|
Shikisokuzekuu-Kuusokuzeshiki (色即是空空即是色) |
CD |
“Shikisokuzekuu-Kuusokuzeshiki” (1964). “Extended Voices” (tape part, stereo version – 1967).#The details of “Shikisokuzekuu-Kuusokuzeshiki” are unknown except it was created at the NHK electronic music studio. According to Ichiyanagi, there are various discussions for the title, but it seemed to be eventually broadcasted on the radio with the title Kuu after a producer desired and decided to name it. At this time, the original title was used as following the initial intention of Ichiyanagi. In addition, short experimental film “Shikisokuzekuu” (1974) produced by a filmmaker Toshio Matsumoto where Ichiyanagi was also in charge of tape music was a different work so it does not have any relation with this music work.#Note: Shikisokuzekuu-Kuusokuzeshiki means “Form is exactly emptiness. Emptiness is exactly form.”#“Extended Voices” can be enjoyed by listening to the Columbia LP album “Extended Voices” with the collection of voices from the music works. A new version with mixing voices of baritone of Takashi Matsudaira to a monaural tape part was released by Omega Point in 2014, but since the stereo version was found later, it was added as a tape work without voice this time. It can be said that this is a completed work as an independent electronic music. (Provider of the tape recording: Gregor Meyer)#[Translated by Toshiyuki Kawata]
|
2016 |
€21.50 |
|
| |
Computer Space |
CD |
Two sound compositions discovered at Mr. Ichiyanagi’s home in 2018 to be released for the first time! One is an unknown early work created on a computer and the other is material for an experimental short film by Toshio Matsumoto. Particularly, the former piece was revolutionary. the quirky sound he made on the computer at the time was unheard of especially because a computer could only create simple sounds then. Moreover, it also includes an unknown electronic ambient piece reminiscent of a bird tweeting as well as a reissued version of an accompanying single of a mythical self-published book, which inspired Yoji Kuri’s animation work known as Tragedy on G string!
Computer Space (1970)
There is a piece called “Music for Living Space” (1969), which recreated human spoken words. It is an electronic music piece that Ichiyanagi produced almost solely with a computer. Computer Space is created in the same era, therefore it was impossible to create a complexed sound. However, echoes and rapid pitch changes are heard in the middle of the recording (there is also voice like sounds intermixed). Since similar phrases are repeating, it is considered that he created various short phrases to edit on an analogue tape then bind them together.
Sound materials for Metastasis (1971)
It is considered as sound material for a short film by an experimental filmmaker, Toshio Matsumoto. The discovered sound material is only 30 seconds long, which contains two different electronics sounds. The (b) sound repeats more often as a part of minimalistic pattern to create a work of about 10 minutes. Using a fade-in/fade-out arrangement made me think it might have some special intention?
title and year unknown
These works archived in Sogetsu Foundation contain electronic sounds which are considered to be created by changing tones of real bird tweets. The sound repeats itself in a straightforward manner, while changing its foam somewhat. Originally, there are many pieces that last for 1 or 2 minutes. For this CD, some of them were strung together. A piece using parts of popular music that was created for Expo’70 Takara Beautilion contains similar sounds to that. Ichiyanagi also contributed another ambient music composition played on another floor of the building, however it is not included to this CD, according to the artist.
For String #2 + Stanzas (Both in 1961, Simultaneous performance)
This piece is the music used in the film however it is originally a recording of a public performance at Sogetsu Art Center and edited to a few minutes shorter. The original sound material was included in an accompanying single of a book, Yabunirami-No-Concert, which Yoji Kuri self-published in 1966 before he created an animation. This book contains 10 pages of a series of ink drawings, which is completely different from Tragedy on G string. This CD has a reissued version of the original sound material. The time could be between 1961 and 1964 when Ono was in Japan. It is considered that Kenji Kobayashi was on Violin and Ichiyanagi was on Piano in an internal rendition style were together with Yoko Ono on vocal.
1_Toshi Ichiyanagi Computer Space / 1970_3\'12\"
2_Toshi Ichiyanagi material of Metastasis (a) / 1971_0\'39\"
3_Toshi Ichiyanagi material of Metastasis (b) / 1971_0\'34\"
4_Toshi Ichiyanagi title and year unknown (a) _7\'25\"
5_Toshi Ichiyanagi title and year unknown (b) _7\'18\"
6_Toshi Ichiyanagi For String #2 + Stanzas (both 1961, simultaneous performance)_15\'55\"
|
2019 |
€21.50 |
|
| IDEA FIRE COMPANY |
Rags to Riches |
LP |
"An edited and remastered issue of a tape by the IFCO quartet - Scott Foust, Karla Borecky, Jessi Swenson, & Meara O'Reilly. Rags To Riches is a live record documenting pieces from 2003 through 2005. Showcasing some top-shelf unreleased works; "The Whole World," "Metropolis," & "The Bitter End." Older material is also included, a fierce version of "Artificial" from 2005's Stranded, as well as the notorious "Cycle-19." Additionally, there is a beautiful voice-based rendition of "Some Of Us" by IFCO comrades' The Shadow Ring. All these pieces exhibit a contemplative and well-informed use of electronics, radio, and voice. Interlaced with spoken title announcements in French, punching typewriter passages, and bookended perfectly with audience dialogue and Roxy Music. Their mechanical and uncompromising aesthetic is pronounced, as Rags To Riches reminds us all why Idea Fire Company are such an important contemporary outfit.
Edition of 285 copies, with color insert & essay by Scott Foust." [label info]
www.recitalprogram.com |
2013 |
€16.50 |
|
| IELASI, GIUSEPPE & HOWARD STELZER |
Night Life |
CD |
Sehr fruchtbare Zusammenarbeit in der Brombron-Serie: GIUSEPPE IELASI, Impro-Gitarrist aus Italien der auch das FRINGES Label betreibt, und der US-Amerikaner HOWARD STELZER, bekannt für seine "schwierigen" Tapemanipulationen und field recordings und ebenfalls Labelbetreiber (INTRANSITIVE RECORDS), kamen für einige Tage in Nijmegen im Extrapool-Studio zusammen.... so entstand "Night Life, wo low-fi noises der seltsamsten Art mit ruhigen Gitarren-pickings kontrastieren, oft bewegt sich die Musik im pulsierend-atmosphärischen Bereich aber mit stetiger Veränderung, cut-ups & nicht-alltägliche Konkret-sounds tauchen auf, sowie immer wieder Giuseppes ungewöhnliche Gitarrenarbeit, die sich kaum beschreiben lässt.....
"I am not sure wether the title of this disc refers to the time of recording, but if so the last track's title says it all: Losing our taste for the night life. I know for a fact that a Brombron project can mess up your daily rhythm pretty bad and that ending it feels almost as good as starting it. This disc by Ielasi and Stelzer has obviously had exactly the right amount of night time anyway. I have known and admired Howard Stelzer's work as tape jockey for quite some time now (aside of his activity as boss of the wonderful Intransitive Recordings), but Giuseppe Ielasi was a new name for me. He is a contemporary guitarist, using this instrument in all possible ways, but with a strong bias towards electronic manipulations. The result of this collaboration is absolutely fascinating: on one hand there are the harsh and explosive eruptions of Stelzer's tapes and on the other hand there are the more gentle and melodic guitar manipulations of Ielasi. This combination is truly excellent and invigorating. It has certainly been a while since I heard something this refreshing and exciting. I am not sure why this is; the use of sounds, the compositions, the tension, somehow everything just fits together so well that I am lost for words really. Simply beautiful and an absolute must!!!" [MR / Vital Weekly]
|
2006 |
€13.00 |
|
| IF, BWANA |
Gruntle |
CD |
Vier neue Stücke mit weiteren köstlichen Seltsamkeiten aus der IF BWANA-Welt, basierend auf Synths & normalen Instrumenten (violine, bass), Feedbacks und Sinustonwellen, zu hören gibt es konkretes & elektronisches Gegurgel & Gemurmele & insektoides Gewisper, insgesamt sehr geräuschhaft & speziell, Anklänge an SMALL CRUEL PARTY, JOHN HUDAK, etc.. kommt wieder im speziellen 3-teiligen & klappbaren ABSURD-Kreis-Cover !
"guess that most of you are used to al margolis's (aka 'if,bwana) more 'serious' electroacoustic soundscapes and expect 'gruntle' to be another fine addition to this style.. in a sense it is... a unique if, bwana
recording, collecting 4 tunes recorded between 95 - 02 which however refer more to the legendary if,bwana tapes sound (if there weren't a kinda remaster to the original tapes, would have been even more lo-fi hissing electroacoustics) where al's creative play w/ loops & enigmatic sounds together w/ the childlike artwork of nixilx.nijilx make it a wonderful trip in a bizarro world..." [label info]
|
2005 |
€10.00 |
|
|
I, Angelica |
do-CD |
“Into the rackets are ya, punk?" "Yeah, that's my story and I'm sticking to it." "Get outta here, ya punk." I headed down the steps and out the front door. "!@#$%^&* nogood goddamn !@#$%^&* noisemaker," I heard them mutter behind my back. (wow - I always wanted to write one of these). Yeah, I'm one of them.
So there you have it. I, Angelica, the noisy loud new double If, Bwana cd - trying to clear a backlog of recordings out - at a not double cd price. I, Angelica should be played loud. Real loud. Works for computer, electronics, voice (?), guitars, synthesizers.
Oh. So what else is there to say when a new If, Bwana cd comes out other than: "AAaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh..." [label info]
www.pogus.com |
2001 |
€16.00 |
|
| |
Red One |
CD |
"Please note: This release is packaged in hand stenciled 11” x 17” card type stock paper, folded, inserted into re-sealable plastic sleeves. There is no jewel case, tray card etc. There is a bar code.
After the last If, Bwana (Al Margolis) release on Pogus – the large-scale double cd E (and Sometimes Why), this brand new If, Bwana recording is a little more intimate. This release consists of six smaller works for one or at most two instruments – with the instruments all being multi-tracked for a denser, deeper sound.
Red One features performances by stalwart experimental/avant musician/composers such as Nate Wooley, trumpet, on Toys for Al (with Al Margolis on toy trumpet); Ellen Band’s vocals on Ellen, Banned; trombonist Monique Buzzarté on Xylo 2; bassoonist Leslie Ross on It is Bassoon; Lisa B Kelley, voice and Veronika Vitazkova, flute on Lisa Verabbit; and Al Margolis, toy trumpet on Toys for Nate.
To quote from Massimo Ricci’s Touching Extreme review of E (and Sometimes Why) - and an equally apt description here: “…enriching with a distinct human component – Al Margolis’ “academically improper” compositional conceptions. The ensuing music is intelligently awkward and typically difficult to categorize, barring the creation of a “Bwana” label: rich in disruptions yet engrossingly (and economically) minimalist at times, comprising twisted details that, in a general context of rationalism, increase the amount of question marks each and every time the discs are spun.”
This disc adds another chapter to the thirty-year journey of If, Bwana.
If, Bwana was born on New Year's Eve 1984, making music that has swung between fairly spontaneous studio constructions and more process-oriented composition. A recent review of Margolis's work says: "Let it be declared that Al Margolis/If, Bwana is some sort of evil genius working with raw materials which are never adapted to a genre or a context, because they create one in that very moment. Those sources are radically altered up to an utterly unrecognizable state, anarchic manifestations moving in compact determination." (Massimo Ricci, Touching Extremes).
Al Margolis has been an activist in the 1980s American cassette underground through his cassette label Sound of Pig Music; was
co-founder of experimental music label Pogus Productions, which he continues to run. Active under the name If, Bwana since 1984, making music that has swung between fairly spontaneous studio constructions and more process-oriented composition."
https://www.pogus.com/21068.html
"And finally there is label boss Al Margolis with a new release as If, Bwana, his moniker since the mid 80s. His 'Red One' looks very much like some tape release he could have done in the 80s, with paint images sprayed on paper and a rather 80s design, but the music is all new. In each of the six pieces he works with sound material which he received from others, and all that has to do with 'air'. Nate Wooley plays trumpet, Margolis himself toy-trumpet (both in the first piece), Ellan Band uses her voice (second), Monique Buzzarte trombone (third), Leslie Ross (bassoon), Lisa B Kelley (voice) and Veronika Vitazkova on flute (fifth) and Margolis again on toy trumpet in the sixth piece. Margolis keeps his If, Bwana name for when it comes to using recordings for acoustic instruments and reworking them into lengthy pieces of drone like sound scapes. Taking the working method from Phill Niblock he cuts the sounds right before they start and right after they end, and then starts to layer them on the computer. He pitches some up, some down, and in some tracks in the musical program he cuts out parts, so have a start/stop feel, like some instruments only play part of the time, and others are in a more continuous mode. Thus clever modern classical music is made of a highly atmospheric chain. It's a technique If, Bwana has been using for years now, and he mastered it quite well. Not as controlled as Niblock himself does this, but the music is more playful - for instance in the two pieces that use voice, especially 'Lisa Verabbit' connects to the world of improvisation/free forms of classical music. It's different, playful, but perhaps not my most favorite of this disc. I'd rather settle 'Toys For Al' or 'It Is Bassoon', which it's controlled sustaining sounds and sounds dropping in and out in very gentle way. Another fine release with a nice, strange visual esthetic. Not the next new move, but a further investigation into what we already know." [FdW/Vital Weekly]
|
2013 |
€14.00 |
|
| IF, BWANA WITH/AND/BY TRIO SCORDATURA |
E (and sometimes why) |
do-CD |
"If, Bwana is always Al Margolis. Trio Scordatura is Elisabeth Smalt, viola d'amore; Alfrun Schmid, voice; Bob Gilmore, keyboard/laptop. The new 2 cd magnum opus by If, Bwana (Al Margolis) has been almost 3 years in the making. It is the first time he has composed works (usually with prerecorded sounds) specifically for another ensemble. Gilmore's Girls, Ringing (Ano)the(r) Bell, and Diapason, maybe were specifically written for Trio Scordatura. Cicada 4AA was the first piece of If, Bwana's they played (though not written for them in particular). E (and sometimes why) and All for Alf(run) were both composed after the initial recordings and used materials from those sessions. The Tempest, Fuggit, used some of Trio Scordatura's sounds and combined them with an absolutely awesome, over-the-top performance/reading of a section of Shakespeare's The Tempest by Michael Peters (of Poemrocket). We hope that answers the burning question 'Why If, Bwana with/and/by Trio Scordatura' ? There may not be a better way to describe their involvement with this recording ? they played with If, Bwana and they played If, Bwana and they were played with and by If, Bwana. Trio Scordatura is an Amsterdam-based ensemble that specializes in vocal and instrumental music involving microtonal tunings and spanning a broad range of musical styles. The basic sound-world of female voice, viola and keyboard is expanded by other sonorities depending on musical context. Their concerts feature classics from the worlds of microtonal and spectral music, together with new commissions from a wide range of contemporary composers and sound artists. trio scordatura grew initially from a project to perform the works for intoning voice, Adapted Viola and Chromelodeon by the American composer Harry Partch. This music, composed in the early 1930s, involves voice and two instruments - a viola and a harmonium - that were adapted by Partch in order to play music in his elaborate microtonal scale with more than forty unequal divisions of the octave. Besides performing the early works of Partch, trio scordatura has formed close working relationships with a number of leading contemporary composers, among them Phill Niblock, the late Horatiu Radulescu, Alvin Lucier, François-Bernard Mâche and Lasse Thoresen. The trio has performed at the Sonorities Festival, Belfast, UK Microfest 2 in Surrey, the KlankKleur Festival in Amsterdam, Musica Sacra Maastricht, Roulette in New York, the Logos Foundation in Ghent, the Transit Festival in Leuven, and gives regular performances at the Karnatic Lab series in Amsterdam." [label info]
www.pogus.com
|
2012 |
€20.00 |
|
| IKEDA, KEN |
Kosame |
CD |
"For the past few years, I've been approaching the idea of taking sine waves (which is eminent in techno and ambient music) into the inner side of human thought, reinterpreting the circulating harmonic overtones within the vagueness of the word "Yuragi (=fluctuation)". But under the global economy, techno or so-called ambient music were standardized to a somewhat convenient product, and there seems to be no room left for the vagueness. But again, these sounds took birth by sampling and simulating pre-existing music. At the time, there were at least some critical elements left. Around the last album, I felt the limit of using techno-ish sine waves. I decided to go on a venture listening closely and touching the sounds surrounded in personal daily life, to re-recognize "time" and "space" as a sound artist from the point where the sounds evolve and fade away. Raindrops on the window, a squeaking pillar, an opened door, stairs, boiling water in the kitchen.... There were Yuragi everywhere. I couldn't help myself being fascinated by the subtle, yet dense frequencies within the nature such as the shore, and mountain trees. It was not just by sampling this myriad of sounds, but the challenge of how distant I could get from the conventional ideas and sense of values of music, by taking it as a movement of myself as an individual.
This time again, I used the handmade wood & rubber instrument (SD404) to form an opposite relationship between "performer" and "nature" (or "captured sounds" versus "unable-to-capture sounds"). When you actually play it, you can feel the Yuragi within the instrument itself. The shades of the effects like "cutoff" and "resonance" essentially becomes closer to the beauty of nature. "Kosame" is an experiment to set the sounds free from pre-existing frames, by overlapping the randomly listed nature sounds and the improvisational elements of an individual. Yuragi arises from these two unique movements without going against each other."
[Ken Ikeda]
www.spekk.net
"The work of Ken Ikeda is always outside the norm of any classification, here revealing his most experimental work yet. Kosame is at once a physical work of beautiful noise as it is one that vacillates in its own improv juices. The compositions are jagged and oblique, but fun to listen to over time, restless as it becomes especially on Kiro | Return (帰路). The title track with its tongue-play whispers doesn’t fail at being under the radar just enough to seem ultimately ambiguous alongside jangly keys and an atonal, anxious string strumming throughout. Mikazuki | Crecent (三日月) samples the airy sounds of a balloon being blown somewhat comically and digital water trickling. But the liner notes say something about drinking champagne, so imbibe away! Kosame has several distorted futuristic sounds and on Seijaku | Stillness (静寂) this is very evident, mixed with an awkward blend of random traditional Japanese themes deeply laden. Some of this is processed, some is from prepared quena, shamisen, charango and a host of other numbered instruments. On Stillness, Ikeda (a graduate of Berklee’s College of Music) infuses the sounds of boiling water with just the right amount of jitter off the teapot’s top. His music is of science, of longing and of expecting the unexpected." [TJ Norris, Toneshift]
|
2010 |
€16.00 |
|
| ILLUSION OF SAFETY |
Time remaining |
CD |
“WARNING: use extreme caution when playing contents through headphones or inferior speakers”. IOS (inzwischen studiomäßig meist DAN BURKE alleine) loten hier in jeder Beziehung Extreme aus – radikale elektronische Experimente breiten sich hier auf 8 Stücken aus, jedes bietet einen eigene Mikrokosmos von fremdartigem Klang – zwischen schneidenden Elektroniklärm und ruhigen Collagen. 20 Jahre gibt es diese Industrial-Pioniere jetzt schon, und mit jedem neuen Werk scheint eine weitere Wandlung und Erneuerung einzutreten..
Great new IOS-Work where they plumb the very extreme poles of noise and calmness...
“....Somehow it reminds me of 'Historical', compact disc number one. Drones, noise and sound collage - each seems to have it's own place on this CD. Whereas a lot of other CDs were in one direction, this CD is in more places, sometimes even within one track. I was thinking that despite the various tracks (each having their own title), this is more a continious work, just one long piece of music, each track flowing in the other. With this CD one can hear the experience of Dan Burke, both as a studio musician and a live one - the sheer elegance with which is this is made. Unlike many others, Illusion Of Safety changes all the time, and comes up with something new, based on twenty years of experience. Let's hope there is a lot of remaining time, for lots more. [FdW, Vital Weekly]
|
2003 |
€15.00 |
|
|
In Session |
CD |
Neues Material des Projektes von DAN BURKE - als eher elektronisch arbeitende Industrial-Band fing man an, aber die verschiedenen Metamorphosen in der nunmehr 25jährigen Geschichte führten über Geräuschobjekt-Improvisationen und eher collagigen musique concrete Werken bis hin zum dark ambient und drone-basierender Musik.
IN SESSION führt einiges davon zusammen, besitzt Anteile von verschiedenen Stilen, spannungeladen & sirrend, wellig, dronig, dicht, wieder ein kleines Meisterwerk.
Geräuschmusik wie sie intensiver kaum vorstellbar ist.
"Illusion Of Safety is one of the oldest post-industrial acts in the Americal musical underground, and in my opinion, of the most interesting projects ever. During 25 years of existence IOS have recorded a lot of various albums and their music has been changing a lot. Having passed through all the circles of industrial hell, Dan Burke has lost almost all his companions and remained alone. He hasn't released too many albums recently, and "In Session" released in 2008 has become a real surprise for me. I mean of course the fact of the release, because the highest quality of musical material and huge amount of pleasure while listening to it is guaranteed by any of IOS albums. "In Session" was recorded in 2007, the mastering was made by Thomas Dimuzio at Gench Music Studio. This is a very thorough and delicate work, an abstract performance in which synthetic and natural sounds mix in the most unusual combinations, when you really hold your breath to wait what's gonna be further. In 6 tracks of the album there are a lot of quiet microscopic sounds which whirl in front of the eyes like thoughts without rational content. They change into the smooth waves of melodic ambient, then to insane sampled collages which don't make you feeling relaxed keeping the constant tension. This shortening of the distance between contemplativeness and neural spasms has always been the trademark of IOS - it's interesting to watch how the musical structure transforms under the emotional passion hiding after each second of the track time, but not always going out. Separate compliments should be given to the artwork designer - you can observe the cover for a really long time being astounded by it's beauty. [Dmitry Vasilyev, Monochrome Vision]
"One of my favorite post industrial bands ever. Period. Since more than twenty years I am a fan and every new release is awaited with eager anticipation. This highly limited release from Russia, in a gorgeous package, is no different. These days, since many years actually, Illusion Of Safety is reduced one person, following a free floating membership that included Thyme Jones and Jim O'Rourke to mention just two, which is Dan Burke. He plays 'sound generating devices and random objects that deliberately provoke, mesmerize and even affront listeners'. I deliberately use the term 'post industrial' and not say 'electro-acoustic' or 'musique concrete', which could also easily be applied to the music of Illusion Of Safety. When they started they were firmly rooted in the world of industrial music, and later on elements of musique concrete came along, but if you listen to 'In Session' the elements of industrial music are still there. Heavy, steel walls of drone music pierce your ears and are as easily replaced by soft drones, crackling sounds of hand held objects and contact microphones. I wouldn't be surprised if Burke plays all of this 'in session', live at home so to speak. I saw him a lot of times playing concerts which capture the equal beauty that is captured here. Ranging from sheer noise to near silence and there is always an element of surprise lurking around the corner. An abrupt, full stop or start and it bring the piece in a new territory. Illusion Of Safety's music can be compared with the likes of Roel Meelkop or Toy Bizarre, but is less bound to rules of composition and more free and joyous (well, that's probably not the right away) than those of the microsound/musique concrete posse that inhabits the world of Vital Weekly so frequently. That alone makes a great band and another great CD. Very fine concentrated bursts of sound." [FdW / Vital Weekly]
"The first proper record from Illusion Of Safety in well over 5 years emerges from the Russian label Waystyx, meaning that this will
not be around for long and will not be easy for us to track down once these are gone. Just a caveat before we launch into the, um, virtues
of this exercise in muscular electronics and brainmelting dronescaping. Illusion Of Safety began well over two decades ago, firmly embracing the death factory imagery and psychological tension that came through the work of Throbbing Gristle, John Duncan, and The Hafler Trio. While the grizzly subjects of torture and sexual violence have dissolved over time, Illusion Of Safety's interest in unsettled soundscapes, collages, and electronic walls of noise remain as powerful as ever. Illusion Of Safety has always been a revolving door project centered around Chicago's Dan Burke; and In Session finds Burke alone at the helms of Illusion Of Safety, concocting a dizzying series of arcing electroshock compositions filled with intense dynamics and rapid crescendos of incremental noise quickly nosediving into subharmonic tones and microtonal squiggles, with plenty of slow
building elements in between. The piercing drones that dominate the Illusion Of Safety palette are matched with crumbled textures from electronic circuits on the verge of collapse (see Wolf Eyes, Carlos Giffoni) and contact microphone agitation (see Tarab, Eric La Casa,
Loren Chasse, etc.). There's one track of grim psychedelic arpeggiations which sounds as if Prurient were attempting a Terry Riley piece, with bad intentions running through the phase shifting loops. Totally fantastic, if not totally disquieting!" [Aquarius Rec.]
|
2008 |
€13.00 |
|
|
Probe |
CD |
"This is the first re-issue OF ILLUSION OF SAFETY's PROBE since its only appearance in 1992. In a limited edition of 500 copies, Perdition Plastics is proud to reintroduce this notable work of contemporary composition. Veteran provocateurs, ILLUSION OF SAFETY, examine an audio landscape found between youth and innocence, manufactured entertainment, and suburban complacency. Using a pastiche of field recordings and suggestively composed elements, Dan Burke and Jim O'Rourke strikingly capture ambivalence and their own personal interactions within this environment. PROBE was one of several early, pinnacle works to foreshadow the unique and prolific audio fingerprint of renowned producer/player, Jim O'Rourke, when still a compositional student in Chicago. This release fits neatly into O'Rourke's recent issuing OF forgotten and initial recordings. As the constant center OF ILLUSION OF SAFETY since 1983, Dan Burke has consistently edited and evolved more than 20 CDs from ambience to electronica, from sound collage to post-industrial noise. The complexity and restraint found within PROBE marked a compelling new direction for Burke and a great many others influenced by his music. ILLUSION OF SAFETY has been released by such labels as Die Stadt, Experimedia, Silent, Soleilmoon, Staalplaat, Tesco, and Waystyx among others. Collaborations include Cheer-Accident, Thomas Demuzio, Kevin Drumm, Ben Vida, and others. PROBE will be of interest to those who enjoy Hafler Trio, Throbbing Gristle, Luc Ferrari, etc." [label info]
www.perditionplastics.com
"This is not a review but merely a historical, personal ramble. In 1992 I started working for Staalplaat, buying and selling stuff, and helping out getting those strange packages done. One of the bands that already had a great package, before my time, was Illusion Of Safety, whose 'Historical' was packed in a leather pouch with a real bullet. Both Staalplaat and Korm Plastics, my own small venture, were in contact with Illusion Of Safety's main man Dan Burke and Jim O'Rourke, who was then a main collaborator with Burke. This resulted in 'Disengage', still one of the top 10 releases by Staalplaat, along with 'Probe' by Illusion Of Safety. The first 500 were packed in a wooden box with a real Italian coin and toy money from former Eastern Germany (an additional 500 were sold in the same wooden box, but without the monies). Illusion Of Safety were on a peak with that CD, or perhaps a watershed mark (otherwise you may think they never reached another peak again) is a better word. Before that Illusion Of Safety was, perhaps, 'another' fine band of harsh and less harsh industrial music as a bigger outfit with a varying line up. Towards the end of the era of releasing cassettes, which culminated in the fine but highly obscure 'RVE' tape, Jim O'Rourke became a member, bringing a love of composed music to the table, not just musique concrete but also the like of Scelsi. The music of Illusion Of Safety changed and on 'Probe', as said being here just Dan Burke & Jim O'Rourke, this culminated in that first highlight. All of the influences from before and new ones, melted together in this great disc of musique concrete. Many field recordings are used, along with piercing electronics at times, bowed guitars at others. Sometimes stretching out seemingly ad infinitum, but then sometimes abruptly changing color, speed, intensity, mood, texture and/or atmospherics. An absolute great work of sound collage, bridging musique concrete, electro-acoustics, improvisation, industrial music and ambient. Still a highlight of a career, and great to see back in print - even when the cover is not on par with the original. [FdW / Vital Weekly]
"Arguably the finest Illusion Of Safety record ever made, Probe
was the 1992 recording composed by Dan Burke and Jim O'Rourke. The
former began Illusion Of Safety a decade earlier with a revolving door
personnel policy involving a handful of Chicago malcontents. O'Rourke
began working with Burke's project around 1989 or so, when he was
still a teenager and studying composition in college. Where many of
the Illusion Of Safety albums are full-frontal assaults on the psyche
of the listener (especially the groundbreaking album Historical with
its raw use of narration from torture documentaries), Probe is a far
more subtle and thus effective album marked by the extended use of
disturbed silences, predating such sound design techniques that David
Lynch mastered in Mulholland Drive and Lost Highway. This use of space
is definitely coming from the O'Rourke side of the equation (which
according to Burke was 50/50 on Probe), as O'Rourke's early solo album
Scend was released at about the same time as Probe with profound
similarities. Throughout the subsonic frequencies and unsettled spooky
drones, there are numerous punctures of analogue sourced micro- bleeping, errata from shortwave, scrabbling of tactile objects, field
recordings of traffic jams, children at play, carnival rides, etc. and
jittery digitally sculpted loops. As all of these elements slowly
unfurl over several lengthy chapters, Probe truly synthesizes the
aesthetics of both Burke and O'Rourke into a cohesive body of work,
with Burke's research into the dark and transgressive balanced with
O'Rourke's studies into the musique concrete of Luc Ferrari and Michel
Chion.
Staalplaat first released Probe in a wooden slipcase in an
edition of 500 copies. Those quickly went out of print; but
fortunately, Perdition Plastics has just reissued this brilliant
album, albeit in more conventional packaging..."[Aquarius Records]
|
2009 |
€13.00 |
|
|
Bridges Intact |
CD |
"New album of Illusion Of Safety was recorded preliminary with piano, guitar, electronics and sound processing devices. Abstract tonal and atonal improvisations share the sonic continuum with background drones, rasps and gentle noises, and they do it in highly unpredictable surreal way: mild "melodies" turn into energetic uneasy passages being interrupted by "concrete" sonic romp evolving into spatial drone and electronic landscapes... and all this whirl continues during the whole CD increasing the degree of abstractness and psychedelia as it moves towards the end, which is presented in a form of beautiful harmonic composition." [Zhelezobeton]
"Its is hardly a secret: since about twenty-five years I am a big fan of Illusion Of Safety, following them since their cassette releases, through vinyl, CDs and now, oddly perhaps, cassettes again. But there are still CDs, such as the lovely packed 'Bridges Intact' on Russia's Waystyx Records, who certainly have a reputation to keep up in the packaging department. It surely beats me why the website seems to be in Russian only, perhaps its some conceptual stance? Illusion Of Safety's core member is Dan(iel) Burke since the start, but has included fifteen other people, of which Jim O'Rourke is no doubt the best known one. Here, on this new CD, old member Thymme Jones appears on three tracks as well as guitar player Ben Vida on one. Musically Illusion Of Safety can be all over the place, although the most recent work is usually quite a bit based in the realms of improvised music. That is evident on 'Bridges Intact'. The pieces recorded with Jones show this love of improvisation, with
duets for guitar and piano, as well as a fine mixture of acoustic and synthetic sounds. At first one might think this is all an improvised record, but when the third piece, 'Special Passing', kicks in we know we arrived in the field of music we know and love Illusion Of Safety for: a delicate combination of musique concrete, electro-acoustics, improvisations for instruments, ambient passages, field recordings and electronic music. All put together in a great way. Sometimes all in one piece, and sometimes one piece is just one thing, such as the ambient crackling of static charges in 'Forgotten Baggage', with bits of field recordings at the start. Again an excellent release by one of the greatest talents for this kind of music. This isn't as high up on my list of favorites as say 'Probe', but its not far away." [FdW/Vital Weekly]
|
2010 |
€15.50 |
|
|
Surrender |
CD-R |
"I've been releasing things outside of the internet (no part of it), and one of them has been "Surrender", the newest outing by Illusion of Safety. Daniel Burke has made a "remix overview" of this work, and I had to let the cat out of the bag. More information can be found at the video link, including the mail box where money orders/hidden cash is to be sent. Do check it out! The video is exceptional! I've been told some of the processes in making it, and it's nothing short of deftly inspired! $7 postage paid in the US. $12 elsewhere. Available in pro cassette and pro CDR format.
I haphazardly spurred Illusion of Safety back into live action in 2008 when I asked him to do a show with me at the Empty Bottle. From there, we were both asked to perform for WTII's monthly showcase at Darkroom, wherein this clown video material first surfaced, so it's a pleasure for me to release the nexus of a soundtrack to this imagery, coming full circle.
"Illusion of Safety, just passing its 30th year since inception, is often regarded as the innovator of "ambient industrial". Despite having traversed nearly every arena of the experimental milieu, performed prestigious fests all over the world, and collaborated with some of widest ranging and heaviest hitting of the avante garde, core member/founder Daniel Burke has both shown a return to form and a veritable bouquet of new frontiers in his most recent outing, "Surrender". In just under 60 minutes, the listener is taken on a dizzying carousel ride where everything but the kitchen sink is employed to weave a deeply personal (abstract, wordless) narrative that comes off as minimalistic, condensed, and bombastic. But at the same time, it is a constantly shifting, complex and ornate grid iron amalgam of genuine enthusiasm and horror. Recommended if you like a complete disregard for the myopic trappings and short sighted formulae of contemporary sound art today." [label info]
nopartofit.blogspot.de
"Somewhere, an old T-shirt from Illusion Of Safety exists (the last we saw was affixed to Sigtryggur from Stillupsteypa some 10 years ago) with a deadpan/ironic catch-phrase "Illusion Of Safety gives you that soaring feeling" next to an image of a man tumbling headfirst out of a skyscraper window. Such a calculated juxtaposition of word and image was emblematic of the '80s art world (e.g. Barbara Kruger), often speaking to the underbelly of callousness, cruelty, violence and general amorality within consumerist society. Outside of this bold piece of iconography, Illusion Of Safety has operated within a more liminal state of mysteriousness through signifier and meaning. Even in their most placid albums of soft-focus ambience, the specter of some unknowable threat lurks in the background. More common in the Illusion Of Safety catalogue is an iron-fisted grasp of that sense of foreboding and dread through psychologically tense sound design. Over three decades in existence, this Chicago based project has been whittled down to its core member Dan Burke - with a few comrades-in-arms joining him occasionally - and is probably the longest running American industrial project, having produced a very impressive body of work. The 2014 album Surrender fits comfortably next to some of the masterpieces of the IOS back catalogue (e.g. Cancer, In Session, Historical, etc.) through the trademarked juxtaposition of noxious frequencies snaking in and out of harmonic phase patterns only to snap out of existence with a razor-cut edit into an electrical burst of tesla coil noise (for example). Disjointed rhythms, mediated collages, decontextualized field recordings, and psychoacoustic phrases map this album with incredible control and precision. Illusion Of Safety proves once again that they are one of the greats of industrial culture. Grab this album before it disappears, the pro-duplicated cd-r is limited to just 100 copies. Same for the cassette." [Aquarius Records]
"Among the few artists I have been following what seems now to be a lifetime (Asmus Tietchens, Main, Organum), Illusion Of Safety is probably among them the band I saw play live most. Dan Burke, the main man, is a most loveable chap and he always surprises me with his next move. His music doesn't operate in any particular style, but overlaps various genres. Improvised, industrial, ambient, musique concrete, and even a bit of techno beat thrown in. Here's a new album that proofs it. It's called 'Surrender' (which word always reminds me of the Cheap Trick song) and on a label called No Part Of It, meaning they don't want to be part of the world of Internet. There is a website, but there catalogue is hand scribbled on a sheet of paper and the CDRs - professionally designed - can be bought with a money order. Yes! That's what I like. Swim against the tide. Music wise Illusion Of Safety does something we haven't seen him do in quite some time. The collage styled music in which lengthy chunks of sounds are suddenly cut away by voices from radio and TV, a techno beats slips into view and sounds remarkable like the early 90s works such as 'Historical', 'Inside Agitator' or 'Distraction'. Quiet at times, but also quite bombastic at other times, filmic but without too many words. And if we hear any, it's about nuclear waste leakage. In that sense this album also harks back to the post-industrial sound of yesteryear. The balance between the very quiet and the very loud, between the ambience and the beats, is maintained very well throughout this release. Daddy's all right: surrender!" [FdW/Vital Weekly] |
2013 |
€9.00 |
|
|
Organ Choir Drone |
MC |
https://nopartofit.bandcamp.com/album/organ-choir-drone
"It's no big secret that I enjoy Illusion Of Safety's music and have been doing it for years. While there are very few albums that are don't favour, there are also a few that are easily in my top 100 best albums ever - and no, I don't have a list. Last week I played 'Cancer', a CD from the early 1990s, and I mumbled what a great record that was. Each new work
is welcomed with much anticipation, and 'Organ Choir Drone' is no different. It's an album of recent music, and it's unclear if it contains organs and choirs. Maybe there are heavily processed parts of the music. Drones, on the other hand, are definitely a part of this. All usual Illusion Of Safety elements appear on this album. Longform drone sounds, modular synthesis, small acoustic sounds, radio waves, and lots of obscured sounds result in moody and textured music. Dystopian perhaps, as shining also in the titles, 'Children Of The Fear Of Light', 'Black Helicopters', or 'Waste Of Civiliation'. Some of these could be the title of a Stephen King novel. Dark and atmospheric as the music may seem, the overall goal isn't to produce grim music; at least, that's not how I perceive the music. I find these ominous dark soundscapes a true pleasure to hear, despite the grim undercurrent; another excellent addition to an otherwise already great catalogue." [FdW /Vital Weekly] |
2023 |
€12.00 |
|
| |
Pastoral |
CD |
Illusion Of Safety - Pastoral
CD only, 200 copies, Korm Plastics
While Korm Plastics publishes books these days, this is a surprise CD only release. We sent him this demo in 2011 & we all forgot about it. Pastoral is a welcome edition to the catalog showcasing a less aggressive stance from the project, a more organic subdued presentation, sounds to make a clearing, & open space. The recordings history is a bit blurred now but it is very likely tracks 1, 2, 3, & 5 are Kurt Griesch and Daniel Burke, post 1995 tour work. Track four uses an instance of Reaktor 5 VCS-3 software emulation.
Illusion of Safety
Since 1983, Daniel Burke and his many conspirators under the Illusion Of Safety banner have over the course of 40+ full length releases traversed most every facet of the avant sound plane, from early industrial pop deconstruction to blindingly minimal sound art to densely surreal found-sound collage, each unique approach bending and reconstituting the expectations and possibilities of each realm, creating uneasy music that is dense and dystopian and yet also beautiful. Performing over 300 live concerts throughout Europe and the states included No Fun 2008, the Wroclaw Industrial Music Festival 2009, Sonic Circuits in 2010, with Shen Wei Dance Arts in 2011 at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in NYC, and at the Crisis Data Transfer Pre-Party October 2023. Outside of IOS Burke has collaborated with Jim O’Rourke, Jon Mueller, Randy Greif, Darin Gray, Z’EV, Cheer-Accident, Thomas Dimuzio, Kevin Drumm, Bill Horist, and others.
https://kormdigitaal.bandcamp.com/album/pastoral
"I don't think it's a surprise that here at VWHQ, there is a person that likes Dan Burke's aka Illusion of Safety's output. Earlier this year, Korm Plastics (who said they'd never release music again) broke
the dry spell of releasing music by co-releasing the IoS/Z'ev collaboration on vinyl. Now they have a CD by Illusion of Safety. Combine that with a few other releases like Muziekkamer and the BOH Sampler, and those first words on the Korm website raise questions: 'Korm Plastics was a record label. These days, we publish books. About music.' Maybe Frans will explain it to me at some point.
But, back to what it is all about. Illusion of Safety / Dan Burke. It's a blind spot in my collection. I've seen him perform once in Aachen, but since that was something like 25 years ago, I really can't remember the details. So, it's Dan's recent output that I started to know and respect. And with this new album, "Pastoral", the concern is only getting stronger. Though I must say, it took me several listening sessions before it struck me at the right spots.
The five tracks with a total playing time of 58 minutes are hidden in serene packaging. Pictures of a morning or evening stroll in the countryside and the first sounds of "Invulnerable" are concrete staccato sounds. There was something wrong with the combination of those in my head. Still, as the track continued, field recordings started building a backing drone, and additional sounds formed the actual composition with a massive piano/guitar intermezzo, which has to be mentioned. All kinds of manipulated musical instruments create a flawless transition towards the second track entitled "Neolithic", and from here, it only gets better. Tracks 3 to 5 are droney soundscapes with a perfect balance between layers of minimal noise and drones and additional sounds projected on top of it. In total, 40 minutes of absolute poetic sounds. And there it struck me how I see Dan's music, in this release at least. Looking at the picture on the cover, you get an emotion, but zooming in on the picture, you can extrude air, sun, grass, sand, and a little forest in the back. And zooming in on the woods, you can see trees and then
branches... But zooming out, you get a 'walk in nature'... But what if you zoom out from there... "Thermogenesis", "Ground", and "Compelling" all cover a particular aspect of switching perspectives like this. At least, that's what I think.
Pastoral (noun): a work of literature portraying an idealized version of country life. For me, the first tracks are about escaping what's terrible, and the last three are about embracing what's good. The illusion of Safety presents in one album that you can't make just one of those choices (escape/embrace) and that the result is great if you follow your heart. (BW)
|
2023 |
€12.00 |
|
| ILTA HÄMÄRÄ |
Velloa |
7inch |
"After being around for twenty-three years, Meeuw Muzak releases their forty-ninth catalogue number, so time for MM050 being something special, but surely a 7", as Meeuw Muzak releases solely in that format (well, two 10" and a 8" not withstanding, but that was a long time ago). Ilta Hämärä you ask? I asked the same thing, as the over didn't tell me much. The website only gave this sparse note: "Timo
Van Luijk and Bart De Paepe in troubled water". Van Luijk we know as a serious man within the realms of improvised music, and I never heard of De Paepe, who is, apparently also known as Father Sloow, Bart Sloow or simply Sloower, partly because he has a label called Sloow Tapes. I know quite a bit of Van Luijk’s music but this particular enterprise I had not heard before. They have a cassette and LP available and now there is this 7" with two songs. Some tormented slow (sloow?) drum machine, and
much delay and reverb on the guitar, along with some percussive bits, and together they create some highly wacky pop music. Maybe not unlike that of Jonathan Valdez reviewed elsewhere, but Ilta Hämärä don't use any vocals. There is an abundance of sound effects used, adding a sort of psychedelic flavour to the music, maybe the effect of it is a bit murky, troubled water indeed. You could wonder as if this was recorded by a mister nobody anyone would touch it to release it, which actually can be said
of various things I hear every now and then, but given the fact that Van Luijk is slowly becoming a household name, surely this will go down well. Slowed down off side rock music; I love it, but I would also said that if it was recorded by the nobodies." [FdW/Vital Weekly]
|
2018 |
€7.00 |
|
| IN MEDITARIUM [IN MEDITARIVM] |
Uterus |
CD-R |
Willkommen zum Intra-Uterin-Industrial ! IN MEDITARIUM ist ein weiteres Projekt von Sergey Svistelnik (aka LORD GORGOROTH), der Ikone der ukrainischen dark ambient-Szene, der auch das kleine Label UKRAINIAN DARK SYNDICATE betreibt und hinter FIRST HUMAN FERRO steckt. IN MEDITARIUM klingt nach handgemachtem Ritual-Industrial, mit beschwörenden Katakombensounds & -gesängen, dumpf & dunkel & wummernd & höhlenartig.
„There is a lot of good music that comes from that country called Ukraine. Think Andrey Kiritchenko as just one example of an artist that made it bigtime. In Meditarium is maybe lesser known at the moment, but if you ask me, this is a project that has a lot of potential in the darkambient scene. This album contains of 4 long tracks (with the shortest being 9:17). The tracks are all very dark, very atmospheric. It will completely take you away into another dimension of this world. The dark dimension of Uterus. Beautiful sounds, dark and atmospheric, are combined with low chanting, tinkling bells, and long drones. This disc is the perfect music to listen to on a dark winternight, with the lights out, and either a very very good soundsystem or your headphones on your head. You will be instantly taken away into this beautiful world.” [Stefan / Electronic Music World
|
2004 |
€9.00 |
|
| INADE |
Audio Mythology One |
CD |
"There’s more to the history of the incomparable Dark Ambient Sound Sculptors, Inade, than meets the ear. Audio Mythology One gathers unreleased material and compilation tracks, the shards and splintered remnants that litter the cosmic wasteland that is their sonic home. These are essential pieces of the vast network of sound manipulation that fills the blackened soul of night, the heart of primal urgency, haunting and dramatic, abounding with the ethereal mist of unease and dense ruminations that breathe and exhale awe with every resonant pulse. Masterful audio musings.
A.M. ONE is an introduction to the archive of INADE´s sound work. The first part of this series is focusing on unreleased and now finalised material from the recording period of „The Incarnation Of The Solar Architects“ album , V.A. compilation tracks and re-worked studio material of live backing tracks.
This regular and unlimited CD-edition comes in jewel case and 16-pg booklet. Mastered by Andreas Wahnmann/SECRETLAB." [label info]
www.loki-found.de
|
2012 |
€13.00 |
|
| |
Audio Mythology Two |
CD |
"The soul of Eternity has a voice. It has a smile that radiates dreams of ancient origin. Its yawn is vast and perilous: to view it is to sacrifice sanity. Infinite eons have passed through its throat, sometimes latticed with tectonic cosmic rumbles, sometimes threaded with dissonant whispers of devious design.
It is a place where Desolation strangles Hope with withered fingers. The soul of Eternity has a voice. It is pure sound convulsion; it is harsh sound vibration. It speaks through Inade. Though its playground is beyond conception, where space and beyond space merge, the foundation for translation is cultivated here, on Earth, by the Masters of Dark Ambient, Inade. Audio Mythology II collects more loose strands and bleak, back-alley diversions, and gives them life. This is the breath of lost souls as they sigh, of shadows as they break into song, of unimaginable gods as they murmur and scheme.
The saga of Sonic Pioneers continues with the second part of the collection from the archive of INADE´s sound work. This release focusses on re-structured session material (1997-2011), V.A. compilation tracks (2006-2009, partly re-worked) and finalised studio recordings of live backing tracks (2012-2013).
Available as limited vinyl edition with a different track order and mixing. The Cd will be included as well in slip case with the vinyl.
Edition of 300 copies.
The regular and unlimited CD-edition comes in jewel case and 16-pg booklet.
Mastered by Andreas Wahnmann/SECRETLAB." [label info]
www.loki-found.de
|
2014 |
€13.00 |
|
| INCAPACITANTS |
Extreme Gospel Nights |
LP |
"Incapacitants are the best noise band to ever come out of Japan; the group was formed in 1981 in Osaka, the solo project of Toshiji Mikawa, a member of the amazing noise group Hijokaidan. Mikawa, a bank employee who later became manager of one of the largest securities brokers in Japan, later moved to Tokyo, where he joined with government office worker Fumio Kosakai (also an occasional member of Hijokaidan, as well as a former member of C.C.C.C.) to make Incapacitants a duo. Mikawa and Kosakai are no ordinary salarymen, though. They've been making some of the most unremittingly ear-shattering racket for decades as Incapacitants, one of the most significant noise outfits to emerge from the Japanese scene in the early 1980s, and still one of the most radical and powerful. They've consistently been responsible for some of the most complex, chaotic, loud, and downright fun releases in the genre. Extreme Gospel Nights is a shocking cassette from 1993, released by one of the Japanoise-defining labels, Vanilla Records, whose sound is particularly exciting, agonizingly dense and full of detail. "Gospel" refers to the studio where the recordings were made; don't expect traditional spirituals, but rather some truly alien performances, complete with sporadic screaming of vivisected baboons drowning in the sonic sludge. There are two tracks here "Bitter Insect" on and the super lo-fi "Accelerated No(i)sebleed," in all probability recorded directly from the soundboard. Just pure, unadulterated electronic distortion of the highest quality done by two of the masters of all who have ever turned the knob on a distortion pedal. This is fun, terrifying, hypnotic, and fascinating all at the same time; their noise takes root not in violence or gimmickry, but in pure energy. It also serves as great example of just what makes well done noise so great: the layers of complexity that build upon each other reveal new and different textures and patterns on subsequent listens. Mastered by Mikawa and reissued for the first time on vinyl, with black label and black inner sleeve. Edition of 300 in deluxe silver silkscreen on black cardboard sleeve with an image of the Tomyodai lighthouse in the late Meiji era as cover art, insert on classic ultra-bright paper with glossy plastic coating with replica of original. Wrapped in tissue golden paper to replicate original tape release, includes sticker."
https://urashima.bandcamp.com
|
2019 |
€23.00 |
|
| INDO |
Rupa Loka |
CD |
"The Rupa Loka, one of the hidden planes of existence beyond our own is the focus for this album, a serene world populated by beings more refined and evolved than ourselves. The album is a journey through this nature kingdom and incorporates soundscapes rich in flavour and diversity. The recordings were originally produced in 2009 and rediscovered and carefully reassembled and remastered in the process. The album comes in a jewelcase with a 12-page booklet depicting the realm of the Rupa Loka." [label info]
http://gterma.blogspot.se
"Indo‘s ‘Rupa Loka’ brings us back in 2011, actually it was recorded in 2009 so I guess this makes the record already pretty ancient in the context of our current times, when daily you are given access to countless records, either old or new. However, in your daily routine I hardly advise you to find your way to the first ever record, that the Swedish ambient label gterma has ever released. At first the record is striking you with its picturesque artwork, especially the amazing photographs in the inlay (which has actually already became signature for all gterma production). The whole art direction and the general concept of the record leaves a strong feeling for an Eastern cultural influence, but still this artistic decision is not over-imposed on the listener by any means.
What we have here is one very powerful and beautiful ambient record. Rupa Loka is soaked with meditative, slow and immense drones which are additionally embraced by fragile and delicate soundscapes. However, what makes this record truly special are the field recordings. The Hungarian musician Andras Kiss, who’s actually the person behind the ambient act Indo (as this is quite an overused monicker in music of all genres) didn’t capture anything you haven’t heard. His sounds are natural, familiar, not probably but certainly surrounding all of us in our daily lives, but he incorporated them with such a skill, that would surely make you a bit envious if you’re also producing music yourself. What is more important it will surely make you consider how much life, emotion and potential there is in the sound and ambiance of our everyday surrounding, but due to our mental simplicity we’ve accepted all of this perfection and endlessness for granted.
Rupa Loka is anything but a record for the simple minds, just like its Buddhist concept suggests its aim is to recreate a dimension, a form of existence inhabited by higher results of evolution. Quite a pretentious and tough aim, but so subtly approached that it leaves you smiling with satisfaction, when you realise the record really serves its purpose. This album is so alive and so organic, that at a certain point you forget that a human hand and mind initiated this impressive sound sculpture. I don’t need an artwork for this, neither track titles or a band project. I just need the CD carrying this art piece, which is interacting on way too too many levels with my personality, so by no means I can accept it as just another ambient record I got for the day. What a great start for a label! What a great artist statement!" [Angel S / Heathen Harvest]
|
2011 |
€13.00 |
|
| INFANT CYCLE |
Secret Hidden Message |
7inch |
"...oszillierend zart und schwirrend, bis ein auslaufgroove für unerwartete erdung sorgt; der sich der windende drone nicht unterwerfen will, statt dessen sich sammelt und ins reverb flüchtet (inklusive delay-feedback-stop). stück 2 auf der A-seite dagegen ein wolkig-voluminöser drone mit nervösen einsprengseln, durch die flüchtigkeit von wolke + sprengseln genau so wenig statisch wie der erste track „secret hidden mistake", bis urplötzlich die wolke hinter sich gelassen wird und der nackte ton bleibt. das stück auf der zweiten seite heisst dann nicht nur „trombone", sondern ist nach angabe auf dem inlay (alle instrumentalen zutaten werden gelistet) auch allein mit einer posaune gespielt. nun denn, wenn auch die instrumente genannt werden, über die produktion herrscht stillschweigen; so ist die posaune auch in keiner weise erhörbar... ...wie sie als fragmentiert lautmalerischer impuls wächst und wächst und schließlich in einem wind untergeht. höhepunkt!" [N, Unruhr.de]
"THE INFANT CYCLE is a long operating experimental project from Ontario (Canada), active since 1992 with many releases on MC & CDR on different labels and the home imprint THE CEILING.
The three pieces on this EP were created using sounds from various instruments as Trombone, guitar, windchimes, marimba, birdcage, etc.. The result sounds rather electronic & hypnotic, with bright shining drones & repetitive rhythmic patterns & loops moving into more amorphous & multilayered sounding electro-acoustics. In spite of the rather experimental working-methods the outcome is very compact & condensed. THE INFANT CYCLEs approach to sound is based on the belief that words and explanations can only fail to describe or explain it, what is needed is a non-verbal, intuitive understanding of the work: "The artist's ego must not inhibit the piece's effect. It is the sound you are hearing, not the artist." Is the artist playing the sound or the sound playing the artist?
Filed under: Multilayered Drone-Hypnotism
more info: www.myspace.com/the_ceiling
FOGGY VINYL; BLACK COVERS WITH DIFFERENT SIZED BLACK SPOTS ON IT & TRANSPARENT COVERAGE USING INFANT CYCLE-LOGO" [label info]
"This is the first release from drone records and the infant cycle that I am listening to and it is a happy surprise. I have to admit that drone music is not exactly my mug of coffee mostly because most of the times I find it different to concentrate to it due to the lack of information. This doesn’t apply here cause there is an interesting mix with electro-acoustic elements. Infant cycles is Jim DeJong active sinve 1992 in (from the infant cycle’s last fm page) “…exploring the relationship between sounds and their origins, as well as that which proceeds it”. Both sides of the 7” are very carefully structured. Side A has two tracks that could easily been understood as one, “secret hidden message” and “(and then the dog replied)”, both characterized by the persistence of DeJong in what I understand as detailed abstract linear narration, all sounds are collaged beautifully in medium durations that produce beautiful kind of loop effects though there is complete absence of repetition. As I read that some of these sounds come from a bird cage, wind chimes and cookery I can only suppose that they were time and pitch stretched. The second side is the most impressive though. “Trombone” is based on recordings of a trombone (obviously) that were manipulated and treated in a manner that brings to my mind of oval. There is a minimal techno element , at least in the first part, that is followed by an abrupt change in the composition. Despite of that the result is very cohesive. I have to admit that I have this feeling that I should know what the infant cycle do. This is very well-crafted, well thought and interesting 7”. Bull’s eye." [Fervent, Randeom E-Zine]
www.dronerecords.de
|
2008 |
€7.00 |
|
| |
The Sand Rays |
CD |
"Diophantine Discs is pleased to announce the release of a new CD...
The Infant Cycle - The Sand Rays. We're happy to introduce the new full-length record from The Infant Cycle. The Sand Rays is to be played from the outside to the center, from whichever edge you choose. The Sand Rays is pinball rhythm reverberations from sliced vinyl record playout grooves, gravelly surface vibrations. The Sand Rays is exploiting broken cords, near-empty batteries, half-broken equipment. We loved it and think you will too. Just be prepared to be a bit more confused when it is all over, but don't worry: you'll be too busy wiping that silly grin off your face because you had such a fun time. The Infant Cycle, active since 1992, is the brainchild of Jim DeJong. He has released material on such labels as Drone, EE Tapes, Hands, Moloko+, Afe, Zhelezobeton, Blade, Abgurd, and his own The Ceiling. Additionally he is a former member of Mind Skelp-cher and (as The Infant Cycle) has collaborated with numerous artists including Aidan Baker, Orphx, and Dronaement.
Housed in a custom printed color wallet. Edition of 500 copies." [label info]
http://discs.diophantine.net
"This label has released both on CD and vinyl. Perhaps its therefore a bit of an odd choice to release the new Infant Cycle on CD. Not because of the nature of the music, but due to the material which was used to create this music: like before Jim DeJong, the man behind The Infant Cycle, uses vinyl to create his music. Ah. You think vinyl and you think Yoshihide, Marclay or Spooky? Wrong. The Infant Cycle has nothing to do with turntablism like that. More along the lines of Vertonen, The Infant Cycle uses run out grooves which are taped and then fed through a line of analogue sound effects or perhaps synthesizers and then further treated, enhanced and altered on the computer. Actually I made that last bit up, as I think there are no computers used by The Infant Cycle. Its more likely that everything exists in the world of analogue sounds, with cheap low resolution sampling keyboards, four track recording machines and more analogue sound effects. The music is raw and densely layered with lots of icing on the cake, but this is not a work of endless spinning noise loops. Jim DeJong knows how to create music that is both noise based and yet still something to hear. Although throughout quite present, he is not shy to take matters into a more quieter area, and presents us a highly listenable release of music that is, for me at least, the logical step in what some call industrial music. Powerful, intense, rich of ideas and excellently executed." [FdW / Vital Weekly]
|
2009 |
€12.00 |
|
| INGENTING KOLLEKTIVA |
Fragments of Night |
LP |
"ingenting kollektiva members : diane granahan, kirston lightowler, tarrl lightowler, matthew swiezynski. edited and constructed by : diane granahan & matthew swiezynski (side a), kirston lightowler & tarrl lightowler, (side b). recorded in the drei gewsser barn, rain storm recording 25.12.2009 & drei gewsser studios 27.12.2009 & oiseaux invisibles studios, california 2011. instruments : bells, bowed tibetan prayer bowl, cello, field recordings, guitars, harmonium, loops, nightingale devise, portable 78 player (ravel's gaspard de la nuit, walter gieseking), psaltery, tenor sax, shakuhachi flute (watazumido-shuso). mastered by taylor deupree. the ingenting kollektiva is an homage to ingmar bergman and sven nykvist. fragments of night refers back 40 years to numerous recordings gathered around 25.12.2009 at drei wasser." [label info/credits]
" 'ingenting' translates from swedish as 'nothing', and this american collective draw inspiration from the cinematic master of nihilism, ingmar bergman, on their beautiful debut fragments of night. the two sprawling tracks dislocate the source material of guitar, bowls, psaltery, saxophone and field recordings through an organic crosshatching of delay and loop techniques. sombre melodies and sodden textures emerge out of their droning psychedelic improvisations as a sensible take on variation and repetition, coming to a comparatively violent climax at the end of side B with an abrasive arpeggio of tremolo-clipping violin scrapes. even with this crashing conclusion, the 'nothingness' which speaks
through the recordings is not an existential hammer declaring the death of god, but RATHER SUBLTE AND POIGNANT EXPOSITION ON LONELINESS." [Jim Haynes, THE WIRE]
"I don't think I heard about Ingenting Kollektiva, which members include Diane Granahan, Kirston Lightowler, Tarrl Lightowler and Matthew Swiezynski. Diane and Matthew play on side A and Kirston and Tarrl on side B. "The kollektiva seeks to issue recordings that are meditations on the quality of light, sound and atmosphere created by Ingmar Bergman and Sven Nykvist". You could expect them to release DVDs which are promised for the future. Here on LP, they play a variety of instruments, like bells, bowed tibetan prayer bowl, cello, field recordings, guitars, harmonium, loops, nightingale devise, portable 78 record player, psaltery, tenor sax and shakuhachi. I am not entirely sure if I would have been able to pick out all of these instruments on the two lenghty cuts on either side of the record. What it doesn't mention is - perhaps - the amount of processing that takes place on this record. Everything seems melted and molted around some sort of treatment, acoustically (more on side b
than on side a it seems) and electronically (vice versa obviously). Obviously we are dealing here with highly atmospheric music, which fits the Mirror tradition quite nice. Atmospheric music but with a sharper edge, and a great sense of experimentalism. From the description one could think this more like wishy-washy new age type of music, but the darker textures of this record work quite nice. Maybe indeed a great soundtrack to a Bergman movie, overlooking some lakes in Sweden and lots of silence among the actors. Haunting and haunted indeed. I wonder what their own films be like. Very nice." [FdW/Vital Weekly]
|
2012 |
€17.50 |
|
| INNER VISION LABORATORY |
Continuum |
CD |
Karol Skrzypiec returns with a new album to the Zoharum fold. This artist, consistently following the path chosen by himself, discovers new areas with every new recording. In his compositions, synthetic structures increasingly give way to acoustic instruments. Not only does it give a different quality to his music, but also affects a completely different reception of it. Nowadays it is more spatial, has richer arrangement and boldly goes beyond the former structures that have been associated with the INNER VISION LABORATORY project. It would be difficult to describe this album as dark ambient. Although it is impossible to deny a composer the skill of building the right atmosphere, he is far from pathos or dark aura. You can find a note of melancholy, thoughtfulness, a space for reflection, but with light seen from a distance. Who knows - maybe it is an attempt to reconcile with the inevitable, with the thought that all that touches us serves the purpose of going further? To sum up, "Continuum" is an album of many sounds, colours, moving not only by the richness of sounds, but also encouraging reflection and bringing solace.
https://zoharum.bandcamp.com/album/continuum
"It begins with Alan Watts’ sampled quote, from his “The Sense Of Nonsense” lecture. These words briefly introduce you to the idea of the album, while the titles and the music itself are following it in the most evocative way. I feel this is the album about our vegetation, not existence, but vegetation. Dull, monotonous, with automatically repeated daily actions and movements. Waking up, taking a shit, going to work, getting drunk, having sex, going to sleep. And for what, as our final purpose is withering and eventually death.
Lucky for us, there are people like Karol on this planet, who can forge this not quite optimistic worldview into the music we can in a certain way identify with. As Orson Welles once said: “We’re born alone, we live alone, we die alone. Only through our love and friendship can we create the illusion for the moment that we’re not alone”. I would extend this quote with art. Music in this particular case. “Continuum” makes me think that you are alone, but at the same time you’re not. That there are people who feel alike, who suffer alike, who will die alone, but during this road to the eternal non-being will share these few brief moments of a strange bond with the other folks who are on the same wavelength, so to speak. Even though you listen to the music alone and it’s even better when you listen to it alone. Such a weird paradox of “Continuum” and ambient music in general.
As for the music, it is a straight follow-up to my beloved “Anywhere Out Of This World”. “Continuum” is made of deep drones and textures, melancholic, but strangely warm and soothing. Painting this aural image to the introducing words, but also giving you comfort and the feeling of detaching from this mundane world. The delicate guitars and piano also do their job, some fragments remind me a little bit of the Japanese soundtrack masters, Yamaoka or Hisaishi (“Forsaken”, “Ended”)… In the end, I believe this is his best effort since “Anywhere Out Of This World”, perhaps because this less dark face of Inner Vision Laboratory” simply suits me better. Music to drown in." [Santa Sangre] |
2019 |
€12.00 |
|
| INTERNAL FUSION |
Waissad |
mCD-R |
"fifteen years after his first 3"cd-r on taâlem ("NedenBahe", still available at taalem.bandcamp.com/album/nedenbahe-alm-3 ), what we said at the time is still relevant. internal fusion is still a rare artist even if he's more productive than ever these days (two digital self-released productions last year) and his music is still full of captivating atmospheres... deep sounds, strange voces, haunting atmospheres. let yourself dive into "waïssad"..." [label info]
"Belgium’s taâlem label continues to breathe new life into one of our favorite formats, the CD3″. Each season they release a new trio, representing a wide swath of sounds. The latest batch delves into tribalism, abrasion and haunted ballroom; listening to the releases in order is like walking through exhibits in a terrifying circus.
Internal Fusion hearkens back to a time when the lines between dark ambient and industrial were blurred. The 22-minute single-track Waïssad twists and turns like an injured acrobat, sounding at first like a joyous call from deepest Africa, delving into drums reminiscent of Skull Island, then descending into the mist, where monsters dwell. The voices are holy and hooded, like those of medieval monks. Slowly the fugue builds, marked by static rustlings and speaker-wandering percussion. The cover may be green and lush, but don’t be fooled; these lands are dangerous. Waïssad’s narcotic center may represent the time spent drugged, the victim of a blow dart; the slow awakening to tribal drums is lulling until it disappears, replaced by snakelike hisses and fractured drones. There’s no escaping; all fates were sealed long ago. [...]
These releases take different paths, but arrive at the same bleak destination. This is autumn, after all, and darkness is drawing near. Play these releases while reading your favorite dark horror tales; the ghosts will enjoy reading over your shoulder and listening with invisible ears." (Richard Allen)
acloserlisten.com/2017/09/30/a-taalem-trio-2/
" [...] As I was searching the old weeklies for previous reviews of Internal Fusion, as that is sometimes indeed done (usually after being sure there are actually some!), I found very few (Vital Weekly 348, 426 and 677), but also a few times as a point of reference, which I guess for a band that never released a lot music is quite something. It usually was done in combination with the words ‘pseudo ethnic’ and ‘drumming’, and other names never far away were Internal Fusion and Muslimgauze. In that sense this new one is a bit of a different batch of music. It starts out with something familiar, ethnic voices, lotsa reverb, but the tribalistic drumming doesn’t become part of this. Deep pounding drums are there at one point in the middle, but in the second half of the piece things become much more abstract; Internal Fusion discovering granular synthesis and feeding their own sounds into the machine, perhaps even the first ten minutes of ‘Waïssad’ to it, and let computer gremlins eat the whole piece and slowly we enter the belly of the monster. If this is something that Internal Fusion would explore further and incorporate in their usual brand of ambient drumming and deep moods, then it could blossom into a very rich new sound approach. [FdW, Vital Weekly]
www.vitalweekly.net/1098.html
www.taalem.com
|
2017 |
€5.00 |
|
| 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 |
|
| IRM |
Closure |
CD |
"This album marks the end of a trilogy that started with the ”Indications of Nigredo” 12” (2008) on Segerhuva and continued with the ”Order4” CD (2010) on Cold Meat Industry. Four years on, IRM now release the grand finale on Malignant Records. While the last album flowed between opposites and extremes, this new opus marks a kind of a return to more familiar ground, where traditional song structure and melody occasionally appear and are more suited to the shorter track timing. That’s not to say that this is an easy listen – this can be an electrifying and highly charged listen, that feels visceral and almost physical in nature, and there’s plenty of nightmarish circumstance to wade through. But the omnipresent narrative feel ultimately gives these recordings a nuanced and soothing edge. People familiar with subjects associated with IRM, such as flamboyance, exclusion and theatrical immersion will also find a home here this time around. Harder to grasp is what kind of existentialist limbo the perpetrator here resides in. Redemption - not likely. The album also features the stellar performances of English cellist Jo Quail and Swedish percussionist Ulrik Nilsson. Includes 20 page booklet." [label info]
www.malignantrecords.com
|
2014 |
€12.00 |
|
| IRM / SKIN AREA |
Purple Screen // Red Eruption / Red Discharge |
10" |
Harsh Noise with a sometimes jazzy (yes!) feel to it from SKIN AREA, who use also drums and bass and voice, in fact they begin with harsh noises and end up in an improvisation. Very strange and beyond good and evil. IRM create one long dark piece interesting soundwalls... new swedish noise on a new swedish label !
“ Two of Sweden's finest bands share this slab of vinyl. Skin Area delivers a 14-minute track that begs you to push the volumes louder and louder until your brain becomes one with the raging hardcore noises they produce. You'll wish there were drugs as hard and vicious as these sounds, but I'm afraid western science hasn't come that far yet... Skin Area's versatility might shock (and offend) some listeners who are unprepared to blow their minds on a regular basis.
IRM makes full use of the 10" format with what could very well be their finest moment yet -- a 12 min epic that expertly combines menacing electronics and more traditional sounds (this should be among the top-five of any best-power-electronics-with-glockenspiel list ever compiled). Since none of you are regular church-goers, why not make it your Sunday ritual to blast the neighborhood with this 10"? You will be rewarded.” [label info]
|
2003 |
€10.00 |
|
| IRR.APP. (ext.) |
Are all Things Equivalent? |
10inch |
"Substantia Innominata" is the 10" VINYL - series by Drone Records, presenting works inspired by or related to "the Unknown" around or within us. OUT NOW (March 2019):
SUB-26 • IRR.APP.(ext.) - Are all Things Equivalent?
Drone Records is proud to present two new tracks on vinyl by the master of surrealistic, enigmatic sound (and visual) worlds, whose collages and titles often reveal a cryptic and thought-provoking nature.
As soon as the music starts you might get the impression that micro- and macroscopic dimensions intermingle and oscillate, these multi-layered drone expansions and deep humming drones evoke a strange organic feeling, ominous half-concrete acoustic shadows seem to live inside this, ghosty saw-blades conquer the sonic space, there are rolling mechanic eruptions, and you could be stuck in huge spinning machines, it's music that consists of complex noises and drones that seem to be in a circling state of an endless metamorphosis...
irr.app.(ext.) has been the project of sound, performance and visual artist M. S. Waldron for more than 20 years. He currently resides in Hillsboro, Oregon (USA), just slightly to the left of the picturesque midriff of the Pacific Northwest.
Known for recurring collaborations with NURSE WITH WOUND and through a phantastic trilogy of albums with reference to the radical psychoanalytic and founder of body psychotherapy WILHELM REICH, the creations are much grounded in non-orthodox surrealism and collage and fall somewhere between beauty and absurdity, between amorph drone ambience transcensions and bewildering and attacking noises, often with deep philosophical and psychological implications involved.
Released in an edition of 300 copies on CLEAR vinyl, with full colour artwork by M.S. Waldron himself.
www.substantia-innominata.com
https://soundcloud.com/drone-records/irr-app-ext-side-b-sleep-turbines
|
2019 |
€15.00 |
|
| ISABELLA, JASPER & SIMON FISHER TURNER |
Savage Songs of Brutality and Food |
CD |
"This is the blurb.
I think it’s a press release, too, about this album I’ve made with my kids’ voices and sounds and these home recordings we’ve made over the last 13 years.
They’re now 15 and 17 and who knows what they think.
I know they’re not too interested in it this now, but they’ve seen the artwork and pictures and obviously they know the tracks, but I don’t think they actually realise this is coming out and that strangers can buy the LP in a Record Shop or online with actual money.
For years as the two of them were growing up I was always photographing and recording their lives. Over 68,000 pictures on my desktop, and hours of recordings. This is commonplace now, but when I was growing up maybe the Brownie would come out on the beach on Whitsand Bay, or if we went on holiday, a picture of a mountain or something interesting like, a pizza. Mum had a reel-to-reel she never used, and I had a radio. Dad was underwater.
Why go on holiday when you live in Cornwall. Dad was a submariner based in Plymouth and my mum was a mum and a Rally driver. Three boys to look after. Chaos and serious hard work. Now both my parents are dead, I’ve photos from mum’s albums, but oddly enough Dad never took photos at all, and distrusted them I think.
So to this album. It’s the first thirteen years or so of our children’s lives made into cute and cruel songs of experimentation and, yes, chaos again. So, from the first heartbeat (not included here) to just under two years ago, I randomly and sometimes secretly recorded them singing or talking, often encouraged of course by me. That’s what parents do. I recorded for 13 years. It’s rather wonderful to have sound documents as opposed to pictures. Luckily I have both and I’m still rediscovering forgotten sounds even now.
This is a music/sound diary (perhaps) of the frankly mad, cute, annoying, moving, innocent, loud, loving, embarrassing, noises of their lives up to now, as recorded and messed up by me, as in messed-up-and-I-don’t-care, but do I care. I try to edit with clarity where needed, but otherwise the vocals and ideas are pretty raw and unaltered for the sweeter market of pop. This is just STUFF. Wild and Alive.
Rebels without a pause.
I was a dad with slithers time on my hands and a Mac I could barely understand. I made tracks/songs, whatever you want to call them between cooking, cleaning, bathing, shopping, driving, and sleeping ad infinitum. It’s the three of us mainly, with The Elysian Quartet thrown together for The Mighty Dinosaur song, but I’m the leader, the captain of the ship. You always need a Captain and they were my sonic crewmates, even though they were often press-ganged into service reluctantly.
. There will be no Volume Two.
They’ve eventually got really fed up with me doing this, and I can’t blame them one bit, but when faced with all these bits of songs or, fragments of stuff, what do you do? Throw them in the bin, give them to them on their wedding day and really make them cringe?
No. The best thing to do is to compile them like a mix tape and keep your fingers crossed that someday, someone might be interested in releasing a compilation of this madness.
Charles Powne from Soleilmoon Recordings came to the rescue, in that he mentioned somehow whether I’d heard of an LP of children’s songs. I hadn’t in fact, but I told him about these recordings I’d been making over the years.
Isabella and Jasper I think are now probably incredibly pissed off with me, but you know, that’s tough. Full stop.
Now at 17 and 15 their childhoods are over. The illusions shattered. There is no pretence. They can watch the news, Snapchat at speed, and lurk on the net who knows where.
Innocence has gone, battered out of them by schools and the more serious and dull adults that surround them. They were the funniest and most amusing two smaller people imaginable, but now, they’re Teenagers…….Aaahhhhh.
They’ve opinions, they’re brighter than me, better looking, funnier, nicer clothes, better humour and taste, and they’ve more friends than me too. The job is done.
I’m sadly responsible for the musical settings they happen to find themselves in, although, quite often all the music or at least some of it is made up from their noises too. We like a noise here and there and we love to dance on a Friday night.
One of the beauties of this sort of music is that there are no rules. We could all do with this sort of freedom, in not just music, but film, cooking, and storytelling. A child’s imagination is the finest open canvas ever. No rules rule.
Oh God, I sound like a dotting dull dad. C’est la vie.
Stay well and keep calm and risk everything with passion and love."
-- SIMON FISHER TURNER
LONDON, 25 JUNE, 2020
https://isabellajasperandsimonfisherturner.bandcamp.com
|
2020 |
€14.00 |
|
| ISHIGAMI, KAZUYA |
Hosshin No Kizashi [Experimental Music of Japan Vol. 5] |
CD |
"Subtitled: Acousmatic Electronic Works. This is the fifth volume in Edition Omega Point's Experimental Music Of Japan series. Sound performer, composer and sound engineer Kazuya Ishigami was born in 1972, in Osaka. He graduated from Osaka University Of Arts in 1994. He composed his pieces for INA-GRM in August 1997. His Radiophonic work "Sonic Escapism," "2nd 49" and "Whisper Of Sound God" were broadcast from Deutschlandradio in 2005-2008. Ishigami studied at music academies in Japan and France, and since 1997, has also acted as a noise/improvisation unit Billy? and Daruin. This CD consists of two recent works of "Acousmatic Electronic Music." Works in this style may be more challenging for electronic music fans because they are so academic, but Ishigami's sound is exciting and cool. "Hosshin no Kizashi" is a work based on the theme of prayer by priests in the Buddhist temple of Senkoji (in Osaka). Hosshin means "departure bodhi mind." "Hosshin no Kizashi" means there is still a hesitation. "Otokamui no Sasayaki" (trans. "Whisper of sound god"); "Oto" means "sound" in Japanese. "Kamui" means "god" in Ainu. Housed in a cardboard paper sleeve. Including newly-written liner notes in Japanese & English by the artist. Limited edition of 500 copies only." [label info]
|
2010 |
€17.50 |
|
| |
Canceller X |
CD |
Ishigami's latest work, pursuing original electronic music in the context of ambient noise / dark ambient. Although it is from academism, the activity on the album that constantly renews and destroys its own frame is not due to the destruction, but born out of the attitude to keep seeking for their own music. In the meantime, even though Ishigami's music is generally called experimental electronic acoustics, its tone is more bohemian and overflowing. Presented in a foldout sleeve with plain card inner.
neus318.net/kazuya/canceller-x-kyou001/
https://soundcloud.com/kyou-records/tr1-playback-of-anxiety-kazuyaishigami
"I discovered the Japanese ‘sound maker’ Kazuya Ishigami by his “Cleaner 583”-album. This artist already released considerable number of productions on his own label Neus-318 while he now started a new record company called Kyou Records. “Canceller X” is the first release on this brand-new company and also the first one in the “Neo Electroacoustic Ambient Series”.
Content: The sound universe created for “Canceller X” is carried by ambient-like soundscapes mixed with an impressive sonic canvas of noises, manipulations and field recordings. The tracks progressively evolve, sometimes featuring unexpected melodic elements and mainly supported by mysterious atmospheres.
+ + + : Kazuya Ishigami remains first of all a sound designer, sound performer and sound engineer in electro-acoustic music. That’s precisely the concept of this series and the kind of sound you rapidly will recognize in his work. But there is where most of sound experimentalists lose themselves in a vacuum of improvisation and abstract music, “Canceller X” reveals a work with great sound atmospheres. That’s what makes the work dark-ambient like and even somewhat visual. There’s a kind of hidden danger emerging from the tracks and I like this mysterious atmosphere.
– – – : The sound formula is somewhat repetitive and a little less predictable after a while. But it first of all is the kind of music you need to discover in the right circumstances.
Conclusion: “Canceller X” is a pretty fascinating and atypical opus with a particular focus on sound creation. This is an interesting sonic experiment." [Side-Line]
|
2017 |
€13.00 |
|
| ISIS |
Celestial |
CD |
Das Debut-Werk einer der interessantesten, Genre-sprengenden „Rock“-Bands dieser Tage... monumentaler Industrial-Metal mit hoher Emotionalität, Anklänge an NEUROSIS, etc....
„ Musically, Celestial is generally slow and repetitive, but that doesn't mean it's monotonous or anything. It's got more of that slow groove thing going for it.. you just sit back, zone in and nod your head to it. This sort of pacing creates a rather brutal sound as the guitars and bass bludgeon an unstoppable path of thickness. The drumming has a natural sound to it, which odd considering the how thick and unnatural the rest of the music sounds sometimes. Amid all of this are a variety of different electronic effects... a subtle whirl here.. a beep there... some feedback over there. It's all very interesting and entertaining but most of all it is powerful. The vocals are pretty much indecipherable from the thick layers of distortion and filter effects. But, perhaps what he says doesn't matter as much as how he says it. The howling wails in C.F.T. speak a lot more then any word can infer and many of the other songs have him screaming and yelling out his lines, which adds a lot of emotion to the music. [Fubarm]
|
2000 |
€14.00 |
|
| IYV (SKELDOS & RUKANA) |
Upes |
LP |
"I came across the music of IYv shortly after I encountered the dark ambient project Skeldos. Both are projects by the same musician. The IYv debut release (and only so far) “Upės” I had missed when it was released on tape. But I had been listening to it a lot when I was away during the winter of 2020 at a small house at a lake. There was a bluetooth speaker in the house so I could listen to the music there. The beauty of this music really resonated with me. Some time later after the musician contacted me (there are no coincidences) to order the Ô Paradis & Nový Svět LP I released on Vrystaete I dared to ask him if he would be into doing a vinyl version of this long sold out tape release. I was very happy he and his partner in crime involved in this project liked the idea.
About IYv… it is a project by Vytenis (Skeldos) and Inga (Rūkana) from Lithuania and “Upės” (meaning “Rivers”) was released by themselves in 2017 in a small edition of 72 copies. While Skeldos is more towards the dark ambient sort of thing with hints of (post-)industrial music, IYv is much more on the melancholy side of things… accordion, electronica and Lithuanian vocals make up for a beautiful post-folklore album… The musicians themselves described the album in a perfect way… so I will not try myself to capture the mood and spirit of the music:
“Upės” is an album about travelling. About the hearing of birds, close to the rock chains, which twists on the surface of mountains, through marks of our memory just like the rivers. The album was recorded in seclusion: in a log barn and wooden summerhouse. It’s decorated with deliberately left spontaneous inaccuracies and coherent crookedness. Nostalgic loops of ambient music tells a natural story about the composers: approaching gritty earth, enjoying crackling fire in the night, enduring live rain and swimming through the river streams."
https://www.enfant-terrible.nl/releases/iyv-upes/
LP, 150 copies with screen printed artwork, hand numbered (75 copies on brown paper, 75 copies on grey paper)
|
2022 |
€22.50 |
|
| JACASZEK |
Kwiaty |
LP |
"It all started with a book, as these things often do: an English anthology of metaphysical poetry from the 17th century, to be exact. Which may not sound like the sexiest option on the shelves, but hear us out. The gentleman plowing through those weathered pages happened to be Michał Jacaszek, the Polish composer who's spun dramatic shades of darkness and light into gold for more than a decade now. An absolute master of melancholy, from the trickle-down electronics of Treny to the vapor-trailed verses of its looming spiritual cousin KWIATY.
"The poems were simple, pure and beautiful," Jacaszek says of the book's poignant Robert Herrick passages. "They spoke about death, pain, longing and loneliness, but somehow these pieces were bringing hope, solace, and peace."
They also sounded a hell of a lot like songs when read out loud. Structurally at least. Herrick's rhyme schemes and rhythms still needed the right musical accompaniment, and Jacaszek had just the ticket: a backlog of previously unreleased recordings—warm-blooded samples, lonesome synth lines, pared-down guitar parts—begging for proper arrangements and dynamic mixdowns. Not to mention the most vocal-driven material Jacaszek's ever written, melding his stormy melodies with a breakout performance by Hania Malarowska and the robust supporting roles of Joasia Sobowiec-Jamioł and Natalia Grzebała.
"I tend to always create organic, acoustic sounds, even though I work within a digital environment," explains Jacaszek. "Because KWIATY is actually a vocal album, the electronic sounds in the background seemed to be a perfect opposition. It's all unintentional, really; this is just my music language and I can't run away from it."
jacaszek.bandcamp.com/album/kwiaty
"I first discovered the wonderful and adventurous music of Jacaszek in a record store. 'Glimmer' and 'Catalogue des Arbres (feat. Kwartludium)' have been regularly played albums for years in this household. So when this new album was announced, I was immediately interested. However, like often happens with artists this talented and versatile, starting to write this review was a difficult task. So let's just begin by writing that this is an breathtaking piece of work.
For those not familiar with Michał Jacaszek: he is a Polish composer who combines electronically prepared sounds with acoustic instruments. Over the years, he composed soundtracks and theatre music, plus a number of albums. His work blend classical music with experimental electronics and jazz. He knows little to no musical borders and continuously drags in seemingly strange influences.
'Kwiaty' means flowers and in a way that is exactly what you get on this album; blooming pieces of music that look and feel familiar yet mysterious. The album was inspired by Michał Jacaszek’s discovery of an English anthology of metaphysical poetry from the 17th century by Robert Herrick, which to him — somehow-- sounded songlike when read out-loud. The album contains guest appearances by Hania Malarowska (Hanimal), Joasia Sobowiec-Jamioł and Natalia Grzebała.
The songs on this album are strange pop-ballads or jazz inspired classical pieces or electronically rearranged folk songs, regarding on how you feel about them. I hear influences from all these genres, including trip hop, dark jazz and the soundtracks to Tim Burton's movies or even Twin Peaks. There is a gloomy atmosphere, a mysterious feel but also musical ingenuity and beautiful vocals. In short, this is Jacaszek at his very best.
Once again I refuse to pick a favorite track. I'm not even going to mention separate songs. I'm just going to recommend buying the album. Take the weekend off and enjoy 'Kwiaty' non-stop. Allow Jacaszek to guide you on an introvert but epic journey, one you will not regret. It will definitely be worth the effort. If you are into anything between Dead Can Dance, Bersarin Quartet and The Nightmare Before Christmas, you will easily get addicted to this thing..." [Merchants of Air]
|
2017 |
€20.00 |
|
| |
Glimmer |
CD |
For the past decade or so, Polish musician Michal Jacaszek has been exploring a new, resolutely modern chapter in Eastern Europes long, storied love affair with classical music. His creations are painstakingly crafted collages of electronic textures and baroque instrumentation, harpsichords being swarmed by woolly static one minute and pulled apart by billowing wind the next. Ambient music - if we can generalize unnecessarily for a second - is rarely so sonically challenging. Limited to 700 copies, including free download coupon.
Jacaszek's latest album, Glimmer, is marked by a noticeable tug between melancholy and beauty, like it's hovering in some gaseous grey area between both, at once both insular and extroverted. "I tried again to create some fragile beauty glimmering behind the veil of reality," he says. "I built a kind of curtain out of dirts and fuzzes, and used pure sound of clarinet and harpsichord playing beautiful melodies as a contrast to its harshness." This winking, push-and-pull tension runs deep and constant throughout the 40-odd-minute journey to the end.
To parse an album so deeply experiential and deliberately cohesive track-by-track seems unfair, almost ludicrous. But there are undisputed highlights - the apocalyptic crescendo at the end of 'Evening Strains To Be Time's Vast,' with its crunch of nightmarish noise and bit-crushed distortion, the dizzying, obscenely pretty tangle of Spanish guitar in 'As Each Tucked String Tells.' Glimmer is, quite simply, an album that's easy to get lost in without being easy to ignore. Don't expect any eyelid drooping while it's on. [info from gg]
https://jacaszek1.bandcamp.com/album/glimmer-cd
https://www.sklep.gusstaff.com/jacaszek-glimmer.html |
2011 |
€10.00 |
|
| JAMES, PETER |
Fade in/Burn out |
mCD-R |
peter james is a british sound artist currently based in scotland. he's been releasing beautiful solo works for the past 20 years, mainly in the ambient genre. he was also a member of the belgium-based 48cameras collective.
https://taalem.bandcamp.com/album/fade-in-burn-out-alm-139
"And serendipity it is this week. Two days ago, I wrote I never heard of Peter James (see elsewhere), and there he is again. Or is he not? Taalem says that he's a British artist, based in Scotland and that he was a member of 48cameras, whereas the 'other' Peter James runs the Australian Iceage Productions. What is furthermore confusing is the strong similarity between this one and the other one when it comes to synthesizers and the resulting drones. Taalem was (past tense now for this 3" series) a label concerned with all sorts of ambient music, and Peter James' music is entirely different from that of Pierre Julliard. James has a massive drone going for twenty-two minutes, which, following a quick fade-in, just goes up and up in volume and intensity. All dark from the start and allows for some mid-range frequencies, adding to the intensity. A solid piece, sure, but also not a very surprising piece in the world of massive ambient drones." [FdW/Vital Weekly]
|
2021 |
€5.00 |
|
| JARBOE / JUSTIN K. BROADRICK |
J2 |
CD |
"Jarboe (SWANS) & Justin Broadrick (JESU, GODFLESH) team up again for this 6 song EP which can be considered the entry into the forthcoming larger denser work, which is an exploration into total sound over the parameters of traditional sound structure." [label info]
"Apparently this album hit the Billboard "New Age" charts! Not sure how or why, you wouldn't think that a collaboration between one of the Swans and a member of Godflesh would qualify as New Age (and it really isn't!). Downtempo electronica with some avant-garde elements, more like, with hints of doomic menace. If you're looking for the crushing metallic guitars of Godflesh, you won't quite find them, though many passages are deep and dark and spooky enough to remind us of Broadrick's current project Jesu.
The deal with this perhaps inevitable collaboration (inevitable given Broadrick's obvious Swans fandom, and Jarboe's openness to collaborative ventures, witness her earlier disc with Neurosis), is that it's JB making mostly electronic backgrounds for Jarboe to do her thing vocally... operatic excesses, and mewlings and moanings... so obviously you've got to be into "her thing". Some are, some aren't. The ambient, layered and looped wailings of the opener, "Decay", should separate the two camps pretty clearly. Some will find Jarboe's vocals to be full of mystery and emotion, others, simply irritating (though it's only on "Tribal Limo" that we really got annoyed with her, the track featuring weird Diamanda Galas yodelling over junky Gang Gang Dance-ish beats). That said, for those into Jarboe, there's a lot to like here.
And we can kind of see how, New Age or not, this could crack the charts on the strength some of the better cuts, like "Let Go" which
sounds a lot like Portishead or Bjork, Jarboe effecting a babygirl voice under a blanket of crackley drone, accompanied by a spare snare thwack..."[Aquarius Rec]
www.theendrecords.com
|
2008 |
€13.00 |
|
| JARDIN D'USURE |
Jardin d'Usure revoit le Daily-Bul |
CD |
"The Belgian duo Jardin d'Usure (Marc Moedea and Gabriel Severin) made their first CD in 1994 ("Musique Du Garrot Et De La Ferraille") where there was already a strong interest on so-called literary avant-garde movements, with, for example, some interpretations of dada poems from Raoul Hausmann, Hugo Ball and co. This time the duo is working on seven funny texts from another international avant-garde movement, the Daily-Bul (born at La Louviere at the end of the fifties). These sardonic and insane interpretations of texts from Balthazar, the Piqueray brothers, Pol Bury, etc. are accompanied by some strong electroacoustic pieces in Ultraphonist style (one of their other common projects)." [label info]
www.waystyx.com
|
2009 |
€15.00 |
|
| JARL |
Akatisi / Somnolens Part I-VI |
CD |
"Advanced Experimental Drone"-Musik von ERIK JARL (eine Hälfte von IRM), das grossartige TANTRIC-Album (aufgenommen bereits 2003); schwelende Geräuschfelder, wummernde Klangflächen, elektro-magnetische Mikrodetail-statik, zwischen Ent- und Anspannung, voller interessanter Sounds & kontemplativer Kraft !
"Solo material from soundartist Erik Jarl known by his works with power electronics monster IRM. Sustained static fields and repetitive patterns construct expressive layers of sound in contrasting colours. Delicately and ambitiously put together to a transcendental cycle - this is music for occidental meditation. Limited to 499 copies." [label info]
"....Over the 6 tracks and 45+ minutes Erik has taken the concept of drone music and revitalised and buffed this sometimes staid and boring music into a shimmering gossamer sheen. Drifting pastoral passages are continually looped into hypnotic rippling waves of sound that appear almost ethereal in structure. Slight faint jarring effects are carefully layered into the mix along with flecks of faint Industrial and ritualistic bias that reaches out towards black malevolent ambience before being drawn back clutching despondently at the air. "Akatisi / Somnolens" is music to meditate to. To dream sweet dreams to. To fully immerse yourself and lose all track of time to. Time becomes totally irrelevant, a non event, when listening to music that bathes and cloaks the senses in full spectrum of a rainbow. Erik and his amazing Technicolor drone overcoat.
Around this part of a review I suppose I’ve got to try and mention like minded recording artists in case the words I’ve written haven’t conveyed the musical style adequately enough. Fair enough…though it will be a difficult task…so having had a quick trawl through my record collection I offer up the following: MRSA-16, Troum and Elektro Nova. Elements of each can be found ever so partially on "Akatisi / Somnolens" but Erik has retained a unique individuality and foresight which has been stamped firmly across this recording. If his earlier works were his evolution then "Akatisi / Somnolens" marks his re-birth as a genuine musical maestro. Artist and label in a marriage made just for each other." [Aural Pressure]
www.the-edge.ws/pretentious/tantric-harmonies
|
2005 |
€13.00 |
|
|
Vertigo Border |
CD |
"Vertigo Border is the thirteenth album of the Swedish electronics favourite and the second volume of Vertigo trilogy. The magic number thirteen may imply that the album contains anything special… However, let us leave these considerations for the numerological masturbators. There is nothing more special in Vertigo Border than in the earlier Erik’s albums since he remains loyal to his credo to fuck the audience with his monotonic, depressing, icy and colour-blind sound waves, to throw a tie onto their necks and slowly strangle them out of this grinding, claustrophobic and cramped world. All Jarl's albums smack of enormous and refined weariness. This is already the thirteenth album and this is the thirteenth tomb on your little grave, this is the thirteenth swing of the spade with the soil onto your coffin. The coffin sealing you off with all your squeaks of madness from the outside. The coffin doomed to choke you out of your life. This is an existential coffin with existential suffocation caused by unbearable, morbid and monotonous reality embodied in the sounds of the album. This is the ice in which you are frozen and where, beholding the inexhaustibility of the infinity, you may neither move, nor speak or even wink. So, you are that mechanical toy paralysed by sadist existence. Jarl is a ghost monotonously repeating this to you, so do not expect anything hopeful from the thirteenth master's album. Nor from the fourteenth that is still to be composed. Nor from the fifteen either. Suffer because you are worth it!" [label info]
www.autarkeia.org
Album lasts for 64 min. 17 sec. Limited edition 200 copies. |
2010 |
€13.00 |
|
|
Phonophobia |
CD |
"Phonophobia" is a kind of continuation of the subject matter of the previous release. While "Hyperacusis" was an attempt to explore this phenomenon and has shown it through the sound and final composition of songs directly influencing the peculiar nature of the album, "Phonophobia" refers directly to the issue of psychology and clinical psychiatry, where, thanks to methodically developed sound structures, arranged and marked appropriately on the scale of impact intensity with numbers 1-3, it recreates the world of sounds, closed in the mind of a person suffering from this ailment. Here, the space is suddenly filled with high-intensity sound waves, stimulating the listener to active reception and strongly influencing his psyche (at the same time). The feeling of rising does not disappear here even for a moment and accompanies the last sound on the album. After it, there is absolute silence, becoming a counterpoint to the music that resounds in the head for some time.
Once again, Erik Jarl takes an interesting topic into his workshop and realizes it in a peculiar and extraordinary way, providing his listeners with coherent, intriguing material and giving the opportunity to discover it multiple times with each subsequent listening session.
https://zoharum.bandcamp.com/album/phonophobia
|
2021 |
€13.00 |
|
|
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 |
|
| |
Isolation Colours |
CD |
The new Jarl album Isolation Colours is the 7th on Zoharum and consists of seven tracks, here named as Circle 1- 7 which each represents one colour and what sense and mood that colour can bring. Here focusing on isolation as the title of the album refers to.
Grey-Scale one, Blue Grey (Livid ), Blue, Black, White, Grey Scale- Two and also Blindness in between with no colours.
Painted by the sounds from Analogue Synthesizers. As often Jarl has a sort of a psychedelic sound which is hypnotic , cosmic ,melodic, intense but also restrained and withdrawn with different colour cords.
Isolation, sadness, anger, fear, gloom, misery, separation but also innocence, inspiration and calmness are topics the colours can represent, but it’s also up to the listener to decide.
Six colours scales separated from eachother
Somehow a connection from previous albums like Turbulence, Amygdala, Hypnosis and Misophonia colours, although Isolation Colours sounds different and have a different theme.
Album is available on CD folded in 6-panels digipack and on limited tape edtion of 30 copies.
https://zoharum.bandcamp.com/album/isolation-colours
"... In the case of Erik Jarl, the music is dark and ominous, but it's also quite pleasant. There are hints of cosmic music as if they were on a long journey through before reaching Jarl, so it's not the same anyway, but eroded and decaying, or, perhaps, a decommissioned spaceship that is still on a course (see, I think about films!), especially in 'White'. Big-time space music, not melodic, but created from drones, isolated tones, oscillations, and whatever connections can be made with analogue synthesisers. Music with a shimmer of light, hope, and refined beauty. That's my kind of music." [FdW/Vital Weekly]
|
2023 |
€13.00 |
|
| JARL / ENVENOMIST |
Tunguska Event |
CD |
"Erik has teamed up with David Reed aka Envenomist to create a sonic reenactment of the Tunguska event. It was ”was a large explosion which occurred near the Podkamennaya Tunguska River in what is now Krasnoyarsk Krai, Russia, at about 07:14 on June 30, 1908” [Wikipedia]. It flattened 2,000 km2 of the forest and it caused glowing sunsets on the horizon. There are many theories concerning the cause of this particular event. Some scientists claim it was connected with an asteroid or comet that burst in the air above the region, others claim that it might have been a small black hole passing near the Earth. The mystery is still unsolved.
The music, presented here in five parts, is full of oily drones and industrial blasts intertwined with unsettling ambient textures. The sound on this recording is of complex and mature nature, which hardly comes as a surprise when thinking about years both musicians spent mastering their skills (David with Envenomist and Luasa Raelon; Erik both in IRM and Skin Area, and solo known simply as Jarl). It is an interesting piece of work for those who search for something on the fringes of electronic music. The CD is housed in an ecopak sleeve and is strictly limited to 300 copies." [label info]
www.zoharum.com
"Erik Jarl is not a man to release a lot of music. I quite enjoyed his 'Parallel/Collapsing', way back in Vital Weekly 401, and since then he also was reviewed in Vital Weekly 470 and 860, and on a few compilations. Here he works together with David Reed, also known as Envenomist, who has had releases on Brise Cul, Segerhuva, Chrondictic Sound and Bloodlust! Certainly two dark drone meisters who meet up here. Their CD is about events at Tunguska, in 1908: a large explosion that flattened 2,000 square kilometres of forest. Why it happened it was not clear, so that's fertile ground for conspiratists worldwide: alien life form, asteroid or comet explosion or a black hole passing earth. Still a mystery that remains unsolved. I assume both gentlemen are at the controls of a bunch of synthesizers and sound effects and together they created five top-heavy pieces of dark synthesizer music. It's not of the pure drone variation, starting and then stopping at some point, but it comes in waves; like a sea at night: you hear the waves, feel a cold wind in the face, but you can hardly see a thing. Another difference is that there is a bunch of looped, percussive sounds. Usually without much variation they simply tick away time, rather than setting a beat. It's all spooky, mysterious and it could very well the soundtrack to the X-files or any other movie on the invasion of the body snatchers. It's music that fits early dark autumn evening very well." [FdW/Vital Weekly]
|
2014 |
€12.00 |
|
| JASCH |
Shimmer |
CD |
Knistern, vibratorisch wummernde & hell zerfliessende Streicher-Drones, in der Tat „schimmernd“ wie Licht; sehr schön wie sich hier Flächen überlagern, vermengen & gegenseitig auslöschen zu scheinen, ab und zu kommen „konkretere“ Streicher-Klänge an die Oberfläche... 8 Stücke sehr gelungene experimental drones von diesem uns bisher unbekannten Schweizer.
“SHIMMER from the swiss artist JASCH (catalogue number 6) marks a new step in the development of dOc as it is the first release without any involvement of label owner Pure (besides dOc8 "Die Instabilität der Symmetrie" which was a cooperation with Cologne based label Grob). It therefore stands for the label's conceptual shift from a platform for documenting solo and collaborative live works to a release possibility for like minded sound and video artists. SHIMMER features a mixture of organic and synthetic characters that build crystalline shimmering layered sonic spaces. A constant flow of steadily evolving palettes of rich sound drifts from standstill to hectic, from recognisable instrumental timbre to digital fragments, constantly changing spatial perspectives and acoustic appearance. the most notable sound source for these eight tracks are recordings of string instruments, even though echoes of voices and traces of field recordings evoke an intimate exchange with the sonic materials used for this work. All eight tracks were recorded during a 4 month time span in spring and summer of 2003. Most of the pieces are direct-to-disk live-recordings, a few were recorded in the studio. all pieces were improvised using custom made soft- and hardware and no edits were applied in postproduction. the main tools use process-based algorithms and open dynamic systems geared towards intuitive and instantaneous interaction.
JASCH is an active musician coming from the fields of improvisation with a background in jazz and electroacoustic music. He holds a degree in jazz doublebass and a masters in digital arts. He has been performing improvised, electroacoustic and audio/visual electronic works in a variety of settings in festivals and clubs all over europe and north america.
Beside his solo works he is member of DYAD, the critically acclaimed live project with american video artist Johnny Dekam, whose collaboration DVD with dOc label owner Pure is released just a the same time.” [label description]
|
2004 |
€13.00 |
|
| JECK, PHILIP & CHRIS WATSON |
Oxmardyke |
CD |
With thanks to Mary Prestidge, who writes: "At the end of January 2022, Philip was taken to A&E at the Royal Liverpool University Hospital suffering from severe back pain and was admitted for investigations. In the hospital ward, with some strong pain relief, he could more comfortably rest, mostly horizontally. During the day he could be angled slightly toward a sitting position. Over the following days, aiming to make sense of his current predicament, Philip regained a tiny level of normality. With his laptop in place, he tapped into familiar territory and, when finding the most favorable times, listened to and worked with the sound files that Chris Watson had sent him. During these brief, intense spells Philip gave all to his ear and heart to guide and shape the music forming at his fingertips. Oxmardyke is the album which resulted from this collaboration."
Chris Watson (August 2022): "Philip's laugh was infectious. Our conversations would usually begin with exchanges around the enthusiasm we had for each other's work and the respect we shared for other Touch artists. However, as we were most likely to have met over drinks at the Philharmonic Dining Rooms in Liverpool the evening would gradually dissolve into convivial disarray. What did emerge from these soirées over recent years was a desire to find ways and means for us to collaborate at a place where our ideas converged. In 2017, I was recording along the north bank of the Humber estuary and one morning driving back from Faxfleet I was stopped at the Oxmardyke rail crossing. The gates were down. After setting up a microphone array by the tracks for a passing freight train the signalman shouted an invitation to climb up into the gate box to make some more recordings. Over the following weeks I made several return trips to Oxmardyke and gathered a broad palette of recordings. I discussed the sounds, stories and history of the site with Philip after a show and we were both excited by the potential of making a work together. Philip was drawn to the ancient history of the area from 6th century Anglo-Saxon times to the Knights Templar and how the sounds, rhythms and textures from those periods may still inhabit the contemporary landscape. My thoughts took inspiration from 'The Signalman' by Charles Dickens and the painting 'Rain, Steam and Speed' by Joseph Mallord William Turner. We agreed to share ideas and exchange tracks. Oxmardyke gate box has now passed into history. I hope my contributions may frame Philip's exceptional work."
Mastered by Denis Blackham at Skye Mastering; Photography by Chris Watson; Cover design: Jon Wozencroft.
https://philipjeck.bandcamp.com/album/oxmardyke
|
2023 |
€17.00 |
|
| JENSEN, CLARICE |
The Experience of Repetition as Death |
CD |
Brooklyn-based cellist Clarice Jensen’s gorgeous sophomore album and first for FatCat’s pioneering 130701 imprint, ‘The experience of repetition as death’, was recorded and mixed by Francesco Donadello at Vox-Ton studios in Berlin in late 2018 and mastered by Rafael Anton Irisarri. Following up her hugely impressive 2018 debut, ‘For This From That Will Be Filled’ , which included collaborations with Jóhann Jóhannsson and Michael Harrison, all of the material on this new album was written and performed by Clarice alone and all of the sounds on it were created with a cello through a variety of effects and effects pedals.
An outstanding musician, Clarice has recorded and performed for a host of stellar artists including Jóhann Jóhannsson, Max Richter, Björk, Arcade Fire, Nick Cave, Jónsi, Stars of the Lid, Dustin O’Halloran, Joanna Newsom, Nico Muhly, Dirty Projectors, Frightened Rabbit and Beirut. As the artistic director of ACME (the American Contemporary Music Ensemble), she’s helped bring to life some of the most revered works of modern classical music, and as a solo artist has developed a distinctive compositional approach - improvising and layering her instrument through loops and a chain of electronic effects to open out a series of rich, drone-based sound fields. Forging a very elegant and precise vision, her music has been described by Self-Titled as “incredibly powerful neo-classical pieces that seem to come straight from another astral plane” and by Boomkat as “languorously void-touching ideas, scaling and sustaining a sublime tension”. Her debut album was released in 2018 on Miasmah and followed in September 2019 by the ‘Drone Studies’ cassette EP on Geographic North. Receiving glowing critical acclaim, both releases made it into Pitchfork's end of year charts.
Expanding her sound again, ‘The experience of repetition as death’ is a warm, deep and cyclical album that explores notions of repetition in both its conceptual underpinning and musical structure. Unlike the easily readable step builds and grid-locked looping of so many artists using the looper as a compositional tool, Clarice’s loops slide across one another in organically morphing structures; align and intersect at different moments, yielding a kind of aleatoric yet minimal counterpoint, with joins overlaid in ways that appear seamless and sophisticated. Where her live performance relies heavily upon the use of loop pedals, in the studio she and Donadello recorded much of the material onto tape to create a series of physical loops. There’s something oceanic in the immensity of the resulting work - in the ebb and flow of her sound and the way it builds and dissipates through swelling and wave reflection.
Whilst in previous releases Jensen’s cello has largely been abstracted via effects to sound somewhat other than itself, ‘The experience of Repetition…’ opens with an undisguised passage that is clearly wood and string - a clarity retained throughout much of the album. Across its span, Clarice balances her material between darkness and light and the shades in between. Rigorously structured yet fluidly slipping between states, the album shifts from a glowering sense of dread / malevolence to warm, euphoric washes; from an elegaic or graceful sense of suspension to curious, clipped interstitial loops that recall the segues in My Bloody Valentine’s ‘Loveless’ or the minimalist pulsing and phase-shifting of Steve Reich. Throughout, the album reveals a viscerality and attention to textural accretion that’s reminiscent of more electronic artists like Actress or Gas; whilst the glacially moving, hypnotic build recalls prime Stars Of The Lid. Other reference points might look back to Minimalism, to the deep listening immersion of Pauline Oliveros, Eliane Radigue, La Monte Young and Marian Zazeela, and the long-string drone work of Ellen Fullman. Or forwards to the rising current wave of drone-spinners like Kali Malone, Ellen Arkbro, Caterina Barbieri and Sarah Davachi, and adventurous cellist peers like Hildur Gudnadottir or Resina.
Conceptually, the album is based upon the theme of repetition and informed by some of Freud’s key principles of psychoanalysis (namely the “compulsion to repeat” self-destructive beaviours or re-live traumatic events explored in his writings about the Death Drive in ‘Beyond the Pleasure Principle’); by notions of the primarily repetitive nature of our existence and attempts to break beyond this: “I hope this album, in its repetition, might provide the listener with a respite from - or a reflection upon - the malaise and / or comfort of life’s repetition,” she writes. The album’s title is taken from a line in a 1971 poem by the influential American radical feminist poet Adrienne Rich called ‘A Valediction Forbidding Mourning’ – a response to a John Donne poem of the same title from 1611. Jensen expresses great admiration for Rich both as a writer and feminist icon, citing her as “an inspiration to create work in a field that is still largely male-dominated," and noting how “her poem to me is a reflection on the idea that dying and death are ordinary. Any meaningfulness we create comes from within and is deeply personal but entirely our own construct.”
With death as a clear subtext, Jensen describes how the music was written or conceptualized in a period towards the end of her mother’s fight with leukemia and shortly after she passed away. “My sister and I were taking care of her. So I’m also referencing the repetitiveness of all the mundane things we still did with her in the face of her terminal illness - preparing meals, doing the shopping, paying bills - as well as the repetition of all of visits to the doctor and hospital." Third track ‘Metastable’ was inspired by the chorus of repetitive beeping heard in hospitals - a sound that can be both fascinating and beautiful as well as overwhelming or irritating. The beeps here integrate themselves into a single loop, creating a fixed counterpoint around a deep, foreboding bass loop and slowly building, Reich-ian structure. “This idea of the ‘metastable’ became very pronounced to me”, notes Clarice. “Her continually evolving treatments kept her in temporary states of stability that would eventually become unstable, which would then require some different treatment."
Perhaps the most dramatic of the five pieces here, ‘Holy Mother’ is a towering piece that moves through all twelve chromatic pitches. The title refers to the Tibetan name for Mount Everest (Qomolangma) and through this piece Clarice has attempted to evoke a sense of that place and the obsession with its conquest - an extreme example of the feats people attempt in an effort to break from the monotonous repetition of everyday life - as well as contemplating the bodies of those climbers who didn’t make it, left frozen and permanently entombed there.
Musically, in addition to the looping on every track, the concept of repetition is also expressed on a larger scale, with the album’s central melodic theme repeated in different ways across its length. On opening track ‘Daily’ the theme appears in the track’s second half, fragmented into three different tape loops and never expressed fully in order; in ‘Day tonight’, it’s played in full but in an unfamiliar key and rhythmically augmented; whilst mirroring track one, closing track ‘Final’ employs the same tape loops as the opener, but this time with the tape having been subjected to methods of degradation in order to erode the sound – crumpled up, creased and stepped on, and run (silently) for long periods of time to deteriorate the quality of the tape and the sounds recorded on it. As the piece draws to an end, the album’s theme is finally presented in full in its original key and fully harmonized, performed by a quartet of cellos without effects and emerging whole at the end of the process in a beautiful resolution.
Structurally smart, texturally rich and deeply immersive, ‘The experience of repetition as death’ is a powerful new album by a hugely talented young artist, whose star is clearly on the ascendant. It is released on FatCat’s 130701 imprint on 3rd April on vinyl and digital formats. Clarice will be touring the US in March / April supporting A Winged Victory For The Sullen, with whom she will also be performing as cellist.
https://claricejensen.bandcamp.com/album/the-experience-of-repetition-as-death |
2020 |
€16.00 |
|
| |
Esthesis |
LP |
Cellist/composer Clarice Jensen returns on 130701 with her third album, ‘Esthesis’, a deep and gorgeous new work conceptually structured around the emotional and harmonic spectrum and the phenomenon of chromesthesia – a condition whereby sound involuntarily evokes an experience of color, shape and movement. Following up her critically-acclaimed 2020 LP ‘The experience of repetition as death’ (a record almost presciently timed to arrive as Covid first hit), 'Esthesis’ sees Jensen expanding her oeuvre, introducing a wider instrumental range, and reflecting on the effects of isolation. Recorded by Jensen in upstate NY and expertly mixed by Francesco Donadello, the record was mastered by Matthew Agoglia and is released on October 21st, ahead of a UK/EU tour supporting 130701 alumni Dustin O’Halloran.
From its opening piano notes, 'Esthesis’ gently upends expectations built up over previous albums. Shifting and extending Jensen’s sound in line with the adventurousness of the ‘Drone Studies’ and ‘Platonic Solids’ EPs, the album is less reliant on her trademark razor-sharp, processed cello drone. Performed heavily on synth, as well as her more usual cello and electronics, it also features the piano playing of Timo Andres (tracks 1, 4 and 5) and the voices of Laura Lutzke, Francesca Federico and Emma Broughton (on tracks 3 and 6). Whilst the drone is never far away, there’s a sense of more light and space across the album.
'Esthesis’ was originally conceived in pre-pandemic times as a concert experience, structured to comprise a series of long drones, each centred on a single key/pitch and cycling sequentially through the circle of fifths from C to F. These drones would be punctuated by shorter “songs”, each depicting one of the seven principle emotions defined in the Chinese Book of Rites. As an audio-visual experience, Jensen imagined the audience being bathed in coloured lights that corresponded to each drone, with those colours combined or oscillating during the songs in an effort to mimic or induce chromesthesia: a (gentle, not jarring) trip through the complete spectrum of colour, (Western) pitch and emotion.
With the pandemic dashing these plans and ushering in a period where it was even difficult to imagine live performance anymore, Jensen instead set out to realise the concept as an album palpably created in enforced solitude and isolation. “I expanded my usual palette of layered and treated cellos without the effect of a more grandiose or large-scale feeling of timbre; I wished to employ additional media in an effort to further portray the idea of isolation and containment.” Foregoing the longer drone structures she’d planned in favour of a more succinct whole, each track on ‘Esthesis’ evokes a different principal emotion using seemingly one-dimensional titles, with Jensen’s intention being to juxtapose the depths of these emotions with the reality-overlay of solitude. “It also calls to question how sensation can be rudimentary. Imposed isolation and the fear of viral exposure led many to seek sensation by streaming television, circulating memes, and sharing delayed laughs with loved ones across computer screens – all of this done alone and somewhat removed through various media, and set against a backdrop of very real fear.” While the \"removed\" nature of each track/emotion remains deliberate, so also exists the very realness of the emotion itself. “\'Joy\' evokes vernal lightness and promise, and came to me as I was falling asleep and realised I was still smiling thinking about someone I love. \'Sadness\' is a setting of Purcell\'s \'Dido\'s Lament’. \'Liking\' begins with tentative hope and then blossoms, using an additive compositional process, whereas \'Disliking\' is subtractive. ‘Anger\' uses text taken from Simone de Beauvoir\'s letters to Nelson Algren (the entirety is pasted below). \'Fear\' attempts to simply portray breathing and absence. The organs used on \'Love\' suggest hallowed spaces, employing only a short progression that always returns to the same but becomes layered, out-of-sync and lost, but simplest at its end.”
Thursday, 3 Juillet 1947
“I led a very quiet life since my last letter: no cave, no party, no wit. There was a wonderful storm in the country, it was really beautiful. The whole day had been so hot, you really wanted to die, love or work or happiness did not mean anything more. And then came a huge black smoke in the sky, and strange phantasms went by in the dim light, and soon you could not see the sky nor the landscape any more, just a cherry tree beaten by the wind while the rain fell crazily, and thunder shaked the sky. Many trees were broken, flowers killed, the landscape was a battle field… Afterwards, everything was strangely peaceful. Friends came and we had a dinner and long evening: the woman who has swallowed a pin, her husband, the old lady I like so much, and Sartre. But I was not very quiet myself; the storm had gone on my nerves, and I drank much, and, dearest, when I drink much I am no longer sensible at all; when the other friends left I became a storm myself, and poor Sartre was very bored with me who spoke about life and death and everything in a rather mad way. When I am drunk everything seems very tragic and pathetic and terrifying to me – so dreadfully important, and yet without importance since death is at the end; I should knock my head against the walls. I did not knock my head but I spoke and raved late in the night on the peaceful little country roads, and I decided not to drink any more for some time. You see, it has never been very easy for me to live, though I am always very happy – maybe because I want so much to be happy. I like so much to live and I hate the idea of dying one day. And then I am awfully greedy; I want everything from life, I want to be a woman and to be a man, to have many friends and to have loneliness, to work much and write good books, and to travel and enjoy myself, to be selfish and to be unselfish…You see, it is difficult to get all which I want. And then when I do not succeed I get mad with anger…” [Simone de Beauvoir, Letters to Nelson Algren]
Across the album’s seven pieces, Jensen shows great restraint and an incredible compositional talent in spinning a series of beautiful, complex interweavings of texture, tone, rhythm and melody. There is a serious depth in her sensibility, that rewards repeated listening.
https://claricejensen.bandcamp.com/album/esthesis
|
2022 |
€32.50 |
|
| JERMAN / BARNES |
Versatile Ambience |
LP |
Without referencing typical genre or style, the collaboration of sound artists Tim Barnes and Jeph Jerman moves a step forward with this 45 RPM LP release of texture and atmosphere, with assistance from Ken Vandermark, Jacob Duncan, Aaron Michael Bulter, Sara Saltau & Bret Berry.
"The fact that two words sit next to each other does not automatically mean that they are related. The ambience given off by this LP full of coarse textures and lancing sounds isn't exactly versatile; it'd be easier to devise a list of places where it can't be played and people you know who would not sit still for it than to string together the places where its ambience would be appropriate. And just because two men with documented histories of hitting things get together and make records doesn't mean they'll turn in an album of percussion music.
In fact, Tim Barnes and Jeph Jerman only occasionally resort to directly striking anything on Versatile Ambience; they're too busy engaging in all manner of other interventions that confound perception and makes you think hard about just what constitutes music. If you consult Barnes' and Jerman's discography, you can find CDRs a decade old to which the Discogs website has assigned the designation free improvisation. Whatever you call the music on Versatile Ambience, you can't call it that. It is carefully constructed from collected outdoors sounds, wind and stringed instruments played by musicians such as Ken Vandermark and electronics of uncertain provenance; there's definitely a shortwave radio in the mix, but beyond that, take a guess.
It's probably more relevant to note that it's not immediately clear if the twittering high frequencies that lift away from a distant jet's quiet roar are played electronics or a field recording of bugs. Jerman has gone on record saying that he is not concerned with representing anything, he just uses sounds he likes to hear. Still, in a time when human activity is submerging islands and killing off species at a record rate, it's hard not to assign significance to music that challenges the listener to figure out where nature ends and man begins. No discussion of this album would be complete without acknowledging its particular physical qualities. The sleeve is hefty and substantial.
The vinyl is heavy and spins at 45 RPM; Rashad Becker's mastering conveys the high frequencies with amazing clarity and the rougher textures with such tactility that you'll swear you can feel the sounds coming through your fingertips."
[Bill Meyer, Dusted Magazine]
|
2016 |
€26.00 |
|
| JERMAN, JEPH |
Keep the Drum |
CD |
New Forces is pleased to offer a reissue of Jeph Jerman's "Keep the Drum," originally released on cassette by Apraxia in 1990. Since the 1980's Jeph Jerman has been a key figure in experimental music, from the textural noise of his legendary Hands To project, to more recent studies in field recording and acoustic sound recorded under his own name. On "Keep the Drum" Jerman explores what he calls "concussion music," working with a pile of hubcaps, sheet metal and "other bits of junk" to rethink the traditional drum kit. The sounds on this disc crackle, pop, and thud. Each tactile scrape conjures up the rusted edge of some bit of scrap-metal as the ambiance of the physical space hums in the background.
As Jerman tells the story, these recordings were a continuation of his interest in “using things other than musical instruments to construct sound works… I think 'Keep the Drum' was also the very beginning of my interest in small sounds. One afternoon Darren Soule brought over a bunch of tiny metal pipe pieces which he had mounted on bent paper clips so that they could be played. They rang like bells, but were very difficult to control. I loved that about them. There’s also a short piece wherein I played small bones, foreshadowing a lot of my later live work.” Recorded on a borrowed 4-track with two battered old mics, “Keep the Drum” is full of Jerman’s trademark textural intimacy. The recordings have been remastered by Grant Richardson to bring them to life without sacrificing their individuality, making these extremely rare recordings once more available.
https://newforces.bandcamp.com/album/keep-the-drum-concussion-solos
|
2021 |
€14.00 |
|
| JESU |
Why are we not perfect? |
maxi-CD |
"... Why Are We Not Perfect completes Broadrick’s transformation from atmosphere-obsessed drone metallurgist to neo-shoegaze aesthete. There’s heaviness of a very different sort oozing from the two-chord vamp “Farewell” -- it’s the kind of heaviness that derives from depth of production and emotional resonance, rather than piles of distorted guitar. You could easily fall into the cracks between those Björk-like fuzz bass hits on the title track. Its final lyric (“Why are we not perfect/ When we can’t live forever?”) is just one of the many simple profundities you’ll find buried deep within if you do... ] [Prefix mag]
"5 track EP (2 songs of which originally appeared on the vinyl only split 12" with Eluvium). JUSTIN BROADRICK has set aside the heavy foundation of pounding guitars prevalent in past recordings & brought to the fore elements of texture & melody that previously hovered at the periphery of his monolithic compositions. While this may prove frustrating to metal idealists, those with a greater sense of adventure will find the results both illuminating & heart rending." [label info]
"Not a brand new Jesu record, instead, this ep collects the three tracks from Jesu's split lp with Eluvium from last year, and adds two alternate versions to flesh it out a bit. Folks who missed out on that now out of print 12", or those amongst you who remain turntableless, will for sure want to pick this up, and Jesu fanatics, might just find this worth it for the two extra alternate takes. First the songs proper: Three new songs from Jesu, and as if we didn't already see Broadrick and Co. heading in this direction, they've almost entirely
jettisoned the heaviness, in favor of a blissy new wave-y drift. Really! No massive sludge, no blissed out crunch, in fact, most of this sounds like Jesu doing the soundtrack to a John Hughes movie, all drift and croon and no crunch and pummel, but it's really nice, and pretty, and still suitably Jesu-like.
Imagine Simple Minds or the Cure but raised on Slowdive and Chapterhouse and Swervedriver and My Bloody Valentine, doing the theme song for Sixteen Candles 2008 (which if our calculations are correct would be more like Forty Candles). The first song would be a massive hit, sort of melancholy and romantic, dark and dreamy, but still sort of catchy and hopeful, like sunbeams barely making it through grey storm clouds. The final track sounds like it could be from that last scene in Sixteen Candles 2008, the one
where the boy and the girl finally make it to the dance after all of the crazy mishaps and misunderstandings and are finally sharing that
slow dance... lugubrious and fuzzy, and soft focus and so great actually. It's weird, and a bit unexpected, but as much as we love the
glacial crush of past Jesu discs, this new-wave-y drift really suits them, which is a good thing, since they seem to be heading even more and more in that direction with each new release.
The two extra tracks are definitely not -drastically- different, but different enough certainly to make them worth having.
"Farewell" gets even more washed out, the whole thing muted and over saturated, the chugging guitars, disembodied and more textural than
heavy, the whole song suffused with chiming harmonics and sun dappled soaring bittersweet melodies. "Why Are We Not Perfect", the above
mentioned Sixteen Candles 2008 closer, hews closely to the original, the change more in timbre and texture than anything, the vocals still weary and woozy, the beat a loping skittery shuffle, surrounded by shimmering clouds of effervescent streaks of warm buzz, swirls of backwards melody, all whirling softly and dreamily.
Beautifully packaged in a super thick oversized Japanese style mini lp cd jacket, with a thick printed inner sleeve." [Aquarius Records]
www.hydrahead.com
|
2008 |
€11.00 |
|
| |
Pity / Piety |
LP |
“Frail hymns at the altar of self defeat….”
when all is full
when all is full
when all us fall
when all us fall
By Justin K Broadrick 2010-2022
credits
released December 13, 2022
avalanche recordings. 2022. AREC065
Published by Mute Song Ltd
Original photo by Marek Studzinski
"There are few artists operative at the fringes of popular music today whose sound has not been in some way or another informed or shaped by the works of Justin K Broadrick. As a founding member or sole proprietor of seminal outfits such as Godflesh, Napalm Death, Techno Animal, and Final, Broadrick has managed to help change or even define the now widespread genres of industrial and death metal, abstracted hip hop and dub, grindcore, and ambient electronics. So is also the case with his work in Jesu, who in the course of a very productive seven year existence have taken the churning pummel of his former project Godflesh, augmented it with the textural melody of 90s shoegaze rock and spawned a new sub-genre and the inevitable legions of imitators. And while imitators may abound, as the originator of this relatively newfound musical territory Jesu is still the clearly visible leader."
https://jesu.bandcamp.com/album/pity-piety
|
2023 |
€26.00 |
|
| JGRZINICH (JOHN GRZINICH) |
Two Films |
DVD |
"and/OAR, Maaheli Editions and Paleosol Edition are extremely pleased to present two films by sound artist John Grzinich. 'Sound Aspects Of Material Elements', Black & White, 57 minutes HD, 16:9 Aspect Ratio. Concept, sound, camera, editing: John Grzinich. Equipment and support: MoKS - Center for Art and Social Practice, Mooste, Estonia. Collaborative recordings made with: Patrick McGinley, Jim Haynes, Toomas Thetlof, Maksims Shentelevs, Kaspars Kalninsh, Eamon Sprod, Hitoshi Kojo, and Evelyn Müürsepp. 'Mimema' Color, 24:38 minutes, HD 16:9 Aspect Ratio. Concept, sound, camera, editing: John Grzinich. Equipment and support: MoKS - Center for Art and Social Practice, Mooste Estonia. Format: DVD (All Region NTSC). John Grzinich has been conducting his own forms of sound research for over 15 years, including field recording, kinetic sculptures, electro-acoustic composition, performance, videography, group workshops and exercises in listening. Currently he lives in Estonia and works as a program and technical coordinator for MoKS, a non-profit artist-run center. He has published CDs of his sound works on international labels such as: SIRR, Mystery Sea, Staalplaat, Erewhon, Intransitive, Cut, Elevator Bath, Invisible Birds, Semper Florens and others." [label info]
www.and-oar.org
"The label Alluvial Recordings is apparently no more - I am not sure why - but now there is Paleosol Edition, and this first release is done in collaboration with And/oar (catalogue number on the spine being 49, on the disc itself 50) and is a DVD of two films of composer John Grzinich, which I think is an interesting thing. Just what would it be? Animation stuff, a documentary, a concert or, as it in fact turns out to be, a film that displays the field recordings being recorded. We see someone (perhaps Grzinich himself?) beating a pole, a campfire, electrical wire in a field, someone scraping large empty metal containers, and sometimes no human interference at all, like a stream and what seems to be a wire inside. All of this is short movements in 'Sound Aspects Of Material Elements', which lasts some fifty-six minutes. Sometimes I think I am being fooled and I see something but believe that I hear something else. That's always a great thing I should think, but perhaps I like this sort of illusions very much. The nice thing about this film is that following every segment the screen blacks out and we hear what's coming next, but yet not see it, so your mind starts guessing - I was wrong in almost of all these cases. Shot in austere black and white, this one is great. The other film is much shorter and called 'Mimema'. Here I don't think its about the action to generate material, but a more poetic film with people floating in water set against a great piece of drone music. Maybe this is all about hearing 'below the surface'? I am not sure, but it looks and sounds great. More poetic, less documentary like than the other one. Two quite different approaches to film, but both work quite nice." [FdW/Vital Weekly]
|
2012 |
€14.00 |
|
| JK FLESH |
Exit Stance |
12inch |
"Justin K Broadrick puts his club foot forward for Downwards on four trampling techno bombs gathered under the Exit Stance EP. With no prizes for guessing what the title is about, he further girds us against broken Britain’s grim future following his Suicide Estate 2LP for Hospital Productions.
This is some of Broadrick’s most direct, primitive, and ruggedly impactful gear, forged in the belly of the black country with charred traces of late ‘90s Brummie techno edged by sparingly used daubs of patented, pollutant synths and plasmic dubbing.
A-side; he offloads the rollicking hydraulics of Exit Stance, a rallying charge of tribal bass drums and cranky percussion from the Female/Regis skool, whilst the droning, beat-less squabble of Motivated By Jealousy takes an acute measure of blighty’s radgy pulse.
B-side; his Bullied By Love comes off as a grimacing answer to Ancient Methods’ industrial steppers, then Caveman goes on like a chips ’n curry sauce-fed analog to Muslimgauze-via-Vatican Shadow vibes.
Aye, we’re all fxcked. But at least we can dance about it with JK Flesh." [label info]
|
2017 |
€13.00 |
|
| JOBIN, FRANCE |
Death Is Perfection, Everything Else Is Relative |
LP |
"The last two years have seen me maintaining an association with an unusual bedfellow, death. The loss of Mika Vainio, as well as three members of my own family, has had a profound effect on me and spurred a lengthy reflection on life, death, and everything in between.
Parallelly, while studying the philosophy of science, I came across shadow photons:
“Tangible photons are the ones we can see or detect with instruments whereas shadow photons are intangible (invisible) detectable only indirectly through the interference effects on the tangible photons.
There is no intrinsic difference between tangible and shadow photons: each photon is tangible in one universe and intangible in all the other parallel universes.
They travel at the speed of light, bounce off mirrors, are refracted by lenses, and are stopped by opaque barriers or filters of the wrong colour. Yet, they do not trigger even the most sensitive detectors. The only thing in the universe that a shadow photon can be observed to affect is the tangible photon that it accompanies. This is the phenomenon of interference.
Shadow photons would go entirely unnoticed, were it not for this phenomenon and the strange pattern of shadows by which we observe it.
Thus the existence of a seething, prodigiously complicated hidden world of shadow photons has been inferred.”*
I have drawn a parallel between shadow photons and death. The interference phenomena, parallel universes, and how shadow photons affect tangible photons they accompany, offer, in my opinion, similarities, an unknown universe which is death and how we, remaining tangible human beings, are affected. This quest has led me to be more willing to accept chaos in my life and to conclude that Death is perfection, everything else is relative.
*The fabric of reality, David Deutsch, Penguin Press 1997.
All sounds recorded at various locations in Europe, South America and at EMS, Stockholm using the Buchla 200 modular synthesizer.
soar, all sounds recorded with Klara Lewis in Montreal 2018
https://francejobin.bandcamp.com/album/death-is-perfection-everything-else-is-relative
####################################
"Subsequent to a series of personal losses, France Jobin – Montreal’s minimalist composer of deserved renown – was forced to come to terms with something that haunts the existence of countless beings. As pathetic as this usually appears (courtesy of the average human’s shallowness), she attempted a rational collocation of chaos in her life, at the same time recognizing death as the ultimate symbol of a not better specified “perfection”. The introductory notes quote an excerpt from David Deutsch’s book The Fabric Of Reality, grounded on the theory of phantom photons. Now, when it comes to photons this writer’s cynical experience translates as follows: interesting stuff on paper, yet inevitably destined to become, in most cases, food for pseudo-intellectual exhibition of the self (though I’m convinced that Jobin doesn’t belong to that category). After all, everyone is entitled to clutching at the straws of unearthly conjectures to put a measure of order in their own mind. Particularly when the grim reaper comes around waving us hello under various guises, which – in this day and age – happens quite frequently, including the cerebral demise of selected wannabe “authorities” dabbling in issues beyond their reach.
Fortunately, besides any cognitive necessity Jobin is an expert sound assembler. The music she created for this album derives entirely from a Buchla 200 analog synthesizer, except for a shorter and less assuaging track – “Soar” – made with Klara Lewis and exclusively available in the digital version. The longer pieces “Inertia” and “P”, however, represent everything that needs to be (un)told. There’s an answer to every question, there’s calmness behind any anxious doubt if only one delves in the right combination of frequencies. Jobin concocted textural trails that stay with the listener unobtrusively, typically projecting one or two suspended chords. The result amalgamates perfectly with our environment when played at moderate volume. Still, the apparent stasis is perturbed by the very pulsation that it contains. We detect imperceptible subsurface discolorations, brief dissipations of energy across the harmonic flawlessness, a few dynamic weaknesses and slight distortions in an otherwise rather narcotic flux. It’s sorrow-inducing, brain-quietening, and profoundly individual." [Touching Extremes]
|
2020 |
€19.50 |
|
| 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 |
|
| JOHNSON, RAGNAR ASSISTED BY JESSICA MAYER |
Sacred Flute Music from New Guinea: Madang / Windim Mabu |
do-CD |
Recorded by Ragnar Johnson & assisted by Jessica Mayer, Papua New Guinea, April-August 1976
We would like to thank the performers and people of the villages of Awar, Borai, Bo'da, Kaean, Kuluguma, Nubia Sissimungum and Damaindeh-Bau for making this record possible. Copies of the master tapes are in the Institute of Papua New Guinea Studies, Port Moresby. Ragnar Johnson thanks the Canadian I.D.RC. for supporting his anthropological research.
Thanks to Dave Hunt for transferring the original magnetic tape recordings onto digital media and to Stephen O’Malley, David Toop and Evan Parker for assistance.
Sacred flutes are blown ("Windim Mambu'') to make the cries of spirits by adult men in the Madang region of Papua New Guinea. Pairs of long bamboo male and female flutes are played for ceremonies in the coastal villages near the Ramu River. The Ravoi Flutes from Bak are accompanied by two garamut carved wooden slit gongs. The Waudang Flutes from Manam Island are accompanied by two large and two small slit gongs and six singers. The Jarvan Flutes from Awar are accompanied by a shell rattle. The Mo-mo resonating tubes were recorded in the Finisterre Range. There are the cries of six different pairs of flutes and one pair of conch shells from the Ramu coast, two pairs of Waudang Flutes from Manam Island with singing and Mo-mo resonating tubes from the Finisterre Range. Occasional percussion is provided by wooden slit gongs and hand drums. These recordings were made in 1976.
Tape to digital transfer by Dave Hunt at Dave Hunt Audio, London 07/15
Mastered & cut by Rashad Becker at Dubplates & Mastering, Berlin 08/15
Notes and photographs by Ragnar Johnson & Jessica Mayer
Originally released on LP 1977 as !Quartz 001 & 1979 as !Quartz 002, Quartz Publications by David Toop with the assistance of Sue Steward, Evan Parker, Robert Wyatt and Alfreda Benge. Re-released on CD 1999 as Rounder Records 5154 & 5155.
www.ideologic.org
|
2016 |
€20.00 |
|
| JONES, A.F. |
For Eschrichtiidae |
mCD-R |
This piece is the first in a series called omniana, and is presented on behalf of two gray whales that frequent the Puget Sound and the Straits of Juan de Fuca. These whales are known by us as Patch (#49), and Little Patch (#53). The piece is both a noise recording and an ambient one: a somewhat musical work that is actually a raw underwater recording of a Washington State ferry approaching and docking in Port Townsend, WA on April 29, 2019. The sounds were captured using hydrophones and condensers
simultaneously in open air.
Undersea noise pollution is a problem, and a growing one, and there is little policy in the U.S. to address it. Even vessels operated by environmentally conscious organizations like the Washington State Ferries have significant issues to overcome if we are to expect healthier ecosystems. In Washington, Eschrichtiidae are at superior trophic levels in the local waters, and provide a delicate balance to the ecosystem. The winter feeding routines of Eschrichtiidae are essential for food and lipid stores that allow for their demanding migrations to tropical latitudes for breeding.
We must expect better, routine maintenance of propulsion trains and propellers from vessels. The intense noise that can be heard here is estimated to be 70-80 dB above what should be considered to be normal. In addition to causing stress to whales, such noise disorients gray and killer whales, fully disrupts their unique communications, and throws into disorder the availability and behaviors of prey species.
Listen, enjoy, and advocate for robust undersea noise pollution policy.
The sounds and the context:
- This ferry is making a slow approach to the Port Townsend dock at the end of its transit from Coupeville, WA.
- The loud metallic noises are the sounds its poorly maintained propulsion system and propeller
- The propeller stops as the ferry slows its speed
- The propeller is used again for navigation
- The propeller stops and the ferry slowly shifts to its water jets and thrusters for positioning as it approaches the dock
- The ambient sounds are the final process of positioning and docking
- The lapping water is the waves from the wake of the ferry during its earlier approach, finally reaching the floating dock I am standing on
- the bass sounds heard throughout the recording are the floating dock from which the piece was recorded, bumping into a pylon from shifting waves and currents
Alan Jones
March 2019
https://taalem.bandcamp.com/album/for-eschrichtiidae-omniana-alm-128
|
2019 |
€5.00 |
|
| JOSEFSON, MATHIAS |
Suihkulähde |
LP |
Erster Solo-Release von JOSEFSON aka MOLJEBKA PVLSE, auf seinem eigenen Label in schöner "letter-press"-Hülle. Ganz verschieden vom typischen M.P. Drone- und Geräuschsound wurde hier auf Seite A ein "ready-made" verewigt, der konkrete Klang einer mechanisch dröhnenden, röhrend-gurgelnden Maschine, ohne weitere Overdubs! Alltagsgeräusche in voller Aufmerksamkeit, auch das kann ein Erlebnis sein. "ALTE WEGE DIE WIR WANDERN WERDE NEUE SEIN". Auf Seite B dasselbe nach leichter Bearbeitung... Ein obskurer "Klangkunst"-Release, der zunächst verwirrt, dann begeistert!
"Side A of this album is a ready-made, a found sound. Except for adjusting the volume, the recorded source material is not processed with effects in any way. Side B is a processed version of the same track." [label info]
"Who, you may ask? Mathias Josefson is however not an unknown person in the realms of Vital Weekly, as he unleashed a whole bunch of recordings under the guise of Moljebka Pvlse, but for this new release he chooses to use his own name. Not an uncommon trend in the land of serious music. Perhaps it has also do with the nature of this record. One side has a found sound, the other is a reworking thereof. The found sound is not explained but it sounds to me like a fridge. I once tried to sleep somewhere next to a fridge, but the sound of it kept it me awake all night. Not a big problem, since I liked it quite a lot. Josefson's found sound side reminded me of this night. The drone of a machine, with all it's subtle varieties, the way it switches of in the end it is still a great listening experience. The 'processed' version of the track eludes me a bit I must say. Whatever there is that has been processed, I may have a trouble hearing it (and no, I am not listening on computer speakers, as
a disappointed artist once suggested). The processing are done probably very subtle, but they don't seem to be adding much to the other side. Now if I had two copies and a DJ set up I could perhaps check it out, now it's a bit more of the, albeit nice, same. The work of Josefson moves away from the ambient industrial park and this piece of sound art is a most promising start." [FdW/ Vital Weekly]
label: www.isoramara.com
|
2007 |
€14.00 |
|
| JULIUS, ROLF |
Music for a Distance |
CD |
"Music for a Distance is the second release in the small music series. The title of the work in relation to the cover images (abstract photographs of Julius' wife resembling landscapes merging into a distant horizon) suggests a work of uncommon poetic perception and inspiration. With the opening track "Music for a Distance," Julius achieves a sensitive balance of unpredictability and deliberate design, at times resembling a symphony of insects, complete with crickets and cicadas and rustling leaves. Listening closely, you can hear old fractured melodies float by only to be hidden again under a thunderous sky and rain.
TRACKLISTING: 01. MUSIC FOR A DISTANCE 02. MUSIC IN A CORNER " [label info]
www.westernvinyl.clm
"Back in Vital Weekly we reviewed 'Music For Tears' by Rolf Julius, and we noted that he is quite famous in the field of sound art, but perhaps not that well-known in the world of Vital Weekly. Now that may of course change due to the good work of Western Vinyl, who plan a series of CDs with his 'small music'. 'Music For A Distance' is the second volume. Like before, or perhaps like always, we have no clue what it is that Julius does. The title piece was composed (or rather refined) over a six year period and its unclear what Julius does. Is it a bunch of field recordings? Like insects, crickets, cicadas, leaves, or perhaps something more mechanical? Played back from a bunch of CDRs perhaps, or something that creates the sound as they are, like small devices? What is sure that Julius' music is quite minimal. Not in a drone kind of sense, but hyperactive, with lots of sounds crawling like insects over eachother. Maybe there is a bit of sound processing? I really couldn't tell. Like 'Music For The Ears', 'Music For A Distance', which is with forty minutes the main piece here, creates an excellent sonic environment, and that's what Julius aims at. Could we call this ambient? Yes, perhaps we could. Music that fills your surrounding with a intelligent sound, and not some lift muzak, but never loud enough to be disturbing or confronting. There is also a difference between 'Music For The Ears' and this new work (apart from the time separated between recording - the main work here is from 2003-2009) and that's the volume of the music. Both 'Music For A Distance' and 'Music In A Corner' are quite audible, like those loud singing crickets in Japan, which are loud without being a nuisance. An excellent disc, once again!" [FdW/Vital Weekly]
|
2011 |
€13.00 |
|
| JUPITTER-LARSEN, GX |
Digging Through Time |
BOOK |
This greatly expanded performance journal has more dates, more locations, more names, and more back stories than any other attempt at cataloging the immeasurability of the history of GX & The Haters on stage. There’s four decades of noise, from using a camera as a hammer, to amplified sandpaper, to loud luggage. Scores of shows in a slew of cities, across a circus of countries on four continents. This document demonstrates just how intertwined noise, entropy, and time can truly be.
6×9-inches, 114 pages, Softcover
|
2021 |
€32.00 |
|
| JUSTEL, ELSA |
Mats |
CD |
" 'Gwerz' (2002). 'Du libe tu?' (1996). 'Mâts' (1999). 'Midi de sable' (2000). 'Alba Sud' (1997-98). 'Au loin bleu' (1997). 'Puntos, comas y refritos' (2002). 'Bastet' (2004). 'The electroacoustic works of Elsa Justel are striking for their rich morphological invention: canvases made of minuscule yet consistently varied sounds; stratified figures made of multiple simultaneous shots, intertwining with one another; tremblings turning into sharp and lightning objects; objects of all sizes, objects so diverse they relentlessly keep hold of your attention. This is undeniably a form of music demanding active listening, a state of awareness to the smallest palpitations, music that always has rich meanings to unveil, no matter how many times you listen to it. In fact, the more you listen to it, the more it becomes both mysterious and habitable. It is music to be cherished for its sophistication, vividness and subtlety. This music imitates nothing; it is there, warm and savant, controlled yet free, vigorous and intelligent. It adds to the real world a presence consisting of its own immanence. It is this presence that Elsa Justel has been trying to bring forth, through her unyielding work as a composer, and succeeding so rightfully that she immediately wins us over. I see Elsa Justel's music as surplus life, absolutely essential to our existence." Horacio Vaggione
[label info]
www.empreintesdigitales.com
|
2007 |
€12.00 |
|
| JÜPPALA KÄÄPIÖ |
Animalia Corolla |
CD |
"Most of us are living in an urban world, dominated by constant noise and contagious stress. Our ears are conditioned by this aggressive environment and have often lost the ability to perceive another discreet world surrounding us. It might be hidden but also swarming, vivid and incredibly musical. We are all able to prick up our ears to some birds chattering together, the wind shaking leaves, toads singing serenades or old spirits telling us their immemorial adventures…
Since its creation in 2006, Jüppala Kääpiö has tried to substantiate what they were hearing and feeling from animals, plants or even minerals that they met in their living places in different countries and during travels in different continents.
“Animalia Corolla” is a record of feasts of spirits gathered from the whole world. Their songs, dances and conversations about the synchronicity of their dreams have been transcribed in this album.
Jüppala Kääpiö is a Swiss and a Japanese duo. They settled in Brussels in Belgium in summer 2011 after staying in Switzerland, Canada, Mongolia and Japan. The life in multicultural/lingual situations naturally gave to their music a style which might be called cosmopolitan folklore music." [label info]
www.omnimemento.com
|
2012 |
€15.00 |
|
| |
Alpen Ocean |
LP |
"ALPEN OCEAN is the final recording of Carole Kojo (Swiss) and Hitoshi Kojo (Japanese) that they left behind as Jüppala Kääpiö, whilst resident in Switzerland.
The sound sources are rather familiar instruments and materials for us such as voices, handmade instruments, viola, organic materials and field recordings. However, the style has evolved to a hybrid of our early style: an intense harmonic drone music that has appeared in RAINBOW MASK, and another phase which might be termed as a cosmopolitan ethnic music, that has been archived in later recordings such as OWLORA MUSKARIA and ANIMALIA COROLLA.
The overlaid harmonies of a murmuring of trees, howling skies, roarings of the ocean and the gradual transformation that is accompanied by melodies may remind you of migratory birds travelling across the sky on a lost ancient continent, or the dream of sea animals that are in eternal slumber in a ridge of mountains.
This piece would be one of a high-water mark by Jüppala Kääpiö who have looked for sound which resonates throughout time and space, whilst regarding a life-size reality that is rooted on the earth.
This release is a limited edition of 250 copies. 30 copies of the special edition in a stencil design box includes an extra cd-r that contains same tracks with the LP and two unreleased tracks from our early period.
Since the move to Belgium where is a foreign county for both of us in 2011, we are investigating a passage to our next chapter in the new environment." [label info]
"So lovely is the work of Juppala Kaapio! That said, we must sadly report that the Japanese / Swiss, husband-and-wife duo have stated that Alpen Ocean will be their final album under the guise of Juppala Kaapio. Another project is in the works, and they are planning to unveil whatever this may be sometime in 2014. Many of the drone-clad works we champion hedge their bets with the power of the darkside; but there are plenty of choice examples of rapturous, celestial tones and holy minimalism that seek to enlighten rather than darken the consumers' mind. Juppala Kaapio's small catalogue of lovingly crafted minimalism figures somewhere between the summer solstice nature jams of the Finnish freak-folk types and the twinkling harmonics of Terry Riley and LaMonte Young. As for Alpen Ocean, a brightly hued psychedelia of a sunburst and snowblind tableau is rendered through the wide-eyed sense of awe and wonder after calmly sipping a cup of psilocybin mushroom tea. Carole Kojo's delicate falsettos waver into a meditative chorale through tape loops and delay amidst the slow kaleidoscopic arrangements of chiming bells, bowed gongs, glassy electronics, and a few pastoral field recordings thrown in for good measure. It all comes together into bright, rapturous drones that Juppala Kaapio's Hitoshi Kojo describes as "overlaid harmonies of a murmuring of trees, howling skies, roarings of the ocean and the gradual transformation that are accompanied by melodies which may remind you of migratory birds travelling across the sky on a lost ancient continent, or the dream of sea animals that are in eternal slumber in a ridge of mountains." Limited to a mere 300 copies!" [Aquarius Records]
|
2013 |
€19.50 |
|
| K-SPACE |
Infinity |
CD-ROM |
K-SPACE ist das Projekt von TIM HODGKINSON, KEN HYDER und GENDOS CHAMZYRYN, die für ihre dritte Veröffentlichung eine (soweit ich weiss) Weltneuheit geschaffen haben: Das 20 minütige "Infinity" klingt bei jedem abspielen (geht nur auf Computer) neu und erschafft sich quasi jedesmal selbst noch einmal, da eine auf der CDR mitgelieferte Software die einzelnen Klangelemente & Parameter jedesmal individuell "mischt". Enthalten sind perkussive & vokale Ritualsounds von diversen Schamanen, RADIK TYULYUSH (Mitglied bei der legendären sibirischen "throatsinging" Gruppe HUUN-HUUR-TU), ein ganzer russischer Chor aus Kyzyl, sowie diverse ethnische & klassische Instrumente die von den K-SPACE Mitgliedern eingespielt wurden. Die INFINITY-Versionen die ich bisher hören konnte klingen nach einer organischen Melange aus Ethno- und (Geräusch)-Jazz-Elementen, dunkler Geräuschmusik und rituellem Post-Industrial. Faszinierendes Konzept und sehr stimmiges Ergebnis !
"A first in formatting. This CD will only play on your computer, on the on the other hand it will always be different, every time you listen to it. K Space is Tim Hodgkinson (electronics, Hawaiian guitar, reeds), Ken Hyder, (percussion, voice) and Gendos Chamzyryn (voice and percussion), but this doesn't tell you much. There are also environmental recordings here, and deconstructed fragments, all pooled so that specially written software will compile and sequence 20minute pieces according to complex algorithms (rather than just randomly) that will never repeat. In other words there is no object here that will deliver what you know; there are materials that are constantly recombined so that each audition will be something unexpected. A great idea, brilliantly realised." [label notes]
www.adhocrecords.com
|
2008 |
€14.00 |
|
| K2 / ALLAN ZANE |
split |
LP |
"All hail the trans-Pacific noise continuum! Each 21-minute side of this album is dedicated to an artist from Japanand California, respectively. While certainly harsh, the music of K2aka Kimihide Kusafuka and Allan Zane offers a great richness of detail, which makes
it less of a harsh noise wall than a noise mosaic. Making perfect sense of the Split LP idea, each artist offers a different take on what it means to make noise: while Japanoise guru K2maxes out anything there is on his electronic equipment, Allan Zane takes to his power tools.
“Mirror for Colored Sin” by K2credits junk electronics as sound sources next to the legendary TR-808 drum machine. There is a wonderful irony in the fact that the famed 1980s device, adored by pop and techno
producers the world over, is used here for something so decidedly un-pop and undanceable. After all, isn’t noise about destroying the official signal and creating something from the remains? Aptly, Kimihide Kusafuka credits himself as “decomposer” of the piece he performs on this record.
Allan Zane dedicates his piece “Zerstörte Musik” to two of the most iconic noise practitioners outside of Japan: GX Jupitter-Larsen of The Haters and Richard Rupenus of The New Blockaders. Using metal objects, power tools, effects devices, and a good amount of overdrive on the recording, Allan Zane creates a piece that does not sound simply like
‘destroyed music’ as the title claims, but quite psychedelic in its textural, ambient quality. We would not go as far as calling it ‘acid noise,’ but Zane’s years of experience in creating spaced-out audio collages with LSD (that is, his recording project Le Scrambled
Debutante, also released on attenuation circuit) sure benefitted this track a great deal. |
2015 |
€16.00 |
|
| KA-SPEL, EDWARD |
O'er A Shalabast'r Tyde Strolt Ay |
CD |
Wiederveröffentlichung des schönen Albums von 2002, welches bisher nur auf Vinyl erhältlich war...
"Repress of the album packaged in a custom made gatefold case and fully remastered by Randall Frazier at Helmet Room studios. A shalabast'r tyde, like unto pantent leather shoes, really doth shyne up. Reflected in the waves are twinkling stars; a smirking harvest moon; herds of passing clouds & hazey pink dots, like legends burned against eyelids after a long stare into an errant brightness. Ka-Spel's penchant for musical procreation is further fathered via this, another outstanding experimental recording. Fading into a subatomic rumble, 'Shalabast'r' sneaks into a quiet Edwardian waltz that sneaks into a fragmented sampling autoclave. If nothing else, Edward's always been a little sneaky. Maybe that's why he wears sneakers." [label info]
”..Slowly he seems to be pushing his solo music forward by going more and more for instrumental music, and move away from the song structures that were a feature of his older solo work. From the intimate sing-song-keyboard thing, he seems now interested in apocalyptic sound fields, dense, dark but always with a dot of light at the end of the tunnel.” [Frans de Waard, Vital Weekly]
www.blrrecords.com
|
2009 |
€14.00 |
|
| |
Permission to Leave the Temple |
10inch |
The idea of a release by the founder of The Legendary Pink Dots on Lumberton Trading Company had been mooted for a number of years. In fact, they were close to issuing a 7" around 2010, but this fell through due to the usual problems often facing small, more or less homespun, labels. The idea of still doing something with this prolific stalwart of music cut from those many folds where avant-garde abstraction locks horns with molten psychedelia, kosmische sounds, electronica and an approach to songwriting never afraid to go wherever the mood takes, however, never left. Attached to all of this, as always, are Edward's words, where wry everyday observations can mutate or be twisted into new forms given a distinctive surrealist slant. Collected on this limited 10" are five songs adding up to the length of a mini-album. Edward may well be one of the most active artists to have first emanated from the early 1980s cassette network, but Lumberton Trading Company is more than happy to play a small part in this continually unfolding, and always interesting, story. Edition of 500.
https://fourthdimensionrecords.bigcartel.com/product/edward-ka-spel-permission-to-leave-the-temple-10
"When you read these words, The Legendary Pink Dots are loading their van to tour Europe, following their tour of late last year in the USA. It's been a while since we last saw this band on stage, and it's about time we see them again. During the pandemic, the group worked hard on new music and brushed up the old music for a new release, so where does singer Edward Ka-spel find the time to make his solo music? I honestly don't know but take a look at their Bandcamp (https://legendarypinkdots1.bandcamp.com/), and you'll find lots of music from his solo and with the mothership. It would be too simplistic to say that Edward Ka-spel is The Legendary Pink Dots in reduced form. Less Erik Drost's guitar and The Silverman's keyboards before or Randall Frazier's these days, Ka-spel's becomes altogether more electronic. Still, I believe that in his solo work, Ka-spel allows even more freedom to play around with sound and sounds (there is a difference there). There is more experiment, but it is also more personal. The distinctive voice of Ka-spel is the central point of attention in the five pieces on this 10", but he allows for a lot of room for an instrumental piece. Honestly, the three pieces on the first side and the two on the second flow right into each other, and there is, as far as I'm concerned, one long piece of music per side, in which Ka-spel tells his story/poetry and packs it with psychedelic coloured sounds. Joyful, over the top, reflective and personal. 'With My Blessing' opens with tinkling bell sounds, which gives the piece the charm of a music box in a baby's room, slowly morphing into something more dystopian with female vocals. Dystopian, perhaps, but Ka-spel's music is never without hope, I should add. However grim the world may be, there is always a ray of light in the music. As said, the psychedelic nature of his music is undoubtedly attributed to that. A 10"... the format of doom (too small for an LP, too big for a single)... it's too short for a full display of Ka-spel's talent to paint stories with sound and words. This is another great one, that much I know, but I also confess to being a long-term fan." [FdW / Vital Weekly]
|
2023 |
€16.00 |
|
| KABUTOGANI |
Bektop |
CD |
"The 4th album by french producer KABUTOGANI is his most conceptual to date. Made entirely of mostly rhythmic glitch sounds (aka Clicks & Cuts), the album still has traces of melodies or tones - unlike many other minimal glitch productions. The cold, dry and noisy sound transports an almost morbid atmosphere. Experimental electronic music seldomly was so full of feelings - rather inconvenient ones, but feelings. This is what makes this album special. //
Das vierte Album des französischen Produzenten KABUTOGANI ist sein konzeptionell und musikalisch ausgereiftestes. Obwohl ausschließlich auf meißt perkussiven Glitch-Sounds (auch Clicks & Cuts genannt) basierend, finden sich - anders als bei vielen anderen minimalistischen Glitch-Produktionen - in jedem Stück Spuren von Melodien oder Tonalität. Der kalte, trockene und rauschige Sound transportiert eine beinahe morbide Atmostphäre. Selten war experimentelle elektronische Musik so voller Gefühle - wenn auch eher Gefühle der unbequemeren Art." [label info]
www.mille-plateaux.com
"Kabutogani is from France and the russian word on the cover means Vector. Maybe he likes his art to be Russian, as the package is red, black and white, like an El Lissitzky painting. This is fourth album, but my first introduction to his work. In the press release, Mille Plateaux, refer to some of their old stable to sell this album: Alva Noto, Frank Bretschneider, SND, Vladislav Delay, Pan Sonic (and, to be fair, also to Machinefabriek, which link is hard to be made). Music that is not at all alike that of Ametsub, as Kabutogani plays the harsher card of click and cuts. His beats are gritty, noisy, distorted, feeding it through digital effect processors (I have to be careful here, I know). In all of his tracks - twelve in total - there is some sense of melody, but usually kept in the background. Like Mille Plateaux, Kabutogani knows his classics too, and especially Pan Sonic seem to have a profound influence on him, but I give Kabutogani the benefit of a doubt, like the relaunched
Mille Plateaux itself." [FdW /Vital Weekly]
|
2010 |
€14.00 |
|
| KAHN, JASON & ASHER |
Vista |
CD |
Extremst minimaler, rauschiger Drone-Ambient, so subtil und subliminal dass eine "neue" Empfindungsfähigkeit gefördert wird.. die spezielle Atmosphäre, die hier übermittelt wird, ist mit Worten einfach nicht beschreibbar...
"Aus Feldaufnahmen, die Kahn am Zürichsee und in den Schweizer Alpen machte, und Asher seinerseits vor Ort in Somerville, MA, und in den nicht so vornehmen Ecken des Bostoner Stadtteils Back Bay, entstand eine imaginäre Szenerie, die hauptsächlich aus Regen zu
bestehen scheint. Oder ist das Wind, der in Baumkronen rauscht? Oder doch nur Industriegeräusche von Motoren, Generatoren, Lüftungsanlagen? Oder beides? Es wummert, knirscht, brodelt und zischt so ununterscheidbar, dass man am Ende nicht mehr ausschließen kann, dass einem die Phantasie vielleicht durchgehend nur Streiche spielte. Der Drang, Geräusche als Dinge zu identifizieren und so gut es geht ein Was und ein Wo festzustellen, der ist doch sehr stark. Kahn fügt dem Rauschen, das nach einer halben Stunde in den Hintergrund rückt, während im Vordergrund ein dunkles Wummern Raum greift, ein flirrendes Cymbaltickling hinzu. Das siffende Rieseln und Zischeln bleibt aber, wenn auch etwas gedämpfter, so als ob der ständige Regen etwas nachlassen würde oder man selbst sich weiter in den Maschinenraum zurück gezogen hätte, wo das Brummen mollige Wärme auszustrahlen scheint. Ob diese Illusion aus Klang jetzt als ‚offener Kamin‘ taugt, der Gemütlichkeit verbreitet, oder als Regenvorhang, to read Krimis Noir by, das muss jeder selbst ausprobieren." [Bad Alchemy]
"The work on Vista began in the summer of 2006 with recordings made by Asher in the Back Bay neighborhood of Boston. Walking through the
alleys and side streets he recorded the various mechanical rooms, generators, ventilation systems and idling motors which were to be found
there. These recordings were processed and sent to Kahn.
Later that fall, Kahn sent Asher several pre-dawn recordings he had made on the shores of Zürich Lake. Asher processed these in keeping
with the methods he had used with his own location recordings so as to create continuity among the amassing material. Unprocessed wind
recordings made by Kahn in the Swiss Alps in the summer of 2007 comprised the final batch of material used on Vista. Asher and Kahn
spent the remainder of that year working on a final mix. Addressing the idea of hearing and seeing out and beyond spatial planes, title Vista references both the aural expanses of Asher's home on a hill in the town of Somerville and Kahn's trips to the Alps and Zürich Lake.
In processing and mixing the discrete details of a landscape, we hear them from a real physical distance. Through the incidental
combinations of processed local sounds and sound materials which are entirely foreign to us, an imaginative aural view is created which
obscures any relationship to a documentary account of the original locations recorded for Vista.
Jason Kahn is a sound and visual artist based in Zürich. His work includes sound installation, performance and composition. He was born in New York, grew up in Los Angeles and relocated to Europe in 1990.
Kahn has given concerts and exhibited his sound installations throughout Europe, North and South and America, Japan, Mexico, Korea, Israel, Turkey, Russia, Lebanon, Egypt, Hong Kong, New Zealand and Australia. Kahn's work has been published by many other labels such
as his own imprint Cut , For4Ears, Sirr, Crouton, Korm Plastics, Creative Sources, Longbox Recordings, 1.8 sec records, Chloë and ATAK among others.
Asher (Thal-Nir) is still a relatively new sound artist living and working in Somerville, Massachusetts who has already garnered quite a bit of acclaim in just a few short years for his work using old cassette tapes and field recordings. He also uses processed acoustic and electronic instruments. His work has been published online by 12k / term, Con-v,
Laboratoire Moderne (EARlabs), and Homophoni, and on CDR and DVDR by Con-v, Leerraum, Conv, Winds Measure Recordings, Mystery Sea, The Land Of, among others.
DISCLAIMER: For full effect, turn up the volume and do nothing else but listen. You may very well find that this is ALL you will be able to do anyway... Despite the cover images on the packaging, driving while under the influence of this CD should be done with caution. This CD may induce a "thousand-yard stare" (a long, unfocused gaze), instances of "missing time", or audio hallucinations that could cause disorientation in the listener. Bottom line: friends don't let friends drive under the influence of Vista. This CD is for recreational use only. ENJOY." [label info]
www.and-oar.org
|
2008 |
€12.00 |
|
| KANE, JONATHAN |
The little Drummer Boy |
maxi-CD |
"Do Jonathan Kane's fat-bottomed grooves take your breath away, make you lose your mind? Well, it's the holidays, and Jonny can give as well as he can take, so here's his gift to you, boys and girls. It's a classic, The Little Drummer Boy, done in his inimitable style, with layers of guitars, snow-drift-deep bass -- and you'd better believe there's drums. Hop into this sleigh -- it's jacked-up, tricked-out, it's got 850 horses and not a restrictor plate in sight. Yep, it's always a Blue Christmas when Jonathan Kane comes to town." [label info]
www.tableoftheelements.com
|
2007 |
€10.00 |
|
| KAPOTTE MUZIEK |
Musik ohne Ende |
CD |
Professionally-manufactured CD in full-color, 4-panel digipak. Includes bonus tracks from compilations (Tracks 5 - 7)
Originally released 1988 via Prion Tapes
Mastered by Nÿland at 4 & Rising
Cover by Adrian Gormley
"In the 1970s, serious music lovers had a reel-to-reel tape deck. My father certainly loved music and had one to tape classical music off the radio. I recorded my first musical experiments with this machine, fascinated as I was by slowing down the speed so my pieces last longer. Later on, I had some more experience, and my father turned to playing CDs, so the reel-to-reel machine has used a lot less, and I was allowed to drag it upstairs, and I borrowed one from the likewise serious Phillips employee next door. Now having two machines, I was able to create longer loops, which became an overall ingredient in the music of Kapotte Muziek. 'Music Ohne Ende' means 'music without an end', which is what tape-loops are all about, isn't it? The four pieces on this cassette from 1988 are recorded with sound sources mentioned in the titles; metal, feedback, paper and surfaces, and resonances. I remember very little about the recording process, to be honest, but somehow this tape I enjoyed for its instability in sound and the noise of it all. I also used a loop housed in a normal cassette at that time, but those results never captured the same power.
For this CD re-issue, there are also three bonus tracks from the same period, using the same tape machines, but more cut-up/collage, cutting tapes and sticking these together in random order."
Frans de Waard, September 2022
https://tribetapes.bandcamp.com/album/musik-ohne-ende
|
2022 |
€12.00 |
|
| KAPOTTE MUZIEK & RICHARD RAMIREZ |
Muziek - Mix - Memory |
CD-R |
LICHT-UNG gehört sicher zu den seltsamsten Labels der Welt, es verzichtet komplett auf Beschreibungen, Präsentationen, und oft auch auf die grundlegendsten Infos auf den Veröffentlichungen. Was sich erschliessen soll erschliesst sich an der Ratio vorbei. Das erste Stück auf dieser CD zeigt KAPOTTE MUZIEK in Höchstform, wenn sie das Quellenmaterial des US Harshnoisers R. RAMIREZ verwenden. Fängt sehr subtil an und steigert sich unter der Verwendung von Loops und merkwürdig elektronisch klackernden Sounds und Konkret-Geknirsche in noisigere Bereiche hinein, um wieder ruhig zu enden. Sehr fein!
RICHARD RAMIREZ darf dann auf dem zweiten Stück an KM-Material ran, erwartungsgemäss ein rauschender Maelstrom, der aber auch erstaunlich sanft bleibt, und in verschiedenen Intensitäten und Stärken erbebt, white noise Frequenzmischungen die wie in Spektralfarben schillern. Aufgenommen übrigens in Stralsund, vermutlich auf dem "Garage" Festival, Juli 2004.
..First album is titled "Muziek-Mix-Memory" and is a "versus"-album between Kapotte Muziek and Richard Ramirez. First track is the legendary trio of Kapotte Muziek, Frans De Waard, Peter Duimelinks and Roel Meelkop manupulating
the source materials of composer Richard Ramirez. The intense work opens fairly quiet
with crackling sounds and field recordings of water. Bursts of noises attack the relative quietness of the opening, but as the track develops the noise washes in and after twelve minutes the work transforms into hordes of harsh noise until the final moments where the tracks dwells back into peace. Second track is Richard Ramirez' take on Kapotte Muziek. In contrary to the radical change in expression of Kapotte Muziek's contribution, Radical Ramirez constantly keeps the mass of noise on a quite high sound levels resulting in an almost 20 minutes piece of harsh noise/power electronics. During the work there are moments of slightly
easier levels but overall Mr. Ramirez creates a hard time for the receiving ears." [NM, Vital Weekly] |
2009 |
€10.00 |
|
| KARKOWSKI, ZBIGNIEW |
The last Man in Europe |
LP |
"Reality (realityfilm.co.uk) had the honour of working with pioneering electronic composer Zbigniew Karkowski on two occasions. In 2007, as part of the Recording Angel Ensemble’s accompaniment to Wojciech Has’ film “The Saragossa Manuscript” at the National Film Theatre and finally, for the last time on the 31st October 2013 when, already gravely ill after learning that he had advanced pancreatic cancer, Karkowski premiered his music to the BBC 1954 teleplay production of George Orwell’s “1984 - The Last Man in Europe” at London’s Horse Hospital. It was to be his last public performance. Zbigniew died aged 55, just six weeks later on Thursday December 12th in the jungles of Peru where he had travelled seeking treatment with the Shaman healers of the Shipibo. “Where language ends music begins” Zbigniew Karkowski March 14, 1958 - December 12, 2013. Recorded Live to Film at the Horse Hospital, London. October 31, 2013. Recording: Aleksander Kolkowski."
www.erratum.org
"Zbigniew Karkowski was a very important and influential figure across various arenas of music including electronic, noise, experimental, avant-garde some of which obviously cross over from time to time. He passed away at the age of 55 a mere 6 weeks after recording what we have before us today.
The Last Man in Europe is a document of Mr. Karkowski’s presentation to the BBC 1954 teleplay production of George Orwell’s “1984-The Last Man in Europe.” This piece was recorded live at The Horse Hospital – a London independent arts venue on October 31, 2013.
On a personal note, this recording is nothing like I have ever heard before. It’s uniqueness makes it virtually impossible to categorize. However, this important recording is the work of not only a pioneer but a master of electronic music dynamics and frequencies. Some of the tones here range from mid-level to ear-piercing. There are other moments, for example (around 3:30 in track 2) when the base track, often ebbing and flowing is layered by a sound that can best be described as a noise wind. It’s at that point where this recording really has become a brain-altering experience.
Few releases in experimental and noise arenas can really invade the mind the way The Last Man in Europe does. It reaches beyond the reasons why we listen to noise and experimental music in the first place.
Fortunately, Erratum Records has decided to release this important recording in LP form giving the piece and Mr Karkowski the respect they deserve. As noted above, Zbigniew Karkowski passed away six weeks after this recording was presented. He traveled to the jungles of Peru seeking the help of Shaman healers for his pancreatic cancer. This is further confirmation that this influential artist lived and died in areas where a very small amount of people dared to go before." [The Noise Benath the Snow]
|
2017 |
€17.50 |
|
| KASTEL, SILVIA |
Air Lows |
LP |
Air Lows is the debut solo album by Silvia Kastel.
The Italian artist has been a fixture of the underground since her precocious teens, clocking up many miles in Control Unit with Ninni Morgia (“It’s like Catherine Deneuve dumped two cases of post-Repulsion psychiatric notes over Pere Ubu’s Dub Housing, lit the fuse and, ahem, stood well back” – Julian Cope), including collaborations with the likes of Smegma, Factrix, Gary Smith, Aki Onda and Gate (Michael Morley of The Dead C). Through her own label, Ultramarine, she has released music by the likes of Raymond Dijkstra, Blood Stereo and Bene Gesserit.
Both solo and in her work with others, Kastel has explored the outer limits and inner workings of no wave, industrial, dub, extreme electronics, free rock and improvisation. Air Lows – which follows the cassette releases Love Tape (2011), Voice Studies 20 (2015) and The Gap (2016) – is both her fullest and most refined offering to date, a work of vivid, isolationist electronics which draws deeply on her past experience but assuredly breaks new ground.
Prompted by a late-flowering interest in techno and club music, Kastel sought to create something which combines a steady rhythmic pulse with the otherworldly sonorities of musique concrete, and avant-garde synth sounds inspired by Japanese minimalism and techno-pop (Haruomi Hosono’s Philharmony being a particular favourite). The formal artifice of muzak / elevator music, the intros and outros of generic popular songs, the extreme light-heavy contrasts of jungle, the creative sampling of hardcore, and the very “human” synths in the jazz of Herbie Hancock’s Sextant and Sun Ra: all these things were touchstones for Air Lows’ conception and composition. All strains of music addressing – and complicating – the relationship between the human and the technological. By extension, visual inspirations also proved important: anime, and the avant-garde fashion of Rei Kawakubo. What does that shirt or dress sound like?
Though used sparingly, Kastel’s voice remains her key instrument, whether subject to dissociative digital manipulations as on ‘Bruell’, delivering matter-of-fact spoken monologues, or providing splashes of pure tonal colour. Recorded between her expansive Italian studio and a more compact, ersatz set-up in Berlin, Air Lows gradually takes on some of the character of the German capital: you can hear the wide streets and empty spaces, the seepage of never-ending nightlife, the loneliness. Air Lows is The Wizard of Oz in reverse: the glorious technicolour J-pop deconstructons of its first half leading inexorably to the icy noir of ‘Spiderwebs’ and ‘Concrete Void’. These later tracks are reminiscent of 2015’s magnificent 39 12”, Kastel in the role of numbed, nihilistic chanteuse stalking dank, murky tunnels of reverb and sub-bass. But there is contradiction and emotional ambiguity to Air Lows from the outset, and throughout: a sense of both infinite space and acute claustrophobia; energy and inertia; fluency and restraint.
|
2017 |
€16.50 |
|
| KAZIMIRA, DARJA |
Medea Forgives Jason |
CD |
https://cycliclaw.bandcamp.com/album/medea-forgives-jason
"Medea forgives Jason" is a cycle of improvisations, first inspired by Euripides and his tragedy called "Medea". This canvas captures not only numerous musical paths leading to the image of the great queen of Colchis but also a research path where anthropology, literature, dreams, and deconstructive bodily practices are combined together in order to destroy the dying myth and thereby return it to the "beginning ". The anthropological philosopher René Girard, being one of the most fundamental theorists in relationships between ritual and violence, speaking about bloody, cruel myths often urged readers to remember about twin brothers represented by sacred violence and primitive violence, whose relationships symbolize the world balance, where a violent ritual pacifies its criminal brother. In addition, as soon as we allow an equal sign between these twins, chaos enters the ancient world. This statement also applies to the myth of Medea. Today, burdened with modern moral and ethical attitudes, a human looks at Medea as a hysterical, vindictive woman and a murderous mother. The body of this myth is so unified, simplified that is more akin to a biographical action drama than an archaic symbolic, allegorical construction appealing to the world order. And the essence of the problem here lies precisely in the coveted equalization of Medea (ritual violence) and Jason (simple violence), inspired by the naive modern attraction towards a “happy end”. Therefore, the actions of Medea and her patron deities, who with a series of bloody ritual reprisals punish Jason for deviating from sacred oaths and crimes committed, turned into simplified sentimental connotation that makes this mythological plot meaningless. In turn, the musical act "Medea forgives Jason" realizes the massive desire to transform Medea into a positive scenario and clearly demonstrates not only the senselessness of this intention but also its destructive nature from the point of view of the ancient world, where the equilibrium of the archaic universe turns into an escalation of primitive violence - in it is no the place for sacred and only destruction, madness and an ominous hypostasis of chaos remain, reign and rule.
Edition of 300 copies in 4 panels Digisleeve, Matt Lamination. 10 Tracks. Running Time 65:33
|
2022 |
€13.00 |
|
| KE/HIL |
Syndrome / Antidrome |
LP |
"LP comes in 2 different covers – the SYNDROME-Cover and the ANTIDROME-Cover, both versions are lim.num. 250 cop. plus download code.
All indicators point in one direction.
Starting at „Hellstation“ towards „Zone 0“, passing buildings whose true purpose is less based on functionality than on degeneration.
To degenerate the population, painting them pictures of would could but never will be.
Concrete ravines, which are not made to live in, much more to delineate. The cries of the „Prekariat“ drowned with the play and song of the theatres. A city as you find it everywhere, marked by the pleasures of the people, covered by wishful thinking, yet full of Babylonian arrogance. From here to there, from the „Flesh Supply Center“ to the forensic psychiatry.
And here and there a man rises up and connects with his kind. A Forensic Resistance.
Follow „Ke / Hil“ on their way through ruins that no one sees – hear screams no one hears – exist! , so no one else does.
„Syndromes / Antidromes“ rattles at the societies „Comfort-zone“ – Is this really Ke/Hil ?
play it loud to hear the extreme cold!"
|
2017 |
€19.00 |
|
| KEFFER, LESLIE |
Perceive |
CD-R |
\"Perceive\" is Leslie Keffer\'s first full-length installment in what will surely be a series of mainly ambient vocal works, which she says were attempts to \"capture the feelings I became aware of after having spiritual experiences, and interpret them through music\".
She also describes the \"encounters\" as \"tactile\" for her, and said she \"liked the idea of translating these emotions musically instead of feeling it internally in my body\". Essentially, she feels that her level of sensitivity has given way to a form of synesthesia that she experiences primarily within her body, and tries to document with her voice. \"Perceive\" began from Keffer singing while in different trance states, and developed from that very basic impetus. The result is challenging and innovative ambient music that is raw and down to earth, but also graceful and compelling.
Leslie Keffer: Art, Radios, Synths, Beats, Vocals, & Sounds
Digital Version comes with \"Aethereal\", what Leslie calls a \"sibling\" to Perceive.
https://lesliekeffer.bandcamp.com/album/perceive
|
2022 |
€10.50 |
|
| KELLOUGH, BETHAN |
Aven |
CD |
Artwork & photography by Jon Wozencroft. Mastered by Denis Blackham.
Live at Volume, Los Angeles, 30th April 2016 as part of Touch Conference.
The word ‘Aven’ refers to an underground shaft that leads upward from the roof of a cave passage.
Recorded with SoundField SPS200 & JrF C-Series contact microphones, Sennheiser ME64, Sound Devices 788T, Elektron Monomachine, RME Fireface UCX, and Cockos Reaper. Field recordings from Iceland, June 2015 and South Africa, November 2015.
Strings performed by Bethan Kellough.
Bethan Kellough creates sound worlds that weave together instrumental materials, sound design and ambisonic field recordings. Her composition ‘Aven' is based on a recording made in Iceland in 2015, which features the booming sound of underground geothermal activity escaping to the surface through a small shaft. “Looking down into the darkness, there was a sense that a whole world existed in an unknown space beneath. The sound world of Aven is a journey through such an imagined environment.” The composition is driven by this sonic encounter, but enters the imagined worlds beneath through the instrumental material developed throughout the work. These melodic passages predominantly feature violin, which Bethan has played since childhood exploring traditional Scottish music, rock violin, free improvisation and classical studies. The field recordings used in Aven were made in Iceland during the Wildeye sound recording workshop with Chris Watson and Jez Riley French, and in South Africa during the Sonic Mmabolela residency with Francisco Lopez and James Webb. Each of the recordings explore a world of sound beneath a surface, reflecting upon the initial recording environment at the geothermal site. In South Africa, an approaching storm was heralded by wind blowing through bushes in the savanna, underneath which was hidden a Soundfield microphone. A contact microphone on a fence in South Iceland revealed the tones of the wind contained inside the wires, and in an Icelandic nature reserve the wind was also captured by microphones buried underneath a layer of grass – a miniature world sheltered by the strands of dry straw.
Bethan Kellough (formerly Bethan Parkes) is a sound artist and composer. Her work spans across ambisonic composition, field recording, sound design and multichannel sound installation practices, drawing a focus on sonic spatial experience. Her works are designed to open out spaces with sound, exploring spatial aesthetics and the interactions between sonically and visually articulated spaces. The immersive sound-worlds she creates inhabit the boundaries between music and sound design, weaving together instrumental materials, sound design and ambisonic field recordings.
www.touchmusic.org.uk
|
2016 |
€11.00 |
|
| KEMIALLISET YSTÄVÄT |
Alkuhärkä |
LP + 7inch |
In der Version mit 7" soll es nur 150 Stück geben, das neue Werk der finnischen Geräusch-Folker, mit ihrem dadaistisch kreatürlichen Chaos-Primitivism Drone-Psych.. (oh was für ein Wortgebilde, die Musik scheint zu wirken..)
"One of our favorite slabs of freaky Finnish forest folk, now available on lp!! Pressed on thick vinyl in a deluxe jacket with a printed inner sleeve and all new artwork! The 18 tracks found here are a riotous festival of Finnish folk-psych. A pagan parade in a forest glade. Abstract, druggy, dark, delightful... We're always entranced by Kemialliset Ystavat's damaged improv folk mystery, and Alkuharka is yet another reason for us to keep saving our pennies in order to afford a trip to Finland (lucky Andee's been there once already). Anyone into anything along the lines of Tower Recordings, Thuja, Trad Gras Och Stenar, Six Organs Of Admittance, the whole Broken Face 'zine scene (to whom Kemialliset mainman Jan Anderzen used to contribute much art) will want/need this. Horns flutes guitars drones bells tapes voices feedback.
Wheezing buzzing bliss. With contributions from honorary Finns Dylan Nyoukis (Prick Decay) and Campbell Kneale (Birchville Cat Motel), Jan
and company are the true underground krautrock heirs, making music so long haired that it's furrier than any Animal Collective. Music from
the soundtrack to The Wickermoomin, perhaps?" [Aquarius Records]
|
2007 |
€25.00 |
|
| KENT, JULIA |
Asperities |
CD |
There's something about that cello sound that keeps me mesmerized. And it's not a bias towards strings - after all I'm a piano player at heart - but rather something about the tonality and timbre of the low-end of those strings. In the right hands, the cello could be moody, stormy, and even dour. I think by now I have accepted my total fascination with melancholy instrumental music, and so it is the music with the cello to which I'm always drawn again.
The 'right hands' this time belong to none other than Julia Kent, a Canadian-born NYC-based cellist, who, after many years of performing and recording in groups, such as Rasputina, decided to go solo in 2007 with Delay. I was introduced and captivated by Kent's sound with her 2013 release on Leaf, titled Character. I was also lucky enough to witness Kent's live performance at the Unsound Festival New York, which I followed with an Interview, and so, you got the idea, I was hooked. Julia's fourth solo studio album, Asperities, is due out on October 30th, again on the amazing Leaf label, and I've got the privilege to spend more than a few hours inside her world.
I was thinking about the concept of difficulty. Whether in life or in nature – of conflict, of being troubled. The idea of friction. Also in geology, an asperity is some part of a fault line that doesn’t move that can create an earthquake, which is an evocative concept.
Asperities is layered, soaked and stratified, and then peeled back upon its core. The cello swirls in clouds of reverb, dancing around the stereo stage, temperamental, volatile and glum. Like the early dark clouds of an autumn downpour, the sonic whirlwind slowly gathers among the textured washes of its aural weather. The atmosphere is nearly electric, slowly building, growing, gnawing with every single piece. This tension finally breaks with my favorite track on the album, "Terrain", which erupts with glitchy percussive rhythm, completely unexpected and very welcome. This is a cinematic journey, meticulously sculpted to keep you on the edge.
A lot of the melodic material is based on semitones,” Julia elaborates. “So in the music there is an inherent sense of dissonance; that things are too close for comfort. More generally, it seems like a particularly dark time in the world right now, and I think that definitely had an influence too.”
This amalgamation of looped cello, electronics and found sound creates a perfect unity of all that is incredibly lovely about Julia Kent. The album is mastered by Rafael Anton Irisarri (whom I actually witnessed doing so at his Black Knoll Studio), and is available as a CD, digital download, and limited edition vinyl LP. Highly recommended for fans of cello music in general, and especially works by Greg Haines, Peter Gregson, Richard Skelton, and Hildur Guðnadóttir.
[Headphone Commute]
|
2015 |
€15.50 |
|
| |
Temporal (lim. white vinyl) |
LP + CD |
Temporal is a meditation on the transitory and fragile nature of existence.
Much of the music that comprises the album was originally written to accompany theatre and dance productions. “The initial inspiration was more external than internal, in that many of these pieces began as a response to a text or a choreographic concept,” Julia explains, “but they all seemed to be coming from the same emotional world and it made sense to weave them together into a record.”
After the threat of violent release on previous album Asperities, Temporal’s relationship to the physical world manifests itself in a more organic, human sound. The electronic manipulations are subtler, with Julia sampling voices from a theatre production and processing them into unrecognisable textures: ghosts of the source material. “I included the processed voices to acknowledge the genesis of the music and also because I wanted to incorporate vocals in a way that turned voice into texture, and blurred the lines between sonic elements.”
https://music.juliakent.com/album/temporal
"Canadian cellist, Julia Kent, is back with a new album for Leaf, a gloomy, dark, delicious journey of texture, cinematic ambience and modern classical timbre. I've witnessed Julia play before, with her shoes off working the loop pedals, all dressed in black, as she appears to be in all of her press photos, her hair dark around the sombre face, an arm tattoo, sharp focus on the music. I dive into the description of this artist because I feel her being bleeding in and onto all her works, a natural extension of her mind, expressed in sound throughout time. Is Temporal a hint at our very own existence? Is there a fear or an acceptance thereof? Perhaps a little bit of both as you traverse the dissonance and tension, so well restrained within this composition.
The rhythmic plucking of the string counts down the clock from an unknown number. The many-layered cello notes (and tones) create a blanket of unease, but find comfort in their warming. A bass begins to pulse. An organ walks the scale. We are acknowledging "Imbalance" and its ongoing presence in our lives. Too much a leaning to the left, too much a resuming to the right, we tend to float throughout this storm, like a lone lost and tiny buoy. The clouds subside and music perseveres, and then, perhaps, we're not alone, surrounded by others in this "Floating City", where pizzicato notes dance lightly with the piano. This cinematic tendency of the sound appears due to the pieces having been originally written for the theatre and dance productions, repackaged now in album form, for our delight and pleasure.
When I perform live with dance and theatre, it makes me enormously aware of the fragility of our physical world. Dancers and actors, anyone whose instrument is their body, have nothing to protect them from the rules of gravity and time. They are so strong, but they’re subject to those demands in a more extreme way because of the physicality of what they’re doing. Onstage, I have an instrument to mediate for me, but they are bare. When I work with dancers, especially, I feel as though there can be an incredible energy exchange. They create a sort of weather system on the stage.
-Julia Kent
This "weather" is indeed transforming through the album, as you can gather from my words (which I've convoked before digging out the quote above). Even with the delayed echoes of the strings, which practically compose the metre of the album, the album feels organic and inherent, with Kent's emotions permeating through and through. Those willing to connect with Julia on yet another level will find themselves immersed in all she has to say. Recommended for fans of Hildur Guðnadóttir [who seems to be consumed by soundtracks these days -- did you see Chernobyl?], Christina Vantzou, Zoë Keating, Danny Norbury, Greg Haines, and Poppy Ackroyd. A favourite on Leaf which calls for your attention." [Headphone Commute]
|
2019 |
€22.50 |
|
| KESZLER, ELI |
Stadium |
do-LP |
NewYork-based artist Eli Keszler is at the apex of his career. This year alone he’s had a three-month-long solo exhibition (“Blue Skies” at Fuse Arts, Bradford, UK), performed internationally in a duo with Laurel Halo, collaborated with noted Hungarian author La´szlo´ Krasznahorkai, taught experimental composition and performance at Camp in the Pyrenees mountains, composed music for Turner Prize– winning visual artist Laure Prouvost, and most recently embarked on a world tour with Oneohtrix Point Never.
“Stadium” is his new album for Shelter Press. As his ninth solo record,“Stadium” reflects his move from South Brooklyn to Manhattan, where he produced the album. The constant blurry motion and ever-changing landscapes of the fast-paced island helped him modify and shape his sound into a new kind of film noir. “After we moved into our East Village apartment,” Keszler explains, “we found a guitar pick on the floor that read ‘Stadium’. We looked at each other at the same time and had the same thought. It could have gone any number of ways.” Indeed, there is a startling amount of expression at play on each track, where intersections of melody, restraint and rhythm are used to challenge the idea of memory, impression and space.
Keszler is often mistaken for an electronic musician, but in fact his sounds are raw and natural, produced by hand live in-situ. His performance with the drumset and acoustic percussion are central to his work. He produces almost impossible textures through self-realized methodologies: cascading melodies, a shadow of voices, and a unique pointillistic materiality. Although playing with the intensity of digitally-created music, his communications are done live with no processing. These haptics are what give “Stadium” its depth and its warmth. In a recent interview for Dazed, collaborator Oneohtrix Point Never comments, “I’ve always described his playing as bacterial. He’s able to parallax into very small, very acute, very specific relationships between percussive textures. It’s beyond just being a drummer — he’s a world-building percussionist.”
In “Stadium,” Keszler uses lived experience to realize the most wide-ranging sound he’s created to date. “Stadium” draws out textures from overlapping geographies (from Shinjuku arcades to city streets and Brutalist architecture) and transforms these travelogue field recordings into starting points for composition. He then builds on these environments to create subliminal spaces for his percussion, keyboards and acoustic instruments. His “world-building” techniques are pushed to new levels with mesmerizing string and brass arrangements. Throughout the album, Keszler’s writing, keyboard playing and scoring operate like a sonic channel that transports the listener into a quaking web.
Perhaps this is the “stadium” referred to in the title: a larger network of sound and bodies moving continually, oscillating and turning in on itself. Keszler has explored these ideas before both in his visual work and sound installations - especially notable on projects such as his massive Manhattan Bridge installation ‘Archway’ or his Boston City Hall work 'Northern Stair Projection'. “Stadium” takes these long-running ideas to new depths. “My installations work with massive city spaces for a complex of individuals,” Keszler states. “The recordings on Stadium are inverted. They are landscapes scaled for the singular. Like a mass collecting in one arena, this music compresses city spaces, genre and instrumentalism into an amorphous form. On the record, there are ruptures of information and happenstance. Like a game, it could go any number of ways.”
|
2018 |
€26.50 |
|
| KG AUGENSTERN |
Circles and Cycles |
BOOK + CD |
Kg Augenstern (Christiane Prehn and Wolfgang Meyer) have been exploring the world for many years with their “Tentacles,” extendable fiberglass canes that allow them to touch and extract the sounds of the places they are travelling through. These tentacles have become a kind of prostheses to generate subtle experiences that require attentive listening. The various aspects of the project are constantly transformed and presented as audiokinetic installations, live-streams, radio broadcasts or sound installations in contemporary art spaces.
In autumn 2019, the artists explored places in Sicily that have been abandoned within the last few decades. With their tentacles, they scratched circles on the surface of these contemporary ruins to reveal the specific sounds of the various surfaces and their surroundings. A camera installed in the center of the circles recorded the images. The research was accompanied by experiments with raw sheep’s wool and clay as materials corresponding to the ephemeral appearance and transitory atmosphere of the places. The outcome of the research was presented as an exhibition in an old prayer hall in Palermo.
The CD invites listeners to explore 10 abandoned places, including the location of the final exhibition.
11 Tracks (37′44″)
Book & CD (500 copies)
KG Augenstern’s “tentacle” performs surgeries on abandoned places. The duo from Berlin seeks out locations that lie between the states of life and death, populated and depopulated, places constantly changing, and thus in an enduring state of malleable equilibrium. They are the apocalyptic souvenirs of humans’ attempts to form landscapes. That which exists tends towards new shapes, which slowly bury mankind’s contingencies and intentions.
The forgotten place and its surfaces are scratched in circles. The media to be studied are the subtle sounds caused by the scratching. At times the tentacle glides lightly along the surface, barely touching; on another pass it might bite in, leaving a mark. It stretches itself out, or blends with the material beneath it, all the while releasing its tensions in the form of deep, diffused sound vibrations.
Or it springs in powerful leaps across the ground beneath it. An intense sound is called forth, rhythmic and repetitive, embedded in the temporal cycles of the described circles. Time is rendered instable, volatile, surreal, and reveals its magic.
The process is repeated in the same or another location.
The combinations of time and material transform themselves into a cyclical continuum.
KG Augenstern creates an additional cycle out of sheep’s wool, clay, and fire. From materials found in the ruins, burned objects are created which are fragile and subordinate to their own disintegration. The observer slips outside the field of consciousness, and attention is directed towards the revelation of baselessness, not from within the realm of understanding, but in the form of realization in a material sense. Life is transformed into a question, and this uncertainty reveals the instability of existence.
Ennio Pellicanò
Curator
Step by step, staying in this lonely place by the sea, with that empty beach, working in all these ruins without ever seeing any living person, only birds– mostly pigeons–, insects, and lizards, a kind of hypnotic, apocalyptic dimension develops. In almost every place there is an abandoned camp somebody homeless used to use a long time ago for a temporary shelter, with worn out clothes and an old mattress. Shy dogs: one, a German shepherd with two puppies vacillates between being curious and afraid, same as me. Circle by circle, rubbish, wet walls, cracked ceilings, holes to take care of and another uncertain stairway. Contemporary archeology in contemporary ruins. Disgust, fear, tension, expectations. Layers of birdshit on children‘s toys, suddenly left behind, hard material under soft organic patina…. a baby carriage, furniture, pictures on the walls and beds still made …what will wait in the next room, the next building, the next structure?
SCRATCHING A LIDO
Lido Las Vegas was built in the ’60s and was closed by the authorities in 2017. Before its closure, it had been run illicitly within a nature reserve, and without any authorization, state concession, or certificate of use. It is a wooden structure with small rooms for summer guests, a restaurant and a playground for children. A solid, newer but also abandoned structure with more rooms was built just beside.
The scratching circles were recorded on the terraces, between the rooms and next to the playground. The surface is tiles, sand, rubbish, wood and stones. Everything is sandy. The waves of the sea can be heard in the background.
SCRATCHING A MOUNTAIN VILLAGE
Cunziria is a village the dates of whose founding as an urban nucleus are unknown, but it is known that in the 1920s a slow decline began, until the 1960s, when the artisan practice of tanning stopped. Some houses have been restored but left behind unfinished and are now used as stables. In one house we found raw sheep’s wool covering the ground. At a nearby sheep farm, the farmer offered us plenty of raw wool for free. The scratched circles are partly inside and partly outside of the houses. Sometimes it was hard to move the tentacle through the plants covering the buildings. One of the circles is performed inside of a cellar, with basins formerly used for tanning. The surface varies from dense, thorny bush, stones, mud and clay to tiled floor in the restored rooms. In the background it is possible to hear sheep and sheep bells, birds, and from time to time a car on the close-by small road.
SCRATCHING A COMMERCIAL AREA
Beside Route S115 south of Catania is an abandoned commercial area with five big buildings. They were built in the 1990s, and given up after a short period of usage. The reason was that the new Catania-Syracusa highway was built only a short distance away, and the formerly busy road along the coast was almost forgotten.
Patinaed signs on the wall still show that there once was a supermarket, a car-dealership, a furnisher….. Now a semi-organic layer covers the almost-new concrete floors, and birds fly about the huge halls, while wild plants crack the surfaces.
SCRATCHING A CASTLE
Castello del Duca di Misterbianco is an old castle-like villa, built in 1930, not far from a river and the beach. It has many rooms, and horse stables. It was abandoned in the Second World War after it was heavily bombed and partly destroyed by english soldiers, attacking the Germans who had occupied the castle.
It is covered with plants. The surface is rocky. Two of the scratched circles were done on two different flat roofs on a windy day, the other ones inside of the structure, where it was even difficult to move the tentacle because of all the stone shards and plants scattered around.
SCRATCHING A FURNITURE STORE
Sicilmobile is a big furniture store built in the late ’70s in Brutalist concrete style. It was abandoned around the year 2000 for economic reasons. The building with its two levels is amazing and spacious. A restaurant was connected to the commercial area.
The area has been used by skateboarders for some time. The surface is tiles, concrete, small stones and pieces of glass. In the main halls, broken bricks, fallen from the ceiling, cover the floor. One of the scratched circles was done outside of the building and the rest in different parts inside. There are two roads with a constant flow of traffic close to the building. The airport is also close.
SCRATCHING A BRICK FACTORY
Noted art critic Vittorio Sgarbi described Fornace Penna as “a secular basilica by the sea.” Indeed, this abandoned industrial structure echoes some of the crumbling medieval cathedrals scattered around Europe. Built entirely from solid stones in the early 1900s, Fornace Penna specialized in manufacturing bricks sold them across the Mediterranean region. However, business lasted only a little over ten years. On the night of January 24th, 1924, arson turned the factory into the fascinating and deserted stone skeleton we see today. The wind blows through the arcs of the ruins, which are heavily covered with all kinds of plants. There is an almost round, accessible vaulted kiln under the center of the building.
With so many plants and rocks all over the place, it was difficult to find any locations for the scratchings. The waves of the sea can be heard in the background. At one place, a lizard tried to attack the tentacle during scratching.
SCRATCHING A PAPER MILL
S.p.a Cartiere Larena is a paper mill that was closed more than 30 years ago. It appears that the first paper made in Europe was produced in Sicily toward the end of the tenth century, and there are still several specialized paper producers, but this mill didn‘t survive the economical crisis of the ’80s. It is a beautiful building, still containing two big huge stone bowls, with motor-driven millstones inside. The surface is variable, from stone to clay and gravel. A road is close to the building and in the background a football match can be heard.
SCRATCHING A BORGO
Borgo Rizzo is one of the borgos in Sicily that were built between 1939 and 1940 under the then fascist government, with the goal of transforming agricultiral production systems and colonizing fertile, unused areas by attracting farmers to new villages that provided all main services, such as schools, churches, post offices, etc. Some of the houses have been partially renovated with EU funding, but remain unfinished and unused, tending to turn into the new generation of ruins.
The area is very quiet with only very few cars driving on the nearby road. A wild dog with two puppies lives on the terrace of one of the houses. All in all it has the atmosphere of a ghost town.
SCRATCHING A FORWARDING COMPANY
Transporti Avimec was a big Catanian freight-forwarding company which was seized and closed in 1989 on suspicion of having been owned by the mafia and used for illegal transactions. Several attempts by mafia members to buy the company back were not successful. It was possible to enter the closed property by a hole in the wall. In the private house on the property, everything seemed to have been left behind from one minute to the next. Children’s toys, furniture and beds appear recently abandoned.
The halls and the courtyard are empty. The area’s surface is partly covered with rubbish or birds‘ faeces. In the distance, traffic and the neighbours‘ trucks can be heard.
SCRATCHING A CHAPEL
The final exhibition was presented as a site-specific audiovisual installation at the former Oratory of Santa Maria del Sabato in one of the oldest parts of Palermo. The chapel is in a state of abandonment, waiting to converted into a synagogue. In the past it was a mosque, then a synagogue, and an oratory. The first scratch was taken in the empty hall, with just one tentacle scratching a circle.
The second one is, as it was during the installation, recorded at the center of the middle circle of three motor-driven circle-scratching tentacles, with raw sheep’s wool covering parts of the floor, being moved from time to time by the tentacles. The third recording is the sound of the three tentacle circles, recorded from beside them.
https://www.gruenrekorder.de/?page_id=18680
|
2020 |
€18.00 |
|
| KHOST |
Corrosive Shroud |
CD |
"Khost is Andy Swan (Iroha, Final, Atrocity Exhibition),and Damian Bennett (Carthage, Deathless).
Corrosive Shroud is the second album from Birmingham band khost, following the 2014 debut Copper Lock Hell. The album has a singular theme: inside the hand-me-down concrete relics in which we necessarily live and from which we draw perceptions. The music is the sound of lightless blocks, oxygen-starved sheds and apparitions, using stark and unrefined found sounds stacked against Khost’s massively detuned guitars. The album includes Eugene Robinson of Oxbow and Syan who add their stories to the narrative, along with personnel Jo Quail, Daniel Buess, Gustave Savy and featuring a contribution from Tel Aviv-based Hostage." [label info]
www.coldspring.co.uk
"Khost's Copper Lock Hell was a powerful debut where mammoth doom chords were pit against industrial electronics. Corrosive Shroud continues with Khost's customary slow, monolithic riffing; a half-paced grind pitched so low it just vibrates. But layered with that sound is bleak psychedelic textures, swirls of Japanese and mid-Eastern influences, ethereal chants all of which conjure up arcs of beautiful melodies. There is so much more to Khost than their room shaking hypnotic shudders but it just takes a little effort to hear them. 'Avici' continues the fascination with "avici hell", as recorded in the The Sutra of Bodhisattva Ksitigarbha's Fundamental Vows, which began on Copper Lock Hell aided by the Gnostic electronics of fellow Midlands outfit Tunnels of ĀH, who feature former Head of David singer Stephen ĀH Burroughs. They're absent from Corrosive Shroud, but some other contributors such as Oxbow's frontman Eugene Robinson and cellist Jo Quail are carried over from Khost's debut, with fresh contributors including Syan, Daniel Buess, Gustave Savy and Chris Turner.
Guitars shudder amidst pummelling and crashing drums on the opening crawl that is 'Avici', combining a low grating voice with higher registered chants that carry an air of mystical otherworldliness. Those chants are woven, like a mysterious entity, throughout subsequent tracks such as 'Revelations Vultures Jackals Wolves', 'A Shadow On The Wound' and 'Black Rope Hell'. 'Revelations Vultures Jackals Wolves' unfolds to scorched earth guitar mangling, as background voices taken on a chant like shape, as violins weave amidst the clatter of crashing drums and cymbals. Bathed in feedback and frequencies it channels similar spirits to Skullflower in their most blackened death metal moments before the grind gives way to sombre cello movements. Khost's vocal delivery is steeped in an air of black metal; an impenetrable guttural rasp that that scrapes through the reverberating riffs of 'Black Rope Hell' - which almost sounds like another "avici hell" - before cavernous metallic clanking and ritualesque chants surround the monstrous roar and floor shredding tones of 'A Shadow On The Wound'. The oppressive onslaught of Khost belies a highly nuanced and layered sound that many can - and do - miss.
Khost are a Birmingham based duo featuring Andy Swan (Iroha, Final, Atrocity Exhibition) and Damian Bennett (Carthage, Deathless) and between them they have been part of Techno Animal, Final and 16/17. Khost almost seem to follow in the lineage of Kevin Martin's Pathological label. In fact, much of the drums and rhythm samples have been provided by Daniel Buess, the experimental musician and drummer behind avant jazz noiseniks 16/17 - and of course Oxbow who feature Eugene Robinson first surfaced via the Pathological release Fuck Fest. But, whatever, it's from 'Inversion', the fifth track on Corrosive Shroud, that Khost begin to seriously detour from their industrial doom sound with spacious detuned guitars seeking out the empty psychogeographic potential of vacant urban spaces and lightless structures. Sprawling guitar tendrils extend over pummelling low end bass recalling the loping rhythmic bass that underpinned the noise rock of Ice, Sweet Tooth etc, before it lurches to industrial atmospherics and the first appearance of Oxbow's Eugene Robinson with some brief spoken words. "Which way will the coin finally fall?" Syan asks posing a conundrum before the molten cyclical dirge textures of 'Forgery'. Oxbow's Eugene Robinson reappears at the tail end of 'Red Spot', an astounding piece of experimental clatter that passes from industrial free jazz via quaking guitar scrapes propelled by machine-like rhythm before slowing to bass laden industrial atmospherics featuring the spoken drawl of Eugene Robinson ruminating on Ballardian images of destroyed structures and empty living rooms. Khost really push the boundaries of their monolithic sound here, more than justifying their experimental metal tag here while the following track, 'Bystander', sees Khost at their most aggressive and forceful. From looped thudding beats it transforms into blistering waves of distorted guitar squall and shredded vocal howl, wrapped in mystical chanting, while from the "Conquer then run" 'looped phrase 'VMIH' launches into a series of words ending on the suffix "ate": capitulate, dominate, proliferate, emancipate, intoxicate, excruciate, repatriate, etc., over mechanised rhythms and stabbing bass pound like the onslaught of early Godflesh.
Just as Copper Lock Hell closed on a remix, Corrosive Shroud finishes on the 'Avici - Hostage Remix' which sees the Tel Aviv based drum and bass soundman Hostage exploring the mystical chants and chaotic rhythmic confusion found at the heart of the opening cut.
What with Skullflower, Tunnels of ĀH, Wicked King Wicker and now Khost, Cold Spring seem to be home to some of the most blackened psychedelic sounds, with their roots mired in the sound of the early industrial groups. On Corrosive Shroud, Khost drive their hypnotic monolithic grind further into multi-layered and noise drenched areas. They're certainly one of the most progressive experimental metal projects and if they must be regarded as doom metal I'd like to think of them as industrial doom. Who cares though, Khost are fantastic and Corrosive Shroud represents another astounding release from this uncompromising duo. Great stuff. For more information go to Cold Spring" [Compulsion Online]
|
2015 |
€12.00 |
|
| KIVA |
same |
do-CD |
"CD 1: 11 April 1991 (Track 1): Keith Humble, piano, Jean-Charles Francois, percussion, John Silber, trombone, violin, Mary Oliver, violin, viola. 11 April 1991 (Track 2): Keith Humble, piano, Jean-Charles Francois, percussion, John Silber, trombone, violin. CD 2: June 1985 (Track 1): Keith Humble, DX7, electronics, Jean-Charles Francois, percussion, electronics, John Silber, trombone, violin, electronics. Two Poems of the Absurd & Two Poems on the Absurd (tape collage by John Silber of KIVA performances) (Track 2): Keith Humble, DX7, voice, electronics, Jean-Charles Francois, percussion, voice, electronics, John Silber, trombone, violin, voice, electronics, Mary Oliver, violin Eric Lyon, computer vocoder manipulations of John Silber's sounds.
The research-performance group KIVA was created in 1975 by the American trombonist John Silber and the French percussionist Jean-Charles François as part of a research project at the Center for Music Experiment at the University of California San Diego. During the period of its existence (1975-91) various members (often graduate students from UCSD) joined the two permanent musicians, John Silber and Jean-Charles François, to contribute to the groups artistic production. Two personalities had an important impact on the development of the KIVA aesthetical posture: the Korean dancer Hi-ah Park between 1978 and 1985, and the Australian pianist and composer Keith Humble between 1984 and 1991. The important contribution of the KIVA project to the artistic field can be defined as an emancipation of the classical performer from the role of interpreter of written music to one that involved being fully an actor of artistic creation through the direct production of sounds on instruments and related objects. This has been often characterized in the musical world as ?improvisation?. But the group would not adhere to the overtones associated with this word, implying spontaneous behavior or social interactions without specified aesthetical content. For KIVA the refusal to use any notation on paper was the occasion to access the complex and chaotic nature of sound objects. Through an everyday work in progress, the group was able to elaborate an original language constituted directly from working on sound matter. KIVA described itself as an experimental group dedicated to notationless music, mixed media, extended instrumental techniques. The group KIVA has always refused to publish its work through recordings. Every working session of KIVA was recorded on audio format, but this only constituted a tool for the reflection of its members. The real artistic object was always considered to be the contextual circumstances of a given performance, the reenactment, always different, of the working out of already elaborated sound materials. In this sense no particular instant can be regarded as constituting a work object of the KIVA experience. But the context today has changed, since two of the main important members have died (Keith Humble and John Silber), the other protagonists are getting old, and so are the few who have been fortunate to listen to KIVAs performances. The publication of a CD of selected performances of KIVA today makes sense, in that it documents an important historical moment and provides the artistic community with sonic references of this ephemeral type of work." [label info]
www.pogus.com
"Pogus keeps finding material in archives all over the world interesting music from many moons ago. Here they present a double CD by Kiva, a 'research/performance' group Kiva, which was started in 1975 by trombonist John Silber and percussionist Jean-Charles Francois, who both worked at the Center for Music Experiment at the University of California San Diego. Graduate students played along with them. Two persons became important, the Korean dancer Hi-ah Park and pianist Keith Humble. Kiva was about the 'emancipation of the classical performer from the role of interpreter of written music to one that involved being fully an actor of artistic creation through the direct production of sounds on instruments and related objects'. Yet they didn't want to call this improvised music. But I would. This is hardcore improvised music. Kiva apparently recorded everything and we get here three out of four pieces of such improvised concerts. One is supposed to have some sort of electronics, which I
somehow don't hear back in this recording, but perhaps its there. Otherwise these three pieces are explorations of trombone, percussion and piano. Not unlike AMM at times, but maybe also a bit more straightforward in their approach. Its actually quite nice altogether, but also quite a long sit through. The fourth pieces is a sound collage of Kiva playing music, set along tape manipulations of Antonin Artaud's poem 'Pour En Finir Avec le Jugement De Dieu' and vocal improvisations of Silber and Francois. An entirely different piece, even when it comes from the world of improvisation too, but it distinctly different. This is not music to just put on and do the dishes, this is something that requires ones full attention, and perhaps best had in one piece at a time." [FdW / Vital Weekly]
|
2010 |
€18.00 |
|
| KLEISTWAHR |
This World is not my Home |
CD |
"The latest album from Gary Mundy (Ramleh), who has been using this moniker since the early ‘80s to further furrow the worlds of intense electronics, harrowing psychedelia and violent or claustrophobic atmospherics he is already known for. Less prolific than Ramleh, Kleistwahr began with several cassette releases on Gary’s own much revered Broken Flag imprint and has subsequently been afforded more releases by labels such as Noise War, Noiseville and Harbinger Sound. This World Is Not My Home collects seven pieces recorded between 2013 and 2014 of mostly instrumental sprawling guitar & electronic works. Released in an edition of 300 in a Broken Flag-type sleeve. Released in August 2014." [label info]
www.fourth-dimension.net
"Obviously because of its noise based content I could leave this to Jliat for closer inspection, but instead I played it, and meanwhile took out As Loud As Possible volume 1, an excellent book/magazine (Vital Weekly 756), which contained a very in-depth survey of the catalogue of Broken Flag, the mighty power electronics label from the 80s. The label's main band was Ramleh, a duo including Gary Mundy, also label boss, who, in order to fill up the early days of the catalogue, 'invented' a group called Kleistwahr, but which effectively was his own solo project. Over time that project disappeared, but in 2009 he returned with a LP for Noiseville, which I didn't hear, but according to that article was received with mixed reception. Now there is a new CD, a thirty-seven minute, of very loud, electronic music. Apparently Mundy uses guitar and electronics in Kleistwahr these days, which was hard to tell, I thought. Everything is cranked up to something very loud, but not without detail.
Kleistwahr is noise, yes, no doubts there, but it's not of the harsh noise wall variation. This obviously no longer has the shock it had so many years ago, and might even be called conservative to some extent. Who cares about something original these days? That must be something from the past. The music, while recorded and mastered better, has more power it seems than 'back then'. With Mundy adding vocals at the end of this, it sounds like Ramleh, and that happens to be one of my favourite power electronics from the 80s (before they picked up guitars, which, in my humble opinion, they shouldn't have done. Excellent release! The cover is a very nice CD version of the old label design. Maybe there could even be a series in this, re-issues, and new works? Where do we sign up?" [FdW/Vital Weekly] |
2014 |
€13.00 |
|
|
The Return |
CD |
"Following the 2014 release of Kleistwahr’s latest album, This World Is Not My Home, also on Fourth Dimension Records, The Return is a remastered reissue of a limited edition LP originally on Noiseville Records. Both now long out of print and collectible, Gary Mundy (Ramleh, Breathless, Broken Flag, etc.) never felt completely satisfied with the Noiseville release, hence this revisit to redress the balance being more than justified. Here featuring two previously unreleased bonus cuts, ‘The Storm’ and ‘The Resounding’, the album has been digitally remastered by Gary to capture the intention originally in mind; to render the music at once powerful and dynamic in a setting where volume also plays a significant part of the sound. As with Gary’s long-running group, Ramleh, the music of Kleistwahr stems from a place both angry and anguished. Underpinned to a huge sense of existential despair, a sense of urgency and frustration likewise screams from this music. Long known for his part in creating a music subsequently known as ‘power electronics’, itself copied by hundreds of groups to lesser effect or duly seen as a wellspring of inspiration by countless others often removed from this form, along with Whitehouse and Consumer Electronics, Gary Mundy’s own forays here have always ventured far beyond such convenient trappings. Kleistwahr, his solo enterprise, pays testament to both this and, more importantly, Gary’s place as a progressive and highly accomplished visionary artist deserving far more than his status as a merely cult concern. The Return witnesses electronic music once more teased and reshaped into something highly original by one of the genre’s master craftsmen. Listen to it as loud as your ears can take. Packaged in gatefold Broken Flag-style sleeve. Released in late September 2015." [label info]
www.fourth-dimension.net
"Not only is there a killer new Ramleh double cd set on this week's list, but we also just got a first-time-on-cd edition of this, originally released on vinyl in Noiseville's awesome (and super limited) Outer Bounds Of Sound series in 2009, Kleistwahr being another project of legendary UK noise merchant Gary Mundy (Ramleh, Skullflower, Broken Flag collective) that fits nicely within the man's legacy of harsh electronic noise. Anyone digging Skullflower's more recent forays into blown out guitar skree (and we know there are plenty of you out there) will find much to love here. The four songs making up The Return contain all the air raid siren guitars and eardrum pulverizing feedback we have come to love, but things take a surprisingly beautiful turn on what was side two of the original lp, with warm droney keyboards weaving a haunting melody that perfectly compliments the album cover, a stark photocopied image of a building foundation sitting exposed in the snow surrounded by dead trees. Though the songs are instrumental, Mundy is able to perfectly convey a feeling of despondency and sadness, genuine emotions that definitely set Kleistwahr apart from the multitudes of floorcore outfits, all hunkered over effects pedals making lots of noise, but very little of it as compelling and emotionally charged as this." [Aquarius Rec.]
|
2015 |
€13.00 |
|
|
Common Values |
CD |
"Since 2014 Gary Mundy of Ramleh and Breathless has been releasing most of his solo work through Fourth Dimension Records. Common Values is his seventh such album for the label (not including a reissue of 2009’s The Return album, originally released on vinyl by USA’s long gone by legendary Noiseville, and the LP reissues of the Broken Flag albums Mobility and Do Not also shipping in October 2022) and gathers another six mighty cuts that on one hand continue his penchant for exploring more serrated sonic landscapes and, on the other, keep those in check with a tempered approach to atmospherics that this time round is widened further by almost kosmische-like curdled organ playing,, electronic swirl, psychedelic guitar mainlined from one of Saturn’s outer rings, and occasional haunting yet despairing vocals that are more pronounced than ever before. Common Values is a title itself that simultaneously commands empathy as well as a wry nod towards the irony at work. If anything serves as a common thread in all of Gary’s work then it’s not only in his love of stratospheric sounds, but also this deep sense of anguish due to hoping things will improve whilst knowing that humanity is its own worst enemy. It’s this quality that binds his music together and is laid barest in Kleistwahr. Common Values sounds both like a basic recognition of a quality most individuals are possessed with whilst they tear each other apart because of perceived differences or a disagreement over fundamental truths. If Kleistwahr tread any line, then it’s right here. Common Values might well be illuminating this more than ever.
This is the thirteenth Kleistwahr album since 1983's Myth (reissued as a limited edition LP by Harbinger Sound in 2011).
Packaged as usual in gatefold-LP style sleeve in a characteristic Broken Flag design once again featuring fantastic photos by Chris Low, this album appeared in late October 2022 and is shipping now. 300 only."
https://fourthdimensionrecords.bigcartel.com/
"Gary Mundy might be best known as the man behind Ramleh (well, to the readers of these pages), but Ramleh is a group (I may have used this opening line
before). Kleistwahr is his solo project, and after a short period of activity in the 80s, releasing four cassettes (all re-issued on vinyl), he started again in 2010, and it's now the work he's most active with. His current Kleistwahr doesn't sound like the old incarnation, which was noisy and collage-like. The current Kleistwahr is noisy too, but a different kind of noise. Mundy uses a guitar, organ, synthesizers, and a plethora of sound effects and creates a multi-layered, orchestral sound. No doubt there is new technology available these days that allows him to use multiple layers in the music. As I noted before, Kleistwahr's music is not here to cheer anyone up. It is dark and grim, as opposed to dark and pleasantly atmospheric. The soundtrack for harsh times, and luckily (?) we have plenty of those these days. I wonder what the 'Common Values' are, according to Mundy. The titles of the pieces are puzzling, anyway. There is 'Time To Realise', 'Heaven Maybe Never', 'Toward A New
Land' or 'In Blood Covered Land', all of which don't provide clues but leave much to guess (and, yes, it sounds grim) Kleistwahr's music is not piercingly loud, but somehow pierces right into your brain. When vocals are used, they sound far away, like a cry for help or a howl of pain. Maybe the voice is that one thing that sounds like Ramleh. The harpsichord sound I heard before (Vital Weekly 1271) returns here and has that haunted house, shivers down the spine sound. The title track is the longest, and following the loudest start, the volume drops, and Kleistwahr is off to a collage of voices and suppressed sounds and is more a collage piece, as opposed to the others, which are layered and psychedelic noise pieces. An excellent album all around, and Kleistwahr goes from strength to strength." [FdW / Vital Weekly]
|
2022 |
€13.00 |
|
|
Mobility |
LP (single-sided) |
Limited edition reissue of this cassette originally released in 1983 on Broken Flag, gathering five untitled solo pieces by Gary Mundy of Ramleh in full on early power electronics mode, firmly illustrating his place as one of the innovators of this genre yet likewise pushing this confrontational avant-garde sensibility somewhere entirely new. It is a sound that Kleistwahr has continued to explore and add new dimensions to ever since, but never completely untangles itself from this particular root. Raw and seemingly unrestrained, these pieces present a robust, white-hot sonic meltdown up there with the very best from this ultimately fertile period for music from the basement. They last around 17 minutes in total.
This release is packaged similarly to the vinyl reissues of the first two full-length Kleistwahr albums released by Harbinger Sound in 2011, 'Arsonicide' and 'Myth'. It is also being released the same time as the 'Do Not' reissue originally released on cassette in 1986.
##############
"Limited edition reissue of an ultra-rare Broken Flag cassette (BF27), by Gary Mundy of Ramleh's longstanding solo endeavour, originally released in 1983. Unavailable for over 30 years, this is a must-have record by all those with an interest in Ramleh and their offshoots, the Broken Flag archives or, more broadly, anything from this fertile period in noise / avant--garde music from the basement. Ltd x 300 copies with insert. Mastered by Sion Orgon. Artwork by Gary Mundy and Puppy38."
|
2022 |
€14.00 |
|
| |
For the Lives Once Lived |
CD |
"Several years ago, Gary Mundy of Ramleh/Broken Flag (and far more besides) declared to me that he wished to do one new Kleistwahr album every year until he's no longer able to do them. Fourth Dimension Records has subsequently fulfilled a promise to honor this plan as much as possible and is managing to keep up so far. How Gary manages to keep pulling new ideas out of the proverbial hat at this rate is anybody's guess, but the latest album, For the Lives Once Lived illustrates very clearly that the wellspring he draws from has far from dried up. If you have been paying attention to the albums that have been released by Fourth Dimension Records during recent years, you should understand that his solo music has retained the molten intensity it has always been propelled by since Kleistwahr was founded in the early 1980s. While the work occasionally seems as though it draws from the same dusty religious setting as some of Messiaen's wonderful organ compositions, there's still an all-encompassing blanket of ravaged psychedelia firmly laced with blood-flecked barbs to help counter this. When Kleistwahr's music seems poised to elevate the atmospheric gestures towards the sublime and elegiac, there's always a gaping maw lined with razor-edged teeth lurking nearby to help keep all those lofty hopes and expectations from getting above themselves. For the Lives Once Lived may also surprise many with its opening song, "Rotten Boroughs," which both stands out from the rest of the album yet makes sense as part of it. This is another fantastic album from the unstoppable force that is Gary Mundy's Kleistwahr. Long may it continue. For the Lives Once Lived appears packaged in a Broken Flag-style sleeve featuring photos by Chris Low, design by Puppy38, and mastering by Sion Orgon."
https://garymundykleistwahr.bandcamp.com/album/for-the-lives-once-lived
|
2023 |
€13.00 |
|
| KLINE, PHIL |
Around the World in a Daze |
2 x DVD-A |
Ausschweifender & hochgelobter neuer Release von PHIL KLINE, den wir bisher nur von der sehr schönen "Glow in the Dark" CD kannten (1998). Dabei ist er in den Staaten sehr bekannt, hat in frühen 80ern eine Band mit JIM JARMUSCH gehabt, war Bestandteil des GLENN BRANCA.Orchesters, und hat als Klangkünstler in diversen Galerien Klang-Installationen "ausgestellt"... AROUND THE WORLD IN A DAZE wurde speziell für "surround sound" aufgenommen und zeigt auf 10 Stücken eine grosse Variabilität, verbindet Komponiertes mit "gefundenen" Quellen, meist geht es um minimale konzeptuelle Arrangements basierend auf vokalem, elektronischem und kammermusikalischem Material; von harmonischen, fast kitschigen Melodien bis hin zu übereinandergeschichten Tape-Flächen und obskuren Field Recordings, z.B. eine Aufnahme aus Afrika von Tausenden Graupapageien die mit seinem dronigen "tape choir" verbunden werden, und ein echtes "Madrigal" gibt es auch zu hören.
Auf der zweiten DVD ist dann Film-Material: MEDITATION (8+ min), ein Film / Musik-Clip mit PHIL KLINE, ein 35minütiges Interview mit ihm und einige Fotos. Kommt in einer übergrossen Doppel-DVD Hülle, mit ausführlichem Booklet.
"Leading new-music composer Phil Kline debuts a major work on this new surround sound DVD. Heard here for the first time, this 65-minute studio composition was commissioned by Starkland to premiere on this high-resolution surround-sound DVD. Daze is Kline's longest work and biggest commission to date. Daze is also likely the largest work so far commissioned for a high-resolution surround-sound recording. Performers include the uber-cool Ethel string quartet and violin virtuoso Todd Reynolds. Surround-sound tracks place listeners inside wondrous boombox choirs, an ethereal Ethel string quartet, a weird madrigal, hyper-dense bells (hundreds of thousands at one point), richly mournful multi-tracked vocals, soaring violinistics, and an immersive environment of 15,000 African gray parrots. The release also offers a second Extras DVD with a composer-produced music video and a 30-minute interview with Kline and John Schaefer. The custom 5"x10" digipak includes a 24-page booklet. The two DVDs contain a total content of 110 minutes. This release follows Starkland's groundbreaking surround-sound Immersion DVD, now recognized as the first commissioned high-resolution surround-sound recording. Immersion won praise from Sound & Vision, Stereophile, Billboard, etc. and was the #1 best-selling DVD-Audio at Amazon for nearly a year. The main disc offers Daze in several formats for various home playback setups: the standard Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround, DTS 5.1, and high-resolution audiophile DVD-Audio, as well as a stereo version. Playback of the Daze music is accompanied by over 80 images shot by Kline."
[label description]
www.starkland.com
"..From the title you may deduce that space is a keyword in this production. Recordings for this project were done all over the world. But besides Kline is very interested in the spacial aspects of music and sound. He played with these aspects by using whole sets of boomboxes for the recording of most tracks. Besides this main interest, other musical items led him by constructing ten very different works. The lengthiest piece 'Pennies from Heaven' is the one I liked most. Because of the sound and because of the structure of the piece. The same descending scale is repeated and repeated again, transposed and multiplied, etc. The constant downward movement is very imaginative and brings about a meditative state. Also the opening piece 'The Housatonic at Henry Street' fascinates because of its multilayered and detailed soundspectrum. Other pieces use the human voice as the most important material, like 'The Wailing Wall' resurrected by the voice of Kline himself. Two other pieces have the violin in the center: 'Svarga yatra' and 'Grand Etude for the Elevation'. The beautiful concluding piece is built from field recordings done in Central Africa. Tracks differ also because for the different structuring principles that are used. But as said the pieces impress above all because of their soundqualities and spatial characteristics. Each piece is accompanied by its own series of photos. Nice photos often. From urban environments, to nature, etc, etc. But I didn't need them for enjoying the music, nor the other way around. And I couldn't bridge them in my imagination. While listening I felt a bit 'imprisoned' by looking at the same time at the pictures. Well, this also a spatial effect I guess. The second dvd has an extensive interview with Kline commenting on each piece. This gives a good insight in what Kline had in mind. Congratulations for Starkland for releasing this extraordinary and well-documented release." [DM, Vital Weekly]
|
2009 |
€16.50 |
|
| KLOOB |
Parallel States |
CD |
A welcome return to Winter-Light for Kloob with new work 'Parallel States'; his third solo album on our label.
‘Drifting helplessly in unchartered space. Gripped by fear and an inherent dread; the mind becomes wracked with feverish blurred visions. Intermittently slipping in to dreamlike sequences, spliced with harsh realities and the surreal. A sudden pulse courses throughout the body, triggering a magnificent view of the quantum limits. At once comprehending and understanding even the most intricate of macrocosmic notions.
Once the whole structure of mind, body and soul has undergone significant changes, the known boundaries of existence cease to impose such limitations.’
Ethereal soundscapes, deep-low drones, subtle-faint dub chords and gloomy atmospheres slowly slide in to assemble nebulous structures.
https://winter-light.bandcamp.com/album/parallel-states
|
2021 |
€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 |
|
| KNIZAK, MILAN |
Broken Music |
LP |
"Black vinyl in a gatefold sleeve.
Original design + extra text.
Milan Knizak 1979's masterpiece never re-released before.
Milan Knizak (born 19 April 1940) is a Czech performance artist, sculptor, musician, installation artist, dissident, graphic artist, art theorist and pedagogue of art. Before everyone else - Christian Marclay, Philip Jeck, eRikm, Martin Tétreault, Otomo Yoshihide - there was Milan Knizak. In 1964, Milan Knizak, a member of Fluxus from behind the Iron Curtain, sat down on a sidewalk near the Charles Bridge in Prague, laid down a paper carpet right into the street, and starts tearing pages out of books and burning them... Around the same time, he began to create music from defective, worn, damaged or broken LP's. These Broken Music compositions, his classic collages of noises created during performances and happenings, are widely regarded as important sound art documents on record." [label info]
www.subrosa.net
"We had a cd reissue of this years and years ago, that's long out of print, but now here's a nice vinyl reissue of this pioneering 'turntablist' experiment from the '60s...
The Czech artist Milan Knizak began his art career without much success, getting himself thrown out of Pedagogic Uni Prague, Preliminary Art School Prague, and Art Academy Prague in quick succession. But during the mid '60s, Knizak affiliated himself with Fluxus and began experimenting with turntables, tape recorders, and the surfaces of vinyl in order to make a 'broken music,' predating the damaged turntable 'n' vinyl experiments of Christian Marclay by almost two decades! Originally he would just slow down and speed up his records to change to quality of the intrinsic music. But by 1965, he started to scratch the records, punch holes in them, sticking tape to the surfaces, dumping paint over whole record, burning them, literally cutting the records apart and gluing them back together. These would then be played on his turntable, and inevitably destroy the needle and often wreck the turntable itself! The collages that Knizak arrived at are nerve-wracking clattering works in which snippets of the original would emerge amidst erratic skips and asynchronous warbling. Certainly for those adventurous fans of Philip Jeck, "Metal Machine Music," and Marclay." [Aquarius Rec.]
|
2015 |
€16.00 |
|
| |
Broken Music |
CD |
"Milan Knizak 1979's masterpiece never re-released before.
Milan Knizak (born 19 April 1940) is a Czech performance artist, sculptor, musician, installation artist, dissident, graphic artist, art theorist and pedagogue of art. Before everyone else - Christian Marclay, Philip Jeck, eRikm, Martin Tétreault, Otomo Yoshihide - there was Milan Knizak. In 1964, Milan Knizak, a member of Fluxus from behind the Iron Curtain, sat down on a sidewalk near the Charles Bridge in Prague, laid down a paper carpet right into the street, and starts tearing pages out of books and burning them... Around the same time, he began to create music from defective, worn, damaged or broken LP's. These Broken Music compositions, his classic collages of noises created during performances and happenings, are widely regarded as important sound art documents on record." [label info]
www.subrosa.net |
2015 |
€13.00 |
|
| KODAMA (HITOSHI KOJO & MICHAEL NORTHAM) |
Turning Leaf Migrations |
LP |
Nach der limitierten CDR auf HITOSHI KOJO Label OCTPIA ("Les Chambres Nuages", 2005) die erste Veröffentlichung des Duos (mit MICHAEL NORTHAM) in grösserer Auflage. Auf dieser LP schaffen sie mit Hilfe von Objekt-Klängen, rituell wirkenden Gesängen, traditionellen Instrumenten & Field Recordings sehr "konkrete" und doch oft fliessende, höchst ungewöhnliche psychedelische Geräuschmusik, deren Komplexität oft kaum durchschaubar ist - diese Überforderung eröffnet aber die Möglichkeit sich über die Ratio hinwegzusetzen und sich ganz den sich stets verändernden Strukturen hinzugeben.. .. die Aufnahmen stammen von verschiedensten (Aussen)-Orten, das "Studio" ist die Natur, die Psychogeographie als "nicht hörbarer" und doch erfassbarer Faktor spielt hier eine grosse Rolle. Einzigartige Transformationsmusik !
"Kodama is the ongoing recording project of two well-known visual and sound artists -- Hitoshi Kojo and Michael Northam -- and this is their first widely available release as a duo. Recorded in various improbable locations whenever they crossed paths over the course of several years and then finally edited and assembled in a cluttered garage in the west side of Indianapolis. There is a decidedly more improvisational feel and crisp psychedelic aura to these recordings when compared to their other work and one can hear the influence of Ghedalia Tazartes in how the various recordings were stitched together. To quote Hitoshi Kojo: 'We are the spirit of forest. Our howling has been offered to the many goddesses of the valleys. Teething our emptiness they, licking the stars, until white holes appear in our sky through them towards regenerative guides of the tonal-morphic omni-verses. Using found objects to seduce voices from unlikely sources as well as traditional instruments of wind, wires and wood. Kodama weaves between emotional poetry and dynamic forces of noises. The recordings have a strong atmosphere of each location -- the top of a mountain in Switzerland, a campground in Ohio, Lofoten Island in Norway, the arctic circle in Finland, Niagara Falls, etc. It includes a lot of the dirts of the raw recordings, but also incredibly beautiful moments such as the session with an owl in a Slovenian forest, an alpine summit singing meditation under the vast galaxy, and an encounter with the small people through strange ritual...' - HK. Limited pressing of 500 copies. Covers & insert printed on 2-color offset press with illustrations and design by Hitoshi Kojo." [label info]
"... All captured mainly outside, like the top of a mountain, a campground or the Lofoten Island. In terms of music I guess this is the best record of the lot, most thoughout and musically engaging. A refined mixture of ritual music (without those magickal overtones), drone, microsound and field recordings, all done in an unique way." [FdW / Vital Weekly]
|
2008 |
€18.00 |
|
| KOJO, HITOSHI |
Lux Ova |
MC |
" "Lux Ova" is a compilation album of my old recordings in the middle 90's before my first release "To Fill Up All The Coeloms By Radiance" in 1998 (re-released as "Sacrifice + Phosphorus" under "Spiracle" pseudonym in 2000).
"To Fill Up All The Coeloms By Radiance" was made with a particular theme 'catastrophe sound action' and 'initiation' in relatively a short period in 1997.
However I had remembered that a lot of other solo recordings had been blindly made mostly on cassette tapes between a so-called band period until 1995 and the "sound action" period in 1997.
While digging up the mass of cassette tapes, I had discovered some blindly therefore free and honest recordings that contained fertile texture like a origin of the sea, and few of them already sounded like later works as Spiracle.
I gathered them first, and treated on a computer to unify the utterly disconnected feelings of each recording, then compiled them to an album, and brought them back to a cassette tape again for the release.
The original sounds seem to be produced by acoustic instruments and organic materials such as voices, flutes, guitars, metals, ceramics, wind, water. However they were all melted into a mass of textures and tones through various effectors, and had simmered in samplers and a multi track tape recorder until they became bright coloured thick fractal soup.
The artwork in the folded insert was taken from colour pencil drawings ‘birth of stars’ and ‘medium’ that had been also blindly made between 1998 and 1999." [label info]
www.omnimemento.com
|
2010 |
€9.50 |
|
| KOLACKI, RAFAL |
Hijra. Noise from the Jungle |
CD |
"The new album by Rafał Kołacki entitled “Hijra. Noise from the Jungle” contains field recordings made during a trip to the temporary refugee camp called The Jungle in Calais, France. There lives about 4 000 immigrants where on a relatively small area various nations coexist creating an eclectic, unique sound culture. The album is a recording of music events, it is a kind of a subjective archive of an ethnomusical trip . Above all, it is full of emotions and feelings of people for whom creating art, music is very often the only form of recovering from homesickness.
The album is released in a 3-panel ecopak in a strictly limited edition of 300 copies. The cover is designed by Mirt (rozpad.com). It is mastered by Marcin Dymiter." [label info]
www.zoharum.com
|
2016 |
€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 |
|
| KONKETE ANTI WULST |
Unsichtbare Zwillinge |
CD-R |
"Surrealist collage is the name of the game that Glenn Hollstein and Holger Bischoff play, both in their cover art as well as in the 45-minute sound piece it enfolds. Church organs criss-cross with voices from faraway, sounds of unidentifiable objects and strange, disembodied frequencies. A labyrinthine, slightly halluzinogenic sound trip.
The attraction of this work is in the way that it combines concrete sounds in ways that make them unfamiliar, draining the referential from it not by processing, but by combining them with other sounds. So it is totally clear that one is hearing human voices, but it is impossible to make out in which language they are speaking. Likewise, hardly any other instrument or sound-source is really recognisable, although none of them are clearly of synthetic origin. An intriguing sound puzzle!
File under: Sound art"
[label info]
www.attenuationcircuit.de
"Yes, it's really Konkete and not Konkrete Anti Wulst and it is a duo of Glenn Hollstein and Holger Bischoff, who have this sort of surrealist action in their music and art. I didn't hear from them before. Their credits go out to 'instruments, voice' and 'instruments, objects, tapes, voice'. Surrealist + music and I always think of Nurse With Wound with such a combination. That is only partly true in this case, as this duo operates on a much louder, noisier level. There is one piece here, forty-five minutes, of noise that is created with all electronics, all voices and all objects being treated with a chilling amount of reverb. In a way, to make a Nurse With Wound connection, I am reminded here of the '150 Murderous Passions' record, the Nurse With Wound/Whitehouse record (never properly re-issued). Maybe a bit less loud here, but with a similar approach to a wall of feedback/sound and far away voice material, as well as the rumbling of acoustic objects in the basement. It works best when the voices are a bit better to hear and it's less muddy, towards the end more than in the early parts of this piece. A very consistent piece of music for sure, perhaps not entirely new or innovative, but actually quite enjoyable. A grey rainy summer's day gets the perfect soundtrack!" [FdW/Vital Weekly]
|
2014 |
€7.00 |
|
| KONTAKT DER JÜNGLINGE |
0 (live Rostock, MS Stubnitz, 10.02.2001) |
CD |
"The second installment of the ongoing Asmus Tietchens and Thomas Koner project.
It's a bit puzzling why there is a '0' on the cover as the recording dates after the first CD that was released (and which had '1' on the cover). The series of which this is part are all live recordings and this one was made at the MS Stubnitz, the well-known boat that usually harbors in Rostock, Germany. If one is familiar with this boat, one knows the steel inside where the artists play their music. Somehow I feel that the interior of this boat is reflected by the music. Starting out for the first 15 or so minutes with what sounds like an engine roar and followed by water as metallic sounds, or metallic sounds that sound like water. Submarine sounds, kinda like the 'Skagarak' LP by Werkbund, ages ago (when we believed that Asmus was a member). More austere then the previous recording by Kontakt Der Junglinge, more dark too. It sounds more like a try out concert, in which the refinement is not entirely present. However it's still a fine disc of sound processing for a relatively simple set of sounds. You can't go wrong with these German meisters..." [FdW / Vital Weekly]
|
2001 |
€14.00 |
|
| |
Makrophonie 1 |
CD |
"The first album by Kontakt der Jünglinge since the release of their CD n (DS63) on Die Stadt back in 2003, »Makrophonie 1« is also their very first studio album. It's the result of various scores which were developed before and during miscellaneous live performances. These worked out structures were then taken to the studio, where they were concentrated and received their final finish. »Makrophonie 1« can be described as KDJ music in highly-concentrated form.
The album was recorded at Audiplex Studios, Hamburg in 2013 and produced by Okko Bekker.
Limited edition of 500 copies in Digipack cover." [label info]
www.diestadtmusik.de
"It has been quiet for some years for Kontakt der Jünglinge, the duo of Thomas Köner and Asmus Tietchens. But after a bit of music on a compilation CD in 2007 it was all silent, and their main bulk of releases was already from 2001-2003. I don't assume there has been a band fight, but as these things go: people meet up, do something and do something with much interest for a while, but then get torn apart for whatever reason, usually other work somewhere else. I am sure that's what happened here, as nor herr Tietchens, nor herr Köner are persons to put up a band fight. Two of gentlest, kindest Germans I know. And two of the best in their respective fields. Closely linked perhaps, but also a bit different. Tietchens is the man who brings out musique concrete into the field of the unacademic composers, self-trained, and explorer of the terra incognita of the studio. It can take many forms. Köner does the same but much of his work is more spaced out, more drone like; the arch
father of Isolationist music - to some. Their duo is named after a pun on two works of Karlheinz Stockhausen, and so is the title of their latest work, 'Makrophonie 1'. That may all seem rather playful, but the music isn't that playful, and actually more serious. These thirty-seven minutes are filled by the darkest of drones, but not 'long fade in, and stay there for a long time, short fade out' (the cigar shape, as some one once noted), but we are transported through various moods and textures, ranging from the very soft, and not so outspoken ones, to the more louder passages of unearthy low drone sounds (Köner) and high clicks and beeps (Tietchens). At one point, around twenty-five minutes, I had the impression that this was live recording, as the feedback beeps that sound here are of a varying length and interval. Maybe it's intentional, I am not sure - the press text says this is a studio recording. They don't seem to be men who who make 'mistakes'. The balance moves like a ticking clock between these two opposites, the dark drone rumble of Köner and the more precise tinkling sounds of Tietchens, best exampled at the very end of this release. A work of powerful beauty of a very dark nature. Soundtrack music which is no need of a movie. I think it's a great work, but I am the first to admit I'm very biased. Recently I was going through lots and lots of CDs I have, and I decided to keep all of Tietchens works, including the previous releases by Kontakt der Jünglinge, and that means something to me. Not a single release I didn't like, and I can proudly add 'Makrophone 1' to my collection. As dark as the cover it comes in, but what a beauty." [FdW / Vital Weekly]
|
2014 |
€14.00 |
|
| KORBER, THOMAS / RALF WEHOWSKY |
Walküren am Dornenbaum |
CD |
"This three year-long collaboration begun in 2006 when Korber and Wehowsky embarked on intense recording sessions in Eggenstein, where the latter resides, lasting several days. The output from these sessions forms the basis of this work, augmented by additional field recordings and various electronic manipulations. Korber and Wehowsky used the same software which allowed them to exchange the pieces at any stage of the compositional process, so that every detail of the music could be shaped in a truly collaborative manner. The result obliterates the borders between improvisation and composition, spontaneity and careful planning. Tomas Korber (Zurich, 1979) received a basic training in clarinet and music theory alongside guitar lessons. He discontinued these studies after five years, shortly thereafter teaching himself to play electric guitar and use the computer and other electronic devices for music making. Korber has written compositions and played improvised music since the early 1990s. He is a prolific solo artist and performer; his work includes film scores and music for dance and theatre, as well as numerous collaborations. In 2009 he was awarded an artist residency in New York City by the Department of Cultural Affairs of the City of Zurich. Ralf Wehowsky founded the group P.D. (later renamed P16.D4) in 1981 and the label Wahrnehmungen in 1980, which was renamed Selektion in 1982. P16.D4 was a highly influential and experimental group. Their concept of materialaustausch (material exchange) was developed long before the term Ôremix' was coined. They performed at punk and No Wave festivals as well as at the bastions of academic avant garde such as Ferientage Neuer Musik in Darmstadt. In the early 1990s Wehowsky adopted his RLW moniker. His quiet, highly complex style of composition is based on artifacts of instrumental and electronic lateral noises. First edition of 300 copies." [label info]
www.entracte.co.uk
"Nur mit einigen Schwierigkeiten konnte ich diese laminierte Musik aus ihrer Verschweißung pulen. Aber wer würde bei dem Titel erwarten, dass einem da etwas leicht gemacht werden soll? Der Zürcher Bruitist ist durch Releases auf Cut und For4Ears, mit Mersault und dem Signal Quintet, ein seit 2003 wiederkehrender Name in der Noise Culture. Aka RLW reitet bereits seit 1980 ohne Furcht und Tadel auf den steinigen, dornigen Pfaden der Musique concrète und der experimentellen Klanggestaltung. Wobei ich immer schon lieber Spiel als Experiment dazu gesagt habe. Was die beiden da miteinander spielen, zielt, durch die Anweisung PLAY LOUD! forciert, auf das Hör-, nicht auf das Sprachzentrum. Wie es also in Worte fassen? Vinylglissandos und entsprechend verzerrte Samples, manchmal wie von gurgelnden Stimmen, mischen sich mit sirrendem Bohren, rau holpernden, rauschenden Verschleifungen, granularer Körnigkeit, zittrigem Mikrobeben, zischendem Brausen, streuenden Pixeln, aufwallendem und verhallendem Gedröhn zu durchwegs plastischen Eindrücken. ‚Leben in roter Landschaft‘ könnte auch ein Informel- Gemälde heißen, von Schumacher oder Tàpies. Die Ohren tasten über wulstige, körnige, löchrige Oberflächen, voller Grus und mit splittrigen, strohigen Einschlüssen. Als wären das Braillezeilen für brobdignagsche Fingerkuppen, oder eben Vinylauslaufrillen im Riesenformat. ‚Abstieg der Geisterseher‘ fiept zage, plinkt und flattert dazu drahtig. Tropfen hageln und prasseln, aus Liliputperspektive wird diese Perkussion zum katastrophalen Steinschlag. Zuletzt prasselt und knurscht noch einmal eine rote Landschaft, mit Effekten, als würde ein Tonband rückwärts gespult. Das ist nicht der Stoff, aus dem die Träume sind, sondern Reibungsflächen und Strahlungsimpulse des Materiellen." [Rigobert Dittmann, Bad Alchemy]
|
2010 |
€13.00 |
|
| KOUW, MATTHIJS |
The Great Image has no Form |
CD |
“The structure being so large, in order for an impression leading towards a possible overview, the participant, of necessity must encounter the limits of what they are able to hold in front of themselves. In doing so, a sort of ’stretching’ must take place, and with it, a kind of ‘friction’, which provides the energy necessary for Work, on a small scale.” - Andrew McKenzie
On this album, Matthijs Kouw presents pensive and melancholic drone-driven music driven by his long-time interest in Daoism and inspired by his visit to the Wudang mountains in China in 2007, where he studied Chinese meditation and martial arts.
Much like the Chinese landscape painting that provides the artwork for this release, the drones on The Great Image Has No Form slowly coalesce, evolve, and morph into metastable structures that linger on, only to slowly evaporate and dissolve into the undifferentiated.
Daoism teaches us that the foundational cannot be named and identified, but rather has to be experienced firsthand. This album is an invitation to the listener to dwell in this space of the unnamable and the mysterious, and to embrace it wholeheartedly.
https://escrec.bandcamp.com/album/the-great-image-has-no-form
--
Review by Peter van Cooten in Ambientblog:
Esc.rec. is a Dutch boutique label and platform for ‘adventurous music’. Its output is diverse, often with a strong relation to art projects, and – indeed – the best way to describe it is ‘adventurous’. Though some of their releases could be defined as ambient music, most are more ‘adventurous’ (duh) than that – ‘experimental’ is a better description. Which is why you’ll only find a small fragment of their output mentioned here. Which obviously does nót mean the other releases are not worth checking out too!
Matthijs Kouw‘s The Great Image Has No Form may very well be their most minimal ambient release to date. Kouw is a Dutch experimental musician ‘exploring the relationship between movement and stasis – combining long-form drone with elements from acousmatic music, noise and microsound’. He does so on his solo work (often as MVK), but he also explores extreme minimalist drones in collaboration with Radboud Mens.
The Great Image Has No Form was inspired by Kouw‘s visit to the Wudang Mountains in China in 2007, where he studied Chinese meditation and martial arts as a result of his long-time interest in Daoism. “Daoism teaches us that the foundational cannot be named and identified, but rather has to be experienced firsthand”. This is perfectly captured by the five pieces on this album, ranging between 5 and 17 minutes, dwelling in the unnamed space of complex drones – the kind of sounds for which you need a certain detached state of mind to fully appreciate them.
It is ‘minimalist’ music, but these are nót minimalist drones: there’s a lot happening in the deceptively static sound field which is constantly moving and shifting. “The drones slowly coalesce, evolve, and morph into metastable structures that linger on, only to slowly evaporate and dissolve into the undifferentiated.”
The album comes in a stunningly beautiful foldout sleeve with artwork by Xia Gui, a Chinese landscape painter of the Song Dynasty who lived from 1195-1224. The beauty of this image is somewhat contradictory to the album title… The Tao that can be named is not the real Tao. Interesting enough to reflect upon while listening to Matthijs Kouw‘s sonification of the principles of Daoism.
https://clinamen.bandcamp.com/album/the-great-image-has-no-form |
2019 |
€14.00 |
|
| 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 |
|
| KOWALSKY, GREGG |
Tape Chants |
CD |
"From GREGG KOWALSKY: “After my first album for Kranky, I was eager to adapt a new method of composing and performing as a way to distance myself from the digital realm. I felt limited by the unlimited possibilities of digital production, and I had spent the previous 5 years composing with the computer as my main instrument. In an effort to push myself I spent two years experimenting with tape loops, cassette players and recorders, analog synths, sine oscillators, mixer feedback, contact mics and various acoustic sound sources. Through these experiments I developed a series entitled Tape Chants, which is made up of performances and compositions using tapes as the main source material, as well as the mono speakers of various cassette players for the piece’s amplification. All of the cassettes are tuned to each other using the pitch control and halfspeed playback devices located on the Sony TCM 200DV cassette recorder. All of the compositions are constructed with tuned sinewaves as the starting point and the pieces are built using sources such as shruti box, percussion, gongs, etc. During the construction of the studio version of Tape Chants, I was interested in adding rhythmic textures to the once static drone compositions. The recorded version of Tape Chants does not try to replicate the surround sound component of the live performances, but there is a variety of different acoustic spaces located in the source material. Many of the same cassettes that were used in the several editions of the series were used to record this album." [label info]
www.brainwashed.com/kranky
|
2009 |
€14.50 |
|
| KRAKEN |
Amore |
do-CD |
Nach FÖRLISA ein Doppelalbum des belgischen Duos, die wieder die dunkle Seite der Musik und des Lebens an sich ausloten, dabei aber zwei sehr gegensätzliche CDs vorlegen... auf der einen klingt das sehr minimal & elektronisch mit dunklen Flächen & hallenden Industrieanlagengeräuschen, wo später medizinische-kalte Spracheingaben auftauchen und die Spannungskurve allmählich geschickt nach oben wandert; auf der anderen gibt es mehr field recordings, strange Sprachbearbeitungen und Einspielungen und dunke Pulsationen & Beats & Bläser-Echos, die sich mit dunklen Klangmassen verbinden.....äusserst sorgfältig wurden hier Sounds ausgesucht und Stücke zusammengesetzt.... dark ambient der explorativen Sorte !
"...Amore" is a recording full of contrasts. The first CD requires an active attention span to fully appreciate the artistry involved. Although steeped in black ambience and drones the occasional slight experimental feel could be off putting for lesser souls. Whilst the second CD is more easily accessible to those into the darker side of music and life. All in all though the release is deceptively awe inspiring and is different enough to be a viable purchase for ambient / drone collectors.” [AuralPressure]
“With almost two hours of deeply absorbing soundscapes, latest album by Belgian project Kraken delivers an experience of abstraction similar to the aforementioned experience at the movie theatre. The album titled "Amore" first of all operates in the spheres of dark ambient built on low frequency drones, deep rumbling horns and mixtures of concrete and artificial sounds. The music is subtle and dreamy thanks to the drones of hypnotism and the distantly echoed voices as well as a clever use of field recordings. Even with the occurrence of the great amount of samples from real life accompanying you as you float through the tunnels of eerie ambientscapes the atmosphere on the album first of all delivers a sense of isolationism. Imagine the impression of being conscious enough to sense the dialogues of the surgical team as you lay on the operating table: The voices surround you, but they sound distant and you are not part of the dialogue. First CD has been divided into five works of art meanwhile second disc only consists of two tracks: Where the first track runs approx. 70 minutes, the closing track with its short duration of 49 seconds, first of all functions as a transformation between the sonic darkness of "Amore" and the outside world. Built on beautifully processed harpsichords the track, titled "de hoorn in je hoed", lightens up the atmosphere before the listener soon once again will have to face the real world. Despite the title there is absolutely no sign of romanticism on this remarkable exploration into the dark lands of Kraken.” [NMP / Vital Weekly]
www.spectre.be |
2005 |
€16.00 |
|
|
Chagrin |
CD |
Das belgische Duo mit dem vierten Album! Aggressiver und noisig-unterkühlter als die Vorgängeralben besticht "Chagrin" durch bedrohliche Stimmeinspielungen und einer unheimlichen 'Präsenz des Fremdartigen', die sich auch in den vielen nervenzerrenden Soundeffekten wiederspiegelt. Zum Ende hin gewinnt das Album an ritueller und dunkel-melancholischer Prägnanz...
"Just like on Amore all titles on their fourth CD Chagrin are in Dutch. Strange titles which present an insight in the (obviously) very sick mind of the Kraken. Floating dogs, Fear of meat and Your sister and the wrong leg are just a few examples of the mindsetting of this album.
Soundwise Chagrin can best be described as isolationist music, but with the remark that Kraken is a duo. You would expect true isolationism to be written by a single performer and because of this, the CD has so much more to offer. Deep droning sound layers, inaudible or at best incomprehensible lyrics, noisey ambience, field- recordings of an unknown origin and even a few rhythms. The Kraken might well be the Belgian Cthulu in disguise. Who knows ? After all, there are tentacles involved ..." [label info]
|
2006 |
€9.50 |
|
| |
Drift |
CD |
"Trilogies always come in three parts, that is why they're called trilogies. And just like the latest two Kraken releases, the new album 'Drift' also comes in a minimal designed black and white cardboard cover. Which brings us to the conclusion that together with 'Amore' and 'Chagrin', the Kraken trilogy on Spectre has been completed.
Amongst the multiple meanings of the Dutch 'Drift' there is 'Temper' and 'Impulse' which are the emotional layers on this CD, but it also reflects to a ship being uncontrolable. As all tracks are related to oceans and oceanlife (amongst them are 'Fighting with cachalot', 'Whalebones are not umbrella's' and 'Sushi is murder') we can see what upsets Kraken . And the music fits their anger perfectly; A layering of dark ambience and deep opressive drones, spoken word in various languages and a pinch of noise.
Three emotions were Kraken's guideline while writing the trilogy and 'Drift' definitly is the most inhospitable and threatning of them. This third journey through the deepest caverns of their minds revealed a truth, more gross and repulsive than anyone can imagine. It's a small black hole which swallows everything, including hope. Let us find it and burn it ..."
[label notes]
Spectre label website: www.spectre.be
|
2007 |
€14.50 |
|
| KRAMER, GREGORY |
Silent City Blizzard |
mCD-R |
"gregory kramer is a us sound artist who composes and performs with field recordings, electronics and various other sources.
"silent city blizzard" is an electronic drone soundscape recorded live at signs and symbols gallery, new york.
it starts with recordings of snowflakes hitting a window pane during a snow storm and it evolves from there..."
https://taalem.bandcamp.com/album/silent-city-blizzard-alm-133
|
2020 |
€5.50 |
|
| KRCFHL |
same |
do-CD |
The KRCFHL recording was made on September 28, 2005 by three well-known Russian sound experimentalists M.M. (Kryptogen Rundfunk), Evgeniy Voronovskiy (Cisfinitum) and Nikolay Kalmykov (Hladna). The musicians gathered in Evgeniy’s home studio in Moscow, spontaneously played and recorded this psychedelic set. The recording remained unknown to the public for 16 years, but worked as a fail-safe therapy for the kultFRONT label during all these years.
KRCFHL is a smooth immersion in the pulsating world of analogue synthesizers, embellished with the sounds of violin that does not sound like itself. Prior to this recording, the musicians performed several times on the same stages, either at post-industrial music festivals (a joint photo in the album’s artwork was taken on the Thalamus II fest, which happened in Pskov in May 2005), or in collaboration sets. After this recording, they didn’t practice any joint immersions, but the musicians worked on releasing other recordings.
In 2021 the recording became a double album thanks to four tracks from KRCFHL colleagues from the next generation of Russian sound experimentalists. Friends reimagined the recording from 2005, each in their own recognizable way. The first track was made by the project NOTUM, which was born in St. Petersburg, but is now developing in Berlin. The second remix was recorded by Xenia Lotus (Drone Liberation Front, a collaboration project with Tim Six) under the guise of her solo project BEZVLASTJE. The third rework was done by “the noise queen” Sveta Svetlo, aka SVETLO111. And the second disc (or side B on the cassette) is wrapped up by Ilya SYMPHOCAT.
The album artwork features photographs of an old wall in the vicinity of the Smolniy Convent in St. Petersburg. The place with the KRCFHL inscriptions has already become a point of attraction for pilgrims.
The album is released on 50 compact cassettes with a total length of 85 minutes. Additionally, the album is available on 200 double CDs.
KRCFHL is clear proof of how music and its magic only becomes more interesting over the years.
credits
released December 29, 2021
KRCFHL (parts I & II) recorded live by M.M. (KRYPTOGEN RUNDFUNK), Evgeniy Voronovskiy (CISFINITUM), Nikolay Kalmykov (HLADNA) on September 28th, 2005 at Evgeniy’s home studio, Moscow
~ kryptogen.bandcamp.com
~ cisfinitum.bandcamp.com
~ hladna.bandcamp.com
KRCFHL (NOTUM remix) recorded by Ikk Ygg in October 2021, Berlin
~ notumschaltung.com
KRCFHL (BEZVLASTJE remix) recorded by Xenia Lotus on November 25, 2021, St. Petersburg
~ soundcloud.com/bezvlastje
KRCFHL (SVETLO111 remix) recorded by Sveta Svetlo in October 2021, St. Petersburg
~ soundcloud.com/svetlo111
KRCFHL (SYMPHOCAT remix) recorded by Ilia Symphocat in October-November 2021, St. Petersburg
~ symphocat.com
Mastered by M.M. & ArSch
Photos by kultFRONT, Luiza Arroz, @cht00000, Vera Bezrukova
Design by kultFRONT
Co-released with ZHELEZOBETON Distribution Division: zhbd.bandcamp.com
https://kultfront.bandcamp.com/album/krcfhl
|
2022 |
€16.00 |
|
| 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 |
|
| |
Cooties |
LP |
"Original Motion Picture Soundtrack by KRENG.
Death Waltz Recording Company is delighted to take you back to the schoolyard for a dose of fun with Kreng's score to COOTIES. A group of elementary teachers – including Elijah Wood, Alison Pill, and Rainn Wilson – up against an army of feral kids infected with a mystery virus, bringing new meaning to the term “playground violence." Produced by Wood's company Spectrevision, COOTIES is already shaping up to be a modern cult classic, not least through its infectious music.
Composed by the avant-garde project Kreng (aka Belgian musician Pepjin Caudron) the score for COOTIES reflects a number of influences, from Bernard Herrmann's work for strings to spaghetti westerns through a trip hop filter set to “extreme foreboding”. Kreng's approach will surprise and intrigue, compared to many scores of its ilk. While it's synth-heavy, there are key roles for haunting vocal effects and violins, mixing both aesthetically beautiful and madcap cues to create waves of emotionally and viscerally powerful tunes. COOTIES stands proud alongside – and in some cases above - the crop of contemporary horror scores. Relax, put the needle on the wax, and let this record infect your ears. You'll be voracious for more."
mondotees.com/collections/deathwaltz/products/cooties-ost
"Oh man, we wanted to see this movie from the second we first heard about it. Kids in a primary school get a wicked case of the 'cooties', which transforms them into zombie like wee beasties, and it's up to the teachers to survive, and if need be (which need very likely does be!) dispatch of the hungry, demonic hordes roaming the playground. The trailer looks ridiculous and over the top (we haven't actually seen it yet), and very much like a grade school version of another awesome horror-school classic, The Faculty. Beyond that just being such an amazing concept for a movie, there's the added bonus of the incredible score by weirdo soundsculptor / dronelord / avant grade composer (and huge aQ fave) Kreng, aka Pepijn Caudron.
Longtime readers of the aQ list are also likely fans of the Miasmah label, which Kreng generally calls home. His releases on Miasmah are moody and murky and minimal, twisted and shadowy, waste and faded and gorgeously mysterious. And while all that sounds like the perfect ingredients for a seriously sinister horror score, since this is not your typical horror movie, Caudron gets to explore WAY out of his usual sonic comfort zone, whether it's long sprawls of DJ Shadow like beat driven grooviness (in one instance, the haunting main theme is played by what sounds like a sitar!), or swirly, symphonic exotica, or hushed, somber shimmer, it's all woven together into a proper album, that is a pretty fantastic listen, even sans the film.
The DJ Shadow comparison is actually pretty apt as beats and breaks surface throughout, but it's in the execution that things get and stay weird, in fact one of the best musical moments is when a loping beat limps along beneath a cacophony of detuned brass. But it is a horror soundtrack, so Carpenterisms abound (reworked in Kreng's inimitable style), there are plenty of tense, driving synth jams, barely there haunted house ambience, darkly delicate pianoscapes, strangely dubby drifts, some deliriously atonal 20th century sounding cacophony and bursts of what sounds like some rad eighties VHS soundtrack, all dayglo distorted, blaring and bombastic.
While not nearly as dark as some of the Miasmah releases, there's an ominous underpinning to the proceedings, even at it's most playful and melodic, it's fun and freaky, and like the best soundtracks, not only is a great listen, but has us wanting to see the movie even more than we already did!" [Aquarius Records]
|
2015 |
€35.00 |
|
| KREYSING / PENSCHUCK / STADLMEIER |
Re-Encypher |
CD |
A lone busker plays wistful folk melodies on an accordion in a dimly lit underpass late at night. Ominous clanging noises approach like a gang of thugs, while the deep drones of a freight train passing overhead engulf the whole auditory scene. Or else: Slowly pulsating melodies with a strangely (South) East European tinge ride the crests of an almost static groundswell of drones, while occasional percussive impulses accentuate the almost imperceptible microrhythms. Or else: ...
There are many ways to describe the music on this album, and it is hard not to resort to narrative when doing so. Perhaps this is because this music has a very strong sense of foreground and background. Drones and textures create a space in which the melodic and percussive elements of the music interact, almost like characters in a story. Each one of them has a specific timbral temperament, or should we say personality: the accordion, which Anja Kreysing, trained in Deep Listening in the tradition of Pauline Oliveros herself, uses for full impact on a variety of emotional scales; the heater (used as percussion instrument) and the cymbal, with their edgy, pushy, metallic overtones, which set them apart from the wry, dry, wooden percussion; to name but a few.
The great achievement of the trio who recorded this set live at Nocube in Münster, 19 November 2017, is the way in which each of them constantly operates on at least two levels simultaneously: the foreground and the background, the textural and the rhythmic. Slow harmonic developments culminate into dramatic phases of almost noisy density and moments of silence, almost as if they were just following the flow of their breath. And several times foreground and background change their roles completely. It is the purely musical flow and interaction that makes this music so suggestive. Had they set out to tell one story, they might have ended up with contrived conceptual music. But the sheer sonic richness of this great recording is the reason why it can tell myriad stories at once.
File under: Free improvisation, drone, electroacoustic
https://emerge.bandcamp.com/album/re-encypher |
2018 |
€8.00 |
|
| KRYPTOGEN RUNDFUNK + HLADNA |
Rokton - Formanta |
mCD-R |
Auch HLADNA gehören zur unübersichtlich grossen Drone / Ambient / Experimental-Szene Russlands, hier im Verbund mit den ebenfalls aus St. Petersburg stammenden KRYPTOGEN RUNDFUNK live im Juli 2004. Beide benutzen uralte sowjetische Orignal-Synths bzw. Klang-Generatoren, die sich hervorragend ergänzen und knarzend-pulsiererende Drones produzieren, deren "historisch-futuristischer" Sound wohl einmalig ist... Professionelles Vollfarb-Cover.
"Hladna and Kryptogen Rundfunk - behind these names stand two St. Petersburg-based musicians playing experimental noise music. They both nourish a tender passion for old electronic instruments and often use them at their concerts and on recordings. One warm sunny day they gathered and decided to play on two analogue rhythm synthesizers "Rokton" and "Formanta". These are actually two identical instruments which were produced in the Soviet Union by two different factories. Each of them is the "brain" for electronic drum-kit, but can also be used separately - as a multi-channel tone-noise-generator or rhytm-machine. Kryptogen Rundfunk used his device smoothly, evenly and calmly while Hladna expelled from his more sharp and unpredictable sounds. Worth mentioning are Hladna's non-standard ways of making sound - on the last two tracks he opened the back plate of his synth and played not only using knobs but also getting inside and abridging contacts with his own hands (for which he was incidentally struck by the current a couple of times). Live recording without any processing, with all it's natural crackles and tasty overloads. Abstract electronics, minimalism and a little noise." [label info] |
2007 |
€5.50 |
|
| KRÜSI, HANS |
ExHK |
LP |
While preparing a new edition of Anton Bruhin works in 2008, Alga Marghen discovered some mysterious tapes by Hans Krüsi. Fascinated by the raw and brute contents of those sounds, mixing field recordings of insects, sheep, and distant bells with primitive chanting, percussive noises, and distorted radio folk songs, Alga Marghen started to conceive one of the most obscure editions in the catalog, an LP to be issued in collaboration with the Swiss Kunstmuseum des Kantons Thurgau (the repository of the artist's estate), published on the occasion of Alga Marghen's invitation to the Artist's Record Pavilion at Art Basel 2008 in an edition of 200 copies and instantly sold out. The Swiss-born, self-taught painter Hans Krüsi (1920-1995) was a wiry man who eked out an existence on the margins of society. Even among outsider-art experts, his work is less well known than that of his Swiss compatriot Adolf Wölfli, who died in 1930 and whose richly patterned drawings have become treasures of classic European art brute, or raw art, made by untrained, visionary artists. Krüsi was orphaned as an infant and brought up on a farm in northeastern Switzerland by foster parents who largely ignored him. He scraped by with odd jobs (including gardening work) and eventually settled in the city of St. Gallen. There, Krüsi lived in run-down buildings. In his late 20s, he began commuting by train almost daily to Zurich, to the west, where he sold flowers and, later, his artworks, on the Bahnhofstrasse, one of the most luxurious shopping streets in Europe. Among the wall-to-wall clutter of Krüsi's ramshackle lodgings, where pigeons flew in and perched, evidence of an unexpectedly experimental spirit abounded, including Krüsi's old cameras and the second-hand tape recorders with which he liked to capture the sounds of birds, insects and church bells. The artist's inventiveness and fertile imagination seemed to contrast sharply with his humble way of life. Krüsi took subjects from the agrarian world that he knew: alpine farmhouses, forested mountains, cows, birds, rabbits and cats. In his varied oeuvre, the folkloric and the psychedelic often appear to converge. Some works are even hallucinatory, with bright, brushy passages of acid green, lemon yellow or Pepto-Bismol pink in which watchful, lounging cats, clusters of dithering birds or watery human figures huddle or writhe. After being out-of-stock for 15 years and following the many solicitations over the past decade, Alga Marghen decided to do a new edition to be included as the first record of the new Musique Brut series. Edition of 150.
|
2023 |
€23.50 |
|
| KSHATRIY |
Slepok Soznaniya |
CD |
"The project Kshatriy appeared on the Russian post-industrial scene in 2004 and up to present has participated in several compilations, as well as released some solo and collaboration recordings on limited edition CDRs. Muzyka Voln presents the project’s first "professional" compact disk with the album "Slepok Sonzaniya" (meaning "a mould of consciousness" in Russian).
This work is based on the concept of consciousness of a warrior, a galactic warrior of light, bringing to world pure knowledge, infinite silence, perfect balance, a moment of power and might, a flight of freedom, love, serenity, joy, light, unified time, eternal life, simplicity and bliss.
The music of the project can be described as fractal dark drone ambient with lots of patterns, woven from various sonic fibres: synthesized drones, processed field recordings, acoustic echoes and rhythmic loops. Calm and profound, filled with resilience and hidden power, like an endless ocean of tranquility, energy and beauty." [label info]
http://zhb.radionoise.ru/
"Kshatriy is the project by musician from Vsevolozhsk not far from St. Petersburg. Earlier his records were released on CDr, and album Slepok Soznaniya became the first work released on CD, before it I didn't know anything about this creative unit. With his music Kshatriy creates space dark and dull as well as beautiful and interesting. In anxiously boiling sound lava there merge deep electronic drone, processed field records and also unobtrusive hissing, crack and other noise effects. Musician himself writes that his creativity "is based on the conception of warrior consciousness... galaxy warrior of light, bringing to the world clear consciousness, unlimited silence, absolute balance, a moment of force and power, a flight of freedom, love, serenity, gladness, light, common time, eternal life, simplicity and bliss...". These words sound as nothing else but an unequivocal hint at trips "inside yourself" and the state of trans provoked by music. And it is so.
Slepok Soznaniya is a huge mental reactor with boiling up fragments of dark recollections, fused and crumpled into one heavy lump which dissolved all around in impenetrable swamp of its body. Rusty, smelling with dust and dampness postindustrial spirit spreads together with these sounds to colossal spaces around. Huge volume of theses spaces is one of the main special features of this music ruining all barriers inside the dark universe, and Slepok Soznaniya became a ticket to it. You peer into the darkness and don't see any limits, as if you have fallen under ground and found an alternative cosmos there. Beautiful, charming and sometimes even epic sound design making you hold your breath in long intriguing moments and make your heart beat quickly with resounding rumble and voluminous, heavy drone. It's worth to be heard." [Pi Micron, The Sound Proector]
http://www.soundproector.com/?cat=reviews&id=259
"Heaving, psychonaut droning from this Russian project, Kshatriy. The name of Sergey Uak-Kib's project is actually Sanskrit, as a now deracinated caste of warriors from ancient India. Uak-Kib posits something of a balance between the spiritual and the physical in the beliefs for this class of enlightened fighters. The holistic fortitude found in that statement seems to be furthered in the glowingly psychedelic artwork that has graced some of Kshatriy's other recordings. So much for first impressions, as this is fucking bleak. Anenzephalia bleak. Thomas Koner bleak. Lustmord bleak. Thrumming drones of Vulcan intensity and Promethean scale gird the entire album of Slepok Soznaniya. The thunderous cracks that introduce "Lights" are cataclysmic in nature, tumbling from deep space and smashing into the Siberian forest, unleashing shockwaves across the curved surface of Russian's landmass and creating elegantly harmonic ripples across the swampy taiga. Iron wheels grind on long-train tracks which lead to destinations unknown on the "Hymn To Kali," which is more of a dirge than a hymn through the slow, militant pound and evolving reverberant chord shifts for an ashen, musical negativity. The almost self-evidently named "Space Travel" surfs the solar winds with echoes of distant pulsars and glowing nebula clouds flickering through the endless expanses of nothingness.
We were awestruck by the work that Kshatriy produced for the 2014 Drone-Mind / Mind-Drone III compilation; and so we're delving into his catalogue. Slepok Soznaniya was originally released in 2009 on the bracingly good Russian imprint Muzyka Voln. Not all that much in the way of distribution west of the former Iron Curtain; so this one makes for a new favorite in the radiant black dronemusik camp." [Aquarius Records]
|
2009 |
€13.00 |
|
|
Transforming Galaxy |
CD |
" "Transforming Galaxy" is the second full-length album of Sergey Bulychyov (aka Uak-Kib) from Vsevolozhsk, Russia - an imprint of direct experience of the Universe. The album is dedicated to the end of Kali-Yuga - the age of technocratic lack of spirituality and moral decay - and to the attainment of human awareness of the Unity.
Eight hasteless compositions of psychedelic drone ambient combine a light atmosphere with deep multilayerness, crystal clear sound transparency with mild and sometimes uneasy melodies. Soft organic tracks full of plangent drones, noises and natural recordings neighbor with dense and saturated hymns to Hindu goddess Kali. The disk is closed by a beautiful lyrical composition reminding us that the best way to overcome ignorance and realize unity is Love.
The album is released in a glossy 6-panel digipak with front cover by Sergey Ilchuk (Siyanie, ex-Vetvei & Vresnit Art).
First 30 copies are designed by the author as special collector's edition: hand-crafted bag made of brown velvet containing art printed on a thick wooden plate 28 x 30 cm, and also an additional CD-R with a live recording of Kshatriy's performance in Moscow-based cultural center "DOM" on October 23, 2010." [label info]
http://zhb.radionoise.ru/eng/releases.html#mv
"....Lots of synthesized ambient scapes, perhaps made with real synthesizers, no doubt with lots of field recordings, much electronic processing and all such like, but the good news is that this doesn't lead to abstract drone patterns, but in each of the pieces there seems to be the shimmering of small melodies humming along, making the whole thing more 'musical' than y'r average drone record, which I guess is nice. Each of the eight pieces takes a considerable time to develop, as all of these pieces are easily between eight and thirteen minutes. That makes it quite a long album, but its one that can hold the attention quite well. Kshatriy moves along various patterns, ideas, motions and emotions and it makes a highly varied and mostly enjoyable record." [FdW/Vital Weekly]
"There's a deep cosmology at work in the recordings of Sergey Uak-Kib, the Russian dronescapist who uses the Sanskrit for 'warrior', Kshatriy, as his nom de plume. This album, his second, is equally as spectral and bleak in its content as his 2009 debut Slepok Soznaniya; and it stands as a harbinger to the end of the Kali-Yuga - the final stage in the four-part cycle for the material world, as mapped out in the various Hindu scriptures. Uak-Kib identifies this prediction through the ongoing "technocratic lack of spirituality and moral decay" - ignominious traits that unfortunately shape the future for much of the world's population. Yet, he also maintains a considerable optimism that the cycle of life will also produce an "attainment of human awareness of the Unity." Transforming Galaxy is about a literal as one could get with the processional unveiling of this album's ambient tapestries, beginning with the darkest passages and gradually lightening the chromatics without diffusing the overall potency of these radiant droneworks. Isolationist undercurrents of black ice floes accrete with teeth-clenching sawtooth electronics at the front of the end record, ominously giving way to stormy drone recordings strafed with the unnerving choruses of ravens; and steadily, the ambience slips away from these endtimes allusions and towards full-bodied swirling miasma of cosmic synth drones. Altogether, it's very much on par with the last recordings made by Maeror Tri of industrial impressionism and hypnogogic echo." [Aquarius Records]
|
2012 |
€12.50 |
|
| |
Kshatriy |
CD-R |
"During the 10 years of its existence Kshatriy has earned a strong reputation on the Russian dark ambient scene. Among his works are 3 full-length CDs on our label Muzyka Voln, collaboration releases with Vresnit and Bardoseneticcube and also several tracks on compilations including the recently released LP "Drone-Mind // Mind-Drone Vol. 3" (Drone Records, 2014). This recording is the first finished studio material recorded by Sergey Uak-Kib in 2005. Initially it was released by the author himself as a small CD-R edition, all copies of which were quickly spread between friends and collectors. This year the album was taken out of the archives, remixed and remastered and we are pleased to introduce it to your attention in a renewed form. Cold, dark and empty cosmic-scale spaces turn into rare oases of living pulsations but this illusion of immersion in organic matter doesn't last long and dissolves in endless flows of sonic winds. The album features almost no melodic lines but its fractal-patterned structure gives the music the magical power that allows to keep the listener's attention captured throughout this short trip. The physical release is made on quality pro-CDRs in an edition of 77 copies in a sleeve of designer silvery cardboard." [label info]
http://zhb.radionoise.ru/
"On CDR we find music by Sergey Uak-Kib, better known as Kshatriy, who has released a whole bunch of releases before. This particular release is the first finished recording he ever did, in 2005, and of which he distributed a handful of copies to friends. We didn't review that one, but his later works found themselves into these pages. Now it's re-issued again, in an edition of 77 copies, and the four pieces span thirty-six minutes. The heavy transformation of any sound given, but most likely field recordings create Kshatriy’s music. I can easily see Sergey traveling the Siberian land and capturing some arctic wind into his microphone and melting these with field recordings of contact microphones scraping the permafrost. Did you say Thomas Köner? That's probably a valid point of reference, or indeed other in Isolationist one-man studios around the world, from say the mid 90s onto the present day. All atmospheric, all dark (how often do I use these words on a weekly basis, I wondered), but Kshatriy has it's own blend, certainly in these earliest recordings there is a nice raw edge to it. Not that smooth, but with a grittier, somewhat metallic undercurrent. Nice and rough." [FdW/Vital Weekly]
|
2014 |
€8.50 |
|
| KUBISCH, CHRISTINA |
La Ville Magnetique / The Magnetic City |
CD |
"24 Electromagnetic Walks in Poitiers. Produced at Studio Hoppegarten and Electronic Music Studio of the Technical University Berlin, October-November 2008. Liner notes and other info in French and English. The recordings of the 24 Electromagnetic Walks in Poitiers were made on August 14, 18 and 19 2008, using only Christina Kubisch's electromagnetic induction headphones and a portable recorder. The sounds have not been electronically modified. The only intervention was the use of a frequency filter. From the linernotes: Today there is a lot of interest in the musical world in 'mapping', the art of tracing the world we live in by means of maps which differ from those made for trade, commerce and business. The maps of the 24 Electromagnetic walks are visual and musical ones. 24 volunteers explored the hidden electromagnetic fields of Poitiers wearing a special headphone created by the artist. This wireless 'tool' captures and amplifies the magnetic fields above and underground the city. The visitors were free to choose their own, personal paths (itineraries) and were asked to draw them upon a map of the inner city. The length of the recordings vary between 6 and 79 minutes. Every recording is a kind of 'mirror' of the character and personality of the walker. Some people walked straight and without stopping through the streets, others often stopped and played around by moving their head (or body) when entering an interesting field, some followed the 'historical paths', others used the personal itineraries of their daily life, some just went by chance and took the exploration as a kind of acoustic adventure. The collection of 24 sound channels in Poiters is a collection of electromagnetic field recordings- an electromagnetic portrait of the city. Often what you can see normally and what you hear electromagnetically, is quite different: quiet streets burst out with strong electrical hums, the lively market place is quiet instead, the train station is a dense net of regular beats and clicks, the parking Carnot is the place where antennas fill the air with internet signals, the ATM machines of the banks hum musical chords and the security gates in the shopping streets surprise by their volume and intensity of continuous signals. The juxtaposition of the 24 itineraries was the starting point for he composition. Several times the visitors were at the same time at the same place, but exploring the sounds in different ways. The piece is a mix of all the recordings, sometimes letting them together in big clusters, sometimes following an individual walker along his way. The beginning and the end of the recordings was the tourist information center of Poitiers. The voices and the music which can be heard were recorded not with a microphone but as well through electromagnetic induction: a cable loop inside the office makes the sound audible as well outside the building. It's here, where the information of the historical city meets with the contemporary hidden electromagnetic world of Poitiers. The participants to the recorded walks: Jean-Pierre Courjaud, Quentin Debenest, Jean Hiernard, Daniel Clauzier, Emmanuelle Baud, Claude Thibault, Marion Berthier, Marie Fournier, Jean-Pierre Potier, Benoist Baillergeau, Jean-Luc Terradillos, Dominique Truco, Patrick Treguer, Jean-Christophe Desnoux, Dominique Pichon, Thomas Sillard, Marion Valière Loudiyi, Mélanie Ribot, Nicolas Bernard, Aurélien large, Marine Antony, Lilian Gerling, Anne Gérard, Christina Kubisch. Credits: Artwork By [Cover Design] - Christina Kubisch. Artwork By [Graphics] - Frederic Briand. Engineer, Mastered By - Eckehard Güther. Liner Notes - Christina Kubisch. Mixed By - Christina Kubisch. Photography - Christina Kubisch , Daniel Proux , Dominique Truco , Marion Valière-Loudiyi. Technician [Recording Assistance] - Marine Antony.' [full label info / liner notes]
|
2009 |
€15.00 |
|
| |
Magnetic Flights |
CD |
"Two brand new pieces from one of the most exciting, active & relevant members of the first generation sound artists. Magnetic Flights is a perfect follow up to Five Electrical Walks (IMPREC167) and it is being released at the same time as a collection of two of Kubisch's unreleased archival pieces, also on Important.
Magnetic Flights is entirely made of electromagnetic field recordings of international airports and inside airplanes. The recordings of this piece were made by Christina Kubisch on her travels in 2007 from and to the airports of Bukarest, Manchester, Chicago, Seoul, Munich, Amsterdam,
Zurich, Frankfort, Paris, Lisbon, Berlin, Pisa, Milan and London.
The sounds were not altered electronically nor changed in any other way. The only tool ,which
was used for a part of it, was a filtering program (DINR)
All recordings were made with the help of special sensitive wireless headphones, by which the aboveground and underground electromagnetic fields are detected, amplified and made audible. The headphones are custom made and have been develeoped by myself and constructed by the engineer Manfred Fox, Berlin. The sounds are much more musical than one could expect. There are complex layers of high and low frequencies, loops of rhythmic sequences, groups of tiny signals, long drones and many things which change constantly and
are hard to describe.
Magnetic Flights consists of three parts with a short special sound at the beginning and another one at the end. The piece starts with an electromagnetic sound recorded just before departure and continues with the material of flight radiations recorded inside different airplanes. These electromagnetic fields slightly change pitch during departure and arrival, but remain quite constant during the flight itself. The relatively high and compact sounds gradually build up a dense layer of vibrations with continuous minimal variations.
In the second part some of the previous flight radiations gradually become filtered. The single signals mingle into a mix of small, short, nervous and very rhythmic signals. Their origin might be radio waves, communication signals with the tower , internet and atmospheric disturbances., but this is only a guess. The third part, the situation of arrival or transition, is a mix of typical electromagnetic sounds in the waiting areas of airports such as the deep vibrations of the screens of monitors which slowly fade in and out.
The piece ends with the electrical flickering of an electromagnetic field of unknown origin.
Christina Kubisch belongs to the first generation of sound artists. Trained as a composer, she studied painting, music (flute and composition) and electronics in Hamburg, Graz, Zürich and Milano, where she graduated. Her work can be described as the “synthesis of arts” - the discovery of acoustic space and the dimension of time in the visual arts on the one hand, and a redefinition of relationships between material and form on the other. Kubisch is best known for artistically and innovatively using techniques such as magnetic induction and ultraviolet light to create and realise her work.Since the 1970’s Kubisch has been experimenting with electromagnetic induction and was one of the first to use this method for creating sound installations. Some of her most well know works include the Electrical Walks series, where audience wear magnetic headphones, specially designed by Kubisch, with built-in coils that respond to electrical fields in the environment. Tapping into the electrical fields that result from light systems, anti-theft security devices, surveillance cameras, cell phones, computers, antennae, automated teller machines and other electric devices, she uses these visible sources to create unique and new sensory environmental experiences.
In the mid-1980s, Kubisch began to incorporate light as a compositional tool in many works, for example in the installation Skylines at the documenta 8, Kassel; the underground installation Klang Fluß Licht Quelle on Potsdamer Platz in Berlin and more recently Licht Himmel a permanent light sound installation at Gasometer Oberhausen, Germany. Since 2003 Kubisch has begun to work again as a performer and collaborates with various musicians and dancers, one of whom is Lotta Melin, with whom she will be co-facilitating the Lisbon workshop. An internationally recognised artist, Kubisch has shown work at major international exhibitions and festivals (Venice Benniale, documenta 8, Kassel, Ars Electronica, Linz, Sydney Benniale, Sonar, Barcelona and Sonic Boom, London) performing around the world she has received numerous grants and awards and her music has been realised on various labels such as Cramps Records and Edition RZ. Kubisch has been visiting professor in Maastricht, Paris and Berlin and since 1994, is currently the professor for sound art at the Academy of Fine Arts, Saarbrücken, Germany." [label info]
|
2011 |
€15.00 |
|
| KUBISCH, CHRISTINA & ANNEA LOCKWOOD |
The Secret Life of the Inaudible |
do-CD |
About our collaboration.
Annea and I first met in New York in 1975. I was writing an article about the experimental music scene in New York for an Italian magazine. We soon found out that we had a lot of common interests and ideas. In 1979 she came to Italy and together we performed her piece „World Rhythms“ at a festival in Como. I was deeply impressed by how Annea combined technical skills with intuitive performance.
Sound for her always has been more than just material to bring into a compositional form. It was more than raw material, it had a complex structure of its own and was transporting energy. Annea translated and communicated this energy to the listener and she does this with unusual intensity until today.
Over the years we followed each other’s works but unfortunately did not meet as often as we would have liked. During her stay in Berlin earlier this year we had another chance to discuss our works, materials, researches, concepts, doubts and future projects. The idea of a collaboration was a natural consequence of this exchange. We both investigate soundworlds which normally are not audible. Annea questions how the forces of nature influence us, I question how manmade electromagnetic fields have an impact on our lives. And we both love field recording, especially exploring underwater sounds with hydrophones.
We decided to exchange sound materials and left it open to the other what to choose and how to mix it into a new composition. The two new pieces which were created by this exchange are different but at the same time seem to belong together somehow. Annea sent me extracts from recordings of VLF chorus waves, solar oscillations, earthquakes, gas vents etc. while I transmitted to her a collection of recordings of electromagnetic waves which I had made audible and recorded with special custom designed induction headphones. Annea’s sound material was coming from sonic ultra and infra ranges and was speeded up or shifted down in order to become audible, my recordings are analog and were made directly on site in different cities. The sounds we use are all strange and powerful and they go together as if they were especially made for this collaboration. Until now what kind of influence the sources of these normally hidden waves have on us is not much explored. It is up to the listener to find out more about it.
Thanks to Gruenrekorder who supported our project from the beginning. — Christina Kubisch, November 2017
CD 1 – Annea Lockwood
WILD ENERGY | 2016 (with Bob Bielecki)
Wild Energy gives access to the inaudible, vibrations in the ultra sound and infra sound ranges emanating from sources which affect us fundamentally, but which are beyond our normal audio perception, many of which are creating our planet’s environment: the sun, the troposphere and ionosphere, the earth’s crust and core, the oxygen-generating trees – everything deeply integrated, forming an inaudible web in which we move, through which we live and on which we depend. It is our sense that through these sounds one can feel the energies generated, not as concepts but as energy-fields moving through one’s body. Here they have been shifted up (infrasound) or down (ultrasound) to bring them into the human audio range.
Wild Energy begins with solar oscillations (acoustical pressure waves) recorded by the SOHO spacecraft – 40 days of solar oscillations sped up 42,000 times, and ends with ultrasound recorded from the interior of a Scots pine tree.
Recordings made available to Annea Lockwood by scientists at the universities of Hawaii, Stanford, Iowa, Columbia (USA) and the Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research.
Sound sources:
The sun, acoustical pressure waves – recording courtesy of Alexander Kosovichev, Solar Oscillations Investigation team, Stanford University
Gas vents and tremors, Mt Kilauea – recordings courtesy of Milton Garces, the Infrasound Laboratory, University of Hawaii
VLF Chorus waves and Whistlers; Auroral Kilometric Radiation radio waves –recordings courtesy of Craig Kletzing, Radio and Plasma Wave Group, University of Iowa
Sei whale – recording courtesy of Arthur Newhall, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute
Earthquakes – recordings courtesy of the U.S.G.S; Ben Holtzman, Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, Columbia University and Jason Moran
Trees, cavitation events and ultrasound emissions – recordings courtesy of Melvin Tyree; Roman Zweifel , Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research WSL and Marcus Maeder, Zurich University of the Arts, Institute for Computer Music and Sound Technology
Hydrothermal vents – recording courtesy of Timothy Crone, Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, Columbia University
Bats: pipistrelle, California myotis, silver-haired bats, Shockwave-Sound.com; big brown bat and Grote’s tiger moth recording courtesy of Aaron Corcoran, Wake Forest University
CD 1 – Annea Lockwood
STREAMING, SWIRLING, CONVERGING | 2017
Composing with combined sound files and sources, six from each of us, has been a unique experience for me, and a deep pleasure. I have long found Christina’s explorations of the electromagnetic fields within which we live now revelatory and essential – beautiful in their sonic detail and powerful in their effects on my body. And there is satisfying sense of complementarity here: Human-created sounds from Christina’s electromagnetic world, a world which she has been hugely instrumental in revealing to us, and non-human sounds and vibrations from the geophysical, atmospheric and mammalian spheres which are my sources.
Her sounds were a delight to work with, often with a clear pitch element and, while fluctuating in their details and flow, essentially stable. This contrasts well with the event-driven, more turbulent rhythms and noise content of my materials. It was fascinating to play with these differences and discover how easily our sounds blend as if drawn together magnetically into layered textures. I am most grateful to Christina for suggesting this collaboration.
Sound sources:
Annea Lockwood: Tremors and a bench collapse on Mt Kilauea, Hawaii, VLF whistlers, earthquakes in Sumatra and Honshu, Japan, ultrasonic sounds from a Scots pine tree, the Mid-Ocean Ridge Black Smoker hydrothermal vent, solar oscillations.
Christina Kubisch: electromagnetic waves recorded in a subway station, a server room, an underground tunnel, a power station, shopping centers and in the countryside during a thunderstorm after electricity had broken down.
CD 2 – Christina Kubisch
NINE MAGNETIC PLACES | 2017
Nine magnetic places is a journey without knowing where to go, what to find, how long to stay or what will come next. It is a discovery of a hidden world, a dreamlike trip by which the traveller encounters unexpected juxtapositions and sequences of electromagnetic waves. The piece was inspired by the first book using the technique of automatic writing, „Les champs magnétiques“ by André Breton and Philippe Soupault, published in Paris (1920).
The electromagnetic recordings were made in or traveling to: Las Vegas, Gdansk, Ystad, Kosice, Montreal, Bordeaux, Manchester, Dortmund, San Francisco, Paris, Ekaterinburg, Lagos, Venice, Bratislava, Bangkok and other places.
CD 2 – Christina Kubisch
BELOW BEHIND ABOVE | 2017
When I was about to finish this piece two powerful storms, called Xavier and Herwart, swept through northern Germany and Central Europe following each other within three weeks. The storms produced hurricane winds and left a path of destruction knocking down trees, power lines and buildings and caused widespread travel chaos.
I was working in my studio during both storms, looking at the shaking trees in front of my house while I was listening to sounds from vulcanos, solar oscillations, earthquakes and the intense vibrations of electromagnetic fields.
The experience of the two storms had a strong impact on my work. The piece became a kind of encounter of different energies and vibrations which meet in unforeseen ways.
Sound sources:
Annea Lockwood: Volcanic gas vents, VLF chorus waves and whistlers, earthquakes, solar oscillations and ultrasonic tree sounds.
Christina Kubisch: electromagnetic recordings from light systems, seismic research centers,transmitter systems and others. Hydrophone recordings from the river Rhein.
www.gruenrekorder.de
"A cause of extreme disgruntlement for this writer is the passive awareness that the bulk of a lifetime was splurged on issues and people not belonging to a sphere of intuitions and considerations even marginally correlatable with his own. If one inaugurates the process of growth by being predominantly attracted by non-vocal emissions, it is foreseeable that – quite soon – attention will not be given anymore to individuals imparting sagacity via mere words, typically instilling some kind of dismay in the potential victim. In that sense, imagine the (adult) quotidian disheartenment for not having a chance to remain within essential acoustic domains when the calls comes; silence is mandatory to do that, and silence is by now a rare commodity. Finally, try to explain all of the above to someone blathering non-stop because convinced – possibly via previous trauma – or out-and-out pretending of living outside his/her body, then get back to me for a good laugh together.
But we do get privileged whenever communicating – remotely but, by the grace of heavens, through sounds – with truly developed beings such as Christina Kubisch and Annea Lockwood, themselves linked by a long-time friendship and artistic consanguinity that never had resulted in a tangible collaboration. Until today.
Narrating yet again what these women have been doing throughout their histories of sonic researchers would be pathetic (but if you still think there is a need to, a peep to the presentation notes of this release will help explicating the kernel of the matter). This double CD encloses four handsome compositions derived from the manipulation of swapped materials; the common denominator is the attempt of turning invisible energies and inaudible frequencies into physically perceivable substances destined to increase one’s congenital acumen. Kubisch and Lockwood operate at levels of intuitive interiority unconceivable by the average gatherer of location recordings and electronics. We can literally “feel inside” the gradual effect of sources reconfigured in various types of aural concretization. They emerge as penetrating hums of radiophonic descent, or may resemble marine currents inhabited by a somewhat alien fauna attempting new forms of signal transmission. The ordinary becomes unconventional; the voice of nature and its private tumults get disfigured by deforming lenses that, rather amazingly, emphasize the gravity of each single event.
That these pieces ultimately can stand proudly amidst the finest electroacoustic musics of the last few decades is obviously a plus. However, what really counts is the implicit message: communication does happen at every stage of physical existence, including the supposedly inanimate. In times when most humans are bamboozled by things that do not exist particularized by brains that do not work, what we have to do is raising the aerials way up. Consequences – if there is sufficient emotional fuel in your personal tank – will inevitably materialize." [Touching Extremes]
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2018 |
€16.00 |
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| KUBISCH, CHRISTINA & ECKEHARD GÜTHER |
Mosaique Mosaic |
CD |
"My first visit to Cameroon in summer 2010 occurred thanks to an invitation by the Goethe-Institut Yaoundé and the independent art organization Doual’Art.
During my residency I prepared a sound installation for a festival in Douala in December. I also conducted a workshop, together with Eckehard Güther, for young local musicians and artists on the theme of field recordings. Field recordings?
In the cities people are surrounded by distorted sound systems playing lo-fi illegal copies of Cameroonian as well as international pop music. The sounds from church services, instruments and voices are all amplified as well – the louder the better. A lot of what you hear comes from speakers.
The workshop held surprises for everybody, most of all for us: the participants led us to many hidden places with sounds they thought would be of interest to us. And we noticed that we were mistaken in our prejudice of sounds which might be unheeded: these people did listen, they had the most musical ears, they knew a lot about their “field”. But so far they had not felt any necessity to store these sounds. So we started our exchange: they got the recording facilities and we got a little bit of their ears.
Cameroon is a noisy country with unexpected and subtle soundscapes. We were brought to places we never would have discovered ourselves. This was the basis for a “sound diary” which was continued during a long trip into the North of the country and as well during our second visit in and around Douala in the winter time.
Music is one of the most important forms of communication in Cameroon, a country with hundreds of different languages and ethnic groups, it is a link which binds them all together. I am glad that we could participate in this sonic experience with the help of many local people. The places we recorded were not arranged in advance, we just happened to be there and sometimes the recordings were made with quite simple equipment. Listening was the most important experience and hopefully some of this personal experience will shine through in this release.
All the field recordings are unprocessed, but parts of them are assembled and mixed together." [Christina Kubisch]
www.gruenrekorder.de
"Our journey starts in Africa, Cameroon to be precise, which is, according to Christina Kubisch a noisy country 'with unexpected and subtle soundscapes'. In 2010 she visited the country for the first time and did an installation and a workshop on field recordings. I've never been to Cameroon, (nor, spoiler, any of the other places on these three new Gruenrekorder) releases, but I can imagine the sounds of a busy city, with lots of music, old and rusty cars, people talking, call for prayer service, but also quiet recordings from the country side, in the 'National Park Waza'. The titles of the pieces explain what we are hearing and it makes up a great audio journey to Cameroon, and a fine balance between nature sounds and human interference." [FdW/Vital Weekly] |
2013 |
€13.00 |
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Unter Grund |
CD |
The Ruhr Area lives from and with water. It needs drinking water, water for industrial facilities and water for transportation. Water veins pulse invisibly with groundwater, connecting rivers through subsurface tunnels that also force their way into disused mines. This mine water has to be drained continuously or pumped out from underground (one speaks of unending tasks) to prevent the collapse of old shafts, subsidence damage, and the contamination of drinking water. Without constant pumping of the groundwater the Ruhr Area would transform into a vast marshy landscape.
Fabian Lasarzik
"The discomfort from the underground
Christina Kubisch’s site-specific sound installations are based on retrieving parallel worlds. She often responds to structures and atmospheres of places and their unheralded vibrancy which she turns into concrete perception and imagination by the recipient. For the 26-channel installation “under ground” carried out on Zeche Zollverein Christina Kubisch examined above ground and subterranean streams which are little noticed, but play a decisive role: water which has to be developed from abandoned and not backfilled shafts and mounted into a complex canal and river system.
It is about the control and domination of mine water, which is nothing but ascending groundwater intruding former coal bearing seems and seeping away in deepness. It has to be pumped and conveyed permanently. Without this elaborate dewatering the tunnel system would be flooded which would set the surface in motion. By now the region in the Ruhr area sagged more than 20 meters within the last 150 years. Also the water would mix with our normal groundwater and soil it chemically. It would ascend and transform the Ruhr area into a swampy seascape with contaminated water. On Zollverein there are already six centrifugal pumps in 1000 meters depth, two of them working constantly. About 8 millions cubic meters of water are developed in average per year. Talking about perpetual burdens and costs means those strenuous efforts.
Those tremendous consequences and measures correspond to the enormous and massive historical interventions caused by coal mining that are widely unknown to the public. The artistic field studies by Christina Kubisch pick out this parallel world as central theme. With high sensitivity in her tonal production she feeds the dark dimension of our imagination, which associates the invisible “under the ground” with the uncanny, the uncontrollable primordial. The subject deals with the conscious and the unconscious in a metaphorical way: the lucent, literally bright surface reality in opposite to the dark, uncanny and hidden reality underground.
Christina Kubisch mediates those aspects within a spatial composition by using above and underground recordings. What we hear is reality, which can be sensually experienced within a composition subtly connecting documentary material with our imagination. If we engage in the imagination stimulated by this work, we feel the monstrous things which happened underneath our feet, humans competing with the bowels of earth and the forces of nature. “Under ground” — and we are talking about approximately 1.400 meters depth — associates the unconscious, the archaic, the long forgotten. Eventually we are standing on what deposited during millions of years and we only know little about, except it is tremendous and began before the emergence of mankind.
Our primal fear at this point is those primary things (basically nature itself) could turn against us and take revenge. Christina Kubisch’s work plays with those associations without pathos. When the bassy vast main water pumps raise their sound it seems we hear a giant organism underneath us breathing in and out. The sounds indicate magnitude, significance and menace. We become aware of something we normally do not notice. After all Kubisch uses military equipment like special hydrophones to make this parallel worlds tangible, and she probably does it with a certain subversive delight. It is not only about picturesque sounds and enthralling noises, but also about alternative ways of perceiving and accessing correlations. This is her deep conceptual approach. Kubisch’s work is about autonomously provided ways of experience and unofficial versions of reality. Therein lies also an ironic jab at our faith in technical progress, which on the one hand opens up the world to us, but with its focus on certain lines of development strikes us with blindness at the same time."
www.gruenrekorder.de
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2016 |
€13.00 |
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| KUBISCH, CHRISTINA / FABRIZIO PLESSI |
Two and Two |
LP |
TWO AND TWO is the outcome of the ambitious research developed by Christina Kubisch and Fabrizio Plessi in 1976, a collaborative effort towards the merging of visual and sound elements into a new form of intermedia. Influenced by the aesthetics of Fluxus, the duo produced a highly complex and articulated performance, involving two camera operators and several video screens, as well as a variety of objects and unconventional instruments. The results is structured into four parts inspired by the natural elements, in which single instruments loose their different sonic characteristics to become inseparable parts of a unique visual/acoustic process.
SIDE A
EARTH 9:44
Alto flute, Voice: Christina Kubisch Violoncello,
Electric vibrator: Fabrizio Plessi
FIRE 10:31
Swanee whistle, Voice: Christina Kubisch
Contact microphone on ventilator: Fabrizio Plessi
SIDE B
AIR 11:16
Alto flute without headpiece: Christina Kubisch
Acordeon: Fabrizio Plessi
WATER 11:36
Electronic metronome: Christina Kubisch
Waterjet on steeldrum: Fabrizio Plessi
www.songcyclerecords.com
"Two and Two is an entrancing, historic slab of mutant sound pressure realised in 1976 by pioneering sound artists and Fluxus affiliates Christina Kubisch and Fabrizio Plessi.
In striving towards “the merging of visual and sound elements into a new form of intermedia”, the duo forged an exceptional early iteration of rhythmic, electro-acoustic noise which still sounds like it was beamed in from another planet, making this first ever vinyl issue very welcome around these parts.
The original performance - of which this is a recording, made on June 17th & 18th, 1976 at Fono Play Studios, Milan - involved two camera operators and a wall of video screens displaying close-ups of the performers actions in a symbiotic representation of what the audience was seeing and listening to, attempting to induce synaesthetic sensations and both loosen up, and lose, the primary sonic characteristics of their chosen instruments in the process.
Working to repetitive, techno or raga-like modal phrasings, they use a range of unconventional tools to animate and excite their instruments in ribboning streams of sound. On Air, Christina manipulates her own voice and alto flute whilst Plessi plays a Violoncello with an electric vibrator, resulting what sounds like a pack of wolves circling a wounded buffalo on a bleak high plain at midnight, whereas with Fire they conjure flickering electronic partials and playfully swooping cadence from a Swanee Whistle and contact microphone applied to a ventilator to sound like Clangers on their way to the cheese mines. Likewise in Air Christina’s breaths on an Alto Flute without headpiece are combined with vicious accordion to sound like an astronaut lost in space who receives a deathly distress signal, and the rapid ostinatos of Water elicits comparison with an amplified chorus of hooligan cicadas on their way to a big cup game, when it was actually made using an electronic metronome and water jet on a steel drum.
Most crucially, this isn’t an academic piece, but neither is it trivial; there’s the real sense that Christina and Plessi are in pursuit of the most elusive sounds, and safe to say they’ve located at least some of them within." [Boomkat]
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2017 |
€28.00 |
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| 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]
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2014 |
€16.50 |
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| KÖNER, THOMAS |
Tiento de la Luz |
LP |
"A tiento is a form of keyboard music that originated in Spain in the mid-15th century. "Tiento de la Luz" is Köner's second tiento, succeeds "Tiento de las Nieves" (2014) and precedes the upcoming "Tiento de la Oscuridad". While "Tiento de las Nieves" is a work for solo performer and live electronics, the instrumentation of "Tiento de la Luz" is expanded: in addition to Köner's distinct live electronics, there are two piano parts, percussion, and viola da gamba.
At the core of Köner's works is always a sense of place (topos) and tone colour. He often travels around the world and record sounds and images. Köner experiences the place and tone as unique voices of these locations, but he is aware that these associations are purely personal. His creative process and work evolve from an understanding of this sense of place and tone, the awareness of its radiance and his distinction of what it is not: it is not a realization that could be accomplished by the practice known as field recording. Similarly, the place, the seed around which Köner's creative process unfolds, can be neither a geographical, nor a temporal one. In fact, according to Köner, the “eternal present” (commonly associated with music or its experience) is a myth and simply does not exist, because the present never appears without a timeline. In the liner notes to this album, Köner even goes as far as to claim that "Music does not exist".
The only element that is independent and able to communicate itself according to Köner is tone colour. In the finishing words of the album liner notes, Köner states: "The textbook definition of tone colour can only describe what it is not: qualities of sound that are not related to pitch, volume, or duration. Tone colour is therefore the absence and yet the total presence. For example, a mother reading a fairy tale to her child is reading words made of letters - but the child hears the mother's “I love you“ in her voice. This is resonance. [...] Appearing as tone colour, sound has the potential to become its own resonance, effortless and luminous." [label info]
Stream: www.denovali.com/thomaskoner
Download: www.denovali.com/digitalstore
Facebook: www.facebook.com/artist.thomaskoner |
2016 |
€20.00 |
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The Futurist Manifesto |
DVD |
"A colossal audiovisual adaption of Marinetti's Futurist Manifesto, by one of the uncontested master isolationists of the ethereal static sounds, a sonic symphony of the unconscious and a defiant decceleration critique of today society through the ultimate modern text. Thomas Köner has crafted the ultimate 4 bpm masterpiece." [label info]
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2015 |
€18.50 |
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| KÖTTER, DANIEL & HANNES SEIDL |
Stadt (Land Fluss) - A Radio Play |
CD + BOOK |
Ein Hörstück über den Klang der Großstadt. Bulldozer planieren die Brache, Wohnviertel werden eingezäunt, Stromkabel durchziehen das Bauland, eine Menschenmenge besetzt den Mittelstreifen. „Stadt (Land Fluss)“ macht die radikal vernetzte Stadt hörbar und die Auswirkungen ihrer permanenten Veränderung sinnlich erfahrbar. Welche soziale Dimension hat die Klanglichkeit einer Stadt? Wie klingt die Stadt, wie könnte sie klingen? Wer hat das Recht, den Stadtraum zu gestalten und seine Grenzen zu definieren? Stadt [Land Fluss] ist auf der Grundlage des gleichnamigen Musiktheaterstücks entstanden.
Komposition / Produktion: Daniel Kötter / Hannes Seidl
Electromagnetische Klänge: Christina Kubisch Musik: Sebastian Berweck, Martin Lorenz, Andrea Neumann
Text: Daniel Kötter / Hannes Seidl nach Zitaten von David Harvey, Kathrin Wildner, Thorsten Fausch und anderen
Photos: Nara Silva das Virgens Merlitz Graphik Design: Nafiseh Fathollahzadeh
https://www.gruenrekorder.de/?page_id=18530
Das Morgen im Heute
Zum Hörspiel „Stadt [Land Fluss]“ von Daniel Kötter und Hannes Seidl
Ist unser Planet bereits vollständig kartographiert? Unzählige im Weltall kreisende GPS-Satelliten, die jeden Millimeter der Erde abgemessen haben dürften, drängen uns förmlich ein entschiedenes Ja auf. Dennoch: Wäre die Welt ein Gemälde, stünde die Sichtbarkeit aller Farbtupfer nicht zwingend für das Erkennen und Begreifen ihrer Zusammenhänge. Genauso verhält es sich im Kleinen mit der (Groß-)Stadt, diesem paradigmatischen modernen Mikrokosmos. Gebäude, Straßen, Parks, Kanalisationssysteme, Lichtsignalanlagen stellen eine visuelle und haptische Ordnung her, die ein schier endloser, aus Stimmen, Hupen und Sirenen geknüpfter Geräuschteppich ergänzt, hinterfragt und bisweilen wieder aufhebt. Und mittendrin: das Individuum.
„ … It always seemed to me that we should pay much more attention to the question of who produces and reproduces urban life…“: Nach einer Minute mit elektroakustischen Klängen, rufenden Kindern und einem vorbeirauschenden Flugzeug spricht eine Männerstimme über die Produktion und Reproduktion des urbanen Lebens. Wer zeigt sich dafür verantwortlich? Und wie? So beginnt das 2020 realisierte Hörspiel „Stadt [Land Fluss]“ von Daniel Kötter und Hannes Seidl nach dem gleichnamigen, abendfüllenden Musiktheaterstück von 2017. Im Werkkommentar zu letzterem fragt der Komponist Seidl konkret nach den akustischen Eigenschaften einer Stadt als gesellschaftlichem Raum: „In STADT (LAND FLUSS) spüren wir der sozialen Dimension der Klanglichkeit einer Stadt nach, die noch immer von Stadtplanern und Architekten vernachlässigt wird. Wie klingt die Stadt, wie könnte sie klingen? Wer hat das Recht, den Stadtraum zu gestalten und seine Grenzen zu definieren?“ Der erste Teil einer Trilogie – es folgten „Land [Stadt Fluss]“ (2018) und „Fluss [Stadt Land]“ (2019) – nimmt unterschiedliche Perspektiven ein und durchschreitet buchstäblich verschiedene Räume, um „die radikal vernetzte Stadt hörbar und die Auswirkungen ihrer permanenten Veränderung sinnlich erfahrbar“ zu machen. Die Bühne wird begehbar, diegetische Räume und deren Grenzen werden ausschließlich durch Trennwände angedeutet, während sich das ,wahre‘ urbane Leben draußen abzuspielen scheint. Eindrücke davon erhalten die Zuschauenden lediglich per Smartphone-Videos, so dass der stets im Wandel begriffene Organismus Stadt sich als imaginäres Gebilde entpuppt; ein Umstand, der in der Hörspielfassung besonders zum Tragen kommt.
Hier knistert es. Dem pausenlosen Rauschen und Knacken wohnt eine ungeduldige, auf den nächsten Augenblick lauernde Stimmung inne, in der sich Zukunft und Veränderung manifestieren. Für (An-)Spannung sorgen vorrangig die Klänge elektromagnetischer Felder, deren sonst unhörbare Schwingungen Christina Kubisch mittels Induktionsspulenkopfhörer hörbar macht. Im übertragenen Sinne wird das Aufdecken vorhandener, aber nicht vernehmbarer Klänge zu einer Handlungsmaxime: Im Heute liegt bereits das Morgen verborgen, den Zukunftsschlüssel haben wir gegenwärtig in der Hand. Und die Stadt? „Bulldozer planieren die Wüste, Wohnviertel werden eingezäunt, Strom durchzieht das Informelle, eine Menschenmenge besetzt den Mittelstreifen“, heißt es im Werkkommentar weiter. Wie sang die Band „Fehlfarben“ vor vierzig Jahren? „Keine Atempause. Geschichte wird gemacht. Es geht voran.“ Dass Einzelne bei aller Zielstrebigkeit auf der Strecke bleiben beziehungsweise aus der Spur geraten, findet in „Stadt [Land Fluss]“ eine musikalische Entsprechung, wenn Sebastian Berweck die Nadel seines Plattenspielers kleinschrittig über kreisende Rillen flanieren lässt. Gewissermaßen als Nebenprodukt entstehen dabei – zusammen mit den akustischen Beiträgen von Martin Lorenz und Andrea Neumann – flirrende Klangbilder, die der Idee von Soundscape bewusst widersprechen. Mit konkreten Objekten generieren Musikerin und Musiker wiederum eine abstrakte Klangwelt.
Und die gesprochenen Passagen? Sie erzählen von urbanen Problemen und Herausforderungen, etwa in der Hamburger HafenCity rund um die Elbphilharmonie. Das von Hannes Seidl und Filmemacher/Theaterregisseur Daniel Kötter nach Zitaten unterschiedlicher Provenienz erarbeitete, mitabgedruckte Skript fragt nach Chancen und Entwicklungen einer modernen, klimaneutralen, gerechten Stadt. Vieles scheint möglich. Alles bleibt offen – worauf die durchdachte, nachhaltige Aufmachung der beim Frankfurter Label Gruenrekorder veröffentlichte Compact Disc bereits hinweist: Undefinierte, voneinander nicht abgegrenzte, nur rudimentär kartographierte Räume künden von Freiheit. Was zunächst nach übertriebenem Pathos klingt, ist jedoch Programm. Alle können, dürfen, sollen mitdiskutieren, mitplanen, mitarbeiten. Es müssen Entscheidungen getroffen werden. Und genau darin liegen Vor- und Nachteil der Hörspielfassung gegenüber dem Musiktheater „Stadt [Land Fluss]“. Lässt letzteres durch seine interaktive Faktur noch eine Vielzahl an Versionen zu, zieht erstere als festgelegter Parcours tönende Mauern hoch, baut akustische Straßen und Parkanlagen, denkt klanglich über Mobilität nach. Die Entscheidung für eine Stadt ist notwendig – in einem Traumschloss lässt sich nämlich schlecht überwintern –, gibt aber zugleich andere Optionen preis. So könnte es also sein. Oder doch ganz anders?
Eine konstant anschwellende Spannung, die sich der oben erwähnten Klangerzeugung verdankt, drängt einerseits unaufhörlich nach vorne, während ihre kontinuierliche Wandlung andererseits für ein kontemplatives Moment sorgt. Zwischen Minute achtzehn und neunzehn findet eine ebenso geradlinige wie richtungslose klangliche Verdichtung statt, die sich im gesprochenen Text spiegelt: „Eine Unkontrolliertheit oder eine Informalität zu planen, ist eben schwierig. Planning the unplanned. Wie geht das?“, heißt es aus dem Off. Diese vordergründig mittels Sprache artikulierte Planbarkeit weicht allmählich einer um sich greifenden Klanglandschaft, die jeden Gedanken zu überwuchern scheint. In den letzten vierzehn Minuten dominieren Rauschen, Surren und Flirren – stoisch und doch voller Überraschungen. Die von Seidl geforderte soziale Dimension von Klanglichkeit gewinnt schließlich die Oberhand. Mit diesem konsequenten und überzeugenden Kunstgriff wird das gesprochene Wort ,denkende‘ Musik: „So, there’s a lot of power which resides it seems to me in thinking about the urban as a place to organise and as a place to come back together […].“ Gemeinsam eine Stadt erbauen. Für alle. Neben Ideen, Mörtel und Strom ist ein weiterer Aspekt entscheidend: zuhören. „Stadt [Land Fluss]“ redet nicht nur darüber, sondern macht es direkt vor." [Gerardo Scheige | MusikTexte 168]
A radio play on the sound of the city. Bulldozers flatten the desert, neighbourhoods are fenced in, electricity pervades the informal, crowds of people occupy the middle land. What does, what could the city of the future sound like? In “Stadt (Land Fluss)”, composer Hannes Seidl and media artist Daniel Kötter expand the discourse on the right to the city. The highly interconnected city and the radical effects of the permanent battle over its modification are turned into an acoustic experience. Stadt [Land Fluss] is based on the eponymous music theatre piece by Daniel Kötter / Hannes Seidl.
Composition / Production: Daniel Kötter / Hannes Seidl
Electromagnetic sounds: Christina Kubisch
Music: Sebastian Berweck, Martin Lorenz, Andrea Neumann
Text: Daniel Kötter / Hannes Seidl after quotes by David Harvey, Kathrin Wildner, Thorsten Fausch and others
Photos: Nara Silva das Virgens Merlitz
Graphic Design: Nafiseh Fathollahzadeh
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2020 |
€14.00 |
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| LA CASA, ERIC |
Air.Ratio |
CD |
Wer hat sich nicht schon einmal im Dröhnen & Rauschen von Lüftungs- und Klimaanlagen verloren? ERIC LA CASA hat hier 30 verschiedene Extrakte von ‘Nahaufnahmen’ gemacht, alle in Paris in verschiedensten Gebäuden auf Fluren, Toiletten, Badezimmern... AIR.RATIO zeigt die Verschiedenartigkeit & Vielschichtigkeit von ‘Rauschen, Dröhnen, Pfeifen, Heulen, Summen, etc.’ auf! Wenn man nur nah genug herangeht, eröffnet sich einem eine faszinierende, reichhaltige Welt (wohl das Grundprinzip experimenteller Musik – und vielleicht auch des Lebens an sich?). Nicht ein Stück gleicht dem anderen.
Im Booklet Texte zur ‘mechanischen Ventilation’ & der Abhängigkeit dieser Art der Klangerzeugung von diversen Parametern, die ‘künstliche Atmung der Gebäude’ als Symbol für die Rationalisierung unserer inneren Wohnwelten. Das ist die wahre ‘Maschinenmusik’ der modernen Welt. Wir meinen: Interessante Idee & fantastische Umsetzung, eine CD die die Ohren öffnen kann für die auralen Mikrowelten des Alltags, eine Bewusstseinserweiterung ohne Drogen! Diese (Wieder)-Entdeckung des Hörens kann glücklich machen.
63 Minuten Spielzeit, 33 tracks.
“Air Ratio. It all started in 1994, in a bathroom. An air vent above the bathtub attracted my attention. There, in the dusty environment, air became noise, music. Microphones were brought into contact with this acoustic territory to transmit the sonority of the aeraulic device directly. Since that day, I have been attentive to the flow of air in the modern architecture. This CD presents a selection of sound recordings made in Paris in buildings of various ages and dimensions. Without seeking to itemize mechanized ventilation systems in any methodical manner, I was interested in documenting their sonic and musical qualities. My approach wasn't strictly scientific, but nor was it primarily musical. All the sound recordings were made using a boom and of a pair of condenser microphones. Direct contact with the material was avoided. The recordings were subsequently assembled and equalized to optimize their abstract qualities, i.e. I sought to emphasize only sonic particularities related to the acoustics of the point of listening, not events related to the external movements (sounds of doors,
or voices): a listening devoid of both context and reference.” [Eric La Casa, liner notes]
“Each of the two minute pieces is a true delight to hear: mechanical sounding, sometimes far away, sometimes interfering with some other device (although none were recorded on the surface), this is a totally fascinating journey, that brings the listener more awareness of every days sound. Going into public places will never be the same again. Great sound work. “ (from FDW, Vital Weekly 533)
|
2006 |
€15.00 |
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|
Secousses Panoramiques |
mCD |
“Fahrstuhl-Musik” im wahrsten Sinne des Wortes! ERIC LA CASA hat Fahrgeräusche, Ansagen, Tür-Mechaniken, etc. von 16 verschiedenen Fahrstühlen aufgenommen. Es eröffnen sich ganz neue Welten in der Welt, die wir eigentlich gut kennen….
“Elevator music is of course nobody likes to hear when they speak about one's music. It's the type of music that one get in the elevator, or the supermarket. Muzak. Yuk. But in the case of the new Eric La Casa mini CD it's truly elevator music, music made out of the sound of elevators. Going up, going down, the computer voice, alarm, the bells and the ropes attached to the elevators. All of the sounds that are so familiar for elevators pass by, yet not very often humans. Divided into sixteen tracks, La Casa made his recordings mostly in Paris, but there is also a sound from Melbourne and Antwerp. However it's better to hear this as one work and not sixteen small ones. It's sound scaping in it's most pure form: without any electronic treatments, La Casa tells us a story and builds from all the familiar sounds a fascinating journey, even when the journey goes only up and down.” [FdW / Vital Weekly]
Address: http://www.hibarimusic.com
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2006 |
€10.00 |
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| |
W2 (1998-2008) |
do-CD |
"A collection of previous released compositions and longtime sold out made between 1998 and 2008 and gather under two main theme, Water and Wind. + a few unreleased pieces. A geographic inventory, a sonic journal, a living alchemy, the pulsing of the world. With Les pierres du seuil, S'ombre, Spirale, Les oscillations, L'Inspir du rivage, Dans le feuillage du lointain, la clameur d'un bruissement, Quelque chose de cela, le désert, L'air au fond rouge, Les aubes sont navrantes." [label info]
www.herbalinternational.tk
"Essential compilation of now hard to find material from sound artist Eric La Casa, thematically separated onto two CDs around the themes of wind and water. These pieces are just as much shaped by geography as by time itself, with each track's vocabulary varying according to what was recorded then and there.
As always La Casa masterfully crafts compelling sound stories with these two elements, emphasizing narration over some purely static documentary exercise. The sound of breezes, flowing rivers, wind tunnels, rain drops and other storms are structured but never denatured, retaining all of their organic depth and beauty. Absolutely recommended, especially to those appreciative of G*Park." [Mechanoise Labs]
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2010 |
€20.00 |
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| LA CASA, ERIC & CEDRIC PEYRONNET |
La Creuse |
CD |
LA CREUSE ist eine höchst gelungene Field Recording-Reise mit hohem Abstraktionsfaktor. Die Psychogeographie des französischen Departments LA CREUSE soll dadurch (sub)sonisch "verkörpert" und sinnlich erfahrbar werden, das Material wurde mit einem speziellen Remix- / Bearbeitungskonzept für jedes Stück konzeptualisiert. "Intelligente" Geräuschmusik aus einmaligen Klängen der Umgebung & Natur, fantastisch arrangiert !
"Our project is defined by its aim: to represent in sonic terms, and in duo, a particular environment – a triangular area in the north of the Creuse département in central France. In the first place, based on cartographic representations, we set about breaking down the chosen territory, an area between the Petite Creuse and Grande Creuse rivers, into specific sites. Secondly, we placed the map ‘under surveillance’, as it were, conducting sonic surveys in the selected sites. These surveys led us to a geophonic approach, each based on a development of specific auscultatory techniques, in which the wealth of sounds collected nourished our research into (sonic) territoriality.
The aim of the project was not to replace image with sound but to give that which surrounds us a (sonic) body; to give landscape a sonic corporeality. It might be that, being unrelated to notions of admiration that go hand in hand with seeing, a sonic evaluation can go some way towards confounding our a priori notions of landscape. Thirdly, the resulting data gave rise to an ensemble of exchanges/interactions, enabling formal variations. For one of these formalisations, musical composition, we chose the following protocol: each site was given a musical interpretation by a composer, his work being based on the site’s specific sound-bank. The composer then sent his piece to a second who, with recourse to his own bank of sounds, responded to the first interpretation. The second composer redefined the composition, adding his own sounds also. The final interpretation, therefore, is based as much on the layered listenings and recordings formed at the site itself as the musical conceptions of each individual." [label notes]
"As far as I remember I've never been to the area where Cedric Peyronnet (also better known as Toy Bizarre) and Eric La Casa recorded their work, the Creuse department in central France - maybe I saw it today when watching the Tour de France. However there is a booklet with this CD with pictures of the area, and in each picture there is a pair of microphones to be spotted. This is as close as you can make field recordings visual I guess. A pity that the booklet, a diary it seems, is all in French, with some general English translation on the cover. The area was divided into several specific sites which were recorded by one, and then sent to the other to work on it, to interpret the place. And vice versa of course. Each piece is started by one, finished by the other. Its not easy to hear who did what, but I think that the pieces finished by Peyronnet have a minimal subtle electronic manipulations, and that La Casa's pieces are entirely made with field recordings. I might be wrong however and no electronic processing took place. We hear rain, wind, footsteps and sounds from water, objects and other sonic events which are hard to be placed somewhere in terms of what one could recognize. Even when this is divided into nine pieces, it's best enjoyed as a complete picture: listen from start until the end, sit back and transport yourself through time and space - time is the length of the CD and the place is La Creuse. This rural and forest area is pictured quite well before your very eyes. A very refined work." [FdW / Vital Weekly ]
www.herbalinternational.tk
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2008 |
€13.50 |
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| LA CASA, ERIC & JEAN-LUC GUIONNET |
Inscape. Lille-Flandres |
CD |
"Es ist möglich mit ALLEN Orten Musik zu machen" - getreu nach diesem Motto und ihrer Faszination für die einmalige Perspektive die jeder Ort bietet, arbeitet das französische Duo beim INSCAPE-Projekt die spezifischen Klänge eines Platzes, Areals oder Gebäudes heraus. Bei diesen Aufnahmen vom AUDIOFRAMES-Festival in Lille (Oktober 2004) wurden an bestimmten Punkten des Auftrittsortes (ein altes Postgebäude) akustische Informationen eingesammelt und kunstvoll in "real time" zusammengeführt. So verbinden sich Aussengeräusche (Straße, Eisenbahn, Bahnhofslautsprecher, etc) mit denen im Innern des Gebäudes, Regen, und so weiter, zu einer einmaligen Komposition.
Wer urbane Field Recordings mag, sollte bei INSCAPE unbedingt ein Ohr riskieren!
Since 2003, their Inscape project, based on site-specific listening installations, has resulted in concerts from the United States to Australia via France. The project has been expanded in recent times to include installations in art galleries presented in conjunction with the ephemeral work of video-artist Yvan Clédat. Since, in our collaborations, we have worked principally on the notion of 'background noise', defined at once as that which designates a specific place (each place, each point defined by the uniqueness of its background noise, its own distribution of sounds, frequencies, textures etc.) and as that which remains when the sonic ensemble which dominates our attention (that which might ordinarily be said to 'interest' us) has been removed from the mass of sounds we hear, our projects are based on the idea that an analogy structures the relations between site, sound and reception, or hearing, of those sounds: sounds come at us, flood our ears in 360¡, defining as they do so a centre - which is none other that of the listening body. However, that centre remains a postulate, defined as it is from outside to in, from sound's invisible horizon. Instinctively, we define a site as such (or are unable to define it otherwise): as a spatial totality, centred on a point, moving or otherwise, inhabited or not.' 'Inscape-Lille-FLandres' was presented in Lille (Northern France) as part of the 2004 Audioframes Festival (October 2004)." [label info]
"Much more information, in English, can be found on the release by Inscape, the duo of Eric LaCasa and Jean-Luc Guionnet. As Inscape they deal with 'site-specific listening installations', 'principally on the notion of 'background noise'. The review of their CD can never really deal with all the implications of their project (otherwise I'd be retyping the entire booklet), but they more or less scan the environment where a project is by means of audio and video, which are used in a live concert or an installation piece. 'Lille-Flanders' was made in 2004 at a disused postal sorting office, now a cultural space and a list of sounds is in the booklet. Best is to sit back and let the music just roll about. Cars passing, trains, water meter, the rain falling, incidental music from the nearby train station etc. Its all there. Other than LaCasa's solo work, this is more a collage like approach on sounds, with a bit more rapid mixing than in his solo work. It makes a small, but significant difference and it makes a beautiful piece of music. A very fine and solid work of field recordings." [FdW / Vital Weekly]
www.monotyperecords.com
|
2008 |
€13.00 |
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| LA COMUNIDAD |
Bastion 23 |
CD |
"second release of LC / german power electronics meets ambient noise parts in a mixture of noise / strength by political provokation" [label info]
"Control, Slogun, Sickness, MZ412 they all have something in common with La Comunidad . the pure fucking brutality and angry that these units can project. There is nothing happy or hopeful about this release. This German force are not a happy lot. This is about the disgust of ones world and surrounding and how a single source submits it to anyone that will listen. Not all of La Comunidad is full on noise sometimes there is a very suffocating Death Ambient assault going on here. You need to listen to the speeches and spoken word movements as much as the backdrop of the music to get the full picture.
La Comunidad likes the thought of War, Pain and Dispair. That much is very simple. Its not this vision alone that makes La Comunidad any more interesting then the bands listed above. What makes them a bit more out there is the distance and isolationist feel you get when listening to this. La Comunidad aren't to make this recording for your. Your here so someone can hear the deconstruction of a human soul on the bring of either greatness or insanity. Your never really sure and I hope to never find out. Just let the extremity of it all take you and change for ever.
L White has presented La Comunidad in a wonderful A5 full color 4 panel card package. The only thing is limiting it to 300 copies after all this hard work. L white is the Harsh Industrial/ Noise/ Power Electronic fans best friend as they give an outlet to very amazing projects such as there were others would never even look at them. Thank you for this L White and keep up the pain inducing release as I know I will keep on listening." [Clint Listing]
label-website: www.l.white-records.de
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2007 |
€13.00 |
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| LA NOMENKLATUR |
Le Triomphe de la Volonte |
CD |
"This was the ultimate composing in the 86-92 period. The martial side, and above all, the title of the project might not be interpreted like an adherence to the nazi propaganda as we can see it in the Leni Riefenstahl movie. Passion for cinema was greater than anything else. This project included all the emotions of a movie like drama, tears, violence, fear, and decision. Some tracks were in keeping with the life of the composer, and specially his romantic violences... a turning point in his life... like Leni Riefenstahl understood it later when the story of the cinema agreed with her, but not the History of mankind.
It was also the project of the renunciation because La NomenKlatur have seen a great deal of life like Minamata before it. The second part of the musical expression closed up. Silence was here for a long time.
Today, there is a true desire to retrieve the NomenKlaTurian accents because the history of our world in trouble gives some real elements for the new musical power of that band.... war, aggreed in the broad sense of the word, the one that Artaud use to define act of creation, would be the concrete expression of a wonderful horrible musical sense." [label info]
|
1992 |
€8.00 |
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| 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 |
|
|
Les Explositionnistes |
CD |
"The ‘Shy peoples society at the parade of the birds’ (STPO) have been around since 1984 and I have had the pleasure to write about their intriguing music previously. It has been a while though, as La STPO’s last album ‘Les Liquidateurs’ was released three years ago. This album, ‘Les Explositionnistes’, note a trend in titles, was in fact recorded between 1993 and 1995 and first released in 1995. This
new release is a re-mastered version of the 1995 edition. Unfortunately I cannot compare the sound to the original version, but the new version on Exklageto sounds clear and direct. The shy people number (around) six and to me have always formed an intriguing link between say the archaic beauty of Déficit Des Annees Anterieures (with whom they share a home country, in this instance France, as well as a
love of four letter abbreviations - DDAA) and Magma (who also hail from France – let’s face it; where else would you find a big band playing prog-jazz mixed with avant-garde?). This album adds to their catalogue of unpredictable, eclectic, high-energy music. ‘Les Explositionnistes’ listens like an art
manifesto; several tracks are dedicated to/inspired by artists such as Max Ernst, Pablo Picasso, Barnett Newman, Asger Jorn and Lyonel Feiniger. The last name was a new one to me; Feiniger being a turn-of-the-century (we’re talking 1900 here) representative of Expressionism, which makes perfect sense in
the world of les explositionnistes. The cover is clear on the subject; depicted are a number of people (shy people?) who have just attached a bomb to a painting, ready to blow up the art world – ‘les explositionnistes’ indeed! Blowing up the art world is one thing, in fact the artists mentioned earlier certainly did, but what about blowing up the music world? Is La STPO the musical ‘explositionnistes’?
You could argue that La STPO plays expressionistic music: it bounces all over the place, energetic and devoid of basic musical ‘rules’ such as ‘try to keep one tempo per song’ or ‘do not create any complex breaks’. Good. Their songs are played on traditional instruments, such as guitar, bass, drums,
woodwind etcetera. There are no soundscapes or drones to be found, which in a sense is refreshing. As said, the music, especially when the tempo slows down, reminds me of DDAA, a group of artists I dearly love and on whose label, Illusion Production, La STPO released an EP in the 80s. But to be honest, La STPO (which my auto correct annoyingly keeps auto changing to STOP) rarely slow down. The music keeps a nervous, jumpy and unnerving edge throughout its ten songs. It reminds me at times of the
organized chaos of say The Mothers of Invention. Les Explositionnistes is exactly that: an explosive mix of instruments, structure and sound, aurally exhausting (to me), but rewarding – blowing up the world of music is something La STPO is more than capable of." [FK/Vital Weekly] |
2018 |
€13.00 |
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Romanciel |
CD |
"At last, more than three years after the magnificent “L’ Empreinte” here is the new album from my favorite Society: “Romanciel“. The first impression concerns the artistic creativity of the group: it’s astonishing how high it has been maintained throughout an almost forty-year career. In fact, I can say it right away, “Romanciel” is one of the best albums of theirs, in the field of a discography that is filled with beautiful works. Then comes the great pleasure to find again all the elements that make their style unique, immediately recognizable and, at once, new and fresh every time: Pascal Godjikian‘s extraordinary expressiveness and vocal skills, JimB‘s sharp metallic electric guitar, Patrice Babin‘s stormy drums and delicate small percussions, Christophe Gautheur‘s versatile keyboards and Sébastien Desloges‘s bass and violin. Fascinating, as well, are the suggestions to which La Stpo‘s world refers: the artistic avant-garde of the twentieth century for instance (Dadaism, Surrealism, Expressionism) or some masters of modern music (King Crimson, Pere Ubu and David Thomas projects are the first names that come to me). The album opens with the twenty minute long “Roman“, and it is the violin of the latest arrival Desloges (he joined the group eleven years ago) that gives an important contribution to the atmosphere of unusual lightness of this first track. Along with it we have soft blows of flute and ethereal openings of keyboards. It reminds me of Kandinsky or Klee’s most abstract paintings. But lightness can easily evaporate and leave the place to gravity and harmony can become dissonance just like a clear sky can suddenly cloud over, tear with lighting and explode with thunder. La Stpo‘s songs are kind of like this, they are changing and surprising. Pascal Godjikian‘s lyrics, that often take inspiration from the dream world, are well suited to the music with their surrealistic, bizarre, non consequential features. They speak a language of their own. Actually, since the very beginning of the story, language has always been a reason of great interest for him, even of experimentation with the creation of neologisms and new ways of combining the letters together. The second track gives us a nice chance to approach a very special “Dictionnaire“.
“La Diminuée” has weird, theatrical tones alternating with tender sounds of twittering and magnificent lyrical breakthroughs. The mood changes drastically in the fourth and last song, “Rien qu’en Ciel“. It’s a twenty-four-minute performance, wonderful and frightening at the same time, that unveils a dramatic scenery, a kind of desperate cry while a higher and higher wall erases the sky. It’s a dark and haunting final but, despite of it, in the silence that follows the end of the music, a little smile finds its way and sweetens the lips and the soul of the listener. This is what happens in front of a work of art or a spectacle of nature. And this music is beautiful, imaginative and free just like a successful picture or like the flight of the birds that paint the sky with their wonderful parade." [Gabriele Carlini}
https://adnrecords.com/la-stpo-romanciel/
"Romanciel (DNN 032 C) beginnt mit ‘Roman‘ und endet mit ‘Rien qu’un Ciel‘, logisch, soweit bei LA STPO je etwas logisch ist. Zwischen die mit knapp 20 und 23 3⁄4 Min. mächtigen Flügel haben JimB – guitar, Patrice Babin – drums, Sébastien Desloges – bass & violin, Christophe Gautheur – keys & reeds und allen voran Pascal Godjikian zwei live schon bekannte Kabinettstückchen platziert: das a capella angestimmte meta-ykegiakische, meta-tidalikische ‘Dictionnaire‘ und ‘La Diminuee‘, das mit verkleinerter Nase die Schwarz-wurzel falsifiziert. Davor bringt Pascal Zeilen aus “Le Tueur Littéral“, einem Roman des Typs R, wie: On a paré tous les états de mort oder Enfin, les 16 décès aux joyeux abois.
Und stellt einen zuletzt vor eine höher und höher wachsende graue Mauer, Mauer, Mauer, die einem die Welt und den Himmel verstellt. Les pédales de la mort korrespondiert mit les états de mort. Aus Literatur werden Daten, Himmel gibt es nur noch auf Screens. JimBs Artwork lässt jedoch die farblose Sterilität eines Lochkartenlabors von Vögeln mit blauer Farbe bekleckern. Und von den ersten zitternden Geigenstrichen, von Pascals ersten irrwitzig artikulierten Sätzen an gibt da auch wieder die extraordinäre, im bad alchemystischen Sinn superlativste Musik ihr Kontra. Artrockistisch komplex, mit wieder Pascals unnachahmlichen Manierismen. Die phantastische Wortwahl und die theatralische, akrobatisch zwischen guttural und falsett springende Performanz suchen in ihrem surrealen, artaudesken Reiz, ihrer grotesken Komik einmal mehr ihresgleichen. Wie launig da wieder Babin mit Stabspiel klimpert oder übers Fell galoppiert, wie die Gitarre zuckt und Gift spuckt, der Kecak-Spaß, der vogelige Abbé Birdeen-Spleen bei ‘La Diminuee‘. Und schließlich das umflimmerte Pizzicato, die Violinrufe, das brachiale Mahl- und Basswerk, der Gitarrenexzess, die melancholischen Vibes, die ultimative, gegurgelte Glossolalie bei ‘…Ciel‘ als hochdramatisch karnevalsgrotesker Menschheitsdämmerung bis hin zu den finalen Paukenwirbeln und stechenden Pfiffen. Unfassbar stark!" [Rigobert Dittmann (Bad Alchemy 114)] |
2022 |
€13.00 |
|
| LA STPO (SOCIETE DES TIMIDES A LA PARADE DES OISEAUX) |
Tranches de temps jete (Slices of thrown time) |
LP |
Für jeden Recommended Records- und „AvantRock“-Fan ein MUSS, das neue Album dieser ungewöhnlichen Band, die auf französisch singen, sprechen und schreien und musikalisch fast schon theatralisch zu nennende „Szenen“ entwerfen, die irgendwo zwischen Geräuschmusik, Filmmusik & Experimental-Rock liegen.... wobei jedes Stück bis ins kleinste Detail ausgearbeit ist !
Nicht nur höchst kurzweilig, sondern auch anspruchsvoll und ästhetisch tönen diese Aufnahmen, die bereits im Jahre 2000 gemacht wurden...
Dies die limitierte Vinyl-Version....
“Ed. of 325 copies. Vol. 3 of Records are not for Baking In the midst of the world's fascination with so-called Electroclash, leave it to the old school to really show what post-punk is really about, while simultaneously turning the concept on its fractured head. LA STPO has the finesse and invention and the je ne c'est quoi to massage its victims into a quiet trance, only to pummel them seconds later. Slices Of Throw Time is like a Van Der Graaf arc between the bombast of Blurt/Ex/Dog Faced Hermans/Contortions/Birthday Party and the subtle, avant-composerly moments of Henry Cow/This Heat/Univers Zero/Faust. The punchy rhythm section, abetted by the squawky horns, makes for a music to which one can truly contort. LA STPO's musical muscle, however, is always backed up by solid jazz/classical informed chops that can and will chop any lesser outfit into nothing more than a pile of over-loud rock and roll dust. LA STPO infuses their punk with dynamics of both volume and texture, producing a slightly zeuhl flavoured post rock, which should, by all rights, land Slices Of Throw Time on many a critic's year end top 10 list. We all know this will not likely happen, but hopefully there is enough room in YOUR top ten list for rock that both rocks and explores.” [label info]
www.blrrecords.com
|
2006 |
€17.00 |
|
| LAABAN, ILMAR |
Ankarkättingens slut är sängens början |
CD |
Obscure Swedish sound-poetry with some very old recordings, from one of the lesser known artists in this field where meaning of words meets with the noise of words... Comes with nice gold-embossed small book with texts, pictures and graphics, all in Swedish !
“Ilmar Laaban´s poetry, practically a class in itself in Sweden, traverses linguistic borderlands where words can get split and torn apart, reduced to something beyond words, perhaps more universal than words, but where the various components can just as often be reassembled in new words. The cycle of destruction and construc- tion always fascinated Laaban the word-wright and word-kneader, going through it over and over again to find the cracks and clefts from which an unexpected spring might well forth.” Like Tristan Tzara he holds to the maxim "thought is born in the mouth. Laaban´s poetry, which gives sound and form to the subconscious, is a poetry of utterance, and therefore speaks for itself. But the appended compilation of statements on the subject, from the writer himself, nevertheless offer a rewarding insight into his poetic method and reveal much about the associative pathways down which his imagination has wandered. This CD begins with two examples of Labaan´s surrealist recitation from the 40´s and 50´s, followed by some of his polyphonic text-sound poetry (which he started in 1967), and finally some sound poems from the 90´s. Ilmar Laaban was born in Tallinn, Estonia in 1921. He studied Romanic languages at the university of Tartu and musical composition at the Tallinn conservatory. To avoid being drafted into Hitler´s army he fled to Sweden in 1943. He had already been writing surrealist poetry in Estonia, and continued in the same vein in Sweden, supporting himself as a freelance culture and art reviewer. His grasp and overview of the international art arena gave him an important role as a guide and source of inspiration for many artists who came in contact with him, not the least those in the circle around Fylkingen.” [label info]
www.fylkingen.se
|
1998 |
€12.50 |
|
| LABELLE, BRANDON |
Techne |
CD |
Wieder ein stark konzeptgeladenes Werk vom kalifornischen Klangkünstler: Auf Techne sind alle Stücke entstanden als Ergebnis von „Körpern”, die sich in direkten Kontakt mit architektonischen Räumen begeben... das akustische Ergebnis klingt wie eine fremde Sprache aus konkreten, sich schnell verändernden, collagenhaft verfremdeten Sounds, soft und zart.
“..Through his use of contact mikes, the human body turns into a complex sound source, and the space where the action takes place becomes a musical instrument by itself. Brandon LaBelle builds his sound performance to reflect the site and the objects he finds there, found-art seen as a highly conceptual reasoning as well as a play in improvisation. The music of Brandon LaBelle reveals the social context in which it exists, or more precisely, it's the context itself that is designated as a musical event, through the displacement of the concept of authorship on an active social space. 'Techné' presents itself like the trace of a process where the physical body interacts with architecture via micro contacts. The technology is the interface of this contact built both on desire and the architectural constraint of the place (and its subconscious). A recording of situationist poetry where the politics project gives its shape to the musical project, a radical noise. (Traduction : Pascal Rivoire)" - label description.
|
2001 |
€7.50 |
|
| LABRADFORD |
Mi Media Naranja |
CD |
Ihr viertes Album von 1997, instrumentale, einsame, melancholische Wüsten-Psychedelik.
"With their fourth album, Labradford have once again broadened and varied their sound, while maintaining their distinctive identity. Mi Media Naranja adds a string section, Fender Rhodes electric piano and slide guitar to the trio's sound bank. It is the most cinematic of Labradford's recordings to date. The music alternately stretches, ripples or lofts its way past the listener as if it was coming off a screen and not through speakers. The sounds here are reminiscent of John Barry, Bill Evans and most of all, Labradford." [label info]
“....It's downright cinematic. There's simply no doubt about it. And yet, it's infinitely more interesting than anything John Williams ever wrote. Labradford have invented the musical equivilent of the mysteriously abandoned small town. Old signs hang loosely from their creaky hinges, most of the windows have been smashed out and the wind seems to blow harder than normal. It brings you down in a comforting way, like you've just stumbled across an old picture of a four-year-old you and your since deceased mother. More accurately, Naranja's like traveling the dusty backroads of Athens, Georgia and finding Michael Stipe and Vic Chesnutt laying dead in the dirt. Initially, you're shocked and horrified. Then you realize you're gonna be on MTV News. Luckily, Labradford seem content to let you tag along on their tragic magic carpet ride through seven untitled tracks of middle- of- nowhere lonliness accentuated by the reverb of twangy guitars and pianos. Just don't talk.“[Ryan Schreiber, Pitchforkmedia]
“.....Labradford moves into the desert, with this soundtrack for driving down dirt highways and through abandoned towns with the word "gulch" in their name. "Mi..." is a beautiful record that is much more pleasant to listen to than their previous efforts. The cold, experimental touches the trio worked into their music are still there, but subdued and downplayed.” [Opuszine]
|
1997 |
€14.00 |
|
| |
Prazision |
do-LP |
"The debut album from Labradford, as well as the premier kranky release, was originally issued in October 1993 to a surprising amount of acclaim as well as a fair bit of confusion. What was one to make of these beatless atmospheres cum pop songs that had very little to do with contemporary "indie-rock"? The album was typically lumped into such newly minted sub-genres such as "lo-fi" and "post-rock" even though there was no connection to any such imagined scenes. Lo-fi? You can hear Mark Nelson breathe between vocal lines for chrissake. Must be the lack of cymbals and hi-hat that accounts for that fallacy. Post-rock? Does this catch-all phrase for disparate musical groups and sounds even imply anything concrete or encompassing? Alas, just another label that quickly became meaningless.
What is clearly evident upon listening to the album anew is that this is not a dated or stale work by any means. It could just as well have been recorded in 2003, or 1983 for that matter, as in 1993. It does not contain any of the markers so typical of pop music that would place it in any time frame, no production touches or instrumental sounds that would identify it as being the product of a specific period. At the very least, Labradford created a timeless work, one that still challenges the listener today. More to the point, they created a masterwork." [label info]
www.kranky.net
|
2013 |
€22.50 |
|
| LAINHART, RICHARD |
White Night |
CD |
minimal ambience recorded 1974 ! Edition of 500
Ein wunderschön schimmernder, fast 30minütiger Drone von 1974 offenbart sich auf WHITE NIGHT, der aus vier sich umtänzelnden, schwingenden Tönen besteht. Obwohl hierzu Sinus-Töne auf einem MOOG-Synthesizer kreiert wurden, ergeben sich Obertöne und eine "wavende" Räumlichkeit, die das ganze eher nach Gitarrendrones klingen lassen, wie ihn heutzutage STARS OF THE LID oder ULTRASOUND machen...
Erschienen auf dem Label von TOBIAS FISCHER (FEU FOLLET) und MIRKO UHLIG (ex AALFANG MIT PFERDEKOPF).
"Back in 1974, one year before Brian Eno’s first landmark in Ambient-music, some young musician from New York wrote down a fragment of beauty’s hidden story with the minimal vocabulary of sine waves on the young black skin of a Moog synthesizer. The first release on CD features Richard Lainhart’s masterpiece in its original 29-minutes-version. There’s no single second to add, after this time everything is told though nothing has been said. Richard Lainhart about the work’s origin: "White Night" was composed and recorded in the late fall of 1974 at the State University of New York at Albany in the Coordinated Electronic Music Studio (CEMS). CEMS was created by my composition teacher Joel Chadabe with design and custom fabrication by Robert Moog and was, at the time, the largest integrated Moog modular synthesizer studio in the world. The piece consists of a dense, continuous four-note chord, each note in the chord recorded in a separate pass to one track on a Scully 4-track studio recorder. Each track consists of a single sine wave oscillator which is frequency modulated by a group of eight additional sine wave oscillators. Those oscillators are all tuned to different tones, each harmonically related to the fundamental chord tone. The amplitude of each harmonic oscillator is continuously varied under the control of an individual sequencer, and each sequencer is free-running - that is, the sequencers are not synchronized to each other, but rather running in their own independent timebases.The result is a continuously-changing complex harmonic waveform which modulates the frequency of the chord tone oscillator, generating a continuously-changing complex timbre based on the fundamental pitch of the note.
The center tone of "White Night" is 212 Hz, slightly higher than the G below Middle C. The other notes create a chord consisting of a perfect fifth below the center tone, a major seventh just below the center tone, and a major second above the center tone. "White Night" was composed without reference to the standard A-440 tuning system, as we had no such pitch reference in the studio; I just picked a center tone that felt right, and went from there. As such, "White Night" lives in its own pitch world.
The title "White Night" came about so: it was late December in upstate New York when I was finishing the piece, and a blizzard passed through town the night of the final mix. As I sat in the glow of the sequencers and tape decks in the University studio listening to the final version, I looked out the window and saw a security light on a building opposite the studio illuminating the blowing snow as it drifted off the roof. All I could see was the snow swirling in the light against the blackness; a moving painting continually drawn, erased, and redrawn, always changing, but always the same. It may sound bleak, but it wasn't - it was beautiful. It seemed to me that the image of the dancing whiteness perfectly matched the sound of the piece, and so I called it "White Night" to commemorate that evening of wind and snow." [label info]
www.exovo.org
|
2007 |
€12.00 |
|
| 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 |
|
| LAMI, GIOVANNI |
Monumento Fiume |
LP |
In 2021, the Municipality of Cotignola, Ravenna invited sound artist and composer Giovanni Lami to participate in an artist residency as part of a broader project aiming to investigate the anthropic landscape of the local area.
The two-piece composition Monumento Fiume stems from the huge body of field recordings collected by Lami throughout his residency period, which is going to contribute to the soon-to-be Sound archive of Cotignola. As Massimiliano Fabbri points out in the liner notes, "Monumento Fiume" is an oxymoron: this may reflect the both static and dynamic ecology rendered in these two pieces almost entirely crossed by a constant, throbbing tension.
Recorded throughout Spring and Summer of 2021.
Mixed by Giovanni Lami.
Mastered by Giuseppe Ielasi.
Artwork and design by Clio Casadei.
Liner notes by Massimiliano Fabbri.
Edition of 300 copies.
The recordings used in this composition were collected in Cotignola, Ravenna as part of a nascent sound archive of the area. Monumento Fiume is a project funded by Comune di Cotignola and Regione Emilia-Romagna.
https://kohlhaas.bandcamp.com/album/monumento-fiume
"If you look at the record, the inner sleeve, you have difficulty figuring out what this is about; or even who made this record. Going on Kohlhaas' Bandcamp, you learn this is 'Monumento Fiume' by Giovanni Lami. His work was reviewed before in Vital Weekly, and he primarily works with field recordings and very specific concepts. The concept here is lost as the liner notes are in Italian, and Bandcamp doesn't provide a translation. The basic idea is that Lami was invited by the Municipality of Cotignola, "Ravenna, for "an artist residency as part of a broader project aiming to investigate the anthropic landscape of the local area". To that end, Lami collected a lot of field recordings, "which is going to contribute to the soon-to-be Sound archive of Cotignola". According to Bandcamp, "Massimiliano Fabbri points out in the liner notes, "Monumento Fiume" is an oxymoron: this may reflect both static and dynamic ecology rendered in these two pieces almost entirely crossed by a constant, throbbing
tension". Google translates 'Monumento Fiume' as 'Monument River'. I am sure I miss out on something here. The two pieces are relatively short, around twelve and a half minutes each. In 'M', on the first side, the field recordings are embedded into a musical mix of percussive sounds, string instruments and such, but all of which sound very much like they are processed inside the computer. Something similar can be found, but then much more extended on the other side, 'F'. A zither perhaps, maybe a bass, some electronics and along, there are field recordings of a building site, church bells and birds. I prefer 'F' over 'M', as I enjoyed the fact that the musical elements brought in by Lami lifted the music to another level, whereas 'M' stayed more on the side of field recordings/documentation, and of which the relation with the overall project is a bit lost on me. Overall, I thought this was a most enjoyable record, of which I didn't understand certain aspects." [FdW / Vital Weekly] |
2023 |
€18.00 |
|
| LAMY, PHILIPPE |
Drop Diary |
CD |
"After numerous appearances on various netlabels, collabs with Pleq, and shortly after the publication of his debut solo CD “Slowfast” on Dronarivm, Philippe Lamy confirms all the hopes placed into him… Years of experience as an established painter and teacher in Plastic Arts, as well as his late coming to the music have allowed him to stand back, and feed his soundscapes with an extreme care for textures & densification…
This expert practice lead him to weave intimate bounds between his visual art, and his sound pieces…
With “Drop diary” he pushes everything further, close to some total synesthesia…
Mix of fluids, cross of breaths,
sketch of outlines, a succession of barely visible, furtive worlds…
Lines, strokes, fleeting & penetrating moments,
splinters of night…
Rubbings, drip, measure of time,
a notion of universal, permanent flux…
A way of sticking to it, be within its own heart…
Self ramifications…
Holes, folds, follow-up of curves…
The squeezed in words, dissimulated truths,
swirls, veiled cluster of stars…
So many mute guides…
A necessity of merging into, to understand,
to take on a new lease of our surroundings,
enriched by their own echoes, their murmurs…
Captured sources, origin points,
the calm of the brush, the amplitude of the move, like a gradual obviousness,
an amazing force, till going back up to the primary water, spurt of lives…
“Drop diary” records the vital impulse,
a compendium of emotions, it shows that elusive something, that essential which founds us, yet remains ungraspable…" [label info]
www.mysterysea.net
"The only time, I think, I heard of Philippe Lamy before, was when he did a remix of Pleq (see Vital Weekly 767), but here he comes up with an album of field recordings made in his painting studio and 'some sounds "outside"' as it is said on the cover. Entirely different cake here. Unlike many of the Mystery Sea recordings, the connection with 'water' is not easily made here in the music (except for some dripping in 'Au Revoir', the final piece on this release)å. Perhaps this is because there is a lot of processing applied to the music? Maybe it's because it's all quite soft? The latter for sure: this is indeed all quite soft and no doubt there is a lot of processing here. It makes that the music of Lamy is not easy to decipher. It seems there is an amount of motorized sounds, such as in 'Depot' for instance, but most of the times it's just very hard to know what is going on. The abstract level is very high here, and it results in something that is not always highly original,
but it sounds altogether pretty good and pretty intense. You have to stop doing whatever it is you're doing and listen with all your available senses to the music. You think Main here, or Kassel Jaeger, but then much softer, more pushed away and alienated, and that's mainly due to the soft spoken nature of the music. Maybe this harks back to the time when this sort of quietness was all new and great, but for me, I wouldn't have minded to have all of this a bit louder and more present. I like to play a CD straight away and not first having to fiddle around with my EQ to get the best out of it." [FdW/Vital Weekly]
|
2013 |
€13.00 |
|
| |
Entre Deux |
mCD-R |
"At first, philippe lamy is a painter and a teacher in plastic arts at the national superior school of architecture in toulouse, france. some years ago he began experimenting with music, now using his technique with soundscapes and field recordings. After numerous promising releases on various netlabels, he has recently confirmed the hopes many people placed in him with two cd releases on dronarivm and mystery sea. These two pieces were recorded and composed last year and show all his skills..." [label info]
www.taalem.com
"The least dark is the release by Philippe Lamy, who also had releases on Mystery Sea, as well as Dronarivm, and bases his ambient music on the use of processed field recordings, just like Mathes does. But in Lamy's work there is room for a bit of air, a fine amount of higher pitched sounds, and is more glitch like perhaps. Maybe also a bit more abstract, with music being further removed from the original source material, which is no longer to be recognized. Maybe it's also the music that is less linear and more chopped into various bits, like an acousmatic composition. These two pieces are the most varied bits of music of these three new Taalem releases. Whereas the others are maybe more text book like ambient pieces, here we are dealing with some more in depth composition. That is not say that one is better than the other, as I quite enjoyed all three for what they are." [FdW/Vital Weekly]
|
2013 |
€5.00 |
|
| LAND:FIRE |
Gone |
LP |
Eines der Highlights der Neuzugänge dieses Katalogs, dieses neue anonyme Projekt auf LOKI mit brodelnd-massivem dark ambient, archaic music at its best, eine dichte und alles verschlingende Atmosphäre wird heraufbeschworen, mit sakralen und melancholischen Untertönen.
Highly recommended massive & dense dark ambient archaic noise.. sacral and melancholic.. there are rumours this could be a HERBST9-sideproject.
[old Drone Rec info 2002]
„With it´s first release this new project from Germany has sculptured a sombre, frightening and illusionary soundtrack that creates an imagination about devastated landscapes and scorched areas where traces of human existence are to be found only on remaining fragments from noted radio transmissions. Massive drones and sinister melodies rise out from the inside of a dark and bleak ground while crushing rhythms and unreal vocal shreds echoing through a wide spectrum of sounds and effects. Limited edition of 555 copies!” [press-release]
|
2002 |
€12.00 |
|
| |
Shortwave Transmission |
CD |
"Ist es wirklich schon fünf Jahre her seit das letzte Land:Fire-Album "Physical : Mental : Psychological" erschien? Ja, das Herbst9-Nebenprojekt von Henry Emich und Frank Merten hat tatsächlich so lang mit neuem Material auf sich warten lassen. Und trotz der grossen Zeitspanne ist das Thema des Albums ähnlich gewählt, geht es wieder um die Auswirkungen radioaktiver Techbologien. "Physical : Mental : Psychological" beschäftigte sich mit den Auswirkungen von 'Trinity', der ersten Atombombe 1945. Land:Fires neues Album "Shortwave Transmission" steckt den Rahmen etwas anders ab und beschäftigt sich mit dem Einsatz radioaktiver Substanzen in der modernen Kriegsführung, vor allem während der Kriege im Nahen Osten gegen Ende des letzten Jahrhunderts und den daraus resultierenden Folgen.
Das Duo zeichnet ein apokalyptisches Bild der Welt, das wir uns so kaum vorstellen können, waren diese Kriege doch zu weit weg oder sind schon zu lang her. Da erscheint es fast beschämend, wenn einem die Musik aus "Shortwave Transmission" gefällt. Dieses mit Sprachfetzen aus alten Aufnahmen angefüllte Inferno klingt wie der düstere Nachhall einer Menschheit, die sich selbst vernichtet hat und deren auditives Vermächtnis alles ist, was übrig geblieben ist und nun in Radiowellen transformiert durch den Äther schwebt.
Eine verlorene, einsame Melodie hallt knarzend vor sich hin. Bedrohliches Donnern macht Angst, genauso wie starkes, pulsierendes Rauschen. Blubberndes und kratzendes Grollen, von hellen, metallenen Tönen begleitet und mit unkenntlich verzerrten Sprachsamples führt zu einem abrupten Ende. Land:Fires Musik hat aber auch unweigerlich schöne Momente. Trostlosigkeit und Zerstörung sind nicht allumfassend. Der Schrei eines Raubvogels zum Beispiel oder die melancholische aber spärliche Melodie in "Most People Were Silent". Dieses Album ist eine Warnung, eine Aufforderung aufzuhören, bevor uns die Radioaktivität verschlingt. "Shortwave Transmission" ist kein Soundtrack für den Weltuntergang, sondern schon eher ein Nachruf." [Medienkonverter]
"Coming back with an all new album after more than 5 years the Alter Ego of HERBST9 delivers
another outstanding soundtrack about radiological warfare and it´s debris during the last century.
SWT is like a massive energy spike with a surrounding maelstrom of machine noises, rhythms, interferrences and electromagnetic waves. The complex arrangement of technical sounds creates a deadly atmosphere of fallout and devastated landscapes with an apocalyptic aura reflected by dissonant harmonies and deep shimmering ambient scapes. Presented in a 6 panel digipack. Mastered by Andreas Wahnmann." [label info]
www.loki-found.de
"With a title like 'Short Wave Transmissions', you could perhaps easily think that the album of Land:Fire is along that of S.E.T.I. That is only partly true. There is indeed a lot of talking on this record, snippets from the radio, but the music is somewhat different. Land:Fire is an alter-ego of Herbst9, and it has been five years since he last released a record. This is all about radiological warfare, nuclear fall out and other somewhat unpleasant things in life. Here too we have some analogue synthesizers, computerized effects but also rhythm machines, which create a cold clinical and mechanical sound. That may seem like something negative, but its not. The music is very dynamic, moving back and forth between blocks of synthesized sound and soft spoken ambient textures, all spiced up with radio talk. Its not easy to say wether the music really reflects the radiological/nuclear holocaust theme (would you be aware if it wasn't told?), but there is certainly a spooky atmosphere surrounding this record. Excellent soundtrack to an imaginary film about these kind of subjects." [FdW / Vital Weekly]
|
2009 |
€13.00 |
|
| LANDING |
Third Sight |
LP |
Connecticut's Landing have specialized in a mild and rural kind of psychedelia over the course of nearly two decades. Recent releases have seen them closer to post-punk and shoegaze territory than ever, but Third Sight – recorded specifically for El Paraiso Records’ Impetus series – builds on the hallucinatory soundscapes of the band's earliest days.
There's a unique sense of motoric drift to these four long pieces, and an organic blend of rock instrumentation and analog electronics that brings to mind Eno's best collaborations in the 1970s. But the group's flair for fuzzy drones and new weirdsy commune-folk also betrays their affiliation with the experimental American east coast scene –these guys have played shows with their friends in Bardo Pond, releasing a split EP with Windy & Carl and playing numerous Terrastocks throughout their existence.
And despite releasing one brilliant album after another the band remains appalingly under-appreciated. Perhaps because the tryyps Landing take are rooted in self-exploration. As trends in krautrock, drone, folk, and psychedelia ebb and flow, Landing remain unfazed. The door to Landing’s world is open, but there isn’t a flashing neon sign above it. These guys are far removed from the hustle and bustle of geographic cultural bubbles, both physically and spiritually.
Listening through this LP is likely to stimulate mental images of rural winds blowing across vast American fields of grass, bonfires, blue rivers and power lines sailing through rolling hills. Landing's psychedelia possesses a rare timelessness. We are proud to present this offering from the band in the El Paraiso catalog!
”the whipper snappers these days, trafficking in similar sounds, have NOTHING on their sonic elders. Dreamy, droney, poppy, psychedelic, electronic perfection!”
-Aqaurius Records
”Connecticut's Landing inhabits that amorphous space where time itself expands and contracts according to a delay pedal setting, and dream pop blurs into dream proper. Groups like Stars of the Lid and E.A.R. have wandered this same misty plane in search of the perfect drone, but Landing incorporates Bardo Pond's jam aesthetic into the journey, imparting a welcome communal feel to their lengthy, meandering compositions.”
-Mark Richardson, Pitchfork
"They’ve got integrity to spare and their career, though already spanning more than a decade already, seems to be just getting started."
-Grant Purdum, Tinymixtapes
"Some of the best avant-prog and lo-fi space rock around"
-Mojo
"If you're not yet familiar with Landing, I encourage you to fill up the peace pipe and figure it the fuck out." -Kenny Bloggins, Adhoc
landing.bandcamp.com/album/third-sight |
2016 |
€23.00 |
|
| LANE, CATHY |
The Hebrides Suite |
CD |
"How does history – past lives and past events- leave sonic traces and how can we hear them?
The Hebrides Suite is the result of an attempt to answer this question and the culmination of composer Cathy Lane’s three decade long engagement with the Outer Hebrides.
The Outer Hebrides form a 130-mile long archipelago about 40 miles off the north-west coast of Scotland. There are more than 200 islands but only a few are now inhabited. In the 2001 census the total population of the islands was 26,502. The best known of these islands are Barra (1078), Benbecula (1219), Berneray (136), North (1271), South Uist (1818) and Harris and Lewis (combined population 19,918). There has been an overall slow population decline in the islands over the last two hundred years, with peaks and troughs caused by economic and political fluctuations. In the 1840s poverty and famine lead to whole villages being evicted by landowners, often brutally, to make way for the higher profits of sheep farming. During these forced clearances many people took assisted passages to Canada and Australia and as far away as Patagonia and the Falkland Islands. In the twentieth and twenty first centuries much of the island lands are still owned by absentee landlords and the islanders’ struggles for self determination and economic and political control have continued.
The Outer Hebrides are the most strongly coherent Scottish Gaelic (Gàidhlig) speaking area in the world. Gaelic is a Celtic language related to Welsh, Cornish and Breton. In 2001, 61.1% of the population of the Outer Hebrides spoke Gaelic (compared with 1.2% in the whole of Scotland). A handful of Gaelic speakers can be found in the United States, Canada and Australia most of whom are descended from nineteenth century emigrants. There is a strong Gaelic culture.
Religion is also a significant factor in the life of the inhabitants of the islands. The southern islands of Benbecula, South Uist and Barra are predominantly Roman Catholic. In the northern islands, especially Harris and Lewis, the non-conformist Free Church of Scotland and the still more conservative Free Presbyterian Church of Scotland are very influential. There is a tradition of Sabbath observance and few shops or transport services are available on Sunday although this is increasingly contested.
The emigration still continues, particularly among the young, as the islands offer few employment opportunities. Most present day commercial activities concern tourism, including heritage tourism; crofting; fishing and fish farming and weaving including the manufacture of Harris tweed, a cloth that has been handwoven by the islanders in their homes using pure virgin wool that has been dyed and spun in the Outer Hebrides.
Each of the works in The Hebrides Suite uses a mixture of field recordings, interviews and oral history material from existing archives to explore aspects of island life past and present through the medium of composed sound." [label info]
www.gruenrekorder.de
"We cross the Atlantic again but go north, to the Outer Hebrides, a remote '130 mile long archipelago of islands about 40 miles off the north-west coast of Scotland'. Gruenrekorder has the previous two as part of their field recordings series, this one is in the 'soundscape series', so I assume that the material is not presented 'as is', but is used to compose a piece of music with this, with repeating blocks of sounds, mixes of various bits together, but with the overall idea that we stay in one place and we know more of the place. Cathy Lane does that in six pieces, all around nine to twelve minutes and each is about a certain aspect of the Hebrides, the wind, the sheep/the mill, life on the islands and such like. Sometimes, such as in 'Where Once Were Whales', about fishing, we also hear voices, talking about their trade, even when it's not always to understand what they are telling us, partly due to the dialect, partly due to the fact that the voices are layered. It perhaps adds to the mystique of the release? Unlike the other two, which are 'merely' audio travelogues, Lane actually composes with the material and makes some very strong compositions with it. Of the three releases, it's also the one which has the most documentation, explaining in detail what each piece is about. I quite enjoyed all three of these releases, but it was the Cathy Lane release that I especially enjoyed for it's more musical qualities. One to play again and again." [FdW/Vital Weekly]
|
2013 |
€13.00 |
|
| LARIVIERE, REGIS RENOUARD |
Contree |
LP |
Allégeance volatile and Esquive each tackle the same issue in their own way. Overcoming time: whether it be successive, additional, enumerative, or repetitive. However, there is nothing here about the ensuing nature of so-called "repetitive" music. These are types of high-end music. And it is more about insistence, the obstinacy of an individual who keeps knocking on a door that will never open.
Allégeance's rustic drumming, talkative, acidulous, colourful and overarticulated, with almost clownish desinences, eventually dies out in this very respite. The iterative and puffy shimmering of Esquive with its dull, thin and precise sounds, shifts and is engulfed into another sonic world — which appears as a gaping and collapsed response to this prime insistency.
This is, indeed, a ‘volatile allegiance’ and ‘avoidance’ from the sonic to the musical elements: the musical phenomenon anticipated and pursued as the non-sound of sound — or, in other words, the void of sound. This seems to be the lesson of the concrete attitude in music. Such is the kind of questioning that stirs the composer.
He returns with another title: Contrée, which, once again, speaks of a counter-event. Here, the movement is broader, more generous, more confident. Time spreads and stretches out. What seems to be a landscape of entanglements, trajectories, influx, masses and points emerges. “Something” rises and presents itself out of the sounds - these escaping beings, these "relatively short combustion flames " (Schaeffer).
The piece consists of five consecutive and uninterrupted parts: Entrée and Stance I — Véhémence de l’air and Stance II — Grande Allure. It is the central section of an electroacoustic triptych with Sables (2011) as the first and Nil (2017) as the last.
Contrée is dedicated to Philippe Mion, whose friendly ears have been entrusted with my music for so many years.
"‘Contrée’ is Recollection GRM’s first survey of work by Régis Renouard Larivière, three pieces variously exploring granular evolutions (‘Contrée’), hacked strings (‘Allégeance volatile’), and a rapid, chattering avian flux (‘Esquive’). This is one of the harder nosed GRM issues, but those with attentive ears and patience will be rewarded in multiples..." [Boomkat]
|
2019 |
€20.00 |
|
| LAST DOMINION LOST |
Towers of Silence |
CD |
"In Mumbai there are a number of brick towers, into which the Parsi people of India throw their dead ones, bound for their final journey up to heaven inside the vulture's bellies. This habit of sky burial derives from the Zoroastrian cult of Ancient Iran, where heaven was imagined as a very physical place. The towers, which remind of archaic silos, are called Dakhma or in English Towers of Silence.
LAST DOMINION LOST leave it to the listeners to guess where “Towers of Silence”, the allegorical title of their new album, really refers to – the fatal nature of physical life? The awkward edges between biological mortality and the idea of an eternal afterlife? The dreadful content which you may find inside what people built up? It's all open. One thing that LAST DOMINION LOST clearly show is how loud and infernal the silence of ending can be imagined. Screams of rage and anxiety intermingle with the shoutings of warriors – if the latter is not rather the croaking of vultures, who gather around corpses – until all is buried under an avalanche of infernal noise.
More than 20 years after the recordings for their debut album “The Tyranny of Distance” (Tesco, 2004), LAST DOMINION LOST come up with brand-new material recorded between 2012 and 2014, brilliantly mastered by James Plotkin in June 2014. Besides the core band members Jon Evans, John Murphy (Krank, Ex-SPK, Shining Vril) and Julian Percy (Ratbag), “Towers of Silence” includes guest contributions by Ash Wednesday (Ex-Einstürzende Neubauten), Till Brüggemann (Gerechtigkeits Liga) and Annie Stubbs among others." [label info]
www.silkentofu.org
|
2014 |
€13.00 |
|
|
Towers of Silence |
LP |
"In Mumbai there are a number of brick towers, into which the Parsi people of India throw their dead ones, bound for their final journey up to heaven inside the vulture's bellies. This habit of sky burial derives from the Zoroastrian cult of Ancient Iran, where heaven was imagined as a very physical place. The towers, which remind of archaic silos, are called Dakhma or in English Towers of Silence.
LAST DOMINION LOST leave it to the listeners to guess where “Towers of Silence”, the allegorical title of their new album, really refers to – the fatal nature of physical life? The awkward edges between biological mortality and the idea of an eternal afterlife? The dreadful content which you may find inside what people built up? It's all open. One thing that LAST DOMINION LOST clearly show is how loud and infernal the silence of ending can be imagined. Screams of rage and anxiety intermingle with the shoutings of warriors – if the latter is not rather the croaking of vultures, who gather around corpses – until all is buried under an avalanche of infernal noise.
More than 20 years after the recordings for their debut album “The Tyranny of Distance” (Tesco, 2004), LAST DOMINION LOST come up with brand-new material recorded between 2012 and 2014, brilliantly mastered by James Plotkin in June 2014. Besides the core band members Jon Evans, John Murphy (Krank, Ex-SPK, Shining Vril) and Julian Percy (Ratbag), “Towers of Silence” includes guest contributions by Ash Wednesday (Ex-Einstürzende Neubauten), Till Brüggemann (Gerechtigkeits Liga) and Annie Stubbs among others." [label info]
www.silkentofu.org
|
2014 |
€17.50 |
|
| |
Snowdrops from a Curate's Garden |
CD |
“Snowdrops from a Curate's Garden” is a 2011 live recording of industrial veterans Last Dominion Lost with all exclusive, unreleased tracks. Active since 1992, Last Dominion Lost feature Jon Evans, John Murphy (Shining Vril, Krank, Ex-SPK/Whitehouse/Current 93) and Julian Percy. Through their pedigree, Last Dominion Lost are considered to justifiably carry the legacy of the legend that is SPK - and that’s also by their sound, as they stand for an undiluted brand of industrial music, combining shuddering analogue sounds, clanging metal rhythms and feedback with ritual percussion & chants. On “Snowdrops from a Curate's Garden” the main focus lies on the hypnotic, ritual and mental aspects of music, with an omnipresent metallic percussive backbone. It comes as no surprise to find the group reveling in dark subject matter like psychopathology, debasement and religious deviation, to which they manage to deliver an authentic soundtrack.
The LP is congruously accompanied by authentic photographs of the infamous Victorian era Lunatic Asylums in Kew and Beechworth, Australia. Last Dominion Lost take an ethically moved stance, commemorating the fact that from its beginnings as a penal colony, the majority of the early white Australians were drawn from the classes of the poor, dispossessed and desperate, long known as factors that encourage depression, alcoholism and psychological ill-being. The process of transportation was attended by squalor, disease and rape. These damaged individuals were then thrust into a harsh and alien environment, housed in circumstances worse than a modern refugee camp, and expected to build their own prisons – circumstances that effectively made mental illness was one of the colony's very first imports. From there the dismal history of mental hospitals took its course, evolving from incarceration over therapeutic occupation to, ultimately, medication. It is the practice of oppressing those who cannot “conform” to the norms imposed by the system, the root cause of the underlying aggression with which the Australian general public treated each other, and still continue to do.
This live album has been recorded at Kalyug Festival, Berlin in 2011 and is perfectly mastered by James Plotkin, providing the album a sharp, forceful & modern sound. Thus “Snowdrops from a Curate's Garden” can be considered the missing link between the grainy, demo-type 1990s recordings that became “The Tyranny of Distance” (Tesco, 2004) and the enthusiastically received “Towers Of Silence” album (The Epicurean / silken tofu, 2014), which displayed a very contemporary, indicatory approach at that classic industrial sound.
Beautifully duplex black/gold printed cover, 300g natural paper, postcard, 140g black vynil, black disco bag in transparent high quality sleeve with flap, includes download code. Limited edition of 253 copies, hand numbered. First 50 copies come with small postcard.
The Epicurean . cure.8
Format: 12" LP & file download
Release date CD: 23. October 2017
Release date LP: 21. October 2015
Artwork, typography and design: The Epicurean
Playtime: 37:42 min
|
2017 |
€13.00 |
|
| 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 |
|
| LEGENDARY PINK DOTS & KETVECTOR |
The Shock Exchange |
LP |
"The Shock Exchange presents an encounter between two of the most interesting and unique projects of the current neo-psychedelic and electronic music panorama.
The Legendary Pink Dots need no introduction, and on Side A they once again solidify their status as musical pioneers with all new songs and swirling psychedelic arrangements led by the charismatic voice of Edward Ka-spel.
Side B is dedicated to the progressive and psychedelic electronic project kETvECTOR, born from the mind of Justin Bennett (Skinny Puppy / Bahntier) together with Stefano Rossello (Bahntier), showcasing many facets of the project; from electronic free jazz to ambient experimental and esoteric avant-garde.
The album also features paintings by Franke Nardiello (aka Groovie Mann) of My Life With The Thrill Kill Kult.
A transparent vinyl release exclusively for record store day 2015, not to be missed!" [label info]
www.rustblade.it
"When the first Compact Disc was released more than 30 years ago not many people were expecting that the LP would still be around in 2015. And even more, that it would make a come-back in the digital age. The LP today is not a mass product as it was back then, but more of a luxury product. Real music lovers want to experience music. Not just listen to it, but use all 5 senses. The tangibility, the artwork, the smell of it, it is all part of the experience.
The Italian Rustblade record label is specialized in limited releases like picture discs and special packed albums. The Shock Exchange is a transparent vinyl split LP limited to 299 copies. The beautiful cover paintings were made by Franke Nardiello (a.k.a. Groovie Mann) of My Life with the Thrill Kill Cult.
But most important is of course the music. The A side contains 3 tracks by The Legendary Pink Dots. The English/Dutch band celebrates its 35th anniversary this year. They are not the only band to last that long, and there are bands that are even older. But from their very first cassette release in 1980 there hasn't been a year where they did not release anything. In several years even more releases, and adding to that also solo releases and side projects such as The Tear Garden and Mimir. Also to this day they are still playing live regularly.
The current lineup of the band consists of founder members Edward Ka-Spel (vocals, keyboards) and Phil Knight (a.k.a The Silverman, keyboards & electronics) as well as Erik Drost (guitars, bass) and sound engineer and wizard Raymond Steeg. The last two years the band was in a very productive phase with lots of releases, including a few releases on Rustblade: Chemical Playschool Volume 15 (2013, CD box set), The Curse Of Marie Antoinette (2013, picture disc) and 10 To The Power Of 9 (2014, 2 LP / CD). During their 35 years of existence the band's sound changed, but there are a few elements that have been there from the beginning. First there is the typical sound of Edward's voice. Second his lyrics: strange little stories with (black) humor, inventive word playing, bizarre twists and a very English reserve. Never judging but always observing. Third is a sense of melancholy, a longing for the unreachable. Fourth is a psychedelic element. Fifth is the creative use of synthesizers and samples: they use their gear to create unique sounds. Sometimes alienating, sometimes very powerful.
The first track is very much in line with their previous releases, a more electronic driven song. The other two tracks are more minimalistic and melancholic.
kETvECTOR is the name of the collaboration between Justin Bennett (Skinny Puppy, Bahntier) and Stefano Rossello (Bahntier). This collaboration is meant to explore new frontiers. The first two tracks are based on an electronic rhythm. The third track has human played rhythm guitar and bass guitar, and the fourth track has no rhythm, it is more ambient. All tracks are instrumental. They are like musical sketches: with abstract lines and shadows, but not fully colored. It reminds me of Tuxedomoon, probably because of the wind instruments that were used as well as the Peter Principle like bass guitar in the third track. The kETvECTOR side sounds like the soundtrack to a movie. In particular some kind of road movie, travelling on long straight roads through wide open spaces to strange places. The kind of road movie without a happy end. Where the main character never finds what he is looking for in the end, because it is the search itself that keeps him going.
As a whole The Shock Exchange is not an easy album, and it takes an open mind and several listens before it reveals itself. But with every time you play it, you discover something new. In the end “difficult” albums are also the most pleasing ones.
[Erik Gibbels (edited by Astrid de Ronde)/ BACKGROUND MAG]
|
2015 |
€23.00 |
|
| LEGENDARY PINK DOTS (LPD) |
Live at La Luna |
DVD |
DVD – Version of the video-cassette that appeared in 1998.
“Recorded in 1997 near the end of their “Hallway of the Gods” tour of Canada and America, and originally issued in VHS format in 1998, “Live at La Luna” reveals like never before the magical atmosphere of sound and light created by Edward Ka-Spel and his talented crew. Captured by a pair of roving cameramen and a center camera filming from the balcony, the performance is presented as an ever-evolving collage of music and faces, from the keyboards of The Silverman to the saxophone flourishes of Niels van Hoorn, from the rhythm-n-bass section of Ryan Moore (Twilight Circus Dub Sound System) and Edwin von Trippenhof to the inimitable vocals of Edward Ka-Spel. It runs 60 minutes, and includes the following songs: 1. Hallway Monologue 2. On High 3. Spike 4. Love in a Plain Brown Envelope 5. Destined to Repeat 6. Harvest Babies 7. Velvet Resurrection 8. Hellsville 9. City of Needles Regrettably, there were several minor glitches in the audio part of the program we were unable to completely repair. We don’t think they detract in any way from the performance, but an attentive listener may notice them. For this reason we have included a disclaimer on the outside of the packaging to warn consumers of the defects. Nevertheless we feel the uniqueness of this release, combined with its low price, will please the loyal followers of this legendary group.” [label description]
|
2004 |
€14.00 |
|
|
Chemical Playschool 15 |
CD |
"The Legendary Pink Dots are back with there highly anticipated new album. Chemical Playschool is a concept in which more then ever an indulgence in extended ballads and psychedelic improvisations allows Edward Ka-Spel’s voice to engage us with his unique brand of storytelling, and the use of synthesizers brings to mind vintage space rock adapted for the modern age. The album opens with the beautifully epic “Immaculate Conception” where Ka-Spel transports us into a world of stars and planets surrounded by voices and distant echos. In “The Opium Den Parts 1-3″ we find a melancholy piece with classic LPD folk essence, arriving then at the ritual tribal ballad “Ranting and Raving”. Chemical Playschool is able to surpass all of our expectations for a band always able to surprise as they lead us through their peculiar dream world. A truly inspired release representing one of the most beautiful concepts created by this eclectic and mythic band." [label info]
www.rustblade.com
"a new voyage into the Chemical Playschool after over 10 years of being locked outside the laboratory. Songs, labyrinths, and colours so vivid you'll never wash them out of your mind." [Edward Ka-Spel]
"Over the years in their thirty plus career, there have always been 'Chemical Playschool' releases by The Legendary Pink Dots. These are works which are a bit different than their more regular, song based studio work, but not as experimental as some of the releases that they put out themselves. In songs on any of these 'Chemical Playschool' releases, there is always a fair amount of experimentation, while Edward Ka-spel's voice is never really far away. Take the opening piece, 'Immaculate Conception', which starts out with a two note synth and Edward's voice, but then after a while starts drifting into a cosmic synth work with floating and drifting melodies, and Ka-spel's voice backwards - a feature from the old days rarely seen on the more current releases. It's here where the Dots are at their best - in my humble opinion. Not drifting in a more krauty version or too spacious with experimental ideas, but an excellent balance between both ends. Rhythm machines seem not really apparent on this new CD and it all dwells heavily on the use of keyboards, electronics and maybe even field recordings, radio sounds and such like. Even Erik Drost's guitar seems to have a more remote place in the total picture, with a prominent tinkle on the strings in 'The Opium Den Parts 1-3', but otherwise more filling out spacious playing with sustaining tones. 'Chemical Playschool 15' is another fine trip - pun intended - and certainly a road these should take more often." [FdW/Vital Weekly]
|
2012 |
€14.00 |
|
|
10 to the Power of 9 - Vol. 1 |
LP |
"Die Kult-Fomation meldet sich mit einem großartigen Konzeptalbum zurück,
erscheinend auf RUSTBLADE als limitierte Colored-Vinyl-Edition (499 Exemplare)!
Selten passt das Attribut legendär so gut wie auf die Gruppe um EDWARD KA-SPEL und
PHIL „THE SILVERMAN“ KNIGHT, die seit nun mehr als drei Dekaden für ihren
unverkennbaren, einzigartigen Soundkosmos verehrt wird, bei dem Psychedelic-Heads,
Dark Waver und Freunde experimenteller (Elektronik-)Klänge gleichermaßen auf ihre Kosten kommen. Mit ihrem neusten Machwerk legen die LEGENDARY PINK DOTS den ersten Teil
einer komplexen Story über Konspirativität, Magie und Spiritualität vor. Minimale Synths,
Gitarren, synkopische Beats, die Verwirrung stiften, psychedelische und transzendentale
Geräusche, welche wie gewohnt von der charakteristischen Stimme KA-SPELs begleitet
werden. „Ten To The Power Of Nine Vol.1 ”ist ein dunkler und außergewöhnlicher Trip in die
musikalische Psyche der LEGENDARY PINK DOTS, die hier wieder einmal ihren Status als
absolut unverkennbare musikalische Ausnahmeerscheinung bestätigen." [label info]
www.rustblade.com
"For more than thirty years I have been following The Legendary Pink Dots, of which maybe twenty years close to the fire. I have written a lot about the Dots; about their music, the various incarnations, the old work versus the new and how some of the new albums released on smaller scale are more experimental than the bigger scale releases. When I was listening to '10 To the Power Of 9' (a culmination of two earlier LP releases under the same name), I was thinking about the latter notion - small/big, experimental or not - and thinking this is perhaps no longer the case. Whereas on the older yet recent works the stomping ground of krautrock was used a bit too much for my taste, the more experimental works were relegated to CDR, but on '10 To The Power Of 9' there is a fine balance between the experiment and the accessibility. A song like 'Malice/Freak Flag' shows this inside one piece: noisy guitars, spacious synthesizers, spacious guitars and mayhem, within these twelve minutes a lot
happen. It seems as if Edward Ka-spel's voice is more 'above' the music, more reciting than singing; the emphasis is more on the poetry than the pure song format. But all of that embedded within the experiment of the music. I quite enjoyed this album for its variation. The more song-like structures of 'Open Season', 'Room For Two' and 'Your Humble Season' or the title piece, but also a psychedelic outing as 'The Elevator', which remind me of the band's various incarnations of the piece 'Premonition'. It seems to me that The Legendary Pink Dots have found their ground better in a work like this. Highly varied, a display of their various incarnations and throughout a hauntingly beautiful release." [FdW/Vital Weekly]
|
2014 |
€23.50 |
|
|
10 to the Power of 9 - Vol. 2 |
LP |
"This is the Second Volume of a complex story about conspiracy, magic, and spirituality. Minimal synths, guitars, syncopated rhythms that are making weird, psychedelic and transcendental noises which are of course accompanied by the distinctive voice of Ka-Spel. Lying on your sofa, pumping up the volume and just dream away on their ethereal sounds. 10 to the Power of 9 is a dark and exceptional trip into their warped and bizarre musical psyche." [label info]
www.rustblade.com
"Die Kult-Fomation meldet sich mit dem zweiten Teil der Konzeptreihe über Konspirativität, Magie und Spiritualität zurück, erscheinend auf RUSTBLADE als limitierte Colored-Vinyl-Edition (499 Exemplare, minzgrünes Vinyl)!
Selten passt das Attribut legendär so gut wie auf die Gruppe um EDWARD KA-SPEL und PHIL „THE SILVERMAN“ KNIGHT, die seit nun mehr als drei Dekaden für ihren unverkennbaren, einzigartigen Soundkosmos verehrt wird, bei dem Psychedelic-
Heads, Dark Waver und Freunde experimenteller (Elektronik-) Klänge gleichermaßen auf ihre Kosten kommen. Vor gut einem Jahr erschien der erste Teil dieser Konzeptserie einer komplexen
Story über Konspirativität, Magie und Spiritualität. Minimale Synths, Gitarren, synkopische Beats, die Verwirrung stiften,
psychedelische und transzendentale Geräusche, welche wie gewohnt von der charakteristischen Stimme KA-SPELs begleitet werden. „Ten To The Power Of Nine Vol.2“ ist abermals ein dunkler
und außergewöhnlicher Trip in die musikalische Psyche der LEGENDARY PINK DOTS, die hier wieder einmal ihren Status als absolut unverkennbare musikalische Ausnahmeerscheinung bestätigen." [Broken Silence info] |
2015 |
€22.50 |
|
|
Pages of Aquarius |
CD |
"The Legendary Pink Dots is an Anglo-Dutch experimental rock band formed in London in 1980. Although far outside the mainstream, LPD have released more than 40 albums, have a devoted worldwide following, and tour frequently. Distinctive vocals and lyrical imagery blended with hypnotic guitar and synth washes and spellbinding bass pulses to create an enthralling, captivating release." [label info]
"The problem with the Age of Aquarius is that nobody seems to know when it's due, or indeed whether or not it's already begun. According to the song 'Aquarius' from hippy musical Hair, the dawning will come when "The moon is in the seventh house, and Jupiter aligns with Mars." Unfortunately, as astrologer Neil Spencer has noted, the moon enters the seventh house daily, while Jupiter and Mars are aligned several times a year. Other astrologers have argued for Aquarian start dates ranging from 1447 right up until 3597.
In the popular imagination, however, the Age of Aquarius will always be associated with the “love generation” counter-culture of the 1960s, and represents the utopian new age that their flower power shenanigans were supposed to usher in. In other words, it should be here by now, and it manifestly isn't. As Legendary Pink Dots' mainstay Edward Ka-Spel notes, if this is Aquarius page one then love, peace and good hair are hardly qualities in the ascendant. "It wasn't supposed to be like this," he writes. "Are we in for another 2,160 years of this?"
Ultimately though, Ka-Spel's conclusions are optimistic. What we're actually living through are the death throes of the Pisces Age, he argues; it's brutal and painful, but it won't last. The way to get through is by letting go, on both a personal and societal level, and in order to do this we need to look unflinchingly at where we are now, what is holding us back and what will help us move forward.
So the album's opening track, 'Mirror, Mirror' tackles introspection, narcissism and self-loathing alongside the hard but necessary task of looking closely at your own self and putting the work in to improve. Stinging synthesiser blasts reflect this flinching process over driving electronic percussion, before a melancholy mellotron passage suggests a degree of sorrowful self-acceptance has been found. On 'The Greatest Story Ever Told,' a swarm of buzzing clockwork wasps soundtrack rising existential dread before the song shifts into a litany of reasons not to worship God, or indeed watch his movies on TV, all set to a queasy rendition of 'All Things Bright and Beautiful.' The Age of Pisces is often identified as the Christian era, and early Christians identified themselves using two fishes as a symbol; among other qualities, Aquarius is associated with the decline of religion and the rise of technology. "We worship technology," Ka-Spel whispers ambivalently at the close.
How the glorious analogue squelching of 'D-Train' fits into the concept I'm not sure, but 'Credibility' and 'Trending' take a look at the world around us, the former cursing "Damn your eyes, austerity" over lullaby-like piano, while the latter looks at the mysterious force of the zeitgeist as represented by popular topics on social media. Watching "the great sea ripple," Ka-Spel wonders who or what is driving the trends, directing our thoughts and attention as one linked collective organism.
The album concludes with two multi-part epics. The near-eighteen minute 'Don't Go There- Page Aquarian- Jacob's Ladder' begins in haunting yet propulsive style, discussing surveillance culture and "cameras everywhere" before shifting onto memory as a form of observation, returning to the theme of looking unsparingly at your own past actions and how they've led you to where you are now. A collage of found sound leads into a passage of spare percussion over which Ka-Spel considers the stars and the notion of destiny, before the final section finds tentative piano chords reverberating over the sound of a gathering storm. Here considerations of mortality and the afterlife are resolved into the need to make peace and find some kind of acceptance.
For CD listeners, that's where the album ends, but it would be a shame to miss out on the sixteen-and-a-half minute 'The Weight of Water Parts 1-4,' which is only available on digital and double vinyl editions. A dry, steady pulse beat supports slabs of musique concrete and some non-judgemental meditations on self-destructive behaviour, before a frantic flurry of low piano notes in a repeating, claustrophobic loop successfully simulates a panic attack. This then shifts into an oceanic evocation of waking at 3am with the realisation that your life has been wasted in deceit and acquisitiveness, before the instrumental final section captures a zen-like sensation of beatific release, with acoustic and electronic textures beautifully balanced against each other.
Aquarius of course is the water bearer, and 'The Weight of Water' effectively sums up the pain and difficulty of this period of transition. There's no need though to take the astrological metaphors literally; this album can be enjoyed purely as an unsettling and moving 83 minutes of music, and for those who do listen closely to the words, Ka-Spel's dry sense of humour undercuts any tendency towards new age pretentiousness.
Their long history could make some wrongly see the Legendary Pink Dots as unapproachable or worse, irrelevant. But Pages of Aquarius is an album that stands on its own merits. Even if you've never bought a Pink Dots record before, this is a progressive, provocative and ultimately positive statement about the world we're all living in today." [The Quietus] |
2016 |
€15.00 |
|
|
Kleine Krieg |
do-CD |
The Legendary Pink Dots are an Anglo-Dutch experimental rock band formed in London in August 1980. In 1984 the band moved to Amsterdam, playing with rotating musicians and having, as core members, singer/songwriter/keyboardist Edward Ka-Spel and keyboardist Phil Knight aka The Silverman. The band was originally called "One Day..." but subsequently changed the name to The Legendary Pink Dots, apparently inspired by pink dots on certain keys of the band's main recording studio piano. In the 1980s the band released albums on Mirrodot and In Phaze; in 1985 they signed with Play It Again Sam for the release of The Lovers. Their music touches on elements of neo-psychedelia, ambient music, electronic music, tape music, industrial, psychedelic folk, synthpop, post-punk, progressive, jazz, noise, pop, and goth rock, with a distinctly experimental/avant-garde bent; their sound has evolved over time and remains distinctive, making it difficult to place the group into a concise style or genre. The group's overall sound combined with Ka-Spel's distinct lyrics and singing have earned comparisons to Pink Floyd and Syd Barrett; the group also has links to the sounds of krautrock bands such as Can, Faust, Brainticket, Magma or Neu! The first cassette “Only Dreaming” was an edition of 9 copies, two of which had beautiful three-dimensional handmade covers. “Only Dreaming” was abandoned rather than deleted as the recorded output by The Dots expanded massively within months of the band’s inception. This increased activity led to the beautifully packaged “Chemical Playschool Volumes 1 & 2." 32 copies were made of this, and the hugely supportive Eurock magazine & mail-order service bought 30 of them in an exchange deal for exotic goodies in their catalogue. It wasn’t meant to end there but the 2 track masters for CP 1 & 2 were largely erased by accident - and “Kleine Krieg” represents the music that survived plus a lot of fresh material that just had to be unleashed on an unwary planet in the month or so following the double tape release. This edition has all tracks of both editions/versions of "Kleine Krieg", plus a couple of bonus tracks, and is the first time this is being released on double CD. It is a brand new and much better re-master than what was used on the CDR edition some time ago. Full tracklist: 1. Defeated/Deflated/Black Highway 2. Soma Bath/Peace Krime 2/Break Day/The Palace Of Love/Stoned Obituary/Starch On Sunday 3. Vigil 4. Legacy/One For The Pearl Moon 5. Dolls' House/Brill 6. Down From The Country/Thursday Night Fever/Die With Your Eyes On 7. Closet Kings (First Version) 8. Opus Dei.
www.klanggalerie.com/gg321
|
2020 |
€18.00 |
|
|
Chemical Playschool Vol. 21 / 22 |
do-CD |
Indeed, You ARE hallucinating but you have absolutely nothing to fear. Just 'go with the flow.'
This small but wildly colourful monument will emerge in 3 different formats in the months to come. Vinyl and cassette will be courtesy of Witch Cat Records in Denver (witchcatrecords.bandcamp.com). The double cd will materialise via The Dots’ own Terminal Kaleidoscope label.
Erik Drost - Guitars, Bass; The Silverman - Keyboards, Devices; Edward Ka-Spel - Voice, keyboards.
Special guests: Patrick Q. Wright - Violins, keyboards on 2; Quentin Rollet - saxes, sopranino sax on 1,4,5,8,9.
Produced and Engineered by EK.
Cover concept and photography by Alena.
https://legendarypinkdots1.bandcamp.com/album/chemical-playschool-volumes-21-22
"Earlier this week, The Legendary Pink Dots came up in a private conversation, with an expert and we talked about the various incarnations of the group over the forty plus years and that prompted me to play some of the earliest Pink Dots, when they have, personal-wise the biggest line-up. It was also the time I first discovered the Pink Dots. One of the releases I played was 'Chemical Playschool 3 & 4', which is still an excellent ride of experiment and songs. That is something that hasn't changed if you play 'Chemical Playschool 21 + 22', which handed to me a few days later. Unlike 'regular' releases by the Dots, 'Chemical Playschool' is their playground to combine songs and experiments and as such, there is not a lot of difference between '3 & 4' and '21 & 22', except that the old one uses a much different line-up, with guitars, drums, violin and synthesizers, which all had a rockier sound, whereas these days the band, consisting of Erik Drost (guitar; he joined after 2000), The Silverman (keyboards, devices) and Edward Ka-spel (voices, keyboards, devices; the latter two are founding members), has a more electronic feel, despite Drost's guitar injections., Quentin Rollet adds saxophone and clarinet on a couple of pieces, and Patrick Q. Wright violin and keyboards on one track; he's also an early member. In recent years, so it seems to me, the Pink Dots' music is more about the texts/lyrics/poetry by Ka-spel, who use a more narrative way to deliver his words. The music serves as the dramatic soundscape in which all of this happens. Even for someone such as myself, not particularly interested in lyrics, understand the dramatic impact of Ka-spel's voice, and it is embedded in the music, rather than something that is on top of the music. The Pink Dots are in excellent form, with their psychedelic outburst, dreamy soundscapes, free jamming, spacious electronics and the always recognizable voice of Ka-spel. Less rocky than years ago, but still the perfect balance between 'song' and 'experiment'." [FdW/Vital Weekly]
|
2021 |
€22.50 |
|
|
From here you'll watch the World go by |
CD |
No album caused as much debate within The Dots as this one in 1995. It was all about the order of the tracks...quite simply no permutation seemed to work. Ultimately Phil (The Silverman) took the bull by the horns and asked for the independent opinion of long-term LPD friend Christoph Heemann.
The verdict was to leave certain songs off ("Beautiful Machine", "Anastasia", "Day Zero").
The resulting storm could be heard in the South of Belgium and a compromise was the "Remember me this Way" EP - a release which also settled disputes over the mix of the title track.
Even today, there can be debate about this album in Dots' circles but the author of this piece admits that "From here" stands as a personal favourite.
Elke made the fascinating artwork.
https://legendarypinkdots1.bandcamp.com/album/from-here-youll-watch-the-world-go-by-redux-2012-remaster
|
1995 |
€15.50 |
|
|
The Museum of Human Happiness (col.) |
do-LP |
“A cubicle for you, a cubicle for me….but not together…”
The Year 2020 was not a year for a band to 'get things together in the country', or gather in a room to write songs. This statement certainly applied to the Legendary Pink Dots with two members in The Netherlands and one in the UK.
The pandemic reared its ugly head as the Dots’ criss-crossed Europe on the second stage of their 40th Anniversary Tour.
Just a few days before much of Italy locked down the band was in Milan. A few days later, the destination was Cologne where they opted for a hotel in the countryside…it turned out that the resting place was one village away from the most lethal outbreak of the virus in Germany.
The tour eventually finished in a sold-out club with a worryingly low ceiling in London. There were hugs, a real feeling of togetherness with a truly lovely audience.
Then the World stopped.
It was the last time The Dots were in the same room.
Song writing and recording were necessarily deemed to happen in cyberspace for the rest of 2020 and 2021.
As a result, the lyrics are utterly poignant, desperate, yet sometimes bearing a flash of gallows humour. The soundtrack is a purging fire. It’s a fire that still burns, and as I type this I can say I have never been so excited about the impending release of a new Dots’ album.
Never mind the distance, there is a single-mindedness about “The Museum Of Human Happiness.” It’s 2022. We’ll meet again…. [EK]
https://legendarypinkdots1.bandcamp.com/album/the-museum-of-human-happiness
www.metropolis-records.com/product/11839/the-museum-of-human-happiness
|
2022 |
€36.00 |
|
| |
The Museum of Human Happiness |
CD |
“A cubicle for you, a cubicle for me….but not together…”
The Year 2020 was not a year for a band to 'get things together in the country', or gather in a room to write songs. This statement certainly applied to the Legendary Pink Dots with two members in The Netherlands and one in the UK.
The pandemic reared its ugly head as the Dots’ criss-crossed Europe on the second stage of their 40th Anniversary Tour.
Just a few days before much of Italy locked down the band was in Milan. A few days later, the destination was Cologne where they opted for a hotel in the countryside…it turned out that the resting place was one village away from the most lethal outbreak of the virus in Germany.
The tour eventually finished in a sold-out club with a worryingly low ceiling in London. There were hugs, a real feeling of togetherness with a truly lovely audience.
Then the World stopped.
It was the last time The Dots were in the same room.
Song writing and recording were necessarily deemed to happen in cyberspace for the rest of 2020 and 2021.
As a result, the lyrics are utterly poignant, desperate, yet sometimes bearing a flash of gallows humour. The soundtrack is a purging fire. It’s a fire that still burns, and as I type this I can say I have never been so excited about the impending release of a new Dots’ album.
Never mind the distance, there is a single-mindedness about “The Museum Of Human Happiness.” It’s 2022. We’ll meet again…. [EK]
https://legendarypinkdots1.bandcamp.com/album/the-museum-of-human-happiness
www.metropolis-records.com/product/11839/the-museum-of-human-happiness
|
2022 |
€16.00 |
|
| LEICHTMANN, HANNO |
The African Twintower Suite |
LP |
"October 2005: Seminal German director Christoph Schlingensief (R.I.P. 2010) shoots his latest feature film “The African Twintowers" in Lüderitz/Namibia with Irm Hermann, Klaus Beyer, Robert Stadlober, Patti Smith........
Autumn 2006: Schlingensief approaches Berlin musician/composer Hanno Leichtmann (Groupshow, Static, Denseland) regarding a soundtrack for the film. There were hours and hours of raw material; the concept being a movie with few dialogues and music throughout - a 90 minute psychedelic collage; an associative visual and sonic trip.
With the help of John Nijenhuis aka Sir Henry as well as a trio of musicians playing indian music (tabla, sitar, tampura), they started to improvise in Leichtmann's recording studio projecting film sequences on a wall. Within 4 days and nights an enormous amount of tracks had been recorded and several rough mixes had been compiled.
After a while though, Schlingensief decided to shift the concept. The film transformed into an art installation with 18 monitors showing sequences simultaneously (presented at the Berlinale and Steirischer Herbst), and later on, a kind of “Making of..." with 90% off-comments by Christoph Schlingensief and very little music was made.
Thus, “The African Twintowers Suite" represents a lost soundtrack; compiling the most interesting recordings, newly edited, layered, collaged, shortened and mixed between 2009 and 2010." [label info]
www.dekorder.com
|
2011 |
€14.00 |
|
| LEITMOTIV LIMBO |
Spiritual Disturbance |
CD |
De la Catessen Records presents Spiritual Disturbance from Elijah Värttö's project Leitmotiv Limbo. Currently based in Port Adelaide, Australia, Leitmotiv Limbo has developed, slowly but surely, over the past few decades, through international travel and relocation, including five years in Estonia (2008-2012), where Värttö set up the Servataguse Muusika concert series. Spiritual Disturbance was recorded in 2020 and released privately as a small run of recycled cassettes -- this CD version is the first widely available Leitmotiv Limbo release since their 2018 split cassette with RNPno2 on Finnish label Hyster Tapes. Central to the Leitmotiv Limbo ethos are Värttö's self-made instruments, built from discarded, repurposed, and found objects, such as loose springs and other metallic implements. Affixed to wood sourced from a disused and dismantled piano frame, their deep resonance, both percussive and timbral, positions Värttö's approach within a trajectory of instrument builders/creators -- you can hear echoes of the music of artists like Z'ev, Hal Rammel, and Rod Cooper in the shattered textures and industrial drones of tracks like "Submersive", for example. There's also a tactility to the performances here, a haptic resonance, and a strange, viscous sensuality to the material. Värttö recorded Spiritual Disturbance in a church hall in Adelaide, on a four-track, using room mics and direct line input, and it's made up largely of one-take performances on Värttö's self-made instruments, with minimal intervention, at times, from analog filters and a drum synth. The combination of the evacuated tonalities of the instruments, plus the cavernous reverb of the recording space, gives Spiritual Disturbance a distinctly ritualistic sensibility; poetic and primitive, but eloquent in its exploration. It also brings to mind mysterious projects like Organum, Morphogenesis, Metgumbnerbone, perhaps even an acoustic Voice Crack, where conceptual rigor meets unpredictability via real-time improvisation. Spectral and haunted, Leitmotiv Limbo's Spiritual Disturbance is a compelling collection of oneiric expression, and an eloquent articulation of a unique, invented universe. Includes four-page booklet; edition of 300.
https://leitmotivlimbo.bandcamp.com/album/spiritual-disturbance
|
2022 |
€15.00 |
|
| |
Superior State |
LP |
Superior State is the second Leitmotiv Limbo album released by Port Adelaide’s De la Catessen Records, after the 2022 CD Spiritual Disturbance. This time, Leitmotiv Limbo’s isolationist studies have been bumped to vinyl, which feels like the perfect format for these twelve miniatures. The project of Adelaide artist Elijah Värttö, Leitmotiv Limbo has, over the past few decades, tracked a history of quietly insistent experimentation, embracing several technologies – invented instruments; analogue filters; drum synth – to sketch desolate, cavernous structures, sometimes performed in reverberant spaces, such as church halls, which gifts the recordings a ritualistic air.
For Superior State, Värttö is more intently focused on rhythms and pulses, resulting in a beautifully sculpted collection of poetic vignettes. You can hear some trace elements, here, of the minimalist techno-not-techno of artists like Pan Sonic, or Studio 1/Freiland, in their reductionist ethos. But also, in the insistence of Värttö’s attention to detail, and his careful focus on a delimited number of elements, the twelve pieces on Superior State recall the work of mysterious German outfits Werkbund and Mechthild Von Leutsch, or the solo explorations of artists like Asmus Tietchens, Achim Wollscheid and Goem.
It's intensely evocative music, recalling all kinds of phenomena, both man-made and natural: electricity pulsing through wires; the humming of the central nervous system; the quiet hiss of deserted computer laboratories; the pulsations of plant life; the molecular vibration of atoms. Värttö has tapped into the poetry of the programmatic on Superior State, and he’s sharp in his grasp of the significant effect that the incremental shifting of a few simple parameters can have on the overarching structures he’s building here. Indeed, that poetry is echoed back in the beautiful liner notes by Adelaide artist Michael Hocking. Alive, flickering with incident, Superior State is energy transmitted, coursing through the collective’s veins.
Music recorded in a room on Nile St, Port Adelaide across six evenings, of one week in January 2023. Instruments of analogue electronics were built, performed and recorded by Elijah Värttö directly to 4-track tape, with two room mics. The instruments form four quarters, as two hemispheres mirrored. Each hemisphere has a symmetry of structure, albeit comprised of differing materials.
Detail of artwork: spray paint on metal by Elijah Värttö
Mastered for vinyl by Giuseppe Ielasi
Design by Sam Songailo
℗ Elijah Värttö 2023
© De la Catessen Records 2023
"While I recognized the Leitmotiv Limbo immediately, I was surprised that I had already reviewed four previous releases by Elijah Värttö's music project (Vital Weekly 951, 1152, 1219 and 1336). All of these were on cassette, but now it's time to do the next step and release an LP. The music is ready for it, I'd say. Värttö sounds like a Finnish name, but he's from Adelaide, just like the label here, who also re-issued the 'Spiritual Disturbance' cassette on CD. The press information talks about "invented instruments, analogue filters, drum synth" and influences of Pan Sonic, Studio 1 (Wolfgang Voigt rather than the dub label), Freiland, but also Werkbund, Asmus Tietchens, Achim Wollscheid and Goem. Some of these names I am very familiar with, and while I can't say these people don't influence him, I also believe that maybe, except for Werkbund and Tietchens, I don't hear these influences to that extent. Rhythm plays an undeniable part in the music here. Still, there is only some of that 'techno that isn't techno' of Pan Sonic or Goem here (more the latter than the first, in 'Parading Brutality', for instance), nor the conceptual edge of somebody such as Wollscheid. In these twelve pieces, I hear more of a nod towards mid-80s industrial music, where you can find albums by Tietchens of similar musical interests. Also, given the more loop-like approach, a group like Dome (in 'Relative Space', for instance). This LP is a giant leap forward compared to the previous cassette works. There was naivety in his older work, which was most enjoyable, but rightfully, it was time to move on. Leitmotiv Limbo now exercises more control, more composition, if you will. There is less of that 'roll the tape and see what happens' approach, but the music here is to the point. There is no endless wailing about, but each of the twelve compositions is just that. Not too industrial, never noisy, but with a studio-as-instrument approach, exploring uncharted territory on the sonic map. I can hardly wait for the next one." [Vital Weekly]
https://leitmotivlimbo.bandcamp.com/album/superior-state |
2023 |
€26.00 |
|
| LES FRAGMENTS DE LA NUIT |
Musique du Crepuscule |
CD |
Dramatic & expressive neoclassic / chamber music from this quintett using mainly strings, lots of minimal & repetitive string-structures are build, all instrumental. Their music has been compared with ARVÖ PÄRT, STEVE REICH, PHILIPP GLASS and GODSPEED YOU BLACK EMPOROR, but we also think of WIM MERTENS and RACHELS.
"Musique du Crépuscule" is a vision of night wrapped in mystery: a night haunted by spectral chants, under the spell of epic, poignant strings and sustained by hypnotic piano pulsations. Its nocturnal universe oozes with hybrid ink, enveloping hidden emotions tainted with melancholy and voluptuousness. A neo-classical or post-nocturnal piece, "Musique du Crépuscule" has many different faces. It alternates between violin riffs, dark cello projections and the complaints of a lone piano, highlighted by enigmatic echoing voices. The moonlight slowly reveals a name in the ethereal infinity: Les Fragments de la Nuit." [label info]
"Michel Villar (piano) and Ombeline Chardes (violin) both hailing from France are the talented musicians who set up this project. They’ve been joined by a few more musicians and guest vocalists. While releasing their debut-cd on Equilibrium Music they have already been involved in various soundtrack compositions for independent cinema, animations and documentaries. The soundtrack-influence is easily recognizable while the piano and violin parts also bring us to make a link with neo classical music. Les Fragments De La Nuit sounds like a journey through darkness and the name of the project perfectly fits to this goal. Most of the songs remain instrumental version filled with low piano keys and sad feelings emerging from this melancholia. Mysterious chants emerge to the surface on one of the pieces, but the music remains like encaged in an atmosphere of endless darkness or should I say an endless night. The different fragments of this night have been expressed with a gift for melancholia coming from musicians with talent!" [Side-Line]
|
2008 |
€12.00 |
|
| LEVANDER, ERIK |
Jökel |
CD |
Swedish musician Erik Levander gained attention as part of the new wave of young DIY laptop experimentalists arising in the early 2000's. His somewhat eclectic early output has since developed into a unique and vibrant blend of digital, analog and acoustic sounds weaved into epic and powerful atmospherics. Levander has performed his work extensively, including shows at Roskilde Festival, Norberg Festival, Nordic Music Days and Forma Nova Festival. With the release of ‘Jökel´, Levander’s seventh full length album, he continues to break new ground, presenting a conceptual album that may be his most minimalistic, lingering and evocative release to date.
As a result of ignorance, negligence, and a lack of immediate responsible profound political action, there are indications that planet Earth is irreversibly about to leave the relative climate stability we have enjoyed during the Holocene for roughly the last 10,000 years. Some of the most apparent signs of ongoing climate change are found in the continuous reports of sea ice, inland ice, shelf ice and glaciers shrinking at an alarming rate. This album is a homage to the still living glaciers. The album title 'Jökel' means 'Glacier' in Swedish, with roots in the Icelandic word 'Jökull'. The compositions are in particular inspired by Levander’s 2009 visit to the glacier Mýrdalsjökull in Iceland, a glacier famous for covering the active volcano Katla. With imaginary field recordings, barren but vigorous soundscapes, Levander invites the listener to experience this desolate glacier 'in sensu'. Perhaps this awareness, and by appreciating the beauty and importance of these natural wonders, we can somehow in the extension help the survival of the glaciers, and contribute to recover the environmental balance of this planet.
https://glacialmovements.bandcamp.com/album/j-kel
|
2021 |
€15.00 |
|
| LEVI, MICA |
UNDER THE SKIN (OST) |
LP |
"Based on the novel by Michael Faber, Jonathan Glazer's film follows the journey of a voluptuous woman (Scarlett Johansson) of unknown origin combing the highway in search of isolated or forsaken men. They are seduced, stripped of their humanity, and never heard from again. The music, a critical element in the film, is by British-born Mica Levi. Classically trained, she is best known for her band Micachu & The Shapes and for their experimental music in a variety of genres."
www.milanrecords.com
"The character Scarlett Johansson plays in Under The Skin is a blank-eyed cipher, a predator without apparent motivation. There is no horror more visceral than the horror of the impersonal, so it makes sense that Mica Levi, who composed the film's score, would turn to György Ligeti's masterful sense of elemental horror. The score has the feel of a thought process, albeit one conducted by a being you have no genetic relation to.
The character Scarlett Johansson plays in Under the Skin is a blank-eyed cipher, a predator without apparent motivation. There is no horror more visceral than the horror of the impersonal, so it makes sense that Mica Levi, composing the film's score, would turn to the master of elemental horror: György Ligeti, whose ability to gather masses of semitones into translucent wisps without a center made The Shining, which relied heavily on his work Lontano, the scariest movie ever made. (Watch that film with the music off, I still maintain, and it becomes a particularly caustic domestic comedy.)
The score opens with a locust plague of dry tremolos, the strings pressing down until the sound has reached a roar. It's a sound with tremendous menace and weight. From there, the roar shrinks into a whine, and enters a hazy nexus between digitally processed and live sound. It's an indeterminacy Levi worked hard to cultivate: "We were looking at the natural sound of an instrument to try and find something identifiably human in it, then slowing things down or changing the pitch of it to make it feel uncomfortable," she told The Guardian. Insectile, near-vocal sounds erupt across the tense, arid space of "Lipstick to Void," evoking either the Knife's berserker Shaking the Habitual or the processed strings from Britney Spears' "Toxic". It's an appropriate cross-section for the film, which veers between menace and sexuality and brilliantly cross-wires high-brain and low-groin impulses.
That hovering dust-cloud of strings, which Levi referred to as "like a beehive" in her and Under the Skin director Jonathan Glazer's recent Pitchfork interview, pops up repeatedly throughout the score with minor additions and tweaks representing the journey of Johansson's character: in "Meat to Maths", there are clanging bell-like sounds behind it, while in "Mirror to Vortex" it's half-submerged in the amplified sound of its own echo. In the context of the film, these additions feel like the messiness of lived experience muddying Johansson's template, the imprint of the lives she begins to grapple with as her time on Earth extends. The hollow knock of a single drum, like a single dragging foot, is another repeating theme, giving the score a reiterative, hesitant quality. Inasmuch as you can be invited into Johansson's character's head in Under the Skin, the music does the heavy lifting. The score has the feel of a thought process, albeit one conducted by a being you have no genetic relation to.
The music unfolds as deliberately and as unconsciously as the dreamlike film itself. Levi drops in an arching, three-pitch motif at various points, one that lingers on its highest pitch the longest, like a hanging doubt. In "Lonely Void", this figure is colored in briefly by a furtive patch of tonal harmony, a startling appearance of warmth that scrubs itself out as quickly but leaves a powerful impression. There are other brief hints of tenderness, particularly in the unearthly pairing of "Bedroom" and "Love", which lifts the score entirely free from anxiety and into something exalted and sorrowful. Here, Levi's work comes closer to Vangelis than to Ligeti, and completes the film's mysterious arc. Levi's commitment to the film's themes is all-consuming, and the score is so tightly woven into the film's DNA that it is difficult to detach and experience as an album. However, the gorgeousness of the quavering synths on "Love" ask nothing of you than to be enjoyed." [Pitchfork]
|
2014 |
€26.00 |
|
| LICHT, ALAN |
A New York Minute |
do-CD |
Polyphone Drone-Harmonics von ALAN LICHT, der hier sowohl seine Qualitäten als Experimental & Drone-Gitarrist zeigt als auch seine Fähigkeit konzeptuell zu komponieren...“Alan Licht wears many hats. Over the years, he's been a curator of music as well as a tireless performer. And he's as well-known an author as he is a musician. It's one thing to have eclectic tastes; it's another to make a practice of them. While Licht's earlier records have seamlessly melded his improvisational guitar playing with extended plundered sounds, A New York Minute takes things a few steps further. Instead of fusing the many sides of Licht into one monolithic mega-mix, this disc separates them into discreet compositions. There's a lot more at stake here: the guitar pieces are showcased as guitar pieces and the plundered works are just that. The conceptual tendencies in Licht no longer hide behind his talent as a guitarist; likewise, the guitar pieces are no longer propped on hooky concepts that take our attention away from his fretwork. The good news is that both work: Licht is as strong a conceptual artist as he is a composer. (Kenneth Goldsmith, liner note writer) |
2003 |
€16.00 |
|
| LICHT-UNG |
Gieb Fahrt! |
mCD-R |
3" CDR, 1 TRACK, 1 VIDEOFILE, 12 MINUTES. LIMITED AND NUMBERED EDITION OF 150 COPIES. MINI DVD BOX WITH 2 INLAYS. licht-ung, a art (lyrics, pictures, etc.) and sound project from Germany. The name stands always for his very own art. Strange, peculiar, dadaistic. licht-ung have several releases on his own label, some are splits with artists like Government Alpha, Stilluppsteypa, Aube. There is also a 7" on Drone Records, that shows the lower side.
This TOSOM release contains a 12 minute piece, in the best japanese Noise tradition. Very harsh, very intensive, very loud. The second track is a short video file for your PC.
lichtlaterne. wenn der regen nebens cafe faellt. und jemand spaziert. einen brief schreibt, und geburtstag hat. endlich, finalmente, sind wir drin. wir koennen tanzen, klettern, sehen den fluß. seine schiffe.
auch fuer sie scheint eine ampel. die post spart hilfe die ganze nacht lang auf. waere sie nicht gewesen, haette viel dort bleiben muessen, denn wir koennen nicht alles behalten. wir konnten nie alles loslassen. nur alles haben wir verloren. die maserung bleibt wie eine spur in der tuer. in einem anderen land. Du lebst." [label info]
"... So Johannes is to contemporary noise what Da Vinci was to the renaissance? The 3inch has a strange short video of 6 seconds and a 12 or so minute harsh noise work which mixes harsh rumble with high pitched feedback. The noise piece is competent to the point of a total refinement of what harsh noise should be, and that's praise not criticism, it winds and weaves through a sonic landscape at times quixotically so much so that the piece IMO could have been longer - but it pays to leave your audience wanting more - which I do (though not sprouts!)." [Jliat / Vital Weekly]
label: www.tosom.de
|
2007 |
€7.50 |
|
| LIFE GARDEN |
Plutonian Dub (SOLD OUT) |
7inch |
unbelievable intense and mesmerizing two tracks of yearnful ethereal ambience with mighty rhythmical parts, monumental and melancholic at the same time...
"LIMITED+NUMBERED FIRST EDITION OF 250 COPIES
GREY VINYL; HANDCOLOURED PE-SLEEVES
LIFE GARDEN FROM PHOENIX, ARIZONA, ARE THE REMAINS OF THE LEGENDARY GROUP MAYBE MENTAL, WHO HAVE BEEN AROUND IN THE 80's IN THE EXPERIMENTALLY ORIENTATED GLOBAL CASSETTE-UNDERGROUND AND RELEASED 7 TAPES (THAT ARE HARD TO FIND NOW), AND ONE SPLIT-LP WITH CONTROLLED BLEEDING.
LIFE GARDEN CREATE A UNIQUE STYLE OF THEIR OWN BY COMBINING AMBIENT ATMOSPHERES WITH EASTERN INFLUENCES, MAKING IT INTENSE AND MAGNIFICENT COMPOSITIONS.
DRONE RECORDS HAVE NOW RELEASED THE VERY FIRST PIECE OF VINYL BY THIS GROUP, WHICH CONTAINS THE TRACKS 'PLUTONIAN DUB' AND 'CHAOS LULLABY' - WITH THE YEARNING SINGING OF SU LING, THE SURREAL DRONES AND THE POWERFUL RITUAL DRUMMING THIS APPEARS TO BE A TIMELESS AND WISE AURAL MONUMENT.
AFTER HAVING HAD 4 BAD PRESSINGS WE ARE MOST HAPPY TO PRESENT THIS
UNIQUE 7". FINALLY WE'D LIKE TO SAY 'SORRY' TO ALL OF YOU WHO HAD TO WAIT THAT LONG!
" an exploration into a wide range of sound, emotion, wonderment and intensity "
DRONE RECORDS DR-20/APRIL 1997 |
1997 |
€ |
|
| 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 |
|
|
Somnambulance to Dream General |
CD |
Bevor Mr. LILES v.a. durch die Beteiligung an NURSE WITH WOUND einem grösseren Hörerkreis bekannt wurde, werkelte er jahrelang recht versteckt an seiner bizarr-surrealistischen Soundwelt herum, hier bestehend aus Synth-Drones & sperrigen Elektronoises, Pianosequenzen, Sprachmaterial, traditionelles englischsprachiges Gesangsmaterial (wie Kinderlieder und Abzählreime, die ein nostalgisches Flair verbreiten), melanchronische Instrumentalquellen, wirre found sounds und Versatzstücke aus Jazz, etc. etc.
SOMNAMBULANCE ist eine Neubearbeitung einer CDR-Compilation mit frühem Material - gleich 21 Stücke fanden den Weg auf dieses äusserst kurzweilige Album, schwankend zwischen Düsternis und anregender Exzentrizität. Als Einstieg in LILES recht einzigartige, verschrobene Klangwelt wohl ideal !!
"Somnambulance" is a reworking of an album of odd and obscure tracks that was released in a microscopic edition on CD-R before. For this CD, Mr. Liles has provided his funniest and possibly most controversial artwork as of yet. You get an hour of music of many different styles: Andrew Liles' trademark of eerie and spooky sounds is there; also electronics and a whole range of instruments are placed in between sketches and longer tracks. And if all this weren't enough, you get three bonus tracks that didn't appear on the CDR at all. After a long line of collaborations, finally a new album by Current 93 and Nurse With Wound man Liles himself!" [label info]
www.klanggalerie.com
|
2008 |
€14.00 |
|
|
Miscellany Deluxe |
do-LP |
Kollektion alter und ältester Aufnahmen des exzentrischen Briten! Dies ist die "einfache" Version im Gatefold-Cover.
"Much of the music included in this set is exclusive to this vinyl version of ‘Miscellany’. Andrew Liles has compiled a comprehensive anthology including as much varied, interesting and unreleased material as possible. He spent many an afternoon sifting through piles of cassettes seeking the oldest and arguably most definitive pieces of music from literally hundreds of hours of tape.
The earliest recordings on these discs date back to 1984. ‘Find a New Husband’ was made on Liles' fathers very cheap Amstrad tape-to-tape system. The tape machine ceased to work properly shortly thereafter. This track was the result or many hours of rewinding and re-playing and re-recording, and thus began Liles fascination, obsession and addiction with tape-manipulation, sound FX and recording techniques.
Listening back to some of these works reminds us of the archaic and laborious fashion in which music used to be created and assembled. In hindsight the merits of working with tape compared to digital technologies seem to be the random nature of what would happen. Tape bleed, mishaps, the low-fi quality and errors seemed to give unique and often unpredictable results. Many of Andrew Liles' early experimentations and accidental consequences are included in this collection.
Also included are selections from his two self-released cassettes under the name Lividity. The Lividity tapes were given away to friends and sent as demos to assorted labels. Some 20 years later it is very doubtful that any of them exist other the two remaining copies Andrew Liles has kept tucked away in some forgotten corner." [label info]
www.vinyl-on-demand.com
|
2009 |
€21.50 |
|
|
Miscellany Deluxe (Box Edition) |
3 x LP-Box & T-Shirt |
Limitierte Box-Version - neben der auch einzeln erhältlichen do-LP gibt es noch eine weitere LP mit weiterem Material so wie ein synapsenkillendes ROSAfarbenes T-Shirt, alles in einer silbernen Box!
"Much of the music included in this set is exclusive to this vinyl version of ‘Miscellany’. Andrew Liles has compiled a comprehensive anthology including as much varied, interesting and unreleased material as possible. He spent many an afternoon sifting through piles of cassettes seeking the oldest and arguably most definitive pieces of music from literally hundreds of hours of tape.
The earliest recordings on these discs date back to 1984. ‘Find a New Husband’ was made on Liles' fathers very cheap Amstrad tape-to-tape system. The tape machine ceased to work properly shortly thereafter. This track was the result or many hours of rewinding and re-playing and re-recording, and thus began Liles fascination, obsession and addiction with tape-manipulation, sound FX and recording techniques.
Listening back to some of these works reminds us of the archaic and laborious fashion in which music used to be created and assembled. In hindsight the merits of working with tape compared to digital technologies seem to be the random nature of what would happen. Tape bleed, mishaps, the low-fi quality and errors seemed to give unique and often unpredictable results. Many of Andrew Liles' early experimentations and accidental consequences are included in this collection.
Also included are selections from his two self-released cassettes under the name Lividity. The Lividity tapes were given away to friends and sent as demos to assorted labels. Some 20 years later it is very doubtful that any of them exist other the two remaining copies Andrew Liles has kept tucked away in some forgotten corner." [label info]
www.vinyl-on-demand.com
|
2009 |
€60.00 |
|
|
Mind mangled Trip Monster |
CD |
"Mind Mangled Trip Monster" ist die erste CD im ständig wachsenden und nicht nur für Sammler empfehlenswerten "Monster"-Zyklus. Das Album wartet mit dem grandiosen und fast jenseitigen Gesang von Elisabeth Oswell auf. Elisabeth singt auf dem ganzen Album, das man am besten als unerwarteten Umweg für ANDREW LILES beschreiben kann. Es klingt nach Sonneneruptionen, herbstlichen Sonnenuntergängen, Geschichten von weit entfernten Orten und schlechten Trips. Dieses Acid getränkte, abseitige und hypnotische Album versammelt neuen Tracks, darunter unerwartet eine Coverversion vom JOY DIVISION Song "Wilderness". "Mind Mangled Monster" erscheint als ultraglossy vierseitiges Digipak. www.myspace.com/andrewowenliles" [label info / Cargo]
" 'Mind Mangled Trip Monster' is the first CD in Andrew Liles' every growing and highly collectible 'Monster' series of releases. 'Mind Mangled Trip Monster' features the amazing and ethereal vocal talents of Elisabeth Oswell. Elisabeth features throughout this album that can be best described as an unexpected musical departure for Andrew Liles. Think solar flares, autumn sunsets, stories form from far away places and bad trips.
This acid tinged, other worldly and hypnotic album has a total of 9 tracks including an unlikely cover of the classic Joy Division song 'Wilderness'. 'Mind Mangled Trip Monster' is released in a super glossy 4 panel digipak." [label info]
www.dirter.co.uk
|
2010 |
€13.00 |
|
|
Black Widow |
CD |
Part four in the VORTEX VAULT-series, embrace thee Ominous!
"This is the fourth release in a total of 12 CDs in the Black Series by Liles, current member of Nurse With Wound and general magic man. Like the previous CDs in this series, Liles uses more and more vocals in his music, which complement his music wonderfully. On this disc famous actor/singer Ernesto Tomasini (who also appeared on Crowded Skies on the BBC television) adds narration and sings. There is even narration in Urdu (by Dr. Malik). Starting off with the thumbpiano of To Maim A Donkey we are sucked into the surrealist world of Liles, where things are never quite what they seem. Strange samples and dark sounds creep in and out and are laced with a unique sense of humur (as in A Hippo Took An Apricot). Before you know it, you're humming along to The cod-James Bond theme And God Doesn't Fuck About, before you realize it's just a little off-beat (and definitely off-set!). The best issue of the Black Series so far, this CD is highly recommended." [FK / Vital Weekly]
www.blrrecords.com
|
2007 |
€16.00 |
|
| |
Life is an empty Place |
LP |
" “Life Is An Empty Place” is the brilliant new album by ANDREW LILES (Current 93 / Nurse With Wound), one of the best eclectic musician in the UK, with his several collaborations with most of the important esoteric / brown area bands. The album is a mix of electronic, experimental and surreal tracks. “LIAEP” comes out in deluxe gatefold cover (tobacco’s paper) and red vinyl, strictly limited to 400 copies. Fantastic cover made by Steven Stapleton / Babs Santini / Nurse With Wound." [label info]
www.nortonnorth.com
"This 8 track album concerns itself with drum machines and machine guns and is an excursion into complex sequences, contorted rhythms, vocoders and digital and analog synthesizers.
Front cover art by Babs Santini.
Issued in a deluxe gate fold sleeve with an edition of 100 pressed on black vinyl and 400 on gold vinyl.
There was also a VERY limited version of this album on DVDR. This item was released in an edition of 20 copies that were signed, numbered and enclosed in a rubber stamped sleeve. The audio is slightly different to the L.P. version.
The film has been ‘remixed’ and adapted by Liles from ‘Basingstoke Building Developments – 1969’, an archival film about building construction in the new town. It was sourced from Wessex Film and Sound Archive and is used with permission.
I was born in 1969 in Basingstoke and much of the film’s locations are around where I lived and played as a child. Locations that are very familiar, my infant school, sprawling council estates, shops and pubs. For me, this grainy, distorted, blurred film evokes grainy, distorted, blurred memories.
This DVD may be released in a larger unlimited issue at a future date… it may not." [Andrew Liles website]
|
2015 |
€20.00 |
|
| LILES, ANDREW & DANIEL MENCHE |
The Progeny of Flies. Tres Muscae Consummunt Cadaver Equi Aeque Cito Ac Leo |
CD |
Untertitel: "TRES MUSCAE CONSUMMUNT CADAVER EQUI AEQUE CITO AC LEO" - "Die Nachkommen dreier Fliegen können ein totes Pferd schneller konsumieren als ein Löwe". Was das Label hier aufgeregt und ziemlich passend "brutal kosmisch" tituliert, entpuppt sich als eine dicke Drone-Suppe mit (wahrscheinlich) LILESschen Synth- und Piano-Sprengseln, man kann sich kaum auf diese nebligen Sounds konzentrieren, immer wieder wird das Bewusstsein eingelullt und quasi ausgeschaltet... vier lange Stücke. Minimal, dronig, und wie immer bei LILES mit einem dunklen surrealistischen Flair...
"Ed. of 500 copies in a book bound CD case.. Kold Krush Groove, y’all. Literally! Individually Liles and Menche have torn the experimental world many new ones, but as a unit they achieve a critical mass so monumental that they deserve their own Hollywood-style canoodling name. That name: Linch-Me-Eels. The graceful ferocity that oozes out within the first few seconds is such that…well, let’s just say that if you called friends and told them you were on the moon, they would believe you. A vicious, celestial-cathedral rumble gapes its maw and spews forth into a sluggish river of electro-magma, reshaping landscapes once carved out by Cremaster Cycles and the gravitational forces of the planet Solaris. While Menche’s test-tones defying low-end slowly compresses the woofers into diamond earrings, an emerging theme for tack piano cautiously stabs at the din. And just before cowboy-robot-gone-mad Yul Brynner shows up to kill all humans, the piano slinks away to make room for the buzzing progeny of the flies, whose crescendo of wing-beats quietly, subtly rises and rises the swarm to Jupiter and beyond the infinite. After multiple listens a Xen(akis)–like state is realized and there should be a giant Star Fly-Child in your living room. Brutally cosmic!!!" [label info]
"I have been a fan of the works of Mr. Liles and Mr. Menche for a while now, so this CD of their first ever collaboration is most welcome. And it looks great; packed in a hard carton slightly oversized CD sleeve with typical Liles-artwork. The 65+ minutes that form The progeny Of Flies are divided into 4 parts. Opener Eggs (signifying the first stage of the fly life cycle) features the now typical Liles-sounds augmented by Menche's higher and harsher frequencies. In one word beautiful. The second track 1st To 3rd Instar features low frequency pulses before subtle piano chords (and reverbed pedals) set in. Again full marks to Liles and Menche. "Pupar" (the third track) starts off with a horse's neigh. After that surprising intro we're in a world filled with bass tones with plucked strings and percussive elements. Closing track Metamorphoses (to end the fly theme) features a low, almost prehistoric growl and Menche's more noisy elements which builds up to a climax. The track ends with piano and the buzzing sound of a fly. This CD, subtitled "tres muscae conummunt cadaver equi aeque cito ac leo", which loosely and very cryptically translates into "three muscular complete corpses indeed quick justice and lion" is a gorgeous piece of work; beautiful, restrained and highly recommended!" [FK / Vital Weekly]
www.blrrecords.com
|
2008 |
€14.00 |
|
| LILES, ANDREW AND KENJI SIRATORI |
Black Paper |
CD |
Erster Teil der wahnwitzigen VORTEX VAULT-Serie, 12 CDs aus ANDREW LILES Archiv, aber auch neues Material wird präsentiert.
Das ganze wiederum in der Beta-Lactam BLACK SERIES, die mit einheitlichen überformatigen schwarze Edel-Cover zu beglücken vermag. BLACK PAPER heisst also der erste Teil, wo LILES mit dem selbsternannten japanischen CYBER-Poeten KENJI SIRATORI kollab(or)iert, der wie's scheint zur Zeit mit jedem in der Experimental-Szene ansässigen Werktätigen eine Zusammenarbeit anstrebt. So hört man hier SIRATORIS Cyber-Gedichte (auf japanisch; auf englisch übersetzt wären übrigens genauso unverständlich - denn er scheint ein spätes Kind der Cut-Up Technik zu sein). Als wäre das nicht schon genug irrlichternder & funkelnder Wahnwitz, so zeigt sich auch LILES in Bestform, wenn er mit Synthklavier und Xylophon und durchdringenden Analog-Noises (=?) bewaffnet die letzten möglicherweise noch vorhandenen Reste gutgläubiger Erwartungshaltung des Hörers vernichtet, hier in irgendeiner Weise 'verstehbare" Musik hören zu dürfen. Genau darin aber, geneigter DRone Records-Kunde, liegt vielleicht die Genialität dieses Albums. Wir können das aber gerade nicht entscheiden und vertagen die Diskussion auf unbestimmte Zeit...
"Black Series 1 - Ed. of 300 numbered and signed copies. 'The Vortex Vault' will be in part a collection of unreleased, unearthed and dusted down material from the vast Andrew Liles archive of unused studio material. 'The Vortex Vault' will also include brand new recordings, conceptual and collaborative pieces, special guests, kraut rock psyche outs, space rock, the odd and unlikely, Norwegian, the obscure and arcane, aircraft, cicadas, the absurd and nonsensical. 'The Vortex Vault' is a platform to release radically different and eclectic material. Expect the unexpected, the minimalist and excessive, the demure and deranged." [label info]
"andrew liles, from the uk, is an experimental sound artist with a pretty diverse output. i'm only familiar with a few of his releases, but they ranged from sound art, to ambient soundscapes, drone, experimental electronics and the occasional foray into noisier directions. some good points of reference, as far as his ambient and drone works are concerned, would be andrew chalk and vidna obmana, two artists he's also happened to work with. kenji siratori is a japanese cyberpunk author who's had a hell of an outpouring of non-paper releases last year. this is mostly because he pimped himself out by "writing to as many industrial, ambient, ebm and goth bands he could find, including "reviews" of them in his idiosyncratic style, and asking to collaborate. (this) scattergun approach proved successful, despite his reviews of non-sequitirs and non-sensical cyberspeak being interchangeable" [discogs.com]. after all was said and done he'd put out fifteen total albums, including three that are on net labels and are availiable to download for free at smell the stench and dystonia. the bulk of them have been in the form of collaborations, most notably with gx jupitter-larsen (the haters), torturing nurse and henrik nordvargr björkk (hh9, folkstorm, mz.412, et al.). i would be surprised if that last one is anything short of amazing. i...must...stop...buying...things... black paper opens up with barometer ii, a beautifully haunting piano piece by liles, which siratori soon begins speaking over. his words are all spoken in japanese. emphasis on spoken. this could be poetry or god knows what, but it sounds great. he's got this gruff sounding voice that immediately made me think of splinter's voice from the teenage mutant ninja turtles movies. i love it. there's some great layering of his vocals near the end, too. vtr is one of the least musical (most experimental) cuts on here. there's a whole mess of noises, electronic bleeps and textures from andrew, and kenji's vocals are affected, in parts, and panned all over. it easily has the most overall stuff going on at once, but it works well, due partly to how andrew progresses it. if that was the album's exercise in maximalism (i think i just made that word up), the title piece is its most rhythmic. half of this piece features with some very catchy xylophone (i'm guessing) playing, the rest focuses on kenji's vocals, manipulated the most here. one of my favorite parts is where its just him with no music, and there's also his sped up vocals shooting back and forth between the speakers. jaguar is black paper's absolute highlight. over liles' sparse backdrop there's a vocal track in the left speaker, a different one in the right, a repetitious one in the center and then another, different track in the center. it's completely hypnotic, wonderful and memorable. then when that piano comes in towards the end, jaguar achieves total brilliance. it all strikes me as being rather noir, while maintaining an underlying sense of beauty. the next two tracks mainly feature andrew doing some nice, slightly stark, experimental electronic work. the closer, barometer iii is vocal less and revises the pianos from barometer ii, but adds some terrific electronic noises over it. there's actually two separate collaborations by kenji siratori with the title black paper, the other is with tardive dyskinesia. that may cause a bit of confusion, but this one is only available from andrew liles' website or beta-lactam ring. it's part of andrew's 12 cd set, the vortex vault, limited to only 300 copies. once those 300 are gone, that's it. no reissues. i think if you get one from andrew it will be signed by him. i'd also recommend his collaboration with gx. while it's not as memorable as this one here, there's some mighty fine noise by him, and who doesn't like mighty fine noise? after hearing all of this from kenji i've definitely become interested in his literary work...at the very least it should be interesting. smooth sailing review " [unknown writer, taken from the Beta-Lactam website]
www.blrrecords.com
|
2006 |
€16.00 |
|
| LILJEDAHL, JONATAN & DANIEL KARLSSON |
Even while the Earth sleeps we travel beneath frozen Rivers |
CD |
"Something a like, a collaboration and solo pieces, comes by Jonatan Liljendahl and Daniel Karlsson, except that they have only one solo piece each and six collaborative pieces. These two (both are unknown to me) operate from a more electronic end of the musical spectrum, with a love for the more harsher aspects of sound. There is the analogue studio of EMS, located below Fylkingen, in which music like this can be taped off the old Bucla and Serge modular synths, which seems to be at the source of this recording. Perhaps treated a bit, to make small loops which interact with eachother. White and pink noise battle, rough edged drone music and other sound effects have been used to make music that is quite harsh, in a noise sense, but luckily enough also knows quieter moments and throughout has the idea of things being 'composed' rather than thrown together as would be a more common noise practice." [FdW/Vital Weekly]
www.fylkingen.se
|
2008 |
€12.50 |
|
| 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 |
|
| LINGUA FUNGI |
Melankhton |
CD |
"Aural Hypnox welcomes Lingua Fungi to the label roster. Lingua Fungi has been working in the field of acoustic drone and ambient since 2001 and is run by J. Padatsu, who has during the years appeared in the Zoat-Äon live lineup, is currently member of Halo Manash and joined Aural Hypnox label in 2013. The fourth full-lenght album of Lingua Fungi, entitled Melankhton is released through our Sublunar series.
Melankhton is a sonic interpretation of particular illness narratives and a study in experimental anthropology based on fieldwork material gathered especially for this project. The narratives and sounds expressing them reflect the shifting states of the turbulent minds visited by Melankhton.
The album was recorded in 2006 using exclusively acoustic instruments and sound sources mixed with processed field recordings. The album consists of five long tracks with sounds varying from maniacal percussive rhythms to dreamy drone passages.
The album is enclosed in a customised and silk-screen printed Sublunar series cardboard covers, including a 4-panel cardboard booklet and a silk-screen printed insert card. The regular edition is limited to 449 copies." [label info]
www.auralhypnox.com
|
2014 |
€13.00 |
|
| LISTENING MIRROR |
Resting in Aspic |
CD |
"Formed at the beginning of 2010, Listening Mirror is a collaborative ambient/drone project of Jeff Stonehouse and Kate Tustain, a hybrid of their various disciplines and an attempt to extract some beauty from the noise that surrounds us all every day. Early material was composed of field recordings, combined with improvised piano and vocals. Throughout 2010/11, highly limited editions and now sold out/deleted EPs appeared on DIY labels such as Rural Colours, Heat Death, Audio Gourmet, Arew and also a postcard on the Hibernate series.
In ‘Resting in Aspic’ Listening Mirror have selected pieces from some of these previous releases and have included the full and unreleased version of ‘The Organist’. Everything has been remastered by Wil Bolton and is available in a limited run of 200 CD’s. The sounds present on the album are everything from blissed out drifting soundscapes to darker tones, all culled from various sources such as field recordings, acoustic guitar, percussive instruments, BC8 synth, Kate’s vocals and piano." [label info]
www.hibernate-recs.co.uk
"A duo of Jeff Stonehouse and Kate Tustain, who started Listening Mirror in 2010, using a variety of field recordings, improvised piano, acoustic guitar, percussion, BC8 synthesizer and vocals. During 2010/2011 they released some limited works on labels as Rural Colours, Heat Death, Audio Gourmet and a postcard on the Hibernate series. The latter now releases a limited CD, which brings those out of print releases together again, along with the full version of 'The Organist' and one new piece. Of course a man/women duo playing with field recordings and instruments, producing drone and ambient music, will easily point towards Celer. If I wouldn't have known what I was playing I could have easily thought this was something by Celer. Perhaps with one difference and that's the somewhat more extensive use of the female voice in here, which chants wordless, like an angelic choir. But in the pieces where this is not the case, its damn close to Celer. Is that a problem? It very much depends what you want. If you think there is not enough Celer, or atmospheric, drone, ambient music in general, then you would probably not mind more music alike that and then certainly Listening Mirror is another fine addition to what you know. On the other hand, if you want something new, a style to expand, a fresher point of view on what you already know, then this might be somewhat of a disappointment. Listening Mirror just don't seem to expand on anything that we already know. Where do I stand? Hard to tell. I was looking outside, seeing a grey clouded sky, with a bit of rain, reading a book and actually quite enjoying this music. Nicely produced atmospherics. What more do I want, right now? Probably nothing. Let's worry about the revolution in music another day." [FdW/Vital Weekly]
|
2012 |
€13.00 |
|
| LIVE SKULL |
EP |
CD |
"24-page booklet with rare and unseen pics and extensive liner notes by band members Tom Paine & MarK C.
Formed in 1982 by guitarists Mark C and Tom Paine with Marnie Greenholz on bass and James Lo on drums, Live Skull is considered by many aficionados to be the quintessential New York noise band. Together with Sonic Youth and Swans, Live Skull defined the term "noise rock" in the 1980s, spearheading the post-No Wave underground music scene in NYC with a series of legendary live performances and eight groundbreaking records released over the course of that decade. Often brutal and yet strangely seductive, each of these classic records creates hooks out of the most unlikely, seemingly disruptive elements, subverting traditional rock forms in previously unheard ways that became an undeniable (albeit often unacknowledged) influence on many of their contemporaries. Live Skull broke up in 1989, just within sight of that magical moment when the sort of music they pioneered began to finally break through, but the band's recorded output reminds us that Live Skull got there first.
This is the record that started it all, Live Skull's first EP. A gloriously sprawling collection of deep, dark grooves and insidiously entwined guitars, the Village Voice rightly described the EP as "classic post-punk" and “the best introduction to New York’s guitar explorers.” The East Village Eye proclaimed it “one of the best sounding records to come out of any New York band past or present.” The New York Times put the EP on their short list of the best five records of 1984, declaring, “A few contemporary bands are making music as a deliberate antidote to the burbling synthesizers, polite crooning and polished gloss of today’s well-fed pop mainstream. New York’s Live Skull, Sonic Youth and Swans…are making the sort of music rock’s early opponents must have feared most, the music of their nightmares.”
Out of print for far too many years, this 30th anniversary reissue of Live Skull's first EP is now available on limited edition vinyl and (for the first time ever) on CD, complete with a lavish booklet including extensive liner notes by founding members Tom Paine and Mark C, and eight extremely rare bonus tracks. This is the first release in desire’s Live Skull Project, an ambitious, eight-title series of reissues of the entire Live Skull catalogue, personally overseen by Mark C and Tom Paine." |
2013 |
€13.00 |
|
| |
Dangerous Visions |
LP |
"Emerging in the early 80s at the end of New York’s legendary No Wave scene alongside Manhattan comrades Sonic Youth and Swans, Live Skull reshaped the aggression of burned-out post-punk into heavy, guitar-driven rock. This new release showcases their evolution, with Side 1 featuring recently recorded tracks, whilst Side 2 digs into the archives and includes four tracks from their 1989 Peel Session, released here for the first time.
Struggle and chaos is nothing new for Live Skull. Mark C and his fellow founder, guitarist Tom Paine, were inspired by the nihilistic sounds of No New York and the dissonant walls of Glenn Branca and Rhys Chatham. Live Skull funneled those influences into hard-edged music that valued melody as much as anarchy. “We loved the noise and the chaos that was happening in the No Wave bands,” says Mark. “But we really tried to fit it into a song.”
Over the next decade, Live Skull released four albums and three EPs with a rotating cast of 11 members, all of whom added new ideas to the group’s evolving sound. Their constant progression inspired New York Times critic Robert Palmer to call them “as challenging, as spiritually corrosive, and ultimately as transcendent as Albert Ayler’s mid-’60s free-jazz or the implacable drone-dance of the early Velvet Underground. It’s one of the essential sounds of our time.”
Live Skull stopped playing in 1990–but for Mark C, there was still more to be said. So he reformed the group in 2016 with bassist Marnie Jaffe and drummer Richard Hutchins. Last year, an updated line-up with C, Hutchins and bassist Kent Heine recorded the first Live Skull album in nearly three decades, the urgent, forceful ‘Saturday Night Massacre’. Now, just a year later and joined by guitarist Dave Hollinghurst, they return with ‘Dangerous Visions’, and this time everyone from the entire Live Skull history is involved."
|
2020 |
€24.00 |
|
| LLOYD, DALE |
Akasha_for Record |
pic-LP |
"A welcome return from Dale Lloyd with this, his first new release in three years. Akasha_for Record is a two-part composition, filled with highly dynamic intricacies very carefully arranged. Rich micro-detail meets subtle emotional resonance in a spellbinding work created specifically for the vinyl format. Akasha_for Record is an opulent listening experience, indeed, and one that will reward close, repeated scrutiny. The record's artwork consists of two gorgeous, lightly manipulated, full-color photographic images by Lloyd. The sound/vision combination of Akasha_for Record is truly intriguing and utterly beautiful. Dale Lloyd is well known for phonography, composition, graphic design, and curatorial skills for his highly acclaimed and/OAR label. He has recorded for numerous labels over the years, including Elevator Bath, and/OAR, Alluvial Recordings, Mystery Sea, and Room40. Lloyd lives in Seattle, Washington. This picture disc LP has been released in an edition of 216 copies." [label info]
"... One of the two sides opens with a modulating hiss that harmonizes with a sinewy drone and gets punctured by a series bone-numbing electrical charges for something that could have some unsavory context had it been generated by John Duncan, but then again it could be a field recording of a grain-slew with minor post-production techniques. In fact, each of the pieces on Akasha For Record have this sense that they could be the results of well-situated field recordings like those of Tarab or Eric La Casa, as the smudges and grittiness of these recordings allude to
such strategies. Another track shimmers like the vibration of a loose piece of metal on an industrial HVAC, with the timbres generating a
surprisingly fluid and beautiful resonance like something Andrew Chalk would actively seek out. There's greater evidence of field recordings
on the tracks that do feature the roar of surf and a cold wind intermingled with the softened white noise of sand getting pushed around. Lloyd had devised this album to complement the crackles that get magnified through the picture disc - a medium which notoriously wears heavier than most pressings of vinyl. The album certainly works well with its medium. Beautiful stuff, and super limited to 216 copies." [Aquarius Records]
www.elevatorbath.com
|
2009 |
€17.50 |
|
| LLYN Y CWN |
Du Y Moroedd |
CD |
"Du Y Moroedd" (Welsh - the black of the sea) is an album of abyssal dark ambient - environmental soundscapes and atmospheres from above, below and beside the ocean; field recordings made onboard vessels at sea; sounds from submerged recording devices deep underwater; recordings from the coasts of North Wales to Greenland and the Arctic Ocean.
"The tracks were created onboard the RV Prince Madog whilst conducting research using multibeam sonar to locate, survey and identify shipwrecks from WW1. The multibeam sonar creates images of the seabed using acoustic reflections. It is quite an experience to watch the sonar reveal an unsurveyed wreck and be the first person to "see" the ship for over 100 years; the vessel sitting at the bottom of the ocean waiting in the dark to be discovered.
Research into the history of each wreck uncovers stories of boats torn in half by torpedoes and mines, U- boats hunted by destroyers and pummelled with depth charges. Many of these sites aren't just wrecks; they are mass war graves. The vital shipping channel to Liverpool passes the North Wales coast, the U boats would sit and wait; listening. When heard from under the water, each ship has its own unique acoustic signature based on the size of the engine, shape of the propeller, curve of the hull, these acoustic tell-tales were used by the U-boats to identify targets. The shipping lane became a shooting gallery of easy pickings and the submarines were able to slip away undetected into the black of the sea.
The album features recordings from the hull of RRS James Clark Ross whilst ploughing through ice fields off Greenland, from a "sound trap" attached to an anchor as it descended through 80m of water to the seabed, and sounds from onboard the RV Prince Madog with its pitched engine drone. There is also a recording of the bell at Trwyn Du lighthouse, Anglesey, that was made in August 2020, days before the bell was removed to be replaced with a modern fog horn - prior to this, the bell had rung every 30 seconds since 1922" (Benjamin Ian Powell).
File next to fellow Welshman Lustmord and Sleep Research Facility.
Presented in a 6-panel digipak with breathtaking photography by the artist.
https://coldspring.bandcamp.com/album/du-y-moroedd-csr302cd |
2022 |
€13.00 |
|
| LOCRIAN |
Rain of Ashes |
CD |
"Following the release of their highly acclaimed "drenched land" CD (on Small Doses & At War With False Noise), Locrian toured intensively in the US in July 2009 and went into WMUC studios located at College Park, Maryland to record, with no overdubs and no other takes, what became much more than just a session. “Rain of Ashes” is a journey, not of complex feelings, but of realizing the decay and collapse you have just witnessed is real and will never go away. Instead of completely pummeling the listener, the piece slowly rips the listener apart until there is nothing left."
previously released on cassette on fan death records, the two tracks have been properly mastered at Chicago Mastering Service by for a more intense and definitive experience.
Available now on its definitive edition (400 copies), "rain of ashes" is packed in a jewel case with 8 panels booklet and obi strip." [label info]
www.bassesfrequences.org
|
2009 |
€13.00 |
|
|
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 |
|
| |
New Catastrophism |
LP |
“New Catastrophism”, the first LOCRIAN release in seven years sees the iconic experimental music trio return back to their roots through four immersive tracks that signal towards the band’s signature expressions through dark ambient, experimental music, drone and post rock. Massive dystopian soundscapes through the intricate, layered, and spacious sound palette LOCRIAN unveil.
LOCRIAN is a prophetic voice of decline. From the band’s inception, it has comfortably straddled both the experimental and metal underground, weaving themes of apocalypse, urban decay, environmental destruction and birth/death/rebirth throughout its multifaceted and genre-defying releases. The trio formed in 2005 in Chicago and features Terence Hannum (synthesizers, vocals, tape loops), André Foisy (guitars, electronics), and Steven Hess (drums, electronics). Over their sixteen-year history, Locrian have released six studio albums, three collaborative albums, and numerous limited-edition releases.
"Locrian break their seven-year silence with a new full-length, New Catastrophism (Profound Lore), a beautiful, heady record that strips their aesthetic back to straightforward postmetal-flavored ambience and electronics...New Catastrophism proves once again that whether Locrian are operating with a minimalist or maximalist palette, they’re hard to top when it comes to conjuring dark, moving sounds."
--Luca Cimarusti, Chicago Reader
"From start to finish New Catastrophism is perfectly nuanced. There is nothing present that does not enhance the overall sound...["Ghost Frontiers"] showcase LOCRIAN’s dark/drone ambient side and do so extremely well. Whilst the tracks on New Catastrophism convey a society and planet on its knees, those on Ghost Frontiers transport you to a land where nothing remains...I can’t praise LOCRIAN’s work on New Catastrophism and Ghost Frontiers highly enough. The band continue to be inventive and evocative and have lost none of what made them so special in the seven years since they released new music."
-Dan Dolby, Veil of Sound
credits
released August 12, 2022
Recorded and mixed by J. Robbins
Mastered by Brad Boatright
Artwork by Trevor Paglen
Design by Chimere Noire
https://locrian.bandcamp.com/album/new-catastrophism |
2022 |
€17.50 |
|
| 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 |
|
| LONGHI, JEROME |
Sonameon |
12inch |
"It’s ever hard to find some words about a debut. There’s nothing to compare. Yes, of course, there could be thrown in some names, or it could be mentioned that Jerome Longhi grew up in a musical family and learned playing guitar at seven...started his 1st Band as kid and now ownes a production studio. But is it important that way? Maybe the fact, he was just fed up from guitar music. With the thought, that the broom chamber would fit his sound to leave the domestic fields of Rock for a while." [label info]
"This downtempo debut 12” from producer Jerome Longhi offers us listeners a welcome break from the need for adventure in our lives, like an idyllic seaside postcard that becomes fleetingly real. The immersive new-age prelude of A-side’s ‘Sonameon’ is a slow, shimmering synthy sunrise, not unlike the new-world ambience of ‘90s Future Sound of London, with misty-morning, exotic-girl chants, vocodered warbling, and ponderous beats that rise and fall from the other side of a coma. A shade darker on the B-side, on ‘Sonomeon’ a maudlin piano phrase leads into a rain-drenched trip-hop number with a sinister ‘someone’s coming’ bass-line keeping watch over an assortment of skulking rhythms, distant birds and a mild synth wash that lends an ‘80s B-movie vibe. It’s not the most adventurous of listens, but nor has it any such pretensions; its charm lying entirely in its lack of exertion, and the refinement of its lilt and lift over the course of its eighteen minutes." [The Sound Projector]
www.empiricrecords.com |
2014 |
€12.00 |
|
| LOON |
same |
CD |
"Loon's tunes cast pterodactyl shadows. The guttural guitars travel at the speed of Swans, languidly pounding out metal blasts that would make Sir Lord Baltimore scared. Their juxtaposition of ballsy femme vocals and black metal rasp generates an intense texture dynamic within the syrupy, trudging riffs. Loon is a quaking heaviness, like Hannibal crossing the Alps on Marshall stacks, though the loud is tempered with interesting production and unique arrangements. Loon's sonic crush soars with the loftiest flocks."I have no idea how this record hasn’t gotten more praise, it just might be the most underrated metal album of the past year. I think a lot of that is simply because nobody knows it exists, it’s self-released, and there’s no website to order from. Thankfully, they sent it to us to share with all of you. This Providence, RI three-piece features members of Megasus, Moonshine, Wake Up On Fire, etc. They play the best possible brand of slow, driving doom metal with the occasional passage of occult folk thrown in."
LOON was conceived of on the shores of Grout Pond in the Green Mountain National Forest by Mis Zill (vocals/guitars, former member of Moonshine, Wake up on Fire) and Anne Marie Ticaric (drums/vocals) in October of 2007. They were soon after joined by bassist Paul Lyons (Megasus) and began to write heavy, melodic songs in a bitterly cold warehouse in Providence RI. These songs are collected on the self titled debut LP released in December 2010. LOON has toured through much of the east coast and across the midwest, and plans to record and tour more in 2011." [label info]
www.blrrecords.com
"Witchy doomy heaviness from Rhode Island, home of ultra avant doom heavies The Body, electro rockers Six Finger Satellite, spastic hyper noiserock duo Lightning Bolt, and hardcore legends Dropdead, among others, but female fronted doom rockers Loon have way more in common with the current crop of heavies like Jex Thoth, The Devil's Blood, Sub Rosa, Blood Ceremony, Cauchemar, Christian Mistress and Purple Rhinestone Eagle, and fans of any of those bands will definitely dig Loon's stonery psychedelic grooves, and pop flecked Sabbathy doominess, but Loon definitely have their own take on that sounds, beyond the doom aspect, which is really pretty minimal, sure it IS doomy, but it's way more groovy, there's also a serious slowcore vibe going on, a downer pop woven into the group's more metallic heaviness, which ends up reminding us of a way heavier more traditionally metal True Widow, which is totally NOT a bad thing. And then there's the vocals, which are amazing, slipping from demonic screech, to sweet melodious croon, powerful and intense, and often reminding us of country chanteuse Neko Case surprisingly enough. So if you can imagine Neko Case singing for a Sabbathy doomy downer pop stoner metal combo, well then, you might have an idea of what Loon has going on. And while the vocals might be the best we of the bunch, in terms of actually singing, the songs are pretty fantastic too, spacey and psychedelic, groovy and heavy, a little bit proggy, super hooky, with just enough pop, the guitar sound buzzy and crunchy, the drums powerful, the whole sound hooky and heavy, doomy and sort of dreamy at the same time. After a gorgeous hazy bit of psychedelic acoustic guitar, the record finishes with the nearly 10 minute "Grackel" which is the perfect Loon track, mixing all the various elements, the Neko Case like vocals (sounding surprisingly twangy here!), the shrieked demonic howls, the groovy Sabbathy riffage, the super melodic poppiness, the dirgey slowcore, all culminating in a woozy washed out feedback drenched spacey psychedelic outro, that could have (and probably SHOULD have) gone on for ANOTHER 10 minutes. Definitely a new favorite. Anyone into ANY of the above mentioned bands should for sure check this out." [Aquarius Records]
www.blrrecords.com
|
2011 |
€13.00 |
|
| LOPEZ, FRANCISCO |
El dia anterior a la emergencia de los adultos de magicicada |
mCD |
Ähnlich wie auf der legendären Drone Records-Single “Untitled Single Piece 1”, welche infrasonische Sub-Drones enthielt, die man eher spüren als hören konnte, hat LOPEZ auf „El dia“ wieder Infrasound- „Klänge“ geschaffen, die „schwer“ vibrierend in der Luft liegen, ohne dass ein besonderer Eindruck von „Lautstärke“ geschaffen wird.
Alles vibriert. Lebendige Psychophysik. Experiment with your senses !
“The music is there but only your house's walls and selected parts of your auditive system respond to the connection. The piece lasts only a little more than 15 minutes, yet it is a masterpiece; a single subsonic drift comes out a little, then withdraws, then again returns to occupy the corners of the ceiling, slowly taking possession of your essence. Moving around the room, the sound becomes more intense or is almost completely cancelled in a sort of illusory phase whose gradual consumption is completed just when the body recognizes this throbbing code as familiar. Impossible not to be impressed by this game of contrasts between tension and comfort, which confirms Lopez's current state of grace. The "repeat" button is absolutely recommended.” [Touching Extremes]
|
2006 |
€6.50 |
|
|
Untitled #281 |
CD |
" 'Untitled #281' was created by extreme mutation and evolution of bird calls from original recordings carried out over a period of fifteen years (1995-2010) in multiple wilderness locations of Australia, New Zealand, Brazil, Spain, South Africa, Costa Rica, Mexico, and Peru. The most dramatic antithesis of any 'birdsong' piece you could imagine. Francisco López is internationally recognized as one of the major figures of the sound art and experimental music scene. For more than thirty years he has developed an astonishing sonic universe, absolutely personal and iconoclastic, based on a profound listening of the world. Destroying boundaries between industrial sounds and wilderness sound environments, shifting with passion from the limits of perception to the most dreadful abyss of sonic power, proposing a blind, profound and transcendental listening, freed from the imperatives of knowledge and open to sensory and spiritual expansion." [label info]
"You have to take the CD out of the box, so you can read the complete liner notes on the cover, which is a nice thing. For this particular composition - almost close to thirty-two minutes - Lopez uses recordings of bird calls which he recorded from 1995 to 2010 in 'multiple wilderness locations of Australia, New Zealand, Brazil, Spain, South Africa, Costa Rica, Mexico and Peru. Not unlike other recent works by Lopez (the ones I heard that is), it seems to me that Lopez uses new pieces of software to treat his soundmatter, as he calls it. It has that granular synthesizes sound from max/msp and Lopez uses it quite radically. Things can get pretty wild in here, as we are warned on the cover that 'digital clipping in this an aesthetic decision and is explicitly intentional'. Especially in the first half this is a very present feature. But this work isn't of course all about noise; it opens with that Lopezian silence - except it's more audible; no contradictions there. After a firm break
around thirteen minutes things become silent for a while again, but never completely silent. Towards the end is the only section with what seems to be the original bird calls mixed with processed version thereof, with the latter gradually taking over. This is another fine Lopez work, with perhaps less of the mysterious ways of his earlier, connecting more to computer music scene (like Roel Meelkop or Marc Behrens)" [FdW/Vital Weekly]
|
2014 |
€15.00 |
|
|
Wilderness Studio 2005-2019 |
do-CD |
francisco lópez - WILDERNESS STUDIO 2005-2019 / On-site Composition in the Wild
Over the past fifteen years, with the assistance and companionship of some friends, small groups of artists and members of the local communities, I have been directing two consecutive incarnations of an annual residency/workshop at Mamori Lake in the Brazilian Amazon (‘Mamori Sound Project’, 2005-2011) and Mmabolela Reserve in the South African savanna (‘Sonic Mmabolela’, 2013-2019), for composers, audio artists, sound designers and other creative individuals from all over the world. Its focus has been on creative approaches to the work with environmental sound matter, through both recordings and profound listening, by means of an extensive –and I would say iconoclastic– exploration of natural sound environments in those contrasting locations of rainforest and savanna. In a number of different ways –theoretical, practical and experiential– I have been trying to bring in a vigorous questioning of canonical conceptions of so-called ‘field recordings’, a realm of audio creation that has manifested a significant expansion over the past few years but that, in my opinion, has failed to overcome representational clichés and obsolete creative rules. As I see , the main aim of this experience is neither technical nor conceptual, but rather transformative, from both artistic and personal perspectives. At a personal level, these ‘sonic years’ in the Amazon rainforest and the African savanna (two types of environments I had experienced as a biologist many years earlier in Brazil and Senegal) have had a very profound effect on my experience and conception of sound as both a prodigious phenomenological conduit and an ontological entity in its own right, along with –not subservient to– the other creatures of the rainforest and the savanna. This transcendental transformation has had fundamental outcomes for me, such as what I call ‘field listening’ (a post-media non-representational practice of profound listening in the field) and ‘sonogenic composition’ (a creative approach in which sound itself suggests and leads the compositional decisions, structure and nature). Among many other strategies, in this residency/workshop I proposed the participants to create audio pieces while still in the natural environment, and I did myself a few of those as well over the years. The classic super-analytical procedure of listening through all the many hours of recordings before creating anything might not necessarily be the best one, particularly now that the possible amount of recorded time is so vast. There is also an element of immediacy and immersion in the actual environment that I am convinced has a significant and very positive effect in what we can create under those conditions. This ‘on-site composition in the wild’ naturally brings forth challenging, heuristic and fruitful frameworks of audio creation in the form of spontaneity, incomplete knowledge, non-exhaustive observation, emotional probing of materials, un-systematic decisions, persistent presence of the sonic environment, immediate juxtaposition of listened and recorded ‘reality’, and so forth. This double album compilation presents the on-site composition pieces I created with my portable minimal ‘wilderness studio’ during all the past years of this residency/workshop in the Brazilian Amazon and the South African savanna.
------------------------------------------------------------
‘Mamori Sound Project’ at Mamori Lake and ‘Sonic Mmabolela’ at Mmabolela Reserve have materialized as independent projects with virtually no funding, which have been made possible –more often than not against significant odds and through some quite remarkable adventures– by the collective effort of a small group of incredibly dedicated friends, as well as all the international participants:
[120; from Algeria, Australia, Austria, Belarus, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Colombia, Czech Republic, France, Greece, Germany, Hong Kong, Hungary, Iceland, Iran, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, Mexico, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Romania, Russia, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, The Netherlands, UK, USA]
Wilderness Studio 2005-2011: BRAZILIAN AMAZON
My sincere gratitude goes to Asier Gogortza, Jorge Llorella, Nacho Martí, and Martín Azúa (of Mamori ArtLab); Slavek Kwi, Jerson and Katia Vieira da Silva, and the entire Mamori Lake community.
Participants in ‘Mamori Sound Project’, 2005-2011:
Aernoudt Jacobs, Alex Massana, Anders K. Landstrand, Andrea Williams, Annie Mahtani, Artur Matamoros, Barbara Ellison, Bernat Cuní, Brice Jeannin, Camilla Hannan, Cécile Martin, Cédric Maridet, Christopher Fleeger, Ciara Moore, Constantine Katsiris, Damien Perollaz, Daniel Blinkhorn, David Drury, David M. Michael, Dionisio Alfaro, Dominik t’Jolle, Els Viaene, Eric Miller, Farahnaz Hatam, Hilary Mullaney, Jaime Rojas, James Webb, Karl Lemieux, Kim Foscato, Laurent Wermenlinger, Lawrence English, Leah Barclay, Lindenberg Munroe, Linn Halvorsrød, Luca Forcucci, Ludger Kisters, Marc Behrens, Marcelo Nakata, Marta López-Briones, Mathias Janssens, Matt Shoemaker, Michael Trommer, Mikel Nieto, Nicholas McConaghy, Nimalan Yoganathan, Olof Dreijer, Perri Lynch, Rebecca English, Ruben García, Sam Hamilton, Sam Ripault, Samuel E. Dunscombe, Scott Konzelmann,Simon Whetham, Slavek Kwi, Stefano Tedesco, Suzanne Wehmer, Thanassis Kaproulias,Thelmo Cristovam, Todd Shalom,Tom Lane, Tulipa Ruiz, Vanessa Michelis, Victoria Soanes.
Wilderness Studio 2013-2019: SOUTH AFRICAN SAVANNA
My sincere gratitude goes to Mark and Lesley Berry (owners of Mmabolela Estates), James Webb, Barbara Ellison, Neil Lowe, Paulo Ghiglione, Mabig Frans Meela, Bolpetse William Mosima, Madikana Johannes Malobela, Maria Mokgadi Mosima ‘Khani’, Tamaries Lettah Tebodi, Malebogo Queen Molele, and the entire staff
community at Mmabolela Estates.
Participants in ‘Sonic Mmabolela’, 2013-2019:
Aernoudt Jacobs, Alex Davies, Alexandra Spence, Andy Martin, Angélica Castelló, Barbara Ellison, Bethan Parkes, Brigitte Hart, Brydon Bolton, Cara Stacey, Cédric Maridet, Christina Kubish, Christopher Fleeger, Clinton Watkins, Craig Wells, Daan Hendriks, Daniel Lea, Dave Phillips, David M. Michael, Dimitrios Bakas, Dmitry Gelfand, Eric Mattson, Ernesto Coba, Evelina Domnitch, George Vlad Cancea, Gregory Kramer, Hanan Benammar, Hannah Gilmour, Harm Roché van Tiddens, Herbert Baioco Vasconcelos, Iddo Aharony, Jean-Baptiste Masson, Jeremy Hegge, Jesús de la Peña, Josten Myburgh, Jun Mizumachi, Kate Carr, Kim Foscato, Ksersti G. Andvig, Luca Forcucci, Lucille Calmel, Luke Pearson, Matthew Aidekman, Michael Clemow, Michał Jacaszek, Mike Vernusky, Niketa Sheth, Peter Terner, Robert Kellough, Robert Schwartz, Robyn Farah, Ruben García, Sara Retallick, Scott Konzelmann, Slavek Kwi, Steve Ashby, Steve Norton, Stijn Demeulenaere, Thomas Voyce, Thóranna Björnsdóttir, Tim Bruniges, Tristan Horton, Ulf A. S. Holbrook, Vicki Hallett, Yvonne Freckmann.
------------------------------------------------------------
First released on 2xCD ('nowhere') in September 2020 - Edition 300 copies.
(c) francisco lópez 2005-2020 – www.franciscolopez.net
https://franciscolopez.bandcamp.com/album/wilderness-studio-2005-2019-brazilian-amazon-south-african-savanna-on-site-composition-in-the-wild
|
2020 |
€19.50 |
|
|
Belu (Environmental sound matter from Myanmar [Burma]) |
CD |
BELU
Environmental sound matter from Myanmar (Burma)
The Epoché Collection - vol. 5
“In the representational culture the subject is in a different world than things. In the technological culture the subject is in the world with things. Previously existing transcendence and dualism is displaced by the immanence, monism. There are two dualisms at stake here. One between the subject [...] and the cultural entity s/he encounters. The other is between this cultural entity and the reality it more or less fully represents. Relationships between all three of these elements –subject, cultural object and real object– are distanciated in the representational culture. In the technological culture, all three are in the same world, in the same immanent world.”
Scott Lash – ‘Critique of Information’
Original environmental sound matter recorded in
2010 at locations in Myanmar (Burma): Ywapu,
Nyaungshwe, Sagaing, Bagan, Mount Popa
and Ngwe Saung..
Edited, composed and mastered at ‘mobile messor’
(Troy, Cape Town, Geneva, Den Haag), 2015.
Many thanks to: Dana Bar Magen, Maung Saw Tin
and Daw Mya Aye.
First published on CD ('nowhere') in November 2015 - Edition 300 copies.
(c) francisco lópez 2015 - www.franciscolopez.net
Immaterial reissue by nowhere [worldwide] 2018
https://franciscolopez.bandcamp.com/album/belu-environmental-sound-matter-from-myanmar-burma |
2015 |
€13.00 |
|
| |
Dynamo |
CD |
https://unexplainedsoundsgroup.bandcamp.com/album/dynamo
Dynamo is a large-scale suspended artwork specifically developed for the atrium of the Spanish Pavilion at Expo Dubai 2020. Created by Daniel Canogar in collaboration with composer / audio-artist Francisco López, and produced in cooperation with the Spanish Agency for the Promotion of Cultural Projects –AC/E, the artwork is composed of sculptural screens that form three interlaced loops. Surrounding the artwork is a spiralling ramp that descends to the lower level of the atrium and allows the public to contemplate the artwork from multiple vantage points. Built-in inside the walls at the upper level of the atrium there is a large-scale, multi-channel sound system arranged in a ring of sixteen concealed speakers that project sound into the space, in ever-changing sonic combinations triggered by the visual patterns from the screens. The public can interact with the sculptural screens via an interactive system built into the ramp’s handrail: hands placed under the handrail’s sensors translate into animated sparks on the screens. The more the public activates the sensors, the more vibrant Dynamo’s visual and sonic content becomes. Mimicking the workings of an electromagnetic dynamo, the artwork eventually collects enough energy to generate a thundering experience that resonates through the atrium.
This moment captures the intense roar of so many machines of the past echoing through our modern history –technologies that we behold with a mixture of fear and fascination. The ecstatic discharge is followed by a calmer phase evocative of the circulatory systems of living entities. This quieter mode gives way to a new cycle of gradual build-up, through an iterative repeating process of “collect and release” that is so much part of energy systems both biological and technological.
Dynamo is a meditation on the circulatory nature of energy and the synchronization of biological and technological systems. It is also an invitation for us to imagine and participate in the dynamos that will energize our future.
www.danielcanogar.com/work/dynamo
Studio Daniel Canogar: Daniel Canogar, Artist; Diego Mellado, Project Manager; Diogo Queirós, Developer; Ana Saracho, Production; Ana Bazán, Production; Jorge Anguita, Artistic Production; Iván Hernández, Technician; Aída Navarro, Architect; Marta Galindo, Communication.
Collaborators:
Andoni Trecet & Aitor Hijar, ALFA Arte; Darien Brito, Programmer; André Almeida & tarquino Mota, Artica; César Saracho, Engineer; Alberto de Juan, Galería Max Estrella; Raül Estrada, NNConcept.
Spanish Pavilion: Acción Cultural Española, Temperaturas Extremas, Empty.
(c) (sound composition) francisco lópez 2021 – www.franciscolopez.net
Dynamo [original soundtrack]:
Created at ‘mobile messor’ (Los Angeles, Den Haag, Reykjavik, Dubai), 2020-2021.
Edited and mastered at ‘Hundred Islands Studios’ (Rosclave enclave), 2022.
"It is not often that we see on the cover of a release all the accomplishments of the musician, but this one has all the facts about Francisco López. Much of which I gather regular readers of these pages already know. In the world of sound that is López, absolute sound plays an important role. Many of his releases are untitled so as not to direct the listener in any way. Sometimes there is a title, which means there is some direction. 'Dynamo' is such a work. López provided the musical side to an installation for the Spanish pavilion at the Expo Dubai 2020. The cover details lengthy what this installation is about, and it is too much to repeat, even in a few words... well, I try; there are three sculptural screens, loop-like with sixteen speakers, and the audience can react with the handrail. More people means more energy, hence the name dynamo of the piece. This fits exactly the world of sound that is López; very silent and very
loud. Throughout the years, he shifted his methods towards more computer-based processing of field recordings instead of a more analogue treatment of sound. And as always, this might not be the case; I am, as always, merely assuming this kind of thing. It's been a while since I had a conversation with mister López, even when he's been residing in this beautiful country of mine. I hope López allows me to disconnect the audio from the visual here to look at the audio work as an independent work because, even with the description, we have no natural visual feeling here. Also, the music is disconnected from the work via the release of the CD. In the five pieces, each averaging fifteen minutes, López uses field recordings that are highly obscured from their original sources and, no doubt, from the extensive archive of López. There is a slightly industrial feeling here, like walking along a conveyer belt in a big industrial building. Machines buzz and hum, and there is a strong, energetic flow to the sounds here. Sometimes the sound of water sets events in motion, like a good old waterwheel but with a more electric feeling. Each piece ends abruptly, followed by some silence, again in true Lópezian style. There is some mighty intense music here, even without the tactile feeling of the installation." [FdW/Vital Weekly]
|
2023 |
€13.00 |
|
| LOPEZ, FRANCISCO WITH VALENTINA LACMANOVIC |
With/In |
CD |
"Francisco López is internationally recognized as one of the major figures of the sound art and experimental music scene. For more than thirty years he has developed an astonishing sonic universe, absolutely personal and iconoclastic, based on a profound listening of the world. Destroying boundaries between industrial sounds and wilderness sound environments, shifting with passion from the limits of perception to the most dreadful abyss of sonic power, proposing a blind, profound and transcendental listening, freed from the imperatives of knowledge and open to sensory and spiritual expansion. He has realized hundreds of concerts, projects with field recordings, workshops and sound installations in over sixty countries of the five continents. His extensive catalog of sound pieces (with live and studio collaborations with over 150 international artists) has been released by more than 300 record labels worldwide. He has been awarded four times with honorary mentions at the competition of Ars Electronica Festival and is the recipient of the Qwartz Award 2010 for best sound anthology. Since 1999 Valentina Lacmanović has researched dances from different cultures through their ritual, folk, classic, and contemporary aspects. From 2001 onwards, her work has been focused on the creation of dance-theater and multimedia performances where Eastern and Western worlds meet. She has worked intensively on creating performances inspired by dances of trance and collaborates with artists from various disciplines. Profound research into dances of trance and ritual versus performing spaces since 2003 gave new direction to her work as an art director and performer. Her investigations into whirling dance led to insights into its origins and practice extending beyond Sufi meditation that supply an inexhaustible source of artistic inspiration and contemporary creativity, ultimately resulting in the project Shedervish, which marked an important change in her artistic development. “With/In” features one long track created by Francisco López with original sound matter recorded from body, clothes and immediate surrounding space during ritual whirling by Valentina Lacmanović. As subtle as the almost invisible image that appears on the back cover, this work translate the dancer’s breath and movements into music. One of the most interesting concepts in López later works and surely one of the best entries in his ever-growing discography." [label info]
www.silentes.net
"It's been recently slow (?) - it seems - with releases by Francisco Lopez. Here he has new work which the cover notes 'created with original sound matter recorded from body, clothes and immediate surrounding space during ritual whirling by Valentina Lacmanovic'. She is dancer, who studied in Croatia, France, Spain, Turkey, India and The Netherlands where she now lives. "Her main focus is a contemporary view of dances of trance, and research on convergences and divergences between contemporary western and oriental performing arts, in collaboration with musicians, video-artists, film-makers, dancers, and experts in fields of science, including physics, anthropology, ethnology, and psychoanalysis." The ritual aspect is important. I assume the music from Lopez here is both a musical registration of what she does - a field recording of dancing - as well as maybe a soundtrack to one of her dances? Either way. The immediate surrounding aspect is because she moves around, obviously, which makes we hear lots of aspects of her dancing. Her feet on the floor, her dress moving about or a lengthy section using her voice, breathing heavily. Lopez creates lots of loops out of this, smaller and longer and quite usually plays a lot of those at the same time. He filters them radically, occasionally, and sometimes a few drop in or out of the mix, so that quite a vibrant mix remains. The effect of swirling remains present throughout and throughout there is always 'something to hear', but that's recently with most of the Lopez CDs. It moves from the quite low end range to the very high end range and everything in between. A fine work by Lopez, and maybe the most innovative element here is the choice of sound input." [FdW/Vital Weekly]
|
2013 |
€13.00 |
|
| LOPEZ, JAY-DEA |
The Australian Gothic |
CD |
"Long before the fact of Australia was ever confirmed by explorers and cartographers it had already been imagined as a grotesque space, a land peopled by monsters. The idea of its existence was disputed, was even heretical for a time, and with the advent of the transportation of convicts its darkness seemed confirmed. The Antipodes was a world of reversals, the dark subconscious of Britain. It was, for all intents and purposes, Gothic par excellence, the dungeon of the world.
Gerry Turcotte (Australian Gothic. University of Wollongong.1998).
The Australian Gothic : a creative genre emphasising the terrors of isolation in this post-colonial land. The Australian Gothic exposes a tormented communal psyche weighted by dark secrets.
Australia, a country colonised in 1788 by unwilling convicts and prison guards. For these unfortunates Australia was a nightmarish location, its foreign terrain provoked feelings of fear and alienation. Gone was the British gothic landscape of moors and heaths. In its place were dangerous animals, deserts, bush-fires, floods and droughts. The comfortability of the known European landscape was replaced by this new unstable setting.
Integral to the colonisers’ sense of dislocation and dread was the Australian soundscape. Reading journals and novels from this era it is evident that the aural dimensions of the Australian landscape were strongly perceived in gothic terms of enclosure and entrapment. The vastness of the deserts unsettled the first colonisers who remarked upon its deathlike silence, while in the forests the mass of unfamiliar sounds induced intense feelings of fear and disorientation. This sparked feelings of loathing towards the newly colonised space, including the Aboriginal people. In the Australian Gothic tradition the landscape sounded alive, it surrounded and entrapped with suffocating force.
Growing up in a region where Aboriginal artifacts from the pre-colonial era could readily be found under shallow soil the bloody layers of history have always sat uncomfortably with me. We live on stolen land, a place where immoral and bloody actions happened in the recent past. We have a sense of un-belonging to this country. It is part of the Australian Gothic experience.
With this in mind I collected field recordings in my local valley of Main Arm, a place like much of Australia, partly suburban, partly open for farming. I wanted to create a composition that featured field recordings, both modified and unmodified, of sounds from local farms. Could we imagine ourselves in the past, a time when the steady expansion of farms into traditional Aboriginal land was a primary source of frontier conflict?
Listening to the composition I hope a sense of unease and dread is provoked through its combination of sounds. Yet somewhere underneath its layers there is the suggestion of beauty, of what could have been. Listen and be transported into the fabric of Australia’s Gothic experience. (Jay-Dea Lopez, May 2015)" [website info]
www.unfathomless.net
|
2015 |
€14.00 |
|
| LORIS |
The Cat from Cat Hill |
CD |
"Patrick Farmer (objects, snare, tapes), Sarah Hughes (zither, piano, e-bow) and Daniel Jones (turntable, piezo discs, electronics). Recorded by Patrick Farmer at Middlesex University 09. Mastered by Robert Curgenven." [label info]
"Another theory here is that when musicians from the field of improvisation get together on a regular basis they might want to use a band name. I guess that’s the idea here with Loris, a trio of Patrick Farmer (natural objects, e-bow snare, tapes, wood), Sarah Hughes (chorded zither, piano, e-bow) and Daniel Jones (turntable, e-bow, piezo discs, electronics). Their music is largely based on drones from the zither, snares and on the other hand each members supplies a sufficient amount of crackling sounds, from those objects and the turntable. They make an excellent combination here. The overall sound being quite densely layered, quite deep, with lots of the bass end, but with those high end crackles every now and then. Seeing this mastered by Robert Curgenven might give you a clue as to what Loris is about as there are quite some similarities between Loris and Curvengen. Great release, I’d say." [FdW / Vital Weekly]
www.anothertimbre.com
|
2010 |
€12.50 |
|
| 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 |
|
| LUCIER, ALVIN |
I am sitting in a Room |
CD |
"In this fascinating exploration of acoustical phenomena, Alvin Lucier slips from the domain of language to that of music in the course of 40 minutes and 32 repetitions of a simple paragraph of text. In I am sitting in a Room, several sentences of recorded speech are simultaneously played back into a Room and re-recorded there many times. As the repetitive process continues, those sounds common to the original spoken statement and those implied by the structural dimensions of the Room are reinforced. The others are gradually eliminated. The space acts as a filter; the speech is transformed into pure sound. All the recorded segments are spliced together in the order in which they were made and constitute the work. I am sitting in a Room was composed in 1970 and was first performed at the Guggenheim Museum in New York City that same year. A second version was made in 1972 to accompany the dance, Dune, performed by the Viola Farber Dance Company at the Brooklyn Academy of Music. Since that time, numerous versions of this composition have been realized in various ways by other musicians, including a Swedish radio broadcast version. This recording was made by Alvin Lucier on October 29th and 31st, 1980, in the living Room of his home in Middletown, CT. The material was recorded on a Nagra tape recorder with an Electro-Voice 635 dynamic microphone and played back on one channel of a Revox A77 tape recorder, Dynaco amplifier and a KLH Model Six loudspeaker. It consists of thirty-two generations of Alvin Lucier's speech and was made expressly for Lovely Music, Ltd." [label notes]
www.lovely.com |
1990 |
€15.00 |
|
|
Music on a long thin wire |
CD |
Bei diesen Aufnahmen von 1979 erzeugte der kreative Konzept-Minimalist ALVIN LUCIER stehende Sounds mit einem langen, aufgespannten Metalldraht, einem Elektromagneten und einem audio oscillator (genaue Beschreibung im Booklet), Die Sounds entwickeln sich in unvorhersagbarer Weise und sind reich an Obertönen und Feedbacks..
“A 50-foot length of taut wire passes through the poles of a large magnet and is driven by an oscillator; the vibrations of the wire are miked at either end, amplified and broadcast in stereo. The thin wire is set vibrating four times at four different frequencies; what results is not the low drone one might expect from a long, vibrating wire, but a complexity of evocative, ethereal chords. First released on Lovely Music in 1980, Music on a Long Thin Wire is a classic example of Alvin Lucier's investigations into the physics of sound and the sonic properties of natural processes.” [label notes]
www.lovely.com
|
1992 |
€13.00 |
|
| |
Almost New York |
do-CD |
"CD 1 - Twonings: Charles Curtis, cello; Joseph Kubera, piano; Almost New York: Robert Dick, flutes; Broken Line: Robert Dick, flute; Danny Tunick, vibraphone; Joseph Kubera, piano
CD 2 - Coda Variations: Robin Hayward, tuba
Pogus is extremely delighted to release this 2 CD set of recordings of works by Alvin Lucier.
He is one of the key experimental artists of the 20th and 21st centuries, and is one of my favorite composers. A unique and individual artist: No one sounds quite like Alvin Lucier.
Lucier writes about the genesis of the works on this release:
"Since the early 1980's I have made a series of works for conventional musical instruments. Before that time I had been mainly occupied with the exploration of such phenomena as echoloca-tion, brain waves, room acoustics and the visual representation of sound. Often these works required special equipment-hand held pulse wave oscillators (Vespers), differential amplifiers (Music for Solo Performer), horseshoe magnets (Music on a Long Thin Wire). Then players began asking me for pieces. Now I needed to find a way of achieving the same poetry with acoustic instruments as I did with electronic means.
"One of the things I discovered was that players could create rhythmic patterns by closely tuning with electronically generated pure waves or with each other, producing audible beats. Often, to get continuous motion, I have one or more voices sweep up or down at various speeds against fixed sustained pitches. As a wave approaches a sustained pitch the audible beating slows down to zero when it reaches unison, then speeds up again as the wave leaves the pitch. Almost New York employs slow sweep pure wave oscillators, Broken Line, flute glissandi. In Twonings two different tuning systems collide and in Coda Variations slight variations in pitch are heard chronologically."
Recorded by Charles Curtis, Joseph Kubera, Robert Dick, Danny Tunick, and Robin Hayward - some of the leading new music performers of our era, these works are essential additions to the Alvin Lucier oeuvre, as well as satisfying anyone interested in great experimental music." [label info]
www.pogus.com
"Usually press texts say lots of things which is just the sort of thing record label use to exaggerate to drum up interest for their artist. But when Pogus writes about Alvin Lucier 'an unique and individual artist: no one sounds quite like Alvin Lucier', I can only agree. I sang praise for the work of Lucier before. His ongoing investigation into sound phenomena, with or without the use of instruments has been going on for more than forty years now, and brought him the status of a well-known composer. And when you are well-known, people will ask you for pieces, for them to perform. On 'Almost New York' we find four of those pieces, three on disc one and one on disc two. We have hear instruments we came across before in Lucier's work, such as piano, cello and flute. In 'Twonings' for cello (performed by Charles Curtis, who himself performed more work by Lucier, and released a 2CD by Antiopic - see Vital Weekly 498) and piano, we don't have any sweeping oscillations to be followed, but two closely tuned instruments, but with enough variation in pitches to clearly distinguish differences. In the title piece we have one player and five flutes, who follows two pure wave oscillators and moves between playing five flutes, not simultaneously of course. 'Broken Line' is, then again, more alike the first piece, but then staged for three instruments, flute, vibraphone and piano. The most radical work here is the piece 'Coda Variations', which takes up the entire second disc. Robin Hayward performs it on tuba. Based on eight notes from a Feldman piece, Lucier subjected them to seven sets of permutations of sixty-three notes each. No sine waves to play along, just the sound of single notes played at one time each, for almost fifty minutes. An intriguing work. Of these four pieces, there is only one which we could label as 'traditional Lucier' work, but the three others display probably just as well what Lucier, less the pure waves and all four are simply four more great pieces. Indeed: no one sounds quite like Alvin Lucier." [FdW/Vital Weekly]
|
2011 |
€18.50 |
|
| LULL & BETA CLOUD & ANDREW LILES |
Circadian Rhythm Disturbance Reconfigured |
CD |
"From England to the United States and back again... it all started as a simple drone project between LULL (aka Mick Harris of SCORN, ex-NAPALM DEATH), and BETA CLOUD (aka Carl Pace), based on the concept of how insomnia can effect your thought patterns. Billows of powerful bass drones set to indistinct flourishes of temporary insanity, it was released as a limited 3" CD in 2008. Now proudly presented in a deluxe digipak edition on cold spring, the original track is there, but also included is a fierce remix track by none other than legendary sound artist Andrew Liles (NURSE WITH WOUND), with stunning new packaging and artwork. Fans of Lull and Beta Cloud will really sink their teeth into this one; what Liles has created here is not a simple remix but a raging, deconstruction as only he can do. A captivating listen for dark ambient and harsh noise fans alike." [label info]
www.coldspring.co.uk
|
2012 |
€10.00 |
|
| LUNAR ABYSS + OGNI VIDENIJ |
Mohalociya Eroja |
CD-R |
"Continuation of the series of collaboration live recordings. This disk presents a fragment of a pu-erh session in Zanza-room on the night of December 13th, 2014 with minimal editing, in one track. The sonic flow is formed mainly of analogue modulations with hybrid processing and flavoured with strings, winds and voice. On a winter night with a teapot of pu-erh we remembered everything about mosses and lichens, night swamp fogs and former trips, and made the wishes for the future, twisting potentiometers to the beat of thoughts. String drones and bell chimes turn into atomized analogue crackles and rustles, sometimes pink noise and timbral waves blend in multi-layered cocoon of moss. Recommended to listen on wideband audio systems as well as in earphones, and if there's a chance to use both at the same time - surely use both simultaneously. The disc is packed in a cardboard sleeve with a hand-made stamp, each copy is numbered." [label info]
|
2015 |
€10.00 |
|
| LUNAR ABYSS DEUS ORGANUM |
Tsagan |
CD-R |
"Tsagan (Tibetian) - white, clear, bright. Lullaby and bathing songs decorated by drones and pipes, bells, breath of dawn, drops of lead, voice and guitar loops, mouth harps, theremin and forestal rustles. Everything sounds a bit alike "Brusnika" 7" but with more varied sound. Also took part in this recording: Tanya Svaha, 6sun, GoRa, Neznamo, and others... Packed in cardboard sleeve with coloured photos." [press-release]
|
2010 |
€10.00 |
|
| |
Tryakusta |
CD |
"New album from Saint-Petersburg L.A.D.O. project is result of 3 live records mixing: July 1, 2010 in art-apartment "Vmeste" - a meditative sound performance "Ring Time" - feat Kshatriy; July 4, 2010 a morning concert in "Zelenogorsky Festival of ambient music vol.1"; July 14, 2010 a meditative sound performance "Diamond Sandman - 12th floor" in the art-apartment "Vmeste". An incredibly deep multilayered Drone Ambient with plenty of colorful patterns. A dense self-observing stream, that takes away all the dependences and rushing through an endless self-similar spheres. Mastered by Kshatriy. Full-colored six-panel envelope Vresnit & Vetvei Art." [label info]
www.vetvei.ohms.ru
"I believe I once saw a concert by Lunar Abyss Deus Organum, open air, small square in St. Petersburg, in which the surrounding sounds of the environment (cars, people walking and talking, birds) added a sort of nice texture to the proceedings on the small stage. I don't recall if it was an one man band, or more, but perhaps that was due to the nature of the afternoon when this took place: some ad-hoc bands were formed and played. There was an amount of instruments on stage, all filed under 'electronics' and a microphone for some kind of overtone singing. Not this concert, but three others were moulded into one forty-two minute piece of music, which is on the release 'Tryakusta', all from july last year. Lunar Abyss Deus Organum has that sort of sound that ties ambient and industrial firmly together: many layers of electronic sounds, a sort of overtone singing and field recordings. Once the mighty wheel is in motion, this goes on and on, in a positive manner. A full on drone sound
that lasts for the entire forty two minutes. Maybe we hear three concerts at once I thought. Quite a refined work." [FdW/Vital Weekly]
|
2011 |
€13.00 |
|
| LUNAR ABYSS QUARTET |
Cosmologamma |
CD |
CD re-release of this great album from 2000, which appeared only as a lim. 100 CDR on 8th Moon! We wrote: “Last copies of this limited CD-R release documenting live-concerts from this Russian project – they create here alien atmospheres with classic/surrealistic female singing & bruitistic concrete effects and drones. Recommended.” [original Drone Records description]
“Second CD from this Saint-Petersburg outfit. Dark ritual, mysterious and sombre ritualistic stuff, more gloomy than their 10” on Der Angriff or 1st CD “Zheleznaya Voda”. Something in a way of early Ain Soph, Sigillum S and industrial-era Current 93. Ethereal female voice chanting eerie tunes in the crushing collapsing realm of ambient soundscapes, ceremonial bells and metallic crashes. Recommended. The first edition of 300 copies in a digipak printed bronse-on-darkgreen.”[press release]
|
2004 |
€13.00 |
|
| LUNDE, ERIC |
A World of Hurt in the Kingdom of God |
CD |
"Clock says done. Time has come for the new admonishment from Eric Lunde: An inductive sound revolutionist, a founding member of the Milwaukee avant-industrial noise squad Boy Dirt Car, and an acrimonious underground writer & musician with over 40 solo releases dating back to the mid 80's.
"A World Of Hurt In The Kingdom Of God" derives its name from a series of 2-ply plastic engravings Lunde did in 2004, The original title being "A World of Hurt in the Kingdom of Gosh". It is primarily a product of the concerns Lunde still have (and expressed in his book "Prison Sex", from which the majority of the text on this album is taken from) with the latent cruelty of humans in regards to their alleged relationship with a fabricated supernatural being and how is it that religious people have to prove nothing, but the atheist ones have to prove everything.
So what's there to be found in Lundes' dragnet this time regarding these issues? A dish of sober mischief noise served cold, bubonic industrial and irate sound poetry created in the detrimental corners of the mind where the proof reproduces the intimate bonds of brutality that men create between themselves. Clock says done." [label info]
www.hcbrecords.com
"As mentioned in Vital Weekly 795, Eric Lunde is back on track, and expanding his wings through releases on other labels, such as this one from Israel. Lunde might be seen as a noise artist, but his 'noise' extends to a lot. Music, visual arts, writing. His music isn't that of the strict harsh noise walls, but certainly loud and present. His method of creating music is not by putting on some machines and distortion boxes, but analogue transformation of sound in a rather unique way, by playing back sounds in a room and re-recording them, a lot of times. Part of this new CD is based on texts for a book 'Prison Sex', as well as the notion that 'religious people have to proof nothing, but the atheist ones have to proof everything'. Lunde's work is both noise and poetic and so much more interesting than all those HNW type of laziness that spreads like a disease. This new album is quite loud, but diverse in approach - a great work. Compared to the two CDs he released himself recently its more varied and more the classic Lunde approach. Excellent one." [FdW/Vital Weekly]
|
2011 |
€10.00 |
|
| LUNDVALL, TOR |
Ghost Years |
CD |
" 'Ghost Years' is my first retrospective CD featuring tracks from various compilations, vinyl-only releases plus some unreleased material. The focus is more on my vocal work, however there are a few instrumental pieces included as well. Although the music spans about a decade, I was surprised at how well the tracks flow together to make a coherent ensemble, evolving from my earlier song-oriented compositions to the more ambient nature of my recent recordings. (Tor Lundvall, November 2009). 13 Ghost Ambiences." [label info]
|
2010 |
€6.50 |
|
|
The Park |
LP |
"In 2012, ambient composer Tor Lundvall and Dais Records presented his second instrumental masterpiece entitled The Shipyard (2006’s Empty City being the first). After its release and universal praise, Lundvall had confided that there was a third instrumental album nearing completion entitled The Park.
Fostering his natural habitat of the wooded landscapes of Eastern Long Island, Lundvall again set about capturing his portrait studies and composing a lurid and abstract soundtrack to accompany his source of inspiration.
In Tor’s own words…"I first thought about making an album about a quiet park during a morning walk back in the frigid February of 2011. Song titles started popping into my head long before any music was recorded. 'Symbols on Pavement' was the first title that came to me, but ended up being the last piece recorded.
Like most of my previous albums "The Park" follows a timeline, in this case, beginning on an early spring morning and ending on a late summer evening. The track sequence also maps out the shifting light and weather patterns during the course of a day. For the first time in years, I've incorporated field recordings into the music, other than the sounds recorded from outside my studio window. I carried my portable recorder with me during bike rides and walks through my favorite parks, recording birds, insects, lawnmowers, wood chippers, field games, and other less definable sounds.
Parks have always been my sanctuaries and my greatest sources of inspiration since childhood. Although this album is not focused on one park in particular, the music resonates strongly with memories of my favorite childhood park, The James A. McFaul Environmental Center in Wyckoff, New Jersey. The McFaul Center is a place of quiet beauty, but it is also filled with shadows and secrets, especially deep within the Nature Trail. The final track, 'Closes At Dusk', is an homage to the siren which shrieked every evening from behind the towering pines."
Limited to 300 vinyl editions (along with a free MP3 download coupon) with artwork by Tor Lundvall." [label info]
www.daisrecords.com
|
2015 |
€22.50 |
|
|
Yule |
LP |
"Upstate New York artist Tor Lundvall's music often evokes a sense of soft-focus autumnal melancholia but nowhere is this atmosphere more explicit and evocative than his self-released 2006 holiday album, Yule, newly reissued by Dais Records. Inspired by childhood memories of "cold, dark evenings" waiting for his mother outside shops and supermarkets while seasonal songs drifted faintly on the frozen air, the collection feels appropriately hushed and hypnagogic, half-remembered melodies heard through falling snow. Steady muted rhythmic pulses wind through wintry landscapes of icy synthetic textures, glass bells, and distant metallic echoes, occasionally framed by Lundvall's soft, dazed vocals, narrating scenes of "slushy, illuminated train stations" and "the lonely trees of January, still entangled with blue lights long after the season has ended." It's a music of barren branches, crescent moons, and willowy figures shuffling and shivering on their way somewhere, viewed from a fogged window passing by, or high above. As with Lundvall's signature oil paintings, Yule's sonic vignettes are works of observation, poetic glimpses rendered in gradients of color and quiet. He has referred to his music in the past as "ghost ambient" and, although his songwriting here skews more foreground than background, the phrase aptly captures the haunted, half-light quality of these fragile tracks. 10 miniatures of wreathed streets and silent woods, of twinkling store windows seen from a distance, the sensation of being outside of life looking in - the sentiments that seeded Lundvall's vision remain undimmed: "There was a special melancholic beauty about these moments that has never left me."
https://torlundvall.bandcamp.com/album/yule
"Das damals noch über World Serpent vertriebene Minilabel des in Neuengland ansässigen Malers und Musikers, auf dem seine frühen Aufnahmen erschienen, trug im Namen schon die Jahreszeit, die am ehesten die von Musik und Bildern Lundvalls hervorgerufene Atmosphäre zu illustrieren schien: Eternal Autumn Editions. Seine visuellen wie auch akustischen Arbeiten strahlten nämlich immer eine gewisse Melancholie aus und auch eine seltsame (un)heimliche Atmosphäre, in der Absenz und Präsenz, „the weird and the eerie“, zusammenkamen. Lundvall selbst sprach vor Jahren einmal von „Ghost Ambient“ zur Beschreibung seiner Musik.
„Yule“ erschien ursprünglich 2006 auf dem kurzlebigen nordamerikanischen Label Strange Fortune. Eigentlich eine EP, wurde diese Veröffentlichung schon damals durch die Langversion von „The Falling Snow“ (gekürzt in einer 4-minütigen Version auf dem Eisteddfod-Sampler des französischen Labels Cynfeirdd erschienen) ergänzt.
Bezogen auf „Yule“ sagt Lundvall, er habe die „special, melancholic beauty“ der Zeit abseits des Weihnachtsstresses zum Ausdruck bringen wollen (und – möchte man ergänzen – abseits des exzessiven Konsumrausches, der Batailles Überlegungen zum Potlatsch fast ad absurdum führt).
Auf „Yule“ finden sich instrumentale Tracks wie „Busy Station“ aus Rauschen, vereinzelten Pianotupfern und seltsamen Geräuschen oder „The Train Home“ mit seinem gedämpften Pulsieren. Auf „12AM“ erklingt perkussives Rasseln, „Snowy Morning“ ist eine verrauschte melodische Fläche und Glocken scheinen zu läuten. Auf „Fading Light“ meint man irgehdwo eine Stimme zu hören. „White On Grey“ klingt fast wie Radiorauschen und ist vielleicht das ambienteste Stück. Es gibt auch Stücke mit Vocals wie „Christmas Eve“: ein Pusieren wie Schritte durch den Schnee, verhallte entfernte Geräusche und eine aus ein paar Tönen bestehende Painomelodie. Dann singt Lundvall mit fragiler Stimme über ein Mädchen „staring at the moon/candle light fills her room“. Auf „Yule Song“ ist die Stadt still und leer. „January“ enthält entrückte Vocal/Choral-Samples und dann heißt es: „Darkness falls early now/The city’s tired“. Zum Schluss bietet dann “The Falling Snow” noch einmal 20 Minuten, die einen tatsächlich glauben lassen, man gehe durch eine schneebedeckte Landschaft, in der schemenhafte Entitäten irgendwo die Tasten eines einsamen Klaviers drücken." [MG/African Paper]
|
2020 |
€24.00 |
|
| |
Yule |
LP |
"Upstate New York artist Tor Lundvall's music often evokes a sense of soft-focus autumnal melancholia but nowhere is this atmosphere more explicit and evocative than his self-released 2006 holiday album, Yule, newly reissued by Dais Records. Inspired by childhood memories of "cold, dark evenings" waiting for his mother outside shops and supermarkets while seasonal songs drifted faintly on the frozen air, the collection feels appropriately hushed and hypnagogic, half-remembered melodies heard through falling snow. Steady muted rhythmic pulses wind through wintry landscapes of icy synthetic textures, glass bells, and distant metallic echoes, occasionally framed by Lundvall's soft, dazed vocals, narrating scenes of "slushy, illuminated train stations" and "the lonely trees of January, still entangled with blue lights long after the season has ended." It's a music of barren branches, crescent moons, and willowy figures shuffling and shivering on their way somewhere, viewed from a fogged window passing by, or high above. As with Lundvall's signature oil paintings, Yule's sonic vignettes are works of observation, poetic glimpses rendered in gradients of color and quiet. He has referred to his music in the past as "ghost ambient" and, although his songwriting here skews more foreground than background, the phrase aptly captures the haunted, half-light quality of these fragile tracks. 10 miniatures of wreathed streets and silent woods, of twinkling store windows seen from a distance, the sensation of being outside of life looking in - the sentiments that seeded Lundvall's vision remain undimmed: "There was a special melancholic beauty about these moments that has never left me."
https://torlundvall.bandcamp.com/album/yule
"Das damals noch über World Serpent vertriebene Minilabel des in Neuengland ansässigen Malers und Musikers, auf dem seine frühen Aufnahmen erschienen, trug im Namen schon die Jahreszeit, die am ehesten die von Musik und Bildern Lundvalls hervorgerufene Atmosphäre zu illustrieren schien: Eternal Autumn Editions. Seine visuellen wie auch akustischen Arbeiten strahlten nämlich immer eine gewisse Melancholie aus und auch eine seltsame (un)heimliche Atmosphäre, in der Absenz und Präsenz, „the weird and the eerie“, zusammenkamen. Lundvall selbst sprach vor Jahren einmal von „Ghost Ambient“ zur Beschreibung seiner Musik.
„Yule“ erschien ursprünglich 2006 auf dem kurzlebigen nordamerikanischen Label Strange Fortune. Eigentlich eine EP, wurde diese Veröffentlichung schon damals durch die Langversion von „The Falling Snow“ (gekürzt in einer 4-minütigen Version auf dem Eisteddfod-Sampler des französischen Labels Cynfeirdd erschienen) ergänzt.
Bezogen auf „Yule“ sagt Lundvall, er habe die „special, melancholic beauty“ der Zeit abseits des Weihnachtsstresses zum Ausdruck bringen wollen (und – möchte man ergänzen – abseits des exzessiven Konsumrausches, der Batailles Überlegungen zum Potlatsch fast ad absurdum führt).
Auf „Yule“ finden sich instrumentale Tracks wie „Busy Station“ aus Rauschen, vereinzelten Pianotupfern und seltsamen Geräuschen oder „The Train Home“ mit seinem gedämpften Pulsieren. Auf „12AM“ erklingt perkussives Rasseln, „Snowy Morning“ ist eine verrauschte melodische Fläche und Glocken scheinen zu läuten. Auf „Fading Light“ meint man irgehdwo eine Stimme zu hören. „White On Grey“ klingt fast wie Radiorauschen und ist vielleicht das ambienteste Stück. Es gibt auch Stücke mit Vocals wie „Christmas Eve“: ein Pusieren wie Schritte durch den Schnee, verhallte entfernte Geräusche und eine aus ein paar Tönen bestehende Painomelodie. Dann singt Lundvall mit fragiler Stimme über ein Mädchen „staring at the moon/candle light fills her room“. Auf „Yule Song“ ist die Stadt still und leer. „January“ enthält entrückte Vocal/Choral-Samples und dann heißt es: „Darkness falls early now/The city’s tired“. Zum Schluss bietet dann “The Falling Snow” noch einmal 20 Minuten, die einen tatsächlich glauben lassen, man gehe durch eine schneebedeckte Landschaft, in der schemenhafte Entitäten irgendwo die Tasten eines einsamen Klaviers drücken." [MG/African Paper]
|
2020 |
€22.00 |
|
| 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 |
|
| LUSTMORD & NICOLAS HORVATH |
The Fall |
do-LP |
"The Fall is a deconstruction of November by Dennis Johnson.
Written for solo piano in 1959, November is the first example of minimalist music composition and was the inspiration for La Monte Young's The Well-Tuned Piano (1964). The 66 minute piece is a collaboration between legendary artist Lustmord and renowned classical pianist Nicolas Horvath, in which they reduces Johnson's original November to its core element and place it in a landscape of complimentary sound. The Fall echo's November but with further resonance.
Recorded in May-June 2019 in Los Angeles, and Misy-sur-Yonne, France.
Lustmord Active since 1980, born of the original 'industrial' scene of the period. With its own distinctive approach, blurring the line between music and sound design Lustmord's work has featured in 45 motion pictures including The Crow and Underworld and also in video games, television and commercials. Recently Lustmord scored the music for Paul Schrader's movie First Reformed. While Lustmord is often credited for creating the 'dark ambient' genre there is much more nuance to its work than what that label implies. The music is not dark, but is a light that shines into and upon the darkness. Notable collaborations amongst many include Tool, Melvins, Jarboe, John Balance of Coil, Clock DVA, Chris & Cosey, Paul Haslinger, Karin Park and Robert Rich.
Nicolas Horvath An unusual artist with an unconventional résumé, pianist and electroacoustic composer Nicolas Horvath is known for his boundariesless musical explorations. Horvath is both an enthusiastic promoter of contemporary music - he has commissioned numerous works (including no fewer than 120 as part of his Homages to Philip Glass project in 2014) and collaborated with leading contemporary composers from around the world, including Alvin Lucier, Mamoru Fujieda, Jaan Rääts, Alvin Curran and Valentyn Silvestrov - and a rediscoverer of forgotten or neglected composers such as Moondog, Nobuo Uematsu, Germaine Tailleferre, François-Adrien Boieldieu, Hélène de Montgeroult, Jean Catoire, Karl August Hermann."
|
2020 |
€22.50 |
|
| LUSTMORD & VARIOUS ARTISTS |
The Others (LUSTMORD deconstructed) |
do-CD |
Over 13 years after the release of [ O T H E R ] , Pelagic Records has gathered 16 bands and solo artists to record their own unique takes on tracks from the Other-sessions. The result is an album that is more than a compilation, and more than the sum of its parts; covering a wide range of musical niches and directions, but sharing the same underlying mood and vibe defined by Lustmord's timeless soundscapes: from the ambient solo performances provided by IHSAHN, ENSLAVED or JONAS RENKSE to the subdued voice of ZOLA JESUS woven into Lustmord's sombre fabric to the industrial carnage that is GODFLESH's version of 'Ashen'.
What demonstrates the profound influence of Lustmord on this contemporary music underground showcased here is that artists from disparate ends of the sonic spectrum all feel inspired to explore the essence of his idiosyncratic sounds within their own realm: experimental electronica icons ULVER excel on a stunning, hazy rendition of ‘Godeater’, while Japanese post-rock act MONO deliver a crushing version of ‘Er Eb Os’, and THE OCEAN take us on a cathartically heavy mindtrip back to our 'Primal [State of Being]'. In the end, each of these 16 artists delivers an interpretation that pays the deepest respect to this pivotal artist, while also standing out as a new track of its own.
As Williams himself often puts it in interviews: “Copying someone you like with the right equipment isn’t going to be the least bit interesting. What matters is that you have good ideas and interesting things to say.” The Others (Lustmord Deconstructed) is not only a tribute and an excellent entry points into the discography of the founding father of dark ambient. It is also a celebration of the most accomplished visionaries in the underground music scene of today, and a manifestation of what binds them together—an undeniable devotion to attitude over ability and the courage to remain in the shadows and be The Other.
https://lustmord.bandcamp.com/album/the-others-lustmord-deconstructed
|
2022 |
€20.00 |
|
| |
The Others (LUSTMORD deconstructed) |
3 x LP |
Over 13 years after the release of [ O T H E R ] , Pelagic Records has gathered 16 bands and solo artists to record their own unique takes on tracks from the Other-sessions. The result is an album that is more than a compilation, and more than the sum of its parts; covering a wide range of musical niches and directions, but sharing the same underlying mood and vibe defined by Lustmord's timeless soundscapes: from the ambient solo performances provided by IHSAHN, ENSLAVED or JONAS RENKSE to the subdued voice of ZOLA JESUS woven into Lustmord's sombre fabric to the industrial carnage that is GODFLESH's version of 'Ashen'.
What demonstrates the profound influence of Lustmord on this contemporary music underground showcased here is that artists from disparate ends of the sonic spectrum all feel inspired to explore the essence of his idiosyncratic sounds within their own realm: experimental electronica icons ULVER excel on a stunning, hazy rendition of ‘Godeater’, while Japanese post-rock act MONO deliver a crushing version of ‘Er Eb Os’, and THE OCEAN take us on a cathartically heavy mindtrip back to our 'Primal [State of Being]'. In the end, each of these 16 artists delivers an interpretation that pays the deepest respect to this pivotal artist, while also standing out as a new track of its own.
As Williams himself often puts it in interviews: “Copying someone you like with the right equipment isn’t going to be the least bit interesting. What matters is that you have good ideas and interesting things to say.” The Others (Lustmord Deconstructed) is not only a tribute and an excellent entry points into the discography of the founding father of dark ambient. It is also a celebration of the most accomplished visionaries in the underground music scene of today, and a manifestation of what binds them together—an undeniable devotion to attitude over ability and the courage to remain in the shadows and be The Other.
https://lustmord.bandcamp.com/album/the-others-lustmord-deconstructed
|
2022 |
€52.00 |
|
| LUTZ SCHRIDDE |
Troum Dreams |
consiliis animum fatigas? |
Troum dreams
quid aeternis minorem
consiliis animum fatigas?
Cur non sub alta vel platano, vel hac
pinu iacentes ....
(Horatius, carm. 2,11,13)
Why lying on dying, never we'll be
with eternity,
Hear no evil, no bad under this tree,
Lay, see and be, here, no worry
with me.
About Horatius we read in Nietzsche's "Götzen-Dämmerung" that in his poetry we find 'sound', 'position', 'term', what is with the words (Klang, Ort, Begriff) . This German romantic appreciated the artistry and effectivity, and he considered his own wording equal. Today, I feel free to take 'sound, position, term' to put compositions of Troum into the context of romanisation of German language what informed the romantic metaphor of music as a language. The challenge of translating Horatius into other languages, as Nietzsche had accentuated, is not to fail such artistry and effectivity. What I want to say is that compositions of Troum are more than romantic translations, beyond music as a language. Troum is sound, yes, and then listening is navigating, and listening then is without translation.
The German romantics claimed art to be not of purpose, no, art were autonomous and a value in itself, so were a genius. Does that mean the compositions of Troum – when not dubbing it romantic – have a purpose? Troum's navigations are taking the listener beyond such question. It is not about purpose or autonomy, Troum is two composers together, Stefan Knappe and Martin Gitschel. Their collaborative compositions is band-work, there is no solo. Like technical stereo-navigation of pilots in early airplanes, their navigations are even not communicating questions or answers. Following and listening here is about sharing their state of navigation, their state of mind.
Stefan contacted me in 1997 and told me about the end of Maeror Tri and a new project he had no name for at the time. I had collected most of Maeror Tri and contributed liner notes once. Moreover, Stefan was irritated how I could identify his hidden solo compositions on my own. Actually, after my time as a connoisseur of music I entered the sphere of musique concrete and drones for sort of cultivating my mind. I had already learned about the righthandedness of European music, had even read Wolfgang Scherer's dissertation "Babellogik" on the matter. Maeror Tri always seemed a soundtrack to my search for a new vantage point. Stefan liked my approach to revaluate the implicit morale of music, himself a lefthanded. When he told me Maeror Tri was disbanding and the new project needed a name, that occured right in time to jump to the new vantage point.
Musique concrete and post-punk creativity had affected me, and Maeror Tri all that time reminded me of the restrictions of surreal or psychogeograhic composition some people like to dub the French and British accomplishments. Maeror Tri - cassette by cassette since 1988 - shed some sound on that fashion, sometimes ambient, sometimes industrial, sometimes drone. To me, the fascination came through a sense of game and improvisation, often leaving any boundaries of the genres behind. Some of their early cassettes seemed informed even by the very wish to stay beyond boundaries, an approach to go for a change of any game before. Reading the reviews in Vital Weekly, I find a similar appreciation with the editor. Such exploration of composition may have resulted in new awareness and reflection then in 1997, disbanding Maeror Tri and a new project may explain itself. And as I see it today, the new project went on to explore and navigate beyond any boundaries of genres.
Changing games is a skill of the lefthanded. And again, Stefan was surprised watching me identifying his hidden solo compositions. I am righthanded, touched by surreal music and post-punk creativity, I am not a composer. And I will not out his solo compositions here, no. Nietzsche was a lefthanded, his skills surfaced in writing, and he was seemingly not selfaware of this natural skill and tending to curious vanity. His opinion about Horatius shows that in particular. Nietzsche never learned about the giveness of his skill when running his revaluation of all values. He was with the German romantic tradition all the time. And he had a certain selectivity who he liked to value, all were lefthanded (Goethe, Ceasar, Bismarck, Napoleon), all game changers, very skilled. In romantic music, Beethoven and Mozart were skilled brilliantly as such. In visual art, we may call Paul Klee an example. When Stefan needed a name for the new project, I was ready to try.
I said "Traum". In English, dream. By 1997, my search for a new way of composition beyond the genres of 'improvised', 'free jazz', 'world music', 'industrial', 'ambient', 'noise', 'drone', 'musique concrete' and else had already ended in sort of disappointment. I was sure, that the romantic tradition and its relative surrealism encompassed my search well, but at the time I had little in hand. My short essay "Noise Culture" in Vital Weekly Supplement in 1996 was a result of my search. Then talking with Stefan, and by intuition I avoided consideration of material or procedure what is behind the genre division. During that talk I threw myself out of that and looked for the location in musical anthropology. I looked for the essence of the genres and opened gain. So it became "Traum".
Stefan liked that immediately. He made it "Troum", just as if he knew the game change behind. To be clear, Troum is no music for Nietzscheans. And I am not a Nietzschean, although I have mastered in philosophy and know about him. His approach is restricted to values and valuation, in his case furthermore to the 'game' the values are framed by. That spoke to his nature and his romantic vanity. It happened, that I decided to leave Germany and I am teaching in China for eight years now. Here, musical anthropology is still a vantage point, and I am listening to Troum in Xian at the eastern end of the Silk Road.
Troum had done great things, I like the long-trackers "Sen" and "Mare Idiophonica". The Tjukurrpa-trilogy is also with me here, and allow me to highlight the collaboration with Martyn Bates and raison d'être. My current favorite of Troum is "Acouasme".
And if you know Horatius, yes, then you may be the right one to try Troum. It is sound, navigation and prior to translation. Here is abroad.
Lutz Schridde, Xian, China, April 1st 2018
Horatius in German:
Wozu, da er doch nicht gewachsen ist Ewigkeitsgedanken,
willst du deinen Geist damit plagen?
Warum wollen wir nicht unter der hohen Platane oder
unter dieser Pinie liegen sorgenlos, ....
This German translation is taken from Bernhard Kytzler, Horaz. Eine Einführung, Stuttgart 1996, page 176, on Nietzsche and Horatius see same page.
The English version above is mine.
|
2018 |
€ |
|
| M.B. (MAURIZIO BIANCHI) |
Endometrio |
LP |
"First ever vinyl reissue of the highly coveted classic LP by Italian noise composer/ sound visionary Maurizio Bianchi. Originally released in an extremely limited private press quantity in Italy in 1983, Endometrio showcased M.B. at his most crucial turning point, delving into the uncharted waters he aptly titled 'bionic music', blending organic electronics with contorted sounds of the human body to compose one of the most interesting ambient records to date. Copies of the original LP are practically non-existent and hard to come by, therefore making this reissue an important addition to any experimental aficionado's audio library. Complete with current liners and artwork insert from Maurizio Bianchi, limited to 500 hand numbered editions." [label info]
|
2010 |
€19.00 |
|
| MAATH |
Darkness, Void and Silence |
CD |
Only in the Darkness. Only in the Void. Only in the Silence. Only there MAATH can create and mold their ominous worlds of drones. Black & bleak ambiences resounding in places where all humanity is extinct. CD comes in a matte-varnished digisleeve.
https://maath.bandcamp.com/album/darkness-void-and-silence
|
2017 |
€13.00 |
|
| MACHINEFABRIEK |
Vloed |
CD |
" 'Vloed' is a collection of (slightly edited) live performances, recorded between 2006 and 2008 in Amsterdam and Den Haag. "All performances find Machinefabriek in fine form, offering up thick billows of warm guitar shimmer, fluttery staticky ambience, and at one point some uncharacteristically heavy super distorted metallic guitar, but here, it's not so much metal as simply a mighty drone, thick and throbbing and super intense. There are long stretches of near silence and super minimal high end drone, glimmering slow building crescendos, squalls of distorted choral buzz, warm whirring metallic reverberations, shimmery and dense black dronemusik, all the stuff we love about Machinefabriek" (Aquarius). Beautifully remastered with a 20-minute bonus track, 'Vloed' captures the immersive live experience of a Machinefabriek concert. Presented in a stunning matt digipak with modified artwork." [label info]
www.coldspring.co.uk
"Some time ago I had the pleasure of reviewing an album by Dutch sound artist Rutger Zuydervelt alias Machinefabriek. It was the album titled "Daas" that combined elements of ambient, modern classical, drone, noise and field recordings. Next album from Machinefabriek also released on Cold Spring is titled "Vloed" (Dutch word for "River") is a collection of slightly edited live performances from the period 2006-2008 recorded in the Dutch cities Den Haag and Amsterdam. The album consists of three live pieces and one bonus track titled "Vrijhaven" that was until now only available as a download-version. The album opens with the piece "Allengskens" recorded live in June 2006; a nice and atmospheric ambient track running 18 minutes. The track is repetitive, consisting of drones primarily based on guitars and pedals. Another important part of the piece is the electronic spheres creating some dreamy overall textures. Next piece titled "Drijfzand" running 13 minutes opens slowly with minimal high frequency sound drones that slowly builds up to halfway through the track where processed choir-samples penetrates and moves along in loop-based manners before it slowly fades out with high-pitched noises ending the track. "Vrijhaven" is a more cynic and cold track build on guitar-drones that whines and waves adding a great hypnotic experience throughout the 21 minutes runtime. Final piece is the titled track "Vloed" recorded live back in October 2007 at Bimhuis in Amsterdam. Another beautiful ambient-based piece built on guitar
timbres waving and lulling the listener into deep trance for 22 minutes until it slowly fades away. Astonishing album from one of Holland's most interesting contemporary ambient artists." [NM/Vital Weekly]
|
2010 |
€13.00 |
|
|
Daas |
CD |
"The tracks on "Daas" have been carefully picked to form a provoking, haunting journey. What the tracks have in common is a sense of nostalgic graininess. As with the music of Philip Jeck, The Caretaker or William Basinski, these tracks are full of degrading melodies and dusty ambience. 'Daas' is the previously unreleased opening track of the album, and features contributions by the great Richard Skelton. 'Flotter', 'Koploop' and 'Grom' were previously available on small run self released EPs, while 'Onkruid' was a track previously released on 'A Room Forever', as an expensive and extremely limited 12" boxset. All are now brought to a wider audience. Presented in a matt laminate digipak." [label info]
"Next album comes from a project that also saw the daylight in 2004 just like aforementioned from Fire In The Head, though this is one of the few things in common between those two projects. Expressively we move right to the opposite side of the sound spectre here. Machinefabriek is a Dutch project from the Rotterdam-based sound artist Rutger Zuydervelt. The composer began his sonic explorations as a young boy taking lessons in piano and guitar but after that he went to the Art Academy of Arnhem, probably giving him the artistic and abstract approach to composing. Machinefabriek's music combines elements of ambient, modern classical, drone, noise and field recordings. His latest album titled "Daas" is an excellent piece of experimental ambient. There is a trend in the ambient world to combine the sound of ambience with modern classical, but in many cases the two styles do not melt and therefore doesn't float as one whole. Machinefabriek manage to integrate the acoustic elements into the digital spheres with a hauntingly beautiful end-result. Everyone interested in ambient music should keep an eye on this one." [NM/Vital Weekly]
|
2010 |
€12.00 |
|
|
Marijn |
LP |
"After countless self-released 3" CD-Rs, heres the first more widely distributed full-length LP by Holland's Rutger Zuydervelt presenting six tracks of post-industrial ambience. Zuydervelt works with live instruments, mostly piano and guitar, and intense computer processing to create gloomy instrumentals. Zuydervelt's tracks develop very slowly and he takes all the time in the world to push them to the level of density his music requires. The album starts with the snaps and crackles of "Kreukeltape", its treated piano giving the track a distinct deteriorating charme. "Somerset" features Zuydervelt on guitar and has a very physical presence to it, mostly through the noisy digital hiss in the background. In "J'espère Zuydervelt delicately layers feedback and white noise on top of a repeating piano theme. The magnum opus of "Marijn" is the 18 minute album ender "Lawine" though. Zuydervelt starts looping piano, but soon departs from there and plays a menacing melody followed by a transistory section that leads to the grand finale: A five minute noise orgy that sounds like plugging headphones into the turbine of an Airbus. This is quite a surprise when compared to the overall quiet nature of the remainder of the LP, but it sums up a very dense and satisfying album." [label info]
www.burningworldrecords.com
|
2007 |
€15.50 |
|
|
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 |
|
|
Vergezichten |
10inch |
"Musicians like Rutger Zuydervelt have a special relationship with presets - sounds, rhythms and samples that are inbuilt to keyboards or synthesizers. Presets are the opposite of individualism in music, they are commodities, sounds off the peg. Self-respecting musicians never use them, or perhaps use them precisely because they shouldn't. Zuydervelt aka Machinefabriek is a master of self-made sound and time-stretching, sensitively handling organic recordings and samples on countless releases, and regards preset sounds in an organ or a cheap keyboard as a tonal find, as a part of the cacophony of every day life. He uses the chugging of a Bontempi rhythm box or preset strings like field recordings, with the same calm and matter-of-factness as the murmur of ventilation or the hum of a refrigerator.
These Bontempi-rhythms plus the computer-stretched sounds of saxophone (Espen Reinertsen) and voice (Mariska Baars) are the base elements of Vergezicht 1 & 2. It is stunning how Zuydervelt manages to produce depth and meditative calm with this supposedly soulless material. Never-ending expanses and the mechanic rhythms overlap and start shifting, slowly and imperceptibly before the beat gets nervous, starts to stumble to finally come to a standstill with the slowly swelling bass. The track is held in suspense, rattling and rustling. Ghostly squeaking breezes in, then another stop with a soft beat of the drum. Slowly, the track builds itself up again with filtered grooves and prolonged notes.
On Vergezicht 2, the Bontempi-rhythm sets in again, after seven minutes of rising and subsiding expanses and the breezy, ethereal soprano, this time slowed down alongside warm basses and single notes from the piano. Then a momentary halt, almost too beautiful and too clean for this track. Soon an ominous siren call floats above the euphony and restores order by friction. This subtle irritation is part of a complete acoustic pattern. It is not possible to imagine Machinefabriek's music without the irritiating moment, the doubt turned into sound.
The Dutch word 'Vergezicht' means view or panorama. And it is a wide acoustic panorama opened by Zuydervelt here that reveal presets in new light." [label info]
|
2013 |
€10.00 |
|
|
Dubbeltjes |
CD |
"Zoharum welcomes multitalented Rutger Zuydervelt aka Machinefabriek to its fold. We are very happy that Rutger decided to choose our label to release his new compilation of rare works entitled "Dubbeltjes". It consists of 11 track recorded between 2008 and 2013.
Rutger Zuydervelt talks about "Dubbeltjes": Short playing time formats, like 7-inches and 3-inch cdrs, are great to work with. More than on regular albums, the durational limitations are useful to experiment with and to create really focused, cristalised pieces.
Most of these tracks focus on a very limited palette of sounds. "Hilary" and "Jeffery" for example, are constructed using solely trombone recordings from (you guessed it) Hillary Jeffery (of The Kilimanjaro Darkjazz Ensemble). "Huiswerk" Part 1 and 2 were made using a simple setup of electric guitar and sampler. And probably a suprise in my discography are "My Funny Valentine" and "Oh Doctor Jesus", two jazz classics, in collaboration with bass clarinet player Gareth Davis. All these sets of songs have a very specific quality to them.
These tracks are among my personal favorites. Most of them aren't available on a physical format anymore, so it's great to gather them on the album 'Dubbeltjes'. The tracks are presented as pairs or trios, as they appeared on their original releases. It's up to you, the listener, to either experience these combinations seperatly, hear the album in continuous play, or use shuffle mode to make new combinations.
"Dubbeltjes" is released in a 3-panel ecopak in a strictly limited edition of 300 copies." [label info]
www.zoharum.com
"Here at Vital Weekly a lot of music released by Machinefabriek is discussed, but there is a lot more than doesn't make it here, as Machinefabriek is also very active in the field of highly limited vinyl, lathe cut and cassette only releases. Luckily he is well known enough to have every now and then a compilation of these rarities, such as 'Dubbeltjes' ('dimes'). Here we have two pieces from compilations plus two 7"s, a lathe cut 5", a cassette and a 3"CDR, twelve pieces in total. Of these, I reviewed the lathe cut 5" with the jazz standards 'My Funny Valentine' and 'Oh Doctor Jesus' (Vital Weekly 789), which didn't sound like jazz anyway. One of the nicer things about such compilations as this one is that all of these pieces are relatively short and to the point and we hear Machinefabriek occasionally experimenting with form, such as 'Ontrafelde Tonen 1', which is more like musique concrete than his signature ambient guitar sound, which are present here, such as in 'Ax'. All of it
gets a place in here, with a nice variety. At forty-eight minutes not the longest of anthologies you could imagine, but it's compiled to be entertaining, listenable and varied, all of which in the comfort of Machinefabriek's drone inspired music." [FdW/Vital Weekly]
|
2014 |
€12.00 |
|
|
The Measures Taken |
CD |
"After last year's two releases (a compilation of rare tracks ”Dubbeltjes” and the reissue of a collaborative album with Dag Rosenqvist entitled ”Vintermusik”) a renowned sound artist Rutger Zuydervelt returns with a completely new album called ”The Measures Taken”. It is the score for a dance performance by choreographer Alexander Whitley and visual artists Marshmallow Laser Feast.
”The Measures Taken” was originally commissioned by the Royal Opera House (it premiered there in May 2014). The spectacular performance involves a lot of hi-tech interactivity between dancers and projected visuals. The theme of man vs/with machine is magnified by the music, which combines warm melodic pads with glitchy white noise and (more than on any other Machinefabriek release) propulsive rhythms. Now you can enjoy the music from the performance on a physical album which is also striking without the use of the visual side.
The album is released in a 3-panel ecopak in a strictly limited edition of 300 copies. The cover is based on the original by Rutger Zuydervelt. It was mastered by Łukasz Miernik. The whole production process was overseen by Michał Porwet." [label info]
www.zoharum.com
"It seemed 'quiet' lately when it came to Machinefabriek. It might have been not since Vital Weekly 925 that we last reviewed something - which, in the world of Machinefabriek, not equals: didn't release anything - but I do know he's busy with on-site pieces, installations and in the case of 'The Measure Taken', music for a choreography by Alexander Whitley and also, at the same time, visual artists Marshmallow Laser Feast. This piece was commissioned by The Royal Ballett Studio programme and premiered in April 2014 in France and also performed in London. There's a short introduction piece, followed by the four parts of the piece. Obviously I haven't seen the dance piece, or the visuals, but judging by the music, there has been a shift in Machinefabriek's music. Some of the 'old' Machinefabriek is still present here, the long ambientesque soundscapes is of course something that is still present, but it seems as if Machinefabriek now handles the form of sound collage more and more, building towards crescendo's and then drops out radically. Another important addition is the use of rhythm in 'Part II'. A kind of click 'n cut rhythm that is not unlike that of, say, Carsten Nicolai. It's quite surprising but it works out very well. Topped with some noise bits here and there, this is surely on the more varied releases by Machinefabriek in quite sometime. If you aren't the biggest fan of Machinefabriek but like to check out a release every once in a while, then make sure you check out this one." [Fdw/Vital Weekly]
|
2015 |
€13.00 |
|
|
Stillness Soundtracks |
CD |
"Trained as a graphic designer, Rotterdam's Rutger Zuydervelt started releasing as Machinefabriek in 2004. In 2006 he released his first official full length album, 'Marijn', which was voted by the Wire as one of that years bests electronica albums. Since then, his discography expended rapidly, releasing on international labels such as 12K, Staalpaat, Important, Experimedia, Type, Home Normal, Dekorder and Glacial Movements. His improvised live performances has seen stages across the globe, including Japan, Canada, Russia en Israel. Besides making albums and playing gigs, Zuydervelt regularly works with film makers and choreographers, as well as producing on installations.
'When Esther Kokmeijer approached me with the idea of making the scores for a series of short films she was working on, I didn't hesitate. Having seen a lot of her photography, I immediately knew how inspiring the footage she shot in Antarctica and Greenland would be. And this expectation proved to be correct. In quite a short period (we had set a deadline, to show the result at an open studio date) we swapped sketches and edits of the videos and audio, until the combinations felt perfect.The 'Stillness' films aren't documentaries in the sense that they tell a clear story. We're seeing the Arctic through Esther's eyes, slowly passing giant icebergs and simply being amazed be the impressive and seemingly endless landscape. While in other films it's mostly the other way around, in 'Stillness' the narrative, if there is any, comes from the music. When making these soundtracks, the idea was to guide the viewer through the images with a sense of abstract story telling. Instead of the original first thought of making dark, cold soundscapes, the bleak mountains of ice are now colored by lush arrangements and even quite romantic themes. Esther and I released the videos on a usb-stick, in a limited edition of 100, that was sold out in no time. Now the scores are presented on 'Stillness Soundtracks', including two exclusive tracks. It speaks for itself that there's no better label to release this then the Glacial Movements label, so I couldn't be happier.' Rutger Zuydervelt, April 2014." [label info]
www.glacialmovements.com
|
2014 |
€14.00 |
|
|
With Voices |
CD |
With Voices is the newest recording by Dutch composer Rutger Zuydervelt under the moniker Machinefabriek. True to its title, the album’s eight pieces exhibit Zuydervelt’s use of cassette recorders, tone generators, radios, synths, and other hifi curio to construct bewildering aural architecture around vocal work from Peter Broderick, Marissa Nadler, Richard Youngs, Chantal Acda, Terence Hannum (of Locrian) and others. These human voices are featured as musical instruments rather than mere vehicles of lyrical content, resulting in a sub-linguistic mosaic of primordially stirring moods.
The initial spark of With Voices was kindled while Zuydervelt was in Taipei creating music for a dance company. In the final days of his trip, a dancer named Wei-Yun Chen caught Zuydervelt’s ear with an instagram video featuring a voice that turned out to be Wei-Yun’s own (she would end up on the album’s seventh movement, a piece that features dissected bits of Taiwanese poetry amid low-pitched murmurs and whispering fogbanks of static). The encounter stirred Zuydervelt to create a single 35 minute soundscape upon which each vocalist on With Voices was encouraged to improvise, be it talking, reading, singing, or wordless, guttural intoning. Such vocal smatterings were then used to determine how the other tonal elements should be arranged, dictating where each musical passage would ultimately lead. “The idea was for everyone to just do what came naturally” he recalls, “the element of unpredictability was important to me.”
Indicative of this approach “III” (the tracks are simply titled with Roman numerals) slowly winds like ivy through staccato phrases spoken by Zuydervelt’s peer Peter Broderick, whose micro-incantations skip along mechanically only to telescope into monastic grandeur at the track’s midpoint; the vibrations of vocal cords are often stretched to a seismic hum to form the heavy implements in Zuydervelt’s toolkit. On “V”, tape recordings of Zero Years Kid (aka Joachim Badenhorst) sputter with their own apparent intelligence like a faulty AI attempting to interpret reels of human speech in some ruinous library of the distant future. Finally, a siren-like Marissa Nadler leads the suite to its lullabic endpoint with overlapping wisps of harmony devoid of accompaniment ending the album on an angelic note.
In these moments, like much of With Voices, warm-blooded arteries seem to have grown around bits of well-designed artifice to form something warmly alien, soberly futuristic, and inherently satisfying. More than simply an album of collaborative features, With Voices is a mutating collage of modern minimalism that challenges as often as it comforts. There is an alchemical, metallurgical quality that arises from Zuydervelt’s unique way of merging humanness with abstraction, harshness with beauty, and unintelligibility with familiarity on what may be the most affecting Machinefabriek release to date.
Each vocalist recorded a reaction to the same base track.
Their parts became the starting points for the pieces on this album.
Constructed by Rutger Zuydervelt, Rotterdam, March-June 2018
https://machinefabriek.bandcamp.com/album/with-voices-2
|
2019 |
€13.00 |
|
| |
With Voices (col. vinyl) |
LP |
With Voices is the newest recording by Dutch composer Rutger Zuydervelt under the moniker Machinefabriek. True to its title, the album’s eight pieces exhibit Zuydervelt’s use of cassette recorders, tone generators, radios, synths, and other hifi curio to construct bewildering aural architecture around vocal work from Peter Broderick, Marissa Nadler, Richard Youngs, Chantal Acda, Terence Hannum (of Locrian) and others. These human voices are featured as musical instruments rather than mere vehicles of lyrical content, resulting in a sub-linguistic mosaic of primordially stirring moods.
The initial spark of With Voices was kindled while Zuydervelt was in Taipei creating music for a dance company. In the final days of his trip, a dancer named Wei-Yun Chen caught Zuydervelt’s ear with an instagram video featuring a voice that turned out to be Wei-Yun’s own (she would end up on the album’s seventh movement, a piece that features dissected bits of Taiwanese poetry amid low-pitched murmurs and whispering fogbanks of static). The encounter stirred Zuydervelt to create a single 35 minute soundscape upon which each vocalist on With Voices was encouraged to improvise, be it talking, reading, singing, or wordless, guttural intoning. Such vocal smatterings were then used to determine how the other tonal elements should be arranged, dictating where each musical passage would ultimately lead. “The idea was for everyone to just do what came naturally” he recalls, “the element of unpredictability was important to me.”
Indicative of this approach “III” (the tracks are simply titled with Roman numerals) slowly winds like ivy through staccato phrases spoken by Zuydervelt’s peer Peter Broderick, whose micro-incantations skip along mechanically only to telescope into monastic grandeur at the track’s midpoint; the vibrations of vocal cords are often stretched to a seismic hum to form the heavy implements in Zuydervelt’s toolkit. On “V”, tape recordings of Zero Years Kid (aka Joachim Badenhorst) sputter with their own apparent intelligence like a faulty AI attempting to interpret reels of human speech in some ruinous library of the distant future. Finally, a siren-like Marissa Nadler leads the suite to its lullabic endpoint with overlapping wisps of harmony devoid of accompaniment ending the album on an angelic note.
In these moments, like much of With Voices, warm-blooded arteries seem to have grown around bits of well-designed artifice to form something warmly alien, soberly futuristic, and inherently satisfying. More than simply an album of collaborative features, With Voices is a mutating collage of modern minimalism that challenges as often as it comforts. There is an alchemical, metallurgical quality that arises from Zuydervelt’s unique way of merging humanness with abstraction, harshness with beauty, and unintelligibility with familiarity on what may be the most affecting Machinefabriek release to date.
Each vocalist recorded a reaction to the same base track.
Their parts became the starting points for the pieces on this album.
Constructed by Rutger Zuydervelt, Rotterdam, March-June 2018
|
2019 |
€20.00 |
|
| 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 |
|
| MAEDER, MARCUS |
Annex |
mCD |
"In architecture, an annex is an extension to a main building. Likewise, the pieces on this mini CD complement and supplement the approaches that Marcus Maeder presented in his latest work titled subsegmental. Here, too, the musical pieces are composed of very short sound segments reproduced at such low speed as to stretch out and form vast soundscapes. Maeder processes and shapes this acoustic topography, giving it a distinctive, surreal quality and populating it with strange beings and events. Those who enter the annex are confronted with highly suggestive soundscapes featuring objects springing out of the inaudible realm of darkness to form a cosmos of micro-events, only to escape perception again, like a ghostly presence brushing past in the dark. Marcus Maeder is a sound artist and composer. He studied Art at the University of Applied Sciences and Arts of Lucerne and is currently pursuing a Master's degree in Philosophy at the University of Hagen. Maeder runs the music label domizil, which he co-founded in 1996 with Bernd Schurer. He has worked as an editor and producer for the Swiss radio station DRS and has been working as a curator at the Institute for Computer Music and Sound Technology of the Zurich University of the Arts since 2005. His artistic work focuses mainly on computer music and the artistic and media extensions of the term. As an author, Maeder has written on a number of topics in the fields of sound art and digital media." [label info]
www.domizil.ch
"Earlier today I was not at home, but in a friends house waiting for something. The weather was hot, and I lay down on his couch. In my bag was ‘Annex’ by Marcus Maeder, and I decided to play it. Around the house there was a lot of activity of people constructing a new house on one side (or perhaps putting an annex to it?) and on the other side motorized objects doing gardening work. Maeder’s music wasn’t very loud on, but it merged wonderful with the sounds coming from outside, even with all the windows closed. I fell asleep. Later on, now, I am at home again, listening again to ‘Annex’ in a more quiet surrounding of early evening (windows open). I am to understand that this work is an extension (for that is what an ‘annex’ is, in an architectural sense) of ‘Subsegmental’ (see Vital Weekly 702). I am not sure if Maeder draws from the same sounds as on ‘Subsegmental’, but he uses ‘very short sound segments reproduced at such low speed as to stretch out and form vast soundscapes’ – I
couldn’t have this any better myself. The four pieces (sixteen minutes in total) emerge on the near silence, especially ‘Plateau’ is very quiet, much alike the eleven pieces on ‘Subsegmental’. Perhaps without many differences between this one and that one, but its simply beautiful stuff. Maybe its too early to play this music and I should wait until full darkness has set in, but its tranquility is simply great as it is." [FdW, Vital Weekly] |
2010 |
€8.00 |
|
| MAEROR TRI |
Meditamentum (I & II) |
do-CD |
After a successful reissue of a long-lost classic "Emotional Engramm", MAEROR TRI returns to Zoharum and New Nihilism with another album. This time it is a double, deluxe reissue of both volumes of "Meditamentum" (released previously on Holonom and Manifold respectively).
Unavailable for many years, "Meditamentum" is a collection of tracks culled from tape releases and rarities hidden on many compilations. It spans the whole existence of Maeror Tri, starting with 2 tracks from 1989 ending with 3 tracks from 1996. It is a sort of "best of" Maeror Tri, as it tells the story of the bands progress. From rough edges of "Peak Experience" to dreamy soundscapes of "The Beauty of Sadness".
"Meditamentum" is also a document of the underground tape scene of the 1980s and 1990s, and of a genius of MAEROR TRI as purveyors of mind-altering sonic experience. It's "Music for the Brain" at its best.
The release is presented in a lavish gatefold Japanese vinyl replica designed by Marcin Łojek (Ibsendesign, responsible also for the cover for Zoharum's reissue of "Emotional Engramm"). Each volume is extended with a bonus track making the whole collection 155 minutes long and comprising of 23 tracks. The sound is greatly enhanced by our remastering wizard Łukasz Miernik. "Meditamentum" is co-released by Zoharum and New Nihilism to give you the maximum sonic experience. This double CD is strictly limited to 500 copies." [label info]
www.zoharum.com
"Whenever there is no new music to digest, I return to my collection and see what I have - I guess a pretty normal activity if you love music. I tend to play music label or group-wise, so a while ago I pulled out all the Maeror Tri CDs I have - which I guess is pretty much all of them in their original released form - and had that on play for a couple of days. Not much later it was the turn for Troum, Maeror Tri successor - and I decided that I liked Maeror Tri better, even when the differences are pretty small. Just a matter of highly private opinion, but I am bringing this up, since today I got this double pack of the two 'Meditamentum' releases. The first volume was released by Holonom and then re-issued by Manifold, who also released a second volume of it. Both of these releases compile tracks that were scattered on compilation cassettes in the very early Maeror Tri, the years of inexpexerience and lots of experiment. It's years that I have close to my heart and very early on I was in contact with the band and liked their music straight away. I reminded me of Zoviet*France and was regarded back then as ambient industrial. Through all these twenty-three tracks (two are new bonus pieces, also from compilations, but on the previous volumes) you can follow their early steps from Maeror Tri on CD one which spans 1989-1992 and their more refined sound on CD two, 1992-1996, when their music gained more and more depth. Still all highly ambient, right from 'The Threat' (1989) to 'Res Magnifica' (1996) with endless sustaining sounds, drones, processed field recordings and harmonium/guitar/percussion sounds and sometimes bringing the sound back, deep into the earth. Tons of effects have been used, but all with the right amount. If you are a Maeror Tri fan you may have the original releases, but worth here for the bonus tracks and the excellent remaster. Or if you are curious what the hell all the fuzz is about this obscure band in it's day worth all these re-issues, then this is also your place to start." [FdW/Vital Weekly]
|
2013 |
€18.00 |
|
|
Venenum / Timeless Transcension |
CD / DVD |
This is Infinite Fog's 4th step in reissues of Maeror Tri albums. 'Venenum' is a peaceful drone album recorded between 1989 and 1991. 'Venenum' was released in 1992 as a tape and reissued on limited 200 copies CD in 1999 by the short-lived French label ÜNE (r)ecords. This version is carefully remastered and packed in a deluxe hardcover digibook with booklet. Besides the CD, there is also a great surprise for all fans: a bonus DVD with 'Timeless Transcension', an experimental video created and released by the band in the 1992 year on VHS.
The outstanding artwork was created especially for the album by a young painter and designer from Saint-Petersburg, Anton Bogdanov, who did a great job for the 'Peak Experience' and 'Mind Reversal' reissues before.
https://infinitefog.bandcamp.com/album/maeror-tri-venenum
|
2018 |
€22.00 |
|
| |
The Singles |
CD |
Reissue of MAËROR TRI(...)'s full vinyl singles / EP's recorded from 1993-1996 (except for their first one, "Saltatrix" on Drone Records - DR01)
"Am Tag, als die Stil- und Genrebildung geprägt wurde, waren drei Nordlichter besonders aktiv. Unter der Bezeichnung Maeror Tri revolutionierten sie fortan Sound- und Hörerfahrungen. Zielgruppe der drei war stets die rechte Hirnhälfte. Wundervolle Edelsteine aus dem tiefen Ozean wurden fortan geborgen, auf 7“ gepresst und sind heute nur noch schwer erhältlich. So ist es im äußersten Maße begrüßenswert, dass den Hörern nun dies wieder zugänglich wird. Bleibt zweierlei festzuhalten. Zunächst steht unverrückbar, dass sämtliche in der Folge schier unzählige Epigonen lieber ihr Bestreben nach Ausdruck auf den Hobbykeller bzw. auf die Untermalung des letzten Urlaubsvideos richten sollten. Zweitens steht ebenso unumstößlich fest, dass Maeror Tri eine Ausnahmeerscheinung und somit eigentlich unvergleichlich waren!" [Leonie D./ TAUCHER Nr. 02]
What can I say? They were my fave Drone/Industrial unit in the nineties and when this came out 15 years ago, it didn't last for too long until it was completely sold out...
So by popular demand, here's the reissue, no more no less !!
May the Force be with You !!
Photography (unknown location) by Jan Kees Helms
Mastering at Illlektrik Toolz by Herman Klapholz
Design by Jan Van den Broeke
Tags: Drone - Industrial - Experimental
www.eetapes.be
"Probably there is only one group that started as a cassette only band, who will successfully release their entire back-catalogue on real CDs (not CDRs) and that is Maeror Tri. They started out in the late eighties as a three piece ambient industrial group, and released a whole bunch of cassettes and subsequently also 7"s and CDs. In the late nineties one of the three band-members left and the name was changed to Troum. Their 7"s are now collected on this CD, for the first time and complete as such (so the originals can go to Ebay now, although I have no idea how well sought there). One 7" is missing and that's the one that they released on their own label, Drone Records (which started the label) and which will be re-issued soon. It's good to see this released as last, as the music of Maeror Tri can best be enjoyed in the digital format, away from the scratchy, hissy vinyl, of which the duration was sometimes also too long for a 7". This collection starts out with quite a raw Maeror Tri, with metallic banging but as the CD progresses, some of the more classic Maeror Tri appear: dark and dense and intense, with much layering of sound effects, percussive sounds and many obscure sound-sources (I once saw them playing an accordion on stage, feeding it through a whole line of sound effects). These singles, three 7"s and one 10", can easily be classified among the best they ever did and with the enhanced quality of the CD, this is a much wanted item. Time to plunder their cassette releases and release those on CD. Do I hear the word 'boxset', anyone?" [Fdw/Vital Weekly - original review to the first ed. 2005] |
2020 |
€10.00 |
|
| MAES, LAURA & KRISTOF LAUWERS |
Kitch'n Glitch |
CD |
"Cling Film –Mitbetreiberin LAURA MAES hat hier zusammen mit KRISTOF LAUWERS Küchengeräte, die Küchengeräusche von sich geben, akusmatisch verwurstet, und eine hochspannend tönende subtile Soundwelt ins Leben gerufen...zwischen elektronisch anmutenden Drones und ganz trockenden Geräuschen, ein Küchenkontext ist kaum noch zu erahnen... TIP !" [Drone Rec. 2003]
“All kinds of kitchensounds were blended for your exquisite taste. Don't expect loud mixers or banging on kettles, but rather subtle manipulated and cut-up sounds, sometimes creamy and soft, sometimes crispy and cold. caffeine free.” [label info]
“ A first release on her own label by Laura Maes, who runs Cling Film together with Kevin van Volcem (aside from all the organisational work they do in their surroundings). As the title of this disc already suggests, all the raw material was recorded in a kitchen
(Laura's) and later manipulated in the studio. With a total duration of just over 37 minutes, this is a dense work, that requires close
attention from the listener. There is a lot happening here and more often than not, it is pretty subtle. One of the most interesting
phenomena for me is the way Maes and Lauwers move with their sound from sheer electronic to acoustic and back again. From raw material to its manipulation or vice versa. The seven tracks are well placed and spaced, so one can listen to the whole CD as one work without a problem (this has defenitely got my preference). All tracks have strong compositions and very good timing and, most importantly: it's very juicy (and I mean this in the most positive sense!). Another one that is highly recommended. [MR for Vital Weely] Adress: www.clingfilm.org
|
2003 |
€10.00 |
|
| MAGICICADA |
Everyone is Everyone |
CD |
Klasse Debut eines neuen US-Projekts: MAGICICIDA steht für eigenwillige und variantenreiche „intelligente“ Experimentalmusik jenseits jeder Schublade, da gibt es höchst sphärische und hallumtoste Stücke die aus einem ganzen Arsenal an verschiedensten Soundquellen basieren, seltsame folkartige Ethno-Gesänge und Handgespieltes, Loops & andere Endlos-Effekte, manchmal steigert sich das in harsh noise – Bereiche rein, alles sehr druckvoll & abenteuerlich. TIP für Explorer !
“Magicicada is the musical life of Atlanta musician/sound designer/photographer, Christopher White. “Everyone is Everyone” is an organic, experimental work that blends traditional, as well as folk and eastern, instruments with found objects, samplers and field recordings to create a work that varies from delicate, cinematic soundscapes to harsh electronic environments. The instrumentation includes (but is not limited to): pump organ, voice, contact mics on faulty electrical lines, melodica, toys, iron balls rolling on wooden floors, accordion, cellophane, air cans, tape decks for the blind, guitar, shruti box, MARTA (Atlanta’s public transit), synths, oven door (percussion,) cellos, zurna, paper, frogs in the backyard, and the remains of Hurricane Denis shaking the roof. The Arigato-Pak style covers are beautifully printed by Stumptown Printers on (peacepunk approved!) 100% recycled , Environment 120# cover.” [label info]
"As many people as possible should experience his single-mindedly self-willed experimental-ambient sounds." - laut.de (Germany)
"Everyone is Everyone" is variegated, brisk and well crafted, a teapot of deviated psychedelia, rancid electronica and sounds coming from forgotten offshoots of Ed Wood's "Plan 9 from outer space", all of the above floating in a broth of Biota and Zoviet France with exhausted batteries. White lets us share some of his fun - and the drones of "Cause" are blood-icing in their beauty." - Touching Extremes (Italy)
"With an organic approach to creation, these eastern and folk influenced experimental works rival some of the strangest electronic ambient out there - from drifting soundscapes to meditative trances."-Just Add Noise
“....Every track on the CD is noted with long lists of recording notes, and if you read them, they give the impression of someone who is also frantically moving about. Not caring about how or why, this is best described as 'outsider' music. It moves along lines of improvised music, eastern and western folk music, lo-fi singer songwriter stuff and minimalist patterns on the cello, but never going to be anything close to being accessible: there is a strong element of experimental music to it, but at the same time things remain highly listenable. Again, great stuff.” [FdW / Vital Weekly]
www.publicguilt.com
|
2005 |
€13.00 |
|
| MAIN |
Ablation |
CD |
"There has been a recent surge in activity from Robert Hampson, with all manner of solo recordings and performances popping up. Its only logical that he reactivates his beloved Main project. As we all know, Main laid the foundations during the 1990s for much of love of abstract guitar treatments in electronic music throughout the 2000s.
Hampson has teamed up with Stephan Mathieu to create a stunning new album. On ‘Ablation’, Mathieu adds extra tonal colour and an obscure rhythmic palette to Hampson’s exacting treatments and detailed use of layered concrète sounds to create an emotionally charged and fascinating work.
Old fans of Main will not be disappointed, and neither will new followers of experimental audio.
Packaged with images by Grebo Gray with layout by Dave Coppenhall, and expertly mastered and cut by Rashad Becker." [label info]
www.editionsmego.com
|
2013 |
€14.00 |
|
| MALDUR ATAI |
Borgata |
CD |
"A brutal murder was committed in Ostia beach near Rome on 2 November 1975. A car ran over a man, turned around and repeated the act. Pier Paolo Pasolini was the victim. The murderer was found and confessed to murdering Pasolini. However, later on, he claimed he was forced to do it. They threatened they would kill his family otherwise. Them naturally being the cops. Since the truth emerged only several years after closing the case, the majority linked the death of the famous society figure, poet, essayist and filmmaker with his outrageous movie “Salò, or the 120 Days of Sodom”.
A friend of Pier Paolo stated that Paolo had been going to Ostia beach to meet some strangers who had stolen some rolls of “Salò”. A few bloodied fragments of the script were found in the pocket of Paolo’s jacket. More specifically, this was a leather folder containing a few bloodied pages. The murder case was investigated by a team of three detectives. And a strange thing happened then. One of the detectives stuck to a completely different version of the murder than the rest. He blurted it out to the media saying that “everything is much more complicated than someone’s trying to make it appear”. He was removed from the case by the authorities and subsequently disappeared. After a while the case was forgotten by the media.
However, fifteen years later, Sergio Citti, the aforementioned friend of Paolo, told Paolo’s biographer, a journalist, that he was the only one who could actually disclose the actual circumstances of Paolo’s death. He recalled that a stranger came to his door introducing himself as a detective on Paolo’s case. The man looked deeply stressed, handed Sergio some pages of notes pointing out that they contained information on the cause of Paolo’s violent death. Without saying a further word the man left. Later Sergio saw the man’s photo on TV news. They announced that a police officer was missing. Sergio was shocked by this and threw himself into reading the notes. These were pages torn out from the diary, indicating that the writer was the officer of the special commission investigating the circumstances of Paolo’s death. He was called to recognise the body in the site of crime. He found a leather folder in the pocket of Paolo’s jacket. Some of the pages were missing, others were sunken with blood. The words in capitals on the folder said “The Third Secret of Fatima”. In the middle of the folder there was a clear text fragment with words “Bring me some wine, La Popessa. In a second, Sir”. The following text was illegible because of the blood stain half page large. Then one could read “Pope Pius XII feels sick. He is short of breath. He attempts to sit down, lowers his feet from the bed onto the floor but lacks any strength to stand up. La Popessa blows out the candles and leaving the Pope’s bedroom closes the door behind her”. The next pages were evidently torn out. The following page contained Scene No. 57, “A horrible stench pervaded the Pope’s death venue, while his face was morbidly pallid. As a doctor, I recognised the classic aftermath of tasting the cup of the Borgia”. No more text ensued. All the following pages, except the last one, were torn out. And THE LAST one was empty. The diary-author recollected that standing in this murder site he came to realise that someone in an awful hurry was terribly reluctant to let anyone see the content of the folder.
Sergio read the entire diary of the detective. He had a clear idea what folder was meant. Once Paolo had mentioned to him that the shock caused by “Salò” was nothing in comparison to the fiery response his next film “The Third Secret of Fatima” would receive. He also hinted that the script covered not only the past, but also the future. The events shown in the film had indeed taken place in the past, and were meant to make the audience realise the horrible things awaiting them in the future. During their last meeting, Paolo hinted he was meeting someone important and, before closing the door, winked saying a strange thing – “Just remember the Satan entered Vatican in 1972”. The next day Sergio received a call from the police and leant the horrible news that Paolo had been brutally murdered. Sergio was invited to recognise the body. It was Paolo. Later on, Sergio was questioned about his last meeting with Paolo and the details he could remember.
Sergio provided Paolo’s biographer with more details of the diary of the missing detective and the information that he remembered from the TV reports. They said nothing unusual had been found at the detective’s place. All things were where they belonged. The detective’s garments were lying nicely folded in wardrobes and drawers. The money found in the place made the police think the detective could not have been gone away. The only suspicious thing was the diary put open on the desk. All pages were missing, except the last one. And that was empty. A glass of water knocked down next to the diary perhaps implied a scene of rush or drama.
Sergio then assumed that the stranger and the missing detective were one and the same person and the pages came from that same diary. The torn out pages contained the detective’s notes and assumptions, as well as other interesting and important details of the investigated case. The detective wrote that the name of the script found in the pocket of the filmmaker’s jacket - “The Third Secret of Fatima” - caught his attention. He did some investigation whether the murder was somehow connected to the script. He turned for help to the Vatican Curia. In the extensive official letter the detective asked for more information on the third secret of Fatima, for he had suspicions this could have been connected to the murder of the famous filmmaker. The official response was short. It read: “We sincerely regret the demise of the famous filmmaker. However, it is not in our competency to explicate the secrets of the Divine. This is a higher reality that is not subject to the mortals”. It was signed by Paul Marcinkus, the head of the Vatican Curia and the third most powerful person in Vatican.
Later on, the detective received an anonymous letter from Vatican. The letterhead contained Vatican water marks. It read: “I am aware of your document. If you wish to find out more, please come to the specified derelict church at the given time”. The detective went to the meeting place in the dark rural site in the midst of the vineyards. The church had no doors. There was only a stone arch that looked either neglected or under reconstruction. Upon silently approaching the pulpit covered by a thick layer of dust the detective called out. He heard a hushed invitation from the pulpit to come closer. The voice agreed to reveal all known information on the condition that he will stay unknown. The detective concurred.
Then the voice told him quite a number of interesting things about the third secret of Fatima. There exists a great power, a group of interests, aware of the ancient prophecy of Tibet predicting the recurrence of maldur atai cult. They seek to prevent the said return so that the truth is not revealed. They elaborated the plan of taking over Vatican and impeding the advent of the Messiah. This long-term strategy included such tasks as replacing the white popes with the black ones from the ranks of the Jesuit Order generals. The secret document in particular stressed that a very powerful element in the form of a child had been sent to the Earth, and would play a vital role in all spheres of influence as well as coordinate and rule all political, military and shadow forces resisting the advent of the redeeming Messiah. The agents of these spheres of influence suspect that Messiah is the maldur atai cult predicted by the legend of Nepal. It is believed that a man wearing a white long robe of the Pope was seen in the third apparition in Fatima. The children who witnessed the Marian apparition were scared to death. They recounted they had seen one more man in black, huge as a gorilla. The face of the man in a white robe was deadly pallid. He said nothing. He was foaming at the mouth. The man in black uttered the following words to the children: “I will make an entrance as a child exactly five years from now, I will break all the holy seals and make the world ready for the advent of the beast. And upon my arrival I will gain confidence of the most powerful in the world”. The children were frightened to death seeing the dreary face of the tall man. They named him a “Gorilla”. For many years afterwards the appalling man stayed in the children’s dreams and they screamed “Gorilla”, “Gorilla”, “Gorilla” in their sleep. The man in the pulpit suggested the adepts of maldur atai cult had sent a sign of warning from another dimension. The third secret of Fatima might have warned the humankind about the upcoming dreadful scenario. The man also said that the events of Vatican in the last decades implied a quite a number of parallels with what was revealed in the apparition in Fatima. The year 1972 was crucial for the Holy throne. The mysterious man did provide further explanations but suggested the detective read the press. The media was brimming with the coverage of these events. They concerned a few persons associated with the illuminati, Vatican, NATO, Zionists, cocaine and banks.
The biographer asked Sergio whether he suspected that Paolo had been murdered for he had received information from unknown sources about the global conspiracy predicted by unnatural powers and had based his film script on this information? Sergio replied that Paolo had always liked to keep to himself both his creative ideas and his lovers, who might have included the members of clergy from Vatican. However, it was obvious that these events had nothing to do with “Salò”, while – to Sergio’s regret - Paolo was not completely open. All this was somehow connected to the filmmaker’s new film titled “The Third Secret of Fatima”. It has never been made. Only after reading the fragments of the detective’s diary, Sergio drew attention to this and realised what was happening in the head of Paolo when he was leaving to meet the strangers. Furthermore, why did they try to hide so much that the Pope’s life was threatened in Fatima and that the man who disclosed the attempt was named “Gorilla”? The biographer of Paolo’s life told Sergio that he had investigated the subject of the maldur atai cult and he found it strange - or perhaps it was only a coincidence - that both the last page found in Paolo’s jacket and the last page of the diary found in detective’s house were empty. Just like the pages found in the cells of the missing maldur atai adepts in Nepal. Or at least that’s what the local legends told. Sergio replied: “It is true that the coincidence is indeed weird”.
Later the Paolo’s biography was published in small run. It contained all collected information about the death of Pier Paolo Pasolini, the filmmaker. The book titled “Borgata” did not receive a wide acclaim, although the promotion campaign and its headings loudly claimed that the book reveals the hitherto unknown circumstances of the murder of the filmmaker Pier Paolo Pasolini, that the cause of the death is not “Salò”, but “The Third Secret of Fatima”, that the unshot movie was suppressed by reality and who killed Pier Paolo Pasolini. All these revelations made way to this book.
“Borgata”, the forth full-length album by Maldur Atai, centres on the events described in this unpopular book." [label info]
www.autarkeia.org
|
2012 |
€12.00 |
|
| MALLINDER, STEPHEN |
Um Dada |
CD |
Stephen Mallinder, co-founder and frontman of the iconic Cabaret Voltaire, has returned with his first solo album in over 35 years: Um Dada. Laced with leftfield house and cut-up sound collages, Um Dada is a melding of energies that are an exercise in simplicity and motion. Sincere, playful realism that beckons your body to move, always reminding you to never take yourself too seriously without forfeiting your agency.While steering Cabaret Voltaire through the 1980's, Mallinder was already busy piecing together his first solo album entitled "Pow Wow", which would help define Mallinder's interest in the more leftfield electro sounds shaping England at the time. It was this diverse and abstract hybrid that helped inspire generations of artists and musicians through steeping raw machine funk within the whimsical and absurdist ideology. Since the release of "Pow Wow" in 1982, Mallinder continued his pioneering work with Cabaret Voltaire, as well as recording and touring with his electro projects Wrangler, Creep Show, Hey Rube, Kula, and Cobby & Mallinder. In addition to his non-stop schedule in electronic music, his professional life as a journalist, broadcaster, producer and now a professor of Digital Music & Sound Art at the University of Brighton, has lead Mallinder to a unique point in his career. Most in his position would be caught up in rosy retrospection, but Mallinder himself says, "There's too much digital finger-licking right now; every thought and desire at the turn of a dial_ well a click of the mouse. And there's a giddy, false nostalgia about the analogue past. Sorry to burst your bubble but the truth of history is more mundane: practical, pragmatic...Um Dada is about `play' - cut and paste, lost words, twisted presets, voice collage, simple sounds - things that have been lost to technology's current determinism. Let the machines talk to each other, let them dance .. they lead, we follow."Um Dada opens up with the exact machine-led surrealism that Mallinder recommends in "Working (You Are)". A thick, stripped back dance floor groove provides the ideal foundation for Mallinder's eccentric vocal cuts. The frisky chops present an almost twisted irony, subtly bringing to mind the role we're all forced to play as just another cog in the ever grinding capitalist machine of life. Yet, somehow, the listener is left feeling optimistic. A prime example of simplicity at work. Tracks such as "Satellite" give a skillful illustration of Mallinder's adeptness with his musical expertise while preserving his core historical context as only simple reference. The underlying bassline and percussion, coupled with the floating melodies and airy vocal refrain disclose the vulnerabilities of love and loss without a hint of irony or nostalgia.Um Dada is mischievously idealist, however never loses touch with reality. Offering structure while simultaneously dismantling any and all preconceptions. The spirit of sincerity that sustained Cabaret Voltaire's lengthy career is abundantly present within founder Stephen Mallinder's journey through his own whimsical utopian consciousness and staking claim to an identity that is solely his own.
https://www.daisrecords.com/products/stephen-mallinder-um-dada
|
2019 |
€13.00 |
|
| |
Um Dada |
LP |
Stephen Mallinder, co-founder and frontman of the iconic Cabaret Voltaire, has returned with his first solo album in over 35 years: Um Dada. Laced with leftfield house and cut-up sound collages, Um Dada is a melding of energies that are an exercise in simplicity and motion. Sincere, playful realism that beckons your body to move, always reminding you to never take yourself too seriously without forfeiting your agency.While steering Cabaret Voltaire through the 1980's, Mallinder was already busy piecing together his first solo album entitled "Pow Wow", which would help define Mallinder's interest in the more leftfield electro sounds shaping England at the time. It was this diverse and abstract hybrid that helped inspire generations of artists and musicians through steeping raw machine funk within the whimsical and absurdist ideology. Since the release of "Pow Wow" in 1982, Mallinder continued his pioneering work with Cabaret Voltaire, as well as recording and touring with his electro projects Wrangler, Creep Show, Hey Rube, Kula, and Cobby & Mallinder. In addition to his non-stop schedule in electronic music, his professional life as a journalist, broadcaster, producer and now a professor of Digital Music & Sound Art at the University of Brighton, has lead Mallinder to a unique point in his career. Most in his position would be caught up in rosy retrospection, but Mallinder himself says, "There's too much digital finger-licking right now; every thought and desire at the turn of a dial_ well a click of the mouse. And there's a giddy, false nostalgia about the analogue past. Sorry to burst your bubble but the truth of history is more mundane: practical, pragmatic...Um Dada is about `play' - cut and paste, lost words, twisted presets, voice collage, simple sounds - things that have been lost to technology's current determinism. Let the machines talk to each other, let them dance .. they lead, we follow."Um Dada opens up with the exact machine-led surrealism that Mallinder recommends in "Working (You Are)". A thick, stripped back dance floor groove provides the ideal foundation for Mallinder's eccentric vocal cuts. The frisky chops present an almost twisted irony, subtly bringing to mind the role we're all forced to play as just another cog in the ever grinding capitalist machine of life. Yet, somehow, the listener is left feeling optimistic. A prime example of simplicity at work. Tracks such as "Satellite" give a skillful illustration of Mallinder's adeptness with his musical expertise while preserving his core historical context as only simple reference. The underlying bassline and percussion, coupled with the floating melodies and airy vocal refrain disclose the vulnerabilities of love and loss without a hint of irony or nostalgia.Um Dada is mischievously idealist, however never loses touch with reality. Offering structure while simultaneously dismantling any and all preconceptions. The spirit of sincerity that sustained Cabaret Voltaire's lengthy career is abundantly present within founder Stephen Mallinder's journey through his own whimsical utopian consciousness and staking claim to an identity that is solely his own.
https://www.daisrecords.com/products/stephen-mallinder-um-dada
|
2019 |
€21.00 |
|
| MALONE, KALI |
Does Spring Hide its Joy |
3 x CD |
»Does Spring Hide Its Joy« is an immersive piece by composer Kali Malone featuring Stephen O’Malley on electric guitar, Lucy Railton on cello, and Malone herself on tuned sine wave oscillators. The music is a study in harmonics and non-linear composition with a heightened focus on just intonation and beating interference patterns. Malone’s experience with pipe organ tuning, harmonic theory, and long durational composition provide prominent points of departure for this work. Her nuanced minimalism unfolds an astonishing depth of focus and opens up contemplative spaces in the listener’s attention.
»Does Spring Hide Its Joy« follows Malone’s critically acclaimed records. Her collaborative approach expands from her previous work to closely include the musicians Stephen O’Malley & Lucy Railton in the creation and development of the piece. While the music is distinctly Malone’s sonic palette, she composed specifically for the unique styles and techniques of O’Malley & Railton, presenting a framework for subjective interpretation and non-hierarchical movement throughout the music.
»Does Spring Hide Its Joy« is a durational experience of variable length that follows slowly evolving harmony and timbre between cello, sine waves, and electric guitar. As a listener, the transition between these junctures can be difficult to pinpoint. There’s obscurity and unity in the instrumentation and identities of the players; the electric guitar's saturation timbre blends with the cello's rich periodicity, while shifting overtone feedback develops interference patterns against the precise sine waves. The gradual yet ever-occurring changes in harmony challenge the listener’s perception of stasis and movement. The moment you grasp the music, a slight shift in perspective guides your attention forward into a new and unfolding harmonic experience.
»Does Spring Hide Its Joy« was created between March and May of 2020. During this unsettling period of the pandemic, Malone found herself in Berlin with a great deal of time and conceptual space to consider new compositional methods. With a few interns left on-site, Malone was invited to the Berlin Funkhaus & MONOM to develop and record new music within the empty concert halls. She took this opportunity to form a small ensemble with her close friends and collaborators Lucy Railton & Stephen O’Malley to explore these new structural ideas within those various acoustic spaces. Hence, the foundation was laid for »Does Spring Hide Its Joy«.
In Kali’s own words: “Like most of the world, my perception of time went through a significant transformation during the pandemic confinements of spring 2020. Unmarked by the familiar milestones of life, the days and months dripped by, instinctively blending with no end in sight. Time stood still until subtle shifts in the environment suggested there had been a passing. Memories blurred non-sequentially, the fabric of reality deteriorated, unforeseen kinships formed and disappeared, and all the while, the seasons changed and moved on without the ones we lost. Playing this music for hours on end was a profound way to digest the countless life transitions and hold time together.”
»Does Spring Hide Its Joy« has since been performed live on many European stages, in durations of sixty and ninety minutes. Including at the Schauspielhaus in Zürich, the Bozar in Brussels, Haus Der Kunst in Munich, and the Munch Museum in Oslo. Concerts are forthcoming at Unsound Festival in Krakow, Mira Festival in Barcelona, the Venice Biennale, and the Purcell Room at the Southbank Center in London.
In addition to live concerts, the Funkhaus recordings of »Does Spring Hide Its Joy« have evolved in parallel as a site-specific sound installation. Malone has also invited the video artist Nika Milano to create a custom analog video work that interprets and accompanies the musical score as a fourth player, creating a visual atmosphere inspired by the sonic principles of the composition. Eight sequential video stills from Milano’s work are featured in the album artwork.
»Does Spring Hide Its Joy« is packaged in a heavyweight laminated jacket with full-color printed inner sleeves with artwork by Nika Milano. Mastered by Stephan Mathieu and cut at Schnittstelle Mastering, the record is pressed in perfect sound quality by Optimal in Germany.
https://kalimalone.bandcamp.com/album/does-spring-hide-its-joy
Does Spring Hide Its Joy ist ein immersives Stück der Komponistin Kali Malone mit Stephen O'Malley an der E-Gitarre, Lucy Railton am Cello und Malone selbst an gestimmten Sinusoszillatoren. Die Musik ist eine Studie über Obertöne und nichtlineare Komposition mit besonderem Augenmerk auf gerechter Intonation und schlagenden Interferenzmustern. Malones Erfahrungen mit der Stimmung von Pfeifenorgeln, der Harmonielehre und langer Kompositionen sind wichtige Ausgangspunkte für dieses Werk. Ihr nuancierter Minimalismus entfaltet eine erstaunliche Tiefenschärfe und eröffnet kontemplative Räume in der Aufmerksamkeit des Zuhörers. Does Spring Hide Its Joy ist eine Dauererfahrung von variabler Länge, die einer sich langsam entwickelnden Harmonie und Klangfarbe zwischen Cello, Sinuswellen und E-Gitarre folgt. Für den Hörer ist der Übergang zwischen den einzelnen Abschnitten oft schwer auszumachen. Das gesättigte Timbre der E-Gitarre vermischt sich mit der reichen Periodizität des Cellos, während die sich verschiebenden Oberton-Rückkopplungen Interferenzmuster mit den präzisen Sinuswellen entwickeln. |
2023 |
€23.50 |
|
| MALONE, KALI (FEATURING STEPHEN O'MALLEY & LUCY RAILTON) |
Does Spring Hide its Joy |
3 x LP |
»Does Spring Hide Its Joy« is an immersive piece by composer Kali Malone featuring Stephen O’Malley on electric guitar, Lucy Railton on cello, and Malone herself on tuned sine wave oscillators. The music is a study in harmonics and non-linear composition with a heightened focus on just intonation and beating interference patterns. Malone’s experience with pipe organ tuning, harmonic theory, and long durational composition provide prominent points of departure for this work. Her nuanced minimalism unfolds an astonishing depth of focus and opens up contemplative spaces in the listener’s attention.
»Does Spring Hide Its Joy« follows Malone’s critically acclaimed records. Her collaborative approach expands from her previous work to closely include the musicians Stephen O’Malley & Lucy Railton in the creation and development of the piece. While the music is distinctly Malone’s sonic palette, she composed specifically for the unique styles and techniques of O’Malley & Railton, presenting a framework for subjective interpretation and non-hierarchical movement throughout the music.
»Does Spring Hide Its Joy« is a durational experience of variable length that follows slowly evolving harmony and timbre between cello, sine waves, and electric guitar. As a listener, the transition between these junctures can be difficult to pinpoint. There’s obscurity and unity in the instrumentation and identities of the players; the electric guitar's saturation timbre blends with the cello's rich periodicity, while shifting overtone feedback develops interference patterns against the precise sine waves. The gradual yet ever-occurring changes in harmony challenge the listener’s perception of stasis and movement. The moment you grasp the music, a slight shift in perspective guides your attention forward into a new and unfolding harmonic experience.
»Does Spring Hide Its Joy« was created between March and May of 2020. During this unsettling period of the pandemic, Malone found herself in Berlin with a great deal of time and conceptual space to consider new compositional methods. With a few interns left on-site, Malone was invited to the Berlin Funkhaus & MONOM to develop and record new music within the empty concert halls. She took this opportunity to form a small ensemble with her close friends and collaborators Lucy Railton & Stephen O’Malley to explore these new structural ideas within those various acoustic spaces. Hence, the foundation was laid for »Does Spring Hide Its Joy«.
In Kali’s own words: “Like most of the world, my perception of time went through a significant transformation during the pandemic confinements of spring 2020. Unmarked by the familiar milestones of life, the days and months dripped by, instinctively blending with no end in sight. Time stood still until subtle shifts in the environment suggested there had been a passing. Memories blurred non-sequentially, the fabric of reality deteriorated, unforeseen kinships formed and disappeared, and all the while, the seasons changed and moved on without the ones we lost. Playing this music for hours on end was a profound way to digest the countless life transitions and hold time together.”
»Does Spring Hide Its Joy« has since been performed live on many European stages, in durations of sixty and ninety minutes. Including at the Schauspielhaus in Zürich, the Bozar in Brussels, Haus Der Kunst in Munich, and the Munch Museum in Oslo. Concerts are forthcoming at Unsound Festival in Krakow, Mira Festival in Barcelona, the Venice Biennale, and the Purcell Room at the Southbank Center in London.
In addition to live concerts, the Funkhaus recordings of »Does Spring Hide Its Joy« have evolved in parallel as a site-specific sound installation. Malone has also invited the video artist Nika Milano to create a custom analog video work that interprets and accompanies the musical score as a fourth player, creating a visual atmosphere inspired by the sonic principles of the composition. Eight sequential video stills from Milano’s work are featured in the album artwork.
»Does Spring Hide Its Joy« is packaged in a heavyweight laminated jacket with full-color printed inner sleeves with artwork by Nika Milano. Mastered by Stephan Mathieu and cut at Schnittstelle Mastering, the record is pressed in perfect sound quality by Optimal in Germany.
https://kalimalone.bandcamp.com/album/does-spring-hide-its-joy
Does Spring Hide Its Joy ist ein immersives Stück der Komponistin Kali Malone mit Stephen O'Malley an der E-Gitarre, Lucy Railton am Cello und Malone selbst an gestimmten Sinusoszillatoren. Die Musik ist eine Studie über Obertöne und nichtlineare Komposition mit besonderem Augenmerk auf gerechter Intonation und schlagenden Interferenzmustern. Malones Erfahrungen mit der Stimmung von Pfeifenorgeln, der Harmonielehre und langer Kompositionen sind wichtige Ausgangspunkte für dieses Werk. Ihr nuancierter Minimalismus entfaltet eine erstaunliche Tiefenschärfe und eröffnet kontemplative Räume in der Aufmerksamkeit des Zuhörers. Does Spring Hide Its Joy ist eine Dauererfahrung von variabler Länge, die einer sich langsam entwickelnden Harmonie und Klangfarbe zwischen Cello, Sinuswellen und E-Gitarre folgt. Für den Hörer ist der Übergang zwischen den einzelnen Abschnitten oft schwer auszumachen. Das gesättigte Timbre der E-Gitarre vermischt sich mit der reichen Periodizität des Cellos, während die sich verschiebenden Oberton-Rückkopplungen Interferenzmuster mit den präzisen Sinuswellen entwickeln.
https://kalimalone.bandcamp.com/album/does-spring-hide-its-joy
|
2023 |
€49.50 |
|
| MANINKARI |
Phantasmes |
LP |
"Phantasmes is a 50 minutes experimental movie written and directed by Thomas Pantalacci. “A sensory experience between dream and reality, fantasy and eroticism, awakening and sleep…”
For that purpose, the band Maninkari wrote a two-part - one per side - 39 minutes soundtrack with multiple pieces. The tracks are not marked out because here, even silence is vital. It doesn’t soothe the tensions, but amplifies the feeling of oddness of the music. Dark ambient, syncopated drumming, dissonant chords… Maninkari use all the sonority spectrum, mixing aggressive high-pitched violin with deep and voluptuous bass sounds.
Playing on the thin border between dreaming and awakening, Phantasmes is a mental and physical record; seductive, disturbing and lustful.
Includes a download code for a free download of the album." [label info]
www.three-four.net
"The brothers Charlot return here (see also Vital Weekly 843 and 815) with thirty-nine minutes of music which they recorded for a '50 minute experimental movie written and directed by Thomas Pantalacci' and which is described as as 'a sensory experience between dream and reality, fantasy and eroticism, awakening and sleep…'. Usually Maninkari use a lot of percussion, but it seems that in their more recent musical outings they also use other instruments, such as viola, cimbalom, keyboards and samples. And yes, lots of effects. They easily reach for that bit of reverb, to add that extra layer of 'space' and 'mystic' to the music. Thank god, however, not always, and they use it wise and sparsely. Of course I haven't seen the movie, but I can imagine, based on the soundtrack, what it will look like. Dark and moody, but not always as 'loaded' as you would expect. Maninkari also leave room for quieter moments, sparser moments if you will. Sometimes a simple drone is all that we are left with, or even some crackles - it might be the vinyl. But then sometimes the music start to expand, growing, bigger and takes on dramatic courses. For instance on the b-side, somewhere half way through. When that happens, it usually involves percussion, loud and clear - manually and not mechanically played. The dramatic changes in the music made me surely curious about the film. There is a lot of tension in this piece of black vinyl. Excellent mood enhancher." [FdW/Vital Weekly]
|
2013 |
€16.00 |
|
|
L'Océan Rêve dans sa Loisiveté |
CD |
"Around the theme of the ocean symbolising the subconscious, the hidden world and a very personal concept of "loisiveté" a combintion of idleness "oisiveté" and law "loi", Maninkari continues exploring a weird and dreamlike world.
As usual, the Charlot brothers resort almost exclusively to the use of acoustic instruments with oriental origins (bodhran, cymbalom, santoor, zurna).
Percussion instruments especially the bodhran play melodic or textural figures, whereas stringed instruments become repetitive to a point where they embody the rythmics.
The combination of repetition and oriental tones create a heady sound continuum providing the 10 nameless tracks with a mantra-like resonance. A short breathing in the middle of the album with an organ and birdsong is the only quiet moment of this tormented (but without violence), and meditative (but without bliss) record.
The permanent state of tension recalls the rigours of law and repetition provides the calm alternative of idleness "l'oisiveté". The ocean offers all of it's grandeur to this introspective journey." [label info]
www.three-four.net
"The two brothers Charlot who call them selves Maninkari have been reviewed a couple of time before in these pages and their music is always build around percussion, but not solely consisting thereof. I must admit I didn't quite get the wordplay in the title: "around the theme of the ocean symbolising the subconscious, the hidden world and a very personal concept of 'loisivete' a combination of idleness 'oisivete' and law 'loi', Maninkari continues exploring a weird and dreamlike world", I read in the press text. This duo has recorded a few soundtracks, but this works stands by itself. Manikari uses a variety of percussion instruments of oriental origin such as the bodhran, cymbalom, santoor and zuma, but also stringed instruments played in a percussive way. That's something that creates overtones, which accounts for the humming textures. I am not entirely sure what is played live here and what is added by way of editing and post-processing. There is surely a bit of reverb added to create more drama and more moods, or perhaps this was recording in a more empty, open space. There is a tribal aspect to their music, but Maninkari doesn't force this upon the listener. There aren't any signs of sigils and Crowley quotes. The music of Maninkari reminds me of Rapoon, Muslimgauze (less political of course), but also Desaccord Majeur, to give a French point of reference. I thought it was a bit odd Maninkari doesn't use any titles for their pieces, but perhaps I liked that. No reference which clears your head and think of titles yourself for these dark sound scapes. It is surely another fine addition to their already impressive catalogue of works." [FdW/Vital Weekly]
|
2014 |
€13.00 |
|
|
Continuum Sonore part 7>14 |
CD |
"Maninkari, a duo hailing from France, should be a well-known one for ambient lovers. They have already released six albums on renowned labels such as Conspiracy, Neuropa or Basses Frequencies. Their influences range from classical music through jazz and free improv ending with ambient and drone. Therefore, it is not easy to classify them as a modern post-industrial electronica combo.
The duo works quite intensively. They have just prepared the second volume of their 2012 ”Continuum Sonore” album. What enchanted us about Maninkari while listening to part 7-14 ”Continuum Sonore” compostion of is their easiness in creating beautiful, but haunting melodies drowned in cinema-like atmosphere. It is not surprising as the duo have created music for films of Thomas Pantalacci. Their other advantage is varied instrumental textures. Apart from regular synthesizers and not so common persussion, they use atypical instruments, such as bodhran, viola, cimbalom, santoor. It brings them closer to the neoclassical genre. The CD is housed in an ecopak sleeve and is strictly limited to 300 copies. The cover was designed by Maninkari. ”Continuum Sonore 7>14” was mastered by Łukasz Miernik. The whole production process was overseen by Michał Porwet." [label info]
www.zoharum.com
|
2014 |
€12.00 |
|
|
L'Océan Rêve dans sa Loisiveté - second session |
CD |
Three years after the release of "Continuum Sonore Part 7>14" back in 2014, the remarkable French duo Maninkari returns to Zoharum catalogue with their new offering. Just like the title says, the new album is a continuation of the recordings entitled "L'Océan Rêve Dans Sa Loisiveté". Once again, the duo proves that they are unmatched in creating unbelievable and unclassifiable sound texture.
"L'Océan Rêve Dans Sa Loisiveté, Second Session" is much based on improvisation and leaves room for more melodies, especially for viola, the resonances of the bodhran and its repetitive rhythms gives access to a form of trance and have a character of composition. This album with the subjective title transports us in a frenetic universe where the sea mother of idleness reigns in all power, land and sea form a vibrant balance. The voluntary control of certain melodies is felt through cymbalom and santoor and sharp long ethereal resonances. The voluntary reverberation of certain instruments resounds like a dream prayer.
The CD is housed in an ecopak sleeve and is strictly limited to 300 copies. The album was mastered and the cover was designed by Maninkari. The whole production process was overseen by Michał Porwet.
www.zoharum.com
|
2017 |
€12.00 |
|
|
Un Phénomène De Reliance |
CD |
After a few years, Maninkari returns to Zoharum with a new, already third studio album for the label. "Un Phenomene De Reliance" is a kind of concept album, it's something like a suite, consisting of four separate compositions. There are no spectacular twists or unexpected musical revolts here. The duo of Charlot brothers continues to follow the path chosen by them, masterfully developing the formula they developed years ago. We are dealing here with illustrative music, extremely vivid, strongly influencing the imagination of the audience.Certainly, it could serve as the soundtrack to an unspecified movie based on a somewhat dreamlike plot. It would be great as a sound for a performance or ballet. The French use classical instruments with quite a lot of freedom, and at the same time with impeccable virtuosity, to create a rather peculiar musical abstract, based on compositions that are characterized by incredible lightness, harmony and melodic beauty, at the same time giving the impression of fleetin, airy miniatures. where each note seems to sound only for a moment before disappearing into a huge space, filled with silence. Trying to properly describe what "Un Phenomene De Reliance" is, we can use the terms "ambient" or "chamber music". However, neither of these expressions will fully represent what is contained in this publication. At the same time, it is worth devoting special time to, somewhere in the privacy of your home, to be able to concentrate on the pleasure of listening and exploring this very intimate, personal and captivating music.
https://zoharum.bandcamp.com/album/un-phenomene-de-reliance
######################
"Genre/Influences: Experimental, Ritual, Cinematic.
Format: Digital, CD, Vinyl.
Background/Info: Frédéric and Olivier Charlot -who are also involved with other projects like Sphyxion, are back on track unleashing a new opus of Maninkari.They already released several albums but this is their third one on Zoharum.
Content: The work features 4 songs which have been progressively built up by the mix of authentic instruments and electronic treatments. The viola injects a deeply, atmospheric, darkness to the work while the rhythmic make it all sound Ritual.
+ + + : I like Maninkari for their authenticity, the use of acoustic instruments not only adding an artistic touch to the work but also a poignant, atmospheric, touch. The title song is a true masterpiece whereon the Charlot brothers have found a perfect balance between the different instruments. The viola is absolutely terrific here. You also can notice improvised passages but the work remains constantly accessible.
– – – : It needs a few minutes before you totally get into the poignant sonic universe of Maninkari. So you better be a little bit patient.
Conclusion: Subtle improvisation with a styled, acoustic, touch on top." [Side-Line]
|
2022 |
€12.00 |
|
| |
Un Phenomene De Reliance |
LP |
After a few years, Maninkari returns to Zoharum with a new, already third studio album for the label. "Un Phenomene De Reliance" is a kind of concept album, it's something like a suite, consisting of four separate compositions. There are no spectacular twists or unexpected musical revolts here. The duo of Charlot brothers continues to follow the path chosen by them, masterfully developing the formula they developed years ago. We are dealing here with illustrative music, extremely vivid, strongly influencing the imagination of the audience.Certainly, it could serve as the soundtrack to an unspecified movie based on a somewhat dreamlike plot. It would be great as a sound for a performance or ballet. The French use classical instruments with quite a lot of freedom, and at the same time with impeccable virtuosity, to create a rather peculiar musical abstract, based on compositions that are characterized by incredible lightness, harmony and melodic beauty, at the same time giving the impression of fleetin, airy miniatures. where each note seems to sound only for a moment before disappearing into a huge space, filled with silence. Trying to properly describe what "Un Phenomene De Reliance" is, we can use the terms "ambient" or "chamber music". However, neither of these expressions will fully represent what is contained in this publication. At the same time, it is worth devoting special time to, somewhere in the privacy of your home, to be able to concentrate on the pleasure of listening and exploring this very intimate, personal and captivating music.
https://zoharum.bandcamp.com/album/un-phenomene-de-reliance
######################
"Genre/Influences: Experimental, Ritual, Cinematic.
Format: Digital, CD, Vinyl.
Background/Info: Frédéric and Olivier Charlot -who are also involved with other projects like Sphyxion, are back on track unleashing a new opus of Maninkari.They already released several albums but this is their third one on Zoharum.
Content: The work features 4 songs which have been progressively built up by the mix of authentic instruments and electronic treatments. The viola injects a deeply, atmospheric, darkness to the work while the rhythmic make it all sound Ritual.
+ + + : I like Maninkari for their authenticity, the use of acoustic instruments not only adding an artistic touch to the work but also a poignant, atmospheric, touch. The title song is a true masterpiece whereon the Charlot brothers have found a perfect balance between the different instruments. The viola is absolutely terrific here. You also can notice improvised passages but the work remains constantly accessible.
– – – : It needs a few minutes before you totally get into the poignant sonic universe of Maninkari. So you better be a little bit patient.
Conclusion: Subtle improvisation with a styled, acoustic, touch on top." [Side-Line]
|
2022 |
€18.00 |
|
| MANNING, ROSS |
Te t on on ti computer |
MC |
Ross Manning is a contemporary new media artist from Brisbane, Australia. He focus on alive instrument practises, kinetic and sound composition. He is using mainly recordings of his own percussion instruments made by steel, aluminium and scrap metals. Ross Manning is an obsessive creator of systems that are driven by their own logic, exploring the rhythm and the recycling energy of them. His sound works has published on moremars, Room40, vitrine, Chemical Imbalance and Greedy Ventilator.
In both sides of his “te t on on ti computer” release, he present us two different aspects of his musical direction. The first side is a montage, with a big variety of distorted sounds and pure tones, that reproduced by his custom-made instruments and electronic sources. Noisy parts mixed with chaotic metal percussions and drones, are constructing a sonic sculpture that even if the individual elements have a complex structure, the final result sounds simple and mysterious.
On the second side, there is a long composition made by his self-made string panels, that they produce rhythmic patterns, that are changing form through the kinetic energy. Sonically, there is a sense of gamelan music, with melodic motifs that gradually change to a more complex form, with the composition to get more busy, constructing an extremely dense amalgamation of sounds.
www.moremars.org/store/products/ross-manning-te-t-on-on-ti-computer-cassette/
"Greece's More Mars released a cassette by Ross Manning before (see Vital Weekly 1062). This
Australian musician is not particularly fond of much information on his covers, so I still have no idea what he does, but last time I wrote: "Manning creates his own instruments since a very early age and on this cassette we find four of his pieces using these DIY electronics and "shelf-made string pannel" [sic]", so perhaps it is fair to say he is still doing that. The chaotic approach of before is now gone and there is much more control to be noted in these pieces, which works very much for the benefit of the music. Of course, he is doing a similar instrument here, which is something I am
not sure of. It is a most enjoyable release here, in which Manning carefully explores the sounds he produces with his devices. On the first side, there is a beautiful drone-like exploration of this, somewhere in the middle of the tape, whereas on the second side there is a more percussive element in the music. Then it sounds like a bit nervous yet regular tapping of violin strings. Throughout there is a rough element in the music like it has been taped in a space, using an amplifier and space plays a small but not insignificant role here. It is a mighty step forward, I thought." [FdW/Vital Weekly] |
2019 |
€9.00 |
|
| MARANHA, DAVID |
Piano Suspenso |
CD |
"OSSO EXOTICO-Mitglied DAVID MARANHA auf Solopfaden: a single piece of beauty for about 71 minutes! Piano strings excited by four motors and violin, recorded in N.Y. at the electronic arts performance series. In allen Frequenzen ausschweifende, majestätische Drones, mit ständigen Interferenzen & Überlagerungen & Obertönen, ein Meer von Drones sozusagen, in das man hinabtauchen kann!!!" [old Drone Rec. info] BACK IN STOCK !!
"Reissue of this 1999 release and out of print since a long time. Some reviews at the time of release : ' After a tentative opening consisting of damp harmonic scrapes, the piece takes off like a single-engined light aircraft when maranha kickstarts his four-motored piano effect and then starts to tease single notes from the bubbling background with his bow. This is a great and physically affecting slab of sound, where the slightest minimal shift causes tectonic plates to groan. It's gravy train stuff for fans of Maryanne Amacher, Arnold Dreyblatt and Ð perhaps maranha's major influence Ð Phill Niblock. ' david Keenan - The wire (aug. 99) ' david maranha, one third of Osso Exotico, recorded a hauntingely beautiful piece in New York, using four motors and a violin bow to play the grandpiano. The motors create rich textures of overtones that slowly go in and out of phase and make unknown harmonies audible. The bow plays something like the melody off and on. There is a very special thanks to Phill Niblock and if you know his music, then you know what to expect as it fits his tradition of minimal music very well." ' Frans de Waard - Vital weekly " [press release]
|
1999 |
€10.00 |
|
| |
Noe's Lullaby |
CD |
OSSO EXOTICO member with solo-album:
Not much info about this release you can find on the ROSSBIN-site, except the proposal: "To play Loud." So we did. And reached a great effect! NOE'S LULLABY is a one-tracker that is very different from the known OSSO EXOTICO-material: very creepy, slow-down percussive-pulses, dark & droney, lots of cymbal-sounds, distorted basses, almost a post-rock dark-drone mixture...
www.rossbin.com
"Noe's Lullaby is a mysterious recording in several senses of the word. Portuguese composer David Maranha has chosen to be obscure regarding instrumentation, listing the performers (a septet) but not what they're using to produce the sounds. From the aural evidence and what one can discern from past projects of his, it appears that such devices as stroked metal strings, wine glasses, harmoniums, guitars, and percussion (all with perhaps some electronic modulation) are among them. The music itself also has an air of mystery, even ritual. Difficult to pinpoint, it has something of Arnold Dreyblatt, but without the fast, intricate rhythms, staying entirely in a steady, slow tempo. On the other hand, there's more than a taste of Tony Conrad but much more rhythmically active. Pauline Oliveros' Deep Listening Band comes to mind, but there's not a shred of new agey fuzziness here. The beats are sometimes hammered on metallic surfaces, buttressed by crashing cymbals, other times implied in a throbbing pulse possibly generated by string overtones, but never entirely lost. This rhythmic motif, as viscous and syrupy as it is, makes Noe's Lullaby quite approachable for ears attuned to more rock-like bands such as Godspeed You Black Emperor!. The drone aspect of the single, lengthy piece could get suffocating were it not for the care lavished on all the accompanying details, the subtle embellishments floating alongside the drones. Indeed, as the work goes on those ornaments take on an independent (though adjacent) life of their own, every bit as solid and imaginative as the underlying throb. This interplay, even tension, helps make Maranha's piece as fascinating on an intellectual level as it is luxurious on a purely sensual one." [Allmusic.com]
|
2007 |
€6.00 |
|
| MARANHA, DAVID & HELENA ESPVALL |
Sombras Incendiadas |
LP |
"Helena Espvall first met David Maranha in 2006 when her band Espers played a show in Lisbon. They played two gigs the following year, and Espvall contributed to Maranha's Marches of the New World. Since then they always had the intention of working together more extensively and once Espvall moved to Lisbon two years ago they had no more excuses. Sombras Incendiadas ('Exploding Shadows') features Espvall on amplified cello and Maranha on electric organ and amplified violin. Espvall has an amazing cello sound, kind of Velvet Underground, while David Maranha is in the vein of La Monte Young or Tony Conrad. As a duo, they create heavy drones with delicate harmonics behind the wall of sound. The textures are raw, the compositions are minimalistic, and the riffs are heady. The repetitive patterns played very loudly create a monolithic, hypnotic, and time stopping album. Sombras Incendiadas is available on LP (with a download coupon) and digitally. David Maranha, violin, electric organ. Helena Espvall, cello. Recorded in Violente do Céu by David Maranha between december 2012 and march 2013."
www.three-four.net
"Over the course of many years I have been enjoying the music from David Maranha a lot. First when he was playing with Osso Exotico, a group with among others his brother Andre, and later on solo or in collaboration with others. One could easily say, with any exaggeration, that Maranha represents minimal music in Portugal, more so than say Rafael Toral who is more the 'drone' master (before he started being interested in jazz). Here he teams up with Helena Espvall from Sweden, who lives in Philadelphia, where she is part of the psychedelic and free-folk scene. In 2006 they met for the first time, when Espvall played in Lisbon and since Espvall lives in that city for two years it's only natural they would work together. There are three instruments on this record: Espvall's amplified cello and Maranha playing electric organ and amplified violin. The music reminds the more informed listener of the drone/noise/minimalism of the sixties; think Tony Conrad (especially him) or a heavily
amplified and drugged out LaMonte Young or maybe The Velvet Underground in their normal habitat, less any drums. It's busy as hell, with these loud, repetitive moves that sound like a menace and it's nowhere mechanical. This is a heavy record, I must say. It's not for the weak of hearth and mind: it goes right into your brain and sticks like thick knitting needle; it goes under your skin and never leaves. This is not the kind of drone aiming to please the listener, but make him sit upright and listens carefully. Play loud is not something I would say easily, but in this case: yes, absolutely play very loud and don't engage yourself in any other activity, other than listening and be fully immersed." [FdW/Vital Weekly]
|
2015 |
€14.00 |
|
| MARANHA, DAVID & Z'EV |
Obsidiana |
CD |
"David Maranha, hammond organ. Z'ev, stainless steel discs, bass drum, maracas. Recorded live at zdb, Lisbon, 24 june 2010. Certain musicians names can speak for themselves, before even a note of music has been played. Their reputations proceed them, although of course there will also be those ignorant of both reputation and name. David Maranha - solo or with Osso Exotico - explores the territories opened up half a century ago by John Cale and Tony Conrad. Z'ev is the grandmaster of industrial/ tribal percussion. The fusion they create together is a magma of movement and stasis before which only legless cripples will remain motionless." [label info]
www.sonoris.org
"A meeting of minimalists, I'd say, but minimalists with a maximum output. I saw David Maranha once in concert at his organ, loud and long, and minimal, like Terry Riley on speed. Z'EV is a man to play percussion on stainless steel discs, bass drum and maracas and most his playing is minimal, letting tones do the work in the space it is played in, leading to heavy bouncing sounds. These two heavy weights plays a concert at ZDB in Lisbon on June 24 2010 and the result is this thirty-five some piece. It starts out moody and slow, silent with Z'EV playing the stainless steel discs, waving the listeners into some kind of obscure magic ritual which is about to take place. Tones bend in various directions and slowly the hammond organ on Maranha comes in and from then on things evolve in quite a natural way, but once everything is in place it no longer carries that ritualist tag, but unfolds itself as a great psychedelic piece of music. Terry Riley meets the Velvet Underground. When Z'EV picks up the maracas to play the bass drum, Maranha starts adding some fine clusters in the lower region, and both knit a very dense pattern of closely linked tones. Maybe just a bit short with a bit too abrupt ending, and next to being at the real concert, I can imagine the CD is best substitute." [FdW/Vital Weekly]
|
2012 |
€10.00 |
|
| MARC WANNABE |
Things don't last very long |
CD |
Schwülstig-obskure rhythmische Elektronik, oder wie soll man das nennen, was MAREK WANTZECK hier produziert hat? Rollend abgefederte Beats werden mit allerlei vokalen Geräusch-emissionen verwurstet, der Effekt ist (jedenfalls bei mir und einigen von meinen 1000 selfs), dass man verwirrt das Tanzbein schwingen muss. Filed under: Mind-fuck-Techno!
“After 3 years the third rumbling album by Marc Wannabe finally is released! A journey through 12 crackling & grooving tracks, based mainly on the sounding sputum of throat & mouth. 60 minutes of straight & oblique rhythms, pulsating basses & energetic transfers. Old friends showing up, leaving breathes, noises & voices, and also the well known old pleated robots can be found somewhere... Marek Wantzéck (aka Marc Wannabe) explains the conceptual background of this album:
"How to handle that professional music as we know it? Well, the construction, you see, really made me start to use situations and transistors radios. And that became an image of the piece what was happening around me. And the title really came after the piece and is like a silent protest. So there was a strong connection there with things don´t last very long." That may answering a lot - but not everything. To get the full spectrum of possible answers: Listen to this CD!” [press release]
"Cultureclash. Kampf der Genres. Audiogebrösel aus dem kollektiven Musikgedächtnis der letzten Jahre. Hip-Hop, Grime, Dub, Experimentelles und abstrahiertes Rhythmusgefühl. Random Music, bizarres Audiotheater für Leute, die unter ihre Achim Wollscheid-MP3s einen Technobeat mischen.
Marc Wannabe präsentiert mit »Things Don't Last Very Long« fucked up Jazz, Knödelpop, dümmliche Hip-Hop Etüden und breites Verständnis für jegliche Form von öffentlichkeitsfern entstandenen Schülerhandyaufnahmen getreu dem Motto: mach mir die Sau für 1 Minute Schulhofimpression. Alles aufgezeichnet. Da darf es auch mal grunzen oder spastische Vokalverrenkungen geben. Mach dich zum Horst verdammt noch mal.
Wannabe darf alles, erlaubt sich alles und zieht auch noch andere mit hinein. Column One sind dabei und dürfen Wannebe auditiv abkanzeln und ihn in der Karzer schicken, während Stea Andreasson ihn wieder aus der Ecke zieht um ihm mit rotem Lolitamund die Leviten zu lesen. Andreassons filmisches Zitateschnippeln aus der Krimiserie Der Alte mag da als pädagogisches Anschauungsmaterial dienen.
Das braucht es dann auch mal. Alle Register werden hier gezogen. Und wer das alles nicht versteht, sollte die CD mal vor der Schule in der Cliquenraucherecke abspielen. Damit bist du einer von allen bei soviel stilistischer Vielfalt." [Thorsten Soltau / AEMAG] |
2005 |
€10.00 |
|
| MARGOLIS, AL / IF, BWANA |
An Innocent, Abroad |
CD |
Zwei grossartige neue Stücke von IF BWANA aka AL MARGOLIS, der im Frühjahr 2008 auch endlich mal in Euopa live zu sehen war (z.B. im Hamburger B-MOVIE). AN INNOCENT ABROAD lässt sich als höchst strange & surreale Geräuschmusik charakterisieren, basierend auf der Stimme von LISA BARNARD und Flöteneinspielungen, in einer NURSE WITH WOUND-ähnlichen Machart bearbeitet und collagiert.
"The new Al Margolis/If, Bwana cd is comprised of Issue, for electronics and multi-tracked voice, and An Innocent, Abroad, a 40 plus minute work for electronics, vocals, and flutes. An Innocent, Abroad can be best described as a Sonic Oratorio: an assemblage, a construction of an event that never happened or will happen. A live installation for radio, perhaps. There is no "meaning" to the text. All parts were drawn or are inter-related to the original vocal track, recorded by Lisa Barnard, which is no longer present. The text/voice part has been multi-tracked and now represents five "separate entities". The electronic parts have been extracted and processed from the original vocal track. The five flute parts were performed by Jane Rigler and Jacqueline Martelle, and was be improvised by them. They recorded to the separate voice tracks. None of the performers heard the entire piece that they worked on. Lisa Barnard is a vocalist and performance artist. Most noted work is her interpretations of her dreams into original performances for Deep Listening Institute's annual Dream Festivals. Jacqueline Martelle is a flutist and arts administrator, living in New York City since 1996. She performs new music and has recorded on the Mode and Centaur record labels. Jane Rigler, flutist, composer, educator and producer is an active featured performer in contemporary music festivals throughout the U.S. and Europe as a soloist as well as within chamber ensembles
Al Margolis was one of the prime movers in the cassette underground scene of the 1980s (between 1984 and 1991 his Sound Of Pig label released over 300 cassettes of music by the likes of Merzbow, Costes, Amy Denio, John Hudak and Jim O'Rourke) and is the éminence grise behind twenty-three years of music under the name If, Bwana. He is the man behind the Pogus label, as well as label manager for Deep Listening, XI Records, and Mutable Music." [label info]
"The resulting texture sounds more like a Horatiu Radulescu piece performed by Morphogenesis." [DW]
www.pogus.com
|
2007 |
€13.00 |
|
| MARK SCHAUB |
Damaged Future |
CD |
https://anomala.bandcamp.com/album/damaged-future
"Unlike the electro-acoustic suite “Combustion” which inaugurated the catalog of Anomala Soundscapes in the split album together with Daniele Pecorelli, Mark Schaub’s new work develops on various levels articulating between very dissimilar styles and sounds. The trait d’union between these short compositions is the attempt to recreate the apocalyptic scenarios of BALLARD in music, an author so dear to a certain industrial culture that here once again he returns to the center of speech in a series of sounding rooms that, as in the story narrated in “Condominium” by the English author, they seem to overlap in a complex structure regulated by the forces of evil. To accomplish this paradoxical “ascension into hell”, Schaub therefore relies on disparate means, from the ghostly setting of “Misty Rain” to string instruments that reverberate in the distance in “Old Paths” while a television on seems to be the only sign of life still perceptible, from the liquefied and radioactive lounge music of “A Crossroads Overhead” to the abstract and futuristic electro-jazz of “Collide”, up to the glacial desolation of “Rests of a Damaged Future”, a purifying and definitive showdown.is extinct." [Massimiliano Busti Blow Up Magazine]
|
2019 |
€13.00 |
|
| MAROS, MIKLOS |
Maros at EMS. 1970-1979 |
Fylkingen Records FYCD 1025 |
"Analog and computer-generated electroacoustic music and mixed pieces for voice, instruments and live-electronics, realized at EMS - the Stockholm Electronic Music Studio. (now the Stockholm Institute of Electroacoustic Music)
1. Rege [Tale] (1970) 10’36"
2. Manipulation I (1976) 6’57" for basson, Svensson-Box and live-electronics
3. Rörelser [Movements] (1973) 7’29"
4. Manipulation II (1977) 8’28" for soprano and live-electronics
5. Manipulation III (1978) 7’33" for basson, violoncello, Svensson-Box and live-electronics
6. Ostinato (1975) 9’44"
7. Manipulation IV (1979) 6’35" for soprano, zither and live-electronics
8. Violasonata (1970) 11’05" for viola and live-electronics
All compositions by Miklós Maros
Miklós Maros - live-electronics
Ilona Maros - soprano
Attila Bodor - viola
Ingrid Gabrielsson - zither
Knut Sönstevold - basson
Peter Schuback - violoncello
Exerpt from the booklet text by Sten Hansson:
"When Miklós began working at EMS, the big hybrid synthesizer—one of the first of its kind in the world—was still under construction, and the only available instrument was the Sound workshop, a classic analog studio and the place where almost all of the early electroacoustic works in Sweden were composed.
When the computerized studio opened in 1973, Miklós composed his work Movements, one of the very first compositions completed there.
By then, Miklós has started to work as an instructor in the studio, and later he became teacher of electroacoustic music at the conservatory. His involvement with electroacoustic music lasted for a ten-year period through the seventies.
This makes him one of the pioneers of the genre in Sweden, not least because his so called mixed pieces, works for tape together with traditional instruments, a genre that he was one of the very few in Sweden to explore.
. . .
It is therefor important that this record is published, not only for its musical qualities, but also to establish his place among the electroacoustic pioneers." [website info]
www.fylkingen.se
|
2012 |
€12.50 |
|
| MAROW |
+-0 |
CD |
"... Yes, this album has tracks with a 4/4 beat, but it is still far from being commercial or club music. However, the subtle melodies, the distinct Marow sound and the crystal-clear production make +-0 (pronounced: "Plus Minus Null") a pleasure to listen to even for advanced listeners. Mille Plateaux's A&R Marcus Gabler continues to follow his idea of "more substance by more musicality." A must for Yagya, Monolake or Thinner label fans." [label info]
"Intrigue in subtlety: A pendulum between active and passive listening.
Plus Minus Null, he newest album by the Berlin-based electronic group Marow is the sort of perfectly chilled-out fare that accompanies late solitary evenings or a post-club car ride home. Glossy synth pads swell over minimalist, glitch-y electronic beats. Old school hip-hop samples chirp around four-to-the-floor house beats and lounge-y keyboard figures. Clicking metallic rhythms and digital blips move antiphonally around slowly oscillating space-age synth sounds. While the record’s quiet subtleties make for ideal mood music, its depth of color and texture bring you back for repeated listens.
Plus Minus Null is first and foremost atmosphere music. There’s little in the way of melody or harmonic motion over the course of the record’s thirteen songs. Instead, the music is built on meditative repetitions and stripped down production touches that occasionally touch on classical minimalism à la Steve Reich. That’s not to say that there’s nothing going on here—rather, the music’s intrigue is in its subtlety: the faint vocal samples in “präfix,” the simulated mallet percussion of “schweif,” the huffing synth pops of “substrativ.” “eis (long)” is an intoxicating cloud of windchimes and floating keyboard pulses. Repeated listens to the mesmerizing “e.coli (rmx)” reveal ever-emerging layers and sonic colors.
Plus Minus Null is best ingested as a whole. The songs flow seamlessly into one another, making for a meditative suite that pendulums the listener between active and passive listening. At some points, the music seeps so far into the background that it’s easy to forget it’s even there. But then or a subtle shift in texture or rhythm brings you back to reveal a new, quietly engaging element of depth and color." [Hannis Brown / Tokafi]
|
2011 |
€13.00 |
|
| MASKED DIODE |
same |
mCD-R |
"MASKED DIODE is an industrial noise unit in Japan. There are several splendid noise units that are not yet known in Japan. MASKED DIODE Diode is one of some such units. The first really power-electronic orientated Japanese noise stuff with vocals! Sometimes harsh and with a lot of power, sometimes more ritual!" [label info]
www.lwhite-records.de
|
2006 |
€9.00 |
|
| MASONNA |
Hate |
do-LP |
A towering holy grail of Japan noise music, Urashima is proud to present the first ever vinyl reissue of Masonna’s astoundingly ambitious and very ultra limited cassette, Hate, in one stunning gatefold cover double LP, in a limited edition in just 299 copies. Among the most ferocious and rare cassette from the artist discography, finally entering the light of day on vinyl analogue support. Grab a copy while you can. There aren’t many, and they’re not going to sit around for long.
https://urashima.bandcamp.com/track/hate-part-2
|
2021 |
€32.00 |
|
| MATHES, JEREMIE |
Efequen |
CD |
"Efequén is a recollection of the geomorphological structure of the island of Lanzarote which I visited in March of 2010. During one week I had the opportunity to amass various sounds in different parts of this volcanic and arid land. My initial goal wasn’t to represent a pure or realistic sound map of this island, but rather to interlace it with my errancies during my time there. My intention was to transcribe the sonic sensation of this semi-arid wilderness surrounded by limitless ocean.
I built my score by assembling, merging and permuting the sound fragments that I had collected. I worked to reveal my personal aural perception of this delimited land, where volcanic activity is still underlying, where nature appears hostile but is under permanent reconquest.
In Arrecife, I spent several hours with my stereophonic microphone gear, recording crowd and human activity. The harbor was also a focal point where I had the opportunity to use my hydrophone setup.
Ciclos is a hybrid combination of sound elements from bubbling aquatic plants, a decaying metal bridge and aeolian effects on constructions.
Los Caletones is a specific sandy bay to the north of the island where I made a series of recordings from the action of the ocean ebb and flow on volcanic black rock.
Atlante del Sol is an abandoned hotel in the south area of the island exposed to the elements in the middle of lava fields. This sonic piece is built from debris and objects found cast up by the ocean.
El Golfo is a small locality on the southeast coast of Lanzarote close to Timanfaya National Park, a protected area. I achieved capturing the sound of black sand swell from the beach at El Charcos del Ciclos."(Jérémie Mathes, January 2013)
www.unfathomless.net
|
2013 |
€14.00 |
|
| |
Oiarzun |
mCD-R |
"the work of french artist jérémie mathes is based on captation and manipulation of vibrant matters of acoustic origins through various field recording techniques and the use of music instruments as sound generators.
this 3" is only his fourth published work, after two albums on mystery sea and another one on the sadly defunct basses frequences imprint." [label info]
www.taalem.com
"Perhaps it was indeed some time ago since we last saw new releases by Taleem, who excuse themselves for the recent 'long pause'. In their series of mini ambient albums it's time for two that can be classified as musique concrete meeting ambient. The first is by Jeremie Mathes, who previous work was released on Mystery Sea and Basses Frequences, and who uses recordings here from an abandoned farmhouse and inside 'le semaphore de calleloungue', which is in the national park of the calanques. There are water sounds, which run through more of this work (pun intended), sonic debris, crackling of leaves and all of that some highly dark and mysterious sounds that lurk underneath. Slow approaching violence, perhaps. It's all quite dark and highly atmospheric. Just like pretty much all of his work so far, which is of a consistent highly quality." [FdW/Vital Weekly]
|
2013 |
€5.00 |
|
| MCDOUGALL, JAMES & HIROKI SASAJIMA |
Injya |
CD |
" “Sometimes, the impossible is a basket of new unlikely seeds – realizing the geographical difficulty of working in unison on the same site, we opted for using at least common geologic context, not knowing where this could lead us…
What could come indeed out of distance, sensory communion, a mutual love for depicting the relief of things, its tactility ?…perhaps as with the best abstraction, a fertilizing stream, something perhaps larger than what the initial elements could have implied…something surprising even to us…
“Injya” is the encounter of our combined wanderings, and most probably the emergence of an imaginary entity powerful enough to engage us in a strange way…”(James McDougall/layout by Daniel Crokaert)" [label info]
www.unfathomless.net
"Both of these artists can be regarded as 'new kids' on the block of field recordings, coming to the foreground in recent years with a plethora of releases on labels as Sentient Recognition Archive, U-Cover, Dataobscura, Test Tube, Resting Bell and Mystery Sea - the latter doing a solo release by both of them. On their subdivision Unfathomless they have a collaborative disc of music, based on field recordings made in their own locale (the Akigawa Valley/Otake Limestone Caves, Japan in Sasajima's case and The D'Aguilar Mountain Range, North West of Brisbane, Australia in McDougall's case) and then 'equally developed'. 'The sensitive issue of not occupying the same token sites was acknowledged and it was opted instead for a common geologic context' - whatever that means. Its a release that has some questions: for instance: is there any processing and if so to which extent? How does this collaboration work anyway? Are recordings from both locations simply played together, or has there been any kind of mixing going on? Its all not easy to say. I think there has been some form of processing, mainly just EQ-ing, bringing out more high or low end frequencies, especially in the third and fourth pieces. Also I think that in all four pieces they have searched for specific characteristics of the provided sounds and set them together, with some extent of mixing. I also kept thinking: why should I bother thinking of what they did or didn't do: these four pieces are very good, a culmination of field recordings that, once together, make great sense. Not minimal, hardly changing music, but vibrant, always on the move, full of tension, evocative and beautiful. Excellent, if not always the most original, but that is perhaps quite hard." [FdW/Vital Weekly]
|
2011 |
€14.00 |
|
| 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 |
|
| MCFALL, CHRISTOPHER |
The Body as I left it |
CD |
"CD edition limited to 500 copies. This collection of works was assembled in 2009 and was composed using piano, a broken phonograph player, field recordings and sampled material. I think that this release embodies a certain diversity in terms of content because at the time I was recording these works I was experimenting with several different approaches to developing new compositions involving the use of a more melodic approach to things. Once the release was completed, I had several thoughts in reference to a title and the title 'The Body As I Left It' seemed the most appropriate to me given the circumstances that had occurred during the time of it's creation. (text by Christopher McFall) On this new series of recordings Christopher McFall enriches his personal urban ethnographic work with a palette of concrete musical materials and the sounds of failing playback equipment. This combination has yielded an album which succeeds in remaining a recognizable development in the work of this composer, while revealing a whole range of sensibilities which were previously not heard in his recordings. Once again Christopher has created a work of great subtlety which contains a sense of narrative while eluding any simple descriptives or conclusive understanding of its contents. (text by Asher Thal Nir)" [label info]
"Not much information on this new release by Christopher McFall. 'composed in Kansas City, MO 2008-9', 'untitled i-vii' and the title. Not even the website of Asher's label Sourdine is mentioned on the package. Let the music speak for itself. McFall has had already a bunch of releases on Gears Of Sand and Entr'acte, and also in the digital domain his work can be found. Up until now I believed his work was mainly based around the extensive use of field recordings and processing thereof. The empty land around Kansas City, the empty warehouses and silos, but here, perhaps for the first time, it seems that McFall also uses musical instruments, primarily, I think, piano sounds. These too are processed, and mingled with the field recordings and voice material. Its an interesting new phase McFall enters here. The overall musical touch brought to the table is gentle, quiet and altogether alters the music of McFall quite a bit. The sound is deepened, without losing its original focus. The musical elements are a great supplement to the field recordings, but perhaps that could also be said vice versa. An excellent work. This music indeed speaks for itself." [FdW/Vital Weekly]
|
2010 |
€13.00 |
|
| MECHA / ORGA |
56:24 |
CD |
Filed under: polyphonic power-drones! Griechisches Projekt mit einem sonoren Drone one-tracker, der an HAFLER TRIO oder NIBLOCK erinnert, Obertöne überschlagen und überlagern sich wellenartig, das ganze wird allmählich immer lauter und massiver in einem fast unmerkliches Crescendo, das furios anschwillt, zum Ende hin gewinnen die Drones eine schon unangenehmen Druck & Präsenz ! Intensiv und definitiver TIP!
“...as if a garden being planted and you are watching all the process from the bare earth to the colourful result, comes “56:24”... generating a drone layer which slowly starts the cultivation process where layers upon layers slowly build a delicate atmosphere and the way they expand and grow draws an even more colourful result, as if a swarm of insects spreads the pollen in our garden, helping it grow even more beautiful and even more colourful, lasting in a flabbergasting droning result... or at least, such was the atmosphere last march in Halandri where Yiorgis Sakellariou (aka Mecha-Orga) premiered this piece for us. And it was John Pallas, who by the time the set ended proposed absurd the cd release and didn't leave until we 3 shook hands... such also was our life in our 2006, like a fertile garden, with lots of releases and trips here and there, always ending with our occasional meetings at cafe Amarrylis in Kifissia for coffee (Mecha-Orga) & Shitloads of alcohol (absurd) or at “Varsos Kifissia” to enjoy our sweets & cofee (Mecha-Orga), hot-cold chocolate (absurd). and as a friend wondered of how the future will look like, we thought nice to picture Mecha-Orga on the cd's front cover sleeve, as a middle aged man, thinking of how he'll create his next piece-live set and a grey haired absurd on the cd label, probably in a meeting w-someone to discuss an upcoming release or project in one of editions_zero's side-ghost labels, book publishing houses, etc etc etc... comes highly recommended if you fancy instant trips to colourful droning soundgardens!!!” [Nicolas Malevitsis]
"The name Mecha/orga keeps popping up in Vital Weekly and though not entirely a household name, it should be one, at least some day. His new CD could be of great help to achieve this. Mecha/orga is the name chosen by Yiorgis Sakellariou from Greece, who works since time under this guise (and plays regular music as well under various other guises and in various other capacities). The work, indicated by it's length, was created one afternoon in february last year, and played live there after a couple of time. No bullshitting about. The length becomes the title, and the listener can come up with his or her own story. Mecha/orga plays drone music. On a laptop. How much more simple can it get? Or rather does it have to be complex? No it doesn't. Over the course of the fifty-six minutes and twenty-four seconds Yiorgis Sakellariou plays a slowly unfolding piece of drone music, which seems to be growing in intensity throughout. When you think nothing more can be added, he adds another layer. And another. And another. Most suitable to play in the dark, at night and ghostly activities will surely occur. Or during the day, outside and watching plants grow. Multi-purpose music, I'd say. Great stuff. Powerful music." [FdW / Vital Weekly]
www.void.gr/absurd
|
2007 |
€13.00 |
|
| MEDERY, LUDOVIC |
Les Pierres Seches |
CD |
It’s within the framework of a disused factory located in Liège, a post-industrial city of Belgium that I gathered the sound recordings over a six months period (March till August 2016).
This factory is in St Leonard quarter (in the North part of the city, dubbed sometimes as “North Quarter”). At a time of whom some still remember, workshops, some small factories & stores flourished there between 1950 and 1980.
Historically, this quarter saw these factories and stores emerge and die. Scars from this process still strew across the place, namely empty shop fronts hastily refurbished with scraps and abandoned buildings not waiting anymore for its workers.
As the years went by, this quarter met different populations from the four corners of Europe and Africa, first for the coal, and then for the steel industry. The Meuse is the river which splits the city into two banks, the left one is bordered by St Leonard Quarter.
Intimately bound to the history of this Quarter, the building I explored is adjacent to the esplanade erected and completed in 2006. This esplanade which grew up as some breathing space and meeting place for its inhabitants had formerly a totally different function.
It was the place where the prison of the city sat. Moved by a vivid exploration desire and curiosity, I wandered through the site many times until it became inaccessible.
During my visits, I divided my sound recordings in 3 phases :
– sound ambience without intervention
– sound ambiences with interventions within the space
– searches for objects of all sizes allowing me to create other sounds and play sequences.
~
C’est dans le cadre d’une usine désaffectée de Liège, ville post-industrielle de Belgique, que j’ai réalisé ces captations sonores sur une période de 6 mois (mars à août 2016).
Cette usine se situe dans le quartier St Léonard (situé dans nord de la ville on le surnomme parfois Quartier Nord). A une époque dont certains se souviennent encore, des ateliers, de petites usines et commerces y florissaient entre 1950 et 1980.
Historiquement, ce quartier a vu naître et mourir ces usines et commerces. Ces cicatrices encore visibles parsèment le quartier. Vitrines vides réhabilitées à la va-vite avec des bouts de rien et bâtiments à l’abandon n’attendant plus les ouvriers qui les fréquentaient. Au fil des années, ce quartier a vu arriver différentes populations venant des quatre coins de l’Europe et d’Afrique. D’abord pour le charbonnage, ensuite pour la sidérurgie. « La Meuse » est le fleuve qui sépare la ville en deux rives, la gauche est bordée par le quartier Saint Léonard.
Intimement lié a l’histoire de ce quartier, le bâtiment que j’ai visité lors de cette exploration est attenant à l’esplanade qui à été construite et achevée en 2006. Cette esplanade devenu espace de respiration et rencontre entre habitants avait auparavant une toute autre fonction, c’était là où se situait la prison de la ville. Animé par le désir d’exploration et la curiosité, j’ai exploré à plusieurs occasions ce site jusqu’à ce qu’il soit complètement inaccessible.
Durant mes visites, j’ai décidé de diviser mes captations en trois phases;
– ambiance sonore sans intervention
– ambiance sonores avec interventions dans l’espace
– recherche d’objets de toute taille me permettant de créer d’autres sons et séquences jeux.
(Ludovic Medery, January 2020)
LOCATION : a disused factory in Liège.
50.6500253 N / 5.5840799 E
Sound recordings made with omnidirectional, cardioid and contact mics. Additional electronic sounds made with analog synthesizer, a ring modulator, a delay, and a feedback generator.
Mixed, assembled, and mastered by Ludovic Medery 2017-2020.
Additional art card, cover design & treatments by Daniel Crokaert.
Based exclusively on photos by Cathy Alvarez Valle & Ludovic Medery.
https://unfathomless.bandcamp.com/album/les-pierres-s-ches
|
2020 |
€14.00 |
|
| MEELKOP, ROEL |
Momentum |
CD |
Second release on HERIBERT FRIEDLS new label !
“To many Roel meelkop is a musician of microsound music, with releases on Trente Oiseaux, Staalplaat, Intransitive, but he was originally trained as a visual artist and even sold a painting once. Since he is involved in music he has also a built a number of sound installations. The once I saw all involved multiple speakers, sometimes hidden in the ceiling or in trees, and the music moving over the speakers. It's an entirely different thing to make music for this than for the stereo set up of a CD release. But on this new CD (and for once one that hasn't been lying around for years), meelkop reduces his multiple speaker installations to a stereo mix, taking it out of the original concept of the installation, but to be enjoyed as music for the home. As per usual, meelkop doesn't tell us much about the actual installation, and the titles leave not much to know either. So with everything removed other than the music (a very meelkopian thing to do), we are left with six pieces from the period 1997 to 2004, which continue his work explored before on his releases up-to the recently reviewed '5 (Ambiences)', when things got more 'ambient' (see Vital Weekly 488). There are hints here of the forthcoming minimalist and ambient style, such as in lengthy 'Sined', from 2002, with it's soft outbursts of sine wave sounds. Overall this is a most enjoyable CD, and if there should have been any differentiation between work on CD and installation, meelkop has successfully managed to wipe these differences out. These pieces work also quite well outside the context of installations.” [Frans de Waard / Vital Weekly]
www.nonvisualobjects.com
|
2005 |
€14.50 |
|
| MEELKOP, ROEL & MECHA/ORGA |
Rotterdam 54:21 |
CD |
"This first collaboration between Roel Meelkop and Yiorgis Sakellariou consists of three pieces, two solos and one duet. Unusual and groundbreaking combination of modified field recordings and twisted sound of old analogue synths shows the distinct and personal approach to the electronic composition, shaped throughout the years of studio practice. Release date is 29th December 2012. Limited edition of 500 copies in jewelcase." [label info]
www.monochromevision.ru
"Roel Meelkop may not have been born in the city of Rotterdam, he's been there for more than half his life now, so he probably knows every in and out, and is a perfect guide for the city and the extended harbor. He toured the city, armed with a tape recorder and with Yiorgis Sakellariou, also known as Mecha/orga to tape the beauty and the ugliness of the big city. Afterwards they went down to Worm, Rotterdam's finest when it comes to staging experimental music, or more in particular to their in-door CEM studio (who moved since 1959 all over the country, Hilversum, Arnhem, Amsterdam and now Rotterdam), where we have some vintage synth modules. Here the sound was treated further and then stuck together as a collage of electronic music. Then it was played live a couple of times and ended up on a silver shiny disc. Thirty minutes together and then fifteen Meelkop solo and nine minutes Mecha/orga solo. Probably I am not the right person to shed any light on this release - too close involved and all that. But this is one damn fine release. The collaborative piece flows all into eachother with the solo ones. Whereas in the collaboration they use the collage form, setting field recordings aside from the electronics at one point, mixing and filtering them together at another point, making an intense, rich form of collage. In his solo piece, Meelkop seems to be concentrating on sustaining sounds from motorized objects, slowly filtering and fading several together, while Mecha/orga is more on the field recordings side of this matter, which is no doubt more his line of business. An excellent collaborative work and a story that will continue this year, not with the same line-up, but from these fruitful weeks in The Netherlands in April 2012." [FdW/Vital Weekly] |
2012 |
€12.00 |
|
| MEERKAT |
Kapnos |
CD |
"In 2003 Maurizio Bianchi and Matteo Uggeri / Hue met through Afe Records; three years later Maurizio asked Matteo for a musical collaboration, which grew up quickly under the design of a long term project called "Between the Elements", a sort of music transposition of concepts that lies in the empty spaces between the natural elements, which are over-abused terms in the New Age music scene.
Two albums were published in 2008: one about the concept of "clouds" ("Nefelodhis", by MB and the post-rock band Sparkle in Grey) and one about the concept of "desert" ("Erimos", by MB with Hue and Luca Bergero / Fhievel).
One year later, the third chapter entitled "Kapnos" – Greek for "smoke" - is finally available. The industrial master contributes to back notes and concept, but keeps his hands far from the musical matter, leaving it to the expertise of ten of the most interesting experimental musicians of the Italian scene, united under the cryptic name of Meerkat.
The Meerkat ensemble is formed by a group of musicians working in the field of experimental music, drones, microsounds and field recordings: Adriano Zanni / Punck, Matteo Uggeri / Hue, Luca Sigurtà, Luca Bergero / Fhievel, Davide Valecchi / Aal, Andrea Ferraris / Ics, Fabio Selvafiorita, Paolo Ippoliti (Logoplasm), Laura Lovreglio (Logoplasm) and Andrea Marutti / Amon / Never Known.
The tracks on "Kapnos" present a surprising homogeneity in spite of the different attitudes of the artists, which mixed their experiences in each track creating new unforeseen connections, working in pairs or in threesome on each track.
The Meerkat members also joint their efforts releasing the CD, which is in fact published by Afe (Andrea Marutti), Grey Sparkle (Matteo Uggeri), Nighthawks Tapes (Paolo Ippoliti) and Ctrl+Alt+Canc (Adriano Zanni).
Under these premises, "Kapnos" represents an unique effort in the swarming Italian music scene of the '00s." [label info]
"...The music is excellent - a fine mixture of styles and interests from these guys. All the elements one would expect are there, the field recordings, drones, ambience, microscopic detailed sounds. Great stuff here." [FdW / Vital Weekly]
www.aferecords.com
|
2009 |
€12.00 |
|
| MEGAPTERA |
Near Death |
LP |
Urashima's vinyl reissue captures the essence of "Near Death" in its purest form. The tactile experience of placing the needle on the vinyl and allowing the album to unfold as intended by the artists adds a new dimension to the sonic journey. The haunting melodies and unsettling textures resonate even more powerfully, making this reissue not just a reproduction but a revival of the album's visceral impact.
Immerse yourself in the mysterious and haunting world of "Megaptera," a captivating music project that pushes the boundaries of industrial and dark ambient genres. Initiated by Peter Nyström alongside Mikael Svensson, with the participation of Magnus Åslund, "Megaptera" embarked on a sonic journey into the heart of darkness, where atmospheric textures and chilling soundscapes intertwine.
"Megaptera" is a project that defies conventional classification. The trio's early collaboration set the groundwork for soundscapes that delve into the darkest corners of the psyche, inviting listeners to confront their fears and delve into the unknown.
At the core of "Megaptera" lies an intricate fusion of industrial rhythms, unsettling textures, and atmospheric layers. Each composition is a sonic voyage, transporting the audience to realms where the borders between reality and imagination blur. The music possesses an uncanny ability to evoke emotions that are rarely explored, creating an intense and immersive experience for those who dare to listen.
Prepare to be transported to the edge of consciousness with the Urashima's vinyl reissue of "Megaptera - Near Death." Originally released on Sound Source .1917. cassette in 1991, this pivotal album not only marked the inception of the "Megaptera" project but also carved a niche for itself in the annals of dark ambient and industrial music.
"Near Death" is a journey into the depths of the human psyche, a descent into the unknown territories of the mind. With the collaborative efforts of Peter Nyström, Mikael Svensson, and the participation of Magnus Åslund, the album takes on an even more profound resonance. The combined creativity of these minds birthed a sonic masterpiece that fuses haunting atmospheres, experimental soundscapes, and industrial rhythms into a symphony of darkness.
From the first notes, "Near Death" envelops the listener in an uncanny aura, a sense of foreboding that guides you through its enigmatic passages. The album is a testament to the trio's ability to manipulate sound, sculpting it into a chilling narrative that unfolds across its tracks. The atmospheric textures evoke a sense of unease, while the pulsating rhythms create a hypnotic rhythm that carries you along the journey. Throughout the album, there's a palpable tension, a feeling of being suspended between reality and a realm of shadows. The layers of sound intertwine, creating an intricate web that seems to echo the labyrinthine corridors of the subconscious. The distant whispers, eerie drones, and subtle shifts in dynamics pull the listener deeper, inviting introspection and exploration.
In a world that often shies away from the darker corners of human experience, "Near Death" is a fearless exploration. It is an invitation to confront the shadows that dwell within us, a reflection of the mysteries that lie beneath the surface. As the vinyl spins and the sounds envelop you, you'll find yourself embarking on a sonic odyssey that is equal parts unsettling and transformative. "Megaptera" is not for the faint of heart; it is an invitation to confront the shadows that reside within us all. Through its intense sonic explorations, the project beckons listeners to embrace the darkness and embark on a journey that delves into the most primal aspects of human experience.
https://urashima.bandcamp.com/album/near-death
|
2023 |
€25.00 |
|
| MEIRINO, FRANCISCO & KIKO C. ESSEIVA |
Focus on Nothing on Focus |
LP |
"A unique work stemming from a studio collaboration between Francisco Meirino and Kiko C. Esseiva. Using the same source material each artist composed one side of the LP. Assembled in 2012 and 2013 from hours of multitrackrecordings using reel-to-reel tape recorders, emf detectors, piezo transducers, analogue synths and various homemade sound objects. Discover, compare, enjoy the work of these two sound artists ! High Quality 180g Vinyl with excellent sound - not at least due to the cut done by Flo Kaufmann. Numbered edition of 300 copies." [label info]
www.aussenraumrecords.com
"Whether it’s relevant or not I don’t know, but immediately before listening to Focus on Nothing on Focus by Francisco Meirino and Kiko C. Esseiva in order to make notes for the final review, I watched a documentary about Joy Division. The record is a 12″ vinyl black void with a black label which you might think is a precursor to the abyssal darkness contained within. In fact after Joy Division’s bleak visions born of greyscale Manchester streets steeped in rain and the bedroom’s so cold, you turn away on your side, it was a relief to enjoy some movement, vibration and a surprising selection of fleeting semi-colours.
four men on a bridge
Assembled in 2012 and 2013 from hours of multitrack recordings as a duo, each artist was given one side of the record to present his individual composition using the original material as the building blocks. As the first release on Andreas Unterkircher’s Ausenraum label, the black and white cover picture of electrical equipment cut up and interrupted, repeated and sliced, slid out of place and readjusted, then partially contained within a perfect circle seems an apt metaphor for the processes etched into the grooves here.
she filled her time pushing the pram round Salford
There is an interesting YouTube video of Meirino and Esseiva playing together as a duo in an art gallery or something similar. They are set up against a side wall on a long table next to each other. Various people are seated in the white space, others walk in and out informally. Being able to see all this taking place, the physical approach of each artist is interesting and illuminating and offers some understanding into why each side of this LP sounds as it does.
tear us apart
Meirino stands bent over his black boxes of plugs and wires activating switches and summoning up raw electrical bleed and grime from the insides of these dark objects. He turns a torch on and off at intervals, and the completion and termination of the circuit is heard as a visceral thud. Essevia remains seated at his desk and, amongst other things, manipulates a tape recorder thoughtfully and subtly, reacting and operating within and against the bodily groundedness of the sputtering sound shrapnel exhibiting a concentrated intelligence and sense of purpose. Whether this performance formed part of the substrata from which this LP was carved I don’t know, but it is certainly an informative document.
it’s a picture of a tomb
For me all Meirino’s music seems to exist in a landscape with enhanced perspective and a very remote vanishing point: In other words the sounds are stretched out from incredibly distant thuds occurring below the horizon to crackles and clicks right up against the eardrum, as if generated inside the speakers themselves independently of anything else.
growling like a dog
Meirino places us on a ship negotiating a sea of fluctuating plasma. Creaks and groans from the rigging and the swell of undulating static gives way to scuttling creature in the hold. Early on a filament of light, a laser emission like a bowed violin note repeats a few times as a vestige of the sun’s benediction. Later, work of some secret nature takes place. Something rattles back and forth along rails as machines hum. Excited wings vibrate against the microphone and objects drop and roll across the hard floor. People talk, but the men’s voices are rudely cut off and are no more. A crescendo of metal and tooled desolation builds from nothing to form a rattling, prison riot cacophony then… suddenly we are in some dead pond where the water (or some other analogous fluid) carries sounds from afar. Unknown denizens of this inky pool signal to each other ever more frantically, again a crescendo… Nothing… Nothing… Nothing… Run-off groove…
Ian’s dead
Esseiva is an artist I have never heard before. Seemingly his compositional hand is more controlled than Meirino’s and the work focuses more closely on fewer competing strands. This approach yields a completely different experience, yet obviously both sides of the disc are united by their common provenance. Differences aside each promise is fulfilled in its singular entirety.
I came off the phone and went back to the table
Kiko C. Esseiva pledges breath and motors and grinding gears. A ribbon of steady sound unfolds and fades just once. This is a workshop in which the instruments that make this music are being built, and the very building of them is the music itself, and after they have finished playing, the dismantling of them is also the music itself. Sheets of steel and other substances are beaten in frantic rapidity. Tiny hammers pound. Insectoid nano-mosquitoes plague the workspace. Cut. Fibrillating electricity. Cut. A buffeted wire fence with mechanical animoids squeaking and chirruping in iron filing nests. Steel wool ruffles and frazzles. Cut. Dead air. A ball bearing rolls around an uneven plane causing other objects to become infectiously agitated and inexplicably animated. An organ plays itself, just once. Vibrating glass planes, jars, flasks and light bulbs. Cut… Near silence… Readjust to the tiny flecks of vinyl crackle not being part of the whole… And yet in a way they are… It all is… Run-off groove… Click… Click… Raise the needle.
unknown
pleasures" [Chris Whitehead / Sonicfield] |
2013 |
€16.00 |
|
| MELANCHOHOLICS |
Solar Cafe |
LP |
By combining found noises and field-recorded nature with minimal fragile surfer-tone post-rock-guitars, drones and fuzzy low-end bass-lines, Melanchoholics create mad extensive soundscapes and almost cinematic soundtracks to psychotic euphoria and intoxicated wastelands.
After releasing on Drone Records, MNDR and deafborn, Solar Café is their final low-end manifesto for low-end connoisseurs.
Vinyl 12" contains download code including CD only Track "Nuclear Welfare" + bonus material "Postnovoletna Depresija" and "Disgusting however fascinating"
Solar Café is the third and final chapter within the discography of MELANCHOHOLICS. It was recorded and mixed by MELANCHOHOLICS between 2006 and 2010. The Cover Artwork as of Solar Café was done by Derek Roczen. It's based on a series of stunning photos Benedikt shot during research for a documentary on the long waiting period for the summer solstice in the village of Flateyri situated in Iceland's Westfjords. Hence the album title “Solar Café”. Almost one year later Benedikt died of cancer at the age of 32. Melanchoholics managed to complete the album shortly before Benedikts departure. The album is released on 29.12.2014 via Eibon Records (CD) and Deafborn Records (12” 180g Vinyl). The vinyl-version of Solar Café is limited to 400 hand numbered copies. The album was mastered separately for CD and Vinyl by Michael Schwabe @ Monoposto.
Sound of Solar Café
On Solar Café Melanchoholics once again have set their attention directly to the lurid sides of human personalities: desperate internal fears. Simplistic structures and melodies fleshed out well with subtle textures and voices. The feeling is one of lamentation and dreariness as the sounds trudge along. Yet there is a warmth and smokiness to it as well. There is a colourful darkness before that day comes... the moment to celebrate the return of sunlight.
www.melanchoholics.de
"It's been a long, long time since I reviewed 'A Single Act Of Carelessness' by the German band Melanchoholics (see Vital Weekly 530). This trio was Benedikt on guitars, Philip on bass and Lutz on electronics; was, because the band no longer exists, so it seems, following the passing of Benedikt Bjarnason a few years ago. The music on 'Solar Cafe' was recorded from 2006 to 2010 and then it took some more time to finish the release. But the result is certainly great. With their previous release I compared it with the old ambient industrial music that was en vogue in the late 80s, when bands started to play guitars with cello bows, adding bits of conversations, made it all more atmospheric, but at the same time also with that dark, noisy undercurrent never far away. Music like passing dark clouds over an abandoned industrial lot, but Melanchoholics add more spacious guitars to the recipe, owing a bit to the world of post-rock. In 'Presence of Absence' they depict with the guitars vast
open territories while the steady slow beat is like an oilrig. Get my drift? It's music that I quite like actually. It's both abstract and musical; it's both atmospheric and noisy - from time to time. It has that great cinematic quality to it. It's experimental music just the way I like it; like very much, actually. Perhaps one could argue there is not a lot of difference between this and the previous release, but with such as small output: who cares? One could care however about the fact that this band is no more and the musical development has come to an end. That's perhaps the saddest conclusion one could draw from this release. Sad but beautiful that's how it ends here with the final piece, 'Minus 1 One'." [FdW/Vital Weekly]
"Drittes und letztes Album der Melanchoholics. In der Besetzung Gitarre, Bass und Elektronic / Fieldre-cording hatte das Trio seit 2003 zwei CDs, eine 7″ und verschiedene Soundtracks veröffentlicht, verbunden mit europaweiten Touren, abrupt beendet durch den plötzlichen, krankheitsbedingten Tod von Gitarrist Benedikt Kristofer Bjarnason in 2010, mitten in der Arbeit an der nun vorliegenden Veröffentli-chung, damals erst gut zur Hälfte fertiggestellt. Die Arbeit an der Veröffentlichung blieb liegen, der Veröffentlichungsdeal mit einem US-Label platzte und erst mit der Erkenntnis, trotz des Verlustes weitermachen zu wollen (bezeichnenderweise als Minus1one), beschlossen Bassist Phillip und Elektroniker Lutz, “Solar Cafe” als Vermächtnis der bisheri-gen Bandgeschichte zu vollenden und zu veröffentlichen. Wohl wissend, dass es Veröffentlichungen von Bands, die es gar nicht mehr gibt unterhalb eines bestimmten Bekanntheitsgrades und zwangs-weise ohne Live-Support definitiv schwer haben.
Aber, trotz dieser Widrigkeiten, es hat sich definitiv gelohnt, diesen Schritt zu tun: “Solar Cafe” zeigt die Fähigkeiten der damaligen Melanchoholics gegenüber den bisherigen Platten auf einem neuen Stand; die bandeigene Art der Komposition, gleichzeitig wie auf dem Sprung befindlicher wie in der Zeit erstarrter Tracks zu komponieren, die zudem viel von tatsächlichen Songs zu haben scheinen oh-ne wirklich welche zu sein, ist auf “Solar Cafe” zu neuer Perfektion gereift. Und über allem eine Atmo-sphäre, die nicht trefflicher als durch den Bandnamen zu beschreiben ist: keine gefühlte oder gar auf-gesetzte Düsternis, vielmehr eine Art von wehmütiger Melancholie, die möglicherweise am stärksten durch die irgendwo zwischen Arpeggio und Anschlag changierenden Gitarren und die immer wieder präsenten, funkspruchartigen Fieldrecordings verursacht wird, unterlegt durch Flächen und Bassschü-be im Untergrund. “Solar Cafe” ist damit auch in seinen ruhigsten Abschnitten keine flächenartig ange-legte Musik wie die so vieler Anderer, die im Feld der experimentellen Musik ohne Schlagzeug bzw. Drumprogrammierung arbeiten: der paradoxerweise wie erstarrte Fluss dauernder Bewegung bleibt stets bestimmendes Moment.
Rein musikalisch betrachtet, den ohnehin nicht zu beziffernden menschlichen Verlust bewusst ausge-klammert, definitiv ein herber Verlust, dass nach diesem Höhepunkt, passenderweise auf zwei Formaten veröffentlicht (Vinyl + CD), in dieser Form nichts mehr zu erwarten ist. Was bleibt ist diese wirklich gelungene Platte und die Chance, dass das Nachfolgeprojekt Minus1one vielleicht andere, aber ebenso interessante Wege verfolgen wird. Und jetzt: ihr." [Hellmut Neidhardt / Black mag] |
2015 |
€16.00 |
|
| |
Solar Cafe |
CD |
"By combining found noises and field-recorded nature with minimal/fragile post-rock-guitars, drones and fuzzy low-end bass-lines, Melanchoholics create mad extensive soundscapes and almost cinematic soundtracks to psychotic euphoria and intoxicated wastelands. After releasing on Drone Records, MNDR and Deafborn, Eibon Records proudly presents their final low-end manifesto for low-end connoisseurs. On Solar Cafe, Melanchoholics once again have set their attention directly to the lurid sides of human personalities: desperate internal fears and simplistic structures and melodies fleshed out well with subtle textures and voices. The feeling is one of lamentation and dreariness as the sounds trudge along. Yet there is a warmth and smokiness to it as well. There is a colourful darkness before that day comes... the moment to celebrate the return of sunlight. Comes in matte-varnished digisleeve." [label info]
www.eibonrecords.com
www.melanchoholics.com
"It's been a long, long time since I reviewed 'A Single Act Of Carelessness' by the German band Melanchoholics (see Vital Weekly 530). This trio was Benedikt on guitars, Philip on bass and Lutz on electronics; was, because the band no longer exists, so it seems, following the passing of Benedikt Bjarnason a few years ago. The music on 'Solar Cafe' was recorded from 2006 to 2010 and then it took some more time to finish the release. But the result is certainly great. With their previous release I compared it with the old ambient industrial music that was en vogue in the late 80s, when bands started to play guitars with cello bows, adding bits of conversations, made it all more atmospheric, but at the same time also with that dark, noisy undercurrent never far away. Music like passing dark clouds over an abandoned industrial lot, but Melanchoholics add more spacious guitars to the recipe, owing a bit to the world of post-rock. In 'Presence of Absence' they depict with the guitars vast
open territories while the steady slow beat is like an oilrig. Get my drift? It's music that I quite like actually. It's both abstract and musical; it's both atmospheric and noisy - from time to time. It has that great cinematic quality to it. It's experimental music just the way I like it; like very much, actually. Perhaps one could argue there is not a lot of difference between this and the previous release, but with such as small output: who cares? One could care however about the fact that this band is no more and the musical development has come to an end. That's perhaps the saddest conclusion one could draw from this release. Sad but beautiful that's how it ends here with the final piece, 'Minus 1 One'." [FdW/Vital Weekly]
|
2015 |
€13.00 |
|
| MELCHIOR, DAN |
All at Sea |
LP |
"We have been following Dan Melchior since the beginning with the Broken Revue, the collaboration with Billy Childish and the amazing project Dan Melchior und Das Menace. We are amazed by his own original and personal evolution from (let’s say) “orthodox” garage punk songwriter (and what a songwriter! Someone said one of the best in the US, but remember, he is british) to avant rock, experimental folk/blues and weird sounds.#The stuff he played changed with him, slowly affected by electronic music, Krautrock (like Can and Faust), avantgarde, concrete music… as well as a couple of the best Franco Battiatio’s works (“Fetus” and “Pollution”).#“All At Sea” consists of all these elements together: Dan wrote and built great songs never loosing his upset melodic streak BUT breaking down and decomposing the refrain, stretching and forcing the normal structure of a song, filling it with avant-solutions and experiments: “All At Sea” is the result.#10 songs able to keep you there – tied up – for 40 mins – in the dark.
https://soundcloud.com/nofirecordings/dan-melchior-what-happened-to-the-buffalo
|
2014 |
€14.00 |
|
| MELCHIOR, DAN & SIGTRYGGUR BERG SIGMARSSON |
Cod War Kids |
CD |
"This is the second collaboration of Sigmarsson and Melchior, following their 'Dark Arc' LP, reviewed in Vital Weekly 1146. I still have not much idea who Dan Melchior is, other than a guitarist. If there is a lot of guitars here is hard to say. Surely in a short piece like 'Wyno Ryder Forever' yes, but overall? I am not so convinced; it is not so important either, I would think, and both gentlemen do whatever
they want to do, using whatever apparatus (hard and software, instruments, sounds etc.), they find suitable and do a great job, once again, in creating some beautiful weird music. This is music that is sort of genre-defying. There are some great creepy bits, playing on an organ, in 'Blind Curtains & Curious Eyes', along with singing/humming/sighing/screaming, there are field recordings of a rather hard to define nature, there is surely some heavily obscured laptop doodling going (like on Sigmarsson's previous solo release, see Vital Weekly 1169) but there is also the aforementioned guitar piece, which complete with vocals (no words) and rhythm is almost like a proper song. I am
strongly reminded here of Nurse With Wound, but perhaps that is something that can be said of all the six pieces here. These two gentlemen share the eclecticism of the nurses; it is any music that you care to make, thrown together and it still sounds pretty coherent. The overall quality of the pieces is a bit dark, I thought, especially in their use of voices, which is the sort of unearthly humming; a drunken monk or a Middle-earth creature? Your guess is as good as mine. Sounds are provided by Helgi Porsson ('spooky synth sounds') and Frans de Waard (oh) and Tom Smith ("additional sounds"; I wish I could say what it is; I should know, don't you think?) and it's a great release (not because of those additional sounds; I was at conclusion before I reached the track in which they are used). It is experimental, dark, funny and solid. The fun is mainly in their strange
titles (another NWW influence?), such as 'This Is The Scene Where Siggy And Dan Receive Their
Prophecies From The Witches". This is an excellent place to start exploring the sound world of Sigmarsson and from there go to his solo work." [FdW/Vital Weekly]
|
2019 |
€13.00 |
|
| MELT FAMAS |
Serial Weather |
10inch |
"MUSIKZIMMER LABEL:
The label Musikzimmer is based in Aarau (Switzerland) and Berlin. It was born with the idea of giving birth to music not only in a ethereal way. We want to materialise what we like. We want to produce, to touch and to spread it.
It all started 21 years ago with one of the first „independent“ exhibition spaces in Switzerland, the Kunstraum Aarau. Since approximately 7 years we focus on soundart and sound related site specific interventions. And because not every manifestation finds its form in a frame work of an exhibition, we started to organise concerts and offer now a stage without stairs to concertant situations. To can those situations as long as possible we decided to cut them into vinyl.
MELT FAMAS – serial weather is the first conserved situation. It will be followed by a 10“ of chained melodies by RM74. The concept is simple. 10 inch, 1 cover version and the cover sleeve is designed by an artist who does not play on but maybe with the record.
MELT FAMAS:
When the movement of a terrestrial object around a static point is repetitive, we talk about oscillation...When two people oscillate around several electric devices according to a nearly repetitive movement, we talk about rock‘n‘roll. At Melt Famas, during the supper, we talk about oscillations, aquatic rock‘n‘roll. Dessert comes when the table has already been cleared.
In the living room, guitar screams exhort to indiscipline, and voices invite to the reconstruction of a new order. At Melt Famas‘, codes are made for others. According to the stars position, the degree of gravity and the level of caffein of the last tea, sounds meet under the fingers until dizzyness spreads, and invite us to an immobile trance. Fred Billet and Nicolas Magot, or l‘invitation au voyage with a one way ticket.
FRED BIGOT: (aka Electronicat)
The root of Fred Bigot‘s music is in guitar. The way he makes music is all related to the way he plays guitar, including imperfections, lo-fi sound, noise, melody and the practice of improvisation.
The distorted but melodic guitar, the unquantised rhythms, the delay-heavy vocals and the buzzing rumbling 808 bass drum all became characteristic features of the Electronicat sound. His songs encompassed an array of influences in all respects - particularly glam rock, psychedelia, 60s garage rockabilly and experimental electronic music - and took it further making electronic music sound more rock n roll and vice versa.
To date he has released numerous albums and singles on international labels (Holy Mountain, Onitor, Disko b, Optical Sound, Ldrr). He has produced tracks for pour Beans, Miss le Bomb, Marina Ribatski (ex- Bondo de Role), remixes for Depeche Mode, Numbers, Bretzel Göring. Fred played all around the world alongside with artists such as Felix Kubin, Stereolab, Adult. He has collaborated with numerous artists and musicians, building up an impressive resume that includes projects with musicians J.G Thirwell, Gerhard Potuznik, Khan and contemporary artists Nicolas Moulin, Anu Pennanen and Pauline Curnier-Jardin.
NICOLAS MALLET:
After having visited experimental and post-punk music, Nicolas Mallet turned into Nicolas Metall. Melodies in minor chords, Bach is never far. Keyboards, guitars and rhythms. He plays with Fred Bigot (Electronicat) in Melt Famas, with Marie Germinal in a rock-post punk style, he has organised events and works with artists and dancers (Nicolas Moulin, Marie Reinert, Olivier Dohin, Grégoire & Elise Charbey, Clémentine Roy). His most recent Release „ Growing Ideas Of Falling Generations“ is a Double Vinyl on Nicolas Moulin Label „Grautag Records“.
„Growing Ideas Of Falling Generations, as the first double LP of Nicolas Metall, has to be heard as the psychoanalysis of the Space Odyssey computer HAL 9000. Electronic-wave music to dance on a russianÕs suburb discotheque dancefloor or to listen to by staring at the sunset , The 2nd release of the berlin-based label Grautag records“ (Grautag Records)" [label info]
www.musikzimmeraarau.ch
|
2011 |
€12.00 |
|
| MELVILLE |
17 TV Themes |
do-CD |
“2 x 17 masterpieces as a soundtrack for the cinema in your head and beyond: The hammering automatic rhythm of an Elka organ introduces us to Melville's film-music masterpiece, slowly moody echo-laden guitar lines, spooky keyboard chords, honey sweet theremin-sequences and lascivious female voices add to a "Blues noir", melodic and harmonic fireworks of references build up and make clear where we are. The cineastic escapades of the 50s and 60s and their heroes salute you: Alain Delon, Brigitte Bardot, Jean Paul Belmondo, Lino Ventura, Gina Lollobrigida, Sophia Loren, Michel Serrault… all these stars are cast for this sparkling masterpiece on celluloid, which is neither B-movie nor blockbuster, but rather builds up to something new each time you listen to its soundtrack. Melville sets straight limitations to his genre, but he gives his listeners the freedom to choose: What used to be a horror movie in the vein of Dario Argento yesterday might be the diary of a psycho killer in the 50s in moving pictures. Melville produces soundtracks, soundtracks for the cinema in your head. He invites each listener to direct his own movies, to trip on Melville's soundwaves depending on what mood you are in. While film connoisseurs will be thrilled and find clear cineastic references, the living room of the average listener will suddenly smell of gun powder and lead while a francophile gangster blonde will aspirate erotic confessions.
The second CD of the album is an image of the first one. It contains the exact order of tunes as the first CD but interpreted and remade by artists chosen by Melville. These artists come from all musical genres, ranging from earthy blues to avant-garde electronics and metal: The (ethno-)pop-project Binder&Krieglstein from Graz follows the Viennese avantgarde composer Jürgen Hofbauer, Reflector's doom laden metal stands next to Peter Plessas' innovative electronics, "New York-certified" theremin godess Dorith Chrysler and some acts from the avant-garde label "tonto", blues guitarist Christian Masser is followed by the minimal electronic freak marufura fufunjiru and Mego-darling Dr. Nachtstrom. An opulent array of innovative artists which clearly appreciate the genius and the brilliancy of the original.” [Soul Seduction]
|
2005 |
€16.00 |
|
| MENCHE, DANIEL |
Radiant Blood (SOLD OUT) |
10inch |
SUBSTANTIA INNOMINATA ist eine neue 10”-Vinyl-Serie von Drone Records mit neuem Konzept. Mit “Unbenannter Substanz” ist das “Unbekannte, Un-erkennbare, Unergründliche, Un-Identifizierbare“ gemeint, das hier als Inspiration und Themenfokus für die Künstler (akustisch wie visuell) dienen soll. Das, was über unsere Wahrnehmung hinausgeht oder vielleicht nur unbewusst wahrgenommen werden kann. Das was man nicht denken kann. Das Unbekannte in uns und ausserhalb unser erkennbaren, gewohnten Welt.
DANIEL MENCHE macht den Anfang mit zwei Stücken: Komprimierte Energie. Dichte. Antreibende Kraft. Spannung. Pulsierendes Blut. Das Unbekannte als Teil einer grossen Energie, die auch in der Musik steckt?
Die grossartige ARTWORK für die SUB-01 stammt von ROBERT SCHALINSKI (COLUMN ONE). Braun-schwarz marmoriertes Vinyl in einer Erstauflage von 500 Stück.
“Substantia Innominata” is the brand new release-series from Drone Records. We are proud to present this as a 10” VINYL series along with subsequent re-releases on CD.
This new series doesn’t focus on a special concept or ideology regarding the music, but on a certain theme. The theme for this 10” series is based on “The Un-known, The Un-nameable, The Un-speakable, The Un-thinkable, etc.: Various aspects related to “The Unknown”. Basically the grey matter (psychic or physical, which are bound to result the same) surrounding us / within us, but can’t be understood or recognized through the normal senses (though some may perceive it on a subconscious level). We could name it “The Unconscious”. The chosen name for this series, “Substantia Innominata”, was inspired to the fact that this Latin name represents a certain region of the brain which has unknown functions and remains a mystery for its role and existence. Therefore this name reflects well the intense fascination for this impalpable concept of “the unknown”.
The invited artists for this series were asked to work around this theme, to let themselves be inspired by its abstraction. The artwork for this series will be created by the various visual & graphic artists. All in full-colour or silkscreen covers. The 10” vinyl pressings will come in an edition of 500 copies for each title.” [Basic Concept]
DANIEL MENCHE begins the series with two pieces: Compressed energy. Density. Driving force. Tension. Pulsating Blood. The Unknown as part of a bigger energy, that is also part of the music?
The great artwork for SUB-01 was made by ROBERT SCHALINSK (COLUMN ONE). Brown-black marmorized vinyl in a first ed. of 500 copies.
OUT 15. DECEMBER 2005 !
Note: this 10" plays on 45 rpm !
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2005 |
€12.00 |
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Soundtrack for the Film HOPE AND PREY |
mCD |
Soundtrack zur Film-Installation “Hope and Prey” von VANESSA RENWICK, nur 250 Stück gibt es über mailorder weltweit, der Rest wird bei den seltenen Aufführungen verkauft !!!!!
“.. As with all of his recordings, “Hope and Prey” offers an intensely powerful and beautiful listening experience. Surprisingly, Daniel Menche’s work has rarely been heard in film or television productions. Although his compositions have been used in short films, this is the first time he was commissioned to create the sound for a new film, in this case, “Hope and Prey” by Vanessa Renwick. The soundtrack, presented here, is a 20 minute composition of powerful and graceful music that richly captures the ferocious nature of Vanessa Renwick’s film. Both artists are based in Portland, Oregon, and are individually very active in the underground art scene. Their collaboration is an engrossing fusion of visceral sonics and powerful ethereal imagery that has been performed in live situations as well as gallery installations. “Hope and Prey” will never be officially released as a film since it is an installation for 3 projectors and can only be experienced in the environment it was designed for. Yet this soundtrack release is available in a limited edition of 500. Half of the pressing will be sold wherever Hope and Prey is presented, and the other half will be offered through normal distribution channels. With an extensive discography and a long record of highly regarded performances nationally and internationally, Daniel Menche’s music has reached a wide spectrum of listeners across many genres.” [press release]
|
2004 |
€7.50 |
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Blood of the Land |
mCD |
" "Blood of the Land" brings Daniel Menche back to the field recording territory by utilizing storm recordings. Throughout 2009-2010 there were several storms that occurred around Daniel Menche's house. Wind storms, snow storms, ice storms, rain storms etc etc etc were recorded and captured and then mixed and densely layered all within the notorious "House of Menche". Which is covered by thick trees and mass bamboo. Just like a garden of sound, Daniel Menche hand picks the sounds of storms hitting his house and trees as recorders were place all around outside of his house in the middle of these stormy nights. "Blood of the Land" is a calm and intense composition of these storms that builds to a overwhelming state of pure sonic nature. Daniel Menche has presented the drama of these storms in all their bloody glory." [label info]
www.fernsrec.com
"And what about Daniel Menche? He continues as ever. In 'Blood Of The Land' he doesn't use any soil recordings, which you may expect with such a title, but 'storm recordings recorded throughout 2009-2010 all around Oregon, USA', which mixed together into a twenty minute piece of heavily processed field recordings. I might be mistaken, but when I played this earlier today, in the morning, I thought I could feel a cold breeze in my house. I must have been imagining this, but for a short moment (well, actually a bit longer) I thought I could actually feel the music breezing through my house. Which I guess is the best when it comes to having an audio illusion. This piece could have been a bit longer for my taste - although I never like biking through a heavy storm, the sound is always nice to hear." [FdW / Vital Weekly]
|
2010 |
€7.00 |
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| MENCHE, DANIEL & MAMIFFER |
Crater |
CD |
"There are profound forces that enmesh the minds, bodies, and souls of these venerable artists. Mamiffer unfurls darkened hymns and sprawled abstractions authored by Faith Coloccia in partnership with Aaron Turner. Daniel Menche stands as a stalwart noise technician of many years, with his blood and sweat permeating all of his adrenaline fueled recordings and performances. Collectively, they design sound to slip between the formally defined practices of metal, noise, song, and drone, offering a phenomenological essentialism that amplifies and exaggerates the earthly ele- ments of water, moss, soil, and fire. This can be a sonic transubstantiation of field recordings and in situ object documents from Coloccia and Turner’s home on Vashon Island, Washington; and this can be the aestheticized forms of mythic poetry cast through austere melodies for guitar, piano, electronics, and plainsong chant.
The communal production took four years to develop with a few performances that spilled forth. Menche, for one, abhors the notion of collaboration, preferring to qualify this as a documentation of their friendship. “’Collaboration” sounds so... business like or formal or something of a technical term. We’re just friends making acoustic sounds together and recording nature with our hikes together. Then we eat pizza and laugh.” This relational intimacy and interpersonal development brings an understanding of each other’s strengths, and from that understanding, the conviction to extract out the very best that each has to offer. From Menche’s perspective, Coloccia projects a nearly religious capacity for harmony and melody; Turner has grace and fury in his DNA;
And Menche quips about his own work: "I’m a chainsaw artist making those touristy statues of grizzly bears but instead of wood I’m using sound.” Ellipses of guitars and piano sparsely populate this album. Upon appearance, these forms are progressively dissolved into a dislocation of machined noise and wintry drone, abraded with the tactility of stone and iron. It can become difficult to determine where the province of negation ends (e.g. emptying the musical structure as a simulacrum of the sublime) and that of accretion begins (e.g. layer upon layer of noise, pressure, and volume to feed a collapse). In this liminal iceblink, the work of Mamiffer and Menche is resoundingly heroic, tragic, haunted, cold, and beautiful. To Menche, though, “this is a very humble recording. When we’re old and grey and come across this in a old dusty box, we’ll have a warm smile. Maybe we’ll play it on our death bed?!?!" [label info]
sige.bigcartel.com
"Daniel Menche, Faith Coloccia, and Aaron Turner have been close friends for quite a long time now, with this album emerging as the first fruits from their communed relationship. And as collaborative projects go, Crater is a superb document showcasing how each of these equally talented folks in disparate facets of the dark arts (noise for Menche, hallowed / haunted plainsong for Coloccia, and heroic riffage from Turner) can work so effortlessly and gracefully. Glacial harmonic drones expand from field recordings, church organs, abraded stone & steel, and guitars only to be disrupted by heavily hammered piano melodies that in turn are gristlized by the collective noise strategies, machines, and snowstorms. Alternately, meditative and explosive, imposing and rapturous. Brilliant through and through." [Aquarius Records]
|
2015 |
€16.00 |
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| 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 |
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| MENS, RADBOUD & MATTHIJS KOUW |
1 |
LP |
Radboud Mens and Matthijs Kouw have collaborated since 2001, when they started working on an album firmly rooted in the ‘clicks ’n cuts’ movement of way back when. After collecting source material using only feedback produced with a mixer and minidisc recorder that was broadcasted live on Amsterdam’s Radio 100 to unsuspecting listeners, they started working on their album ‘Mens/Kouw’ (2002), which features both rhythmic pieces and more abstract elements. With the passing of time, they found themselves working more and more in the realm of tonal and timbral long-form pieces. Their use of software, recordings of acoustic instruments and a modular synthesizer, leads to what can perhaps be described as 'electro-acoustic drone' that nods to the American minimalists of the last century.
This record is the first of a two-part album and is recorded live in the studio in december 2014.
If something is boring after two minutes, try it for four. If still boring, then eight. Then sixteen. Then thirty-two. Eventually one discovers that it is not boring at all
[John Cage]
Whenever we hear sounds, we are changed, we are no longer the same, and this is more the case when we hear organised sounds; music.
[Karlheinz Stockhausen]
The highest point of music for me is to become in a place where there is no desire, no craving, wanting to do anything else. It is the best place you have ever been, and yet there is nothing there.
[Terry Riley]
Drones that are heard constantly (fluorescent tubes, mechanical ventilation, refrigerating equipment, high voltage lines in the countryside) are all aligned on the frequency (and harmonics) of the electrical network (50Hz in Europe, 60Hz in North America). When we ask someone to sing a note spontaneously, the pitch often corresponds to a harmonic of the electrical network frequency. The evolution of lighting techniques, the amelioration of the quality (notably acoustic) of household appliances, and the wider use of low voltage rather than high voltage leads us to believe that this phenomenon will diminish with time. Some drones are so integrated into our perspective habits that any modification of their characteristics results in confusion. For instance, the replacement of the burner in a central heating boiler can result in complaints if its sound spectrum is different, even if it is actually less noisy in terms of dB. When a listener becomes accustomed to a sound of a certain spectrum, this sound will be easier to ignore than a sound of the same type that may be even quieter. This new sound requires a listening adaptation before it is integrated into the familiar soundscape. In the physiological domain, there is tinnitus - a drone or ringing sound that originates within the ear. Both children and adults use a form of linguistic drone: grumbling and mumbling. The general intent of mumbling is to mask the intelligibility of a message in the low frequencies when the speaker does not want to be understood. Mumbling is the oral expression of an intense introverted activity. (Napoleon's grumbling was famous and frightened new secretaries for correspondence!)
[Jean-François Augoyard And Henry Torgue]
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2017 |
€16.50 |
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| MENUCK, EFRIM MANUEL |
Pissing Stars |
LP |
"Constellation Records beginnt das Jahr 2018 mit dem zweiten Soloalbum des GODSPEED YOU! BLACK EMPEROR und THEE SILVER MT. ZION Gründers EFRIM MANUEL MENUCK. „Pissing Stars“ ist der großartig intensive Nachfolger von „Plays High Gospel“ und das erste neue Material mit EFRIM als zentralem Songwriter und Sänger seit „Fuck Off Get Free We Pout Light On Everything“ seiner Chamber-Punk Band THEE SILVER MT. ZION von 2014. MENUCK genießt unter den Fans politischen Punks, Post-Rock und Avant-Noise-Anhängern Kultstatus und feiert mit „Pissing Stars“ ein Vierteljahrhundert musikalischen Ausdrucks ohne Kompromisse. Auf „Pissing Stars“ verschleudert MENUCK Giftpfeile, leidenschaftliche Salven und zerbrechliche Blüten und formt das Ganze zu noiselastigen Songs, die sich um maximalistische Electronics und Drones ranken, die von Synthie oder Gitarre umgesetzt und von klagendem, oft verfremdeten Gesang durchzogen werden. Das passende Narrativ kann nur jemand wie MENUCK liefern: „‘Pissing Stars‘ gründet sich auf die kurze Affäre der amerikanischen TV-Moderatorin Mary Hart mit Mohammed Khashoggy, dem Sohn eines saudischen Waffenhändlers. Ich weiß nicht, wie lange sie zusammen waren, ich erinnere mich daran, wie ich als verzweifelter Teenager darüber las. Ich wohnte zusammen mit zwei anderen verwahrlosten Kids und einem Haufen wilder Kätzchen in einem überfluteten Keller und hatte nichts zu essen. Diese seltsame Union – die blonde Frau aus dem Fernsehen und der reiche Saudi-Sohn mit seinem mörderischen Vater – blieb bei mir und beschäftigte mich drei Jahrzehnte lang. Diese Sprösslinge aus Tod und Selbstentfremdung – und Liebe. Dieses Album beschäftigt sich mit dem Ende ihrer Beziehung und der Art und Weise, wie bestimmte eigensinnige Lichter einfach weiterleuchten. Das Album wurde in den dunklen Ecken zwischen 2016 und 2017 aufgenommen, in verschiedenen Stadien der Ungemütlichkeit, mit einem porösen Herzen und einer klaren Mission. So, als würde man mit zwei Messern in den Händen auf einen Abgrund zulaufen und manisch lachen. Besiegt und voller Freude zugleich. Hier geht es um das Ende der Liebe und den Anfang der Liebe. Um das Ende des Staates und wie wir alle darunter gefangen sind."
This is an audiophile 180gram pressing in midnight ultra-black vinyl from Optimal (Germany) that comes in a 350gsm jacket with printed inner dust sleeve and 12"x19" art poster, all printed on uncoated matte papers and boards, all artwork by Menuc
efrimmanuelmenuck.bandcamp.com/album/pissing-stars
PISSING STARS is inspired by the brief romance of american television presenter MARY HART and MOHAMMED KHASHOGGI, the son of a saudi arms dealer. i don’t know how long their union endured, but i remember reading about them when i was a desperate teenager – there was something about their pairing that got caught in my head. i was living in a flooded basement with two other lost kids and a litter of feral kittens. we were all unfed. this strange intersection – the televisual blonde and the rich saudi kid with the murderous father; it got stuck in me like a mystery, like an illumination- this vulgar pairing that was also love. these privileged scions of death and self-alienation, but also love. i’ve carried it in me for 3 decades now, this obscure memory, and i return to it often, tracing its edges like a worn talisman. this record is about the dissolution of their relationship, and the way that certain stubborn lights endure. this record was made in dark corners between 2016 and 2017. a very rough pair of years, shot thru with fatigue, depression, despair, and too many cigarettes and too much booze. but also = the giddiness of enervation, and the strange liberation of being emptied – borne aloft and carried by the drift. the world continues its eternal collapsing, fires everywhere and everything drained of meaning. this record was made in various states of unease, with a brittle heart and a clear intent. like running towards a cliff with 2 swinging knives, roaring with an idiot grin. overcome and overjoyed. this record is about the end of love and the beginning of love. this record is about the dissolution of the state, and all of us trapped beneath, and the way that certain stubborn lights endure. – ExMxMx
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2018 |
€23.00 |
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| MERZBOW |
Eucalypse |
CD / object |
MERZBOWs Hommage an den vom Aussterben bedrohten australischen Eukalyptus-Baum! Kommt in einem noch nicht dagewesenen, aufschiebbaren runden Holzcover, massiv & bedruckt, mit 4 runden farbigen Inlay-Karten. Wohl eines der spektakulärsten CD-Covers ever ! Das Material (5 Stücke, fast 60 Minuten) ist höchst psychedelisch, pulsierend, in jeder Sekunde expandierend, mitreissend und zermürbend zugleich....
"A complete winner here from electronics wizard Masami Akita and Solielmoon Recordings. The music is some of the most psychedelic that I have heard from Mr. Akita, a panoramic kaleidoscope of metal machine noise and psycho New Age synthoblasters. This is the 360 degree apocalypse of the mind. The Merz is letting loose. This is a man who has recorded a lot of music in his lifetime. I would be very surprised if Merzbow himself is able to keep track of the vast volume of material that he has put out over the years. Sometimes, you don't really remember it after listening a few times. This one is really dramatic and sticks in my mind very clearly. I can very distinctly remember the first time that I listened to it while driving. The music is meant to echo the reality of the destruction of Eucalyptus trees, which is apparently a very terrible problem on the Earth that is disrupting the ecosystem. I can accept that, and it doesn't hurt that this story was told to me via this amazing release. The first track is an amazing psychedelic journey that by itself would make this release worthwhile. Track two opens with violent crashing blending into radio signal white noise static, and industrial sounds that echo the hectic feeling that Merzbow is trying to evoke. This is completely harsh and distinctive, some of the most compelling material from this artist since the noise heyday of the mid-90s and popular releases such as “Pulse Demon.” Each track (all sharing the title “Eucalypse”) has a separate and distinct theme that works very well one after another. The over-arching theme of ecological destruction comes across in a very sincere and horrifying manner through the amazing synthesizer and noise work on this release. It sounds like Jimi Hendrix going through TG's pedals in the ninth circle of hell as everything comes crashing down. It is awesome. The packaging is made out of Eucalyptus wood, ironic considering that the release is trying to decry the practice. Ol' Merz didn't cut the damn thing down himself though, so it all works out in the end. Accompanying this beautiful, awkward, and coaster-shaped wooden box are several round cardboard photographs of Eucalyptus trees with information about the release on the back. The entire thing is completely breathtaking. I assume that this is in some sort of absurdly limited edition, so if you come across this one snatch it up, it's great." [Heathen Harvest]
"The Tasmanian Blue Gum tree, Eucalyptus globulus, is native to Tasmania and southern Australia. Eucalyptus trees are uniquely suited to the varied ecologies of Australia, and there is no other continent more closely associated with one genus of tree. Its leaves are the food of choice of the koala, and its flowers attract bees and hummingbirds. Out of approximately 300 identified species, Blue Gums are now the eucalyptus most frequently found in other parts of the world. Throughout the tropics they are known for their ability to dry out swampy areas, making them a valuable weapon in the fight against malaria, a disease caused by parasites carried in female Anopheles mosquitos, which breed in standing water. Eucalyptus globulus was first brought to India in the late 18th century. Large plantations were establish in Kerala in 1863, but other than small amounts of oil distilling, little use has been made of the fast growing trees. Instead, they have thrived in the moist, foggy hills, spreading far across the landscape and transforming the ecosystem in the process. With their deep roots they lower water tables, depriving native species of the moisture necessary to survive the annual dry season, while the anti-bacterial properties of the “blue gum” secretions they drop on the soil further suppress the germination and growth of other plants. An ancient and intricate web of life has been disrupted, and native plants, insects and animals are being driven to extinction. Humans, who have long been a part of the local ecosystem, are adaptable and will survive, but the biodiversity of an entire region is under threat from a single exotic species. It is truly a eucalyptus apocalypse. It is a eucalypse. At Soleilmoon, packaging and presentation are never overlooked. This release is presented in a hand-crafted round wooden box with screenprinted swiveling lid. The box contains one CD and four round, full-color cards. Only 1000 copies of this handsome CD have been made." [label info]
www.soleilmoon.com
|
2008 |
€23.00 |
|
|
Zara |
10inch |
"... Its been some time since I last heard Merzbow too actually, and perhaps for the very same reason as I didn't hear post rock or ambient house: maybe after a while you heard it. And believe me, I heard a lot of Merzbow. Now that hear this 10", I realize I missed that too, but perhaps that is due to the fact that there is something about this record which reminded me of some older Merzbow, the 'SCUM' double LP. On that LP Masami Akita cuts up his own old work and re-assembles it. The a-side starts out with similar cut-ups, before going into what seems to be an improvised guitar recording, filtered through the EMS Synthi-A. On the b-side drumming pops up, reminding the listener of the fact that Akita started out as a drummer, and did also play the drums on his 'Live In Khabarovsk' LP. Akita is on both sides in a totally free improvisation mode, and his tools of the trade - noise - is apparent, but not the main driving force of this record. It appears here, in the middle of his free play of improvised playing. Here too its a call out to play more, old, Merzbow. Said records for instance, and then 'Zara' again." [FdW/Vital Weekly]
www.licht-ung.de
|
2010 |
€15.00 |
|
| |
Animal Liberation-Until every Cage is empty |
CD |
Style: Japanese Noise. Coming in special matt-laminate digipak. Cold Spring proudly presents the ALL NEW studio album from MERZBOW. As a life-long campaigner of animal rights, Masami Akita has delivered a brutal assault on those that cage and murder animals. The new album is a 5 tracks (49 mins) of total noise assault that only the King of Japanese Noise can provide.
"There is a theory that Covid-19 broke out from the poor conditioned wet markets where live animals are sold. If there were no poultry farms, there would be no mass destruction of chickens due to the spread of bird flu. Human beings' cruelty to animals, animal abuse and species discrimination are all adding up to a disaster for mankind and the whole planet. The pandemic is an opportunity to reflect on the relationship between animals and humans. Veganism is the future for humanity" (Masami Akita, 2021). The artwork is a reflection of the animal rights and anarcho-punk movements of the 80's. Proceeds from this release will benefit animal rights charities."
https://coldspring.bandcamp.com/album/animal-liberation-until-every-cage-is-empty-csr314cd
|
2022 |
€12.50 |
|
| MERZBOW / M.B |
Merzbow meets M.B. |
LP + 7inch |
First ever collaboration album between the two most important noise artists on the planet!
7" is a noisy split.
Xeroxed cover with numbered insert.
Lp is green/blue/yellow splatter vinyl and 7" is fuchsia.
www.menstrualrecordings.org
"Masami Akita and Maurizio Bianchi are without question amongst the pioneers of harsh, abrasive electronic music. Both of their careers began quite prolifically around the same time, and since Bianchi's return in the late 1990s have continued as such, with both producing a massive number of albums each year. These two albums act nicely as reference points on their long careers, with the 10" capturing pieces each submitted for the Mail Music Project compilation, here appearing unedited for the first time, and the LP being a recent collaborative work that stands amongst both artists' best material as of late.
The material on Merzbow Meets M.B. is recent work from both acts as a true collaboration, and the bonus included 7" makes for a nice split release to compare to the 10" as far as the individual artists' work goes. "Dissonant Abstraction" initially is all roaring, cavernous Merzbow noise, but kept restrained and under control. Low register swells and patterns make for an ersatz rhythm, with haunting passages of synthesizer clearly marking Bianchi's contributions. His work here has shades of his more recent new age material, but it works, balancing out the harsher end of Akita’s harsh noise. In some ways it sounds like each artist’s solo work mixed together, and it is rather effective.
The other half, "Surreal Distortions," is overall more in the noise spectrum of things, with muffled, bassy noises and thin analog electronics. There is not the same hints at melody as on the other side, and instead focuses on harsher textures. Bent oscillators and electronic chirps mark this a clearly analog piece, and with the occasional use of phasing and flanging it calls to mind some of CCCC and Astro's best work. Here it feels more like a collaboration between the two, with Akita’s use of chaotic mixing and Bianchi’s use of synthesizer sounds.
The 7" single included with the LP features each artist contributing their own recent solo works as well, and while both are excellent, neither are surprising. Merzbow's "Fragment B" is all scraping metal and bleeping electronics, so in some regards is a throwback to his early 1990s junk noise sound without the overly loud electronics. An occasional rhythm sneaks in here and there, but for the most part it is pure chaos. Bianchi's "28th Flux" has the bleakness of his early works, but a more modern, higher fidelity sheen covering the pained electronics and darkness.
(...)
As both artists are ridiculously prolific, and I personally have a fondness for their earliest work in both cases, I tend to only occasionally dabble in either of their new releases. In this case, the recent collaboration work is exactly what I hoped it would be, mixing the best sounds of both artists together splendidly. Coupled with the vintage material on the 10", and it makes for a pair of releases that demonstrates the best facets of these two long respected artists."
[Creaig Dunton]
"Masami Akita from Japan and Maurizio Bianchi from Italy are both active inside experimental music since roughly the same time, the late 70s. They both came from the world of cassettes and have a legendary status by now. Merzbow is probably the more well-known musician, due to the fact that he plays many concerts all over the world, and both have a ton of releases under their belt. The difference is, perhaps, that Bianchi has moved more over the musical spectrum and Akita is more a man of strict noise. There has been a split release by them on the same label earlier this, but as far as I recall not a joint release. Here we have a LP of collaborative music with a bonus 7" of solo pieces. It seems to me Merzbow is taking the lead here, as this is all more in his territory than in that of Bianchi. You can figure out what Bianchi does here, as sometimes his chilly electronics leap out of the noisy hot bed that Merzbow created. When this is less apparent, it seems like a fine Merzbow record, and not like a Merzbow plus someone else record. That perhaps is the odd thing about this record, but says nothing about the quality. If we turn to the 7", then we'll see that Bianchi can be noisy too. His solo piece is quite loud, like a power drone stuck in a high voltage charger. Organic? Organ-like! This is a fine reminder of the old M.B. from the early 80s when this sort of violence was common ground for M.B. and he was the unquestioned master of the genre. For his solo piece, Merzbow also goes back to his earlier days and comes up with something that reminded me of his days, circa S.C.U.M.: various unrelated tapes and electronic sounds are stuck together and make up a fine musique concrete tres brut. Heavily cut up and chopped up into a fine pieces, grinded together. Excellent noise music throughout." [FdW/Vital Weekly]
|
2013 |
€26.50 |
|
| MERZBOW / SCUM |
Scissors for Cutting up Merzbow |
3 x LP / 2 x CD set |
In an interview with Arthur Potter, Akita explained that the album "is an attempt to cut up and mix all of the Merzbow sounds I've done" and that SCUM "is an experiment in changing the context of our own music to create new forms. It's like the disposal of Merzbow into the air."
[By disposal] I mean the ongoing process of production. Nothing is really destroyed or disappears, as recycling is part of production. It's a natural and necessary part of post-capitalism. There should be no illusion of only production, as was the case with early industrialization. Present re-production systems point in the direction of a future hyper-dimension of physics. We no longer use a dialectical approach in our disposal/recycling system, only a forward movement to the reproduction of re-production.
(Masami Akita)
First ever official vinyl re-issue of this classic 1988 Masami Akita side project.
Originally published on LP in 1989 by Masami Akita own label ZSF Produkt.
Re-issued in an expanded version on CD as part of the Merzbox in the year 2000.
This re-issue includes the expanded version on 3 LP and also on 2 CD.
Remastered from original tape.
Limited edition of 200 copies.
www.menstrualrecordings.org/merzbow_scum_scissors_for_cutting_up_merzbow.html
|
2018 |
€49.50 |
|
| MERZBOW KAPOTTE MUZIEK |
Works 1987-1993 |
Korm Plastics KP 3050 |
"Both of these projects hardly need an introduction. Merzbow is since the late ‘70s the project of Masami Akita working in the field of noise music, having released a few hundred CDs/LPs/cassettes by now.
In 1987 Kapotte Muziek was then the solo project of Frans de Waard, after Christian Nijs left the group early ’87. De Waard concentrated on working with other musicians, and started trading tapes with a few musicians he was already in contact with, and one of them was Merzbow. The first release was a cassette, which was released in two versions, one of Merzbow’s ZSF Produkt and one on Belgium’s Therapie label (although none ever showed up, so perhaps it didn’t happen). In October 1989 Merzbow was invited to play at V2 in ’s-Hertogenbosch and a subsequent small tour was done in The Netherlands, playing in Utrecht and Nijmegen. On october 3rd 1989 Merzbow played in the evening in a small student club, Diogenes, and in the late afternoon as a duo with Kapotte Muziek. The first 20 minutes were released on one side of the LP ‘Documentation/Collaboration’, whereas the second side has ‘recycled’ versions of those recordings. For their next project Merzbow Kapotte Muziek took all the recordings from that day and reworked them in an extensive process into the LP ‘Continuum’.
This 3CD set compiles all of these recordings and more. It includes (CD1) the first cassette, ZSF Produkt version, (CD2) has for the first time the complete live recording from the collaborative concert at Radio Rataplan plus two compilation pieces that were made around the same, and (CD3) the complete ‘Continuum’ LP, as well as three highly obscure compilation tracks, including the long reworked ‘Radio Rataplan’ from the very obscure ‘Dutch Tour’ double cassette by V2_Archief.
All expertly remastered by Jos Smolders at Earlabs, all lovingely designed by Meeuw, in a carton box with three CDs, poster, shrinkwrapped and sticker." [label info]
www.kormplastics.nl
Edition of 300 copies only
"In history, a certain type of very conservative – reactionary even - history, key moments and people are outlined, but no longer do we learn the kings and queens, we concentrate on oral histories of last week. So whilst seemingly radical in fact everything in music is still well and truly reactionary ideology. Artists still are identified with and seek to make seminal work, as our Tracey sickly maintains. So when in the late 1970s one Masami Akita stated “I threw all my past music career in the garbage. There was no longer any need for concepts like 'career' and 'skill'. I stopped playing music and went in search of an alternative.” The rest one could say really was history! Only a history that has been both ignored and wonderfully misappropriated into what is now the current noise “scene” of incompetent misfits who imagine their work to be art in the great western tradition. What this 3CD set demonstrates is the origin of this ‘scene’ or site of dissemination of the
meaningless and banal of contemporality. The ipad generation were not yet born when Akita and de Waard began a series of interchanges released originally on cassette and vinyl. The ‘history’ of this process is detailed here http://kormplastics.nl/kp3050.html. The consequences of this (and other events) of the time are in a real sense more profound. As if the ideas of a previous generation failed to generate, and how the fin de siècle became an eternal return of the (same) trivial misunderstanding, and failing to understand. The process of this collaboration is obviously a deconstructive one as any current art student would argue – though by virtue of wikipedia and a downloaded paper with Harvard references. So in fact this contemporality changes, in Damian
(Peter 1007-1072 not Hirst 1965 -?) fashion, the past to render the noise of Akita and de Waard as meaningful in its reaction to – from the past – of this future we now inhabit. The brilliance of such mutilation of past events not via some modified DeLorean but by the simple expediency of a logical inversion - the logic of the ipad’s NOT gates. (The garbage becomes art and so art becomes garbage….) One might therefore admire Akita and de Waard’s work as contributing to the current ‘scholasticism’ – or perhaps conversely to Damian’s condemnation of philosophy as the work of the Devil and the self flagellation of ‘noisers’ in small bars all over the mid-west. Either way – by not excluded middles they are genius’s. A logically non exclusive OR. And to end - by the by - I’ve been criticized for not describing the sound in a review – so what does this sound like – it sounds like the work that is yet to be produced by a sound ‘artist’ somewhere!" (jliat)
|
2012 |
€25.00 |
|
| MERZOUGA |
De Rerum Natura / Dance of the Elements |
CD |
Sound composition by Merzouga – inspired by Lucretius’ philosophical poem.
On the Nature of Things
In his poem De Rerum Natura (On the Nature of Things) the Roman poet/philosopher Lucretius (c. 99 – c. 55 BCE) explores Epicurean physics and philosophy through richly poetic language and metaphors, as he presents an entire cosmology: based on the principles of atomism, Lucretius tries to explain the nature of the mind and soul, and the development of the world. While some of his ideas have been proven scientifically wrong, some of his thoughts seem strikingly reasonable even for the contemporary reader.
Lucretius believes that, while everything in the universe is finite, the smallest elements (“The First Beginnings of Things”) themselves are eternal – moving through the void they collide, create forms and dissolve, just to collide again in order to create new forms.
For Lucretius life is a beautiful chance-driven Dance of the Elements. His ideas, popular and highly controversial in Roman intellectual circles, were soon to be banned and eventually forgotten during the rise of Christianity.
The poem was by chance rediscovered in the 15th century by the famous humanist Poggio Bracciolini (1380-1459), most likely in the scriptorium of a monastery in Fulda, Germany. During the renaissance it eventually became a foundation stone of modern western philosophy and natural sciences.
Translating the Book into Sound
When Soila Valkama, the ars acustica-editor of Finnish broadcaster YLEISRADIO commissioned us to produce a sound-composition, we suggested to her a playful attempt of a sonic translation of Lucretius’ ideas.
The listener embarks on a journey in which a universe of sound unfolds.
Smallest sonic elements float through space, dark and chaotic, merge to create concrete forms, transform into different consistencies, from water to wind, from stone to dust, steadily in motion in a constant process of becoming and dissolving.
Late in the piece the sounds of mammals and humans arrive, blurring again into a palimpsest-like structure when the circle is closing.
We used field-recordings of nature, as an analogue for the “concrete forms” that are created by the colliding elements, but also concrete musical structures: fragments of melodies, tonalities, and rhythmic patterns in contrast to the more abstract material.
Intertwined with the sound-composition we encounter fragments of Lucretius’ text in English and in Latin, carefully adapted and translated by Janko, and spoken by his brother, the actor Stefko Hanushevsky.
The radio-piece consists of six chapters, transposing the structure of Lucretius’ six books into the compositional structure.
There is no delay, no rest to interrupt the flow, we can constantly feel it, and we can see things, smell them, and perceive their sound. –
Lucretius, De Rerum Natura, Book VI: 932+933
1 Track (38′22″)
CD (500 copies)
Credits
Merzouga is:
Janko Hanushevsky (prepared electric bass) and Eva Poepplein (electronics)
Speaker: Stefko Hanushevsky
Translations: Janko Hanushevsky
Editor: Soila Valkama
Commissioned and produced by YLEISRADIO/Finland.
Artwork: U9 – visuelle Allianz
The artwork was created by setting up paper in the garden and applying pens and
brushes to the branches of a tree. All the traces of ink on the paper were created
by the wind moving the tree, thus providing all the scource-material for the album’s
entire artwork.
Merzouga would like to thank
Soila Valkama & YLE, Stefko Hanushevsky, Lasse-Marc Riek & Roland Etzin, Leopold Lenzgeiger, Sabine Kuechler, Markus Jarchow, Bohdan & Ewa Hanushevsky, and Felix & Waltraud Poepplein for their continuous support.
This release was made possible by the generous support of SKE-Fonds.
www.gruenrekorder.de/?page_id=16867 |
2019 |
€13.00 |
|
| MGR (MUSTARD GAS AND ROSES) |
Nova Lux |
LP |
Solo-Album des ISIS-Gitarristen M. GALLAGER auf dem neuen Berliner Label VIVA HATE, dies ist die lim. Vinyl-Version der bereits auf NEUROT erschienenen CD ! Wenn man MGR zuhört, weiss man wer für die melancholischen Stimmungen bei ISIS zuständig ist. Sehr reduzierte, rein instrumentelle Gitarren-Klänge, die
unglaubliche Einsamkeit & Trauer ausstrahlen....
„MUSTARD GAS AND ROSES (kurz MGR) ist das Solo Projekt von ISIS Gitarrist Mike Gallagher, der sich durch den Bandnamen auf Kurt Vonneguts semiautobiographischen Roman ,Slaughterhouse Five" bezieht. Das Album umfasst fünf unbetitelte Stücke mit einer Spielzeit von 52 Minuten. Gallagher wurde bei Track#1 von Greg Burns (RED SPAROWES) am Pedal Steel und bei Track 4 von Octopus (DÄLEK) durch dessen geniale Sampletüftelei unterstützt. ,Nova Lux" schifft sich, nicht untypisch für Neurot, durch eher ruhige Ambient-Post-Rock Gewässer und steht dabei ISIS sehr nahe. Gallagher generiert majestätische Atmosphäre mit telekinetischer Kraft, die auf Gitarrenarbeit basierenden Songs lassen in Verbindung mit Homerecording-Electronica Landschaften erwachsen, die deutlich greifbar auftauchen und sich dann doch wieder in unscharfer Formlosigkeit verlieren...“ [Cargo]
"...Okay we blew it. We did. We let this MGR record slip right under our radar. And we regret it. We do. As we've said before, the only thing better than discovering some new record that totally kicks your ass, is discovering some record you ignored or missed for some reason, only to have your ass kicked retroactively. Such is the case with MGR. And to prove just how sorry we are, not only are we listing this disc (a few months late) but we also got a super limited cd-r direct from the band reviewed elsewhere on this list.
Not sure why we didn't give this a listen when it first came out, our defense, as flimsy as it may seem, is that we thought MGR was the abbreviation for manager, so we just sort of figured, that was kind of a dumb name so why bother. MGR actually stands for Mustard Gas And Roses and is the work of one M. Gallagher from postrock metal heavyweights Isis, and is actually quite amazing.
Imagine Isis with all the bombast stripped away, all traces of metal removed, leaving only sinewy minor key guitars to drift over vast expanses of droning shimmer, skeletal but incredibly lush. Dark, moody, melancholy soundscapes, the background a warm swirl of sound, guitars drifting in the fuzzy haze above, unfurling gorgeously melancholic melodies, while all around huge swaths of sound shimmer and shift. There's some lap steel, but it's just another gauzy layer of sound, there are beats here and there, but those already minimal rhythms are processed into indistinct throbs and minimal shuffles and buried way down in the murk, making those tracks sound like some sort of post rock Gas. So good." [Aquarius Records]
|
2006 |
€15.00 |
|
| MICH, LUDO / WATARU KASAHARA / KIYOHARU KUWAYAMA |
Les archives de l'univers amnesique illustre |
LP |
"A new pairing of minds and techniques on a steel-grey voyage across the treacherous Ifingr river.
Kiyoharu Kuwayama, master of resonant spaces and junk objects holds the reins over three chapters of spiralling horror and madness. Sounds are coaxed out ashamed and blushing: the syphilitic cough, the cracked shin bone and the greasy sheen of night sweats wired up to a 9 volt battery.
Wataru Kasahara plays the mysterious masked man adding stewed tape manipulation to the mix. The brush strokes hint at a moody Goya and his bleak Pinturas negras.
Ludo Mich is a ghost, a spectre that adds an ass-hiss, a stain, a pursed lip smacking to the junkyard rumble.
Overall the listening effect is startling. Like grasping for a banister when drunk, there is a slo-mo quality, a brief moment of calm before the crash of brittle chin vs concrete steps. It sets up a déjà-vu meme with the recurring metallic ‘ssschhshh’ sound that could come from throat or stoat. Overlaid are saw-tooth waves, sourced from MP3s buried in the garden over a harsh winter. When the ducks loosen phlegm they shit silver dollars. Presently contact mics are attached to submarine hulls somewhere in an undersea canyon and closing the eyes opens up new patterns of pressure-roses blooming red, orange, red. You’ve not heard a more focused record this year.
Kiyoharu Kuwayama has been making music since the 1980’s He also records as Lethe and collaborates with cats as chunky as: Kapotte Muziek and Campbell Kneale (Birchville Cat Motel).
Wataru Kasahara is an experimental musician and visual artist and has recorded widely in Japan and Europe.
Ludo Mich has played the field since the swinging sixties and has therefore played with everyone of consequence. Currently the godfather of the Northern European heek-a-feak underground." [label info]
www.discombobulaterecords.com
|
2013 |
€18.00 |
|
| MICHAEL, DAVID & SLAVEK KWI |
MMABOLELA |
do-CD |
" ‘Sonic Mmabolela’ is a 2-week workshop/residency for professional and semiprofessional sound artists and composers with previous experience in the area of sound experimentation and field recordings. It takes place at Mmabolela Reserve, in the Limpopo province of South Africa, right at the border with Botswana. It involves field work, studio work and theoretical/discussion presentations. The workshop/residency has a special focus on creative approaches to the work with field recordings, through an extensive exploration of natural sound environments. It does not have a technical character but is instead conceived and directed towards the development and realization of projects of sonic creation by the participant artists/composers with the field recordings gathered." [Francisco Lopez website]
"Note from unwritten diary of David:
3:45 AM. Time to get up. The Bushveld is already awake.
Slávek and I are both dragging a bit, rushing to get out the door and deploy.
After almost two weeks of nonstop recording, we are both tired and a little homesick.
At this point in the residency we have already found a dependable dawn recording location in a dry creek bed just far enough away from Weederdooper homestead so that our microphones will not pick up breakfast activities and just close enough for us to make it back for a nap before the morning field session. In a strange way this location reminds me of another of Slávek’s favorite recording spots on a small tributary flowing into Lake Mamori in Brazil. Slávek and I share a room at Weederdooper, which makes these dawn sessions simple. Our equipment too tends to share space in locations we scout together during many of the field sessions. We each now have many recordings of the exact same events, but from slightly different perspectives. The dry river bed at Umzumbi, the hippos at Mmabolel Rock, the bridge to Botswana, the watering holes. Perhaps when we get back home we will make a CD together.
CD 1:
Slávek Kwi (Artificial Memory Trace)
01: Usvit (Dawning in Dry Riverbed)
02: Windpeckers
03: Lament of Longhorn Beetle
04: Subaquatic Insects, Terrapins, Fish Munching on Algae
05: From Perspective of Wasps
06: Baboons
07: Mouchy
08: Hippo-pota-muses
09: Noc Pt1 (Toads, Bats [via heterodyne detector], Xmas Beetles)
10: Transition (Xmas Beetles close-up)
11: Noc Pt2 (Frogs, Bats [via microphone], Insects)
12: Noc Pt3 (Cicadas, Frogs, distant Baboons)
Excerpts:
Track 01
Track 04
Recordings made by Slávek Kwi in November 2013 at the Mmabolela.
Composed in between February and June 2014 in Beech House, Ireland.
Trk 01-09 was originally constructed as multichannel piece titled “AfriKaa!”
dedicated to children with autism.
The Sound Expedition was funded by The National Concert Hall in Dublin;
very special thanks to Ciara Cuffe and Simon Taylor for kind support.
Extended thanks to David for making this publication possible.
CD 2:
David Michael
01. Slávek’s Dry Creek
02. Midnight on the Limpopo
03. Hippopotamuses at Mmabolel Rock
04. Umzumbi with Baboons, Bats
05. Duets
06. The Bridge to Botswana IV
07. Afternoon with an Impala Carcass
Excerpts:
Track 4
Track 6
Recordings made by David Michael in November 2013 at the Mmabolela. Produced in Sleepy Hollow, New York during various sessions in 2014.
19 Tracks (157′16″)
Double CD (500 copies)"
www.gruenrekorder.de
|
2014 |
€16.00 |
|
| MIDDLETON, IAN |
Aural Spaces |
LP |
"I've been in touch with Ian Middleton for over 13 years now, lured into contact by a Remora lathe-cut LP, I believe, which sounded similar in intent to IFCO material that Karla and I were working on at the time. Ian was a somewhat prolific figure of the '90s UK underground scene, both with his music and his visual art. There was an LP for Swill Radio 'in the can', which ended up on Eclipse as there wasn't any money here to release it. Ian's music has always had both organic and artificial elements combined with the vague melancholy of distant beauty. With Aural Spaces, Ian has refined and distilled his processes into a gorgeous electronic diamond. To quote my good friend Oskar Spee, 'Aural Spaces is an exotic, scientific, and beautiful perfume that slows down time and allows one to live, however briefly, in a better possible world.' I couldn't agree more. There is not a wasted moment. Ian has kept a low profile the last few years, preferring to concentrate on his work and make it better, an approach of which I heartily approve. The sequencing of this LP is immaculate, a skill that is becoming a lost art in this shuffle-play world. Aural Spaces is totally removed from the confines of today's backwards looking fads and instead points its bow directly towards the future. Fighting the good fight." [Scott Foust, Swill Radio]
www.anti-naturals.org/swill
|
2009 |
€18.00 |
|
| MILITIA |
Ambiorix |
CD |
After releasing the MILITIA debut album into cassette (a split with CON-DOM entitled "Scorching Earth Policy") in 1995, Old Europa Cafe, 23 years later, proudly comes with the new and MILITIA album "AMBIORIX" devoted to the great Gaul King.
All sounds with the usual unmistakable MILITIA trademark, a big variety of rythms with loads of self made percussions and wind instrumets.
Songs are sung in different languages including Latin and Gaul.
The definitive MILITIA album, the album of their maturity.
Special Eco-Leather covers.
Covers available in some different brown tonalities and with 4 different logos printed on Eco-Leather Sleeves.
Also included is a 3-folded insert with cover notes.
Ambiorix, a musical story by MILITIA, based on Ceasar’s writings of “De Bello Gallico”
What happened before
When around 57 bC Julius Ceaser conquered Gaul, his troops marched into Belgica. (Belgica is more or less the state of Belgium plus a part of the Netherlands reaching to the river Rhine).
Belgica was inhabited by several tribes which were at war with each other frequently.
The tribe of the Eburons was lead by 2 kings, Ambiorix and Catuvolcus, both sharing power.
In 54 bC Ceasar had to provide his troops with fresh food and wood supplies and he ordered the tribes to cede a part of their crops to the Roman armies. Because the harvest wasn’t a good one that year and because the Eburons needed the wood from their forests for themselves for the coming winter, the Eburons refused.
Ceasar ordered his generals to built camps around the villages of the Euburon tribes, take over power and confiscate the food supplies by force.
Ambiorix and his Eburons were not to let this happen.
Music on the album and the story of Ambiorix >>
Track 1: Resistance
During the intro of the 1st track “Resistance”, you can hear “forest sounds”, like sounds of birds and insectsb and the wind blowing in the trees. The intro represents the situation of Romans entering the Eburon forest and starting to chop several trees.
The Eburons attack, the small group of Roman soldiers is taken by surprise and only a few can escape.
Track 2: Negotiation
Ambiorix and his Eburon warriors haunt the escaping Romans, but when Ambiorix reaches the Roman camp, he decides not to attack but instead he starts negotiations with the enemy.
The Eburon king explains to the Romans that he doesn’t mind their presence in the region and that he’s in fact Lucky with having them staying on his land, because their presence keeps other hostile tribes from entering Eburon territory.
Ambiorix warns both generals Sabinus and Cotta for the fact that a hughe Germanic army is crossing the Rhine and planning to attack the Roman camps.
Ambiorix advices the generals to move their troops to another Roman camp and join the troops there.
That way they would be stronger and capable of beating the Germanic warriors.
Ambiorix promisses the Romans a free passing through the Eburon lands.
Track 3: Arguing
The generals Sabinus and Cotta discuss all night long whether they should leave their camp or not.
Sabinus trusts Ambiorix and thinks it’s better to leave while Cotta prefers to stay in the camp and wait for the attack.
They cannot agree and only after Sabinus gets furious, hitting hard the table with his fist, Cotta agrees to leave the camp.
Track 4: Ambush
The decision to leave the camp has been taken and the Roman soldiers start marching.
There are two possible routes to the next Roman camp, one path was behind hilly landscape, the other through a valley.
The generals decide to go pass the valley and when descending, Ambiorix and his warriors attack, charging downhill out of the woods and straight into the indefensible flancs of the Roman army.
The Romans were slaughtered and a few were captured.
Noone could escape.
Track 5: Burning the Wicker Man
In his book “De Bello Gallico”, Ceasar described how the Gauls used to sacrifice their prisoners: the men or even women were locked up in a hughe puppet made of wood and straw, like a giant, and then this giant, called the Wicker Man, was set on fire, burning alive the prisoners inside it.
It was their way of sacrificing the captured Roman soldiers to the Gaul god of thunder, Taranis.
Track 6: Women of Gaul
Despite of Ceasar’s claims that Gaul women had nothing to say and were treated as inferior to men, we know from historical sources that some women occupied an important function in their community.
We don’t know if they were active in battle as well, but we know the story of the Celtic female warrior called Boudicca, who got beaten and witnessed her daughters being raped by the Romans.
She took revenge, lead her troops to war and burned down a few Roman cities located in Britannia.
Track 7: March on Gaul
Rome received the news about the beaten army and the resisting Eburons.
Ceasar swore to exterminate every tribe of Belgica. It was important for him to show the greatness and the power of the Roman empire, so this enormous defeat could not be left unpunished: a complete Roman legion and 5 cohorts (in all around 7200 men) was completely whiped out by just one tribe!
Ceasar sent a massive force to Belgica, a force never witnessed before.
Track 8: Calling all Gauls
At the same time Ambiorix united all other Belgian tribes to form a defending force against the Roman army that was marching to Belgica. Thousands of warriors stood behind Ambiorix.
They trained and prepared themselves for the great clash.
Track 9: War
This is the musical interpretation of the great battle between the Roman soldiers and the Gaul warriors.
You’ll hear commands in Latin and Gaul language.
Blood and mud, sufferings and death, victory and defeat.
Track 10: The Rape of Gaul
The Gauls lost the battle, whatever remained of the Belgican population was slaughtered and the Gaul villages were burned down: extermination, genocide, rape, plunder, massacres, murdering women and children, hostiges and prisoners became slaves.
It was the end of the Gaul civilisation.
Track 11: The Lost King
Ambiorix could escape and with a few warriors he succeeded in crossing the Rhine and hiding in Germania.
There’s no trace left of him and although sometimes Roman soldiers reported to have seen him, they can never catch him.
Ambiorix diappears in the dark mists of history.
We remember the great king who stood up against the Roman occupiers.
For evermore he’ll be a true Belgian hero in the hearts of all, in the hearts of Militia.
|
2018 |
€16.00 |
|
| 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 |
|
| MINIMAL COMPACT |
Deadly Weapons |
CD |
"Wiederveröffentlichung des 1984er-Albums der israelischen Kultband. Angeführt von Sänger Samy Birnbach (alias DJ Morpheus) waren Minimal Compact eine der inspirierendsten Bands der 1980er-Jahre. Sie verbanden funkige Rockrhythmen und prägnante Gitarren mit den musikalischen Aromen des Nahen Ostens. Die aus Israel stammende Band konnte in Europa und den USA auf eine leidenschaftliche Anhängerschaft zurückblicken, einige ihrer Songs, wie das auf "Deadly Weapons" zu findende "Next One Is Real", wurden zu Clubhits. Das Album markierte 1984 den internationalen Durchbruch der Band."
[label info]
"Minimal Compact's 'Deadly Weapons' - a disc of lingering textures- is a confluence where the streams of flair and ideas meet equally. It's an iconoclastic album, a collection of songs which are effortlessly assimilated yet tap normally suppressed emotions. If there is any simple division in music it's between compositions which lubricate the biological instincts -sex and the rest- and those that mine the, uhm, soul. Post Joy Division, I can only think of three rock bands who've successfully penetrated the shadows of existence in their individual ways: Nick Cave, Holy Toy and Minimal Compact. Heavy stuff, eh ? Piss off ! It's as easy as putting a record on a turntable. Though quite why the group should join the shortlist is uncertain: the majority of them are Israeli, so we have no obvious cultural connections on the surface. Compact's approach is harmonically impacted. And even at their most blatantly neo-traditional, like on 'The Howling Hole', the minaret motifs might make for a strange musical geography but the intent is instantly recognisable at some subcutaneous level. (...) Does this make the music 'difficult' ? Not unless you're a paraplegic who can't put a disc on a turntable. So damn well do it now." [Jack Barron / SOUNDS, 1984]
www.crammed.be |
2003 |
€10.00 |
|
| MIXED BAND PHILANTROPIST |
The impossible Humane |
LP |
"Limitiertes Vinyl-Reissue des einzigen Albums der Industrial-Kultband.
Aufgenommen in den Jahren 1984 bis 1986 ist "The Impossible Humane" das einzige Album von Mixed Band Philanthropist, einem Nebenprojekt der The New Blockaders. Ursprünglich war die Platte 1987 auf dem deutschen Label Selektion erschienen und ist natürlich längst ein begehrtes Sammlerstück. Das Label Staubgold macht dieses Juwel aus Industrial und Musique concrete in einer Kleinauflage wieder erhältlich. Das Reissue enthält zwei Bonustracks, die der 7-Zoll-Single "The Man Who Mistook A Real Woman For His Muse And Acted Accordingly" entnommen wurden. Am Album war das Who’s who der damaligen Industrial-Szene beteiligt, u. a. Nurse With Wound, Organum, Andrew Chalk, The New Blockaders, Etant Donnes, H.N.A.S., P16.D4, Asmus Tietchens, Controlled Bleeding, Smegma und Merzbow. "A totally great listening experience", meinte das Magazin "The Wire". Die Vinyl-only-Produktion ist auf 400 Platten limitiert." [label info]
www.staubgold.com
"Recorded from 1984 to 1986, "The Impossible Humane" is the sole album by The New Blockaders side project Mixed Band Philanthropist. Originally released on the German Selektion label in 1987 and impossible to find nowadays, Staubgold makes this rare gem of Industrial goes Musique Concrete available again in a strictly limited edition of 400 copies. Furthermore the reissue contains two bonus tracks taken from the 7" single "The Man Who Mistook A Real Woman For His Muse And Acted Accordingly".
The album is assembled of exclusive source material by the who's who of the Industrial music scene of the time, including contributions by Nurse With Wound, Organum, Andrew Chalk, The New Blockaders, Etant Donnes, H.N.A.S., P16.D4, Asmus Tietchens, Controlled Bleeding, Smegma, Merzbow and many more. "A classic chunk of destroyed musique concrete. Assembled from a variety of musical and spoken sources, this is a nonstop barrage of genius. Filled with headsnapping changes, sexual innuendo and general confusion, it's a totally great listening experience," said The Wire magazine.
Idwal Fisher wrote: "This car crash tape collage still stands today as one of the best examples of the genre. Its perpetual barrage of split-second samples are a dizzying mess of '60's Pop songs, scrapes, industrial whirr, uncategorizeable racket, ghostly voices, electronic beebles and burrs, sped-up records, tape whizz, machine rumble, snatches of Reggae, bucket damage, kazoo farts, Disco spots and about three-thousand or more (I'm guessing) other samples that really shouldn't work but, by some slight of hand or genius, actually do. On paper snatches of steel bands shouldn't be found on the same side of tape as Geordie MCs, Michael Jackson, pneumatic drills, early Merzbow and '50's Doo Wop but here they are and it works. Totally. Then comes the added bonus of being able to listen to this to the point of ad nauseam, mainly due to the fact that there are so few reference points that every listen brings something new." [label info]
|
2014 |
€16.00 |
|
| MIYASHITA, YU |
Noble Niche |
CD |
"Mille Plateaux presents an album by Japanese noise/glitch artist, Yu Miyashita. By definition, Noble Niche is a glitch album. So why doesn't it sound like one? Well, this album is based on the most neglected type of glitch sound: noise. Naturally, noise is not exactly easy listening, and Noble Niche is no exception. However, it is not to be confused with rather provocative or even trashy (Japa)Noise. Instead, Yu Miyashita managed to apply the fine (glitch) aesthetics known from many classic Mille Plateaux releases to digital noise. The sounds suggest that Yu managed to make digital data audible that was never meant to be played back with an audio player. Ever listened to a CD-Rom? This music is highly abstract, with no more than traces of musical chords, not even enough to get any real world associations: a life support machine, perhaps, or a Japanese pachinko hall in hell. Often intense and powerful, sometimes delicate and fragile -- food for audio junkies desperate for the next unheard sound." [label info]
www.mille-plateaux.com
"The other release by Mille Plateaux brings back their old sub-division to mind: Ritornell. Should that still have existed then Yu Miyashita's release would have fitted perfectly here. This is music made from glitches, but unlike some of the previous Ritornell peers, these glitches are moulded into noise. However not the sort of noise we leave to Jliat these days, but noise of a more varied type. Like the fast forward speeding up of tapes, along with heavy layers of drone like sounds, like totally distorted samples of organs. Say the classic Kid 606 sound, but without any drum sounds in close range. Wall of noise, psychedelic and captivating. I think Yu Miyashita is from Japan, and his (?) music sounds like entering a pachinko hall - those Japanese entertainment/gambling centers, with lots of rambling machines with their silver balls and loud music on top. There are at times quieter moments, like the dark opening op 'Scrypt'. Yu Miyashita builds on the earlier experiences of the label, does that in a more heavy manner than the previous lot and that makes it quite a great CD. But I wonder what he would do next. More of the same seems not the right thing, I'd say, as this is a statement by itself." [FdW/Vital Weekly]
|
2011 |
€13.00 |
|
| MIYATA, RYOSUKE |
In a Drainage Outlet |
mCDR |
"ryosuke miyata is a japanese composer based in tokyo. previously known under the miche alias, he had a handful of digital releases mainly issued by japanese netreleases.
in addition to sudying the piano since he was a little boy, ryosuke miyata's influences include classical music, video-games soundtracks and healing music.
owing to his childhood years spent mainly creating and otherwise being immersed in reverie, fantasy and fiction, his music creations are steeped in themes such as daydreams come true, lasting impressions and interpretations of childhood memories.
with a signature sound that denotes a sense of nostalgia and illusion, his music creation process combines piano, guitar, bass and other traditional instruments with computer-based elements such as sound processing, sampling and field recordings.
"at a drainage outlet" is a nice collection of four sweet and delicate drone-based compositions..." [label info]
www.taalem.com
"The second release is by Ryosuke Miyata, from Tokyo. He worked Miche before and Japanese net labels as such released his music. As a young man he played the piano and these days cities as inspirations 'classical music, video-games soundtracks and healing music'. I am not sure which video games that might be but it does not translate to some dirty 8bit computer noise. But somehow the computer does play a role in this music, along with indeed the piano. There are four pieces on this release, all inhabiting the world of drone music but in all of these we hear the stretched out sounds from piano or guitars, treated with software, in combination with field recordings. A bit dark, but not as dark as some of his peers, this is all rather gentle music, staying on the 'nicer' side of drone and ambient music." [FdW/Vital Weekly]
|
2014 |
€5.00 |
|
| MIZUTANI, KIYOSHI |
Inferior's Betrayal |
do-LP |
Reissue of the self-produced K7 in 1994 on Kiyoshi Mizutani's Ulcer House label.
https://fernsrecordings.bandcamp.com/album/inferiors-betrayal
"The first time I saw Merzbow in concert, in 1989, during his first European tour, I perceived them as a group. Masami Akita, Reiko A and K. Mizutani (although he arrived a bit later on tour) were a trio, even when Akita already seemed the leading man. Mizutani was present on various Merzbow releases from the 1980s but left in the early 90s. Since there have been several solo releases, not as many as Merzbow, since long Masami's solo vehicle, but that number is hard to surpass. 'Inferior's Betrayal' was first released on cassette in 1994 by Ulcer House. I am sure I heard that one, but not for long. With Merzbow, Mizutani was the guitarist, and I always assumed (but am not sure of) this is also his preferred instrument in solo work, next to sound effects. But, somehow, I also believe he uses field recordings or objects and contact microphones. The first piece, 'A Calm', is such a piece that sounds to me as if he's scraping contact microphones over rusty shovels and feeding that a bunch of sound effects. Interestingly enough, in none of the five pieces, Mizutani sounds like Merzbow, save perhaps for the feedback orgy of 'Parasite'. Sure, there is noise and a bit of feedback, but the main focus is not on that. Mizutani's music sounds like an exploration of acoustic sounds drifting into an electronic world. One could say that this is electro-acoustic music, but Mizutani adds an element of improvisation. All of these tracks are long and could be edited, but I would think endurance is part of the idea. A piece such as 'Composition' sounds like a Fluxus-inspired bang on a can (and plastic bags) and has a collage-like approach more than the four others. I enjoyed this double record, with music I hadn't heard in a long time and reminding me that I should dig out some of his other cassettes; perhaps Ferns will reissue these as well? That would be great." [FdW/Vital Weekly]
|
2022 |
€26.00 |
|
| MIZUTANI, KIYOSHI & KIYOHARU KUWAYAMA |
Interlude |
CD |
"Kiyoshi Mizutani: feedback. Kiyoharu Kuwayama: handmade electronics, contact mic & mix. and/OAR (via either/OAR) is very pleased to present what is without a doubt among the very best of both artist's electronic-based work. Throughout much of this highly charged release, brooding clouds of swarming tones and drones envelope the listener, either inducing a hypnotic trance or a deep contemplative listening state. This work is the result of a mail exchange. At first, Kiyoshi created the feedback sound in the studio using a suspended microphone, mixer and some effects. Sometimes drum sticks, steel and wooden chair were used to influence the sound. Kiyoshi's recorded sound was sent to Kiyoharu who then processed the materials and edited and mixed the sound with his own materials. Kiyoshi Mizutani started his sound career with the noise project Merzbow until the late 1980s, After leaving Merzbow, Kiyoshi started releasing solo work under his own name - gradually shifting away from noise to mostly recording and releasing straight environmental sound documents. Apart from Kiyoharu Kuwayama and Masami Akita (Merzbow), Kiyoshi has also collaborated with Daniel Menche and Hideaki Shimada. Apart from and/OAR, Kiyoshi has had his work released by such labels as Ground Fault, CMR, Monochrome Vision, Auscultare Research, E(r)ostrate, Artware Production, Engraved Glass, Flenix, among others. Kiyoharu Kuwayama (aka Lethe) is known for creating and recording work in highly resonant spaces or charged atmospheres (abandoned warehouses, Shinto temples, etc). Kiyoharu is also known for his involvement with the duo Kuwayama - Kijima (Kiyoharu Kuwayama : cello, and Rina Kijima : violin) who are formidable players, so well attuned to each other that their improvisations cannot be distinguished from highly complex compositions. With a particular interest in ambient sound and locations that inspire improvisation, they take advantage of the natural reverb of each location (under a bridge at night, an abandoned warehouse), and even change their position while playing to create beautiful and charged performances." [label info]
www.and-oar.org
"There is, like with most releases by Kiyoharu Kuwayama not a lot of information on the cover (or websites) with details about the recording, but more than some other times. Kiyoharu Kuwayama plays "handmade electronics, contact mic & mix" and Kiyoshi Mizutani just gets credit for feedback. Mizutani was in the 80s a member of Merzbow, and after leaving Merzbow he did a couple of releases, ranging from the heavy noise field to field recordings, including collaborations with Daniel Menche and Hideaki Shimada. Kuwayama is perhaps best known as Lethe and has created a bunch of releases that deal with large spaces in which he plays cello, metal objects and electronics. This release with Mizutani is one that was generated through mail, which I think is a rarity in his catalogue. Mizutani recorded feedback using a suspended microphone, mixer and effects, influencing the sound with drum sticks, steel and wooden chair. Kuwayama then processed this material and did further editing. The result is excellent. The feedback produced by Mizutani is never 'loud and dirty' as one could easily think these things would be (think harsh noise walls), but refined and varied. The sustained sounds move through your home space in an excellent way, and Kuwayama treats them with great care. The ten pieces flow into each other and form a great unified wholeness, which reminded me of the best of Arcane Device. A highly varied disc of music, excellent treatments and fine composition." [FdW/Vital Weekly] |
2011 |
€12.00 |
|
| MLEHST |
An old broom knows all the dirty corners |
CD |
Das MLEHST-Comeback nun auch auf CD; diese Klänge sind wirklich unangenehm und regen auf, ohne harsch noisig zu sein, ein schräger Tanz von Radiosinustönen, low-fi-Geräuschen und Rauschen, fast jegliche musikalische Grundkonzepte und Bestimmungsparameter sind hier ausser Kraft gesetzt!
"Mlehst returns after years of silence, along with his unique (and prolific) experimental noise. As a bonus this digipak album has some alternate mixes of material from two recent LPs, but they fit well here and will seem like part of the whole work to most listeners. Commencing with noisy drones and reverberating percussive noises, the album takes a really varied journey through all kinds of noisy experimental, weird electronic, feedback, and droney sounds. There is a really unsettling and disturbing element to the music throughout the CD, which seems more controlled and natural than I had remembered in previous works. As intense as the sounds on CD can get, it is by no means a typical static harsh noise release. Everything has it's place and is totally under control, being precisely manipulated. Just how I like my noise... An incredibly solid and enjoyable release, through and through." [Diophantine Discs Top Releases of 2006]
"Whether or not its because I am in the process of giving up smoking I don't know, but this album leaves me anxious and on-edge. Fantastic! So many recordings just leave you cold. An emotional conduit!" [METAMORPHIC JOURNEYMAN]
|
2006 |
€12.00 |
|
| MNEM |
Hegonon |
LP |
"Judging by the name of one of the two members of Mnem, Juri Kaprov, Mnem is Russian or from
the Ukraine. The other member calls himself 1W, so that's not really helpful. Sentimental is a label run by Edward Sol, who for his other enterprise Quasipop is usually forthcoming with information, but for whatever reasons not this other label, so it's all a bit mysterious and perhaps that’s the point of course. From Discogs I learned that at the core of Mnem's sound there are old reel-to-reel recorders and 'analogue gadgets'. The sound they arrive at it is best called 'old school industrial', with a strong influence of Maurizio Bianchi, or rather his Sacher Pelz moniker from before that.
Quite some disturbing sound, full of hissy distortion and the sound is pretty crumbled and loop based. It rotates and rots away; one could almost hear the magnetic particles falling of those old tapes. The analogue gadgets might be a bunch of monotron synthesizers, the slowed down
percussive sounds from some pots (the reel-to-reel is particularly useful for slowing down sounds) and all of this comes in a loop based way. Mnem add a bit of sound effects along the way, just like MB did, creating dense clouds of sounds from the nuclear fall-out zone. It is by all means an old sound, but not something I for one hear a lot these days (perhaps not keeping up with all the M.B. re-issues), so I quite enjoyed this crude set of pieces; all six of them. And just like them oldie days it comes with a mysterious cover collage, but no concentration camps or pornography this time, so
we've moved forward by now in that department." (FdW/Vital Weekly) |
2018 |
€20.00 |
|
| MNORTHAM (=MICHAEL NORTHAM) |
Go |
mCD |
A beautiful drone-one-(drone-on)-tracker wtih 20+ minutes length, which could simply go on forever and forever, you can listen to tiny details but also just let it go as an atmosphere in the background. Has lots of mechanical "surface"-scratch noises in it, but its all very soft... Great stuff.
"This new work by Michael Northam (aka mnortham) is a humble attempt to represent in sound the inner force of his recently deceased father's life-long passion for machines and long career as a driver of 3/4 midget and sprint race cars. Where during his 16-year career (from 1949 until 1965) he gained some status as a pioneer of the sport and a national champion. For Michael this period remained a mysterious time of legend as it was some years before his birth. This composition therefore is a journey into the heart of these legends. A portrait of a sprit struggling to keep focus while riding a massive force of machine. An interpretation of the experience that his father must have been undergoing in the midst of a race. Based on various sources including spring cars themselves recorded at the Terre Haute Raceway September of 2005. This work is a monolithic testament of the force of life of a man who lived it fully until the end. As well, a meditation on the samasaric metaphor of the oval track—the circle of life we are all riding along and are bound to GO "the only constant is change" Richard Northam [1926-2005] [press release]
http://fernsrecordings.free.fr/
|
2006 |
€8.00 |
|
| MODELL, ROD / MARIT WOLTERS |
Cocoon |
do-LP |
Marit Wolters is a Viennese artist who creates sculptures that speak. They generate their own world of micro-sounds. Rod Modell is a sound designer operating primarily from Detroit (with an EU home-base in Amsterdam). Here, he moulded the sounds of Marit's works in the same way that she works her materials, creating a generative soundscape designed for museum playback during Marit’s exhibitions, constructed with sounds of Marit’s sculptures, drones, field recordings, and cosmic sounds. The result of this collaboration is COCOON, a 74 minute CD of music by Rod and Marit, with a 24-page 8" square booklet featuring Marit’s work. The package also Includes a poster that reproduces the original playbill from the debut exhibition of COCOON in Linz, Austria. A collector's item, limited and numbered to only 300 pieces.
"The Ethereal Substance of Matter" by Mirco Salvadori
It takes adaptation to begin this journey. We need to increase our perceptual sensors by adapting the transmission of touch to the apparently inert matter. Sight too must increase its visionary capacity, and hearing has the obligation to pick up even the most microscopic movement. Gradually, we levitate upon appearing in front of the substance. As protected in a transparent cocoon that allows contact, we penetrate through the undefined throbbing of a heart that is constantly springing into action, witness to a life that uses field recordings capable of recalling past glitches. Absorbed in the liquidity of sound we slowly immerse ourselves in the majesty of the deep dronic breath, driven by the power of the ambient wave that iterates its eternal oscillation. We are in, here where everything is an unlimited reverberation, almost a song of seductive ethereal substance.
13.silentes.it/private_sounds/sps2037_rod_modell_marit_wolters_cocoon.htm
|
2021 |
€36.00 |
|
| MOEBIUS & TIETCHENS |
same |
LP |
"Erste Kooperation der beiden Elektronik-Avantgardisten seit 1976: Mit Asmus Tietchens und Dieter Moebius haben zwei Künstler zusammengefunden, die zu den ganz Großen der deutschen Avantgarde-Elektronikmusik gehören. Beide sind seit den 70er- Jahren dabei, Moebius als Mitglied von Kluster/Cluster und Harmonia sowie solo und in zahlreichen Kollaborationen (u. a. Brian Eno, Mani Neumeier); Tietchens fast ausschließlich als Solokünstler, anfangs in den Bereichen elektronischer und konkreter Musik, später dann vornehmlich im Gebiet der abstrakten Geräuschmusik. Das vorliegende Album ist ihre erste Kooperation seit 1976. Mit ihm lösen Moebius und Tietchens ein Versprechen ein, das sie sich vor 35 Jahren gaben: "Wir müssen mal eine Platte zusammen machen." 13 Stücke transportiert das Album, 13 Ideen, wie sie heterogener kaum sein können. Kein Stück ähnelt dem anderen: Von der hingehauchten Skizze bis zu derb zupackender Rhythmik ist so gut wie alles zu hören, was die beiden Altmeister der E-Musik in ihren Arsenalen haben. So klingt zeitgenössische, neue Musik. Das Vinyl erscheint mit Download-Code. //
About the musicians: With Asmus Tietchens and Dieter Moebius, two artists counting among the greats of German avant-garde electronic music have come together. Both have been active for well over thirty years: Moebius (since 1970) as
a member of Kluster/Cluster and Harmonia, as well as solo and in numerous collaborations (Brian Eno, Mani Neumeier, Conny Plank, Mayo Thompson and many more), and Tietchens (since 1976) almost exclusively as a solo artist, beginning in the fields of electronic music and musique concrète and later mainly in the realm of abstract music. “Moebius+Tietchens” is now their first collaboration in 35 years.
With this album, Dieter Moebius and Asmus Tietchens fulfill a promise that they made 35 years ago. That is, in 1976, when the five musicians of Liliental completed the recordings for their eponymous album (released 1978) and again scattered to the winds, Moebius called out to Tietchens from the already moving car: "We have to make a record together sometime." At least that is the report of an ear-witness. Whether or not it's true… In any case, both
decided in 2011 to record the album which is now to be released. Moebius (Cluster, Harmonia), since the early years of Cluster, has
neither lost his curiosity nor his eagerness for experimentation. On the contrary: He has downright cultivated them. Tietchens is not
only a true aficionado of the Cluster's music and friend of the duo, but has also released countless albums of electronic music and
musique concrète since the 1980's – like Cluster, initially on Sky Records – then later only in the field of industrial and abstract
music. Their album may come from out of the blue, but the large amount of overlap in the music of both artists made it a forgone
conclusion to finally make good on the aforementioned promise. Thirteen pieces carries the album. These are thirteen ideas that could hardly be heterogeneous – no two pieces are similar. Moebius and Tietchens show us what they are capable of together. From the rough sketch to densely gripping rhythms, one can clearly hear just what these two old masters of electronic music have in their arsenals. This is not a result of the routine that comes with so many years of experience, nor a thin portion of tired old recipes for success. Other than for a few faint echoes of a bygone era
(perhaps as a sentimental reminder), Moebius+Tietchens“ is an album that could only emerge from the here and now. It is contemporary, new music. Unfortunately, this time there was no ear-witness as Moebius and
Tietchens said goodbye after finishing these recordings. So we do not know if they made a new agreement similar to the one from 35
years ago. Let's hope so." [label info]
|
2012 |
€18.50 |
|
| |
same |
CD |
"Erste Kooperation der beiden Elektronik-Avantgardisten seit 1976: Mit Asmus Tietchens und Dieter Moebius haben zwei Künstler zusammengefunden, die zu den ganz Großen der deutschen Avantgarde-Elektronikmusik gehören. Beide sind seit den 70er- Jahren dabei, Moebius als Mitglied von Kluster/Cluster und Harmonia sowie solo und in zahlreichen Kollaborationen (u. a. Brian Eno, Mani Neumeier); Tietchens fast ausschließlich als Solokünstler, anfangs in den Bereichen elektronischer und konkreter Musik, später dann vornehmlich im Gebiet der abstrakten Geräuschmusik. Das vorliegende Album ist ihre erste Kooperation seit 1976. Mit ihm lösen Moebius und Tietchens ein Versprechen ein, das sie sich vor 35 Jahren gaben: "Wir müssen mal eine Platte zusammen machen." 13 Stücke transportiert das Album, 13 Ideen, wie sie heterogener kaum sein können. Kein Stück ähnelt dem anderen: Von der hingehauchten Skizze bis zu derb zupackender Rhythmik ist so gut wie alles zu hören, was die beiden Altmeister der E-Musik in ihren Arsenalen haben. So klingt zeitgenössische, neue Musik. Das Vinyl erscheint mit Download-Code. //
About the musicians: With Asmus Tietchens and Dieter Moebius, two artists counting among the greats of German avant-garde electronic music have come together. Both have been active for well over thirty years: Moebius (since 1970) as a member of Kluster/Cluster and Harmonia, as well as solo and in numerous collaborations (Brian Eno, Mani Neumeier, Conny Plank, Mayo Thompson and many more), and Tietchens (since 1976) almost exclusively as a solo artist, beginning in the fields of electronic music and musique concrète and later mainly in the realm of abstract music. “Moebius+Tietchens” is now their first collaboration in 35 years. With this album, Dieter Moebius and Asmus Tietchens fulfill a promise that they made 35 years ago. That is, in 1976, when the five musicians of Liliental completed the recordings for their eponymous album (released 1978) and again scattered to the winds, Moebius called out to Tietchens from the already moving car: "We have to make a record together sometime." At least that is the report of an ear-witness. Whether or not it's true… In any case, both decided in 2011 to record the album which is now to be released. Moebius (Cluster, Harmonia), since the early years of Cluster, has neither lost his curiosity nor his eagerness for experimentation. On the contrary: He has downright cultivated them. Tietchens is not only a true aficionado of the Cluster's music and friend of the duo, but has also released countless albums of electronic music and musique concrète since the 1980's – like Cluster, initially on Sky Records – then later only in the field of industrial and abstract music. Their album may come from out of the blue, but the large amount of overlap in the music of both artists made it a forgone conclusion to finally make good on the aforementioned promise. Thirteen pieces carries the album. These are thirteen ideas that could hardly be heterogeneous – no two pieces are similar. Moebius and Tietchens show us what they are capable of together. From the rough sketch to densely gripping rhythms, one can clearly hear just what these two old masters of electronic music have in their arsenals. This is not a result of the routine that comes with so many years of experience, nor a thin portion of tired old recipes for success. Other than for a few faint echoes of a bygone era (perhaps as a sentimental reminder), Moebius+Tietchens“ is an album that could only emerge from the here and now. It is contemporary, new music. Unfortunately, this time there was no ear-witness as Moebius and Tietchens said goodbye after finishing these recordings. So we do not know if they made a new agreement similar to the one from 35 years ago. Let's hope so." [label info]
www.bureau-b.com
|
2012 |
€13.00 |
|
| MOGARD, ABUL / MAURIZIO BIANCHI |
Nervous Hydra / All this has passed forever |
LP |
"MAURIZIO BIANCHI / ABUL MOGARD
NERVOUS HYDRA / ALL THIS HAS PASSED FOREVER
• Abrasive/enchanting split LP between Italian noise god MB and mystic Serbian synthesist AM
• Both artists at the peak of their respective powers • Cut @ D&M
• Limited edition of 500 copies
Ecstatic’s stunning split release between Maurizio Bianchi, godfather of the Italian industrial noise scene, and Abul Mogard, the much loved and hyperstitious synthesist, conjures a spellbinding testament to the transcendent and transportive energies of electronic music.
Although appearing to starkly contrast on the surface, both artist’s work patently shares a lust for the suggestive abstraction of raw current and its pareidolia-like capacity to generate rich and uncanny emotional responses from the end user.
On the A-side, Maurizio Bianchi serves the obfuscated, coruscating atmosphere of Nervous Hydra; a 17 minute piece of sunken, desiccated harmonic structures and warped greyscale tones rinsed with ET radio signals and distant percussion that recall the sound of embers landing on tinfoil or snow. It evokes the experience of being caught in a quietly raging whiteout with only a dying fire for company, or equally a sense of subaquatic, amniotic serenity prior to being evacuated into a much colder world.
Listeners can trust that the Italian artist’s first new work in several years is faithful to his ever- uncompromising oeuvre, but there’s also a tantalisingly elusive sense of redemption buried deep in there which marks it out from the rest of his canon and close to the work of his antecedents such as Kevin Drumm and Jim Haynes.
In that piece’s tempestuous wake, Abul Mogard brings a sense of soothing, glacial calm with All This Has Passed Forever on the B-side.
For 16 blissed minutes, Mogard spells out a nostalgic fantasy in creamy strokes of Farfisa organ and Serge modular recorded at EMS studios, Stockholm, and later combined with field recordings to elicit a wistfully widescreen paean to his days on the workshop floor accompanied by the harmonious drones and cacophony of heavy machinery.
No matter the piece’s provenance, though; it’s simply a sublime example of Abul Mogard’s gift for illusive, suspenseful ambient music which has seen his previous releases sky-rocket in 2nd hand value since their earliest, sold-out editions.
Over 30 minutes of ostensibly contrasting yet subtly, similarly spirited pieces that speak to the mystery and enigma of electronic music’s tortured, searching and romantic soul in equal measure."
www.ecstaticrecordings.com
|
2017 |
€22.00 |
|
| MOHAMMAD (MMMD) |
Zo Rel Do |
LP |
"Zo Rèl Do is the first volume of a trilogy that explores the sounds of the geographical area between 34°N - 42°N & 19°E - 29°E. In this new adventure Mohammad further enrich their monolithic, resonant and deep-dark melodic sound with rhythmic shreds, seismic vibrations that echoes past and future rituals. Volume 2 entitled Lamnè Gastama and Volume 3 Segondè Saleco will be released later in 2014 - early 2015. Edition of 450 copies." [label info]
www.antifrost.gr
"Of the two releases by Mohammad, 'Zo Rel Do' was already released in spring and 'Lamne Gastama' was just released; both of these are part of a trilogy that explores the geographical area between 34 and 42 degrees North and 19 and 29 E, which, if I'm not mistaken is roughly the area of the Mediterranean Sea. Mohammad is a trio of Nikos Veliotis (cello), Coti K. (contrabass) and Ilios (oscillators), and they describe their music as 'chamber doom, religious, extremely dark, harrowing, monolithic, born in heaven, sonic rape, electrocution', a lot of their music deals with low frequencies and dark textures, but I think there are some important differences between both releases. 'Zo Rel Do' seems to me less 'heavy' than the 'Lamne Gastama' one. On the latter the two stringed instruments are played 'con furioso', 'tres fort', like it is a vicious animal that need attacking. In 'Tik Tromakton' the oscillators from Ilios start out and it seems one of the rare occasions we hear him. Maybe, yet I might be entirely mistaken, but with many of the subtle low frequencies Ilios uses in his music, it might be better to witness this in concert at an appropriate volume, which may be lost at home (unless you want some domestic disturbance). The four pieces on 'Lamne Gastama' seemed to be more intense than the ones of 'Zo Rel Do', and evoke a feeling of oppression. Maybe even a very odd take on doom metal I was thinking. Having said all of that, I don't think 'Zo Rel Do' is a more lightweight record, but it certainly reflects a different life in that geographical area I think. The seven pieces here are a bit shorter than on the other one, and while 'Grabe' and 'Kabilar Mace' are quite forceful, 'Urso Nesto' seems to be entirely build of field recordings and 'Marik' reaches for a more contemplative mood, or even a sense of mourning in 'Samarina'. Both are excellent releases and with humble apologies to my neighbours for playing this at a considerable volume in the last few days." [FdW/Vital Weekly]
|
2014 |
€19.50 |
|
|
Lamnè Gastama - 34ºN-42ºN/19ºE-29ºE Study Vol.2 |
LP |
"Lamnè Gastama is the second volume of a trilogy that explores the sounds of the geographical area between 34°N - 42°N & 19°E - 29°E.
In this second volume Mohammad descend further down into the bowels of darkness unleashing sonic monoliths and Promethean melodies and rhythms. Lamnè Gastama, a veritable tour de force including Hapsía the first ever vocal track by the trio so far featuring Sakis Tolis of Rotting Christ.
Segondè Saleco, the third volume and final catharsis is expected in spring 2015. Tirage limité de 450 copies." [label info]
www.antifrost.gr
"Of the two releases by Mohammad, 'Zo Rel Do' was already released in spring and 'Lamne Gastama' was just released; both of these are part of a trilogy that explores the geographical area between 34 and 42 degrees North and 19 and 29 E, which, if I'm not mistaken is roughly the area of the Mediterranean Sea. Mohammad is a trio of Nikos Veliotis (cello), Coti K. (contrabass) and Ilios (oscillators), and they describe their music as 'chamber doom, religious, extremely dark, harrowing, monolithic, born in heaven, sonic rape, electrocution', a lot of their music deals with low frequencies and dark textures, but I think there are some important differences between both releases. 'Zo Rel Do' seems to me less 'heavy' than the 'Lamne Gastama' one. On the latter the two stringed instruments are played 'con furioso', 'tres fort', like it is a vicious animal that need attacking. In 'Tik Tromakton' the oscillators from Ilios start out and it seems one of the rare occasions we hear him. Maybe, yet I might be entirely mistaken, but with many of the subtle low frequencies Ilios uses in his music, it might be better to witness this in concert at an appropriate volume, which may be lost at home (unless you want some domestic disturbance). The four pieces on 'Lamne Gastama' seemed to be more intense than the ones of 'Zo Rel Do', and evoke a feeling of oppression. Maybe even a very odd take on doom metal I was thinking. Having said all of that, I don't think 'Zo Rel Do' is a more lightweight record, but it certainly reflects a different life in that geographical area I think. The seven pieces here are a bit shorter than on the other one, and while 'Grabe' and 'Kabilar Mace' are quite forceful, 'Urso Nesto' seems to be entirely build of field recordings and 'Marik' reaches for a more contemplative mood, or even a sense of mourning in 'Samarina'. Both are excellent releases and with humble apologies to my neighbours for playing this at a considerable volume in the last few days." [FdW/Vital Weekly]
|
2014 |
€18.00 |
|
|
Pèkisyon Funebri |
3 x 10inch BOX |
"Leaving behind their folk based trilogy, Mohammad return to their own original material. Heavy and concentrated, majestic and dark, ethereal and subtle, Pèkisyon Funebri marks a new era in Mohammad's existence, unfolding earthly murmurs and ghostly chants over their distinctive seismic diapasons. An exhilarating procession through highly charged sonic plateaus, from the burning core to the silent skies." [label info] www.antifrost.gr
"The PAN label's premier purveyors of “chamber doom” return with a new cycle for longtime alibis, Antifrost, following their acclaimed folk trilogy of LPs between 2014-15, and the still-resonating tones of Som Sakrifis (2013) for PAN.
If you’ve encountered any of the aforementioned, you will have a very good idea of what to hope for in the 3-part Pèkisyon Funebri; namely a majestic sense of struggle against the flattening feeling of despair and fatigue that haunts our times.
This is music which appears to carry the weight of the world on its shoulders whilst wielding a cello and bow in its heavy limbs, dredging the psyche for signs of life which are found and coaxed from their holes to emerge as churning low-end gestures who reinforce their dual resonant frequencies in slow, wide vortices aimed at centring and quaking your thorax.
Subterranean in their prostration but sidereal in hope against the frustrations that we can only imagine must be felt in Greece right now, Pèkisyon Funebri is a masterful reminder that even at the lowest ebbs there is solace and resilience to be found if one remains faithful to the search.
Huge recommendation." [Boomkat]
"Is “all-encompassing” a cop-out term? Greek trio MMMD, a.k.a. Mohammad, have been eating us alive since 2013’s Som Sakrifis, and as someone following underground music back then, reading various interpretations of its sonic power was enthralling because its uncompromising, sensory-depraving tones assured that our reflections came out of our own visceral reactions rather than out of our interactions with any sort of external text. Our own Birkut began his immersive review of Som Sakrifis with an image of being alone on an island off of Cambodia with nothing but a winking, far-off light for assurance. Som Sakrifis in this allegory was both enveloping darkness and faint, hopeful light. What, then, is Pèkisyon Funebri? And what kind of status quo does its long-form drones conjure? What kind of hope, if any, does it offer a listener?
MMMD’s music has always reminded me of Howard Shore’s scores for The Lord of the Rings films, and as such, my listening has always been guided by that association. For me, Som Sakrifis was heroic music, war music, music by which pastoral hobbits fought against evil wizards and abominable orcs and glowing eyeballs, when outcomes of such battles meant everything to every thing, big or small, dwarf or elf, human or tree. Its overwhelming oppressiveness brought me into a breaking world, vied over by many, but plagued by absolutes. With Pèkisyon Funebri, MMMD has signified a formic return after a brief cartographical break from its regularly scheduled programming. It’s a quiet return at first, as opener “Az álmok itt érnek véget (rész 1)” culls an open landscape, a place where blood has been shed by neighbors who have found themselves equal under a force more terrible than God. “Qoxra” follows, a tremor-inducing dirge for everything that has been lost since “Liberig Min.” What follows is as nerve-wracking as it is steadying, and while my complete ignorance of Greek language obscures my semiotic reading of Pèkisyon Funebri as a multi-movement piece, my feeling is that its slow, plodding drones are of great human import somehow.
Unlike its stylistic predecessor, Pèkisyon Funebri is broken down into many long form movements. There are hiccups here, moments of letting up that are later infiltrated by solid, unyielding sound. “Sorsa” is punctuated by muted pulses, for instance, offering real moments of reprieve from this conjured world’s constant gravity while amplifying more sinuous, time-defying stretches of obligatory crying out like on “Malproksime” and closer “Erdia Da.” Whereas Som Sakrifis felt like that riddle about what has four legs by morning, two by afternoon, and three by evening, Pèkisyon Funebri asks “What’s in my pockets?” Its massiveness, sustained by a bold confidence in potentially liberating non sequiturs, signals a subtle change in trajectory toward a shadowy asymptote; this may not be MMMD’s magnum opus, but its power is great and its cohesion as a work is palpable. And like Som Sakrifis, its reach is absolute. Uniquely, its staying power suggests that MMMD’s reach can transcend time, bridging a Middle Earth and a dying one.
A function of drone as a form is that it grabs and sustains our attention in its steadfastness. It slows us down. It directs our attention. It soundtracks our movements, placing new and unusual stresses on our actions in time. As an electroacoustic genre, its affectiveness relies on subjectivity, while its deliberateness is a sign that begs some kind of reflection. Is Pèkisyon Funebri all-encompassing then? I’m not sure. Its reaches in reality are relatively short as its audience is limited by dedication and access, but its potential, I think, is a unifying one, even if it unifies primarily by pressing down on everything equally. Much like Barry Lyndon’s Epilogue, Pèkisyon Funebri reminds us of our fundamental equality amidst violent inequity: “It was in the reign of George III that the aforesaid personages lived and quarrelled. Good or bad, handsome or ugly, rich or poor. They are all equal now.” So what do we do from here while we are alive? Well, as TMTer Mukqs once said, “Just sit and listen.” Let it all sink in. Let it make your bones shake. Let it change how you walk. Let it bring you down when you feel too proud. Let it pull you up when you feel too small. Let it be and let yourself be changed by its unrelenting resonance. If even for a moment, let it make you feel something so that you have proof of your own dignity when forces of evil threaten it. Let it play. And let it outlive its own dark cloud." [Jackson Scott, Tinymixtapes]
|
2016 |
€58.00 |
|
| |
Pekisyon Funebri |
CD |
"Leaving behind their folk based trilogy, Mohammad return to their own original material. Heavy and concentrated, majestic and dark, ethereal and subtle, Pèkisyon Funebri marks a new era in Mohammad’s existence, unfolding earthly murmurs and ghostly chants over their distinctive seismic diapasons. An exhilarating procession through highly charged sonic plateaus, from the burning core to the silent skies."
https://mohammadsound.bandcamp.com/album/p-kisyon-funebri
|
2016 |
€13.00 |
|
| MOHANNA, NICKOLAS |
Phase Line |
CD |
"Commissioned for the sound exhibition FOAM, this piece oscillates through a variety of media saturated sources. From electronic billboards, kiosk stations and traffic control devices, these sharp reductions are knotted into sculptural arpeggiation, to stretch the mood and spatial impressions. Within this sonic territory, the shifting range of layers solidifies the piece, manifesting a vivid panoramic sensibility. In juxtaposing these concrete sounds, the piece sections into a detailed expanse with a rough interplay of rhythmic and yet muted fractal designs. These two tracks continue to show the working palette of Mohanna, relying on the intersection of deconstructed found sound and hypnotic processing. Also working as a visual artist, producing drawings and videos as accompaniments to sound pieces, Mohanna continues to draw upon the chance interactions within city environments as the source material for his textured forms. The recording was exhibited at a number of spaces which included: Wysing Arts Centre, Project Number Gallery, ANDOR. Limited edition of 200 copies in a full color custom gatefold." [label info]
www.runoffeditions.com
"Following another lengthy gap, here's a new work by Nickolas Mohanna. The previous work we'd reviewed was 'Parallax View' (see Vital Weekly 873) and looking at his discography there was only a cassette in between that release and this new one. His CV shows continuous activity, mainly in galleries in Japan, France, UK and the USA. The two pieces here were commissioned for the sound exhibition 'Foam' and 'this piece oscillates through a variety of media saturated sources. From electronic billboards, kiosk stations and traffic control devices, these sharp reductions are knotted into sculptural arpeggiation, to stretch the mood and spatial impressions'. There's more text, which I won't quote in full, but it seems to me that much of this was recorded using Mohanna's modular synthesizer set-up, but unlike 'Parallax View' the two pieces here, total length just under thirty-four minutes, seem to be less cosmic/krauty/space-like, but perhaps all a bit more experimental and less easy to access
.
The other day I was playing a whole bunch of old Conrad Schnitzler records and I recognize his 'non-keyboard synthesizer' work in the two pieces by Mohanna. Lots of knob fiddling in order to create dense patterns of synthesizer sounds. I am not sure if these synthesizer sounds are being triggered by any kind of external sources, but me thinks it is. Maybe (or perhaps most likely?) the busy sounds of the big city? It's hard to say what it is actually, but it's perhaps not really necessary to know either; it's a great work of busy electronic systems, buzzing around like bees. Like big city traffic." [FdW/Vital Weekly] |
2014 |
€13.00 |
|
| MOLJEBKA PVLSE |
Sadalsuud |
CD |
SADALSUUD ist ein fantastischer one-tracker, über 69 Minuten lang, der mit diversen Gastmusikern und einem wahren Arsenal an verschiedenen Instrumenten und Soundquellen entstanden ist. Sanfte, "erdige" Drone-scapes, aber mit sehr düsterem Unterton, eine surreale Atmosphäre heraufbeschwörend, flüsternde Stimmen aus einem Zwischenreich sind omnipräsent, immer wieder tauchen neue interesante unbekannte Klangobjekte auf, es tönt sehr lebendig & mikro-dynamisch, zum Ende hin wirds noisig & komplexer...
Ein Drone-Meisterwerk, vielleicht das bisher beste Album von M.P., unsere besondere Empfehlung !!!
"....For this album, Mathias collaborated with a number of his colleagues who provided him various source sounds to work with. The name Sadalsuud refers to a star of the same name in the constellation of Aquarius. The name comes from an Arabic phrase meaning "the luckiest of them all". Nevertheless the album is rather earthy-sounding, yet mystical and surreal, almost claustrophobic at times. The sound is vaguely reminiscent of some works by Nurse With Wound, Maeror Tri or The Halfer Trio, but carries the trademark Moljebka Pvlse feel. An unsuspecting pre-listener described Sadalsuud as "a visit to a supposedly haunted house, though only once you've entered the house you begin to grasp the real meaning of haunting." CD in matt-varnished 4-panel digipak. Playing time 70 minutes." [label info]
" Latest disc of sonic exploration from this Swedish dronescaping ensemble. With such a darkly minimal sound, it's amazing that, at least for this recording. Moljebka Pvlse included ten members! Credited, with among other things, sounds (yep, just 'sounds'), no-input mixing board, synthesizers, melodica, field recording, cymbals, guitar, voices, flute, electric piano, text, didgeridoo, mbira and supercollider(!), this expansive ensemble takes all of that and manages to distill it into the darkest and simplest of sounds. A nearly seventy minute single piece, slowly sprawling out from a stretch of barely there shimmer into gradually more and more active low end minimalism. Long drawn out tones, mysterious bits of glitch and click, haunting voices, moaning and mumbling, chanting and intoning, bits of creaking and tiny swirls of FX, deep swells of synth and barely discernible rhythms, everything constantly shifting and gradually changing shapes, some parts almost coalescing into fragmented bits of actual pop (albeit stripped down and smeared), while others are mostly melody free, remaining stretched out and abstract. Quite sinister and lovely, dark and subtly intense, not all
that far removed from the sounds of Troum and Thomas Koner and other practitioners of the drone and drift. Which as avid AQ customers
should realize, is indeed a very good thing." [Aquarius Records]
www.someplaceelse.net
|
2007 |
€13.00 |
|
|
Zojo |
CD |
"The Moljebka Pvlse album Zojo was recorded during the Mathias studies at the Royal Institute of Art. He was inspired by the longest night of the year in Stockholm, the day when there is almost no daylight. His ambition was to make an acoustic album of minimal music without any musical instruments. Moljebka Pvlse setup long nylon strings across his entire studio at school, which he then plucked and bowed and recorded with his favorite contact microphones on that very night. These recordings became the fundament of the album and set the tone for the rest of the work. Moljebka Pvlse are very grateful for the contribution by the Japanese artist Michiko Kashiba on this album." [label info]
www.greytone.eu
"Three long pieces on Mathias Josefson's album 'Zojo', which he released under his moniker Moljekba Pvlse. Its been quiet from my end of the telescope for Josefson in recent years, but its good to hear his music again. Not that there is much change, I must admit, as Moljekba Pvlse still does what he does best: creating drone like music, based on metal sheets, with contact microphones and played with bowes. Perhaps the sound was enhanced with the use of electronics, but I am not entirely sure. The odd, new, element thrown in now is the use of voice (by Michiko Kashiba), which adds some wordless singing to the music. The sounds ring in the world of overtones, and it all happens in a rather gentle manner, which sometimes goes a bit up the scale, such as in 'Daylight', when it all sounds a bit like a violin played inside the motor of an airplane. Maybe all three pieces are a bit too long, and could have been say five minutes per piece shorter. But throughout however a very refined album of
textured drone music. For those who like Organum, I'd say." [FdW /Vital Weekly]
|
2010 |
€13.00 |
|
|
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 |
|
| |
Topography of Frequency and Time |
CD |
The term "Topography" means the study of the forms and features of land surfaces., the physical appearance of natural attributes in a certain area... MATHIAS JOSEFSON aka MOLJEBKA PVLSE has adopted this notion to characterize this long form multiple-layer drone ambient expanse, a continuous flow of sound that can lead you into different aural regions...like the recent "Sacrificed Phloem (Zannec Line)" by LOPEZ/MENCHE (SYM:04) this one-tracker (exactly 70 minutes long) guides through you various stages.. after a massive beginning there's a very mellow / harmonic middle part, the aural topography of sound changes again towards the ending...a continuous "transfer" into non-ordinary states of mood & consciousness...
Mathias Josefson shares his thoughts on the album: " 'Topography of Frequency and Time' is an expedition through expansive sonic landscapes that stretch beyond our daily awareness. It serves as an open invitation to transcend the visual confines of physical space, encouraging a deep dive into the unexplored realms of sound and time. This album seeks to chart the uncharted territories of our auditory experience, intricately mapping the intersections of three-dimensional space within the frequency and time domains."
MOLJEKBA PVLSE, based in Stockholm and Hamburg, has accompanied Drone Records for a long time, with releases on 7" and 10" vinyl. Active since 1999, the project has evolved from more minimal droning soundscapes on to complex multi-layered atmospheric conglomerations of acoustic and electronic sounds, field recordings and found sounds, feat. various guest musicians.
listen to an extract from the album:
https://soundcloud.com/drone-records/moljebkapvlse-topographyoffrequencyandtime-excerpt
|
2024 |
€13.00 |
|
| MONOCUBE |
The Rituals |
CD |
"Following a recent appearance on Drone Mind Vol 5, Ukrainian act Monocube makes his way into the halls of Malignant for his second, full length recording, featuring nine tracks and just over an hour worth of material ensconced in shadowy, enveloping atmospheres, intact with all the hallmarks of classic dark ambient: arcing, cinematic textures, elegiac melody, and timestretched drift. As The Rituals progresses, it becomes increasingly populated by something even more ominous and bleak; undertones of ancient tribalism and fiery invocations arise, mixed with the blackened soot of distant factory churn and the burning remnants of an ashen wasteland. Featuring collaborative tracks with Treha Sektori, Apocryphos, and Asmorod, The Rituals is an immersive and compelling work, seamlessly bound together in an embrace of darkness.
Tracklisting: Visiones III, Drowned Sun, Downwards (feat. Apocryphos), Totem Incantation, Fires Shifting - Nocturnal Motion, Through Our Blood, Father Fenris, Anthracite Glow (feat. Treha Sektori), Initiation (feat. Asmorod)." [label info]
www.malignantrecords.com
"Imagine a deep void, devoid of light, black to its very core, soundless, airless, empty and infinite. There’s no beginning or end, no past or future. The terms of time and space are so irrelevant here. A void that sucks you like a vacuum, and you can’t tell if that body of yours is still solid, or if you’re broken into atoms and only your consciousness remains as something that can still be described with actual words. Or perhaps even this doesn’t exist anymore.
What a cliché, huh. How many times have we dealt with such visions in the dark ambient genre. Mr Lustmord, Sir, you made a mess in many (well, ok, not so many) people’s minds and now your sons, and sons of their sons, generation after generation, paint these same visions. Very slightly changed over the years, sometimes more concrete, more cinematic, sometimes more abstract. In one occasion the music may be more melodic, while in another it may take a more droney direction. Noises, harmonies, ritual, oriental, glacial moods, it may all vary but the foundation is more or less always the same. The dark ambient community doesn’t mind being fed with more of the same though. At least I don’t. I don’t look for innovations anymore, I don’t need anything groundbreaking – that expectation ended about ten years ago. Now I just look for an atmosphere that will speak to me. For a mixture where all the ingredients are served in perfect proportions.
The reason why I write all this, is because Andrzej Gładuszewski of the Ukrainian project Monocube managed to reach a perfect balance, at least to my taste. The album doesn’t bring anything new to the genre, but it doesn’t have to. Sometimes I wonder if there are any dark ambient artists who still believe that they can create something truly “new”, something that in a few years from now will be considered a milestone. Guess not so many. This concerns most musical genres anyway. Only for dark ambient musicians things are even harder, because, contrary to pop, rock, or even neofolk if we consider the subject on a more underground level, the dark ambent genre from its definition is devoid of so-called “catchiness”. Of course I’m speaking in generalisations, because sometimes you may stumble upon a catchy ambient tune or theme. Yet even if that is the case, only us, the fans of the genre, may consider it so. For the majority of the listeners it’s still music that’s difficult to digest. By all means, I don’t mean to say that Andrzej is not an ambitious guy. I guess that his efforts are focused on something else: on capturing that very core that not many have managed to capture before. I feel like this core becomes smaller and smaller with every passing year, but he managed to reach it. Hit it like a world champion in archery or something.
It’s all because of the sound, which is of the highest quality, the feeling that Andrzej obviously has in his heart, his understanding of the genre and the potential receivers of this music. He knows exactly how to avoid boredom or irritation. The tracks differ from one another, each tells its own story and it doesn’t take much time for the listener to distinguish between them. You want some delicate darkness based on guitar sounds of a distant post-rock provenance? You got it in “Visiones III”. Deep and anxious bass drones, but still without bursting with horror? “Downwards” (composed with Apocryphos). While in “Totem Incantation” you’re dealing with strange noises, whistles and murmurs. Its chaotic, ritual character makes me think of the Aural Hypnox label, especially since my ears tell me that it was composed using solely physical objects, including the human voice. “Through Our Blood” introduces acoustic guitar and the exceptionaly eerie “Father Fenris” brings forth a crawling dread straight from the centre of the Earth. The main dish we find at the very end however. “Initiation” was made in collaboration with Asmorod, and Nicolas’ presence is very significant here. These solemn synth melodies are so specific they can’t be mistaken for anything else. After all, Asmorod is responsible for “Hysope”, one of my favourite ambient albums ever and… well, possibly the last “milestone” I was discussing above.
This mélange doesn’t seem as if made solely to put all the artist’s ideas and dark ambient influences into one recording. It forms a story, where each track is another chapter. Or it’s like different views of the same idea. Andrzej captured the essence of the genre and was able to carve in it in a very creative way, so a big applause from me for that. And “The Rituals” is a big step forward when compared to the previous “Blue Dusk /// Red Dawn”. At the moment it’s one of the best dark ambient albums of 2017." [Santa Sangre]
|
2016 |
€13.00 |
|
| MONOCUBE & TROUM // TROUM & MONOCUBE |
Contemplator Caeli |
LP |
"CONTEMPLATOR CAELI denotes the antique notion and skill of immersing into the (night-) sky, in order to feel connected to the immeasureable dimensions of the universe and the unearthly powers. The celestial spheres and objects are interpretated as living entities, building a shelter for the earth and the humans, reflecting an eternal cosmic order and it's principles. The sky is being watched with deep humbleness, amazement and praise.
Inspired by this old notion TROUM & MONOCUBE wanted to capture it's emotional bearing, understanding the sky also as our 'psychic firmament', the universe that is linked with every single cell in our bodies.
Ukraine's transcension guitar drone project MONOCUBE and German dream atmospherics TROUM collaborated on four long tracks, working with each other's basic material, using acoustic guitars, melodica, accordeon, voice and electronic effects.
The result is this very first vinyl release on TRANSGREDIENT, the initial edition is limited and numbered to 200 copies and comes on multi-"sky"-coloured vinyl and with inlay, feat. a phantastic artwork done by sukkeret.og.pepper studio (Berlin).
Side 1:
A1 CIRCULARIS ET PERPETUA
A2 PRECESSIO ÆQUINOCTIORUM
Side 2:
B1 STELLAE ERRANTIS
B2 DIGRESSIO
digital version:
https://troum.bandcamp.com/album/contemplator-caeli-collab-with-monocube
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"Although being familiar with both projects, the first thing that drew me to this album was the stunning gothic and celestial-tinged artwork. Upon investigation the visuals specifically tie in with the album’s theme which ‘denotes the antique notion and skill of immersing into the (night-) sky, in order to feel connected to the immeasurable dimensions of the universe and the unearthly powers. The celestial spheres and objects are interpreted as living entities, building a shelter for the earth and the humans, reflecting an eternal cosmic order and its principles. The sky is being watched with deep humbleness, amazement and praise’.
Circularis Et Perpetua opens the album, blending mournful drones and what appear to be treated choirs sitting in the middle to the back of the mix. Hitting its stride early, the tone swells in a cyclic rising and falling manner and hints at grandiose night-time vistas; this maintains consistency over the eight-minute span. In contrast to the ethereal mood that the choirs provide on the first track, a more earthbound perspective is articulated on Precessio Aequinoctiorum via the use of a lone male singing (courtesy of Monocube?), blended with widescreen enveloping drones. Stellae Errantis opens Side B, and is slightly less flowing than the preceding material as the caustic and tensile atmosphere sounds to be constructed around treated field recordings and layered foghorn drones. But the absolute highlight track is the final one, Digressio: an amazing piece of melancholy minimalism, based around reverb-drenched and catatonically plucked strings (acoustic guitar?), blended with widescreen melodious bass drones that rise and recede over an extended length.
If you enjoy the output of either or both projects, you will clearly find much to like with this release. While the first three tracks are enjoyably good, it is the fourth that is the absolute standout. Pressed in 200 copies in clear coloured vinyl, a full colour cover and insert rounds out the exquisite presentation."
[Noise Receptor]
|
2020 |
€20.00 |
|
| MONOPIUM |
The Goat & the Dead Horses Circus |
CD |
" ”The Goat & Dead Horses' Circus” is a new child for MONOPIUM. After a great debut album “Mesmerized.” The surrealist titles hint at the fact that the album is filled with abstract music and slightly degenerated, out of this world sounds. Twelve compositions introduce the listener to the world of magical fairytales. Welcoming you to an adventure based on a soundtrack of deranged improvisations; experiments with cut-ups and exotica. The tracks have been graced by guest appearances by two extraordinary artists: Euski (ROMA AMOR) and EmmA WyrD (CHRONIQUE NOCTURNE) The cover was designed by Robert Schalinski (of Column One fame)." [label info]
www.zoharum.com
"Michal Majcher is the man behind Monopium (great name I thought). Active since 2007, he released his first album, "Mesmerized' on Beast Of Prey in 2009. I don't think I heard that one. The music here on 'The Goat And The Dead Horses' Circus' is easily classified as 'odd'. Zoharum describes this "neo-cabaret, post-industrial electronics, musique concrete, drone and even free jazz, it draws associations with incidental musics for film noir, surrealist cinema and the dadaists" and I couldn't agree more. Not something I necessarily like throughout, I must admit, as it carries some traces of gothic, pathetic undercurrent here and there, the sort of adult stuff about fairytales, but because it sounds quite different from what is usually on our plates, but still could easily be classified as 'experimental' by our own standards, this is certainly something I played with a lot of interest. It's quite heavy on the percussion side of things, but also have tape manipulation, cello, voices and maybe field recordings - more water sounds here. A hotch-potch of instruments, and such perhaps of styles (although of course that's not necessarily per se), this makes up indeed a curious CD, of all those things mentioned, and to which one could also add perhaps ambient and plunderphonics. Nice one for its daringly, different content." [FdW/Vital Weekly]
|
2012 |
€12.00 |
|
| MONOS (DARREN TATE & COLIN POTTER) |
Generators |
do-CD |
DARREN TATE und COLIN POTTER wieder in Aktion, zwei sehr ruhig schwingende Synth-Drone-tracks, angereichert mit „konkreten“ Sounds (Wasserkocher, Radio) von TATE, die sich aber perfekt und niemals störend ins atmosphärische Klangbild einfügen und einen immer grösseren Sog aufbauen - aber so langsam, dass man selbst in ein Zeitlupen-Bewusstsein verfallen kann...
“Long announced new drone release by Colin Potter & Darren Tate. This double album consists of two different works recorded between 2002-2003 at IC studio. Disc one features 3 tracks that are loosely based on processed field recordings in the 'classic' Monos style, exploring internal spaces. Disc two has one long track of arganic & electronic tones which combine to give a dense cloud of flowing sound. Additionally there will be a special mail order only edition incl. an extra CDR, containing a track made up of components from both discs, which produces a completely different result. Full colour digisleeve. Artwork by Darren Tate & Helen Potter. Design by Jonathan Coleclough. First edition of 600 copies. Total playing time: 118:22 min.” [press release]
|
2005 |
€18.00 |
|
| |
Age and Transformation |
do-CD |
"To say that this has been planned for some time would be a bit of an understatement. The original Age and Transformation was released by Darren Tate in 2004 on his own Fungal imprint (and issued again in 2005). Both were released as CDRs in editions of 100 copies. Around 2006 the subject of doing a reissue was discussed, and discussed/planned/discussed, and now 6 (six!) years later Age and Transformation with an exquisite Colin Potter remaster along with an entirely new piece, Aged and Transformed remixed from the original is just about here. Darren's work has always been that of a drone eccentric, and proof positive of that is the micro-editions released since 2003 on his own Fungal Records. True modern-day psychedelia, drawn out drone excursions, electric guitar scraping and expansion, synth noodling harbored into small private recordings for the chosen few. The limited number of those exposed to Darren's view, which was not intended to be exclusive, just small updates as to where/what was happening with Darren in terms of gear, mood and circumstance. There is an inherent feel that little editing takes place, just captured recordings with the reel-to-reel on. Tate has worked extensively with other collaborators: Andrew Chalk (together known as Ora), Colin Potter (as Monos), Paul Bradley, Andrew Liles, and Ian Holloway to name a few. Collectively a solid block foundation of great U.K. drone artists. In a collaborative setting, there may be a bit more judicious editing employed for better (or for worse) depending on where one sits in appreciation of refinement over improvisation. Which brings us to Age and Transformation. Two tracks, both around the half-hour mark and presumably recorded in one take each. The first track ('Untitled') contains all elements of what makes a Tate recording effective: gentle guitar scraping, echoed city recordings, air vibrations oscillating an overall nocturnal hush that shrouds the whole piece. The second track (again, simply 'Untitled') is undoubtedly one of Tate's finest solo moments. A defining impressionistic recording captured in the middle of the night. It opens with the sound of a freeway , a very distant light traffic flow filtered through the forest. A lonesome organ sonata, languid chords with silence in between weave in and out at various points throughout. Tate sitting by the window capturing the sounds of the freeway, voices, haunting arias both human and industrial. The second disc is a reworking by Colin Potter. Extracted from the quiet of Age and Transformation, the first track 'Aged' is an encapsulation of the entire recording with the small dervishes, organ melodies and drone wrapped up in an almost tidy nine minutes. The second, 'Transformed,' is over 40 minutes of water tower acoustic sustained tones, layered subtle guitar hum... a perfect complimentary refinement on a classic ambient improvisation." [label info]
www.infractionrecords.com
|
2012 |
€16.00 |
|
| MONTEIRO, ALFREDO COSTA & BEN OWEN |
Frêle À Vide |
CD-R |
"...vibrations, the sound of unknown machinery moving through tunnels, empty spaces, and suddenly there is silence....then tones, waves and more vibrations, and suddenly you realize that sounds have your full attention, nothing else exists in the room, you ʼ re just there, and the sounds of static, white noise, motors, radios, and
sine waves make all the objects in the room strange, and every point of visual focalization outlandish.."
www.contoureditions.com
www.contoureditions.com
|
2011 |
€10.00 |
|
| MONTGOMERY, GEN KEN |
Drilling Holes in the Wall |
CD |
"Archive materials from one of the most mysterious musicians in electronic underground, dating from 1988 to 1991. Each piece composed by Gen Ken Montgomery is the result of domestic alchemy, transforming some ugliest environmental sounds into artistic images
of impressive beauty. His instruments are just prepared toy synth, but also from time to time laminator, icebreaker, radiator, film projector and so on. These recordings were made in Conrad Schnizler studio in West Berlin, and also live on stage there, in time of Germany reunion.
Gen Ken Montgomery has been active in the experimental, electronic and noise scenes since the early 80s. Montgomery was the founder of Generations Unlimited and an original co-founder of Pogus Productions, respected experimental music labels. In 1989, he founded Generator, the first sound art gallery in New York City, where he created a home for sound artists and noise makers who were part of the thriving international cassette culture of the 80s. Since 1996 he has published recordings by sound artists in collaboration with Scott Konzelmann (Chop Shop) releasing them through Generator Sound Art." [label info]
"Gen Ken Montgomery’s ‘Drilling Holes in the Wall’ is less an ambient record than it is an opus among the work of an experimental sound artist – being two divergent concepts – the latter more among artists of the ilk of Daniel Menche, who choose to create using a circus of instrumentation to perform certain plays before moving on to not just new locale, but new tools for performance sculpting. This retrospective of work is a troupe of electronic pulses, glitches, groans, explosions, susurrations, and endless other sonic perturbations.
Suppurating at first, “Drilling Holes in the Wall” bloats with unhealthy ichors pressing the sores with throbbing ululations that are lanced with synaptic lacerations of noise, using sound to sonically cut and carve away tumorous flesh. Every digital strike is never the same with each collop dissected bringing new electronic whimpers unexpected; the infinitesimal filigree of surgical strikes of sound is like the marginalia of some robotic surgeon. Sound fuses, splatters, roars, and blazes contorted shapes in a linear-spatial sculpture. There is no empathy here, nothing to relate to human experience. Gen Ken Montgomery’s first track is more Opus No. 1, a matrix of half an hour of disassembly, reassembly and alien interdiction upon frequencies we recognise. It comes as great surprise to find the liner notes disclose a recording date of 1990 as it could easily sit in this milieu.
Two years prior to that and the next two tracks – the latter of which and its two succeeding ones being unreleased - divulge more montage of digitally modelled scintilla, though here in more unified form, if only by sinewy electrical strands of frazzled computer nightmares of the surreal kind. Unidentifiable and humanly unpronounceable vespers are strobed and shuffled to the pulpit for recitation but there is no quantifiable bourn to address, only to witness and wonder.
The last two tracks are the shortest but of the familiar distortive and displacing concurrence sound forms previously expressed. They scurry and quiver across the mottled surface of Gen Ken Montgomery’s odd musical conglomerate. The incision of human vocals in the last track is a bizarre feeding of radio station into tesla coils that seems a poor accompaniment to the unearthly welding going about it, and before it.
Nonetheless, if you enjoy chewed electronics unlike anything you have previously heard, Gen Ken Montgomery is for you." [Heathen Harvest]
www.monochromevision.ru
|
2007 |
€13.00 |
|
|
Birds + Machines |
CD |
"With the enthusiasm of a born-again composer, I reviewed music I composed in the 80s, giving special attention to pieces that fused electronic sounds with everyday recorded sounds and noisy songs." - Gen Ken
I knew of Gen Ken Montgomery long before I ever met him, in fact one of the first tracks to attract me to his music is on this cd. And then I did meet him, etc etc. (Ken was a co-founder of Pogus, by the way). So it is with special delight that Pogus can release this cd of Ken's works from the 1980's.
I think that what Rene van Peer writes in his notes for this disc sums up much of Ken's work indeed:
Gen Ken Montgomery's sound worlds are full of activity. Not in the sense of sinuous melodies and chord progressions that try to set flea-hopping records. The sounds conjure up images and atmospheres of workshops where people busy themselves with assembling and repairing a variety of contraptions. Places where humans and tools intermingle, where technology (both hi and lo) appears as a trusted and respected companion. It is as much accepted as an integral part of the human sphere as a dog or a cat might be - and it sounds equally homely.
That is not to say that all sounds you'll hear in his music are commonplace, mundane. Many of them are immediately recognizable. Many of them can be traced to their source, even through dense veils of modification. Some derive clearly from instruments, some from birds. But many are absolutely singular, there's no telling what produced them. And to tell you the truth (my truth): it doesn't really matter. Regardless what sounds or sources form the components of this music (everyday or extraordinary objects; musical instruments or electronic tools; his own voice or environmental recordings), what is important is the mind that processes them and welds them together into the independent entities that we call songs.
It is evidently an open mind that enjoys toying with sounds. His music sounds as if he works with what he finds. Obviously he has prepared materials to be used. But the way he puts everything together makes the impression of someone following his judgment of the situation on the spot. These are not guided tours, mapped out beforehand. These songs are explorations. Trips into an unknown. They aren't, however, excursions done in seclusion. Everywhere he goes Ken Montgomery creates a buzz. He creates a sphere of sound around him that feels humane, sociable. A warm cloud of sonic strangeness. But a loud cloud, too, mind you." [label info]
www.pogus.com
"Although never really 'away' from the scene, Gen Ken Montgomery's career has been up and off the radar quite a bit, but these days he feels like a born again composer. He has been around since 1980 and recently reviewed the first decade of his career, and compiled this overview from these years and released it on Pogus, a label he was one of the founding fathers of (a fact I was unaware of). Heavily under the influence of electronic music, from all sorts of directions.
From industrial music to Conrad Schnitzler and
the serious sixties avant-garde, but also working, early, with field recordings (bird sounds return in various pieces). This collection spans all of these interests and makes up a highly varied disc of experimental, electronic music. The free spirit of these pieces, mostly made through improvisation with synthesizers, electric violin, found sounds, is partly crude, inherent to the period it was recorded I guess, is great. Not every track is great, 'Crema Di Roma' just gets on and on a bit too much for my liking, but there is enough great music here in this package to enjoy. If you missed out his own early tapes and records, and 80s styled electronic music was just discovered, then this is a must have. All others already made a note to fill in the gap in history." [FdW/Vital Weekly]
|
2010 |
€13.00 |
|
| |
Postcards 1981-1986 |
do-LP |
Gen Ken Montgomery, a New York-based Visual Artist and Sound Composer is absolutely genuine; he has no training in traditional music or art. He was never a follower of any direction or school. Instead he founded his own school of off-beat DIY-electronics, driven by irresistible curiosity and ingenuous enthusiasm for sound experimentation and process-oriented performance.
His music is dense and full of polyrhythms and counter harmonies with singular control over layers of randomly pulsing, bleeping synthesizers and drum boxes. As a composer in the early eighties Ken was creating multi-channel sound works often performed in total darkness.
He began his sound explorations with electronic toys, cheap synthesizers and household gadgetry for which he had a special fascination. His ever present objects of affection are electric machines including an ice crusher (ICEBREAKER), aquarium pump, refrigerator, shoe shine machine, hand massager and a laminator (The Sound of Lamination).
Postcards has 41 (!!) tracks; 22 tracks on LP 1 compiled from his first tape Gen Ken & Equipment (1981), his second tape Collaborations (1982), his third official tape Kalkreuth Keks (1986), recorded at Conrad Schnitzler’s Studio, and several live recordings under the name KMZ with Michael Zodorozny of Crash Course in Science. Postcards LP2 includes 19 songs from the 4th official tape Beatmusik 1981-84 (SoP186) released by Sound of Pig, New York, songs from 1984 on his 5th release Room to Roam on Out Of The Blue, Berlin, plus 3 previously unreleased tracks from the same time period, one also as KMZ.
Gen Ken & Equipment was self-produced in an edition of 150 tapes in 1981 and led Montgomery to corresponding and trading tapes in the international Cassette Culture and Mail Art network, leading to relationships and collaborations with such luminaries in the underground music scene as Conrad Schnitzler, Giancarlo Tonuitti, CHOP SHOP, David Lee Myers (Arcane Device), Al Margolis, John Hudak, Francisco Lopez, AMK, Istvan Kantor (Monty Cantsin), G.X. Jupiter-Larsen (The Haters), Rod Summers (VEC), Maurizio Bianchi, Masami Akita alias Merzbow, CM von Hausswolff and Leif Elggren among others.
“Cassettes were an inexpensive and practical way of getting feedback from the developing international community of sound/noise/music experimenters. Cassettes allowed for spontaneous freedom and experimentation without the burden and commitment of releasing vinyl which was expensive to mail and costly to press in editions of less than 500”- gkm
Montgomery used the earliest Casio keyboards, self made electronic gadgets, cheap drum boxes and his favorite instrument, the Korg MS-20 synthesizer. The mixture of noise/pop/rock/electronic and soundscapes all on one cassette show how musical genres hadn’t become entrenched in the Cassette Culture scene yet. “Do it!”, “Small World” and “Treat The Hell Out of It” (released as a flexi-disc included with Onslaught Magazine (Artwerk) in 1982 are examples of the songs he composed at this time.
In the early 80s in New York City there were still small record shops such as Venus Records, Bleecker Bob’s, Soho Music Gallery and 99 Records that sold artist produced cassettes and fanzines. Independent mail order distributors like Rough Trade and Aeon Records carried Montgomery’s cassettes and On-Slaught Magazine, Option Magazine, Factsheet Five and other small DIY zines listed them or reviewed them.
Montgomery’s interest in structured improvisation and avante-garde theater theatre led to the formation of KMZ with his friend Michael Zodorozny from Crash Course in Science. KMZ performed regularly at the legendary Pyramid-Club in NYC. Tracks from KMZ and collaborations with other artists such as Stephen Spera and Stefan Tischler of Port Said can be found on his 2nd tape Collaborations.
Between 1982 and 85 Montgomery spent time in Berlin combining performance art and electronic music where he had the fortune to meet and develop a relationship with Conrad Schnitzler who has had a major impact on his life and work.
His third official Tape Kalkreuth Keks was recorded in Conrad Schnitzler’s studio during a 2-week stint in the dead of winter 1986. These 8-track recordings incorporated the violin, guitar, and keyboards with analog synthesizers, processing, voice and the “new” sounds of the Yamaha CX5M music computer. Three of the tracks on Postcards are from these sessions.
A 4th cassette Beatmusik, released on Al Margolis Sound-of-Pig-Label (SOP186) in 1988 featured a selection of tracks recorded between 1981 and 86. In 1989 Lord Litter from Berlin also released a fifth Gen Ken-tape called Room To Roam, also with recordings from 1984. A selection from these two tapes can be found on the additional accompanying 7”inch.
In 1987 Montgomery, along with David Prescott and Conrad Schnitzler started the label Generations Unlimited. Two cassettes of cassettes of minimal electronic music, Stepping Through Rooms and The One Sided Triangle were released on Generations Unlimited and in1988, GENCON, a collaboration with Conrad Schnitzler was released on vinyl.
His involvement in the late 70’s and 80’s Cassette-Culture and the Mail-Art movements led to his creation of the first and arguably still the most important Sound Art gallery in New York City in 1989: Generator. Located in the East Village, then in Chelsea, Generator’s wide scope and novel approach toward audio art made it a vector-point for some of the most interesting and important artists from around the world. Gen Ken also founded A.T.M.O.T.W.— Art is Throwing Money Out The Window — and Generator Sound Art Inc., and he co-founded the seminal experimental label Pogus Productions.
The past three decades many of Montgomery’s cassettes, records and CDs have been released in limited editions on small labels outside of mainstream distribution on such respected labels as De Fabriek (Holland), Staalplaat (Holland), Tellus, Mark Lane’s Artwerk, Banned Productions, XI Records (all USA), Firework Edition (Sweden), Old Europa Café (Italy) and Discos Esplendor Geometrico (Spain). Other recorded works are available on his own A.T.M.O.T.W. label, Generator Sound Art and on Touch Radio.
Montgomery continues to produce music and soundworks while also producing visual art, collage, bookmaking, and international correspondence art. As The Minister of Lamination (a.k.a. Egnekn) he is the world’s foremost practitioner of sonic Lamination Art and he continues to mail postcards to friends and collaborators throughout the world.
www.vinyl-on-demand.com
|
2012 |
€27.50 |
|
| MONTSEGUR, JEANNE / NATURE MORTE |
Restes d'une chose brisee |
10inch |
"More than just a record, “Restes d’une chose brisée” is the outcome of an intimate collaboration between music and writing. Based on a series of thirteen short texts by young French writer JEANNE MONTSÉGUR, this symbiotic work unfolds like a Dantesque journey. On each step of the way NATURE MORTE’s abyssal drones echo the desperate intensity and ruthless honesty of Jeanne’s words, opening her wounds to chasms, sustaining the inner conflict and the baring of feelings by an almost unbearable tension which, when it finally breaks, strikes the listener as surely as the incisiveness of her words. At the end of the voyage there is hope, seeping between the lines and through the grooves as the drones recede and give way to luminous reeds, leaving the reader-listener shaken, colder and gloomier than before, but maybe a little wiser too." [label info]
www.tutrur.com
|
2012 |
€18.00 |
|
| MOOR, ANDY |
Marker |
CD |
"Der Londoner The Ex-Gitarrist als Fotokünstler mit Blick für chaotische Muster und komplexe Strukturen und als Meister seines Instrumentes, solo, mit Overdubs und einmal multitrack. Einige der 15 Tracks entstanden zwar für Theater- oder Filmsoundtracks, aber ohne die Fesseln des Funktionalen, das meiste ist spontan aus dem Handgelenk geschüttelt, gespeist von Erfahrung und Einbildungskraft, nur Augen, Ohren, Hände. Es gehört etwas dazu, das wohl meist-gespielte Instrument im Weltall so zu entstauben, dass es nach dem Anfang des Buches Genesis klingt - ein Ding, auf das man einschlägt und dissonante Geräusche entlockt, das aber noch nicht mal einen Namen hat. Das mehrspurige ‚Naming the animals‘ kehrt an diese noch undefinierten Anfänge zurück. Schon ab dem zweiten Track ist Marker aber mit Gitarrenkultur aufgeladen, meist repetitiv und mit logisch strukturierter Harmonik oder simplen, aber effektvollen Rezepten (‚From e to f‘, ‚Repeat suite‘). Zwischen diesen Polen zieht Moor seine Saiten stramm. Repetitiv, drängend, und gleichzeitig dissonant, so präpariert, dass es rau, roh, stumpf klingt (‚Uganda fly‘, ‚Stop/pause‘). Dann ausgedünnt, reduktiv, nur einzeln blinkende Lichtpunkte am Nachthimmel, 3 Uhr nachts. Oder flirrendes Gekrabbel und Surren, das zu Gamelandingdong aufklart (‚Weather‘). ‚About face‘ hört sich an, als ob ein Alien sein extraterrestrisches Motorrad zu kickstarten versucht. ‚Truth in numbers‘ und ‚Small things under glass‘ erzielen mit einfachen Zahlenreihen rührende Wirkung, während ‚Myrka‘ mit schmutzigen Fingernägeln an der Schallmauer stöchert. Gitarrenfreund, was willst Du mehr? Spandexhosen?" [Bad Alchemy]
"On this his debut solo Cd, andy moor explores a wide spectrum of his unusual guitar style, resulting in an exciting, varied and challenging collection, ranging from melodic solo guitar pieces to atmospheric soundscapes, and wild outbursts of radical sound." [label info]
".... Andy Moor is in the pages of Vital Weekly known as an improviser with the likes of Kaffe Matthews, but in the real world he is of course the guitarist of The Ex, my all time favorite dutch punkers. Favorite just for the fact that they don't stay inside that little closet called punk, but get out and do so many other things, playing with musicians from Africa and from the world of improvisers. Moor might very well be responsible for the latter move of The Ex, so a solo CD by him is perhaps more than welcome. He plays electric guitar with objects and hardly any effects. Over the past five years he off and on recorded his pieces, and this collection shows a wide variation of moods and textures. Some in punk fashion, but mostly in a melodic style, uptempo, downtempo, melancholic and distorted. Fifteen tracks, spanning over fifty-four minutes, that might sound a bit much, but Moor effectively holds your attention, when moving through all these pieces. Mostly solo guitar, but also overdubbed and layered, there is a lot to discover here. Not masturbation but a great card. Less is Moor." " [FdW / Vital Weekly]
www.unsounds.com
|
2007 |
€13.00 |
|
| MOORE, ANTHONY / THERAPEUTISCHE HÖRGRUPPE KÖLN |
Ore Talks |
do-LP |
" 'ore talks' limited edition release, gatefold sleeve with booklet. a double lp of essentially electronic and noise-based pieces paired with astonishing texts spoken by anthony moore. the concept is that objects of value, artifacts or minerals, buried deep in the ground send strange signals through the earth up to the planet's surface. they are detected by the ears and instruments of miners, explorers and archaeologists who are tuned-in to the subterranean frequencies. the album contains a large booklet explaining this idea and featuring many pages of eccentric writing about sound." [label info]
Four sides of vinyl: this has served as a time constraint from the very outset of the project. With around 18 minutes per side giving an overall run time of 72 minutes, these time slots are designed to offer recordings of four sets of historical, technical processes and their devices. Each of the four chapters is conceived in two parts and realised in a number of actual compositions.
A. VALVES / ROEHRE:
1. Their Electrons. The developement of De Forest‘s Audion.
2. Noise as signal and the power of redundancy.
B. PIEZOS:
1. Reversibility; Loudspeakers as Microphones and The Transmitting Ear.
2. Mercury Acoustic Delays Lines.
C. RECORDERS:
1. Wax Cylinders, Hill ’n Dale, Voices of the Dead.
2. Magnetic Oxide and Memory Machines, Storing Time.
D. CRYSTAL SETS:
1. Waves; The Air as One Vast (negentropic) Library.
2. Farewell to AM, Fades to Infinity.
A voice is transmitted through various materials; early microphones, the reproducer of an Edison phonograph, glass phials filled with mercury, piezo crystals, transducers, and piezo discs attached to polystyrene spheres, shortwave radios, old russian valves and the self-built circuitry of condensers and switches. What emerges are speech-driven patterns of noise, electronic music and occasional passages where the voice can be plainly heard in 14 separate pieces of widely differing durations.
ORE THOUGHTS
Galena to Stibnite, starting with lead, ending with lead; the history of soldering, cementing connections for currents of information and noise alike. In the undigital realm, noise is a context for the signal and can be information in itself. For example rotating surface noise is useful for finding the original speed at which early shellacs may have been cut. Redundancy is vital for a proper understanding of the world. So Ore Talks celebrates lead and soldering and making connections and, endotically, noise; noises at the outer ear but also of the inner ear. Perec and the Oulipians employ the term ‚endotic‘ as an antonym to ‚exotic‘ in order to focus attention on the everyday, on what might be dismissed as mere noise. The infraordinaire, as Perec calls it, is very much the subject of a historiographical approach that prefers to explore the lives and times of the distinctly unfamous; a more vivid, sensory history that concerns itself with sights and smells and sounds.
In addition, Ore Talks posits a strange attraction between the discoverer and the yet-to-be discovered; between buried artefacts and the archeologist seeking to disinter them; between prospector and rich, subterranean lodes. The ‚ground‘ in the electrical field is a conductor that reaches into the earth. Simultaneously, metalliferous ores and objects alike call out to be uncovered in an equivalent act of active perception. The only prerequisite? Keep an ear to the ground; the telluric source for chthonic voices.
Murmurings from below the surface: the call of buried things that seek to be disinterred. Anthropomorphism notwithstanding, there is something to be said for giving a voice to inanimate minerals. After all, their constituent elements come from the stars and have also given rise to us humans. Furthermore, when those same elements are alchemically transformed into compounds of metal and fillers of plastics, of quicksilver and piezo crystals, of the very air, water or copper that play host to sound in its various forms, transporting speech, then ORE TALKS emerges as a title with some resonance.
And text too can be a ground from beneath which conceptual objects stem (voices in the grey matter). Here is a list of such objects that have been disinterred in no particular order from the paragraphs above. “Active perception; superluminality in the collapse of the sender/receiver paradigm”
“A History of Simultaneity; how far back does same-timedness go?”
“Noise in History, noise as history”
“The importance of redundancy in human communication”
“Sound and the continuum are products of each other”
“What holds true for time also applies to sound; they both depend on disappearing as they come into existence.”
“The speed of sound is a good rate at which to think about a speed of time” These and related topics are expanded over the following pages. They contain the sources for all readings recorded and subsequently transformed in the ORE TALKS experiments on this double LP.
www.therapeutischehoergruppekoeln.de/ore.html
"Antimonit Bleiglanz Coelestin... Ein erzernes ABC bis hin zu Zinnober.
Verbunden mit 72 Minuten Text + Klang in vier Kapiteln / Vinyl-Seiten: a. Valves / Röhren b. Piezos c. Recorders d. Crystal Sets. Kreisend um Ore [Erz] =
Mineralgemenge, die wegen ihres Metallgehaltes abgebaut werden, um es für Werkzeuge und Ähnliches weiterzuverarbeiten.
Kreisend um L/ore, dt. Lehre -> Folklore = the knowledge and traditions, frequently passed along by word of
mouth. Merke: Transmission is a vital part of the folklore process -> 1. Orality =
Mündlichkeit -> 2. Literacy = Reeling and Writhing / Lesen & Schreiben -> 3.
Technical Devices = Aufschreibesysteme. Es geht um Medientechniken: Alphabet - Grammophon... (Friedrich Kittler), um Recording Angels' Mysteries (Klaus Theweleit), um Dead Letters (Gregory Whitehead). Bevor Moore 1996 (bis 2015) Professor an der KHM wurde, hatte er mit Slapp Happy den Mond vom Himmel gepflückt, mit Pink Floyd gearbeitet und Soundtracks für Werner Nekes kreiert.
Akademisch forschte er dann synchron mit Kittler über die Geschichte und Gesetzmäßigkeiten von Sound, über phonetische und klingende Techniken des Daseins und der Erinnerung. 2004 nahm er teil an Kittlers Sirenenexperiment, das vor Amalfi Odysseus' Affäre mit den Sirenen nachstellte. Zwischen '...and the Gods made love' und Moores 'Dogs of War' spielt sich alles ab, was es zu singen und sagen gibt. Polyphone Erkenntnis über Sound und Zeit, Noise und Information, gefiltert aus den Lebenserfahrungen von der Bronzezeit her. Darüber schreibt und spricht Moore mit medienarchäologischem Knowhow und einem Ohr für die chthonischen Stimmen. Innere Stimmen, wie sie zuerst noch bikameral fluktuierten (Julian Jaynes), dann akusmatisch, mimetisch, alphabetisch, speicherbar, decodierbar, repetierbar wurden. Die Namen Zeiss, Chladni, Tyndell und Helmholtz oszillieren steampunkabenteuerlich an den pythagoräischen Küsten wie Töne und Zahlen zwischen Rauschen und Offenbarung. Schwingquarze geben den Takt an.
Memory Machines verflüssigen Vergangenes und Kommendes, um es zu fixieren, so wie Moores Sätze zu Science Fiction verschwimmen. Er raunt von The Etherial Skin of Interference, er wird poetisch, fasziniert von den Ur-Geräuschen, die Scott de Martinvilles Schweinsborsten-Phonautograph einfing oder Rilke der Kronen- Naht des Schädels zu entlocken gedachte. Klang wurde das mit Hilfe der Therapeuten Beck, Grewenig & Hennes (von The Knob, The Finger & The It), Langguth und Specht (einst bei 40 Sekunden Ohne Gewicht und Kunstkopf). Moores Stimme wispert und fitzelt subliminal unter löchrig-perkussiver Bruitistik,
er reiht Zahlen oder verschwindet hinter sirrenden Spuren, taktilen Geräuschen,
spurenelementaren Impulsen. Silben und Satzfetzen mischen sich mit Hilfe der
Hörgruppe zu Kratzern, Partikelkollisionen, Radiowellen, Zeitrost, Reibung von
Entropie und Negentropie, sprachmelodischem Blaseton, Frequenzpingpong.
Umso überraschender daher die klaren, wenn auch für den Laien kryptischen
Sätze über Interferenz, Simultanität, die Unschärfe des Now-Space, von Senden und Empfangen. Moore meditiert über Turings ACE und die Alchemie von Quecksilber-Laufzeitspeichern, aber die Sprache wird wieder verzerrt, der Noise dafür prickelig und wohltönend. Doch dann umfängt einen wieder im ursuppig, uhrsuppig brodelnden, radiowellenberauschten Äther protologisch wummernde Sonic Fiction, die zuletzt endlosrillenstottrig ausgroovt." [Bad Alchemy] |
2017 |
€25.00 |
|
| MOORE, ANTHONY / TOBIAS GREWENIG / DIRK SPECHT |
The April Sessions |
LP |
This journey, this slowly drifting sonic meditation, is an 'inner soundscape', a dialogue between the senses, the conscience and the world, inside / outside, interconnected. Like waking up from a long dream, and being stuck into its echo. The April Sessions immerges the listener into a drone-ish universe, full of random acousmatic events, inner monologues and a vast and unwritten subjective map to be drawn. The April Sessions has been living in a seedy hotel in Brussels
for a few months. She listens to the sparse traffic outside her window, locked in and locked down. 'Everything is constructed', she says to herself, 'even the sound of a solitary aircraft at 25,000 feet traverses the sky no further out than the inside of my skull'. Other weird sonic phenomena criss-cross the inner cosmos of her brain and streak across her private sky like comets. And then there is the unshakeable presence of that inner monologue, known to her variously as the Tacit Dictator, the Subvocaliser and, nightmarishly enough, the voice of the Merlucid Hake. (Anthony Moore, St Leonards, 10th of March 2021).
Anthony Moore, Dirk Specht and Tobias Grewenig have known each
other and worked together since the early 2000s. They have collectively participated in a number of projects including live performances and
recordings. In 2016, as part of The Missing Present Band, they released
the live LP 'The Present Is Missing' on A-Musik. The following year they
released 'Ore Talks', a double LP, realised in collaboration with
Therapeutische Hörgruppe Köln.
Anthony Moore
born in 1948, founded the band Slapp Happy (circa 1972) with
Peter Blegvad and Dagmar Krause, then worked alongside a.o. Fred Frith and Tim Hodgkinson in the unclassifiable band Henry Cow. He released several solo albums, composed soundtracks for experimental movies. His path also crossed Kevin Ayers's, Pink Floyd's, Richard Wright's… He was appointed professor for research into sound and music in the context of new media at the Academy of Media Arts in Cologne, Germany. He still continues to write and perform.
Dirk Specht
sound artist, musician and curator. He studied architecture and media
art and is active in the fields of sound works for choreography, radio
drama, sound art, film and video art soundtracks… He published
releases with several bands and projects. He has been an assistant
for research into sound from 2011 to 2016 at the Academy of Media Arts in Cologne, and is a founding member of Therapeutische
Hörgruppe Köln.
Tobias Grewenig
studied at the Academy of Media Arts in Cologne. He primarily deals
with non-linearity in his audiovisual installative works and performances, including projects with the artist group 'Therapeutische Hörgruppe Köln', the ensemble 'The Knob, The Finger & The It' and the improvisation collective "Frequenzwechsel". The conception and development of electronic instruments and code is a key component of his artistic work. He lives and works in Cologne.
https://subrosalabel.bandcamp.com/album/the-april-sessions |
2021 |
€16.00 |
|
| MOORE, STEPHAN |
To build a field |
CD |
"Stephan Moore is a composer, audio artist, and sound designer in New York City. He has graduated from from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Western Michigan University, and Interlochen Arts Academy. His creative work centers around the collection and use of real-world sound, the creation and perception of sonic environments, and technological manifestations of improvisation and interactivity.
Recent performances and installation artworks make use of a large multi-channel array of his hemispherical speakers. He performs regularly as half of the electronic duo Evidence, and with a variety of musicians, live-video artists, and dancers. He has created custom music software for a number of composers and artists, and has taught courses in sound art and electronic music at Maryland Institute College of Art, Peabody Conservatory, Massachusetts College of Art, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, and Simon's Rock College of Bard.
He is currently the Sound Supervisor of the Merce Cunningham Dance Company." [general info about the artist / Deep Listening site]
Stephan Moore has spent the last five years touring with the Merce Cunningham Dance Company as a core member of their live band, alongside such notables as Christian Wolff, Takehisa Kosugi, David Behrman, John King, and William Winant. At the same time, he has been collaborating with a
number of younger choreographers to create sound scores for their performance works. To Build A Field collects the best of these pieces, drawn from six of his commissions by four very different choreographers. The CD's title refers to Moore's view of his role in these collaborations: designing and executing sonic structures that define the emotional and rhythmic topography of time. Each track negotiates a balance between acoustic sound sources and electronics, live performance and studio composition, and human vs. algorithmic control of sound materials. Time is continually bent into new
shapes, challenging the listener, and his collaborators, to think beyond the easy comforts of a regular tempo, and confront rhythm as texture instead of a reliable grid.
"Brooklyn-based sound artist Stephan Moore's recent musical work centers around the collection and use of real-world sound, the creation and perception of sonic environments, and technological manifestations of improvisation and interactivity. He develops his own performance software and builds point-source loudspeakers for use in his performances and sound installation work. His current ongoing collaborations include the Xenolinguistics performance project with visionary video artist Diana Reed Slattery, projects with choreographers Yanira Castro and Kimberly Young and performance artist Kyle DeCamp, sound design for the Nerve Tank theater collective, and the performing/recording duo Evidence with sound artist Scott Smallwood. He curates a concert series at the Merce Cunningham Dance Studio called Experiments in the Studio, and co-curates an annual month-long Floating Points festival of performances and sound installations at the ISSUE Project Room in Brooklyn, pairing the permanent sixteen-channel installation of his Hemisphere speakers there with diverse artists. Moore has been commissioned to create sound installations and performances for a number of dance companies and site-specific venues. He has been awarded residencies by Hunter College, the Experimental Television Center and Wave Farm for his work in music and new technology. His performance and exhibition credits include Tonic (NYC), Axiom Gallery (Boston), Zeitgeist Gallery (Boston), Deep Listening Space (Kingston, NY), ffmup (Princeton, NJ), Massachusetts College of Art (Boston), Yale University, Princeton University, The Tank (NYC), Roulette (NYC), the Music and Alternative and X-Disciplinary Approaches in Sound Festival (Sheffield, UK), Sound Practice (Dartington, UK), Music Without Walls? (Leister, UK), Disjecta (Portland, Oregon), Warehouse 23 (Boston), Issue Project Room (Brooklyn), The Chocolate Factory (Queens), ACM/Siggraph, International Conference on Musical Perception and Cognition, International Computer Music Conference, Society for Electro-Acoustic Music in the United States, the Acoustical Society of America's semiannual meetings, American Theater in Higher Education's annual conference, International Society for Electronic Arts, World Forum for Acoustic Ecology, and the Burning Man Festival, among many others. As an improviser and musician, he has appeared on stage with John Paul Jones, Pauline Oliveros, Alex Waterman, Keith Rowe, Michael Haleta, MV Carbon, Andrea Parkins, Zach Layton, Troy Pohl, Curtis Bahn, David Linton, Mikel Rouse, Maria Chavez, Newton Armstrong, Seth Cluett, Ikue Mori, Kenta Nagai, Larry Polansky, Jesse Stiles and Joan La Barbara, among others." [label info]
www.deeplistening.org
www.deeplistening.org
|
2010 |
€14.00 |
|
| MORGEN WURDE |
Für Immer |
do-CD |
"Morgen Wurde and his musical allies move on to score the unfathomable wonder of the Dasein. "Für Immer" is a further breakthrough to the core, emanating sounds which let dissolve all conceivable questions of man about life and death. Sounds that let all questions appear negligibly.
The immersive finds are channelled into ambient/space/drone music hybrids with neoclassical and jazz noir elements, sometimes crossing paths with messengers of transcendental sounds like Abul Mogard, bvdub, Fennesz, Gas, Rafael Anton Irisarri or Tim Hecker.
The elevating experience happens in Morgen Wurde's electroacoustic spaces, hosting singular virtuoso instrumentalists. Creating the "Morgen Wurde" form of lyricism and haunting soundscapes, this collaborative exploration takes space music to new highs.
There are the stoically undulating sound masses, like the ambivalence of the awe-inspiring mysterious forces of nature, sometimes majestic, sometimes threatening. And there are the soloists, wandering through these sonic landscapes as masters of their art:
Doug Perry on the vibraphone and Tetsuroh Konishi on the trumpet embody subtle sublimeness. The violinists bring in widely differing styles: David Strother skipping ardently on top of the seething sound masses, Georges-Emmanuel Schneider forming a mystic amalgam with the underlying soundscapes. Maria Estrella's transcendent vocal texture, nestling in solemn spheres, marks the epic finale.
These musicians bring unique elements of life and humanity to the recordings, adding their very personal note and vision.
The rich material called for addressing also the body. Artists from around the world answered this call for cosmic dance remixes:
Altone (Japan) initiates the rite with his transcendently free-floating remix, incorporating sounds from various album tracks. Roman Ridder (Germany) then sparks the dance with a deep dub techno ride. Liuos (Finland) irresistibly animates the body further into a trance, before Cie (Germany) breaks loose the passionate fire of rave. Lostlojic (Ukraine) upholds the energy of peaktime techno, before Dmitriy Zakat (Russia) navigates through an absorbing bass intermezzo, followed by a sweeping post-dubstep adventure by Sébastien Job (France). Martin Schulte (Russia) pursues the explorative mission driven by minimal tech breaks. Thereupon Johnnyx Guitar (Germany) deepens the tempting occult spirit of the venture. Duckem (Greece) leaves the traveller with moody trip hop in a Blade Runner-style bar, before we come full circle with the beat version of Altone's remix, reaching out to eternity.
Like all the best remixing work, these tracks are not intended as alternative versions of the originals. Rather the remixes can be considered originals of the respective artists who drew sounds and vibes from the "Für Immer" originals.
This is the third album in the series of Morgen Wurde's electroacoustic sound processing-based albums, following “Brach Auf” (2016) and “Assassinous Act” (2017) which were released on Time Released Sound, Alameda. Besides, there are two albums “Letzten Endes” (2015) and “Als je zuvor” (2018) (both on Off Rec.) which were composed classically on the piano and then clothed with electronic sounds."
https://morgenwurde.bandcamp.com/album/f-r-immer
|
2020 |
€15.00 |
|
| MORSANEK / VINKEPEEZER |
same |
LP |
Quasi aus dem "Nichts" erreichte uns diese sehr gute LP von zwei niederländischen "Klangtätern", die beide auf ihre ganz eigene Art ein speziellen Klangkosmos erschaffen... VINKEPEEZER mag einigen noch als WRIKKEN bekannt sein, hatte mal eine 7" auf MIXER !
"Morsanek is an Amsterdam-based guitarist, DJ, and sound editor. In his DJ and editing projects Morsanek attempts to build audio narratives by connecting and disconnecting small timbral and organisational complements. His work as an improvising guitarist uses prepared guitar as a sort of sampler. His first vinyl release is a split LP on the Kazemat label in januari 2009. www.subdist.com/morsanek/
Vinkepeezer: Soundvillain, cut and paste composer, sonic painter. Vinkepeezers' music is built from many tiny sampled fragments that reappear as a swarming flock of birds, falling apart and building up again in ever changing forms. His music is organic, cinematic, warm and thickly layered, full of contrast. The music is performed live with an unique instrument consisting of game controllers such as the Wii remote, and by acoustic instruments played by musicians that reinterpret his compositions. Vinkepeezer is Dutch composer, sound artist and performer Ivo Bol, who works internationally with filmmakers, theatremakers and choreographers. www.ivobol.nl/" [label info]
"After the second world war brought a lot of English words into the Dutch language, and it may hardly be no surprise that German words didn't make it. There is one exception, which is the now fully accepted German word bunker. Before World War Two they were called 'Kazemat', which is a beautiful word, I think. Praise to Rob Vugs and Ivo Bol who just started a label with the same name, and more praise to him for this daring move: a bit of heavy vinyl, gatefold, full color sleeve, in an edition of 500 copies. Let's hope this may last longer than just one release. Ivo Bol was once a member of Wrikken, who released a 7" on Mixer (see Vital Weekly 334), but since time works solo as Vinkepeezer, creating music by using game controllers and acoustic instruments. Much of his work is created for film, theatre and dance. In the first two pieces it seems that Bol loves his Oval, through a jumpy myriad of bouncing sounds. Closely out of phase they make a densely shaped total. Its however not a glitch based as Oval, or many of their followers. Bol creates his own strong world, plus he knows how to cut back in sound and make a quieter moment. Nothing earth shaking new, but executed with great care. Morsanek is an Amsterdam based guitarist, DJ and sound editor, who for his own piece, which spans one side of this record, he uses his guitar, effects and sound editing. Its a bit hard to say how much of this was guitar or 'live', as I hear many different layers, which seems to be hard for one person to deal with and there are some sounds which seem like 'real' percussion. Whereas Vinkepeezer stays on the safe side of things, Morsanek goes for the adventure of sound, offering a wider range of sounds and moods, and makes a more surprising piece of music. But both sides are quite nice, so this is a most promising start for this new label." [FdW / Vital Weekly]
www.kazemat.com
|
2009 |
€15.50 |
|
| MOTA, MANUEL |
Leopardo |
CD |
"Leopardo is a solo recording by the Portuguese guitarist Manuel Mota, who might best be described as a somewhat more fluidly lyrical Derek Bailey. Lovingly recorded on solid body electric guitar, his improvisations have the spiky quality associated with the elder statesman of the freely improvised guitar, but Mota's lines sound as though coated in oil, possessing a slipperiness and liquidity that peeks back at Portuguese traditions. There are very few extended effects employed, the guitar strings ringing clear more often than not. The pieces scrabble around quite a bit, clawing at the periphery of melodies though never crossing the border from the abstract. Sometimes it's oddly reminiscent of the instrumental portions of "Moonchild" from the first King Crimson album, floating in a similar sound space. If there's a problem with the recording, it's that the tracks are a good deal similar to each other, exploring very much the same territory and tending to blend together. When, toward the end of the final, longest cut, Mota begins to conjure up some ultra-high crackles that sound a little like coals popping, one very much wishes to hear more in this direction. It's an attractive landscape that's being investigated (and a good jumping in point for listeners who find Bailey overly arcane), but those wishing for a tougher, deeper musical concept may find their attention wandering. Very much worth hearing, though."
|
2002 |
€6.00 |
|
| MOTT, NICK |
Here begins the Great Destroyer |
CD |
"Lumberton Trading Company presents Here Begins the Great Destroyer, English multi-instrumentalist and songwriter Nick Mott's second album under his own name. Mott, previously known mostly for his work as a founding member of the eclectic group Volcano the Bear, has, since his departure, been forging a path very much his own. A couple of other projects aside, namely Skeleton Birds and the Number of God and Spectral Armies, Mott's work under his own name commenced in 2011 with a one-sided 7" art package also released on Lumberton Trading Company (LUMB 006B-EP). Similar to his drawings and photocopied collages, Mott's music beams in from some kind of distorted or fractured reality, reminiscent of the twilit places explored by the likes of H. P. Lovecraft. The ten pieces on Here Begins the Great Destroyer bear witness to a world of unfolding electronic textures, uneasy tones, rhythmic bursts, and a general sense of things not being quite as they seem. However, this is no dark ambient muck. Instead, it rather uncomfortably resides in a space out of which Renaldo & The Loaf, Tuxedomoon, Nurse with Wound, and Andrew Liles have all crawled. Of course, there is a crooked humor evident, too, as no artist can truly traverse such places without it. Here Begins the Great Destroyer is the first step towards what will, in due course, become a deluxe vinyl box set also containing an art booklet by Nick Mott. In the meantime, this album exists in its own right as a Digipak CD, which is limited to 300 copies and will not be reprinted. Mastered by Siôn Orgon (former collaborator of Thighpaulsandra and Peter Christopherson).
www.lumberton-trading.net
|
2015 |
€13.00 |
|
| MOU, LIPS! |
Peanuts and shells geometria |
CD |
Italienisches Projekt aus dem TU M’ – Umfeld; zeitlos schöne Minimalismen aus prozessierten Gitarren/Bass/etc-Klängen; eine Mischung aus digitalen und analogen Sounds mit einer sehr schwungvoll-leichten Note. Erinnert z.B. an TORAL, AMBARCHI, FENNESZ...
“Based in Pescara, Italy, Emanuela De Angelis and Andrea Gabriele are mou, lips!, and this is their debut EP. Emanuela has worked with the group Joyce Whore Not and also as a guest with tu m', and here performs on voice, computer, guitar and objects. Andrea was one third of tu m' before leaving the group recently, and here performs on laptop, turntable, sounding table, guitar, double bass and objects. Together, they make music at times light and playful (I have no doubt some of these tracks would feel right at home on a Sonig compilation), at others chilling and austere. But always, throughout these six tracks, there's a sense of adventure, of embarking on exploring new sounds and interesting combinations, taking the glitch aesthetic as a basis and making something quite compelling with it. Occasionally the crackles and pops are accompanied by a voice (and yet even this voice quickly becomes processed and consumed by the glitches), and more often by other electronic interruptions and sounds both concrete and synthetic. Usually the tracks are not driven by rhythm, but by tone and atmosphere; although there are rhythms all over the place here, mostly in the form of minimal or playful loops, crackling sounds and half-melodies trying to make it into the foreground. A small taste of possibly great things to come” [Richard di Santo INCURSION]
|
2002 |
€13.00 |
|
| MOUCHOIR ETANCHE (=BLACK TO COMM) |
Une Fille Petrifiee |
LP |
"I am sitting in a garden, I haven't left the property in weeks, someone is dropping off food once a week. I haven't seen a human being in ages, I feel like a reverse Schroedinger cat -- do I exist when nobody sees me? I must be somewhere in France but I don't remember. I have lost my consciousness again. When I wake up I hear a broken record looping somewhere in the mansion. A washed-out opera. Behind the trees I see the dilapidated hermaphrodite sculpture in a field of verdant nettles and fern. I hear gunshots far afield, aeroplanes in the sky, sirens on the main road. When unconscious I dreamt of sitting on the Concorde observing the scarab blue ocean and iridescent clouds from above, an erstwhile receding memory. Sometimes I hear the organ of the nearby Renaissance Cathedral merging with the Russian Church bells. I am hallucinating again. Someone's humming in the kitchen? Singing? A radio? I overhear two young women talking about art galleries in the neighbour's garden. Bees attack, again? Again and again. The hairspray finally intoxicates them. An amphoric Japanese voice is whispering in my head saying I will die soon. Someone (something?) bangs on the vases. The fountain's water turns dark red. Fleur calls and says mum died. The funeral will be televised on Tuesday. We opt for the synthetic choir for the service. The call is suddenly interrupted. Mold is slowly taking over the house. I go back inside."
Une Fille Pétrifiée is the debut album of new Black To Comm related entity Mouchoir Ètanche. Combining real and fake acoustic instrumentation, sampling, field recordings, and excessive yet inaudible post production this is another sublime and ethereal statement. Influences are ranging from (French) classical and opera to the anecdotical compositions of Luc Ferrari, Chinese opera, chanson, sacred music/church music, JG Ballard, and surrealism. Marc Richter records as Black To Comm for Thrill Jockey, Type, and Dekorder and as Jemh Circs for his own Cellule 75 imprint. He also produces soundtracks and acousmatic multichannel installations for institutions such as INA GRM Paris, ZKM Karlsruhe, and Kunstverein Hamburg. Mouchoir Étanche is a new project by Marc Richter, aka Black To Comm (Thrill Jockey, Type Rec). Includes download code; edition of 300.
https://blacktocomm.bandcamp.com/album/une-fille-p-trifi-e
"Une Fille Pétrifiée is a more unified recording, but it’s just as diverse. We’re not sure if that’s a real cat on the cover or a photoshopped mutant, but we hope it’s the latter. Poor kitty. This image, along with the first two titles (“Enter Mirror Hotel,” “Satyre et Hermaphrodite”) hint at a tug of war between genres and ideas. As the album begins, classical, jazz and opera loops trade places. A surreal piece of shock fiction connects the dots, but its very nature defies categorization. Field recordings add texture, but little context; this is a fever dream. Why is the girl petrified? Mouchoir Ètanche isn’t that scary. Even “Music in the Dark” has a guiding light: sounding brass in the middle of gas and drone. In “Sécheresse” (“Drought”), children play over the sound of church bells, while in “Le temps isolé” (“The isolated time”), birds and organ drown out the sound of sirens, rather than the other way around. The organ returns throughout the album, offering a sense of safety that reverberates in opposition to the agitation of A C of M; and the final track includes a soloist and choir. Seldom has an artist been so impossible to predict, a huge part of Richter’s appeal. At this point, we have no idea what to expect from the artist’s third autumn album: holy or harrowing?" [A Closer Listen]
|
2020 |
€18.00 |
|
| MOUTHUS |
No Canal |
CD |
"Guitar, drums and electronics. There are no further requirements for turning the world on its head. Since their inception in 2002, Mouthus from Brooklyn have delighted and enraptured their audience. Thundering noise eruptions, mail-fisted guitar drones, infernal drumbeats and an indomitable drive are these devilish duos hallmarks. This is undiluted rock ‘n’ rock for noise junkies. When it comes to live performances, Mouthus are unbeatable. Nevertheless, in order to nourish the other parts of the soul, Mouthus alternate their teeth-grindingly loud shows with recordings into which rage and energy are consummately channelled. No Canal follows a different path altogether. Guitarist Brian Sullivan and drummer Nate Nelson lead the listener on a journey of exploration. Past bricked-up walls of sound and through a swamp of drones the duo descries a terra incognita, a dark world of sound in which innocent idylls of nature are soon subjected to the destructive forces of industrialisation.
Initially, pastoral guitar parts are heard, pursued by drums in the distance. This is ethereal music in the tradition of bands like Popol Vuh. The promised land is hidden behind low mist and impenetrable green. But all hope proves idle: torturing guitar feedback and tribal drums soon tear the dream apart. The industrial torrent of sound seems unstoppable. This is music that reveals itself as a tired, technological beast with a slow heartbeat and creaking limbs. The subliminal menace and naked demise remain audible and tangible. This is a story that has to be told. Mouthus cannot be silenced.
No Canal is packed in the beautiful 'envelope' packaging, designed and hand printed by Jason Dodg" [label info]
www.bottrop-boy.com
|
2008 |
€13.50 |
|
| MUELLER, JON |
The Whole |
CD |
"Der Avantgarde-Perkussionist übersetzt tradiertes Handwerk in Musik: "The Whole" mag sein Debüt für das Label Type sein, doch ist es bei weitem nicht Jon Muellers Einstand in der Szene. Über seine Mitarbeit in Bands wie Collections Of Colonies Of Bees und Volcano Choir mit Justin Vernon aka Bon Iver sowie mehreren Soloalben und Kollaborationen hat sich der Mann aus Milwaukee einen Namen als hervorragender Schlagzeuger und Perkussionist gemacht. Als Nachfolger seines Werks "Metals", einer Sammlung klassischer Heavy-Metal-Rhythmen, und den ausschweifend schönen "Physical Changes" war es für Mueller Zeit für ein grundlegendes Statement. Fasziniert von einfachen und akustischen Klängen, ließ sich Mueller sogar vom alten Kunsthandwerk der Shaker, einer amerikanischen Religionsgemeinschaft, und vom Quilt-Handwerk beeinflussen. Beides einfache tradierte Handwerksformen, die aber immer wieder misinterpretiert wurden. Diese fehlgedeutete Simplizität ist ein Leitmotiv von "The Whole". Mueller erschafft mit Schlagzeug, Dulcimer und seiner Stimme einen Sound, der gleichzeitig originell und verführerisch ist, der Spuren der Vergangenheit und Echos der Zukunft trägt.//
The Whole might be avant-percussionist Jon Mueller's first album for the Type imprint, but it's far from his scene debut. Working in a plethora of bands for many years (including Collections Of Colonies Of Bees and Volcano Choir with Justin Vernon aka Bon Iver), Mueller has honed his sound to a distinct peak, and over the course of umpteen solo albums and collaborations has cemented his status as one of experimental music's most revered drummers. Following his epic works Metals (a collection of classic heavy metal rhythms) and the expansive and surprisingly beautiful Physical Changes, both for the esteemed Table Of The Elements label, Mueller embarked on the heady process of creating a "defining" work. Intrigued by ideas of simplicity and acoustic sound, Mueller's research drew him to Shaker crafts and quilt-making, both deceptively simple practices rooted in the transmission of ideas. Over time, these experiences were interpreted in many different ways, almost certainly inaccurately, and this miscommunicated simplicity is at the very center of The Whole. Through a rolling, unamplified snare drum (a piece of kit perfected over a year of intense practice), booming low toms, hammered dulcimer and his own voice, Mueller creates a sound that is wholly original and totally beguiling. There are traces of folk traditions and lines drawn to the avant garde idiom, but Mueller's sound is so singularly perfected, it is hard to connect him to specific peers. The Whole is an album that sounds like both a relic of the past and an echo of the future. The ideas are anchored in memory and tradition, yet the sound is alien and sometimes impenetrable. Over time, as the messages are stripped back, an unabashedly gorgeous piece of work is revealed. Like a good book, it requires patience and contemplation to show its beating heart." [label info]
www.typerecords.com
|
2010 |
€15.50 |
|
| |
Death Blues |
LP |
"Find Yourself. Impatience. Death Blues. Acceptance. Impermanence. Iron String. The six songs that comprise Jon Mueller's Death Blues are each their own doorway to both a bold new musical statement from the renowned drummer percussionist and an unprecedented journey into a conscious contemplation of death -- and the life that surrounds it. Released in tandem with a multi-part manifesto, Death Blues transcends its own existence as 34-minute, earth-cracking rock album. Much like Mueller, whose landmark solo work stands alongside his role in notable bands Volcano Choir (and previously, Collections of Colonies of Bees), Death Blues embodies the acknowledgement that there's more to experiencing music than simply just listening. Conceived and largely executed in its recorded form by Mueller himself -- adding hammered acoustic guitar and bold vocal patterning to his ever-evolving mastery of percussion -- Death Blues is audibly (and intensely) personal. However, the very act of recording was the first step in a discourse that Mueller began over a year ago, forming a band of brilliant performers from his Milwaukee, WI hometown that would go on to perform Death Blues at Hopscotch Music Festival in Raleigh, NC and at two sold-out Death Blues events in Milwaukee, where a labyrinth led the audience into a multi-sensory and participatory experience culminating in a climactic performance of the album. It was as close as one could get to being next to Mueller at that moment of discovery: of the inevitability of death as the impetus to become more present in each moment and of the necessity of building his own path to sharing that idea. Death Blues is being collaboratively released by Taiga and Hometapes and is available as a limited edition LP packaged in a deluxe litho-wrapped jacket that includes the Death Blues manifesto; 500 hand-numbered copies of the highest fidelity pressed on 200g virgin vinyl." [label info]
www.taigarecords.com
|
2013 |
€20.00 |
|
| MULO MUTO |
Decomposing Cacophonies |
CD |
“Decomposing Cacophonies” was recorded in Zurich (CH) in July 2017 by Attila and Joel during a long session. The duo embarked on a metaphysical exploration of the cycle of life and more specifically, reflected on how organic matter decomposes. This experiment was transposed into sound and subdivided into different moments that accompany decay. It is violent, at times calm at other times agitated, it may be noisy as well as dreamy; definitely deadly and ready to get recycled into the apparently never-ending cycle of inorganic and organic restoration. We live to die in order to let other beings live. We die to live in order to let other beings die.
The album was mixed shortly after the recording and mastered in January 2018 by Attila Folklor between the plains and the mountains of Ticino.
The pictures were taken by Joel during the Autumn of 2017 around the Mittelland, while Huere Giulio carefully took care of the layout.
From Luce Sia’s press release:
LUCE SIA is happy to announce its release n. 052, made in collaboration with the Swiss label L’è Tütt Folklor Records! Mulo Muto’s new album “Decomposing Cacophonies” is a 66 minutes crescendo of magmatic and piercing sounds, divided in 8 acts, that creates an intense and powerful ode to putrefaction.
«You will have with this means All the glory of the world, And therefore every darkness will go far from you. It is the strong force of every force, because it will win every thin thing, and It will penetrate every solid thing.» (From “The Emerald Table”)
Out now on digipack CD, limited to 190 copies!
Decomposers:
• Attila Folklor: electronics, synths, electroacoustic devices, loops
• Joel Gilardini: treated guitars, synths, electronics, loops
Thanks to Sacha, Nebo and Huere Giulio. Recorded by Attila Folklor and Joel Gilardini.
Mixed and mastered by Attila Folklor.
https://lucesia.bandcamp.com/album/052-mulo-muto-decomposing-cacophonies
|
2018 |
€12.00 |
|
| MULTER |
Köln 4/11/2006 |
CD-R |
"One of the best known unknown artists of the german experimental hard-to-classify scene publishes here this document of a one track concert, recorded at the Kulturbunker, Cologne during a concert series organized by Till Kniola / Auf Abwegen in Late 2006.
The trio of Neidhardt (guitar/Amps), Geiter (keyboards, live mix) and Hoeschen (field recordings, live mix) performed in their unique style what can be loosely described as memorable post-rock drone. A piece which just keeps growing and developing for close to an hour.
The last full length release by [multer] was the sound installation soundtrack ‘Berge Im Bunker’ (consouling sounds, 2011) which was prefaced by the marvelous but vinyl only ‘Kopenhagener deutung’ album (genesungswerk, 2003). Next year shall bring a release of a studio version of this track as well as other projects concluding with the publication of entirely new material and accompanying live performances.
For those interested what happened between [multer] activities there is the meanwhile impressive back-catalogue of Hellmut Neidhart aka ‘N’ solo and also releases on Thomas Geiter’s own label inselkind-schalltraeger worth more than a listen.
Issued as a limited & numbered cdr with special artwork directed and produced by [multer] and as an unlimited digital dl." [label info]
https://klappstuhl.bandcamp.com/album/k-ln-04-11-2006
"Klappstuhl Records zeigt sich, nach ersten Anzeichen 2012 und 2013, seit 2015
zweifelsfrei wiederbelebt, ohne merkliche Gesinnungsänderung zur kassettentäterischen
Vorgeschichte in den 80ern (& 90ern). Köln 4 | 11 | 2006 (SP 012, CD-R) wirft nun sogar ein halbes Pfund in die Waagschale. Durch ein silbernes Cover aus Eisen. Zu hören sind, live im Kulturbunker, Thomas Geiter: keyboard, mixing, Mal Hoeschen: fieldrecording, mixing & Hellmut Neidhardt: guitars, amps, Letzterer
einschlägig bekannt als N, die drei gemeinsam als [multer]. Sie tasten sich mit blasender, wischender, dröhnender Vorsicht voran. Dröhnend? Es ist das fast ein Singen wie von einer Harmonika, ein sublim changierender Silberstreif am tief gelegten Kulturhorizont. Ein knatternder Helikopter unternimmt einen Aufklärungsflug. Kleine Alltagsgeräusche, Schritte, Vogelschreie, Entengeschnatter,
Glockenspiel und Turmuhrschlag oder erst glucksendes, dann anbrandendes und
lappendes Wasser akzentuieren als Einsprengsel der Welt da draußen das langwellig sonore, surrend noch unterstrichene Fürsichsein in einem Tagtraumzustand. Ein fernes Akkordeon spielt 'Caravan', die N-Gitarre schnurrt. Zwei
Stimmen referieren über den Ausnahmezustand und die Schamlosigkeit, die künstlerisches Schaffen ermöglichen, und über das 'Nein' des ästhetischen Menschen. Nietzsche trapst als Nachtigall: Es giebt zwei Zustände, in denen die
Kunst selbst wie eine Naturgewalt im Menschen auftritt, über ihn verfügend, ob er will oder nicht: einmal als Zwang zur Vision, andrerseits als Zwang zum Orgiasmus. Beide Zustände sind auch im normalen Leben vorgespielt, nur schwächer: im Traum und im Rausch. Vinyl knurscht, der Harmonikadrone kurvt und sirrt. Und träumt von der suggestiven Kraft der Musik, ihrer "suggestion mentale"..." [Bad Alchemy] |
2016 |
€11.00 |
|
| 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 |
|
| MUNDY, GARY & ERALDO BERNOCCHI |
Broken Masses |
CD |
"Five collaborative pieces between Gary Mundy of Ramleh/Kleistwahr/Broken Flag and Eraldo Bernocchi of Sigillum S. Combining two guitars, subtle electronics and what sounds like a voice from another dimension, rhythmic loops or serene pools of liquid sound are generated that add up to an album of immense beauty and scope. Sometimes more intense and at others almost elegiac, this work is in keeping with Gary's more recent solo work yet benefits also from Bernocchi's own clear signature stamped throughout. Haunting, moving and immersive, with an almost soundtrack quality to it, this is music for reflecting on these deeply troubled times firm in the knowledge something majestic can still be found. As Bernocchi himself says, "Broken people, broken bones. Broken dreams, broken masses. An unfinished skyscraper, stray dogs, small time criminals. A few hanged themselves in there, others jumped from the top. Time sneaked, undetected since 1986, until we met in a studio armed with two guitars, several ideas but no structure, no skeleton, except for our memories and the eyes of the watcher. 'Broken Masses' is a hymn to the wind of change, a floating unformed magma of feelings, memories, wishes and disasters. Since the legendary Broken Flag released Sigillum S "Trance Flexure" we've always been in contact, encouraging the wish for an album together. After 35 years it finally happened. More to come."
https://garymundykleistwahr.bandcamp.com/album/broken-masses
|
2022 |
€14.00 |
|
| MURAYAMA, SEIJIRO & TOSHIYA TSUNODA |
Snared 60 Cuts |
CD |
"One clear day in spring, the two of us, Seijiro Murayama and Toshiya Tsunoda, went out to a park on the outskirts of the city of Yokohama. It was just like a picnic, but what we carried with us was a snare drum, not a lunch basket. We settled in a wide open space in the park and took a look through the inside of the snare drum, just for fun, to see how the world looked in that peaceful spring sunlight. That day Seijiro didn't play his instrument. We placed a pair of microphone inside the snare drum and tried to catch its sound under various conditions. He loosened the drumhead, took off the rim, put a heavy stone on it, hung it from a tree branch, and even cut the drum skin with a knife After two days of this strange picnic, we had gathered a total of 80 sound recordings. None of them includes a familiar snare drum sound. In fact, the sounds of these recordings are not generated with an ordinary 'musical' instrument, but result from the same instrument regarded merely as an object and perhaps also the act of breaking down the instrument into its physical pieces. Hopefully, still, another of our actions (the act of recording) reminded us of its nature as a musical instrument. Because of our general indifference to audio-technical details, we didn't take notes on the individual recordings. In our point of view, the differences among the takes are not important for the sake of the sound itself, or to the purpose of discerning them. On the contrary, the differences are only significant to the differences themselves. When you listen to these sounds coming to you in the stream of similarity, you'll find yourself listening to the threshold of yourself. It was just these differences that amazed us. What we offer here is not so-called 'beautiful' sounds. As for us, it is something more, chaotic, primal, and abundant." [credits/ label info]
|
2010 |
€13.00 |
|
| MURCOF |
Ultimatum |
12 |
"A strictly limited edition of 1000 copies worldwide, Murcof's Ultimatum EP is a last-minute addition to the Leaf release schedule by popular request. The 12-inch collects several tracks from the Utopia CD that have never before been available on vinyl, because quite a few Murcof fans out there need these tracks on wax. The EP includes the two previously unreleased Murcof originals, "Ultimatum" and "Una," as well as two fine remixes by etc.) and Deathprod (Rune Grammofon). Together with last year's "Ulysses" 12-inch, and the "Utopia Remixes" 12-inch, most of the tracks on Utopia are now available on vinyl. Murcof (aka Fernando Corona) is currently working on his second full-length album." [label info]
www.theleaflabel.com
|
2004 |
€8.50 |
|
|
The Versailles Sessions |
do-LP |
"Vom Barock zur Elektronik: Wassermusik des mexikanischen Elektronikers:
Seinen Titel verdankt das Album dem Ort, wo alljährlich "Les Grandes Eaux Nocturnes" stattfindet: das Sound-, Licht- und Wasser-Festival im wohl berühmtesten Schloss der Welt, dem Château de Versailles bei Paris. Der mexikanische Elektroniker Fernando Corona alias Murcof hat für den großen Fontänenabend im Jardin de Roi extra eine Suite geschrieben, "The Versailles Sessions" dokumentiert das Ereignis. Die sechs Kompositionen für das Projekt stammen alle aus dem 17. Jahrhundert (u. a. von Jean-Baptiste Lully, François Couperin) und wurden für das Projekt von Barockmusikern auf Originalinstrumenten eingespielt. Was wie eine Verabschiedung von elektronischer Musik klingt, ist in Wahrheit eine Fortführung von Techniken, die Corona über die Jahre entwickelt hat: die Verarbeitung bestehenden Materials - nur, dass dies jetzt aus dem 17. Jahrhundert stammt. "The Versailles Sessions" sollen dennoch nicht als Nachfolger des Albums "Cosmos" (2007) gesehen werden, eher als Zwischenprojekt zum 2009er-Werk "Océano". Das Album erscheint auf CD sowie als Doppel-LP in limitierter Edition." [label info / Indigo]
"In the summer of 2007, Fernando Corona completed a site-specific commission for Les Grandes Eaux Nocturnes, an annual festival of sound, light and water at Château de Versailles in France. A suite of music was composed specifically for the grand evening fountain display in the Jardin du Roi. The Versailles Sessions is an aural document of the event, to be released this winter on specially priced CD and limited edition double vinyl.
The six compositions prepared for the project derive entirely from recordings of 17th century baroque instruments (including harpsichord, viola da gamba, flute and violin) and a mezzo soprano. GetSound, who commissioned the project, hired musicians specialized in baroque music in Paris.
“We recorded pieces by Lully, Couperin and others,” says Corona of the sessions. “They were played traditionally, but we also experimented quite a bit with the music and instruments. It was a great learning experience - the musicians were amazing - very open minded and willing to have fun.”
The recording process may appear to be a departure for an artist known primarily as an electronic musician, but in fact it’s a continuation of techniques Corona has perfected over a number of years.
“It’s more or less done in the same fashion as my previous work: processing of previously recorded acoustic material. The only difference is the actual source material being so specific to 17th century baroque music and instruments. And since the recordings are the starting point of the composition process it naturally took me to a different place.”
Corona’s initial interpretations of the source material didn’t quite go according to plan.
“When we did a rehearsal about two weeks before the actual opening, it was pouring with rain so I wasn’t able to make the necessary tests. But being there and seeing the space and the installations (big disco balls and video projections on water fountains), I realised I was going in the wrong direction musically.
“The location demanded a different approach: more openness, more time for the sounds to develop and for them to resonate in that big space, so I went back home and during those remaining two weeks I reworked the whole commission into what it is now.
“The recordings I used as source material are very rich and cover a wide range of timbres, so I had lots of options as to how to approach the music making process.”
The Versailles Sessions should not be considered as the successor to 2007’s monumental Cosmos, rather as a special project while we await Murcof’s next album proper." [label info]
www.theleaflabel.com
|
2008 |
€18.50 |
|
| |
The Versailles Sessions |
CD |
"Vom Barock zur Elektronik: Wassermusik des mexikanischen Elektronikers:
Seinen Titel verdankt das Album dem Ort, wo alljährlich "Les Grandes Eaux Nocturnes" stattfindet: das Sound-, Licht- und Wasser-Festival im wohl berühmtesten Schloss der Welt, dem Château de Versailles bei Paris. Der mexikanische Elektroniker Fernando Corona alias Murcof hat für den großen Fontänenabend im Jardin de Roi extra eine Suite geschrieben, "The Versailles Sessions" dokumentiert das Ereignis. Die sechs Kompositionen für das Projekt stammen alle aus dem 17. Jahrhundert (u. a. von Jean-Baptiste Lully, François Couperin) und wurden für das Projekt von Barockmusikern auf Originalinstrumenten eingespielt. Was wie eine Verabschiedung von elektronischer Musik klingt, ist in Wahrheit eine Fortführung von Techniken, die Corona über die Jahre entwickelt hat: die Verarbeitung bestehenden Materials - nur, dass dies jetzt aus dem 17. Jahrhundert stammt. "The Versailles Sessions" sollen dennoch nicht als Nachfolger des Albums "Cosmos" (2007) gesehen werden, eher als Zwischenprojekt zum 2009er-Werk "Océano". Das Album erscheint auf CD sowie als Doppel-LP in limitierter Edition." [label info / Indigo]
"In the summer of 2007, Fernando Corona completed a site-specific commission for Les Grandes Eaux Nocturnes, an annual festival of sound, light and water at Château de Versailles in France. A suite of music was composed specifically for the grand evening fountain display in the Jardin du Roi. The Versailles Sessions is an aural document of the event, to be released this winter on specially priced CD and limited edition double vinyl.
The six compositions prepared for the project derive entirely from recordings of 17th century baroque instruments (including harpsichord, viola da gamba, flute and violin) and a mezzo soprano. GetSound, who commissioned the project, hired musicians specialized in baroque music in Paris.
“We recorded pieces by Lully, Couperin and others,” says Corona of the sessions. “They were played traditionally, but we also experimented quite a bit with the music and instruments. It was a great learning experience - the musicians were amazing - very open minded and willing to have fun.”
The recording process may appear to be a departure for an artist known primarily as an electronic musician, but in fact it’s a continuation of techniques Corona has perfected over a number of years.
“It’s more or less done in the same fashion as my previous work: processing of previously recorded acoustic material. The only difference is the actual source material being so specific to 17th century baroque music and instruments. And since the recordings are the starting point of the composition process it naturally took me to a different place.”
Corona’s initial interpretations of the source material didn’t quite go according to plan.
“When we did a rehearsal about two weeks before the actual opening, it was pouring with rain so I wasn’t able to make the necessary tests. But being there and seeing the space and the installations (big disco balls and video projections on water fountains), I realised I was going in the wrong direction musically.
“The location demanded a different approach: more openness, more time for the sounds to develop and for them to resonate in that big space, so I went back home and during those remaining two weeks I reworked the whole commission into what it is now.
“The recordings I used as source material are very rich and cover a wide range of timbres, so I had lots of options as to how to approach the music making process.”
The Versailles Sessions should not be considered as the successor to 2007’s monumental Cosmos, rather as a special project while we await Murcof’s next album proper." [label info]
www.theleaflabel.com
|
2008 |
€12.00 |
|
| MURMER |
Periodic Exercises in (f)utility [homework 2016-2022] |
do-CD |
this is a Kokeshidisk release - kodi 14 - september 2023
"i work slowly, and sometimes i work not at all. so having an open invitation from taâlem to create work at the end of each year, especially as winter is setting in and it is beginning to feel like i’ve done nothing all year (i haven’t, but it can feel that way), comes as an energy boost, a reassurance, and an opportunity to resurrect some confidence, and a sense of worth. so i push myself to take that opportunity - and have done so each year since the project began (aside from the year in which my father died, explaining the 2019 gap) - and i thank jean-marc for providing it. in many, in fact almost all, of the years represented here, my piece for homework was the only work i published. indeed, this collection is sandwiched by my two most recent (physical) releases: songs for forgetting was released in late 2016, just before the docks sing in strange tongues appeared on homework 1, and tether was released in early 2023, several months after thaw and timber was published on homework 7. so this collection could be viewed as my complete sonic journey over those 7 years, digging in archives, showing off newly discovered sounds, and all in all attempting to prove to myself that it is all for something, that the tape should keep rolling, and that i must pay attention, because my homework will soon be due." (patrick/murmer, june 2023)
the docks sing in strange tongues (2016)
objects and situations found in rovaniemi, hamburg, mooste, põlgaste, tallinn, and bordeaux between 2003 and 2016. title found in the poem of the same name by panos panagiotopoulos.
echo surveys: viljandi (reimagined) (2017)
echo surveys is an ongoing series of activities including performances, workshops, installations, and compositions that consist of site-specific sonic interventions; all sounds heard are produced and/or recorded in a chosen space, using only materials found therein. this 'reimagined' work adds a new layer; it is based on a live performance at the noisy november festival at supersonicum in viljandi, estonia on 2017.11.17, and is composed from the initial field recordings made in the space for use in the performance, as well as from the recording of the performance itself. also participating in the performance and therefore in this composition were erik alalooga and taavi suisalu (the event organiser and other performer on the bill that night, respectively) and a number of members of the public.
water, grain, oil (2018)
water, fingers, and nylon string (france, 2008); disturbed ants (finland, 2014); panelia mill grinding wheel (finland, 2009); empty oil tank interventions (latvia, 2008)
nail down your ghosts (2020)
source material recorded in an abandoned and now-demolished house in the estonian town of valga in october 2019. sonic interventions performed, and elements subsequently reworked, by liisa hirsch and patrick tubin mcginley, 2019/2020. composed from those elements in june 2020. originally created for the short film to crumble into clouds above your living room by anna hints, commissioned as the estonian contribution to the 2020 venice biennale of architecture, postponed to 2021 due to the covid-19 pandemic.
echo surveys: nuti (reimagined) (2021)
in november, 2020 i participated in an event curated by shawn pinchbeck for BEAMS (the boreal electroacoustic music society) in canada entitled together apart... an evening of audio wonderments. it was to be another online concert in response to the covid-19 pandemic and lockdown, but due to the time differences for artists spread throughout north america and europe, we were given the opportunity to pre-record our performances. this allowed me to create a piece in our half-renovated farmhouse in the estonian countryside, from which a live stream would have been impossible to organise. the piece streamed online on the night of november 21st, and was then briefly archived on BEAMS’ twitch page. i then made this 'sound film' available permanently online (murmerings.com/2021/01/echo-surveys-nuti/). for this release i reimagined this work for sound only, editing a piece together from the original live performance recordings and the sources used therein.
thaw and timber (2022)
dripping woodshed roof (estonia, 2022); railings at the bfm (estonia, 2022); thawing earth (estonia, 2022); water heater (france, 2008); toddler making feedback (estonia, 2020); sodablasting log walls (estonia, 2020); inside kreenholm (estonia, 2017); baltijaam wall (estonia, 2011)
photographies by patrick tubin mcginley
design by désaccord majeur
mastered by flavien gillié
https://taalem.bandcamp.com/album/periodic-exercises-in-f-utility-homework-2016-2022-kodi-14
"As Taalem sees a restart (see elsewhere), so is their sub-division Kokeshidisk. The mothership Taalem releases a yearly Bandcamp digital-only, pay-as-you-want compilation called 'Homework', and for seven years, they have been doing this every year, resulting in a massive album (always announced in Vital Weekly). I am unsure why they selected Murmer to collect his pieces from six (one year he was absent because his father died) and someone else. Other, of course, then they think these are good pieces. Murmer likes to submit relatively long pieces to compilations, hence the double disc. Patrick Tubin McGinley, the man behind Murmer, isn't the most active musician in the releasing CDs (cassettes, vinyl) department. He's a man of words, and for each of the six pieces, there is a list of sound sources and inspirations for titles. For many years, he has lived in Estonia and is very active with field recordings, which he incorporates in music, installations, workshops, etc. His primary interest lies in finding sustaining and minimal sounds. 'The Docks Sing In Strange Tongues', the first piece here, collects sounds from various harbours and in the mix, it all makes a very coherent, minimalist
music piece, which reminded me of Ingram Marshall's 'Fogtropes'. This piece sets the tone for the other five. In each of his works, Murmer uses a limited set of sounds, different sounds, that is, and these are cleverly woven together. Nothing stays for very long in the place, as Murmer uses a variety of lengths, so there is never the same overlap. In that respect, he reminds me of the sadly recently deceased Steve Roden. It bears the same tranquillity, the same effective sparse use of sound sources and working within limitations to a significant effect. His field recordings are usually entirely obscured, which adds to the beauty of it all. In 'Echo Surveys: Nuti', there are wind chimes, and in ''Echo Surveys: Viljandi' birds, perhaps. Water sounds in 'Water. Grain. Oil', maybe, but whatever else? I don't know. Murmer uses quite a bit of filtering (at least, so I believe) and prefers darker sounds. This, too, adds to the ambient quality of the music. It is an excellent release, which begs the question: why isn't there more of Murmer available?" [FdW/Vital Weekly] |
2023 |
€15.00 |
|
| MURRAY, BRENDAN |
Commonwealth |
CD |
Dröhnminimalismus pur! Poly-Drones die sich in endlosen Wellen umeinander legen, regelrecht anfangen zu schlingern. Aufs "erste Hören": Statik. Beim genaueren Hinhören: Eine unendliche Klangfülle, tänzelnde Obertöne, schwingende Frequenzen in multiplen Schichten, stetige Veränderungen und Verschiebungen. Der Drone-Gott steckt in den Details! Eine sehr feine Aufnahme des Bostoner Klangkünstlers BRENDAN MURRAY!
"Nie wurden Sehnen mehr gedehnt als über Murrays 49 Minuten Commonwealth. Nur Phill Niblock, Eliane Radigue oder Jean-Francois Laporte erzeugen solch sture Dronegebilde, in denen schüchterne Obertöne zu gigantischen Kolossen mutieren und Langatmigkeit den klaren Ton angibt. Harmonieansätze tauchen in diesem Wall aus Gitarre und analogen/digitalen Soundmanipulationen nur ganz spärlich auf und entblößen sich rasch als hilflose Wegweiser vergangener Genres. Nostalgie spielt allerdings keine Rolle, Commonnwealth schabt nach vorne, dezentriert Zeit und vermag sogar den Bewegungsapparat zu blockieren. Liest sich eventuell zu statisch, wirkt unter der Oberfläche aber äußerst drastisch. " [Ed Benndorf / DE BUG]
"Brendan Murray has become a central figure in Boston’s sound art vanguard through a reputation of exceptional live performances and a growing catalogue of slow-shifting compositions for rarified drones. A single crescendo terminating at the end of 49 minutes, Commonwealth is an epic investigation into subtle harmonics and overtones expressed through layered slippages of pure sound. Conceived through guitar, analog synthesis, and plenty of digital manipulation, Commonwealth expresses a rare confidence in Murray's finely tuned detailing of sinewy tonalities and sculpted megalithic surfaces. Murray himself has qualified this album as a "sincere bow to 'classic' minimalism," and Commonwealth is a worthy parallel to the work of Phill Niblock, Eliane Radigue, and Iannis Xenakis." [label info]
"We've ballyhooed Brendan Murray's exceptional, yet perennially overlooked drone & din work in the past; but nothing could have prepared us for Commonwealth. Damn, this guy is good. No, wait; he's fucking great! After a handful of cd-r productions, a Twonicorn cassette, and a fine cd release on Intransitive of processed shimmer, shifting frequencies, and some low-end girth rumblings for our bligatory SUNNO))) reference, Brendan Murray has produced his best work to date with Commonwealth. Compositionally, it's incredibly simple: a drone goes up, and it goes down. It lasts a little under 50 minutes. But buried with this single minded composition, there are thick spun rumbles, reflective vibrations, sympathetic sub-harmonics, and rich tonal frequencies. Out of the constant tectonic whir that introduces Commonwealth, shimmering clusters sound like a battery of reed organs or hurdy-gurdies, slowly modulating into heavier, deeper drones. We've been told that the source material for these sounds is guitar, although you'd be hard pressed to hear anything guitar-shaped anywhere on the disc. It's far more like the hallowed minimalist sound of Charlemagne Palestine and La Monte Young. Dare we say, it's better? Yes, Murray's drone hums like a perfectly tuned machine, with multiple pistons purring in a steady progress along Commonwealth's compositional arc. When Murray shifts the focus of the album downward, which begins not even halfway through the piece, the descent is noticeable; but it actually becomes Murray's most fertile work within Commonwealth. Here, low rhythmic thrumbs crawl beneath
the surface of the slowly collapsing drone, precluding its inevitable terminus. Perfect trance-enducing dronemuzik. Fans of Aidan Baker, Andrew Chalk, and Phill Niblock should definitely take note!" [Aquarius Records ]
"... Much louder and less subtle, this is loud drone music, one of the kind that Niblock plays live. Although playing music on headphones is not something I usually recommend, this piece sounds pretty fine on headphones, pressing air against your ears, making a thunderous storm, which shoots right in your brain. Towards the end the volume drops a bit in favor of more heavy weight bass sounds, forming the natural ending to a heavy work. Murray delivers, once again, a mighty fine album that will be another step forward in recognizing him as a true master of the genre. Fans of classical drone music be aware - this is the classic of the future." [FdW / Vital Weekly]
www.23five.org
|
2008 |
€13.00 |
|
| |
Not Now |
CD |
"for his recorded debut, Boston-based electro-acoustic composer Brendan Murray presents an album that both speaks and listens. using only two phrase samplers and computer, he manipulates field recordings and static, breath loops and subsonics to create a record that expresses serenity, panic and liberation. 'Not Now' will gently take your hand, lead you to a place you've known for years and leave you there, wondering where you are. subtle and understated, Murray's work is rich with deep layers which reveal themselves only with careful repeated listenings. Murray is an integral part of the growing Boston electronic-improv scene, having performed extensively throughout the Eastern U.S. over the past two years." [label description]
|
2001 |
€14.00 |
|
| MUSIC OF TRANSPARENT MEANS |
Selected Live Recordings |
LP |
"Selected Live Recordings is the third release De La Catessen Records has divined from the archives of New-York-via-Adelaide minimalist composer Alex Carpenter, and the second in this series for his shape-shifting collective, Music Of Transparent Means. It follows the two side-long fantasias of 2021's self-titled album; this time, we pan out slightly, to grant the listener a varied and yet more complex understanding of the material Carpenter was writing and performing when this music was happening, during the noughties. On this album, you can hear the results of some intensive explorations of the possibilities of minimalism both at its most delicate, and at its most feverish. The heavenly stasis of "Disappearance #1", for massed wine glasses and bowed guitars, feels like being jettisoned in a water tower filled with ether; the wooziness of "Burial Music" captures something of the spirit of Fripp & Eno's (No Pussyfooting), but as though the tape is slowly disintegrating; the music is blurred at the edges, warped and sidereal. Perhaps the centerpiece of Selected Live Recordings, though, is the simple, yet ravishing, "Rose Street Womb". With its performers given a simple set of instructions -- to continually repeat and elongate a series of phrases, while listening and responding to the overall sound of the ensemble -- its pastoral psychedelia recalls the gentle slippages of Arthur Russell's landmark composition, Tower Of Meaning. Elsewhere, "Mountain Piece #2" is a thunderstorm for massed drums, while "Second Presencing" uses delays as a structuring device to paint an "audio canvas" from a clutch of damaged tones. Throughout, you can hear Carpenter's knowledge and deep study of the history of minimalist composition -- he has written extensively on the work of La Monte Young, and there is certainly some aesthetic and ideological crossover with the likes of Phill Niblock, Terry Riley, and Arnold Dreyblatt. But it is also very much his own thing, the result of an intensive period of study and exploration of the possibilities, not just of minimalist composition, but also of Just Intonation. With the material long whispered about in reverent tones, and circulating on CD-R only amongst a small group of like-minded souls, De La Catessen's ongoing series of releases of Carpenter's music is a major development, bringing to light one of minimalism's hidden histories." [press release]
"From Iggy on the cover of Raw Power to Black Sabbath, circa 1980, in Milwaukee, from the ’52 Cleveland riot through to Suicide in Brussels, a healthy dose of chaos and danger is at the heart of all great rock music. So, it comes as no surprise to hear Alex Carpenter, the musician behind Music Of Transparent Means (MOTM), talk about chaos as core to the development of his music: “Even though there was this purity and mathematical elegance throughout some of the thinking and theory, what I remember almost more than that was the chaos and the mess, the forcefulness, the saturation and obliteration. The clear ideal gave way to this kind of loud, intense chaos, which in turn opened a path back to the clear.”
Music Of Transparent Means has always struck me as a particularly rock-reverent kind of minimalism, as though Alex has removed all the excess baggage that rock has picked up over the decades and focused on its most important aspects: noise and intensity, energy and mayhem. There is, of course, a great tradition of rock minimalism, from the Velvet Underground through AC/DC to Rhys Chatham and Glenn Branca, on into Band Of Susans, Spacemen 3 and Loop, but Alex’s music is curious for the way it flips the script on those examples and gives us an altogether different take on the intersection of these two forces.
You can hear the ‘elegant chaos’ of Alex’s compositions throughout this second archival release by the ensemble, which is filled with music that’s both seriously beautiful and deliriously serious. If the first MOTM release on De la Catessen gave an extended view into Alex’s work, with one long piece per side, here we have excerpts from performances throughout the years, allowing a more expansive take on both process and outcome. What strikes me, listening to this music, is the way that Alex indeed allows chaos to take its own non-form, to coalesce and congeal into huge, abraded blocks of sound, to allow the meeting of musicians, many from different walks of life, to morph into one throbbing brain at the centre of the sonorous universe.
Hearing “Rose Street Womb” for the first time in over a decade, I am also momentarily surprised by how much it echoes another favourite composition of mine, Arthur Russell’s early ‘80s piece, Tower Of Meaning. In “Rose Street Womb”, musicians are each given one short phrase, or a series of them, “which were continually repeated (either fully or partially) and continually elongated,” Alex recalls. “Performers were encouraged to listen less to their own part and more to the overall ensemble.” Here, you can hear that collective mind flame into being, where a ticker-taping tessellation of tones builds abstract architectures. It’s a collectivity that’s echoed in the brief excerpt from “Mountain Piece 2”, for massed drums, though this concerns itself more with the dynamic of rise and fall, and the collapsing of our distinct sense of rhythm and texture; it’s an exhilarating rush of projected energy.
By contrast, the woozy, sea-sick strands of melody in “Burial Music” obliterate themselves via the delay feedback system that Alex has constructed (shades of Fripp and Eno in the (No Pussyfooting) mirror-verse here), eventually leading to simple phrases collapsing in on each other, “resulting in a sort of ‘burial of melody’,” Alex confides. This focus on delay as a structuring force is also evident in the following “Second Presencing”, where Alex draws out what he terms an “audio canvas” by “increasing the delay time to over five seconds, thus opening a space in which I could react musically and build upon burgeoning patterns and gestures,” with a “slow change of harmonic centre”. If the delay pedal is so often the curse of lazy experimental and post-rock music, an easy route to padding out the tonal spectrum, Alex, on the other hand, uses it with indeed a painterly caress, using the parameters and extremities of this phenomenon to offer different ways of composing and responding to sound as it unfolds in real time, in front of our ears.
The closing excerpt from a 2002 performance of “Disappearance #1”, for wine glasses and bowed guitars, has particular personal resonance for me – attending this show at SEAS Gallery was the first time I’d encountered Music Of Transparent Means, on the recommendation of Alex’s and my mutual friend (and general all-round mensch of Adelaide music) Nigel Koop. I recall being struck by the eloquence of the sound and tested by its duration. For Alex, “Disappearance #1” was a significant piece – “the result of a painful re-entry back into performance after a long period of getting hung up on theory,” he remembers, “in particular the history of Western tuning and the idea of returning to some rarefied (and impossible) ‘perfect sound.’ Writing in just intonation definitely helped with the re-entry, but ultimately I realised I wanted more energy and chaos, even if it was in the service of striving towards some type of perfection.”
When I interviewed Australian musician Oren Ambarchi many years ago, I asked him why he was so moved by minimalist composers like Phill Niblock. His answer was simple: “I like it because it rocks.” Listening, with some intensity, to Alex’s music after some time away from it, I’m struck by the way it also collapses dualities – elegance and chaos; body and mind; heart and head; rock and minimalism. In here, we can experience something that’s fundamental, I think, to what we’re all looking for, perhaps moreso on the level of the unconscious, whether we’re lost in the zone at a heady recital or caught up in the tidal waves of noise rolling off the stage at a gig; deep, identity-dissolving sensory obliteration.
Like being caught in the middle of the holocaust of sound that my bloody valentine erupt into at the end of their gigs, during “You Made Me Realise”, you’re blissfully lost, and not a little concussed and confused. “The goal was to exhaust people first,” Alex concludes. “To get them to a point where these perceptual habits stopped serving them. Like meditating on a word until it loses its referential significance or magnifying an image until its normally recognisable shape becomes unstable. It’s only after these surface layers start breaking away that we can start clearing a path towards a more direct engagement with the material.” [Jon Dale]
https://transparentmeans.bandcamp.com/album/selected-live-recordings-2
|
2022 |
€25.00 |
|
| |
Chord from the Second Delphic Hymn |
LP |
https://transparentmeans.bandcamp.com/album/chord-from-the-second-delphic-hymn-emerging-like-an-infant-from-the-house-of-truth
Discovering Music Of Transparent Means was one of the three or so genuine revelations from my fifteen years of living in Adelaide, Australia. I was in my twenties and had spent some time wondering why the city I was surviving hadn’t offered much in the way of genuinely engaging and affecting ‘experimental music’ (all terms used advisedly) during my tenure. I’d also somehow glommed onto the work of a number of American composers and polymaths – La Monte Young, Tony Conrad, Arnold Dreyblatt, Phill Niblock, Maryanne Amacher – and somewhere in the back of my head, I was looking for a similar music, locally made, that combined the rush and roar of the best rock music, its volume and its joyous love of kicks and freedom, with the temporal and experiential obliterations of the best minimalism.
So, finding Music Of Transparent Means (MOTM) was a heavy deal. A loosely shaped ensemble, MOTM was really the conceptual and aesthetic expression of éminence grise, Alex Carpenter, a fiercely intelligent and disciplined musician, composer and thinker who balanced that intensity with a genuine warmth and kindness in the personal realm. (The latter is far more important, in the end, than the former, and it’s one reason why I still listen to MOTM.) Alex had come up through time-honoured traditions – playing in rock bands as a teenager, studying classical guitar, finding himself embedded in, and ultimately chafing against the ‘classical guitar scene’: “It was a culture with limits. I didn’t just want to work on perfecting the Bach suites and discuss endlessly the merits of one particular arrangement over another one.”
Instead, Carpenter leaned towards composition over being ‘just’ a guitarist. The means of his expression were many and varied, but he recalls that he “also wanted loud, engaging sounds, alternative tunings, sustained notes and beating nuances that come from multiple instruments and sound sources.” A concurrent interest in the work of La Monte Young and his peers – Carpenter wrote an essay, “La Monte Young: Towards Absolute Music”, as a student in the nineties, which was an early, oft-referenced discussion of Young’s work - proved that Carpenter had intellectual chops to burn, as well, but as his colleague and peer Luke Altmann wryly comments, “he had an endearing love of the ridiculous and was the first person you’d look for at a party.” I can’t help but feel that you can sense that in the joyous sensory over- stimulation of MOTM – the music is, quite simply, a head-fucking blast to listen to and swim through.
Besides being the person releasing the album you’re now holding in your hands, Altmann was also a key facilitator for Carpenter, via the former’s De la Catessen Gallery. “Before I started presenting concerts at De la Catessen in ‘05, I meekly asked Alex if he would play there, since I couldn’t see the venue working without him. He agreed, and presented a series of concerts over the next two and a half years which really defined that period locally.” Carpenter’s final concert at De la Catessen, before relocating to the USA in 2007, was the launch of the album Chord From The Second Delphic Hymn. Initially planned as a lathe cut LP, the lathes proved unlistenable, and Carpenter returned to the CD-R format, via his label Vanished. There’s a sense, with this new LP release, of a project finally completed, come to full fruition.
Altmann’s description of “Chord...” is apposite: “As a listener it seems to hover and vibrate. Gravity is acting on it, but it’s failing. Its bubble-like surface swirls and endures, it is resolute but unresolved. But as a performer it’s another story - this beautiful object has an enormous mass and it takes intense physical exertion to keep it in the air. Each keyboard player has a sequence of notes, a sort of mantra, to play over and over, taking longer and longer to complete the sequence on each cycle. However, each note must always be repeated as rapidly, loudly, and consistently as possible, to create as close as can be to a continuous sound, before moving on to the next note. It is utterly exhausting and physically exhilarating.”
Carpenter expands, also taking into consideration this album’s b-side, “Emerging Like An Infant From The House Of Truth”: “The idea in both pieces (and in other pieces I wrote around that time) was to isolate a particular harmonic and textural “field” (for want of a better term) that was complex and engaging, and explore as many nuances as possible within the timeframe of the piece. Also to utilize these fields as channels for perceptual exhaustion and meditation.” I was once part of an MOTM performance – I can’t quite remember whether it was “Chord...” or another piece, but to be fair, we are talking 15+ years ago – and I readily concur with Altmann’s description of performing, and Carpenter’s focus on exhaustion and meditation: it’s tiring but thrilling, and strangely meditative, to be caught within the midst of all sound.
I also remember, once, sitting with Carpenter, and discussing an ideal of music that felt like a “bright white light shone directly into your face.” I mentioned it to Carpenter recently and he said, “I love this metaphor, and I remember talking about it with you! From memory it came from Baudrillard’s phrase “unbearable incandescence,” which I like because it seems to represent my feelings on sound as a resource musicians tap into. We perceive (and value) partial components of this overall “thing” - whether that be within a piece or an entire historic era. These components change, and there can be a flow to that changing, moving image, but the flow can also be interrupted by our preoccupation with a particular “snapshot” of the image.
“Put another way, I see sound as an unbearable incandescence because it is a resource that offers infinite possibilities, and as such we cannot take in all possibilities simultaneously. It needs to filter through our media. But to me it demands a certain reverence and curiosity. We’re aren’t using sound; it is using us.” Ask Carpenter to expand on this, and to explain what he wants people to get out of this music, and he continues: “The sensory overflow of the music that is on many levels quite forceful and unrelenting is an invitation for the listener to let go of the messages and concepts they might normally seek to have confirmed in music. To let go of the composed, performed data.”
I keep returning to the idea of a kind of blissful, obliterated exhaustion as core to the MOTM experience. It’s something Carpenter seems to agree with: “The goals of MOTM essentially centered around the exhaustion of perceptual habits. Given the pervasiveness—and to a certain extent, unconsciousness—of our expectation for music to render the themes, forms and meanings of habitual response, exhaustion was considered an important stage to reach. Only by becoming exhausted with the cultural categories normally sought and emphasized in music, could we really be given an opportunity to move beyond them.” I guess MOTM, and Carpenter, exhausted Adelaide, too – it was sad to see him go in 2007, as much as we all knew that he was destined for much bigger things, and that Adelaide’s cultural conservatism in the ‘00s was no great working context for someone so dedicated to music that sat outside of both the culturally dominant forms and those that presented as legibly counter-cultural within the dominant lexicon. But I learned from MOTM how to be in time and in sound; how to move through and give in to the experience of the sonification of our corner of the world. It was a lesson in possibilities.
|
2023 |
€28.00 |
|
| MUSLIMGAUZE |
Zuriff Moussa |
CD |
Eine der eher “poppigen”, fast schon tanzbaren releases von 1997, jetzt wiederaufgelegt im edlen Design. Limited Edition of 800, comes in new cover and special paper.
"Instead of the drones and mostly beatless atmospheres of many previous Muslimgauze recordings, Zuriff Moussa presents quite a danceable switch for Bryn Jones. Dedicated to a Palestinian martyr, the album sounds like a cleaner version of Techno Animal, with Eastern influences instead of dub. "Turkquoize Label" and "Brazil Marijuana" are surprisingly infectious, with distorted breakbeats and the patented Muslimgauze phased-channel drone. There are 24 tracks spread across more than an hour, so there isn't a large amount of time for each track, though several are presented in suites, like "Anti Arab America." For messed-up beat fans who are able to find it, Zuriff Moussa is close to a crucial purchase." [John Bush, All Music Guide]
|
2004 |
€16.00 |
|
|
Mazar-I-Sharif |
CD |
" 'Mazar-i-Sharif' is to polite society what a dozen angry Rotweillers are to a cafe full of poodles: An explosion. The diamond collars scatter across the tiles and the fur turns red as the perfectly clipped poodle-butts are torn apart by a pack of rabid Jerry Springer Spaniels. Your politically correct end-of-the-century tea party is officially OVER, and anyone thinking Muslimgauze is about to make a calculated move to new age radio should call a taxi right now because the missiles are already in the air.From the intense noise-and-rhythm barrage to the shocking cover image of a young boy with amputated arms, there is no part of this compact disc that will not offend someone. Yes, of course there are groovy Middle Eastern beats, and music loops are top notch as usual, and the true die-hard fans of Muslimgauze will not be disappointed, but we expect that there will be fewer of them after they hear this record. Track listing: 1. “Rezin Of Joy” – 13:39 2. “Sulymaniyah” – 4:17 3. “Mosul” – 12:13 4. “Bandar Abbas” – 9:57 5. “Zahedan” – 5:31 6. “Mazar-I-Sharif” – 7:56" [unknown source/label info]
www.soleilmoon.com
|
2009 |
€14.00 |
|
|
Abyssinia Selasie |
CD |
\"Although Bryn Jones’ work as Muslimgauze certainly numbers dub within its influence, rarely is that influence treated as directly or centrally as it is on many of the tracks found on Abyssinia Selasie. A rarity among the material Jones left behind after his death in 1999, this release features unreleased material Jones had titled, unlike many of the tapes he had submitted but hadn’t gotten around to preparing for release.
The opening title track alone, with its steady bassline and dopplering, insistent beeps, is as close to an unadulterated dub track as Jones ever came, even as the separate coda “Benzedrine Wallah” starts cranking up the outbursts of percussion. Not every song on this trim, focused collection goes in that same direction, but even elements like “Arab”’s wobbling percussion and female vocals share a similar sensibility. Even the stark “Mind of a Suicide Bomber” is more coolly menacing than overtly hostile, although as always with Jones’ work and his positioning of that work it’s hard to know how seriously, or sympathetically, we should take him.
Unfortunately Jones isn’t around to ask, either to take to task or to praise, but he has left us with such a depth of material (and was so generally taciturn in life), that we are left with only that to evaluate. The last track here is titled “Mea Culpa,” and while it starts out as a fine example of the warmer, more head-nodding sound of Abyssinia Selasie before metamorphosing into a truly out-there echo chamber, after a brief break in the middle it surges back to life with the dubbiest bassline of the album, bathed in somehow welcoming static. Jones’ work as Muslimgauze remains as enigmatic and rewarding as ever.\" [label info]
www.staalplaat.com
|
2015 |
€16.00 |
|
|
Chechnya Over Dub |
do-LP |
Double LP version. Chechnya Over Dub was originally released by Staalplaat as a part of Fatah Guerrilla in 1996. Written, played, and recorded by Muslimgauze. Release produced by Dmytro Fedorenko. Design by Zavoloka. \"There is not a single misanthropic ideology in the World, even in theory, acting more cruelly and cynically than russism ... No moral principles -- they are all like animals. I don\'t want this war to stop. I need this war, its continuation. This war will go to the territory of Russia -- whether Russia wants it or not ... And the Western countries, the world community will not let it be stopped in order to completely isolate Russia and destroy it as a state, so that this predatory beast on Earth no longer exists.\" --Dzhokhar Dudayev, the president of free Chechnya. April 1995. On the front cover, there is a \"Coat of Arms\" of the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria during the First Chechen War for Independence. |
2022 |
€34.00 |
|
|
Turn on Arabic American Radio |
do-LP |
The relationship between Bryn Jones’ music as Muslimgauze and the track/abum titles he would provide (sometimes right on the tapes he would send in for release, but often determined later, sometimes even giving two different pieces months apart the same title, accidentally or not) has always been a little mysterious. Jones himself can no longer be asked, and as we continue to investigate the swathes of material he provided, you hit sources like the DAT or DATs that make up the contents of the new double LP »Turn On Arab American Radio«. Nine tracks, the first LP/four tracks titled »Turn On Arabic American Radio,« and the other LP/five tracks labelled only »Arabic American Radio.« None of them sound particularly radio-esque, although given the simultaneous vastness and ornate focus of Jones’ Muslimgauze work that gap between name and sound is far from atypical.
Instead here the de rigeur percussion loops that underpin this particular set of tracks, while occasionally clipping into the fierce distortion that Jones either loved to use or couldn’t get away from, steer away from both the more consistent application of that distortion as well as the Middle Eastern and Asian influences he often used. It’d be a stretch to call anything here basic boom-bap production but they come closer to it than a lot of Muslimgauze production. And while those loops are, as always prominent, they’re not actually the focus; settling into steady vamps as structures for Jones to pursue an extended and often more gentle exploration of the other sample sources he has here. There are stringed instruments, the sound of water, but most prominently or strikingly the human voice. Nothing is in English but tone and the occasional word ('familia', 'passport') still provide guides. There are ululations, snatches of melody; but most often speech, dialogue, often tense and harried sounding. Is this what Jones was thinking of or referring to with his Arabic American Radio?
As with so many other questions about Muslimgauze, we’ll never know the answer to that one. (Most pertinently in this case we might wonder who appears here, and what the context of these recordings is. But Jones never provided that with his submissions.) Here, even though those inexorable loops pound on, indefatigable, that emphasis on some of the people Jones chooses lends a measured gentleness to much of »Turn On Arabic American Radio«, at least within the context of his body of work. The last thing you hear at the end of the second LP is one last question from one of the many speakers on this peculiar Muslimgauze radio, echoed away into infinity. We may never have answers, but those questions continue to resonate.
https://www.discogs.com/release/25889791-Muslimgauze-Turn-On-Arabic-American-Radio
|
2023 |
€33.00 |
|
| |
The Extreme Years 1990-1994 |
9 x LP BOX |
first time ever on vinyl
* with bonus songs
* unique sleeves with special spot UV and inside print
* wooden deluxe boxset with 9 vinyls, booklet, hand numbered certificate card
The English musician Bryn Jones, who preferred to call himself the band Muslimgauze during his artistic lifetime, was one of the most original and productive artists of the post-industrial scene. He has released an incredible amount of music in just 16 years. According to current estimates, there are at least 200 releases with a total of more than 1900 songs in circulation.
The Extreme Years 1990-1994 is a compilation of all Muslimgauze music, released on the Australian label Extreme Music between 1990 and 1994.
According to many critics and fans, this was a uniue and very special period in Bryn’s work, during which he grew from an amateur musician into an experienced sound sculptor.
Sadly, Bryn passed away in early 1999, aged just 38 years.
The box set is limited to 100 copies in golden vinyl and 222 copies in black vinyl.
It includes 9 vinyls in expanded 2LP versions with bonus songs of the 4 Extreme albums, as well as the Infidel LP with remixes done by another electronic music genious David Thrussell (Snog, Soma, Black Lung).
The Infidel LP will be exclusively available with the box set edition, where the 4 double albums will be available also as separate releases, beeing published one after the other during the first half of 2024, starting with Intifaxa 2LP.
The original tracks were perfectly remastered for this first time ever vinyl release and the new masters received high praise from the Extreme Music owner Roger Richards.
New sleeve designs were created by Oleg Galay, who is famous for his artworks for many Muslimgauze reissues.
The boxset contains the albums:
Intifaxa 2LP (AKT16)
United States of Islam 2LP (AKT17)
Zul’m 2LP (AKT18)
Citadel 2LP (AKT19)
Infidel LP (AKT20) – not available outside the box
as well as a LP sized 8 page booklet, a pro DJ slipmat and a hand numbered certificate card, all housed in a highest quality, heavy wooden box.
All album covers are made from extra heavy cardboard with deluxe spot UV finish and inside print.
The release date for the complete Extreme Years 1990-1994 boxset with all vinyls included is 1.01.2024
The separate double LPs will be released on these dates:
Intifaxa 2LP – 10.01.2024
United States of Islam 2LP – 1.03.2024
Zul’m 2LP – 1.05.2024
Citadel 2LP – 1.07.2024
https://kontaktaudio.bandcamp.com/merch/muslimgauze-the-extreme-years-9-lp-box-set-black-vinyl
https://www.kontaktaudio.com/shop/muslimgauze-the-extreme-years-1990-1994-deluxe-boxset |
2024 |
€199.00 |
|
| MUTANTUM |
EXP² |
CD-R |
Another new finnish project, nine tracks of industrial transcension, long waves of overwhelming ambience.. very much recommended!
“ EXPerimental. EXPerience. EXPression. EXPosition. EXPlosion. EXPloration. EXPansion. Surf the brainwaves and dive into the sonic seas of Mutantum, a musical project by Mikko Muranen. Last time around it was the moment for sonic sideshow, now Mutantum is diving deeper. The music on EXP is more focused than on the further reaching sonic realms of Sonic Sideshow (debut release), the style is now more in the depths of ambient noise. All of the tracks are sonic voyages deep into the inner mind. The majority the basic material are natural and unnatural sounds twisted off their original form. The organic feel is also a mean to get these noises somewhat pleasing to the ear, instead of really harsh noise. The rhythm in itself is not as strong element as on Sonic Sideshow. Many of the tracks do have pulse, but there are no rhythm machines, sequences or drum samples this time around.” [label description]
|
2003 |
€8.00 |
|
| MV&EE MEDICINE SHOW |
The Uranian Ray |
LP |
"This beautiful vinyl LP edition MV & EE MEDICINE SHOW's 'URANIAN RAY', originally released on the legendary CHILD OF MICROTONES label in 2004, is a stunning 'get-hi-fidelity' remastered reissue prepared on the spirited channels of the SPECTRASOUND mastering system developed by MATT VALENTINE himself. Therefore a fresh take on a previous favorite, the lunar brother to 'MOON JOOK" hand picked from their catalog by SPIRIT OF ORR, capable of achieving a glorious exit velocity, and slightly rearranged for the time limits & opportunities vinyl provides. Limited single pressing on black vinyl." [label info]
|
2007 |
€15.00 |
|
| MVK (MATTHIJS KOUW) |
ER-1 |
CD-R |
Inspired by the field of thermodynamics, philosopher of technology Gilbert Simondon uses the term 'metastability' to refer to a system state that transcend the classical opposition between stability and instability, and is charged with potentials for a 'becoming'.
What can a drum machine become? ‘ER-1’ by MVK (Matthijs Kouw) provides an answer to this question in the form of 10 de- and reconstructions of the ER-1, a versatile drum machine and percussion synthesizer first released by Korg in 1999. All tracks on 'ER-1' were created by manipulating recordings of the ER-1 using granular synthesis, feedback, and various plugins.
To some extent, the choice of source material in electronic music is arbitrary. The voice of electronic musicians has tremendous reach due to the multitude of discrete and radical transformations enabled by a growing arsenal of tools.
Rather than emphasizing the radical possibilities of sound manipulation, ‘ER-1’ plays with degrees of recognizability of its original source material. The drum machine can be nearby or very far away. Beats morph into drones and noises. Rhythms and patterns emerge and dilute. An incantation of possibilities stretching the ER-1 beyond literal use.
The potential of the ER-1 has thereby not been exhausted. ‘ER-1’ renders the ER-1 metastable, on the cusp of new becomings, suggesting new directions for the exploration of its sonic potential.
https://clinamen.bandcamp.com/album/er-1
"Kouw melts, breaks, transforms, pitches and bends his sounds into something much more ambient, and something much more obscure. Kouw plays the mood music card quite effectively and within these fifty minutes, there is some fine dark rippling and rumbling of sound waves. The fact that this is a drum machine is no longer of real interest, and not mentioned on the cover (only on the website), and instead, it could have been really anything that went into the processing machine. This is very abstract music, and while it is moody and both ambient and industrial, it is at times also quite abstract, such as the eighth piece here and altogether makes up some great, delicate music, expertly mastered by Jos Smolders at EAR labs." [Vital Weekly] |
2019 |
€12.00 |
|
| MY CAT IS AN ALIEN |
The Dance of Oneirism |
do-LP |
"Limited edition of 300 copies in 3 different screenprinting colours. Record 1 on black vinyl, Record 2 on black vinyl. Silver, Blue and White screenprinted vinyl (on D side), each of 100 copies. Comes with a 24 pages art book, an insert and a postcard. From the extended foreword insert by David Keenan: "Our co-ordinates are fixed, or more properly suggested, by the listing of instruments. Self-made double-bodied string instrument, handmade pocket harp, pedal effects, wordless vocalizations, modified analog drum machine, mini-keyboard, alientronics. [...] The session was recorded - instantly composed - in MCIAA's "Alien Zone", situated in the Western Alps, and it sounds it. The central fact of MCIAA's music has always been space but they have never sounded quite so far away, so removed. [...] Occasionally there is the sound of strings, strange steel resonances that populate the music like ghosts, the ghosts of Roscoe Holcomb's high, lonesome sound, of Dock Boggs and the sanctified steel of Washington Phillips. Ash Ra Tempel met Timothy Leary in the Alps [...] The transmissions are fuzzy up here and at points it makes for a music of almost terrifying quiet. It is minimal, sure, but MCIAA are not so much interested in repetition as in eternal expansion. [...] The Dance Of Oneirism is a music of unknowing, a dance with a phantom, the letting go of a dream." [label info]
www.backwards.it
|
2015 |
€28.00 |
|
| 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 |
|
| MYSTERY OF THE BULGARIAN VOICES FEAT. LISA GERRARD |
BooCheeMish |
BOX - set |
The Mystery Of The Bulgarian Voices will release their first album of new studio recordings in over two decades on May 25th, 2018. Better known to many as Le Mystère des Voix Bulgares (Grammy winner for “Best Traditional Folk Recording”), ‘BooCheeMish’ sees the esteemed Bulgarian choir performing together with erstwhile 4AD Records label mate Lisa Gerrard (co-founder of the duo Dead Can Dance) on several tracks, thereby uniting two of the most distinctive vocal acts working in music. Gerrard, who is also well known for her movie soundtrack work on films such as ‘Gladiator’ and ’The Insider’, has often spoken about the influence the choir exerted on her singing technique when she discovered their music in the early 1980’s.
In successfully connecting Bulgarian folklore with other traditions and cultures, the album manages to retain the unique identity of the voices, vocal styles and techniques of the individual choir members, even when allying them with acoustic accompaniment such as stringed instruments and various types of percussion, including beatbox.
Once described as “the marriage of the avant-garde and the Middle Ages”, the magic of the ensemble stems from its success in mastering Bulgaria’s diverse, age-old vocal traditions while simultaneously sounding strikingly modern and original, thanks to the unique choral music structure - multi-part a cappella arrangements that transform its collective sound into strange colours as if something other than the human voice is being heard.
themysteryofthebulgarianvoices.bandcamp.com/album/boocheemish
|
2018 |
€68.00 |
|
| |
BooCheeMish |
2 x CD & BOOK |
The Mystery Of The Bulgarian Voices will release their first album of new studio recordings in over two decades on May 25th, 2018. Better known to many as Le Mystère des Voix Bulgares (Grammy winner for “Best Traditional Folk Recording”), ‘BooCheeMish’ sees the esteemed Bulgarian choir performing together with erstwhile 4AD Records label mate Lisa Gerrard (co-founder of the duo Dead Can Dance) on several tracks, thereby uniting two of the most distinctive vocal acts working in music. Gerrard, who is also well known for her movie soundtrack work on films such as ‘Gladiator’ and ’The Insider’, has often spoken about the influence the choir exerted on her singing technique when she discovered their music in the early 1980’s.
In successfully connecting Bulgarian folklore with other traditions and cultures, the album manages to retain the unique identity of the voices, vocal styles and techniques of the individual choir members, even when allying them with acoustic accompaniment such as stringed instruments and various types of percussion, including beatbox.
Once described as “the marriage of the avant-garde and the Middle Ages”, the magic of the ensemble stems from its success in mastering Bulgaria’s diverse, age-old vocal traditions while simultaneously sounding strikingly modern and original, thanks to the unique choral music structure - multi-part a cappella arrangements that transform its collective sound into strange colours as if something other than the human voice is being heard.
themysteryofthebulgarianvoices.bandcamp.com/album/boocheemish
|
2018 |
€48.00 |
|
| MYSTIFIED |
Reduced |
CD-R |
Neues US-Projekt mit sehr konkretem field recording-Fokus, viele Sprach-Elemente, mechanische Geräusche, seltsames Rauschen & Drones werden zu Collagen verarbeitet... auf 16 Stücken extrem variantenreich, Anklänge an DARREN TATE, ORA, ERIC LA CASA..... to discover for field recording lovers !
"Mystified is proud to announce the release of our cdr, "Reduced". "Reduced" is comprised of field recordings and collages of field recorded material. Like "South City Spring", the release covers many South Saint Louisan moods and modes, though it was created using newer, higher-quality equipment, and therefore is, mystified feels, a superior release.
Listening to this cdr is like visiting mystified's apartment in South Saint Louis, with aural sensations both intentional and surprising. Reverberant glurp soundscapes, muted conversations, floating voices, mechanical drones. . . all and more are represented here. The cdr has sixteen tracks and clocks in at just over 53 minutes. It was professionally duplicated and features a full-color insert with art by Sandy Spreitz (www.sandystudio.com)." [mystified.com]
|
2006 |
€10.00 |
|
| MYSTIFIED & MARTYN SCHMIDT |
An Effort of Memory |
CD-R |
"ACE 1002: CD-R in folded cardboard sleeve
Many albums in the Attenuation Circuit Eco Series are split releases, but this hour-long composition is a true collaboration with 50 per cent input from both US-based drone artist Mystified and German poet and sound artist Martyn Schmidt. Starting with a poem, Schmidt’s voice morphs into pure vocal improvisation and breathing, both processed to amalgamate with Mystified’s acoustic drones. The result sounds at times like La Monte Young meeting Morton Feldman or like Norwegian experimental jazz singer Sidsel Endresen imitating deep bass strings with her voice.
Using feedback loops, the sound of whale bones played as percussion instruments on a Danish island, and jackhammers from local building sites, Schmidt „encoded, stored and retrieved“ (as the back cover says) lots of samples along with the music by Mystified he was reacting to - encoding, storing, retrieving being the three steps of memory as conceptualised by psychology. Connecting psychoacoustics back to his poetic roots, Schmidt also quotes (on the cover-artwork) the poem “Andenken” (Memory, or Remembrance) by Hölderlin. Memorising, forgetting, and recreating sounds and words turn out to be different sides of the artistic process, and the drone as a music that forever seems to dissolve and congeal, to ebb and flow, to move and stand still, seems a perfect sonic metaphor for this." [label info]
www.attenuationcircuit.de
"A collaboration by Thomas Park's project Mystified and Martyn Schmidt, a German poet and sound artist. There is a short spoken word prologue, a sixty-two minute piece of music, and short epilogue. In the main piece, 'An Effort Of Memory', uses, according to the information, 'feedback loops, the sound of whale bones as percussion instruments on a Danish island and jackhammers from local building sites', of which Schmidt made the samples which he combined with the music of Mystified, resulting in this hour long sound collage of all things atmospheric. Forget the word jackhammers (or building site), as there is nothing 'industrial' or loud about this. The music here is all atmospheric, dark in the full moon night, and everything flows into each other. The music may seem an amorphous mass of sounds mixed together, without real beginning or end, and perhaps (I might be wrong) without much compositional planning. More like a go with the flow kind of music, which is nothing strange in this particular musical underworld. None of the sound sources are easily recognized here, if at all, but all is transformed into a long, sustaining mass of atmospherics, and works very well. A cold day today, autumn has arrived it seems and this is the soundtrack for such seasonal weather. Nothing new, but it works very well." [FdW/Vital Weekly]
|
2013 |
€8.00 |
|
| MYTRIP |
Keeper |
LP |
"The new Mytrip full-length album “Keeper” is a work of progress and growth, of pushing oneself out of comfort zones while managing to stay true to a carefully nurtured and developed aesthetic. A continuation of the sound hinted at in “Filament” (Amek, 2016) and Angel Simitchiev’s recent work with other projects, “Keeper” is a more rhythmic and loop-based work that explores and juxtaposes a plethora of atmospheres and moods, thus resulting in a sonically and emotionally complex and mature piece of music that manages to communicate its author’s singular vision.
The backbone of “Keeper” was originally written for a live performance at the Bulgarian National Radio in October 2018. Self-recorded with the intention to be preserved as a live album, most of the music retains the original structure, feeling, and intensity of this first performance but was further explored and expanded during recording sessions and selected live shows throughout the next year. Some ideas were dismissed while others were expanded on. As a result, “Keeper” has become a record that is polished and meticulous, while sounding and feeling utterly real, raw, and immediate."
https://amekcollective.bandcamp.com/album/keeper
"It has been a couple of years since I last checked in with the activities of Mytrip, but their 2016 album Filament was an excellent release which has received occasional spins over the years. In my review from 2017 I noted it: ‘operates at the border regions between dark ambient, drone, (modern) industrial and (abstracted) experimental techno, therefore encompassing a sound that defies easy categorisation’ (full review here). Keeper is the brand-new six tracks album and while continues also substantially builds on the earlier sonic framework by blending its elements in more varied yet unified way. Also, according to the promo blurb, the core of the album has its basis in a 2018 live performance at the Bulgarian National Radio, which has been further expanded and reworked.
Eyepiece opens the album with amorphous and ethereal drones blended with jittery programming and functions to immediately draw focused attention, before the mid-track it twists off in a different direction with sustained synth melodies. We Are All Shadow People follows and has a sense of stationary motionlessness resulting a series of duelling looped textures and abstracted synth lines. In then arcing away from this stasis, Unsealing Colossus divergently features widescreen vistas with sweeping ‘wind textured’ drones, muted melodious pulses and other semi-fractured rhythmic elements. Blood Black Like Water is then as brooding as the title suggests, based around a murky aquatic churn and throbbing base pulse, while a slow bass kick edges the track forwards. Upheaval shifts the mood again and is extremely filmic in tone, given its driving / throbbing techno pulse and maudlin cinematic synths, while the album’s concluding piece Warmth Patterns, is perhaps the most melodious track of all, with interweaving ‘glimmering’ textures (and perhaps draws a fleeting compassion to the likes of Fennesz).
Each of the six album tracks sits at around the five-minute mark, meaning the total run time is around 30 or so minutes, yet given its compositional variation it nebulously feels to be much longer than this. Equally the abstracted line-work found within nature as illustrated on the the cover is a suitable visual metaphor for the flowing complexity of the music. More varied, freeform and self-assured than Filament, Keeper is equally immediate as it complex in sonic construction, meaning it draws attention on first listen and maintains it on repeated rotations. Recommended." [Noise Receptor]
"Angel Simitchiev is the man behind Mytrip and also acting as the label boss here and as such we know him as a man who loves mood music of the somewhat darker variety. It has been a while since I last heard a full-length work by Mytrip (Vital Weekly 1059 I believe) and I wrote that he "no doubt plays guitar, electronics and field recordings", but that was based on nothing, to be honest. There is a picture of Mytrip on the insert, just second before he starts performing and there is no guitar in sight. A laptop, some 'gear' and that's all. Maybe there has been a shift towards different instruments in recent years that I am not aware of. In the music, this shift is quite clear. The music was written for a show in Studio 1 of the Bulgarian National Radio and later on, some fragments were dropped and others expanded upon. The dark mood from field recordings tuned and turned in drones is a still a presence but rhythm also plays a role now. Not stomping around, but carefully placed when needed, and omitted on other occasions. In 'Upheavel' the "rhythm" sounded like a Muslimgauze sample from the 'Azzazin' era. There is a warm glitch effect to most of the music here, which makes a nice effect for a change. It is perhaps a reminder of the warm days of laptop glitch from a long time ago, but Mytrip cleverly combines this with the best of processed drones and spacious dark ambient music, stringing together another hybrid of what ambient can be. Not something that is entirely new but with the addition of rhythm samples coming up with six fine slabs of dark mood music, which, strange as it may seem, never is the sound of despair, but of light and hope. Maybe I am all wrong but that's how it all sounded to me. Great record, all together." [FdW/Vital Weekly]
|
2020 |
€16.00 |
|
| N + BALTZER |
Gaunerzinken |
do-LP |
This improvisation was recorded live in one afternoon with a one-track recorder in the order of the tracklist. Nothing was cut or added.
GAUNERZINKEN
For us humans, the world consists of signs that we continually create and interpret ourselves. As cultural beings, we work partly consciously and more often unconsciously every day to produce signs of meaning. Through language, ritual, habit or deliberate planning. In this way we appropriate the world. The so-called GAUNERZINKEN have the same function. Signs painted on houses that give clues to their material value and inhabitants. The signs are planned. The inhabitants do not know their meaning. They are excluded from their interpretation.
Thus, GAUNERZINKEN form signs of meaning, created by marginalised groups who desire, in secret language, a double act of appropriation: The creation of a secret, self-concealing sign, for the appropriation of a part of the material world, the property. Through the production of signs, those excluded from material privileges gain a first access, a first symbolic occupation, a small boundary shift of the exclusionary in the world. Crime is therefore necessarily immoderate, immoderateness necessarily criminal. The music of N and Baltzer is in this immoderate, alluding to signs / playing signs, that remain ambiguous. The signs are diffuse, blurred, diffuse into atmosphere, no meaning is given, the implications are to be filled individually, subjective crooks are to emerge while listening. But no one gets excluded.
This is how we can appropriate the world. This world, flooded with signs, brushed over and dressed up, the world obscured by property. Through the production of secret meaning, through our signs, which first form in us as emotion and which we then paint on the facades of the world when we have located ourselves anew, which we should always covet, so that it may someday be ours again.
Here is your sound.
Double-Vinyl LP in a DIY linoleum print cover. Edition: Black printing on grey paper.
https://n-baltzer.bandcamp.com/releases
"Auf „Gaunerzinken“ entwickeln sich fünf, dem Wesen und der Erscheinung nach einander fremde Live-Improvisationen, die dennoch darin vereint sind, eine durch Gitarren vermittelte Unruhe zu erschaffen. Die Stücke variieren ungewöhnlich stark. Und das, obwohl nur ein Nachmittag benötigt wurde und obwohl das instrumentale Fundament während der gesamten Aufnahme hinweg identisch bleibt: „Guitars, amps and effects“ – einfach live, ohne nachträgliche Zusätze, pur. Hellmut Neidhardt, kurz N, hat es mit dieser unmittelbar bedrohlichen Musikform auf Dutzenden von Tonträgern und in einer Vielzahl von Projekten zu einer außergewöhnlichen Klasse gebracht. Und auch in Zusammenarbeit mit Sebastian Baltzer (ORANGE SWAN) gelingt ein vielschichtiges, behutsam sich entwickelndes Album von unerhörter Präzision. Gemastert von Dirk Serries, einem anderen Gitarren-Drone-Virtuosen, ist „Gaunerzinken“ ein herausragendes und atmosphärisches Werk geworden, dessen Improvisationen ein bebendes Leben innewohnt." [Ox Fanzine]
|
2022 |
€26.00 |
|
| N / MOLOCH / E H E |
Live at N51 21064 ° E6 783782 ° (28 11 2015) |
LP |
"With this collaboration, my ongoing search for musical challenge has led my into the territories of harsh noise; something I never did before... It happened after Moloch + E.H.E. and me shared the stage during some festivals, respectively I listened to them during Moloch + E.H.E. shows. I immediately liked how they manage to use noise in a very dynamic way, not always full blast, but really being able to tell a story with more than just one facette... And: they are not using laptop only as a source; the main part of their sound is created using a really difficult to see through bunch of effect-boxes with a labyrinth of wiring. So the cacophony (NOT meant negative in this case) in sound and the visual cacophony of wiring and pedals really comes together when you have a look on the tables on stage, spread all over with their tools... Besides the pure sound, the visual aspect is significant anyway: At least one part of Moloch + E.H.E. is concentrating on visuals during a show; using millions of frames for a visual improvisation in direct relation to the sound.
At some point we decided to just prove if it would work joining Moloch + E.H.E. with N drones and instead of trying that at the studio we directly did our first live-show. Luckily Andreas Brinke of [ B O L T ] was there that evening and did a fine recording directly from the mixing-board. And now you can hear this very first and fully succesful melting of our different aestethics in sound: With the first part of the show I added micro-sounds to the noise, mainly emphasizing the moves of Moloch + E.H.E., for the second part I choosed drones, somehow earthening the sound.
As with the music, we made it with this record: it is completely D.I.Y.; the records have been pressed on natural-clear vinyl, the sleeves are printes by ourselves, using different film-stills from the original visuals. Any cover now is made of two sheets of printed transparent paper put into a transparent plastic bag. With the record being transparent also, you have a very nice see-through / three dimensional effect... Look at it while you crank up the volume!
The records are available from us directly. And please come to our release show at AZ Muehlheim / Ruhr on January 4th; with a lot of other artists on stage also..." [Hellmut Neidhardt]
|
2019 |
€16.00 |
|
| N [49] [HELLMUT NEIDHARDT] & SIMULACRA |
Birka |
LP |
Thick rough cardboard covers, black polylined inner sleeves, 180g black vinyl, strictly limited to 100 copies.
N is the moniker of Dortmund-based German experimental guitarist Hellmut Neidhardt. In line with the release of his collaboration record with SANKT OTTEN - Männerfreundschaften und Metaphysik - September 2015 sees the release of two further N-related records.
The first one is his latest solo record - N(43) - „Anklam“ -, featuring the three tracks „Daemmerung“, „Restlicht“ and „Requiem“. It is a album Neidhardt somehow knew to be located in the dark fields of blinding error and its consequences, thus anything there might be a bit ambiguous in its meanings. From deeply melancholic, coarse-grained waves of sound, buried under tons of beside-noises to the last rearing of the sound of the sun before falling into the sea. And then you are still there, time has stopped, all has stopped. Exept the endless hovering of the requiem. „Anklam“ is once again a direct-two-track recording without any cut and paste, with Neidhardt just using his guitar / FX / amp setup - regardless how it may sound.
The second new record is N(49) „Birka“, a collaboration with SIMULACRA from Belgium. This is probably the one of N's collaborations that took the longest time to make so far and Neidhardt is happy to take part of the blame for that: Simulacra is known for his very deep, void-like sound aesthetic, with deeply breathing synth sounds without any artifacts around. For this reason it was very difficult for the two collaborators to figure out a corporate sound; they only knew they found this after it had happend at last... Well and from this moment, it was quite easy. Expect a very dark album, with a lot of bass, with N's guitar sometimes emerging from the depth of Simulacra's soundwalls, sometimes working as something like a driving force from underneath; slowly shifting frequencies through endless caverns, reverberating from the black walls. "This record is soo dark, we love it... (and thus are really happy we made it in the end...)." states Neidhardt.
www.denovali.com
|
2016 |
€27.50 |
|
| N [XX] (HELLMUT NEIDHARDT) |
Anklam [N43] |
LP |
Thick rough cardboard covers, black polylined inner sleeves, 180g black vinyl, strictly limited to 100 copies.
N is the moniker of Dortmund-based German experimental guitarist Hellmut Neidhardt. In line with the release of his collaboration record with SANKT OTTEN - Männerfreundschaften und Metaphysik - September 2015 sees the release of two further N-related records.
The first one is his latest solo record - N(43) - „Anklam“ -, featuring the three tracks „Daemmerung“, „Restlicht“ and „Requiem“. It is a album Neidhardt somehow knew to be located in the dark fields of blinding error and its consequences, thus anything there might be a bit ambiguous in its meanings. From deeply melancholic, coarse-grained waves of sound, buried under tons of beside-noises to the last rearing of the sound of the sun before falling into the sea. And then you are still there, time has stopped, all has stopped. Exept the endless hovering of the requiem. „Anklam“ is once again a direct-two-track recording without any cut and paste, with Neidhardt just using his guitar / FX / amp setup - regardless how it may sound.
The second new record is N(49) „Birka“, a collaboration with SIMULACRA from Belgium. This is probably the one of N's collaborations that took the longest time to make so far and Neidhardt is happy to take part of the blame for that: Simulacra is known for his very deep, void-like sound aesthetic, with deeply breathing synth sounds without any artifacts around. For this reason it was very difficult for the two collaborators to figure out a corporate sound; they only knew they found this after it had happend at last... Well and from this moment, it was quite easy. Expect a very dark album, with a lot of bass, with N's guitar sometimes emerging from the depth of Simulacra's soundwalls, sometimes working as something like a driving force from underneath; slowly shifting frequencies through endless caverns, reverberating from the black walls. "This record is soo dark, we love it... (and thus are really happy we made it in the end...)." states Neidhardt.
www.denovali.com
|
2016 |
€27.50 |
|
| N(35)[HELLMUT NEIDHARDT] |
Saarn |
LP |
N is the moniker of Dortmund-based German experimental guitarist Hellmut Neidhardt. December 2014 marks the release of two new solo records, N(35) „Saarn“ and N(36) „Heven“, both of them slightly entering aspects of drone he did not work on that much before. With both „Saarn“ and „Heven“, N is focusing on the use of vibrant distortion, but in distinctive different ways within the concept.
The whole 3-track album „Saarn“ is determined by oscillations between heavy and minimal with a mood of (at least the danger of a coming) aggression even in its most silent parts. The opening piece, „Toevermanns Gruben“, is telling the story of an imaginary place buried under huge amounts of gritty fuzz, while „Seltene Erden“ keeps irritating with its movement in static. The closing piece, „Schwarze Heide“, then walks further the dark path that was first discovered with „Wehle“ (from N(22) „Goor“) some time before.
„Heven“ in fact achieves very different results, even while using the same tools: way more ethereal, otherwordly in its atmosphere, proving that even the utmost minimalism can gain an intense feel of beauty, a fortiori when „Heven I“ changes from stuttering static to a broken melody before getting lost in its own memory, somehow. „Heven II“ finally just uses grainy white noise to built up a cathedral of feedbacks, infinitely reflected.
www.denovali.com
|
2015 |
€26.50 |
|
| N.STRAHL.N / METEK |
Drowning Devices |
CD-R |
"five tracks of subtley menacing, creepy combination of pulsing electronics, droning vibration, and field recordings evoking a claustrophobic, lysergic-fueled fevered dreamscape. Comes in a DVD case, the disk is pro burnt and printed." [label info]
"... The thematic approach here seems to be 'life under water', and more special the life inside a submarine. Both artists feel quite the same what the other wants and together they drum up five pieces that fit together quite well. The field recordings are difficult to pin down - but seem to me made in tunnels to get that reverb and that also keeps the sound 'outside', as recorded through a tube. To this they add their own electronics and sound effects. It starts out a bit noisy, but quite soon moves into a musical area where ambient, industrial, and microsound meet up. At times the amount of reverb used is a bit too much, but the claustrophobic nature of the music comes out quite well. Certainly when played through headphones this comes quite close. There is not much difference between the tracks that were finished by Metek or by N.Strahl.N, which might be a bit problematic - faceless perhaps - but together it makes quite a strong album. Something for the lovers of more present drone music, and those who love the Mystery Sea releases." " [FdW / Vital Weekly]
http://cohortrecords.0catch.com
|
2009 |
€8.00 |
|
| NADJA |
Skin Turns to Glass |
CD |
So ziemlich alles was NADJA in ihre Frühphase jemals herausgebracht haben, wird dieser Tage wiederveröffentlicht, so auch SKIN TURNS TO GLASS; die drei Stücke erschienen 2003 als CDR auf Nothingness Records und präsentiere NADJAs unnachahmlichen "Ambient Metal"-Sound, vom emotionalen Charakter her betrachtet sind das Drone-Stücke mit Hang zum Unendlichen und Dunkel-Kosmischen, als stilistische Mittel werden Metal-Elemente benutzt..
Als besonderes Schmankerl gibt es hier noch einen wunderbaren vierten, unbetitelten Track (fast 30 min lang), der NADJA von ihrer ambient-experimentellen Seite zeigt, mit endlosen Wellen von an- und abschwellenden Soundflächen......
"Dirge-like metal riffs & heavy, minimal percussion w/ ethereal melodicism & something of a shoegazer asthetic, creating a swirling amorphous wall of sound that strives to be both obliterating & uplifting. 3 tracks with a running time of 80 minutes." [label info]
"....So why buy this one? Or the two forthcoming releases? Or the 30 or 40 past releases? Well, if you're like us, we can't get enough of the sound of Nadja. And like we mentioned above, we HAVE figured out a way to make this sound go on forever. Each record, takes the dense blissed out buzz, the lurching doomic trudge, the gloriously effulgent majesty of Nadja, and stretches it out just a little bit further. Each time adding something crucial that wasn't there before. On Skin Turns to Glass, the songs are evenmore meditative and repetitive, looped endlessly, the riffs churning mantra-like, a buzzing slow motion hynorock, separated by spaced out stretches of glimmering ambience, and deep cavernous drones. Every Nadja record we're tempted to declare it the best yet, but we'd bet you if we went back to one of the first releases, we'd immediately think that it was in fact the best one. Such is the magic of Nadja, the sound they've created, the soundworld, each piece is as important as any other, the sound wouldn't be complete, in fact can naver be truly complete, until there are no more records, no more songs, no more pieces to add to the ever expanding puzzle. Hopefully that will never happen.
Includes an unlisted bonus track, nearly thirty minutes of shimmering doomic minimalism, droning dark bliss, that explodes in
the last minute or so, in a flurry of incendiary white noise, a drum damaged blown out psychguitar metallic meltdown, that ends quite abruptly, leaving us to wait patiently for the next movement, coming soon..." [Aquarius Records review]
label-website: www.theendrecords.com
|
2008 |
€12.00 |
|
|
Desire in Uneasiness |
CD |
".. Zwar gibt es auch hier wabernde, monotone Texturen galore, allerdings schieben sich hier auch immer wieder mal unterschwellig feine Melodien durch das Geräuschdickicht. Der übliche Shoegazer-Doom wird mit etwas feinfühligerem Ambient-Feeling zu brutalem, subtil variierenden Soundscapes verwoben. Wühlt innerlich ziemlich auf." [Creative-Eclipse]
"Following a wave of recent reissues and re-recorded versions of older CD-R titles, Desire In Uneasiness is an album of all new material from the acclaimed Canadian dreamsludge weavers Nadja. Five colossal jams of eternally-fuzzy, ethereal dirge that are powered by the interlocking bass guitars of Leah Buckareff and Aidan Baker, who set loose a wave of monstrous grinding bass riffs amidst a fog of beautiful, swirling electronic effects. Desire also marks the first Nadja album to feature a live drummer in place of the drum machine programming that has driven the band's previous recordings, and the difference in the band's sound is apparent from the first crushing beats of album opener 'Disambiguation'. The organic drumming here takes Nadja's music into new realms of spacious jazzy exploration, dubby rhythms and cavernous psychedelia, while also delivering some of the band's most grooving, crushing hypno-bliss yet.
Desire also stands out from the rest of the Nadja catalog for it's bizarre artwork that Aidan commisioned from his friend The Reverend Aitor. Aitor's bright, bold lines and textured magic marker artwork gives the gatefold jacket we've presented this disc in the look of a twisted children's book on acid, with weird images of chickens, trees growing through chairs, and more. The package is a sturdy 4-panel gatefold jacket printed by Stoughton, and it looks killer." [label info]
www.crucialblast.net
|
2008 |
€8.00 |
|
|
Numbness |
CD |
"music genres: doom metal, shoegaze, ambient, experimental. Nadja is a duo of Aidan Baker (guitar, vocals, drums, piano, flute) and Leah Buckareff (bass, vocals, violin) from Toronto, Canada. Their sounds have been called "ambient doom"; music that combines elements of metal, shoegaze, ambient, post-rock, experimental, and neo-classical. They have released numerous albums on such labels as Alien8 Recordings, The End Records, and Conspiracy Records and have toured extensively throughout the world including appearances at noted festivals like Roadburn, FIMAV, and SXSW. "Numbness" is a special collection of tracks, compiled by Nadja themselves choosing "shoegaze-oriented" tracks among their vast previous titles. Most of the tracks were originally released on very limited vinyls or rare compilation albums. Among the 6 tracks, total time of over 70 minutes, there are two vocal-centered tracks which reveals the influence of My Bloody Valentine. The last track "Numb" is an amazing 21 minute drone noise track as if synchronizing dark psychedelia of Mono and Mogwai. A perfect compilation for Nadja beginners to Nadja freaks. Packaged in a special cardboard sleeve in black ink. Just Awesome! NUMBNESS track listing and info: 1) Veil of Disillusion originally released on Shadows Infinitum compilation (Crucial Bliss 2004) 2) God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen originally released on The Holiday Masterpieces compilation (Blod Records 2004) 3) Long Dark Twenties (slightly extended 7" version) originally released on 7" (Anthem Records 2008) 4) Alien In My Own Skin unreleased 5) Time Is Our Disease originally released on Infernal Procession... 3-way split with Atavist and Satori (Cold Spring Records 2008) 6) Numb originally released on Base Fluid 'net release (Foreshadow Productions 2007)" [label info]
http://happyprince.jp
|
2009 |
€16.00 |
|
|
Ruins of Morning (SOLD OUT) |
10inch |
"RUINS OF MORNING shows NADJA in a very experimental & dark poetic mood. Their contribution for the "Substantia Innominata"-series (dealing with / drawing inspiration from the "Unknown", "Unnameable" or "Not-Knowable") comes in two long parts based around one musical theme that appears again and again (a great dark harmonic phrase moving through different levels through this epic track), linked by very beautiful drone-sections & more noisy outbursts. Song-orientation and a more experimental sound-art approach are thus combined perfectly.
The phantastic lyrics from Aidan Baker point in a very poetic way to an utopian new morning where material values play no role anymore, but a new state of sensual being is settled in an almost J.G.BALLARDian way, when perceptions of the environment (sky, lights, sun) and the beloved (eyes & skin) fall into one.
Or is this a nocturnal boundless dream-phantasy? The wish / fear to return to mothers womb, a state where everything is one (one is all) again?
These lyrics open up a scope of vague possible interpretations witch match up perfectly with the impressing music; a music that describes "The Unknown" in strong metaphors of surrealistic psychic states of being.
Experience the avantgardish drone-metal duo at their most dark & beautiful and on their very first 10" ! Edition of 500 copies on GOLDen vinyl, fantastic artwork by Marcin Lojek (ibsendesign.pl). One track in two very long parts, playtime 40+ minutes!!" [label info]
RELEASE DATE 10. APRIL 2010 !!
www.substantia-innominata.de
"...In this series things evolve around 'Unknown', 'Unnameable' and 'Not-Knowable'. Nadja plays one piece, cut in two. Here they use more guitar like sounds, as Aidan Baker is the guitarist and vocals, while Leaf Buckareff plays the bass and Nadja find themselves in the shady zone where drone meets metal. The a-side is a mellow piece, if that is an appropriate word for the world of Nadja, but the b-side opens with a wall of sound type of drumming and then another wall of guitars, playing some of the darkest, slow metal music. Hardly drone like, which seems to an entirely different thing, but I must say there is something to say for the fact that this is drone like: the whole piece, both sides, works wonderfully well as a piece of dark ambience, the apocalyptic version of drone music. Not for the weak of hearth and mind!" [FdW / Vital Weekly]
|
2010 |
€15.00 |
|
|
Autopergamene |
CD |
"Call it drone-doom-dirge-shoegaze or any other in vogue nomenclature you like. It doesn’t matter. The music is so sublime and superb that we consider a waste of time trying to further categorize the spiraling sounds exhaling from a NADJA album. They are simply the true originators of this bred of blissful, seriously intense and ominously ethereal heavy sounds.
Autopergamene finds the duo at the peak of their sonic language of slow-blooming, heavily nuanced ambient guitar constructions and epic heaviness. From blissful, paced and almost orchestral hymns to lush acoustic guitars and super distorted, fuzzed out rumbling sludge riffages. Breathtaking.
Lavishly assembled in a custom 6-panel digisleeve packaging housing a 6 cards set with beautiful watercolor paintings and artwork by the gifted Portuguese artist L Filipe dos Santos. Superb mastering via James Plotkin. Limited to 800 copies." [label info]
www.essence-music.com
|
2010 |
€14.00 |
|
| |
The Stone is not hit by the Sun, nor carved with a Knife |
CD |
"Nadja return with The Stone Is Not Hit By The Sun, Nor Carved With A Knife, their first release for Gizeh Records. The Canadian/Berlin-based ambient doom duo of Aidan Baker and Leah Buckareff continue their ultra-prolific output with a monolithic record which explores the depths of heavy noisescape-related music. Encompassing distorted riffs and hypnotic rhythms the album sonically attempts to continue on from the more structured elements of the duo's recent Queller album (2014), coupling that approach with Nadja's more traditional sprawling, dense and challenging sounds. The relentless fuzzed-out textures repeat and build into a blissful and cathartic whole - a place to be completely immersed. In the deep, glacial and all-consuming world that Baker and Buckareff provide the listener with here, there is a will to dissolve, to let the record wash right over you or perhaps even through you. At times crushingly beautiful, The Stone Is Not Hit By The Sun, Nor Carved With A Knife is brought to life by its clever restraints with quieter interludes serving a perfect purpose against its more intense, heavier moments. The album's intriguing title comes from a runic inscription on an Icelandic burial stone but the phrase also appears on the Eggja Stone which provided some of the lyrical content on the record. Nadja have a habit of transcending genres and indeed throughout their career, they have been incredibly difficult to pin down. The Stone Is Not Hit By The Sun, Nor Carved With A Knife is a welcome addition to that hefty catalogue and stands up tall against their most impressive work. Aidan Baker - guitars, vocals, drum machine; Leah Buckareff - bass guitar Recorded in the autumn of 2015 at Broken Spine Studios, Berlin. Mastered by James Plotkin. Artwork by
Aidan Baker and Richard Knox." [label info]
www.gizehrecords.com
"The CD was mistakenly manufactured with only 3 track markers when there should be four. So, the correct tracklisting should be 4 tracks, as it appears on our Bandcamp page:
https://nadja.bandcamp.com/album/the-stone-is-not-hit-by-the-sun-nor-carved-with-a-knife
The fourth track is a bonus track exclusive to the CD and not on the LP at all." [Aidan Baker]
|
2016 |
€15.00 |
|
| NADJA / AIDAN BAKER / LEAH BUCKAREFF |
Trinity |
CD |
Als NADJA zusammen mit ALLSEITS in der "Friese" in Bremen auftraten, gab DIE STADT diese CD heraus, mit dem wohl ersten veröffentlichten Solo-Track von der weiblichen NADJA-Hälfte LEAH BUCKAREFF! Dieser erscheint tatsächlich wie ein Gegenpart zu AIDAN BAKERS Musik-Kunst, ist aber bassiger & abgründiger, pulsierend & gefährlich ... allein dieses Stück "Socorro" wäre das Geld wert! Ansonsten gewohnte Klasse !
"A special NADJA CD also feat. one solo track by both members Aidan Baker & Leah Buckareff. Released in conjunction with a live performance on 20. April 2008 in Bremen. Limited edition of 500 numbered copies in full color sleeve. Total playing time: 38:35 min.
Track listing:
1. Aidan Baker 'Carrizozo' 10'31
2. Leah Buckareff 'Socorro' 10'42
3. Nadja 'Jornada del Muerto' 17'22 " [label info]
"Die Stadt always takes great care of their artists. Once you belong to the label, the label will carry all your releases, and when in Bremen, Stadt of Die Stadt, the artists will play and there is a CD for the occasion. This trinity of a matter of one plus one is three. Nadja is the duo of Leah Buckareff and Aidan Baker, so they can do three things on the same night. On April 20th (a day with historic significance... Bebe Barron died that day this year for instance) they visited Bremen and on 'Trinity' there are two solo pieces and one duo piece. It's interesting to see how things add up, or perhaps don't. Nadja is in full form here, with a loud rocking piece: the drum machine hammers time away, while guitar and bass play distorted, meanwhile looping their sound. A strong 'hole' in the sound adds an odd angle to the piece. A far cry away from Baker's solo piece, made of carefully strummed guitars which are looped around. Drones are faded in over the course of ten minutes and things remain subtle. In the middle, literally, is Buckareff solo for bass. Also starting out quiet things are unmistakably but the distortion pedal is already lurking underneath and adds a more noisy tone to the music. If these names don't mean anything to you, but see their music all around, then this is absolutely a fine place to start. Trademark pieces everywhere." [FdW / Vital Weekly]
label-website: www.diestadtmusik.de
|
2008 |
€13.00 |
|
| NADJA / NETHERWORLD |
Magma to Ice |
CD |
10. Ausgabe in der FEAR DROP / FARIO - Split & Collaboration-Serie, diesmal sind die kanadischen Drone-Metal Überflieger NADJA und der italienische POLAR-AMBIENT Act NETHERWORLD in interessanter Kombination zu hören - 3 Stücke von NETHERWORLD, ein langes von NADJA welches eine einzige gigantische Drone-Blase darstellt, und eine fast 10minütige Zusammenarbeit). Kommt im überdimensionierten Vollfarb / Aufklapp-Cover! Eine Verbindung von "heissem" und "kaltem" Ambient wie man sie nur selten auf einer CD finden wird.
"Talented Italian ambient composer Alessandro Tedeschi runs the Glacial Movements record label and plays music as Netherworld. His fascination for polar landscapes and soundscapes makes him close to industrial ambient pioneers such as Thomas Köner, Rapoon, Biosphere and Lull. Icy, windy, droning and deeply "protomelodic" at once, his music is a poetic translation of the ice floe. For this record, he used processed fragments of classical music. Nadja is the drone / doom / ambient duo of Canadian musicians Aidan Baker and Leah Buckareff. Their behemoth of sound is a construction of heat, weight, loop and vapour. Here, they had to break Netherworld¹s ice and find a way to the red core of Earth. The common track brings heat onto ice, which warms up, crackles and soon melts. As a conclusion, the long piece by Nadja is total heat. This is Nadja "unrhythmed", which means pure lava. This CD features exclusive graphic concepts and artwork by Alan McClelland (www.eyelyft.com) " [label info]
"French label Fario is not very active: this is their tenth release in about as many years. The label is an off shoot of the excellent (but en Francais) magazine Fear Drop, whose only goal seems to release a CD with the meeting of two artists. They present each a couple of solo pieces and one collaborative piece. Lopez & Roden, Troum & Christian Renou, Rapoon & Desaccord Majeur and Vromb & Telepherique went ahead (among others) and here it's the turn for Alessandro Tedeschi, also known as Netherworld, and owner of the Glacial Movements label and Aidan Baker and Leah Buckareff, from Canada and best known as Nadja. Netherworld's three pieces are an excellent sound example of his own label: glacial movements. A very apt description. Still music of slow moving, utter deep movements. A turtle moves faster I think. A deep bass rumble in 'Closing To A Glacial Dawn'. Sounds like Biosphere or early Thomas Köner, but surely with a fine twist of his own, apparently all made with snippets of classical music. I skipped the collaboration to save that until the end and first heard the piece by Nadja, which spans nineteen minutes. A giant explosion takes place, and it sounds like a 180 degrees turn around from the Netherworld tracks. Yet that is only deceiving the listener. Yes, Nadja is much louder, but it's the same side of the ambient at work here: long sustaining sounds, feeding through effects, creating a ringing effect in your ear. Absense of rhythm is noted. How exactly their collaborative effort was recorded is a bit unclear but both ends meet up well here. There is the glacier like sounds of Netherworld, amplified of course to compete with the harsher sounds of Nadja, who mix in their own blend of guitars and electronics. Placed as the fourth track on the CD it makes perfect sense, forming a perfect bridge between the trio of silence of Netherworld and the solo outburst of Nadja. A perfect collaboration." [FdW / Vital Weekly]
labelwebsite FARIO: http://www.feardrop.net/fario.html
|
2008 |
€13.00 |
|
| NADJA / PICASTRO |
Fool, Redeemer |
LP |
"Fool, Redeemer is semi-collaborative split release between Canadian acts Picastroand Nadja. Having toured together and shared a stage many times over the course of the last half-decade, the two bands thought it was time to finally release something together. Nominally a split album, with side A featuring tracks by Picastro and side B a sidelong track by Nadja, members of both groups contributed to each other's songs. And a certain mutual influence seeped into the compositions, Picastro's dark-folk appearing at the beginning of Nadja's track "Venom" and Nadja's trademark drone/dirge tendencies lending a heavier, noisier edge to Picastro's songs. Nadja is a Canadian duo made up of Aidan Baker (guitars, vocals, woodwinds, drum machines) and Leah Buckareff (bass, accordion, vocals), alternately based in Toronto, Canada and Berlin, Germany. The project, originally formed in 2003, creates music which has variously been described as 'Ambient doom,' 'Dreamsludge,' and 'Metal-gaze,' combining the atmospheric textures and elements of shoegaze and experimental/ambient music with the heaviness and volume of metal and noise. Nadja has toured extensively around the world and released numerous recordings on such labels as Alien8 Recordings, Hydrahead Records, Beta-Lactam Ring Records, Blocks Recording Club, and their own fledgling label, Broken Spine Productions. Toronto-based Liz Hysen's (guitars, vocals, piano, violin) Picastro has existed in various forms with various players (including members of Final Fantasy and Rockets Red Glare), since 1997. Currently active as a trio, Hysen is joined by Brandon Miguel Valdivia (drums, percussion), and Nick Storring (cello, guitars, woodwinds, electronics). Picastro creates stark, brooding, discordant song which draw on folk and psych traditions, noise, and post-rock. The band has released four full-length albums on such labels as Pehr Records, Polyvinyl and Blocks Recording Club." [label info]
http://brokenspineprods.wordpress.com
"A split release by Nadja, well-known in the pages (and outside I guess) and Picastro, a Canadian group around Liz Hysen's (guitars, vocals, piano, violin), with a fleeting membership, but here a trio of Hysen with Brandon Miguel Valdivia (drums, percussion) and Nick Storring (cello, guitars, woodwinds, electronics). Nadja of course is a duo Aidan Baker (guitars, vocals, woodwinds, drum machines) and Leah Buckareff (bass, accordion, vocals). There is however an overspill between both bands as they play on each other tracks - semi-split.There is something to say to put both of them on a disc together. Picastro plays music that is also 'heavy', but also with an interest for folk like music, psychedelics and post-rock. The violin and cello wail about, and the band plays on. This CD is cleverly constructed: via two psych rock pieces we arrive at 'Darnia', a more meditative piece of percussion and strings and a mellow song for acoustic guitar and strings in 'A New Souls Benediction'. The tinkling takes over for 'Venom' - the twenty-three minute excursion carried out by Nadja, which starts out with equal low strumming and whispering vocals, before slowly erupting into a wall of sound which is the trademark of Nadja, complete with drum overload towards the end of the piece. It marks a full and complete album." [FdW /Vital Weekly]
|
2011 |
€15.00 |
|
| NAM-KHAR |
Sur Chöd |
CD |
The Ritual/Drone collective Nam-Khar return to our Winter-Light label with their latest inner outing entitled 'Sur Chöd'.
This is Nam-Khar's second release with Winter-Light, after the very successful and well received 'Secret Essence/Sangwa Dupa' album in 2018. The music has evolved ....
"Sur Chöd" is composed of 6 long-form pieces, each piece transforming and morphing in to a musical entity within it's own right. The traditional percussive elements are still there in the music, deployed in full force alongside more subtle uses of these instruments. It is the use of the drone and bass elements that have changed on this release. The small vacuous pockets which Nam-Khar use so well are soon filled with warm, thick drones, synthesised sweeps and enlightening cosmic sounds. It once again creates that space for the listener to move into for contemplation and reflection, to energise and focus through the welcome isolation space created by Nam-Khar's atmospherics. Pushing the inner-traveller ever further onwards, along different trodden paths.
Ritual ambient, dark ambient, drone, industrial and subtle tinges of dark-jazz await the listener on this deep and diverse release from Nam-Khar.
https://winter-light.bandcamp.com/album/sur-ch-d
"Two years after its first album on Winter-Light label, Nam-Khar is back with the “Sur Chöd” full length, which seems as a natural evolution of the project, yet while keeping its specific style of Eastern aural mysticism, the project is infusing a handful of fresh spicy ingredients to their music.
Already on the first track based on the sounds and echoes of horns and gongs you may notice a subtle yet quite atmospheric layer of the shade and colour I cannot recall it was present on “Secret Essence/Sangwa Dupa”. But it is with the second piece, “aDre” that all the fun begins. Of course the word “fun” should be filtrated by sensitivity of an introversive dark ambient supporter, like me for that matter. How the drones flow, blend and morph one into another… It is made with all the principles of the genre, takes you far above the Himalayan peaks and lets you float blissfully. If you know me a little, you know that I’m not so fond of the pitch-black side of the genre. There always should be at least a faint glimpse of light, an atmospheric or oneiric foothold, so to speak. On “Sur Chöd”, Nam-Khar finds a perfect balance while maintaining this “tibetan” spirit from the previous releases they managed to create a veil of still mystic, yet a more universal aura. Something that cannot be limited by the monikers related to a certain culture. It is as profound as the Nature itself. It still can be overwhelmingly dark, like “Dregs Pa”, yet I feel this time it is a facade, an opening gate for the unknown, vast realms of the world beyond.
How the drones intermingle one with another forming these beautifully esoteric structures may at some points recall the darker works by Klaus Wiese or Mathias Grassow and since I’m a die-hard fan of both German artists, I can’t be more happy of that fact. “gNod sybyin” is evidently the best example. Along with these specific eastern drums and a silky glacial background it results with possibly the most sublime composition of the whole album.
On this album Nam-Khar has evolved into a five person ensemble. I’m not sure exactly how the personal constellations looked in the past (most of the time I was convinced that it is a one-man project, to be honest), but I suspect there’s some fresh blood on the board this time and this different perspective is noticeable, yet it doesn’t conceal what Nam-Khar is about. Nice example of stimulating diversity in favor of the project’s coherent style is “Gangs chen mdzod lnga”. Atmospheric scapes, reverbed tinkles, ritual sequences and silence being a crucial part of the whole composition. No single unwanted sound.
The final track has been made in collaboration with Akoustik Timbre Frequency, the project by Priapus23, who’s also known as a CEO of a ritual dark ambient label Sombre Soniks. And this is another “Sur Chöd” highlight, an unconditionally stunning fusion of divine drones, unrushed beats and a handful of tiny ornamentations. This one may not be exceedingly intricate, but in this case the artists prove that simplicity is a virtue and I found myself listening to “T’ew Rang” several times in a row, on repeat.
I would say it’s Nam-Khar’s best work up-to-date. I still appreciate “Secret Essence/Sangwa Dupa”, as I wrote in a review that album was more than decent, but I have to admit that I find some moments too “straightforward dark” to me, so I have to be in a proper mood to play that CD. “Sur Chöd”‘s palette of emotions is far more broad and giving even more possibilities for your own inner journeys. Where will it take you? Check for yourself." [Santa Sangre mag] |
2020 |
€13.00 |
|
| NAMBLARD, MARC |
F. Guyana |
CD |
"The field recordings of « F.Guyana » have been realized in the forests and the costal regions of French Guiana between the dry season and the « little rainy season » (November/December 2014, 2015 and 2016).
1. Awala
—
Plage des Hattes, Awala-Yalimapo. Softness of the setting sun with a greenbrown sea tainted with red as a backdrop. Waves hemmed with foam and a hot breeze blurring the sound of palm trees and crickets make a répétitive music.
2. Crique Popote, Rhinella marina
—
Crique Popote, east of Saül. Beginning of the night. Cane toads (Rhinella marina) come out of the forest and cautiously step into the world of a creek which is still sleepy at the end of the dry season. Their powerful sonorous trills intermittently punctuate the silky humming of nocturnal insects.
3. Crique Popote, Cacicus cela
—
Same location, at daybreak. The first rays of the sun spray gold dust on emerging treetops. A colony of Yellow-rumped Caciques caw their wacky repertoire in the crystalline air. Guianan Red Howler Monkeys and cicadas – among other early risers – also make their way through thèse dream-like surroundings.
4. Pics et Colibris, Woodpeckers and hummingbirds
—
On the dirt road to Saint-Élie, near Sinnamary. On either side of the road, a confused, impenetrable forest edge where even the whirring sound of hummingbirds and high-pitched droning of cicadas appear to be held back. Yet, here also, the forest offers a remarkable sensation to ears who like to listen, where each call, song or drummed sound seems like a cleverly written note on a timeless musical score. Above our heads, a woodpecker hammers at a piece of bark, tears it away and abandons it before flying away.
5. Boeuf Mort, Dark night
—
On a path called ‘Boeuf Mort’, near Saül. The dark night shivers. In the foreground, a tiny tree frog, Pristimantis inguinalis, pulses its brief resounding note, alternating with the trisyllabic call of Vitreorana oyampiensis, a Small glass frog. A Variegated Tinamou (Crypturellus variegatus) finally betrays its presence with its characteristic whistling.
6. Kaw Mountain, Manucus manucus
—
Kaw mountain, late morning, in the jumble of a secondary forest. Several White-bearded Manakins (Manacus manacus) have gathered in a courtship display area and fly about at prodigious speed, disseminating sparks of sound produced by their vibrating wings. Several doves (probably Leptotila rufaxilla) as well as a Northern Slaty Antshrike (Thamnophilus punctatus) can be heard in the background.
7. Petit Saut, Ara chlroropterus
—
Late afternoon, south of lake Petit Saut. A magical moment after a short but generous shower. In just a few minutes, and as the forest has finished shaking off the rain, a composite whisper builds up. Voices appear, rise, multiply themselves and at times whirl around. Perched on tall candle-like dead trees, Red-and-green Macaw (Ara chloropterus) converse and enjoy the sound of their vocal explosions propagating over the vast space.
8. Forest drones
—
Hypnotic summary of the throbbing sound of the primary forest early in the morning with Black Spider Monkeys (Ateles paniscus), Guianan Red Howler Monkeys (Alouatta maconelli), Stingless bees (Melipona sp.), cicadas and crickets taking the lead roles.
9. Kaw Mountain, Post-explosive breeding
—
Kaw mountain, late December. Close to a temporary forest pool. The intense downpours of the previous days have triggered the first mass amphibian breedings, accompanied by a cumulative chorus so powerful it represents a real danger for the unprotected human ear. Today, early in the night, the activity is moderately intense and enables us to appreciate the phenomenon. Two species of Leptodactylus (Leptodactylus cf. knudseni, Leptodactylus aff. mystaceus), displaying varying degrees of depth and quaver, and Dendropsophus (Dendropsophus leucophyllatus, Dendropsophus aff. minutus), with sharp high-pitched sounds, take the lead role in this hallucinogenic soundscape heralding the beginning of the rainy season.
10. Crique Douille, Arada
—
Chemin gros arbres, south of Saül. Typical soundscape, near a small creek, transmuted by the steady and hesitant arrival of a Musician Wren (Cyphorhinus arada).
11. Caribbean inspiration
—
Back to the ocean, near Cayenne, at dusk. Wanderings amongst fireflies, between a stretch of fallow land illuminated by a choir of Johnstone’s Robber Frogs (Eleutherodactylus johnstonei) – a small amphibian originally from the Caribbean – and the edge of a marshy forest, alive with groups of Snouted Treefrogs (Scinax boesemanni, Scinax ruber) and Crested Forest Toads (probably Rhinella cf. margaritifera). Accompanied by the muffled and haunting rhythm of waves crashing on the beach and beating the reefs…
11 Tracks (72′22″)
CD (500 copies) |
2017 |
€13.00 |
|
| NATURAL SNOW BUILDINGS |
Terror's Horns |
LP |
"Da ist es wieder, das französische Psychedelic Dronefolk Duo. Ihr 2013 wiederveröffentlichtes Album The Snowbringer Cult hat mich damals aus den Socken gehauen. Das war das reinste Hitfeuerwerk und in dem Jahr nicht umsonst als zweitbestes Album noch vor dem damaligen Release meiner Lieblingsband Troum plaziert. So konsequent hittig gehts diesmal nicht zu, aber dafür noch ein wenig verspulter. Hits gibts aber mit dem eher psychedelisch-folkig gehaltenen „Sun Tower“ und dem eher ambient-dronigen „The Rising Portal“ dann auch noch. Insgesamt so spannend und visionär, daß ich das nächste Album jetzt schon kaum erwarten kann." [Sibylle Bölling/Pretty in Noise]
"After a string of Natural Snow Buildings reissues, each more elaborate then the last, Ba Da Bing presents their first ever release of new material from the band. For a group known for its use of horror imagery and lyricism, perhaps the most shocking thing of all is that this album clocks in at just under 45 minutes. If there ever was a release that served as the proper entry point for Natural Snow Buildings, Terror’s Horns is it. It would be a stretch to call this Mehdi Ameziane and Solange Gularte’s pop record, for Terror’s Horns continues the duo’s tradition of combining many layers into sometimes blissful, sometimes contemplative, often menacing conditions. Stringed instruments trill, percussion gongs, feedback hisses and vocals maintain near monotone as if in a cultish trance. The songs still unveil themselves slowly, and the album’s progression lends the impression of descending down through the depths, past hidden cavities and chambers never to be unseen once experienced. Terror’s Horns features new artwork by Gularte that pays tribute to the backwoods horror of massacres involving chainsaws." [label info]
"Yes, there are a plethora of insanely limited editions published for and by Natural Snow Buildings and their satellite projects; but with their recent dealings with Ba Da Bing, the problematic availability has been alleviated somewhat. Of course, there was a tiny cd-r bonus edition that was coupled with this album but only available in pre-order direct from the label. No shops got any of those; so, we apologize in advance that we cannot offer that version. HOWEVER, we do have this amazing album itself, from aQ fave death-folk explorers Natural Snow Buildings.
There's long been a haunted thread that traces through all of the work from the French duo of Mehdi Ameziane and Solange Gularte, whose long-form tangles of ritualist drone-rock minimalism and sprawling, opiated psychedelia harks back to International Harvester, Flying Saucer Attack, and Kemialliset Ystavat. Here on Terror's Horns, Natural Snow Buildings plumb the depths of an emotional gloom and shuddering despair with this epic, cinematic album. The two have long specialized in expansive tracks of shimmering guitars, woodwinds, and bowed instruments that could be psalters, zithers, and / or violins, all of which blossom into sublime masses of dronological impressionism; and on Terror's Horns, Natural Snow Building engage in a sound far more elegiac and funereal and heavier than heard on any of their previous recordings. The freak-folk transcendence of NSB still will embrace the unsettling falsetto of Ameziane and the percussive clatter of Gularte, with the swirling psychedelia tumbling downward in lush cinematic collapse, with heavy minor-key chords and reverb saturated rhythmic plod providing plenty of parallels to the early days of Barn Owl and the latter days of Earth. Beautiful as always, these Natural Snow Buildings, if much darker than in days gone by." [Aquarius Records] |
2015 |
€20.00 |
|
| |
Terror's Horns |
CD |
"Da ist es wieder, das französische Psychedelic Dronefolk Duo. Ihr 2013 wiederveröffentlichtes Album The Snowbringer Cult hat mich damals aus den Socken gehauen. Das war das reinste Hitfeuerwerk und in dem Jahr nicht umsonst als zweitbestes Album noch vor dem damaligen Release meiner Lieblingsband Troum plaziert. So konsequent hittig gehts diesmal nicht zu, aber dafür noch ein wenig verspulter. Hits gibts aber mit dem eher psychedelisch-folkig gehaltenen „Sun Tower“ und dem eher ambient-dronigen „The Rising Portal“ dann auch noch. Insgesamt so spannend und visionär, daß ich das nächste Album jetzt schon kaum erwarten kann." [Sibylle Bölling/Pretty in Noise]
"After a string of Natural Snow Buildings reissues, each more elaborate then the last, Ba Da Bing presents their first ever release of new material from the band. For a group known for its use of horror imagery and lyricism, perhaps the most shocking thing of all is that this album clocks in at just under 45 minutes. If there ever was a release that served as the proper entry point for Natural Snow Buildings, Terror’s Horns is it. It would be a stretch to call this Mehdi Ameziane and Solange Gularte’s pop record, for Terror’s Horns continues the duo’s tradition of combining many layers into sometimes blissful, sometimes contemplative, often menacing conditions. Stringed instruments trill, percussion gongs, feedback hisses and vocals maintain near monotone as if in a cultish trance. The songs still unveil themselves slowly, and the album’s progression lends the impression of descending down through the depths, past hidden cavities and chambers never to be unseen once experienced. Terror’s Horns features new artwork by Gularte that pays tribute to the backwoods horror of massacres involving chainsaws." [label info]
"Yes, there are a plethora of insanely limited editions published for and by Natural Snow Buildings and their satellite projects; but with their recent dealings with Ba Da Bing, the problematic availability has been alleviated somewhat. Of course, there was a tiny cd-r bonus edition that was coupled with this album but only available in pre-order direct from the label. No shops got any of those; so, we apologize in advance that we cannot offer that version. HOWEVER, we do have this amazing album itself, from aQ fave death-folk explorers Natural Snow Buildings.
There's long been a haunted thread that traces through all of the work from the French duo of Mehdi Ameziane and Solange Gularte, whose long-form tangles of ritualist drone-rock minimalism and sprawling, opiated psychedelia harks back to International Harvester, Flying Saucer Attack, and Kemialliset Ystavat. Here on Terror's Horns, Natural Snow Buildings plumb the depths of an emotional gloom and shuddering despair with this epic, cinematic album. The two have long specialized in expansive tracks of shimmering guitars, woodwinds, and bowed instruments that could be psalters, zithers, and / or violins, all of which blossom into sublime masses of dronological impressionism; and on Terror's Horns, Natural Snow Building engage in a sound far more elegiac and funereal and heavier than heard on any of their previous recordings. The freak-folk transcendence of NSB still will embrace the unsettling falsetto of Ameziane and the percussive clatter of Gularte, with the swirling psychedelia tumbling downward in lush cinematic collapse, with heavy minor-key chords and reverb saturated rhythmic plod providing plenty of parallels to the early days of Barn Owl and the latter days of Earth. Beautiful as always, these Natural Snow Buildings, if much darker than in days gone by." [Aquarius Records]
www.badabingrecords.com
|
2015 |
€14.00 |
|
| NECKS, THE |
Silverwater |
CD |
"Their first studio CD for three years - named for an industrial suburb in Sydney, famous for its correctional facility - Silverwater ranges further and wider than the Necks' earlier releases, exploring a more sectional structure that counterposes more extremes and contrasts, and has a greater sense of forward motion, than usual, though still retaining the long, hypnotic single-track iterative form for which the band has become famous. Layers and skeins of overdubs and textures give way in places to almost empty stretches, and there is much play with asynchronous time. Paradoxically, for a band famous for its slow, cycling, repetition, the Necks show again that they work hard not to repeat themselves." [label info]
www.rermegacorp.com
"Hot damn. A new Necks album. They're one of our favorite bands EVER, and this is (one of the many reasons) why. Silverwater provides 67 minutes of the Necks' unique, hypnotic, keys/bass/drums bliss, all one track of course as is their wont. Over the course of those 67
minutes, though, the music made by this Australian trio varies quite a bit. Their trademark tranceiness is present, always, but at the same time this new album (their first studio record in, like, 3 years) seems more programmatic and propulsive than we're used to from these guys, taking off in directions we haven't necessarily heard from them before, but still sounding more like the Necks than anything else.
Yet, parts could be mistaken for an underground ambient psychedelic jam from the likes of Sylvester Anfang, almost. And we'd say this is
the Necks record to get Bohren & Der Club Of Gore fans into 'em. Other comparisons we've perhaps made before would be to Circle (in their non- metallic Miljard mode), Supersilent, Alice Coltrane, and AMM... anything that can elicit references to the likes of those is,
obviously, amazing.
Eerie wavering drones delicately unfurl near the start, quiet and pretty... that gives way to a section that's almost ceremonial, like some percussive ritual. Sparse and deliberate, drums-only for a stretch, to be joined by deep, plucked bass notes... it could be some kinda krautrock jazz... and it does get "jazzier", sort of, with electric organ coloration, and cyclic piano plinkings, but also electronic-y gritty glitchiness overdubbed... Silverwater's shimmering textures and minimalist pulsations are simply beautiful, enthralling. It's a glorious 67 minutes, all right.
If you know the Necks, you know you need this. If you're new to the Necks, please do yourself a favor and check this out. Next to seeing them live (which some of us have been lucky enough to do, oh my god they were good), this will demonstrate quite effectively why we hold them in such high regard." [Aquarius Records]
"67:15, ein Track. Der Einstieg in den
Necks-Sog geschieht diesmal über Hammondorgel,
Electronics, flickernde Percussion. Dann ein ultrarepetitives, trillerndes Pianomotiv von
Chris Abrahams, ganz sparsam der Kontrabass
von Lloyd Swanton, knatternd rollendes
Drumming in immer wieder wiederholtem Muster.
Lange spielt Tony Buck das allein, bis der
Bass wieder mit langsamen Schritten sich anschließt. Dann auch zarte, gleichmäßige Cymbalschläge und die Wiederkehr von Hammond
und Piano zugleich. So gleitet man in den nun
wieder vollen Klang hinein. Alles an The Necks
ist gleitend, fließend, repetitiv, hypnotisch.
Mandalas aus Schwebklang und Puls. Buck klappert mit Muschelschalen, Abrahams schlägt immer nur ein, zwei Noten an. Die Electronics
kommen wie ‚from nowhere‘, dazu das nun schon bekannte perkussive Klackern, wohl nicht von Hand. Die schlägt die Sekunden auf der Cymbal zu dröhnender Orgel und Pianomonotonie. Was macht Swanton? Lässt er einen Ventilator die Basssaiten beklackern? Jetzt steigt der Bass als Bass wieder ein, das Klackern geht aber weiter, dazu kommt jetzt - wenn die Uhr nicht geschmolzen wäre, würde sie 30 verstrichene Minuten anzeigen - eine Gitarre. Buck macht mit einem Drumriff dem mäandernden Dröhnfluss Beine, Abrahams hält mit einem Pianoloop schritt, dazu Walking Bass und der klackernde Automat. Und die Gitarre, jetzt deutlich. Dann dünnt der Klang aus auf das Klackern und zwei Klavierspuren, eine davon hell und verzerrt, dann übermenschlich trillernd. Dann doch auch wieder Bass und schnelle Cymbalschläge, aber nur kurz, als eine nicht realisierte Möglichkeit des Fortgangs.
Es spielen nur die Automaten, trillernd,
klackernd. Jetzt der zweite Anlauf von Bass
und Drums, auch das Piano, dann nur das Piano.
Es hat die Ausdauer, gegen die Automaten die Wende einzuläuten. Bass und Drums verhungern
aber ein drittes Mal, die Orgel hält als einzige, monoton pulsierend, den letzten Lebensfaden. Ganz im Hintergrund tauchen
Drums und Keyboards als weitere Lebenszeichen
auf. Jetzt weitere Orgelschwaden, wieder
und wieder, bis der Puls endlich von einer
Rhythmusgitarre verstärkt wird und kräftig genug, den Bass wiederzubeleben für einen simplen Vierklang. Dazu das Geschrammel über
sonorem Orgelfond und, für die finalen drei Minuten, tickende Cymbal, Pianonoten und Arcostriche, die diese vier Noten gemeinsam anstimmen. Bis zuletzt nur Cymbal und helle Pianotropfen bleiben. Was für ein Spannungsbogen, mit einer herausfordernd schmalen Brücke von Hier nach Da." [Rigobert Dittmann / Bad Alchemy]
|
2009 |
€14.00 |
|
|
Aether |
CD |
"Another remarkable performance from a group that has no peer and belongs to no genre or movement. Minimal in an essential and structural sense, they succeed where more formal attempts founder, in re-forming subjective time in a way that is genuinely gripping and as far from theoretical as great interpreters can get. Applying extraordinary technique in a remarkably discrete way, they here transfigure a single chord over a long duration, imperceptibly arriving far from their starting place meanwhile all values are subsumed into, and work only at the service of, a music that seems almost unplayed, emergent, inevitable. After all the statements are made there is a resurgence here of the sublime, in the last place you'd expect it, and through the unlikeliest means. An important project." [label info]
www.rermegacorp.com
|
2001 |
€13.00 |
|
|
Mosquito / See through |
do-CD |
"On the one hand, they seem to be releasing too many CDs - on the other, they are so different and so good you really need to have them. This time they offer two long pieces, both exquisite, of which Mosquito is, in my opinion, destined for greatness. Since the demo arrived in the office it's been on continuously. Minimal, with every sound perfectly imagined and perfectly placed, it achieves almost total timelessness. Essential." [label info]
www.rermegacorp.com
"The Necks: are they inspiring or monotonous? This is the most commonly asked question with regard to their music. Unlike traditional jazz groups, this Australian trio opts for single songs that span the entire radius of their discs. The question, though, of whether they're inspirational or not is insignificant, because they've been regarded as the most sought-after jazz musicians in all of Australia. Between the three of them -- Chris Abrahams (keyboard/piano), Tony Buck (drums), and Lloyd Swanton (bass) -- they have contributed to over 150 albums. That's quite an impressive number, considering how reasonably unknown they are; or perhaps that's only here in the United States.
Nonetheless, I have a feeling that the critical acclaim of their last few albums has slowly started to diminish this oversight. Their latest offering, which is a double-disc set called Mosquito / See Through, should fit in nicely with the rest of their catalog and continue to gather new supporters. They will simultaneously keep those existing fans happy since their basic concept has not been too heavily deviated upon. In the same fashion as the rest of their work, these two songs are slightly over an hour long in duration. And like a Robert Ryman painting, The Necks present them in very minimal fashion.
First in line, "Mosquito" is a hypnotic song that moves along at a leisurely pace until slight variations are allowed to flourish from within. Reflective piano is the highlight of this song, but there are gentle pulses of bass, a sometimes non-existent ride cymbal, and hanging wood chimes to accompany it. The inexorable subtlety of Abraham's piano is enough to lull you into a mindless state of sedation. Only during Talk Talk's best moments have I heard the piano sound so warm and charming.
"See Through" is the next long piece. Unlike its predecessor, it has oddly been broken up into several segments. During certain moments, there is at least a one-minute gap of complete silence before we are reintroduced to the song again. That aside, it's unquestionably the more interesting of the two songs. Where "Mosquito" focuses on lighter situations, "See Through" is a much darker and complex affair. The sound of jazz is almost completely concealed, and in its place we are left with stimulating atmosphere. The piano is still the focus here, and the drums, once again, fill in the empty space.
Heaven only knows where this album will take you if you allow it to do so. My only suggestion is that it not be behind the wheel of a car, for fear that you'll fall asleep and hit a road sign. I imagine that if you ever have the chance to take a train ride where you can view the countryside, Mosquito / See Through would be the ideal soundtrack. It has a way of blending in with its surroundings while never becoming overwhelming. And though most people might label this music as pretentious and self-indulgent, I would argue that it's some of the most stirring minimal jazz I've heard." [Tiny Mix Tapes]
|
2004 |
€18.00 |
|
|
Open |
CD |
"Die unvergleichlichen THE NECKS mit ihrem nunmehr 17. Album ihrer 26-jährigen Karriere.
THE NECKS haben etwas geschafft, was nur wenigen Künstlern gelingt: einen singulären Stil
zu kreieren, dabei eine ganz unverkennbare eigene Handschrift entwickelt und doch mit jedem
neuen Album nicht einfach bewährte Rezepturen neu aufgekocht, sondern durch feinfühlige
Neujustierung der Parameter neue Nuancen offenbart. Das leitende Motiv bei „Open“ waren –
nach dem vergleichsweise dynamischen, stellenweise eruptiven „Mindset“ von 2011 –
Stille und meditative Klarheit, die etwa „Drive By“ innewohnte. CHRIS ABRAHAMS (Piano),
TONY BUCK (Drums) und LLOYD SWANTON (Bass) setzen im Laufe der 68 Minuten einen
repetitiv-hypnotisierenden Klangfl uss aus leichtfüßig swingendem (Post-)Jazz, repetitiven Grooves à la JAKI LIEBEZEIT (CAN) und elektronischen Sounds in Gang, der elegant innerhalb der selbst gewählten Koordinaten mäandert und bei aller scheinbaren Reduktion und Schlichtheit unter der subtilen Oberfl äche eine komplexe Struktur offenlegt. Wie immer bei den Australiern. //
OPEN will be the Necks’ 17th album, and the 11th released by ReR. Here the band returns to the territory for which it is best known: a single, glacially mutating, long-form piece that runs for a little over an hour.
The previous record, “Mindset”, said bassist Lloyd Swanton, “reached some pretty intense levels at times, and though we never overtly discussed it, I think that on Open, by contrast, all three of us were taken by the idea of working in a field of significant stillness. At least, after a couple of days’ recording, it became clear that the music was leading us in this direction.” Feeding into the ground plan are floating arco harmonics, minimalist funk, iterative piano figures, subliminal and liminal pulses, twittering electronics and at one point an arco bass choir. It is unequivocally a studio work, with layer laid on layer, while still, miraculously, remaining architecturally spare." [label info]
www.rermegacorp.com
"The Necks might be our favorite jazz group, most of their records/performances being single hour long pieces, always a lush, patient, slow build, all texture and mood, super dynamic, but in a way most bands can't pull off, just bass drums and piano, their sound dense and dark, doleful and lovely. The last few Necks records have found this minimal band getting a little maximal, their slow build eventually erupting into something dense and driving and almost psychedelic, as if in response to that, Open finds the group and their most hushed and abstract, with the first few minutes featuring a field of tinkling chimes, spare pointillist piano, and only the occasional flurry of bass notes, spacious and mesmeric, as we usually find ourselves saying about these guys, we would have been happy if there was no slow build at all, and the whole record was just this glistening, glimmering sprawl of abstract free jazz drift.
But there is a method to their madness, and at about the eight minute mark, the song shifts dramatically, an electronic pulse, some simple hi-hat rhythms, the occasional bass drum, and nothing else, weirdly hypnotic and barely there, the sound soon joined by a buzzing hum, a snare crack here, some bass thrum there, the sound blossoming into a sprawl of subtle tribal drumming, and more shimmering chimes, soon the piano comes back in, and the song begins to take a more jazz-like shape, albeit one that's still quite free and abstract, the lilting piano melody offsetting the busy drumming, the sound shifting again soon after, with a snare roll that sounds almost like radio static, the bass and low notes on the piano unfurling a dense rumble, those chimes tying everything together again, before settling into something much more tranquil and serene, only to return to that strange electronic pulse / hi-hat section, which slips from jazzy shimmer, to abstract free form almost-psychedelia, the snare locked into another roll, adding a buzzy thrum, the sound finally settling into some hushed, laid back jazziness, wreathed in a dreamy droned out shimmer, gradually fading to silence.
Recommended, as always!" [Aquarius Records] |
2013 |
€14.00 |
|
| |
Vertigo |
CD |
"The release of a new Necks album is always news. This is our 12th to date - and their 18th. While most ensembles are driven by personalities, the Necks are powered by an idea. A very large and simple idea - which now seems completely obvious…. but only because the Necks thought of it and made it work. Now their pleasure (and ours) is sequentially to re-imagine and explore that idea – the prime directive of which seems to be to be that each unfolding step and every passing detail of any performance be allowed to evolve organically out of the musical conditions established at its moment of departure. In other words, we are in the territory of chaos and catastrophe theory; of hurricanes and butterfly wings… And, since one can never step twice into the same river, each beginning has led to wildly unpredictable and variant outcomes; and imperceptibly: you never hear the changes until somehow they have already happened. “We end up, Lloyd Swanton writes, ‘in a very different place from whatever our initial notion … had been.” In the case of Vertigo, we are dropped straight into an almost Feldmanesque musical universe, in which sounds - seemingly disconnected - are already there; creating space rather than inhabiting it. Then, without trying, they mutate. Not mechanically and not according to any pre-determined process - because it’s always clear that what we hear is being played by human beings; that it’s music. A special kind of music that is not pushy or demanding or demonstrative, but rather co-operative, spatial, ambiguous. A music that leaves room for its listeners." [label info]
www.rermegacorp.com
"Die unvergleichlichen THE NECKS mit dem nunmehr 18. Album ihrer 28-jährigen
Karriere. THE NECKS haben etwas geschafft, was nur wenigen Künstlern gelingt: einen singulären
Stil zu kreieren, dabei eine ganz unverkennbare eigene Handschrift zu entwickeln und doch
mit jedem neuen Album nicht einfach bewährte Rezepturen neu aufzukochen, sondern durch
feinfühlige Neujustierung der Parameter neue Nuancen zu offenbaren. CHRIS ABRAHAMS
(Piano), TONY BUCK (Drums) und LLOYD SWANTON (Bass) setzen auch auf ihrem neuen Album „Vertigo“ den Maßstab sehr hoch an. Der prägende repetitiv-hypnotisierende Klangfluss
aus leichtfüßig swingendem (Post-)Jazz, repetitiven Grooves à la JAKI LIEBEZEIT (CAN) und elektronischen Sounds, der viele ihrer alten Alben prägte, ist auch auf dem aktuellen Album zu hören. Elegant und subtil erschafft das Trio aus Australien hier abermals ein Meisterwerk. Wie kaum einer anderen Band gelingt es den Musikern, dem Hörer einen „Weg“ vorzugeben, ihm aber genug Freiraum für eigenes Hören und Interpretieren zu lassen. Ganz große Kunst!" [Broken Silence]
|
2015 |
€14.00 |
|
| NEGATIVLAND |
Escape from Noise |
CD |
"If there is one Negativland CD that someone you know owns, it’s probably this one. This 1987 SST Records release was a surprise college radio hit, and, some say, years ahead of it’s time. "Escape From Noise" is one of our bestselling and most accessible projects, where we took the tape splicing skills honed on "A Big 10-8 Place" into ever more musical directions. In 1999 Seeland Records reissued "Escape From Noise" in a reworked package designed for the CD format. Negativland always intended the original cover artwork to be for the LP format only, and we were never happy with the "original" painted cover image reduced to such small size on the first CD issue. This new version features that artwork full size as the front cover, with the remainder of the artwork reformatted throughout the package by ace designer and Negativland satellite member Dan Lynch. This new version of "Escape From Noise" is not remastered or remixed in any way, nor is there any extra material added." [label info]
www.negativland.com
|
1999 |
€13.00 |
|
| NEHIL, SETH |
Amnemonic Site |
CD |
Erstes Solo-Album von SETH NEHIL seit 5 Jahren... geheimnisvoll tönende Soundwelten warten auf ihre Entdeckung, Klänge kommen von Objekten & Aussenaufnahmen...
"Perhaps Seth Nehil is better known from his collaborative work than for his solo work. He worked with jgrzinich and Olivia Block, but his last solo work was from 2002. In the years between he worked mainly on different projects that couldn't be released on CD, such as multimedia installations. The new work 'Amnemonic Site' is covered with obscurity. Besides his name, the title, labelname and catalogue number, the cover holds no information. 'Play Loud' it says on the label, which always raises the question here: why? I usually like to make up my own mind if I want to play music loud or not. The whole time I was playing this CD, I couldn't stop thinking 'what are these sounds'? It's of course a question that I constantly ask myself when playing new music, certainly when covers are as obscure as this one, but in Nehil's case, it can be anything really. Are these field recordings? Perhaps. Or closely miked objects? Also likely. And what about the nature of sound processing? It seems likely there is some. How and to what extent? And do I also detect some real instruments, like wind instruments, or perhaps organs? It's all likely. Each of the pieces is a large mix up, I imagined, of all of these. There is field recordings, closely miked objects falling to the wooden floor, but also long sustained sounds of wind instruments. It all makes up a particularly strong CD, that is very much alike the latest Olivia Block release, in which a similar treatment of 'real' instruments and field recordings is used, and Nehil easily reaches to a similar height in his 'Amnemonic Site'. Full of tension, he offers a strong interplay between all of his soundsources and it's easily the best release I heard from him to date." [FdW / Vital Weekly]
www.alluvialrecordings.com |
2007 |
€13.00 |
|
| NERELL, LOREN |
Taksu |
CD |
„Fourth World Ambient“ nennen die liner-notes die Musik von LOREN NERELL, der wieder aus einem reichen Fundus an field recordings schöpft, die er auf BALI gemacht hat... Musik in „ewiger Gegenwart“, ohne Anfang oder Ende, ohne Vergangenheit oder Zukunft, als reine atmosphärische Schwingung.
“ Loren Nerell's association with Soleilmoon Recordings dates back to his 1996 release "Lilin Dewa", as well as the more recent "Indonesian Soundscapes". "Taksu" takes cues from both of these albums, blending environmental sounds and Balinese instruments together into a glowing, amorphous cloud of spine-tingling sound. Two musicians come to mind when listening to "Taksu": Jon Hassell, who popularized Fourth World music, and Brian Eno, the father of Ambient music. While sounding nothing like the work of either artist, Loren Nerell's music takes inspiration from both of them. His music is evocative of mist-covered mountains and slow-motion waterfalls, so it owes something to Hassell. But it also pays tribute to the patient genius of Eno, with its endlessly evolving atmosphere, in which there is no beginning or end, only the present. The crowning touch on this project came from Steve Roach, stalwart Ambient Music pioneer and long-time friend of Loren's, who came in to provide the final spacial treatments and mastering of the CD. In his liner notes for the CD booklet, Djam Karet founder Chuck Oken, Jr. describes the music as a "sound pool" that the listener is immersed in. His words couldn't be more accurate, and it's no exaggeration to say that putting this record on is like waking up at sunrise, deep in the tropical Balinese rainforest, surrounded on all sides by the sounds of the jungle. To describe ambient or atmospheric music as "a soundtrack" is clichéd, but it's really the best way to talk about "Taksu". It truely is a very special album, and one that asks to be seen, not merely heard.” [label info]
|
2003 |
€12.50 |
|
| NETHERWORLD |
Kall. The Abyss where Dreams fall |
CD |
".... In a tradition that is anchored, at the same time, in avant-garde, ritual soundz and dark-ambient, with a typically Italian touch, NETHERWORLD gives a peculiarly and elegantly organic and palpable feel to sounds that, in the hands of others, would maybe fall flat …and it is as if the sound universe conjured by the magic of NETHERWORLD was strangely…how could one say? OCCUPIED. Each moment, each twist and turn of this sound adventure bears infinite richness and elasticity, at all times …those are rather ‘busy’ sound layers but each of the elements has sufficient breathing space and can differentiate itself from the other surrounding components. This antagonism represents one of NETHERWORLD’s greatest strengths. Another noteworthy antagonism: this tendency to propose us ambiences that are excessively introspective, subdued, withdrawn into themselves, but which, at the same time, expand, subtly dilate to occupy an incommensurable space. Upon the first notes (or pulses??) of the opening track, ‘’KALL’’, this infinite abyss, envelops us and our dreams sink, dissolve, reinvent themselves…The sound propositions found on’’KALL’’ have enough movement and density to please the ones fond of depth in their music, but the overall ‘purified’ feel will please the most discerning purist. For the occasion, MONDES ELLIPTIQUES once again used the mastering talents of JOHN SELLEKAERS @ METARC and it is CHRISTIAN SA LETTE who put his savoir-faire in our service for the design of the sleeve and images. Limited to 441 copies! Deluxe cardboard sleeve." [label description]
"Netherworld is Alessandro Tedeschi and on the album 'Kall - the abyss where dreams fall' he shows his interest in cool ambient and drone related kind of music, that slowly and patiently unfolds in the space. The music is presented in four tracks that are called 'Kall', from part one to part four. What's most present in the 14 minutes of the first piece is the pulsating drone atmosphere, that sounds very gentle and is put in the front, while from time to time there are other sounds too that are appearing in the background and are adding a specific and slightly tribal sounding sense to the track. The sense of tribal ambient music is even more present in the second piece, while in the third longer piece of 21 minutes, there are motives similar to those in the first track - slowly unfolding layers of sounds that are coming from the cooler corners of the ambient spectrum, a kind of atmosphere that is present through the whole album. 'Kall - part 4' is no exception in the sounds that Netherworld uses in the music on this album. The fourth part is as smooth ambient music as the previous parts, it is the smoothest track, with almost 8 minutes of few slowly shifting layers of a kind of sustained, unusual, calm and sometimes linear sounding and spreading ambient music, a kind of aesthetic and approach to the music that is mostly present on the whole album, that is not a typical ambient aesthetic, but it crossovers the border-lines between the ambient and drone kinds of music." [BR / Vital Weekly]
www.angle-rec.net
|
2008 |
€13.00 |
|
| NEW BLOCKADERS & INCAPACITANTS |
As Anti As Possible |
CD |
"Two pioneering and prominent extreme harsh noise stalwarts, both of whom have been active since the early ’80s, come head-to-head in a much-anticipated collaboration where the mastery of both artists are skillfully woven into a chaotic symphony. The pairs (Rupenus & Gillham and Mikawa & Kosakai) worked with each other’s material producing two collaborations (appropriately titled ‘Blockading Of Incapacitants’ / ‘Incapacitation Of TNB’) comprising relentless metal abuse, screaming feedback, gut-churning rumbles and deranged vocals. As the title suggests, ‘As Anti As Possible’ is certainly no easy listen and will be a challenge for all but the most die-hard of Noise fans.
TNB and Incapacitants have been mutual admirers of each other’s work since the mid-‘80s and have since that time occasionally discussed the possibility of a collaboration. However, no such collaboration has occurred until now.
’As Anti As Possible’ was originally intended to be issued on LP but, due to the extreme nature of the music, vinyl format wasn’t possible. Therefore, ‘As Anti As Possible’ has been presented on CD format. Includes new artworks by Rupenus (TNB)
https://4ibrecords.com/2019/04/06/the-new-blockaders-incapacitants-as-anti-as-possible-cd-out-now/ |
2019 |
€13.00 |
|
| NEW BLOCKADERS / MAMA BÄR / KOMMISSAR HJULER |
Keine Hände |
pic-7inch |
"Although it doesn't say anywhere on the beautiful picture disc, the 7" is a three way collaboration between Mama, Hjuler and The New Blockaders. A fine pairing I'd say. The squeaking metallic sound of the Blockaders with the crazy voices of Baer and Hjuler, along with some unclear tape manipulations make up to fierce statements of noise. And with such time restrictions, I'd think this is spot on. I have no idea why there is absolutely no information on the record itself or on the nicely printed insert. I assume its not shyness, if you care to create such a racket." [FdW/Vital Weekly]
www.psych-kg.de
|
2011 |
€18.00 |
|
| NEXT CITY SOUNDS |
Interfaces |
CD |
As part of the 20th KAMUNA (Karlsruhe Museum Night), so-called ›in-situ perfor- mances‹ took place at three locations in Karlsruhe on August 4, 2018:
The project room ßpace, the artist-run space Halo ARS and the pedestrian zone Kaiserstraße were connected to the ZKM via an outgoing audio data stream.
At ßpace, sound artist Lasse-Marc Riek condensed naturalistic field recordings, noise and soundscape recordings into a sonic live collage.
The live electronic duo Lintu + Røyk per- formed with modular synthesizers and broadcasted live electronica from Halo ARS in Karlsruhe’s Oststadt.
The members of KITeratur presented their participative performance ›SYNONiMUS‹ in the pedestrian zone in the Kaiserstraße, while the No Input Ensemble performed in the subspace under ZKM’s blue Cube. At ZKM, all incoming signals were fanned out in a kaleidoscopic manner and pro- cessed artistically in a multi-room sound installation by Yannick Hofmann, Marco Kempf, Benjamin Miller, Barbara Nerness, Sebastian Schottke and Dan Wilcox in the Cube, in the Cube vestibule and in the underground car park at ZKM.
This audio recording was made in the ZKM Cube, where the KAMUNA visitors could determine the sound mixing of the audio data streams via an interactive interface specially developed for this project and experiment with the sound material using a battery of interconnected sound aliena- tors and effect pedals.
Riek’s naturalistic soundscape recordings and field recordings, Lintus + Røyk’s syn- thesized electronic sounds, the voices of the participative speech performance of the university group KITeratur as well as the ethereal sound and feedback noises choreographed by the No Input Ensemble condense proportionally into this 60-minute experimental audio piece, whose tonal quality ultimately oscillates between Ambient, Drone and Musique concrète.
›Next City Sounds: Interfaces‹ took place as part of the EU project ›Interfaces‹ (EU funding programme ›Creative Europe‹) on the occasion of the Karlsruhe Museum Night 2018.
https://www.gruenrekorder.de/?page_id=18150
|
2020 |
€13.00 |
|
| NIBLOCK, PHILL |
Touch Three |
3 x CD |
Grossartiges, monumentales Werk des New Yorker Drone-Minimalisten, z.T. fürs Deutschland Radio Köln produziert.. Neun lange Drone-Stücke auf 3 Cds verteilt, die auf von verschiedenen Musikern eingespielten Instrumentalsounds beruhen. NIBLOCK hat daraus 24 - 32 Spuren-Stücke gemacht, die elektronisch nicht weiter verfremdet wurden. 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..
"Touch Three is minimalism in the classic sense of the word, if that makes sense. Niblock constructs big 24-track digitally-processed monolithic microtonal drones, and the result is sound without melody or rhythm. Movement is slow, geologically slow. Changes are almost imperceptible, and his music has a tendency of creeping up on you. The vocal pieces are like some of Ligeti's choral works, but a little more phased. He says: "What I am doing with my music is to produce something without rhythm or melody, by using many microtones that cause movements very, very slowly." These nine pieces were made from March 2003 to January 2005. They were all made (except "Sax Mix") by recording a single instrument with a single microphone. The recordings were direct to the computer/hard disk, most of them using a Powerbook G4, Pro Tools, an M-box and an external firewire drive. The resulting mono sound files were edited to remove breathing spaces, leaving the natural decay of the tone, and the attack of the subsequent iteration of the same tone. Each note was represented by several repetitions, perhaps ten for each tone, of about 15 seconds duration each. Each piece uses a few tones. A simple chord, perhaps. Additional microtonal intervals were produced in Pro Tools using pitch shift. The pieces were assembled in multitracks, usually either 24 or 32 tracks. The recording environment varied from a simple apartment in Berlin (Ulrich Krieger's) to a very large hall used for symphony orchestra performances and recordings, with a sizable audience space. The recordings were generally done quite closely miked. One hears only the sound of the instrument. There is no electronic manipulation in the recording, the editing of the tones, or in the mix. The only changes to the recorded tones are the pitch shifts to create microtones...the microtones are doing the work." [press release]
" Ever since I am a keen follower of his work, and this new 3CD set is just an overwhelming release. The idea is very simple, for each of the pieces on this CD. Recorded a few tones of one instrument, remove the breathing, leaving the decay and then change the pitch on some of the sounds. Then Niblock starts to layer these tracks, usually somewhere between 24 and 32 tracks. No other electronic processing was done to these recordings. Among the instruments used here we find cello, acoustic guitar with e-bow, recorders, alto/soprano/baritone saxophones, trumpet and viola. A typical Niblock piece lasts between 20 and 22 minutes. All clear, neat and simple? Then why release three CDs, nine tracks in total? They probably all sound the same anyway? Well, of course it less simple and of course it sounds different. The CD open with 'Sethwork' (check out Phill's website for the correct order of the tracks on CD one!), which is almost classical Phill Niblock: sustained tones, with hardly a pause and apparently played on 'acoustic, unamplified guitars with e-bow'. A continuos deep hissing (for the lack of a better word) sound. This is how Niblock sounded when I first heard his music, almost twenty-five years ago. Compared that with 'Harm', also on the first CD, which is a work for cello (which is one of Niblock's beloved instruments). Now here the sounds are highly sustained too, but in stead of one mighty block of sound, it almost sounds orchestral, with the sounds coming in and out of the mix. Two totally different approaches to the same technique. With a slight adjustment, leaving some space at the beginning and end of each sound, Niblock adds on 'Parker's Altered Mood, aka, Owed To Bird', the sound of inhaling breath (in order to play the alto saxophone), which add yet another dimension to this music. Maybe playing all three CDs in this set is a bit much, but I did it, and I must say time disappeared as this overwhelming unfolded little by little. Simply the best Niblock statement thus far, the most complete one.” [FdW / Vital Weekly]
|
2006 |
€22.50 |
|
|
Touch works, for Hurdy Gurdy and Voice |
CD |
Der legendäre New Yorker Minimalist mit drei schönen Drone-Stücken, dicht und voll, mit „Leierkasten“ (track 1) und reinen Obertongesängen (track 2 & 3), die moduliert werden...
"1. 'Hurdy Hurry' (15:20, October 1999) Jim O'Rourke, hurdy gurdy (samples); 2. 'A Y U', a.k.a. 'as yet untitled' (21:30, October 1999) Thomas Buckner, baritone voice (samples); 3. "A Y U, Live", (21:30, October 1999/2000) Thomas Buckner, baritone voice (samples and live). All were completed with Protools software in a Macintosh computer, and are 24 tracks mixed to stereo. There are two versions of the voice piece, one the original tape piece, the other a version with three added voices, live, plus four tracks of pitch shift on each, done in Robert Poss's (Trace Elements) studio. Phill is a sixty-something New York-based minimalist composer and multimedia musician and director of Experimental Intermedia, a foundation born in the flames of 1968's barricade-hopping. He says: 'What I am doing with my music is to produce something without rhythm or melody, by using many microtones that cause movements very, very slowly.' The stills in the booklet are from slides taken in China, while Niblock was making films which are painstaking studies of manual labor, giving a poetic dignity to sheer grueling slog of fishermen at work, rice-planters, log-splitters, water-hole dredgers and other backbreaking toilers." [label press release].
|
2000 |
€15.00 |
|
|
Music for Organ |
LP |
First time release of these live-recordings by Phill Niblock from 2007 and 2019.
A SIDE
UNMOUNTED / MUTED NOUN, 2019: for organ AND 4 pre-recorded tracks. Commissioned by Musica Festival Strasbourg for Hampus Lindwall
B SIDE
NAGRO (AKA - ORGAN), 2007: for organ and tape. Tape material was recorded May 1, 2007 at the Joseph Gatto Organ (1787) in Sankt Kirchberg am Wagram, Austria by Emanuel Schmelzer-Ziringer
https://phillniblock-mm.bandcamp.com/album/music-for-organ
"Phill Niblock brings half a century of work in prism-pushing minimalist composition to a pair of towering Organ pieces performed by Hampus Lindwall and Emanuel Schmelzer-Ziringer, and recorded in 2007 + 2019.
His ‘Music For Organ’ surely arrives at a high zeitgeist moment for organ music - like his younger counterparts, Phill has keenly worked at the radical peripheries of whatever instrument he uses, systematically isolating and highlighting its phenomenological peculiarities and often subverting their context. However, as a son of the pivotal late ’60s era, Phill is also a true autodidact and applies a rigorous, if raw, approach to his music that always generates gripping, and often challenging, results, as heard here.
The A-side’s ‘Unmounted / Muted Noun’ (2019) for organ and 4 pre-recorded tracks was commissioned by Musica Festival Strasbourg for Hampus Lindwall and recorded in the composer’s presence. It appears to feature the organist stacking dense blocks of chords into a blinding black mass of roiling harmonics that do not let up until the runout groove. For 24 minutes the piece sustains a breathless pressure that’s either hellish, ecstatic or simply otherworldly, depending on your disposition, and we can only imagine that the Orgelbau Klais organ must have made it feel like the walls of the C.15th Collégiale Sainte-Waudrau church in, Mons, Belgium were about to crumble.
In stark contrast, the B-side’s ’Nagro (AKA - Organ)’ (2007), for organ and tape, performed by Emanuel Schmelzer-Ziringer at the Joseph Gatto organ (1787) in Sankt Kirchberg Am Wagram, Austria, feels much more pent in its transition thru tight, glistening higher registers. Up there, the piece feels out a fine range of tonalities and harmonic spectra, which, while dominated by the pealing highs, is also fleshed out with rolling low end in a seat-edge but heavy-lidded display of never-resolved tension. |
2019 |
€26.00 |
|
| |
Exploratory I |
LP |
Matière Mémoire present the new work of Phill Niblock: EXPLORATORY. One of the most beautiful and powerful works that Phill Niblock has ever offered. Phill reinvents and probes the oceans of drone music possibilities deeper than ever. This piece has been performed and recorded for over a year by many great musicians around the world, under the supervision and direction of Phill: Arditti String Quartet, David Watson, Lucy Railton, Phoenix Ensemble Basel, David Maranha, Ben Richter, David First, Andre Goncalves, and many more.
Matière Mémoire is now releasing the first two volumes by Arditti String Quartet, David Watson (Vol. 1) & Phoenix Ensemble Basel (Vol. 2).
https://www.matiere-memoire.com/page-d-articles/phill-niblock-exploratory-vol-1
SOUNDOHM:
Phill Niblock
"Exploratory l & II" (2LP in bundle / CD)
Only a handful of years after their launch in 2018, the Belgian Imprint, Matière Mémoire, has quickly ascended to become a label to watch. Focused on releasing new works by some of the most important figures in contemporary experimental music - Carlos Casas, Susana Santos Silva, Torbjörn Zetterberg, Hampus Lindwall, Charlemagne Palestine, Jim O'Rourke, Oren Ambarchi, and numerous others - their catalog features a thrillingly diverse array of ambitious sounds.
Among the artists offered a more dedicated focus within central Matière Mémoire’s output, is legendary minimalist composer Phill Niblock. 2019 witnessed the label’s release of Music For Organ, followed by his collaboration with Franck Vigroux and Kasper T Toeplitz, BestiaIRE, in 2020, and then Browner his contribution to their ambitious MMXX series, later that year. Now they’re back with a stunning double bill of LPs from Niblock, Exploratory I and Exploratory II, comprising a sprawling set of sonic exploration performed and recorded over the course of an entire year by Arditti String Quartet, David Watson and Phoenix Ensemble Basel. Issued in limited editions on transparent and clear red vinyl respectively, as well as in a CD edition that collects both, in his 88th year Niblock remains as visionary and ambitious as he ever was.
A composer, filmmaker, photographer, and tireless supporter, Phill Niblock is a pillar of American experimental music. For the last fifty years, there hasn’t been a time when he wasn’t there. Few haven’t, in one way or another, been touched by his music - carefully crafted, constrained works of durational tonality and shimmering harmonics - and his many efforts. For much of his career, Niblock has been focused on live performance acoustic phenomena, refraining to release his music in recorded form until the early 1980s, and then at an incredible slow and considered pace. Consequently, while more constrained that most artists of his generation, his output has been defined by a remarkable sense of clarity and depth, with each album album amounting to near perfection. Thankfully, over the last five years, pace of releases has begun to quicken, nearly doubling his discography during that period. Matière Mémoire’s latest double batch, the LPs Exploratory I and Exploratory II, takes us deeper into the incredible world, further expanding our access to his work for acoustic instruments, first unveiled by seminal albums like Nothin To Look at Just a Record, Niblock For Celli / Celli Plays Niblock, and Four Full Flutes, and increasingly returning to occupy a central place in his practice during recent years.
Exploratory I and Exploratory II belong to a larger body of extended works performed and recorded, under the close supervision and direction of Niblock for more than a year, by a remarkable cast of international players including, but not limited to, Arditti String Quartet, David Watson, Lucy Railton, Phoenix Ensemble Basel, David Maranha, Ben Richter, David First, and Andre Goncalves.
The first instalment, Exploratory I, features two distinct iterations - each offered a full side of the LP - one by Arditti String Quartet - the famous UK based ensemble founded 1974 by Irvine Arditti, Levine Andrade, Lennox Mackenzie and John Senter, focussed for nearly half a century on supporting contemporary composers by rendering their works in the closest possible way to their original vision - and the second by David Watson, the seminal New Zealand, New York based, experimental musician and bagpiper.
Like so much of Niblock does, the LP unveils a startling sense of scope - especially via the interplay and contrast by the renderings - from incredibly constrained means, each built from layers of sustained tones that reconfigure the notions of drone in real time. Imbued with remarkable tension and intensity, subtle shifts of harmonics bend time, moving at such a glacial pace that it’s sometimes impossible to know if they are tricks of the ear, creative considerations embedded within the work, or byproducts of mental and physical states of the players, with Arditti String Quartet’s side occupying a lower register and thicker sense of range, standing in contrast to Watson’s, that bristles in its spareness in ways that only his instrument can produce.
Of the three rendering, Exploratory II has what is arguably the broadest timbral range. Created under Niblock’s supervision by Phoenix Ensemble Basel - currently one of the most important contemporary music groups based in Switzerland, running for more than 20 years with a cast of roughly 25 musicians in its ranks - the half hour long piece (also the longest of the three featured across the Matière Mémoire’s two LPs) swells with oceanic depth, moving subtly between the appearance of stasis, beneath which remarkable power and diversity lays, and moments that build with tension, like a storm about to explode.
With Niblock’s work over the last 40 years occupying such a high bar of quality, it’s impossible to have favorites or designate one as better than the next, but Exploratory I and Exploratory II are easily some of the most exciting of his recordings to have emerged in recent years. Imbued with the power, depth, and range that only acoustic instruments can unleash, they are a stunning immersion into of world of brilliant creativity via the constraints of durational tone.
Issued by Matière Mémoire in two editions of 300 copies - Exploratory I on transparent vinyl and Exploratory II on clear red vinyl, as well as in a CD edition that collects the material from both LPs, they’re impossible to recommend enough.
|
2021 |
€26.00 |
|
| 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 |
|
| NIEDOWIERZANIE |
same |
LP |
Debut-Album dieses 1-Mann Projekts aus Marseille (currently residing, like everyone else, in Berlin), ein sehr eigener Stil aus harmonischen Instrumental / Drone / Neo-Klassik Elementen, schleppend-rhythmischer Elektronik, Field Recordings und Effektbearbeitungen. Hier kommt etwas zusammen was eigentlich nicht zusammengehört, aber es funktioniert & klingt wie aus einem Guss! Mal ist der Sound schneidend wie Glas, dann verflüssigt sich alles wieder, durchtränkt von einem subtilen melancholischen Fluidum...
Edition: 200 Stück auf weissem Vinyl.
"In spite of all their growing differences, there are still hidden places, elusive dimensions where East and West meet… For instance in the highly introspective music of the Marseille/Berlin based solo project NIEDOWIERZANIE, presenting here its first official album in the shape of five long instrumental pieces of neo-classical sound sculptures. Flirting both with IDM and contemporary music, mixing organic compositions (using a wide range of string, wind and self-made instruments) with electronic cut-ups and field recordings from the artist’s native Marseille and his extensive journeys through India, these intense, complex and luminous crescendos evoke the works of artists as diverse as COIL, MIRROR, MIASTO NIE SPALO and ARVO PÄRT. 12" LP - white vinyl - lim. edition of 200 hand-numbered copies." [label info]
www.tutrur.com
|
2008 |
€16.00 |
|
| NIETO, MIKEL R |
Dark Sound |
BOOK & CD |
"The book contains Ecopolitik, an introduction as an epilogue by José Luis Espejo, a letter to the Huaorani people, two research texts and one bertso, descriptive texts and photos of recordings, a possible chronology, a glossary, a compilation of several texts with testimonies, reports and declarations from different people, groups, institutions, and publications in reference to the impact—direct or indirect—of the noise from the oil industry during its various phases of development on the people, the environment and the fauna. More info at dark.mikelrnieto.net
34 recordings in one track. In a black polycarbonate CD.
Final editing, mastering and carbon print from Ireland by Slavek Kwi.
Tracklist
01. Nyctridomus albicollis
02. Lipaugus vociferans
03. General Electric CF34-10E
04. Hypsiboas lanciformis, Hypsiboas boans and Unidentified Oil Extraction Machines in the Distance
05. Pogonomyrmex barbatus
06. Paraponera clavata
07. Atta cephalotes
08. Ectatomma tuberculatum
09. Termitidae procornitermes
10. Eciton burchellii
11. Gryllidae and Unidentified Frogs
12. Lophostoma yasuni
13. Leptonycteris yerbabuenae
14. Yamaha Enduro E40X
15. Unidentified Underwater Animals
16. Honda GX160
17. Unidentified Underwater Survivors in Produced Water
18. Changlin YZ26
19. Electric Generator at Tiputini Biodiversity Station
20. Electrical Substation at the Yasuni Research Station (Ten Meters Distance)
21. Electrical Substation at the Yasuni Research Station (One Meter Distance)
22. Air Conditioner for the Electrical Substation at Yasuní Research Station
23. Chevrolet S10
24. CAT MD6420B Drill
25. Cummins KTA19G4
26. HongSheng CYJ-83-37HB
27. CAT 3512 DITA
28. MTU 396
29. Shale Pump SP1614
30. Tiger Rig ZJ30LDB
31. Oilon Wisedrive WD32-34
32. Maxon Oxytherm LE
33. Preamp Battery Blackout
34. Radio Jungla 94.3 FM Through Several JBL Control 1 Pro in Repsol-YPF Access Control"
176 pages, dark paper, black ink, hardback. languages: huao, basque, spanish and english"
www.gruenrekorder.de/?page_id=15050
"In the product page on the label’s website the description of this release ends with this warning: “Partially legible. Sunlight reading recommended”. It’s hard to fail recognising that this warning is absolutely appropriate, until you realise that it’s a black book, with black opaque pages, printed with black lucid ink, housing a black CD. And it doesn’t stop there, as it doesn’t have a fixed sale price, but its price is determined by the crude oil Brent price at the time of purchase, so the author and label warn that if you buy the book you’ll “contribute to the destruction of the planet.” With these creepy premises, a curiosity about the content of the work immediately arises. And after a few attempts, the reader can find the right angle and light to (struggle to) start reading realising that it’s a remarkable collection of essays, pictures and documents on the oil industry’s impact on the Ecuadorian natural environment. This is coupled with a CD with 34 recordings in one track from the Ecuadorian rainforest (the whole work is part of the Field Recording Series by Gruenrekorder). It progresses from delightful natural sounds to industrial machines slowly disrupting them. Then reading, meanwhile, some testimonies or a detailed chronology perfectly let this whole suppressed world to (painfully in every sense) re-emerge from its current status. The pervasive “black”, eventually, doesn’t hide anymore, but becomes the mandatory colour to engage with, in order to learn and understand what has been hidden, but must now be revealed." [Neural Mag.]
"I have listened several times to the CD Dark Sound by Mikel R. Nieto over the past month and have been intrigued by the purpose of the recordings presented by the album. — Dark Sound is a CD length single track album of field recordings taken by Mikel R. Nieto mostly in and around the Ecuadorian rainforest within areas associated with the colonisation and domination of contested areas that were found to have oil reserves. The album traces the relationships between a number of different indigenous groups who have resisted becoming associated with Western European and global models of capital, in favour of continuing the heritage and lives they had prior to the arrival of Spanish conquistadors in the late 15th Century.
The single track CD contains a wide number of field recordings from across various situations that the recordist encountered whilst investigating the noise and culture of Ecuadorian oil mining operations and the impact it has had on the biophonic soundscape and ecology of non-native human, native human, and nonhuman populations. The album comes with an accompanying black paged book with black glossy lettering throughout which makes it impossible to read other than in bright sunlight; a statement upon the darkest of dark geological substrates; crude oil, as well as a comment on the practices of obfuscation that have continued in pursuit of capital gain through oil drilling by corporations. This has led to a number of significant historical, political events including the death of Alejandro Lebaka, a Basque man who in the 1980s took it upon himself as a missionary to position himself as “the voice of the voiceless” (Lebaka in Nieto, 2016: 53) but in his attempted defence and support for a number of native groups, specifically the Huaorani (literally meaning those who speak our language”) which is to say, the native people of the Ecuadorian rainforests, was killed by spears from a group of Huaorani referred to as Tagaeri who no longer wished to partake in the violent systems of control forced upon the Huaorani.
The book provides a significant overview to the political history and issues encountered as a result of the colonisation, and pacification of the indigenous people of Ecuador in pursuit for oil whilst also raising a broad ranging investigation into acoustic research and/or phenomena that are a consequence of the oil operations and their effect directly and indirectly on the Ecuadorian ecology.
The album itself, contains a number of ethnographical and environmental field recordings that include weather events, insects, birds, fish and small mammals and security guards, diesel turbines and high security perimeter fencing. The recordings range from acoustic captures to hydrophones to ultrasound and contact microphones in an attempt to reflect the wide range of acoustic, para-acoustic infra and ultrasonic phenomena that are comprised, altered and ruptured in the pursuit of capital.
The book is highly politicised and the recordings only further emphasise the massive transitions from small tribe to mass industrial practice and the absolute refusal for some to be forced to be adapted and co-opted into a military industrial complex and capital based system of goods exchange and parasitic raping of newly discovered lands." [Mark Parker]
|
2016 |
€44.00 |
|
| NILSEN, BJ [BJ NILSEN] |
Invisible City |
CD |
"BJ Nilsen gehört schon seit langem zum Artist Roster des englischen Labels Touch und hat sich auf dem Gebiet der field recordings einen Namen gemacht. Mit seinen Vorgängeralben ,Fade to White" und ,A Short Night" wusste der Schwede Kritiker zu überzeugen und hat daneben auch mit dem führenden UK-Soundtüftler Chris Wattson und der isländischen Cellistin Hildur Gudnadottir zusammengearbeitet. Sein neues Werk ,The Invisible City" vereint wieder field recordings mit elektrischen Klängen, wobei er sich auf die Übergänge zwischen Natur und Menschen konzentriert - und diesmal auch Technologien einbezieht. Zusätzlich kommen akustische Instrumente wie Cello, Gitarre oder Orgel zum Einsatz. Entstanden ist ein dunkles, hypnotisierendes Werk mit spannenden Soundstrukturen. Die Außenaufnahmen entstanden in Schweden, Island, Norwegen, UK, Japan, Portugal und Schweden. www.myspace.com/bjnilsen"
[label info / Cargo]
"Recorded and Mixed during 2008-2009 in Berlin.
All tracks composed by BJNilsen using Tape Recorders, Computer, Organ, Acoustic Guitar, Electronics, Viola, Subharchord. Field recordings from; Sweden, Iceland, Norway, UK, Japan, Portugal and Germany. The Subharchord was recorded in the EAM Studio @ Adk, Berlin. Viola played by Hildur I. Gudnadottir." [label info]
www.touchmusic.org.uk
"By now BJ Nilsen (or rather BJNilsen) is a mainstay on the Touch label. He is not a man of many words, or big concepts. I am not sure what the title 'The Invisible City' refers to, but it does have a detailed list of all of his sound sources per piece. Its an interesting read of 'amplified chair dragged across floor, window shutters, steel whistle coffeepot, dead trees leaning against each other, train, footsteps in snow, crows, rain' but also acoustic guitar feedback, tapeloops of found sounds, pitch regulated viola, B&K Sine Random Generator Type 1204, virtual Hammond Organ and such like. The titles of his pieces do not give away much either: 'Gravity Station', 'Phase And Amplitude', 'Scientia', 'Virtual Resistance', 'Meter Reading', 'Into Its Coloured Rays', 'Gradient' and the title piece. If necessary at all, one could consider Nilsen to be part of the crowded scene of people who create atmospheric, drone based music through all sorts of means, but at the end of the chain there is always the computer: all pieces list 'various DSP' at the end. That renders some of the sounds, if not all, beyond recognition. As said this music is highly atmospheric and finds its origin in drone music. This is a fine disc, don't get me wrong. There is some excellent music on here, that is at times more daring then the usual 'field recordings and drone music', with some nasty frequencies here and there, and some sudden changes. That is what sets BJNilsen apart from many of his peers. But somehow I also had the impression that 'heard it already' is also part of this. It seems to me that BJNilsen created some fine work which is already in his line of work, rather than making the next move. That perhaps is the only downside to this release. If you are not familiar with his work, then this is good release to get to know his work, and perhaps if you can never get enough, then this will proof no disappointment either. An absolute great disc." [FdW / Vital Weekly]
Address: http://www.touchmusic.org.uk
|
2010 |
€13.00 |
|
| |
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 |
|
| NILSEN, BJ & STILLUPPSTEYPA |
Drykkjuvisur Ohljodanna |
CD |
Zweite Zusammenarbeit der Skandinavier, und wieder wird eine geheimnisvolle, einsame & endlose Soundwelt erschaffen, die seltsam entrückt wie frühe WERKBUND-Sachen auf uns wirkt....
Wie DEUTSCH NEPAL oder KARJALAN SISSIT scheinen auch der ex- HAZARD- (und die Isländer von STILLUPPSTEYPA sowieso) eine geradezu obsessives Verhältnis zum Alkohol zu besitzen, die in diese Aufnahmen mit eingeflossen ist; wie der lange Absturz nach der rauschvollen Ekstase, surreal halluzinierend und beklemmend...
"In Scandinavia, it's not uncommon to hear of someone's mother, grandfather, uncle, or plumber who drank him-or-herself to death at an early age; and the Swedish drone artist BJ Nilsen has felt the alcoholic pangs which may foreshadow his own demise. In recent years, Nilsen has turned to his Icelandic neighbors Sigtryggur Berg Sigmarsson and Helgi Thorsson (collectively known as Stilluppsteypa) in existential sympathy over the problems of their collective lust for alcohol. Drykkjuvisur Ohljodanna marks the second collaborative document of abject minimalism that these three have composed; and like its predecessor Vikinga Brennivin, this album is spiked with drunken thought. Any alcohol induced euphoria has been tempered by perturbing blackouts, moments of cruelty, and an all-consuming nihilism. Beyond their shared Scandinavian heritage, their expressionist urge for the frigid drone, and their penchant for drink, BJ Nilsen and Stilluppsteypa intend this recording as an open ended experience, wandering through their sound without the burden of any exegetical text that may get in the way.
Drykkjuvisur Ohljodanna resolves itself as a grim kaleidoscope, where the bleakness of the wintry Scandinavian landscape and the langour of a drunken escapade constantly mutate through the highly refined sensibility of dronescaping. Sonar pings announce the beginning of this album, with its echoes returning as an amorphous fog and locating little but a gloomy pall upon the event horizon. Clattering electronics scurry across the barren sounds like death-watch beetles upon the tundra; and creaking doors offer something much more foreboding than what Pierre Henry envisioned for musique concrete. Drykkjuvisur Ohljodanna adheres to the psychological dis-quiet through sound design that Alan Splet provided for Eraserhead or that Nurse With Wound achieved on Salt Marie Celeste. Yet for all of their tendencies for brooding and desolation, BJ Nilsen & Stilluppsteypa retain a compulsion for a glacial beauty through their intoxicated visions of the sublime.... " [label info]
"...On the same Helen Scarsdale Agency label the second collaboration between B.J. Nilsen and Stillupsteypa. One perhaps wondered if the latter were still around, because the last thing we heard was the previous work with Nilsen (see Vital Weekly 460) and again alcohol abuse in the Scandinavian territory is the main theme here. It's a firm continuation of the previous album. Using also field recordings this is much along similar lines of the Jim Haynes album and far away from the last thing we heard from Stillupsteypa (which was close to being a disco band). A winter landscape, frozen roads, empty swirling through a desolate country is what is on this album. They captured the stale wind and put it to music. If the term Isolationist music hadn't been invented before, it should be done for this album. Droning landscapes, quietly humming, and even at times using a faint trace of a melody, such as in 'Undir Ahrifum/Sunderlaus' (all credits are in Swedish and Icelandic - two entirely different languages) with something that might very well a guitar. And sometimes it seems nothing is happening at all, such a breeze, such as in 'Supbröder/Drykkjufelagar', humming quietly. This album is a great one, excellently produced, but perhaps not holding something that is entirely new to the world of electronic music, but rather carries on a tradition, which sometimes is fair enough." [FdW / Vital Weekly]
"For a country whose entire population is only half that of San Francisco, Iceland has an exceptionally prolific arts community. One could easily look to the big Icelandic names in pop music (i.e. Bjork and Sigur Ros); but there's also slightly lesser known (but even more adventurous) music from the likes of Johann Johannson, Apparat Organ Quartet, and the entire output of the Kitchen Motors institution. But our personal favorite from Iceland remains Stilluppsteypa, whose dada drunkenness and black humor has developed arctic undercurrents to their increasingly bleak drone-based work. On Drykkjuvisur Ohljodanna, the Stilluppsteypa duo of Sigtryggur Berg Sigmarsson and Helgi Thorsson have hooked up once again with the Swedish sound artist BJ Nilsen, perhaps best known for his triumphant elemental drone work as Hazard released through Touch. Sigmarsson sums up the communal idea behind this album as a "love for drones, Scandinavia, and alcohol." Of course, he then proceeds to type a polysyllabic onomatopoetic bunch of drunken text that makes our extend-o-spelling of doom seem trite by comparison.
The previous collaboration Vikinga Brennivin was an homage to the Icelandic firewater of the same name; yet it held a clarity and singlemindedness rarely attributed to alcoholic excess. Drykkjuvisur Ohljodanna has that same contradictory dualism of conceptually relating to being fucked up without totally losing a grip on reality. Or perhaps these three Scandinavians have gotten so loaded that they drifted into a parallel universe of liquid physics and amorphous gravity. Needless to say, Drykkjuvisur Ohljodanna is another masterful album of alchemical drone, that's even darker and more morose than its predecessor. Sonar pulses and crackles of wood break up the jet-black atmospheres of frozen electronic drones, resonant frequencies, and hallucinatory echoes rippling way out on the outer regions of the event horizon for this sonic black hole. At times falling close to the constant spiralling of Nurse With Wound's Salt Marie Celeste, and times recalling the best isolationism of Thomas Köner. Somber, magnificent, and exquisitely constructed!" [Aquarius Records] |
2006 |
€13.00 |
|
|
Vikinga Brennivin |
CD |
"Nordische Drone-Collaboration von BENNY NILSEN (ex HAZARD, MORTHOUND) und STILLUPPSTEYPA: 5 Stücke, durchdrungen von schwelenden, geheimnisvollen Drones und etwas konkreteren Soundabdrücken, sehr spannend, hypnotisierend, betäubend..... „schöne Klaustrophobie“ meint Frans de Waard.......
“...Focusing the perception of natural sounds through a reconstruction of time and space, Nilsen has rendered the commonplace sounds of wind, rain, and snow as stealthfully seductive and quietly menacing drifts of frozen sound. Their resultant collaboration is an existentialist allegory in which the three drunkenly stumble out in a Scandinavian winter night and spiral toward the inevitable point in which they blackout. Lest this be construed as a derelict piece of method acting, the craft that Nilsen, Sigmarsson, and Thorsson brought to Vikinga Brennivin is impeccable, as the extended soundfields breath with the majesty of distant fog horns and sparkle with the delicate light of countless stars cast down from the black heavens onto the frozen tundra below. Frightening and barren, yet hauntingly compelling, Vikinga Brennivin is an isolationist masterpiece....” [from the label info]
www.helenscarsdale.com
“Drinkers out there: pay attention, because our favourite drunks are here and they celebrate their favourite drink: brennivin. Never heard of? No problem. It's an Icelandic liquor made of potato and flavored with cumin, which burns down your throat - and I know: the only two
times I was really sick of alcohol in the last 10 years was of brennivin. The first time I got this poison served was at Stillupsteypa's house - no wonder, they are from Iceland and like everybody from there they drink. A lot. An insane lot. These days Stilluppsteypa is Sigtryggur Berg Sigmarsson and Helgi Thorsson and they team up with BJ Nilsen - our man in Sweden (and known from Touch releases, more than his drinking habits, at least here). Of course it's hard to tell wether one would think of the booze if it didn't have that title, nor is it easy to relate the music to the drink. The five lengthy pieces here all deal with a hermetically closed sound. Processings of field recordings perhaps, but no longer recognizable
as such. Some ten or so years ago, someone invented the term 'isolationism' for this kind of music, but basically it was what everyone else called 'ambient industrial', but somehow 'isolationism' sounded better. It's certainly an appropiate term for this CD. It's either music you hear when you try to make it home after a night of heavy brennivin intake and if that didn't do the trick it's music you hear in your head when you wake up. It's almost claustrophobic music, but beautiful claustrophobia. Lovers of Nilsen's other work, or Thomas Köner's old work, should keep an eye open for a CD packed in copper-plates inside a jewel case.” [FdW / Vital Weekly]
"The cold winter nights stuck above the Arctic Circle have become the perfect climate for extended bouts of intoxication for many a Scandinavian. As a result, the capacity for the Icelandic duo Stilluppsteypa to consume alcohol is the stuff of legend. Alcohol has soaked into every fiber of their being; but its manifestation in their music (and their personalities for that matter) is closer to the Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde allegory, as a raging alcoholic squirms just beneath the surface of a stoic Scandinavian temperment. Of course, where these two personalities come into conflict is where the art of Stilluppsteypa is realized. A schizoid tension runs throughout Stilluppsteypa's impressive catalogue of terminal drones, sputtered rhythms, and atomic fractures; and often this tension is dished out with a smug dollop of black humour and Dadaist absurdity. So, it's hardly unusual to come across Stilluppsteypa celebrating Vikinga Brennivin, the stringent Icelandic alcohol that has undoubtably killed some of their collective brain cells. Yet it was the stoic BJ Nilsen -- the Swedish electron wrangler whose best known for his work as Hazard -- who invited Stilluppsteypa to collaborate on Vikinga Brennivin. Their resultant collaboration is an existentialist allegory in which the three drunkenly stumble out in a Scandinavian winter night and spiral toward the inevitable point in which they blackout. Lest this be construed as a derelict piece of method acting, the craft that Nilsen and Stilluppsteypa brought to Vikinga Brennivin is impeccable, as the extended dronescapes breath with the majesty of distant fog horns and sparkle with the delicate light of countless stars cast down from the black heavens onto the frozen tundra below. Frightening and barren, yet hauntingly compelling, Vikinga Brennivin is an isolationist masterpiece." [Aquarius Records]
|
2005 |
€13.00 |
|
|
Passing Out |
CD |
Dritter Teil der nordischen "Drone & Alkohol-Intoxikation"-Trilogie, die den Zustand des Wegtretens zwischen Wachheit und Dämmerzustand klanglich adäquat wiederspiegelt; im tiefen Drone-Morast erscheinen Traumbilder, -gedanken & akustische Sequenzen der Realität auf. In paradoxer Weise ist man dann in der Lage, sowohl unbewusste wie bewusste Geistes-Inhalte zur gleichen Zeit wahrzunehmen...(sagen die Erzeuger dieses Albums). PASSING OUT ist ein One-Tracker von fast 70 Minuten, tiefgrummelnd-bassig und sonor und von mysteriösen, atmend-ächzenden Sounds durchzogen....
"The first chapter found the drink. The second came after a night of intoxicated shouting. The third chapter is inevitable: Passing Out.
The Nordic sound artists BJ Nilsen & Stilluppsteypa have authored the last component to a trilogy of isolationist compositions for barren field recordings and lumbering electric drones, thematically linked in the psychotropic effects of alcohol. In doing so, they have issued a brief statement in defense of their research: "It's been four years and three studies, Passing Out being the final. Even in its most general, colloquial usage, Passing Out indicates the occurrence of a state that is incompatible with active behavior. It is possible that the individual could experience both consciousness and unconsciousness at the same time while encountering Passing Out."
Yes, Passing Out is a crepuscular recording, with the flickering of twilight further dimmed by the distant Arctic sun in wintertime and the blackened numbness of too much drink. With one singular track that spans 60 minutes, a nearly constant thrum and rumble of monochromatic low frequencies casts a grim pall upon the precisely dialed-in modulations and vibrations. Spectral guitars, maudlin tunes from haunted radios, angrily growling voices, and field recordings of wind-whipped snow and ice bury themselves deep amidst these subharmonic drones. All of these tease at the edge of perception, sculpting the narrative of the drone into a vehicle for unhinged expressionism of varying degrees of horror, melancholy, beauty, and oblivion.
The Swedish born BJ Nilsen defines his work as "focused upon the sound of nature and its effects on humans, and the perception of time and space as experienced through sound." He has numerous recordings on Touch and has collaborated with the likes of Chris Watson, Christian Fennesz, and Z'ev. The Icelandic citizens Sigtryggur Berg Sigmarsson and Helgi Thorsson are Stilluppsteypa, whose electronic abstractions engage absurd theatrics that mar the pristine surface of minimalism..." [label info]
"....The complete and total isolation of the music, the long passages of seemingly no action (there is just one piece, clocking it at 68 minutes), with then a sudden break, a melody filters in, the radio starts humming and field recordings - that backbone of so much in Vital Weekly and certainly here - make this an album of not just pure drones or just processed field recordings, but the strange elements thrown in, give this album a stranger, almost alien feel to it. If it's the equivalent of passing out is a bit hard to say: the act of passing out on alcohol prevents you from remembering anything. This is however their best album to date and makes a strong trilogy." [FdW / Vital Weekly]
"...Deep resonant vibrations abound, with some creepy breathing in your ear whisperings that may be those Leif Elggren vocals that Benny
was talking about. Gradually, all of these deep drones and shadowy overtures glide into a slumbering descent. But the Icelandic weirdoes
in Stilluppsteypa couldn't just let the album drift away without their absurdism forcing through the door, as they blurt with a clinical repetition of blooping electronics smashed and grabbed from Raymond Scott circa Manhattan Research. It's an unsettling climax to the album, but one that works brilliantly through Stilluppsteypa's expert use of electro-acoustic black humor. But it's drone that dominates the album, as angelic wash and devilish rumble collude to end this magnificent album. Oblivion never sounded so good. Passing Out is beautifully packaged with letterpressed and silkscreened artwork. Very nice." [Aquarius Records review]
www.helenscarsdale.com
|
2008 |
€13.00 |
|
| |
Big Shadow Montana |
LP |
"After producing their frozen trilogy of intoxicated dronemuzik for the Agency, these Scandinavian gentlemen have ventured into more absurdist territories through fictionalized soundtracks for imagined Mondo films and science fiction serials. It is in this context that BJ Nilsen & Stilluppsteypa present the apparitional Big Shadow Montana, an album of slow-motion delirium manifested in occluded smears, nocturnal gasps, and arcane tones from a variety of analogue synthesizers. Amidst the near constant wash of bleary-eyed etherealism, Big Shadow Montana cycles through several sonic themes and leitmotifs, displayed in varying states of clarity. In these transitions between half-remembered phrases and bleary-eyed thrumming, the album emerges as if it were the aftermath from a protracted bout of metaphysical channel surfing. Flickered impressions flash in conjunction with Breton's manifesto of Surrealism in the form of the memories from happily drunk escapades in the heart of winter, the sidereal spells cast by the innerspace travelers Klaus Schulze and Coil, and the nagging questions of existential portent: 'Was that bassline from Goblin, or was it German Oak? Maybe something from Faust IV?' The trio of Nilsen, Sigmarsson, and Thorsson elegantly twist and bend these fleeting images into a spiraling symphony of bubbling electronics and spectral drones that mutate on both sides of the record into lugubrious yet carnivalesque waltzes. When this first appears, it is the echoing undercarriage of a simple melody, bobbing amidst rattling chains and cascading cymbal crashes only to dissolve into sequences of cold-war era tone beacons and empathic swaths of maudlin sound design. At the second occurrence, the melody washes ashore on the Iceland beach, where nude Viking men and women try in vain to get a tan when the sun is just barely going to rise above the horizon in the winter months. It is a pyrrhic jubilation of calliope harmonies set down by organs and synths turning a pale-blue hue in the wake of all that white skin shivering underneath the arctic sky." [label info]
www.helenscarsdale.com
"Recently this trio was undercover present as Evil Madness (see Vital Weekly 773), an exercise in disco, and perhaps some of that experience rubs off in this new collaborative work - I believe the fourth or fifth time they work together. Up until now their work together was deep atmospheric excursions into the space we call drone music, but something has changed. Maybe its the re-arrival cosmic music that put them back at their analogue synthesizers and organs? The press text supplied hints certainly towards that. Certainly an album with more open spaces than what they produced so far. A far cry from monolithic blocks of highly computerized drones, this buzzes in an analogue way, carrying small melodies around, rattling percussion in the background, or the air sucked into a harmonium. Somewhere on the b-side (no track titles, so 'Big Shadow Montana' should be seen as one piece) it leaps into one of those pre-set rhythms found on organs with meandering, somewhat cliched melody, which
actually sounds very sweet. It adds, once more, that lovely cosmic ring to the music. This album sees them leaping out of the old fashioned drones in return to something that is perhaps even more old fashioned, but which sounds like a fresh start again. It holds a great promise for the future." [FdW/Vital Weekly]
"Collaborations in the experimental scene come and go, so it's so great to see one that has some longevity. This is album number seven from BJ Nilsen and Stilluppsteypa, and the fourth released by the discerning Helen Scarsdale Agency label. Since this trio (Benny plus Sigtryggur and Helgi of Stilluppsteypa) unleashed their drunken drone trilogy through the aforementioned Agency, they've been venturing into all sorts of delirious bouts of murky psychedelic collages and imagined soundtracks. There were the weird ruminations upon a found cassette, turned into a mondo filmscore on Man From Deep River; and then the sci-fi opus of synth meanderings found on Space Finale. Now what may be the best to emerge since that earlier alcohol-inspired trilogy is this, the mercurial and hauntological album Big Shadow Montana. Two long-form pieces make up the album, with the A side standing as a hallucinatory foreshadowing of what is to come on the flip. Here, ghostly drones broadcast directly out of the haunted ballroom from The Shining, flickering with half-received transmissions, bumps in the night, and any number of other worldly sounds. Bits of structure emerge in this slow-motion churning of drone, shadow, and filigree coming across somewhere between the fucked up collages that seem to bring all of the Teenage Filmstars records to a close and the subterranean drone-rock sensibility of German Oak. When the record flips, a cosmic stream of vintage synths slump toward oblivion paralleling what has been done by Emeralds and Oneohtrix Point Never (both of whom have released work alongside this trio on Editions Mego), but before this can venture any further down the rabbit hole of Schnitzler and Schulze references, Nilsen & Stilluppsteypa slip into a faux-exotica guise with cheap Casiotone melodies swaying to and fro through old Les Baxter and Martin Denny records. It's a signature move for Stilluppsteypa, if anyone remembers how they mustered a similar strategy on The Best Possible Yet back in 1997. But the maudlin organ harmonies and percolating tone-bloop oscillations are much more confident here, emerging perfectly out of the drone fog like those organ-led numbers on that Deathprod boxset, only to slip into a twin engine thrum of inner-space expansion. In listening back to the second side of the album, it's clear that the first is a lengthy dub of the second, recast and recontextualized as a percussive ghost. Totally captivating through and through, and with a damn trippy cover sporting a vibrantly hypnotic, candy-colored mandala. Yup, it does have a download card. Yup, it is limited. Yup, it is highly recommended." [Aquarius Records] |
2011 |
€14.00 |
|
| NIMH |
Line of Fire |
CD-R |
“ Gloom, heavy electronic textures, over which islamic voices and environmental depiction of a war zone entwine. Sounds like being there in a nightmare, definitely. Static, suspended, a feeling of hopelessness and human suffering all over, pernicious, persistent. Scarcely noted, high quality colour printed sleeve, that seems to invite you to drown in the listening experience - and come out transformed.”[G.Ippoliti] |
2005 |
€10.00 |
|
| |
The Unkept Secrets |
CD |
"After few months of distance from the escape of "The Missing Tapes" and the relative "Rework" by Aube, Nimh (Giuseppe Verticchio) sets aside the ethnic-lysergic visions that have characterized the previous album and continues along the distance of sonorous search and fascinating experimentation electronic, already undertaken with works which "The Impossible Days" and "Subterranean Thoughts", ulteriorly expanding just the range of sounds and instruments set, revealing the own "secrets" through new, dark but stylistically a unclassifiable CD, in which it arranges with extraordinary originality and in an absolutely personal and unknown elements of drone music, dark ambient, electronics, ritual, ethnic, field recordings, and enriching in particular every track with the recurrent presence of evocative sounds of electric guitar in varied filtered and elaborated way. The search goes on..." [label info]
"This is an other perfect Nimh record, a world of magnetic, somnanbulic, fuzzing, moving electronic textures and drones covered by glacially melancholic guitar parts. These recent years there have been many descent projects published under the dark ambient - prog electronic label, but The Unkept Secrets is exceptional, reaching a degree of composition and complexity rarely obtained in this specific genre. Meridians opens the album with an intimate, colourful, extatic droning minimalist guitar composition with lot of reverbs and reasonances. A majestic, almost hallucinatory electronic piece. Narrative voices & mysterious abstract noises also come into the mix. As suggested by the title, Visions in Black is a haunted, gorgeously dark piece with abundant guitar's fuzzed out static notes, ghostly dark noises. The composition ends up with an almost funeral electronic choir. Strangely beautiful, the sound of the apocalypse or forgotten memories. The call reaches the listener into a parapsychological world made of echoing guitar tricks, floating electronic waves. A more dreamy-like composition, perfectly executed and really vibrant emotionally and physically speaking. Linga is just fantastic, a real buzzing drone trip with tribal-ethnic elements. An immersive medley of acoustic / electronic elements, it makes me think about shamanic sermons & ceremonials. The title track opens the way to a really sinister, dark musical ritual that turns into a shimmering, suspensful incantation dominated by harsh guitars and doom-like epic drones. The ending nightmare is a claustrophobic, intoxicated electronic piece for loud guitars, creepy noises and acoustic exoticism. The last tune is a more relaxed, tranquil affair after an intense musica ride throw lost deep memories. A totally absorbing electronic mantra, a real pleasure for the ears. Clearly among my all time favourite experimental electronic records with a things from Maurizio Bianchi, Maeror Tri and Aeolian String Ensemble. So recommended."
[Prog Archives]
|
2007 |
€12.00 |
|
| NLC / EISENLAGER / OCCUPIED HEAD / WILFRIED HANRATH |
Thing |
CD-R |
In 2022, attenuation circuit starts a new series of four-way split albums called THING. The aim is to provide a medium for exchange and presentation of a great variety of artists. As each artist spreads the copies to their network, listeners also get to know the other artists featured on the same disc. The title references the fact that the CDs are physical objects – things! – but also refers to the 'thing' or 'ding' in old Norse and other Germanic languages, which designates the place of a popular assembly or the assembly itself and thus alludes to the 'meeting-place' character of the albums on (or around) which the four artists and their audiences meet, if only virtually.
With the second instalment of the THING series, attenuation circuit presents four artists that offer their various, but always rather deep and spacious takes on ambient. EISENLAGER have previously released download albums on attenuation circuit; both Occupied Head and Wilfried Hanrath have released on the label and were also featured live at attenuation circuit's “re:flexions sound-art” festival. In addition to these three German-based artists, Nouvelles Lectures Cosmopolites from France make their first appearance on the label with their contribution to this compilation. A continuous presence in the international experimental music underground for decades, Julien ASH of NLC first inspired label head Sascha Stadlmeier to open attenuation circuit – up until then only a release platform for his own music – to other artists in 2010. Therefore, attenuation circuit is very happy to welcome Nouvelles Lectures Cosmopolites to the label roster with this new track in their new duo line-up of Julien ASH and Alois L., which started in 2021 after NLC had stopped their activity for more than a decade.
https://emerge.bandcamp.com/album/thing-2 |
2022 |
€8.00 |
|
| NNHMN |
Deception Island |
CD |
NNHMN returns to Zoharum with "Deception Island" a compilation CD of tracks taken from vinyl EP-s titled Deception Island Part 1 and 2 respectively, released by Spanish Oráculo Records.
As expected, the duo of Lee and Michal Laudarg deliver hell of a ride. Dark Wave, Synth Pop, EBM, New Romantic, Dark Disco - you name it. Spirit of '80s nostalgia is strong in this music. It's hard to listen to this without nodding your head or moving your hands and feet. Deception Island is very propulsive. From the first synths of "In Darkness" to the last beats of "Nachtgang" NNHMN keeps you enslaved on the dancefloor.
The track order has been slightly rearranged so the compilation has a more album feel and makes you find yourself listening to it for the third time in a row moving and watching the stars. You just don't want it to stop.
Restless dance of the night endless.
CD edition of 300 copies comes in "silk" digipack.
https://zoharum.bandcamp.com/album/deception-island-full-length-album
"The Berliner based Polish duo of NNHMN last year released two EPs entitled “Deception Island 1” and “Deception Island 2” on Oráculo Records. Zoharum this year released both EPs together as an album featuring the ten original songs.
Content: NNHMN is a band I personally consider as one of the greatest revelations from the past few years; Minimal-Electro-Wave music, which is clearly reminding me of the sterile- and cold atmospheres of the 80s. The whispering and totally emotionless way of singing of Lee creates an icy, sensual touch while Michal’s sound production creates a kind of dark-cellar dancefloor sensation.
+ + + : If there’s one band that awakens my curiosity on each new work it for sure is NNHMN (Non Human). They aren’t setting the world alight, but creates a fascinating vintage exposure with a true Minimalistic approach. The typical melodic strings, dry snares and icy sequences are reminding me of the 80s. I think it’s a real good thing both EP’s have been assembled as a full length album and there are some brilliant songs on it like “Deception Island”, “Education Lost”, “In Darkness”, “Nachtgang” and “Robot Woman”.
– – – : This album is a kind of compilation so if you already know both “Deception Island”-EPs you’ll be not surprised.
Conclusion: I remain totally addicted to the impressive Minimalism of this Berlin based duo; this is how Electro-underground music has to sound!" [Side-Line] |
2021 |
€12.00 |
|
| NO BUSINESS FOR DOGS |
Lovely Objects |
LP |
"2011. Juun, pianoguts. Steven Hess, drums, electronics. Bernhard Breuer, drums. Alfred Reiter, sound. If there is a record, that could be simply described with the word strange, then this would be definitely the one. This quartet, consisting of Juun (ex - Der Boese Zustand), Steven Hess (Pan American, Locrian), Bernhard Breuer (from seminal techno trio, Elektro Guzzi) and Alfred Reiter (sound), provided to be one of the most original formations in experimental music of today. Lovely Objects offers punctual but sometimes also groovy drum parts, filtered through intimate electronics, harmonized with bowed and striking piano strings (piano guts), provided chamber textures and increasingly unique atmosphere. Magnificent balance between improvisation and fixed music material, create one of a kind compositional style and musical language, whose structure and sense request numerous listening in order to be discovered properly. Very distinctive and very powerful masterpiece, created by three very strong personalities. This (pink) vinyl is housed in handmade silkscreened cover. Limited to 200 copies." [label info]
www.godrec.com
|
2013 |
€22.00 |
|
| NOCTURNAL EMISSIONS |
Stoneface |
LP |
Accumulation and assembly in the Derbyshire Dales in the Caroline K studios.
Digital mastery achieved in Silver Octopus studios Buxton, Derbyshire, England, 29th July 1989.
Mastering : Paul Lavigne March 2023
Layout : Pole Ka
Dedicated to the new active listener.
https://fernsrecordings.bandcamp.com/album/stoneface
Nigel Ayers’ most accessible emission? The glut of his ‘band’s prolific history has generally been a full-scale assault upon the senses, via either dingy slabs of noise or near-pretty industrial musique concrete. Stoneface operates on many levels, a set of gruelling, scraping, yet strangely attractive organic sounds that reveal numerously coloured layers with successive listens.
Recorded in 1988, these sonic morsels play with near-baroque tendencies, devolved factory rhythms, spiritual solemnity and lucid minimalism, sometimes gripping, sometimes forgettable, but never uninvolving. And, as has been the case with the recent wealth of Emissions releases, it’s best to observe Stoneface’s sacred experiments in one complete sitting, where Ayers can effectively work his art on you with your complete, undivided and willing immersion.
Darren Bergstein
I/E
"The 1980s were particularly fruitful for The Nocturnal Emissions, later dropping 'the'. Starting in the early second wave of industrial music, they quickly began experimenting with different styles. Electronic pop, for lack of a better or the industrial electro breakbeats of 'Viral Shedding' (a personal favourite of mine) and then,
for a somewhat more extended period, coming ambient soundscapes with the residue of industrial cling clang. Around this time, 1986, the group, now effectively a solo project of Nigel Ayers (and in 2023 still going strong), the interest in magick, stone circles, techno–shamanism, neo-paganism, animism and Fortean research (I am quoting Wiki here) was added to the situationist interests. 'Stoneface' is from 1989, when the style was developed at its best, and the Emissions did some of their best work in this direction (along with 'Spiritflesh' and 'Invocation Of The Beast Gods'). However, it's all a bit in the no-longer-distant past. I wish I could say I play all of these records once a year; I don't, although 'Viral Shedding' is on my phone, so those tracks I hear on every random play the thing is on.
As I played these nine pieces, I realized that what attracted me at the time and still does is the relatively straightforward approach to technology. I remember seeing Nocturnal Emissions a couple of times in those years. If I'm not mistaken, there were a couple of those early sampling devices, the Casio SK1 or SK5, with a 1,2 (or so) second memory, but when played through a bunch of stomp boxes, you could do a lot with relatively easy sounds. I always suspected Ayers to have altered his machines, but I am unsure. His sound palette includes animal sounds, kitchen utensils, voices, and whatever makes noise. I guess Ayers had access to some decent multi-track machine, and using many tracks gives these lo-fi samples some great depth. There are some great drones, some rusty percussion, some good use of reverb and excellent quality around here. Some phase shifting (play similar loops with minor intervals, so they never overlap in the same way) is used to significant effect here so that most of the time, you have no idea you hear
only short loops. Yet, there is always movement, thanks to those very same loops being brief and to the point. An excellent record that has aged quite well and is a fine reminder to play some of the old ones again. Time is what I want, more time! [FdW / Vital Weekly]
|
2023 |
€21.00 |
|
| NOETINGER, JEROME / ENSEMBLE PHOENIX BASEL |
Les Voix de L'invisible |
LP |
“In June 2012, Ensemble Phoenix Basel commissioned me to create a work for them to play.#It was the first time in my life I had received such a request. After several months of reflection, I accepted and began working on a way of communicating a music with other musicians.#Not knowing classical notation, I decided to do what I do know: that being, working with recording and loops, and thereafter, ask the musicians to play by ear.#After a first session, having their interpretations in mind, I could reorganise it all taking into account the physical limits of each instrument.#I am very happy with this experience and warmly thank everyone in the Ensemble Phoenix for having made this possible.#The title, “Les voix de l’invisible” (The voice of the invisible) is inspired by Pascal Quignard’s book, “La haine de la musique” (The hate of music).” Jérôme Noetinger (translated by Liz Racz)#Ensemble Phoenix Basel. Christoph Bösch, flute. Toshiko Sakakibara, clarinet. Raphael Camenisch, saxophone. Samuel Wettstein, synthesizer. Maurizio Grandinetti, electric guitar. Aleksander Gabrys, doublebass. Daniel Buess, percussion and electronics. Thomas Peter, electronics.#Jérome Noetinger, composition, Revox tape machines.#Recorded live at Gare du Nord Basel, 14 & 15 June 2013.#Recorded, mixed and mastered by Alex Buess."
https://bocian.bandcamp.com/album/les-voix-de-linvisible
|
2016 |
€17.00 |
|
| NOGRAY, FREDERIC |
Wuritagu |
mCDR |
"french composer, frédéric nogray pays a particular attention on sounds in their intrinsic qualities and for what they are: vibratory phenomenon. but also for their broadcasting into the listening space, our perceptions on it, and different states of consciousness induced by listening. along his musical works with crystal singing bowls and/or feedbacks, he creates dreamlike sonic compositions from field recordings. his past works were released by various international labels such as kaon or 3leaves.
all sounds used for "wuritagu" were field recorded on the north coast of honduras during may 2012, in and around la ensenada and triunfo de la cruz. wuritagu, el lago negro is a lake between these two garifuna villages. surrounding the lake there are mangroves. at one end the lake is separated from the caribbean sea by a beach. at the other end, a small road connects the two villages. all sounds were recorded at different moments of the day and at night.
"wuritagu" is a powerful field recording-based composition where you can feel the raw energy of the jungle…" [label info]
www.taalem.com
"Of course everybody - me at least - is wondering what Taalem will do next. When Drone Records released their 99th 7" single they stopped. With these new releases on Taalem we also reach number 99 - Frederic Nogray does the honours and here we start. We know his music from releases on Kaon and he seems to be someone whose interest lies in the use of field recordings. Here he uses sounds recorded at the north coast of Honduras in May 2012 close to a lake of the same title. This twenty-one minute work is made from various recorded during various times of day and night. I assume these recordings were layered together as it's all quite full with sound. The lower end of the seashore sounds colliding with the high-end singing of insects makes a particular scary move, I thought, especially if, at one later point, planes or helicopters are part of it. It's all, in general, a bit louder than is usual, a bit cruder and with the constant pressing force of water sounds something you could easily drown in." [FdW/Vital Weekly]
|
2014 |
€5.00 |
|
| NOISE-MAKER'S FIFES |
Zona Incerta |
10inch |
Die Nummer 3 der S.I.-Serie kommt von der Brüsseler Performance-Gruppe NOISE-MAKER’S FIFES! Verschiedene Aufnahmen der Choreographie „Dyonisos’ Last Day“ und Feldaufnahmen afrikanischer Insekten dienten als Basis für zwei komplexe Geräuschsoundscapes. Höre mit neuen Ohren, mit anderen Hirnzellen als bisher !
“NOISE-MAKER’S FIFES is an experimental performance group from Brussels who do impressive shows with many selfbuild instruments and surrealistic sound-theatre-choreographies. The first side on “Zona Incerta” is based on the choreography “Dyonisos’ Last Day” from 2003 and uses various live-material from this and other different performances. The second side is created from insects field recordings made in Kenya. ZONA INCERTA builds a very dimension of its own, totally hazy and foggy sounds ebb and flow in and out...water and metal-sounds are recognizable in the sound-field, high insect-frequencies intertwine with all kinds of strange noises and animal sounds... The Unknown is also the world of other creatures who perceive a totally different world. Listen with new ears, with different neurons.” [press release]
RELEASE DATE: 28. APRIL 2006 !!
GENERAL LABEL CONEPT: “Substantia Innominata” is the brand new release-series from Drone Records. We are proud to present this as a 10” VINYL series along with subsequent re-releases on CD. This new series doesn’t focus on a special concept or ideology regarding the music, but on a certain theme. The theme for this 10” series is based on “The Un-known, The Un-nameable, The Un-speakable, The Un-thinkable, etc.: Various aspects related to “The Unknown”. Basically the grey matter (psychic or physical, which are bound to result the same) surrounding us / within us, but can’t be understood or recognized through the normal senses (though some may perceive it on a subconscious level). We could name it “The Unconscious”. The chosen name for this series, “Substantia Innominata”, was inspired to the fact that this Latin name represents a certain region of the brain which has unknown functions and remains a mystery for its role and existence. Therefore this name reflects well the intense fascination for this impalpable concept of “the unknown”.
The invited artists for this series were asked to work around this theme, to let themselves be inspired by its abstraction. The artwork for this series will be created by the various visual & graphic artists. All in full-colour or silkscreen covers. The 10” vinyl pressings will come in an edition of 500 copies for each title.
“...now the Belgian collective has developed a totally unique style where the successions of electroacoustic events are organized according to a logic which fuses a highly skilled compositional ability and the exploration of psychic dimensions where anguish and fear dominate.” [Massimo Richi / Touching Extremes]
"Ähnlich einer Kette von Plunderphonictrickserei und schamanistischem Tranceinschlag bereiten NMF auf der 10“ sorgfältig zwei Stücke naturalem Ambientes und Feldaufnahme vor dem Hörer aus. Beide Seiten beginnen relativ leise und zögernd, ehe eine Mischung aus synthetischer Grundbetonung und relativ uneffektierter Klangmaterie auf dem Stereofeld erscheint.
Die A-Seite geht dabei stärker in die dunklere Seite des Releases ein, vereinigen sich hier Synthesizerspuren und dekonstruierte Feldaufnahmen zu einer Klangmasse, die den Hörer unerwartet einlullt und dabei ein Gefühl erzeugt, den einzig wahren State Of Trance zu erreichen. Der Klang wirkt weder schwer noch betont Räucherstäbchenambiente-betont, sondern wirkt wie eine intelligente Schnittmenge aus Felddokumentation und improvisatorischer Klangkaskade. Die ganzseitige B-Seite (tatsächlich finden sich auf der 10“ zwei lange Stücke) erzeugt ein ähnliches Szenario, allerdings tritt die vormals vornehm zurückgehaltene Effektierung der Klänge stärker zutage. Ab der Plattenmitte entstehen seltsam mantrische Muster, dem Klang einer Orgel nicht unähnlich, ergänzt um zahllose weitere Elemente, die sich aus Feldaufnahme, Drones und leicht angezerrten Obertönen zusammensetzen.
Eine sehr schöne Platte, die ohne den nötigen Pomp einer überschminkten Musikerwartung daherkommt. Neben der RLW von Substantia Innominata mein derzeit favorisiertes Release." [Thorsten Soltau / AEMAG]
|
2006 |
€10.00 |
|
| NOIT, HATIS |
Illogical Dance |
LP |
"Japanische Vokalkünstlerin mit ergreifenden Klangskulpturen, die ohne Worte auskommen.
Bislang war "Illogical Dance" exklusiv in Japan erhältlich, im März 2018 erscheint die EP der japanischen Sängerin international und erstmals auch als Vinyl. In vier unvorhersehbaren, geheimnisvollen und wunderschönen Tracks präsentiert Hatis Noit ungekannte, die Geräusche der Natur nachahmende Klangwelten, die ganz ohne Worte auskommen. Für ihre komplexen und komplett improvisierten Skulpturen greift sie auf so unterschiedliche Elemente wie westliche Klassik, japanischen Folk und natürliche Töne zurück. Der immense Stimmumfang von Hatis Noit basiert auf einem vollkommen autodidaktischen Ansatz, der erstaunliche Einflüsse verbindet: Gagaku, der höfische Musikstil Japans, und verschiedene Operntraditionen zählen ebenso dazu wie bulgarische und gregorianische Gesänge oder Pop- und Avantgarde-Sänger. Bemerkenswert: Es ist kein einziges Sample zu hören - selbst wenn es so klingt, als ob herabgefallene Blätter zerdrückt werden, es ist Hatis Noits Stimme, die dieses Geräusch imitiert. Die von Haruhisa Tanaka und Matmos koproduzierten Vokalwelten erinnern an den experimentellen Ansatz Meredith Monks, der mit der ausgefeilten Produktionsweise einer Holly Herndon vereint wird.
Japanese vocal performer Hatis Noit will release her enigmatic EP Illogical Dance via Erased Tapes worldwide on 23rd March 2018. The arresting 4-track record creates unique song-worlds with transcendent vocal interpretations that at once deconstruct and recombine Western Classical, Japanese folk and nature’s own ambience atmosphere. Illogical Dance also features Björk-collaborators Matmos, who were so impressed with Hatis Noit’s recordings, they volunteered to edit the lead track Illogical Lullaby.
Hailing from the distant Shiretoko, a small town in Hokkaido, which is the largest island in north Japan, Hatis Noit’s accomplished range is astonishingly self-taught, inspired by everything she could find from Gagaku — Japanese classical music — and operatic styles, Bulgarian and Gregorian chanting, to avant-garde and pop vocalists. The sounds she created on Illogical Dance, co-produced by Haruhisa Tanaka and Matmos, bring to mind the experimental vocal patterns of Meredith Monk with the attentive production of Holly Herndon.
It was at the age of 16, during a trek in Nepal to the Buddha’s birthplace, when she realised singing was her calling. While staying at a women’s temple in Lumbini, one morning on a walk Hatis Noit heard someone singing. On further investigation it was a female monk singing Buddhist chants, alone. The sound moved her so intensely she was instantly aware of the visceral power of the human voice; a primal and instinctive instrument that connects us to the very essence of humanity, nature and our universe.
The name Hatis Noit itself is taken from Japanese folklore, meaning the stem of the lotus flower. The lotus represents the living world, while its root the spirit world, therefore Hatis Noit is what connects the two. For Hatis Noit, music represents the same netherworld with its ability to move and transport us to the other side; the past, a memory, our subconscious. It is the same for Illogical Dance, a set of transformative songs that taps into our most primal instincts.
“The human voice is our oldest, most primal yet most powerful instrument. I use it to describe nature’s many sounds, a language that isn’t logical. Yet it forms a beautiful conversation that isn’t restricted to words like the human language is. I want my music to remind us of that.”
Wanting to interpret and mimic the sounds Hatis Noit hears in nature, Illogical Dance is as unpredictable, beautiful and mysterious as the world around us. Each track is made up from multi layers of vocals, all improvised and without words, before being carefully pieced together. Astonishingly no samples are used throughout, even the sound of crushing leaves came from Hatis Noit’s own vocal chords. The result is a stunning array of sound sculptures that see her switching between multiple styles with great ease. From the sweet operatics on Illogical Lullaby, the manipulated vocal loops duplicating electronic production on Anagram c.i.y. to the primordial chanting call to arms of Angelus Novus, a 10-minute odyssey that features whispering and leaves crunching, it showcases Hatis Noit’s full range and introduces a truly original artist.
Previously only available in Japan, Illogical Dance will receive a worldwide release on 23rd March 2018 including a first edition on 12” vinyl.
https://hatisnoit.bandcamp.com/album/illogical-dance
|
2018 |
€16.00 |
|
| NON TOXIQUE LOST (NTL) |
OGRE-SSE |
LP |
Sehr authentischer, gesellschaftskritischer deutscher 80er Jahre-Industrial dieser vergessenen Band (vor kurzem gab es jedoch schon eine LP auf Wachsender Prozess), zwingende elektronische Rhythmen und Pulsationen, Schreigesang mit zynisch-verzweifelten Texten, Noises & Effekte am richtigen Fleck, eingespielt als richtige „Band“... die Stücke sind meist unveröffentlichte Tracks aus den Jahren 1983 bis 1985 und zeigen die Vielfalt der Band, unser Lieblings-Release bisher auf V.O.D. !
If you like classic 80“s Industrial this is a true must-have !!!
„13 Songs aus dem Zeitstrom herausgerissen (1983-1985). Sie waren bisher nicht auf Schallplatte und wurden auch noch nie im Radio gespielt (einige davon waren jedoch schon auf internationalen "cassetten-samplern" in den 80er Jahren veröffentlicht worden !) Diese "style ist irrelevant" Kompositionen sind jetzt zu einem deutschen (damals noch: "die BRD") Film zusammengeschweisst. Man wird mit wilden Schreien konfrontiert und es gibt heftige Sound-Angriffe, die in den Zustand von "...keine Lösung" einmünden. Man nannte das damals "ursprünglichen industrial Punk". Und das ist NON TOXIQUE LOST. Und es ist auch Musik um einen Traumzustand zu erreichen..“ [label info]
“13 songs pulled out of the stream of time (1983-1985). they have never been on record or on air (nevertheless, some have been released on international. cassette-compilations in the '80s !). these "style is irrelevant" compositions are now molded together into a german (at that time "the frg") movie. you will be confronted with strong shouts and there will be violent (sound) charges, which run into the state of "...no solution". back then they called it "primal industrial-punk". and that's non toxique lost. it's music that will put you into a dream state as well....”
[press release]
“....The most unknown one is possibly the band Non Toxique Lost, even when Achim Wollscheid was a band member. Non Toxique Lost existed in the earlier parts of the 80s and in recent days (having released a 7" on Klangalerie as-well as some CDs on Dossier Records). Back in the old days, they released a now sought after LP, aswell as tracks on compilations, but never gained the fame of Die Tödliche Doris or P16.D4. The line up is pretty 'normal', with Sea Wanton (vocals, electronics, effects), S. Schütze (violin, bass), A. Wollscheid (electronics, guitar, effects), H. Wöhler (live effects) and Jammin' Unit ( live effects). Rhythm-machines play an important role, over which the band-members semi-improvise their sounds. Semi, because I think some of this stuff was pre-planned, and that in some way or the other they rehearsed their songs. Especially when the lyrics can be heard through all the noise and effects, Non Toxique Lost sound like the lost brother of Throbbing Gristle. Quite nice, these orgasmic explosions of rhythm and noise. Definitely one of the nicer bands that got lost, and certainly in demand for more re-issueing.” [Fdw / Vital weekly]
|
2005 |
€15.00 |
|
| NONO, LUIGI |
20 Jahre Inventionen V : Quando Stanno Mordendo, etc.. |
CD |
Three impressing pieces from NONO which show his highly political engagement, questionning what art & music can do in the face of the apocalypse. His music creates an utopian dislocatedness, full of intensity and power. The longest piece here is "Quando stanno morendo" (37+ min, composed 1982), mainly based on four ethereal female voices. The third piece from 1960 ("Omaggio a Emilio Vedova") is short and shows his early electronic experiments. Great stuff !!
"Eine CD mit drei Konzertmitschnitten von Kompositionen Luigi Nonos beim Berliner Festival "Inventionen.
Die Live-Elektronik, mit der Nono in den frühen 1980er Jahren im Freiburger Experimentalstudio erstmals arbeitet, dient ebenfalls der Entrückung der Musik: Die Musik rückt aus klaren räumlichen und klangfarblichen Zuordnungen heraus. Die beiden Instrumente, Bassflöte und Violoncello, sind durch die elektronische Verarbeitung in ihrer klanglichen Charakteristik kaum noch zu erkennen. Töne und Gesten lassen sich ins scheinbar Unendliche verlängern und im Raum bewegen. Gesamtspieldauer: 52:41
Tracks: * Quando Stanno morendo (diario polacco no. 2) - Konzert 1983 * Canciones a Guiomar - Konzert 1991 * Omaggio a Emilio Vedova - Konzert 1991" [label info / credits]
|
2006 |
€15.00 |
|
| |
Intolleranza 1960 |
CD |
"Intolleranza 1960 is the awakening of human awareness in a man who has rebelled against the demands of neccesity - an emigrant miner - and searches for a reason and a 'human' basis for life. After several experiences of intollerance and domination, he is beginning to rediscover human relations, between himself and others, when he is swept away in a flood with other people. There remains his certainty in 'a time when man will be a help to man'. Symbol? Reportage? Fantasy? All three, in a story of our time." [Luigi Nono]
|
2010 |
€13.00 |
|
| NORDVARGR |
Untitled Navigations I |
CD |
Long one-tracker that clocks at almost 50 minutes length. Excellent eerie dark drones with a very floating movement & processing of sounds... one of his definite masterpieces !!
"New album of the northern wolf, leader on the Swedish scene of dark sounds. Co-creator of such projects as MZ412, TOROIDH, or FOLKSTORM for the second time appears on Beast Of Prey.
Untitled Navigations I was recorded live in the Villa Bohult studio, and is one massive ambient piece of slow moving darkness. As the soundscape evolves, rythmic patterns appear and merges with the crackling of broken records and deep resounding frequencies. Partly based upon Nordvargr´s previous attempts to alter sleep patterns, this recording also contains theta/delta waves, but the reason for this is not revealed. Untitled Navigations I is presented exactly as it was performed, without any overdubs or post production. Prepare for another dark journey into the mind of the nordic master of darkness.
Unconventional release in special white cardboard with silver printing. Unusual shape of the package that folded makes 150mm x 150mm size. Inside there are 3 different inserts showing winter landscapes. All very snowy and icy, handmade and numbered to 300 copies." [label info]
www.beastofprey.com
|
2009 |
€15.00 |
|
| NORTHAM, MICHAEL |
Suhina |
10inch |
Brilliant new recordings by the prolific cosmopolitan (currently residing in Berlin) MICHAEL NORTHAM. "Suhina" is a notion for the sound of the wind moving through the trees. Instead of doing field recordings of wind MICHAEL NORTHAM tried to capture this feeling & the essence of this process through instrumental recordings from Indonesian flute & keyboard. Nature phenomena seen as the true manifestation of the Unknown. Stunning full colour artwork by Indian artist ROHINI DEVASHER. White vinyl, edition of 500 copies, incl. inlay with text by M. NORTHAM.
"Das Thema der Platte hätte auch von der K Foundation stammen können. Michael Northam vertont hier den Wind zwischen den Bäumen, auf finnisch suhina genannt. Was sich als schöngeistiges Ambientexperiment versteigen möchte, ist in der Endsumme erstaunlich unesotherisch geworden. Northam zieht alle Register seines musikalischen Könnens und scheint zu den wenigen zu gehören , die eine Komposition über den Zeitraum mehrerer Jahre gedeihen lassen können ohne der Verlegenheit zu verfallen, nach wenigen Wochen den Abschluss herbeizuzerren.
Beide Vinylseiten wirken dabei sehr transluzent und klar abgegrenzt. Bisweilen hat man das Gefühl, die leisen Zwischentöne der Feedbacks und trudelnden Dronecluster reichern sich mit dem Knistern des Vinyls an, so fragil erscheinen die Zwischenbrücken der jeweiligen Komposition. Wie GAS ohne Beats, wohl aber um das 10fache am Pitchregler hochgeschraubt und mit einer majestätischen Würde, die man sonst nur in den leiseren Backgroundklangarien der frühen Tortoise und ihren »Millions Now…« wieder findet. Orgelähnliche Töne wechseln in malströmartigen Verschiebungen ihren Standort und verwischen auf diese Art und Weise Gefühl für Zeit und Raum, bilden auf diese Art und Weise den Soundtrack für den einsamen Spaziergänger im Wald ohne ein Klischee zu bedienen.
Das Northam sein Stück im Sommer für das Vinyl editierte kommt auch tiefenpsychologisch dem Material zugute. Selten hat eine so ausufernde Komposition eine so hohe Ereignisdichte aufgewiesen, ohne dabei zum Sturm zu mutieren. Auf diese Weise hört man den Wind weniger im Gebälk, dafür mehr im Gemüt." [Thorsten Soltau / AEMAG]
"Every once in a while you bump into a masterpiece, Suhina is one of those times.
The cover has amazing artwork by the Indian artist: Rohini Devasher. Bizarre beautiful flower lifeforms in full color on the front, and in black and white on the back. The vinyl itself is white and nice sturdy and thick.
The 10” is a Drone Records release and is part of the substantia-innominata series.
A concept that deals with concepts like” unknown / unthinkable / unidentifiable / unspeakable etc.
The story behind this record is very interesting. Michael Northam was camping in Finland in 2005 and a friend told him that the sound of the wind moving through the trees was called “suhina” in their language. From that moment Michael wanted to capture that feeling in sound.
Starting with field recordings what was difficult to do, and then moving to blowing on Indian flutes and the use of keyboards. While working on these two tracks Michael has been traveling through Belgium, Slovenia, India and France through 2006 and 2007. The final result was constructed in Berlin in the summer of 2008.
The record has two tracks, called “Through” and “Within”. Both are beautiful very carefully constructed pieces that run over ten minutes of playing time. Side A“Through” is distorted and blissful, full of harmony and truly uplifting and carrying you away with the wind, through forests and plains. It feels like there is lots of wind, gray skies and rain, but also lots of sun rays and rainbows. And total melancholic euphoria. The B side “Within” is a nice continuation. All i can say is that this release is a beautiful, carefully constructed emotional masterpiece." [Nil Pavlov / Hourglass Drops]
"These two tracks of hypnotizing dronemusik from the wandering sound artist Michael Northam originated from a night camping in the Finnish hinterlands, where he became fascinated with the sound of wind whipping through the trees. Field recordings have long been central to
Northam's work dating back to his tactile compositions of corroded ambience and titanic drone arcing; and even the aspects of wind had
featured heavily in work through the Aeolian harps he built in a bunker on a desolate Finnish island. Where those recordings were
attempting to harness to power of wind as something of an intersection between technology and the landscape, these two beautiful recordings of brightly shimmering ambience are more of a poetic response to the dynamics of wind. So those whispings and scatterings of summertime arctic winds introduce the first side of this 10" and quickly subside amidst Northam's billowing drones from his Indonesian flute and an overblown Casio keyboard. The resulting waving tones flicker with the
lingering glow of the sun arching toward the horizon at twilight, with golds, oranges, and reds radiating through each timbre. So striking are the colors that Northam gets through these tones, it can almost distract from his conceptual anchor. No matter, as he's creating one of his finest pieces in a long time. Nice!" [Aquarius Rec.]
|
2009 |
€12.00 |
|
| NOVA, JACQUELINE |
Creacion de la Tierra - Ecos palpitantes de Jacqueline Nova: Musica electroacustica e instrumental (1964-1974) |
do-LP |
"Jacqueline Nova (Ghent, Belgium, 1935 - Bogotá, Colombia, 1975), a representative figure of Colombian avant-garde music, developed important and radical work within the field of electronic and instrumental music, as well as in interdisciplinary forms. This album, Creación de la Tierra - Ecos palpitantes de Jacqueline Nova: Música electroacústica e instrumental (1964-1974) ("Creation of the Earth - Throbbing Echoes of Jacqueline Nova: Electroacoustic and Instrumental Music (1964-1974)")¸ under the curatorship and research of the Colombian composer Ana María Romano G., recovers Nova's most important electroacoustic works: "Creación de la tierra (Creation of the Earth)" (1972), "Oposición-Fusión (Opposition-Fusion)" (1968) and "Resonancias 1 (Resonances 1)" (1968-69), as well as the music for the film Camilo el cura guerrillero (Camilo the Guerrilla Priest) (1974), composed during her stay at the Centro Latinoamericano de Altos Estudios Musicales (CLAEM) , of the Torcuato Di Tella Institute, in Buenos Aires, as well as in the Study of Phonology of the University of Buenos Aires. The compilation also includes the instrumental works "Omaggio a Catullus" (1972-1974), "Transiciones (Transitions)" (1964-1965), and "Asuimetrías (Asymmetries)" (1967), in which she explores randomness, timbre possibilities or the encounter between acoustic and electronic media. The interest in experimenting with the human voice, and interdisciplinary work involving visual arts, were some of the aspects that have defined Jacqueline Nova's work. Ana María Romano has written: "Nova lived in an environment hostile to change, to debate and discussion, hostile to her being an autonomous and lesbian woman. She undertook feats that make her a pioneer, even though she did not set out to be taken as one, but only as a result of the commitment, dedication and passion of a creator with her society. Jacqueline Nova died in Bogotá of bone cancer. Her tragic and early death not only cut short a career in full creative force, but also directly affected the development of electroacoustic music in the country. After her death there was a great silence -- close to 15 years -- in musical creation with electronic means. Nova challenged a conservative milieu and survived alone, working in a field thought to be exclusively masculine. But it was a woman who strengthened the use of technology in Colombian music. A risky bet that sadly represented a high cost: Nova was relegated during her lifetime, but her noises managed to shake and question the comfort zones of the Colombian musical establishment." Includes a booklet with extensive information written by Ana María Romano G.; edition of 300."
https://buhrecords.bandcamp.com/album/creaci-n-de-la-tierra-ecos-palpitantes-de-jacqueline-nova-1964-1974
"Continuing their incredible dedication to the historic sounds of the 20th Century Latin American musical avant-garde, Buh Records returns with one of their most important releases to date, "Creation of the Earth - Throbbing Echoes of Jacqueline Nova: Electroacoustic and Instrumental Music (1964-1974)", the first ever collection dedicated to the pioneering work of the Columbian composer Jacqueline Nova.
Spanning the final decade of Nova's life, not only does this stunning double LP overflow with astounding acoustic, electroacoustic, and electronic works that entirely upend the Eurocentric historic experimental music, but the album doubles as a crucial illumination of the feminist and queer struggle for liberation through sound in Latin America during this period.
Absolutely astounding on every level and impossible to recommend enough, it's the sort of revelation that only comes around once in the rarest of times.
Running continuously since the mid 2000s, in recent years the Lima based imprint, Buh Records - run by Luis Alvarado - has issued an astounding array of little heard Latin American experimental music onto the world stage, offering particular focus to work - contemporary and historic - from Peru. In recent years, they’ve been increasingly casting their gaze further afield, offering glimpses of the broader Latin American context experimentalism with stellar releases by Mesias Maiguashca, Walter Smetak, Oksana Linde, and a number of others. Their latest, “Creation of the Earth: Throbbing Echoes of Jacqueline Nova: Electroacoustic and Instrumental Music (1964-1974)” belongs to this shift. The first-ever release entirely dedicated to the pioneering Columbian electronic composer, Jacqueline Nova, it lifts the shadows of time to reveal an astounding artist whose work has remained almost entirely unobtainable since her untimely death in 1975. Visionary and truly remarkable, the historical importance of this stunning double LP - issued in a very limited edition of 300 copies, complete with extensive liner notes by Ana María Romano - can't be understated. Once again, Buh has upended the perceptions of avant-garde happening during the 20th Century and replaced it with something far more diverse, vibrant, and alive.
"The history of avant-garde, experimental, and electronic music from Latin America has always been incredibly difficult to access, largely due to the effects of conservative, authoritarian governments that game to power in many countries in the region during the mid 20th Century, attacking progressive art-forms and limiting the mobility of the rich contexts of sounds that emerged within their borders. Despite the opposition that these artists faced, a remarkable scene of experimental music thrived - often cross pollinating - throughout Latin American during the second half of the 20th Century, a happening that Buh Records has been making greats strides toward illuminating for more than a decade. It would be hard to find a better example of this than their latest release, dedicated to the work of the Columbian composer Jacqueline Nova.
Born in 1935, Jacqueline Nova began playing the piano at a young age, eventually taking her studies to the National Music Conservatory in 1958. In 1963 she shifted her focus toward composing, and in 1967 became the first woman to obtain a diploma in composition at the Conservatory, following which she won a scholarship to study at one of the most noted electronic and electroacoustic studios in Latin American, Centro Latinoamericano de Altos Estudios Musicales (CLAEM), in Buenos Aires, Argentina. From this point forward, she almost entirely dedicated her efforts to electroacoustic composition, until her death in 1975.
Nova’s time at CLAEM set her apart from most of her Columbian peers, allowing her the space and time to reach a high level of technical refinement that, combined with her compositional talents, placed her as one of the leading figures in Colombian and Latin American electroacoustic music during that moment. This became even more the case following her return to Argentina in Guggenheim scholarship. Nova returned to Buenos Aires, with the support of a Guggenheim fellowship to research and develop a body of work that integrated ways of transforming the human voice through electronic processes.
“Creation of the Earth”, spanning two full LPs that comprise seven important works by Nova, is effectively a career spanning window into the composer’s remarkable inner world, covering the years between 1964 and 1974. Over its length, we hear the evolution of one of Columbia and Latin American’s most important avant-garde composers, from early efforts like “Transiciones” - a stunning work of complex harmonics and distances for solo piano - and “Asimetrías” - an equally striking, spacious work for flute and percussion - that give a glimpse of her purely acoustic beginnings in the avant-garde, and the sublime talent that laid the foundation for her subsequent works. Beginning with “Resonancias 1”, composed across 1968 and 1969 between Buenos Aires and Bogotá, we encounter Nova beginning to incorporate electronic processes; her piano and other acoustic instrumentation becoming interwoven with electronic sounds, in a work that is built on seven structures with timbre indications, leaving a great deal of openness for each player to make decision and determine its outcome.
The remaining three works gathered on “Creation of the Earth” are unquestionably the most radical and forward thinking, witnessing Nova reaching the full extent of her powers as a composer. The first of these, “Creación de la tierra”, composed in 1972, draws upon her research into the transformative potential of electronic process on the human voice. Composed solely from vocal material drawn from songs on the creation of the earth of the U'wa ethnic group in Boyacá, Colombia, the work culminates as an immersive ritual of astounding scope, rendering the source material almost unrecognizable through heavy processing that transforms it into writhing ambiences of texture and tone. This is followed by “Omaggio a Catullus”, composed over the two years between 1972 and 1974, which takes an entirely different approach to these queries. Incorporating a vast range of acoustic instruments, vocalizations, and electronic processes, it appears as a sonic gesture of deep urgency, entirely of its moment and yet somehow out of time. The final work of the collection, “Montaje electroacústico a partir de materiales de la música original de la película Camilo el cura guerrillero”, was created in 1974 toward the end of her life. As the title suggests, it is an electroacoustic montage from music materials created for the film “Camilo the Guerrilla Priest”. A likely indication of Nova’s politics - Camilo Torres Restrepo, the subject of the film, having been a Marxist-Leninist, priest who fought for progressive reform in Columbia - the work is a stunning gesture of avant-garde sonority, swirling into abstract forms.
As the liner notes to “Creation of the Earth” state, “Nova lived in an environment hostile to change, to debate and discussion, hostile to her being an autonomous and lesbian woman. She undertook feats that make her a pioneer, even though she did not set out to be taken as one, but only as a result of the commitment, dedication and passion of a creator with her society.” One can only imagine what effect she might have had if her life hadn’t been cut tragically short at the age of 40 in 1975 by bone cancer. Perhaps even more tragically, her death ushered in a period of silence in Columbian electronic music that would last well over a decade, perhaps proving how alone, ahead of her time, and important she was. For this reason and the astounding quality of the work, it is impossible to overstate the importance of Buh’s release of “Creation of the Earth: Throbbing Echoes of Jacqueline Nova: Electroacoustic and Instrumental Music (1964-1974)”, the first ever collection solely dedicated to her remarkable body of work. It’s a truly stunning and revelatory listen, bringing a crucial, lost piece in the history of Latin Avant-garde music into the light for the first time. Issued as a beautiful double LP, which includes fantastic exploratory liner notes, we can’t recommend this one enough. Ten out ten and beyond. Grab it before it’s gone." [SOUNDOHM]
|
2022 |
€34.00 |
|
| NOVAK, YANN |
Relocation. Reconstruction |
CD |
"Relocation.Reconstruction is derived from the sound elements of the three installations in Yann Novak's solo exhibition Relocation at Lawrimore Project (May 2009). In the original exhibition, Novak explored the multitude of emotional states experienced during and after the relocation of one's life. With this latest work, Novak continues his exploration into this theme a year after the initial event that inspired him, with the new insight that although he has arrived at his destination, the relocation process is far from over. By utilizing the altered sounds of the previous works as a point of departure, Relocation.Reconstruction retains some of the moods and themes of its predecessors, but reconstructs them into a slowly evolving, immersive composition. Textures, tones and faint melodies drift in and out of audible perception, never standing still, always in a state of becoming and disintegration. Through the development of this static, yet dynamic state, a familiar sense of melancholy arises from these simultaneous experiences of discovery and loss." [label info]
www.12k.com
"On 12K sub-division Line we come across Yann Novak, whom we mainly know from his releases on his own label Dragon's Eye Recordings (which is effectively started by his father but re-launched by Yann). Primarily his work deals with installations, whereas the releases are the documents thereof. 'Relocation.Reconstruction' is 'derived from the sound elements of the three installations in Yann Novak's solo exhibition Relocation at Lawrimore Project'. Its impossible to say what Novak uses sound wise here. It might be anything from field recordings, computer software to heavily treated instruments, but these forty-two minutes don't give a clue. Its an one piece work that slowly moves - relocates, perhaps - from the dark opening ground of the first thirteen minutes, but in which slowly dark, hidden melodies seem to slip in and then, ever on the move, it arrives in a much lighter territory, which forms the last eleven minutes. One could think of a transition from night to day, dark to light, from a crowded city into an empty field, earth and moon - well, you get my drift here? Its an absolutely fine piece of some of the more darker drone music around, entirely crafted through digital means (I guess), but with a great warmth to it. Very nice." [FdW / Vital Weekly]
|
2010 |
€13.00 |
|
|
Paradise & Winchester |
CD |
"Paradise & Winchester was created in late 2011 for the Belgian imprint Unfathomless who’s credo is to commission works that ‘illustrate artists‘ personal fascination for specific locations, either natural, human built, or fictitious’. In response to this, Novak chose a location that he had never been to, yet knew he would have a strong reaction to, Las Vegas, NV. The piece focuses on ‘The Las Vegas Strip’, a portion of Las Vegas Boulevard outside the city limits spanning two unincorporated townships: Paradise and Winchester.Paradise & Winchester was created from ten recordings, made over three days, each one an attempt to find relatively quiet moments in an outdoor location. These quiet moments were then digitally altered to reflect a more personal reaction to the location. The final form of the piece is an ever changing hybrid state, move from one location to the next and a constant mix of nearly raw material with altered material.Paradise & Winchester was formed in late 2011 after a 7 day trip collecting and recording sounds and images. The trip ended with three days of rest in Las Vegas, NV."
[Yann Novak, May 2012]
www.unfathomless.net
"There was a time the name Yann Novak propped up in these pages quite regularly, if not for his own music, it was for releases on his Dragon's Eye Recordings, but in more recent times this has become less and less. I am not sure why this is. Maybe he just releases less and less, or perhaps not all of his releases reach me. Here he has an interesting work which deals with the sounds of The Las Vegas Strip, in itself part of the Las Vegas boulevard, 'outside the city limit, spanning the two unincoprorated townships of Paradise and Winchester, where the majority of the casinos and tourist activity takes place'. This is not exactly a new soundtrack to Paul Verhoeven's 'Showgirls' (a fav here) or 'Fear & Loathing In Las Vegas'. In fact should you not have known this, would you be able to tell this forty some minute was recorded in one the most hectic and noisy cities in the world? I don't think so. At the same time I have to admit that I am also not entirely sure to what extend there has
been sound processing. Surely something, which makes a very nice pattern of gliding sounds and endless delays, but in between, in the backside, far away we still hear the activities of humans. Voices, cars parking and that sort of thing, but also the sound of wind, blowing down the microphone. In these forty-three minutes he moves between various settings, in all about five or six different movements. It has that gentle microsound feel that is part of many of the previous works by Novak have, and perhaps as such isn't the new approach to what he does. That aside though, this I thought was a great work. Taking the quiet sounds of a busy city and melt that into a gentle soundscape. Very nice!" [FdW/Vital Weekly]
|
2012 |
€14.00 |
|
|
Ornamentation |
CD |
"Source material includes field recordings captured throughout the United States and Canada from 2006–2016 and modular synthesizer recordings, all digitally altered. Yann Novak is a multidisciplinary artist based in Los Angeles. Ornamentation is Novak's first physical release on Touch and continues his investigations of presence, stillness and mindfulness through the construction of immersive spaces, both literal and figurative." [label info]
"For his latest release, Ornamentation, the man behind Dragon's Eye Recordings, lands on another highly regarded UK label, Touch Music. This is the imprint, of course, that brought us recordings by Fennesz, Simon Scott, Anna von Hausswolff and Lustmord, just to name a few released in 2016! Besides Richard Chartier's Line label, for which Novak has already released back in 2010, and Fabio Perletta's Farmacia901, on which an Undefined collaboration with Chartier appeared in 2013, Touch has been a place, in my opinion, that would always suit this Los Angeles-based sound designer. Add the obligatory cover art by Jon Wozencroft, and the mastering ear by the one and only Lawrence English, and you've got yourself a very nice little package, archiving a live performance, presented in LA in fall of 2016.
As is expected from this master of drone microsound, the sound on Ornamentation is abstract, its structure absent, the future obsolete, and stillness absolute. Here we find ourselves in the present moment, immersed in tranquility, nominal hum, and crackling transformation. The vibrations of this continuous din fully penetrate your being, enveloping your ears with endless sonic buzz, until they merge with your consciousness and become as one with all of the silence. This is where sound nearly ceases to exist, as your mind pushes its perseverance to the outer edges of awareness, where it melts into the void of daily noise and harmonious drones, like fuzz of the power lines, or the whir of your laptop fan, or the purr of your neighbor's refrigerator.
Using field recordings from his archive, captured in various settings in the last decade on numerous low fidelity devices, processed through a complicated chain of effects, along with a recording of a modular synthesizer, Novak creates atmospheres that are also pregnant with a conceptual message. On Ornamentation Novak "resists modernism’s problematic relationship to race, class and labor, and attempts to decouple contemporary minimalist sound work from this historical precedent." The title of the album mirror's Adolf Loos' 1913 manifesto, "Ornament and Crime", in which the author claims that human desire to embellish our environments, personal spaces, and bodies with decorations is a primitive impulse, which we must avoid.
Loos devalued the labor traditionally associated with aesthetics and beauty, and equated ornamentation with the degenerate. In this context, one could consider ornamentation as a way of viewing decay. His examples as such (tattoos, fashion, style, painting, et al.) predictably fell along divisions of race and class, coding modernity as the next outward manifestation of white, capitalist patriarchy.
Attending to some of Loos' claims, Novak constructs a composition with a focus on the labor thereof, rather than the extracurricular process of adornment and garnish, that would often distract a listener from its inner core. On Ornamentation Novak concedes to the necessary conventions of today's modern sound art, but focuses solely on the beauty of the labor itself, as the primary aesthetic. This is a beautiful recording on the meditation of sound and time, which will mesmerize as well as challenge one's senses. Recommended for fans of simplicity, purity, and calm." [Headphone Commute]
|
2016 |
€12.00 |
|
| |
The Future is a Forward Escape into the Past |
CD |
The Future is a Forward Escape Into the Past' is the latest album by Los Angeles-based multidisciplinary artist and composer Yann Novak, and his second for Touch. It considers the relationships between memory, time, and context through four vibrantly constructed tracks that push Novak’s work in a new direction while simultaneously exploring his sonic past. 'The Future is a Forward Escape Into the Past' is composed as a quadriptych – a single gesture broken into four parts – that meditates on the inevitable progression of time, our relationship to the past, and our distortion of the past through the imperfections of memory.
The album’s conceptual roots stem from 'The Archaic Revival' by American ethnobotanist and psychonaut Terence McKenna. In it, McKenna theorizes that when a culture becomes dysfunctional it attempts to revert back to a saner moment in its own history. He suggested that abstract expressionism, body piercing and tattooing, psychedelic drug use, sexual permissiveness, and rave culture were proof of this default to a more primal time. The text’s idealism was influential to Novak in the ‘90s, but today the theory bears a darkly-veiled resemblance to the rise of nostalgia-driven nationalism. Regardless of whether one agrees or disagrees with the signifiers of a ‘better time’ - McKenna’s idea highlights our propensity for selective memory, seeing history through the lens of memory instead of fact. On 'The Future is a Forward Escape Into the Past' Novak looked back at his own older works through this lens as inspiration.
The Album’s four tracks dynamically shift and surge, where time is rendered as material and momentum compels it into movement. Subtle distortion throughout the album ties the tracks together and echoes techniques explored in Novak’s 'Meadowsweet' (Dragon’s Eye, 2006). Tension gives way to a halcyon vision of place in “Radical Transparency,” immediately followed by the austere swells of “The Inertia of Time,” a piece that captures the twin impulse of generating optimistic beauty in harshly muted tones. Both tracks introduce subtle bass swells and stabs reminiscent of 'In Residence' (Dragon’s Eye, 2008). From there, the album grows darker with “Casting Ourselves Back into the Past,” and “Nothing Ever Transcends its Immediate Environment,” two icier tracks that preserve the album’s core: a layer of something long since passed that locks us into the very moment we inhabit. The latter introduces a processed vocal sample of Geneva Skeen, similar to Novak’s collaborative work with Marc Manning on 'Pairings' (Dragon’s Eye, 2007). The album is a study in perception and alteration, manipulation and awareness, effectively capturing Novak’s command of emotional texturing.
touch333.bandcamp.com/album/the-future-is-a-forward-escape-into-the-past
|
2018 |
€13.00 |
|
| NOVI_SAD |
Jailbirds |
CD |
Das zweite Album für dieses griechische Minimal / Drone-Projekt, der gerade auch in der MORT AUX VACHES-Reihe zu Ehren kam; verschiedenste hyper-minimale Drone-Felder und Field Recording-Sprengsel formen, teils sehr wuchtig & bassig wummernd. Anklänge an ILIOS, FRANCISCO LOPEZ, etc..
"Limited to 500 copies and housed in our plastic-free gatefold sleeves with spine. art design by cs08. Novi_Sad's work came to our attention via our good friend Susanna Bolle (Non-Event and Rare Frequency) in Boston. A superbly keen ear, Bolle felt that his work and our label should connect. Though Nov-Sad's has only a few years of practice behind him, the quality and maturity of all of his efforts is striking. The proposed Jailbirds material for Sedimental was totally complete and not only of the highest quality but also of a truly unique vision. What is significant in his work is the multiplicity of its action on the listener. It is a density of sound, acting in three-dimensions, not as auditory 'sound effect' but as music with depth both physically and in functionality. Its intensity and purposefulness based in specific conceptual foundations and enhanced by a mastery (and transcendence) of technical means collapses amplified environmental recordings, drone manipulations, structured ambient soundscapes, microtones and overtones into unified whole. Sedimental is truly excited to be an early anchor of this young composer and sound artist's serious oeuvre. Novi_Sad (Thanasis Kaproulias, b. 1980) is a graduate student from the Economic University of Piraues. He lives and works in Athens, Greece where he began generating sounds in 2005. His debut album Misguided heart pulses, a hammer, she and the clock received worldwide critical acclaim. Recently, Novi_Sad did a recording session at the prestigious VPRO studios in Amsterdam, for the Dutch National Radio which will be released by Staalplaat [NL] in the Mort Aux Vaches series. A recent piece called Dramazon is available on TouchRadio from the publishing house Touch [U.K]. He is currently working on a project based on various methods of audio analysis called Sirens in which he explores the aesthetics of information on sound by using quantitative data from major stock market crashes in history." [label info]
www.sedimental.com
"...The attraction of his music lies, I think, in the combination of microsound and dark ambient music. There are the cracks and hisses of micro world, but also the thunderous deep ambient drones which can be top heavy, like in the opening ‘Komdu! Hvert?’. Field recordings, the call of the birds, leak through here, as the deep bass dies out very slowly for the rest of duration of the song. ‘Torched Estates’ starts out with some nasty high pitched sounds, but throughout the pieces moves into various heights and depths, and it strikes me that this is the more complex piece of the two on this release. Many heavily processed field recordings are present, but then also sometimes naked and pure.
Whereas the first is built around one theme, is the second piece more a collage of various moods and textures. Quite loud microsound altogether, and thus a strong break with tradition. Great one." [FdW, Vital Weekly]
|
2009 |
€13.00 |
|
| NU & APA NEAGRA |
Omag |
CD |
Rumänische Underground-Psychedelia auf dem Berliner Label LOLLIPOPPE SHOPPE (die auch schon VOLGA und KARPATY MAGICZNE herausgebracht haben)! Ethno- & Folk-Einflüsse, field recordings, dichte & dunkle Atmosphäre; das Spektrum reicht von ruhigen, sehr anmutigen Passagen bis hin zum ekstatischen free-impro Chaos und elektronischen Bearbeitungen, immer weird & eigen, was ist das nur für Musik? Aber lassen wir jetzt noch den staunenden Rigobert Dittmann sprechen: "Ähnlich wie The Magic Carpathians Projekt lässt mich der Sazspieler
und multiinstrumentale Alleskönner Sasa-Liviu Stoianovici im rumänischen Timisoara bedauern, dass ich so wenig Musik aus den östlichen Nachbarländern kenne. Omag (The Lollipoppe Shoppe, LSCD 08) ist nämlich wieder ein stellenweise beklemmend schöner und durchwegs spannender Beitrag zur ‚Imaginären Folklore‘, mit dem selbstverständlichen Einsatz von Loopsampler, Mikrokorg und Fieldrecordings neben der Saz und der Kurzhalslaute Cobza, von Vlad Sturdzas E-Gitarre neben Maultrommel und Szilander Farks Sitar, von Calin Torsancs Reeds & Klarinette neben Alexandru Hegyesis bundloser akustischer Bassgitarre. In den Lauten und dem näselnden Gebläse scheinen Wurzelfäden bis hinab zu prototürkischen, ja sogar thrakischdionysischen und panischen Zeiten zu flattern. Aber in der elektroakustischen Verschwurbelung wird diese Aura von altem Balkan und mythischer Zeit ganz eingemischt in ein psychedelisches und surreal-kosmisches Tripping. Dass Alan Holmes, der walisische Produzent von Gorky's Zygotic Mynci und Gitarrist der Faust verehrenden Ankstmusik-Band Ectogram, einen Mix von ‚Peste munte‘ anfertigte, deutet auf ein Raumzeitnetz hin, in dem sich Nu & Apa Neagra, was übrigens Nein & Schwarzes Wasser heißt, ideell bewegen.
Beim Titelstück ertönt arabesker Gesang zu Sazgeschrammel und dem Zwitschern und Gurren von Vögeln inmitten polymorphender, von einer Furzelwelle angekurbelter Mixadelic. Mit ihrem Balkantouch setzen Nu & Apa Neaga aber einen eigenen Akzent, den ich mit ‚schwerst halluzinatorisch‘ nur andeuten kann. Die Wirkung entspricht einer ziemlich kräftigen Dosis Mutterkorn, die Uhr läuft rückwärts, der Duft von Ziegenbock ist stellenweise schwindelerregend, es wachsen einem Flügel, die einen auf Wolken aus Fuzz und Klingklang schweben lassen, während ‚over the mountain‘ eine Flöte schallt, die nichts davon weiß, dass der Große Pan tot ist. Eine Gitarre auf Speed (‚Galop in 2/4‘), eine Orgel im Opiumrausch (‚Plinsul lui V.‘), dann ein
reedgetrillertes Loopdelirium, in dem ein Wortfetzen mitkreist (‚Cobzar
pneumatic‘). Der Geist von Muslimgauze hetzt vorbei - ‘Oh dear! Oh dear! I shall be late!’ (‚Seara‘), Stimmen kaskadieren auf einem Orgeldrone (‚Umbra si copacul de fier‘). Man durchquert eine Bahnhofshalle, in der die elektrisierte und maultrommelbetwangte Luft Turbulenzen bildet (‚Tambal ruginit‘), und taucht dann ganz tief ein in plunderphonischen, von Stimmen durchraunten und dunkel beflöteten Tapesalat mit Sitardressing (‚Cinci suprapuneripareri‘). Zuletzt jamt Greatful Dead, grillenbezirpt, ungeachtet ständiger Lautsprecher-durchsagen, gefangen zwischen Gestern und Übermorgen (‚13, pentru caracter‘). Vielleicht ist ja das der große Reiz unserer neuen alten Miteuropäer, dass sie noch nicht so durchrenoviert sind, noch nicht so up-todate, dass ihre Kunst des Erbens statt völliger Amnesie doch noch Träume und Räusche mit einschließt, die unserem Speed-Way of Life spotten." [Bad Alchemy]
"NU & APA NEAGRA wurde von Sasha-Liviu Stoianovici (Saz-Autodidakt, Maler und visueller Künstler) und dem Bassisten Alexandru Hegyesi in Timisoara, Rumänien gegründet. Die Gruppe arbeitet mit traditionellen Motiven, improvisiertem Gesang und elektronischen Klängen und ging aus dem NU-Projekt, einem 'free form folk' Projekt hervor, das seit 2001 aktiv ist.
2006 spielte die Gruppe erstmals in Deutschland in Clubs und auf Festivals und präsentierte ihre selbst veröffentlichte CD "At Gardina".
Seit dem hat das Album positive Reaktionen und airplay erhalten, unter anderem im Freien Radio Kassel, Radio Blau Leipzig und beim amerikanischen WFMU Sender.
Nach Umbesetzungen formierte sich die Gruppe 2007 neu als NU & APA NEAGRA (apa neagra = schwarzes Wasser) und arbeitete an dem Album "OMAG", das in Berlin und Timisoara aufgenommen wurde. Der dunkle Charakter der Aufnahmen wurde beeinflusst durch Exkursionen in die Wälder und Berge Rumäniens. Fieldrecordings, alte Instrumente und Aufnahme-Experimente erschaffen eine raue Ethno-Psychedelia, die charakteristisch ist für den Sound der Band. Der Album-Titel "OMAG" ist inspiriert durch eine Pflanze der traditionellen rumänischen Pharmakologie (Aconitum napellus, dt.: Blauer Eisenhut). Neben 13 Aufnahmen beinhaltet das Album einen Mix von Alan Holmes (The Ectogram, Parking Non Stop).
Sasha Liviu Stoianovici – saz, voice, instruments, tape loops
Alexandru Hegyesi – accoustic bass
Vlad Sturdza - guitar
Calin Torsan - woodwinds
www.nu-apa-neagra.ro - www.myspace.com/projectnu
Formed in Timisoara, Romania, by Sasha-Liviu Stoianovici (self taught saz-player and visual artist) & Alexandru Hegyesi, the NU & APA NEAGRA sound project deals with a mix between traditional tunes, improvised vocals and spacey electronics. It started in 2001, as NU, being at the time more of a folk/free form music project.
Representing Romanian underground psychedelia, the group toured Germany twice in 2006, presenting their cdr 'At Gardina', which, in the meantime, received some great reviews. The group played club gigs and also festivals. NU's music has had airplay at radio stations like WFMU or Freies Radio Kassel, among others...
After some changes and studio work in 2007, NU 'reincarnated' as NU & APA NEAGRA and released the OMAG album at the German indie label Lollipoppe Shoppe in June 2008. The tracks have been recorded both in Berlin, Germany and Timisoara, Romania. The sound has became darker, being influenced by various trips in the mountains and forests of Romania. Field recordings, ancient instruments, strange overdubbing techniques, they all create a rough ethno-psychedelic sound, definitely a trademark of NU & APA NEAGRA. The title of the album is inspired by the very poisonous plant Omag, found in the traditional pharmaceutical universe of Romanians (Aconitum napellus). There are 13 original tracks, the 14th one being a deep and strange mix done by Welsh Alan Holmes (Ectogram, Parking Non-Stop). Live shows in central Europe are planed for autumn 2008." [press release]
www.lollipopshop.de
|
2008 |
€13.00 |
|
| NULL, K.K. |
BaryoGenesis |
CD |
"the album opens up with the sound of insects & birds which i recorded live at wetland in Kakadu National park in Australia, that symbolizes organic life/organism (including our human bodies) composed of baryons. then, abstruct electronic noise overlaps them and takes you into a journey through deep inner and far outer spaces at any scales. however, you don't have to care about what i say here, just i hope this music inspires you as much as it does myself, and enjoy with your open mind and free imagination!! technical note : all the music on this album was basically composed and
created in my home studio and it was performed live along with some improvized processing, playing a synthesizer and my voice on top of that." [KK Null]
"KK Null would have been king of noise if Merzbow wouldn't be on the throne. Ever since his work with ANP and Zeni Geva he loves to work with the raw end of music and sound, which has become increasingly more abstract and less rock based than say in his Zeni Geva days. Unlike Merzbow there is a stronger rhythmic component in his music which forms the backbone of his music. It's however not a rhythm of stomping kind, techno like or any such like, but more the repeated action of highly splintered sound fragments, which are looped. On top KK Null plays a brand of harsher noise textures of freaked out psychedelic electronics. Other than Merzbow - again - KK Null's sound is much more detailed and clearer, even in the endless stream of information that his music is. Four strong heavy blasts of noise, and the tracks are pretty long, but in order to get this music working right, it only seems natural to give it such a length. Here too we can wonder about the progress of the music, since it's certainly not Null's first CD, but with a discography that is considerable smaller than Merzbow's that is hardly a problem." [FdW/Vital Weekly]
label-website: www.vivo.pl
|
2007 |
€14.00 |
|
|
Akumu |
CD |
"Japanese experimental music legend Kazuyuki Kishino now presents his new CD album entitled Akumu (Nightmare). On this album Kazuyuki tests his own limits into the darkness and focus all his artistic skills on creating a personal cinematic audio nightmare. Akumu is like being caught in a spiderweb that sticks and creeps to your skin, there is no escape. Akumu is a truly imaginative and terrifying electronic album that gives us a new and unique edge on the artist and sound master Kazuyuki Kishino's universe. This is the dark masterpiece of K.K. Null...Deluxe 6 panel digipak comes with beautifull stylish design/photography by Salt." [label info]
"Akumu finds KK Null once more dragging the listening into a heady, shifting and highly effective audio movie for the mind with his distinctive mix of electronica, ambience, noise matter, field recordings & heady cinematics.
As the albums artwork of frozen spiky organic matter and thawing firns suggest this has a very cold, barren yet alien beauty to it. And to my mind the album it rather brought to mind a soundtrack for travels through a strange isolated high radiation zone- like something from Tarkovsky Stalker but with more of twisted sci-fi angle. A few examples of this come with the opening track that switchers between eerier gong/ bell tone laden gothic ambience & sudden seering sound oveloads. This pictures in ones mind a deserted & overgrown market square that's still strangely ringing with the towns bells, with the sudden power-up’s and boil tones akin to been engulfed by radiation high spots that make your Geiger counter go mad. Track five is an building and kaleidoscopic audio slice of cold, mechanical, gone-haywire electro dread and intensity bringing to mind walking through a deserted car factory that’s starts operating on it’s own. As Null buildings up a detailed & at times jarring sound tapestry of purring, buzzing, scuttling, static hits, circuit board mournfulness and stale radiation heavy drone feeds. Really through out the album walks wonderful between tension, dread, jarring moments and general very heady and detailed audio scaping.
Another masterfully structured and built slice of internal soundtracking from KK Null which with repeat listens reveals more sonic facets and deeper atmospheric emersion." [Roger Batty, Musiquemachine.com]
www.hentai-vital.com
|
2008 |
€15.00 |
|
| |
Extropy Ground Zero |
CD |
"In Extropy Ground Zero, Kazuyuki Kishino displays an intriguing approach towards the genre of experimental noise. Deviating from his usual genre style, he unleashes new material of percussive blast beats which take dominance in the 2 tracks (one studio and one live) contained within. The juxtaposition of electronic percussive noise tempo against layers of interweaving swooshes and electronic bleeps provide an interesting ambience of sound, which strongly reflect KK Null’s unique creative process in noise experimentation."
https://4ibrecords.com
"KK Null is a legend in the noise/power electronics scene. Moreover, he is a master of chaos creation. We have for you, his latest work courtesy of 4ib Records, Extropy Ground Zero.
From 4ib Records: “Kazuyuki Kishino displays an intriguing approach towards the genre of experimental noise. Deviating from his usual genre style, he unleashes new material of percussive blast beats which take dominance in the 2 tracks (one studio and one live) contained within. The juxtaposition of electronic percussive noise tempo against layers of interweaving swooshes and electronic bleeps provide an interesting ambience of sound”
Track 1, “Extropy Ground Zero” starts off with some rapid, distorted conic bullets. What follows is absolute madness and chaos. There are so many things going on and so many dimensions and dynamics, it’s ridiculous…but in a good way. Trust me on that. After the rapid distorted cyber-strikes and a series of what sound like computer glitches, we then find ourselves behind a wall of harsh noise and again, those distorted rapid percussive beats. KK then mixes this with some upper-frequency harshness. Then after a short, dark ambient break… utter bloody chaos erupts; the sonic equivalent of breaking glass and fierce storms; the pinnacle of all that I just mentioned combined. That then tapers off like rain at the end of the storm and the storm begins again just before 9:00. Very destructive, uncomfortable cyber-noise madness. Great stuff and really unique in terms of noise artistry.
I’ve always been a huge fan of noise albums that were recorded live. They just add other dimensions in terms of experimentation/improvisation for the artist and sonic dynamics vast vs. claustrophobic for the listener. Track 2, “Tokyo Ground Zero” is live.
If you thought track 1 was maddening, you haven’t heard anything yet. Ok, I’ll step out on a limb and say it. It’s tracks like “Tokyo Ground Zero” that make Merzbow look like a drone artist. Now, please don’t get me wrong, I love Masami’s work and no one can deny his place in noise as a true pioneer..no one. But KK Null is really pushing some boundaries here, like serious goose bump-inducing chaos and sonic bloody anarchy. Super-speed distorted cyber-blast beats, glitches and blips, multi-dimensional harsh noise walls and shards and a whole other pile of chaos – shifting, speeding, slowing abruptly and uncomfortably. I think I even heard some buried samples and discordant piano strikes. It’s really very challenging to describe. It’s like a category 9 hurricane with so many things in the path of its destruction-lifting and dropping, tossing and smashing. Not many noise tracks give me chills but this one sure did. Really… you’ll just have to hear it. If this track indicates the direction KK is going, he really nailed a cornerstone on this one. I really can’t even find the words other than that.
I think we’re going to interview KK soon. We’ll have to find out how the hell he pulled that track off live. I can’t imaging being in that venue." [Noise Beneath the Snow]
|
2017 |
€13.00 |
|
| NULL, K.K. / Z'EV |
Artificial Life |
CD |
Strong mixture of metallic gong & percussion-drones with electronic analogue-noises.. some material is quite mellow, some has outbursting movements... no boring moments... definitely recommended for friends of both projects.
“Percussion and percussive elements compose the majority of the source material on this collaborative disc. However, the five pieces on this disc are anything but traditional percussion. With tracks ranging from dense, complex rhythms that sound like angry gnats to sonorus bowed metal and shifting sine waves, these recordings emphasize why these artists have earned their places in the pantheon of experimental sound artists.” [label info]
“....Recently both were on tour in the UK, and on that occasion this CD was produced and in a way can be seen as a continuation of a recent work they did with Chris Watson (see Vital Weekly 503). Both are works of playing together, but in the case of the release with Watson, it was Z'ev putting the stuff together afterwards based on the sound material offered by KK Null and Chris Watson, whereas in this case Null and Z'ev where together and played the music in an improvised way. That means there are differences to be noted. The Touch CD was much more densely shaped with a wide variety of sounds being blurred together into fine woven pattern, whereas here electronics play a main part but separately from the percussive elements thrown in by Null (who gets credit for electro-percussion) and Z'ev. Less dense, but with a lot of variety. From the tribalism third piece (all are untitled) to the abstract and quieter second and fourth piece, these two gentlemen play a fine piece of music. Throughout they know what they are doing and it may seem that Z'ev is the man who plays the 'solo's' here, meaning he gets a more distinct sound, but it's a wonderfully varied and intelligent disc. No wonder they are heavy weights.” [Fdw/ Vital Weekly]
|
2006 |
€13.00 |
|
| NURSE WITH WOUND |
Rat Tapes One: An Accumulation of Discarded Musical Vermin 1983-2006 |
CD |
Ratten-Tapes? 18 Stücke, alle unbetitelt, aus den letzten über 20 Jahren, keinesfalls ratten-schlechtes Material, im Gegenteil,
auffallend oft rhythmisch ausgeprägt (sogar break-beatig 1 x ), natürlich immer an der Pforte zu einem surrealistischen Traumreich, wo Bedrohung und Humoreske zwei Seiten derselben Medaille sind. Ansonsten kann einem hier so ziemlich alles passieren, und diverse Sounds von bekannten Releases tauchen wieder auf... Stimmenexperimente, Tierlaute, Sinustöne, unbeschreibbare Geräusche noch und nöcher....
“With 18 untitled tracks, there’s no shortage of the mutant voices and clanks from the darkness that I’ve come to expect. However, I was most surprised by the amount of rhythmic material found here, especially on the second half of the disc. “Track 10” could very well be a backing track left over from the Rock and Roll Sessions. Strangely enough, “Track 12” is a techno song with little of the Nurse With Wound signature other than some operatic elements and the oblique, gaping maw of an ending. It’s actually not a bad example of that type of music, perhaps aided by the element of surprise. “Track 14” actually has lyrics as a growling voice riffs on television news over a big beat and atmospherics. “Track 16” starts with frogs and insects in what could be the foley track of a film before drums and an explosion tear it open into a primal kraut romp with guitars and buried vocals.
There aren’t a whole lot of tracks with obvious forebears, although the bell sounds from Thunder Perfect Mind recur on “Track 4,” “Track 6,” “Track 11,” and perhaps “Track 15.” Also from that album is the jackhammer drill briefly reworked as “Track 13.” The disc concludes with a spoken word collage of musicians’ names, many of which pass too quickly to differentiate, and then ends with the statement, “All of these bands are complete shit,” followed by a scream. Considering that many of those named are well-respected in underground circles, it’s an amusing send-up and perhaps serves as a companion anti-statement to the band’s infamous list of greats from Chance Meeting.
Although a few of the longer songs grow a little dull in the context of other shorter, fragmentary tracks, the album is still generously entertaining with many unique entries to the Nurse With Wound canon.” [Brainwashed / Matthew Amundson]
"An accumulation of discarded musical vermin 1983 - 2006." With Mr. Stapleton returning to publishing through his United Dairies imprint, he has collected various studio outtakes from over the years and compiled them into this exceptional body of NWW ephemera. Immediately, Nurse fans will recognize vastly mangled variations of "Black Is The Colour Of My True Love's Hair" from She And Me Fall Together Into Free Death, "Cold" from Thunder Perfect Mind, and "Rock 'N Roll Station" from any number of those sessions. Stapleton has long recycled themes in a kaleidoscope of distortions, permutations, and hallucinations, and hearing such favorites all over again, brings a smile to us all.” [Helen Scarsdale]
|
2006 |
€13.00 |
|
|
Alice the Goon |
CD |
"June 2009, new reissue. United Jnana are pleased to announce the next installment in our ongoing Nurse With Wound reissue series, 'Alice the goon'. Originally released in a limited vinyl edition in 1995, it was expanded for its CD debut in 2000. This version replicates the 2000 reissue With a 4 panel digipak. Tracks: (I Don't Want to Have) Easy Listening Nightmares (9:28) ¥ Prelude to Alice the goon (12:51) ¥ Untitled (7:24)." [label info]
"Alice the Goon was previously a vinyl-only issue of 500 pieces, available to a lucky few at the Nevers Festival in France. It was hard to come by and selling for high prices on auction websites. Fortunately, for the Nurse With Wound fans not so lucky to be in France, Stephen Stapleton has agreed to allow everyone a chance to hear this music again. The CD features the two songs from the original release plus an additional, untitled piece which many call simply 'Alice the Goon.' The first track sounds like it would fit right in on the Sylvie and Babs release; imagine an old phonograph player belting out a brass-laden instrumental. The second track is a little less involved. The third track, however, sounds right out of A Missing Sense. There is little movement and many drones in this song that could certainly lull you to sleep."
[Paul Kustos]
www.durtro.com
|
2009 |
€16.00 |
|
|
To the Quiet Men from a Tiny Girl |
LP |
Long awaited vinyl reissue of NWWs classic 2nd album. This yellow vinyl version Is exclusive to Cargo. Packaged in an outer sleeve that replicates the original United Dairies issue and also has a replica of the Steven Stapleton designed insert. Info: To the Quiet Men from a Tiny Girl is the second album by Nurse With Wound and the last to be made by the founding trio of Steven Stapleton, John Fothergill, and Heman Pathak. The album also features contributions from French avant-garde musician Jacques Berrocal. It was recorded by The Bombay Ducks, an alias for Nicky Rogers and Vic Ball, the former of whom had facilitated the recording of the group's first album, Chance Meeting on a Dissecting Table of a Sewing Machine and an Umbrella (and, therefore, unintentionally, the group's formation - see article for details). The album's title comes from Tolerance's album Anonym link The sessions were characterised by tension amongst the trio with Pathak leaving the group almost immediately after the album was completed - Fothergill told author David Keenan that Pathak's contribution to this record was minimal. Stapleton and Fothergill disagreed over the production of She Alone Hole And Open (named after a line from "Pini Pini" by Arto/Neto) and Stapleton has expressed regret at allowing the track to be compromised by Fothergill's intervention. Before long, Fothergill would also leave the group as he and Stapleton began to clash over the releases on the group's United Dairies label, which was now issuing music by other artists such as Whitehouse and The Lemon Kittens.
|
2020 |
€23.50 |
|
| |
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 |
|
| NURSE WITH WOUND / OCTAVE MIRBEAU |
Alienation / Un Homme Sensible |
mCD + book |
"Je ne crois pas avoir jamais été méchant. Non, en vérité, je ne le crois pas. Tout enfant, j’étais même doué d’une sensibilité excessivement, exagérément douloureuse qui me portait à plaindre, – jusqu’à en être malade – les souffrances des autres… pourvu – cela va de soi, car je suis un artiste – qu’elles ne se compliquassent point de laideurs anormales ou de monstruosités physiologiques. Ah ! ce n’est pas moi – vous pouvez m’en croire – qui admettrai jamais l’esthétique de M. Rodin. Et, je puis me vanter que j’en ai jeté des pommes cuites à son Balzac !…
Écrivain et critique, Octave Mirbeau (1848-1917) est notamment l'auteur de L'Abbé Jules, Le jardin des supplices et Journal d'une femme de chambre. Dans Un homme sensible, il conte l'histoire d'un assassin bien décidé, au nom de l'harmonie du monde, à débarrasser celui-ci de « tous les organismes inaptes à une vie harmonieuse et forte ». De quoi inspirer Nurse With Wound, qui, en guise d'illustration, nous livre ici Alienation (The Devil's Interval), une nouvelle pièce de musique inédite."
www.lenkalente.com/product/un-homme-sensible-d-octave-mirbeau-nurse-with-wound
"Let me finish where it all started. With Nurse With Wound whose music I have been listening to for the last ooooh thirty five years or so. Late eighties maybe? Mid eighties? Memories lost in the fog of time. You listen to so much you lose track. What was my first Nurse With Wound album? Probably ‘A Sucked Orange’, maybe that collaboration with Hafler Trio that came out on Staaltape. ‘A Sucked Orange’ I found hilarious; I’m A Frayed Knot, Pleasant Banjo Intro With Irritating Squeak, Scrambled Egg Rebellion In The Smegma Department. I listened and thought to myself but aren’t Nurse With Wound supposed to be dark and scary? Somewhere lodged in the back of my brain was the cover art for ‘Chance Meeting ...’ and that leather clad dominatrix and the thought that only weirdos listened to Nurse With Wound and here was ‘Raymonde Fluffs It’ in which Raymonde fluffs his opening lines. Laugh? I nearly bought myself one. The split with Hafler Trio meanwhile, that truly fried my brain. I had no idea what was going on but I knew that I liked it.
Shortly afterwards I availed myself of twenty nine United Dairies cassettes via Ron Lessard and have proudly walked stride by stride with Nurse With Wound ever since, diving in to the back catalogue and buying new stuff when the chance arose. Until recently when the thought struck me that barring what Lenka Lente have released I haven’t listened to a new Nurse With Wound release for what must be over ten years. How did that happen? How did I manage to overlook what one of my favourite bands have been doing for the last ten years?
I decided to make up for lost time by drawing up a list of every Nurse With Wound release catalogued on Discogs and ticked off all those that I had physical copies of. I discounted the two Nurse With Wound MP3 discs I bought in St Petersburg in 2003 because a] I dislike the Russian and Chinese attitude towards copyright and b] MP3’s are a bit shit. I now realise that far from having everything Nurse With Wound had recorded from inception to the year 2000 and bits beyond I was the proud owner of quite a bit of it with several gaps that needed filling. To fill these gaps I need time and money so for the foreseeable the blog is being put to bed as I venture forth on the good ship Nurse With Wound proudly captained by Steve Stapleton and his crew. Whether I shall ever rouse it from its slumbers we shall have to wait and see.
In the meantime I’m going to find out what Nurse With Wound have been up to these last ten years. I need to hear what awaits me within that decade and the gaps that lie beyond. I shall also paint and draw, read, listen to the radio, go for walks around Scholes, see out this sodding lockdown, survive the virus and hopefully emerge like a vaccinated butterfly sometime during the spring months. By then I will have listened to lots of Nurse With Wound. Lots. Masses. Hopefully I’ll have bought quite a bit too. Maybe I’ll sell off some stuff to make room for it. My very own dedicated Nurse With Wound shelf with a vinyl copy of ‘A Sucked Orange’ forever proudly on display.
My Lenka Lente/Nurse With Wound CD’s will also go there though the shelf will have to be a tad smaller to accommodate them. These three inch/five centimeter discs have been virtually my only portal to what Nurse With Wound have been up to recently. The last one that came through the door piquing my interest enough to having me seek out their Tusk set from 2017, which by the way in case you are interested and why shouldn’t you be is quite stunning and well worth your time. If only I was there. Woe is me etc.
‘Alienations [The Devil’s Interval]’ is a fifteen minute slice of a ‘sleep concert’ Nurse With Wound gave in Ireland also during 2017. Sleep concerts being eight hour long overnight shows where Stapleton DJ’s his back catalogue while mixing in live sounds [I’m guessing] as the audience chills out for the night on airbeds and sleeping bags. Somnolence and hypnogogia being the perfect state of mind in which to receive the slowly moving drones of say Soliloquy For Lilith. Whether Stapleton played ‘Chance Meeting …’ in its entirety at four a.m. isn’t recorded. You can achieve the same state of mind at home by smoking a big bifter and playing Soliloquy For Lilith on repeat while rubbing the rim of a glass bowl with a wet finger. Just don’t try it with ‘A Sucked Orange’ ... unless you’re an insomniac. The results will be very different. Fifteen minutes culled from eight hours of DJ’ing will have to suffice for now then and beautiful it is too with the merest hint of Aurelie Lierman’s vocals helping to lull you safely in to the droning arms of morpheus.
As for Octave Mirbeau, I vaguely remember buying a copy of his ‘The Torture Garden’ when I was going through a very expensive and steep transgressive reading curve. If I had all the money returned to me that I spent on books of a transgressive nature I’d have enough to buy a good chunk of the Nurse With Wound back catalogue on original vinyl, in mint condition. Needless to say I was wholly unprepared and underwhelmed by Mirbeau’s satire on the brutality of humankind wanting and expecting something of a far more base nature for my money. I left Mirbeau and much of transgressive literature behind around the same time. Maybe I should go back now that I am older and wiser? Now that I have more time on my hands. Now that I’m reacquainting myself with Nurse With Wound. The perfect partners perhaps? I could translate all of ‘Un Homme Sensible’ while listening to ‘Automating Volume Three’. I’m sure that it would be time well spent." [Idwal Fisher]
https://idwalfisher.blogspot.com/2021/02/octave-mirbeau-and-nurse-with-wound.html
|
2021 |
€16.00 |
|
| O PARADIS |
Pequenas Canciones de Amor |
CD |
"The 1st thing that comes to mind when I hear O Paradis is Novy Svet and lookie lookie Jurgen Weber from just that project worked and wrote some of the material. It has the same campy cabaret vibe as Novy Svet. Though there are more eastern and gypsy elements into the Folkish overtone. I all honesty the 1st track was a tough listen to get through. There are moments were I really wonder where O Paradis are going with this.
They are very akin to Spiritual Front in song structure and ideals as well. I do like the lazy horns and heavy bass elements that add an avant jazz overtone. ‘Pequenas Canciones De Amor’ being in Italian some of the time is a bit hard for me to follow from time to time but there are really some beautiful track especially when the female vocals are mixed with the very lounge sung male vocals.
A truly shining moment is the Bob Dylan song so well done by the mighty Johnny Cash called " its aint me, Baby”. The additional accordion piece which is incorporated really adds to the fullness of the track.
Sometime I think O Paradis really want to be Novy Svet as some of the more dark ambient/ martini/ martial moments could come off one of their releases. I was always a sucker for Novy Svet so it’s something I greatly missed. I'm shocked that labels like Punch, WKN or Soleilmoon didn’t jump at the chance to release this title. Some of these tracks I think are in Spanish like Novy Svet did from time to time as well. As ‘Pequenas Canciones De Amo’ goes along the CD get stronger and stronger and a more complex beast that is hugely expansive and almost epic at times, which also include moments of even stirring neo-classic movements. This new label Tourette based of Texas USA have given a release to stand up with the bigger labels mentioned above. It comes in a wonderful digipak as well. Just to add to the magic of it all. I will be looking forward to hearing more from O Paradis and Tourette in the future." [Clint Listing /Judas Kiss]
www.touretterecords.com
|
2008 |
€13.00 |
|
| O YUKI CONJUGATE |
OYC25 |
CD + DVD |
"O Yuki Conjugate: 25 Years of Willful Obscurity Soleilmoon Recordings announce the release of “OYC25”, a CD & DVD celebrating a quarter century of UK ambient pioneers O Yuki Conjugate.
In October 1982 the youthful O Yuki Conjugate played their first gig at the now-defunct Newshouse pub in Nottingham, England to seven
people and a dog. Three incarnations, seven albums and 25 years later all members past and present got together in a West London studio to
record an album in an afternoon as a way of marking this unlikely anniversary. The result- lovingly remixed by producer Rob Jenkins- is OYC25, five tracks of post-industrial, fourth world-ish, dirty ambience.
OYC25 finds the band in fine form, with an abundance of dub-like bass, micro processed rhythms and plangent pads. The package includes a full length DVD of live recordings and rare footage that offer a unique insight into the band’s history, together with a complete alternate mix of the album. The whole thing comes in a gatefold sleeve beautifully designed by Fitzroy&Finn and includes a specially
commissioned essay on the band by Dr Philip Shaw, Senior Lecturer in English at Leicester University.
NOTE: The DVD is a region-free double-sided disc with NTSC on one side and PAL on the other. It is fully compatible with all DVD players worldwide. Find O Yuki Conjugate on the web at www.oyukiconjugate.com." [label info]
www.soleilmoon.com
"A while ago I had to move everything from one side to the room to the other to put a new floor in. Then then everything back. The first thing I did was re-connect the CD player and when I more or less blindly took the first CD from a pile, which I thought would be nice to play when dragging around piles of CDs and it turns out to be 'Sunchemical', a CDEP by O Yuki Conjugate. I liked it so much that I had it on repeat for a while that afternoon and even stuck it to my ipod. I am hardly surprised that this band exists twenty-five years when recording 'OYC25' in 2007 (I presume), as I already seen a note about a box set of works from the past. O Yuki Conjugate's releases over those years have not been many but they had truly a great sound of their own. An excellent combination of ambient music along the lines of Brian Eno and Jon Hassell, ethnic music percussion, a bit of industrial music and later on techno/house. The members were all active in various other bands such as A Small Good
Thing and Sons Of Silence, and still get together every now and then to record. For this recording all members from the past and the present came together to record an album during an afternoon. This album was then mixed by Rob Jenkins into a very fine piece of music. The improvised nature of the music is all gone and replaced by a great mixture of slow percussive moods, ambient tapestries of synthesizer sounds, flutes and flowing guitars, feeding through a bunch of sound effects, and a bit of weirdness to prevent it from becoming a new age cliche. O Yuki Conjugate are still, after twenty-five years, masters of the genre. And as a bonus (?) there is also a DVD inside this package with archive material. We see O Yuki Conjugate on tour in 1993-1994 (like a home video tourist movie actually with excerpts from concerts and interviews), a great concert from 2007 of OYC as a trio and a video about the recording of the 'OYC25' album, which looks great too. An alternative mix really, and a
fine interaction. In the extra (extra bonus?) section more live stuff, but then from 1982 (without film of course), a strange short comic like thing plus another alternative mix of 'OYC25' - which of course is a bit much if you first heard the CD, then saw the live recording of it, but just one day you might grab this and want to check it out - just like any good bonus on a DVD, I guess. A project loaded with just great music, and some funny background images. Just the sort of way a jubilee should be done." [FdW, Vital Weekly]
|
2009 |
€17.50 |
|
| |
Sleepwalker |
CD |
First new album for over a decade Sleepwalker (auf abwegen aatp69) documents O Yuki Conjugate's recent live shows, doubling as a soundtrack to a film of the same name by founder member Andrew Hulme. Comprising 10 new tracks taken from 24 live shows in nine countries across Europe, Sleepwalker captures OYC's current musical direction, a blend of plangent keyboards, abstract guitars and electronic rhythms, presented in OYC's inimical style.
About O Yuki Conjugate
OYC were formed in Nottingham in 1982 on the wave of experimental music that emerged out of Post Punk. Quickly moving on from their early industrial and electronic influences, OYC began exploring the then-unfashionable 'ambient' genre, a lonely furrow they've ploughed ever since.
Today OYC are in their 38th year and fourth incarnation based around core members Andrew Hulme and Roger Horberry. Over the years they've released nine albums of wilfully obscure ambient-influenced music that together have earned them literally hundreds of pounds - from Scene in Mirage (1984), Into Dark Water (1987) and Peyote (1990) through to Tropic (2017). Largely ignored in the UK, they've consistently found audiences in the US and Europe more receptive to their work.
OYC have a somewhat relaxed work ethic and have frequently gone into hibernation for years at a time without ever going so far as splitting up.
In 2017 they discovered they enjoyed touring and have played more gigs in the last two years than in the previous 20. They've also overseen a series of reissues on Emotional Rescue, as well as a remix 12" of their 1995 album track 'Insect-Talk'. attracting a new barmey army of listeners to their unique sound. Further reissues are planned.
OYC have also found time to create their own alter ego Ocean Youth Club who have just released their first 12" on Barcelona's Hivern Discs. Produced by Colin Potter it's entitled 'Divided Self' and is a conceptual entity based around OYC's desire to explore their own alternate history. In other words, what they would have sounded like if, in 1984, they'd opted to take an electronic route instead of an ambient one.
"Basierte das 2018 veröffentlichte Album „Tropic“ auf ursprünglich Mitte der 90er Jahre komponiertem Material, das später be- und überarbeitet wurde, handelt es sich bei „Sleepwalker“ um eine komplett neue Veröffentlichung. Aufgenommen während einiger Auftritte in den Jahren 2017 bis 2019, sind die auf „Sleepwalker“ enthaltenen Stücke Soundtrack des gleichnamigen Films (von Gründungsmitglied Andrew Hulme), über den es heißt, er habe eine „loose dream-like narrative“.
Im umfangreichen Booklet (was – so profan es auch klingen mag – in Zeiten sinkender Verkaufszahlen leider keine Selbtsverständlichkeit mehr ist) finden sich neben Bildern aus dem Film Textpassagen, die verschiedene (Alp-)Traumszenarien zu beschreiben scheinen: „There is a building under water/As you look down into the water it rises up in front of you“. An anderer Stelle liest man: „Suddenly you’re very afraid“.
Das Album beginnt mit „Clockish“, das mit seinen flächigen Sounds durchaus einen somnambulen Charakter hat.„In Flux“ integriert schleppende Beats in das Klangbild, „The Air Is Alive“ ist von flirrenden, flächigen Passagen geprägt. Auf „Eyelids Burn“ taucht eine Frauenstimme aus dem Äther auf; den Linernotes ist zu entnehmen, dass ein Stück von Keeley Forsyth integriert wurde, die demnächst ihr Debütalbum veröffentlicht und für die Hulme auch schon Videos gedreht hat. „Beyond Control 4“ beginnt mit einem Sprachsample, auf denen die Selbstverbrennung von Thích Quảng Đức thematisiert wird. Man hört dezente Pianotupfer und melancholische Flächen. Sehr schön ist „Forgotten Summer“ mit entrückten Gitarrenpassagen, Beats und Flöte (?). Auf „Black Magic Box“ dagegen sind die Geräusche fast nicht mehr wahrnehmbar: In der Ferne knirschst es, Wasser plätschert. Das abschließende „The Madness Below“ lässt irgendwo eine Trompete erahnen.
Der letzte Satz aus dem Film, der im Booklet zu lesen ist, lautet “You are in motion”. Das ist vielleicht nicht die schlechteste Beschreibung der auf “Sleepalker” zu hörenden Musik, denn insgesamt sind die zehn Stücke so variantenreich, dass man fortwährend den Eindruck von Bewegung hat." [MG, African Paper]
|
2019 |
€14.00 |
|
| O'ROURKE, JIM |
Rules of Reduction |
mCD |
"A 17-minute musique concrete work from O'Rourke, who has also worked with Illusion of Safety. Strange, dense, dreamlike music segments mix with more ethereal music and sounds of traffic, car horns, children playing, and speeches." [Allmusic.com]
www.metamkine.com
|
1995 |
€4.00 |
|
|
I'm happy and I'm singing and a 1,2,3,4 |
CD |
"The novelty is over - it's time to get to work. Indeed Mr O'Rourke (look under O' in the Penguin guide to post populist art-wank) has done just this to produce a solo computer album. Although traits of O'Rourke-ien past can be found here, some definite bright new angles also shine throughout the 3 (dare we say it) elegant tracks featured here. Equal parts - schizoid pop, cracked minimalism, concrete drama and melancholic contemplation. It strikes us as a highly personal release. Imagine the Powerbook as a springboard to explore oneself inside... not a machine for accentuating the inhuman, but a machine for embracing, and giving voice to the more delicate elements of the inner human. Thought it couldn't be done? Think again. It has, and has been blessed with a nifty title to boot! Given the nature of this warm beast, it seems likely to appeal across the board - electronic nuts, indie rock kids and yes, even the good folk of the established experimental world may take pleasure in the delicate nuances of Jim's hard drive. Avoiding clichés seems like pretty tough business to most artists out there, not to our boy Jim who has produced a disc worthy of many repeated listens - hat's off to him for that. File under 'handsome'" [press release]
|
2001 |
€10.00 |
|
|
The Visitor |
CD |
"JIM O’ROURKE returns with his first new solo album since 2001. All the classic O’Rourke-isms are here, for you musicologist types: percolating banjos, smooth electric leads, organic, kicking drum sounds, the flickering of shakers to the left and right, mellow but ominous woodwinds, sounds that indicate “vintage” (before turning left and running out the door), sonic jokes, sonic tear-jerkers, sonic jerkoffs, all wrapped in spacious yet subtle left to right placement of everything in the picture. There’s moments of low comedy next to high drama and juicy melancholy with a seeming lack of regard for proximity. Plus—sudden surging rhythms! The Visitor is sort of “O’Rourke Does O’Rourke”—Jim re-contextualizing everything he’s done over the years, and throwing out the bullshit. The one thing you won’t hear is his voice—perhaps another O’Rourkian self-examination? Or maybe he’s just saving it for all the name-calling on his next album." [label info]
"You probably can't find a musician with a wider breadth of sound, or more sonically varied releases, than Mr. Jim O'Rourke. During his vast career he's made everything from harsh noise to delightful pop, was part of one of the more influential groups of the last few decades, Gastr Del Sol, collaborated with Nurse With Wound, became a member of Sonic Youth, was at the forefront of the '90s experimental electronic renaissance, made some crunchy rock albums with his Wilco pal Jeff Tweedy, and the list just goes on and on.
These days O'Rourke has slowed down his output considerably so a new release is both much more anticipated as well as a total unknown as to which side of Jim O'Rourke will be on display. With The Visitor, O'Rourke emerges with his first new full length in many years and wow the wait was worth it! The Visitor is one long track clocking in at
around 37 minutes but it almost serves as some kind of early morning daydream song cycle with a spectrum of nuanced sounds that make us
think of Van Dyke Parks arranging a John Fahey album or what a more restrained James Blackshaw record might sound like.
The record starts with very hushed noodling guitar and as the piece goes on the sounds expand in richness as extra flourishes of bells, piano and other lushness flesh out O'Rourke's delicate guitar playing. Hard to avoid this cliché, but The Visitor really is a total journey, at first you don't really know where it's going and you're not sure if you necessarily want to follow but as the piece evolves it completely grabs a hold of your attention until you are lost in its slowly unfurling sonic voyage. Highly recommended!" [Aquarius Rec.]
www.dragcity.com
|
2009 |
€13.00 |
|
|
To Magnetize Money and Catch a Roving Eye |
4 x CD BOX |
"A four-hour work, recorded at Jim O'Rourke's studio, Steamroom, between 2017 and 2018. Detailed and delicate electronic layers, processed instruments, and ambiguous field recordings come together in a slow-moving, fascinating kaleidoscope with multiple reflections and wrong turns, always in a constant state of flux. The finely crafted art of subterfuge. The four-CD set To Magnetize Money and Catch a Roving Eye is a hypnotic, multi-faceted, labyrinthine piece which flows as slowly as a river while speeding back through memory. Composer, performer, and multi-instrumentalist Jim O'Rourke was born in Chicago in 1969. He is a veritable chameleon working at the frontiers of very diverse musical genres." [label info]
"O’Rourke’s latest drone project, running to over four hours, is darker and more dreamlike than his Steamroom series, and one of his most meditative releases yet.
For more than a quarter century now, Jim O’Rourke has been sculpting shadows. For some, the American musician is best known for the lush, psychedelic Americana of albums like Bad Timing, or his production work for bands like Wilco, Stereolab, and Sonic Youth. (He was also a member of the latter for a spell, during the Murray Street and Sonic Nurse years.) But since the early 1990s, beginning with albums like Scend and Disengage, the secret heart of O’Rourke’s music has been dedicated to pure electronic abstraction. To call this minimalist output “ambient” or even “drone” doesn’t capture the subtleties of his broad expanses of shimmer and hum. Listen carefully to these pieces, and it sometimes seems that he is molding feedback into storm clouds, or milking frequencies out of thin air.
In recent years, O’Rourke’s drone activities have begun to assume center stage. His practice appears intense, even monastic: He typically devotes five or six hours a day to recording on the Serge, an arcane modular synthesizer from the 1970s; he might spend weeks editing a given session down, mixing it with homemade field recordings, and massaging it all into the desired shape. (“I wish the days were longer,” he has said.) Since 2013, the fruits of his labor have been trickling out under the Steamroom imprint, the digital-only Bandcamp series named after his Tokyo studio. It’s an evocative name, and not so far off from the sounds he achieves. That there are currently 46 releases after just six years—some of them reissues, but most of it new and previously unreleased—says something about his dedication.
To Magnetize Money and Catch a Roving Eye is a kindred spirit to that series. Even by O’Rourke’s standards, it is a mammoth undertaking. Steamroom releases typically consist of a single track that’s somewhere between 30 and 45 minutes in length, but the new album, a four-disc affair, totals nearly four and a quarter hours. The sounds within can be just as daunting. These are not the soft, consonant tones of Streamroom 40, a fan favorite; this music is woven together from ominous rustling noises, glowering low-end throb, and white-hot waves of piercing feedback. The dividing line between musical tone and pure atmosphere is porous: O’Rourke’s synthesizers are more gestural than melodic, and at their edges they dissolve into a vivid, four-dimensional soundscape.
There is an unmistakably dreamlike quality to the music, with hints of birdsong and distant traffic, old trains creaking to life and spaceships powering up, boots in snow and high-voltage power lines overhead. It sounds not just haunting but haunted—not malevolent, necessarily, but terrifying nonetheless. In places, it sounds like O’Rourke came across Grouper’s Dragging a Dead Deer Up a Hill and decided to take the title literally, coaxing from his matrix of tapes and circuitry a sound equal to that of blood drying on matted pine needles.
There are few repeated motifs, but for the most part, elements rise into the mix, spread out like inkblots, and are subsumed back into the murk, never to appear again. Some nine minutes into “Part II,” there is an unexpected eruption of feedback, a sustained explosion of surprising force, as though O’Rourke had set fire to Sunn O)))’s backline, but otherwise, recognizable events are few and far between. Seismic rumble melts into glassy shimmer, and vice versa; the music is constantly shape-shifting, yet it all converges into a low, sustained hum.
City-dwellers may recognize this as the standard frequency of the modern metropolis. It is as though O’Rourke had captured and amplified the sounds of everyday life, from the inaudible (magnetic fields, cell-phone signals) to the visceral (rainfall, rumbling subways), rendering them almost womblike. Despite the album’s intimidating scale, it is a strangely welcoming, even enveloping listen. “It’s not a question of patience,” O’Rourke has said, when asked why he likes longform composition so much. “It’s just my taste. I like longer music. It all really comes down to breathing.” In its controlled pacing and deep interiority, To Magnetize Money and Catch a Roving Eye also resembles a kind of breathwork. It is one of his most meditative pieces yet." [Pitchfork]
|
2019 |
€32.00 |
|
| |
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 |
|
| O'ROURKE, JIM & C.M.VON HAUSSWOLFF |
In, Demons, In! |
LP |
The time-stopping tract of ’In Demons In!’ is a naturally elemental drone collaboration between eminent experimentalists Jim O’Rourke and CM Von Hausswolf for their eternal admirers at iDEAL Recordings
Offering a transfixing peek behind the curtain of pure black hole drone dynamics, ‘In Demons In!’ finds the American in Japanese exile and the proclaimed monarch of the imaginary kingdoms of Elgaland-Vargaland meeting on common ground after 26 years of international correspondence. Initiated in Tokyo 2016 and completed over the proceeding two years in Japan and Sweden, the uncompromisingly adventurous results are galactic in scope and viscerally metaphysical in presence, conjuring scales of abyssal bass and diffused, atomised, abstract dark matter that make the listener feel like a speck of stardust floating in infinity.
Using sound as a magickal tool for psychic transport and to finely model notions of the metaphysical that typically elude human comprehension, the near 40’ work feels to collapse billions of years into a glacial moment. Location recordings made in Kathmandu lend an barely there iridescence, like microbial filaments flickering in the endless darkness, to their plunging, subharmonic basses and vaporised mid-upper registers, where spectral forces comb thru the piece, only very gradually altering the weightless keen of its planetary mass and mental traction.
Ultimately, and fans are likely to agree, ‘In Demons In!’ amounts to a vitally definitive entry in both artists’ catalogues, marking right up there with the most abstract wonders of O’Rourke’s electro- acoustic Steamroom volumes, while manifesting some of the most fascinating results from Von Hausswolff’s ongoing investigations into drone music’s paranormal properties. In other words: it’s Grade A+ zoner music. |
2019 |
€21.50 |
|
| OBLIVION ENSEMBLE |
Seraphim Hallucino |
CD |
Nach langer Wartezeit endlich ein neues Album für das US-amerikanische Projekt um BRANNON HUNGNESS und JOHN BERGSTROM, die vor Jahren auch eine EP für Drone Records eingespielt haben. SERAPHIM HALLUCINO ist ein erdrückend intensives, dunkles Werk basierend auf Instrumental-Improvisationen, die später im Studio ausufernd bearbeitet wurden... mit elektro-akustischer Finesse ausgestatteten Dronescapes, die geheimnisvoll & geräuschhaft tönen, man scheint wie in einem surrealen (Alp?)-Traum gefangen zu sein, immer wieder schlittern diese Sounds am Bewusstsein vorbei, um dann in überraschenden Arrangements wiederzuerstarken... eine einzigartige, filmische Atmosphäre wird erschaffen. Grossartiges Album!
"The music of Oblivion Ensemble remains as elusive and surreal as the ever-shifting cast of musicians and performerswho participate, knowingly, or unknowingly in their work. Founding members are John Bergstrom and Brannon Hungness (aka Figure). Hungness is a virtuoso experimentalguitarist and composer and a former member of the Glenn Branca Ensemble. Bergstrom is a computer-musicgearhead and a film composer with a classical music pedigree, and mastermind behind the industrial-noise assembly Torse. Seraphim Hallucino is Oblivion Ensemble’s fifth full-length release, the first since the virtual opera “Nightmare:Sinistrotorse” (Complacency, 1995). At Seraphim Hallucino’s source are strange, electro-acoustic improvisations of percussion, trumpet, voice, synthesizers and guitar. These improvisations are sculpted and sampled, twisted and turned, shaped into building and diminishing moments, and, at times appearing alone, pure and unmodified. Deeply imbedded in the music and fragmented lyrics are secrets, intertwining themes, voices, and imprinted messages. All come together to create an enormously complex, mercurial mix of surreal, dynamic and dark sounds. To fully appreciate the scope and intricacies of Seraphim Hallucino, headphones in a darkened room are highly recommended.
"The band most likely to compose a fitting soundtrack for the end of the world. ” [Sorted magAZine]
“Visionary gothic psychedelia. [The Wire]
"the most undefinable gorgeous musical anything that I have ever witnessed ... a beyond great performance, chilling and anxious.
[Best of Times]. In superb digipak, with artwork by Matt Vickerstaff of darkwaveart.co.uk." [press release]
"... Eerie textures are easily combined with chaotic and hectic movements. I am not sure wether we should see all twenty-two pieces as part of the total, or wether they are all separate, I rather believe the first, since some parts do flow nicely into each other, thus making the greater picture. There is a darker undercurrent on this CD, which doesn't make it easy to grasp, but it unfolds great beauty when explored in depth (and in dark, I presume)." [FdW / Vital Weekly]
|
2007 |
€13.00 |
|
| OCHU |
Lähmung des Wartens |
12inch (45rpm) |
Continuing the themes surrounding "Unproduktiw", this time set in a maritime context. A tedious reality of qualm and levitation, lodged in the borderlands between the infinite and the conclusion. A partly accidental sound diary with ties to deep water, daydreaming and the futile attempts to create contentment with life under
the omen of declining years. The clutching at straws and the stillness that enters when there is no remedy.
Though occationally chaotic, this new EP is rather restrained throughout, less layered and treading a line between peculiar exploration and restful boredom. Sifting through the debris of the beach, the tactile screech of derelict bunkers and incessant waves that makes the hull creak. The distance to the abyss.
Edition of 239 copies in printed and hand stamped color sleeves with manilla tag and two inserts.
|
2022 |
€21.50 |
|
| ODRZ |
ODRZ80 |
CD |
"I admit I had not thought about ODRZ in a long time. As with so many things in the world of music, people change, move on or lose interest, and, as always, it’s not my job to speculate about the reasons. I reviewed three of their releases long ago (Vital Weekly 422 and 488). I don’t know what happened next, but a quick glance on Discogs tells me I continued releasing music. There is also a slightly obscure description of what ODRZ is about, of which I only quote the last line, “Each project is identified by the name of the group followed by a progressive number”. Today it is number 80. Of the three releases from Luce Sia, this is thirty minutes, the shortest and noisiest, in the traditional means. From my earlier reviews, I understood that ODRZ is more of an ambient industrial group with a bit of rhythm, but that is no longer the case here. Also, the three releases I heard were exactly sixty minutes long, which is no longer valid. Lots of crashing electronics and metal sheets banged upon. Feedback and distortion galore, and all of this is relatively traditional. This is the first two pieces comprising twenty-five minutes of the album. In ‘ODRZ80_03’, which starts with Italian spoken word before coming to a crashing halt. Great if you are into noise, and great if you want the occasional noise shot; I am in the latter category." [FdW / Vital Weekly]
https://lucesia.bandcamp.com/album/091-odrz-odrz80
|
2023 |
€12.00 |
|
| OLIVEROS, PAULINE / DAVID ROTHENBERG / TIMOTHY HILL |
Cicada Dream Band |
CD |
"Flames will destroy everything
at the end of the universe.
It may already be destroyed.
A cold cricket cries in the pile of wet leaves.
He wanders back and forth, unable to get past regret.
Go along with it
Stumble in rain,
Walk on alone.
At the end of the trail is a warm cabin with a single fire.
There you may dry out those lonely years.
Case 29, The Blue Cliff Record
2013 marked the arrival of millions of periodical cicadas to the New York Metropolitan area. These musical insects appear only once every seventeen years. On the occasion of this auspicious event, David Rothenberg performed a series of concerts together with composer and deep listener Pauline Oliveros, overtone singer Timothy Hill, and live singing insects brought in from the trees. The ensemble of digital accordion, clarinets with electronically enhanced nature sounds, and harmonic singing is certainly a trio unlike anything heard before. Even Pauline, with eighty-two years of music making, confessed she had not heard anything like it. The ensemble headed to the famous Dreamland Studios just outside of Woodstock to commit three and a half hours of music to digital memory. For the album they picked their favorite 64 minutes and 32 seconds. Joëlle Léandre said “I love this trio, it’s wonderful, special!” "[label info]
www.gruenrekorder.de
"Last year Gruenrekorder released the album ‘Bug Music’ by David Rothenberg. He has a love for the rhythms produced by birds, insects, etc and made a record based on these rhythms coming from nature, joined of vocalist Timothy Hill and guitarist Robert Jürgendal. The album by the Cicada Dream Band is a sort of a next step. The band combines the talents of Pauline Oliveros (V-Accordion), David Rothenberg (bass clarinet, clarinet, iPad, creatures) and Timothy Hill (voice). They made their recordings in august 2013 in New York. “2013 marked the arrival of millions of periodical cicadas to the New York Metropolitan area. These musical insects appear only once every seventeen years. On the occasion of this auspicious event, David Rothenberg performed a series of concerts together with composer and deep listener Pauline Oliveros, overtone singer Timothy Hill, and live singing insects brought in from the trees“. That is how it started. It inspired the three for long extended
dialogues with these natural sounds, and about an hour of this material is selected for this album. Although I like their improvisations, their way of combining it with animal sounds did not really do it for me. Although...this last sentence I wrote after one or two listening, but now that I’m listening again it begins to reveal its beauty. Like the beautiful lines they play along the whistling of an European blackbird in ‘Room at the Inn’. The music becomes more and more óne and intriguing after repeated listening. Besides the vocals by Timothy Hill fascinate and inspire. He is a new voice for me. He worked with a variety of artists like John Cage, Bill Frisell, Jeff Buckley, Odetta, Pete Seeger, Madan Gopal Singh, and not to forget David Hykes. Okay, I’m pretty much in favour of the dreams of Rothenberg." [DM/Vital Weekly]
|
2014 |
€13.00 |
|
| OM |
God is Good |
CD |
"Nichts hat sich verändert, ist man versucht zu denken, beim Hören des vierten OM-Albums. Dabei hat sich sogar eine ganze Menge getan: Mit Schlagzeuger Chris Hakius hat 2008 direkt das halbe Line-up das Duo verlassen (GRAILS-Drummer Emil Amos kam als Ersatz), OM haben zum zweiten Mal das Label gewechselt, sind von Southern Lord zu Drag City gegangen und erstmals hat sich Bassist und Sänger Al Cisneros (wie Hakius einst bei SLEEP) zwei Jahre Zeit mit einem neuen Album gelassen.
Davon abgesehen aber: nichts hat sich verändert. Wobei ... Mit „God Is Good“ scheint die Transformation von einer autark agierenden Rock-Rhythmusfraktion hin zu einer Art, nun ja, musikalischen Gebetsmühle endgültig abgeschlossen zu sein.
Trotz des Albumtitels ist zwar nicht davon auszugehen, dass Cisneros und Amos jetzt an ein Gott-Konstrukt glauben, die Struktur ihrer Musik nimmt aber zunehmend die Form religiöser Chantings an.
Dass das extrem basslastige Schlagzeug dabei Drone-Charakter hat und Cisneros’ Stimme zu den einlullendsten überhaupt gehört, unterstreicht das Hypnotische in OMs Musik nur noch. Auf der Bühne können OM zwar immer noch extrem laut werden – sind dann aber nicht weniger paralysierend – auf „God Is Good“ passiert das aber noch seltener als zuvor." [André Bohnensack, © by Ox-Fanzine / Ausgabe #86 (Oktober/November 2009]
"It's been years now -- just about two, judging from the sun. OM have done their time in the desert, and ever-changing, are returned. Today, they say, God is Good. Are you surprised? Perhaps you've haven't understood what OM was saying to you. But perhaps you felt something... It's true that the one way pursued by OM leads in many different directions. It is a mystic path. Songs come from innumerable sources, filtering through the external and the internal. OM albums are rituals, personal convictions transcripted into verse. Playing the music is visceral, emotional, a catharsis of soul and spirit. As the ghat liberates soul from body to the ultimate, so too do OM strive to disengage from the finite object of their objective mortal self to rest in the empty and timeless witness. And in doing so, they seek to release you as well. As ever, dynamic relationships and the slow building of mood are attenuations that shape the structures of God is Good. With careful microscopic increase, the energy grows through the four songs, leading towards moments that one could interpret...revelation? Oblivion? Awakening? Since 2004, OM have burned their name into the annals, trolled the fertile crescent, faithfully made more out of what little was put into their hands, forged three full-length albums from white-hot evaluations of the infinite. The duo that is OM is composed of bass and drums and whatever else comes into their mind that will serve the song and do it justice. Al Cisneros has been pursuing the pure note as OM (and previously with Sleep) for many years now, but this is the first OM record to feature the battery of Emil Amos, who replaces Chris Haikus in the chair. You can go to the shelf and study it: there are comparative religions, philosophy, metaphysics, mythology, and history. Turn around, and there is OM. Their vibrations of the philosophical and the physical are meant to move you. Believe." [label info]
www.dragcity.com
|
2009 |
€14.50 |
|
| ONDO |
Mahavishnu |
CD |
Geheimtip aus Schweden aus dem Doom-Drone-Metal Bereich: ONDO erschaffen den absoluten Katakomben & Gruft-Sound, auf tiefsten Höllenschlünden scheint ihr frei-flottierender Angst-Metal-Drone zu stammen, das ganze klingt sehr eigenständig und authenthisch & tief melancholisch....
"The majestic debut full length album from Sweden's Ondo. Intricate, textured doomed drone, blackened ambience and lush nocturnal electronica, delicately crafted into a dark cinematic vision. A shadow dreamscape of overpowering density, akin to an intoxicating fusion of early Earth, Raison D'Etre and a touch of the shimmering haze of Fennesz, perhaps? Presented as a limited edition of 500 copies only, in dvd presentation box with full colour art." [label info]
".... Whereas that cd-r was a single looooong song, this disc is split into distinct movements, each a bleak and caustic chunk of truly ominous ambience. Actually, there is so much stuff going on, and this is so dark and heavy, it’s almost disingenuous to call it ambient music. This is cinematic abstract free noise drone music. Heavy enough to worm its way inside the ears of drone inclined metalheads, but dark and blissed out enough to keep the drone obsessed in downtuned druggy nirvana.
The label mentions early Earth, Raison D’Etre and Fennesz, and damn if all three of those don’t definitely apply. Pretty melodies are buried under slabs of grinding buzz, chords are woven into undulating sheets of fuzzy sound, everything is hissy and glitchy, with a gauzy sheen. Imagine Earth 2 as reimagined by Christian Fennesz and you might be getting close. Chords and notes, churn and throb, blackened sounds pulse ominously enveloping crystalline shimmers and music box like melodies, voices and samples are chopped up and distorted, riffs are pulled apart into washed out smears of sound. Some of the tracks definitely border on serious doom territory, while others are blurred distorted dreamscapes, all skittery and smeared, dark pianos, radio distortion and amp buzz, distant melodic whir, all tangled into something creepy and beautiful, strings draped over crumbling industrial crunch, all woven around heaving heaviness, rendered in slow moving swells. Way recommended for fans of things slow and low, dark and doomy, murky and mysterious.
LIMITED TO 500 COPIES. Packaged in a white dvd style case, with a full color cover and printed black and white insert." [Aquarius Records review]
www.paradigms-recordings.com
|
2008 |
€12.00 |
|
| ONODERA, YUI |
Too Ne |
CD |
Yui Onodera's work is patient. He invites a sense of dwelling with his pieces, an encouragement to pause and to allow sound to swell up around you. On Too Ne, he charts out a very specific sonic exploration. Across these five works he creates a lilting passage of sound, a liquidous flow that confirms the adage of ambient music existing as constant, but never solid. Too Ne also invites a sensing of the self, in that the works ask you to examine our own memories as a way to unlocking a deeper resonance within the work. Onodera has created an incredibly generous and open sound field here, one in which you might find yourself dwelling, deeply.
From Yui Onodera: "These pieces are what can be described as almost static ambient tracks. They are about a recognition of perceived stillness, even when there is change in the sounds' relationships with each other, and with the listener. 'Too Ne' is an old Japanese word that refers to a sound that is sounding from far away. It is about distance, and also perhaps about reaching out to those sounds that seem to exist far away from us. 'Too Ne' is a word that is not often used in modern Japan, but it has a long history, and can be found in the oldest extant collections of Japanese waka (poetry in Classical Japanese), such as 'Manyoshu'. It is sometimes understood that there are many sounds that appear in people's minds here, when they think of an imagined landscape. Sounds as memory markers, but also as devices to help us imagine more deeply the places we visit and recollect with our minds. Here, I recall in my mind the distance of static sounds like vague clouds, delicate sounds like a state where cherry blossoms whirl in the wind and resemble snow falling.
https://yuionodera.bandcamp.com/album/too-ne / https://room40.org/edition/too-ne/
|
2022 |
€14.00 |
|
| ONODERA, YUI & CELER |
Generic City |
CD |
" 'Generic City' is the debut release for Two Acorns, a new label/publisher curated by Will Long of Celer. 'Generic City' is presented in a custom-designed CD package, created by mondii, with photography by Danielle Baquet-Long, and mastered by Taylor Deupree.
'For this collaboration work, I made a lot of field recordings. Songs of migratory birds that come to a big lake only in winter, the sound of breaking ice, frozen on a lake, the peal of huge bells in a temple, voices in prayer to the Buddha, footsteps in the subway, on the ground, made by coming and going people, machine sounds at a construction site, rain flowing into a steel pipe with a hard sound, the oscillation sound of rubbing iron which was recorded through a contact mic set on steel, the conversation of people walking in the city, noise of vehicles and trucks, kids voices from an elementary school, and so on. Like a time trip to transcend places, these sound-scapes are presented as a imaginary tale. To collaborate with foreign artists became a chance for facing Japan again for me. Reflecting on each of our localities to compose let us be aware anew of the vernacular which has been lost in the global world. Artists can't be unrelated to the characteristics (culture) of places (surroundings) where they live, and they are influenced obliviously in some way. By watching our everyday surroundings closely, we can engender a most realistic language of where we live, and how we think. I sense that peculiar, unfamiliar cultures and customs are invaluable wealth in human history.' - Yui Onodera
'In this collaboration work with Yui Onodera, we contributed many instrument sounds, and field recordings such as the streets of Los Angeles, rain on our doorstep, water draining into the gutter, cars passing on wet and slippery streets, people walking on their way home from work, talking in an airport baggage claim, crosswalks, airliners flying over, taxi rides, riding bikes through traffic, conversations in restaurants, the Metro Link train in Los Angeles, and walking on quiet streets. In our part of mixing, since we were working with someone's instrument sounds and field recordings from a city that we haven't visited, much was left to our imagination to re-create an environment and city setting for the piece. Trying to keep a balance between the heavily processed material and the entirely unprocessed material, created a natural bridge of movement inside the city. Processed elements became backdrops and scores to real activity, sometimes simply drifting away from the daily life, or the finding the soul of the pieces. When these two entirely different cities came together, it created an all new way of looking at, and hearing the city's movements around us. Cultures parallel one another, with the views of the skylines and empty streets left the only visible evidence of similarity.' - Danielle Baquet-Long, Will Long " [label info]
www.thesingularwe.org/twoacorns
"Two Acorns is a new label started by Will Long, one half of Celer. He deals with 'things you can hold in your hand, or keep on your bookshelf, to keep these feelings, memories, and experiences. There is no replacement for the smell of a book, the spin of a CD player starting'. Hear hear. The label starts of with a collaborative release of his band Celer (which was Long and his partner Danielle Baquet-Long, who passed away) and Yui Onodera. The latter provides field recordings, electronics, guitar, violin, piano and musical box, while Celer holds the mixing board, cello, violin, piano, field recordings, theremin, electronics and ocarina. I am not sure but I don't recall seeing many collaborations of Celer, but the result, four lengthy pieces work out quite well. Its probably everything you would expect from such a collaboration (you could debate wether that is good or bad), but the gentle, sustaining, of course drone - a word that can't be avoided when talking about Celer nor Onodera - like atmospherics work quite well, but what seems interesting is that many of the field recordings go unprocessed into the mix. Lots of rain, water, animals, street sounds, stuff that seems to be picked up with contact microphones and such like, and they bathe quite well in the string of sounds woven together on the various instruments. They add a great spice to the music, which doesn't stick that much in the world of 'just' drones too much. Beautifully ringing overtones, 'heavy' street sounds, air traffic and crackling of leaves: together they create a mighty fine aural landscape. Beautiful." [FdW/Vital Weekly]
|
2010 |
€12.50 |
|
| OORCHACH |
Chtonikka |
CD |
Zweites Album für diese uns bisher gänzlich unbekannte Band aus Litauen - ihr elektronischer Post-Industrial wird gefüttert von pulsierenden dunklen Synth-Flächen, hypnotisch-repetitiven Beats (mal subtil mal bombastischer), Noises / Samples und beschwörenden Vocals & Geflüster das eher im Hintergrund bleiben und dem ganzen eine rituelle Komponente geben... Anklänge an DEUTSCH NEPAL, MEGAPTERA, etc.. recht "klassische" Sounds also, aber überzeugend arrangiert, entfaltet CTHONIKA eine sofortige, düstere Sogwirkung.
"Chtonikka is the second album of OORCHACH, Lithuanian post industrial project. Six new tracks are dedicated to the arcane world Chtonikka whose vision the author conveys through the gloomy industrial loops, coarse and dirty lo-fi sound. Powerful tribal rhythms provide the tracks with vehement dynamics, while the album as a whole smacks of strong archaic mood." [label info]
".... This album is full of visions, but it does not give you neither questions nor answers. If you need them - search for yourself. It is meditative wade in the wet grass. Still, once you see the vision of Chtonikka, you won't be able to return to your "normal" life. This darkness infects you and stays deeply in the head. But you know that one day it will strike and then you'll leave everything and go, following the footsteps of the ritual. There, where nobody would find you." [Terror.Lt]
www.autarkeia.org
|
2008 |
€13.00 |
|
| OPENING PERFORMANCE ORCHESTRA / BILL LASWELL / IGGY POP / W.S.BURROUGHS |
The Acid Lands |
LP |
The Acid Lands, created by the Prague-based Opening Performance Orchestra, was first heard in public in 2014 at the Movement-Sound-Space festival in Ostrava, to mark the centenary of William S. Burroughs's birth. The piece was performed live by Opening Performance Orchestra and their guests, the theremin player Martina Potucková, and the poet, musician and performer Pavel Z as the narrator. The studio version of The Acid Lands was made in late 2019/early 2020 in collaboration with Bill Laswell and Iggy Pop, who undertook the role of the narrator. The piece, which pays tribute to William S. Burroughs, features fragments from the novels The Western Lands and Junkie. In addition to the title composition, The Acid Lands, the record contains Bill Laswell's instrumental remix, as well as the collective piece Naming Seven Souls, featuring samples of William S. Burroughs reading his own work."
https://billlaswell2.bandcamp.com/album/the-acid-lands
|
2020 |
€18.00 |
|
| OPION SOMNIUM |
As they fly into darkness, only black feathers remain to wipe away our tears (SOLD OUT) |
7 |
“OPION SOMNIUM is a one-man project from Santa Fe, New Mexico, being fascinated with birds as “divine creatures” and focusing on themes of eternity and death. The breath-taking drones of OPION SOMNIUM spread a sad, melancholic atmosphere, which is at the same time full of beauty. The compositions are based on in real time played instruments, like viola, accordeon and piano, but also floating electronics are used. Both tracks on this EP sound ethereal and spacey, soft feedbacking & overtunic, and intensively emotional. Maybe this music exists in this small area beneath despair, where you can find beauty and grandeur. Filed under: deep melancholic beauty-drones. VIOLET / BLUE VINYL. HAND EMBOSSED COVERS WITH METALLIC LETTERS AND PAINTED STENCIL MOTIVES ON FRONT & BACK, EACH BACKSIDE ALSO HAS A SEGMENT OF A LARGER, HANDWRITTEN POEM. NUMBERED ED.” [press release] |
2004 |
€6.50 |
|
| OPITOPE |
Hau |
CD |
"This an imaginary album traveling from the north to south, overlapping the images of transition of the four seasons. In reality, indeed one things always leads to an end and I feel sad every time I think about that. In this album, we tried to express this sorrow feeling changing gradually into hope as we travel south. Seasons have no end. It always moves from spring, summer, autumn, winter back to spring.. And just like the changing seasons, the tracks in this album constantly shifts another and the last piece connects to the very beginning which forms the never ending circle. We have expressed the images of these "endings" with "never endings" by music. These thoughts were brought up naturally during the making of this album and it's not that we had this idea from the start. Another concept of this album is "symmetry". There are 9 pieces in this album and is constructed by track 5 being the axis of the symmetry - like in terms os composition, 1st track is a piano piece and also the 9th track. The same thing goes to the arrangements like you will notice sounds that forms contrasts between the left & right speaker." [Opitope]
www.spekk.net
|
2007 |
€15.50 |
|
| OPSVIK & JENNINGS |
Commuter Anthems |
CD |
" 'Commuter Anthems' ist das zweite Album von EIVIND OPSVIK und AARON JENNINGS; aber ihr erstes für Rune Grammofon. EIVIND OPSVIK stammt ursprünglich aus Oslo, lebt aber seit 1998 in New York. Er fing an, Schlagzeug zu spielen, als er noch sehr klein war, legte sich im Teenagealter auf den Bass fest und experimentierte mit einem Vierspur-Aufnahmegerät. AARON JENNINGS aus Tulsa, Oklahoma, ist mit Leib und Seele Gitarrist und Liebhaber von allerlei Computersoftware. Er zog nach Beendigung des Colleges nach New York, um dort in einer Vielzahl Musikprojekte mitzuwirken. Im Laufe seiner Karriere hat sich Aaron immer mehr auf Free Jazz und Electronica gestürzt, dieser Tage jedoch kennt man ihn mehr als einen Musiker, der sich im Reich der experimentellen Popmusik bestens auskennt. Wie mit vielen Rune Grammofon Releases ist es auch schwierig, ein passendes Genre-Etikett auf 'Commuter Anthems' zu kleben. Beide Musiker stammen aus einem Jazz-Background, aber das ist nur ein kleiner Teil des Gesamtkunstwerkes. Einflüsse aus Folk und Country machen ,Commuter Anthems" zu einem sehr relaxten Album, während Gitarren, Standbass, Concertina, Orgel, Steelgitarre, Banjo und verschiedenen Aufnahmetechniken und Softwarespielereien eine cineastische Geschichte erzählen, die von einem verträumten experimentellen Pop-Orchester umgesetzt wird." [label info]
"With "Commuter Anthems" Eivind Opsvik and Aaron Jennings present their second album. Their first one, "Floyel Files" (NCM East) dates from 2005. Mister Opsvik comes from Oslo, living in the States since 1998, and playing bass in too many groups and projects to mention here. To put it simply, he is deeply involved in the New York Downtown scene. Jennings is a guitarplayer who has his roots in Tulsa, Oklahoma. But who is also living nowadays in New York. To give a first hint for what they are up to on their new album, we can say it fits perfectly within the well-defined aesthetics of the Rune Grammophon label. "Commuter Anthems" is an interesting melting pot of a great many influences: easy listening, film music, muzak, jazz, pop, Bill Frisell, postrock, etc. It is evident that Jennings and Opvsik take their inspiration from almost everywhere. But nowhere the music sounds meaninglessly eclectic. No, they succeed from their various inspirations and experiences to create a very original musical universe, that result in a very satisfying musical experience. Opsvik plays double bass, electric bass, drums, percussion, piano, organ, theremin, vocals and software. Jennings: electric and acoustic guitars, lap steel, banjo, concertina, vocals, software and electronics. In some tracks they helped out by Ben Gernstein (trombone), Rich Johnson (trumpet) and Peter Opsvik (flute). So you understand this a real studio-product. But the music is very open and sounds loosely constructed, sometimes even in a collage-like way. The music they create is very accessible on the hand, and may pass by without noticing it like some ambient music, when listening superficially. The reward comes from listening with more concentration. As said above they use a great diversity of sounds and instruments, and they paint very colorful pieces with good feeling for style and a great sense for detail and finesse. Also their music is very well constructed in an inventive and original way, far from any cliché. Funny to find this sense for musical adventure within this friendly and comforting music. A great album. [DM / Vital Weekly]
www.runegrammofon.com |
2007 |
€13.00 |
|
| ORCHESTRAMAXFIELDPARRISH |
Crossing of Shadows |
CD |
"orchestramaxfieldparrish's Crossing Of Shadows is a dark collection of lamentations originally recorded in 2006 and only released in a small private pressing in 2007 and has now undergone a remix and remastering. This new edition of six improvised electronic compositions is based on field recordings both left unprocessed and severely reprocessed, with added guitar, piano, voices and electronics, creating a musical path beginning from a place of extreme darkness and culminating in a point of light and hope. Recorded and mastered in 96K 24 bit audiophile audio. Included is a reconstructed version of 'Thirst' which first appeared on the Caligari - An Exquisite Corpse dvd release through the Chain Tape Collective.
There are two limited editions of this release, with the first being a hard cover book bound artist edition. This First Edition is 75 copies and will have elegantly handcrafted covers made from the finest papers and photographic printing. The Second Edition is for 225 copies and will be in a Japanese style mini lp sleeve. Total one time press of 300." [label info]
www.faithstrange.com
|
2010 |
€13.00 |
|
| ORCHIS |
A thousand Winters |
CD |
"ORCHIS is an English Dark Folk band consisting of Tracy Jeffery (who also sings with Cunnan and J Greco's SQE), Amanda Prouten and Alan Trench (Cunnan, SQE, Twelve Thousand Days(with Martyn Bates), Temple Music). We have so far managed to release four albums to date starting in 1994 with The Dancing Sun (cryptanthus /World Serpent), which was more a collection of formative pieces than anything else, then in 1997 the concept album that was A Thousand Winters (cryptanthus / World Serpent). Mandragora (Trisol), an alchemical album based around the themes of life, death and the transmutation of the soul followed in 1999 and in 2001 Trait (a ‘best of’ released through the Russian Brudenia label). Relocation and various tedious problems put ORCHIS on the back burner for a while whilst we buried ourselves in other projects like the busy bunnies we are; we raised our heads out of the mire again in 2007 with the ‘Other Days’ download ep via the (now sadly defunct) Woven Wheat Whispers legal folk download service... There have been numerous compilation album appearances over the years, with some tracks turning up on the ‘Trait’ album. We like to think, as the Fairports had it, that we are Nicely Out Of Tune - there was the odd perfect take, but those were never the ones that went on the albums - rather it was the ones that kept to the True Spirit....
For now, we are happy, to inform you about the important, re-release of the second long-play, from this Esoteric Dark Folk band!.
A TOUSAND WINTERS it is improbable result of the deep mystical experiences embodied in studio work! It's a сonceptual album, with Grand Theme: The story of one part of Europe is extraordinarily like every other part; a thriving pagan culture that at first laughs in derision at the priests of the desert messiah, and then is slowly submerged by the rising tide of christianity until all that remains is folk memory and old tales and songs. The cult of the Nazarene has built many truly awe-inspiring cathedrals from the blood of the people of Europe whilst incorporating and subverting their culture into that of the Blood of the Lamb.
We can to tell that on music, it is mystical dark folk with an impurity of a classical English psychedelia of the end 60th or "Psychic TV" pouring "Allegory and Self" / "Trip Reset", probably to draw parallels with early works In Gowan Ring, but these words and comparisons it will be final a little what to describe music of great group! This inexpressible travel one way...
Now this album also the important part of history Neo-Folk of music to which we again have possibility to touch...
So, ORCHIS again with us and returning begins with "A THOUSAND WINTERS" which we with pride represent in 6 pannel-digiCD with a bronze stamping." [label info]
www.infinitefog.ru
|
2011 |
€12.00 |
|
| ORGANUM |
Omega |
CD |
"...Sitardrones evozieren buddhistische Untertöne, Dröhncluster schlagen die Stunden, die Ecclesiastes 3:1-8 wie eine Litanei aufzählt: A time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance; eine Zeit zu suchen und eine Zeit zu verlieren; A time to love, and a time to hate; a time of war, and a time of peace. Omega ist selbst in sich wieder dreigeteilt und erfüllt in der finalen von drei nahezu gleichen Viertelstunden den ganzen Raum mit pantheistischer Erhabenheit. Jackman nannte (im Interview mit Kevin Spencer) für das,
was ihm vorschwebte, big slow shape in time, Kegelschnitte und die minimalistischen Lichtinstallationen von Dan Flavin. Kühle,
symmetrische Struktur, warmer Klang, keine Psychologie, keine höhere Bedeutung. A piece of time, a time of peace." [Bad Alchemy]
Third part of this great ORGANUM comeback trilogy, more floating again, endless repetitions of the same sounds lead to an experience of timelessness... brilliant sounds & a highly contemplative effect...
"Collecting music for the sake of collecting is not something I am very keen. Music hearing for the sake of hearing music, that is what I like. There are a few artists whose new works I usually try to get, and Organum is one of them. Although I must admit, I sometimes (or perhaps more often than not) am clueless what it is about. If it's about something at all. The music by Organum is a mystery that comes in clusters. The cover of 'Omega' looks like 'Sanctus' and 'Amen', so no doubt there is a relation in the music, which comes to form in the use of a church organ like sound, some highly processed chime like sound and a deep drone of rusty metal in the background. Just as on 'Sanctus' and 'Amen' - and much true to the form of Organum mystery, there are three pieces here, which all sound quite similar - or perhaps they are similar? You can't tell, and that's probably the whole point. After some fifteen minutes, another track of fifteen minutes that sound similar, is that then also
similar? It's a question Organum asks himself, or rather, just raises for us to find an answer too. I am afraid I have no answer myself. I sit back and listen and wondering what this means, 'Omega', 'Sanctus' and 'Amen' - a holy trilogy? Better would be, perhaps, not to ponder too much about this and just enjoy that crazy genius Organum. I am long converted to his belief." (FdW / Vital Weekly)
|
2008 |
€14.00 |
|
| ORGANUM ELECTRONICS |
Organum Electronics |
CD |
In the birth of the universe
Time stands still amidst a wild and untamable energy
Radiant light bathes and purifies solid stone pillars
Both ancient and modern
Wild vibrations touch our most innermost core and perception
Organum Electronics exists in the clear moment of the present
But its mysterious compositions lay hidden in a
timeless past
Modulating oscillations mirror our most fundamental sense of being
As though a living and breathing entity would
Communicating with a life-force and language we have all but forgotten
sirenrecords.blogspot.com/2019/11/organum-electronics-siren-29.html
"David Jackman’s music, both as Organum and under his given name, is typically characterized by repetition, brevity and a deadpan aloofness. He’s made plenty of extremely short (sometimes
one-sided) 7” singles, albums containing multiple slight variations on a single piece, and albums of compositional (if not sonic) minimalism. It’s Jackman’s typical move to provide very little information beyond a word, or sometimes an image. Lately, he’s been predisposed to not even providing an image; just as few words as possible on a white background, nothing more.
Naturally, he does not seem to do interviews and has no web presence. As listeners, we’re left to apprehend the music as itself. No guidance into his hermetic world. I find it refreshing. Whatever your experience of an Organum album is, that’s all you get. Thankfully, each emission is thought- provoking enough to get lost in and monolithic enough to encourage both passive and active engagement.
In the case of the flatly titled Electronics”, the music is as evocative and singular as anything Jackman has produced. The three 15-minute untitled pieces are monoliths of surging drone bathed in mammoth reverberation. The title says everything you need to know and nothing at all.
Same with the cover art, merely the title and name in a black print cross pattern on white background. The design is nearly (or perhaps exactly?) identical to Jackman’s relatively more active and mellow “Herbstsonne” album; is there an implied relationship between the two? I’ve given both albums some deep listen and I cannot tell what the relationship could be. And so again, the sound is all one gets. “Electronics” is dense and huge; a roiling swamp of electric din that would appeal to fans of Jackman’s early collaborations with The New Blockaders (“Salute” and “Wrack”), though this is more atmospheric than aggressive. It’s a slow boil of fierce control, not a chaotic attack. Few actual events happen, and there isn’t much difference between the three tracks… it’s almost as if Jackman set some sounds in motion, then stepped back and allowed the pieces to generate themselves. It’s relentless and heavy, uniform in mood across all 45 minutes. No build-up, no denouement, just a steady mysterious churn to get lost inside of." [HS, Vital Weekly]
|
2019 |
€14.00 |
|
|
Solitude |
CD |
“In the everlasting silence of the universe
Dark clouds reflect upon shimmering water
The voiceless radiance of solitude
Dissonant overtones in dark clouds
Pierce the eternal veil of night
The rivers rage ceaselessly
Burst
Swiftly, cloud-shadows and sunbeams
White flames burning through a dark sky
Wrapped in its own eternity
Wild and forsaken
No sound is tamed
Release and rebirth, revolve, subside and swell
Inescapable and incessant in motion
The path of that unfailing sound
A harmony
Ancient and solemn
The voiceless radiance of solitude”
David Jackman’s music, both as Organum and under his given name, is typically characterized by repetition, brevity and a deadpan aloofness. He’s made plenty of extremely short (sometimes one-sided) 7” singles, albums containing multiple slight variations on a single piece, and albums of compositional (if not sonic) minimalism. It’s Jackman’s typical move to provide very little information beyond a word, or sometimes an image. Lately, he’s been predisposed to not even providing an image; just as few words as possible on a white background, nothing more.
Naturally, he does not seem to do interviews and has no web presence. As listeners, we’re left to apprehend the music as itself. No guidance into his hermetic world. I find it refreshing. Whatever your experience of an Organum album is, that’s all you get. Thankfully, each emission is thought- provoking enough to get lost in and monolithic enough to encourage both passive and active engagement.
8Howard Stelzer]
"In Vital Weekly 1216, HS reviewed 'Electronics' by Organum, which was quite the change for Organum’s David Jackman. In the last decade or so, Jackman used quite a lot of real instruments to construct a bizarre composition that may or may not be the same. After that came 'Stillness', not reviewed on these pages, and the name was changed to Organum Electronics, which is also the banner for 'Solitude', a thirty-six-minute piece of harsh electronics. Oddly enough, the artwork didn't change and is still similar to the artwork of his 'quieter' phase and which I think is pop art without the images. I have no idea if David Jackman acquired a set of modular electronics to do this, or if this is something he always had but not used a lot. The loud character of the music brings back memories of the very first record I heard from Organum, 'In Extremis'. I always thought that was made with acoustic instruments played with mechanical objects and slowed down, and I might be wrong. It had that density of ringing sounds that I enjoyed a lot back then and still do; Organum is one of the three or four musicians of whom I own a lot of records. That sort of density I also find in 'Solitude', even when it might be all electronics. It sounds like being trapped in the machine room of a large ship. The more you concentrate, the more little nuances appear in the music, an odd sense of movement in a standstill notion. The music might be loud, but it has not the similar aggression I find in some noise records. There is, odd as it may sound, a soothing aspect to the music. I am a fanboy, I admit that, and that means Organum can't do wrong. It was a bold move to change the style of music for David Jackman, but most enjoyable!" [FdW / Vital Weekly]
|
2021 |
€14.00 |
|
|
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 |
|
| ORIGAMI GALAKTIKA |
One |
CD |
"Everything is one, unique, peculiar – the message besides the new album from norwegian artist. Absolutely essential collection of his new works is released now on the CD in glossy and beautifully designed digifile.
Origami Galaktika is Benny Braaten, A.k.a. b9. Established in 1994 Origami Galaktika is celebrating 20 years of ambient soundscapes. A journey that has brought deep spiritual sounds to close to 20 countries. A variety of venues ranging from art galleries, pubs, punk places, churches, to concert halls etc.
How many ambient acts do you know that have played Sunset Strip, Los Angeles? Or the French quarter, New Orleans? A vinery in Aesch, Switzerland? In the woods outside of Gdansk, Poland? Everything from youth clubs to tea-houses in Slovakia? Vancouver, Toronto, the middle of the praries where hardly anybody has ever been?
Supported extreme metal bands, opening metal festivals? Supporting The Legendary Pink Dots more than 50 times and played with: I: wound, (r), Daniele Brusaschetto, The Angels Of Light, Dave Phillips, Nocturnal Emissions, Francisco Lopes etc…
In addition to Galaktika, Braaten is also working with the historical music projects Folket Bortafor Nordavinden (The People Beyond The North Winds) and Skvalthr. He is also having music history "lectures" where he tells us about and demonstrates ancient musical instruments… He is also hosting tonings and drum journeys. Braaten is also working on music for a dance performance to be performed in May 2014.
The new album "One" is a bridge between the "old" and "new" Galaktika. Featuring two older (previously unreleased) pieces and 6 brand new ones. After many years of mostly sample based live performances, Origami Galaktika today is mostly accustic and no sampler is used in the live performances these days." [label info]
www.monochromevision.ru
"Behind Origami Galaktika we find Norway's Benny Braaten, who has been doing music for a great many years. He toured with Nocturnal Emissions and The Legendary Pink Dots and releases his records around the world, albeit quite sparsely. I must admit I am never sure how this whole Origami business works, but it's a larger group of people working together, although it seems that Origami Galaktika's Braaten is mostly working solo. I saw him a couple of times and his music is highly atmospheric and generated on relatively lo-fi equipment: electronics, field recordings and four track cassette tapes. Atmospheric and drone like is what he offers us. There was a time when we called this ambient industrial music, when we played the cello bow on the guitar and added lots of reverb here and there. That is, essentially, what Origami Galaktika still does. On this grey, rainy day this is probably the perfect soundtrack for the mood one can find oneself in. A usual piece by Origami Galaktika starts with a drone and on its way gathers more drones in small variations and a box tricks is opened and small variations on a theme appear. I was thinking about the fact that it sounds like something I heard a lot, even when perhaps not very recently; if that the lack of innovation is a real 'problem' (to whom, I wonder). True, Origami Galaktika doesn't necessarily change tactics, but he does a great job in what he does. If you like say Troum or Maeror Tri, and you like your sub consciousness tickled than Origami Galaktika is surely something you must hear, if you don't know them already. 'One' is one great CD." [FdW/Vital Weekly]
|
2014 |
€12.00 |
|
| ORPHANAGE COMMITTEE |
The Seven Sacraments |
CD |
The Orphanage Committee is an ever-changing sound art project. Has Orphan S.C. Wallace now become religious?
Not likely, but you have to admit that 'The Seven Sacraments' is a damn fine topic to expand your mind!
This wonderful soundwork collects two lengthy compositions interpreting the Sacraments and being powered by real organ sounds. A true easy/uneasy listening experience to reach your personal Eargasm! Hell yeah! (Reverend EE)
CD Limited to 100 cps in a jewel-case or DL
Tags: abstract, ambient, field recording, experimental, mental muzick
https://eetapes.bandcamp.com/album/the-seven-sacraments
"Holy cow - sorry - but when I ended my review of the previous release by The Orphanage Committee, only four weeks ago (!), with "made me curious about where the Committee is heading next; I can't wait", I didn't expect the answer so soon. Belgium's Orphan S.C. Wallace releases an album with "two interpretations of the Seven Sacraments, being baptism, confirmation, eucharist, penance, anointing of the sick, holy orders and matrimony". Of course, this is very Catholic, and I have no idea how seriously we should be looking at this. Maybe it's a parody, or perhaps it's all serious business. Also, on Catholicism, I wrote before; that, "as a good Catholic boy, I don't care [about prayers], repent on my last day and go straight to heaven". I hope that works out one day (not too soon). Each of the two interpretations consists of seven parts, distinctly different, yet each flowing in the next. Unlike the previous LP, The Orphanage Committee returns to his first work (VItal Weekly 1319) and offers some more moody, synthesizer-based music. Not part of the cosmic school, perhaps, but repeating sounds, a bass line here and there, a repeated melodic loop. To top it off, there are field recordings, ranging from the schoolyard, radio and television. It's unclear what the relationship is between the spoken word and the seven sacraments; as far I could see, not a lot, and they were used in a more ornamental way. Face value, the music has very little to do with anything remotely religious, so even for atheists (for people of other faith), this is the most enjoyable mood music. So, if the correct order of the releases is the one in Vital Weekly 1372 as the debut, and in 1319 the follow-up, and then this, we can say that working with the more atmospheric end of synth-based music has his preference. A most enjoyable route to take, and the result is quite good." [FdW / Vital Weekly]
|
2023 |
€13.00 |
|
| |
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 |
|
| |
Dream Sequence #3 |
mCD-R |
this is third release in a series of 3”s with experimental ambient/drone pieces with a dreamy touch.
"dream sequence #3" was recorded with audiomulch and reaper between april 28th and july 10th, 2016.
the picture was taken at moerenburg, tilburg. a natural water filtration and where there once used to be a castle.
www.taalem.com
|
2017 |
€5.00 |
|
| ORPHAX & MACHINEFABRIEK |
Weerkaatsing |
CD |
Weerkaatsing is the first collaboration by Rutger Zuydervelt (Machinefabriek) and Sietse van Erve (Orphax), both active players in the Dutch experimental electronic music field. While their paths did cross many times at concerts either as visitors or as performing artists, never before these prolific musicians got together. And as with so many collaborations also this one has a story behind it:
Reflectie (Orphax)
The idea behind this collaboration started in 2007, when Rutger released his EP Stofstuk and following this the remix album Kruimeldief.
For years since the release I was intrigued by this little piece and the various remixes, and always had the idea of making a remix myself (and actually to start a series of unrequested remixes). Finally in 2016 I took the time to really work on this Stofstuk remix. With some magic and other forms of witchcraft I created the almost 20 minute long drone piece Reflectie, based solely on the Stofstuk piece. I tried to put a real Orphax touch to the work, but without losing the true Machinefabriek sound. As such it really felt for me as if we did a collaboration; and it was screaming for more.
So I told Rutger about this and after I sent him the piece the idea came he would also remix one of my works. And from there this collaboration really kicked off...
Spiegeling (Machinefabriek)
The first time I met Sietse was at a gig in Utrecht, probably in 2006 or so, but I’m not sure. Since then, I saw him at so many gigs… one of the regulars of the scene, I’d say. Anyway, in 2007 I invited a load of artists to make a remix of my track ‘Stofstuk’. The results appeared on the album ‘Kruimeldief’, but what was missing was Sietse’s remix. At least, that’s what I found out recently. Apparently he had been ‘secretly’ working on a beautiful 20-minute remake of my track. Damn, it was too nice not to do anything with it, so we decided that I should return the favour and do a remix of an Orphax piece. I choose 'Geluiden van de Eerste Dag’, of his 'Tragedie van een Liedjesschrijver’ album, the piece that resonated the most with me. And the rework was done in no time. Not because I was in a hurry, but because the basic material of the track was so grateful to work with. I added a few looped snippets of violin which I recorded at a rehearsal (for another piece), and these worked perfectly with Sietse’s sounds. ‘One plus one equals three’, I’d say (cliché or not).
Weerkaatsing (Together)
So then we had two remixes. We had already decided to release this somehow, but it didn’t feel complete yet. That’s when ‘Weerkaatsing’, the title track, came to life. The most ‘collaborative collaboration’, and our favourite track of the album. It’s like the table tennis illustration on the cover; we kept bouncing sounds back and forth, until the track was finished. Which, again, didn’t take long. We were clearly on the same wavelength, and together with the other two tracks, we think it’s a really solid drone album.
movingfurniturerecords.bandcamp.com/album/weerkaatsing
"In a small country like The Netherlands there is a small, lively scene of experimental musicians, who bump into each other quite a lot and it is almost inevitable that there will be collaborations. Sietse van Erve, also known as Orphax bumped into Rutger Zuydervelt, alias Machinefabriek, bumped into each other a lot, as players of concerts or visitors to other concerts. Orphax was also interested in 'Stofstuk', an early piece by Machinefabriek (see Vital Weekly 573) that got quite quickly a remix CD to its name (see Vital Weekly 586). Van Erve was not on part of that remix project but over the years worked on a remix of his own and when Rutger found out, he decided to thank by doing a remix of an Orphax piece, 'Geluiden van de Eerste dag' from 'Tragedie Van Een Liedjesschrijver' (see Vital Weekly 899), in a twenty minute piece. To top it off they
worked on a joint piece of music, bouncing sound files back and forth and now all three pieces.
These three pieces are now to be found on 'Weerkaatsing', which means reflection, just as all three pieces have titles which Dutch synonyms for 'reflection'. Many works by both artists have been reviewed in Vital Weekly, and if you read what was written over the years, you know the words 'drone' and 'ambient' have been used quite a bit. This collaborative is not different and both play what their fans, me included, expect them to do. Where Machinefabriek has the sustaining organ sound Orphax is known, along with the stretching of bell sounds, Orphax uses the violin loops of the original and even allows for some rough cuts. Machinefabriek seems to be at his most minimal in this piece, in awe of Orphax, I'd say, and Orphax returns by showing a more musical side. In their duet piece they go for the more conventional drone approach and it consists of many layers of Orphax' old organs picked up in a space with a microphone adding an excellent space feel to them, and it gets a lovely treatment. This CD has a great cover too,
courtesy by Zuydervelt. An excellent release." (FdW/Vital weekly) |
2017 |
€12.00 |
|
| ORSI, FABIO |
The new Year is over |
3 x CD |
"Nine long and extraordinary tracks collected in a triple CD, among fluctuating ambient atmospheres, hypnotic rhythmic progressions, circular and motionless stasis, acid psychedelic escapes, evocative electronic reflections... Slow suites of "classic" ambient music suspended and dilated, soft and wrapping sonorities alternated with evocative and dramatic crescendos, through progressive sounds layerings, drones, pulses, distant echoes of human voices and subliminal perceptions of ethnical vibrations... A long and absorbing journey through distant sounds and universes, a timeless music without boundaries...
Monumental opus by one of the most brillant italian artist. Simply a milestone.
Limited edition of 300 copies in cartonsleeve." [label info]
www.silentes.net
"One of things I wondered about when listening and looking at 'The New Year Is Over' is why a set of three CDs? Track titles don't show evidence that these belong to each other per se, but of course music wise it does. Nine lengthy cuts of what Fabio Orsi does best, playing ambient soundscapes, highly atmospheric. He employs synth, effects and guitar according to the cover. That's easy. The outcome however isn't as homogenic as one should expect. I thought it would be along those lines where we have nine similar approaches to the same idea, but that's not the case. A piece like 'Endlisch' on the first disc is almost noise ambient, with a touch of rhythm buried underneath and marks the end of a CD that seems anyway a lot louder than we are used to. Its a diametrical opposite piece to 'Dust In One Hand, Love In The Other' (track two, disc two), which is a very soft floating sailboat, the last track of a more silent CD. These two works could have fitted one disc, but I can see why it's decided not to do that. The third disc has three pieces which have a slightly more rhythmic, looping feel about it, and bridges I guess the two previous CDs in an effort to go from very quiet, introspective material to more loud movements in 'The Lonesome Era (part 3)'. This CD is a showcase of the various aspects of atmospheric music that Orsi is familiar with and as such he does a great job in displaying that. You could argue wether three is a crowd and such a showcase could have been one CD, but I think its better to have it over the course of three separate discs and show the smaller variations in there." [FdW/Vital Weekly]
|
2012 |
€18.00 |
|
|
Wannsee |
LP |
"RICERCA SONORA proudly presents, as its third release (RS3), a new FABIO ORSI work titled “Wannsee”.
Wannsee is a locality in the southwestern Berlin borough of Steglitz-Zehlendorf, Germany. It is the westernmost locality of Berlin. In the quarter there are two lakes, the larger Großer Wannsee (Greater Wannsee) and the Kleiner Wannsee (Little Wannsee), are located on the river Havel and are separated only by the Wannsee bridge. The larger of the two lakes covers an area of 2.7 km2 (1.0 sq mi) and has a maximum depth of 9 m (30 ft). (quote from Wikipedia)
Recorded at Wannsee locality in October 2011 and edited, produced and mastered by Fabio Orsi, "Wannsee" is a composition - divided in three parts - of field recordings in its purest form. A nostalgic work done exclusively with environmental sounds captured on location.
One-time pressing of 200 copies only, one-sided black vinyl, in white sleeve with UV varnished printing and one insert." [label info]
www.ricerasonora.com
|
2012 |
€15.00 |
|
|
Memory of a safe Place / La Forest a non fa pura |
LP + mag |
"issue #1
phonographic record
FABIO ORSI MEMORY OF A SAFE PLACE
photographic work
FABIO ORSI LA FORESTA NON FA PAURA
Born in the province of Taranto, in southern Italy, after many years spent in Naples and now based in Berlin, Fabio Orsi sits among the most interesting names of the European electronic and experimental scene. Following his early output on A Silent Place and Smallvoices, his music works have been published by many other labels worldwide, including Last visible Dog, Porter Records, Boring Machines and Silentes. His talent has become an estabilished reality thanks to his abilities in finding a nice balance between experimentation and melody, sounding intimate and abstract at the same time, using drones of a concrète and electronic nature, acoustic instruments, field recordings, synthesizers and computer treatments for his compositions. In addition to his solo work, we would also like to mention his many collaborations with Italian saxophonist and multi-instrumentalist Valerio Cosi and Gianluca Becuzzi a.k.a. Kinetix, and ex-Limbo, that projected their visions into a different perspective. “Memory of a Safe Place” consists of two long drone-based pieces that explore the pictures collected in “La foresta non fa paura” (The Forest Is Not Scary). Both tracks slowly build from a distant low frequence humming: “Part 1” has a dream-like quality and is one of those numbers suspended in eternity that could easily last forever, a truly healing experience; with its rhythmic elements fading in along the road, “Part 2” is more down-to-earth, so to speak, althought if it reminds pretty well the listener of the German Cosmic Couriers of the Seventies. An awesome work for all the Ambient Music fans, Post-Kraut lovers, Hypnagogic dreamers and the Eternal Drone explorers out there.
The standard edition of this issue consists of 250 copies; a limited and hand-numbered edition of 44 copies is also available, it includes a 18x24cm original photograph printed on 310 gr. high quality professional photo-paper." [label info]
www.silentes.net
"Following a small tidal wave of releases, things became quiet for Silent at the end of 2012, it seems. Maybe there is only room for as many CDs? Or maybe there is a need to break away from easy to copy/download CDs and create something that is perhaps more unique, more desirable? Hence, the birth of '13', which takes here the shape of 12" record with 16 A4 page booklet of photography, in an edition of 250 copies. It could have been 50 copies, with different shaped photos or even smaller editions with unique prints. Either way, the photographic aspect is of an equal importance as the music. The series kicks off with Fabio Orsi, doing both music and photography here. Orsi's career started on A Silent Place and Smallvoices, and further developed with releases on labels such as Last Visible Dog, Porter Records, Boring Machines but above all Silentes. Orsi is an ambient composer and uses synthetic and natural sounds to create his music, that fits the black and white photography quite well. Lots of pictures of nature, and with a sound that seems to stem straight from nature this is music that is probably best enjoyed outside - be it that taking a record player into nature is a bit difficult. That's the only downside of such a release I guess, which is otherwise filled with some great music. In 'Part 1', I believe to hear a mass of voice material, cascading freely but seemingly becoming more of a tidal wave, whereas in 'Part 2' it seems to be revolving around a looped guitar of some kind, locked into an eternal hum. Both sides are of course highly minimal with some very slow developments, placed in all the right places, preventing both parts from being just a single minded drone piece, but more a free floating experience in sound. Very sober in execution, both sound and image, but very nice altogether." [FdW/Vital Weekly]
|
2013 |
€18.00 |
|
|
Qui Vicino |
CD & booklet |
"Born in the province of Taranto, in southern Italy, after many years spent in Naples and now based in Berlin, Fabio Orsi sits among the most interesting names of the European electronic and experimental scene. Following his early output on A Silent Place and Smallvoices, his music works have been published by many other labels worldwide, including Last visible Dog, Porter Records, Boring Machines and Silentes. His talent has become an estabilished reality thanks to his abilities in finding a nice balance between experimentation and melody, sounding intimate and abstract at the same time, using drones of a concrète and electronic nature, acoustic instruments, field recordings, synthesizers and computer treatments for his compositions. In addition to his solo work, we would also like to mention his many collaborations with Italian saxophonist and multi-instrumentalist Valerio Cosi and Gianluca Becuzzi a.k.a. Kinetix, and ex-Limbo, that projected their visions into a different perspective.
"Qui vicino " does not contain any note or credit, just a touching dedication from which we deduce the intimate nature of the composition. Ideally divided into two parts of roughly equal duration, the track offers a dark evolving guitar drone that slowly take shape and then dissolve to recreate itself in a more placid and radiant way.
"Qui vicino " is released in a limited edition of 250 copies that comes with 16-pages A4 booklet containing stunning pictures taken by Orsi himself." [label info]
13.silentes.it
"Also on the short size, length-wise, is the release by Fabio Orsi: thirty-three minutes but it comes with a great A4 sized folder (16 pages) of his photography, which is something I really like. Earlier this year his father died and this package is dedicated to him. Orsi is from Italy but now lives in Berlin, for quite some time now, and has had many releases on such labels as A Silent Place, Small Voices, Last Visible Dog, Porter Records, Boring Machines and Silentes. His primary instrument is the guitar, which he uses to create drone sounds, along with field recordings and electronics. Sometimes he also uses synthesizers, acoustic instruments and computer treatments. On this new release there are no credits and we don't know what he does, but my best guess would be that he uses just his guitar and electronics. The piece is divided in two parts, both going from very silent to mildly loud, in one long crescendo per part. This is the kind of music we know Silentes best for, and perhaps also Orsi himself. A damn fine gorgeous drone piece, dark, melancholic, waving, meandering about, over empty deserts, windy plains on part clouded day, or just launched into deep space like a spacecraft onto the destination unknown. This is not a release in which Orsi shows us a new direction in his music, but which further carves out his niche of ambient tunesmith of longitude pieces. No surprises here, but a wonderful release and beautifully packed." [FdW/Vital Weekly]
|
2014 |
€15.00 |
|
|
Uncharted Waters |
CD |
With more than 30 albums under his belt, Fabio Orsi has been one of the leading figures of the Italian electronic scene for over 10 years now. In his work he experimented with folktronica, drones, field recordings, minimalism, and sampling. As the title itself indicates, his latest album (and the first one released on Zoharum) is a journey into previously unknown areas. "Uncharted Waters" is a pulsating, multi-layered, multi-coloured 36-minute composition that can surprise current fans of the artist. It proves you can expect the unexpected from Fabio Orsi. At the same time, the melancholy hovering over the melodies and the atmosphere of this album links "Uncharted Waters" with previous releases of this Italian artist.
https://zoharum.bandcamp.com/album/uncharted-waters
"Background/Info: In a bit more than years Italian artist Fabio Orsi has released an impressive number of productions. “Uncharted Waters” is his first work released by Zoharum Records.
Content: “Uncharted Waters” is an invitation to dream away. The work takes off a pure space-style. The track is progressively evolving towards darker passages. After more or less 20 minutes you’ll notice electro sequences accentuating the electro-ambient approach of the composition. “Uncharted Waters” features one single cut of more than 35 minutes.
+ + + : I like this typical space-like atmosphere hanging over the composition. It’s a relaxing experience, which progressively moves into a darker sound. The second half of the song is the most fascinating one. There’s a kind of exciting space-dub touch leading the listener into a transcendental journey.
– – – : When listening to a single piece with such a long during time it’s nearly impossible to remain fascinated from start till the end. The first half of the composition is relaxing, but not exactly exciting
Conclusion: Music can be synonym of travelling and that’s precisely what this album is all about! Put the disc in the CD player, close your eyes and dream away throughout unknown, imaginary places." [Side-Line]
|
2019 |
€12.00 |
|
| |
Late Afternoon Tapes |
CD-R |
recorded, edited and mastered in my studio, Litoranea salentina, March 2022
fabioorsi.bandcamp.com
cover collage by Robert Kerber
“Für gewöhnlich versuchte er, einen winzigen Augenblick in der Zeit festzuhalten, aber manchmal fand er Vergnügen daran, kleine Geschichten zu erzählen”
robertkerberart.wordpress.com
With this album, the labels attenuation circuit, run by EMERGE, and Grubenwehr Freiburg, run by Grodock, launch a new series of co-releases, marked by their catalogue code with the label 'initials' ACGF, but especially by their over-sized artwork in the format of a 7'' vinyl single sleeve. The aim is to give artists a broader exposure across the various networks of the two labels.
Fabio Orsi, who divides his time between Berlin and his native Southern Italy, makes ambient music in the best possible sense of the term. Not in the sense that it is music that just textures the air as some kind of acoustic wallpaper or furniture and doesn't actually deserve attentive listening. But rather music that attunes itself to the slow changes in atmospheres, light and weather conditions, the ambience in the sense of the (natural) world that surrounds and in many ways (still) defines us. “Late Afternoon Tapes” with its slowly meandering guitar-based textures will not only appeal to fans of guitarists like Robert Fripp or Christian Fennesz, but also – and the “Tapes” in the title may be a conscious hint at that – to anyone who enjoyed William Basinski's “Disintegration Loops”. When it's late afternoon, the light fades into an eventual darkness. This is music to go gentle into that good night, to paraphrase Dylan Thomas, or at least Fabio Orsi's music “makes time pass a little less painfully” (Anne Clark).
File under: ambient
"Last week, I wrote about the Silentes label and Fabio Orsi, these are very active people. Here we have a CDR release. It marks the beginning of a collaboration between Attenuation Circuit and Grubenwehr Freiburg. As I commit these words to the screen, it is not yet late afternoon, but the idea behind the music is evident. Daylight fades, the day ends, and there is a soundtrack for that. 'Thursday Afternoon' from Brian Eno is such an appt title in this respect. Orsi's recent music is all about synthesizers, sequences and arpeggio. I am not sure if that is the case with this new release. Maybe he returned to his guitar and loops? Or perhaps it is a combination of both? I suspect the latter to be the case here. These five pieces sound not unlike Eno or Fripp, solo or together, and are something of a departure for Orsi; or a sidestep. The music is slow, with minimal changes. A few notes are hanging in the air thick of cloudy drones. The result is fuzzy and hazy music. I enjoyed this very much, but I guess Orsi can't do much wrong in my book. For me, this is not the soundtrack of the end of the day, but rather the start of the day, my favourite moment to play ambient music. In that sense, this is music for every day, all times of the day, depending on what the listener chooses." [FdW /Vital Weekly]
|
2022 |
€8.50 |
|
| ORSI, FABIO & VALERIO COSI |
We could for Hours |
CD |
FABIO ORSIs organ-& harmonium-like drones are contrasted here by Saxophon-tunes, the sound is very polyphonic & broad, with a slight ethno-feel to it, somehow static and in motion at the same time..
four tracks with about 40 minutes of length, but you will definitely touch the repeat button after its finished.... and if you take heavy hallucinogenic drugs to this music, you will probably end up writing a label text as this:
"We Could For Hours is instability. It represents the will to open the gates of unknown. It is the dark, whispered sounds and hidden truths. Chaos. And now here it starts, everything takes form, sensations rise, objects acquire colours, distorted vision but still a vision of reality. Everything dances and follows the rhythm of music, an unknown tribal dance. Silence. Sounds follow themselves but always hidden in a veil of mistery, words are mute, everything is listening attentively to the enchanting melody of nature. Mind, free from human limits, goes straight towards a long journey and meets the supernatural and then sinks into the knowledge oblivion. Everything is nothing. Nothing is the time. Time becomes memory and memory brings us to happy thoughts that rise first, then fall in the end. Hallucinations. The precariousness feeling is overwhelming us, tollings of a clock without hands are molesting our ears and they scan the slow and endless flowing of life. Too late to be back. There's no possibility. We have to live desolate countrysides burnt by an August sun. Lysergic vision. Void." [label notes]
www.asilentplace.it
|
2008 |
€12.00 |
|
| OSSASERPIA |
Mvsic for Solve et Coagvla |
CD & book |
"Vladimir Igoshin (Ossaserpia) has created Opus alchymicum, spectacular account of the »work« of the musickal alchemists who developed a symbolic kind of psychochemistry, aimed at producing the gold of mystical illumination through celestial musick. See theories by Robert Fludd (Robertus Fluctibus) and Rosicrucian theories of the monochord. Very unique drone chamber musick with some strange industrial elements. Vladimir Igoshin is known for his contributions to HCD compilations such as Lust From The Underworld and/or AL: 100th Anniversary. Special art-work for an oversized hard-bound book (A5) designed by fantastic Madeline von Foerster! Special limited edition consists of 500 hand-numbered copies in hand-made box covered with rustish top-notch embossed Quilt 120g paper. The oversized embossed hard-bound book (A5) printed on Gmund Kaschmir cream 170g and embossed CD sleeve-jacket again on Quilt 120g paper. Very rare print for all fans of occult & alchemy! Special limited box on request only!" label notes]
"Genre: Dark Ambient / Drone / Neo-Classical (Chamber) / Industrial.
In today’s climate where record labels seem intent on cheaply mass produced releases to make a few quick bucks it comes as a relief to find a record label that actually cares about the presentation to match the music they release. Stepping into the, highly deserved, limelight is the Czech HORUS CyclicDaemon record label founded by Martin Mrskos. All their releases, well the ones I’ve been lucky enough to track down, have been impeccable in every respect. What went before though has been overshadowed by this latest release by the artist Vladimir Igoshin recording as Ossaserpia. I doubt many labels would have the balls to put out a recording housed in an actual hard bound book, A5 sized, in quality 120g paper and beautifully illustrated by the artwork of Madeline von Foerster. My eyes still can’t take it all in. I’m not by any means up on Art by any stretch of the imagination but I knows what I like and I like what I see set before me. The illustrations saying more than any amount of words can possibly describe. Which they need to as there are no words to accompany the pictures. A wise decision as it leaves the listener to use their own creative imaginations to make of it what they will as they listen to the music. For this book is best used in conjunction with the recording. Which I suspect was the way it was meant to be. Separated both are superb stand alone products. Together they open up undiscovered realms that feeds the senses. The touch, smell and sights of the book complimented by the aural grandeur that Vladimir has composed.
Based on the theories of Robert Fludd (Robertus Fluctibus), 1574-1637, a Kentish Anglican alchemist, mathematician, astronomer, cosmologist who wrote thirteen published works in his lifetime and the Rosicrucian theories of the monochord. Please Google these for I have not the time, nor the intellect required, to go into great detail here, the music expands on the theory that alchemists developed a symbolic kind of chemistry aimed at producing the gold of mystical illumination through celestial music. Clear as muck then. The concept may well be shrouded in unintelligible mystery to a Neanderthal knuckle scraper like myself but even I could see what the artist has tried to envision through his music. Featuring, what I can only call, a Medieval vibe mixed in with modern Industrial noise and drone sensibilities the twelve tracks are a treat for the ears. Though you will need to give it a couple of spins to really get inside every nuance that Vladimir has created.
From the off perceptions are challenged by the dirge drones and assorted muted ‘noise’ effects that spread like wildfire from the speakers. The bass tones are heavy duty and tinted with a dark apparel. Move past this introduction and the speckles of Neo-Classical / Chamber music begins to shine forth and suddenly the music takes the semblance of form as Vladimir throws all manner of different black musical combinations into the cauldron that bubbles with an intensity you never realised possible. You are treated to a music born of fire and brimstone from an age past brought to life in the present day. As your eyes scan and feast on the pictures of storm clouds, dragons and entwined couples the music conjures them in the minds eye. At its heart the music is surprisingly downbeat and steeped in dark oppressive moods where tranquillity appears smashed to a pulp. For all the unsettling swings the music takes, and it takes a lot, it ends on a note of triumph. A glimpse of fortitude winning against all odds.
Unlike many recordings that have tried to re-create the whole ‘magical’ dark ambient experience ‘Mvsic For Solve Et Coagvla’ is the only one I’ve encountered that has actually got under the skin of its subject matter. I’ll not pretend that it is by any means an easy recording to get into and many of you may be put off by the way Vladimir has tackled the subject in such an uncompromising way. This might have been the Achilles heal for a lesser experienced musician but Vladimir’s music is created in such a way that through repeated plays you become more accustomed to the sounds until finally the clouds break and the full visionary aspects opens up before your ears. If there was such a thing as a perfect 10 for both presentation and music working in harmony and tandem with each other then ‘Mvsic For Solve Et Coagvla’ would be it. I tell you now that it will be one of the most sought after recordings for music lovers and collectors alike this year. With only 500 numbered copies you’ll need to act fast…or live to regret it." [Alan Milne / Heathen Harvest]
label-website: www.horus.cz
|
2006 |
€26.00 |
|
| OSWALD, JOHN |
Aparanthesi |
CD |
“Aparanthesi consists of just one note. Oswald received a commission from Réseaux for its 'Rien à voir' concert series in Montreal to create an electroacousmatic composition of approximately fifteen minutes in duration for their festival in the winter of 2000. I usually already have an idea of the tangent I would like to take when I accept an invitation, and in this case it was the one-note idea. I was hoping to find an interesting way to follow a single specific pitch gradually through many states; it would be, in a sense, the morphing of a pitch through various instrumental, acoustic and electronic forms. Now when I say that Aparanthesi is one note I mean that it is one specific pitch and manifestations of that pitch in the various audible octaves. For A there are ten audible octaves, from the lowest note on most pianos (A=27.5 Hz) to 5 octaves above A 440, which is 14,080 Hz. These ten manifestations of simple halvings and doublings of a set frequency are the entire harmonic content of Aparanthesi -- any deviations from this frequency gravitate back to it, by various means. There's are two human solo instrumentalists in this piece. One of them is an anonymous piano tuner. The other is a cellist, Joan Jeanrenaud. And then almost everything that has a broad range of frequencies, or noise elements, is gradually filter-tuned to this tonic. A thunderstorm becomes a thunderstorm in A. All the birds in an aviary sing in A. The 88 notes of a piano are all tuned in forced perspective to one A. ... and a foghorn and cattle." [press release]
www.empreintesdigitales.com
|
2003 |
€13.00 |
|
| OTAVAN VERET |
II - Syvys |
CD |
"Syvys” is the second demonstration of how Finland’s OTAVAN VERET decipher the pulse of the great cosmic filaments. The radiation from the distant otherness takes audible form in four pieces of ethereal, pulsating atmospherics, where the multitude of transmissions is implemented via a curious amalgam of electronic and acoustic sources operated by Kaarna & XVL. As a result "Syvys” reflects the many phases of a stellar journey in a dreamlike state, encountering both enchantment and anxiousness.
Edition fo 300 copies in 6 panel Digipak. 4 Tracks. Running Time 49:54
https://cycliclaw.bandcamp.com/album/syvys
|
2018 |
€13.00 |
|
| OTZEPENEVSHIYE / VIR' |
За Ножом / For A Knife |
CD |
"Otzepenevshiye were formed in 2006 and by now have already recorded a conceptual split-album with Allerseelen and Neutral (2008, Ewers Tonkunst / Indiestate), have taken part in a series of releases of the Heliophagia label and contributed to several compilations. The band consists of members of the well-known Russian post-industrial projects Sal Solaris and Reutoff... Vir' dates from 1996, having released some self-made demos, split-releases and two full-length albums: "Lower Forest" (2006, Indie-Go!) and "Horna" (2008, Mosquito Records)... The creation of a collaboration album was conceived by the members of both bands during their collective gig in Kazan'. Through the mutual exchange and editing of material they managed to record not just a split but something more that combined the planes of both acts and surpassed their traditional sound, not always resembling the individual works of both projects. The style of the album is really hard to define but to mark the relative field we could use such tags as sludge / drone doom / industrial / dark ambient... Roaring guitars and the powerful drive of a live drum kit turn into measured industrial drum-machine rhythms, a clatter of iron sheets, synthesizers and field recordings, then again giving room to overdriven strings and profound insane vocals of Sergey Milushkin (Vir')... Metaphysically this album is a kind of optical device, a magic lantern with opaque glass - matching the anguish and desperation of Russian life. However looking more closely one can distinguish amazing patterns on the black soot of this glass behind which shines the everburning living fire." [label info]
"There’s no surprise in that Otzpenevshiye and Vir’ succeed in producing together something fine and new: the latter is a well-established name by now, and the former constitutes from members of Sal Solaris and Reutoff. The album starts with dark ambient that turns into guitar-drone driven, almost doomy layer, to which is then added a set of matching drums and screaming vocals. The result is nevertheless not exactly doom metal, but something between that and ambient, and simultaneously something different from artists like Sunn O))). As the disc moves to the second track, a leap takes place, to instrumental, Megaptera-like post-industrial. After that comes guitar-led, spacey wave-sound, reminiscent of a mixture of Troum and drum machine. Later on there’s for example noise-spiced dark ambient, and at the magnificent end, the disc returns to the early doom moods. Everything is excellently done, but the jumps from one genre to another every track eat away the power of the record. It sounds more like a compilation from various bands than a singular album. Really good tracks, but more suitable for listening in small segments than as a whole." [Jiituomas @ Kuolleen Musiikin Yhdistys] |
2013 |
€12.00 |
|
| OUR LOVE WILL DESTROY THE WORLD |
I hate even Numbers |
LP |
"Parallel universes mangle and mash into a superheated cloud of galactic debris and non-recyclable plastic. After a slew of genre-confounding 7" releases, Our Love Will Destroy The World unravels his own history of nearly everything in this, the mere third full length offering under his world destroying moniker. Smearing the already dotty line between twinkle-toed rave music and excoriating drone cacophony, "I Hate Even Numbers" weighs in like a three-legged gargantuan in a one-man morris dance. Blessed with a deep conviction that 'nowhere' is somewhere definitely worth going to, crippled, hobbling, clunkbeats and bubblepulses contest every frequency to the death underscored (overscored?) by mega-electrified guitar tuning exercises, shattering a passage to a brand new India. Everything louder than everything else, everything dissolving in the powerful acid of the sound next to it - a frybrained avalanche of audio M&Ms. Profound, elevating, and mercilessly, relentlessly UP!
Our Love Will Destroy The World is the new one-man project by New Zealander Campbell Kneale after disbanding BIRCHVILLE CAT MOTEL. In the past Kneale has released albums on Ecstatic Peace, Corpus Hermeticum, Last Visible Dog, Conspiracy and his own Celebrate Psi Phenomena label. He has colllaborated with Lee Ranaldo, Neil Campbell, Bruce Russel, John Olson (Wolf Eyes), Yellow Swans, has toured throughout Japan, Europe, America and Australia and also records und the names BLACK BONED ANGEL and Ming.
"I Hate Even Numbers" is the 2nd LP by this new project for the Dekorder label (his 4th altogether) after last year's monolithic "Stillborn Plague Angels" album.
Limited edition of 400 copies!" [label info]
www.dekorder.com
"A quartet of new releases on Dekorder display the label's nicer senses of finding interesting new names as well as keeping the old. The old is represented by Campbell Kneale, previously working as Birchville Cat Motel, now trading as Our Love Will Destroy The World. The music also saw some changes, which are even more apparent on this third album under the new guise. Kneale dances the vitus dance here. The five pieces are all evolving around revolving sounds. Hectic, nervous, jumpy, this hardly classifies as 'dance' music. There is a bit of drum computer in here, but not a 4/4 one and there is a total chaos in all these jumpy sounds which are looped together. Occasionally we hear some guitar noise underneath all of this bumping stuff, a vague reminder perhaps of the more droney and noisy days of Kneale. I thought this was a pretty nice record, a decisive step forward (or side-ward is perhaps a better word), and do something new and do that well. This album reminded me of the album Richard Youngs put out on Dekorder: that same wicked sense of rhythm." [label info]
|
2010 |
€13.00 |
|
| OWWL |
Tree speaks to Stone; Stone speaks to Water |
CD-R |
"two parts of Bonn’s German drone duo OWWL are more of antagonists than partners. While both might cite similar influences spanning from glacial drones to hazed out ambient there is a huge difference in perception. For one half the music is the sonic equivalent to modern art, for the other it is a vessel for mystic progress. This might be a reason for the unusual instrumentation: Mick Schulz shapes the feedbacking of his guitar with numerous effect pedals, Stefan Otto plays an 1890’s Reed Organ. The key to their work is concentration, like refining Malevich’s black square through alchemical processes. The results are drones that are radically minimalistic, densely atmospheric and subliminally fragile." [label info]
|
2011 |
€10.00 |
|
| P16.D4 |
Kühe in 1/2 Trauer |
CD |
P16.D4 was a German electronic noise music collective, active primarily from 1980 to 1988. P16.D4 embraced tape cut-ups, musique concrète, endless recycling and transformation of previously published material, and many long-distance collaborations with like-minded artists such as DDAA, Vortex Campaign, Nurse With Wound, and Merzbow. Their active participation in the international industrial tape scene yielded collaborative output such as their release Distruct, where bands such as Nurse with Wound, Nocturnal Emissions, Die Tödliche Doris, and The Haters provided the source material. The longest-term collaboration was with the installation and conceptual artist Achim Wollscheid, who used P16.D4 sounds as the basis for LPs he recorded under the name SBOTHI. Ralf Wehowsky, the only constant member of the group, later released solo material under the alias RLW.
Members of P16.D4 were also involved with Selektion, a collective of people involved with sound as well as the visual arts. Selektion published LPs, CDs, books, visual art and design.
The collective worked in a strongly improvised, spontaneous and anti-professional way, using acoustic and electronic instruments, using existing sound fragments, duplicating and alienating them, using repetition, distortion, changes in speed and playing direction. For this they used not only sounds of other artists but also their own material from earlier productions. Late works of the collective are associated with musique concrete.
https://www.sonoris.org/product/p16-d4-kuhe-in-12-trauer-lp/
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“This music is staggeringly original and innovative, and while it’s possible to locate it in a chain of circumstance that links it to ‘Industrial’ music, P16.D4 indulged in none of the empty cliches associated with the genre, worked incredibly hard, and seem to have been aiming at a form of sound art that was much more profound, varied, subversive, and potentially dangerous. Kuhe In 1/2 Trauer’s accompanying credits indicate their radical approach to making music: lots of improvisation, lots of live electronics, extensive use of tape-loops, some conventional instrumentation, and much that isn’t – like the milk churn on ‘Paris, Morgue’ or the use of baking tray and washing machine elsewhere. Even when guitars, drums or keyboards are used, they’re played very weirdly. It’s not even made clear who was doing what; the main credit is ‘Concept,’ which I assume means that one of the three devised the framework in which the noise would operate itself, and while RLW gets the lion’s share of these credits, a lot of the cuts are evenly divided among the team and I have no doubt that the group operated in a very democratic or libertarian manner. None of this prepares you for the insane and troubling sounds that reach your ears, composed with scant regard for conventional logic and following an exciting, absurdist path, especially in the matter of tape edits and juxtapositions of recordings.”
Ed Pinsent, The Sound Projector.
“Though this German group started out as a the new wave band P.D., by the time of Kuhe in 1/2 Trauer, their first LP under the P16.D4 name from 1984, they had developed far beyond into extremely experimental music similar to other post-industrial artists working with abstract avant-garde soundscapes. There’s a bleak industrial feel to the gritty, lo-fi electronics and tape loops, while the group throws in enough curve balls to keep it interesting. On some pieces, strange, looped choirs bubble out of throbbing pulses and drones of feedback, while others have clanging and clattering, and elements of musique concrète and improvisation blur the boundaries even further. The opening track, “Default Value,” is one of those disorienting pieces with noises flying everywhere, while “Paris Morgue” takes excerpts from one of their old P.D. tracks and messes it up with additional instruments, while the ungainly titled fourth track throws in a heavy texture of percussive noises to create an edgy ambience about to teeter off the edge, and the even darker and more ambient title track takes the tension even further. Arrhythmic and amorphous and capable at moments of becoming quite noisy and abrasive, while at others far more somber and quiet, Kuhe in 1/2 Trauer is quite a fascinating release.”
Rolf Semprebon / AMG
|
2022 |
€13.00 |
|
| |
DISTRUCT |
CD |
Assemblage of transformed, organized and (re)structed sound material submitted by:
Bladder Flask, Déficit Des Années Antérieures, De Fabriek, The Haters, Philip Johnson, Hiroki Kocha, Merzbow, Fredrik Nilsen, Nocturnal Emissions, Nurse With Wound, Onnyk, Harold Schellinx, Die Tödliche Doris, Vortex Campaign.
P16.D4 was a German electronic noise music collective, active primarily from 1980 to 1988. P16.D4 embraced tape cut-ups, musique concrète, endless recycling and transformation of previously published material, and many long-distance collaborations with like-minded artists such as DDAA, Vortex Campaign, Nurse With Wound, and Merzbow. Their active participation in the international industrial tape scene yielded collaborative output such as their release Distruct, where bands such as Nurse with Wound, Nocturnal Emissions, Die Tödliche Doris, and The Haters provided the source material. The longest-term collaboration was with the installation and conceptual artist Achim Wollscheid, who used P16.D4 sounds as the basis for LPs he recorded under the name SBOTHI. Ralf Wehowsky, the only constant member of the group, later released solo material under the alias RLW.
Members of P16.D4 were also involved with Selektion, a collective of people involved with sound as well as the visual arts. Selektion published LPs, CDs, books, visual art and design.
The collective worked in a strongly improvised, spontaneous and anti-professional way, using acoustic and electronic instruments, using existing sound fragments, duplicating and alienating them, using repetition, distortion, changes in speed and playing direction. For this they used not only sounds of other artists but also their own material from earlier productions. Late works of the collective are associated with musique concrete.
https://www.sonoris.org/product/p16-d4-distruct-lp/
#############################################
“On this, their second LP, P16.D4 solicited tapes from several artists from Europe, England, the U.S., Canada, and Japan, and mixed that with their own material. Though in the current digital age collaborations from artists thousands of miles apart is quite normal, this was a quite radical approach back in 1982, when work on this LP began – an interesting concept that actually works quite well, since these artists, which include Bladder Flask, DDAA, the Haters, Merzbow, Nocturnal Emissions, Nurse With Wound, and several others – work in a similar free-ranging experimentalism as P16.D4, and their particular elements, usually just vocals or one instrument or noise implement, blend well without diluting P16.D4’s own peculiar brand of avant-garde post-industrialism, but merely give it another facet. One of the best tracks, “Aufmarsch, Heimlich,” consists of a choir submitted anonymously from Eastern Europe phasing in and out of static while a skronky alto sax bleats away. Most of the pieces exist somewhere just beyond the borders of free jazz, industrial, and even classical avant-garde, full of jarring noises and strange transitions and with a heavy overlay of electronics. What started out as an experiment yielded one of P16.D4’s best albums.”
Rolf Semprebon / AMG
“Distruct is organized around sounds provided by the cream of experimental musicians of the early ’80s, from Nurse With Wound to Nocturnal Emissions, via De Fabriek, Die Todliche Doris, The Haters, Merzbow, and others. Obviously, there is no question of remixing here, and at no time do P16.D4 seek to hide its sources, clearly identifying the contribution of each artist in the liner notes. It would be futile to try to find the paw of each artist, the trio operating vis-à-vis its collaborators the same methods as in their own work. Reworked, distorted by various effects, cut, edited, aggregated with other sounds, produced by P16.D4 themselves, reprocessed. Exchange, communication, two other data that will constantly recur in the work of P16.D4, rich in external contributions and encounters of all kinds. Musically, and despite the diversity of sources treated, Distruct escapes the heterogeneous character, which often marks this type of collaboration, to offer a coherent whole: fragments of opera, Soviet speeches, out-of-tune guitar, saxophone, tattered violins, overdriven and metallic noisy attacks, jackhammers, field recordings, battered choirs, and many other less identifiable sounds. In addition to the desired dialogue between the artists, Distruct also offers a real reflection on listening, and on the expectations of the listener.”
Dissolve
P16.D4 was a German electronic noise music collective, active primarily from 1980 to 1988. P16.D4 embraced tape cut-ups, musique concrète, endless recycling and transformation of previously published material, and many long-distance collaborations with like-minded artists such as DDAA, Vortex Campaign, Nurse With Wound, and Merzbow. Their active participation in the international industrial tape scene yielded collaborative output such as their release Distruct, where bands such as Nurse with Wound, Nocturnal Emissions, Die Tödliche Doris, and The Haters provided the source material. The longest-term collaboration was with the installation and conceptual artist Achim Wollscheid, who used P16.D4 sounds as the basis for LPs he recorded under the name SBOTHI. Ralf Wehowsky, the only constant member of the group, later released solo material under the alias RLW.
Members of P16.D4 were also involved with Selektion, a collective of people involved with sound as well as the visual arts. Selektion published LPs, CDs, books, visual art and design.
The collective worked in a strongly improvised, spontaneous and anti-professional way, using acoustic and electronic instruments, using existing sound fragments, duplicating and alienating them, using repetition, distortion, changes in speed and playing direction. For this they used not only sounds of other artists but also their own material from earlier productions. Late works of the collective are associated with musique concrete.
|
2022 |
€13.00 |
|
| PACIFIC 231 |
1983-86 Compendium |
do-CD |
"Pacific 231 is active since 1981, starting with a limited edition Psychic Euthanasia tape recorded in total stereo, Pacific 231 was involved into VP 231 for a few years alongside Vox Populi!. His first LP "Unusual Perversions" was released in 1984. After some references, VP 231 was terminated following the double LP L'Enfer est Intime international compilation. Today, Pacific 231 is the co-producer on all his productions. From 1987 "Power Assume" second LP on Bunker Records in Canada to his most recent release ! This DCD Compendium* is a selective collection of early 80's Pacific 231 works. More than 48 hours of recordings coming from reel-to-reel tapes has been unveiled and carefully converted to recover two hours worth of material. The production has been split in two parts as the 1st CD is Studio and the 2nd is Live. As a matter of interest, for the "Unusual Perversions" fans out there, a good percentage of the archives are circa 1984 and unreleased. * A compendium is a concise, yet comprehensive compilation of a body of knowledge. A compendium may summarize a larger work." [label info]
www.tesco-germany.com
|
2011 |
€16.00 |
|
| PACIFIC 231 & BARDOSENETICCUBE |
The Traditions of Changes |
CD |
"PACIFIC 231 is the brainchild of French multimedia artist Pierre Jolivet, currently residing in Dublin, Ireland. While Pacific 231 has its roots in the 1980’s industrial noise underground, Pierre Jolivet has since then consistently sought out and found new sounds and new compositional themes, venturing into unfamiliar aesthetics but always maintaining the rare quality of a steady evolutionary path.
BARDOSENETICCUBE was formed by Russian artist Igor Potsukaylo in 1998. In his work, surrealism is key: “pure psychic automatism willing to express the real functioning of the reflection orally, written or in any other form. Dictation of mind without any control from the intellect, outside of any aesthetic of moral considerations.” (André Breton)
One of Russia’s leading experimental drone acts, Bardoseneticcube has a quite extensive discography, having released on labels such as Drone Records, Aquarellist and Monochrome Vision.
This collaborative composition consists of 6 movements, leading the listener through a utopian sonic maelstrom in a modern re-interpretation of some sections of ‘New Atlantis’ (Francis Bacon, 1624-27). Psychedelica, field recordings and abstract electronics create a ‘New Language’ with a slippering affect from quietness and by dint of colliding utter chaos.
NOTE: Preferably listened to in total for coherence and surreal storytelling projection.
Limited to 300 copies
Packaged in a 6-panel A5 folder with soft-touch finishing and UV spot varnish." [label info]
www.silkentofu.org
"Wenn zwei Musiker einen völlig konträren Ansatz verfolgen, kann eine Kollaboration zu ungewöhnlichen Ergebnissen führen oder grandios scheitern. Nur eines ist sie niemals: vorhersehbar. Igor Potsukaylo alias Bardoseneticcube ist nach eigener Einschätzung der geborene Surrealist, der sich von seinen Ideen und Assoziationen eher treiben lässt, vergleichbar einem Schreiber der ecriture automatique, der seiner Feder und den Worten freien Lauf lässt. Pierre Jolivet alias Pacific 231 ist Komponist, der dem Soundmaterial begegnet wie ein Bildhauer seinem Steinblock, wenn er schon längst die Idee des künftigen Werks vor Augen hat. Einer fürs kreative Chaos also und ein anderer, um ebendies in eine verdauliche Form zu bringen.
„The Traditions of Changes“ beginnt mit diesem reizvollen Knack- und Frickelsound, die auch der versierteste Noisefan zunächst an einen Defekt denken lässt, zumal das erste der vier Stücke auch noch sehr leise anklingt und Hochfrequentes enthält. Interessant, wie ein dünner Hochtöner diesem minimalistichen Szenario Struktur gibt. Bis zum Ende des ausgiebigen Auftaktes und zum Übergang in etwas heterogeneres Material, wäre der unkonzentrierte Gelegenheitshörer längst in Tiefschlaf verfallen, denn es braucht einen gewissen Grad an Involviertheit, um in den chaotisch vor sich hin mäandernden Soundfetzen aller Coleur, die sich in alle Richtungen im Raum verteilen und gelegentlich in menschliches Geschnatter münden, die durchaus vorhandenen Kompositionsmuster zu erkennen. Im Verlauf erweist sich das auf zahlreichen Feldaufnahmen basierende Soundpanorama allerdings als ausgesprochen vielschichtig und reich an Überraschungen und Variationen.
Laut Eigenangabe ist „The Traditions of Changes“ von einem Klassiker der utopischen Literatur, nämlich Francis Bacons „New Atlantis“ inspiriert und von der Idee, eine neue Sprache zu erfinden. Nun ist die Idee, die verbale Sprache durch Sound zu ersetzen, nicht neu und hat die Menschen immer wieder beflügelt. Was die beiden Musiker hier absolvieren ist jedoch weniger eine solche Sprache selbst, als der Versuch eine solche zu entwickeln – ein work in progress mit einem noch offenen Ende, dass durch surreale Komik und originelle Soundideen überzeugt." [Uwe Schneider / African Paper]
africanpaper.com/2015/05/16/pacific-231-bardoseneticcube-the-traditions-of-changes/
"It seems that Pacific 231 has been around forever, but maybe there was a hiatus for some time. I remember Pierre Jolivet from France, but living in Dublin for quite some time now, as an active participant in the eighties underground cassette scene, and on lots of compilations with his own, not always unique brand of industrial noise, but back in Vital Weekly 888 I got the updated Pacific 231 sound, which I enjoyed very much: minimal electronics, psychedelic and intense. Here he has a collaboration with Igor Potsukaylo, who works as Bardoseneticcube, a name we have seen before a few times; he is a man of atmospherics, drones and the louder edges (outer edges?) of ambient. Jolivet supplied the 'field recordings and analog structures', while Potsukaylo takes credit for 'electronic construction'. Francis Bacon’s “New Atlantis” inspires the music, or as they call 'an utopian sonic maelstrom'; a maelstrom it surely is. No sound effects have been spared in this work. Everything and
everyone, or every possible level, there seems to be something happening. You get distracted, follow the loops, but then on a different level something else seem to be happening. A lot of it stays in the same place, yet a lot of it seems to be moving all the time. Yes, that is confusing, but then such is the nature of this music: very confusing, but pleasant at the same time. Music that is one large head trip for you, providing of course you are open to such buzzing activities. I can easily imagine or even agree if someone would say: but, look; now this is all way too much. If you don't let this in, you might easily be annoyed by the mass attack of sound. So, open your mind, and flow the waves, the ever-cascading waves of this massive music, then you'll be in for onehellofa trip to the backside of the moon. That, or maybe a rollercoaster to New Atlantis." [FdW/Vital Weekly]
|
2014 |
€12.00 |
|
| PACIONE, ADAM |
Dobranoc |
pic-LP |
"Dobranoc contains more than 40 minutes of new music utilizing field recordings, guitars, shortwave radio, analog keyboards & Moog filters. Haunting and yet serene, overflowing with contemplative and melodic tones, these are mostly long-form pieces: 'Always' builds slowly into a monolithic block of sound, while in the title track, layer after layer of warm atmosphere appears and then unravels into a sea of tranquility. This is three-dimensional music, strikingly elegant, from a modern master of the art. This picture disc LP is adorned with Pacione's lovely full-color macro photography circa 1995. The colorful sounds and images are bound together into a unified abstraction, dreamlike in its beauty. Adam Pacione has been a fixture in the upper echelon of ambient drone for the last five years with releases on Elevator Bath, Infraction, and his own Bee Eater Recordings imprint. Pacione is also a highly skilled photographer with solo exhibitions and nearly a lifetime of experience under his belt. He lives in Fort Worth, Texas. This picture disc LP has been released in an edition of 268 copies." [label info]
"Adam Pacione's blissed ambience has quietly enthralled us over many years now; and he continues his relationship with the exceptional Elevator Bath label, who has issued this wondrous album through an ongoing series of picture discs that previously included work by Rick Reed, our own Jim Haynes, and Dale Lloyd (reviewed elsewhere on this list). Pacione claims a bunch of sources for Dobranoc, including guitar, field recordings, analogue synth, Moog filters, and shortwave radio. He seems intent on extracting particular, harmonious colors from each of those materials and working them into a monochromatic blur of softened dronescaping and hushed ambience. The faintest of half-melodies work through Pacione's stately compositions; and it's
easy to become lost in these extended moments on Dobranoc. Throughout, Pacione streams a series of delicate textures that could be snow
coming through the radio, or it could be a light shower of rain that settles behind much of Pacione's sustained tonal flutterings. No
matter the source, the slight abrasions of these sounds act as a ghostly counterpoint to the purity that Pacione gets out of his drones. The resulting wanderings through his radiant soundfields have much of the sense of mystery that Zoviet France managed on Shadow Thief Of The Sun or that emerged from the more minimal explorations of Stars Of The Lid. The picture disc features two blurred macro-lens images sporting oversaturated colors abstracted through the lens; and these are suitable visuals to accompany Pacione's ethereal work.
Limited to 268 copies." [Aquarius Rec]
www.elevatorbath.com
|
2009 |
€17.50 |
|
|
From Stills to Motion |
CD |
"An age of virtual audio saturation, of pre-articulated sound. Expressivity, once an array of possible voices, is ever more probabilized. Originality, once primary criterion, is cast from the platform, problematized. Wondering, late in modernity's day, what does it take to make a noise that matters? A keen-eared recontextualizer, an alchemist who can make sound, found or unfound, to walk its own way, outside the ready-made parade. Adam Pacione is one such new recruit to a group of like-minded musicians, kindred spirits Brian Grainger (Milieu), Mike Bennett (Zimiamvian Night), and Kiln, who have brought the ferment from their sound stills to the Infraction table. That label is now streaming a vital strain of new backwoods ambient, this latest from deep in the heart of (Ft. Worth) Texas -- experimental, but harmonically-inclined, apparently lo-tech, but substantially audiocratic. Pacione's distinction lies in drawing the vectors of several lines of musical enquiry into a trajectory which leads to a suggestive affective place. Echoes of the enviro-drone clan, low-lying labels like and/OAR, Twenty Hertz -- old familiars of Infraction, the silhouettes of whose kinfolk -- Keith Berry, Paul Bradley -- are heard remotely. Pacione starts from base material, conventional instruments, mainly guitars, the odd analog synth and sample, but no tone is left unturned. Like a tenderized but still chewy analog to recent Kranky fuzz-blur harmonizations, his source-sounds quietly exult in altered states -- compressed, granularized, weathered, distressed... in a word (Pacione's) 'grexed.' Grex comes from cross-breeding -- environment traits spun with the string-steel of source, further fleshing out, the familiar contour lent unfamiliar edge. A delicate and intricate weave results -- a warp to the weft, dissonance offset by harmony, consonance subverted by pitch-bend. Basinski may have modeled the suggestivities of disintegration, mate Milieu pointed the emotive caché in sepia-stained sonorities, and Boards brothers the heart-swoop from modulating detune." [label info] |
2007 |
€15.00 |
|
| |
Any Way, Shape, or Form |
4 x CD BOX |
Adam Pacione's finely crafted, deeply affecting drone work has found its place in the upper echelon of modern ambient artistry. Once heard, the gorgeous fluidity of his music is instantly recognizable.
Now, an absolutely crucial addition to Pacione's relatively slim oeuvre is here, offering more than four hours of aural color and visual sound from a master of the medium. "Any Way, Shape, or Form," a stunning 4CD box set, compiles all the material from Pacione’s "Still Life" series of 3" CDRs, originally offered via monthly subscription throughout 2009 and now long out of print. The late night ambient/drone sessions in this set were pulled from recordings made from 1999-2009, many of which originally served as soundtracks to Pacione’s photography exhibitions in galleries throughout Texas. These recordings have been meticulously remastered and two previously unreleased tracks from this period have been added, resulting in an absolute must-have for aficionados of haunting, textural, electronic music.
Pacione’s work largely centers around early Portastudio tape loop experiments, synthesizers, samples, and processed field recordings that gradually decompress to form a hypnotic serenade of becalmed tones. After years of experimentation, his first releases appeared in 2004, leading up to his proper debut album, "Sisyphus," a year later. By this time, Pacione's name was becoming synonymous with lush, atmospheric sonances of the highest caliber. His reputation strengthened even more with his next full-length, 2007's masterful "From Stills to Motion," which fully delivered on the promise of his earlier efforts. Since then, Pacione has stayed active with performances and recordings (see 2020's excellent digital-only "Mâché"). His physical output has been sparse over the last decade or so, however, and copies of the earlier releases are now quite scarce. "Any Way, Shape, or Form" then is particularly essential in making this vital section of Pacione's discography widely available for the first time.
The sixteen tracks included here are mostly long-form pieces: contemplative soundscapes evolving at a deliberate pace. There is an inherent spaciousness in these works; sounds are free to move and breathe as they shift between tension and tranquility. These extended audial ruminations allow Pacione to examine and subtly emphasize the details of each arrangement. And these details have been brought into sharp focus by the rigorous mastering job executed by renowned sound artist Alex Keller: a drifting haze sharply underscored by a biting frost.
In addition to the peerless audio in this set is a 20-page booklet reproducing all of Pacione's photography from the original CDRs as well as several previously unpublished images. These truly are the visual equivalents of his recordings: otherworldly snapshots of a stylized vision of nature, neither artificial nor entirely organic but a harmonious amalgamation. These rich photographs are somehow both crisply intricate and dreamily impressionistic: the ideal accompaniment for Pacione's evocative sound, perfectly rounding out his world-building.
This beautiful artefact is simply a rare pleasure for the senses. And a welcome reintroduction to Adam Pacione's singular aesthetic. A treasure not to be missed.
All tracks by Adam Pacione, 1999-2009
Recorded at Nightmare Castle, Fort Worth, Texas
Remastered by Alex Keller, 2021, Austin, Texas
35mm, 120, and Liquid Light photography by Adam M. Pacione, 1989-1999
Layout by Colin Sheffield
Box set includes:
⋅ Four compact discs, each in its own full-color sleeve with flooded black interiors
⋅ Full-color heavy duty box with spot UV printing and flooded black interior
⋅ 20-page full-color booklet featuring liner notes, recording history, and a wealth of Pacione's gorgeous photography
⋅ More than four hours of haunting ambient experiments
https://adam-pacione.bandcamp.com/album/any-way-shape-or-form
|
2021 |
€38.00 |
|
| PADE, ELSE MARIE |
Aquarellen über das Meer |
CD |
"Richard Krug, Else Marie Pade, Helen Davies.
With this CD we are presenting another two works by Else Marie Pade (b. 1924) that have never before been released, or even played in a concert. They are a mainly acoustic piece, Aquarellen über das Meer I-XXI and the all-electronic Illustrations. Although so far several CDs of Else Marie Pade's music have been released, there are still new experiences ahead before we have a full overview of her pioneering musical efforts.
Else Marie Pade (1924-2016) was one of the pioneers of electronic music in Denmark. From the beginning of the 1950s, she, in close co-operation with technicians and assistants on Radio Denmark, produced a substantial amount of concrete and electronic music, partly in the shape of independent works for radio broadcasts, partly in the shape of accompaniments to various radio dramas. She started taking private lessons in composition from both Vagn Holmboe, Jan Maegaard and Leif Kayser. It was in 1952 that Pade discovered the means by which she could bring into being her universe of sound. The impulse came from a broadcast on Radio Denmark about Pierre Schaeffer, the originator of the new movement within the French field of electronic music: musique concrète. After visiting Schaeffer in 1952, Pade began to study the concrete aesthetics of music and the technique behind it. In the latter half of the 1950s, Pade, together with Lauridsen, organised an interimistic electronic sound studio at Radio Denmark, where one could work with both concrete and synthetically produced sound material - a synthesis which was also a prominent issue in the new Italian sound studio, Studio de Fonologia Musicale, where people like Luciano Berio, Henri Posseur and John Cage were working. From 1957 until the middle of 1960s, Pade experienced a productive period in which she created a long series of electronic works and thereby made a name for herself, both in Denmark and to a certain extent in international electronic circles."
https://www.dacapo-records.dk/en/recordings/pade-aquarellen-uber-das-meer-illustrations
|
2009 |
€15.00 |
|
| PAIN JERK |
Neurotten |
LP |
Kohei Gomi began experimenting with home recording in the 1980s and got so lost in extreme sonics under the Pain Jerk moniker that his output inevitably spilled out into the wider world. By the mid-90s, he was one of the most prolific and influential noise units operating out of Japan, hurling maelstroms of chaotic chunder and deranged grime at anyone who could handle the extremes. Pain Jerk became one of the leading figures in the "dynamic" style of Japanese noise or Japanoise and is also the owner of the noise tape label AMP that during the 90s releases about fifty cassettes of his amazing noise project.
Among his works released in his most prolific period, Neurotten stands out without a doubt, reaching cult status and instantly becoming a classic of the genre. Recorded in 1996 and published the same year on the legendary Slaughter Productions by Marco Corbelli aka Atrax Morgue, in only 80 hand numbered copies in a special A5 tin-foil sleeve with translucent insert and instead some using a red cardboard insert accompanied by a small curved iron rod, similar to a dentist's tool and now it has become a worship object for the most avid collectors.
The assault here is very high-end heavy: relentlessly aggressive. The sound severs and bleeds more than it beats and bludgeons. Side A is divided into two tracks, Gushcore and Teen-Wreckage, of incredible beauty. Nothing compares to the sounds emitted by vinyl grooves composed with a mysterious configuration of constantly flowing noise - always recorded live without overdubs. Devastating, unfriendly harsh noise: the hardest rock that is pierced by the sharpest diamond! With only one track on side B, which takes 23 minutes, we encounter one of most iconic compositions from his wide discography: Disembowel. Hearing impaired volumes that duel, bouncing sound structures displacing the ego and generating many difficulties in brain processing. There’re a lot of rips and chaos, pulsating pulses of recycled transient sounds and some loops, muffled high tones that twist into spastic shapes capable of breaking the faint speaker cones.
https://urashima.bandcamp.com/album/neurotten
|
2021 |
€21.50 |
|
| PALESTINE, CHARLEMAGNE & Z'EV |
Rubhitbangklanghear Rubhitbangklangear |
LP |
"Second time in 20 years Palestine and Z'ev are performing together. First time they're recording it! Unreleased material from Charlemagne's lair, a place now called Charleworld, where both fellows spent 3 days in June 2010. Part of our Sub Rosa/Laboratoire Central sessions.
'i first started to play the bells while at high school of music + art in the sixties at st. thomas church across the street from the museum of modern art in manhattan!! i played everyday for years!! in the eighties
i met z'ev in amsterdam!! i'd known him for 20 years before he suggested one day that we perform together, which we did at lem barcelona in 2007!! later after seeing and hearing the carillon at my studio in brussels he suggested that we perform and record together there, which we did in 2010!! here's / hearsz what we did!!!!' charlemagne palestine " [label info]
www.subrosa.net
|
2013 |
€15.00 |
|
| |
Rubhitbangklanghear Rubhitbangklangear |
do-CD |
"Second time in 20 years Palestine and Z'ev are performing together. First time they're recording it! Unreleased material from Charlemagne's lair, a place now called Charleworld, where both fellows spent 3 days in June 2010. Part of our Sub Rosa/Laboratoire Central sessions.
'i first started to play the bells while at high school of music + art in the sixties at st. thomas church across the street from the museum of modern art in manhattan!! i played everyday for years!! in the eighties
i met z'ev in amsterdam!! i'd known him for 20 years before he suggested one day that we perform together, which we did at lem barcelona in 2007!! later after seeing and hearing the carillon at my studio in brussels he suggested that we perform and record together there, which we did in 2010!! here's / hearsz what we did!!!!' charlemagne palestine " [label info]
www.subrosa.net
"Unter den Minimalisten ist Charlemagne Palestine sicher derjenige, der im etablierten und institutionalisierten Musikbetrieb weniger als seine Kollegen wahrgenommen wird. Die Auftritte und Aufnahmen Palestines hatten bzw. haben – nicht nur wegen dem Moment des Repetetiven (der sich auch im Titel widerspiegelt) – (auch) immer einen gewissen rituellen Charakter, etwa wenn z. B. die Stofftiere aus der extensiven Sammlung Palestines auf der Bühne drappiert wurden (vgl. die Rückseite der CD) und er sich den obligatorischen Cognac (der hier das Cover ziert) einschüttete. Und auch Z’EV hat sich sowohl musikalisch als auch schriftlich (in Rhythmajik, Practical Uses of Number, Rhythm and Sound, das bezeichnenderweise ursprünglich von Temple Press veröffentlicht wurde) mit dem, was Musik alles bewirken kann, auseinandergesetzt. Über das zuletzt genannte Werk schrebt Z’EV, es handele „not about music but spells out the use of rhythm and sound and proportion for Trance, Healing“.
In den Linernotes der Doppel-CD schreibt Palestine, er und Z’EV hätten sich 20 Jahre gekannt, bevor sie 2007 den Entschluss fassten, zusammen aufzutreten. Die auf „RubhitbangklanghearRubhitbangklangear“ enthaltenen Aufnahmen stammen aus dem Jahr 2010 und wurden in Palestines Studio in Brüssel gemacht. Auf der ersten CD finden sich die gemeinsamen Arbeiten: Während Palestine auf seinem Carillon -eine Art überdimensionales Glockenspiel- Melodien minimal variiert spielt, schlägt Z’EV seine schweren Bass-Trommeln. Was anfangs noch nebeneinander herzulaufen scheint, fügt sich im Verlauf der 18 Minuten zusammen; das Stück entwickelt sich zu einem repetetiv-perkussiven Mantra, das fast schon sakralen Charakter hat. Die zweite Duoaufnahme beginnt wesentlich zurückhaltender: Während die Glocken behutsam und langsam geschlagen werden, sind Z’EVs Beiträge kaum noch rhythmisch zu nennen, klingen so, als spiele er eine riesige Klangschale. Der dritte Track enthält dagegen erratischer klingende Perkussion, man meint, Z’EV wanke vom Cognac beschwingt durch eine Fabrikhalle, das Carillon ist hier stärker im Hintergrund. Das ist das vielleicht atonalste Stück auf dem Album. Die zweite CD enthält die Soloarbeiten und auch wenn diese nicht wirklich schlecht sind, so fallen sie im Vergleich zur ersten CD etwas ab, wobei die schiere physische Präsenz Z’EVs, die sich auf dem 46-minügen Abschlusstrack zeigt, schon beeindruckt und den Hörer – je nach Disposition – vielleicht tatsächlich in Trance versetzen kann." [M.G./African Paper]
"Here's two men who have been around since the 60s and both considerable ties to the underground, perhaps Z'EV more than Palestine. But neither have been elevated into the world of high art and are easy to approach. They met in Amsterdam in the 80s and have played a concert before, but only in 2010 they actually recorded material together at Charleworld, Charlemagne Palestine's own place, where has a carillon set up. The picture on the back shows what this looks like. Palestine up in the air playing the bells and Z'EV on the floor with his percussion. In '#3' the playing is somewhat chaotic and aided by natural reverb, but it's my least favorite piece of the three collaborations. In the other two we find an interesting drone like layer, played by Z'EV on a large skin drum and which adds a great texture to the more controlled playing of Palestine. In "#2' Z'EV only seems to rub the skins and makes it even more intense and creepy. I stopped the music because I wasn't sure if I was just hearing the music or something outside happened. That's the great mark of quality, I think. Those two long opening pieces would have been great enough by themselves. There is also a second CD with solo works. Palestine is brief here, just under eight minutes with a fine piece of carillon music, and 'Solo Z#1' sees Z'EV exploring more of those drone like sounds like on the second duo duo piece while his second piece lasts forty six minutes and we hear him like at least I remind me from the first time I heard his music (mid 80s). Banging metal percussion, aided with natural reverb, in what seems now proto-industrial music from an acoustic perspective. Excellent stuff here, this is the Z'EV I haven't heard in quite some time. Great package of excellent contemporary music all around." [FdW/Vital Weekly]
|
2013 |
€16.00 |
|
| PALO ALTO |
Difference and Repetition - A Musical Evocation of GILLES DELEUZE |
do-LP |
"This new album (the tenth in their discography) was born from two ambitions: to pay tribute to Soft Machine's Third on form (4 sides / 4 titles) and to philosopher Gilles Deleuze (Difference and Repetition is the title of his thesis) on the contents. The 4 long pieces of this double concept album were developed over 2 years and each has a different style and climate. Bold and kaleidoscopic, Difference and Repetition perfectly synthesizes the musical and literary obsessions of Palo Alto.
Palo Alto
Formed in Paris in 1989, Palo Alto released his first album (a cassette) on the Italian label Old Europa Cafe in 1990. The year 2020 is therefore an opportunity to celebrate the 30th anniversary of this first stone, the founder of a discography rich with 10 albums. The band is now composed of Jacques Barbéri (also a science fiction author), Laurent Pernice (ex-member of the French industrial band Nox) and Philippe Perreaudin (also coordinator of several compilations and reissues: Legendary Pink Dots, Un Département, Nino Ferrer Revisited, Ptôse, Hardy Fox…).
Literature, and particularly science fiction, is a leitmotiv in the band's work. Antoine Volodine, Thomas Pynchon, Philip K. Dick, Lewis Carroll or J. G. Ballard have been invoked many times.
In recent years, Palo Alto has multiplied musical collaborations with, among others, The Residents, Ptôse, Klimperei, Tuxedomoon...
From industrial music to inextricable electronic ramifications, by making a detour through improvisation, the musical universe of Palo Alto is multifaceted. Their new album is no exception to this rule… "
https://subrosalabel.bandcamp.com/album/difference-and-repetition-a-musical-evocation-of-gilles-deleuze
"Palo Alto aus Paris gibt es seit 1989 und mit "Le Clos" erschien 1990 ein erstes Album (auf Tonbandkassette), dem bisher ein gutes Dutzend weitere gefolgt sind. Das Projekt um Jacques Barbéri nennt als Einflussgeber Tuxedomoon, Art Zoyd, The Legendary Pink Dots, Coil, The Residents, Can und Cabaret Voltaire, und betätigt sich vornehmlich in experimentell-elektronischen Gefilden, verunreinigt seine Musik aber auch mit Punkig-Schrägem, New-Wave-Artigem oder Modern-Kammermusikalisch-Klassischem. Ich machte erstmals mit dem 1998 beim Musea-Unterlabel Gazul Records erschienenen Album "Transe Plan" Bekanntschaft mit der Formation, und auf jenem geht es auch weitestgehend elektronisch und experimentell zu.
Zum 30sten hat man dann das wohl bisher ambitionierteste Projekt verwirklicht. Ein Doppelalbum hat man sich vorgenommen, von der Form her wie "Third" von Soft Machine, also mit vier seitenlangen Nummern, welches sich mit dem Werk des 1995 durch Selbstmord verstorbenen französischen Philosophen Gilles Deleuze befasst. Dazu hat man sich einige musikalische Gäste gesucht: Den von Deleuze beeinflussten SF-Schriftsteller Alain Damasio als Vorleser, Richard Pinhas, der einstmals bei Deleuze studiert hat, an der E-Gitarre, Thierry Zaboïtzeff am Cello und Rhys Chatham an der Trompete. Das fertige Werk wurde schließlich Ende 2020 vom Belgischen Label Sub Rosa als 2xLP oder CD veröffentlicht.
Mit Soft Machine hat die Musik eher wenig gemein. Aber, es ging ja auch nur darum ein ähnlich ausladendes und gestaltetes Album zu veröffentlichen. Ein paar jazzig-rockige Spuren sind auf "Difference And Repetition - A Musical Evocation Of Gilles Deleuze" aber auch auszumachen. Ansonsten ist dies eine Art von elektronischer Musik, oft rhythmisch voran schreitend, bestimmt von programmierter Perkussion, vornehmlich aber dominiert von allerlei Synthesizererzeugnissen und bisweilen heftigst verfremdeten Saxophonklängen, in die je nach Stück weitere Blasinstrumente, Cello, Bass, E-Gitarre und Textrezitationen eingewoben wurden.
Vor allem im dreiteiligen "Triptych" verliest Damasio Texte, einen eigenen bisher unveröffentlichten über Deleuzes Tod (der auch im Inneren des Digipacks abgedruckt ist), aus Deleuzes Buch "Capitalisme et Schizophrenie" (1980) und aus seinem Roman "Les Furtifs" (2019), durchaus engagiert und intensiv, ganz im Stile des "Concerto Delle Menti" von Pholas Dactylus. Man kann, auch wenn man den französischen Text kaum folgen kann, nur gebannt zuhören.
Die restlichen Stücke sind vorwiegend instrumental gehalten, nur im einleitenden "The Tears of Nietzsche" wird kurz ein Text von Richard Pinhas’ verlesen (aus "Les Larmes de Nietzsche – Deleuze et la musique“, 2001), und sind recht stark von den jeweiligen Gastsolisten geprägt. Im eben genannten ersten Track ist Pinhas’ E-Gitarre klangbestimmend und die Nummer klingt dann über weite Strecken wie das recht typische Gitarrendröhnen, welches auch auf den Soloalben des Franzosen meist zu hören ist. Palo Alto, insbesondere Berberis Sax, sorgen aber für eigenen Charakter. In "Rhizom" knarzt Zaboitzeffs Cello erst bedächtig, dann immer wüster, eingebettet in eine hypnotisch dahin schreitende Space-Elektronik, in der das 'Tibetanische Horn' Barberis aber auch exotische Akzente setzt. Im abschließenden Titelstück ist dann Rhys Chatham tonangebend, allerdings nicht an der E-Gitarre, sondern mit einer heiser-krächzenden Trompete, übrigens oft begleitet von einem Damenchor (genannt 'Les Bottines'), der stellenweise fast für Zeuhl-Atmosphäre sorgt.
Eine recht schwer zu kategorisierende Musik ist auf "Difference And Repetition - A Musical Evocation Of Gilles Deleuze" zu finden. Als dynamischen Avant/Kammerprog, dröhnenden E-Gitarren-Elektrorock, krautige Elektronik oder als pulsierendes Electronicagemenge könnte man das bezeichnen, oder als eine dichte Verschmelzung dieser Ingredienzien, angereichert mit allerlei freiem Klangbasteln. Das Ergebnis ist jedenfalls reichlich originell, intensiv, voluminös, packend und auf jeden Fall sehr progressiv. Ich denke einmal, dass Avantprog-Freaks bzw. Zaboitzeff- und/oder Pinhas-Fans, die zudem die weiter oben genannten Vorbilder (oder einige derselben) schätzen, von "Difference And Repetition" (übriges auch ein Buchtitel Deleuzes) begeistert sein sollten. Ein später Höhepunkt des Progjahres 2020!" [Babyblaue Seiten]
|
2021 |
€20.00 |
|
| PAN AMERICAN |
White Bird Release |
LP |
"... Die große Frage bei so reduzierten Klängen (trotz ein wenig Gesang) lautet natürlich: Wie halte ich so was gleichbleibend spannend? Nelson gelingt das erneut durch unterschwellige Einflüsse von Dub, wobei man kaum von wirklicher Rhythmik sprechen kann, eher von einem gut spürbaren Pulsieren, das den Stücken aber die nötigen Konturen verleiht. Hinzu kommen verfremdete Gitarrensounds - wie sie sich auch auf Robert Fripps Ambientplatten finden lassen -, was ausreicht, um „White Bird Release" zu einer äußerst atmosphärischen, überraschend emotionalen Vertonung von Stille werden zu lassen, entspannend, aber nicht unaufregend und vor allem niemals austauschbar. Ein ästhetischer Hochgenuss und beseelt von einer abstrakten Form von Schönheit, die man nur auf ganz wenigen Ambientplatten in dieser Güte zu hören bekommt. [Thomas Kerpen, OX-Fanzine]
"The sixth album from Mark Nelson's longtime solo project follows his Quiet City album on Kranky, and more recently the For Waiting, For Chasing release on the Mosz label." [label info]
"Labradford had long been the American precursor to the lugubrious noir that Bohren & Der Club Of Gore had masterfully grafted with doom. But now that Labradford has quietly ceased activities, guitarist Mark Nelson has fully embraced his solo project Pan American, which had been running concurrently with Labradford for the past seven or eight years. Without Bobby Donne's lonesome bass as a foundation to work with, Nelson's Pan American has relied heavily upon glitchy electronic rhythms and dub-injected studio tricks with varying degrees of success. Perhaps now that Labradford is no more, the Pan American project has taken on a greater sense of purpose as White Bird Release is easily the most accomplished Pan American record to date. There's much less of that dubby electronica to be found on this album; but when employed, Nelson's skeletal pulses enjoy a rich noir ethos resembling those scarce moments of darkened prog-rock dirge for organ and drums offered up on that Deathprod boxset a few years back. But for the most part, Nelson seems comfortable with the Fripp & Eno style streams of pastoral guitar ambience dotted with softened static, smokey vibes, and gracefully arcing drones. The album is based on a letter from Dr. Robert Goddard to H.G. Wells written in 1932 and concerned with the possibility of space flight. While many of the obvious references to White Bird Release harken to the deep space cosmology from the '70s (e.g. Fripp & Eno, Cluster, Schulze, etc.), Nelson's work is not a departure from this rock travelling around the sun, but rather a glance upward to the heavens, while remaining firmly grounded below. The cd has one extra track not to be found on the vinyl." [Aquarius Records review]
www.brainwashed.com/kranky
|
2009 |
€15.00 |
|
| PANHUYSEN, PAUL |
A Magic Square of 5 to look at |
CD |
Endlose Zeitlupenwellen von langsam dahinächzenden Sirr-Teppichen, als konzeptuelle Grundlage der Klangkunst-Komposition diente ein „magisches Quadrat“ und die entsprechende Mathematik der „kosmischen Harmonie“... interessantes Konzept und überzeugendes Klangergebnis von diesem eher im Ausstellungs/Installations-Betrieb arbeitenden Klangkünstler..
“OK, for all the math freaks out there, this is a must have. This CD by one of the most famous Dutch sound artists with a resume as long as both my arms is one big mathematician's wet dream. The theory of a magic square is simple enough, but not so simple that I would be able to reproduce it correctly here. What Panhuysen has done is to transpose the theory to image and sound (all the details about this can be found extensively in the booklet). Sounds boring? Well, it may sound that way, but the result is great! Especially the resulting 30 minute sound piece is a sheer beauty. Sine waves are played according to the rules of the magic square and some additional rules and the result is a piece that is hauntingly evocative, yet dry as a desert. This strange contradiction gives the work its strength and tension. The piece was originally conceived as a four channel sound installation but works very well in the CDd format. Together with the booklet and text it is a very hermetic work of art, extremely modernist, and therefore a welcome statement in times of relatively random digital number crunching. A very good work.” [MR, Vital Weekly]
www.beequeen.nl/plink.html
|
2004 |
€13.00 |
|
| |
Partitas for long strings |
CD |
Sehr schöne Drones von diesem Klang- und Installationskünstler, der mit langen aufgespannten Drähten / Saiten arbeitet...
“ Partitas for Long Strings is the first album in 12 years¬ and the first CD ever¬ to document Paul Panhuysen¹s work with long string installations. Since 1982 Panhuysen has created over 200 such installations. For the partitas on this album there were two aspects of central interest to him: different tunings and density of sound. He made an installation in the large space of Het Apollohuis, stretching four strings lengthwise and attaching them to the wooden wall on the far end, which served as a resonator. He did not use automatons or electric amplification. He played the strings by brushing them, walking back and forth at an even pace. His aim was to make
his playing as continuous and even as possible. For each partita he recorded his playing four times, superimposing these recordings over each other and listening to the earlier recordings over headphones whilst playing. The total sound of each partita is produced by sixteen strings. The three partitas differ in the systems according to which the strings are tuned. These tunings can be regarded as the score for each piece.” [label info]
|
1998 |
€14.00 |
|
| PANTALEIMON |
Heart of the Sun |
CD |
Eine gar illustre Schar von Musikern & Projekten remixten für dieses Album Songs von ANDRIA DEGENS aka PANTALEIMON, daneben gibt es einige "echte" Kollaborationen und vorher unveröffentlichte Stücke von ihr. Folkiger, "magischer" Ambient in wunderbaren & wundersamen Variationen, kein Stück ist doppelt vorhanden...
"The whole thing started when Clodagh Simonds (Fovea Hex) asked if she could remix 'Under The Water.' Of course, I said yes. When she came back with such remarkable music, and casually mentioned, 'Oh, why don't you ask a couple of other pals to do remixes?', it gave me the idea for this album. It is not simply a remix album, but a collaborative project. I chose friends I admired as artists and who inhabit creative spaces that are connected in some way and on some level to me and to each other. I gave away my 'babies' to go out to play with the likes of Andrew W.K., Stephen O'Malley, Lilium, Carter Tutti, Colin Potter, Andrew Liles, The Bricoleur, Plinth, Fabrizio Modonese Palumbo (Larsen), and, of course, Fovea Hex. Even though I had an inkling that the mixes would fit together as one coherent whole, I had no idea just how much they would complement one another. There are also some previously unreleased tracks including a cover of Bonnie 'Prince' Billy's 'Even If Love,' which didn't quite make it on Mercy Oceans for aural reasons. However, this cover version has been gently manipulated and star-mangled by Susan Stenger (Band of Susans)." [label info / credits]
".... The sparse, delicate hazy folk of Pantaleimon remixed? Don't worry there are no cheesy beats, awkward turntables or sloppy hands on any of these songs. In fact the first time we listened we had no idea that any of these songs were in fact remixes. Maybe it's because we hadn't heard any of these songs in their first incarnation. But wow, we were drawn in immediately. Andria Degens is making such beautiful and haunting music as Pantalimon that we almost hesitate to mention that she's married to David Tibet of Current 93, as her own music more then stands on its own. But if folks who haven't heard her before and are C93 fans check this out then the more ears that hear Pantaleimon the better!
While the sound is similar to the music of folks like Fursaxa, Grouper and Christina Carter, there is much more immediacy, focus and a connection to folk history in the songs of Pantaleimon. While less hazy then some of her peers there is a seemingly sonic mist hanging
over her songs which stops you in your tracks. There is also a rustic quality in these stripped down songs that makes us think of Bridget St. John and Hala Strana recording a record together. Plenty of folks help out by adding sounds and ambience but all do so with much subtly and respect. Who knew Andrew W.K. could be so subtle, his tasteful keyboards are heard on the record's opener, and the list of other contributors/remixers reads like a who's who of the musical underground (Colin Potter, Andrew Lilies, Stephen O'Malley, Fovea Hex, Lilium, etc). Heart Of The Sun is becoming the record we listen to both early in the morning and then late at night as we surrender to
sleep. So beautiful!" [Aquarius Records review]
|
2008 |
€12.00 |
|
| PAPIRO |
Avventure lontane |
LP |
PAPIRO is a "Swiss Sicilian" with a cellar full of antique synthesizers. This record brings you weird electronica with an easy-listening touch, full of strange artificial 70's sounds and sinus-tones and a nice drone-piece at the end, reminded us on stuff from FELIX KUBIN, the label-owner said "somewhere between PEREY & GERSHON KINGSLEY, ENNIO MORRICONE and HIGH LLAMAS. For those of you who like the ancient early synth-sounds. Comes in a "glow in the dark" -handpainted cover, on the same label that brought us MIRROR & IN CAMERA.
"....-Papiro's music owns much to the works of Roedelius, Asmus Tietchens (on his Hematic Sunset albums) or even Bruce Haack, but comes off original enough to stand on its own. As a whole, this album is perfectly suited for any retro-styled party. All hail therefore to the groovy glow-in-the-dark cover, which fits the music like a dream." [FK / Vital Weekly]
|
2006 |
€17.50 |
|
| PARADIN |
Coma Digenean |
CD-R |
Recht frisches “experimental ambience” – Projekt aus den Staaten mit sehr dynamisch-lebendigen Drone-Sphären, kreiert aus Analog-Synths, Klangschalen, gebogenem Metall, präparierter Gitarre... ein one-tracker (50+ minuten) der aber durch verschiedene Teile läuft...
definitiv kein Einheitsbrei und noch zu entdecken !
“Earlier this year I had my first encounter with the music of Paradin, aka Ben Fleury-Steiner from the USA. He released 'Flesh Of Caverns' on Mystery Sea (see Vital Weekly 472), which means you have to find him the areas of deep and dark ambient music. His previous releases I never heard. Paradin uses synths, singing bowls, bowed metal and treated guitar here on 'Coma Digenean', a single piece that consists of five different parts and sees a continuation of the previous Mystery Sea work. However it should be noted that Paradin doesn't play very strict ambient music, but is rather interested in creating a large atmospheric cloud of sound; this is something in which more happens than just one single drone, but various sounds move around each-other, all creating this atmosphere. In that sense there is more happening here than on an average ambient album, and that the sound is more up there and present. Spooky and mysterious music that certainly has a cinematographic quality. Very nice ambient music that makes a bit of difference from the rest.” [FdW / Vital Weekly]
Address: http://www.gearsofsound.net
label: www.gearsofsand.net
|
2005 |
€6.00 |
|
| PARALUX |
La Laguna / Lux-ed |
DVD-R |
"PARALUX is a nickname known for collaborating with her images on the live concerts of Tzesne. This is her first published work. Two video pieces that are produced far away from from the speed of the live context, two re-composed films made from the material collected from her performances. Video-ambient to be enjoyed at home!" [label info]
"The first release by Paralux, an 'one woman visual band' with the DVD-R as her first release, containing two short films with soundtracks. The music is dark but in 'Lux-ed' there is a very nice, desolate trumpet that almost sound like 'The Last Post', against a wall of dark humming synthesizers. Visually it is a bit of an assembly of pictures that don't seem to make much sense. In 'La Laguna' the sea plays an important role, both in the visuals as well as in the music. It seems that what was filmed was also taped and only slightly processed. Wind blows straight into the microphone. I must admit I liked the music from the first film and the images of the second. Both mastered the excitement of ambient music, but in both pieces there is also something lacking. Nevertheless it's a most promising start." [FdW / Vital Weekly]
www.seriesnegras.org
|
2007 |
€9.00 |
|
| PARIKRAMA |
Manusyaloka |
CD |
"The drone tapestries of Parikrama can once again be heard as they have finally materialized here in the Manusyaloka, or our human realm again. After having seemingly phased out of our world the travellers have visited the vast continents circling Mount Meru and on their way back nearly got lost in the thick vegetation of the age old Himmaphan forest, having there encountered bizarre creatures that defy description. Seasoned gterma veterans will know what to expect. Comes in a jewelcase with 16-page booklet." [label info]
http://gterma.blogspot.se
|
2013 |
€13.00 |
|
| PARKINS, ZEENA |
Between the Whiles |
CD |
"Dass ZEENA PARKINS schon mit allen von SONIC YOUTH über YOKO ONO bis zu BJÖRK kollaboriert hat, stellt ein für alle Mal unter Beweis: die klassische Harfe ist in Wirklichkeit ein Rock’n’Roll Instrument! Engelschöre sind von gestern, denn ZEENA PARKINS ist der JIMI HENDRIX der verstärkten Harfe. Mit mehr Höhendrang, mehr Glitzer, Geschrei und Gequietsch als jemals zuvor wirft sich ihr neues Album ?Between The Whiles“ kopfüber in virbrierende Soundwellen, die einmal mehr ihre künstlerische Vision und technische Vielseitigkeit hervorheben. Die Klangweite ist immens und es gibt an allen Ecken etwas zu entdecken ? wer tief hinuntertaucht, wird mit Armen voller Schätze zurückkehren. "There's great fixity and coherence to the mini-essays she develops. In the end, it's classical NYC avant garde - garrulous, multi-faceted, ironic and open." - The Wire "Zeena Parkins is my favorite living harpist... kucks of sonic gristle that she pulls from it are dandy as jack. A truely ginchy exploration of forgotten string potential." ? Spin." [label info / Cargo]
www.myspace.com/zeenaparkins
|
2010 |
€14.50 |
|
| 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 |
Memoire Magnetique Vol. 1 |
LP |
"Transversales Disques is very glad to announce the release of « Mémoire Magnétique, vol.1 » spanning 1966-1990, revelatory collection of commercial and secret music by electronic music pioneer Bernard Parmegiani.
This series of rare application music compositions are representative of the vast scope explored by Parmegiani. Far from the strict format of concert music, its codes and usages, this music designed to fit with the screen is a work of amazing freshness and spontaneity.
It is pervaded with a singular balance, between minimalist music and a more articulated language. There is a space for melody, for word repetitions. Actually, repetition is a constant feature, blurring the line between his concert work and the rest. More than a border line, it seems to define two worlds, which communicate through it.
With an impressive number of application works, and some time spent at the head of the Sound / Image sector in the research service led by Pierre Schaeffer, the composer has managed to build up a framework designed for research and mutual exchange. Bernard Parmegiani presents us with lights, gestures, lines, various registers. Besides, how could one perceive these pieces of music without the pictures they are supposed to enhance? Each title is suggestive, and the best answer is in the field of imagination.
In the middle of the B-side, there is a true gem dated 1977. In this second extract of “Versailles… peut-être“ Bernard Parmegiani gives us a glimpse of the future. One can feel the pulse of the 80’s and of the first accents of Techno Music. It feels like driving a drop head car at 134 BPM, faster than on Kraftwerk’s “Autobahn”. One can also sense that soon the LFO will be replaced by the drum-machine.
Listening to these pieces of music arouses the same sensation as reading the prose of an author already known for his poetry. If one has never read his poems, here is the record that will open the door on a new world to be discovered / Maxime Barthélemy.
Remastered high-resolution audio transferred directly from the original tapes.
Exclusive Liner Notes + OBI STRIP
https://transversales.bandcamp.com/album/m-moire-magn-tique-vol-1-1966-1990 |
2018 |
€24.00 |
|
| |
Memoire Magnetique Vol. 2 |
LP |
Transversales is very glad to announce the release of « Mémoire Magnétique, vol.2 » spanning 1966-1993, revelatory collection of short and secret music by electronic music pioneer Bernard Parmegiani.
The second volume of this compilation allows us to discover some of unreleased rarities from Bernard Parmegiani’s personal archives and unpublished recordings which were composed for the screen or the performing arts.
Remastered high-resolution audio transferred directly from the original tapes.
Exclusive liner notes and pictures.
Musique originale composée, interprétée et enregistrée par Bernard Parmegiani.
Production exécutive : Jonathan Fitoussi & Sébastien Rosat.
Mastering à partir des bandes originales : Jonathan Fitoussi.
Direction artistique & graphisme : Jean-Philippe Talaga.
Traduction : Michèle Parent.
(P) 2021 Transversales Disques ®
sous licence exclusive de Claude-Anne Parmegiani
A1 / "Témoignages" - 1972.
Générique pour la série télévisée de Pierre Houdain.
A2 / "Pop secret" - 1970.
Version remixée pour concert de la musique créée avec le groupe
"Third Ear Band" au Royal Festival Hall, Londres.
A3 / "Voyage Conseil" - 1970.
Musique pour la publicité de : "Voyage Conseil".
Version non utilisée.
A4 / "Lion d'or" - 1988.
Générique pour l'émission radio de Georges Léon diffusée sur France Culture
le 22/02/1988.
A5 / "Flash sports" - 1975.
Indicatif de l'émission télévisée éponyme diffusée sur Antenne 2.
A6 / "Spot pub" - 1971.
Spot publicitaire non identifié, non utilisé.
A7 / "Journal TV 2" - 1981.
Indicatif du journal télévisé d'Antenne 2.
A8 / "Stade 2" - 1976-1986.
Indicatif de l'émission : "Stade 2".
Antenne 2, émission sport. Animation : Peter Foldès.
A9 / "L'art au monde des ténèbres" - 1982.
Série documentaire télévisée de Mario Ruspoli.
A10 / "Sonal Roissy" - 1971-2005.
Signal sonore de l'aéroport Roissy-Charles-de-Gaulle.
B1 / "Bongo fuego" - 1967.
Film d'animation de Peter Foldès.
B2 / "Electrorythmes" - 1966.
Version remixée pour concert ; film de Peter Foldès avec la chorégraphe Marpessa Dawn.
B3 / "E Pericoloso sporgersi" - (élément) - 1991.
Musique radiophonique ; commande de France Culture.
B4 / "Une mission éphémère" - 1993.
Film d'animation de Piotr Kamler.
B5 / "Une honorable partie de Gô" - 1978.
Série documentaire télévisée de Jean-Emile Jeannesson,
"Lettres du bout du monde".
B6 / "Sonal Roissy" - (inédit) - 1971.
Maquette de signal sonore pour l'aéroport Roissy-Charles-de-Gaulle.
Version non utilisée.
https://bernardparmegiani.bandcamp.com/album/m-moire-magn-tique-vol-2-1966-1993
"Belonging to a growing body of previously unreleased work culled from the archives of Bernard Parmegiani, the always incredible Transversales Disques returns with “Mémoire Magnétique, Vol. 2”, the second instalment in their series of albums focusing on the composer’s work for film, television, and the performing arts.
An inevitable revelation for even the most devoted of Parmegiani’s fans, we’re also making it available as part of a specially priced bundle with brand new represses of “Mémoire Magnétique, Vol. 1” and “Rock (Bande originale du film, 1982)” for those who missed them the first time around.
So good.
Over the last few years, the Paris based imprint, Transversales Disques, has set a remarkable standard for archival releases, bringing us a treasure trove of previously unreleased recordings by Pierre Henry, Archie Shepp, Pharoah Sanders, Luc Ferrari, Igor Wakhevitch, Philip Glass, Ariel Kalma, François Bayle, Ennio Morricone, and numerous others.
While by no means the limit of their focus, the imprint has offered special attention to works by French pioneers of electronic music, particularly those associated with Groupe de Recherches de Musique Concrète (GRMC) and Groupe de Recherches Musicales (GRM). Central to this modus operandi is the work of Bernard Parmegiani. Back in 2017, they brought us the composer’s incredible 1982 soundtrack, Rock, created for Michel Treguero’s film of the same name, followed by the LP, Mémoire Magnétique, Vol. 1 in 2018.
After three years of waiting, the label is back with the second instalment of rare sounds by Parmegiani, Mémoire Magnétique, Vol. 2, accompanied by brand new represses of Mémoire Magnétique, Vol. 1 and Rock (Bande originale du film, 1982), which have been out of print since their initial release. As a special celebration, we’re offering them individually or together as a specially priced bundle. They’re 20th Century electroacoustic music at its absolute height, hugely historically important, and not to be missed.
Bernard Parmegiani’s contributions to electronic and electroacoustic practice are now regarded as among the most important in the history of 20th Century Music, but this wasn’t always the case. For much of his career, the composer lingered in the shadow of his more famous peers at Groupe de Recherches - Pierre Schaeffer, Luc Ferrari, François Bayle, etc. Some of this was a consequence of circumstance and idealism. Gifted with a deep belief in access and humor, Parmegiani believed in the profound potential of electronic and electroacoustic sound, seeking to integrate it into everyday life, particularly through forms of mass distribution activated by radio, film, and television. A great deal of his output was created for these contexts - remaining unreleased on physical formats - while he supported himself as a sound engineer and as the head of the Music/Image division of French television. It is into this rarely heard body of recordings which Transversales Disques takes us once again.
Like the first instalment, Mémoire Magnétique, Vol. 2 culls its material form the composer’s personal archives and unpublished recordings of material created between 1966 and 1993, focusing specifically on his output for the screen and the performing arts. Standing as a largely unacknowledged counterpoint to more famous works like De Natura Sonorum, La Roue Ferris, Dedans Dehors, Chants Magnétiques, and Chronos - created during same period covered by the collection - these works unveil a lesser-known vision of Parmegiani, one that embedded himself in the subconscious landscape of the French public, with sounds that were often heard without acknowledging their genius or source.
Comprising 16 revelatory tracks, of relatively short lengths - from 13 seconds to just over 8 minutes - Mémoire Magnétique, Vol. 2 covers a brilliant range of material, from sci-fi tinged arpeggiating synths, brooding minimalist expanses, semi psychedelic meanderings away with free-flowing texture, pastoral meditations, playful, percussive musique concrète, pieces that flirt on the edges of kosmische and Berlin school electronics, and so much more.
Encountering the composer in the throes of his deepest passion - working alongside the visual realm - just when you’d thought you’d heard it all, Transversales Disques digs up more gold from the archives of Bernard Parmegiani, expanding our vision of the astounding talent and range of one of the most important sonic artists of the 20th Century.
These previously unreleased rarities have been remastered from the original tapes in high-resolution audio, and come complete with exclusive liner notes and pictures. As engrossing as records come, and an absolute blast to listen to. Not to be missed!
Across 17 despite works, Mémoire Magnétique, Vol. 1 spans 24 years of Parmegiani’s output of music designed to integrate with the screen, drawing on a framework the composer developed for research and mutual exchange between sound and image. It should come as no surprise, given the overwhelming creative talent which Parmegiani possessed, that these efforts more than stand on their own when separated from the images with which they were designed to speak. The LP is an overwhelmingly powerful body of revelatory sound.
Not unlike his soundtrack for Rock, Mémoire Magnétique, Vol. 1 pushes the boundaries of what the work emerging from Groupe de Recherches is often perceived to have been, if not the very notions of what qualifies as avant-garde. Imbued with Parmegiani’s overwhelming humor and playfulness, it offers nods to a countless range of musical idioms and fields of practice - often painting a dark, dystopian technological, rhythmic landscape with aural touchstones ranging from techno, Kraftwerk, and John Carpenter soundtracks, with a peppering of the clown show, reminding us that Parmegiani began his career as a mime.
There’s no question that Transversales Disques is taking the high road, bringing us into wild, wonderful, and often overlooked bodies of organized sound which rewrite almost every standard narrative of history. These works are some of a Bernard Parmegiani which all too few heard, belonging to a way of working which captures the idealism closest to his heart.
Absolutely brilliant creatively - a challenging field of imagination and an endlessly thrilling listen. Transferred directly from the original tapes with exclusive liner notes, if you missed the first pressing, don’t sleep. This is an absolute must for any fan of Parmegiani, GRM, soundtracks, and electronic music at large."
[Soundohm]
https://bernardparmegiani.bandcamp.com/album/m-moire-magn-tique-vol-2-1966-1993
|
2021 |
€26.50 |
|
| PARMERUD, AKE |
Necropolis |
CD |
“Dreaming in Darkness” (2005), “Crystal Counterpoint” (2009), “ReVoiced” (2009), “Necropolis - City of the Dead” (2011).
“Dreaming in Darkness is forged primarily from small sounds, spaced apart from one another. A chime, a chink or a clunk, and then silence before a scrape or a click or a bump. It’s fragmentary, the origins of the sounds unclear. Taking the question of what a person who cannot see dreams about, Parmerud explains that the piece is an attempt to create surrealistic fragments of a blind person’s dreams. As the piece progresses, the sounds become increasingly densely packed, and with longer durations and overlaid, building sinister abstract scenes: in fact, not so much scenes as shifting shadows and variations in light.
The bubble of conversation marks the opening moments of Crystal Counterpoint: a recording which sounds like a restaurant or party, the chinking of classes and general hubbub of people grows and stops abruptly with the chime of a glass. Inspired by the sounds of the parties Åke’s parents used to host, and which he would hear from upstairs, the piece uses the very same glasses to create a wealth of sounds, from long, low drones to higher hums, elongated undulations and quick, bright glissandos. Grand swells of sound rise and cease suddenly, replaced by strange, quiet drifts of sound: it’s very easy to forget exactly what you’re listening to. But if anything, awareness of the origin of the sounds only heightens the experience, as you’re likely to marvel and wonder just how glasses could sound like an oboe or high winds across mountain tops. In his notes, Parmerud notes that there already exist a large number of recordings which explore glass sounds, and it is, indeed, an interesting piece to place alongside Miguel Frasconi’s Standing Breakage (for Stan Brakhage) (clang records, 2016).
ReVoiced moves away from musical abstraction and instead uses the voice as its instrument. A single voice is layered up on top of itself exponentially until a whole crowd of one voice is speaking. It’s actually quite a disconcerting experience. Voices are subject to all kinds of manipulation: sped up, slowed down, pitch adjusted, stretched, overlaid, echoed and delayed, in myriad permutations. Chants and dialogue and ululations, crowds and multiple languages meld together, and gradually, extraneous sounds — hard, heavy slabs of sound — crash in, while sharp-edged sounds slash for create a dull, percussive element to the slow-building torture of the familiar becoming twisted, distorted, abstracted and unfamiliar.
The final track, Necropolis — City of the Dead, is a musical tour through the catacombs of an imaginary city which contain the remains of some of the greatest music of all time. ‘But the condition of the musical bodies that rest in the crypts is unfortunately in various states of decomposition’. As such, in combining a well-worn joke (which is usually about Mozart when I’ve heard it) with a project to assimilate and deconstruct fragments of existing works, Necropolis is a sort of a collage. Classical, jazz, film soundtracks, many renowned and bordering on recognisable, at least in essence, all fade in and out and collide against one another.
While the title track may pick over the bones of musical history, it equally breathes new life, and the same is very much true of the work as a whole: the parts are disparate, fragmentary, scattered in origin from around the globe and individually amount to not very much at all. But the sum is spectacular, an experience which is thought-provoking and which has the capacity to be quite unexpectedly affecting.” By Christopher Nosnibor in Aural Aggravation, May 3, 2016
|
2016 |
€15.00 |
|
| |
Growl |
CD |
"Composer Åke Parmerud is from Göteborg, which is also the home of underground labels such as Fang Bomb, Release The Bats, and Beläten, names on which we can always rely to provide solid blasts of depressive post-industrial noise and drone music. Parmerud isn’t exactly cut from the same cloth, being as how he’s a prize-winning and classically-trained electroacoustic maestro, but there are moments of tasty darkness on his Growl (empreintes DIGITALes IMED 15132) collection which appeal to a macabre chap like myself. La vie mécanique, for instance, is a pretty effective critique of modern industrialisation, or at least an observation on it, and takes the hoary old dystopian cliché of “modern man becoming machine-like” and dusts it down for an update that involves samples of machinery blended with Techno music. In this lively composition of clattering beats and metal, it’s far from clear where the factory machines leave off and the dancefloor begins; it’s intending to convey something about the body being broken down into smaller units, much like the cogs of a machine being taken apart. Parmerud also makes a commentary on the contemporary use of machines (laptops, presumably) for making music. I wish he’d be a little less equivocal about it, both in his notes and his music, but it’s a nifty statement.
Maybe serious composers shouldn’t dabble with Techno. However, if you think men of Parmerud’s generation should leave the kids’ music alone, you’ll be even more appalled by the idea of Growl itself, where he drily observes “metal music is big in Sweden” from his lofty position, and borrows some ideas from his youngest son who plays in a metal band. This might be Aron Parmerud who plays his “axe” for Marionette, a Death Metal band who made a couple of albums for Listenable Records. What the composer has done here is zero-in on the throat-shredding vocals that characterise a lot of the music in this genre, and through arranging samples of voices shrieking “Hell Is Us! Die We Must!”, has built a virtual “growlers choir”. With the dark techno backing, electronic effects, and gloomy ambient tones, this works surprisingly well, even if it sounds too “expensive” and well-produced for a genuine metal album and has far too many interesting dynamics. He also misses the claustrophobia and genuine sense of doom. But even so Parmerud turns in a strong piece of work, and in any case he wasn’t setting out to produce a metal album.
What else are the “young people” interested in these days? Vinyl records, of course! So listen in to 2011’s Grooves if you want to hear what Parmerud can do when sampling the black stuff. The source material for this was the vinyl collection of his friend Kai Hanekken; in fact the composition seems to have been a by-product of a digitisation project requested by said Hanekken, who urged the composer to pick up the gauntlet and create a composition. He gave in. What gets sampled are run-out grooves and vinyl “noise”, i.e. crackles and clicks and such; Parmerud seems to have been only too aware that doing this was already something of a well-worn cliché, but again he liked the challenge and wanted to see if he could invert it and bring new life into the idea. Although best heard at high volumes and played back through a multi-channel system, Grooves still succeeds on your home CD player and delivers a suffocating density which is clearly one of this composer’s trademarks. Continuity is severely disrupted by the multiple edits, and the speed with which the layers of abstract noise pile up is incredibly alarming. You’ll feel like you’re trapped on an enormous spinning black disc of death.
Also here: 2014’s Electric Birds derived from birdsong samples (yet another instance where Parmerud had promised himself he would never make a piece like this), and Transmissions II, the most recent composition. It derives from a multi-media work where, if seen live, a singing choir are able to manipulate sound signals in real time. Some fascinating complex electronic layers result, and it sounds a lot more contemporary than some of the formal music that often gets released on this label, and is every bit as convincing as any given Mego release from the last few years. Sometimes proper composers make a ninny of themselves when they try and get “with it”, but Åke Parmerud has nothing to be ashamed of here." [The Sound Projector]
|
2015 |
€14.50 |
|
| PARSONS, DAVID |
Puja |
CD |
"Perhaps mainly known for his panoramic and almost cinematic Himalayan soundworlds, on Puja David continues his more recent tradition of travelling the inner horizon. And in so doing, he also invites us listeners to undertake similar journeys of our own. Puja is a mysterious and magic constellation, fuelled by the spirit and discipline of the age old Asian cultures and philosophies."
https://gterma.bandcamp.com/album/puja
"This is one of those albums where it’s difficult to single out one track, or even one moment that will stay with you longer that the other ones. It’s rather something that you absorb in its entirety and don’t really want it to end, even if you don’t listen to it carefully and attentively for the whole seventy four minutes. David Parsons (do not confuse with Alan Parsons) returns with his second offering for the gterma label.
The first recordings of this composer from New Zealand date back to the early eighties. He released some albums for the legendary Fortuna Records and its sister-label Celestial Harmonies. Well, honestly speaking, I wasn’t in a rush to get familiar with this one. I was rather expecting some New Age mumbo-jumbo with an Eastern touch and perhaps a few ambient incrustations here and there. And you know what? I wasn’t that wrong, except for the fact that the ambient layers are more intense and cover the New Age frames, so they do not dominate the work that is called “Puja” (in Sanskrit it means “ritual prayer”).
What surprised me the most were the occasional darker trips, like in “Offerings 3” where the deep drones having something in common with aliquot singing are merged with ritual bells and sequences that even Lustmord would be proud of. It’s a peculiar combination that introduces a feeling of anxiety into this sublime communion with the gods. A fear of them perhaps?
The artist is juggling with moods from track to track, as another “Offering” is a peaceful and ethereal composition with samples of female chanting, but not in the way you’d expect – it’s intermittent, delayed and reverbed, but still nicely fitting into the calming textures. You can meet these contrasts more often within the space of the whole album, but you don’t feel confused, as it’s all gives the impression of a very coherent and thought out work.
That is also why I discussed distinguishing certain tracks or fragments. Because of the sound and the mood that is a derivative of the concept, it all sounds quite monolithic and dense. Focused like a ritual that requires patience, stillness and self-meditation. Of course, you can use “Puja” as muzak as well, and I doubt David Parsons would be particularly disappointed with such a treatment – but it works both ways. Consciously or unconsciously you can feel that something has changed in the environment. That a touch of mystique has penetrated into your regular day like any other day.
Since it’s a gterma release you know what to expect from a technical point of view. A CD only, no digital version. And, as always, a booklet with some beautiful photos completing the musical side." [Santa Sangre]
" “Puja” (started by the composer with nothing particular in mind) is David Parsons’ first album using software synths only, as he decided purchasing a fine collection of soft-synths in years previously eventually making his studio now reside in a Mac Mini. The depth and versatility of a lot of current software quite astonished him, as did the ability to manipulate samples and oscillators in completely surreal ways, which all proved quite inspirational (as also happened for “Stupa”). David spent about a year programming the software with hundreds of sound patches and from this new library “Puja” is the first to emerge.
The name of the album only suggested itself after the project was completed. The track names, simply “Offerings” 1 thru 7, are offerings in the sense of a Hindu/Buddhist puja (prayer ceremony) and feel most descriptive of the 73-minute most subtle constructed and captivating sonic content. In the mesmerizing, gradually evolving, elevating and rather hypnotizing textural waves/drone tapestries, many enchanting sounds pass by such as those of praying monks, sampled sitar and a few refined, subtle rhythmic elements.
Soon, a sense of mystery and spiritually simply reveals itself to and washed over the listener. There actually are many sounds buried fairly deeply in the mix of this inward journey so that with repeated listening new things will be discovered depending on where the listener’s attention is centered at any given moment. As David let me know, the mix itself is very much biased towards headphone listening.
The Gterma label refers to “Puja” as a charming piece of work, something I can only fully agree upon." [Sonic Immersion]
|
2016 |
€13.00 |
|
| |
Chakra |
CD |
Chakra is David's third album on gterma. The album carves and weaves its way through the mysteries surrounding the seven Chakras starting at the crown and working towards the foundation. Headphones strongly recommended.
https://gterma.bandcamp.com/album/chakra
"After “Puja” and “Stupa”, “Chakra” is the third album by New Zealand-based composer David Parsons on the Swedish G-terma label.
This time around, the tracks on “Chakra” were very much gear-inspired. David purchased a couple of Synthstrom Deluges, a locally made portable synthesizer, sequencer and sampler from Wellington designed for the creation, performance and improvisation of electronic music. This brilliantly designed piece of gear -running on an internal rechargeable battery- offers pretty much unlimited sampling storage and more composing tracks than one would ever need. In addition, they can also control all David’s other hardware and software synths. About 70% of the album’s music was created in the outdoors during holiday down south with this portable gear.
It ended up as a 62-minute inner journey (overall a bit more rhythmic than Parsons’ last releases) of slow progressing, minimal-angled and lush swirling sound waves. These meet up with David’s signature aural Tibetan and Asian flavours as well as some occasional monk chants. Its effect is dreamful, hypnotizing, and immersive and even becomes fulfilling when the intrinsic power trail of the 10-minute delight “Manipura” washes over the listener. Thereafter, David’s takes his listeners to great heights with the atmospheric, minimalist painting “Svadhisthana” (moving into “Himalaya’s” pure soundwaves), then rounds out the fascinating journey beautifully with the rhythmic-spiced, intense “Muladhara”.
The excellently mastered “Chakra” is a winner on all fronts making a great addition to Parsons’ discography. Headphone-listening is strongly recommended." [Sonic Immersion]
|
2019 |
€13.00 |
|
| PBK |
Descent |
CD-R |
"Among the artists from the late-80s experimental tape underground who inspired the music of EMERGE and the founding of Attenuation Circuit, PBK is one of the most important. Therefore, we are extremely proud to present in a digital format for the first time his first solo release “Descent” from 1988, which the artist aptly describes as “dramatic atmospheric space-drone with plenty of analog synthesizer, via Dave Prescott, who once ran the Generations Unlimited label, releasing works by Conrad Schnitzler, Morphogenesis, etc. Prescott owned one of the largest modular synths ever assembled and puts it to striking use on this tape. Combined with PBK's Moogs, loops and drones, and howls of anguish provided by the irrepressible Minóy, all echoing around in the strange space of a Radio Shack mixer's spring reverb.”
“Minoy’s bedroom isolationist approach produced something that seemed otherworldly, spiritual and more like paintings, which was my own background. I took Minoy’s approach as my own model,” PBK says about their late-80s collaborations. This eminently emotional yet perfectly poised masterpiece of “noise ambient”, as PBK came to call his approach to music, is stunning proof that the international tape underground brought forth truly new sounds in electronics that are second to nothing but the most revered academic work by the likes of Stockhausen or Xenakis, and certainly opened up these ways of exploration to larger numbers of people. As fellow composer and Sound of Pigs tape label activist Al Margolis/If, Bwana says about the late Minòy (1951 – 2010): “i heard Minoy’s work before i had ever heard Stockhausen’s Hymnen – so that my take on hearing Hymnen was that it fit in this continuum …not the other way around!!!”
[label info]
www.wix.com/attenuationcircuit/attenuation-circuit
"Phillip B Klingler: that's what PBK stands for. No secret but just in case you didn't know this and that might happen, since PBK might not be a household name these days. Unlike the late 80s when he rose to small fame in the underworld of home-brew cassette releases. He never went 'away' or in hibernation, but perhaps was not always as visible in this twenty-five year career. I am not sure if this re-issue of one of his earliest cassette releases is part of a longer campaign to re-issue earlier works, or perhaps part of an anniversary of some kind, but its great to hear it again after so many years. 'Descent' is perhaps his first true solo release, and sees him take inspiration from Minoy and David Prescott, rather than Stockhausen of Xenakis (I am using the press text, thank you). At David Prescott's he taped a whole bunch of synth sounds and spread these out over the four tracks of his machine and then started to mix them, adding more synthesizer sounds, tape loops and such like, and the result is one of the earliest instances of 'ambient' meeting 'industrial'. It has that spacious character of ambient music, like being in a stream of sounds (as in a stream of consciousness) but at the same time has an angular character, a certain aspect of being nasty, that remote, desolate, empty industrial waste land image that makes it 'industrial'. Composing is perhaps not the sort of thing that applies here, but rather a surrealist take on mixing odd tracks of sounds together in two long form pieces of music. Intuitive playing and mixing, a surrealist approach to the art of composing, that is what PBK is best known for and here he does a great job at it. An early work, but what a fine piece." [FdW/Vital Weekly]
|
2012 |
€8.00 |
|
| PBK & TELEPHERIQUE |
Noise-Ambient Connection |
CD |
"Noise music exists for many years, but there are still some individuals who are assiduously following their own approach, avoiding any external influence, creating something new and inspiring to get rid of any standards, giving us
the idea of unique sounding. Phillip B. Klingler (PBK) is the one such musician.
In his 20 years of activity, he walked against the number of noisescapes, painting them over with some secret traces of beauty and beyond. He released some solo works but also collaborations with Dirk Serries (vidnaObmana), Slavek Kwi (Artificial Memory Trace), Asmus Tietchens, Jeph Jerman (Hands To) and even
Artemy Artemiev (the son of famous Russian ANS-synth explorer). PBK proposes premium quality music with manifold edges: some hypnotic ambient pieces, some crazy noise collages, but mostly just unclassifiable abstract sound-sculptures. His early works were released on tapes by his own PBK Recordings label and sold out for many years, in the early 90s N D Records published his first couple of
CDs: endless labyrinths of dissonances, amorphous soundscapes unfolding from the complex schemes of machine improvisation and stochastic processes. Telepherique is the seminal German project existing since the late 80s and exploring the grey area of the electronic underground. The main person behind
it is Klaus Jochim who also was responsible for now defunct tape label Drahtfunk Productions. Besides his own production under various monikers like Technostria and Das Konzentrat, he released some great collaboration tape albums with artists like Brume, Kapotte Muziek, S.Core, Tesendalo, De Fabriek etc.
Telepherique uses a lot of synthetic sound sources and sequences, creating unsettling atmosphere from the structured electronic patterns ranging from intense rhythmic work to creepy ambient out-of-body soundscapes. They got initial support from labels like Ant-Zen and Noise Museum, later released some albums
through Old Europa Cafe, S.S.S.M., Afe Records and Waystyx. The name Telepherique means "funicular railway" in French, but indirectly also the intention gaining a view from a higher level. This particular album is the first ever collaboration between PBK and Telepherique, it represents yet another breakthrough in the
search for a music that is comprehensively exploring 21st century ambient music." [label notes]
www.monochromevision.ru/
|
2008 |
€13.00 |
|
| PEAL GRIM |
same |
CD |
Peal Grim is one of the names of Dmitriy Shilov known for the projects Unknown, Neznamo and Magickal Things. Peal Grim explores the theme of dramatic experiences of the human life using acoustic and electric guitars, overdrive, distortion and spatial effects. Their sound creates clouds of guitar drone, noise and ringing, assuming different shapes in the acoustic atmosphere: sometimes floating like an impenetrable fog, sometimes rolling like a gigantic front of thunderclouds, sometimes creeping over a dark pit of overwhelming melancholia…
These five compositions were recorded over the course of three years from 2007 to 2009 and were mastered by Sergey Bulychiov (kshatriy.pro) in 2014.
"This record is not recommended to listening for depressively inclined persons".
[label info]
"So, this album begins with the caveat: "This record is not recommended to listening for depressively inclined persons." Now, that is far more enticing than "may cause drowsiness" (which has been affixed to less than inspiring new age / ambient records in days gone by) or Pulp's reverse psychology of "Please do not read the lyrics whilst listening to the recordings" or any number of unimaginative variations on "play loud or not at all, motherfucker!" There is also something rather charming about this translation about "depressively inclined persons" which may just be an utterly commonplace trigger warning in the Peal Grim's native Russian. What we have behind this is a pretty fucking bleak album of crumbling, corrosive blackened ambience that actually morphs into an ominously tranquil, making for an album that could be rather soothing in a dark, wintery kind of way. Peal Grim is the work of Dmitry N. Shilov, who has orbited in the pagan neofolk and mystical ambient underground of Moscow for a good part of the last two decades. In spite of this background, this album has all of the feel of the ambient passages from the best of the best black metal albums, making us think that he must have been buzzing riff with corpse paint instead. Nonetheless, this is a densely layered album of skeletal guitar figures that are blasted out in blackened fuzz, while spiralling down a soul-sucking maelstrom with a stately minor key lament throughout all the atmospheric depression. A properly replicated cd in an edition of 100 copies." [Aquarius Rec.]
|
2015 |
€12.00 |
|
| PENNY RIMBAUD'S L'ACADEMIE DES VANITES (CRASS) |
Yes Sir, the Truth of Revolution |
CD |
"CRASS WAS THEN - THIS IS NOW. WAKE UP TO IT
CRASS' album, 'Yes, Sir, I Will', was possibly the most angry and hard hitting attack on the political/military/industrial complex ever consigned to vinyl. Written by Penny Rimbaud in 1982 at the height of the Falklands conflict, it seethes with righteous indignation over what he saw as a pointless but vicious exercise in vote catching by a government whose popularity was severely on the wane. So powerful was this critique that it led to threats of prosecution by that very same government, threats which were typically used by CRASS to further their attacks on it and its tyrannical leader, Margaret Thatcher.
Over thirty years later, in 2014, Rimbaud was asked to participate in the Rebellion Festival, a yearly punk gathering held in Blackpool, UK. Realising that the opening date of the festival closely coincided with that of the euphemistically named 'Great War', Rimbaud and the festival organisers agreed that as an appropriate response they should open the event with a performance of 'Yes, Sir, I Will'.
In preparing for this performance, Rimbaud began to question the relevance of some of the content of 'Yes, Sir'. It seemed to him that much of it was pertinent only to the time in which it was written, a time when a genuine social uprising had appeared to be a very real possibility (one that was violently and conclusively squashed during the miners' strike of 1984). But times change and there was, he now felt, an element of aggression within the work which veiled its essential message of love and peace; it was a passion that could all too easily be mistaken for blind anger. With this in mind, and inspired by John Lennon's 'All You Need is Love', he set about rewriting 'Yes, Sir' from what he describes as a more Taoist viewpoint. Through replacing screams of anguish with laments of love, he was largely able to satisfy his wish to change 'Yes, Sir' into an expression of compassion, that being the hugely demanding realm of love in its unconditional form.
For the Rebellion performance of the now retitled 'Yes, Sir, the Truth of Revolution', Rimbaud was joined by CRASS' lead vocalist Eve Libertine plus a group of leading musicians from the London jazz scene with whom they'd worked extensively in the past. Named 'L'Académie des Vanités', the band consisted of Eve Libertine/vocals, Penny Rimbaud/vocals, Louise Elliott/sax, Kate Shortt/cello, Jennifer Maidman/guitar, Phil Robson/guitar, Thad Kelly/bass and Gene Calderazzo/drums. The live recording of that show, presented here, captures all the tense excitement created by presenting a primarily punk audience with complex poetics of love, accompanied by equally demanding freeform, improvised jazz. However, as had generally been the case with CRASS' output, wild, willing and worrisome, it would be wise to expect the unexpected. Equally, through its progressive and colourful imagery, the vibrant packaging designed by Gee Vaucher shows a refusal to harp back to the illusory golden past of punk dreams and conceits.
'We are poets, armed with the cobblestones of love, unconditional, uncompromising, beyond need of proof.' However, if proof is needed, it will most surely be found in the content of this radical, imaginative release." [label info]
www.coldspring.co.uk
|
2016 |
€12.00 |
|
| PERE UBU |
London Texas |
CD |
"A great live recording of the sadly short-lived version of the band that existed between the arrival of Eric Drew Feldman and the departure of Chris Cutler. By far the best recording of the Scott, Cutler, Maimone rhythm section, I think, and the whole band is on intense concert form: David racked up to 11, Eric working equally on foundations and fine details as to the out-there manner born and Jim Jones somewhere in the stratosphere. Coming back to it, this was a pretty great band. The songs are economical, tightly arranged and take no prisoners. And there's that live energy - the closest we can get to being when and where we weren't. Studio recordings can't do this. Mastered by Bob Drake, and it stings like a bee - with a beret. Play it loud." [label info]
www.rermegacorp.com
|
2009 |
€14.00 |
|
| PERESLEGIN, ANATOLY |
Download the God |
CD |
Erstes Album auf Electroshock Records von dieses russischen Komponisten, inspiriert von biblischen Themen ... Strong synthetic & pastoral music.
„Anatoly Pereslegin's "Download the God" is a single composition in six sections, based on the prophetic works of Isaiah and Ezekiel and composed in Jerusalem during the mid-Nineties. There can hardly have been a more positive example of "Jerusalem Syndrome" during the decade - this composition is millennial in the very best sense. It might not have succeeded but, in fact, it is an extraordinary success - probably one of the dozen or so most powerful pieces of electronica (or post-classical) music I've ever heard. If it has a point of departure, it would be Messiaen - it has the same carillon-like quality, the same chromatic lushness and the same non-linear ecstasis to it - although the dark maelstrom of Ligeti's "San Francisco Polyphony" is also suggested, as is the percussive minimalism of Reich and the op-art patterns of Glass and Riley. It's obviously been composed with extreme care, although its architecture is designed to let in maximum space and light - perhaps its most remarkable feature is the way in which it combines gravitas with delicacy, power with swiftness, to produce a musical analogue to the prophetic experience that is totally convincing.” [Norman Jope / "Stride”-mag]
|
2000 |
€12.00 |
|
| PERILA |
How much time is it between You and Me |
LP |
“Perila is making some of the most head-spinning ambient music out there right now.” — Pitchfork
Perila, the moniker of Berlin-based electronic musician Aleksandra Zakharenko, announces her debut album, How Much Time it is Between You and Me?, out June 25th on Smalltown Supersound, and today presents its lead single, “Fallin Into Space,” a track full of levitating synth and pulses of organic noise. With a sound world so specific and transportive, Zakharenko’s ambient music is filled with detail and movement akin to hauntological musique concrète touched by song.
Raised in St. Petersburg, Russia, Zakharenko moved to Berlin six years ago, finding her place almost immediately at Berlin Community Radio. Regular work with expressionistic field recordings and electronic sound research eventually led Zakharenko to develop her own podcast series, WET (Weird Erotic Tension), combining her evocative, atmospheric music with erotic spoken word poetry. After a handful of early cassette releases as Perila — a project name originally used for her BCR show — Zakharenko has arrived at Smalltown Supersound for her debut full-length, a self-described “immersive experience into self” viewed through a “silence prism” where everyday sounds usually ignored felt amplified.
‘Fallin Into Space’ is a track about grounding yourself in new places, accepting the surroundings, and opening up to what comes,” explains Zakharenko. “It’s about slowing down and being conscious about what and how your body is in that space. Many new things come to attention when you slow down and observe.”
https://perilazone.bandcamp.com/album/how-much-time-it-is-between-you-and-me |
2021 |
€22.50 |
|
| PERLETTA, FABIO & ASMUS TIETCHENS |
Deflections |
CD |
"There is an élite of the anxious: the rest is the mankind” — E. M. Cioran, 'Notizen 1957—1972'
Fabio Perletta and Asmus Tietchens’ hermetic micro-cosmos of Deflections unfolds by exploring instability and physical decay of sound. Built upon liminal forms and atonal passages, the six near-silent pieces of the work traverse empty space by means of elementary sonic emissions and drifting nano-structures. Among sound collisions and evanescent masses, the almost immaterial yet corporeal nature of Deflections, embodies sound in its most subliminal and contradictory form.
“When atoms move straight down through the void by their own weight, they deflect a bit in space at a quite uncertain time and in uncertain places, just enough that you could say that their motion has changed. But if they were not in the habit of swerving, they would all fall straight down through the depths of the void, like drops of rain, and no collision would occur, nor would any blow be produced among the atoms. In that case, nature would never have produced anything” [Lucretius, 'De Rerum Natura']
Composed, recorded and processed by Fabio Perletta at Tokonoma Studio in Roseto degli Abruzzi, Italy and Asmus Tietchens at Audiplex Studio E in Hamburg, Germany."
https://fabioperletta.bandcamp.com/album/deflections |
2017 |
€13.00 |
|
| PETERS, STEVE |
Airforms (Chamber Music 10) |
CD |
Chamber Music is an ongoing series of site-specific sound works made entirely from a single recording of the empty space in which they are presented. An hour of “silent” room tone is recorded when no people are in the building; this is heavily filtered to extract drones derived from the room’s resonant frequencies. This is the only sonic material used, and there is minimal electronic processing involved. Airforms was made in 2013 as a birthday gift for Steve Roden, who provided two hours of empty room tone recorded in his bubble-shaped “Airform” house designed and built by architect Wallace Neff in 1946. The first hour was used to make the drones, and the second hour to make the bell-like tones, and the two are here superimposed. Certain Roden-inspired compositional strategies were devised to generate indeterminate structures.
“This is literally chamber music – sound artist Steve Peters records the ambient resonances of empty rooms, which he then turns into site-specific installations exhibited in the same locations. The latent acoustic potential of the space is brought out into a more tangible form. For the most part, stony sonorities are all that can be heard: long, looming tones that unfold incredibly slowly...these are broken by moments of vivid detail: sounds like dropping water, or the soft report of a sonar, gather and disperse, apparently randomly – though after a while they almost recall Morse code.” — The Wire
|
2017 |
€15.00 |
|
| PETERS, STEVE & STEVE RODEN |
Not a Leaf remains as it was |
CD |
"In 1995 Steve Peters and Steve Roden toured as a trio with singer Anna Homler; sometimes they would vocalize behind her, and they liked the way their voices blended together. They then spent about 15 years saying that “someday” they should record a voice-based project together. Aside from the physical distance between them, the problem was always: What would we sing? Neither wanted to write or sing lyrics.
Inspiration came in the form of a book of Japanese jisei – poems allegedly written by monks on their death bed – printed in both English translation and Romanized Japanese. Phonetically pronouncing the Japanese reminded Peters of the technique Roden has used of systematically chopping up the syllables in English texts to transform them into sound poems. Since neither of them speaks Japanese, it seemed like a good place to begin.
The two of them applied for a residency at Jack Straw, a non-profit recording facility in Seattle that gives grants of studio time. They had no exact plans other than they intended to avoid electronic instruments, or directly referencing the poems’ literal meaning, or imitating any Japanese musical idioms or “Zen” stereotypes. Culling some of the poems that made references to sound and noting them on 3x5 cards, Peters and Roden sorted the cards into four groups according to the seasons of the year that the poems represented, divided the cards between them, and taped them to their music stands. They then sang random fragments from the various cards - a word here, a line there, maybe backwards, maybe the English translation. They made no effort to keep the poems intact or retain any of their meaning, instead treating the material simply as phonemes to put in their mouths.
All of the music was improvised in the studio, built up one track at a time. They worked intuitively, with no structural guidelines beyond using the texts. Three days later they emerged from the studio, not quite sure what they had done. After letting the material rest for several months Peters and Roden determined that Doug Haire, who recorded the sessions at Jack Straw, was the obvious choice to do the mixing. The album was completed in the fall of 2011.
12k is known to be a label of understatement and restraint, however, Not A Leaf Remains As It Was is arguably the most hushed and delicate record in the label’s catalog. Every sound on the album’s four tracks, be it the artists’ voices, a pump organ or melodica hangs by a thread, played ever so slightly, with utmost care. Noises, created from turtle shells, leaves, and bells shuffle and flutter, as if they are quietly alive, in the background providing a textural backdrop to the sublime tones and ghostly voices." [label info]
www.12k.com
|
2012 |
€15.50 |
|
| PETIT, PHILIPPE |
Henry: The Iron Man |
CD |
"One lost lemonish night sleepwalking on a lost country road I dreamt that Shinya Tsukamoto was working on a blurred remake of "Eraserhead", and I was to soundtrack the grotesque mutation of Henry into an "Iron Man". I decided to manipulate and take advantage of the vinyl material to fondle crackles and released noises, to process textures and their resonances into vertiginous travellings of sound ; conjuring up flashes of disturbing black & white grainy sounds, behind-the-scenes close-ups, rapid nightmarish stop-motion effects.
I embarked on a visceral musical voyage, an intricate and imaginative soundtrack gathering both organic and sonic elements and giving life to a noisy magma where unexpected clicks stumbled over interferences, where digital accidents happened and drones and acoustic resonances filled the spaces in time. The music sprang on me and got caught in my eye.
A few years ago BiP_HOp had started a series called "Reciprocess", thus to celebrate 10 years since the inception of the label + my 25 years of activism/DJing I composed a 70+ minute soundtrack, cut it into pieces which were sent to friends to add their spices to. The Wire magazine liked the idea and agreed to give it away with their issue # 301, in March 2009.
AIDAN BAKER & Philippe Petit
CHAPTER 24 & Philippe Petit
COSEY FANNI TUTTI & Philippe Petit
SIMON FISHER TURNER & Philippe Petit
KLANGWART & Philippe Petit
DOUGLAS BENFORD & Philippe Petit
MARKOVO & Philippe Petit
BELA EMERSON (feat. vocals from RANDALL FRAZIER) & Philippe Petit
KUMO & Philippe Petit
EUGENE S. ROBINSON & Philippe Petit
SEVERIN 24 (feat. vocals from KATHY COMPTON) & Philippe Petit
JASON FORREST & Philippe Petit
LYDIA LUNCH & Philippe Petit
JEAN-HERV� PERON (art-Errorist/Faust) & Philippe Petit
STRINGS OF CONSCIOUSNESS (Hervé Vincenti & Philippe Petit)
SYBARITE & Philippe Petit
JESU & Philippe Petit
dDAMAGE & Philippe Petit
Born in Marseille, South of France, where I started Djing, animating radio shows and editing zines in the 80s. In the 90s I contributed articles (under the pseudonym Candy Apple Grey and Filth Simpson ) for such magazines as Ruta 66 (Spain), Merlin’s Music Box (Greece), Maximum R&R (USA), What Wave, Cryptic Tymes (Canada), and French-written Taktik, Rage, Rocksound, Best, 491, Abus Dangereux, and many many more that no one will remember of… In those days, I had some fun and interviews w/ such bands as Nirvana, Fugazi, L7, Neurosis, Fuzztones, Babes In Toyland, Mudhoney, Pixies, Cynics, Dum Dum Boys, Alice Donut, Brood, Grotus, Fleshtones, Buzzcocks, Nick Cave, Sting Rays, Poison Idea, Jon Spencer, Soft Machine, Lydia Lunch, No Means No, Godflesh, Steve Albini, Gallon Drunk, Melvins, New Bomb Turks, and many other “noisy-rock” luminaries. In 1991, I started Kinetic Vibes Music, a Garage Punk zine and label releasing music by: Willie Loco Alexander, Pleasure Fuckers, Dead Moon, Bevis Frond, Lust-o-Rama, Ultra 5, Overcoat, Cryptones, Devil Dogs, La Secta, Dirteez, Tommyknockers and some other… Still available the mythical compilation “Electric Carnival” gathering 23 bands from 10 countries. In 1993 I founded the experimental label Pandemonium Rdz. Working with the likes of Guapo, Zeni Geva, Ground Zero, Condense, Cows, Headcleaner, Drive Blind, Double Nelson, Alboth!, Melt Banana, God Is My Co-Pilot, Samiam, Burning Heads, Cerberus Shoal, Flying Luttenbachers, Unsane, Bästard, Kepone, Ron Anderson, Ruins, Hint, Andy's Car Crash, Spaceheads… That is well documented there and many releases are still in print: www.pandemoniumrecords.com 41 records later, I needed to rejuvenate and started a new label: BiP_HOp was physically born in 2000 and will document avant electro for the century to come... A webzine, a radio show, organizing live events, and above all a label documenting the state of electronic art and sound design, unconventional sound adventures, modern ambient, contemporary alliances between acoustica vs. digitalia... Musics challenging the ears and the mind. www.bip-hop.com In 2000 Philippe Petit became Dj/ip@bip-hop.com chosing to use my e-mail address to keep contact with the listeners… Under this moniker I have been invited to play festivals and some of the best venues in Europe, Northern america, and even recently Mexico. According to me a DJ is not only an instrument for dancing but as a living musical library I should also take the audience to a new cultural trip / discovery. I want to entertain listeners and to open new "doors of perception", to create a virtual world to enable them to forget about their own existence for a short while. Sometimes I feel an urge not to be solo onstage which led me to start the duo Ear_Thrillerz. ; the now defunct group Deviationists ; and most actively these days the international collective : Strings Of Consciousness. www.stringsofconsciousness.info Today I still animate a radio show for Radio Grenouille which is the biggest non-commercial local radio www.grenouille888.org/dyn/ I still write in Noise Magazine. A bi-monthly mag, printing 25 000 which can be found in newstand all around France and is the best one dealing with Rock, indie rock, metal, post rock, punk, stoner doom, industrial, experimental, prog, Noisy music. Also a website (3000-3500 unique visitors/day) http://www.noisemag.net/ " [label info]
www.blrrecords.com
|
2009 |
€10.00 |
|
| PETITE PORTE DE BRONZE |
En travers du chemin |
CD-R |
“Now here is something which I know nothing about. I never heard of Petite Porte De Bronze, and the website from the label doesn't
mention this yet. Except that I got this CDR from someone who has the same name as my brother (and I am pretty it's not my brother who made this). There are in total ten tracks on this release, which are just over thirty-two minutes. Let me start by saying I liked this release but I am a bit clueless why I like this. Making music out of skipping CDs, cable hum and other mistakes that occur in the process of making music is of course not new since Oval's second CD, but Petite Porte Bronze do a nice job turning these 'mistakes' into small ambient textures, with a mild rhythmic undertone, pleasent dissonant keys. The ten tracks are relatively short and sketch like, almost like they are not really mixed it's entire form. This adds a nice rough shape to them. A well-known path is chosen here, but nevertheless a nice one indeed.” [FdW, Vital Weekly]
Address: http://www.tonto.at
|
2002 |
€11.00 |
|
| PETRELS |
Haeligewielle |
LP |
"Haeligewielle is the debut solo record of Oliver Barrett of Bleeding Heart Narrative. It is a swirling cataract of a record, a deluge of beautiful noise and crushing melody, which ebbs and flows beneath the surface. Utilizing bowed strings, bent electronics, found percussion and occasional vocals, the record unfolds over seven tracks and fifty minutes, from the portentous drone of the opening ‘After Francis Danby’ and shimmering ‘Silt’ through the work-song-like ‘Concrete’ and cascading rhythm of ‘Winchester Croydon Winchester’. Haeligewielle tells a forgotten story, buried underneath the stones and water." [label info]
www.denovali.com
"Petrels has provided us with what has to be the strongest solo debut from a musician so far in 2011. It’s as if Barrett has launched his solo career as Petrels by giving us his own Sisyphus narrative, and somehow it sounds dreadfully authentic – no small feat. Haeligewielle is an album so dense and immersive you sometimes feel as though you are drowning or being smothered, but that’s exactly the way it’s supposed to feel." (Brendan Moore, Fluid Radio)
"Haeligewielle (holy well, sacred spring) is an album of creation and destruction, holiness and human honor. Its characters and etimologies dance around each other like fish in a waterspout. The album is a masterpiece of narrative, a blackened ship with a broken mast that defies the storm and in so doing discovers its own dark destiny." (Richard Allen, The Silent Ballet (8.5/10))
"Haeligewielle is Oliver Barrett’s (also of Bleeding Heart Narrative) first solo album as Petrels. It is a song of water, a song of stone. These two elements form the album’s thematic core, entwined in the story of the central figure of William Walker, the Winchester diver; but they also inform the album’s sonic makeup – onrushing, buoyant, coursing and at times dense and abrasive. It’s a record that excavates, and extrapolates outwards from, a particular and resonant historical undertaking and in its jubilant expansiveness grants it mythic, numinous life." (Matt Poacher, The Liminal)
|
2012 |
€18.50 |
|
| PG.LOST |
Oscillate |
LP |
"Hier ist Oscillate von PG.LOST - das neue Album der Band, welche pures Drama und Katharsis lebt. Ihr fünftes Werk - das erste seit dem erfolgreichen 2016er Versus - braucht mit ausgeprägtem Verständnis von Spannung/Entspannung einen Vergleich mit Mono, Explosions in the Sky und Godspeed You! Black Emperor nicht zu scheuen. Mit Einflüssen, die von der emotionalen Wucht von Big Thief über den erfinderischen Geist des Krautrock bis hin zur Brutalität von Neurosis und dem dunklen Experimentalismus von Coil reichen, verflechten sich diese schwereren Elemente und öffnen sich in der Weite gar bis Fennesz oder Tim Hecker. Eine neue Ausrichtung, welche eine schimmernde Schönheit und Tiefe enthüllt, wie sie in der heutigen überkomprimierten und überproduzierten Version "moderner" Musik selten zu finden ist. Das Titelstück beginnt mit einer blühend dunklen Ambientpassage, ein aufsteigender Gitarren-/Synth-Part, der die Spannung aufbaut bis die endgültige Befreiung durch einem großen Refrai und gigantische Wellen von Gitarrenklängen erreicht wird. Oscillate steht exemplarisch für das Album als Ganzes - massiv im Umfang und noch größer im Klang. Das Album wurde im eigenen Studio aufgenommen und von Magnus Lindberg von Cult of Luna gemischt und gemastert. Souverän in der Ausführung ist Oscillate höchstdramatischer Bombast und ein gewaltiger Schritt vorwärts für die Band - vier Jahre warten haben sich gelohnt. Für Fans von Mono, Explosions In The Sky, Mogwai, Cult of Luna, EF, Caspian, Russian Circles, Envy * Limitierte Single Colour White Vinyl-Version! * Band Info: PG.LOST wurde 2004 in Norrköping, Schweden, gegründet und besteht aus Mattias Bhatt, Martin Hjertstedt (ex- Ghost), Gustav Almberg (The Great Discord) und Kristian Karlsson (Cult of Luna). Auf der Suche nach einem einzigartigen Klang und der Liebe zu Post-Rock, Ambient und Shoegaze mit einem Hang zum Post-Metal, veröffentlichte die Band 2006 und 2007 ihre selbstbetitelte sowie die Yes, I Am-EP.2008 veröffentlichten PG.LOST ihr Debutalbum It's Not Me, It's You! Es folgten In Never Out, Key, die Split-LP mit Wang Wen und zuletzt Versus. Line Up: Mattias Bhatt: Gitarre, Martin Hjertstedt: Schlagzeug. Gustav Almberg: Gitarre, Kristian Karlsson: Bass"
Trapped in a cavern, it’s pitch black and the air is getting harder and harder to breathe. Disoriented, hands follow the walls to find what could be the ceiling, fingers digging into the rock to find something– anything– loose to help point toward a direction out. Suddenly, a rock frees itself and after clearing away some dirt, a pin of blinding light shines through the enveloping darkness. Clearing away soil and rock with more and more vigor, hope and salvation is just a short way from here.
This is PG.LOST’s Oscillate– the band’s latest LP packed to the gills with pure drama and catharsis. Their fifth overall and first effort since 2016’s much lauded Versus, Oscillate leans on an instrumental approach and while their keen understanding of tension/release may warrant comparison to the likes of MONO, Explosions in the Sky and Godspeed You! Black Emperor, PG.LOST is unafraid to move into exciting new directions. With influences that range from the emotional heft of Big Thief to the inventive spirit of krautrock to the brutality of Neurosis to the dark experimentalism of COIL, these heavier elements intertwine and open up into wide-eyed expansiveness of Fennesz or Tim Hecker, revealing a beauty shimmering underneath and a range of depth rarely found in today’s over-compressed and spit-shined version of “modern music.”
In making the new LP, PG.LOST opted to keep it simple and follow their gut. “On the previous records we have always tried to make it very basic and clean when it comes to production, not too many overdubs or add-ons,” reveals bassist Kristian Karlsson. “This time was more about not thinking about that at all. We don’t try to over analyse our records– it always starts with one or two songs and they often set the mood of the rest of the writing process.I think this album has more layers to it– you hear new things every time you listen. We’re really looking forward to hearing what the listeners think.”
Kicking off with a blossoming dark ambient passage on the title track, an ascendant guitar/synth part builds tension until final release is achieved with a massive chorus, waves of eye-opening guitars and elephantine tribal drums. It’s emblematic of the album as a whole– massive in scope and even larger in sound, Oscillate is the true definition of its title with incredibly tense swells to the point of collapse leading to a slow but pensive disintegration. And again. And again. Oscillate is not just instrumental music, it’s cinematic– it’s high drama, executed in IMAX with a pristine soundtrack blasting at 120db.
Due in November via Pelagic Records, the LP was recorded by the band in their own studio, and mixed/mastered by Magnus Lindberg from Cult of Luna. In creating the LP, the only hurdle seemingly was an internal one and making efficient use of individual scheduling. “When we formed the band we spent almost every night in the rehearsal space,” recalls Karlsson. “Nowadays we only rehearse for tours or when we plan to have writing sessions for example upcoming records. It is not as spontaneous as it used to be, but I think it forces us to really make the best out of it when we do see each other.”
Founded in 2004 in Norrköping, Sweden, PG.LOST is Mattias Bhatt, Martin Hjertstedt (ex- Ghost), Gustav Almberg (The Great Discord) and Kristian Karlsson (Cult of Luna). Formed in pursuit of a singular love of post-rock, ambient and shoegaze with a bent towards post- metal, the band released their self-titled and the Yes, I Am EPs in 2006 and 2007. From there PG.LOST dropped their 2008 LP It's Not Me, It's You! quickly followed by 2009’s In Never Out, Key, the Wang Wen split LP and Versus followed in 2012, 2013 and 2016 respectively.
Sovereign in execution and mammoth in scope, Oscillate is ten tracks of pure dramatic bombast and a massive step forward for the decades-old band. The four years away have been worth it.
https://pglost.bandcamp.com/album/oscillate
|
2020 |
€34.00 |
|
| PHAENON |
Submerged |
CD |
Debut-Album eines neues polnischen Dark Ambient-Projekts, extrem kosmisch, spacig und dunkel, rauschend & unendlich weitläufig hallend... ein one-tracker von über 65 Minuten, Anklänge an YEN POX, INADE, AMON... absolut kontemplativer Space-Sound...
"With the debut release from Phaenon, it is immediately evident a heavyweight has arrived. The brainchild of Polish born, but current Maryland resident, Szymon Tankiewicz, Submerged is a dark ambient tour de force. Visually and sonically enveloping, this is an album of space and texture, slowly revealing a psychoactive soundscape of majestic, arcing timbres, circadian buzzes, and expansive drones. Heavy, and cosmically weighty in the beginning, Submerged evolves into something more minimalist and serene, radiating a celestial beauty, yet becoming even more bleak and suffocating as it progresses over it‘s 66 minute time frame. Experienced from start to finished, there’s a palpable sense of drifting and drowning, of being carried away into an endless, interstellar vacuum. An exciting new project, and a must for dark ambient purists. Check out Phaenon‘s myspace page for excerpts of new works at www.myspace.com/szymontankiewicz, as well as the Malignant myspace page for an excerpt of Submerged at www.myspace.com/malignantrecords. In stylish 6 panel digipak, artwork by K. Enderlein (LOKI), mastered by Thomas Garrison..." [label info]
www.malignantrecords.com
|
2007 |
€13.00 |
|
| PHARMAKON |
Contact |
LP |
"The release date of Contact marks the ten-year anniversary of Margaret Chardiet’s project, Pharmakon. While working on her newest release, she began to evaluate the project as a whole. Though the content of each record has been very different and specific, the pervading question, which has underlined them all, is what is means to be human. Her last album, Bestial Burden, focused on the disconnect between mind and body, looking at the human as an isolated consciousness stuck inside of a rotting vessel. For Contact, she wanted to look at the other side of the spectrum – the moments when our mind can come outside of and transcend our bodies.
Because an album is itself an object, she struggled with how to convey the transcendence of the physical, through a physical medium. She started to study trance states and equate her live performances to them. In trance states, music and the body are used to transcend the physical form and make contact with some outside force. In the live setting, she used sound and her body to create an exchange of energy and make contact with outside forces - humanity, empathy, the audience. This energy/empathy exchange has always been at the heart of a Pharmakon performance, but she felt that on records, it wasn’t translating. They were one-sided and flat – declarations rather than conversations. She decided to structure the compositions of each side of Contact after the four stages of trance: preparation, onset, climax, and resolution. By using these stages as a biorhythm for the album, she animates it, and instills the intention of communion into the music.
Release date: 3/31/2017" [label info]
www.sacredbonesrecords.com
"Each track of the new Pharmakon LP can be heard as a violent scuffle between mind and body. Even when her visceral noise achieves moments of transcendence, it still strikes you in the gut.
Through a decade of performing and recording as Pharmakon, Margaret Chardiet has made music that heaves, throbs, and decays. Harnessing the drilling power of electronics and the elasticity of her screams, she’s concocted visceral noise in New York since she was a teenager—first on small-run tapes and CD-Rs, then on more widely-available albums for her hometown label Sacred Bones. As her profile has grown, her sound has remained physical, the aural equivalent of organs pumping life into a body while nature takes a toll on its flesh. The physicality of each Pharmakon album emerges in Chardiet’s choices of cover art. Her 2013 LP Abandon showed maggots swarming on her lap, suggesting a theme of bodily decomposition. For 2014’s Bestial Burden—influenced by an illness that required emergency surgery—she placed animal organs on her chest and torso, as if her own innards had broken through her skin.
On the cover of the third Pharmakon full-length, Contact, Chardiet is no longer alone. A mesh of greasy fingers cover her face, her hair tangled in between them like a spiderweb catching flies. Perhaps Contact, then, is about reaching out and connecting with others. Alongside the heavier, more claustrophobic Bestial Burden, this new collection sounds spacious. Chardiet has opened her psychic soundscapes to give the outside world more room to enter. And that’s a well-timed goal, given how current political strife has pushed people to work together rather than turn inward.
In press materials, Chardiet says Contact is about “when our mind uses the body in order to transcend or escape it.” (Or, as she recently expanded, it’s “about stepping outside your experiences as a human and looking at humanity in an objective way.”) The ultimate objective, she writes, is “Empathy! EMPATHY, NOW!” Achieving that isn’t easy. The music on Contact is stressful and tense, rife with conflicts that aren’t always resolved. At one point, Chardiet even seems ready to admit defeat, singing that “Despite all our scrambling rejections/We cannot transcend all of our instincts/Just animals, lost in a confused dream.” But she never gives up. Each track can be heard as a violent scuffle between mind and body, and Chardiet compellingly mines that primal contest for drama and catharsis. The music hammers with industrial heft, vibrates with nervous pulse, and envelops with tactile atmosphere. Even when her songs achieve moments of transcendence, they still strike you directly in the gut.
Contact benefits from Chardiet’s agile voice, which feels more prominent than ever. Her howls and screeches are central to four of the album’s six tracks, naturally humanizing the music while standing strong inside the electronic clatter. On “Nakedness of Need,” ominous noise is shifted by her blasting shrieks, while during “Transmission” her screams bounce around the din like wolves surrounding prey. That song’s lyric comprises just five lines, framing communication as paramount: “I had a conversation/It lasted nearly an hour/Held no words/And carried the weight/Of the state of things so held.”
Chardiet’s sounds are in a constant tug of war on Contact, and that clash seems to be the point. Just as there’s often more to learn from a journey than its destination, for Pharmakon the battle outweighs the result. Perhaps that’s why Contact’s closer, “No Natural Order,” actually resembles a battlefield. Crashes and pounds rattle while Chardiet peals out angry breaths, undaunted by the sonic assault. In the end, her chants could pass for political slogans—“No divine law, escape!/No positive law, revolt!/No natural law pertains:/Only empathy, untamed”—and it sounds like a victory." [Marc Masters / Pitchfork]
|
2017 |
€20.00 |
|
| |
Abandon |
LP |
Margaret Chardiet was born and raised in New York City. As a founding member of the Red Light District collective in Far Rockaway, NY she has been a figurehead in the underground experimental scene since the age of seventeen. She points out that the environment there amongst so many other experimental artists (amongst them Yellow Tears & Haflings) inspired her to keep making increasingly challenging work. She describes her drive to make noise music as something akin to an exorcism where she is able to express, her “deep-seated need/drive/urge/possession to reach other people and make them FEEL something [specifically] in uncomfortable/confrontational ways.” Engineered by Sean Ragon of Cult of Youth at his self-built recording studio Heaven Street, Abandon is Pharmakon’s first proper studio album and also her first widely distributed release.
https://pharmakon.bandcamp.com/album/abandon |
2022 |
€24.00 |
|
| PHIL VON |
Blind Ballet |
CD |
"a blind man feels his way, guided only by the sensations of sounds around him, walking through composite landscapes, sometimes concrete or musical, sometimes unreal, fictitious or synthetic, mutating constantly but layering like brushstrokes of sonic paint along his hesitant steps. from dusk to dawn, he wanders on a path sprinkled with touches of natural elements; water, air, earth, fire, glass, with the perceptions of humans; murmurs, breaths, crackles, snatches of voices, with manifestations of sudden granular waves or aural perfumes from unknown distant lands. here he perceives presences, there he guesses mysteries. maybe a bigger story is somehow slowly unfolding before his stimulated ears.
with this solo album, sprawling somewhere in between melodious electronica, lush ambient, musique concrète, and abstract experimental sounds, phil von took a break off von magnet's shores. now he confides within us these intimate imaginary ballets, inviting us to contemplate his invisible trances, some of which he composed for dance, street theatre and performance. twelve individual parts created for different occasions have been carefully concerted for this exceptional artist's first solo release since years. a captivating acoustic puzzle suitable to open up the listener's imaginary eyes. you are asked for a dance - please accept the invitation." [label info]
www.ant-zen.com
|
2015 |
€13.50 |
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| PHILLIPS, DAVE |
? |
CD |
"Assembled between April and June 2009 as part of a therapeutic process during a period dominated by severe disturbances of loss, mental abysses and despair, "?" is the new gospel from Swiss experimentalist Dave Phillips, co-founder of grindcore legend Fear of God, a member of the sense perplexing Schimpfluch-Gruppe and the pulverizing force behind the Rudimentary Peni one-man-doom-drone worship act Dead Peni, among numerous other projects.
"?" offers a 79 minutes album of field recordings oriented compositions that feature murky cello, piano and accordion parts, nocturnal voices, a vast array of concrete snippets and more resonances of existences that give Albert Aylers' "Music is the healing force of the universe" new depths and meanings. "?" sees Phillips observing and carefully dissecting his human psyche into ten intimate and innovative music pieces, confronting them with the bile and degradation of the omnipresent while deconstructing his own ravage with a binding urge to cleanse. And it's a fascinating insight to listen to." [label info]
www.HCBrecords.com, www.topheth.org
"Noise. There are people out there, mainly youngsters devoted to noise, who think that I don't like noise. They are mistaken, and should check their history lessons. But these days, noise doesn't have my full attention anymore. I just heard too much of that, I guess, in those grey forgotten days. However sometimes I see something that is maybe 'noise' live and sometimes it blows me away. Sudden Infant for instance, very recently, and last year Dave Phillips. The former member of Fear Of God, a grindcore band, is connected to the Schimpfluch gang these days and his concert was a carefully constructed set of noise and silence. I may not have cared for the political overtones of his work, his noise went down pretty well. Its therefore with some anticipation that I played his new CD '?'. It was recorded 'during a period dominated by severe disturbances of loss, mental abysses and despair' and yes, we are not in for some fun for the next eighty minutes. Normally I would complain about the
length of such a release, but somehow it all seems to make sense here. The shortest piece is just over one minute, the longest just under sixteen. And it seems to be without the sort of noise those earlier mentioned youngsters care about: Phillips uses loops, piano, concrete sounds, very little sound effects, so all the sounds are as a dry as possible, cello, accordion and voice material (sighing, moaning, crying) and the sounds of torture the human body. Like I said, nothing conservative noise here, but quite a depressing album altogether. Low bass sound here and there, obscured field recordings and such like make up the backbone, and top these repeating sound fragments of instruments and voices. Bleak, dark stuff. Not much information on the cover to go by, but depression has not be made that clear in quite some time. A creepy record, not for the weak of heart and mind. That's true noise for you." [FdW/Vital Weekly]
|
2009 |
€13.00 |
|
|
Proceed with Inquiry |
DVD |
"The contained DVD comprises video works, live performances and collaborations by radical Swiss sound artist DAVE PHILLIPS, sonically active since 1987, part of the notorious SCHIMPFLUCH GRUPPE (with Rudolf Eb.er, Joke Lanz) since 1991, having left his signature in numerous bands, projects and collaborations.
DAVE PHILLIPS uses sound as a means to activate primordial emotions otherwise hidden underneath the debris of civilization. His concept is called “Humanimalism” accordingly, meaning a state of mind that overcomes religious, material und supremacist charges of evolution, acknowledges itself as part of a whole and has grown into an empathic, conscious and connected creature allowing emotion and instinct their equal part in decision-making.
This collection presents his multifaceted work in composition, performance, psycho-acoustics, sonic rituals, voice, video, field recordings, objects and electronics, etc. in a yet unknown complexity and coherence of motion pictures. His performance work is revealed in all its undiluted brutality, the urgency and topicality of his work and his message is clearly evident, captivating and intensely documented.
Along with DAVE PHILLIPS’ video works created between 2014 and 2016, the DVD is a document of unique solo live actions and the notorious Paris 1996 performance of SCHIMPFLUCH-GRUPPE, as well as recent collaborations with G.X. JUPITTER LARSEN, and video artists PAKISE AKIN, JAN VAN HASSELT and REMOTE-CONTROL RECTUM, who in turn created their visual interpretations of PHILLIPS' audio works. It all amounts to a mind-expanding experience, playing with altered perception and throwing back the viewer onto his own vision." [label info]
"...Merely approaching, let alone summarising, the work of Dave Phillips is near impossible. Active for 25-odd years in multiple artistic fields (including appearances on almost 200 releases), his contribution here to the DVD component of the release is characteristically challenging. The work is delivered in three parts: video works, live performances, and collaborations.
The video works are varied with clear effort put into editing and sound composition. They’re often jarring and disorienting, always intimate, and personal. Some are abstract and intangible while others are precise and brutally polemic. There is slap-to-the-face activism in spades, including a sobering piece on humankind’s exploitation of the Earth and its animals (‘How sad, that nature speaks and we don’t listen.‘). Phillips’s use of footage depicting animal vivisection, cruelty, and industrial slaughter is about as subtle as a sledgehammer, as is the screaming text (‘Education is a progressive discovery of our ignorance!’). But these pieces are clearly meant to shock and are more about our complacency and willingness to let them happen than about the actions themselves.
The collaborative works are interesting enough, though they are not as strong as Phillips’s solo contributions. He seems to supply audio primarily over his collaborators’ mostly impressionistic visuals. Many could display rather comfortably on a screen in a respectable art gallery.
The live performances are highly entertaining and showcase a theatrical grotesquerie typical of the Schimpfluch-Gruppe of which Phillips is a core member. Indeed, the best of the live recordings here has him on stage with Rudolf Eb.er for a Schimpfluch-Gruppe action in Paris. Contact mikes in mouth, their faces slam repeatedly and unceremoniously into bowls of spaghetti. It’s bleakly humorous and very uncomfortable.... " [Heathen Harvest]
silkentofu.bigcartel.com/product/dave-phillips-proceed-with-inquiry-dvd |
2017 |
€13.00 |
|
| |
Sixth Mass Extinction |
LP |
"black vinyl lp in embossed sleeve, edition of 300. comes with a free 8 page newspaper featuring articles that offer a broad view of what homo sapiens has achieved in terms of coexistence and in taking care of its home.
1.
Things Falling Apart 21:12
2.
Radical Hope 20:12
about
things falling apart - composition for three PA’s (stereo version):
the original 6 channel piece was commissioned by bad bonn kilbi festival düdingen switzerland 2018.
radical hope - live action (studio version):
this incarnation of live action was initiated in january 2016 and has developed since. triggered by a broken heart, it’s a critical analysis of subjective behaviourisms, self-reflections, self-criticisms and conclusions thereof. the subsequent translation of derived intentions into ritualised actions include purging, activating learning and healing processes, self-betterment, empowerment and hair-burning. has since morphed into a piece about the relationship of the human as a species with planet earth as a cherished entity, such as a loved one, a friend, a partner, a companion, a parent or a family member, a home or an origin.
all audio by dp. decomposed may to november 2018 for schimpfluch. mastered by riccardo mazza. artwork by brett wagg using photos by dp.
https://totalblack.bandcamp.com/album/sixth-mass-extinction
Dave Phillips INTERVIEW by CHAIN DLK
( By Vito Camarretta - August 11, 2021)
dave dp phillips long story short
fields of re/search: existences and behaviourisms humanimalistically. works that oppose the omnipresent restriction and reduction of life and living, that activate primordial shared emotions otherwise hidden under the debris of civilization, inviting rumination, encouraging intervention, endorsing catharsis, liberating, cleansing. therapeutical stimulation is acknowledged. sonic activism, ritual protest music, humanimalism
methods: audio de/construction, composition, sonic rituals, psycho-acoustics and performance
tools: voice, body, fieldrecordings, electronics, objects, video
reason for this interview: his recent release “to death” (7th July 2021, Misanthropic Agenda)
enjoy the reading!
Chain D.L.K.: Hi Dave! How are you doing?
Dave Phillips: Quite alright. I moved house earlier a month ago, I’m settling in…
Chain D.L.K.: I heard you recent ‘to death’ and I honestly think it’s a listening that I would likewise honestly recommend in this historical stage… but before focusing on it, even if those well-informed readers of our zine, whose memory has not been reset yet, don’t really need any introduction, how would you introduce yourself, your sound art and its direction(s)?
Dave Phillips: Puh. Well. My music is rather free, abstract, “cinematic”, and personal. It sounds more organic than it does electronic. What I seek in sound/music is altered states of consciousness, states of trance and liberation, cathartic and purging kind of highs, some sort of elevation. Sound for me is communication, so I like it to have some sort of narrative, intentionality, something shared. I’m interested in the effect of sound as much as its aesthetic form. Sonically I’m inspired by contemporary (classical) composition, the sounds of insects, traditional music, improvisation/free music, bass music, as much as the energy of radical punk and metal. Literature is a big inspiration too. My sound work is often accompanied by topical contexts that touch on environmental and existential issues but are more driven by the interconnectedness of things, the thing that some call chaos, this enormous ecosystem that we are a part of, the kind of free life that is uncontrollable and beyond our systems of control or scientific measurement or language. I call my music “ritual protest music” – I protest against the reduction and restriction of life – I describe my way of approaching sound as “sonic activism”. Uhm, long “introduction” but there you go…. just open ears…
Chain D.L.K.: The last outputs I vividly remember of yours, who reached somehow my desk (I often don’t know how or why some sonic entities reach my desk, besides the fact someone delivers them to my mailbox), has been a super limited split with Emerge on Nazlo, that was a tribute to Dmitry Vasilyev. Have you ever met him? Which tracks did he leave in your memory?
Dave Phillips: I met Dmitry Vasilyev a bunch of times. The last time was in September 2018 when Dmitry had organized a tour for me and emerge in Russia. We met in Sevastopol before embarking on a tour together. The day before our tour began, we went swimming in the Black Sea and Dmitry drowned. The tape you speak of is a reaction to that tragic loss. Dmitry’s enthusiasm for and energy invested in experimental music was amazing…
Chain D.L.K.: I have to amend… There’s also a CD from Attenuation titled ‘Post Homo Sapiens’, but I honestly haven’t unfolded it yet… What a shame! Can I get excused for that? What should I expect?
Dave Phillips: Of course! Post Homo Sapiens imagines a world where insects and plants rule.
Dave Phillips imagephoto courtesy of Jesse Newman
Chain D.L.K.: I enjoyed the reading of some of your texts (ref: https://www.davephillips.ch/texts), the last of which includes many interesting and praiseworthy ecologist thoughts and reflections, but it dates back to 2015. Are you writing some new text for the recent evolution of human history?
Dave Phillips: “For the recent evolution of human history”, haha. Besides writing, I collect and present texts too, and my texts sometimes take from articles and books that touch me. For the “sixth mass extinction” LP (2019) I collected a bunch of articles that together offer a picture of how humans are doing in terms of coexistence with other beings on this planet. It’s probably no surprise that we’re not faring very well – what we seem to be good at though is causing mass extinction and destruction. Said articles were accompanied by a profound text by professor Jem Bendell on “navigating climate tragedy”. For an upcoming split with sist en 343 called “thinking future coexistence,” I used a text by Charles Eisenstein on what happened since corona blessed us – this should be out in the autumn. I am supposed to write something for an upcoming compilation, but I haven’t got there yet…
Chain D.L.K.: So let’s go back (or forward) to ‘to death’. I remember the words of a Tibetan monk on this subject, who said that we have to notice that when a baby comes to life cries, and we smile, when a person comes to death (let’s say so) sometimes has a smiling expression on his/her face, while we cry. Is this somehow ironic viewpoint close to the meaning of death you were referring to on your last release?
Dave Phillips: Yes, very much so! Accompanying my father on his last journey was a profound experience that demystified death to an extent where it mostly wasn’t this “horrible thing” that people often seem to associate with it, but something quite different…. somehow magical, often peaceful and serene – my father was smiling a lot as he lay dying – and also somewhat unbiased, more to do with “life (in all its stages) never fails to amaze me”, where often opposing angles together make the whole.
Chain D.L.K.: I think that most of the weirdest consequences of this likewise weird pandemic crisis can be interpreted by using the filter of human fear of death. How did this situation influence your ‘to death’?
Dave Phillips: I was living in such intense reality bubbles at the time of the pandemic that the pandemic itself seemed to be happening on a side-stage, it didn’t seem to have that much impact on me. In hindsight, though, I realize it played into my perception more than I acknowledged. It affected my perception of the world. The slow dying of my father seemed to go hand in hand with the dying of something that somehow defines us as humans, as we grow more and more separate and distanced from one another and from purpose and freedom – as we have from the “natural world” at large, a separation that we are imposing on us more and more. That’s a slow dying. I mean, the empire is failing and falling, it will crash, no doubt, it’s just a question of when and how. And it sure won’t be pretty. People, please remove your filters!
Chain D.L.K.: I also enjoyed the fact that in the title, there seems a first part missing. You can expect an ‘Hymn to death’, an ‘Ode to death’ or even a ‘Yell to death’! But it’s as it is… just ‘to death’! How did you draw inspiration for it? I read it was somehow related to your father’s last moments (of course you have my deepest sympathy).
Dave Phillips: Thank you. Yes, it’s mainly inspired by my father’s illness, which was devastating and my being his carer for the last 15 months of his life. I witnessed his person being eaten away by disease – in a way, he was gone before death gave him peace. At the same time, I found myself in a role that made sense on so many levels, and somehow I managed to pull it through – I’m so glad I did. Taking care of the old is like taking care of the young, is like education, is like a purpose in life – outsourcing that to a paid service or a job or some system is missing out on profound experiences, on things essential, maybe on things that define us as animals or mammals or tribal beings. Something that teaches more than schools or universities can, but also demands more. So really it’s more about the journey, the path, the story of accompanying someone all the way “to death” and all that it sets free. My father’s wish was to die at home, and I’m glad that my siblings and I made that wish come true.
But this journey also leads to other related topics. There are many readings of the title. The ode/hymn “to death” is certainly in there, probably poking at the wish to demystify death as the huge taboo that it still is. the title also addresses what we’re doing to planetary life – to plants and other animals. Thus, also what we’re doing to ourselves: when I view my father’s disease in a global context, it’s a common cause – nowadays. The main causes of death in our times show us how sick our allegedly “civilized” way of life makes many of us. So much human waste. We are “civilized to death”. And then there’s what this is all doing to us emotionally and existentially – areas where many of us seem more dead than alive, where we merely function and follow rules. The slow death of human potential through our educational systems and through our imposed “normality” is part of that. The death of freedom through total control of life, as per recent events. I mean, life IS uncertain – that’s the exciting part, isn’t it? All our puny attempts to create “safety and security” are laughable if they weren’t so devastating in what they actually do to us – but we’re like animals born in captivity. Our established political and economic systems seem rather dead too – I mean, an economy that functions linearly is just grossly inadequate for a world and lives that happen in cycles. So there are many paths and pointers “to death”. I can also turn it around: if death is the only certainty in life, then a tribute to death is a celebration of life!
Chain D.L.K.: What are the reversed words in the opening ‘A Cycle Completed’ to say?
Dave Phillips: The tone matters more than the words. What do you hear?
Chain D.L.K.: Death is maybe the aspect of existence that keeps the strongest taboos still on. Do you agree with such a statement of not?
Dave Phillips: Yes, that’s also why I wanted to make an album that demystifies that, that steers us away from this taboo, from this conditioned denial or shame, this refusal to face all aspects of existence. I wanted to describe death as what it is, part of a cycle as natural as birth, something to encounter and to know, not something to primarily fear. On the contrary, I feel the awareness of death is one of the driving forces of life, it brings out deep emotions which frankly make me feel very alive. Death the experience has many beautiful aspects to it, at least in my experience. To reduce death – or this album – to just something “dark and scary” is merely scratching the surface – it’s looking away. If we could include death in the bigger picture as something normal, we may enjoy more freedom in our lives…
Chain D.L.K.: That piercing scary and somehow beastly scream on “To Death We All Go, The Sooner The Better”… how did you grab it, if it can be said?
Dave Phillips: I often start a recording based on notes I made or impulses, ideas about sonics, and sentiments. The tape starts running and… I try to put these sentiments into sound, and then… often things happen, I get carried away…. I go places, I enter different states of being, it’s like I travel like I’m somewhere else. Then sometime later, thump, I land again, it’s like I’ve returned from far… and sometimes it even translates onto tape ;o)
Like this album. I didn’t plan to do something about this particular topic, or about my father. I had a bunch of ideas noted, things I wanted to work into, but nothing like “to death”. Then I started recording. It was like a trance. It just poured out of me. The basic recordings happened within about ten days, basic structures of pieces were completed the following week. When I started listening back to what I had done, I was surprised. Then I realized what it’s about…
Chain D.L.K.: Paraphrasing and quoting the title of one of my favorite tracks of the album, what’s the real catastrophe you wanted to represent or maybe exorcize?
Dave Phillips: “The real catastrophe is that humanity continues”. It refers to the coronavirus and a reason why it might’ve appeared. I mean, we humans have vastly overpopulated this planet, and we are a very sick civilization, we’ve taken a couple of wrong turns too many, and we’re destroying not only our home but also that of all other inhabitants and them with it. It’s time we became extinct, or at least drastically reduced in numbers. We, humans, are the catastrophe… haha… it’s somewhat tongue-in-cheek, my sense of humor, though I reckon part of me means it ;o)
Chain D.L.K.: Is there any moment of ‘to death’ that you want to keep deliberately indecipherable?
Dave Phillips: Honestly, I try to be transparent with all that I do. My intentions, sentiments, feelings, it’s all there really. I don’t try to be cryptic or mysterious. On the other hand, it’s very subjective – I’ve put things out into the world that I thought were obvious and then find myself surprised by very different interpretations. So in this work, there are wordings, for example, that are only my own words for this particular moment, this context, they are subjective and not telling in terms of a narrative, so they needn’t be clear, they are only relevant in terms of opening spaces, it’s your own words or sentiments that take you through those spaces, and that’s fine.
Chain D.L.K.: Any plan to lend or adapt ‘to death’ for other forms of art (theatre or video art maybe)?
Dave Phillips: Not for now. The way this album poured out of me, the way it happened, this format is quite right for now. Emotionally, I’m quite elsewhere now anyway, also thanks to having this album happen.
Chain D.L.K.: Any work in progress?
Dave Phillips: Always :o) I’m currently finalizing two pieces for a 7″ for a young Portland label, and a comp track, but there are other pots cooking too…
Visit Dave Phillips on the web:
https://www.davephillips.ch/about
https://dave-phillips.bandcamp.com/
https://soundcloud.com/dave-phillips
vimeo.com/davephillips
|
2019 |
€20.00 |
|
| PHILLIPS, TOMAS / LUIGI TURRA |
Vignettes Amplifie |
CD |
"The first ever collaboration between prolific american composer Tomas Phillips and prominent italian newcomer Luigi Turra, "Vignettes Amplifie" presents a sequence of subtle sound constructions characterized by minimalistic and contemplative approach. Quiet field recordings, soft acoustic sounds and organic electronic arrangements builds panoramic view on two levels. The acoustic gestures like bells, manipulated objects and drone fragments are coming from silence and disappearing after some time. On the other hand, there is a kind of reflection of these sonic events in the background, muted and abstracted, hiding from your ears. But these microscopic sounds, short and forgetful, seems to be the main part of the whole thing - when you are trying to trace them down, to catch your attention, and to understand the aesthetical value of this music. Shy and confused, these sounds represents the soul of this music, but in fact they are just grow and fade away like the autumn rain. This album will teach you how to turn your mind into ears, hunting for every little susurration in total silence." [label info]
www.nitkie.ru
"New age might also be the word that one could apply to an album that involves shakuhachi and prayer bowls, as on the disc by Tomas Phillips and Luigi Turra. They are both also credited for the use of laptop. And obviously this is not a work of new age. The music is simply not 'easy' enough, but it surely hints at a more zen-like experience of listening. Things are stretched out, quiet and peaceful. There are some highly obscured sounds from the world of electro-acoustics, long sustaining sounds on the bowl and the flute, the more than obvious crackles, which seem to belong to this micro-world. A release that could have as easily fitted on Line, I would think. Three pieces, all around eleven to fourteen minutes, which all need their time to peacefully and calmly enroll their story. A fine work of microsound, that not necessarily is anything new, but quite well crafted." [FdW/Vital Weekly]
|
2011 |
€13.00 |
|
| PHURPA |
Mantras of Bön |
CD |
"Zoharum would like to present the latest album by the band entitled "Mantras of Bon." It is an extraordinary release, even for such an extraordinary and unusual project as PHURPA. More than 70 minutes of music here is divided into two parts. The first one, featuring Alissa Nicolai on vocals, shows the band from a completely different angle; the other one presents the most important and interesting sessions recorded over the past few years, with a recording from CTM festival where they impressed the audience with "kuntunzangpo."
"Mantras of Bon" is an excellent introduction into the adventures with PHURPA, the world of Tibetan music filtered by contemporary reinterpretation free from rigid rules. It may enchant both those looking for interesting sacral music and the ones searching for a new form of sonic statement.
This 3-panel ecopak release is strictly limited to 500 copies." [label info]
www.zoharum.com
"It's been a while since I last heard Phurpa, the musical project of Alexey Tegin, but Phurpa is a real band, who play ritual music inspired by that from Egypt, Iran, Tibet and use instruments from the latter culture. On this new release, they have five pieces, three of which are live recordings, as Phurpa plays around frequently. In the first two pieces Alissa Nicolai is the guest singer. She wails and screams about and makes that Phurpa sounds different than before. More Diamanda Galas I thought. Phurpa seems to be adding a set of curious sounds that come across like a stale wind over a vast empty plain. In the other three pieces the more traditional Phurpa sound is present. Much overtone singing as well as throat singing in 'Mu-Ye', the final live piece, as well as in 'Kuntunzangpo'. In both no other instruments seem to be present, but in 'Mi Dub' there is also some percussion. The music is very intense, but for me lacks the immediate presence of the musicians. I can imagine a situation in which this would fit perfectly - dimly lit, incense, dark, and musicians surrounding the audience, cavernous space - and such circumstances one simply doesn't have at home. That is something I regret when listening to this. It makes this music more difficult to get in to, I think. I especially liked the three Phurpa pieces at the end, for all their sparse intensity and perhaps less the two with Nicolai, which seemed a bit forced." [FdW/Vital Weekly]
|
2014 |
€12.00 |
|
|
Chöd |
do-CD |
"Tibetan “chöd” roughly means “being cut off”. That is also the title of the new piece of work of shamans from Moscow. Phurpa returns with a completely new material, without doubt, the best in their discography. It perfectly shows the strength of their music based on the “rgyud-skad” singing, meditation and the use of traditional instruments, often made of human bones.
Chöd is the practice of sacrificing the body. To actively participate in meditation we invite not only enlightened beings, but also the residents of the six realms of existence, including the essence of hell and all the spiritual “filth” there is, all possible demons. They just have to be the main beneficiaries of the sacrifice made, and the body of the meditator becomes their food. Traditionally, this practice was carried out in desolate and lonely places, and often even frightening – in the fields of cremation and burial grounds near the dismembered corpses and wild animals preying on them. The practitioners of chöd were called crazy yogis.
Over a 90-minute monolith in two scenes. The musical trans introducing listeners into the state of meditation.
“Chöd” is released as a double album in 3-panel ecopak, in a strictly limited edition of 400 copies."
www.zoharum.com
|
2016 |
€17.00 |
|
| |
LTA ZOR |
LP |
Zoharum is proud to present another ritual recording by Phurpa brought to you on beautiful 180g vinyl. After Rituals Of Bon I & II, “Lta Zor” is the third installment of mysterious Russian duo on Zoharum.
If you ever had the opportunity to experience Phurpa live you know how overwhelming experience this is as this is not a gig. This is a ceremony in purest sense of word. Overtone singing piercing through your mind and soul creating vibration that penetrates every cell of your body, occasionally accompanied by traditional Buddhist instruments (some of them made of human bones) all veiled with dense smoke of incense. This is what “Lta Zor” is like. It’s a spiritual transfer enclosed in an album format. This is the power of human voice. This is the power of sound.
Album mastered with care by Natt comes on 180g LP limited to 300 copies
https://zoharum.bandcamp.com/album/lta-zor
"And so, Phurpa are back. Like Russian Cenobites stepping slowly from the shadows and wreathed in a thick fug of juniper smoke, they are here once more to bathe us in their power and resonate our chakras in sympathy with the universal vibration.
For those not already familiar with Phurpa’s low-end majesty, they are a “roving monastic choir” from Moscow, led by the enigmatic Alexey Tegin and comprising a slowly-revolving cast of participants. Importantly, they are also devotees of a schismatic form of Bön, the ancient shamanistic spirituality of Bactria, in Central Asia.
Their music is a reflection, or probably more accurately an expression, of these beliefs, a transfer of spiritual energy and meaning shaped in sound and given form through a style of overtone singing called rgyud-skad, or “tantric voice”, all supported by an array of traditional Tibetan instruments: the dungkar (a horn made out of an enormous conch), the dungchen (a three-metre-long horn / trumpet), the silnuyen (flat cymbals), the nga (a double-sided drum), the damaru (a drum made from human skulls), the kangling (a human thighbone trumpet), the shang (a Bön tambourine) and an assortment of other cymbals such as the rolmo.
Powered by their physical and mental commitment both to Bön and to its musical embodiment, Phurpa are a band who do not dabble in half measures. Not only is their musical practice intense, but their life and lifestyles, their whole approach to physicality and mentality, are all tailored towards supporting the essential performance of the rites of Bön. This extends right down to the exercise and diet regime, Tegin once stating that:
There is power in food. If you want to feel wild like a tiger or shark you need raw meat, maybe a little salt and pepper. I like horse meat, in Moscow this is possible. When you eat it, there is fire inside you. Sometimes your body says ‘stop fire’, then you drink yoghurt. This is for PHURPA, action aspect – if you instead want information from space you drink only water and eat vegetables.
And so, like their namesake Phurpa Drugse Chempa, the God of resolved action, Phurpa’s live shows are more ceremony than gig per se, combining the hypnotic and transformative power of the music, with ritual, darkness, costume and smell. This is very much a Gesamtkunstwerk designed to overcome and still the restless conscious mind and allow the body to open up and receive the liturgy unmediated. In the correct setting and with the right approach, as Tegin explains, “if doctrines are powerful enough, they’re universal and can settle in other cultures”.
LTA ZOR captures one such ritual, spread across two dense, intense twenty-minute slabs of performance. And as with all such live moments transferred into the recorded medium, it pays dividends to approach it in the right way: put on some headphones, turn off the lights, lie on the floor. If you want to burn some heavy, musky incense whilst you’re about it, I think Tegin would probably approve. And a horse meat dinner beforehand? Well, that’s at your discretion.
Part I is almost entirely vocal driven, the mesmeric tones of aural energy pulsing with power, battering themselves slowly against your consciousness like a siege engine. When listening to this, I closed my eyes and decided to ponder the illustration given to explain the duration of the kappa, the Buddhist eon: “Suppose there were a city of iron walls one yojana (about 15km) in length, one in width, one yojana high, filled up with mustard seed. Therefrom a man were to take out at the end of every hundred years a mustard seed. That pile of mustard seed would in this way be sooner done away with and ended than an eon.” That is scale on which it seems fitting to imagine Phurpa’s resonances and messages.
Part II begins with a startling flurry of horn before giving way to an eerie passage of low drones and deep drum hits – for some reason redolent to me of the quiet yet foreboding shots of the Nostromo travelling in deep space at the beginning of Alien – and thence a collision of voices. This really is Phurpa at their absolute best, organic, acoustic, yet with such controlled power, operating at frequencies to which the body, however swaddled under the vestments of the modern world, cannot help but respond.
The voice and the drum are the primal instruments; they were our modes of musical expression before we even had language or the written word, and thus, when we attune ourselves to them, we can travel back into our own deep time. This is, I think, more than anything Phurpa’s message.
Given that none of us are likely to be getting back into a live venue again any time soon, LTA ZOR is the closest anyone will get to seeing Phurpa’s incredible ritual in the flesh for now. With our enforced focus inwards during these times, turn that from a necessity into an opportunity and embrace the power of Bön."
[David Solomons / FREQ] |
2020 |
€20.00 |
|
| PICCHIO DAL POZZO |
Abbiamo tutti i suoi problemi |
CD |
Wiederveröffentlichung der zweiten (und letzten) LP von 1980 von dieser legendären italienischen ProgRockExperimental-Band, die komplexe und unerwartete Arrangements und Strukturen, perfekt eingespielt, nur so aus dem Ärmel schüttelten... Anklänge an HENRY COW, ZAPPA, etc..
"One of the most original, impressive and highly respected of all the experimental groups to have come out of Italy in the 1970s, Picchio dal Pozzo were also one of the early invitees to the canonical 'Recommended Sampler', and would have been in RIO, had RIO lasted another year - and had the group not folded up and disappeared before anyone had realised it was there. In the last decade the record was reissued briefly in Japan, then It disappeared again. We have now re-mastered it and put it back into the public domain, where it belongs. Copying no one, though there is some Zappa influence - Picchio had a unique and highly developed style of composition that was not only out of step with it's own time but which sounds contemporary still. Highly composed and devoid of jazz phrasing and riffs with solos, this record achieves maximum musical effect with minimum instrumental means through close attention to timbre, dynamics and expressed tempi and a kind of deep complexity that sounds simple but changes with each listening. A lot of ideas subtly developed - rather than experimented with; a one-off classic." [label description]
|
2006 |
€14.00 |
|
| PILIA, STEFANO |
The Suncrows Fall and Tree |
LP |
Originally released on CD in 2006 on Sedimental 'The Suncrows Fall And Tree' pushed Stefano Pilia to the forefront of the European experimental avant garde scene showcasing his incredible knack for creating beautiful soundscapes, blissful ambience and electroacoustic compositions that speak to the heart.
His sound can aptly be defined ‘ecstatic', in the purest sense of the term, as a result of the exploration of these points of focus, through multi-instrumental practice and investigations into the recording and production process. Pilia is one of the founding members (alongside Valerio Tricoli and Claudio Rocchetti) of the group 3/4HadBeenEliminated. He predominantly plays as a soloist though collaborates extensively. He has played in duo with Massimo Pupillo and with ZU, though his multifaceted practice has also led to an active involvement in a host of other wide-ranging projects. Since 2010 Pilia has been a member of psychedelic quartet In Zaire and has been a focal contributor to the BGP trio, alongside David Grubbs and Andrea Belfi. Since 2009, he has been a member of Il Sogno del Marinaio, a trio made up of legendary Minutemen bassist Mike Watt and the drummer Paolo Mongardi. As well as these projects, he is lead guitarist for celebrated Malian singer Rokia Traorè (since 2012) and for the band Afterhours (since 2015). He has released record on Nonesuch, Die-Schachtel, Presto?!, Drag City, Bluechopstick, Hapna, LastVisibleDog, Sedimental, Soleilmoon, 8mm, Black Truffle.
“Pilia’s subsonic drones are a thing of beauty; pulling in and pushing the listener away simultaneously, keeping him or her in a constant state of limbo.. in all things Stefano Pilia does, there is an understated and simple beauty beneath them. It acts like a silent guide, making sure everything goes off without a hitch”. Brad Rose / Foxy Digitalis
"With The Suncrows Fall And Tree, Pilia has created an electroacoustic work that uses drones as a major compositional tool, but to achieve effects that are striking and unusual. Avoiding sonic gestures associated with one or another school of electroacoustics, and not creating a work entirely of blissful ambience, Pilia has concocted a very impressive electroacoustic debut." Caleb Deupree
https://improvedsequence.bandcamp.com/album/the-suncrows-fall-and-tree-imp014 |
2020 |
€27.50 |
|
| PIMMON |
Mort aux vaches |
CD |
Der Australier gehört inzwischen zu den anerkanntesten experimentellen Laptop-Musikern dieser Tage.. in der MAV-Serie gibt es abstrakte Geräuschkompositionen mit warmen Untertönen, seltsam quasi-rhythmische Muster & Sphärenharmonien zu hören.. wie immer im speziellen Art-Cover..
“ From all the people with a laptop and who travel, I rate Pimmon as one of the better ones. Not falling in a pure noise mode, or a pure improvisation mode, his music is a combination of melodies, raw chunks of sound and glitchy rhythms. His recent 'Snaps Crackles Pop' (a rather self-explanatory title) for Tigerbeat didn't make it to these pages, but would rank high in my top 10 for 2003. That CD was a studio, to get the full Pimmon picture, one would also need the 'Mort Aux Vaches' CD. Recorded at roughly the same time as the Tigerbeat CD, the live recording on 'Mort Aux Vaches' CD dates from about a year ago, upon his first Europe tour. Of course, the live side is always arranged in a more free mode, small mistakes happen but these pieces bear the Pimmon trade mark allover: grainy yet warm glitch rhythms, amplified static hiss that evolves into small wormholes and crackles and pop all around. However, Pimmon never looses the idea of composition - he never leaps into pure improvisation nor does he let things get out of control, there is always the structure to control. Pimmon clearly has this capacity, both in his studio work, but also in his live work. Finally a very good example of the latter becomes available. “ [Frans de Waard]
|
2003 |
€14.00 |
|
| 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 |
|
| PLOTKIN, JAMES & PAAL NILSSEN-LOVE |
Death Rattle |
CD |
" “Death Rattle” is the noise of two forces of nature in collision. Like a pair of clashing typhoons, Philadelphia based avant guitarist James Plotkin and Norwegian free jazz drummer Paal Nilssen-Love generate chaos, disturbance and a terrifying beauty in their first ever collaborative recording. Free jazz and metal-edged rock never chimed so exhilaratingly together before. ‘Paal’s precision and constant invention/reinvention is mind-blowing, only matched by its intensity,’ James enthuses. ‘There’s a very fluid feel to what he’s doing despite the ferocity. Instead of trying to match the chaos, I opted to build a more solid foundation of repetition and melody for him to launch from. I really appreciated the role reversal of drummer and guitarist!’
James Plotkin’s distinctively extreme, aggressive guitar sound has been a constant presence in underground music since the late 1980s, when he founded the metal/industrial band OLD. As a solo artist and as a member of outfits such as Scorn, Khanate, Phantomsmasher, Khlyst and most recently Jodis, he has plotted a nomadic trail through new metal, dark ambient, industrial, noise, grindcore and drone rock. Sought out by Michael Gira, John Zorn, Ikue Mori, Franz Treichler, Francisco López and many more, he has also remixed a wide range of artists from KK Null and Sunn O))) to Pelican, Earth, Nadja and Neu!. ‘I've wanted to work with Paal for the better part of a decade,’ comments James. ‘Stephen O'Malley had played one of Scorch Trio’s discs in the van during a Khanate tour and I could hardly believe it was only one drummer at work.’
Paal Nilssen-Love is one of the most intense drummers working on the planet right now. He grew up in Stavanger, west Norway, where his parents ran the city’s thriving jazz club. In theory he’s now based in Oslo, but there’s a huge global demand for his percussive threshing machine. He’s often travelling on a relentless round of musical projects and festival appearances – notably with Mats Gustafsson in The Thing, his Chicago trio with Ken Vandermark and Ab Baars, the Hairy Bones group with Peter Brötzmann and Toshinori Kondo, a trio with Massimo Pupillo and noise artist Lasse Marhaug, plus duos with Peter Brötzmann, Terrie Ex, John Butcher and others." [label info]
www.runegrammofon.com
|
2013 |
€15.00 |
|
| |
Death Rattle |
LP & CD |
" “Death Rattle” is the noise of two forces of nature in collision. Like a pair of clashing typhoons, Philadelphia based avant guitarist James Plotkin and Norwegian free jazz drummer Paal Nilssen-Love generate chaos, disturbance and a terrifying beauty in their first ever collaborative recording. Free jazz and metal-edged rock never chimed so exhilaratingly together before. ‘Paal’s precision and constant invention/reinvention is mind-blowing, only matched by its intensity,’ James enthuses. ‘There’s a very fluid feel to what he’s doing despite the ferocity. Instead of trying to match the chaos, I opted to build a more solid foundation of repetition and melody for him to launch from. I really appreciated the role reversal of drummer and guitarist!’
James Plotkin’s distinctively extreme, aggressive guitar sound has been a constant presence in underground music since the late 1980s, when he founded the metal/industrial band OLD. As a solo artist and as a member of outfits such as Scorn, Khanate, Phantomsmasher, Khlyst and most recently Jodis, he has plotted a nomadic trail through new metal, dark ambient, industrial, noise, grindcore and drone rock. Sought out by Michael Gira, John Zorn, Ikue Mori, Franz Treichler, Francisco López and many more, he has also remixed a wide range of artists from KK Null and Sunn O))) to Pelican, Earth, Nadja and Neu!. ‘I've wanted to work with Paal for the better part of a decade,’ comments James. ‘Stephen O'Malley had played one of Scorch Trio’s discs in the van during a Khanate tour and I could hardly believe it was only one drummer at work.’
Paal Nilssen-Love is one of the most intense drummers working on the planet right now. He grew up in Stavanger, west Norway, where his parents ran the city’s thriving jazz club. In theory he’s now based in Oslo, but there’s a huge global demand for his percussive threshing machine. He’s often travelling on a relentless round of musical projects and festival appearances – notably with Mats Gustafsson in The Thing, his Chicago trio with Ken Vandermark and Ab Baars, the Hairy Bones group with Peter Brötzmann and Toshinori Kondo, a trio with Massimo Pupillo and noise artist Lasse Marhaug, plus duos with Peter Brötzmann, Terrie Ex, John Butcher and others." [label info]
www.runegrammofon.com
|
2013 |
€22.50 |
|
| POLIO |
Concrete |
CD-R |
Alles andere als „konkret“ klingen die drei Drone-Stücke auf dieser CDR von Peter Wright aka POLIO; spheric dreamscapes at its best !
“ Before relocating to the U.K. earlier this year, Mr. Wright finished this fourth POLIO release back in Christchurch, NZ. "Concrete" is an apt title; these are digital deconstructions of recordings made live in a bunker (apparently before an audience as distant chatter is
heard on the last track), and to my mind there's a palpable sense of weight, gravity. At first these suspended "pure tones" just sort of
hangs there, but the recording progressively resolves itself beautifully & becomes more open, then somewhere during the second track descends to an altogether deeper/sub-conscious level....oohmm .....close your eyes....still literally quite heavy but exquisitely layered and hallucinatory. Enveloping, but not stuffy. This is huge.” [label description]
|
2003 |
€7.00 |
|
| POOK, JOCELYN |
Untold Things |
CD |
"The Real World Gold version of Untold Things includes two bonus tracks: Adam's Lullaby and Ave Maria, sung by Natacha Atlas.
"I wanted Untold Things to reflect the live work I'd been at the time," says the classically trained, thirty-something Londoner. Pook sees the recording as a natural progression from her long association with Real World, where she'd been a keen participant in the legendary creative jams that are Recording Weeks and worked as a string player and arranger for Peter Gabriel. (As a former member of The Communards and co-founder of the all-female sextet Electra Strings she has also helped flesh out the sounds of PJ Harvey, Paul Weller, Morrissey, Nick Cave and Siouxsie Sioux).
Where her previous albums, 1997's 'Deluge' and 1999's 'Flood', were written specifically for theatre and film - the former for Canadian dance company O Vertigo, the latter for Stanley Kubrick's 'Eyes Wide Shut' - 'Untold Things' is very much Pook's own creative vision. Encouraged by Real World's penchant for blurring boundaries, she channelled her trademark combination of classicism and innovation into an exhilarating gem of an album, one which pulls off that rare coup of putting listeners in touch with their deeper feelings. 'Untold Things' will, no doubt, be the source of many an epiphany. You could say that it has a spiritual, even magical, quality, as befits one who is constantly changing artistic shape - and whose surname is the Celtic word for fairy.
Pook's soft speech, translucent skin and Pre-Raphaelite curls might fit the stereotype of a classical musician (and, if you like, a latter-day Titania), but they belie a background in performance-based work that's seen her create 'atmospheres' from found objects like answer-machine messages and corrugated iron. And though Pook insists she is proudly rooted in the formal, classical music tradition, she still hankers after the cutting edge. Her influences - Laurie Anderson, Steve Reich, Holger Czukay and her friend Michael Nyman - are also shared by her like-minded ensemble. "Most of my string section are friends who go way back and who, like me, are also composers. I tend to work with people I've got chemistry with and then build around what they play. That means all sorts of instruments and voices creep in."
"There's a juxtaposition of vocal styles," states Pook, who has always favoured eccentric opposites. On 'Untold Things', she pits her English choral plainsong and early music leanings against multi-ethnic traditions, and offsets the spacious, tranquil nature of some tracks with the pulsing, dervish-style rhythms of others. It turns out the vocals are not words at all. "Because words are so incredibly powerful," Pook explains, "I tend not to use them. I prefer to treat voices like instruments. So we've used a made up language on two of the songs; there's one piece which developed from a phrase Parvin Cox once sang to me over the phone. On others I've recorded texts backwards, because I love the strange, kind of uneasy quality you get. I find it really peaceful."
'Saffron' is the title track for 'In A Land of Plenty', a major new BBC TV drama series which aired at the time of the album's release. "It's about a family who are my generation, born in the Sixties and growing up into the present day. It's very beautifully shot, very impressionistic, which is unusual for television" Pook states. But it started out as a poem written by a mother for her daughter, its lyrics reversed by Pook and Pappenheim before being featured in a short dance film. All of the songs on 'Untold Things' have been reshaped and sculpted to perfection. Or at the very least, as near to it as Pook will admit.
"I could go on fiddling with all these pieces for years," she grins. "But with what I've learnt over the past year, especially from doing 'Eyes Wide Shut', I've been able to go back and rework some of them. I'm more confident in what I'm doing now, which has really helped me to develop. And Stanley (Kubrick) was just so amazingly positive and flattering about my music. The experience of working with him was truly powerful."
"I'm not somebody who conceptualises," she offers. "I just do it and see the connections afterwards. I know people will think there's a religious element to this, which isn't something I want to comment on. But I do think there's a sense of faith, of loss and yearning, which is inherent in the music. Hopefully, it moves you." And in keeping with her Celtic surname, Jocelyn Pook has made an album with translucent wings." [label info]
www.realworldrecords.com
|
2013 |
€10.00 |
|
| POTTER, COLIN |
The Sights of the Drowned Fable |
CD-R |
Jessas! Ungewöhnlich noisig-rhythmische Klänge am Anfang dieses Mitschnitts (eines Konzertes vom July 2007 in Preston UK), dessen Klangstrom dann immer droniger & geisterhafter wird, wo tiefergestellte Stimmen durch den Äther zischeln, Frequenzmodulationen aus dem Nichts erscheinen, meditative Gongs auftauchen und field recordings von Regen & Donner....
"The first couple of minutes of this live recording seemed to have been designed to get the blood boiling and the heart pumping. Colin Potter (the technical foil to Steve Stapleton's macabre psychedelia in Nurse With Wound) opens with an agitated set of electro-bleep rhythms which double upon each other into a squiggling dervish. After these few minutes though, the sidereal ambience and barren dronescapes which Potter has brought to the recent NWW productions slip into focus. Ghostly fragments of echo and reverberation glide around chiming drones from harmonium, gongs, field recordings, and bowed strings, all displaying Potter's polychromatic, oil-slick production which has such a peculiar, funhouse warble modulating each and every sound, ever so slightly. Some 15 minutes into the piece, there are a series of metallic bangs and ominous metallic clicks, puncturing a bed of low-end frequencies. One of these repeating bangs is quite similar to the ones used on John Duncan's River In Flames. Along with the signposts of Duncan and the NWW Shipwrecked Radio series, Potter's live set from the 2007 Resonator Festival in Preston, England also resembles the late period Zoviet France albums InVersion and Digilogue. Limited to just 100 copies, and certainly will not last for very long!" [Aquarius]
www.icrdistribution.com
|
2007 |
€12.00 |
|
| |
We Couldn't Agree on a Total |
CD |
"This is the 100th release by ICR. The first was the compilation LP ‘We Couldn’t Agree on a Title’ in 1981. Back in those days, I never imagined – no, wait – that’s so long ago, I really can’t remember what I imagined. I know that I did think Integrated Circuit Records was a good name for a label that was ‘integrated’ (?!) and vaguely electronic. Which is why it’s now called ICR, much less of a mouthful. But it is slightly surprising to have made it to 100 releases, although I doubt we’ll make it to 200, which partly explains the title of this CD.
3 tracks totalling over 74 minutes, 2 were recorded live at London's Cafe Oto. The third is a studio mix of the music I played live a number of times, but never managed to get a decent recording.
As we have made it to 100, this seems an appropriate time to thank everyone who’s been involved in helping me keep this leaky boat afloat for over 40 years - the artists who have appeared on releases and the people who have assisted in the running of things. I hope you know how much I appreciate this. In particular I would like to thank Jonathan Coleclough, who has been designing wonderful covers (including this one) and graphics for ICR for most of its life and has been a constant studio and live partner for many years.
And finally I would like to thank the people who have bought the records, cassettes, 8–track cartridges, CDs and downloads and showed up to see me make a fool of myself in public over the years. Without you it would have been somewhat pointless."
https://icrdistribution.bandcamp.com/album/we-couldnt-agree-on-a-total
"In 1981, Colin Potter released a compilation LP, 'We Couldn’t Agree on a Title', the inaugural release on Integrated Circuit Records. 'We Couldn't Agree On A Total' is the 100th release, but it's not a compilation. To celebrate this milestone, Potter selected two live recordings from his concerts at Cafe Oto in 2018 and 2016 and one studio piece of something he played live a couple of times but never managed to get a great recording of. The cover shows Potter and a plethora of instruments; I am sure this photo is some construction of various images, but it's an impressive display of gear. Next to playing as a musician, solo and with Nurse With Wound, Potter runs the ICR studio, so I am sure he knows all about gear, cobbling these together and making them sound simultaneously, with Captain Potter at the controls. The mixing board is the big audio canvas to paint sounds, add effects, change frequencies, and do whatever people do behind big mixing consoles to produce great music. In the April 2018 concert, Potter goes for a take on cosmic music, with arpeggios and rhythm in slow motion, and once that train leaves the station, it majestically rolls about. It has that cosmic Krautrock idea, and it works very well. In 2016, he did something similar, but the arpeggios come in later here, and it takes some time to get there. Potter needs some time to get his stuff brewing from below the surface, but it erupts like a volcano with clockwork precision. In the studio construction, none of these arpeggios are rolling about but a slow melodic touch over drone-like synthesiser tapestries. Maybe also a bit on the cosmic side, but less urgent and more ambient. To me, it seems Potter exercises more control in this piece, whereas in the live pieces, he's wilder and lets things run wild. Two sides of the master, and while I slightly prefer the controlled constructions, it's a great release." [FdW/Vital Weekly]
https://icrdistribution.bandcamp.com/album/we-couldnt-agree-on-a-total |
2023 |
€14.00 |
|
| POTTER, COLIN & MICHAEL BEGG |
Fragile Pitches |
do-CD |
"Two members from Fovea Hex, but also from Nurse With Wound and Monos (Potter) and Human Greed (Begg) were commissioned to perform a work by Unique Events in Edinburgh in December 2009 in the St Giles Cathedral. Both sets of the night are captured on these two discs, whereas on the third disc, a limited CDR (120 copies) there is material that was featured between both and recorded earlier. If you know Potter's work with Monos, Fovea Hex or solo, then you know what to look for in this collaboration: dark atmospheric music. They use laptops, effects and guitars and create lengthy sets of eerie, flowing music. Slow, minimalist changes of glacier like moving masses. Well over three hours of this kind of music is obviously a long sit through, but this is of course the kind of music that needs its time to develop. Potter and Begg keep the idea of playing in cathedral in mind, by using a bit more of that kind of church organ like sounds. A great work indeed. The bonus disc is the one that seems to have the most silent music of the three, which would be either a good start or good contemplative ending. One could argue, like so many of the current drone works around, that this isn't much news, but as always Potter is one of the masters of the genre, and this release is easily one of his best." [FdW / Vital Weekly - review for the lim. version with bonus CDR - please note we can only offer the standard doCD now!]
www.omnempathy.com
|
2010 |
€15.00 |
|
| POTTER, COLIN & PHIL MOULDYCLIFF |
Grey Skies on Asphalt |
CD |
"Edition of 300 numbered copies. Colin Potter is sitting in a room, different than the one you are in now, and he is piloting that room to the crushing depths of inner space with fellow sound artist Phil Mouldycliff. The wizard will see you now. There methods seems so innocent at the outset with the simple layering of a street scene over the sounds of intermission spill-off (or whatever), but the quiet, ambient din of crowd soon becomes a decaying continuo beneath a soft filigree of high-lonesome guitar (?). Then bells and all sorts of micro manipulations follow, building to gelatinous crescendo and subsequent diminuendo. There is a sort of oceanic, Sinking of the Titanic texture coughing up from the underneath, and a deliciously Nursey dynamic in the way tiny rings of feedback propagate out form sonic pebbles thrown in the drink. And, of course, fantastic little discoveries are made with each new pass. This may be what it sounds like when noise goes through the digestive tract. Who knew it would be so damn beautiful?" [label info]
www.blrrecords.com
|
2010 |
€13.00 |
|
| POTTER, COLIN & THE HAFLER TRIO |
A pressed on Sandwich |
CD |
Erste Zusammenarbeit der beiden Urgesteine britischer Experimental-Drones / Elektronik, ein one-tracker von ca. 53 Minuten Länge. POTTER bearbeitet die H30-Sounds, das sind organisch-elektronische Oberton-Klangstrahlen, die sich glitzernd & oszillierend ins Ätherische winden, ruhig & klar & zur Versenkung einladend....
"CD is packed in special paper wallet & released as the limited edition of 1010 copies. This nutritious fare was prepared by Colin Potter at IC Studio, Preston, UK in 2005, using the finest Icelandic ingredients supplied by The Hafler Trio." Colin Potter explains: "I attended The Hafler Trio performance of 'How To Slice a Loaf of Bread' in Preston and was very impressed on many different levels. During a discussion with Andrew McKenzie after the event, he suggested that we might try a joint project. Shortly afterwards he sent me some of the original source material from the performance. It was my intention to preserve the overall shape & sense of the material, but at the same time move it to another (sonic)..” [label info]
“Do any of these two artists need really an introduction? I don't think so. Both are big shots in the world of experimental music. Early 2003, shortly after the re-discovery of The Hafler Trio, the trio did a performance in Preston called 'How To Slice A Loaf Of Bread'. The performance was attended by Colin Potter, who lives and works in the same city. Afterwards it was suggested that the two should work together, but McKenzie being Iceland and Potter in Preston made a tete-a-tete not easy. Andrew McKenzie mailed Colin Potter the original source materials for the concert, which Potter happily reworked into 'A Pressed On Sandwich'. The original performance was also released (see Vital Weekly 404), so there is something to compare. Both The Hafler Trio and Colin Potter are masters of drone music, but there are some subtle differences. The Hafler Trio seem overall more monochrome in approach, with so it seems for the listener who doesn't know any better, whereas Potter seems to be using more sound effects to create the soundscapes that he does, maybe less organic and more electronic. As said, the differences are quite subtle here, and there is certainly no hierarchy, both are masters of the genre. Potter's mix is perhaps a bit more dense and obviously more concise (The Hafler Trio release spans three CDs), but it moves as gentle and dark as the original. Great collaboration.” [FdW / Vital Weekly]
"Fucking brilliant. Yeah, you should expect that these two high caliber sound sculptors would manage something great; and they do not disappoint. As for the obligatory introductions, Colin Potter may be best known from his ongoing contributions to Nurse With Wound over the past two decades, but has been privy to some of the finest in British dronescaping thanks to his work in Ora and Monos. The Hafler Trio is the creation of Andrew McKenzie, a sound research project which has been investigating the impact of sound upon the body, mind, and spirit through the lens of a Byzantine gnosticism. A couple years back, Potter had the good fortune of witnessing the Hafler Trio's How To Slice A Loaf Of Bread performance in Preston, England in 2003; after the show, Potter and McKenzie struck up a conversation, whence McKenzie suggested that the two collaborate. Shortly thereafter, McKenzie sent Potter a collection of the source material from that very performance as the foundation for their collaboration. Potter stated his intentions clearly, that he wanted to preserve the shape of the material while pushing it into another space. It's an understatement to say that Potter merely achieved his intention; as A Pressed On Sandwich ranks as one of the best things that he's worked on, on par with his work with Steven Stapleton on the existential void of Nurse With Wound's Salt Marie Celeste. Yeah, it's that good! Of course, McKenzie ultimately stretched out his own material of monumental dronings over a whopping six discs on the twin set of triple cds also entitled How To Slice A Loaf Of Bread (all of which are long out of print); so Potter's redux is a bit easier to digest, but certainly no less an album! You'll encounter the drone supreme here on A Pressed On Sandwich with electrified tonal vibrations, undulating phase patterns, and oceanic gasps of sublime expanses. The album starts off with a very cold, shivering feel but eventually transitions into a dynamic interplay of tones that simultaneously capturing the solemnness of church organ droning (with all of the overtones of holy symbolism) and the unnerving purity of feedback (with all of the allusions of technology on the brink of collapse). We mentioned it before, and we'll mentioned it again: fucking brilliant." [Aquarius Records]
|
2006 |
€15.00 |
|
| PRAXINOSCOPE |
same |
pic-LP |
“Praxinoscope is a new project which sees the duo Roberto Opalio (one-half of My Cat Is An Alien) and Ramona Ponzini (close collaborator of the Italian space-brothers). While in the debut album as Painting Petals On Planet Ghost (out in early September 2005 on Time-Lag Records) Ramona will focus on her Japanese vocals alongside both brothers' acoustic tunes, here she plays little Japanese percussions and wind chimes, creating a resonant texture over Roberto's alien wordless vocals and space electronics. The material comes from a whole session recorded in a mysterious location of the Western Alps, directly transferred to cd using neither overdubs nor outtakes, practice which the Opalio bros have made us addicted to. For the entire lenght of its 40 minutes, the piece will stifle you the breath because of its so pure essence and intimate mood; a mystic, suffocated chant reminding the silence of ancient rituals, the ultimate exorcism to avert the Infinite Pain. Limited edition of 500 copies only as vinyl picture disc 12" LP with psychedelic artwork!” [label info]
“…..This project traverses a similar terrain as MCIAA, but is perhaps closer to Roberto's brilliant solo album, "Chants From Isolated Ghosts". Opalio's vocals star here, taking the limelight and thriving inside it. Effects drench his voice making it something truly not of this world. These lunar oceans of sound are magnificent and totally enthralling. It's as though he's a cosmonaut trapped inside a glass box, unable to travel the reaches of space. Such confinement derails your mind and Opalio sounds like a person struggling against himself. At times, hearing this is almost too much - there's simultaneous discomfort and exorcism happening and you can't quite focus intently on either. You are a passive player in this exercise, lost in the crevices Opalio and Ponzini create. I cannot discount Ponzini's contributions to this 40 minute piece, either. While it may seem minimal on the surface, her various "Japanese percussions" (mostly chromatics, cymbals, and the like) add a great deal of needed texture to counterbalance Opalio's haunted wails. It is reminiscent of the way Finnish master, Keijo, works in a lot of percussive elements to his tracks. And it has the same effect. Praxinoscope is a great new project from the always wonderful My Cat is an Alien. This is one of Opax's finest releases. Bringing to mind the vocal transcendence of the Skaters, Praxinoscope are proof that you don't need any instruments to make amazing sounds. This is wonderful, wonderful music” [Brad Rose, FOXY DIGITALIS]
|
2006 |
€15.00 |
|
| PRIMITIVE WINGS |
Morphosis |
CD |
Satatuhatta is honoured to present the debut album of Primitive Wings, a new project by Jaakko Vanhala. ’Morphosis’ is a highly evocative album, bringing into mind vivid flashes of something primal, perhaps from the prehistoric past. At the same time it’s very raw, but without being utterly harsh. It can be seen as a sum of the artist's previous projects Zoät-Aon, Secret Apex and Vanhala, but it still presents something new.
Listening to the album, you can imagine insects digging their way through the forest floor, big dragonflies propelling amongst the ferns in the twilight, reptiles roaming in the verdant undergrowth, and prehistoric roars rising amongst the tropical trees. But it’s not a nature documentary. It feels more like an atavistic memory, an intuitive transformation taking you inside an alien consciousness. This could be felt as just undefinable chills or perhaps as a vision of an event on this planet, which happened under the same stars but billions of years ago. Something from the beginning, of growth, sentience and flesh, finding its expression in strange transformations.
https://satatuhatta.bandcamp.com/album/morphosis
"Another round of introductions here. Satatuhatta is a Finnish label "focusing on harsh noise and experimental sounds" and has about sixty releases, mainly on cassettes but, as we see here, also on CD. Many (or, instead, most) names are all new to me. Jaakko Vanhala is the man behind Primitive Wings, his latest project. Previously he worked as Zoät-Aon, Secret Apex and Vanhala. The cover doesn't provide us with the necessary information concerning instruments, which isn't a good thing from a reviewer's perspective. Listening to the eight pieces, running from five to seven minutes, I envisage a combination of reel-to-reel tapes, electronics and a battered synthesizer. The loops Vanhala cuts are long, short and shorter. By playing them all at once (or extensive layering), they never overlap in the same way, while at the same time, they never become very chaotic. Your ears adjust themselves to the proposed order of the sounds. At least, that's my little pet theory of this week. What he puts on his loops is very hard to say; electronic sounds are a contender for that, but also field recordings. I believe to hear some of that in 'One Star'. Somewhere below in the mix of mangled loops, some electronics lurk beneath, adding creepiness to the music. Primitive Wings operates primarily in the mid to high-frequency range and has some nasty sounds, but it is not necessarily all about an endless stream of harsh noise. Maybe there is a certain sameness in the sounds used here, which made me think that the album is, perhaps, ten minutes too long, but as always, that might be the idea of the noise plan behind such operations." [FdW / Vital Weekly] |
2023 |
€12.50 |
|
| PROPELLER |
Rame |
CD |
Debut-Album des Solo-Projekts von “ex-Zoviet France”-Mitglied MARK SBYBEY, war lange vergriffen, wieder erhältlich !!
„Propeller is a Vancouver based collective of no fixed membership save the hands of Mark Spybey. Spybey is known for his work as Dead Voices On Air, who have released several albums for Invisible Records. He also worked with Download and Zoviet France.
Rame was a quick fire collection of sonic fragments, isolationist doodles, half truths, archived recordings and low fi ambience.....
Propeller started it's life in England, 1992. It was there that Spybey recorded with his childhood friend Richard Sanderson, who is a mainstay of London's vibrant free improvisational scene. The pair recorded versions of songs that they had worked on in the late '70's, as well as numerous pieces inspired by their fascination with spontaneous composition and noisy improvisational music. It is hoped that these recordings will be cleaned up and released.
Spybey resurrected Propeller's Do It Yourself Disposable Music ethos when he was invited to submit a 30 second piece for a CD Rom project in 1995. Why become so fascinated by first take spontaneity? Propeller seeks to create compact music. Music that expressively captures a moment in time or a dynamic (between the musicians, between the musicians and their instruments and between the music and the listener ). It's deliberately ambiguous in intent. You won't find deceptive melodies or catchy hooks here. It's not gratuitous noise either. It's carefully sculpted once recorded and laid out for the listener to play with. To explore.“ [label info]
|
1996 |
€13.00 |
|
| PROPERGOL |
Paradise Land |
CD |
"new propergol...spec.pack. - incl. 3 postacrds ...A deaf & sepulchral sound // The door suddenly opens A voice announces : it's ongoing // Preparations in silence There will be no good bye // Defective electrical installations direction : airport // Anxiety-provoking situation Flight-plan : Direction> PN - (48° 52' 36'' S 123° 23' 36'' W) Feverous take-off then cruising phase // Engine shutdown... Silence... Fly over & scope of the disaster // In top view, mankind tears away A rupture, a break with civilization // Separation / isolation - arrival Final approach phase - Stabilization - Ejection... .. . What happens now? ----------------------------------------------------------------- end of transmission." [label info]
www.tesco-germany.com
"Allein, dass PROPERGOL ein neues Album veröffentlicht, geht fast schon als Überraschung durch. Liegt das letzte offiziell gelistete doch schon sechs Jahre zurück. Zwischendurch hat sich JÉRÔME NOUGAILLON mal um die Klänge von Kollegen (wie zum Beispiel POST SCRIPTVM aus Russland) gekümmert, aber ansonsten musikalisch recht zurückgezogen gelebt, 2012 immerhin ein Stück zu einem Sampler beigesteuert und den 25sten Geburtstag von TESCO – siehe Video unten – mit einem Liveauftritt gewürdigt. Nun ist eben "Paradise Land" erschienen, das aktuelle Werk des Ein-Mann-Projektes, schön verpackt im Din A5-Format, quer, edel und mit drei ästhetischen Postkarten.
Die eigentliche Sensation ist aber der radikale Stilwechsel. Weder Power Electronics noch aggressive Noiseorgien, sondern überwiegend angenehmer und warmer Ambient!
Stimmsamples, die nach Quietschen und animalischem Knurren einsetzen, spielen eine wichtige Rolle auf "Paradise Land" und tauchen deshalb gleich zum Beginn im Opener "Running Scored" (01) auf. Wehende Geräusch-Drones sorgen – hier wie auf dem gesamten Album – für eine sehr räumliche Atmosphäre, die Collagen – vor allem aus vielen Stimmen – und andere, meist natürliche Elemente wie zum Beispiel Uhrticken sorgen für Bezug zur Realität. "911 Dispatche" (02) verstärkt den Eindruck von Ambient; die wabernden, angenehmen, synthetischen Drones haben etwas Strahlendes, Kosmisches. Dazu stoßen weitere Stimmsamples, die für mich stets wie Bahnhofs- oder Flughafendurchsagen tönen, sowohl vom Klang als auch vom Stimmduktus her. In "Ymene" (03) steht längere Zeit eine Art Unterhaltung mit hallenden Stimmen im Raum, durchbrochen nur von wenigen Sounds, und geht über in eine lange Ambientfläche. Etwas bedrohlicher nun liegen wie Insekten vibrierende Drones über einem Grundbrummen. Regen und gewitterähnliche Klänge ("Torquenada", 04) bilden den Übergang zu sehr maschinellen, kurzatmigeren Gebilden aus Tönen.
Es folgen mal mehr geräuschorientierte, mal mehr flächige Ambientstrukturen, zwischendurch auch (wenige) noisige Elemente wie Pfeifen und Fiepen mit entsprechenden Verzerrungen. Rhythmische Strukturen hat sich PROPERGOL für "Bushman" (08) und "Impossible Landing" (09) aufgehoben, dann aber richtig losgelegt. Diese beiden Tracks sind als 'Songs' zu bezeichnen, haben etwas Technoides, bilden das Vorspiel zu einem nie einsetzenden Rhythmusgewitter mit tuckerndem Beat – groovender Minimal-Techno! Das längste Stück am Ende ("Bleu Nuit", 10) mischt noch einmal Vieles: eine verfremdete Stimme (die an Sprachausgaben alter Computer erinnert), Geräusche wie schweres Atmen (der Monolog eines Sterbenden?), weitere Solostimmen und Bahnhofsatmosphäre, um dann in angenehme und erneut rhythmische, federnde Ambientmusik überzugehen.
Es fehlen zwar inhaltliche Infos zum Album, woher zum Beispiel die Stimmen kommen und was genau die Thematik ist. Macht aber nichts. Die Klangmalerei funktioniert so gut, dass jeder Track ein Gemälde ist und eine Reihe von Assoziationen zulässt. Ich stelle mir ein Kontrollzentrum vor, und zwar in allen Facetten, mit Kommunikation, dem Raum selbst und den Informationen, die durch Leitungen übertragen werden. Einige dezente Hinweise (durch Titel und die knappe Labelinfo) könnten auch so verstanden werden, dass sich der Hörer an Bord eines 9/11-Fluges befindet. Dafür ist "Paradise Land" aber musikalisch fast zu gut verdaulich. Streckenweise könnten auch die Belgier von KRAKEN mit ihren Unterwasserthematiken Pate gestanden haben.
Sehr elegante, kluge und erzählende Ambientmusik mit vielen Stimmen und Field Recordings. Sticht in diesem Genre deutlich aus der Masse der Veröffentlichungen heraus. Fans älterer Alben sollten nur wissen, dass dieses ganz anders, viel weniger brutal klingt." [Michael We., NON-POP]
|
2012 |
€14.50 |
|
| PRURIENT |
Casablanca Flamethrower |
do-LP |
Casablanca - A hiding place and escape route. Flamethrower - A weapon designed to drive people out of hiding places.
Casablanca Flamethrower is Prurient's first proper full length for Tesco Organization. Thirteen tracks of doom electronics crowded by voices of industrial cynicism focused on four theatres (corridors of violence):
Ural tracers, Guadalcanal Necrophilia, Normandy Reaper, Casablanca Flamethrower…
Casablanca Flamethrower deals with alternative histories. About hidden allied war crimes. The wild and ferocious airborne divisions once they passed the beachhead and their fateful encounters with civilians. About forgotten victims and known memorials. We deal here with the memorials we see that were created after the fact. By ’hiding what is known’ we see another history, another past... a past without a future!
Additional atmospheres:
Paratroopers mutilations as psychological warfare
Unspoken necrophilic activities in the Pacific
Human ‘trophies’ sent home to loved ones before atom day
Memories of the black raven under Uncle Joe
Human smuggling, fatalistic hedonism and triple-crossing in Morocco’s propaganda establishments
These are the songs from torture chambers across hateful american shores.
TRACK LIST:
A
Black Iceberg
Peace and Bread Humilation
D-Day Rape
Normandy Reaper - Snow on the Atlantic
B
Fucked by Tracers
Beneath the Wheels of the black Raven
Most Cannibals were Women
C
Dead you are already
Corn Cop Pipe Butcher
Guadalcanal Necrophilia
D
The Thrust of the Spear
Sphere from Christ´s side
Directionless World
Tesco 140
credits
released March 31, 2020
https://tescogermany.bandcamp.com/album/casablanca-flamethrower
"As Dominick Fernow’s main project, Prurient is somewhat of a sonic chameleon which has explored a myriad of underground noise and industrial styles over a huge number of releases and span of years. While Prurient have also had a close association with Tesco Organisation for some time, Casablanca Flamethrower is the formal debut album for Tesco given other releases to date have been reissues on Tesco’s sub-labels. To quickly mention those reissues*, each were within an industrial/power electronic/heavy electronics frame of reference, therefore closely aligned with the Tesco’s prevailing style and sound. In a similar context Casablanca Flamethrower follows suit and is very much a Prurient album, and with its broader thematic focus on the hidden stories and forgotten victims of war, it definitely feels at home on Tesco.
In terms of the arc of Prurient’s main/core albums, Casablanca Flamethrower follows the massive seven LP Rainbow Mirror (self-described as ‘doom electronics’). Casablanca Flamethrower is notable by the fact that although not too far removed from the sprawling and mellow tone of Rainbow Mirror set, that sound has also been repurposed with a focused attention on a European heavy electronics/industrial sound. This may then be partially explained by the involvement of Kris Lapke of Alberich (who is credited as providing loops, percussion and synths), whose own project takes clear influence from a European heavy electronics sound, which has perhaps further cemented the sound and direction of Casablanca Flamethrower.
Black Iceberg open the album with a squelching bass throb, distant scrap metal tones and angst-ridden rasped vocals, while Peace and Bread Humiliation is a short track of hollow radio scanning static, whistling noise and semi-buried radio broadcast announcements. The following D-Day Rape is then an early album highlight, featuring bulldozing bass, mid-toned insectile noise squalls, while the spoken vocals are featured upfront but rendered undecipherable due to the treatment with an off-kilter warbling effected. Marvelous stuff. Fucked By Traces maintains momentum with static squalls, thick bass drones, vague rhythmic backing and charred echo chamber vocal barrage. Beneath The Wheels of the Black Raven is also an excellent track of stalking menace, where the tone is one of militaristic death industrial involving droning bass, slow shuddering rhythm, and vocals delivered as agonized chants and treated spoken fragments. Late album track The Thrust of the Spear is another highlight. Opening as a low droning and treated vocal piece it soon evolves into a minimalist yet highly hypnotic track of militaristic tinged rhythmic loops and swirling rotor blades. The track title then obviously then cross references the collage image of the Spear of Longinus shown on the back cover (contributed by The Grey Wolves). Yet when the spear collage is considered in context of the adjacent phrase: ‘the risen Christ holds the spear of destiny in his side’, it shrouds the intended meaning, which is at least consistent with Dominick’s established approach to abstracted thematic presentation. Sphere From Christ’s Side also uses similar militaristic rhythmic loops for brooding result, while the close to ten minute Directionless World rounds out the album in subdued fashion with minimalist tonal rumbles and radio scanning static (but perhaps could have been half as long without foregoing ideas or loosing impact).
From my own perspective Casablanca Flamethrower is an an intense yet brooding take on a heavy electronics/industrial sound, and is inherently more listenable, engaging and digestible than the sprawling Rainbow Mirror set. Yet even so, not all tracks reach the same peak level as the album’s standouts, meaning if it were paired down to a single rather than double LP, it would have increased immediacy and impact, and duly elevated the album from being good to great. Regardless, that is really quite a minor observation and is hardly a reason to not seek out this album, which is stunningly presented in a full colour gate-fold sleeve." [Noise Receptor] |
2020 |
€33.00 |
|
| 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 |
|
| PYROLATOR |
Niemandsland |
LP |
The musician Kurt Dahlke is not only a member of the bands Der Plan and Fehlfarben, founding member of the group DAF and co-founder of the label Ata Tak, he has also released a stellar line of solo works under the name Pyrolator for which he enjoys great critical acclaim. What began in 1979 with the first release "Inland" continues it's lineal thread with new work "Niemandsland" – the sixth album within the Land series.
It was 1979, some 43 years ago, when Pyrolator released Inland, an instrumental protest album, as he liked to think of it. Autumnal protests against nuclear weapon stations, against the entire structures of the war generation, but without the pathos of the rebellious songs which soundtracked the 1968 movement. Apart from a few samples, there were no words at all.
Now, more than four decades later, Kurt Dahlke alias Pyrolator returns to his origins. But not, this time, in protest: "The clock already stands at ten past midnight and we have arrived in no man's land. Neither the student movement nor the rejectionist stance of punk changed anything. Avarice has emerged victorious and no future is nothing more than an empty cliché. This is what global reality looks like. The principle of cause and effect."
This is also a back to the roots story for Pyrolator in the musical sense. Niemandsland was created exclusively with modular synthesizers, the computer merely a recording device. All of the tracks were played live and direct – neither storable nor replicable.
The sixth album in Pyrolator's Land series is more than just a bridge to the past and the music to be found there. It has a formal language all of its own, meandering between the beauty of crystal clear melodies and restrained ambient moments on the one hand and rugged, dystopian brittleness on the other. A cycle revolving between the hope of a revolution for humanity and arrival in no man's land.
https://pyrolator.bandcamp.com/album/niemandsland |
2022 |
€22.50 |
|
| QUELLET, ISRAEL |
Soni Sclavus |
CD |
Already the second album from this young Swiss composer, and like "Oppressum" its quite a beast on 11 tracks, using sounds going direct into your face, piercing pulsing organ-tunes, rumbling distorted rhythmic excesses, loopy metallic bangs, all kinds of impetuous weird sounds in between, animal sounds, backwards voices & whisphers and something like sound poetry. Very difficult to classify, "experimental" in the truest sense, after this session you maybe simply don't know if you like it or not, but it was NON-ORDINARY music like hell!
"Israël Quellet: a short biography. Born in Neuchâtel, Switzerland, 1972. He worked in the psychiatric field for several years. at 16, he discovers on his own some different soundworlds, such as Miles Davis's electric era, Sun Ra, Dub, German cosmic music, Magma, Zappa and many more. In 1997, he stepped into the action and, following the advice of a sound engineer friend, bought microphones, a digital mixing board, and studio monitors. Basically, he turned part of his basement into a soundsmithing studio. That is when he started to create, out of his immediate surroundings, sound works that have little to do with what is "normally" being done. Appreciated by composer Jorge E. Campos, Quellet is supported by the Centre Pierre Schaeffer in Paris. In 2003, he contacted Sub Rosa. Three years later, he was releasing his first public recording. This present one is the second (probably of a trilogy). It explores the very common object and have a great deal with the problem of saturation and noise." [label info]
"Israel Quellet's 2nd album for Sub Rosa is not the unexpected surprise from an unknown artist that this Swiss sound-maker's debut disc was (for both us, and the label, read our review of it to see what we mean, we started off by saying "who the heck is Israel Quellet?"). But, that's because THIS time 'round, when we saw
Quellet's had a new recording coming out, we were already eager to hear it. Much like its excellent predecessor, it's about compositions
(improvisations? explorations?) limited to specific sound sources, each track featuring the use/abuse of a certain instrument or two, or perhaps a non-instrument, and to Quellet, his methods are his music, this is the focus, to the extent that the tracks are identified
thusly... For example, track 1 is "for organ and percussion". Track 3 is "for fitness rower". Track 7 is "for footsteps and knocks on stairs, and vented carbon dioxide". He makes use of organ on here quite a bit, as well as percussion and less frequently voice,
electronically treated (and in French). Actually much of this seems electronically treated, or in some way distorted, with "saturation" factoring into several of his pieces, occasionally achieving Merzbowian levels of noise (on track 6, "for percussions and saturation" especially!). All in all, this disc can be heard as one man's playful but moody, quasi-industrial homebrewed take on 20th (now 21st) century classical music. With so much somber organ and repetitive thunderous percussion, many of these tracks seem quite
ominous, you can start imagining DIY Nitsch-style "aktions" happening in Quellet's backyard.
As with Quellet's prior album, this is varied and fascinating throughout, and surprisingly listenable. Truly experimental (and
successfully so) music for curious ears made by someone with curious ears too. Recommended!!
Oh, and by the way, on our list this week there IS a cool Sub Rosa disc from a hitherto unknown (to us) artist, look for Pierre Berthet's Extended Loudspeakers, it's also AQ recommended." [Aquarius Records]
www.subrosa.net
|
2009 |
€13.00 |
|
| QUIN, DOUGLAS & DAVID ROTHENBERG |
Before the War |
CD |
"David Rothenberg, an innovative musician and acclaimed environmental writer joins composer and sound artist, Douglas Quin, 'the Audubon of audio'. Together, they blend the indigenous energy of the world's primal cultures with the exploratory spirit of improvisation, in a musical adventure built around and within the powerful soundscapes of a living earth. Rather than simply echoing the tones of nature's voices, this 'earth jazz' moves from a deeper resonance, attuned to the ways nature moves, ebbs and flows. There are echoes of Middle Eastern, Eastern European, Scandinavian, and North African melodies, with an ECM-like tone of atmospheric virtuosity; these grooves seem to represent momentary glimpses of conversations that have no real beginning or end. Rothenberg's sensual woodwinds and the fluid support of Russ Gold on percussion and Bill Douglass on bass and flutes complement Douglas Quin's soundscapes with a sensitivity and flair that makes clear that this is music that includes, rather than imitates, nature...The result is an invigorating blend of exotic textures and deep heart that speaks equally to lovers of world music, jazz, and the vibrant sound of our wild surrounding world." [label info]
|
2000 |
€13.00 |
|
| 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 |
|
| R.P.M. |
Circle Line |
CD |
"A very peculiar journey........
It's not often we would say this, but listening to this on headphones is a most unusual experience!
Circle Line initially started life as a graphic score created by Phil Mouldycliff as a piece to be played by Keith Rowe in 1989. Over a period of twelve years this open form composition developed to the point where by 2002 an opportunity arose to make a recording of the work at IC Studio in Preston, using ambient recordings taken from Circle Line Tube stations made specifically for the project by Phil and Colin Potter . Keith effectively solos over the assemble tape collage of sounds from the Underground, starting and finishing with material collected at Edgeware Road. Given that a full circuit of the Line takes upwards of fifty minutes, the individual stations are grouped together to create workable sections delineated by geographical boundaries. Since making the recording the work has been performed live by Rowe, Potter and Mouldycliff on a number of occasions."
https://icrdistribution.bandcamp.com/album/circle-line
"R.P.M. stands for (Keith) Rowe, (Colin) Potter, (Phil) Mouldycliff, whereas the Circle Line is an integral part of London’s complex underground network. On such grounds – pun intended – Mouldycliff developed in 1989 a graphic score for Rowe’s performance; the trio recorded this version of the piece in 2002, accompanied by field recordings captured during a trip on the same route. In synthesis, what we hear is Rowe’s trademark dissection of the object previously known as the guitar mixed with structural sounds of wagons, other mechanical entities and human reverberations (voices, steps and so on) typical of an hour spent on the CL.
Having often traveled with this very medium in the past, the problem was usually having my player’s musical selection smothered or otherwise ruined by the surrounding clangor-cum-hubbub. In this case we have Colin Potter who – fortunately for us – balances the whole’s overall level, skillfully processing where necessary. The advice we are given is to listen with a good pair of headphones, and should definitely be followed. Only in this way does the music reveal its clever microscopy, giving the listener’s hearing apparatus the respect it deserves.
Beyond banal classifications – no, it is not a “drone album” – Circle Line represents an exercise in careful listening aided by sonorities that stimulate the innards of our discernment, although complementary to a day of ordinary commuting. Enjoying these extemporaneous inventions – that is, everything which exists between subsonic engrossment and exploitation of timbral oxidation – is a special pleasure in this particular context. I might look at commuting with earphones from a different perspective, after all." [Touching Extremes]
|
2020 |
€13.00 |
|
| RADIAN & HOWE GELB |
Radian verses Howe Gelb |
LP |
"Das österreichische Avantgarde Electronics Trio RADIAN (mit drei Alben auf Thrill Jockey und einem auf Mego) tut sich hier zusammen mit dem GIANT SAND Desert Country Songwriter HOWE GELB. Eine besondere Kollaboration zwischen Americana, Jazz und Electronics. Radian Releases ist das Label von RADIAN, das 2014 neu gegründet wurde, um die Projekte von RADIAN und limitierte Spezialitäten zu veröffentlichen.
Howe Gelb: voice, guitars, piano; Martin Brandlmayr: drums, vibraphone, electronics, synths, editing und arrangement; Martin Siewert: guitars, lap-, and pedalsteel, electronics, synths, processings John Norman: bass.
Musik von Radian und Howe Gelb, Texte von Howe Gelb außer ,Moon River", das von Henry Mancini und Johnny Mercer kommt.
,Radian is a machine - their music the sum of body hydraulics and fuzzy logic" (THE WIRE)
"...a band with impressively original density and texture" (THE NEW YORK TIMES)" [label info]
"HOWE GELB is no stranger to collaboration in the 21st century. Since 2006 he's released records with a gospel choir ('Sno Angel Like You), and a flamenco group led by Raimundo Amador (Alegrias). What sets this recording with Vienna's Radian apart from those offerings is that this is their album. Over four sessions, Gelb contributed lyrics, melodies, piano parts, acoustic guitar fragments, and mostly his rambling vocals. Radian is an experimental trio comprised of drummer/sonic arranger Martin Brandlmayr, bassist John Norman, and new guitarist/sound editor Martin Siewert. Their tunes usually begin as improvisations and take on more recognizable forms as they evolve. True to form, they give Gelb's offerings their signature treatment: Splintering, editing, and spindling them to their own purposes. But Gelb is never lost in the process; in many ways, he anchors it. Both parties come from musical areas where terrains are often blurry and shambolic: Gelb from loose Southwestern Americana and adventurous guitar rock, and Radian from an experimental geography between This Heat and early Tortoise. The natural tension between these poles is allowed free rein here, but this intimate, often spectral recording never devolves into excess. Opener "Saturated" commences with radio static, and like its second half, "Saturated Beyond," is rooted in a dub-like blues groove that eventually takes on a mutant funk sheen. Sparse, processed sounds are given a rhythmic pulse amid a skeletal bassline, brushed snares, a tom-tom, and glitchy guitar. Single keyboard notes are droned in, and vocals are woven in skittering cadences, natural spoken tones, and pitched, controlled syllables. Eventually the whole vamp emerges to carry on for the better part of nine minutes. "I'm Going In" is a reverse trip through the birth canal. With pulsing synth tones, slippery vibe sounds, pen-toned guitar, and trancey, skittering drums, Gelb announces that he's "going in/keep a tight leash on that umbilical/you're gonna have to take up the slack…." This is a vast, aural, inner space exploration. That journey continues on "From Birth to Mortician," the only cut here that emerges with an actual strummed guitar hook -- albeit somewhat momentarily -- though it follows a series of set changes. "The Constant Pitch and Sway" is just that, but from a truly blob-like mass of short sonic bursts, a fine experimental rock & roll song comes into being. The only thing that doesn't work here is the closer, a cover of "Moon River." It feels calculated -- perhaps it's because there's more of Gelb's persona layered on than in the rest of the record. It's a small complaint though. The rest of Radian Verses Howe Gelb is a spooky, mysterious sound (and song) collage that has many secrets buried in its murky depths." [Allmusic.com]
|
2014 |
€20.00 |
|
| RADIGUE, ELIANE |
Jouet Electronique / Elemental I |
mLP |
"alga marghen proudly presents two sublime pieces by Eliane Radigue, 'Jouet Electronique' (1967) for feedback on magnetic tape and 'Elemental I' (1968) for feedback of natural sounds on magnetic tape. Both works, released at Pierre Henry's Studio Apsome in Paris, were never published before. Between 1967 and 1968, Eliane Radigue was the assistant of Pierre Henry in his studio, mainly for the editing of 'L'Apocalypse de Jean'. He also put her in charge of organizing his sound archive according to different criteria. It was an endless work... there were incredible sounds, a true sound library! Eliane Radigue really enjoyed to do this work, even if it took a long time... So, sometimes, she decided to set the machines of the studio to do some little work on her own. 'Jouet Electronique' and 'Elemental I' were born this way as a kind of recreation during her time as a studio assistant. Working with feedback is something that Eliane Radigue learned through Pierre Henry. Do you remember 'Voyage'? There's that fluid part which is made of feedbacks constructed with a microphone... Everything had to be set at a precise distance from the loudspeakers because that is the specific problem with feedback, you have to be at the right distance... Afterwards, these high tone recordings were slowed down in order to discover the deeper character of their colour. This work with feedback was in the end quite limited and what the composer preferred, as a way to produce sounds, was working with two reel tape machines. The first was set on the recording mode while the other was playing and it was the accidents happening in this phase that made the feedback richer. With some fine-tuning you could reach very beautiful results: low pulsations, very high-pitched sounds, sometimes the two at the same time or long sounds. All of these sounds could be slowed down or accelerated, which gave her a beautiful material to work with. With 'Jouet Electronique' Eliane Radigue had a lot of fun, hence the title... As far as 'Elemental I' is concerned, it was the first attempt at something which was very important to her based on the theme of the basic elements: water, fire, air and earth. Eliane had the chance to record in open air thanks to a small Stella Vox that Arman gave her in the beginning of the 1960s. At the time she was still living in Nice and every now and them she went for a walk to do some recordings: the sea, the wind, the rain, the fire... Eliane Radigue continued this way to built her very minimal sound library, not more than ten reel tapes... This was the starting point and in 1968 she used these recordings for her work with two reel tape machines. First pressing limited to 300 copies, with a text by Emmanuel Holterbach and a photo portrait by Arman." [label info]
|
2011 |
€19.50 |
|
| |
Feedback Works 1969-1970 |
LP |
Feedback Works 1969-1970
However mesmerizing they may be, the works of Éliane Radigue which could be found on record were quite rare when I met her in 1998: “Trilogie de la Mort”, “Biogenesis”, impressive pieces composed on the ARP 2500 synthesizer between 1970 and 1990. There was also the very rare double 7" “Σ=a=b=a+b”, edited by the author and then brought out by the Yvon Lambert Gallery in 1969, which seemed to unveil a turbulent side of the composer’s youth. This work was intended to be presented as a sonic environment and had been composed with nothing but feedback effects on magnetic tape… a relatively crude piece compared with those for synthesizer, difficult for me to relate to. I hastily concluded that Éliane had dabbled with feedback for its hot-tempered quality, a bit like her colleagues Robert Ashley or Alvin Lucier, before passing on to something calmer (in her case, the rounded and peaceable harmonics of the synthesizer)… my mistake. “Σ=a=b=a+b” was but a small part of the group of works based on feedback, just one of the more rough nuances from that so-rich period.
When I visited her in her Paris apartment for the first time, what made an impression on me were the immense shelves taking up the entire entryway, filled from floor to ceiling with tapes. All those sounds… the whole life story of an electronic composer. Immediately I became overcome with curiosity as to the beauties hidden within those boxes, no way not to find treasures within. I did not know anything as yet.
Éliane lives in an eternal present, one could almost say. I had never met someone who at her age was not busy digging around in their past. She, on the other hand, simply considered that she always had “her whole life in front of her”.
Éliane, always inhabited by music, usually lives with a new project in mind. Even if not at all stingy in responding to questions about her rich past, one would not say that she tried to evoque times gone by.
I quickly proposed to convert her magnetic tapes to digital. Not only to create an archive but also and especially to search out all the details, the secrets of this unique body of work. For years all I got were polite but firm refusals. She wanted to convince me that there was nothing but never-ending dust, and babbling, risky if not primitive… Things only changed suddenly after a return from Chicago in 2002 for the release of “L'Île re-sonante”. Delighted with the experience, she described the evening of the concert. She had been overwhelmed by the presence of very young people who came up for a signature on the boxset of “Adnos” trilogy (realised between 1974 and 1982 and published in 2002 by Table of the Elements. This time when I said that these works of the past were in effect full of passion and so it might be the time to put in order the archive, she said laconically, but with enthusiasm: “Oh, alright! But you do it, you know where everything is”.
The big job could begin; I was enchanted and am still. I expected to find other works on the rough side, like “Σ=a=b=a+b”, but with surprise quite another thing came forth.
The digital versions were all done in Lyon, at Lionel Marchetti’s. His interest in and knowledge of Éliane’s music, along with his detailed work, made for a most enjoyable activity. I recall the silence in the studio when we uncovered works surely never listened to after their first public performance, not to say ever presented... Sounds older than I was, for sure. Certain of these works had something of the traumatic about them: my goodness, she made these magnificent sounds with only three pieces of string!
Thus were the works of the feedback period of Éliane Radigue revealed, as we gradually got them digitized, extending over five years approximately: “Omnht” with its broad tectonic vibrations, the celestial voices of “Usral”, the dense silences of “Jouet électronique”, “Stress Osaka” massive chant, the horizon moving in “Vice-versa, etc.”, the magnetic bewitchments of “Opus 17”… each one brought its load of surprises and burst a well filled time bubble. So did we rewind the thread of her biography, discovering obvious connections even in the texture of the sounds themselves, which joined that period to the synthesizer one.
There is nothing anecdotal in the feedback period of Éliane Radigue. A good dozen pieces were composed between 1967 and 1970 in which most of the characteristic originality of her works had their beginnings. It is moreover continually amazing that she could build such formidably organic sonic edifices with the primitive machines which were hers: three tape recorders, a mixing board, an amplifier, two loudspeakers and a microphone. A home studio certainly primitive, but there were not any home studios to speak of in the sixties, the cost of materials being too high. To compose electronic music, or “concrete” or “experimental” (what distinctions!) you had to have access to an institutional studio (At the time usually located in the large radio studios, or certain universities). Indeed, a large part of Éliane’s possessions came from Pierre Henry.
She met him at the “Studio d'Essai” of the R.T.F. in the middle of the 50s, after having met Pierre Schaeffer almost by chance (if such a chance does exist) who invited her to learn the techniques of musique concrète. In fact, from 1955 to 1957 she learned all about these techniques there, “in the shadow of the masters” she says. Éliane emphasizes that she could be there as a “quiet little mouse”, because she cast no shadow on the masters of the place. She learned, as she says, that she was only there as a student. During the 50s no avant-garde musician could imagine a woman seriously competing with them… Jokes erupted: “At least when Éliane comes to the studio it smells good!” etc. Nevertheless Pierre Henry liked one of Éliane’s montages and wanted to use it in a piece he was working on, “L'Occident est Bleu” (1957). From 1957 to 1967 she no longer had access to a studio. During these ten years she will be travelling, taking care of her family, and composing a few graphic scores which will never be published, or even played: “Asymptote Versatile” in 1960, or yet “Chess Game” (based on a chess match between Marcel Duchamp and her then husband, Arman). She was biding her time.
She was to once again assist Pierre Henry from 1967 to 1969, and there she made her first tape compositions. During the last stage of mixing “L'Apocalypse de Jean”, in 1968, Pierre Henry brought to her some of the materials which would become her studio, so that she could continue working on some parts of the “Apocalypse” he asked her to work on, while he continued working at Studio Apsome. These things remained in Éliane’s house and she bought what was lacking to work autonomously: one more tape recorder, a microphone, and then, in 1971, the ARP 2500 synthesizer. Even if these first compositions date from the end of the 60s it seems evident the entire creative process in Éliane Radigue’s work had begun in the Studio d’Essai in 1955.
What I always find striking when I listen to the first piece “Jouet électronique” (realized in 1967 at the Apsome Studio and published in 2010 by Alga Marghen) is the maturity and expressive force in this short composition. There is already a tension and poetry proper to her own. Similarly, “Jouet électronique” seems to contain the germ of all which is to come. Or at least it opens all the paths which she will follow indefatigably. It is as if her musical work in some way contained a martial arts discipline on which she meditated for 10 years before striking the first blow, with an impressive precision… Right away her music separates from the explorations of musique concrète, from any academism, or whatever style then in vogue. Her adventure is intuitively going towards flux, towards contemplative stasis. A music of continuous sounds, of apparently simple structures, which permits the revelations and expansion of rich acoustic phenomena. One could say that in one sense it is the very texture of the sounds which leads the form in her compositions. At the same time this approach favors an intense sensuality in the listening. The fluidity of form in Éliane Radigue’s music has more to do with certain world music traditions, composed of drones, resonances, pulsations (although I cannot be sure that this was really the inspiration). A music in which time is suspended, but not stopped, rather unfolding with an intoxicating slowness, engendering fascination rather than boredom.
Between 1969 and 1970 Éliane Radigue gave up measured durations and composed works which flirted with eternity: “Usral” (1969), “Labyrinthe Sonore” (1970). and “Omnht” (1970). They are generally made of several tape loops of clearly different duration read simultaneously. In this arrangement, simple and ingenious (close to the usage of Steve Reich in his youthful pieces), the fixed sounds go slowly out of synch, in a play of perpetual mutation. From this appears a sonic landscape whose temporality, as well as its materiality, could be described by these verses by Paul Verlaine:
“…who, each time, is never quite the same, nor completely another…”
The terms “Sound Art” and “Sound Installation” are in vogue at this moment. There was nothing like it at the time. A way of describing this new approach had to be developed. So she presented her works under the description “Propos Sonores” (Sonic propositions) or sometimes “Music without End”. These works were unveiled to the public both in the places consecrated to music as well as museums and galleries (Yvon Lambert, Lara Vincy, etc.). Nothing surprising in the fact that these “Music without End” at times, like a halo of the infinite, accompanied works of such visual artists as Marc Halpern or Tania Mouraud. For all that, without minimizing the interest of these collaborations, it seems important to add that the sounds she used have in themselves a completely “plastic” quality.
This is the context in which Éliane composed “Omnht” in 1970 for one of the architectonic spaces of the visual artist Tania Mouraud, “One More Night”, presented at the Gallery of the Rive Gauche in Paris. With Jean Heuzé, one of Pierre Henry’s co-workers who helped out on this project, Éliane had the idea of screwing the speakers into the partitions so that they would be invisible with respect to the immaculate exhibition space. Due to this the sounds could vibrate within walls which become resonant surfaces. This description caused me to “leap up to the ceiling” because it is a technique that I used myself in my sound installation work… only twenty years later. I quickly felt it necessary to present this piece anew. In 2006, thanks to an active competition by the Consortium Art Center and the association “Cumulus” in Dijon (organizers of the contemporary music festival “Why Note”), it was possible to do a version among the old industrial buildings of “L'Usine”. Large plaster partitions were already in place and formed an ideal group of surfaces for the installation of loudspeakers. Resounding in these grand rooms, “Omnht” seemed to shake the entire building, thus creating a sonic architecture of time and space… A vast edifice of vibrations, built like a mirror of frequencies in which were reflected our inner worlds. It was admirable to see how much this work had resisted time; the fascinated reception by the public left no doubt as to its poetic force. After this public presentation I set up a stereophonic synthesis of that installation in my studio, by combining the original sounds with those taken at “L'Usine”. I felt a lively need to hear those magnificent sounds again. I realized moreover that the sonorities of “Omnht” survived the reduction quite well, and I found once more with happiness the unique intensity of this spatial composition.
Some time later, Éliane offered me one of the 10 copies of “Vice-versa, etc.”: a small handmade box, signed and numbered, realized as a multiple on the occasion of a show at Lara Vincy’s gallery in 1970, which contained a reel of magnetic tape and the instructions for use. It indicates that all playback speeds are possible, forwards or backwards, as well as any combination of two channels, on several recorders, “ad libitum”… A present which touched me profoundly. I took up the game and rapidly made mixings following the indications to the letter, respecting the composition methods of Éliane Radigue. Need I say that to work with such lovely sounds was a real pleasure?
Then I decided to do the same with all her sound installation works: slices of time from those sonic environments dedicated to space and infinity. There are so few spaces devoted to Sound Art, so the occasions for presenting such work to the public are rare. It seems evident to me that if we waited for that to happen very few people would have access to that part of Éliane’s work. Fundamentally, these stereophonic syntheses should have been made and published a long time ago because this compilation offers a simple way into the home of this passionate time.
Therefore, I proposed that we listen to them together, because of course the idea should seem legitimate to her. Knowing her to be extremely critical towards her past work, and ready to renounce certain aspects of it, I confess to being a bit anxious as to her reaction. Neither did I know how she would react to my taking the initiative in making such syntheses. Contrary to my apprehensions we passed a marvelous day. Éliane had forgotten practically everything of the sonic textures she made then, and discovered evident links with the sounds she realized later on with the synthesizer.
In her compositional work Éliane Radigue developed her own characteristic “footprint”: an art of imperceptible transition from one kind of movement to another. It is very difficult to know at what moment things change, because they are continually changing without one’s really being aware of it… a little like a natural phenomenon in perpetual mutation. This is doubtless one of the magical constituents of her music and it engenders the loss of any temporal reference point. If you look over the whole from her first compositions to the most recent ones for acoustic instruments, passing through the imposing electronic period, it seems evident that this way of gentle transition is a characteristic of her entire work. Not only within the compositions but also from one composition to another. We do not confront a collection of isolated experiences but rather embark on a patient and minute exploration of a vast poetic territory.
At the end of the day it was clear to her, just as it had been for me, that these syntheses had to be complied and published. This certainly does not replace the necessity of in-situ presentations; all of the music of Éliane Radigue is destined to vibrate spatiously and this is all-the-more so for the installations. And in any case, this collection gives a good overview of the intense beauty of these “Propos Sonores” composed so long ago with such reduced means.
By her original approach, Éliane Radigue held herself, as she still does, outside the dogmas of her epoch and therefore had to sometimes face some lack of understanding. Intuition is however her force, and she has known how to continue until today composing in full independence of spirit; her aesthetic gives forth a body of work unique in its genre, honorably recognized and appreciated today.
We are among the many who see her as a pioneer capable of revealing a precious territory of sounds, one that she seems alone to occupy. To us to enjoy this publication of the first remarkable steps of a figure who holds the music of our time in her spell.
Emmanuel Holterbach
https://elianeradigue.bandcamp.com/album/feedback-works-1969-1970
|
2022 |
€24.50 |
|
| 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 |
|
| RAGLE GUMM |
2nd |
mCDR |
"ragle gumm is a total mystery, even for us. we got this submission one day with absolutely no details about it, just an e-mail address to contact the artist... the only thing we know is that another work should be released sooner or later on elsie and jack. "2nd" is a very strong piece, full of processed voices, surprises and breaks. you can feel the industrial electricity when you listen to this piece! be curious!!!"
www.taalem.com
"Ragle Gumm is a total mystery, even for us, so says Taalem. He (she?) send a work out of the blue and otherwise it seems there is a work from him coming on Elsie & Jack. Apparently this work is full of voices, by claim of Taalem, which I must admit I don't hear, but its an interesting piece of music. Obviously the majority of is drone based, but Gumm throws in some sampled rhythm patches, which he chops up for good measure. That adds a curious feel to the piece, like high voltage electrical charges being sparked off. Sometimes the piece is on the verge of collapse, but it never really does, fortunately. The drones presented here are in a much more upright fashion, direct in your face and as such quite nice. Who is Ragle Gumm then?" [FdW, Vital Weekly]
|
2010 |
€5.00 |
|
| RAIONBASHI |
In Teufel's Küche? |
10inch |
"... The music is great, yet hard to define. Is it musique concrete? Perhaps one could say it is. There is the use of piano sounds, various objects picked up with contact microphones and perhaps some voice material. But what Raionbashi does with this material is not drown it in electronic processing, but built in various layers of unprocessed nature. Lots of layers it seems, but with various moments of silence built in. I perhaps wrongly expected some noise, but this is far from it. This is some great obscured music (as opposed to obscure music), with some intense moments. Not easy listening, but one that grows every time you play it ." [FdW / Vital Weekly]
" 10" Vinyl published by Absurd (Greece) and Ignivomous (USA). Follow-up release of 2006 'Kollekte' LP on Hanson Records (USA). All Voices, Noises, Instruments, Body-Functions & Apostrophes by DL. Performed, recorded and mixed 2005-2008 at No-Go-Area, Berlin. Mastered at Clunk, and cut at D+M, Berlin, by Rashad Becker. Edtion of 500 copies. 33rpm." [label info]
" "In The Devil's Kitchen." So translates the German title, the
first that we've stocked from Daniel Lowenbruck, who both records as
Raionbashi and runs the Tochnit-Aleph mail order service out of
Berlin. He's also a long standing member of the Schimpfluch Gruppe
whose provocative recordings and performances directly channel the
Vienna Actionists such as Hermann Nitsch, Gunter Brus, and Rudolf
Schwartzkogler. Where the Austrians were pushing their transgessive
acts through art world channels, Schimpfluch has their origins in
punk, industrial culture, and (at least for the case of Schimpfluch's
Dave Phillips) metal taken to a Dada extreme laced with theatrical
ultra-violence. So begin these deconstructed tapes and mangled silences.
Lowenbruck cites that the sources to his Devil's Kitchen
include 'noises, instruments, body functions, and apostrophes.' The
discernible sounds are a piano being struck by a hammer fist on the
lower octave of the keys, a police whistle blowing out the condenser
mic on a Walkman, and some downpitched vocal howls that come across as
way more demonic than those wolf growlings on Ben Frost's album By The
Throat. Between these recognizable elements, Lowenbruck cuts and
pastes with monochromatic noises that puncture grey curtains of leaden
hiss. Compositionally, certainly hits the mark with the guttural
musique concrete from the Schimpfluch Gruppe, somewhere between the
machined ruptures of Dave Phillips and the unsettled ambience crafted
by the impeccable G*Park; or less self-referentially stated, somewhere
between the sound poetry of Henri Chopin and the corroded tape work of
Joe Colley. Limited to 500 copies and highly recommended!" [Aquarius Records]
www.tochnit-aleph.com
|
2009 |
€10.00 |
|
| RAISON D'ETRE |
The Stains of the Embodied Sacrifice (Expanded Edition) |
do-CD |
"Ewers Tonkunst is happy to announce its another collaboration with famous swedish industrial music mastermind Peter Andersson made ten years after long sold out Panzar “Human Degeneration” CD. This time it's a reissue of his main project Raison D'Etre latest studio album initially released in 2009 on Cold Meat Industry. 'The Stains of the Embodied Sacrifice' is not only vibrating on the surface of your skin. It is alive and breathing, a creature with a knife that cut deep wounds in your body while your soul shatters for air. It is a psychosomatic and transgressive disease opressed by a compulsive behaviour manifested in dualities - the one of your body and mind - and states of metamorphoses - mind becomes flesh become
wounds become fluids become stains. Play it loud if you want to become the martyr. Play it low if you are the innocent victim. There are no levels in-between. Violent and intense, it is a hell of an ordeal. But withstand and you are promised bliss. This version of the album has been expanded with an extra disc
containing 60 minutes of previously unreleased early-versions-of-the-original-album-tracks. The release comes in a special foldout 6 panels digisleeve and includes 2 full colour inserts." [label info]
|
2013 |
€18.00 |
|
|
Within the Depths of Silence and Phormations (Redux Version) |
do-CD |
" 'Within the Depths of Silence and Phormations' takes the listener deep below the world of the ordinary into the catacombs of the subconscious, the worlds lying within us so few ever live to explore.
This is music meant to stimulate the mind, to inspire one in their explorations of self and solitude.
Layers of ethereal atmospheres and the collage of choirs, strings, bells and occasional voices slowly bleed together to create music for society whose spirituality has been rendered impotent.
Soaking in this world, one is left with the impression of overwhelming sadness and profound desolation.
This is the sound of all hope nullified.
'Within the Depths of Silence and Phormations' is an expedition into the hidden parts of the inner self and is bridging feelings of deep melancholy to blessful joy as it seeks for the true essence of human existence.
Original released in 1995 by Cold Meat Industry the album has now been restorded, re-recorded and mixed to render the modern standard of sound quality still maintaining the perfect balance between subtle and harsh, dark and pure of the original mix.
'Within the Depths of Silence and Phormations' is accompanied with a second disc bringing tracks from various compilations from the period together to form a strong twin album.
A unity with double joy: Wallow in the melancholy!
The album comes in a 6-panel digipak with awesome photos by Martín Pels.
Mastered according to the K-14 level standard." [label info]
www.oldeuropacafe.com
|
2013 |
€17.00 |
|
|
Mise en Abyme |
CD |
"TRANSGREDIENT RECORDS TR-10
6-PANEL DIGIPACK using photos of Roberto Conte
FORMAT: FULL-LENGTH CD PLAYTIME: 58:50 min
FILED UNDER: DARK AMBIENT, SOUNDTRACKISH POST-INDUSTRIAL
Transgredient Records is very proud to release the newest studio-work by this well known Swedish ambient industrial project, continually re-newing the dark ambient genre since 1992.
"Mise en Abyme" is the first raison d'être studio album in over 4 years, following a very special "initation concept" with an emphasis on the experience of sequential psychological states with cathartic effects - diving into the deepest regions of the subsonscious in order to return with a fresh and 'empty' mind. All the previously beloved elements of raison d'êtres music are here: spacious deep drones, touching sacral choirs, ritualistic sounds from gongs and bells and other awesome integrated field / object recordings - all impressively enhanced to reach a new level of masterful atmospheric composition. Moving from dramatic tension and threatening uproar to meditative beauty, this near hour long album reveals various changes and details, while always sounding monolithic (all of one piece), expressing almost unbearable sensations of melancholy, vastness and contemplation. The idea behind this album, in the words of the artist: " 'Mise en Abyme' is an inner journey down to the most hidden and dark parts of the Self. 'Mise en Abyme' literally means 'placed into the abyss' and conceptually the album contains ingredients from 'The Divine Comedy' by Dante or any similar stories/myths around the katabasis theme. Instead of being linked to religion, history or morality, it is purely a psychological and therapeutic trip to the underworld, investigating the subconscious. But even in the darkest and chaotic places in the depths, there are small shades of light, hope and understanding; one can be enlightened and purified upon returning to the conscious world."
TRACKLISTING :
1. ABYSSOS
2. INFERNOS
3. KATHAROS
4. AGRAPHOS
video teaser: http://youtu.be/pmnvden-DBo
www.raison-detre.info // www.facebook.com/raisondetreofficial" [label info]
|
2014 |
€13.00 |
|
|
Alchymeia |
CD |
"It’s with great honour that we present the latest album by Swedish dark ambient stalwart raison d’être. This time Peter Andersson scrutinizes the paths of Carl Gustav Jung's notions of archetypes and the individuation process. Just like Mise en Abyme, the previous raison d'être album from 2014, Alchymeia is diving deep down to the shadows of the unconsciousness, and back to a dawn of the true Self. Confronting the shadow within is the darkest time of despair. There seems no way forward, only down. All is blackening and decomposed. Suddenly, through an enantiodromia, the ever deepening descent into the unconscious transmogrifies and becomes gradually illuminated. The melancholia is being purified. Alchymeia is in a sense the “raison d'être” of raison d'être, a shadowy journey through our unconscious the individuation process and archetypes. This release also marks the first time a raison d'être album will be available on vinyl. Artwork by Nihil." [label info]
|
2018 |
€13.00 |
|
|
Apres Nous Le Deluge |
LP |
Dive into the enigmatic world of raison d'être, a mesmerizing music project masterminded by the Swedish composer and sound artist, Peter Andersson. Renowned for his profound ability to conjure immersive auditory landscapes, Andersson's raison d'être has left an indelible mark on the ambient and dark-industrial genres. At the core of "raison d'être" lies a philosophy deeply intertwined with the exploration of existential themes and the mysteries of human consciousness. Andersson's sonic tapestries are intricate and multi-layered, weaving a delicate web of dark ambient, drone, and experimental sounds. The compositions are meticulously crafted, with each note and texture contributing to a greater narrative that evokes a profound sense of immersion and contemplation. The vinyl reissue of Après Nous Le Déluge marks the beginning in the ongoing story of the project. Originally released on Sound Source in 1992, the album's title translates to "After Us, the Deluge," a phrase often attributed to Madame de Pompadour, suggesting an impending catastrophe. This sentiment echoes throughout the album, as it conjures sonic landscapes that are both foreboding and introspective. From the somber tones to the ethereal drone, Après Nous Le Déluge encapsulates raison d'être's ability to evoke emotions that reside in the shadows of our psyche. Après Nous Le Déluge is more than an album; it's a sonic meditation. The gradual evolution of sounds, the interplay of ambient elements, and the delicate nuances create an immersive experience that demands your full attention. Whether experienced through headphones or on a grand stereo system, the vinyl reissue breathes new life into this iconic release, allowing you to discover new dimensions within its familiar depths. Urashima Records' meticulous attention to detail is evident in the pristine audio quality and the exquisite packaging of this reissue. The vinyl itself becomes a portal to another world, inviting you to immerse yourself fully in raison d'être's evocative sonic universe. This reissue captures the essence of the original work while adding a touch of modern refinement, making it a must-have for both dedicated fans and those new to the world of raison d'être.
https://urashima.bandcamp.com/album/apr-s-nous-le-d-luge
|
2023 |
€25.00 |
|
| |
Prospectus (Sublime ed.) |
4 x CD BOX |
30 year anniversary boxset of this contemporary classic of Dark Ambient soundscapes. Originally released in 1993 on the now defunct Cold Meat Industry label, the album soon became a staple of the CMI sound and raison d’être subsequently became a household name in the genre and an inspiration to many. Offered in this massive 4 CD boxset is a completely new re-recording of the original album, made in 2022, in order to obtain the highest sound quality and mix of this 30 year old opus. Disc II contains additional unreleased session tracks, also re-recorded in 2022. Disc III gives us the original album in a remastered version and finally Disc IV offers additional session tracks from the period in their original versions.
“Prospectus I” is a stunning blend of modern ethereal gothic sonorities and the timeless chants of monastic rituals. A refined blend of melancholy touching higher realms. Archaic layers of string instruments, bells and choirs are intertwined with percussive elements and industrial loops creating an unsettling background atmosphere whilst spleen and bittersweetness form in the foreground. Co-Released with Yantra Atmospheres.
Edition of 300 copies. 4 CDs in sleeves, housed in rigid box with lid, matt lamination. Includes a fold out 12 page booklet. 43 Tracks. Running Time; CD I 55:01, CD II 73:13, CD III 54:07, CD IV 71:12
https://cycliclaw.bandcamp.com/album/prospectus-i-
sublime-edition |
2023 |
€45.00 |
|
| RAMESES III |
I could not love you more |
CD |
"Ein derart vom Rest der Welt abgekapseltes Album gab es lange nicht mehr. Wie ein endloser Fluss ziehen die Tracks ihre Kreise, lassen sich durch nichts stören und wollen niemandem irgendetwas beweisen. Alles hört auf den ganz eigenen Puls der Bandmitglieder Daniel Freeman, Spencer Grady und Stephen Lewis. Ob die der Hektik ihrer Heimat Croydon bewusst etwas entgegensetzen wollen, tut hier eigentlich nichts zur Sache. Perfekte Welt? Der perfekte Moment? Was auch immer hier mit den zurückhaltenden Ambient-Hymnen bespielt wird, wir müssen alle danach streben. Rameses III … das ist der Himmel auf Erden." [thaddi / de:bug]
"Das Londoner Trio entzückt mit Ambient und pastoralem Folk: Mit ihrem tiefgründigen und originellen Umgang mit Ambientmusik haben Rameses III bewiesen, dass aus Croydon mehr als Dubstep kommt. Daniel Freeman, Spencer Grady und Stephen Lewis haben bereits einige Veröffentlichungen für Labels wie Important Records, Digitalis und natürlich Type Records hinter sich, es ist aber das Album "I Could Not Love You More", mit dem sich das Trio in die Musikgeschichtsbücher einschreiben wird. Ein Album, das den Sound der Band zwischen treibendem Ambient und postoralem Folk neu positioniert. Man vernimmt Gitarrenechos von John Faheys legendärem Takoma-Label, aber auch Schatten früher 4AD-Produktionen, was etwa das schimmernde Hintergrunddröhnen anbelangt. Über allem schwebt der Geist Brian Enos, der erfolgreich zur Selbstbeherrschung mahnt. "I Could Not Love You More" hätte aber auch mit seinem elektrischen Klavier, dem Mellotron und den Gitarren Mitte des 20. Jahrhunderts entstehen können. Wer aber hätte gedacht, dass es 2009 aus dem übel beleumundeten Süd-London kommt?" [label info]
"..While even some of our favorite modern ambient music relies on layers and layers of digital processing, Rameses III maintains a
certain acoustic integrity by layering strictly live instruments. Electric guitars, electric pianos, and mellotrons produce a warm,
ethereal wash that brings an otherworldly depth to their sound, a depth that digital processing could never recreate.
Ghostly and melodic, mysterious and heavy, ambient and thoughtful, I Could Not Love You More is no doubt the trio’s finest
work and a perfect addition to the Type catalogue, highly recommended!" [Aquarius Records]
www.typerecords.com
|
2009 |
€16.00 |
|
| RAMLEH |
Switch Hitter |
10inch |
Überraschender neuer Release der UK-"Industrial / Impro / Rock"-Legende, hier sehr psychedelisch / hypnotisch noise-rockig & an alte SPLINTERED erinnernd...
"Black Rose Recordings and Broken Flag present the new 10" single by the legendary group Ramleh. Limited to 500 with black and white artwork this is their first new material since 1998 and it doesn't disappoint. Powerful droning intensity, motorik rhythms and warped guitar riffs dominate these two songs with one containing Ramleh's distinctive distorted vocals weaving in and out of this inventive chemistry. "Switch Hitter" could almost be described as a full on dissonant rock track, but Ramleh's desire for experimentation and improvisation lifts it way above the general rock mindset. Ramleh have been active since the early 1980s, first as one of the UK's pioneering power electronics groups and then towards the late 80s they, along with Skullflower, laid the foundations for the UK's improvisional noise rock scene. In fact Gary Mundy from Ramleh was also one of the founding members of Skullflower (there was an overlapping membership of both bands, yet Ramleh always managed to retain their own unique identity regardless of musical genre). They returned to the live scene last year with well received shows in London (one with Whitehouse the other with Merzbow), and New York, whilst a new album release and planned re-issues from their back catalogue are due late 2009 proving they have not lost any of their energy, excitement and ability to explore all possibilities." [label info]
|
2009 |
€15.00 |
|
| RAPOON |
The Bush Prophet |
CD |
"We are happy to present you the third Rapoon release on Ewers Tonkunst. “The Bush Prophet” is a brand new album from this legendary and highly influential project, which unique style of blending industrial, ethno-rhythmic and cut-up techniques has gained international recognition and made Rapoon one of the main artists in its genre. This work has an accent on more dark, hard and anxious sound constructions than most of its recent albums, it is full of tension and scepticism, but with no lack of inner hope though.
Like it’s last year Soleilmoon release “Melancholic Songs Of The Desert”, it deals with isolationism and the myth of democracy. Manipulated by media and bombarded with political spin we live in a world where our political choices are reduced to almost zero. Faced with a hostile world and lies from every direction is it any wonder that there is a need to retreat to try and find some peace and humanity. The voices on the television make promises and soothing noises then wage unjust wars in our name. The lies fall like honey and nothing changes.
These songs are a retreat into the one place that no government has yet found a way into, the free and open spaces of the mind. They are spontaneous and mediative reflections looking for an inner peace in a world made ugly by hatred and war. They symbolize a kind of "walkabout" and a reconnection with a lost sense of belonging spiritually, intellectually and physically with the world we inhabit. The music here looks for a sense of inner being that one can only find in quiet isolation.
The release is limited to 500 copies and comes in a stylish digisleeve with artwork by Robin Storey." [label info]
|
2010 |
€13.00 |
|
|
To West and Blue |
CD |
"Not a reissue, not a compilation, but something complete new. "To West and Blue" is 50th Rapoon album and 5th Rapoon release on Zoharum label. And this one will become a staple in our CD players for long time. 7 long, slowly evolving tracks appealing to your subconscious side. An album that is definitely not to everyone's tastes. This one gradually grows on you until you are captivated by its haunting beauty. But there is an underlying uneasiness in it. A sort of clash between reality and a ghost world or a world that is long-gone. With choral voices hidden beneath layers of treated sounds, "To West and Blue" is a stand-out album among Rapoon numerous releases.
Robin Storey talks about this album: These pieces are about the area grew up in in the UK. A peninsula of land which stuck out into the Solway Firth. Surrounded by the sea when the tide was in and surrounded by endless mudflats when the tide was out. When the water covered the ground the line between the sea and the sky was almost non-existent. A diaphanous boundary. The sea came in from the West where the huge skies hung without end in a vault of blue.
The 7 tracks presented on "To West and Blue" were mastered by Maciej Bartkowiak. The cover is based on photos by Robin Storey and the design was handled by Maciej Mehring. The whole production process was overseen by Michał Porwet.
The CD is housed in gatefold sleeve in the vein of Japanese-style vinyl replica and is strictly limited to 500 copies." [label info]
www.zoharum.com
|
2013 |
€13.00 |
|
|
Seeds in the Tide Vol. 2 |
do-CD |
"In December last year "Seeds in the Tide Volume 01" saw the light of the date and met with loads of interest. As promised we continue the series with the second installment in this collection of Rapoon rarities. This time, apart from compilation tracks, "Seeds in the Tide" features three (yes, three) rare releases. The first one being "Live at Klanggalerie" tape from 2000; the other 2 being "Pell Mell" and "Ep Et Vee" EPs, all the three released in very small quantities. "Seeds in the Tide Volume 02" is therefore your chance to grab these titles, not on eBay (where they fetch enormous sums), but in one collection at a reasonable price. All in all, the second volume contains 150 minutes of pure sonic bliss with a quality sign, just like any Rapoon release is. Once again, the tracks were faithfully restored by Maciej Bartkowiak. The paintings on the cover is by Mr. Robin Storey himself and the design duties were handled by Zoharum in-house designer Maciej Mehring. The whole production process was overseen by Michał Porwet. Note: this is the second volume in the series. Next year Zoharum is releasing the next volume covering rare tracks from years 2004-2007. This release is strictly limited to 500 copies. Release date: 25.11.2013" [label info]
www.zoharum.com
|
2013 |
€16.00 |
|
|
The Fires of the Borderlands |
do-CD |
"It's been 16 years since the release of Rapoon's masterpiece entitled "The Fires of the Borderlands".
This special edition is comprised of two discs. The first is the main album which is mastered from the original tapes, therefore, it sounds significantly better to the 1998 version. The bonus disc is a 40-minute live recording for the San Francisco-based radio KFJC which again proves that Robin Storey has mastered the ability to creating haunting sonic atmospheres.
This expanded edition of the album is packaged in a digipak sleeve and is limited to 500 copies worldwide." [label info]
www.zoharum.com
"In the wake of so many dreadfully digital concoctions of insipid ambient music from the mid to late '90s, a good Rapoon album was a breath of fresh air. The warmth of his analog processes, tape-loop and delay mechanics, and some good-old cassette grit thrown in for good measure was a gnostic beacon to the days of a post-industrial zeitgeist from a previous decade, or century, or millennium for that matter when it came to the best albums from Rapoon. Any sense of timeloss and historical displacement would be considered a victory for most artists; but for Robin Storey and his long-standing Rapoon project, that's been a common parlance from his work. The Fires Of The Borderlands may be Rapoon's best known album, as it was put out originally through the Relapse subsidiary Release back in 1998. It's long been out of print; and it also ranks as one of his better releases. Here, we've got the Polish 2cd reissue of that album, fleshed out with a remastering job from the original tapes and a bonus disc featuring an hour long performance on KFJC down in Silicon Valley.
The album is flush with slow-motion billowings, night-ocean tidal wash, and sibilant blurs, all crafted from Storey's refined use of tape-loops and delay pedals. There's nary a reference to anything infernal or hellish to the hypnogogic cascade of Rapoon despite the album's title. At times, Storey engorges his reverb-drenched loops into a galvanized thrum of drone portent equivalent to the bunker hermeticism of Maeror Tri. But as with most of Storey's work he transcends a gothic nihilism through his application of ghostly dub reflections that could harken to the echoes of some pneumatic lung wheezing in the corner or a derelict monk chanting to a long-forgotten deity. Beautiful stuff.
The live in the studio session is equally as good with Storey lining the wash with distant tribal rhythms and wooden flute gestures thrown in for good measure." [Aquarius Records]
|
2014 |
€16.00 |
|
|
A long View across |
CD |
"A Long View Across - refers to the feeling you get when touching an artefact that was made more than 7,000 years ago, in this case stone rock carvings in the Cheviot hills in Northumberland. Spread out across the top of the hills lie huge stone tables carved with many petroglyphs weaving in and out of each other. The sites where you find the carvings are all places with fantastic views across the hillsides and lowlands. Places of great beauty and serenity. There is a sense of "being out of time" at these sites. You are separated from yourself and instead feel a sense of being part of a greater whole. A spirituallity, if you will. The sense of a connection with our ancestors and being part of a continuity. looking backwards and forwards ..a long view across." [Robin Storey]
www.aquarellist.ru |
2014 |
€13.00 |
|
|
A pale blue Door |
BOOK + CD |
"Robin Storey, best known for his musical avatar Rapoon, has written his first book, a 68 page short story about a group of characters navigating an unfamiliar and changing world. “A Pale Blue Door” takes place in the past, the present and the future, and may involve time travel. The people in the story are trying to live their lives as best they can, but a mysterious spaceman floats in and out of view, affecting them in different ways, and never quite touching the ground.
“A Pale Blue Door” is a tightly written, well paced tale that reveals its secrets slowly. Robin Storey’s prose is concise and economical, engaging and seductive. The book begs to be read again and again.
Accompanying the book is a 60 minute Rapoon CD, also titled “A Pale Blue Door”. The compositions utilise recordings of stars, manned space missions, radio signals and emissions made available through NASA’s official website. There are also field recordings made on the marshlands of the Solway Firth in Cumberland.
Extract:
The wind moaned outside the frost rimed windows. It whipped up small eddies of snow and made swirling snow devils in the frigid air.
The landscape took on a surreal, lunar aspect in the moonlight and shadows were deepened in the silvered light.
Something moved in the shadows.
Something not human. It headed for the house with the pale blue door and left no footprints in the snow.
Silently in the sleeping night it drew closer and closer.
Billy woke with the certainty that there was someone else in the room. He sat up and looked towards the end of the bed. In the shadows and gloom he could just about discern the outline of a lumpy squat figure. His eyes grew accustomed to the light and the shadows retreated. He could see that the figure was about five feet tall and had a barrel chest and a thick limbs. The face remained in the shadows but it had a strange luminescence to it. Slowly it seemed to move forward and the face became visible. Billy shuddered. There atop this squat frame was the pale head of a pig. Small dark eyes regarded Billy without emotion.
As silently as it had appeared it vanished again into the shadows. Billy was covered in sweat and shaking. That terrible face was one he had seen before and it left him with a feeling of dread.
He sat staring at the place where the figure had been long after he could no longer see it.
The image burned onto the back of his eyes and some primeval horror clawed at his subconscious. Billy knew intuitively that this horror had existed for as long as man had been alive. It was ancient and mythical and spoke across aeons of time, perhaps even space. He continued to stare into the emptiness until a faint crackling sound brought him back to the present. He listened and tried to understand where the strange noise was coming from. After a long while he realised that the sweat which had poured from him when the dreadful vision had appeared was turning to ice on his body. He leaped from the bed and grabbed clean clothes and pulled them onto his freezing body. He pulled off the soaking bed clothes and tossed them into a far corner of the room and dragged the bed through the doorway into the living room. He went back to the bedroom to get fresh bedclothes and emptied his wardrobe onto the newly located bed, then he got planks and nails and boarded the room shut. He would never set foot in that room again.
The wind blew gently across the marshlands. The short grass rippled like the tide in the sweet smelling breeze. She sat on the turf in her best Sunday dress clutching a small posy of wild flowers she had gathered on the way. Her hair had been cut recently and a few stray strands broke free from the neat bob. She pushed them back in place with her small hands. She wanted to look her best.
Her father fussed around with his photographic equipment. Arranging tripods and lenses and polishing each item in turn with a giant yellow duster, taking great pride in his work and his treasured gadgetry.
She sniffed the air and it smelt sweet and warm. and warm." [label info]
www.soleilmoon.com
|
2015 |
€23.00 |
|
|
What do you suppose? (the Alien Question) |
do-CD |
"The mainstay of our label, or Robin Storey aka Rapoon that is, returns with the next release of archival recordings. In this case, it is the third reissue of an earlier album, which has been expanded in the new version with an additional disc with previously unpublished material. This album is coming in 1999. "What Do You Suppose? (The Alien Question) ". Different among the works of this release rapoon, because it is based primarily on the word. Canvas of this project are the theories related to aliens and their presence on the planet made by William Cooper. Music is therefore subordinate to the text, it is much more withdrawn than on other Rapoon releases, but it does not make it one-dimensional. On the contrary, by moving the centre of gravity to the verbal layer, Robin Storey redefined his compositional language.
The bonus disc called "Project Blue Book" is the new album mixed in the current year, which uses the original tracks to the "What Do You Suppose? (The Alien Question)," but this time it is devoid of the narrative. The result is not even an alternate version of the original, but a completely different album, where accents are distributed differently. More ethnic trips here, but it will also include pieces for lovers of shimmering ambient.
The CDs is housed in a digipak sleeve and the album is strictly limited to 500 copies. The cover was designed by Maciej Mehring based on Robin Storey's paintings. "What Do You Suppose? (The Alien Question)/Project Blue Book" was mastered by Maciej Bartkowiak. The whole production process was overseen by Michał Porwet." [label info]
www.zoharum.com
|
2015 |
€16.50 |
|
|
Song from the End of the World |
CD |
"Robin Storey otherwise known as Rapoon, and ex member and co-founder of legendary northern group Zoviet France, comes back in the frozen lands of Glacial Movements after his vision of an Europe covered by ice in "Time Frost" (2007). The English artist this time faces a theme recently discovered, and that could dramatically change the destiny of our planet.
Evoking visions of mad scientists, French researchers are set to revive a mega-virus dormant for 30,000 years that they discovered in the permafrost of the Russian Arctic. The researchers, from the French National Center for Scientific Research, say they will take precautions to revive the specimen under safe laboratory conditions. They published a paper detailing their research in the journal the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. The group of researchers is headed by Jean-Michel Claverie, who runs a laboratory at the French center. The French scientists, who awakened another Siberian virus, known as Pithovirus sibericum, in a petri dish in the lab in 2013, warn that climate change may awaken dangerous viruses in areas of the far north where soil or permafrost is melting and believe it is better to ‘know the enemy’. They found it near the same area as the latest discovery, which they named Mollivirus sibericum. This is the fourth prehistoric virus found since 2003. Source: ancient-origins.net
Buried deep beneath the ice lies Armageddon Locked in a frozen world it waits There are songs and myths of the coming end The voices are raised in supplication to gods and nature A cold wind howls the ice slowly melts Without understanding of time It waits This is my song from the end of the world Robin Storey, 2016 " [label info]
www.glacialmovements.com
|
2016 |
€15.00 |
|
|
Blue Days |
CD |
"After three well-received, new albums ("Time-loop Anomalies" [2012], "To West and Blue" [2013] and "Fall of Drums" [2014]) and a series of reissues and archive collections, Rapoon returns to Zoharum with a brand new album. "Blue Days" is completely different from those previous releases. While on those three albums long, slowly developing compositions dominated, here there are as many as fourteen of them with the longest being less than eight minutes long, and the two shortest only forty seconds long. This is a record of ideas, sketches. The album is dominated with conciseness; however, all the songs compose one bigger piece. They show that Robin Storey is constantly looking for new artistic paths." [label info]
www.zoharum.com
" „Blue Days“ ist eines von ganzen vier neuen Alben, die 2015 von RAPOON veröffentlicht wurden, sodass den Hörer angesichts der Masse des jährlich neuen Materials doch zusehends Bedenken beschleichen könnten, ob man dem allem noch in Gänze folgen soll.
Will man das Album atmosphärisch einordnen, so kommen einem aufgrund der an die dunkle, melancholische Winterzeit gemahnenden Titel wie „Winters Chime Deep“, „On Frozen Air“ oder „Long Time Ago Now“ Gedanken an eben diese. Die Kälte und Tristesse dieser Zeit, auch als Spiegelbild der eigenen Gemütsverfassung, werden dann auch nicht mit luftigen Ethno-Rhythmen und exotischen Gesängen musikalisch ausgekleidet, sondern es dominieren, raue, kantige, auch mal etwas unrund erscheinende Loops, dunkle Chöre und glatte, frostige Synthesizerpads. Natürlich tauchen auch hier und da Samples von exotischen Instrumenten und ethnisch angehauchte Rhythmen auf („In Black“, „With Dance Of Trees“, „Black Shadows“), die das Ganze klanglich etwas auflockern – aber leider auch teilweise eher unpassend zum Rest wirken und die Stimmung brechen. Neben der Instrumentierung bringt sich ROBIN STOREY allerdings auch stimmlich mehr ein als sonst schon einmal. Hier und da wird die Musik mit seinem Raunen unterlegt bzw. beim absolut gelungenen Titelstück „Blue Days“ kann man fast schon von Gesang sprechen, wobei die Tracks mit dem raunenden Sprechgesang wie „Long Time Ago Now“ auch ansonsten positiv auffallen. Angenehm ist außerdem, dass die Stücke maximal 7-8 Minuten lang sind – oft auch kürzer – sodass ein dynamischer Eindruck des Albums verbleibt.
Dem guten Eindruck wirkt lediglich das doch unterkomplexe bis allzu simple Klangkonstrukt „On Frozen Air“ das unglücklicherweise auch noch direkt an zweiter Stelle nach dem Intro platziert ist, entgegen. Davon sollte man sich allerdings nicht abschrecken lassen, auch wenn natürlich nicht alle Tracks durchgehend zünden bzw. manchmal etwas unfertig im Raum stehen („With Dance Of Trees“, „Black Shadows“). Am Ende ist „Blue Days“ ein solides, aus meiner Sicht eher leicht zugängliches, klanglich nicht zu minimales RAPOON-Album geworden, dem es hier und da allerdings an atmosphärischer Geschlossenheit fehlt und an der Person, die schwache Stücke oder sinnfreie Fragmente auch einfach einmal aussortiert. Das scheint gerade im Ambient- und Electronica-Sektor aber manchmal schwer zu sein, wie mir scheint."
[Tony F. für nonpop.de] |
2016 |
€13.00 |
|
|
Waiting by the River |
CD |
"Klanggalerie are very happy to announce a new collaboration with Rapoon after a far too long 12 year break. Waiting By The River is the all-new album by Robin Storey that takes the project into previously uncharted territory. Founded in 1992 after Storey left Zoviet France, Rapoon soon became an outstanding ethno-dark ambient project that has gained a cult following all over the world. More than 50 albums have been released over those 25 years, some more beat driven, others more playful and with ambient sounds and ethnic influences. Rapoon has never stopped evolving - think of Cultural Forgeries, an album full of unplugged acoustic music. Or Downgliding, full of compositions on the piano. In 2016, Rapoon presents you an album full of songs. You will hear guitars, vocals, stories are being told. A very different approach to Rapoon and one you've never heard before. Needless to say, the trademark Rapoon sound is still there. But this time you get a little extra. Another milestone in the band's discography. Low stock. "After the austerity of the 1950’s we entered the 1960’s with huge optimism and the belief that anything was possible. We had a new world opening out in front of us. A world of rapid technological advancement. A world of new foods. A world of new cars, new jobs, new possibilities. We were going to the moon. We were promised holidays on the moon. It was to be a world of plenty. You believe these things when you are five years old. The booming sixties came and went. We landed on the moon. The seventies saw a decline in economy and in hope. First Thatcher, then Blair, then Cameron went on to destroy everything that had been built for the people after the second world war. Now it was all for the privileged The moneyed. The few. An old lady sits by a billabong under a clear blue sky. She talks with her ancestors who wait by the river. As they have waited for millennia. She sings an ancient song. The water trembles." [label info]
www.klanggalerie.com
|
2016 |
€14.00 |
|
|
Wanderlust |
CD |
Winter Light is proud to announce the release of Rapoon ‘Wanderlust' CD, a brand new studio album containing 10 all new and original tracks. Robin Storey aka Rapoon needs no introduction, having released around 60 albums alone under his avant-garde project. Robin has collaborated with many artists over the years and for this release additional vocals for the album have been supplied by the Russian folk singer Tatyana Stepchenko aka TOLOKA.
As the title indicates. ‘Wanderlust’ is the endless yearning, the search for questions and for answers, the horizon ever drawing onward with the lure of what lies beyond. The pull of the mountains and the deserts and the infinitive light of the stars, shining from the distant past. We travel…..
The album is released in a full colour, 6-panel digipack. Artwork and cover design by Midnight Sun Studio with original paintings from Robin Storey.
The CD is comprised of 10 original tracks with a running time of 70:08. Strictly limited to 400 copies.
www.winter-light.nl
"During the cold and eerie autumn season, the best thing that could happen is a record which could easily transform bad weather and dark emotions into something dreamy and wonderful. Rapoon is a fine example of this dreamy atmosphere, and its new record, Wanderlust, is the biggest gift for anyone who wants to participate in this magical travel through a state of wandering.
Wanderlust has been released by a small and obscure Dutch label, Winter-Light. The imprint has released some other releases including two from Seetyca and some other bands. The atmosphere and sound of Wanderlust perfectly describes the goals of Winter-Light as I see them: to spread highly somnambulant music usually in ambient or drone form, refusing anything radical or anything political, instead just focusing on someone else’s dreams or nightmares and exploring that kind of emotion in audio form. The mind of someone sleeping is rather obscure, led by unconscious, filled with many different layers, and Wanderlust is just like that too. It’s hard to simply describe this album in simple terms, but it’s crucial to say that this Rapoon effort is about a lot of things; it’s filled with many elements and every song seems like a different dream.
Rapoon
One big aspect behind the music of Wanderlust is rhythm. The album starts with a beat which pulses like an ocean and leads to an evolution of cascading samples. The structures behind each individual song seems to remain similar throughout the album, with seemingly only samples driving it to the end. Speaking of samples, it’s difficult to recognize their origins, and that seems to be a good element—to a fault. In that way, samples seem to be much more obscure and strange, which is definitely unique. In other songs of Wanderlust, simple synth melodies are used with an equally straightforward yet effective rhythm, creating a stronger style of that ethereal sound. Sometimes, Robin Storey‘s music even sounds sacred, especially with the addition of classic instruments. In other cases, songs on Wanderlust sound more playfully mystical—almost cinematic in scope, like vintage film scores. Gloomy synthesizer sounds create a mood of desolation. Listening though the album, you get the impression that the whole thing is alternating between elevated emotions, ethereal visions, and genuine melancholy.
‘Calling Ghosts’ is unique to the album as it begins with something similar to female Slavic chanting and works its way into a violin performance, distant samples, and some other instruments. Listening to Wanderlust, it‘s difficult to miss just how varied it really is, which is a quality that unveils itself in its fullest glory through Storey’s patented epic atmospheres, especially on ‘You Look Like Something’, whose twelve-plus minutes are filled with strange ambient artifacts.
Rapoon’s Wanderlust is a dreamy landscape full of majestic vibes, strange but suitable samples, and sounds of exotic instruments. Its general atmosphere and the sounds that create it are often so foreign that they feel almost alien in nature—something that Storey is becoming exceedingly talented with at his age. It is the perfect album for this autumn as we work our way into winter, and it‘s intended to be played by a listener every evening just before sleep. The effect of it should be unforgettable."
[Heathen Harvest]
|
2016 |
€13.00 |
|
|
Un Flic |
CD |
Cigarette smoke curled into the air which was filled with the sound of many typewriters, all clattering away, yet the sheets of paper remained blank. Everything was black and white and every shade of grey in between. The men and women wore pristine white shirts and black trousers. The ceilings were low and opressive. The cigarette smoke hung in the metal rafters. These was the offices of the Existential Police force. The sign, which curved in an arch above the exterior entrance, read “We Know you Did It” Officer Delane Trelawney looked down at her next interrogation sheet. She was tired. It was almost the end of her shift. The space which was labeled “suspects name“ read Elizaveta Ektimova. The space which was labeled :”reason for interview” read Dissident. Officer Trelawney sighed and looked across the desk at the figure sitting in the upright chair opposite her. The figure was that of a thin young woman with very black hair and very pale skin. Her eyes were set far apart and deep.They were almost black. Officer Delaney spoke: “Give me the answers....................Give me the answers” a long pause... “You know why you are here...............give me the answers” The young woman leaned forward slightly and when she spoke it was as if from very far away. Her voice sounded like a badly tuned radio, her words modulated on a carrier wave which came from another place, perhaps even another time,. “there are no answers”..... “we live in the dark”........ “we live in a dream”........ The words sent a chill through officer Delaney and a thought rose from deep within her ,like a bubble rising up from the depths of a dark lake. It rose and rose until it burst on the surface and for a moment Delane Trelawney saw above her a beautiful blue sky with pure white cotton wool clouds floating in it. Along the shore of the lake arose green hills and behind them mountains towered up into the vault of blue. Topped with snow they were pink in the afternoon sun. Delane Trelawney gasped at the beauty and just before she began to sink again into the inky depths she said “I remember “............ “I remember ”............. “tell Charlene”........ ” tell Charlene”......" Robin Storey, 2017 Brand new album by the legendary Rapoon. Robin Storey, co-founder of Zoviet France and a very prolific solo artist since his departure, is combining his love for krautrock with his love for French film. An hommage to the Nouveau Vague cinema with a soundtrack that for the first time incorporates real drums! Another radical change for Rapoon. Always evolving, always progressing.
|
2017 |
€14.50 |
|
|
Seeds in the Tide Vol. 5 |
do-CD |
Here's the fifth instalment in the series entitled 'Seeds in the Tide' featuring rare and unreleased Rapoon recordings. The next part focuses on 2008-2011 compositions from Robin Storey's project history. These seventeen diverse pieces are a great introduction to Rapoon's body of work, and at the same time they will please all the hardcore fans searching for every recording of the project. On this fifth volume you will find collaborative works, remixes for other projects, the full version of 'Human Energy Field' (from the sold-out compilation 'From Earth to Sirius', which was the beginning of Zoharum collaboration with Rapoon), unreleased track from 'Stray' album and other curios. Three twenty-minute compositions seem to be the highlights at first, although there are a lot of interesting bits among shorter tracks as well.
rapoon.bandcamp.com/album/seeds-in-the-tide-vol-5-2xcd
|
2017 |
€16.00 |
|
| |
Sol Laude (Mercury Rising Trilogy 3) |
CD |
Rapoon returns once more to the Winter-Light label....
In celebration of his 25th Silver Anniversary, we have released a trilogy of new work from Rapoon entitled ‘The Mercury Rising Trilogy’. The Mercury Rising Trilogy comprises of three brand new studio albums, all with exclusive material. The albums will bring a new feel to Robin’s work, that of a more off world spacious feel, jazzy in parts with a ceremonial thread running throughout. Each album interlinked by this feel and theme, as the titles suggest, but with each one still having it’s own unique identity.
The trilogy began in November 2017 with 'Sanctus Equinox', which was then followed by 'Offworld OP1 Equs'. The Mercury Rising Trilogy now draws to it’s conclusion with 'Sol Laude' thundering it’s way through the universe, leaving it’s impression trailing across the cosmos like a giant comet’s tail. Deep industrial, space ambience and majestic choral bursts are interspersed with retro sci-fi electronica, emotive piano elements and off-world jazz.
Rapoon's signature sound and structures are still very much evident on this release, but yet again Robin brings a different feel to the listener that has beautifully evolved across this triptych of his latest work.
The replicants have followed a well known path. Disagreements and divisions began to grow and sectarianism proceeded to develop. Soon it was an all out war of religious intolerance. Fighting took place and many died.
Quietly , and without being noticed, those who held no radical religious beliefs gathered their things and slipped away in small ships and set course for a new life somewhere far away from the division and hatred that had developed in what was once a united community. They journeyed for many years and eventually found somewhere new. An indigenous lifeform of primitive primates seemed to be the most advanced species on the warm planet with blue seas and green forests. It was almost Utopia.
Some of the replicants sang a song of thanks for safe passage and arrival. A white moon shone down.
https://winter-light.bandcamp.com/album/sol-laude-mercury-rising-3 |
2019 |
€13.00 |
|
| RAPOON & LORDS OF INFINITY |
split |
CD |
What we have here is almost 70 minutes of beautiful and enchanted music. A great split release between Robin Storey (Rapoon) and Marina Kryzhanovskaya and Mikhail Kiryukhin (Lords of Infinity) hailing from England and Russia respectively.
“For this split CD I returned to the origins of processes that had been there in their most fundamental form in Zoviet France. A ritualistic and shamanistic approach to the creation of music. Uncensored by intellect. More spiritual in nature than conceptual. Elemental and primordial. Not that these elements do not exist in my contemporary creation process, more that they are stripped bare in these pieces.” - Rapoon
“Behind Russian ritual ambient and experimental project LOI stand Marina Kryzhanovskaya and Mikhail Kiryukhin - the woman and the man, two eternal souls. The main idea is that life is an immersion to the mystery. The main and essential mystic experience is love and creation.
Spiritual invocation awakes delight and horror.
We believe that music incarnates pan-unity.
But whereof one can't speak, thereof one must be silent.
Our split is about the eternal marriage of all that exists, flow of the eternally youthful life energy.”
- Lords Of Infinity
The only thing we can add is that artwork for this was also created and provided by the Artists themselves.
CD edition of 500 copies comes in 6 panel digipack."
https://zoharum.bandcamp.com/album/split-2
|
2021 |
€12.00 |
|
| RATSIMANDRESY, NADIA / MATTEO RAMON AREVALOS |
Messiaen et autour de Messiaen for Onde Martenot and Piano |
CD |
"A signature collection of exquisite works for onde Martenot and piano by Olivier Messiaen, N'Guyen Thien Dao, Jacques Charpentier and Tristan Murail, exploring the many voices of this extraordinary instrument. The onde (or ondes musicales or le Martenot) was first demonstrated at the Paris Conservatoire in 1928 and immediately attracted the attention of Varese, Milhaud, Koechlin, Jolivet, Honegger and Messiaen, who all wrote for it - cumulatively ensuring its survival. Seven years younger than the theremin, the onde is a far more sophisticated, complex and versatile instrument, not least because of the combination it offers of pitched and glissando tones, and the wide range of filters and different resonating media through which it can sound: loudspeakers, gongs, sympathetic resonating strings and reverberant enclosures. The compositions here exploit every unearthly aspect of the instrument and are beautifully performed: a remarkable and exquisite collection." [label info]
www.rermegacorp.com
|
2009 |
€14.00 |
|
| RAVENSTINE, ALLEN |
Waiting for the Bomb |
CD |
Allen and I worked for several years together in the second coming of Pere Ubu before we both decided to quit at around the same time. I carried on playing – and running this label; Allen became a commercial airline pilot and designed simulator stress tests for other airline pilots. Now retirement has brought him back to music and modular synthesis and - in this unusual recording - he arrives at a hybrid musical form that is more or less without precedent: discursive, digressive and disrupted by generic and emotional shifts; a music in which real-world sounds and real-world instruments occasionally argue with - or complement - the electronic current; there’s agon here - and narrative. Narrative. Narrative. Narrative. For a largely abstract and instrumental recording, that’s a real achievement. These pieces – and the interactions between them – cumulatively capture an historical moment - allusively and elusively, out of the corner of their eyes - and, I dare to say, that’s not just an achievement, it’s a great achievement.
https://allenravenstine.bandcamp.com/album
/waiting-for-the-bomb
|
2018 |
€13.00 |
|
| RE-DRUM |
Eclipse |
CD-R |
"ACR 1030: CD-R in plastic case and transparent paper sleeve
Re-Drum aka Russian artist Pavel Aleshin claims that his music sounds like “a broken AM radio in the heart of a ghost city,” and this album goes a long way to substantiating this claim. The sound quality is not at all broken, but very clear. Yet the slow drift of long, sustained electronic sounds reverberating in what could be imagined as empty passageways, certainly invokes a deserted nocturnal cityscape or, as one title claims, “night in a dead Lunapark.”
Contrary to what might be expected from these statements and also from Re-Drum’s earlier releases of deep drone/noise soundscapes, the music on “eclipse” does not have a particularly scary edge. It may convey a certain sense of yearning and melancholy, but the overall feel is one of warmth and calm contemplation. And there is indeed quite a lot to contemplate in these four compositions, all about 10 to 15 minutes long. While the music makes full use of the psychedelic potential of repetitive microtonal drones, in other layers of the composition there is also a lot of interplay going on between sampled acoustic instruments and undecipherable ambient noises. Great music for a state of wide-awake trance." [label info]
www.attenuationcircuit.de
|
2013 |
€8.00 |
|
| REBEL POWERS |
Not one Star will stand the Night |
CD |
"In 1998, Acid Mothers Temple went on a swing of the UK that sowed the seeds for a new cosmic unit, Rebel Powers. Kawabata, Makoto, Cotton Casino and original AMT drummer Koizumi Hajima met up with David Keenan, guitarist for Glasgow's Telstar Ponies and prominent scribe for London's premier new music mag The Wire, and holed up in South London's Moat Studios to let the heavenly river flow. Rebel Powers explore minimalist sound layering via two long, improvised tracks. Sustained guitar notes resonate and sarangi buzzes swirl while chiming waves of concrete percussive clatter and plaintive vocal wails slowly build momentum. Sounds are methodically layered and gently peeled away, revealing a ringing guitar chord or two at its very core. Pools of sound shimmer and meticulously waver as each note strikes its placid surface, building and building an ominous mood with glacial intensity towards the psyche's breaking point. Imagine the sort of dark themes and tolling guitar found on Popol Vuh's soundtrack to Nosferatu, oozing ever forward and serenaded by the hypnotic call from the mythical Siren. Minimalism is certainly the order of the day, but a sort of minimalism that has been rendered catatonic, eerie, otherworldly. With just guitars, percussive rustles, intermittent sarangi and vocals, Rebel Powers evoke a meditative sphere to get lost in for days. Aside from sarangi, there are no overdubs present, and the music was completely improvised." [label info]
www.strange-attractors.com
|
2005 |
€13.00 |
|
| RECCHION, TOM |
Oaxaca Dawn |
pic-LP |
"Elevator Bath's ongoing series of picture disc LPs (each record being adorned with full-color artwork by the recording artist) continues with Tom Recchion's lovely Oaxaca Dawn | Bamboo. Originally slated for release nearly ten years ago, this pair of humble field recordings is now finally available.
Oaxaca Dawn and Bamboo are two raw, unadulterated, and unpretentious snapshots of specific moments in time and space: the early morning cracking of dawn in Oaxaca, Mexico and a windy afternoon in a Hana bamboo forest on Maui, Hawaii. Individually these audio documents are gorgeously simple, matter-of-fact presentations of travels. Together they are a recollection of their natural beauty, impossible to adequately render by any other means.
"I was struck by the cacophony of sounds at the dawn of light in the 'suburb' of Oaxaca where I was staying. It woke me everyday of my week long stay. It was like a barnyard turned up to 11. I brought a DAT machine and two Audio Technica microphones for the purpose of making field recordings on the trip. I woke up before the sun came up and set up the equipment in the dark. The first sound on the record is the moment the sun came over the horizon.
The bamboo forests on Maui were seared into my memory from my first time in Hawaii. On my second trip, armed with a first edition Edirol digital recorder, I hung out in the forest for a couple of hours to make the recordings. I noticed 3 distinct sounds (though there are more). The wood block clunking of the stocks, the squeaking of the thin branches flicking and slipping off neighboring plants and the white noise rustling of the leaves on top of the giant clusters."
This beautiful LP features site-specific recordings and photographs by Tom Recchion, a sound and visual artist/composer/potter/art director and graphic designer. He is the co-founder of the legendary Los Angeles Free Music Society (LAFMS) and has been an active, integral participant in the arts for more than forty years. Recchion lives in Pasadena, California.
This picture disc LP has been released in an edition of 250 copies. Every copy purchased directly from Elevator Bath will include a download code for high quality files of the entire audio content of this LP."
www.elevatorbath.com
|
2016 |
€20.00 |
|
| RED FAVORITE |
same |
LP |
"Jeremy Pisani recorded these 11 tracks between 1996 and 2003. As a resident of western Massachusetts, he shared stages with acts like Sunburned Hand of Man (=vaguely focused free folk), P.G.Six (acid folk, reviewed on next page), MV & EE Medicine Show (=avant music), Flaherty & Corsano duo (=avant music), Dredd Foole (=guitarist / s-sw, -havn’t hear him yet-) and Joshua (psych-folk) has maintained a curiously low profile.
The combinations of fingerpicking guitar meanderings with additional textures and some murmering voice (like on “First”) fits well with music like early Tower Recordings, Six Organs Of Admittance, Currituck Co., etc. Jeremy described his music well as “A soundtrack for dreams, chemical endeavours, human afflictions and distant memories”.
Acoustic guitar is the main instrument, often as acoustic guitar meanderings, with textures and fingerpicking improvisations, combined with some additional instruments like amplified guitar and banjo. On several tracks the guitar is combined with mellotron : on “Routine”, “Cistern”, “Wingshot”, and on the slightly loaded “Flight”. There are also touches of collages with other sounds (like with a distant phonograph on “Agrippa”). The production and mixing is well done and in a combination of songs the concept has been made optimal. I heard for instance an original use of changing the environmental echoes or tensions in the recordings on “Stormwatch”. “Pallid” has also a strangely mixed sound, which has some surreal effect, probably benifits from a less perfect recording. And “Flight” which has a somewhat dense tension is mixed as outro into the quieter acoustic fingerpicking solo. In between tracks with more tension are various very moody instrumental tracks like “Routine”, which has also flute and mellotron. A strange track is “Green Hill Beach” which starts with waves, then has guitar improvisations (amplified and acoustic), some voice whispers, and then evolves to more and more electro-acoustic and electric guitars echoes, to a point of saturation with effects, then calms down as if filtered again to amplified guitar meanderings only. In general I can say that those people who liked the experimental approaches from Six Organs of Admittance should check this artist too. But also fans of Joshua / P.G.Six might notice here a wonderful undiscovered talent.
The last hidden 12th track is a beautiful solo fingerpicking instrumental closer in Middle Eastern mode. A release which definitely deserves to be heard with an official publication." [Psychedelic Folk]
"Red Favorite, a cycle of compositions for guitars, electronics and voices created by Jeremy Pisani was first released as a limited edition CD on Spirit of Orr and is now offered, as it was originally conceived to appear, on an LP. He moved closer and looked through the peephole. And he saw: the world stretched out before him, a quiet and gentle space with a broad expanse of grass that practically glistened in its greenness. A sparkling brook ran through the meadow in the middle distance, and now he saw that the grass was dotted with the pale blue and soft yellow of many blooming flowers, which, half hidden in the grass, stared out at him like so many frightened eyes. On a distant hilltop stood a grove of small pink trees, covered and obscured by the astonishing pinkness of their blossoms. The world had a sense of freshness, as if it might only be minutes old -- washed clean by a careful springtime rain, dried and scrubbed by a solicitous breeze, burnished to its brightness by the rays of a gentle sun. It was an uncomplicated place, a very simple place. But what it had was quite enough; it had all it needed." [label notes] |
2008 |
€15.50 |
|
| RED PANDA |
Ferrimagnetic |
CD-R |
Guitar/Drone Ambient Noise, very spheric & monumental, low-fi and meditative. Think of ULTRASOUND, DUAL, STARS OF THE LID, etc... Definitely recommended !
“The music on this release has existed spread across about 12 cassette tapes for nearly ten years. Red Panda has been founded in order to document these recordings. The music was not written as "red panda", in fact it wasn't FOR anything. These are bedroom recordings from 1995 and 1996 done on a busted 4 track (3 track), a home stereo, and a 4 track (all 4 tracks actually worked).
One interesting side effect that happened is that the song "Cyanic Pull" could not be found on any of the cassettes, but was eventually located on a very scratched CDR. Nothing could be done to repair the song, so it has been left with skips and scratches intact. There are also moments throughout the record where the tape bleed is evidenced by backwards detuned voices, and radio static (a side effect of home stereo recording). In the end Ferrimagnetic is a late night record full of pastoral hiss and hum, and shimmering guitars. For fans of early Flying Saucer Attack, Azusa Plane, and Too Pure era Seefeel.” [label description]
|
2005 |
€7.00 |
|
| REED, RICK |
Dreamz / Blue Polz |
pic-LP |
Rauschig-repetitive Analog- & Mechano-drones, füllig & dicht auf Seite 1, ruhiger & ätherischer auf Seite 2, kreiert mit Analog-Synth, Sinustone-Generator und Kurzwellen-Radio. Das sind quasi die Soundtracks für 2 von RICK REEDS abstrakten Gemälden, die auf dieser picture-disc abgebildet sind. Schöne Arbeit des Texaners mit starkem 70er Jahre Drone & Minimalismus-Touch.
"Beautiful picture disc LP featuring two full-color reproductions of visual works by Rick Reed and two new side-long solo compositions. Reed's fascinating, highly evolved world is represented well by these two new pieces, each of which offers up the kind of droning intensity and unsettling beauty that this veteran noisemaker has come to be known for. Reed's work is very obviously that of an experienced craftsman - one whose sound is a reverent nod to early electronic music underscored by an enduring sensibility for atmosphere and ethereality.
Dreamz began life as the soundtrack for a live visual display by filmmaker Ken Jacobs, which was performed live by Jacobs and Reed at the 2007 New York Film Festival. The record’s flipside, Blue Polz, was also inspired by the work of a filmmaker (originally conceived as a kind of alternate soundtrack to a piece by Fred Worden). All of the music was created using an EMS Synthi A, plus 2 sine wave generators and a shortwave radio. The artwork comes from two original paintings. Reed has been active in the visual arts for more than 20 years; his work is utterly abstract, beautifully enigmatic. These images are the perfect accompaniment to Reed’s otherworldly audio counterparts.
In addition to his solo work, Rick Reed has participated in a number of productive collaborations over the years with Keith Rowe, Jgrzinich (in Frequency Curtain), the Abrasion Ensemble, and SIRSIT. He currently resides in Austin. This picture disc LP has been released in an edition of 260 copies." [label info]
"From the improvisation world of Texas comes Rick Reed, who has been around for quite some time, playing with Keith Rowe (it's this Rick from that AMM title), the Abrasion Ensemble and Sirsit, of whom I never heard. He has had various solo releases on Elevator Bath before. These two pieces here were part of something bigger: one as a 'live visual display by filmmaker Ken Jacobs', and the other one could be an alternative soundtrack to a piece by one Fred Worden. Reed uses a EMS Synthi A, two sine wave generators and a shortwave radio. The first side, if I detected that alright, is a very minimal piece of soft flowing, high pitched tones. Like far away insects chirping whilst the dawn sets in. Over the course of the side dawn gets dark and insects quiet out. The other side start out in the middle of the dark night but it stays night: dark humming organ like drones, which are filtered out over the course of the piece, until some chorus like sounds drop. Of these four sides, this is the most single minded, and for me the least interesting, even when it's not bad either. Two fine to great records, lovely picture disc and highly limited. Yummy." [FdW / Vital Weekly]
www.elevatorbath.com
|
2008 |
€17.50 |
|
| |
The Way Things go |
do-LP |
"Here, finally, is the gorgeous presentation that astronomy domine Rick Reeds music so richly deserves: Two black vinyl LPs, pressed on
180-gram virgin vinyl, with full-color labels, inside black poly-lined sleeves, housed in a matte-finish full-color gatefold jacket adorned
with Reeds vibrant and fantastically evocative paintings. Included with each copy of this set is a full-color download card featuring
access to high-quality MP3s of the complete contents of the vinyl records. This package has been issued in an edition of 515 copies.
- - - -
Welcome to an atmospheric realm of blurred synth drones, textural shortwave radio, and vivid sine waves. Welcome to the highly
individual sonic world of Rick Reed. For around 25 years now Reed has been toiling away, composing, performing, and fine-tuning his craft of very personal and powerful electronic meditation. And his expertise is plainly evident. His is incredibly engaging music with an almost physical presence. Reeds level of mastery is virtually unparalleled - it seems that no one else can combine these elements with quite the same finesse, with the same ear for arrangement, or with the same sense of purpose.
If Rick Reed is not yet a household name it is likely due to his relatively slim body of work. 'The Way Things Go,' then, is an attempt at resolving this issue, for here are 83 worthy minutes of top-shelf electronic tonalities. 'The Way Things Go' covers a span of eight
years of work, and yet the material flows very naturally from one piece to the next. Yes, the evolution of technique is on display here,
but Reed found his voice some years ago and his stylistic development has therefore been suitably subtle and deliberate. This is the work of a composer who is extraordinarily familiar with the sounds at his disposal and whose editorial skills are equally honed.
Massimo Ricci, inspired by one of the pieces in this set (Hidden Voices, has noted:
I can't stress enough the importance of composers like Reed, who thrive in semi-obscurity and without the praises given to people [worth] less than half their value, continuously finding alternative interpretations of the word 'emotion.'
The observation is astute and the idea of an emotional presence is crucial to understanding Reeds work. His music is sometimes noisy,
sometimes tranquil. Harsh frequencies give way to beautifully sustained tones. Jarring textures and lilting melodies are both to be
found in this sphere. Above all, though, Rick Reeds work is challenging. There is no easy classification for music of this complexity. The curious listener is best advised to investigate personally.
In addition to his solo work, Rick Reed has participated in a number of productive collaborations over the years with Keith Rowe, Jgrzinich (in Frequency Curtain), the Abrasion Ensemble, and SIRSIT, among others. Reed's music has previously been released by labels such as Ecstatic Peace, Beta-lactam Ring Records, and Elevator Bath. He currently resides in Austin." [label info]
www.elevatorbath.com
"Over the years Rick Reed has played with Keith Rowe, Jgrzinich (as Frequency Curtain), Abrasion Ensemble and Sirsit but also explored the world of drone music as a solo artist. Hard to say what he does to create his drone moves. One could easily think of a bunch of analogue synthesizers, or perhaps heavily treated field recordings. Maybe its all computer work? One look at the cover though and its revealed: moog and EMS synthesizers, sine wave generators, shortwave radio, found radio sounds and voices. The pieces on this double album are from anywhere between 2001 and 2010 - the title piece. Its both an excellent overview of his work and a very coherent body of work. One could easily argue that in those ten years Reed didn't progress at all, and that his approach to composing stayed rather the same. That's one way of looking at it. One could as easily argue that it all makes up for a very consistent approach that reveals a fine craftsmanship in creating dense electronic landscapes. In
those ten years Reed never released much work, so its hard to say that he is overproductive and that 'it is always the same'. I thought this was all excellent music, a fine cross road of musique concrete and electronic music.Taking the best out of cosmic music, drone and experiment and put that into all immersive music. Music that sucks you totally into in it, like a hot bath, especially when you play it loud. Very refined." [FdW/Vital Weekly]
|
2011 |
€25.00 |
|
| REFORMED FACTION |
I am the Source of Light, I am not a Mirror |
3 x CD-box |
Das dritte Werk der ehemaligen 2/3 von ZOVIET FRANCE, die sich nicht mehr "REFORMED FACTION OF Z.F." nennen dürfen und nun kurzerhand als "REFORMED FACTION" weitermachen. SOLEILMOON hat sich wieder eine besondere Artwork / Verpackung ausgedacht: Eine schmucke Alu-dose mit Prägung, darin drei CDs, ein Button mit dem ans RAF-Logo angelehnten R.F.-Zeichen, ein Klamottensticker, Farbbooklet, und eine golden bedruckte Inlaykarte.
Auf den 3 CDs sind ganze 52 (!) Stücke verteilt, das wirkt manchmal wie ein hochkreatives, experimentelles Potpourri, eine Wundertüte aus Ideen, Fragmenten & Skizzen und ist wohl (wie auch früher bei ZOVIET FRANCE) in langen Sessions entstanden. Neben gesampelten Material jedweden Ursprungs & Synths kommen vielerlei Instrumente, auch Drums, Bass & Gitarre zum Einsatz, oft wird es rhythmisch oder loopig (manchmal tribal, dann wieder eher Electronica-lastig), orientale Anwandlungen (Sitar) sind vorhanden, die Fülle von Stilen & Genren, die hier berührt werden ist schlicht überwältigend, irgendwo im multidimensionalen Musikraum zwischen RAPOON, ZOVIET FRANCE und den chaotisch-rhythmischen Sachen von DOWNLOAD oder BEEHATCH. Wow.
"Reformed Faction are Robin Storey and Mark Spybey. Their new release “I Am The Source of Light, I Am Not a Mirror” follows their 2007 Soleilmoon release “The War Against”, and is their third album. Their debut release “Vota” was released in 2005 by Austrian label Klanggalerie. The band has played live in both North America and Europe. Reformed Faction did not set out to record a triple album, but that is exactly what they have done. Reformed Faction do not talk about making music. They make music. They assemble and record and use improvised material to stimulate the development of composed pieces. The music was assembled in the same way that the CD package was: through active collaboration. “What folks probably don’t realize is that we have always embraced technology. We use technology, we aren’t governed by it. We have to learn how to use equipment in our own way, which means that instruction manuals are never referred to. We make music. We try not to theorise, and we avoid interpretation or analysis of our music like the plague.” This is an homage of sorts, to the last 40 years of music making. Robin began as a guitarist, Mark as a drummer. Throughout their careers they have neither deliberately nor consciously eschewed the use of conventional instruments or traditional compositional techniques. They do not regard themselves as an “experimental” band, preferring to leave the laboratory safe in the hands of physicists and technicians. A long time ago :zoviet-france: declared that they could, if they wished, create the perfect pop record or the archetypal country record. Both Mark and Robin were profoundly influenced by the music of rock bands in the seventies while boldly assimilating ideas from world music in the belief that all musical sources exist to be appropriated. In the same way, over the years, they have embraced technology. This is “anti-restictivist” music. “We realized a long time ago that as soon as we left :zoviet-france: our cover was blown. We could no longer hide under the false mantle of anonymity.” For Reformed Faction, each album is an attempt to develop ideas. The three CDs that comprise “I Am the Source of Light, I am Not a Mirror” are collages, each intended to be listened to in their entirety. The contributions of various friends have been assimilated into the recordings. The East German band Scatology and the American band Not Breathing both contributed to the process. Tommy Grenas of the Los Angeles band Anubian Lights, who Mark met through Damo Suzuki, came to stay with the band and also joined in the recording sessions. The recordings took on a life of their own. Picture the backdrop: the rainy landscape of northern England, the collection of classic seventies albums from the likes of Faust and Can, and the band’s preoccupation with the cultural and political legacy left by the dissolution of the eastern block countries. Reformed Faction spent time in the city of Dresden, where they met the artist Ira Tannheuser, who supplied the images used in the booklet accompanying the CD. The finishing touches were generated by Shaya, an enterprising Afghan trader and fan of Reformed Faction who trekked through the fabled Thar desert in the Sind province of southern Pakistan, and there discovered a long-forgotten depository of hand made metal boxes that had been manufactured 30 years ago in the town of Mithi. They were initially made for storing detonators but had never been used. Shaya had them embossed with the Reformed Faction logo by a local metal worker and then shipped them half-way around the world to Soleilmoon and told us to do something with them. The boxes are still partially encrusted with the sand of the Thar desert. “I Am The Source of Light, I Am Not a Mirror” is released in two configurations. Both come with three CDs in screen printed slipcases, a 12 page full-color booklet featuring the work of East German artist Ira Tannheuser, a screen printed insert describing the edition, a metal badge and a sew-on cloth patch.The first edition is limited to 100 copies and is available exclusively via Soleilmoon’s mailorder service. Besides the aforementioned goodies it includes a 3 inch CDR with an unreleased track presented in a hand numbered screen printed slipcase. The box is made entirely of sand-cast aluminum, and features the Reformed Faction logo on the lid. The second edition, which comes with everything included in the first edition except for the 3 inch CDR, is limited to 300 copies and is presented in a box made from sand-cast aluminum sides attached to a sheet metal top and base. The lid is embossed with the Reformed Faction logo. We are Reformed Fraktion. We are from the North of England. We travel. With open eyes." [label info]
www.soleilmoon.com
|
2009 |
€44.00 |
|
| REIBEL, GUY |
Douze Inventions En Six Modes De Jeu |
LP |
"Format: LP (180gr, insert, download code, 500 items)
Release date: december 4th 2015
Guy Reibel is one of the most enigmatic figures in the post-war electronic music scene. He started out with a double qualification: he first became an engineer – due to the pressure of his parents – and then studied composition with Olivier Messiaen in Paris, the teacher of Karlheinz Stockhausen, Iannis Xenakis, Francois Bayle, to name just a few…
Pierre Schaeffer, the director of the GRM (Groupe de Recherches Musicales at Radio France), very soon offered him a position: he was not only responsible to edit and work out the famous Solfège-3LP-Box that was the practical part of Schaeffer’s theoretical manifest “Traité des objets musicaux”, he also codirected with Schaeffer the class for electroacoustic music at the National Music Conservatory.
During that period Guy Reibel worked intensively in the studios of the GRM. He did not only compose some milestones of electronic music, he also developed a very music-based theory of electronic music: he included his ideas of musical gesture and game theory already in the sixties long before anybody else discussed those issues.
His theories as well as his education as a musician with absolute hearing etc. soon brought him in conflict with other members of the GRM, who at that time more and more emphasized the media nature of electronic music. Guy Reibel – who was for long time considered to be Schaeffer’s successor as the director of the Group – lost the competition with Francois Bayle and in consequence not only quit the GRM but also electroacoustic music. He kept his composition class at the conservatory, toured the world as conductor of his newly founded Groupe Vocale de France (who realized the first complete recordings of Ligeti’s choir-work) and also took over a director’s position at Radio France. Meanwhile his electronic music almost disappeared. There were two or three LPs available on the early GRM series, later only one CD. Guy Reibel became in some ways the Trotzky of the GRM, who was removed from the acoustic photos of the group. Now, decades later, these struggles are over, and the GRM generously offered the possibility to use their studios for the digitalisation of the old tapes. So Guy Reibel and Reinhold Friedl could digitize his whole archive of his electronic pieces in late 2014.
This vinyl is one result: “12 Inventions …” is now being released for the very first time: a milestone in electronic music and a perfect example for Reibel’s musical austerity: very defined and limited musical material results in concentrated and dense forms. The unusually vital character of the music is also due to Reibel’s use of hybrid sound production: he very often combined amplitude envelopes of acoustic sounds and noises (especially and very often of polysteron) on synthetic electronic sounds.
A few of the “12 inventions” are even played at least partly live: TM+, the legendary first live-electronic French group, was founded in 1977 by three of Reibel’s students: Denis Defour, Lurent Cuniot and Yann Geslin. They were almost the first purely electronic group that also toured Europe extensively with their analogue synthesizers. A separate vinyl of this group is also up to be released on Karlrecords’ Perihel series soon!
But this LP documents how Guy Reibel succeeded to compose a music that combines the density and purity of electronic music with an unbelievable sound sensuousness. A real listening experience, here released for the very first time!
Reinhold Friedl
All music composed by Guy Reibel
Commissioned by ina-GRM, Groupe de Recherches Musicales, Radio France, 1979
Tracks 3, 6, 8, 11 played by TM+, Trio Instrumental Électroacoustique: Laurent Cuniot, Denis Dufour, Yann Geslin, recorded at Grand Auditorium, Maison de la Radio, Paris, May 7, 1979" [label info]
www.karlrecords.net |
2015 |
€18.50 |
|
| 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 |
|
| REIDER, C. |
Aughtet |
CD-R |
Stunning work from C.REIDER where he works with human language which is processed & computerized extremely.... listen to totally fragmented voices, like in a dissociative or psychotic process, when language looses its meaning or gets a new one....the whole creates an unsettling atmosphere....very much recommended !
“c. reider's tendency to manipulate the human voice into weird patterns is explored to its fullest on this release. Voice samples from friends were rendered into rumbling guttural grunts, incoherent alien poetry, spiky shards of plosives, singing where once there was no singing, and smooth grains of foreverness. 99% of the sound sources on this recording come from someone's mouth.” [label info]
|
2003 |
€8.00 |
|
| |
Some things I did when I lost my mind |
CD-R |
Der Titel ist durchaus ernstzunehmen: Ein sehr authentisches experimentell-atmosphärisches Album von C. REIDER aus Colorado, aufgenommen in einer depressiv-psychotischen Phase, wo sich die Wahrnehmung seiner Aussenwelt radikal veränderte... aus dieser Zeit stammen die hier dokumentierten Aufnahmen aus knarzigen Drones, fremdartigen Stimmensamples, ständig steigen störende Sound-Effekte an die Oberfläche, eine fremd-organische Bedrohung ist direkt spürbar in dieser Musik... ein surrealistisch-klaustrophobischer Trip !
“Towards the beginning of the year 2001 I was suffering in the depths of the longest, worst depression of my life. This depression had become indescribably severe, my life had completely crumbled. Things got so bad that what I'd now call 'reality' began to kinda slip. Severe depression with psychotic features, I guess you'd call it.
All that I clearly remember from that time is that I spent most of my time weeping fitfully. I was generally still aware of what was going on around me, I went to work, came home and ate and stuff... like normal, but things were not normal. Truthfully, I don't directly remember much of what happened or much of the effect of the sickness. In fact, with every passing day, some part of me tries to convince myself a little more that it didn't really happen, that I made the whole thing up for attention. maybe that's true.
I remember the psychotic effects secondarily, from the writings about it that I did at the time. I could not discern color. People were very difficult to make out with any of my senses, their shapes were blurry and garbled, into what I described in my writing as squiggly, echoing lines. My interpretation of speech was messed up as well. I was able to understand most of what was said to me, but the nature of the sound was different... I described the sound of speech in writing of the time as "murmers, buzzes and crackles."
I almost describe this here as though it were a "cool trip," but there was nothing fun about this experience. It was THE WORST time of my life. I cut myself a lot. I thought about driving into frozen-over Lake Estes -- I thought about that a lot.
I'm better now, I promise, I'm better.
For whatever reason, I decided then to spend my lonely evenings putting sounds together, I guess I fell back on something that had always given my pleasure as a kind of therapy... because conventional therapy had gotten me nowhere.
At the time, a romantic idea had occurred to me of making a whole cd of very plain, stripped-down drones, so I started making drones through my various methods.
In one of my famous digressions (I digress a lot), I also became very involved in making electronic buzzes and crackles, and so I ended up making a very strange sounding, noisy, yet ambient set of recordings.
It was probably the only good thing that happened to me while I was sick. I am proud of it, and a little afraid of it. Sometimes it makes me cry. These recordings represent what I thought sounded right while I was waiting out the bio-chemical storm. They are queezy, non-melodic drone-loops with glitching electronic buzzes, murmers and crackles at the foreground. very zoned-out, yet difficult experimental, electronic-abstract sound works intersecting noise and ambient. Unsettling atmospheres, surreal electronic crackle, flitting shadows of voices. A difficult suite of music from a disturbed state of mind." [C.Reider]
“A new collection of instrumental and experimental soundscrapes (yes, you read that correctly) from this Colorado-based writer/musician. 'Some Things I Did...' begins on a relatively harsh note and continues much in that fashion, carving out it's own language of dense, claustrophobic electronic passages and deeply mysterious textures. Distant rhythms and playful, almost innocent patterns emerge from the seeming chaos, only to be swallowed up by larger, more sinister demons (the kind that inhabit the farthest reaches of consciousness). This is the soundtrack to a perfectly surreal nightmare, where nothing is as it seems and walls evaporate into viscous plumes of toxic fumes. reider's ever-evolving walls of post-industrial sounds are abstracted and fogged, yet they never get tedious or monotonous. He has a keen ear for creating cinematic moods and hallucinogenic collisions of sound. Fine work here.“[Godsend-online]
|
2002 |
€8.00 |
|
| REJECTIONS |
Clone EP |
MC |
"The Clone EP was actually recorded in late 2011 and followed close on the heels of the Concur EP, which was released on Tiny Lights in December 2011. It is therefore a reaction to that first EP, a desire to keep moving forward artistically and a reflection of where my my head was at during the time I was mixing the tracks together. Where the Concur EP was essentially a series of remixes using samples from my brother's band I Concur to create something new while reflecting the spirit and energy of those songs, The Clone EP is very much a fresh piece of work, starting with nothing but an interest to make beat driven music and to keep revising and editing the same samples until I came up with three linked but unique tracks, hence the title of the EP. Therefore the techno rhythms of Clone 1 almost seamlessly morph into the broken beats and noise of Clone 2 which in turn dissolve into the drone soundscapes and reverb drenched percussion of Clone 3. They are cannibal and brethren, feeding off one another and mirror image at the same time.
The sound of the three tracks is again very much a reflection of that period of time as well. I had recently discovered for myself just the potency of Sandwell District, in all of their sounds, images and guises. At the same time I was grinding my way through a number of long term influences such as Mika Vainio, Throbbing Gristle, Public Image Limited, Burial, Ben Frost, Autechre to name but a few, trying to do my best to endure the typically bleak British weather and the tendency for reflection and introspection which typically invades ones consciousness as we near the end of another year. Limited to 100 copies." [label info]
www.altvinyl.com
|
2012 |
€10.00 |
|
| REMOTE VIEWERS |
To the North |
CD |
"With their 9th release The Remote Viewers unveil a radically different sound. Recorded live in one studio session, with the rhythm section of John Edwards & Mark Sanders, this recording is a document of a band coming out of transition and rediscovering a group voice, to interpret the unique compositions of David Petts.
David Petts : tenor sax
Adrian Northover : soprano sax
Sue Lynch : tenor sax
Caroline Kraabel : alto & baritone saxes
John Edwards : double bass
Mark Sanders : drums
Rosa Lynch-Northover : marimba" [label info]
www.theremoteviewers.com
|
2010 |
€13.00 |
|
| |
Nerve Cure |
CD |
"With this, their 10th release, The Remote Viewers
continue to confound expectations. Nerve Cure trumpets a worldly perspective on the band’s core make-up. Not as aggressive or percussion-centric as the manifold and at times, rockified Sinister Heights (2009)or To The North (2010).....
the musicians bridge an avant relationship with an initiative that incorporates investigational-like chamber, dappled with angular phrasings and a glimmering sense of intrigue." [label info]
www.theremoteviewers.com
"The Remote Viewers started as a trio of Adrian Northover, Louise Petts and David Petts, around 2007. It was the start of a fruitful period, that with 'Nerve Cure', results in their tenth release. Nowadays The Remote Viewers turns around the nucleus of Adrian Northover (soprano & alto sax) and David Petts (tenor sax). For this release they were assisted by Rosa Lynch-Nothrover (piano, percussion), Sue Lynch (tenor sax, flute), John Edwards (double bass, harp) plus Adam Bohman (bowed objects on 'Long Weekend' and Caroline Kraabel (baritone sax on 'Grids'). It is my first meeting with this group. Gradually I became more and more enthusiastic about their music. For sure it is evident this music is carefully structured and played, but it didn't move instantly. I needed time. The approach is very minimalistic and academic although there is humor and wit in it.. There is also something Henry Cow-ish in this music, listening to tracks as 'Forgotten Corners' and 'War with the Outer Countries'. The playing is economic and the arrangements are sober, delicate and to the point. Saxophones are prominent, but the coloring by harp, flute, are very okay. It is more in vein of composed chamber music than leaning on jazz or rock. It is of great efficiency and discipline. As cold and emotionless this music appeared to me in the beginning, how warm it is now. Interesting stuff." (DM/Vital Weekly]
|
2011 |
€13.00 |
|
| RENALDO & THE LOAF |
Arabic Yodelling + Grain by Grain (for Accuracy) |
do-CD |
"Arabic Yodelling was Renaldo & The Loaf's third album and their second for Ralph Records. It took two years to make and finally saw the light of day in 1983. This collection of songs and tunes describes characters, places and covert observations, although not designed to have a preconceived storyline, the songs seem to lend themselves to a picture show of the mind. Each listener is free to wander through this place, creating (or not) their own interpretation. The title comes from ‘Like Some Kous-Kous Western’. There’s a bit where Brian Poole sings something that sounds vaguely eastern or Arabic and somehow mutates into something like a yodel – David Janssen commented that it sounded like Arabic yodelling and that was filed away somewhere for future use. Around the same time, a lot of other tracks were started, but never finished. RATL now collected lots of these bits and peaces, worked on them, and for the third time we present you this release as a deluxe double CD. Some of the bonus tracks will find you stunned. Others are classic Renaldo & The Loaf. You will love this, we promise. Remastered from the original tapes!" [label info]
|
2015 |
€20.00 |
|
|
The Elbow is Taboo & Elbonus |
do-CD |
" 'The Elbow is Taboo' was Renaldo & The Loaf's fourth album and was released by Ralph in America, Torso in The Netherlands and Some Bizzare in the UK in 1987. You can hear a great technological step forward immediately. Also, the list of analogue instruments played on this album seems endless. Included is one of their most popular songs, "Hambu Hodo" which was also released as a 12" single, and a cover version of the song "Boule!" by French band Ptose. Sadly, it turned out to be their last album, the split followed soon afterwards. As with the other re-issues of this great band's recordings, we offer this new and remastered edition as a double CD. "Elbonus" features not only the legendary 12" of Hambu Hodo, but also the unreleased 7" mix. There's also the the material that was issued on the scarce Hambu Hodo Tak Awa CD-R given away to 5 personal friends and some further unreleased stuff. A must-have. Track list: 1. A Street Called Straight 2. Boule! 3. The Elbow Is Taboo 4. Hambu Hodo 5. Dance For Somnambulists 6. Here's To The Oblong Boys 7. The Bread Song 8. Critical / Dance 9. Extracting The Re-Re 10. El Boaca Pella 11. Hambu Hodo (7" Version) 12. Writing Postcards (From Italy) 13. Mouldy Bread On Bent Street 14. Just Lazy Zen, Martin 15. Doctor Vesner 16. Returning The Re-Re 17. Howl On The Bowline (A-Shanti 18. Then At Iona Lanthem 19. Hambu Hodo (12" Single Version)" [label info]
www.klanggalerie.com
|
2016 |
€19.00 |
|
|
Gurdy Hurding |
CD |
"Possibly the thing in the world that you never expected to happen, but luckily you were wrong: Klanggalerie are proud to present you the brand new album by Renaldo & The Loaf. 30 years after "The Elbow is Taboo", Renaldo & Ted The Loaf have created another fabulous record. 13 songs in classic RATL style with an incredible cover by the wonderful Poxodd. All the RATL trademark sounds are there, but of course technology has not passed unnoticed, so there is a 2016 approach to the music, too. This is what the band say: "Olleh! Hard to believe almost 30 years have passed since Elbow Is Taboo but finally we have decided it’s about time for a brand new album. So... (surprise!).... Gurdy Hurding is soon to be released by Klanggalerie . With a wonderful cover design and artwork by Poxodd, the collection of 13 tracks is scheduled to be released on October 25th. Renaldo & Ted". British avantgarde at its purest by who was often called The English Residents. Track list: 1. Henri Rise 2. Pessimistoc Song 3. A Convivial Ode 4. Scent Of Turnip 5. The Moment Is Lost 6. Gurdy Hurding 7. Improbable Legs 8. Carrot Ballet 9. Asper Dorsalis 10. Djinn House 11. Gladsome Vane 12. Early Twirly 13. Optimism" [label info]
"The style of Renaldo and the Loaf is immediately recognizable, with goofy voices and exaggerated accents, bizarre lyrics involving topics like garden gnome bedmates or a hatred of soap, non-obvious chords and melodies, acoustic instruments played abnormally and extreme sound manipulation to make everything sound unnatural. On Gurdy Hurding, the duo’s original bizarre vigor is still strong, although there are some technological enhancements. (...) Gurdy Hurding is a true statement of the duo’s fun yet uneasy spirit with an emphasis on creating interesting sounds and a relentless devotion to manipulate each one until it’s sufficiently peculiar."
(The Pulse, November 2016)
|
2016 |
€14.50 |
|
| |
Song of the Lungfish |
12inch |
SONG OF THE LUNGFISH
Not long after the release of their Gurdy Hurding album, Renaldo and The Loaf set a competition called Gurdy Wording, for fans to write some lyrics or to devise a song idea for the band.
In early 2017 a winner was announced, Song of the Lungfish by Eggoddleo Jones. There was always the thought that RATL would one day record the song but, as is usual for their material, RATL gave no timescale.
The lungfish itself is a result of an extended period of evolution and so it was with the creation of these final Lungfish recordings which were started in 2017 and completed in 2019.
The four tracks….
Song Of The Lungfish
Sacred Shore
Lungfish Hornpipe
Song Of The Lungfish Dreaming
….are simultaneously jolly and yet sanguine – the fish being content to dance as they mournfully recall their long lost past.
https://www.psychofonrecords.com/product/renaldo-the-loaf-song-of-the-lungfish-12-ep/
|
2019 |
€25.00 |
|
| RENOU, CHRISTIAN |
Gone with the Wound |
mCD-R |
Finally, new material from RENOU, very eerie & threatening stuff with rising drones & alienated voice-material. So good & intense..
"Years and years ago, Christian Renou was known as Brume, but already since six or so years he works under his name, and changed his sound a little bit. As Brume the sound collage was his main interest, but under his own name, he seems to have developed a love of sustaining and droning sounds. 'Gone With The Wound', in two parts is no different. Elements of collating sounds are still there, but throughout the pieces, the long journey is the central theme. Still quite powerful stuff. Part one is loud and clear present, whilst the second part uses more covered up sounds." [FdW/Vital Weekly]
"it's a great pleasure for us to welcome Christian Renou in the taâlem series. active for more than 20 years, first under the Brume alias, he has released many discs (and countless tapes in the old days) on many international labels like Staalplaat, Release, Ground Fault, Drone Records, Old Europa Cafe and more recently Fario or Waystyx.
this in two parts is a highly evocative journey with constantly evolutive sounds between experimental, ambient and drone... processed recordings from various different sources for a captivating & fascinating result." [label info]
|
2007 |
€5.00 |
|
| |
Ex-Voto |
CD |
In den Liner-Notes zu EX-VOTO erklärt CHRISTIAN RENOU das Scheitern seines Anspruchs, mit Beendigung von BRUME alle narrativen & lyrischen Elemente hinter sich zu lassen und die reine "Struktur von Klang als Molekular-Zustand" zu erforschen (seitdem benutzt er Computer zur Sounderzeugung & Aufnahme). Alles Nachdenken und Philosophieren über Musik half ihm nicht, den "wahren" Kern zu finden, denn "Mikro"- und "Makro"-Struktur sind letztlich ein und dasselbe, selbst die abstrakteste Form von Klang erzeugt Narration sobald sie ertönt. Diese frustrierende Erkenntnis führt aber zu einer neuen Freiheit in der Komposition, letztlich ist all seine Musik einfach "Seelen-Musik" und nichts anderes.
Auf EX-VOTO geht RENOU neue Wege und benutzt geräuschhafte Feldaufnahmen aus einer Kirche (dort gespielte Violinenklänge & Gesang). Es gibt wunderbare melodische Parts und elektro-akustische Noise-Elemente, Wasser- und Strömungsklänge, irgendwo taucht pathetischer Frauengesang auf, Verfremdung und Re-Kontextualisierung setzt RENOU wieder in sagenhafter Art und Weise ein. So viele verschiedene Ebenen & Stimmungen hier sind zu erfahren , kurz: EX-VOTO ist ein beeindruckendes Werk mit mehreren Bedeutungs- & Erfahrungsebenen, für mehrmaliges Hören wie geschaffen..
Wie auch für viele der BRUME-Alben gilt: unsere wärmste Empfehlung !
"Ex-Voto - a votive offering to a saint or divinity. ‘I see words’. With ‘ex-voto’, Christian Renou has forsaken his analogue machines to encourage a fresh approach via digital technology. As Renou states in his liner notes – he cannot escape narrative structures in his music – his sounds are so evocative of soundtracks without an actual film – encouraging the listener to conjure their own accompanying images.
Yes, it is incredibly melodic, hauntingly so, though at times this is broken by shards of noise and implacable clicks. Midway through ‘ex-voto’, alien beats provide a base for further evocative outpourings of human vs. machine visions. The introduction of strings brings an elegiac quality to the composition. Renou, when creating this narrative, did not deny the ghosts of history in the name of progress…
The disintegration and contamination of a guitar motif appears alongside chopped rhythms and often indistinguishable words. These distant, half-remembered voices babble incoherent noise which battle against the sweet, sweet cracked melodies which pitter-patter and dance around your head. An underlying, delicate metallic whirring plays against a near indecipherable reverie, before the initial guitar melody rears its head for a final time. Layer upon layer of hubble, bubble, toil, but no trouble, ensures this body of work to be Renou’s masterpiece [Frans de Waard / Vital claimed that this more melodic route was something that he’d like to hear more of, whereas Barry G. Nichols / Whiteline blog / Spekk recording artist, extolled the virtues of Renou’s ‘genius’ with this recording] 'I see death'. The cd is packaged in the usual high standard expected of elsieandjack. spot varnish and silver ink over beautiful photography and simple layout, printed on thick cardstock - plus Renou’s liner notes printed on a vellum overlay.
Remember, there is a hand-numbered edition of 100 with laser-etched jewelcases only available direct from Christian Renou and elsieandjack." [label info]
www.elsieandjack.com
|
2007 |
€13.00 |
|
| RESIDENTS |
Not Available |
CD |
"Aufgenommen 1974, ursprünglich 1979 veröffentlicht und jetzt als Re-Issue mit sieben zusätzlichen Minuten, die ursprünglich herausgeschnitten wurden. Während es mindestens eine Million Geschichten über die RESIDENTS gibt, gibt es eine über die Entstehung ihres zweiten Albums ,Not Available", die heraussticht. Die Karriere der Band war noch jung, als der deutsche Avantgardist N. Senada der Band seine ,Theorie der Obskurität" darlegte. Sein Plan umfasste die Vervollkommnung von Projekten, die von niemand anderem als dem Schöpfer selbst gehört werden sollten. Die RESIDENTS sahen den Kern dieses Ideals: dass es nicht einfach ist, Musik aufzunehmen, ohne die Zielgruppe dafür im Kopf zu haben. Die Band beschloss, dass ein solches Projekt ihnen dabei helfen würde, selbständiger an die Musik heranzugehen. ,Not Available" wurde 1974 aufgenommen und gelagert. Einige Jahre später, 1978, gerieten die RESIDENTS in Zeitdruck, als darum ging ihren Opus ,Eskimo" aufzunehmen. Die Plattenfirma holte ,Not Available" aus den Archiven und veröffentlichte es. Überraschenderweise störten sich die RESIDENTS gar nicht daran, da die Aktion ihrem ursprünglichen Plan in keinster Weise entgegenlief. www.myspace.com/theresidents" [label info]
|
2011 |
€13.00 |
|
|
Meet the Residents |
CD |
"Re-Issue des Klassikers von THE RESIDENTS, der ursprünglich 1974 auf Ralph Records erschien. Der komplette, abgefahrene RESIDENTS Trip begann mit diesem Debüt! In den riesengroßen Sound-Fleischwolf wurden seinerzeit Versatzstücke von FRANK ZAPPA über CAPTAIN BEEFHEART und RAYMOND SCOTT bis zu SUN RA geworfen. Dieses Release ist der beste Ort, um die wilde und wundervolle Welt der RESIDENTS zum ersten Mal zu betreten. www.myspace.com/theresidents " [label info]
|
2011 |
€12.50 |
|
|
Coochie Brake |
CD |
"Vor einer Million Jahren fiel einen riesiger Felsbrocken aus dem Himmel und landete mitten in Louisiana. Naja, zu der Zeit war es noch nicht einmal Louisiana. Was auch immer: der Felsbrocken stürzte auf die Erde, schlug hart auf und ließ einen riesigen Abdruck zurück. Nach und nach füllte sich Abdruck mit allerlei Dingen, doch es ließ sich nicht leugnen, dass der Abdruck noch immer sichtbar blieb. Der Abdruck füllte sich genug mit Wasser, um einen urzeitlichen Sumpf namens ,Coochie Brake" entstehen zu lassen. Ein paar Jungs schlugen im Coochie Brake ihre Zelte auf. Sie kletterten auf die riesigen Granitbrocken, die nach gesundem Menschenverstand gar nicht da sein sollten. Sie erforschten die Höhlen. Sie saßen still und ließen ,The Brake" sprechen, wie nur dieser Sumpf es kann. Diese Teenager wurden erwachsen. Und wurden zu THE RESIDENTS.
A million years ago, a big rock fell out of the sky and landed right in the middle of Louisiana. Well, it wasn't Louisiana at that time. But that rock fell, and it hit hard making a giant dent. It gradually filled in but no matter what, it still left a dent. And that dent held just enough water that it became a primeval swamp known as Coochie Brake. Some young guys used to camp in Coochie Brake. They climbed the massive granite boulders that common sense said should not be there. They explored the caves. They sat still and let the Brake speak to them as only the Brake can. Those teens grew up to become The Residents. Vinyl version." [label info]
www.mvdb2b.com
[label info]
|
2011 |
€12.00 |
|
| |
Coochie Brake |
LP |
"Vor einer Million Jahren fiel einen riesiger Felsbrocken aus dem Himmel und landete mitten in Louisiana. Naja, zu der Zeit war es noch nicht einmal Louisiana. Was auch immer: der Felsbrocken stürzte auf die Erde, schlug hart auf und ließ einen riesigen Abdruck zurück. Nach und nach füllte sich Abdruck mit allerlei Dingen, doch es ließ sich nicht leugnen, dass der Abdruck noch immer sichtbar blieb. Der Abdruck füllte sich genug mit Wasser, um einen urzeitlichen Sumpf namens ,Coochie Brake" entstehen zu lassen. Ein paar Jungs schlugen im Coochie Brake ihre Zelte auf. Sie kletterten auf die riesigen Granitbrocken, die nach gesundem Menschenverstand gar nicht da sein sollten. Sie erforschten die Höhlen. Sie saßen still und ließen ,The Brake" sprechen, wie nur dieser Sumpf es kann. Diese Teenager wurden erwachsen. Und wurden zu THE RESIDENTS.
A million years ago, a big rock fell out of the sky and landed right in the middle of Louisiana. Well, it wasn't Louisiana at that time. But that rock fell, and it hit hard making a giant dent. It gradually filled in but no matter what, it still left a dent. And that dent held just enough water that it became a primeval swamp known as Coochie Brake. Some young guys used to camp in Coochie Brake. They climbed the massive granite boulders that common sense said should not be there. They explored the caves. They sat still and let the Brake speak to them as only the Brake can. Those teens grew up to become The Residents. Vinyl version." [label info]
www.mvdb2b.com
|
2011 |
€15.00 |
|
| RETARDER |
Enquiries |
CD |
"I’ve been waiting for this one to come for quite a while. The solo debut of Lloyd James, known for what he has done in NAEVUS for the last decade.
Rumors about this commitment found their way to me shortly after ”Silent Life” and I thought to myself that ”gotta sound like Clapton” but no no no. As RETARDER, Lloyd sets out on a very edgy and stormy voyage, full of obstacles to overcome. It’s very experimental, most of this material could possibly destroy a NAEVUS album and sometimes, it’s even more weird than that LARK BLAMES album he did together with Marc Blackie (SLEEPING PICTURES). Not two tracks sound the same but that’s just a statement I establish and, it’s neither positive nor negative, it’s just the way it is.
The intro is a long and exhausting piano improvisation with some horns hidden underneath. Could probably call it arty or something. It doesn’t sound too good, which is probably the whole idea, but it does something with you and you will feel like... Empty afterwards.
The second track has a slightly proto post-punk feeling, a simple, mechanic riff and a vocal loop is the core and I must say it sounds quite cool.
”Tongue in the Wind” takes the listener on a multi-layered ambient trip, where spacey sounds are mixed with something that resembles a theremin.
Track four is called ”Father Duncan” and it’s probably the least experimental one, actually, it could be a NAEVUS song with that strummed guitar and simple drum pattern. We’re also given some Lloyd-singing and pretty nice lyrics as usual when he’s the author. A nice track and a well deserved break between all the madness that went by and that awaits; ten seconds into the fifth track you’ll succumb to the feberish nightmare sounds, could probably go under the parole noise lite. ’Tis really lots of deranged and distorted sounds swirling around and around for about, what it feels like, half the day, and it’s a really scary track if you ask me.
”Superman’s Cave” is another ambient one and once again with lots of mysterious bleeps that sounds like something from my childhood, can’t tell what though, but it’s certainly has a nostalgic feeling.
”Modern Evening” is nice, maybe my favorite, and sounds very apocalyptic and atmospheric and we get some singing again, over slow and brooding electric guitar harmonies and strange effects, and then finally we have ”Chalk is Valuable, Keep it in Your Hand” that could as well be a tribute to CABARET VOLTAIRE and their mysterious ”Exhaust” with a deranged voice popping up at random going ”Chalk... Hand...”, after a while accompanied by some garage guitars and a monologue by Lloyd. The end.
So, that was the album I’ve been waiting for? Did it fill my expectation? Sure did. It’s awesome to hear Lloyd in such a different context than what I’m getting used to. It feels fresh and the entire album is awfully well done. It may not be the first choice for everyone and just because you fancy NAEVUS, I can’t guarantee that this will work you you. Open up all your senses and prepare for a while. Give it a shot. And then another. Personally, I think this shows that mr. James is an artist capable of doing almost anything with success." [review by The Shadows Commence]
more info : www.myspace.com/retarder
www.touretterecords.com
|
2009 |
€6.00 |
|
| REUTOFF |
ReutRaum IV (SOLD OUT) |
7 |
The re-release of this classic first REUTOFF 7“ from 2000 ! Comes with nice full-colour cover and on extraordinary brown-black vinyl !
“This russian trio comes from a suburb of Moscow (called Reutov), and this, following some cassette-releases, is their vinyl-debut and first release outside of Russia. As one of the pioneers of the Russian industrial-scene REUTOFF create an ultra dark visionary music, using elements of ambient as well as rhythmic industrial. "WAILED", the A-Side, begins with atmospheric, but rather unpleasant samples & sounds, before harsh electronic beats come in; "VEILED" on the B-Side however, is a perfect example for the group's ability to build unsettled, sinister & creepy dark ambient industrial sounds, with an overall atmosphere of despair & deep melancholy, maybe mirroring today's "Russian soul". There is no light in this darkness, maybe only behind it. "The space of Reut as the dream of regret" [press release May 2000]
|
2004 |
€6.00 |
|
|
Deprivatio |
CD |
Ganze fünf Jahre nach "Gute Nacht, Berlin" endlich das neue Album der Moskauer Ambient Industrial / Elektronik Band, die es wie wenig andere verstehen eine wirklich hoffnungslose Atmosphäre zwischen Misantrophie und trister Melancholie aufzubauen...
"... Reutov ist eine von Moskaus kleinen Satellitenstädten, die haupt-sächlich aus Industrieanlagen besteht. Ihr wird von den Band-mitgliedern, die alle in der Nähe leben, eine ganz besondere Atmosphäre zugeschrieben, die man beim Hören der Musik als trübe Industriemelancholie zwischen Zerfall und Science Fiction begreifen könnte; eine Stimmung, wie sie in Deutschland manche alte Häfen oder Güterbahnhöfe ausstrahlen. Ein Faible für den Klang der deutschen Sprache, das sich auch in vielen deutschen Songtiteln ausdrückt, hat aus dem 'v' am Ende der Stadt das doppelte 'f' für den Bandnamen werden lassen.
Wie immer ist auch dieses REUTOFF-Album eine Antwort auf die Frage, wozu eigentlich Dark Ambient erfunden wurde. Die fantastisch-düstere Stimmung erwächst stets aus der Musik der Russen selbst, und nicht – wie bei vielen Genrekollegen – aus den großen Worten, die begleitend zur Musik gemacht werden. Aber – endlich eine Veränderung – "Deprivatio" ist nicht mehr so durchweg archaisch wie noch die ersten Arbeiten, es ist ebenfalls nicht mehr so homogen industriell wie die beiden letzten Alben "Unseen Rituals" (2002) und "Gute Nacht, Berlin!" (2003). Die neue CD ist die bislang dynamischste, abwechslungsreichste, aufregendste und futuristischste Veröffentlichung von REUTOFF.
Hypnotisch ist der Beginn. Zum Dauerloop eines Kindersummens gibt eine rauchige, weibliche Sprechstimme auf Englisch Anweisungen, was zu tun ist: "Stellen Sie Sich vor, Sie sitzen in einem riesigen Theater mit schwarzen Sitzen und können nur eine einzige Sache sehen..." So düster und geheimnisvoll die ersten Sounds, so beruhigend sind die Worte. Später passt sich die Musik an und entspannt sich Richtung Downbeat, garniert mit verhuschten Männerstimmen und noisigen Geräuschen. Der Opener bereitet die futuristische Atmosphäre, die das ganze Album durchzieht. Noch häufiger im Verlauf der knapp 73 Minuten kommt sich der Hörer vor, als würde er durch einen von STANISLAW LEM entworfenen Park lebender Maschinen wandern. Auch das intelligente Songwriting – wenn man bei einem zehnminütigen Dark Ambient-Track davon überhaupt sprechen kann – offenbart sich gleich zu Beginn. Überraschungen wie eine eingeflochtene und beinahe folkige Akustikgitarre sowie versteckte und vertrackte Melodien und Rhythmen machen aus einem langen auch einen sehr abwechslungs-reichen Soundteppich. Es folgt ein eher klassisches Dark Ambient/Noise-Stück, dessen Drones in Verwandtschaft zu SAL SOLARIS gleißen und schimmern wie Sonnen im Weltall. Großes Kino, im wahrsten Sinn des Wortes, denn REUTOFF-Alben werden immer gerne mit der Stimmung von Filmmusiken oder Filmen – unter anderem "Stalker" von TARKOWSKIJ – verglichen. Und selten traf dieser Vergleich so zu wie bei "Deprivatio", auch bedingt durch die technisch hervorragende, satte Produktion.
"American Whores" geht dann wieder einen gänzlich anderen Weg. Die Collage bringt zu einem Bass, der auch MASSIVE ATTACK oder MOBY alle Ehre machen würde, ganz unterschiedliche Samples zusammen. Musik der 1920er-Jahre, fast eine Minute lang solo. Dazu verdichten sich die Trainerin eines Fitnesskurses und ein Kirchenprediger mit Chor – in Kombination mit dem Namen des Songs – zu einer infernalischen Amerikakritik. Nie wirken solche Samples belanglos, sie unterstützen bei REUTOFF immer die Atmosphäre des Tracks.
Auch der einzige deutsch betitelte Song, "In Die Leere Gehen", ist eines der Highlights: Hier ein strahlendes Universum mit synthetischen Engelschören, dort düstere Gewittercluster, die glauben machen, dass sich die Hölle öffnet – fehlt nur noch ein Sample von Luzifer persönlich. "Sun Of Sleepless" ist mit seinen knallenden und knirschenden Beats eine weitere Empfehlung für die Macher des nächsten Endzeit-Streifens; mit laut wehenden Fahnen geht die Welt unter. Und zum Abspann verglüht "25-th Hour" wie die letzte Moll-Hoffnung eines im futuristischen Kerker eingesperrten VANGELIS. Für so viele Höhepunkte übersieht man gerne die wenigen schwächeren Momente, etwa die Mischung aus Ethno und Dark Ambient mit piepsigen Loops menschlicher Geräusche ("Nemesis").
Alles an "Deprivatio" atmet russische "Metropolis"-Atmosphäre. Das Individuum zwischen Experiment, größenwahnsinniger Industrie, Verlassenheit und Zerfall. Damit ist die neue REUTOFF-Veröffentlichung längst nicht mehr nur ein Stimmungsbericht aus Reutov, sondern ein Abbild des neuen, modernen Russlands. Genreuntypische Experimente, die gekonnte Verknüpfung diverser Samples und Abwechslung in Tempo und Klangbild sorgen dafür, dass "Deprivatio" eines der besten und ausdrucksstärksten Dark Ambient-Alben der vergangenen Jahre ist. Es macht außerdem sehr neugierig auf die angekündigten Kollaborationen im Herbst." [Michael We. für nonpop.de]
"Finally, since five years after their 2003 “Gute Nacht Berlin” on Albin Julius HauRuck!, here is the long-awaited full-length solo CD from this most well-known Russian industrial project worldwide. “Deprivatio” is a sad story of a person surrender to the enemy environment, it’s about idle struggle with time and fatigue, about constant withering of passions and imminent vitality deprivation. Being maybe the most hopeless and sad work for the band, this album is paradoxically their most rhythmic and dynamic. There are more noisy drum loops and electro sounds here than martial drum patterns and old school noise, but their unique deep and profound melodic main themes are still remain as the basement for the brilliant new tracks of despair and downfall. The ascetic b&w artwork was done by Murad Ibatullin known for the recent “Iznutri” compilation. The release comes as a jewel box with 6 panel booklet, the first 100 copies come with 33x21 two sided poster." [label info]
|
2008 |
€12.00 |
|
|
ReuTRauM IV (SOLD OUT) |
7 |
"This Russian trio comes from a suburb of Moscow (called Reutov), and this, following some cassette-releases, is their vinyl-debut and first release outside of Russia. As one of the pioneers of the Russian industrial-scene REUTOFF create an ultra dark visionary music, using elements of ambient as well as rhythmic industrial. "WAILED", the A-Side, begins with atmospheric, but rather unpleasant samples & sounds, before harsh electronic beats come in; "VEILED" on the B-Side however, is a perfect example for the group's ability to build unsettled, sinister & creepy dark ambient industrial sounds, with an overall atmosphere of despair & deep melancholy, maybe mirroring today's "Russian soul". There is no light in this darkness, maybe only behind it.
"The space of Reut as the dream of regret"
TRANSPARENT GREY VINYL, HANDPRINTED BLACK SLEEVES WITH PHOTOGRAPHS ON EACH SIDE" [label info]
|
2000 |
€ |
|
| |
No One's Lullabies |
CD |
"No One's Lullabies" is the 9th album by Reutoff, one of the best-known Russian projects on the international post-industrial scene. Over the course of one hour they will be performing their "lullabies" which won't let you sleep though... The whole panopticon of borderline mental states will unfold before the eyes of our attention. Every track is a masterfully performed decadent dance of emotions and feelings. Steady industrial rhythms, an unhasting but assertive semi-drunk waltz, circus-like grotesque with wicked medieval shades, comatose jazz swinging in dark tones and epic electronic doom that could also fit well in the repertoire of their brother-project Otzepenevshiye - all imbued with remarkable spirit and slightly inflamed imagination.
The material entitled "No One's Lullabies" was initially produced as a cassette mini-album by the German label Sea State in 2014 in a small edition of 80 copies in unconventional handmade packaging. The extended version with four additional compositions was put out by Reutoff on their bandcamp page as a web-release. Now we're glad to present the CD version of the album for the happy owners of CD-players and optical drives! The CD-edition contains an exclusive bonus track with a live version of one of Reutoff's rare compositions. The disc is packed in a matte 4-panel cardboard digisleeve, artwork features paintings by Fabrice Billard, the chef of Divine Comedy Records.
http://zhb.radionoise.ru/
"If someone were to ask me, which post-industrial artist gives you the biggest pleasure when you listen to their music, I would never mention Reutoff. If somebody else were to ask me which project is in my opinion the most daring in its experiments or simply the most innovative in the scene, Reutoff wouldn’t be my pick either. But if you were to ask me about the musician who combines experimental with so-called “catchiness” the most effectively, well, I’d have to think about mentioning this Russian duo.
They’ve been active for about 18 years, releasing a variety of materials, also in collaboration with other artists in their famous Kreuzung series: a collection of names such as Deutsch Nepal, Troum or Der Blutharsch. “No One’s Lullabies” was originally released on tape, thanks to the Sea State label from Leipzig. Zhelezobeton gives us an extended edition on CD, with five additional tracks and a cover image painted by Fabrice Billard, the owner of the Divine Comedy label.
For many years Reutoff’s line of work and constructing additional sound structures has more or less been the same. They take a nicely crafted industrial background, a mid-tempo rhythm theme, often looped and encrusted with other trinkets and little diamonds, so that most of the tracks possess a slowly yet nicely building tension that leads to a culmination, abundant in sounds and atmospheres. Not all of the tracks though: Reutoff is not a project that always chooses the easy and proven ways – check this splendid dark ambient of a non-obvious feeling in “Nameless Tune With No Fate”.
This is also one of Reutoff’s huge advantages. That you can’t describe their atmosphere in one or two words. You need to build the whole story in your mind, different for each track. It may be dystopian sci-fi straight from Orwell or Bradbury novels; a dark yet epic, sometimes even strangely romantic story, similar to, say, “Blade Runner”. After all, titles like “New World Disorder” or “Requiem for Android” cannot be a coincidence. On the other hand in some track you may notice a somehow optimistic… no, not a good word – a note that breathes with hope. Saying that not everything is lost, that there are still new and mysterious worlds to explore even though our planet is lost.
I feel this modern sci-fi element is pretty solid in Reutoff’s works, which is even more interesting considering the fact that when it comes to technical matters a strong analogue vibe emanates over the whole of “No One’s Lullabies”. This is specific for many post-industrial artists coming from Russia, that while they’re faithful to classic samplers and synths, they’re able to achieve such a fresh effect. Reutoff, Cyclotimia, Sal Solaris, some Cisfinitum efforts. This offering is no different, and once again provides us with a certificate of the uniqueness of the Russian post-industrial scene." [Stark/Santa Sangre mag]
|
2015 |
€13.00 |
|
| REUTOFF & DEUTSCH NEPAL |
Eating the Dust |
CD |
"The Bubblegum Industrial Revolution continues at Entartete Musikk with a co-operational album featuring the legendary Reutoff and Deutsch Nepal. The music have been under construction for 10 years so expect a real longtime refined product with a taste of methanol. The sound spectrum spans from Electronic Orgone Accumulation in the deep underworld, over softly cuddeling ambientpieces to Apocalyptic Rythmic Wardance ... million of years passing and the crowd is crying blood. White horses playing ping-pong with their golden feces...? Cosmic Metall of Alcohology twisting arms and legs round vibrating Monolits of sound... Who dares
to torture the three lipped man?
Reutoff feat. Deutsch Nepal - Eating the Dust is a bombastic expedition through rottening minds and haunted places. A marriage between beasts producing their bad seeds and poisoning our souls ...have a taste of it! Wo Wa, Arnold pR and Lina Baby Doll smashing their heads together to get their orgone accumulator started and when happening there's no return, your life will
feel like a waste of time. C'mon bring in the Night!"
released March 23, 2018
Music by Reutoff
Lyrics and vocals by Lina Baby Doll
Produced by Reutoff and Deutsch Nepal
deutschnepal.bandcamp.com/album/eating-the-dust |
2018 |
€13.00 |
|
| REUTOFF & SAL SOLARIS |
Eigengrau |
CD |
"Joint release by Russian post-industrial projects Reutoff and Sal Solaris. The working title of the record is «Beyond the principles» and refers to the psychoanalytic concept of inner human life guided by two principles; that of reality and pleasure. The sober, cold cosmic ambient of Sal Solaris expresses the principle of reality that restrains the drive of our wild souls while the emotionally rich and turmoiled post-industrial of Reutoff matches with the impetuosity of human desire. Does the domination of these principles mean that a human creature is crucified between the desire and impossibility of its realization? This album taken as a whole is a hypothesis, that there is a place where a person can be free from itself. With our eyes closed we behold the inner utterless "intrinsic grey", Eigengrau, that shines beyond any principles.
Edition of 500 copies in Foil Stamped 6 panel Digipack with 4x12" poster. 8 Tracks. 1:15:00" [label info]
www.cycliclaw.com
|
2014 |
€13.00 |
|
| REVENANT |
Zeltini |
CD |
"Maksims Shentelevs, Eamon Sprod, John Grzinich, Kaspars Kalninsh, Felicity Mangan
‘revenant’ is an ongoing project with open membership that focuses on site-specific acoustic actions. All sounds originate from materials found in-situ, and from interactions with the space itself.
There were some “dark” elements surrounding this session. It was mid-November in the Baltics which meant that it was cold, gray and the sun goes down early. By the time we entered the bunker and set up to record there was no natural light left to see. Trying to find a shared experience through improvisation among a group that is not familiar is hard enough, trying to do this in the dark in an unfamiliar place is even harder. Knowing we would be without visual and sometimes auditory communication because of the multiple spaces available I suggested to do a recording experiment, to each use our own equipment yet synchronize the timing at the start. If we were to get “lost” or immersed in our own experiences, it would be interesting to reassemble them later as a shared “fictional” space. This is indeed what we ended up with. Using only my ears and a headlamp to guide my way, I foraged through that unknown space collecting objects and playing them on the varied surfaces I discovered. I remember the old rags, the dust, broken pieces of concrete, pipes coming out of the ground and how I searched for ways to animate the space and instigate interactions with the others. Whether it was the quest for new objects or the need to stay warm I constantly moved around and even ended up outside toward the end. (John Grzinich)" [press release]
www.unfathomless.net
"An ongoing project with open membership, that is what Revenant is about. On their second (?) CD, we find John Grzinich again, but with four new members, Maksims Shentelevs, Eamon Sprod, Kaspars Kalninsh and Felicity Mangan. The five of them went to Zeltini, a former Soviet army base in Latvia and they looked for some stuff to create music with, as this is another angle of Revenant. Find material on the site, and play that as it were instruments, using the space as its concert space or studio. Again we are not told how this was recorded or edited, but for about fifty plus minutes we hear these five persons moving through the bunker space, toying around with the various objects they found in this space, like glass, stones and metal. This is done in a musical manner, through means of improvisation. Not a random scattering of debris, but listening and interacting with each other and creating music with non-musical objects. There are overtones to be found here, which are hard to place (wind? somebody blowing a pipe?), which add a nice textural tone to the proceedings. Maybe like the previous one, this is the natural element that is being used here. I am not entirely sure. The only reference I could think of is the recent work of Jeph Jerman - closely miked acoustic objects being played, but then in the large resonating bunker in Latvia. Not the most easy listening one around, but surely some great music has been captured here." [FdW/Vital Weekly]
|
2011 |
€14.00 |
|
| RHEIN_STROM (SIEFERT & RIEK) |
Von der Rheinquelle bis Hafen Karlsruhe |
CD |
How can we as humans in this day and age foster a relationship with the Rhine River, without lapsing back into modes of romanticism, when witnessing its remaining beauty in some rare places; without turning away in frustration and disillusionment, when confronted with the irreparable interventions it has undergone?
What is disclosed if we shift the focus from the dominant sense of vision to hearing?
Would you recognize the Rhine by its sound?
What other senses are helpful here?
Do I have enough senses at my command to answer this question?
Do I have to and can I develop further senses?
With these questions as a starting point Thomas M. Siefert and Lasse-Marc Riek have approached the Rhine acoustically and visually on various locations and seasons during the last seven years. This resulted in the close examination of the ambient sound, the soundscape and the “sound entity” of the Rhine.
The “Rhine-soundscape” does not only sound like flowing, gurgling or slowly bobbing water. The soundscape also includes animals and humans who live by the river, who move and rest there.
In addition to the sound of the present, also the sound of the past was sought out: a listening back to what has remained; a listening forward to what could come.
Siefert’s and Riek’s formal approach to the soundscapes demands from the artist to step back behind the recording. In the foreground of their artistic practice stands the unprocessed sound- and visual-recording of a specific situation.
Tracklist:
01 vorderrheinquelle (region)
02 rhein bei tschamut
03 rheinschlucht nähe versamer tobel
04 kanalrhein bei balzers
05 rheinbrech bodensee
06 stein am rhein
07 rheinfall bei schaffhausen
08 basel hafen (nähe wiesemündung)
09 petit camarque d´alsace
10 staustufe ottmarsheim
11 restrhein bei fessenheim
12 staustufe und schleusenanlage fessenheim
13 staustufe marckolsheim
14 ile de rhinau
15 staustufe rhinau
16 fähre kappel – rhinau
17 kanufahrt im naturschutzgebiet taubergiessen
18 ile de langgrund
19 staustufe strasbourg
20 staustufe gambsheim
21 karlsruhe hafen
21 Tracks (73′25″)
CD (500 copies)
www.gruenrekorder.de
|
2016 |
€13.00 |
|
| RHUCLE |
Beautiful Fragments |
mCD-R |
active for a couple of years only, tokyo-based rhucle has already an impressive body of work, mostly cassettes but also some cd-r's on labels such as white paddy mountain, assembly field or still*sleep. his tracks usually mix field recordings and long synthetic drones for a highly emotional result...
taalem.bandcamp.com/album/beautiful-fragments-alm-119
"And finally there is music by Rhucle, also from Japan, apparently Taalem’s heartland for this kind of
music. Here too I am introduced to his music, even when he had releases before on White Paddy
Mountain, Assembly Field and Still*Sleep. For his music he uses field recordings mixed with long
sustaining electronic washes of sound, or vice versa. Perhaps. I have no idea what comes first for him.
He plays here three long pieces with an average length of seven minutes. All three pieces are gentle
streams of sound. A guitar? Who knows? Maybe it is a guitar, sound effects, but for all I know an organ
and sound effects, or heavily processed field recordings being cooked up with some that are still fresh
and which simmer through the gentle flow of drones. This is quite easy listening, perhaps the easiest
of these four excursions into the world of ambient music." (FdW) |
2018 |
€5.00 |
|
| RICCI, MASSIMO |
Tracey Feels Worse |
CD |
Elevator Bath is honored to present the first ever release of sound work from famed music writer Massimo Ricci.
Known as an individualistic reviewer - or, as he puts it, a "composer using words as main instrument" - in the meantime Ricci keeps researching, dissecting and altering sounds, something he has been doing since the late 60s.
"Tracey Feels Worse" consists of a single 35-minute piece based on recordings made by the composer in 1984, which, over time, were radically rearranged and reformed. Now in its final state, the piece is a wholly abstract undertaking; ominous and deliciously inscrutable.
The work does not contain hidden meanings or esoteric implications, nor does it want to symbolize unprovable "truths." Ricci - an atheist lone wolf who despises the opportunistic traits of false spirituality - processed extremely simple sources to the point of near-unrecognizability, generating enigmatic spirals and indeterminate environments from what was originally born as mere parody.
The specific sounds and techniques employed remain mysterious, as neither samples nor loops were utilized. But this mystery is fitting for such a haunting, ephemeral piece of music - even if the sound is robust. Indeed, there is an almost physical presence to the ever-shifting elements at play here. The soundscape is in constant motion, yet the overall impression is of a kind of uneasy calm. Perhaps the piece's structure lends itself to a feeling of anxious serenity. The sounds unnerve while the methodology soothes.
The piece's palindromic construction recalls the ghosts of Victorian literature, doomed to repeat their movements in an endless cycle for all eternity. But ultimately, in Ricci’s words, "'Tracey Feels Worse' may be interpreted as a threnody for the risible irrationality of the human theories about creation and afterlife. Typically fabricated by minds anxious to satisfy the needs of the self, they’re pitifully inadequate for the egoless infinity of sound and silence.”
https://elevatorbath.bandcamp.com/album/tracey-feels-worse
|
2020 |
€13.00 |
|
| RIEK, LASSE-MARC |
Helgoland |
CD |
"A place can inspire us in many different ways. Whether it be painting, photography, poetry or sound, all of these outputs are driven by a desire to preserve the essence or spirit of the landscape that has touched us. Lasse-Marc Riek chose the medium of sound to demonstrate his love for the natural history of Helgoland, a small German archipelago in the North Sea. Over the course of two years, Riek gathered together a series of field recordings that move from the majestic to the intimate. The delicate sweep of sand particles caught in the breeze sits alongside the harsher sounds of a passing storm battering the land with an unrelenting force. Some recordings demonstrate the overwhelming presence of seabird colonies, alive with the vocalisations of Black-legged Kittiwakes, Common Guillemots and Northern Gannets. This all-encompassing cacophony of growls, cackles and screeching calls creates an evocative and imposing sound picture, yet other recordings allow us to experience each of these species at closer quarters. We are able to listen in on the conversations of Black-legged Kittiwake and Northern Gannet families and experience the harsh cries of Arctic Terns calling to each other over the sound of crashing waves. One of the most moving recordings captures guillemot chicks taking to the water for the first time. The parent birds can be heard calling to their young, encouraging them to take that all important leap. The incessant, high-pitched calls of the chicks are occasionally accompanied by rapid fluttering and a gentle splash, signifying the successful jump of a chick onto the water. Birds are not the only inhabitants of Helgoland though, and several tracks are dedicated to the mournful wails of the Grey Seal. The calls are almost human like, especially those of the pups, and it comes as no surprise that these sorrowful sounds have links with ancient legends of mystical people found along the shoreline. The final recording in the series features the sound of a plane starting its engine and then taking to the sky, leaving behind nothing but the rhythmic breaths of a Grey Seal bull asleep among the dunes. Humans are not necessary here. Though they may inhabit the islands, the land is not really theirs. The land belongs to nature. Long may that continue." [Cheryl Tipp / Curator, Wildlife Sounds, The British Library, England]
www.gruenrekorder.de
|
2013 |
€14.00 |
|
| RIEMAN, ERIC GLICK / LESLI DALABA / STUART DEMPSTER |
Lung Tree |
CD |
ERIC GLICK RIEMAN: Piano & Synthesizer, LESLI DALABA: Trompete, STUART DEMPSTER: Trombone, Didjeridoo, etc..
9 Stücke fein gesponnene Instrumental- & Geräusch-Improvisationen, eher zurückhaltend und mit Gespür für Mikro-Details, manchmal fast meditativ...
“This is one of those recordings that arrived unannounced in the mail. I knew Lesli Dalaba, of course, but the others were new to me. The project is Eric Glick Rieman's and I found it immediately intriguing. There seemed to be something quite subtle going on; minimal, microtonal, economical and eccentric; it plays subtly with timbre, pitch and structure and never quite does what you expect. At first blush it seemed as it would be another interesting but conventional improvising trio, but after a few minutes the organising intelligence, and the clear compositional discipline became clear. And after this, throughout the CD, it sticks to the point. This is a deep investigation of a very few simple principles. Acoustic instruments rub ambiguously up against electrified objects and electronics, but these in the main provide atmosphere and harmonic complexity, never overpowering the mingling air-columns on which the wave of this CD floats. Attachments, modifiers, objects all make an appearance, but the topic is the small, the tenuous - and the tenacious - above all, breath.” [ReR]
|
2006 |
€14.00 |
|
| RIPARBELLI, PIETRO / K11 |
Three Days of Silence. The Mountain of the Stigmata |
CD |
" “Three days of silence” is conceived as complete phenomenological experience of listening. I have been three days within the Sanctuary of La Verna on the top of a mountain called “the mountain of the Stigmata” in Tuscany. I’ve lived together with the monks recording and attending the ceremonies and the sounds of the place trying to penetrate in a dimension of pure contemplation.
La Verna, in Latin Alvernia and geographically known as Monte Penna, is a locality on Mount Penna, an isolated mountain of 1,283 m situated in the centre of the Tuscan Apennines. The place is known especially for its association with Saint Francis of Assisi (he is said to have received the stigmata here) and for the Sanctuary of La Verna, which grew up in his honour.
Count Orlando of Chiusi gave La Verna to Francis on May 8, 1213 as a retreat specially favourable for contemplation, and in 1218 built him the chapel Santa Maria degli Angeli. In August, 1224, frustrated by the changes in the Order of Friars Minor, Francis withdrew to La Verna to keep a forty days fast in preparation for Michaelmas and while praying on the mountain- side he received (on or about 17 September) the stigmata.
After seeing a vision of a seraphim he began to develop nails of hardened flesh which protruded from his hands and feet. He also began to form a wound in his side like that of Christ. Thus La Verna came to be seen as sacred ground. Pope Alexander IV took it under his protection.
In 1260 a church was consecrated there in presence of St. Bonaventure and several bishops. A few years later the Chapel of the Stigmata was erected, paid for by Count Simone of Battifole, near the spot where the miracle took place. The Chiesa Maggiore was begun in 1348, although not finished until 1459." [label info]
www.gruenrekorder.de
"When buried with a lot of releases to review for Vital Weekly, I sometimes wish to retreat to a monastery and not be interrupted by such mundane things as e-mail, telephone, shopping and just blend in with the tranquility of monastery life. Pietro Riparbelli did visit a sanctuary, Sanctuary of La Verna on top of a mountain in Tuscany, where Saint Francis of Assisi supposed to have gotten his stigmata and recorded life over there during three days. Here he has six pieces, three of them I believe are pure field recordings and three are compositions he created out of these basic sounds. Not that is easy to tell the difference, certainly if you don't play close attention to when the track ends and moves to the next. For the busy western man, non believer at that, perhaps the closest I can get to monstary life, I guess. Riparbelli captured the sounds and the atmospheres of the sanctuary pretty well - the overall idea of this release is 'silence' without being silent. The large empty spaces with a minimum of sound information, the garden and rain in it, the vaguely humming of what could be the church organ, its all there. Music that slowly unfolds and that could invoke a religious experience (government health warning not included here). In the 'Third Day' piece we have the most musical experience, with crackles and what seems to be some sort of stringed instrument, but for all I know it could be the repeated sound of the bucket in the well to get water. A very contemplative release altogether. Excellent soundscaping." [FdW/Vital Weekly]
|
2012 |
€15.00 |
|
| RIVET, JEAN-MICHEL |
A fleur de quai |
CD |
"This record gathers a selection of recent compositions from this french electroacoustic composer. His work follows the path of french pioneers of 'musique concrète' with an emphasis on the intrinsic beauty of captured sounds and poetic compositions that let your imagination go - very far from standardazed today production from well-established studios in France or in Canada.
Each track focuses on one sound source from daily life (trains, a demonstration, a voice, ...) and tells a story that each one can built for himself - therefore, we can speak of a true cinema for the ear.
JM Rivet is a Bordeaux-based composer of electro-acoustic music who studied composition at GMEB in the late 70's and has completed a training course at Xenakis' Cenamu in 82. He works today as research professor in digital studio practice and sound recording. He has been composing music since 30 years, mainly for theatre but also for radio and exhibition." [label info]
www.sonoris.org
|
2009 |
€12.00 |
|
| 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 |
Views |
CD |
Dronig-verwirrende Soundscapes, konkrete Geräusch-improvisationen, feedbackende Kakophonien... Material von 2003, das RLW eher von der verspielt-improvisatorischen Seite zeigt..
"In the 25th year of Ralf Wehowsky's recording career, Anomalous Records presents his first truly solo release featuring four new compositions based on instrumental improvisations. Using simple devices (tone-generators, percussion toys, music boxes, an electric toothbrush and an electric guitar) played in unusual ways, he builds up layers of each sound to create a suite of textural pieces. Each of the four tracks takes on an identity unique from the others, as the first three each focus on one of the sound sources while the last combines elements from the previous three to make something else. The disc opens with a 20-minute piece of mysterious and drifting electronic tones. Other tracks highlight very tactile sounds and bring a much more 'live' element to his work, while retaining his skillful use of dynamics and placement of silence which have gained him so many fans. Previous releases by RLW have seen him collaborate with such diverse artists as Achim Wollscheid, Bernhard Günter, Andrew Chalk, David Grubbs, Jim O'Rourke, Kevin Drumm, and Bruce Russell. He is the founder of the now defunct group P16.D4 and the label Selektion."
[label info]
www.pogus.com/anomalous
“There was a time when RLW, which stands for Ralf Wehowsky, was a buzz name. From his previous band P16.D4, he developes since the mid nineties a strong solo career aswell as many collaborations with people like Jim O'Rourke, Kevin Drumm, Bernard Gunter,
Duimelinks/Meelkop. But in more recent years his release schedule was less hectic and now we have 'Views'. Everything on this CD is made by RLW with no input from anybody else. His source material includes tone-generators, music boxes, toys, electric guitar and toothbrush. Each of the four pieces here consist of RLW improvising three or four times his sounds on to the computer, and creating a mix afterwards. In the opening piece, '#1' he only uses tone generators, by which he creates quite densely layered patterns, that come in quite a chaotic way at one point - unlike much other RLW material. In '#2' he uses the Orff instrumentarium (percussive instruments for children), which he jams around and this is much more his territory: carefully hoovering on the edge of silence. Something similar goes in '#3', but here it deals with the hallucinating simplicity of music boxes. These two quieter pieces are the total contrast of '#4', which uses various feedback recordings of the two previous tracks and some added guitar sounds - a fiery noise piece, which is again an unlike RLW piece. Quite a strong CD, with some surprises for the RLW devotee. Moving inside aswell as outside of his usual music, this is quite a step forward. [FdW, Vital weekly]
|
2004 |
€12.00 |
|
|
An Archivist's Nightmare |
CD |
Die Beta-Lactam "Black Series" prüft (überschreitet?) weiter die Grenzen des Alltäglichen, mit dieser CD von RLW (oder sollte man eher sagen: mit diesem im CD-Player installiertem Happening?). RLW liest (mit extra-starkem "german accent" wie es scheint) die Titel der letzten Tonträger die er bekam vor, (s)ein Kind versucht dies (manchmal) zu imitieren, das ganze lief 2003 als Radio-Feature für Radio Resonance London... 60 Minuten lang....ja, genau, das wars! Den Effekt des ganzen kann mich nicht beschreiben, den muss man erleben!! Nummer 2 in der neuen BLACK SERIES (schwarze edle Klappcover) von Beta-Lactam!
"Black Series 2 - Ed. of 300 numbered and signed copies by RLW (P16.D4). RLW moves in to the world of sound art with his piece "The Archivist's Nightmare". "RLW: An archivist´s nightmare The nightmare has been produced as a sound feature for radio resonance, London, in mid 2003 and was “aired” on internet October 3rd 2003. It is dedicated to Benjamin Green and would not have been possible without the help of Dorothea, Soeren, and Sonja. Index points are set for your pleasure. The feature itself embraces the whole CD. Total Time: 60:00 Some notes: "...i will read the titles of the last records i got (i guess about 1000 should fit into one hour). selected, insofar as i'll leave out those i found not worth listening to anyway. no criteria of order otherwise (therefore the title). ... imagine a future archivist interested in experimental/avantgarde/underground - however you will call it - sounds of the past 21st and 20th century, trying to find a path..." rlw, april 2003 “in an earlier mail i told you i would like to add some pieces of mine to the feature. Meanwhile i think this only would distract the listener´s attention from the reading. Instead i will additionally read parts of my letters to you and include these recordings in the feature. this additional level of self-reflection will also be of use as an structural element. “ rlw, may 2003 “sounds fucking great.. and i can sense an opening of possibilities… working with children is something I would be interested in doing, with some kind of structured improvisation/game pieces… strange… i keep getting a very high pitch sound in one ear when I type loudly, which reminds me of yr piece.” ben green, may 2003 “thanks for the radio feature. it´s really great. the funniest thing i´ve heard in a long while. it´ s a weird thing, initially i thought these were the records that would get played later, and then i started thinking like ´got that one, heard that name before, did the cover for that one, dunno this`.” jos moers, june 2003" [label website info]
www.blrrecords.com
|
2007 |
€16.00 |
|
|
Fall Seliger Geister |
CD |
"We are proud to present the stunning new album by Ralf Wehowsky. He is currently one of the most respected electronic composers of our day. Ghostly creaking sounds mix with highly complex electro-acoustic and electronic sounds. This description may sound familiar, but no sound is what it seems and rlw always manages to stay far ahead of his contemporaries. His music is impossible to pigeonhole into one simple bracket. It is neither industrial or musique concrete, nor computer music nor improvisation. In fact it could be all of these. A rewarding release that will still sound fresh and relevant in years to come.
Ralf Wehowsky was one of the founder members of the seminal German group P16.D4 and the label Selektion whose ground breaking releases influenced many working in today's experimental music scene. Previous releases have seen him collaborate with such well known and diverse artists such as Merzbow, Bernard Gunter, Jim O'Rourke, Achim Wollscheid and Lionel Marchetti.
Ltd to 500 copies, the CD comes packaged in a Japanese mini LP style sleeve with textured reverse board printing and black inner sleeve." [label info]
www.dirter.co.uk
"Oddly enough, the latest RLW CD is on Dirter but co-released by Black Rose Recordings, which happens to be the Contrastate label, but they aren't co-releasing their own release. For a moment I thought that things might have slowed down for RLW, but a quick look on discogs proved me wrong: Ralf Wehowsky is as active as always. Following that great P16.D4 set I hoped I could find time to play some of the RLW stuff again, which I collected, but sadly this has to wait. But of course then there is this new one. I am not sure if I would regard myself an expert on the work of RLW (or in fact of someone else for that matter), even when I heard a lot of his music. For starters, it's not easy to define his music. It's a lot of a lot of things. RLW gathers his sounds somewhere inside and outside the house, playing instruments like cello or trombone (at least that's what I think), children playing outside and taping sounds in the kitchen. All of that is brought into the computer and treated in
some way, and then it reaches it's final composed state. So RLW's music could be called electro-acoustic, musique concrete, improvised and/or field recordings, yet it's never exclusively one of these, but rather a curious mixture of all of these. The improvised element, in case you wonder, is made up using extensive blocks of sound from instrumental passages, like said celli, trombone or thumb piano. Here it seems as if RLW recorded a whole bunch of those and then in the process of mixing decided which parts he really needed. By adding all the other sounds and the close mixing of the total amount of music, he creates some excellent dense soundscapes. Dense and moody, in fact, as the overall tone seems a bit darker than before. Excellent release indeed. Damn, I wish I had more time to go back to his older work." [FdW/Vital Weekly]
|
2013 |
€13.00 |
|
| |
Satanic Inventions |
CD |
!!! Limited to 200 copies only !!! 51+ min. playtime
October 2022 PRESS RELEASE
Artist: rlw (Ralf Wehowsky)
Title: Satanic Inventions
Track Titles:
1. Early Symptoms
2. Normality, Lost # 1
3. Overworn With Watching # 1
4. Fever Glazed Thine Ears # 1
5. Fever Glazed Thine Ears # 2
6. Normality, Lost # 2
7. Fever Glazed Thine Ears # 3
8. Overworn With Watching # 2
9. Normality, Lost # 3
10. Overworn With Watching # 3
11. Overworn With Watching # 4
12. Normality, Lost # 4
13. Fever Glazed Thine Ears # 4
14. Overworn With Watching # 5
15. Out Of Joint
Format: CD
Cat no: BRCD 22-1021
Release Date: October 2022
Black Rose Recordings are proud to present the stunning new solo release by Ralf Wehowsky. He is currently one of the most respected electronic composers of our day. With this release his starting point is the comparison of the black plague and covid-19 as there are some astonishing similarities of how people dealt with the diseases. Denial of reality, conspiracy theories, searching for scapegoats, etc: Surely satanic inventions are the source of all calamities? Extracts from documentary recordings and a few fragments of ars nova/subtilior compositions have been transformed, extended, fragmented and re-contextualised, from which the 15 pieces of this release are built.
Ralf Wehowsky was one of the founder members of the seminal German group P16.D4 and the label Selektion whose ground-breaking releases influenced many working in today’s experimental music scene. Previous releases have seen him collaborate with such well known and diverse artists such as Merzbow, Bernhard Guenter, Jim O’Rourke, Achim Wollscheid and Lionel Marchetti. His music is impossible to pigeonhole into one simple bracket. It is neither industrial or musique concrete, nor computer music nor improvisation.
“RLW's work moves on the edge of musique concrete, but never looses it's touch with industrial music on the one hand and with microsound on the other. But it defies these categories and can perhaps only be classified as RLWmusic. Great work!” – [Vital 584, The Netherlands]
“…truly outstanding” – [www.chaindlk.com]
"There have been many documentations on differences and similarities of the pandemics, which plagued mankind over the last centuries and millennia. Comparing the black plague and covid-19 there are - besides the obvious differences (more victims in absolute numbers
because of increasing overpopulation, decreasing number of victims in relative numbers because of the evolution of scientific knowledge) - astonishing similarities how people dealt with the diseases. Denial of reality, conspiracy theories, searching for scapegoats: Surely satanic inventions, spread by elites, papists, jews, communists, etc, are the source of all calamities? Human stupidity never should be underestimated. For tunately, history teaches that the misery ends
someday, even if the pandemic meets with war, famine etc. Amidst similarities new powers do grow. In the late 14th century ars subtilior must be pointed out. Liberation from religious themes, breaking open
rhythm, introducing bizarre chromatic passages, odd dissonances, etc.
Therefore, it seemed natural to combine documentations of actual madness with songs from that past. Some short extracts from documentary recordings and a few fragments of ars nova/subtilior compositions have been transfor med, extended, fragmented and recontextualised, from which the 15 pieces of this release are built.
Recorded from April 2021 to March 2022, Eggenstein, Germany" [liner notes]
"Seeing such a political statement on an RLW CD is something I don't recall seeing before. It is about the pandemic and the conspiracy theories that spawned, which I (too) believe is the true disease of our times. "I can read", usually means, "I like to cherry-pick popular notions", and "science is an opinion" is usually said by someone who has no clue as to what science is. Or, as I challenged someone: "How do you prove that all swans are white" to which I got the answer ", by killing all black ones", which seemed proof that not all swans are white. RLW says that all misery end one day, and something will grow. In the 14th century, Ars subtiloir (subtler art) became a musical style. It was rhythmic and notional, more complex. The end of the plague (well..) ended in something new. RLW uses music recordings from that time and short extracts from documentary recordings. Not that you easily recognize any of this in the fifteen pieces of music. Sure, some of this finds origins in voice material, and a word here or there is recognized, but who or what remains a mystery. The abstraction level is very high, as with much of RLW's music. He applies a collage-like approach to his music. A surprising element is the use of turntable/vinyl, which I haven't heard from him in some time. RLW's music is of a different complexity than the original Ars subtiloir, so I assume (not being an expert here), that he applies his musique concrète techniques to the music. Editing, stretching, granular synthesis and whatever else there is are as strong as any other RLW record. One thought I had with hearing these voices bending and twisting; maybe they sound like shapeshifting alien reptiles? Having read most of David Icke's books (to be found in a folder on my hard drive labelled 'humour'), there must be a place here for the sounds of reptiles. Throughout, there is some excellent, imaginative music here. I would say that even without the backstory, this is still a great release; it can be enjoyed equally."[FdW/Vital Weekly]
|
2022 |
€13.00 |
|
| RLW & DAS SYNTHETISCHE MISCHGEWEBE |
Die Eisenbüglerin |
do-CD |
"The idea for this project was in the air since the late 1980´s. There was an intense, though short-lived, (snail) mail contact between DSM and P16.D4, RLW´s group in those days, which fell into sleep for reasons unknown today.
20 years later the contact lived up again. After getting themselves informed about the actual respective state of work, methods and techniques and sounds, the recordings for the project started.
RLW cd: The basic recordings were done by rlw from early to mid 2009, sound sources are instrumental (piano, trombone) and household objects. First detailed sketches of the compositions (autumn 2009) include heavily treated versions of these recordings, cross-modulations with sounds supplied by DSM and with DSM-variations of the RLW sounds sent to Caen. Fine-tuning of the compositions took until fall 2010.
DSM cd: With very few exceptions I used only the original sound recordings of RLW, discarding most of his own processing that he provided me with as I wished for treatments only what would be conceived to be already into the realm of the compositional strategies I fancied for these works. So up to which degree a processing of a sound turns it into an autonomous new one is a question without answer. In consequence resulted a collaboration starting with extremely few basic recordings. However as they had been particularly distinctive by their material character as well as the audible space of the recordings and the variation of their physical intensity as they all resulted from manual efforts they provided me with what was needed. Besides dynamical treatments and cleaning up, my sound processing is not only mostly analogue or equivalent too, but mostly even mechanic. Playing back recordings through 'no-fi equipment' and recording them again, while manipulating mechanically reproduction and recording devices is what I employ most." [label info]
www.aufabwegen.com
"Now here's two guys whose history goes back at least thirty years. Both from Germany and both from the world of cassettes and industrial music, but both having grown into something else, the world of academic music, musique concrete. Ralf Wehowsky was the main man behind P16.D4, but left that name behind to become RLW, while Guido Hubner always remained Das Synthetische Mischgewebe. Especially that is perhaps a bit odd. Hubner's work is more than Wehowsky's connected to the world of serious composing, yet he maintains his old 'band' name. Both of these men also know each other for a long period and there has always been talk of doing something together, so after much discussion, this double CD 'Die Eisenbuglerin' is the result of an extensive 'music by mail' collaboration. They both use conceptual angles to work from. 'Ah, DSM is always very fragmented, maybe I should work opposite', 'let's use mainly analogue, mechanical techniques to transform this material'. Also in the final execution the results are not widely apart, which is fine. It would be hard to say whose CD is who, if you didn't look at the label. Lots of microscopic detailed sounds - sometimes isolated, sometimes like mass - are the very foundation of this music. A fascinating ride, this is. Some close to fifty minutes by RLW and close to sixty by DSM. As said differences are in the details with this. Maybe DSM is at times a bit more fragmented and RLW a bit more 'full' at times. None of the sound sources mentioned on the cover (piano, trombone by RLW) can be easily traced, if at all, in these pieces. Excellent electro-acoustic music in the best tradition of both microsound and serious academia." [FdW/Vital Weekly]
|
2012 |
€17.50 |
|
| RLW + SRMEIXNER |
Just like a Flower when Winter begins |
CD |
"Recorded by RLW (Ralf Wehowsky of P16.D4) and srmeixner (Stephen Meixner of Contrastate) between 2010 and 2013. The first emanation of the project came up with two versions of one mutual piece (Sunglasses by rlw, Wishing by srm). The core structural elements of the release can be seen in srm's meditation on sentiment (old hearts) and rlw's textased pieces (Prach-tjunge, Alle, Definition). More instrumentally based are Gummidorf (srm) and Spaßbremse rlw). Beyond this a signment both artists have touched all pieces in various ways, as indicated indirectly by the following pandects & interpolations: RLW (Dec 2010) 'Some weeks ago I did a horrible dj-set for a 75th birthday celebration, including Heino and other German schlager cruelties. it was so terrible ! maybe I'll go back to the pieces i used for this event some day. This stuff is awful enough to make another use of it. SRM (Jan 2011): I have been thinking about your description of German schlager cruelties and how horrible it was and awful enough to do something with. Maybe there is a possible project there?" [label info]
www.monotyperecords.com
" "Wie eine Blume am Winterbeginn / Und so wie ein Feuer im eisigen Wind / Wie eine Puppe, die keiner mehr mag /Fühl ich mich an manchem Tag" (meaning "Just like a flower when winter begins / And just like a fire in an icy wind / Just like a doll that nobody wants anymore / That's how I feel on some days"), said the first strophe of the song "Ein bisschen Frieden" ("A little bit of Peace") by which Nicole Seibert, better known as Nicole, won Eurovision Song Contest 1982, rised UK single chart up and became quite famous due to a number of translated versions. This buttery and somewhat controversial (just check lyrics) song became the emblem and the title of this lampoon of pop hit songs - mainly German schlager, but there are also quotes and samples from other traditions together with some German musical atrocities which could have been exported by immigrants, such as the sample of Italian song "Mamma" by Claudio Villa in the disturbingly funny "Old Hearts Rejuvenated" - by Ralf Wehowsky aka RLW, member of the forerunning collective P16.D4, and Stephen "srmeixner" Meixner of Contrastate. Their humorous collage which turned a set of samples from a number of gutted pop hits, plunderphonics, industrial-like sonorities, electroacoustics and vocals which sound like radiophonic captions into a sort of creepy show, whose core elements are srm's meditiation on sentiment ("Old Hearts Rejuvenated"), which are somehow closer to his "permutative distorsions", and rlw's textual pieces ("Definition (Konsumation)", the disquieting swarm of "Alle (Everyone)" - it's really funny the list of names of German pop stars, where the female speaker turns into a devilish one -, the initial "Blumen fur den Prachtjungen") as well as some instrumental forays ("Gummidorf", "Spassbremse") or post-industrial unnerving activated sludges ("Wishing To Be Entartained", "The Man with the Sunglasses"). I could imagine that what you're going to listen on "Just Like A Flower When Winter Begins" if you woefully end up in a German schlager with drunken cockscomb, nazi loggers, twinkly blond milks and a lot of cholesterol while you were searching for a loo in order to sober up after a pitiless barman put an acid pill into your glass of milk." [CHAIN D.L.K.)
|
2013 |
€13.00 |
|
| RLW / PAAK |
Klingelbeutel |
LP |
"After RLW (Ralf Wehowsky) and PAAK (Peter Kastner) worked (together with Ine Ophof and Jan van Wissen) on the theme 'food' (see CD on Hinterzimmer Records) they both come now to the next basic theme, the religious mania. Basic material for the pieces 'pay the prayer' (RLW) and 'opium 1 - 4' (PAAK) were recordings of prayers and other christian propaganda from TV and records. The vinyl-record is limited to 154 pieces and comes with 3 inserts, one of them is a signed stamp print for enlightment and accompaning during listening to the record each is printed on one page of a catholic prayer - and songbook). There's no business like holy business. PLAY IT LOUD." [label info]
|
2012 |
€17.50 |
|
| ROBERT, JOCELYN |
Monsonics |
LP |
"Monsonics was done in two steps, both for the Citysonics Festival in Mons, Belgium, in June 2009. Two of the pieces - "L'air circulaire" and "L'abbatoir des Droits de l'Homme" - were first composed as soundwalks. I first went to Mons to choose interesting paths, then made the works to fit to them. For the festival, one could borrow maps and mp3 players from the organization, or one could download the soundtracks and a map from the website of the festival and live the experience on site. The pieces that appear on the LP are sligthly reworked versions. The two "La Chapelle des FUCAM" pieces are performance works made for the Festival. They are numbered 1 & 3: there were other versions, but these two seemed to fit better with the other pieces on the LP. There are no overdubs: they were made live using software developed at Avatar, Quebec city. The software can be downloaded for free at www.avatarquebec.org/ohm/index.php?page=logiciel&id=1 - Jocelyn Robert
Jocelyn Robert lives in Québec, Canada. He works in audio art, performance art, installation, video and writing. He did many performances, solo or with Diane Landry, Laetitia Sonami and Bruit TTV. He published about fifteen CDs, and participed in over twenty others. He was awarded First Prize, Image category, at the Berlin Transmediale in 2002, and the Prix du Rayonnement International from the Conseil de la Culture de Québec in 2006. He had numerous solo shows, and also teamed up with Emile Morin and Daniel Jolliffe for many installations. His work has been shown in Canada, United States, Mexico, Chile, Australia, and in Europe. His texts have been published by Le Quartanier (Montréal), Ohm Éditions (Québec), Errant Bodies Press (Los Angeles/Berlin), Semiotext(e) (New York), and in many catalogues, notably from Ars Electronica (Austria) and Sonambiante (Germany). In 1993, he founded the art centre Avatar, in Québec City. He currently teaches at l'École des arts visuels de l'Université Laval, Québec." [label info]
www.hronir.de
|
2010 |
€18.00 |
|
| ROCCHETTI, CLAUDIO |
Another piece of teenage wildlife |
CD |
"Taking plaintive tones of drone music and early electronic and tape experiments, 3-4hadbeeneliminated former member Claudio Rocchetti has absolutely defined a sound, building a subtle, majestic landscape. Using a wide variety of instruments (synth, tone generators, organs, guitar, tape machines) he creates an absorbing sound that is mainly layers of loopsfading in and over each other, ethereal vocals, repetition, melody, noise. An emotional resonance with a tinge of melancholia that permeates every." [label info]
"... Rocchetti's solo music is less complex than the band, more intimate, more drone like but likewise beautiful. His guitar playing sounds like Ambarchi versus Ielasi, while his ominous drone music is more like Mirror or Monos. Nice intimate improvisation/drone music." [FdW / Vital Weekly]
www.die-schachtel.com
|
2008 |
€14.00 |
|
| |
Every Live is a Problem solving |
CD |
"A suggestive gallery of abstract images, confused fragments of life and real living experiences, sights of urban landscapes... Noisy and electronic interferences, mechanical machines movements, concrete noises, low frequences fluxes, hissing sounds, interferences, but also melodic acoustic guitar pieces, human voices and other field recordings... A brave, uncompromising and heterogeneous "decomposed" mosaic of avantgarde sound art beyond time, beyond any point of view and any geometric coordinates." [label info]
www.silentes.net
"The final new release on Silentes is by Claudio Rocchetti, whose name I spelled wrong before, but who is also a member of 3/4Hadbeeneliminated and as such someone I like. He had various solo releases (see Vital 474, 624 and 629), which hovered on all the edges of music: very quiet, very loud, using a variety of sound sources: cassettes, turntables, objects and sound effects. I am not sure why Rocchetti choose to release a live album, which is, effectively, one unreleased piece, and three that have been released before. So the unreleased one is from 2010, the others from 2006 (1) and 2008 (2). It shows, and that is great, the development of Rocchetti: the Brussels concert is quite a careful outing for electronics, low end sound, maybe even something that sounds like a guitar. Occasionally bursting out into a more noise oriented direction. An excellent piece. The 'Berlin 2006' is an early blast of noise, whereas the two 2008 pieces are more raw shaped drone excursions, which already hint to the 2010 style, but isn't quite there yet. These are however fine pieces too. I think they were released on cassette before, so its good to have these in CD quality. Delicate music needs a better medium!" [FdW/Vital Weekly]
|
2011 |
€12.00 |
|
| ROCHE, JEAN C. |
Birds of Venezuela |
LP |
Among many of his amazing records I came across Jean C. Roché's Birds of Venezuela, beautifully produced LPs of birdsong. I began to plan a trip to Amazonas, to record the unearthly song of potoos and Yanomami shamanism. (David Toop)
The bird on the cover. The potoo, this metal-looking bird is one of the sonorous curiosities of this mad nature, the sound that he produces essentially is a death song that David Toop listen, in his 1978 expedition, but was unable to record. Amazement playing its role.
The bird songs which i had recorded in the West Indies in 1969 made me inclined to find out more about those of the nearby South American continent, and convinced me, moreover, that musically speaking, they possessed an unquestionable originality in comparison with those of Africa and Europa. I therefore decided to carry out a series of orthonological trips on this continent, starting with the North: Venezuela, and so, with this in mind, i disembarked at Caracas on 27th May 1972. The unusual musical volume of this tropical country made its impact on my arrival in town, where the unbearably shrill chirping of the cicadas overwhelmed me each time I passed under a tree. At night fall, around even the meanest of ditches filled by the daily rain, myriads of toads and frogs struck up a concert, which, through its sheer intensity, muffled all other surrounding noises. When I penetrated the forest, I could hear bird species literally by the dozen and individuals by the hundred, all calling and singing together at dawn and at dusk... (Jean C. Roché)
|
2018 |
€15.00 |
|
| ROIGK, STEFAN |
De-Composed |
BOOK + 2 x CD |
„de—COMPOSED“ — New artist's book by Berlin-based sound artist Stefan Roigk. The catalog documents acousmatic compositions, sound installations, musical graphics and text-sound compositions of the years 2005 to 2023 on 144 pages and 2 Audio-CDs.
A complex assemblage, composed of documentation photos, texts and drawings, becomes an interlocking whole in its dynamic flows and fields and animates the paper as a vibrantly structured visual composition. A piece of music for the eyes, in which the boundaries between documentation, draft and work become blurred in a surreal mesh of the concrete and fictional. Here, the reader generates their own individual temporal axis based on their speed of observation and focus on the optical elements, thus becoming a mixing board for a composition realized as a catalogue.
Three text pieces give a deeper insight into Roigk's understanding of sound as material and the translation of sound events into other media.
As an equivalent to the visual approach of the catalog and in order to adequately convey the sonic dimension of the artistic work, (sound) fragments of all the works covered in the catalog were transferred into a dynamic collage-like arrangement with Roigk's typical aesthetics and are included with the catalog as an independent listening experience in the form of two audio CDs.
„Stefan Roigk, de—COMPOSED (Audio Extracts)“ is published in conjunction with the catalogue "Stefan Roigk, de—COMPOSED" / published 2023 by Errant Bodies Press, Berlin / ISBN 978-3-9823166-8-0 / for further information please visit : www.stefan-roigk.com / www.errantbodies.org / © 2023 Stefan Roigk + Errant Bodies Press / This Publication was supported by Stiftung Kunstfonds
https://stefanroigk.bandcamp.com/album/de-composed-audio-extracts
"In a plastic bag, we find the following: a softcover book, 21x26 centimetre, 144 pages, 2 A5 postcards and a double CD. All of this is by Stefan Roigk, a Berlin-based composer born in 1974. I mention that year because, much to my pleasant surprise, the first time his name popped up in Vital Weekly was in issue 109, which must have been around 1997, which started, also very funny, with "Can you believe that in today's digitalized world there are still existing people who start a cassette-label?" Over the years, I reviewed his various releases, and his language, German, is essential to him. However, unlike some of his previous works, these two CDs aren't all spoken word, which is excellent. More to enjoy if the language is a barrier. What I didn't know, or perhaps I wasn't as aware, is that Roigk is also a visual artist and that many of his music pieces come with installations, or vice versa. The book is a catalogue of these installation pieces, the oldest from around 2007. Even when these pages are stills and not the real thing (or, in the case of a DVD, a registration of the real thing), it gives an excellent overview of his work. Like his music, many installation pieces are also collages of everyday objects in a new context. Some pieces on these CDs have been released before, so one could say this is a greatest-hits package. The downside is that the order on the CD is different than in the book, so one goes back and forth, learning about the material used in these pieces. Roigk uses musique concrète techniques of superimposing elements, intricate cuts, montage and altering his sounds. Of course, over two hours of music
is quite a stretch, but sitting back with the catalogue certainly works very well. I took away from it that Roigk creates a very coherent body of work in which music, visuals and text play a homogenous role." [FdW / Vital Weekly]
|
2023 |
€28.00 |
|
| ROMULUS & REMUS |
Zalmosis |
10inch |
Collector’s item – trilogy part 2 ! Excellent tribal / ethno – percussive trance-pieces with edges on this sec. part of the trilogy, silkscreened / woodcut covers & inlays.
“Ed. of 111 numbered copies with a bonus coupon. Collect all 3 coupons and send them to R/R and receive a handmade object to hold all 3 releases. Audiophile vinyl packed in a tri-fold cover, signed and numbered. Part 3 of this trilogy will feature Markus Wolff (Crash Worship, Waldteufel). Romulus And Remus are no longer just for Rome. They have become modern dark facilitators for all. Where previously the whiley brothers paid homage to the moon goddess through last year's "Hekate" 10" (B-lRR mt039), they now make worshiping at the alter of the Death God easier and more affordable than ever. Rather than having to defer to the sticky mess of tossing some poor bloke on spear point to appease the ancient Thracian God-O-Death, Zalmosis, all you now need is a turntable and a copy of the new 10" and, by turns, the tides will be turned in your favour without the cleanup. While it certainly can be said that, like its predecessor "Hekate," "Zalmosis" has its bloody scythe lightly dipped in the halotosis of Muslimgauze, the unmistakable "Z" factor of this latest opus reeks of an absolutely distinct Romulus & Remus-ness. The hand percussion breaks are expertly woven into a sonic miasma that often sounds like the record player is on the fritz. Syrupy raga drones become beds for the rhythms to lie in and decay or sometimes be smashed to bits (and, yes, that scraping noise IS supposed to be there, you ninny). There may even be a little one-upmanship over the "Hekate" 10" because, after all, what is the moon goddess going to do in protest? Moon? Nonetheless, both 10"'s are beautifully rendered, extremely limited and indispensable companion pieces with a third on the way. Which is to say that your Zollection is not Zomplete without Zalmosis!” [press release]
|
2003 |
€22.00 |
|
| 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 |
|
| ROSENQVIST, DAG & RUTGER ZUYDERVELT |
Vintermusik |
CD |
"One album, seven tracks, two people. Who are they? Dag Rosenqvist is a Swedish musician releasing solo music under his own name/previously Jasper TX moniker, and Rutger Zuydervelt is prolific Dutch sound artist familiar to most as Machinefabriek, already known to Zoharum followers via ”Dubbeltjes” compilation of his rarities. And what is ”Vintermusik”? Actually, it is another rarity being reissued.
The tracks from this album date back to 2006 and are one of the early tracks commited by both Dag & Rutger. They did not meet at the time of the recordings, they used the Internet to exchange files. And so 50 minutes of music was created. It is contemplative music full of shimmering guitar drones, delicate piano melodies and bits of field recordings. They sound cold, yet warm at the same time. So the time for releasing this music is just right – it is a little bit of winter music for the end of the summer.
The original version ”Vintermusik” came out on a CDR limited to just 200 copies. Due to a popular demand we decided to re-release it. It has not dated in the least bit, it is as fresh as on the day of its release. As a special bonus, another rare gem was added, that is ”Feberdröm” coming from a 3” CDR. It gives you the full picture of those early ventures into duo collaboration between Dag and Rutger.
”Vintermusik” is released in a 3-panel ecopak in a strictly limited edition of 300 copies." [label info]
www.zoharum.com
"With some recognition (to avoid the word fame), Rutger Zuydervelt, also known as Machinefabriek, can always lean back and grab an oldie but goodie (and sold-out-ie) from the shelf and have it re-released. This is what happens here: The first six pieces were released in January 2007 on a CDR by the musicians themselves and probably didn't make it to these pages, and 'Feberdröm (Koortsdroom)' was released in December 2007 as a 3"CDR and reviewed in Vital Weekly 609. All of this now compiled on 'Vintermusik', a proper CD version of all the work by Dag Rosenqvist (sometimes also known as Jasper TX) and Rutger Zuydervelt. It's after all these years still not possible to tell who did what on these recordings, as for instruments and mixes that is. The original 3"CDR is placed at the end of this release back then I wrote: "... it's a great work. High static crackles, a mid-range bed of warm drones and a bass that rumbles somewhere below. Much along the recent works of Machinefabriek, and a sound that brought him his fame so far. Maybe there is a risk of repeating, but no doubt the fans will take that for granted. Nice one." The other five pieces follow a similar schematic, I think: lots of drone like sounds, generated by guitars and loop devices (and who knows what else from the electronics department) and all of this creating a solid hour of the finest dark ambient. Nothing new, but what did you expect from a re-issue? Fine quality, through out all of this." (FdW/Vital WEekly] |
2014 |
€12.00 |
|
| ROSS, DAVID & CLIVE BELL |
Recovery Suite |
LP |
"David Ross plays here a customized analog oscillator, baptized drosscillator. Among others, he has worked in the past with Evan Parker. He is also known as the drummer for the instrumental combo Kenny Process Team. He has previously released another critically acclaimed duo album with Clive Bell, 'Mystery Lights / Nightflower'.
Clive Bell studied the shakuhachi (Japanese flute) with Kohachiro Miyata in Tokyo. In 2005 he took part in the British Council Beijing project, Sound & The City, alongside Brian Eno, David Toop and Peter Cusack. He has played on numerous albums by Jah Wobble, plus records by a.o. Paul Schutze, Jeff Beck, Bill Laswell and David Sylvian.
This is their 2nd album on ini.itu, the first one being as members of Twinkle , with Richard Scott. The project for this LP started when David Ross suffered a back injury and had to lie in bed for several weeks, a time where one of the few instruments. Some sketches later gave the opportunity to further improvise and compose some tracks with Clive Bell. This unusual record will take you through some derouting mazes, evoking at times the perplexity and obfuscation of the experience of ill ness and slow, uncertain recovery. It's free music, but not in the free jazz way. Maybe it's dystopic lounge ambiance, with evanescent melodic lines on the shakuhachi and circular undertones. Sometimes bleak, brooding, fractured and gloomy; at other moments rather delicate, elaborate and lush. A nocturnal record, where melancholy and aching is slowly dissolved by a sprawling confidence, where mental landscapes are built on the contemplation of opioid numbness and extraction therefrom. File next to : Popol Vuh's Garten Pharaos, Cluster, Kosmische Musick in general, or Brian Eno & John Hassell 'Fourth world vol 1'. All clicks, pops and shuffles are intended. The LP was mastered by Taylor Deupree." [label info]
www.iniitu.net
|
2014 |
€15.00 |
|
| ROSS, LESLIE |
Drop By Drop, Suddenly |
do-CD |
"The first CD starts with the shortest seed pieces that play primarily with the timbral and microtonal differences highlighted between tone-holes, forming a layered, pseudo-multitrack effect while playing with only one fingering, single note or multiphonic. They range from the more strictly tonal or modal pitch-centered to the thicker atonal and dissonant collection of frequencies found in some multiphonics. Pieces progress to longer complex ones by the second CD, some of which have as minimal material as the shorter ones, but make more extensive use of live multitrack recordings and frequency filters to further bring out changes in frequencies or accentuate beatings inherent in specific multiphonics. The electronics used were created explicitly for each composition using the computer-based program MAX/MSP.
Save for the unconventional 15 microphones of the “prepared bassoon”, these recordings include pieces with no sound processing whatsoever, as well as pieces that do involve sound processing and multi-tracking. Importantly, however, any processing (timed entrances of microphones, overdubbing, looping, spectrum filtering, pitch shifting...) is made in real time, not post-recording. All recordings are single-take recordings where four speaker channels along with room microphones have been mixed down to stereo. Key clicks occasionally get picked up in a loop recording to return sometimes processed, sometimes not later; in circular breathing a multiphonic might drop out a moment before sounding again –what might sound like clicks or occasional drop outs on some of the recordings are not overlooked mastering faults but the result of this live processing and playing as would be experienced in performance.
With a formal background in classical music and early performance practice Leslie Ross took a plunge into the free improv scene of downtown NYC in the mid 80’s and has immersed herself in experimental music ever since. Her connected, parallel, work as baroque bassoon builder also opened up into explorations of invented instruments and sound installations at the same time. She has presented solo programs, both acoustic and electro-acoustic with laptops or electronics throughout Europe and the US over the past three decades. In the mid 2000’s she returned her music focus to a detailed exploration, analysis and understanding of bassoon multiphonics, the details of which she has made freely available on her website. It is through this exploration of multiphonics and the subtle changes made when playing with resonance keys that she was brought to the multiple-mic project of this CD." [label info]
https://xirecords.bandcamp.com/album/drop-by-drop-suddenly
"In my desperately insufficient erudition, the sum of “bassoon” and “woman” gave “Lindsay Cooper” as the most likely result until three days ago, when – while rummaging across the piles of promos received in 2018 – I retrieved this 2-CD set by Leslie Ross. Haven’t been listening to anything alternative since. More than the trademark biography-in-pills used by the official specialists to fill half of a writeup, let me urge you to check this article to understand the kind of creative individual we’re dealing with. An instrument builder, inventor and skilled player who lives surrounded by canaries and cats, and produces valhallas of tones, microtones and illusory tones from a single source. What’s not to like?
A resort for brains who don’t content themselves with shabby explanations, Drop By Drop, Suddenly comprises tracks of length varying from 5’13” to 27’37”. An attentive look at the program reveals that the pieces are ordered from shortest to longest, as if Ross wished to take the hand of the listeners to gradually immerse them into oceanic clusters to reach mental emptiness. We also noticed that the harshness deriving from certain pitch contiguities tends to decline (not always!) with the temporal extension. What Ross is telling us – perhaps without realizing – is that every apparent strain can be alleviated or, at the very least, considered under different perspectives with the acquisition of fundamental psychoacoustic data. Especially when lulled by such a concentration of upper partials, occasionally suggesting fragments of near-immobile melody (“Closed Circuit, A Pastoral”) or simply lifting us from the chair (“Water”).
Amazingly, everything heard occurs in real time. Even when veritable legions of bassoons (and relative key clicks, and whatever else one can hear, including the aforementioned birds) are perceived in the stereo field. It’s all born from an expert positioning of the microphones – Ross amplifies the unthinkable, besides the “normal” – and loops, natural or less: what do we know, poor guitarists deprived of the chance of circular breathing? The aim of the composer – subjecting the audience to a feeling close to the vibrational totality experienced by the performer – is achieved in full. Equally notable is the cross of inner stability and disregard of corporeal issues generated by the superimpositions; but we’re on Phill Niblock’s label, therefore we were expecting it, in a way.
And so, another case of droning wonderment. However – trust this madman – that’s just the beginning of an utterly enriching voyage. Sometimes being a canary implies receiving incredible rewards." [Touching Extremes]
|
2018 |
€17.50 |
|
| ROSSETTO, VANESSA |
The way you make me feel |
CD |
In fall 2014, I spent some time in New York City in preparation for a performance. During this time, I recorded as close to continually as I could given normal human and mechanical shortcomings – an SD card runs out of room, a battery dies, a person wakes too groggy to check the recorder or, in a flurry of activity, leaves it dormant. After a time, you start to forget the device is even there which is of course the purpose but also interacts in its own way with the frailties of human memory – if you forget it’s there you forget to check to make sure it’s functioning properly. Despite all that, at the end of the allotted time I was left with a large volume of recorded material that took me longer than I’d have liked to comb through, sort, assess and determine a structural framework around which I could wind bits of this straw into something resembling a form. In all this record of whirlwind events, I found myself most drawn to the moments at rest, in between overt actions and dialogue, and it was out of these that I constructed the majority of these pieces. It so happened that during the time of recording I was already collapsing into an unprecedentedly long, deep and unbroken depressive state. As so often can happen, the document I had planned to make and set out to make is not the one I ended up making. It couldn’t be. I believe that is reflected in the decision to form these pieces out of the absences and interstices – the pauses, misfirings, missing pieces, long sleeps and synaptic gaps and, of course, the way they make me feel.
(Vanessa Rossetto, April 2016)
|
2016 |
€14.00 |
|
| |
Self-Care |
CD |
"Self-care is made up of documentation of a three day trip to San Francisco in the fall of 2018. I spent the majority of my time there in a pleasant rented room where I left the recorder running and examined elements of my relationship with my own corporeality.
(Vanessa Rossetto, November 2019)
LOCATION : on the street and at The Boat, San Francisco, CA..
Recorded September 7-9 2018.
Mastered by Vanessa Rossetto.
Cover design & treatments by Daniel Crokaert.
Mainly based on twenties + fifties ads, an old John Keats cover book, and photos by Vanessa Rossetto.
https://unfathomless.bandcamp.com/album/self-care
"Visionary, challenging and beautiful, pushing the potentiality of organized sound incrementally ahead, Vanessa Rossetto's 'Self-care' is unquestionably one of the most engaging releases we've heard so far this year. A bristling expanse of environmental texture and incident, slowing building across its duration into a moody sonic space of startling psychological depth.
**150 copies** Part of our mission, here at SoundOhm, is shining light on remarkable and ambitious efforts, issued by small imprints in tiny editions that might otherwise be overlooked. It goes without saying that the scale of availability, economy, and distribution rarely reflects the towering potential of an artist's work. Before us is one such case - the latest release, Self-care, by American composer, improviser, and painter, Vanessa Rossetto, issued by Unfathomless in two beautiful and very limited editions.
Primarily focused on composing works that draw on a diverse pallet of chamber instrumentation, field recordings, electronics and a wide array of different objects, with a practice that explores each through a combination of extended and traditional techniques, Vanessa Rossetto has been working at the boundaries of the American vanguard for well over a decade, producing beautiful and challenging solo efforts for a diverse number of imprints, including Kye, Another Timbre, No Rent, Erstwhile, and numerous others, as well as collaborations with figures like Michael Pisaro, Sarah Hennies, and Lee Patterson.
Self-care, her latest solo effort, belongs to Unfathomless' mission to produce phonographies that reflect the the aural resonances of a specific place and those associated memories.
The album was created by Rossetto during a three day trip to San Francisco during the Autumn of 2018, during which she spent the majority of her time in a rented room. To build a body of material through which to construct the resulting work, she left a recorder running, amassing a temporarily and spatially constrained series of field recordings that reflected the artist's relationship with her own corporeality.
The result is a bristling expanse of environmental texture and incident, within which Rossetto's voice and thoughts occasionally penetrates, slowing building across its duration into a moody sonic space of startling psychological depth. Visionary, challenging and beautiful, pushing the potentiality of organized sound incrementally ahead, Self-care is unquestionably one of the most engaging releases we've heard so far this year." [Soundohm]
|
2020 |
€14.00 |
|
| ROSTAMI, ARIA & DANIEL BLOMQUIST |
Wandering Eye |
CD |
"Aria Rostami and Daniel Blomquist's debut album "Wandering Eye" was recorded over the span of a year and a half. "Dome A" and "Dome B" were recorded inside of a planetarium dome to no audience and it was the second time Rostami and Blomquist played together. "Ridge A" is the latest song recorded and it was performed live in Blomquist's basement. These live tracks use source material ranging from samples from the internet, to live field recordings, to synthesizers. "Dome C" and "Dome F" were compiled by sending material back and forth over and over again and then rearranged into coherent songs. These studio recordings mostly consist of processed piano originally recorded by Rostami. "Ridge B" originated as a cover of the Persian pop song "Do Panjereh" by Googoosh that Rostami had created but was manipulated and distorted in the process of sending the material back and forth. The song titles come from a paper published by Saunders et al. titled "Where is the best site on Earth?" which highlights the best places to observe space from the Antarctic Plateau. Antarctica is the coldest, driest and calmest place on earth. The astronomical sights there yield images of the heavens that are sharper and have more clarity than any other sight on earth. It is a gateway to observe other worlds.
Aria Rostami and Daniel Blomquist are from San Francisco, CA. Rostami and Blomquist's work occurs at two stages, the gathering/preparation of source material and the live performance. Primarily, Rostami and Blomquist's source material focuses on, digital information and the exchange of that information, repetition and decay, and non-involvement or surrendering aspects of creative control. Some of the piano recordings were created by answering a simple questionnaire Rostami made that uses letters, colors, numbers, major verse minor, and picking between flat, natural and sharp to create a framework for a composition. After the framework is created, Rostami creates a song on the piano, records and sends it to Blomquist who in turn manipulates it. In some cases, Rostami recorded the material using the audio recording option for the app Viber. Rostami used Viber to communicate with a friend who was visiting Iran. Since he had asked her to fill out the survey through the app, he also recorded the material through the low quality recording interface. Sometimes this material is thrown back and forth and sometimes it's processed only once or barely touched. The recording is then turned into a loop and recorded to tape. This system was developed to surrender control and allow the origin of the composition to come from somewhere else much like field recordings or sampling does (two other ways Rostami and Blomquist gather source material.).Time, entropy, and decay are central factors in Rostami and Blomquist's work. For live performances Blomquist works with samples gathered and manipulated digitally and then dubbed to analog tape, reconstituting the quality and predictability of the digital source material. By using loops, Blomquist can take a short audio clip and concentrate on processing it live and allow for improvised changes to that recording over long periods of time. Rostami adds in an extra layer of drones, fuzz, melodic ambience and crescendos with his synthesizer. Their compositions explore dynamic relations between digital and analog sound creating quiet transitions and soaring peaks."
https://glacialmovements.bandcamp.com/album/wandering-eye
|
2016 |
€15.00 |
|
| ROTHENBERG, DAVID |
Bug Music |
CD |
"There has been rhythm on this planet for millions of years longer than humans have opened their mouths to sing. Long before birds, long before whales, insects have been thrumming, scraping, and drumming complex beats out into the world. David Rothenberg decided to investigate the resounding beats of cicadas, crickets, katydids, leafhoppers and water bugs in his unusual third foray into music made with and out of the animal world. After working with birds and whales, he now tackles the minute complex tunes of the entomological universe, building songs live and in the studio with cicadas who emerge only once every seventeen years, treehoppers who tap complex vibrations onto plant stalks, and a tiny beetle who makes one of the animal world’s loudest sounds by vibrating its penis underwater.
He is joined by guitarist Jürjendal, who has studied with Robert Fripp and Eno, Timothy Hill of the Harmonic Choir, Umru Rothenberg on iPad, and millions of tapping, screeching, and howling bugs—Hear them before they hear you." [label info]
www.gruenrekorder.de
|
2013 |
€13.00 |
|
| |
Nightingale Cities |
do-CD |
Five years in the making, David Rothenberg’s Nightingales in Berlin project includes a book, a film, many live concerts, and this double CD, including a 20 page color booklet of stills from the film and music not available in any form online. Here’s what Rothenberg says about the project:
“I used to make interspecies music largely on my own, seeing myself as some kind of individual explorer seeking out musical ideas with creatures we can’t even talk to. But in recent years I’ve decided that the point of musical contact with another species is to convince other people to join me. Over five years, from 2014 through 2019, I invited the best and most adventurous musicians I know to connect in musical collaboration—humans with nightingales, in Berlin and Helsinki.
The nightingales have helped me find the perfect sound. By assembling just the right group of kindred spirits, together we dream of a way that humans and nature might live closer together. Our species is warming the planet beyond recognition, and this could mean the end of our reign over this place. Yet there are still these moments during which humans can touch nature through sound happening all around us, as we make music along with the nightingales of Helsinki and Berlin. The paths to animal music sit right before us.
I love to listen to different musicians respond to the song of the nightingale for the very first time. I have played with these birds for several years now, and sometimes I wonder why I keep trying to make music with musicians with whom I cannot speak, who live as birds—such different lives than people who may join the band. Some human critics think it’s all delusion, that I intrude upon the birds’ ancient world of perfect sound and struggle, but whenever I bring a new musician along to play with nightingales, I realize why I began this process in the first place. We all feel such joy and hope when music can carry meaning from one species to another. The planet becomes a more harmonious place.”
Nightingale Cities
Emil Buchholz, bass
Korhan Erel, iPad
Wouter Jaspers, Field Kit
Lembe Lokk, voice
Benedicte Maurseth, Hardanger fiddle
Wassim Mukdad, oud
Jay Nicholas, electric bass in remix
Volker Lankow, frame drum
David Rothenberg, clarinet, bass clarinet, seljefløyte, iPad
Sanna Salmenkallio, violin
Cymin Samawatie, voice
Ines Theileis, voice
Disc One, Berlin (72 minutes)
1. The Boori Sound
2. Dreaming Slow
3. While Birds Chant Praises
4. O Bülbul, Your Love
5. The Nightingales Are Drunk
6. Viktoria’s Dream
7. Nightingale Cities
8. Addicted to Birds
9. She’s Finally Here
10. At Midnight We All Waited
11. I Cannot Go Home
12. Exit Music
13. Nightingale, You Are the One
Disc Two, Helsinki (69 minutes)
1. Elektro Repeet
2. Sharawaji Blues
3. Willow Wind
4. No One Sings at Dawn Alone
5. Ballad with Nightingale and Mosquitoes
6. Sisichak
7. Sisichak Remix [for Emu]
8. Alien Beauty
9. The Morning Electric
10. Sotavalta’s Satakieli
11. NeoNachtigall
24 Tracks (141′00″)
Double CD (500 copies)
20 page color booklet
|
2019 |
€16.00 |
|
| ROZENHALL, DANIEL |
same |
CD |
1. A Plumage Man With A Plastic Bag (3.43)
2. Eyeland Part 1 (16.37)
3. Eyeland Part 2 (19.47)
4. Grig-ailment (6.39)
5. Sinister Laburnum (18.14)
Total time: 64.44
Tracks 1-3 were originally released on the LP Eyeland (Firework Edition Records, FER 1042) in 2003.
Tracks 4-5 were originally released on the LP Miasmasun (Firework Edition Records, FER 1032) in 2001.
All tracks were digitally re-mastered in 2007 for this CD edition.
All music by Daniel Rozenhall. Recorded at EMS, Stockholm.
Cover and insert artwork by Rozenhall. Graphic design by Rozenhall and Sten Backman.
"Time is an illusion. Nature consists of rhythms, pulses and the eruptive life wills of the organisms. And there is something unremittingly organic – or to be more exact bacteriological - about Rozenhall’s soundscapes. They demand their own lebensraum and squeeze themselves up between the dials on the mixing board. Sounds that have gone astray. In perpetual motion. A process without hiatus. Bacteriological objects forcing themselves upon us from the eye of the hurricane, while everything around us is twisted out of joint – time, space and the whole show. We contemplate but we aren’t able to interact. The body loses power over its movements and the world is transformed into flickering light. Yes, if we promptly need to speak of Rozenhall’s music, then we have to speak of the sounds between the frequencies, between the fingers, between the words, beyond the patterns. Where every nerve ending is revealed. Millions and millions of details. A rhythm without tonality. A music of negations. And our conversation cannot be anything else but the excretions that are left behind after the descriptive attempts have been halted - the waste product of sounds. Try to lie still to this. Rozenhall unveils your couchpotatin’ for what it is: an imagined resting place on a globe of galactic driftwood.
Rozenhall’s music has nothing to do with greeting phrases. This is the way a farewell sounds. To part is to begin again with oneself. The last handshake that allows thought to return to one’s own drawing board. Rozenhall has created the ultimate soundtrack for this swiftly passing ground zero. When you without help from anyone else have to confront the vertigo within yourself. The dizziness that happens before you have caught up with your own autobiography and the private mythmaking that allows you to return to your ordinary habits.
And the first thing you meet is the treble. The shrill tone that is allowed to radiate into every cavity. Impossible to figure out like a rubik’s cube without a solution. A sound wave from an alpine landscape, deserted and windswept. It’s like if The Overlook Hotel in Stanley Kubricks’s ‘The Shining’ started sending out its own emotional state through a forgotten radio channel. And it is our fate to lay frostbitten with our axes raised for attack in the garden labyrinth."
[Daniel Westerlund , Writer and publisher]
www.fylkingen.se
|
2008 |
€13.00 |
|
| |
Forecusst |
CD |
"Auch für Forecusst nutzte Rozenhall wieder das EMS in Stockholm als Klanglabor. Weißes Rauschen prasselt wie Sturzregen. Die Luft brodelt und zischt, dass man reumütig ein Königreich für eine Arche bieten möchte, wenn man nicht wie gelähmt sich ducken müsste unter einem himmlischen Zorneswolkenbruch, wie ihn Bußprediger nicht ‚göttlicher‘ sich wünschen könnten. Man meint schon das Geheul der Verdammten zu hören. Die hellen Jauler und Triller eines kurzen Zwischenspiels geben nur unzureichend Entwarnung und noch weniger Beruhigung. Track 3 setzt dann auch wieder den Presslufthammer an der verstockten Seele an, zumindest an dem vermeintlich sicheren
Boden unter den Füßen. Soll man sich so eine neuzeitliche Version des Fegefeuers vorstellen, als Werkhallen der Läuterung, mit Gehämmer, Schweißbrennern und Fräsen? Pulsierendes Sirren nimmt im vierten Abschnitt wiederum bald bedrohliche Dimensionen an, auch eine ungute Schärfe. Diskantes Georgel in schneidenden Registern, ein Brausen, das Geheul mit sich führt und endlich doch abflaut, um in ein zweiminütiges Loch abzutauchen.." [Bad Alchemy]
"...Here his various interests blend together nicely: there is a fine balance between ambient sounds and noise bits into compositions that sound as compositions, and not a bunch of sounds let loose in the computer, running around on end. Quite cinematic music in approach, I could imagine this would work well as a soundtrack to science fiction movies of spaceships in pitch black skies and enemies firing laser guns, before landing on a radio active waste dump - an empty planet was used for this - and geiger counters running amok. Rozenhall's ambient industrial sound has certainly matured over the years, and will no doubt continue to grow. 'Forecusst' is the start of that growth." [FdW / Vital Weekly]
www.kningdisk.com
|
2008 |
€13.00 |
|
| ROZMANN, AKOS |
Mass / Massa |
7 x CD BOX |
Ákos Rózmann (1939-2005) - Mass
Ákos Rózmann’s Mass consists of twelve electroacoustic compositions created between 1989 and 2004 in the composer’s studio and at EMS in Stockholm. Like most of Rózmann’s compositions, Mass is a long-form work with a duration of around seven hours.
We can describe Rózmann’s Mass as an enormous fresco of personal observations on the two first parts of the Catholic Mass, Kyrie and Gloria. The intensely subjective perspective on the texts of the Mass is underlined by Rózmann’s freezing images – in his own words – “tropes”, i.e. meditations in Swedish, Hungarian and Latin over particular words in the mass text or connection to it. A few passages have nothing to do with the mass text: Organ piece VI in Gloria I (also performed with the subtitle Nocturne in silver and dance) is a sort of lament based on the phrase “Natten gråter” (the night is crying). We find the composer’s peculiar sense of humour in the intermezzo following Gloria I – a composed version of the intermission common in Swedish concert houses, complete with clashing coffee cups and empty chatter from the bureaucratic music establishment.
The overarching formal structure of Mass is an intricate one, with the various parts functioning simultaneously as independent pieces and as parts of sub-groups within the whole structure of the piece. As independent pieces, some of them go under the name Organ piece. For example, the three pieces included in the first Gloria part of mass form another independent composition named Triptykon, first performed as a separate work in 1996.
In the earlier parts of Mass, a battle fought between Positive forces is represented by the words in the Mass text and Negative forces represented by various challenging sounds, such as scornful laughter, grunts, burps, nauseous choking and vomiting sounds. First, the Negative powers drag down the Positive forces into a “black hole” or in pockets. Then the Positive forces return to dominate the remaining parts of Gloria. This formal narrative is nuanced by the composer, who, in interviews, offer a less dualistic, more complex viewpoint on the conflict central to the Mass:
“It’s presumable that everything in the general sense is about the notion of positive or negative because everything in the world is structured like that. But it’s not that simple in the Triptych [the first three pieces of the Gloria-cycle]. Different forces stand against each other, but their interrelation is more complex than that of good and evil.”
The most prominent sound sources in the work are the organ, a Hungarian zither and human voices. Throughout the whole piece, there is a vocal group from a village church in Corsica, singing the Latin mass texts solo and chorally. Other participants are Schola Gregoriana Holmiae under the direction of Viveca Servatius, a group of German Benedictine monks and – in the role of a sort of master of ceremonies, Thomas Hammar.
Ákos Rózmann was born in 1939 in Budapest, Hungary, where he studied composition at the Bartók Conservatory and the Liszt Academy. In 1971 he received a scholarship to come to Stockholm and completed his compositional studies with Ingvar Lidholm at the Royal College of Music in Stockholm and then settled down in Sweden. He was the organist at the Catholic Cathedral in Stockholm for a long time. His early encounter with electroacoustic music gave a new direction to his composing. Except for a few early pieces, Rózmann composed solely electroacoustic music – often preferring a monumental form, usually with the organ and the human voice as the most crucial sound sources in a complex, penetrating musical language loaded with symbols. As a composer, he worked involuntary seclusion, uncompromisingly and with great originality. Rózmann’s music is about the fundamental questions of existence, often on an ethical or religious (Catholic or Buddhist) basis, for example, in the enormous suites Images of the Dream and Death and Twelve Stations, both previously released on Ideologic Organ.
7 CD’s packaged in a hardcover slipcase with a pull ribbon, 12 and 20 pages booklets.
Boxset contains an extensive essay on the composition by Gergely Loch and additional texts by Göran Bergendal and Mats Lindström, and visual documentation.
https://ideologicorgan.bandcamp.com/album/mass-m-ssa
|
2022 |
€50.50 |
|
| RUHLMANN, MATHIEU |
This Star teaches Bending |
CD-R |
"In 2012, my mother at the age of 63 was diagnosed with a rare terminal lung disease. She was given a six-month life expectancy at this time. These recordings were created over the same period of time, comprised of amplifying the human body, various medical equipment and devices, as well as location recordings, that were involved, related to, or used during her treatment.
The title "This Star Teaches Bending" refers to a painting on paper by the artist Paul Klee that he completed in the year of his death. Klee lived the last few years of his life in Bern, plagued by scleroderma, a rare skin disease. Although he never recovered from this illness, he always maintained his love of life, facing his suffering with a trenchant ‘so what?’ But by 1940 he had to accept that there was no hope of a cure or any improvement in his health. The star had taught him to bend to the blows of fate.
The track titles refer to titles of paintings that Klee created in 1939-1940, the last year of his life. These recordings are dedicated to Valerie Joy." [Mathieu Ruhlmann]
www.3leaves-label.com
|
2013 |
€10.00 |
|
| RUIZ, MIGUEL A. - & BARDOSENETICCUBE |
Exclusion Zone |
CD |
"A collaboration work of Spanish musician Miguel A. Ruiz (Orpheon Gagarin, Efficient Refineries, etc.) and Russian project Bardoseneticcube. Dangerous zones of sonic landscapes painted with the help of analogue synths and sequences, all sorts of samples, vinyl records and even folk instruments (percussion, gusli, penny whistles and pipes). Schizophrenically twisted ambiental collage of the fragments of the modern soundsphere. Rhythmic excursions into contaminated areas. Industrial psychedelia." [label info]
"... On the same label, but a concert sadly missed is a release by the duo Bardoseneticcube, who have been active for many years, who do a collaboration with long serving Spanish hero Miguel A. Ruiz. The Russians supply 'basic sounds and samples' while Ruiz add 'sounds, track arrangements and mastering'. What can be noted here, in difference with the previous work of Bardoseneticcube is the presence of rhythm, lots of rhythm actually. They form the solid backbone of the music, which otherwise involves field recordings and electronics. The rhythm part is solid, minimal but truly techno inspired. It bangs and it bangs. It reminded me of of the CD 'Electroid' by Sympathy Nervous from 1994. It has that same solid attitude. The field recordings are also sampled while the electronics are used to play around with, to add that somewhat nice krautrock and psychedelic touch to the music. Despite its minimalism there are lots of minor changes going on, that add a really nice edge to the music. Quite powerful stuff going on here, and a solid, fine work." " [FdW / Vital Weekly]
www.aquarellist.ru
|
2009 |
€10.00 |
|
| S.E.T.I. |
Final Trajectory |
CD |
"The new album of Andrew Lagowski’s S.E.T.I. begins as a colossal sound wall, like a massive electrical transformer, out of which analogue and digital synthesizer sounds and samples emerge, condense, and crossfade into a deep ambient symphony. The recordings and textures produced over 30 years from 1983-2013 converge in ‚Final Trajectory‘ to produce a collection of monolithic sounds. Invoking a sense of immensity with warm and dark atmospheric loops sounding distant and abandoned in a vast wilderness, battling against galactic winds. S.E.T.I. sets the listener down in this wilderness as an isolated observer; a witness to long intertwining drones, shattered dialogue and broken transmissions, with superior effects chains and a gentle rising dramaturgy forcing the complete album to an astonishing pure data vortex.
As the Voyager spacecraft reaches the outer edge of our Solar System it is a fitting time to imagine the exodus from Earth of the last human being on their final trajectory towards an unknown future. There has been little effort made to prepare psychologically for this one way trip and hallucinatory voices and sounds flit around the traveller, mingling with those of the craft’s entertainment, propulsion and life support systems. Life memories, encounters and events break through the cracks of rational thought like dream fragments, in bursts of barely unrecognisable data. As the craft passes through the mid point of our planetary system on its way out, the occupant thinks they hear a message being transmitted from Earth on the permanently scanning radio receiver.….
Will this be real in our lifetimes? Is the craft being built already in the knowledge that we have little time left on this planet?
If so, where to next?
Released in 6-panel digifile." [label info]
wp.loki-found.de |
2013 |
€13.00 |
|
| |
Sleep Environments for Interplanetary Travel |
8 x CD BOX |
Right in time for the long nights Andrew Lagowski is back with his probably most ambitious project to date! A deep ambient space soundtrack of nothing less than eight hours on eight CDs presented in a beautiful cardboard box.
‘S.E.I.T.’ (Sleep Environments for Interplanetary Travel) by S.E.T.I.
You are on a journey to other worlds, using wormhole navigation and cosmic guidance. You'll go through parallel universes. A lot of the time, you will need to sleep in order to maintain sanity and these sounds can accompany you if you'll allow them in. They'll comfort you, remind you...
There will be echoes of your past lives, encounters and tangential moments. Darkness, beauty and noise will be your companions...
A mangled communication burst...a smattering of spy transmissions...broken broadcasts and ethereal interludes from an Earth long since abandoned by a stupid and brutal race. A race only occasionally capable of connecting to the cosmic wheel that gives our souls energy.
These recordings have been composed, sequenced and mastered in such a way as to allow for periods of hazy dreams, deep sleep, time displacement and finally, awakening. Please use them as you see fit - perhaps as a toolbox for your own sleep travels and dream experimentation. |
2018 |
€48.00 |
|
| SAKELLARIOU, YIORGIS |
Klaipeda |
CD |
"Klaipėda is located in the west of Lithuania, right on the shores of the Baltic Sea. I lived there from September 2011 until July 2012 and during those months I was regularly recording in the city and the surrounding rural areas. I got very fond of these locations and all the sounds I recorded are very significant and dear in my memory. Throughout the changes of the seasons, varying between human-made and industrial to “natural” sounds caused by birds, water, wind or plants, the acoustic environment never ceased to inspire me.
Klaipėda offered an amazing diversity of sonic material, from echoing train whistles, factory machines’ drones and hammering sounds, to the far hiss sound of the sea, the thumps of thunders and the rustling of the leaves on the trees. The album, however, is not a documentation of Klaipėda’s soundscape nor does it intend to realistically reconstruct my acoustic experiences. As a two part composition, it aims to engage the listener with a profound sonic world in which each one can connect with its own memories and create new subconscious thoughts.
(Yiorgis Sakellariou, December 2013)" [label info]
www.unfathomless.net
"More and more Yiorgis Sakellariou works under his own name and no longer as Mecha/orga: a development we see with more serious composers coming from the 'industrial' music end (a term to be regarded in the broadest sense possible). Sakellariou is from Greece, but lived in Klaipeda (Lithuania) for some time, a few years ago, and now is residing in London. Between September 2011 and July 2012 he recorded sounds in and around Klaipeda and these are used in the two pieces that are on this CD. I have not been to Klaipeda, but to Lithuania and some of that cold, rural, wood country is something that is easily seen in these pieces, along with the harbor/sea side of the city. Sakellariou taped some motorized events (ships no doubt, but maybe also chainsaws in the forest?) so that he can add a fine drone-like layer to the music, especially in the second piece/part. One of the fine powers of Sakellariou's music is that one never knows what he does, exactly, to his sound material. Is it just a collage of sound? Does he layer all his sounds in some way? Is there any sort of treatment that he applies to this? It's not for me to say what he does: I really don't know (never asked him, I guess). I do know it results in some excellent music that is entirely based on field recordings; imaginative music that opens up a fine sound world and shows us the somewhat desolate world of Lithuanian woods and seaside. Maybe a bit cold, but perhaps that's just an illusion." [FdW/Vital Weekly]
|
2015 |
€14.00 |
|
|
In Aulis |
CD |
In June 2015 I was invited by Implode, an artistic platform dedicated to new forms of sound and visual arts, to participate in “Sonic Topographies”, an artist residency that focused on locations of major importance in Ancient Greek history. I worked at the ruins of the temple of Artemis in Aulis, an archaeological site closely related to religious history and sacrificial rituals, and responded artistically to the location by composing In Aulis.
The composition explores the connection between myth, sacrifice and music and is inspired by the historical and religious background of Aulis and the temple of Artemis. According to the myth, the Greek fleet gathered in Aulis to set off for Troy and force the return of Helen. While there, king Agamemnon killed a stag that was sacred to goddess Artemis. The enraged deity ceased all winds, thus preventing the ships from sailing. This eventually led the Greeks to agree in sacrificing Agamemnon’s daughter Iphigeneia, in order to propitiate Artemis and ensure a favourable wind for their fleet. At the very last moment the goddess felt compassion for Iphigeneia and replaced her with a stag which was killed instead of the girl.
Iphigeneia’s dramatic story is described by Euripides in his famous tragedy Iphigeneia in Aulis which he wrote in 406 BC. The play was written during a period of conflict, political turmoil and instability and it arguably functions as an allegory in which Euripides – exiled from Athens at that time – warns his fellow Athenians about the consequences of war and the thirst for power and dominance as well as the hypocrisy of military and political leaders.
Is there a connection between the sacrificial act and musical performance? How is sound utilized in ritualistic murders? In his book “Noise: The political economy of music”, Jacques Attali writes that “listening to music is to attend a ritual murder”. He explains that in the physical world a ritualistic murder purifies violence and in the sonic world music does a similar thing. As the story of the Greeks in Aulis shows, sacrifice is performed when a problem requires a radical solution; the wind must blow and Agamemnon’s guilt must be transformed into redemption. With sacrifice a tension leads to resolution. In music, as Attali argues, it is noise and dissonance that become harmony when the chaos of sounds is organized and put into order through the act of music-making, when a sonic condition of anxiety and alert is transformed into joy and exaltation.
Silence
There is not a sound from the birds
or the sea. The winds are hushed
and silence holds the strait of Euripus.
Euripides, Iphigeneia in Aulis, line 9-11
In these lines Agamemnon describes the sonic atmosphere of Aulis, an eerie silence caused by the absence of wind. For the Greeks, this stillness created discomfort as they were unable to mobilize and sail to Troy. Around 2,500 years after these lines were written, I was at the same location, attempting to listen to the echoes of myth and history resonating in the present-day soundscape of Aulis.
Nowadays there is little left of the ancient buildings. Only their ruins continue to remind the importance and history of Aulis. Any visitor can simply push aside a half-broken wire fence and enter the archaic holy grounds, lying between a highway and a local road leading to a disused cement factory. Walking through the flora that is gradually covering the ruins, one can witness the blending of nature with human-made constructions and the folding of the distant past with the modern era.
In praise of Artemis
In the core of the sacrificial act is the setting of relationships which expand from the world of gods, or the unseen and ethereal, to the world of humans, the rest of the society. Simultaneously, music making is a socially constructed activity that brings communities together. Euripides provides an insightful example of this. When Iphigeneia finally accepts her fate, she addresses the chorus and says:
And you, young
women, sing a propitious song for my fate, a song in praise
of Zeus’ daughter Artemis. Let the Greeks keep propitious
silence.
Euripides, Iphigeneia in Aulis, lines 1467-1470
These lines reveal that sound is utilized in sacrifice to bridge the divine with the human world. Through singing and listening, music is creating social bonds, manifests a divine presence and establishes a relationship with it.
Ultimately, the Sonic Topographies residency was not a mere study and collection of information about Aulis and the temple of Artemis but an empirical interaction that transmuted it from a field with abandoned ancient ruins to a space for action and contemplation. Field recording and composing was triggering an ongoing dialogue between myself and the explored environment and deepened my relationship with it on a physical and sentimental level. The research about the temple and the fieldwork at the ruins expanded from investigating its history and recording sounds for an electroacoustic composition to a contemplation on passing time and an exploration of the depths of human soul.
(Yiorgis Sakellariou, 23 August 2017) |
2018 |
€14.00 |
|
|
Nympholepsy |
maxi-CD |
Nympholepsy (23:03) is inspired by the immediate environment and history of ancient messene. The work links the archaic with the contemporary by establishing a dialogue between the ethereal (sound) and the material (the ancient ruins). It is an exploration of the blurred limits between myth and history and the relationship between deities and human beings, nature and the supernatural.
The sonic material is based on the voice of Savina Yannatou which is manipulated and combined with environmental recordings.
In memory of my father Costas Sakellariou
Nympholepsy was premiered on June 3, 2018 at Tuned City - Ancient Mesene - Athens (OCC) as part of the INTERFACES project and co-funded by the Creative Europe program of the European Union.
Special thanks to: Savina Yannatou, Carsten Stabenow, Manolis Manousakis, John Grzinich, Nikolas Malevicius and the production and technical team of OCC.
noise-below.bandcamp.com
mechaorga.wordpress.com
https://mecha-orga.bandcamp.com/album/nympholepsy
"Yiorgis Sakellariou’s Nympholepsy is a portrait in sound of the historical ghosts inhabiting the ruins of Ancient Messene, a city on the Greek peninsula of The Peloponnese. Over the centuries, the site saw several waves of settlement and conquest, of building, destruction and reconstruction, beginning with foundation by the Achaeans and culminating with the city’s reestablishment in 369 BCE after the defeat of Sparta by Thebes at Leuctra. Much more recently–in 2018–the ruins of Ancient Messene were the focus of a Tuned City event in which a number of sound artists were commissioned to explore the themes of place and memory and their implications for the situated nature of listening. Sakellariou was one of the artists invited to participate; Nympholepsy is the work that resulted.
The audio interpretation of an ancient city would seem to be a natural fit for Sakellariou. Trained as an ethnomusicologist and active since the early 2000s as a composer of electronic music and a field recordist, Sakellariou has produced a body of work largely concerned with ferreting out and disclosing the networks of association that tie together an environment and the listeners situated within it. For Nympholepsy he took field recordings of Ancient Messene and combined them with manipulated recordings of the voice of Savina Yannetou, a Greek vocalist as conversant with early music as she is with contemporary improvisation. Sakellariou alters the sound of Yannetou’s voice artfully, changing its pitch and timbre, setting up rhythmic patterns and blocks of sound, and occasionally stripping it down to traces of its grain with the underlying breath exposed. Structurally, the twenty-three minute-long piece is a work of accumulation and densification as Sakellariou adds layers of sound elements and pressures them into thickening masses—an especially appropriate response to a place that itself was the product of an accretion of peoples and their material cultures over long periods of time." [Daniel Barbiero / Avant Music News] |
2019 |
€8.00 |
|
| |
Auka |
mCD-R |
“for music is certainly the ultimate mystery of faith, the mystique, the completely revealed religion” (ludwig tieck)
the title is inspired by the painting "auka" by m. k. Čiurlionis.
many thanks to gailė griciūtė, dominykas digimas, daniel crokaert and jean-marc boucher.
“auka” was composed in august 2019 during a residency at DAR (Druskininkai Artists‘ Residence), organized and supported by the lithuanian composers’ union.
environmental sounds recorded in vilnius, kaunas, elektrėnai and druskininkai, lithuania from november 2018 till august 2019.
https://taalem.bandcamp.com/album/auka-alm-137
"While the label says they explore the various ways of ambient music they proof here with the release by Yiorgis Sakellariou they don't mind going an extra mile; or two. Sakellariou is a composer of music created with the use of field recordings. You might know this from my previous reviews of his work. On 'Auka' (inspired by a painting by m. k. Ciurlionis, and Auka meaning 'sacrifice') he uses field recordings from Vilnius, Kaunas, Elektrėnai and Druskininkai, all cities in Lithuania. Using field recordings, I would think, is nothing unusual in the world of Taalem, but Sakellariou uses his field recordings as they are, and does not apply any sort of manipulation to it (save, perhaps, for some equalization). He uses these sounds as they are and it is in the combination of these sounds to create the composition. A lot of the time one has no idea what these sounds are; crackling of leaves, branches, static electricity, metal staircases; that is the sort thing believe to hear. Another very un-Taalem thing is that Sakellariou uses a lot of dynamics in his music, and this piece is not different. There are two distinct loud passages in this piece but also some very quiet, near-silent passages. This is not your standard ambient music, but rather a musique concrète work and Sakellariou is a refined composer in that field. Perhaps, this work will be something of a shock for some people but I love it. It is a powerful work full of the near-by and far away sounds, unusual spaces to record them in and an intense listening experience." [FdW / Vital Weekly]
|
2020 |
€5.50 |
|
| SAL SOLARIS |
Thresholds |
CD |
"Thresholds" is the first Sal Solaris solo album in 15 years marked by a variety of collaborations, splits and minor releases. From a musical point of view this is probably the most complex and certainly the most rhythmic work of the duo which opens a new chapter in its history.
The Sun radiates and cools down. Mountains erode and grind into sand. Any system tends to minimum energy and maximum entropy, that is to uniformity. But while chaos does not reign yet, the universe is a complex thermodynamic landscape filled with low grounds and peaks, ridges and valleys. To go from one valley to another we need a breakthrough. As when a match boosts energy to let reagents gain ability to cross the threshold, and continue to roll freely and independently.
"Thresholds" is an acoustic study of a breakthrough over the threshold. Therefore the album constantly crosses genre limits. The listener is taken from a thicket of dark techno to a rave meadow, and in the middle of dark ambient wasteland he or she gets thrust against a rock of minimal electro.
"Thresholds" is also an attempt to answer the question of what may be a match in human life situations. How to cross the pass, when the ridge is covered with clouds. The album can be regarded as a box of matches, or an experimental map of passes for those who feel confined in their valleys.
Authors can not guarantee its absolute accuracy.
http://zhb.radionoise.ru/
|
2016 |
€12.00 |
|
| 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 |
|
| SALAKAPAKKA SOUND SYSTEM |
Barbed Wire Boogie |
MC |
New self-released tape "Barbed Wire Boogie" is out! 40 minute pro-duplicated (by BSM-studio) cassette of tracks made 2013-2015. This was originally intended to be released as a split cdr release with/by another artist but after about a year of waiting I grew tired of that laissez-faire attitude and decided to put it out myself with a few added tracks. Once again DIY proved to be THE most satisfying way, even though it means limited quantities (it's limited to only 50 copies) and much more limited exposure... you know, I'm not a 'networking' type of person.
Track list:
A1 Fetus
A2 Afraid of sunlight
A3 Man builds a house (pre-mix)
A4 Terror da mort
A5 In praise of Jean Tinguely
B1 Iceland
B2 If the world should end in fire and ice
B3 No input (radio friendly edit)
B4 Don't call me friend, we barely know each other
A1 is a disturbing song about a pregnancy gone wrong. A2 is something you could call apocalyptic ambient (bit like Homeinen kuu on "Accident Worhip" CDr and The end of the world on the following tape, where is also a cleaner final version of A3 here (hence the pre-mix on a title). A4 is based on a sample of the great Coffin Joe. A5 is inspired by the exhibition of Jean Tinguely's works which I found quite inspiring. Here I use mostly the sounds which I recorded at the exhibition. B1 is based on a sung poem which I found accidentally somewhere. I have no idea what does it tell about but I found it quite fascinating. Just one of the examples where vocals is just another instrument, words lose meaning when you understand absolutely nothing of the language. I appreciate if there's someone who understands Icelandic and could tell me something about the poem. B2 is a sort-of-remix of a certain popular song. B3 is only using a feedback as a sound source. Original track is much more longer but in hope for a decent amount of radio play I decided to include here an edited friendly version, heh. B4 is something I made while I was kind of frustrated and annoyed about people using the word 'friend' in a very loose fashion. You know, Facebook 'friends' etc. - "Hey boss, I am your friend. A special price only for you." Yeah... fuck off... 'friend'!" [label info]
ikuinen-kaamos.blogspot.com
|
2015 |
€7.50 |
|
| |
Accident Worship |
CD-R |
"The usual elements are there: noisy soundscapes, gloomy ambient, field recordings from Thailand and UAE, samples (this time from some unknown tv shows, mysterious Arabian dance music tape, pounding drum loops from The Shrieks etc.), malformed human sounds...." [label info]
ikuinen-kaamos.blogspot.com
|
2014 |
€8.00 |
|
| SAMARTZIS, PHILIP |
Unheard Spaces |
CD |
"Absence and Presence (2006): Absence and Presence was originally written for five musicians and four loudspeakers positioned throughout the site of performance in order to explore the traction between amplified and acoustic space. The performance was predicated on a set of directions that determined the combination of musicians at specific times and the duration of their performance. Within these structural parameters the musicians chose what they played and how they responded to one another. The idea was to create a series of exchanges between two or three musicians at any one time but never have all musicians sounding simultaneously. Therefore large tracts of action and inaction inform the composition as each musician waits their turn to shape the trajectory of the piece. The recorded version of Absence and Presence uses a non-linear recording methodology that places each musician in a separate physical location so as to incorporate the specific acoustics generated by the diverse spaces in which the musicians found themselves. I then requested each musician recreate their performance from memory without hearing the other musicians play. The musical and spatial results were used to form the basic structure of the piece, whilst editing, layering and over dubs were utilized to forge a more cohesive result from the constituent components. Finally I invited Michael Vorfeld to improvise to certain sections of the piece to add a further layer of complexity to the arrangement in order to blur the distinction between the constructed and the improvised.
Unheard Spaces (2006): Unheard Spaces comprises field recordings of Venice conducted over a three-week period in March 2000. The focus of the composition is on the way sound permeates Venice to highlight the specific acoustics that characterize the aural dimension of this labyrinthine city. As one of the most recognizable cities in the world, and the subject of countless artistic works, I was interested to know whether it was possible to portray Venice in new and innovative ways by focusing exclusively on its sonic character. Inspired by Luc Ferrari's Presque Rien), as well as Luchino Visconti's Death in Venice, Nicolas Roeg's Don't Look Now and Paul Schrader's The Comfort of Strangers, Unheard Spaces uses narrative to locate the listener within a set of complex sonic interactions resounding within the myriad of passageways, piazzas and canals that constitute the lugubrious city. The composition was originally arranged and mixed in eight-channel surround sound for the La Costruzione del Suono Festival staged in Mestre, Italy in 2004. This CD contains a stereo mix down derived from the eight-channel surround mix." [press release]
|
2006 |
€8.00 |
|
| SAND |
His first Steps |
LP |
"The present album is a forerunner of GOLEM, the legendary album from the cosmic and psychedelic genius that is Sand. After the split of POT the early SAND submerged as a threesome in the basement of Claudiusstrasse and built up an alchemical assembling shop, where they resurrected the archetypical GOLEM. SAND considered themselves as an exile community in a fascinating area - full of distinctly bizarre energy.
There is something magical and inexplicable in creation, and Sand manifest absolutely these mysterious phenomena. Story-tellers, musicians, shamans, geniuses, Sand were known, at the end of the 60s, as P.O.T. (Part of Time). The music they created at that time has remained unreleased until now.
Two different approaches are evident within this band. The first—which is shown in the compositions of the trio Ludwig Papenberg, his brother Ullrich Papenberg and Johannes Vester—is avant-gardist, experimental and proto-industrial. The second, when this same trio is augmented with a few extra members, reveals a more emphatically “rock” side, somewhat in the vein of Pink Floyd’s The Piper at the Gates of Dawn, perhaps making it somewhat less personal than the visionary and experimental positions characteristic of Sand, a truly unique entity in the history of music.
At that time Klaus Schulze was developing, with engineer Manfred Schunke, a specialised recording process called “Artificial Head Stereo Sound”, which, like “Surround Sound”, created the illusion of the music coming from 360º around the listener. Schulze chose Sand to record in his studio one of a series of records to demonstrate this new technique. Sand’s album Golem was recorded and released on the Delta-Acustic label in 1974.
Sand acknowledge that Manfred Schunke and Klaus Schulze were Sand’s most important mentors.
Although classed as “Krautrock”, Sand are not really in the Krautrock style, despite being part of this movement of German cosmic/psychedelic bands. Instead they take us on a cerebral/cosmic/strange/dark trip all of their own, with a highly original subtlety, elegance and strength. Trapped in the trip, swallowed up by the quicksands, seduced by the unique and innovative combination of acoustic guitars, synthesisers, sound generators, short-wave radios, factory noises, hammers from the shipyards, agricultural machines, whirls of sand and eerie atmospheres, the listener discovers and lives the story of Sand and his Golem.
Julian Cope wrote of Golem in his HeadHeritage’s website’s “Album of the Month” column, “Dig this fucking weird Saxony sound and fill your heart”.
Rotorelief releases, in 2010, a series of unreleased albums by Sand as well as a reissue of Sand’s only album, the obscure and rare Golem, first released by Delta Acustic in 1974, along with related releases by Nurse with Wound and Current 93.
This series of albums from Sand is called “INXOM”, the series title having one letter for each album, explained by Johannes Vester as follows:
“Incoming, Inspiration, (...) In X is OM (Odem) which could mean ‘There is Om/Odem/Atman in the Unknown (X)’ ; this also corresponds to "shem" which is in XOM,—the meaning in the Golem Myth. Last, but not least, for me it sounds like the electronic attitude in symbiosis with Sand's spirit....”
And also called '' INXODEM '' with 5x Sand album (INXOM) from 70's + 1 album of Nurse With Wound (2013) and 1 45RMP twelve inch of Current 93 (1992) :
"His First Steps" (I) / is a previous, unreleased and variety album (1972 & 1973) of "Golem"
"Golem" (N) / legendary album composed in 1972 and 1973 (released in 1974)
"Desert Navigation" (X) / unreleased album, titles composed in 1973, 1975 and one track from 1982
"Sylph Ballet" (O) / unreleased album, titles composed in 1969, 1972, 1973, 1974, 1975 and 1976
"North Atlantic Raven" (M) / unreleased album, titles composed in 1973, 1975 & 1976
(+ bonus 1982)
"Chromanatron" (E), by Nurse With Wound composed in 2013 with sounds and extracts from Sand
"When the May Rain Comes" (D), 2 varieties of the reprise title "May Rain" of Sand by Current 93 in 1992
Today, 40 years later, here the cool sound jugglers, founders and new members, go again (Ludwig and Ulrich Papenberg, Johannes Vester, Christian von der Schulenburg and Richard Pappik) then Sand is active in a creative frenzy timeless...
www.rotorelief.com
|
2016 |
€25.00 |
|
|
His first Steps |
CD |
"The present album is a forerunner of GOLEM, the legendary album from the cosmic and psychedelic genius that is Sand. After the split of POT the early SAND submerged as a threesome in the basement of Claudiusstrasse and built up an alchemical assembling shop, where they resurrected the archetypical GOLEM. SAND considered themselves as an exile community in a fascinating area - full of distinctly bizarre energy.
There is something magical and inexplicable in creation, and Sand manifest absolutely these mysterious phenomena. Story-tellers, musicians, shamans, geniuses, Sand were known, at the end of the 60s, as P.O.T. (Part of Time). The music they created at that time has remained unreleased until now.
Two different approaches are evident within this band. The first—which is shown in the compositions of the trio Ludwig Papenberg, his brother Ullrich Papenberg and Johannes Vester—is avant-gardist, experimental and proto-industrial. The second, when this same trio is augmented with a few extra members, reveals a more emphatically “rock” side, somewhat in the vein of Pink Floyd’s The Piper at the Gates of Dawn, perhaps making it somewhat less personal than the visionary and experimental positions characteristic of Sand, a truly unique entity in the history of music.
At that time Klaus Schulze was developing, with engineer Manfred Schunke, a specialised recording process called “Artificial Head Stereo Sound”, which, like “Surround Sound”, created the illusion of the music coming from 360º around the listener. Schulze chose Sand to record in his studio one of a series of records to demonstrate this new technique. Sand’s album Golem was recorded and released on the Delta-Acustic label in 1974.
Sand acknowledge that Manfred Schunke and Klaus Schulze were Sand’s most important mentors.
Although classed as “Krautrock”, Sand are not really in the Krautrock style, despite being part of this movement of German cosmic/psychedelic bands. Instead they take us on a cerebral/cosmic/strange/dark trip all of their own, with a highly original subtlety, elegance and strength. Trapped in the trip, swallowed up by the quicksands, seduced by the unique and innovative combination of acoustic guitars, synthesisers, sound generators, short-wave radios, factory noises, hammers from the shipyards, agricultural machines, whirls of sand and eerie atmospheres, the listener discovers and lives the story of Sand and his Golem.
Julian Cope wrote of Golem in his HeadHeritage’s website’s “Album of the Month” column, “Dig this fucking weird Saxony sound and fill your heart”.
Rotorelief releases, in 2010, a series of unreleased albums by Sand as well as a reissue of Sand’s only album, the obscure and rare Golem, first released by Delta Acustic in 1974, along with related releases by Nurse with Wound and Current 93.
This series of albums from Sand is called “INXOM”, the series title having one letter for each album, explained by Johannes Vester as follows:
“Incoming, Inspiration, (...) In X is OM (Odem) which could mean ‘There is Om/Odem/Atman in the Unknown (X)’ ; this also corresponds to "shem" which is in XOM,—the meaning in the Golem Myth. Last, but not least, for me it sounds like the electronic attitude in symbiosis with Sand's spirit....”
And also called '' INXODEM '' with 5x Sand album (INXOM) from 70's + 1 album of Nurse With Wound (2013) and 1 45RMP twelve inch of Current 93 (1992) :
"His First Steps" (I) / is a previous, unreleased and variety album (1972 & 1973) of "Golem"
"Golem" (N) / legendary album composed in 1972 and 1973 (released in 1974)
"Desert Navigation" (X) / unreleased album, titles composed in 1973, 1975 and one track from 1982
"Sylph Ballet" (O) / unreleased album, titles composed in 1969, 1972, 1973, 1974, 1975 and 1976
"North Atlantic Raven" (M) / unreleased album, titles composed in 1973, 1975 & 1976
(+ bonus 1982)
"Chromanatron" (E), by Nurse With Wound composed in 2013 with sounds and extracts from Sand
"When the May Rain Comes" (D), 2 varieties of the reprise title "May Rain" of Sand by Current 93 in 1992
Today, 40 years later, here the cool sound jugglers, founders and new members, go again (Ludwig and Ulrich Papenberg, Johannes Vester, Christian von der Schulenburg and Richard Pappik) then Sand is active in a creative frenzy timeless...
www.rotorelief.com
www.rotorelief.com
|
2016 |
€14.00 |
|
|
Desert Navigation (clear) |
LP |
"Texture and feeling of 1975 with boosted audiophile sound quality. Previously unreleased album by German trio Sand, recorded 1973-1982. Live events in the quarry and an archaic sound formed the background music of the young atomic age. In the meantime, after endless trance garage sessions, Sand drifted from the mythical landscapes to Berlin and mingled with various oriental influences. Vultures were scudding along the urban canyons while burning houses illuminated the skyline. Sand navigated in obscure spheres and discovered Tendrara. There is something magical and inexplicable in creation, and Sand absolutely manifest these mysterious phenomena. Storytellers, musicians, shamans, geniuses -- Sand were known, at the end of the '60s, as P.O.T. (Part of Time). Then Sand -- Ludwig Papenberg, his brother Ulrich Papenberg, and Johannes Vester -- developed a more avant-gardist, proto-industrial, visionary, experimental approach, becoming a truly unique entity in the history of music. Not dependent on a classic krautrock style, Sand is nevertheless part of this movement of German cosmic/psychedelic bands, in addition to being the originators of proto-industrial musics. Live events in the quarry and an archaic sound formed the background music of the young atomic age. In the meantime the desert storm accumulated in endless trance garage sessions. Then Sand drifted from the mythical landscapes to Berlin and mingled with various oriental influences. Vultures were scudding along the urban canyons whilst burning houses illuminated the skyline. Sand navigated in obscure spheres and discovered Tendrara. "
|
2017 |
€25.00 |
|
| |
Golem (clear) |
LP |
"Sand’s 1974 debut album Golem is an excellent oddity in the Krautrock canon. The album eschews the normal reliance on chugging rhythms to provide the backbone of their sound. Instead they use space and more importantly headspace to create their psychedelic platform. The album was recorded by Klaus Schulze in a format described as “Artificial Head Stereo Sound” (which sounds like a psych band in its own right). Immediately plunging into opener “Helicopter,” the band creates a cavern of sound that was made for headphones. It was an attempt at surround sound before there was a market, improving on Quadrophonic and dunking the listener head first into the band’s creeping psychedlics.
Golem is as uncharacteristic of Krautrock as it is of the rest of Sand’s catalog, which would largely become more proto-industrial, roping in factory field recordings and ambient noise to their sound. Here they incorporate picked acoustics that roll into menacing cradles of tone, enveloping the listener in anxious waves, curling and uncurling their grip on the throat. Then they completely break out for a wistful romp on “On The Corner.” Its atypical of its peers but it stands as an important rung on the ladder connecting the audio tissue between Ash Ra Temple, Pink Floyd, Träd, Gräs och Stenar, and naturally their mentor Klaus Schulze and Tangerine Dream. There have been several reissues but Rotorelief’s 2013 version (still available) is probably the most deluxe and well presented. If you have a soft spot for 70’s excess and German Progressive rock, then this one is a must have." [Raven Sings the Blues]
|
2017 |
€25.00 |
|
| SANSON, GIL & BRUNO DUPLANT |
Blank |
CD |
"Dabbling in this and that, eager collaborator & french composer Bruno Duplant has gradually nurtured a sensitive style of his own on the border between multi-instrumentation, improvisation, and site-specific recordings…here he teams up with like-minded transgressor and Venezuelan artist Gil Sansón, who already appeared on labels such as Winds Measure Recordings & Con-V, and Lengua da Lava. Often working on the basis of self-imposed premises & convoluted concepts, Gil shapes patiently questioning intense sound forms…
“blank” opens with distant hum, a faraway pervasive sea,
an opaline world,
just a way of falling into line with each fluctuation,
the wobble of things…
marks…scattered objects…traces of passage…
all become the elements of a receptive score…
Urban moans, muffled motion…
a sea yet to surge,
a scraped slate,
refusing all appearances,
“blank” captures the diaphanous, the transient,
the diffuse or dazzling instant…
A script of perceptiveness…
It punctuates, cuts,
incisions drawing unseen reliefs…
“blank” infuses you in revelatory intervals…
::: TRACKS :::
1. foliage, brackets, skidmarks
2. blank
3. detachment
::: DURATION :::
66:20
::: FORMAT :::
CD ltd to 200 copies
all copies come with an additional art card on 300 gr satin paper." [label info]
www.mysterysea.net
"In terms of expectance, this is certainly one of the stranger releases on Mystery Sea in some time. Many of the releases on this label have some connection with 'sea', 'water', 'rivers' and such like, but that doesn't seem to be the case here. Although Bruno Duplant may use, perhaps, field recordings of the watery kind in this work, it all seems to be more the work of improvisation music on real instruments. Duplant plays horn, double bass and electronics and Gil Sanson (did I ever hear from him?) plays electric guitar and amplifier, broken mandolin, empty maraca and 'phonographies'. He also wrote the score for the first and the last piece, and Duplant for the one in the middle. So, instead of having improvised music, this is composed music, which just happen to sound like improvised music. Three pieces, as said, and they are all around twenty-two minutes, and they deal with a lot of quiet sounds. A plink here, a plonk there, all carefully played, quiet and spacious. There is a bit of bird sounds, large chunks of unidentified field recordings rumble play an important role. I think (!) I like it, but I am not too sure: I do know that it's all a bit long. I think I would have been equally satisfied with two of these pieces instead of three. Maybe I just lack the right amount of concentration today? Maybe I think it's a bit too much of the same thing? Mystery Sea makes a daring move, however, with this release, making it different from the ones we already know." [FdW/Vital Weekly]
|
2014 |
€13.00 |
|
| SANTAAGOSTINO |
Operazione Paura |
CD |
"SantAAgostino tell of the Noises from Beyond the Gate.
SantAAgostino play the Journey of No Return from the Death Phase. SantAAgostino sing the Dark Zone of those who met the pain-soaked Demiurge and came back to Earth without forgiveness for their sins. SantAAgostino write about the laments and the looks of those who saw beyond the coma and came back. SantAAgostino feel the return of those who died and are reborn more rotten and foul than before.
Operazione Paura is a tribute to music and cosmos energy: the same energy that santAAgostino trio was permeated with during the opus and the esecution of the pieces.
Operazione Paura is a total turning not just for the band but for dark, ambient music and noise, generally speaking. That’s because santAAgostino is like a meteor crashed onto the Earth disarranging all the balances, rhythmes and cycles. After the crash the planet seems to be perished but, in the inner part, the new fire of life is burning. A brand new energy developed in a new way of living, of thinking and being.
Operazione Paura speaks of the filmic and horrorific fear, mind trap “to kill” atavistic thoughts and all those mental factors that trapped the man into a selfmade cage in his own mind, through the mind itself. Operazione Paura is an awl that, slowly but inexorably, drives the listener to a dimension where there is no thought, no images, no more conceptualizing, nothing still exhists: there is just a huge solitary desert now, where sounds spontaneously flow creating new monster beyond space and time. It’s a place where new divine dynasties born, spreading their seed, in order to bear a brand new reign far from the borders that we can’t even imagine." [label info]
www.greytone.eu
|
2010 |
€13.00 |
|
| SASHASH ULZ |
Karelian Balsam |
MC |
"Karelian Balsam is a herbal liqueuer from the Baltic, which may or may not have been the inspiration for the music on this album. That the five tracks are titled “100 ml” to “500 ml” is saying something, but you can be sure to enjoy the music without the booze, too.
Sashash Ulz has released a number of very intense drone-ambient works on attenuation circuit, and this one is no exception. Yet it’s still different. This is not minimalist drone work, instead there are lots and lots of layered loops that create the overall dronescape. Embedded within the flow of the whole are many playful details, such as effects being used to create little giggles, bleeps and chirps not usually found in Ulz’s music. These sounds contribute a great deal to creating a certain light-headedness that might well be similar to that induced by Karelian Balsam.
File under: Drone, ambient, psychedelic" [label info]
www.attenuationcircuit.de
|
2015 |
€7.50 |
|
| SATO, MINORU (M/S, SASW) + ASUNA |
Texture in glass tubes and reed organ |
CD |
"Die Kollaboration von MINORU SATO (m/s, SASW) + ASUNA für Texture In Glass Tubes and Reed Organ (KK012) folgte akribisch phonologischen
Konzepten, die in den Titeln auch schon angesprochen sind: ‚Superimposing five harmonic states‘ und ‚Weaving seven resonances: with
raw stereo material‘. Eine musikalische Phänomenologie, für die das Wort ‚experimentell‘ tatsächlich mal zutrifft. Die beiden dabei minutiös geschichteten oder verwebten Klangquellen, Glasröhren und Saugwindharmonium, sich klassische Dröhner. Sie erzeugen wunderbar harmonische Schwingungen,
die als Wellen im Raum ‚stehen‘ und wabern. Die ebenso raffinierten wie minimalistischen Anordnungen zeitigen idealtypische Resultate - Deep Listening à la Pauline Oliveros, Phill Niblock, Osso Exótico & Verres Enharmoniques.
Obwohl nichts anderes als Nüchternheit und Präzision am Werk sind, quellen klangwolkig und sanft schwingend alle nur denk- und fühlbaren
Konnotationen von Sphärenharmonie, Nada Brahma, Meditation und Immersion auf." [Bad Alchemy]
"We have been performing “music” focusing on the materialistic nature (physical phenomena) of sounds by utilizing the reed organ and glass tubes. Our music is composed and constructed in such a way that however the phenomena we use reacts with the circumstances of the space – the situation of the site including the audience – our live performance involves and uses these conditions. Since these compositions are studio recordings however, we decided to exclude acoustic spatial matters and the ‘one-time-ness’ of live performances and instead composed the structure of resonances within certain divisions of time. This is similar to textiles – weaving “resonances”, rather than thread, in certain patterns.
"Superposing five harmonic states" was developed by recording five harmonic states separately. Each of the harmonies was obtained by finding the characteristic sound effects made by the relationship of the chords of the organ and resonances of the glass tube. It was constructed by layering the recordings regularly in certain passages of time. The resonances of the organ and the tubes are left as they were originally recorded and the result is five separate recordings woven into a single piece.
"Weaving seven resonances: with raw stereo material" was developed by recording a state where the resonances keep a subtle balance between the relationship of the organ and the glass tubes. From the originally recorded material we found seven characteristic frequencies and reconstructed them into a piece, by giving each individual volume a transition using optionally assigned periodic variations. Thus this composition, made of a single recording, is like a piece woven by one string.
If our live performances were to be evaluated as music where we are presented with one-time incidents – i.e. reflecting the real time phenomena as ‘now and there’ in the music – this CD could be evaluated as music to analyze the sound structure of these phenomena and to make those aspects audible. It is intended to create a narrative about the phenomena which resonate through constructed sounds." [Minoru Sato]
www.spekk.net
|
2007 |
€15.50 |
|
| SATORI |
The Hanging |
CD-BOX |
"A spore. Or a seed. Or maybe a drop of blood. There is always something left. Just when everyone thought the devil was done, the alien defeated, it comes back. More powerful, stronger and much much angrier. To lay waste the land, destroy the positive and breathe its fetid stench in the face of light. We should have known. Should have realised that in the vacuum left by its departure something would grow. Expanding and multiplying to fill the void. Recycling its hate, constricting hope and slowly, surely getting pissed at the world. Do we deserve its seething rage? Yes we probably do.
Dave Kirby formed Satori in the early 1980s with Rob Maycock, released music on the legendary Broken Flag label and then, just as quickly as they had arrived, stopped. Resurrected briefly to promote a retrospective CD "Infect" Dave and Justin Mitchell (Cold Spring Records) joined forces to blast a total wall of noise to unsuspecting gig-goers. Then Dave vanished. Justin along with new recruit Neil Chaney (Pessary) released the album "Kanashibari" in 2008. After touring the UK, Europe and Japan things went quiet again. Until now. Dave is back with ten new Satori tracks. Classic Power Electronics, Industrial and Dark Ambient soundscapes sculpted from a collection of alienating electronica, found sound and heavy drums. "The Hanging" marks both a new beginning and a continuation of a project now 30 years old but, most importantly, the chance to hear over an hour of brand new Satori.
Florian (the photographer)? I think his contribution has been invaluable. florian kriechbaum vienna " [label info] |
2015 |
€15.00 |
|
| SAUVAGE, TOMOKO |
Fischgeist |
LP |
Fischgeist was recorded in a former water tank in Berlin-Prenzlauer Berg in August 2019. The nineteenth-century brick building consists of five layered circles, with a spiral staircase in the middle leading up to an exit to a hilltop. Inside, it's humid and cold, the temperature always around 8–10 ℃. The building’s acoustics produce a long reverberation that lasts up to 20 seconds.
‘One day between recording sessions, a man, a passerby, wanted to look inside the building. He told me that it used to be full of fish. For a second I imagined a huge round aquarium with loads of fish swimming around in circles. Then I realized that he meant dead fish were kept there, to be sold on markets during the GDR era. But the image of fish swimming in the space stayed with me.’
In conversation with the space of the water tank, Tomoko Sauvage searches beyond the limits of her self-invented ‘natural synthesizers’: porcelain and glass bowls, filled with water and amplified with hydrophones.
While she continues to develop some of the classic techniques heard on her previous album Musique Hydromantique (Shelter Press, 2017) – hydrophonic feedback (Kinetosis Study) and ‘fortune biscuits’ (porous pieces of terracotta that emit tiny singing bubbles) (Deluge) – here new elements are combined with delicate gestures to make curious noises: stroking bowls’ surfaces to imitate the voices of sea mammals (Metamorphosis), drawing dots and circles by rubbing stones against stones underwater (Exit) …
The underwater amplification of quasi-inaudible sound is even more magnified in the air by the echo of the water tank. Not only tiny bubbles, but also micro-movements of the bones and veins of the hand holding the sonorous objects in the water, are intensely amplified – sounding like a tempest on the opening Deluge.
Sauvage's longtime research into hydrophonic feedback develops with her new obsession with natural harmonics and sympathetic resonance. In Flying Vessels, the percussive notes of struck bowls resonate and turn into feedback loops before decaying, fueled by electric signal gain. Kinetosis Study is a sonic etude on fluid dynamics – the flow velocity, pressure and density of manually shaped water waves directly controlling the aquatic synthesizer's parameters.
August, when the mid-summer Ghost Festival is held, is traditionally known as the Ghost Month throughout East Asia. The spirits of the dead visit their living families, who welcome them with feasts, dancing and music. Miniature lantern-laden boats are released in rivers, to help lost ghosts find their way home.
Animated by formless matter – water, electricity, sound – Fischgeist celebrates a phantasmagoric journey, as the souls of aquatic lifeforms find their way out of the labyrinth of the water tank.
credits
released October 16, 2020
Composed, performed and mixed by Tomoko Sauvage
Recorded and produced by bohemian drips prior to Speicher festival, Berlin, August 2019 | Binaural recording with a KU 100 dummy head microphone
Mastered by Andreas Kauffelt in Berlin
Cover drawings by Baien Mōri (1798–1851)
https://tomokosauvage.bandcamp.com |
2020 |
€23.00 |
|
| SAVAGE REPUBLIC |
Sword Fighter / Taranto!!! (RED vinyl) |
7" |
Limited edition including an insert.
Very special package with die-cut cover with silk-screened printings designed by Andrea Scarfone (Skarfo/Julie's Haircut).
First 200 hand-numbered copies comes is solid RED vinyl.
Hailing from the Los Angeles underground of the 1980s, Savage Republic forged an astonishing reputation for themselves with their legendary performances. Their brand of ritualistically tribal exhibitions blurred the boundaries of Post-Punk and Industrial music. Their music incorporates minimalist bass rumbles, exotic and/or militaristic drumming, Arabic melodies, primal chants and even a bit of surf guitar.
Now A Silent Place is honoured to release a limited vinyl 7" single with two amazing exclusive tracks recorded expressly for this release after '1938' cd album release on Neurot Recordings!
Both tracks are with SR distinguishing elements: tribal drumming, hypnotic and raga-like guitar lines with pulsating bass, Post-Punk and Industrial music with a sort of exotic atmosphere." [label info]
www.asilentplace.it
SR Biography:
Figures of considerable repute within the Los Angeles post-punk community of the 1980s, Savage Republic grafted tribal percussion, industrial drones, and raga-like guitar lines together to craft an idiosyncratically moody sound with flashes of both desolation and eloquent grandeur. Capable of both harsh dissonance and shimmering textures, the band's guiding force was guitarist Bruce Licher, a founder and constant presence in their shuffling lineups. Alternating between cyclic instrumentals and quasi-industrial assaults with gruff, chanted vocals, their records were unavoidably inconsistent, but most contain some enduring highlights.
Savage Republic was founded by former UCLA students Licher and drummer Mark Erskine in the early '80s. Adding new members, the group originally called themselves Africa Corps, changing the name to Savage Republic just before releasing their first record in 1982. Exotic percussion would always play a big role in Savage Republic -- even in the early days they were using oil cans, metal pipes, and 55-gallon drums. Their early singles, and their debut LP Tragic Figures (1982), show the group at their least accessible, though there are hints of the more mysterious and melodic elements to come.
After some personnel changes (some members went off to form 17 Pygmies), Savage Republic regrouped with new elements (Thom Fuhrmann and Ethan Port) and a more guitar-oriented sound. On Ceremonial (1985), the band shifted their focus to mostly instrumental material, usually piloted by oddly tuned guitars (the group sometimes used guitars with six identically tuned strings). They'd never wholly abandon those droning, angst-driven chants, though. Combined with the fact that their instrumental material wouldn't break much new ground over the course of the decade, that can make their studio albums uneven listening. In any case, the band was best experienced live, where they would burn trash cans of pampas leaves, play on Los Angeles' Skid Row, and use all sorts of unexpected objects for percussion in their quest to make each concert a unique event.
Savage Republic's albums, which were individually hand-letterpressed and numbered by Licher himself, received as much attention for their packaging as their music. Licher would perform the same services for other bands on his Independent Project label, even getting a Grammy nomination for his work on the first Camper Van Beethoven LP. Savage Republic was not destined to become nearly as big as Camper (not that this was ever their intent), and disbanded around 1990. A small reunion tour brought the band back in the fall of 2002, but the band only played a few random dates. After relocating to Arizona, Licher continues to run the Independent Project label, and design sleeves (his most famous work in that department has been for an R.E.M. Christmas fan club single). Musically, he resurfaced with the trio Scenic, which plays entirely instrumental material that blends the exotic flavor of Savage Republic with influences from Ennio Morricone and southwest border music. ~ Richie Unterberger, All Music Guide
|
2009 |
€12.50 |
|
|
Sword Fighter / Taranto!!! |
7inch |
"Limited edition including an insert.
Very special package with die-cut cover with silk-screened printings designed by Andrea Scarfone (Skarfo/Julie's Haircut).
Hailing from the Los Angeles underground of the 1980s, Savage Republic forged an astonishing reputation for themselves with their legendary performances. Their brand of ritualistically tribal exhibitions blurred the boundaries of Post-Punk and Industrial music. Their music incorporates minimalist bass rumbles, exotic and/or militaristic drumming, Arabic melodies, primal chants and even a bit of surf guitar.
Now A Silent Place is honoured to release a limited vinyl 7" single with two amazing exclusive tracks recorded expressly for this release after '1938' cd album release on Neurot Recordings!
Both tracks are with SR distinguishing elements: tribal drumming, hypnotic and raga-like guitar lines with pulsating bass, Post-Punk and Industrial music with a sort of exotic atmosphere." [label info]
www.asilentplace.it
SR Biography:
Figures of considerable repute within the Los Angeles post-punk community of the 1980s, Savage Republic grafted tribal percussion, industrial drones, and raga-like guitar lines together to craft an idiosyncratically moody sound with flashes of both desolation and eloquent grandeur. Capable of both harsh dissonance and shimmering textures, the band's guiding force was guitarist Bruce Licher, a founder and constant presence in their shuffling lineups. Alternating between cyclic instrumentals and quasi-industrial assaults with gruff, chanted vocals, their records were unavoidably inconsistent, but most contain some enduring highlights.
Savage Republic was founded by former UCLA students Licher and drummer Mark Erskine in the early '80s. Adding new members, the group originally called themselves Africa Corps, changing the name to Savage Republic just before releasing their first record in 1982. Exotic percussion would always play a big role in Savage Republic -- even in the early days they were using oil cans, metal pipes, and 55-gallon drums. Their early singles, and their debut LP Tragic Figures (1982), show the group at their least accessible, though there are hints of the more mysterious and melodic elements to come.
After some personnel changes (some members went off to form 17 Pygmies), Savage Republic regrouped with new elements (Thom Fuhrmann and Ethan Port) and a more guitar-oriented sound. On Ceremonial (1985), the band shifted their focus to mostly instrumental material, usually piloted by oddly tuned guitars (the group sometimes used guitars with six identically tuned strings). They'd never wholly abandon those droning, angst-driven chants, though. Combined with the fact that their instrumental material wouldn't break much new ground over the course of the decade, that can make their studio albums uneven listening. In any case, the band was best experienced live, where they would burn trash cans of pampas leaves, play on Los Angeles' Skid Row, and use all sorts of unexpected objects for percussion in their quest to make each concert a unique event.
Savage Republic's albums, which were individually hand-letterpressed and numbered by Licher himself, received as much attention for their packaging as their music. Licher would perform the same services for other bands on his Independent Project label, even getting a Grammy nomination for his work on the first Camper Van Beethoven LP. Savage Republic was not destined to become nearly as big as Camper (not that this was ever their intent), and disbanded around 1990. A small reunion tour brought the band back in the fall of 2002, but the band only played a few random dates. After relocating to Arizona, Licher continues to run the Independent Project label, and design sleeves (his most famous work in that department has been for an R.E.M. Christmas fan club single). Musically, he resurfaced with the trio Scenic, which plays entirely instrumental material that blends the exotic flavor of Savage Republic with influences from Ennio Morricone and southwest border music. ~ Richie Unterberger, All Music Guide
www.asilentplace.it
|
2009 |
€5.00 |
|
|
Tragic Figures (40th Anniversary Edition) |
do-LP |
Savage Republic: Tragic Figures (Expanded 40th Anniversary Edition) (Red Vinyl Edition) 2LP-Set Regular Version
Welcome to the world’s first (and only) post-punk-industrial-trance-psychedelic-surf album! The fact that it took us so many adjectives to describe Tragic Figures lets you know just how unique of an album it is. Sure, there are echoes of other artists, like krautrock legends Can, post-punkers Public Image Limited (Savage Republic opened for PiL on their 1982 West Coast dates), avant-garde guitar players like Glenn Branca and Rhys Chatham, scrap metal industrialists Einstürzende Neubauten, and Bay Area sludgecore nihilists Flipper—but really, this unlikely product of (mostly) UCLA undergrads sounds like no other record before or since. And only adding to Tragic Figures’ mystique are its graphics, which displayed band co-founder Bruce Licher’s trademark letterpress printing and featured a UPI photo of rebels getting executed in Kurdistan, the ghostly images sharing space with a red lettering that gave the album’s title in script that roughly translated “tragic figures” into Arabic (which, in turn, had the unexpected effect of drawing more Iranian and Middle Eastern people to their shows)! Tragic Figures wasn’t just a bold musical statement; it was an objet d’art in its own right.
For its 40th anniversary edition, we at Real Gone Music worked with Bruce Licher to preserve and expand on the magical, talismanic quality of the initial release. The original album has been remastered from the original tapes by Mike Milchner at Sonic Vision, while both the CD and LP editions both boast an extra disc of largely unreleased rehearsal recordings taped in the bowels of UCLA parking garages, where the band used to practice to take advantage of the extended reverb afforded by all the concrete surfaces (imagine being an unwitting undergrad happening upon this unearthly din coming out of nowhere)! Richie Unterberger’s liner notes feature interviews with band members Licher, Philip Drucker, and Jeff Long, and the LP comes with the original cover graphics expanded into a gatefold jacket pressed in heavyweight “chipboard” paper stock. Finally, the LP pressing is in red vinyl limited to 2000 copies. Clear your calendar and set aside a couple of hours to listen to Tragic Figures…you won’t end up where you started.
Disc One Side One
1. When All Else Fails…
2. Attempted Coup: Madagascar
3. The Ivory Coast
4. Next to Nothing
5. Exodus
Disc One Side Two
1. Machinery
2. Zulu Zulu
3. Real Men
4. Flesh That Walks
5. Kill the Fascists!
6. Procession
Disc Two Side One
1. Attempted Coup: Madagascar
2. When All Else Fails
3. Kill the Fascists!
4. Real Men
5. The Vampire Bites
6. Next to Nothing Weirdness
7. Thee Three Preserves
Disc Two Side Two
1. Sliding into Arabia
2. As It Was Written
3. Procession (Into the Light)
4. Exodus
https://realgonemusic.com/products/savage-republic-tragic-figures-expanded-2-lp
"Die erste legendäre LP von 1982 der damals als "Art-Punk" gehandelten kalifornischen Band, die auch politisch radikale Wege ging, ihren eigenen "Staat" gründete und mit eigenem Label & Druckerei versuchte so unabhängig wie möglich zu bleiben...
TRAGIC FIGURES vereint auf unnachahmliche Weise aggressiven Industrial-"Rock" und politische Agitation (so z.B. im Stück "Kill the Fascists"), sehr perkussiv & tribal und oft mit Metall- oder Schrottschlagzeug und gebrüllten Vocals, aber auch eine psychedelisch-trancig "ethnische" Note ist hier bereits vorzufinden... was sich später zu ihrem unnachahmlichen oriental angehauchten Wüsten-Rock entwickelte..." [Drone Rec. 2002]
|
2022 |
€55.50 |
|
| |
Tragic Figures (40th Anniversary Edition) |
do-CD |
Welcome to the world’s first (and only) post-punk-industrial-trance-psychedelic-surf album! The fact that it took us so many adjectives to describe Tragic Figures lets you know just how unique of an album it is. Sure, there are echoes of other artists, like krautrock legends Can, post-punkers Public Image Limited (Savage Republic opened for PiL on their 1982 West Coast dates), avant-garde guitar players like Glenn Branca and Rhys Chatham, scrap metal industrialists Einstürzende Neubauten, and Bay Area sludgecore nihilists Flipper—but really, this unlikely product of (mostly) UCLA undergrads sounds like no other record before or since. And only adding to Tragic Figures’ mystique are its graphics, which displayed band co-founder Bruce Licher’s trademark letterpress printing and featured a UPI photo of rebels getting executed in Kurdistan, the ghostly images sharing space with a red lettering that gave the album’s title in script that roughly translated “tragic figures” into Arabic (which, in turn, had the unexpected effect of drawing more Iranian and Middle Eastern people to their shows)! Tragic Figures wasn’t just a bold musical statement; it was an objet d’art in its own right.
For its 40th anniversary edition, we at Real Gone Music worked with Bruce Licher to preserve and expand on the magical, talismanic quality of the initial release. The original album has been remastered from the original tapes by Mike Milchner at Sonic Vision, while both the CD and LP editions both boast an extra disc of largely unreleased rehearsal recordings taped in the bowels of UCLA parking garages, where the band used to practice to take advantage of the extended reverb afforded by all the concrete surfaces (imagine being an unwitting undergrad happening upon this unearthly din coming out of nowhere)! Richie Unterberger’s liner notes feature interviews with band members Licher, Philip Drucker, and Jeff Long, and the LP comes with the original cover graphics expanded into a gatefold jacket pressed in heavyweight “chipboard” paper stock. Finally, the LP pressing is in red vinyl limited to 2000 copies. Clear your calendar and set aside a couple of hours to listen to Tragic Figures…you won’t end up where you started.
|
2022 |
€30.00 |
|
| SCHAEFER, JANEK |
Location Stories |
do-7inch |
Die schöne 7“-Reihe auf MIXER wird fortgesetzt mit einer Doppel-Single von JANEK SCHAEFER: Anrufbeantworternachrichten aus Minneapolis, Ziegenglocken aus Südspanien, und eine Regenwaldsymphonie & Wordassoziationen vom Amazonas, vielfältiger gehts kaum, kleine & durchaus witzige & hintersinnige Bewusstseins- und Phantasiereisen, für jeden field-recording Fan ein Muss !
“Janek Schaefer has gained a reputation when it comes to fieldrecording-based soundworks. Using his sonic surroundings, manipulated or not, Schaefer comes up with unique and intimate results. ‘Location Stories’ is another collection of found-sound stories, that Stichting Mixer is proud of to release.
Side A Minneapolis Office Max Messages > 1.45min
A collage of the messages I found left on the display model of a mini digital dictaphone bought at a Branch of Office Max in Minneapolis. In a condensed period of time we get to hear many different cultures and stereotypes interacting with the technology uninterrupted by the presence of sales staff. The track concludes with a voice from my car radio, as I tested it in the car park outside, talking about innovation and technology.
Side B Field Recording > 6.00min
This is the unedited recording of a huge field of silent goats in the village of Villanueva de la Concepcion, south Spain. They were all wearing goat bells and didn't bleat once. The result is a random cacophony of bells. A very pure ‘field recording’ composition.
Side C: Amazon Word Game [beginning] side 1 > 7.41min
Side D: Amazon Word Game [ending] side 2 > 7.40min
A recording made in the heart of The Amazon Rain Forest, where a Brazilian guide, two English tourists and a German tourist, are lying in hammocks at dusk, in a camp made from palm leaves, playing a ‘word association’ game. The language differences make an entertaining and intimate play of language in the middle of the ambient sounds of the virgin rainforest.” [credits]
“....This new double 7" (and if understood well, the final new Stichting Mixer release in some time to come) deals with field recordings, but of three different natures. On side A we hear messages left on a mini digital dictaphone that Schaeffer bought. It was the display model so it went through many hands, and many people tried the machine, leaving their messages on. Quite a hilarious piece of found sound. The b-side is a pure field recording of goats wearing bells. The funny thing is that these goats are all silent, so the only thing we hear is the sound of the bells, which sound like a thick mass of chinese bell chimes plus some more obscured sounds, part of the recording. On the other 7" we have two recordings made in the Amazon Rain Forest, where a Brazilian guide, two English tourists and a German tourist are playing a 'word association' game. Of course the Rain Forest makes a lot of noise, bird and insect calls. Of course with three different native languages on board it's not easy to do this, so there is some amount of confusion among the players. It's a very nice idea and with the Rain Forest sounds its also a beautiful ambient recordings, but perhaps the fifteen minutes spread over 2 sides of a 7" is a bit too much. However, Schaeffer tells three great, three different stories.” [FdW, Vital Weekly]
|
2006 |
€12.00 |
|
| |
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 |
|
| SCHUMACHER, MICHAEL J. |
Four Stills |
CD |
Eine faszinierende Klangwelt entwirft MICHAEL J. SCHUMACER auf „four stills“. Hochfrequent-undurchdringliche Geräusche erinnern an organisches, unbekanntes Leben, Anklänge an JOHN HUDAK, LOPEZ, CHARTIER...
“Sedimental’s first release for 2002, Four Stills, is from New York composer/guitarist Michael J. Schumacher. Schumacher has a strong presence on the experimental scene with his refined guitar “drone” compositions but parallel to this activity he has been working with number system applications of sampled material through electronics, a direct extension of his audio installations. Schumacher is also internationally recognized along with his wife and artist Ursula Scherrer, who designed the artwork for this release, for the outstanding Studio 5 Beekman space (now Diapason on 6th Ave.) that provides a sympathetic environment for audio artists to execute installations. The participants in this project read like a who’s who of leading-edge composers and experimental musicians.
Our reaction to material originally considered for Four Stills was nothing short of breathtaking. Where as much digitally generated material succumbs to a hermetically closed world of glitches and electronic landscape Schumacher’s work opens up this environment, despite the density of the material, into a breathing, organic spaciousness while still maintaining the intimacy inherent in the form.
”The Four Stills are expressions of the number system that I have used since 1989 in my electronic compositions. These numbers form the basis for dozens of rhythmic processes executed by the computer, from playing a midi grand piano, to deciding a range within a sample buffer to play, to determining larger structural aspects such as the alternation of sound and silence within a particular part. The fact that they are prime numbers prevents predictable patterns from emerging. The limit of six maintains structural coherence. The Four Stills were recorded direct to stereo in real time. Though the sounds used in a given piece are predetermined, their interaction with each other over time is left to chance.
These pieces are extensions of my installation pieces, which evolve over long time periods, and are also created in real time by generative algorithms. However, in contrast to the installations, which utilize distance as an important perceptual feature and employ as many as 16 independent channels of sound, allowing for meaningful variations in texture, these recordings, being limited to two channels, are more compact in their presentation of the sonic material. They therefore remind me of certain styles of painting, which present the spectator with a static field of color that is experienced in no particular order. Though the music obviously unfolds over time, the analogy seems appropriate to me, since the dense textures (sometimes as many as 27 simultaneous parts) invite a contemplation of the many layers of sound and their relation, not in time, but in space.” Sedimental is honored to make available the rarely heard digital works of Schumacher to a wider international audience-a dynamic composer who has provided a unique aesthetic forum for some many like-minded composers as well.” [press release]
|
2002 |
€13.00 |
|
| |
Five Sound Installations |
DVD |
"Five Sound Installations is a DVD-ROM (for MAC and PC) that contains 5 sound compositions generated in real time by a computer algorithm. The works are: 'Room Piece Twenty-Four'; 'Noema'; 'Steiner Suite'; 'Unintending'; 'Scene'. 'Sound Art, algorithmic composition, chance operations, multi-channel sound systems, immersive installations, computer music; these terms all intersect at a point defined by the new XI release 5SI by MJS. Shumacher is a composer, curator (he runs Diapason, NY's only 'sound art' gallery), and performer, and has been creating computer-generated installations for close to 20 years. His output includes 5 solo cds, but these were by necessity adaptations of works designed for more or less permanent listening situations, in which auditors could explore various modes of listening within sound environments. These works were composed with installation settings in mind, they had no 'beginning-middle-end' (even out of order) in the traditional sense. For the cd releases, the pieces needed to be manipulated in various ways to accommodate the medium. A better way needed to be found. Schumacher has always been interested in creating algorithmic works that extend the boundaries of the genre, investing them with 100s of constituent parts that form sonic mobiles in space and time. Now he presents the ambitious (and technically savvy) listener with a means to experience Schumacher's installations in the home, through up to 8 separate speaker channels and for as long as the computer keeps running. No question, this is not an iPod experience! For some, just understanding the reason for such a project will be difficult. But the composer and XI believe that the time is apt for challenging a complacent public and industry. This release, more than anything else, is a challenge to break boundaries in both content and distribution, a call for a new way of thinking about sound in the home, which is more than ever the predominant place for listening.' NOTE: These compositions must be installed on a computer to be heard. Instructions are enclosed." [label info]
"This is not a DVD with musical compositions in any sort of traditional manner. It doesn't 'play' in a conventional way. One has to copy all the information to the harddisc (watch your system requirements, and there is both Mac and Windows available) and then you will have five pieces of music that are made in real time. Every time you play one of the five it will sound different. It's the work of Micheal J. Schumacher who has explored before sound installations and his releases were often 'just' the musical component of it, not the spatial side. But now you can set it up, stereo or surround sound (unavailable in the HQ here). Still not quite interactive: one can't load sounds yourself to the pieces, an Schumacher has set the parameters of the pieces, but there is, obviously, more freedom than a regular. This is music that plays until you stop it or if your computer shuts down. Definitely the first release ever in Vital Weekly that you can't download on a blog! I played every installation for about fifteen minutes to get the drift of it. My favorite was 'Room Piece Twenty-four': it had continuos gliding sounds which filled my space with elegance - certainly work to have playing for some time. The other four pieces more cut and paste pieces that arrive a bit louder than the first one, thus making a bigger 'presence' in your space. They were fine too, but I choose to play them at a somewhat lower volume but there is certainly sense in having these pieces play for a long time and see what it creates for you (unfortunately time is not something the average reviewer has too much at hand). Next step would be something to incorporate ones own sounds I guess. " [FdW / Vital Weekly]
label website: www.xirecords.org
|
2008 |
€15.00 |
|
| SCHUMACHER, MICHAEL J. / STEPHEN VITIELLO |
Untitled / Exchange |
CD-R |
Looking for strange stoff ? Here you are ! Incredible sounds derived from field recordings & objects, very concrete but it all has rather a "small sounds"- feel to it... some sounds also seem to be based on electronic devices, its hard to say, quite weird at times, but also lovely...
"It's unclear wether they did each a track, or that both tracks are the result of a collaborative work. Both Schumacher and Vitiello are known for the love of minimal music, that is music with not many changes, usually made with computers. As such this collaborative work is a bit different. Although they still play around with longer, repeating textures, almost in a drone like manner, there are also sounds that swirl in and out of the mix. Sometimes it seems to be a synthesizer, sometimes a guitar, sometimes perhaps the processed version of acoustic objects. Not always this comes across as super structured music, but more like a free flow. Nothing leaps out of the mix, and things move all the time on the same level. This gives the whole release a nice and relaxed ambient feel, even when as such the music has not much to do with ambient music. Not really a big surprise, but throughout very nice." [Frans de Waard - Vital Weekly]
label: www.void.gr/absurd
|
2007 |
€9.00 |
|
| SCHWARZ, ROBERT |
Double Negative |
LP |
"Double Negative follows the path that Robert Schwarz has pursued with The Scale of Things. Field recordings render the core and compositional starting points around which modular synthesizers are built to complex structures that resemble nature’s contingency as their inner logic. Nature and electronics merge to compositions that reveal uncanniness and strangeness in the heart of the world as well as in ourselves. However, where The Scale of Things provoked existential threats and feelings of being exposed to an inhuman, though not hostile world, Double Negative tames the darkness and perilousness of its predecessor.
On Double Negative, Schwarz is more focused on details and subtle sound sculptures than on the frightening wide angle that let him explore the scale of things. Field recordings forge even more the center of gravity for the pieces that have an exhibitional feel to it. Like in his installations, Schwarz invites us to thoroughly contemplate on his sound sculptures. He shows us around offering constantly new sights and insights into his sound textures without judging the world nor pushing the listener into a state of excessive demands. Field recordings of birds, wind and the sea present nature in a familiar frame and allow for recognition on a record that, in general, is more abstract than its predecessor. Double Negative invites you to deeply and slowly explore little treasuries of sound that are profoundly abstract, yet shine and flicker like the fantastic animals and images that crawl over the pages of one of Prosperos books. (Stefan Militzer)
www.gruenrekorder.de/?page_id=16274
"Twice before I have reviewed music by Robert Schwarz (Vital Weekly 982 and 1048) and twice I more or less wondered what it is that he does. I am pretty sure that this, the third time, doesn’t make much sense to me, or that I have some more knowledge, even when Gruenrekorder that “Field recordings render the core and compositional starting points around which modular synthesizers are built to complex structures that resemble nature’s contingency as their inner logic”, which is something that I
could probably also gather from listening to this record. The field recordings were taped in “Wonder Valley, Yangshuo, Fiskars, Palawan, Sandouping and Overton”, which probably could lead to a fun hour on Google maps to see where these are located. So there is a bunch of field recordings on one side and a stack of modular electronics on the other side and then Schwarz sets himself to work with these. Seven
compositions are to be found on ‘Double Negative’ and like before he creates some fine music with these elements. Sometimes it all blurs and one has no idea what is what here anymore. I guess one could easily call this musique concrete, but Schwarz’ pieces are shorter and more based on the idea of
telling a short story within a limited time frame. These stories aren’t necessarily very positive ones, as somehow the record sounds all a bit spooky and dark, despite some chirping bird here and there. Sometimes one has no idea what is going on, sound wise, and it seems that field recordings are pretty much obscured. It sounded like the window scraper at times, or animals and I was reminded of the music of G*Park even when Schwarz uses more electronics in his work (at least that’s what I think).
Through this is a very refined album, not necessarily ambient or noisy, but never too quiet, never too loud or alien. Spooky, sure it is that very much, but there is quite some beauty in these haunting pieces." [FdW/Vital Weekly] |
2017 |
€16.00 |
|
| SCORN / SEEFEEL / TIMOTHY LEARY / YANOMAMI |
Ancient Lights and the black Core |
LP |
"Third record of a thematic series of 9,
published from 1993 to 1998 called Utopian Diaries: Ancient Light and the Blackcore (1995).
Never released before as LP vinyl. Contains only unreleased and exclusive material.
It begins with Scorn at his best, Naked Sun with M.J. Harris (Lull, Painkiller) & N.J. Bullen.
Followed 3 new tracks by Seefeel (As if, As track & As well) recorded during the sessions of Seccour. Why are you there? the large track by Timothy Leary (voices) & DJ Cheb i Sabbah (production) is a fascinating hallucinatory
piece. At the end of the LP, extraordinary recordings of an intoxicated and painful ceremony of some Amazonian Shamans - recorded
by David Toop in the rainforest of Southern Venezuela (communauty of Yanomami) in november 1978.
Insert includes an important text written by David Toop: 'Subworld .' " [label info]
www.subrosa.net
www.subrosa.net
|
2017 |
€15.00 |
|
| SCOTT FIELDS ENSEMBLE |
From the Diary of Dog Drexel |
CD |
Carrie Biolo: vibraphone, marimba, crotales, and unpitched percussion
.Kyle Bruckmann: oboe and English horn
.Guillermo Gregorio: alto saxophone and clarinet
.Greg Kelley: trumpet
.Scott Fields: electric guitar and nylon-string guitar
.Stephen Dembski: conductor (tracks one through four)
.Gregory Taylor: constructor (track five)
Movements one through four were composed by Scott Fields (BMI).
Movement five was composed by Biolo, Bruckmann, Gregorio, Kelley, Fields, and Taylor.
It was constructed by Gregory Taylor using Cycling 74¹s Max/MSP software.
His raw materials were solo improvisations by each of the ensemble's members.
The recording and mixing engineer was Mark Haines.
The mastering engineer was Tom Blain
Recorded 22 April, 2002 at Smart Studios in Madison, Wisconsin.
Mixed at Smart Studios 3 May, 2002. Mastered at Ultimate Audio Mastering, Madison, Wisconsin.
There is a formula for making up your porn star name. As your first name use the name of the pet you had when you were a kid. As your last name use the street you grew up on. Scott Fields¹ pet was a whippet named "Dog." Fields grew up on 57th and Drexel. "Dog 57th" is not a good porn name.
"The Diary of Dog Drexel" is a suite of five movements, each of which programmatically portrays an emotional state from the diary. One of the ideas behind "Dog" was to thoroughly blend improvised and composed elements.
In the first four movements'Conflicted, Pissed, Bummed, and Agitated'there are at almost all times at least one thread of composition and another of improvisation.
The balance between the elements shifts steadily. Muddying the waters further is that many of the extended techniques that are called for in the composed elements are drawn from the usual vocabulary of the ensemble¹s instrumentalists.
The fifth movement'Medicated'also blends the two elements, but through a different process.
Each of the ensemble¹s instrumentalists, with the barest of instructions from Fields, recorded individual improvisations.
These improvisations were the clay that computer musician Gregory Taylor shaped into the fifth movement. As a result of the compositional strategy and the extended techniques used, it can be tricky to distinguish preplanned from spontaneous.
The best plan for listening to this music is to treat it as a whole rather than worry about what came from where.
www.rossbin.com/rs008.htm
|
2002 |
€6.00 |
|
| SCOTT, SIMON (SIMON SCOTT) |
Bunny |
CD |
"This is UK multi-instrumentalist Simon Scott's second album for Miasmah. He might still be best known for his tenure as the backbone of influential shoegazers Slowdive, but after his debut solo effort Navigare in 2009, he showed that there was far more to his oeuvre. With an ease and fluidity that eschews the usual trappings of the genre, he injected Slowdive's freeflowing bliss into the kind of blackened soundscapes the Miasmah label has made its calling card and gave the sound a rich, multi-layered quality that was effortlessly enticing. Bunny sees him take on a plethora of themes and ideas, distilling them into a coherent, well-defined narrative. The overall premise of the record is apparent from the very beginning, and might surprise some with its inspired take on the blackened jazz and smokey Americana heard in Paris, Texas or Mulholland Dr.. It would do Scott a disservice to simply label the music as Lynchian however; his success is to treat the layers of instrumentation (drums, guitars, cello, synthesizers) with a masterful fluidity, allowing the influences to melt into a delicate and delectable whole. Occasionally Scott acknowledges his shoegazing past, nudging the sound towards the blurred haze of his former band, but even these moments are cavernous enough for us to imagine them oozing from a Midwestern jukebox in an abandoned suburban diner. Bunny is an ambitious and daring journey for an artist who refuses to stay still; and it might just be the best road trip you've never taken." [label info]
www.miasmah.com
"Simon Scott produced one of the best records of 2009 with Navigare, an album whose shoegaze dronemusic was dotted with radioluminescent dream-pop numbers. It was hardly a surprise to us when we learned that he was the drummer of Slowdive way back when. Since then, Scott has produced a single for Immune and a collaboration with Jasper TX, both equally fantastic. For his second proper record, Scott makes a slight detour; but one that is well suited to everything else that's been released by the hauntologically leaning Miasmah records. The album opens with a languid series of smoke and mirror abstractions flickering above a nocturnal jazz rhythm that gives way to a Caretaker-esque melody of disembodied historicism amidst subterranean clatter and eerie scrapings. A walking bassline follows this as the only constant to the next track "Betty" whose distant cacophonous guitars slide into audibility through a dense fog of reverb, with a trip along the drumkit taking one tempestuous fill before succumbing to Scott's omnivorous reverb, sounding not all that far from Supersilent at their grooviest and some of those bleached Crescent instrumentals, if anybody remembers that Bristol outfit. With the breathtaking "Radiances," Scott relives his shoegaze past with a song directly out of the Slowdive playbook: a halo of guitar ambience brightens a classic Brit-pop maudlin rhythm section, where the droning slipperiness of the guitar is perfectly countered by the easy pace of the bassline. It really does sound like "Albatross" off of the Blue Day album by Slowdive, and we mean that as quite a high complement. Scott reprises this dream-pop sensibility on the equally deft "Drilla," with electro-static crackling and plenty of ephemeral drone-guitar work to fill in the blanks." [Aquarius Records] |
2011 |
€15.00 |
|
| |
Insomni |
CD |
"Couldn't sleep arose to forage for sound. The hum of the fridge encouraged further investigation of hidden, domestic sounds; the fish tank, dvd player, a broken laptop
Dawn and morning light allowed more sound and the guitar, in its case, beckoned
From darkness to light
Guitars: Guild 12 string D-125 & Vintage Guild 6 string GF-25. Mics: Induction coil pick up & Hydrophones. Buddha Machine pre-recorded and mixed, then re-recorded at Holme Fen Posts using mobile speakers. Recording device: Edirol r-09. Radio: static between stations. Software: Max MSP (self-programmed), Supercollider & Logic Pro.
Simon Scott (b. 1971) is a British multi-instrumentalist who is currently based in Cambridge, UK. Insomni is his fourth album and his debut for Ash International and is published by Touch. His music is a fusion of digital signal manipulation combined with an aesthetic of compositional collaboration with environmental sounds and organic acoustic textures. He is inspired by his interests in sound ecology, music technology, the natural world, illustration, photography, composition and sonic art.
Below Sea Level, originally presented live in quadraphonic sound, was released on Touchline in March 2015, after 12k originally released the album in 2012 as an 80-page journal and seven track CD. It explores the aesthetics of active listening, sound ecology and the subjective distinction of compositional materials and sound timbres. Critically applauded for creating juxtapositions of analogue and digital timbres, the man-made and natural world sounds, captured in his local sunken landscape of The Fens in East Anglia, create a fusion of digital signal manipulation combined with organic acoustic textures.
Since the late 1990's Scott's solo work has been featured in a variety of international films, sonic art exhibitions, dance productions, television productions and digital multi-media projects.
He has toured worldwide since 1988 and he is the drummer for UK band Slowdive, who worked with Brian Eno on 1993 'Souvlaki' album. His track 'Für Betty' was included on the German label Kompakt's 'Pop Ambient' (2014) compilation series and his solo music has also been previously released on recording labels 12k, Morr Music, Miasmah, Sonic Pieces and Ghostly International.
Scott is also a freelance composer and sound recordist for film and television and recently appeared on the BBC program 'Springwatch Unsprung' recording aquatic wildlife and discussing his work with presenter Chris Packham. He has taught Music Technology and sound recording in Cambridgeshire and lectured at Cambridge University.
In 2008 he established the KESH recording label, releasing global artists audio and visual projects and he has also collaborated on various projects with Taylor Deupree, Nils Frahm, Machinefabriek, The Sight Below, Isan and James Blackshaw." [label info]
"There are people who know Simon Scott as member of the renown shoegazer band, Slowdive. I have, unfortunately, never got into their music during their reign (even now I can see Rafael Anton Irisarri glaring down at me for this comment). I have, however, come upon Simon Scott's music back in 2009, where, for the first time since his playing drums for Slowdive, he has ventured out to release a solo album. Since then, Scott's music appeared on many of my favorite labels, such as Miasmah, Low Point, Slaapwel, and even 12k. Scott also runs and releases on his very own imprint, Kesh Recordings. His latest full length, Insomni, lands courtesy of Ash International, a long running outlet for Mike Harding, who is already busy with curating releases for Touch.
Insomni opens up with a slowly rising guitar strum slash drone slash noise, perfect as a soundtrack for my early morning walk, as I step out towards a lethargic and barely visible sun. The volume ascents with the climbing star, and soon envelopes every cell of my body. Gentle ambient soundscapes are intermixed with growling distortion, and it is this cocktail of dynamically opposing sonic vibrations that awakens my neurons, and a smile creeps in. The thunder eventually dissolves into a field recording of chirping birds, and Scott's guitar chords tell their story. Those awakened in the midst of night will recognize this texture of insomnia, mixed with fleeting thoughts within an empty chalice of a mind, and distant sounds of the universe unfolding on its own... all on its own...
Couldn't sleep... arose to forage for sound. The hum of the fridge encouraged further investigation of hidden, domestic sounds; the fish tank, dvd player, a broken laptop... Dawn and morning light allowed more sound and the guitar, in its case, beckoned... From darkness to light… -Scott
Insomni pursues its tale through a set of repetitious passages, shimmering light and lo-fi fabric. These are accented with environmental sounds (including the pickup of a cellular electromagnetic interference), wrapping this reverse lullaby into an organic aural pillow of music to wake up to. My favorite moment on the album enters with Scott playing his acoustic guitar (the press release credits a Guild 12-string D-125 and Vintage Guild six-string GF-25) - this is where Scott's talent as a multi-instrumentalist truly shines - it feels like Simon Scott is all this music, all these sounds, all this one. This is a beautiful record to add to your collection, and if you buy directly from the label you will receive two bonus tracks not available anywhere else. Highly recommended for fans of Rafael Anton Irisarri, William Basinski, Lawrence English and Christian Fennesz."
[headphone commute] |
2015 |
€15.00 |
|
| SCOTT-BUCCLEUCH, RUSS / SIGTRYGGUR BERG SIGMARSSON / ANDREW SHARPLEY |
Mask of Cheerful |
CD |
Ross Scott-Buccleuch: tapes, objects, found sounds.
Sigtryggur Berg Sigmarsson: sounds, percussion, voice
Andrew Sharpley: reaktor synths
Edited and Mixed by Andrew Sharpley, Dec 2020 - Jan 2021
Mastered by Richard Scott
Front cover collage by Ross Scott-Buccleuch
https://testrecordings.bandcamp.com/album/mask-of-cheerful
"Here we have two collaborations with Sigtryggur Berg Sigmarsson, with, in one case, his favourite collaborator, BJ Nilsen. Let's start with the other one, which sees him working with Ross Scott-Buccleuch (tapes, synths, field recordings) and Andrew Sharpley (sounds, edit, mix), while Sigmarsson is responsible for tapes, sounds and voice. The first we know from his work as Dirunal Burdens and his Steepgloss label, while Sharpley once was a member of Stock, Hausen & Walkman. The three of them already worked together, on the CDR 'Ghost Of Dada', released by Chocolate Monk last year (not reviewed here). As far as I know, it is quite common for Sigmarsson to do the final mix of the music, but in this case, it was Sharpley. From what I understand the process to be, is that everybody brought a lot of sound to the table and from the resulting ingredients Sharpley stewed this dish, perhaps adding a few rounds of processing to the mix, but most likely perhaps not. Just bring it all to whatever multi-track program/device of choice and shift the material around for a considerable amount of time and see what that brings, in terms of composition and, perhaps also, in the terms of variation. While to some this kind of music might be something like 'anything goes', I would think this is not the case. What Sharpely does here is creating a work of modern musique concrète qualities. Through endless cutting, editing and pasting of sounds, he created nine pieces of music collage and demontage. There is a great variety in the sound material here, spoken word, synthesizer sounds, the kitchen sink and some rather more obscure sounds, and the results are loud and harsh, soft and intimate and anything in between. Occasionally a loop goes on a bit too long or being just a bit too much of a plain loop, but I found this a great work altogether. Very classic, I thought, in a sort of late 80s cassette networking sort of way." [FdW/Vital Weekly]
|
2021 |
€14.00 |
|
| SEASONS (PRE-DIN) |
Your Eyes The Stars and Your Hands The Sea |
LP |
"You might not be familiar with the work of Seasons (pre-din), but the shadowy northerner has been honing his craft for some time now, covertly issuing a slew of stunning albums while the world ticked on. He cut his teeth performing and collaborating with Richard Skelton and Xela, but over the last couple of years has busied himself prepping a range of hand-made releases on his own label. Often gone in a matter of hours, these lovingly crafted curios caught the attention of astute listeners worldwide and it is now our pleasure to announce the first widely available album from Seasons (pre-din).
‘Your Eyes The Stars and Your Hands The Sea’ is a collection of tracks crafted from hours of field recordings and instrumental takes. Using a small hand held recorder and a collection of string instruments, Seasons set about using ‘spaces’ – recording sounds in different areas to create a certain sound or mood. These rooms, fields and abandoned buildings form the backbone of the sound and give a curious cinematic quality to the record. You can almost place yourself in each space, and while it isn’t always obvious beneath the chatter and manipulated radio static, there are always skeletons of real life just around the corner. It is eventually the artist’s humanity that sets these compositions apart from those of his peers; rather than simply dry recordings, they are merely starting points for layering and sculpting. The result is thick, detailed pieces which, while subtle, pack a clout more readily associated with the contemporary noise scene.
Restrained and totally enveloping, this is an album which resides somewhere in the undergrowth, emerging slowly before drifting gently out to sea. Turn down the lights, lower the needle and let it pull you away. You might not want to come back." [label info]
www.typerecords.com
|
2009 |
€16.50 |
|
| 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 |
Nemeton |
CD |
" 'Nemeton' is the new studio album from seetyca on the Winter-Light label and we are very pleased to have this fine artist on our roster. In the ancient Celtic tradition, a Nemeton was a sacred space, primarily situated in natural areas, often sacred groves of trees.
The album 'Nemeton' will take you to your own sacred place, as it hints at what lies hidden, ever deeper in the thick forests and darkened woods of Germany. A lo-fi master piece in dark ambient, the six tracks on this CD invoke feelings of apprehension, wonder and longing for a place never visited in the flesh but often travelled to in the minds eye. A place that lies tantalising just out of reach in the distance but that at any moment can become all consuming and enveloping. Encompassing you in thick dark layers of ambience and transporting you to a space from which there is no return.
CD is strictly limited to 300 copies in a 6-panel digipack. 6 tracks, total running time 79:30.
1. katarakt - 2. nemeton - 3. die wogen der unbil - 4. wenn alles aus ist - 5. als loch geh ich vor dich hin - 6. die Feuer von samhain" [label info]
www.winter-light.nl
|
2015 |
€13.00 |
|
| |
Trances |
CD |
'Trances' is the new album from Germany's master of the drone Seetyca, which is a sequel to the album 'Zwischenwelten', previously released on our Winter-Light label in September, 2016.
On 'Zwischenwelten' the listener was pulled between worlds, switching from one to the other through dense ambient drone pieces. On 'Trances', one is drawn into different states of mind, slight shifts in sanity and mental disturbances.
This is not only evident in the music and some of the track titles but in the musical transitions also. There are subtle changes and shifts used in the cross overs between the tracks. What the artist refers to as experimenting with different "disturbed transitions'.
As the album title suggests, the music is very hypnotic and in keeping with Seetyca's signature drone style. But there are other elements at work here, layered between the drones, or inter-woven between each track which also makes 'Trances' a stand alone album in it's own right. Here, Seetyca gives the listener the space to maneuver between sounds, not filling the whole space up, to the point that you feel suffocated. Patient and careful attention to detail. Enjoy.
credits
released March 28, 2019
All music written and recorded by Seetyca.
Seetyca uses e-maschinen & samplers, flutes, duduk, rich. lipp & sohn piano, self-built percussion and voice.
Mixed by Artin Mucht.
Mastered by Seetyca.
https://winter-light.bandcamp.com/album/trances
Here’s one for those who dig long, continuous strings of soundscapes as expansive, inspired and deep drone worlds are on the menu on Seetyca’s “Trances”, a kind of follow-up of “Zwischenwelten”.
The 60-minute organic-spiced aural space is long and continuous flow of sound a blend of electronics, wind instruments and acoustic elements immersing into an alienating, profound mysterious and dark netherworld with an occasional abstract/experimental edge. Lovely echoes of Schulze’s “Mirage” surface beautifully but briefly on “Huge Globes of Glass passing by” while the sonic fingerprint of Robert Rich comes to mind as well as haunting/gothic-ish ambiences at other passages as it travels into the beyond. The two-part “Stratospheres” found at the end of the release is a special treat due to the very nicely rendered elevating impact.
Despite the sometimes obscure sound treatments, few strange aural corridors and twists, “Trances” is an appropriate companion to descend into a deeper, hypnotizing state- without things becoming gloomy or feeling lost.
Website: http://www.seetyca.bandcamp.com
[Sonic Immersion] |
2019 |
€12.00 |
|
| 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 |
|
| SEKTOR 304 |
Soul Cleansing |
CD |
"In three decades, Industrial music, due to its tangible form, has given birth to numerous interpretations and splintered factions.
What’s indisputable, is that most of what is actually defined as “industrial” has ultimately become more about entertainment than
confrontation and far removed from the original intent. This is the context in which Sektor 304 has appeared. Equipped with a frightening
and impressive array of primitive instrumentation pulled from junkyards and scrap metal heaps, this Portuguese outfit has delivered an astounding formal debut ¬ a heady mixture of truly old school industrial in the vein of Einsturzende Neubauten, Test Dept , and S.P.K, and the grinding, bass heavy dirge of vintage Swans and Godflesh. These are anthems to the past, but geared towards an apocalyptic and bleak future… a form of counter-culture using what is most evident in modern western society: the debris, the abandoned objects, the waste, the noise, and the interference.
With a solid foundation of rusty, oil drenched percussion, Sektor 304 adds layer upon layer of squalling industrial clangor, hammering metallic noise, grimy atmospheres, heaving masses of haunted factory drones, and threatening tribal batter, with a strong and commanding vocal presence. The sound here is almost physical in nature - provocative, persistent, and demanding. An organic impulse filled with shamanic drifts in which the noise barrage allies itself with metallic rhythmics and the use of concrete elements in the compositions. Junk, plastics, amplified objects. A change of scale. A manipulation of
non-musical sounds in search of visual inductions trying to bring forward
the sequences of Tsukamoto or situations invoked by J.G. Ballard. The conflict between man and machine as a metaphor of the struggle of man against himself. A mix and weight of three decades of sonic subversion.
It can be said that to find the future of music, one must look to the past, drawing influence from prior achievements, yet forging a new identity, and sculpting something completely unique and distinct. With Sektor 304, the future is now, and it’s not entertaining. In 6 panel digipak, mastered by Steel Hook Audio." [Malignant Records]
"Epic crushing metallic industrial heaviness, the kind of thing
we thought they just didn't make anymore, but this is total Swans /
Godflesh / Cop Shoot Cop worship, pounding metallic percussion,
soundscapes of whirring drills, blown out low slung bass, howled
distorted vox, the whole thing so repetitive and mantric, thick slabs
of distorted rumble wrapped around tons of damaged electronics,
bleating horns buried beneath reverb drenched beats, some songs are
full on walls of twisted electronic crunch, others are brooding,
droning skeletal sprawls, laid over deep blurred basslines, and tribal
rhythms, some are dense whorls of deeeeeep sinister black ambience,
all darkly drifting layers, and distant bits of clang and shimmer. For
a few moments here and there, the sound gets downright poppy, like
some sort of washed out post industrial deathrock, but even then, it's
shot through with a seriously menacing sonic undercurrent that seeps
into every beat, and every note. Filthy, crusty, heavy, haunting,
crushing and brutal, the perfect mix of old school industrial pound,
and more modern bleak blackness. Fucking fierce and frightening, grim
and punishing, and we're digging it like crazy." [Aquarius Records]
|
2009 |
€13.00 |
|
| SELAXON LUTBERG |
Cold House of Love |
CD |
Very emotional & melancholic dronescapes from this Italian project - slow & sad, many instruments are used, a bit mysterioius & strange... this is quite a revelation for us !! Definitely worth to discover!!
"Pages of a diary under the form of ten minimal soundscapes based upon emotional sounds made with guitars, piano and heavily processed field recordings. Hard to say if this is dark ambient or minimal post-rock… "Cold house of love" is all of this and a lot more. Subtly disquieting ambience music - a journey through the cold rooms of the house of love....." [label info]
"....Based primarily within the ambient genre Andrea mixes dynamic electronic soundscapes with the occasional use of samples and simple piano refrains. For the most part though the electronics dominate creating this phenomenal piece of work. You could rightly call this dark ambient music in many ways. There is a dense creepy edge to the sonics that would match that description. That though is open purely to the individuals interpretation. You hear dark. I hear glorious light. You say full of remorse. I say full of hope. You say barren. I say lush and full of life. What we hear and how we build associations with that information is what makes us each unique in our own little ways [...] A remarkable recording that dreamers the world over should get hold of immediately." [Alan Milne / Heathen Harvest]
www.eibonrecords.com
|
2006 |
€13.00 |
|
| |
Cold House of Love |
LP |
"Very emotional & melancholic dronescapes from this italian project - slow & sad, many instruments are used, a bit mysterioius & strange... this is quite a revelation for us !! Definitely worth to discover!!" [Drone Rec. 2006]
"Pages of a diary under the form of ten minimal soundscapes based upon emotional
sounds made with guitars, piano and heavily processed field recordings. Hard to say if
this is dark ambient or minimal post-rock. 'Cold house of love' is all of this and a lot
more. Subtly disquieting ambience music - a journey through the cold rooms of the house
of love....." [Eibon]
"....Based primarily within the ambient genre Andrea mixes dynamic electronic soundscapes with the occasional use of samples and simple piano refrains. For the most part though the electronics dominate creating this phenomenal piece of work. You could rightly call this dark ambient music in many ways. There is a dense
creepy edge to the sonics that would match that description. That though is open purely
to the individuals interpretation. You hear dark. I hear glorious light. You say full of
remorse. I say full of hope. You say barren. I say lush and full of life. What we hear and
how we build associations with that information is what makes us each unique in our own
little ways [...] A remarkable recording that dreamers the world over should get hold of
immediately." [Alan Milne / Heathen Harvest]
SELAXON LUTBERG debut album for the
first time on vinyl (no repress) - thick printed covers and inner sleeves
www.denovali.com
|
2011 |
€19.50 |
|
| SELLEKAERS, JOHN |
Observer Effect |
CD |
A journey in the unknown is a deeply transforming experience. How are we affected by the world around us and how do we alter it just by being there, by existing in this particular place, at this very moment? By observing it? Frozen textures, faint melodies from the polar nights... The excitement, fascination and primal fear felt by the pioneers, explorers, men and women, travelling to extreme, uninhabited regions. Mysteries are uncovered, or left alone. A solitary voyage in seemingly endless territories. Observer Effect is an album fed by history, countless stories and books. And by the pleasure of building a sonic scenery, a suspended state, imagining icy landscapes in the lightest night...
John Sellekaers (b. 1973) is an electronic music composer and producer based in Brussels. He has written and recorded close to sixty records so far, under different aliases, such as Feral Cities, Night Sky Pulse, Meeple, Xingu Hill and Dead Hollywood Stars. His music has been released by labels in Europe and North America, including Ant-Zen, Hymen Records, Parenthèses Records, Falt, Oreille Gardée, Hushush and Nova Zembla. John has toured extensively since the nineties and has worked on collaborations, remixes and soundtracks. He is also a freelance audio engineer (mixing & mastering), photographer and graphic designer.
https://glacialmovements.bandcamp.com/album/observer-effect
|
2021 |
€15.00 |
|
| SERRIES, DIRK / STEFANO GENTILE |
The Disintegration of Silence |
CD + BOOK |
DIRK SERRIES
THE DISINTEGRATION OF SILENCE
28-page 8" Book + CD, ltd. 250 handnumbered copies
Stefano Gentile and Dirk Serries met almost thirty years ago when Stefano’s Amplexus label released Vidna Obmana’s seminal classic "The Transcending Quest" on a limited 3” CD. Fast forward twenty years later, after the ending of Dirk Serries’ critically acclaimed Vidna Obmana project, Stefano and Dirk, under his own name, regathered with another gem "The Devastation Chant", a limited 8” lathe cut and a 10” vinyl on Gentile’s new label Silentes/13 that featured Stefano’s own impressive collage artwork. Now again, after four years, Dirk Serries, fully operational under his own name as a free (jazz) improviser, frequently returns to his trademark ambient music while continuing to push himself as an artist and sound sculptor. THE DISINTEGRATION OF SILENCE is Dirk’s new album that, partially inspired by the melancholic collage artwork of Stefano Gentile, plays with the sounds he has been recognized and appreciated worlwide for almost four decades, while - so typical for Dirk’s ongoing knack for adventure - expanding the comfort of his ambience with alienating analog and real-time treatments. An album that has been performed solely on electric guitar in conjunction with plenty of pedal effects and absolutely no computers. Enjoy this breathtaking work of melancholy and introspection, marking it another milestone in the collaboration between Stefano Gentile and Dirk Serries.
https://dirkserries.bandcamp.com/album/the-disintegration-of-silence
"The most extensive package is the 28-page booklet, 8 inches squared of collages by label boss Stefano Gentile and music by Dirk Serries. The two go back some thirty years, when Gentile's first label enterprise, Amplexus, released a 3"CD by Serrires, then working as Vidna Obmana. Four years ago, Gentile released some more music by Serries, now working under his own name, on vinyl and 'The Disintegration Of Silence' is their latest offering. In the booklet, we find collages by Gentile from fashion ads, words, and newspapers, all looking quite colourful. As I am playing Serries' music at the same time, I am thinking about his music concerning the collages. Maybe the music resembles black-and-white photography of nature shots, trees and such. Still, the relation between images and music becomes more apparent if you look at the images as worn-out pages from magazines from a long time ago. These days, Serries is more known as a player of free
improvised music, but he occasionally returns to the world of ambient music, and this is what he does here, playing five excellent moody tunes on his guitar. Many guitar effects are used, some of which are a bit hissy, such as in the second part. At times, it sounds like he has been made on a reel-to-reel tape, using various bits of tape stuck together, with the music recorded later. It creates a refined, somewhat unsettling atmosphere and sometimes just a beautiful atmosphere in the longest and final piece. It's always good to hear Serries doing this kind of music occasionally. I understand his heart might be somewhere else, but I assume he also wants to unwind after a hard day of improvising and do what he does very well. A true beauty." [FdW / Vital Weekly] |
2023 |
€20.00 |
|
| 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 |
|
| SHAKHNES, GRISHA |
The Heaver |
MC |
https://moremars.bandcamp.com/album/the-heaver
“I was going to be a neo-deconstructivist but mom wouldn't let me”
Writing about Grisha Shakhnes’s music is quite a difficult task. Grisha is involved with the independent music scene since 2008, at first under the name Mites and then with his real name. All these years, he is practicing on music composition, using mainly field recording, tapes and lo-fi electronics, keeping a beautiful balance between real time composition and experimentation. Grisha's sound work has a very personal character and sometimes it's like the listener following in real time his creative process. He is recording at home, with his presence being notable on the recordings and with the sounds of the environment being welcome on his compositions.
On “The Heaver”, Grisha Shakhnes works with structure, textures and length, giving space to transformative qualities of sound and repetitive inaudible ones, to shape of his musical work. He improvises and manipulate sounds very gently, creating foggy soundscapes of broken sounds, electronic hums and noises, mixed with pre-recorded material from urban life.
“The Heaver” includes four new long compositions by Grisha Shakhnes, recorded on Tel Aviv during June of 2021. Released on a limited edition of 100 cassettes, including download code.
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"Music from Grisha Shakhnes, from tel Aviv, made it to these pages a couple of times (Vital Weekly 1208, 985, 939, 880), but already some time ago. I am unsure why it took some time to have a new release, but maybe I missed out on some. His music is usually quite conceptual, even when the concept isn't always that clear. There is quite a bit at work regarding field recording but without much action. Shakhness captures a situation and maybe adds a wee bit of processing, and that's it. In 'About To Collapse', the recorder sits in a car, and it rains, so the window scrapers are on. Maybe a delay pedal rides along? 'Street Life' does that, capturing street life. At night, I think, with minimal action going (or maybe Shakhness lives in a tranquil area). In 'Winding Down', the tap leaks, and there is some highly obscured indoor action; again, we have no idea about the source. In that respect, is the title piece the winner here; I have no idea what's going on there. We have four pieces here, four situations, if you will, or four textures. Each of these textures is mysterious and vague in equal portions. But, perhaps, strangely enough, I found all these highly fascinating music pieces. Is there development or even change? That question I found hard to answer. There are points in all of these pieces in which something changes but is that the result of Shakhness intervening (or composing with sounds), or simply because there is a shift in the sound. Scientists are still thinking about this answer. For me, the answer is not as interesting as the question." [FdW / Vital Weekly]
|
2023 |
€9.50 |
|
| SHASTA CULTS |
Shasta Cults |
LP |
"Shasta Cults is the musical project of Canadian electronics technician Richard Smith. For almost two decades, Smith was the official Buchla & Associates go-to repair person for studios, collectors, and musicians around the world, having worked with artists like Aphex Twin, Suzanne Ciani, Mort Subotnick and institutions like NYU, The Library of Congress and Mills College in Oakland, Ca.
Recording demonstrations of the rare equipment that found its way on to his workbench is how Smith describes the origins of Shasta Cults. Although sounds have been trickling out for decades via Soundcloud and other outlets, it wasn’t until 2017 that Smith recorded his first album using one of these rare instruments – the Buchla 700. Configurations, released this past September by Important Records, features eight tracks of heavily-modulated, wave-shaped explorations drenched in effects, and was the catalyst for his latest releases.
Recorded over the span of 3 months in the fall of 2018, this album was programmed solely on the only fully-functional Buchla Touché. Developed in the early 1980s with hardware by Don Buchla and software programmed by musician David Rosenboom, the Touché features waveforms generated internally by twenty-four digital oscillators using frequency modulation and sophisticated digital and analog signal processing for timbre and output assignment, all of this controlled via a six-octave black and white keyboard, unusual for a Buchla instrument.
This LP is a continuation on themes first heard on Configurations, with more consideration given to the generation and capturing of the pieces. This album is less dark than previous releases, showcasing the incredible fidelity of the hardware used and Smiths evolution as an audio engineer. Put on some headphones, find a comfortable chair, and let this LP transport you to the mystifying southern cascades of Siskiyou County." [label info]
"To the uninitiated, the complexities of electronic synthesis can seem daunting and foreign. Even for those well versed, complete mastery over those systems seems like a lifelong task given the seemingly infinite nature of their design. Richard Smith, the synthesist behind Shasta Cults, has worked as an official technician for Buchla gear for nearly 20 years, and has an intimate mechanical knowledge of the company's many machines, which have achieved near-fetishistic status over the past decade. On Shasta Cults' self-titled album, Smith demonstrates a rare virtuosity of the Buchla Touché (of which there were only four made) that illustrates not only the power of the machine to sculpt uncanny textures but also Smith's singular compositional style.
Smith's work is compact and economical, a contrast to the protracted compositions that define the remaining core of Important Records' contemporary synth roster, including Eleh, Caterina Barbieri, Alessandro Cortini and Jessica Ekomane. Drones and arhythmic swells comprise the basis of most of the six pieces on Shasta Cults, but rather than letting them marinate he focuses on dynamic layering and timbral juxtapositions. Shasta Cults originated from Smith's desire to demonstrate the range and abilities of the various Buchla models he was repairing and restoring, and this approach seems directly derived from those roots. Within each track, he's able to cover a surprising amount of ground. If you didn't know the music was created all on one machine, you'd be forgiven for assuming these tracks were realized using a much more diverse arsenal.
The album begins peacefully, and with restraint. "Prologue" hovers with a sense of placid melancholy, bass tones cycling in and out of the mix. Its clean tones sound glass-like, smooth and nearly transparent as they fade in and out of the audible field. Other moments have more bite. "DA3" features coarse waves of sound that resemble aural quicksand, gulping the listener up in successive, oozing surges. This buzzing intensity is overlaid with dramatic, organ-like stabs that appear triumphant in the face of the pulsing chaos below. On the drone track "Incline," Terry Riley-esque tones swirl back and forth over an increasingly resonant bass hum. The closer, "Chinook," with its apprehensive melodic fragments that open up into a yawning, fuzzed-out climax, leaves the album feeling unresolved in a way that feels entirely purposeful.
Gear worship for its own sake can be tiring, but the music on Shasta Cults is too expressive to be pigeonholed simply as exercises in technological know-how. The recent Buchla boom has led to many different approaches over the past few years, but Smith's Shasta Cults project stands apart not just because he has access to the rarest models or has such an intimate knowledge of their notoriously unpredictable, generative circuitry. He uses this knowledge to create music that is richly textured without becoming dense, and like all masters of their instrument he knows how to dance elegantly between complexity and simplicity. It is that dance that makes Shasta Cults feel special." [Resident Advisor]
|
2019 |
€26.50 |
|
| |
Configurations |
CD |
"A ship sinks beneath the silver mirror of the sea-top, temple gongs ring through an empty valley, industrial machinery sputters, heaves, lurches forward, stops, falls apart… These sound events may be the most acute musical referents of Shasta Cults, the music project of Canadian synthesizer technician Richard Smith. Using obsolete electronics, Shasta Cults pursues the true sound of the instrument, freed from the tyranny of emulation, no strings/woodwinds/piano presets. Shasta Cults’ compositions seek out unchartered territories where sustained drones may swell, build, or evaporate; where timbres collide, amplitudes fluctuate, sounds emerge, raw, primeval, new hybrids form from the collisions of electricity and frequency. There may be stretches of silence punctuated by bell-ish tones from futures unheard; a sequence of notes may verge upon melody before mutating into ugly moans, the sonic equivalent of funhouse mirrors. But the end result is far more than chance operation, sporadic sound fields, or indeterminate academic exercise. Instead, Shasta Cults brings us back to nature, back to the possibilities inherent in nature, to the truth of evolution, stitching both musical tones, and the sounds of 21st century living into a form which is as real, as imponderable, and as ungovernable as our own memories.
Recorded in 2017, employing the processes of non-linear waveshaping, frequency modulation and feedback, Configurations consists of eight programs captured live to multitrack using a rare, fully functional Buchla 700 digital-hybrid instrument designed in the late 1980s. Whereas previously released works made with the 700 almost always consist in simple manipulations of the single factory preset, this album delves deep into the instrument’s rich sonic vocabulary to offer the listener a more elaborate demonstration of the system’s capabilities.
Presented here in limited quantities this release is intended as a high fidelity audio archive of this obscure musical artifact."
https://shastacults.bandcamp.com/album/configurations |
2019 |
€15.00 |
|
| SHEFFIELD, COLIN ANDREW |
Don't ever let me know |
LP |
Don't Ever Let Me Know is Sheffield's first solo release since 2018's Repair Me Now (Glistening Examples) and is a work in a similar mode to that album in that it comprises two lengthy pieces of multiple movements and moods. For this new work, and as a kind of ode to his late father, Sheffield has employed samples entirely taken from (or inspired by) the city in which both men were born. In this way, the sounds have been utilized as a kind of shorthand for the specific subjects at hand. The two audio assemblages, meanwhile, mirror the ways in which loss and memory are processed - with both melancholy and wonder in equal measure: at once beautiful and confounding. The audio has been mastered for vinyl by James Plotkin. The LP comes in a lovely jacket featuring photography by the late Allen W. Sheffield and extensive spot gloss printing.
https://aufabwegen.bandcamp.com/album/dont-ever-let-me-know
"Don't Ever Let Me Know" comprises two lengthy pieces of multiple movements and moods. As a kind of ode to his late father, Sheffield has employed samples entirely taken from (or inspired by) El Paso, the city in which both men were born. The two audio assemblages mirror the ways in which loss and memory are processed - with both melancholy and wonder in equal measure: at once beautiful and confounding, nostalgic and emotional. "The first half of the LP consists of loops of dissolving music, open resonate spaces, and bizarrely treated frequencies. Density builds and there is a sense of speed throughout, as he swaps out musical loops for harsher, digital sounds. There is definitely pre-recorded music used as some of the source material, but Sheffield sculpts it into something entirely different. The other side is more polarized in sound, blending lush, melodic layers and buzz saw-like noise passages... There is a distinct combination of quieter, reflective sections and harsher swells, with his careful manipulation of delays and feedback bringing things just to the point of chaos but never crossing that threshold." (Brainwashed).
Mastered by James Plotkin. Ltd x 200 copies in a spot-varnish sleeve with photography by the late Allen W. Sheffield.
"In his work, Sheffield uses a lot of samples from his extensive record/CD/tape collection; work that you can describe as either turntablism or plunderphonics, but the results are usually a bit different, more ambient in approach than an ironic comment on social events, the more common approach in that world. On his new record, he does something different. He works with samples from the city where he was born, El Paso, Texas. His late father was also born in this city, so it's an ode to that city and his father, a work of loss and contemplation, the thing we all do the older we get. Yet, it is also known that if I hadn't known this, I would have never garnered from the music. As such, the music stays on a very abstract level. Within these forty minutes, I never had the idea I was listening to samples from a city. Granted, I have not been to El Paso, but I assume it is a city; it sounds like one. In his usual approach to sound manipulation, Sheffield twists and turns the original material and cooks up a delicate ambient-inspired soundtrack of granular synthesis working overtime. He's not interested in playing the long-form, sustaining drone card, but instead is on that crossroad of granulating sounds, pitching up and down, creating a constant shift in the music that, superficially, would mean this is not ambient at all, but, rather oddly, it works out that way. A soundscape of a city, abstract it is, that feels like a sonic journey through the city, as seen through a mildly distorted lens. Sheffield applies collage-like techniques, and to stay with the analogy of the city, a hard cut is like turning a corner; the scenery might change completely. Dark at times, intense always, relaxing sometimes and beautiful throughout." [FdW/Vital Weekly] |
2023 |
€20.00 |
|
| SHEFFIELD, COLIN ANDREW / JAMES ECK RIPPIE |
Essential Anomalies |
do-LP |
Colin Andrew Sheffield (sampler) and James Eck Rippie (turntables) began playing music together in Dallas, Texas in 2000 and released their debut LP, "Variations," a year later. They separated soon afterwards, relocating to cities 2,600 miles apart; and though they continued with solo work, they remained inactive as a duo until recently. During this hiatus, Sheffield stayed busy dealing antiquarian books and running his Elevator Bath label; Rippie became an accomplished sound mixer for major motion pictures and television shows. And yet the collaboration between these two friends of a quarter century has always held a special significance (as Francois Couture of AllMusic stated: "The level of understanding between [these two artists] ... commands respect"). So, in 2015, when the two found themselves both living in Austin, a reactivation of their improvising duo was a happy inevitability.
"Essential Anatomies" is the fruit of the pair's renewed efforts. Comprising four pieces originally issued on limited edition cassettes and now widely available for the first time, the double LP is an experiment in audio collage and instant narrative composition. The main tools are sounds from the past: commercially available recordings manipulated and sculpted into a medium with inherent potential. Unlike their plunderphonic ancestors and contemporaries, however, Sheffield and Rippie place a heavy emphasis on atmosphere and a kind of musicality. Their work is surprising and challenging, but it is infused with their keen sense of structure and listenability.
Elements of sound art, drone, glitch, and noise emerge from their altered samples. These sounds have been stripped of any extraneous cumbrances, leaving just the crucial components. The parts that remain, the essential anatomies, form the basis for an ongoing abstract dialogue between two artists with a remarkably developed affinity. The results capture dual streams of consciousness, coursing with a description of nonrepresentational beauty.
"[B]est described as abstract plunderphonics. Sheffield and Rippie use samplers and turntables to sculpt the past into new forms that defy instant categorization; suffice it to say that the old has never sounded so new."
- Richard Allen, A Closer Listen
"Essential Anatomies" has been released by Elevator Bath as a limited edition double LP, copies of which are also available here: www.elevatorbath.com
Mastered for vinyl by James Plotkin
Cover art by Eugenia Loli
credits
released July 7, 2017
Colin Andrew Sheffield (b. 1976, El Paso TX) is the founder of the Elevator Bath recording label. He has released a number of solo recordings on labels such as Invisible Birds, Mystery Sea, Quiet World, and 23five.
James Eck Rippie (b. 1977) is a visual/sound artist originally from outside Nashville TN. His recorded work has been as a turntablist, but he has also worked extensively with other instruments and mediums. He has released his work with the Crónica Electronica and Sirr labels, among others, and has collaborated with sound artists Simon Whetham, Paulo Raposo, and eRikm.
Sheffield and Rippie will tour the US this summer.
elevatorbath.bandcamp.com/album/essential-
anatomies-3
"Compiling recent small-run cassette works into a luxurious double record set, Essential Anatomies represents a reunion for the duo of Colin Andrew Sheffield and James Eck Rippie. Collaborators since 2000 and friends for even longer, the four lengthy recordings here capture their Texas reunion in 2015, and with its undeniable sense of complexity and cohesion, makes it clear that they have not missed a step from their time apart.
On paper, what Sheffield and Rippie do is well-trod ground: processing and recontexualization of samples and other forms of pre-recorded music. But rather than being another pair of John Oswald wannabes, they do so with distinct expertise and precision. To use a slightly abstract metaphor, they are much closer to Public Enemy’s Bomb Squad production, taking bits here and there and using them as elements in a much different whole, than they are Puff Daddy’s wholesale plagiarism and lack of innovation.
The first of the four lengthy pieces (each around 22 to 23 minutes long) is an instant launch into the gloom that is Essential Anatomies. Chilling, piano like scrapes cut through a blackened, churning abyss of sound. Some shrill, sharp bits pierce through the darkness here and there, but the piece largely stays pleasant, even though it is rather bleak and covered in a nicely noisy sheen of fuzz. Tortured, almost melodic tones occasionally shine through a wall of ghostly drifts and heavy rumbles, at times heading toward a bit of harsh crunch, but stays in check. The melodies appear here and there again, acting as a slightly less oppressive counterpoint to the sound of decay that surrounds it. Finally, the duo end the piece on a lighter note, like sun shining through menacing gray skies.
What is abundantly clear right from this start is that Sheffield and Rippie are not only extremely proficient at creating moods and space with their samplers and turntables (respectively), but also a creating dynamic compositions that are quite expansive and varied, changing often but returning to reoccurring motifs that results in a more composed, rather than improvised sound. The second piece allows a bit more of their source material to shine through, mostly in the form of piano notes and what sounds like frozen reverberations of chimes far in the distance. There is the same sense of space, but erratic loops and mangled notes result in a composition that builds in tension, eventually transitioning into haunting church organ like walls that dominate the latter half of the piece.
Comparably, the second record comes across a bit less melodic and a bit more textural in the composition and structure. Part three begins with an almost percussive, crunching machinery like opening that is eventually melded with a batch of wet, almost organic like noises and radio static. Bits of recognizable music still sneak through here and there, but it is less the focus. Instead, metallic sweeps and unnatural field recording like sounds fill out the mix, though it ends on a slightly more ambient note. The final composition first is free and spacious, with some crackling tactile like elements at first, but soon it takes on a decaying sound. More organ and mangled string fanfares give a more conventional signpost here and there, but by the end the duo has already transitioned the sound to one of tension and fright, slowly evolving into an uncomfortable silence to end the record.
While I do not believe I could ever manage to place the source of the sounds Colin Andrew Sheffield and James Eck Rippie utilized in making Essential Anatomies, never does it feel like the two overly processed or from their source. Meaning that, there is some of the original character left from the source material, however subtle it may be. Instead these audio building blocks are obscured but tastefully utilized to construct these atmosphere heavy works. Rippie’s day job is a sound mixer for films and television shows, which surely aided the two in creating the cinematic mood that these two records conjure up. It is that combination of sonic nuance and compositional strength and diversity that make Essential Anatomies so good." [Creaig Dunton/Brainwashed] |
2017 |
€25.00 |
|
| SHIFTS |
Branches |
mCD-R |
A quiet powerful one-tracker (almost 20 min.), pure mechanized overtones and shifting poly-waves. Great for microsound-listening.
"Since 1995 Shifts is one of the various projects of Frans de Waard, besides Freiband, and membership of Beequeen, Kapotte Muziek, Goem, Wander and his recent new project with Roel Meelkop, Zebra. All of the work is based on guitar sounds. In the first phase various guitars were played with objects and effects, then, the next phase were computer treatments of the previous phase (the 'Vertonen' series, 22 pieces in total). After that a return to simplicity again; 'Branches' is one of three pieces ('trees' and 'leaves' to be released on LP by entr'acte) based on four stringed, detuned acoustic guitar and motor objects. Loud and drone this could have been a next step, but might very well the final works on Shifts. Previously material has been released on Korm Plastics, Fourth Dimension, Kraak, Elsie & Jack, Meme and other labels." [label info]
"Derrida's idea that the "semantic horizon which habitually governs the notion of communication is exceeded or punctured by the intervention of writing." which "..does not give rise to a hermeneutic deciphering".. is key to understanding the difficulty of locating the 'drone' within the idea of music which is "western" - i.e. teleological, which is written contra the arguments given in S.E.C. And though we have passed through such a teleological epoch we are only now in the light of post modernism reconsidering the alternatives, i.e. 'turtles all the way down'.. the eternal return of the same. and alternative mythologies - Buddhist, Jain, Hindu .. even Wagnerian prior to Parsifal... And so this 'music' is open to the critique of those who wish to enforce a teleology upon us. (And the usual ploy of leveling ethnocentric critiques on musics which are not part of this great tradition of the west! - and its teleological meta-narrative - i.e. Christian / Jewish / Islamic / Marxist).
This piece avoids the latter critique, its very Conrad-esq beginning locates it within modern western culture despite its use of the de-tuned string instrument. Its development, and that's a very dangerous word to use here, is something subtle - it does not so much hide the development but points towards a cyclic anti hermeneutic work - and this is perhaps my only 'valid' point of criticism of this otherwise excellent work, and maybe not that valid - but given a piece of music (normally) has to be temporally located this provides an obvious challenge to the drone work - (unless repeat play is used) - maybe via an mp3 disk this temporality could be extended but never breached, but this is not a significant philosophical challenge to the drone work as its not surprising that our technology supports the western idea of a teleological universe even though there is a likely alternative - eight track tape as the anti-Christ!" (jliat)
www.taalem.com |
2006 |
€5.00 |
|
| |
Vertonen 16 |
CD-R |
“In a edition of 100 copies EE Tapes offers a new CDR by Shifts, a side-soloproject of Frans de Waard. He started this project in 1995 and defines it as an "ongoing exploration in the world of guitars". 'Vertonen 16' being his 16th step in this research I suppose, results in one lengthy ambient piece lasting some 33 minutes.
In order to describe the experience of listening to this music I would like to make the following comparison. Imagine yourself looking at a very abstract painiting. A painting even more abstract then the painting (by Frans de Waard) that is on the cover of this release. Imagine a square painted smoothly in just one colour. After concentrating at it for some time, it is as if 'things' start to move and to flow in the painting. Of course you know you are imagining it, but on the other hand, it looks as if things really start to move. Listening to the new Shifts CDR is a similar experience. We hear just 'one' sound moving slowly ahead with no shifts at all for about half an hour. Because there are no shifts, it's not correct to say that the piece 'moves'. In a way development, progress and even duration are no fitting concepts here. It's a very static and 'timeless' music. But by listening closely to the piece it starts to reveal many little changes at a microscopic level and within a very limited range. You start to ask yourself whether these changes are real or effected in the mind like the moving of the colours. So you end up in an ambigious soundworld and that's an interesting experience. Also an enjoyable one, because de Waard created some nice rich sounds that didn't bore me at all. So whether imagined or real, in the end this is not relevant. Because one way or the other: it really Shifts!” [Vital Weekly]
|
2004 |
€9.00 |
|
| SHIGGAJON |
Sela |
LP |
Shiggajon is a Danish collective based around musicians Mikkel Reher-Lanberg and Nikolai Brix Vartenberg. Much like the music itself the collective is in constant flux, sometimes performing in the form of a small ensemble, other times appearing on stage with as many as 15 persons, depending on the situation.
It's tempting to categorize Shiggajon as a spiritual jazz ensemble, since their music is able to induce a heightened, spiritual euphoria much similar to that of Pharoah Sanders, Don Cherry or Alice Coltrane. But any narrow definition of their sound would be misleading. While there's an element of ritualism present, there's also a post-modern tendency to absorb everything from sufi music to krautrock and contemporary electronic drone. Heavily modulated guitar pedals and processed vocals accompany layers of flutes, strings, bells and percussion as the most natural thing in the world.
It's the kind of music that demands openness and surrender. Every time the ensemble performs improvisation is fundamental - it’s a journey into the unknown. As in John Coltrane's later works, Shiggajon establishes a unity between spirituality and improvisation - they embrace the paradox of seeking elevation and existential affirmation through sounds that occasionally verges on chaos and dread. These two long, multi-layered, cacophonous pieces occasionally come off as slightly abrasive and dissonant, but ultimately the music is a process resulting in joyful catharsis and healing.
|
2015 |
€19.00 |
|
| SHLOMOWITZ, MATTHEW / PETER ABLINGER / MARK KNOOP |
Popular Contexts / Voices and Piano |
CD |
Works by Matthew Shlomowitz and Peter Ablinger for piano and found sounds.
Mark Knoop performs Matthew Shlomowitz's "Popular Contexts", for piano and sampler keyboard and selections from Peter Ablinger's ongoing cycle "Voices and Piano". Both works deal with collected sonic objects - Shlomowitz's widely varied samples, ranging from insect noises to airline safety announcements, and the recorded speech of Ablinger's subjects - forcing them into musical juxtaposition with the piano.
"Popular Contexts and Voices and Piano both confront us with just how particular the act of listening really is, of how many relationships and pieces of information there are both inside and outside of music and sound." Adam Harper
London based pianist and conductor Mark Knoop is known for his fearless performances and individual interpretations. He is currently Turner Sims Fellow at the University of Southampton.
http://markknoop.com/
Matthew Shlomowitz is a composer based in London and is lecturer at the
University of Southampton.
http://shlom.com/
Peter Ablinger is an Austrian composer now living in Berlin.
http://ablinger.mur.at/
www.subrosa.net
|
2013 |
€13.00 |
|
| SHOEMAKER, MATT |
Erosion of the Analogous Eye |
CD |
"As said in the review of the new CD by Jim Haynes there is a small school of drone musicians, mainly from the USA who deliver some of the more darker outing in the scene. There are of course minor differences to be spotted. According to the cover of Schoemaker's new CD 'environmental phenomena' where recorded in Indonesia, Cambodia and USA, but its hard to spot these on the actual music, as he feeds them through a whole bunch of analogue synthesizers, guitar stomp boxes, reverb and such like. Only in the last piece 'The Analogous Eye' bird calls and wind sounds rise out of the mass, but even here things seems electrified. This makes that Schoemaker's music is altogether more 'electronic' in nature than that of Haynes or Irr.App.(ext.) and also a bit more 'louder', industrial perhaps. In his music he depicts empty industrial sites of long sustaining, rusty sounds of rusty object on even more rusty surfaces. The two parts of 'Erosion' are highly minimalist affairs of long sustained sounds. Not to be confused with the current wave of 'cosmic' sound artists, this goes further and deeper. An excellent work, sadly perhaps limited to 300 copies only." [FdW / Vital Weekly]
"The studio of Matt Shoemaker is alive with electricity. Impossibly complex wirings channel signal in and out of analog synth modules, an array of curious aluminums boxes with unmarked knobs, slinkies strung from ceiling to floor creating a set of giant spring reverb units, accelerometers attached to consumer electronic errata, and even a few conventional tools like guitar stomp boxes and a bruised computer. For all of the convoluted engineering that goes into Shoemaker's equipment, the resulting mesmerism in sound appears effortless and strangely organic. Shoemaker has enjoyed a semi-obscure career through his polymath activities that bridge such electronic experiments with a choice library of globe-trotted field recordings and a broad knowledge of avant-garde cinema. For Erosion of the Analogous Eye, Shoemaker waves his hands about his laboratory to construct an ever-evolving album for mutant dronemuzik. His electrical seas of synthetic bristling undulate with placid regularity, only to find Shoemaker contorting these brain-melting psychedelics into cancerous, atonal bellows. Out of his allotropic shifts, one can find swells of irradiated static transform into the graceful chime of temple bells; and electrical phase patterns slip into deep forest murmurings dotted with narcoleptic birds calls. On one hand, this album is prescient of the revival for progressive electronics currently underway in the flood of US post-noise projects; it's easy to triangulate this between Emeralds and Heldon. But on the other hand, Erosion of the Analogous Eye is the continuation of where Shoemaker had begun with his early work on Trente Oiseaux with its grotesques exaggerations of field recording into this beguiling piece of art. The artwork on Erosion of the Analogous Eye features unique hand-dyed abstractions mounted onto letterpressed paper. This has warranted a very small pressing of 300 copies." [label info]
www.helenscarsdale.com
"A very prescient, and very good, record by the sound-artist / field recordist Matt Shoemaker, Erosion Of The Analogous Eye pushes his work of tonal exploration and exaggerated found sounds into the neighborhood of many of the post-noise cosmic explorers who have been blossoming in every corner of the US it seems. At the same time, this is very much a Matt Shoemaker record, following a trajectory set forth through his acclaimed work on the once-mighty Trente Oiseaux label.
An ur-drone of analog synthesis opens the album, obviously harkening to '70s kosmische activities certainly a muscular revisitation of Schulze or even an extraction from Richard Pinhas. Such a lazerbeam of a drone has a lysergic sunrise feel to it, with the light and shadow brought into sharp relief, the colors shifted and separating into spectral bursts of yellow, red, pink, and orange. Yet, slowly, Shoemaker introduces atonal drones which clash with that introductory suspension. At first, the metallic slashes have almost an Andrew Chalk and Jonathan Coleclough feel, but Shoemaker quickly dispels those notions with a layer of field recordings of insects ravenously scurrying about. That introductory tone, which still continues through this first track, bends like a divebombing plane with Doppler tones trailing behind, descending in a series of bell tones. All of this in a seamless 17 minutes. A steady rhythm of gamelan bell tones opens the second track with accumulated complimentary drones shimmering and vibrating while harmonic dissonance abounds, collapsing into a quiet stream of percolating textures. Spread across 24 minutes, this track seems ancient and sounds beguilingly beautiful. Bellowing rumbles amplify out of recordings of rain, mud, and water and steadily arching through a metallic rattling of various pipes and gongs for the final track, which eventually gives way to an uneasy set of recordings of birds in a rainforest whose calls echo through the trees.
As with all Helen Scarsdale releases the packaging is stellar. Letterpressed text with hand-dyed paper. Each are different, each are quite special. Oh yeah, limited to a mere 300 copies!" [Aquarius Records]
|
2009 |
€13.00 |
|
|
Soundtrack for Dislocation |
CD |
"Matt Shoemaker's first full-length album for Elevator Bath is Soundtrack for Dislocation, an entirely self-contained account of a fantastically abstract and intensely personal vision.
As with much of Shoemaker's work, this is an album permeated with a very potent sense of unease. And despite the fact that the use of field recordings is very minimal here, there is a no less organically tangible quality which only contributes to the feeling of disquietude.
For those unfamiliar with Matt Shoemaker's work, Soundtrack for Dislocation is absolutely the ideal place to start as it is arguably the most fully-realized project in his catalog. All the necessary elements are present: The enigmatic cover and interior images, the cryptic track titles, and of course the recordings themselves - densely packed and elaborately evolved aberrancies. Shoemaker seems to have provided more than enough clues to the puzzles he offers in his works but, like the most effective tales, these subtle indications cannot quite account for all that happens. The rest is up to the astute listener who accepts this very inscrutability as the reward.
Matt Shoemaker's music has been released by such labels as Trente Oiseaux, The Helen Scarsdale Agency, Mystery Sea, and Ferns Recordings. He resides in the northwest of the United States.
Packaged inside an extra thick, full-color, matte finish, 6-panel digipak featuring Shoemaker's beautiful photography, this compact disc has been issued in an edition of 509 copies. Total running time: 57 minutes" [label info]
"No stranger to Vital Weekly with his various releases for labels such as Mystery Sea, Ferns and The Helen Scarsdale Agency. Maybe its just too easy to say, but Shoemaker is one of the drone boys. The press text says that the 'use of field recordings is very minimal here', so we have to guess what it is that Shoemaker does. His website reveals a bit: "Devices employed: microphones and assorted transducers, digital and analogue recorders, signal processors, computer, various electronic and acoustic instruments." That says some, but not all. Electronic instruments, acoustic instruments: that could be anything. Now I could do some guessing, and I'd say cello, guitar, sound effects, such as reverb and such alike, but maybe I am barking up the wrong tree. Three lengthy pieces are on this release which displays Shoemaker's skill quite well. No man for just some silent playing, or 'just' a bunch of drone loops circling about, as he keeps his music very lively. It bounces from these mellow looped drone sounds into a more harsher sound world, and these worlds grow easy together inside the length of a piece. Sometimes these build in a natural way and sometimes in a more gently disturbing manner. Three long pieces of an excellent beauty."
[Frans de Waard, Vital Weekly]
www.elevatorbath.com
|
2010 |
€13.00 |
|
| |
Tropical Amnesia Two & Three |
do-CD |
"In November of 2007 I was part of a group of eleven sound artists who journeyed to Brazil to participate in the Mamori Sound Project, an annual residency/workshop under the direction of Francisco López that convenes in an isolated area of lowland lakes and rainforest, perhaps around 4 hours' journey outside of Manaus, right in the heart of Amazonia.
I had some very limited experience with tropical rainforests from travels in South East Asia, but nothing like the immersion that was central to what Francisco had organized: direct access to a staggeringly diverse bioacoustic environment unmatched anywhere else on Earth.
Over the course of the two weeks we spent at Mamori lake exploring and recording, there was never a pause in the stream of curious animal sounds.
Not even during sleep, as the nighttime would roar to life and pass into dreams. I had come prepared with the equipment that I could afford to bring: a pair of condenser microphones, several homemade contact microphones, and a single hydrophone. With these I was able to capture all of the sounds used to make the three Tropical Amnesia parts.
While assembling the field recordings, I was immediately drawn toward the idea of imagining the rainforest, and the bodies of water contained within, as an unfathomable void of sorts, and something beyond thescope of enduring memory. Reflecting on my own memories from Mamori Lake and the surrounding area, I can of course picture the individual ant or frog, but it is the sheer multitudes and abundance of life that persists in my mind as a consuming, evolving abstract." - Matt Shoemaker - March, 2010
Nine years later after the release of Tropical Amnesia one, Ferns Recordings is proud to be able to discover the rest of this trip with a certain sadness. Ferns Recordings wanted to pay a tribute to Matt Shoemaker by not letting these magnificent recordings remain in oblivion.
All sound recorded November 2007 in/at/around Mamori Lake, Amazonas, Brazil.
Material culled and assembled December 2007/January 2008 in Seattle.
https://mattshoemaker.bandcamp.com/album/tropical-amnesia-two-three
"In 2017, Matt Shoemaker passed away and yet somehow there is still new music from him to
be released, which is a good thing. Ferns already released the first instalment of Tropical Amnesia (not reviewed in these pages), and maybe they had the second and third part from Shoemaker, but not yet the resources to release it earlier. These two discs contain sounds recorded in the Amazon area in Brazil in November 2007 and in December of that year and
January 2008 this has been used to create the two-hour works that span these discs. I couldn't
tell if these works were made out of single events, or perhaps also with the help of loops; I assume there has been sort of layering of sound events in both these pieces. It works in two different ways here. 'Tropical Amnesia Two' is a rather straight forward work, once the ball gets rolling; from there on it stays in a fairly loud and oppressing volume but throughout it changes and moves through what I think is probably the whole range of animal life; insects, frogs, birds. In 'Tropical
Amnesia Three' there is a less straight forward approach and while the piece moves through
the same animal sounds, there is a different build-up, within one point birds leaping out of the choir of cicadas and ending with something that is close by the microphone making a popping
sound, as if Shoemaker was close to the pond in a rowing boat. Towards the end of it all, there
is a sign of human life and perhaps also the best example of this being construction of organized sound, rather than straightforward documentation of an event. This, I thought, was very delicate work, even in all it's considerable presence, volume-wise that is. It reminded me of the movie 'Monos' about the life of guerrilla’s in the Colombian rain forest and which I thought was one of the best movies I saw this year." [FdW/Vital Weekly]
|
2019 |
€15.00 |
|
| SHRINE |
Ordeal 26.04.86 |
CD |
"The new full length by Dark Ambient / Drone act Shrine is dedicated to the 30th anniversary of the Chernobyl disaster on 26th April 1986. Composed during a post-operative convalescence period in 2015, Hristo Gospodinov says of the process: "To me the Chernobyl theme has always been very special not only because I witnessed the nuclear sunburn effects myself back in 1986 when I was a kid, but also because I find it to be the closest glimpse of a pending apocalypse we have seen so far. I find it terrifying not only because of the devastating effect of the ionizing radiation itself, but also because it was a man-made event. To me, the parallel with the biblical book of Revelation is inescapable." Laced with emotional distress and Shrine's superbly crafted soundscapes and notable sound design skills, "Ordeal 26.04.86" serves as a tribute to those that suffered, and still suffer from the irreparable. Events like this have happened again since - the most recent being in Japan's Fukushima - and there's definite signs that in the future we'll unfortunately witness more of these manmade catastrophes. "Ordeal" will serve as the perfect soundtrack. Ltd x 500 copies in a digipak." [label info]
www.cycliclaw.com
"Das Dark Ambient-Projekt SHRINE haben wir auf NONPOP regelmäßig begleitet. Und dabei immer wieder festgestellt, dass gerade in einem so überlaufenen Genre die Qualität der Musik sehr hoch einzuschätzen ist. Die thematischen Arbeiten des Bulgaren HRISTO GOSPODINOV wirkten stets überzeugend und durchdacht, wie aus einem Guss. Mir war deshalb auch nicht bange, als ich vor einigen Monaten die Ankündigung zu einem neuen Album las, welches sich thematisch mit der Nuklearkatastrophe von Tschernobyl am 26. April 1986 beschäftigen sollte. Solche ganz großen Themen sind ja entweder schon häufig bearbeitet worden oder führen schnell zu enttäuschten Erwartungen. Aber, ganz im Gegenteil: Auch wenn HRISTO im Pressetext etwas dick aufträgt und biblische Endzeit-Prophezeiungen bemüht, liefert er hier musikalisch sein bislang vielfältigstes und stimmigstes Werk ab, so viel schon einmal vorweg.
"Atomgrad" (01) startet mit Vogelgezwitscher und einem bereits leicht bedrohlichen Drone, wie ein schwarzer Windhauch. Mehrere Drones verdichten sich schnell zu einem schillernden, strahlenden Geflecht mit mechanisch britzelnden Geräuschen sowie industriellen Schlägen dazwischen, das Unheil kündigt sich an. Insgesamt ist die Atmosphäre zwar (noch) nicht unwohl, aber es knirscht und knackt wie vor einer Explosion in einer bis dahin heilen, natürlichen Umwelt. "Radiant Skyline" (02) ist wahrlich beeindruckend mit seinen gleißenden, leuchtenden Sounds, die – unterlegt von einem stetigen Bratzeln – permanent mächtiger werdend und tatsächlich klingend wie radioaktive Wolken, sehr filmisch das Ganze. Die Dramatik der Synthielinien mit verwehten, choralen Elemente geht auch als Neoklassik durch, die acht Minuten durchlaufen eine ungeheure Steigerung zu einem mächtigen, flehenden, atomaren Schrei. "The Silent Apocalypse" (03) ändert die Szenerie, wechselt in höhliges, verregnetes Ambiente, durch das ein dunkles, fanfarenartiges Tröten nach unten absteigend, untermalt vom Ticken eines Geigerzählers. "The Night That Hell Broke Loose" (04) nimmt den Titel beim Wort: bedrohliches, maschinelles Hämmern, eher kreischende Töne und rezitierende Vocals im Hintergrund, was mich nicht zum ersten Mal an die etwas Dark Ambient-lastigere Variante von DER BLAUE REITER (siehe auch "Nuclear Sun" – Besprechung zum selben Thema) erinnert. Wehmütiger, schmerzlicher Regen mit klagenden Drones fällt in "Under The Graphite Clouds" (05). Und "The Burden Of Knowledge" (06) ist in Gänze eine radioaktive Soundlandschaft, bedrückend wie eine Beerdigung mit Sounds von Instrumenten und Messgeräten vor blasigen, nach oben steigenden Drones. Alles eindrucksvoll unterlegt von martialischem Dröhnen und russischem Flüstern.
Während dieser monumentalen 50 Minuten verliert HRISTO GOSPODINOV zu keiner Sekunde die Struktur, das Gleichgewicht der Elemente aus den Augen. Ein überwältigend dichtes Werk vor dem thematischen Hintergrund der atomaren Bedrohung, oft außerhalb der Genregrenzen von Dark Ambient. Wie gesagt, das beste SHRINE-Album bisher."
[Michael We. für nonpop.de]
|
2016 |
€13.00 |
|
| SIJ & ITEM CALIGO |
Queer Reminiscence |
CD |
"Since 2015's album "The Lost World" Vladislav Sikach ambient project SiJ released "Reflections Under the Sky" in February 2016. This time together with Textere Oris and under the banner of the Cryo Chamber label.
With "Queer Reminiscence" SiJ returns to Reverse Alignment, teaming up with Item Caligo.
As you can expect, "Queer Reminiscence" deliver drifting ambient to get carried away with.
Limited edition of 200 copies in 6-panel digipack." [label info]
ralignment.tictail.com
"This new collaboration is an excellent example of dark ambient/neo-classical collaborations gone right. SiJ and Item Caligo are both known for their sounds that often float from ambient, to dark ambient, to neo-classical, and then back again. As is to be expected of these two artists, we have a nice combination of drone, piano, and various other lesser elements. SiJ and Item Caligo combine to craft a sound that is undeniably listenable. There is nothing harsh here, at many times its not even particularly dark.
Tracks like “It Was Good To Destroy Once Again” showcase a lot of the diversity presented. There are moments when the track is peaceful, with gently sweeping drone-work. Yet, as it progresses it moves into areas of looping and a faint but steady percussion. Reminding of something which generally falls into more experimental and ambient musical outings. It can be something almost akin to the sounds of some artists on the Ultimae or Glacial Movements labels, with their minimalistic yet structured usage of percussion and drones. The cold feeling Queer Reminiscence evokes is another reason to make this connection to Glacial Movements.
The pervading themes throughout Queer Reminiscence are melancholia and frigid temperatures. One can easily find themselves imagining a winter spent in some cold and isolated region, sitting beside the hearth in a tiny log cabin. This feeling of isolation will bring on a sense of longing for the past or some idealistic yet unwritten future. The sadness of Queer Reminiscence is woven into the music. There are no blatant cues to direct one’s emotions in any certain direction nor are their any noticeable field recordings.
This hypnotic suggestion stems from the pure minimalism on Queer Reminiscence. There certainly are some active elements here, as already mentioned about the percussive sections peppered through the album. Yet, this variety of styles and instrumentation still hold a stripped down and minimal feel because of the sparing use and perfect placement of the various sounds. Unlike so many collaborative albums in the ambient realm, Queer Reminiscence makes it extremely hard to label any specific sounds to the musician responsible for the sample. There is never the moment where one thinks, “oh, this is certainly done by SiJ and not Item Caligo“. This is a testament to their individual skills and their years of experience writing music. But it is, even more so, a sign of their natural connection. They don’t seem to be fighting one another for the lead. They manage to give listeners the sense that Queer Reminiscence was created by one mind channeling its concepts into reality.
Queer Reminiscence is an album that should be pleasing to many diverse musical appetites. There is something here for the ambient fans, something for the dark ambient fans, and something else that naturally makes it accessible beyond these boundaries. Having fully focused their attention on concept over stylistic execution, SiJ and Item Caligo bring forth something beautiful and serene. It should be able to evoke a sense of longing from each listener, in their own personal way. This all leads to my suggestion that Queer Reminiscence is one of the strongest releases on Reverse Alignment since its revival. An album which could be recommended to almost anyone."
[Michael Barnett/This is Darkness]
|
2017 |
€13.00 |
|
| SILENCE & STRENGTH |
Das Haus zur letzten Latern. A Tribute to Gustav Meyrink |
CD |
"Das ganze Sein ist flammend Leid". Exzellenter esoterischer dark ambient mit gewissen folkigen Elementen aus Israel, mit einem Tribut an GUSTAV MEYRINK (Verfasser von DER GOLEM und DER ENGEL VOM WESTLICHEN FENSTER). Dreizehn Stücke mit hinunterziehender Sog-Wirkung, unheimlich & entrückt. Grundlage bilden Synth-Drones & flächige Gitarren, aber auch diverse Instrumente kommen gekonnt zum Einsatz. Vokales Material erscheint als rückwärtiges Geflüster & Gewisper, subtile Ethno-Perkussion taucht auf, und irritierende Geräuscheffekte verbreiten eine klaustrophobische Stimmung. Dazu kommen v.a. zum Ende hin einige Überraschungen,
z.B. ekstatische Klezmer Folk Stück mit Gesang... die gespenstische Atmosphäre der Bücher wurde hier hervorragend herausgearbeitet, das ganze sehr professionell produziert, kein Klang sitzt hier an der falschen Stelle.. für dark ambient & Soundtrack-Hörer ein echte Entdeckung !! Kommt wie immer bei HORUS aufwendig verpackt, im Kunstpapier-A5 Umschlag & mit 2 Booklets !
"Silence & Strength is a project created by a talented Israeli musician Stephan Friedman. Interfusing noise, drone, glitch and experimental dark ambient he creates soundscapes in a highly structured and ritualistic way. Secret musical spaces of Silence & Strength will enchant those who feel that there is too little sounds around them and who want to know them all.
Silence & Strength joined HORUS CyclicDaemon in 2004 on "100th Anniversary of Liber AL" compilation with the track "Secret Name". Since then Stephan has been working on a special album to be published at HORUS CyclicDaemon. The album will be a tribute to the works of an extraordinary writer Gustav Meyrink.
Gustav Meyrink has long attracted readers for his masterful stories, examining the supernatural, the macabre, the spiritual, and the occult. With complex and ambitious novels, such as "The Golem", "The Green Face", "The Angel of the West Window", and "The White Dominican" Meyrink intertwines past and present, dreams and visions, myth and reality in a world of the occult, culminating in the transmutation of physical reality into a higher spiritual existence." [label info]
"The sound is great and it is composed by hundreds of different layers
that keep the listener's attention always awake. With a crisp production this album is a great "movie for your ears"..." [Chain DLK]
www.horus.cz
|
2009 |
€15.00 |
|
| SILK SAW |
Imaginary Landscapes |
CD |
"After 9 years of silence, here’s the 11th album from the unclassifiable Brussels-based duo. With their usual tamping drums (just mention the two parts of “The Decision to Exist” or “Same Area”, led by a ferocious 808), a regular bass guitar hammering, some bare minimum poor voices, threatened violins, skinbound flute and oboe here and there, a distorted furious piano everywhere and finally some tiny cautious optimism (the extra-human guitar in “Enough Slaps”), the whole is carefully assembled in order to obtain an accurate picture of life on Earth. “Pain” and “Pleasure” are different aspects of the same mental construction." [label info]
www.kotaerecords.com
|
2015 |
€13.00 |
|
| |
Parallel Landscapes |
LP |
"Limited edition of 300 copies with unique artwork made by Russian street artist (Grisha), which were carefully adapted to sleeve design by Mikhail Myasoedov. The vinyl LP contains 4 selected tracks from the full 8-track album.
After 9 years of silence, here’s the 11th album from the unclassifiable Brussels-based duo. With their usual tamping drums (just mention the two parts of “The Decision to Exist” or “Same Area”, led by a ferocious 808), a regular bass guitar hammering, some bare minimum poor voices, threatened violins, skinbound flute and oboe here and there, a distorted furious piano everywhere and finally some tiny cautious optimism (the extra-human guitar in “Enough Slaps”), the whole is carefully assembled in order to obtain an accurate picture of life on Earth. “Pain” and “Pleasure” are different aspects of the same mental construction." [label info]
www.kotaerecords.com
|
2015 |
€18.00 |
|
| 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 |
|
| SINKE DUS |
Akrasia |
CD |
"Akrasia is an old question dealing with the weakness of the will. To behave "akratically" is when one acts against his better judgement, committing acts that are known to be wrong but yet still going through with the motion. Markus Lonebrink wanted to explore not so much the philosophical issues at hand, but rather the subjective experience of akrasia itself. To learn of the underlying motives of when one acts akratically. Certain events in the akratic process felt natural to him and it was those he tried to integrate into these soundscapes. There are no conclusions described in the music, but there might be a glimmer of light at the end of the tunnel and perhaps the shadow of a hint of why we humans sometimes act as irrationally as we do. A shared quest to gain better knowledge of oneself through this self-revisionistic ambient journey filled with ethereally lush passages that give way to a truly visionary and immersive experience. The album also features a special collaboration with Par Bostrom of KAMMARHEIT. In fold out gatefold cardboard sleeve. 7 Tracks. Running Time: 45:50." [label info]
www.cycliclaw.com
|
2007 |
€14.00 |
|
| SION ORGON |
Into the Dark |
7inch |
"Representing the second entry in the new Fourth Dimension Singles Club (see details below – only a few subscriptions still available!), this is the latest release from the Welsh weaver of molten electronic sounds, avant-garde sensibilities and, indeed, even versatile pop/rock where surprises are the order of the day. The two pieces here are the first from Thighpaulsandra/Coil affiliate, Orgon, for a few years. The flipside song, ‘Paper State’, features the late Sleazy, Thighpaulsandra himself and Seb Goldfinch. Strictly limited to 250. Released in November 2012." [label info]
www.fourth-dimension.net
"The second release in the 'Singles Club', following Richard Youngs/Luke Fowler (see Vital Weekly 837), is by one Sion Orgon, who is somehow connected to Thighpaulsandra, Coil and thus it's hardly a surprise we find Peter Christopherson present on both sides of this record, and Thighpaulsandra and Seb Goldfinch on one side. For me an introduction. A pleasant one, if not too brief, but that's life with 7"s I guess. Sion Orgon plays electronic music, atmospheric and moody. I think the etching on the record is not correct, as there are no labels. In the title piece we find a bunch of moody, airy electronics and a strong vocal delivery as starting points, taking it into more noise bits and drums, effectively creating this is into a nice Coil-like piece. 'Paper State' on the other side is also atmospheric, but more 'out there' indeed in which a melancholic piano plays a big role, drifting and flowing about, with eerie electronics backing the whole thing up. It's excellent modern pop classic - perhaps. Here time will tell." [FdW/Vital Weekly]
|
2012 |
€8.00 |
|
| SIYANIE |
Mystery of Life |
CD |
The third full-length album by the project of Sergey Ilchuk (ex-Vresnit, ex-Vetvei) and Dmitriy Shilov (Neznamo, Peal Grim, Magickal Things) has gathered materials recorded at three live gigs in 2012-2013 and completed in the studio in 2012-2015. This album is for lovers of live textured ambient. Almost 80 minutes of powerful yet tender sound submerging the listener into bright dreaming and at the same time awakening crystal clarity within. An experience of the mystery of life expressed in artistic form. The call, the revelation, the transformation, living through your own self. These canvases are woven from a manifold of acoustic and electronic threads: droning and vibrating guitars, flutes, voices, a sitar, electronic sequences, field recordings and found sounds - all this is interlaced into multidimensional structures, the depths of which can be endlessly explored with every new listening. The CD is packed in a matte 6-panel digisleeve with artwork by Sergey Ilchuk. Sound mastering performed by Sergey Bulychov (Kshatriy). The edition is limited to 300 copies. Digital copy can be purchased at bandcamp... Special collector edition - 24 copies in envelopes with 17 cards of A5 size printed on silver cardboard featuring reproductions of Sergey Ilchuk's artwork made in 2012-2016 - available for ordering directly from the author by e-mail: siyanie.art@gmail.com.
http://zhb.radionoise.ru/
|
2016 |
€12.00 |
|
| SKULLFLOWER |
Fucked on a Pile of Corpses |
CD |
"The most remorseless, brutal Skullflower ever! Alternating between granular lo-fi primitive rock and granular lo-fi primitive Power Electronics, this taut disc is a chain mail glove of hate to any lazy minds who've tainted the air with describing Skullflower as 'psychedelic'. But that's not to say this is an all out total assault. There are also moments of tender acoustic balladry, its just that they don't exist. The remorseless brutal sound is primitive, but as detailed and rich as a blood soaked medieval canvas, somewhere betwixt The Rita and Clandestine Blaze, but more brutal! Long live the New Flesh! Kether is in Malkuth, Malkuth is in Kether, but in a different way..." [label info]
www.coldspring.co.uk
"Considering the title of present album, no one should question the darkness hidden behind this latest album from the harsh and truly dedicated british noise specialist Skullflower. For the uninitiated, Skullflower is one of the better-known bands that originated in the early 1980s power-electronics / noise scene, and one of the few to achieve any real recognition outside their homeland. The expression of Skullflower shows similarities to compatriot fathers of power electronics in Whitehouse. There are hardly anytime to breathe in this exercise in extreme aggressions. However the compositional skills hidden underneath the noise inferno makes this album a work that seems strangely addictive, even though a title like "Tantrik ass rape" might scare a fair amount of potential listeners far away." [NM, Vital Weekly]
|
2011 |
€12.00 |
|
| |
Kino IV: Black Sun Rising |
CD |
"Rounds up the first three 7" releases on Shock, Majora and Forced Exposure, the bonus track from The Portable Altamont (1991) compilation, plus six previously-unreleased tracks, including three from the Xaman sessions. A disc of total rock!
Finally available, after almost two years of driving Dirter & Shock to the brink of insanity -- a massive 4CD retrospective of Skullflower's early works from 1986-1990, featuring all the material previously released on Broken Flag, Shock, Majora and Forced Exposure, plus around two hours of previously-unheard music -- 14 tracks spread across the series. And this is not "out-take" dross used to fill up CDs, this is essential early Skullflower providing further insight into their uniquely twisted musical world. All material has been digitally mastered by Richard Whittaker at FX, and each CD comes in a deluxe gatefold card cover and inner sleeve with newly-unearthed artwork by Matthew. Booklets feature extensive notes and previously-unseen flyers, posters and photos." [label info]
www.dirter.co.uk
"This long in the works reissue campaign has had aQ staff and aQ customer Skullflower nerds freaking the fuck out. Four, count, em FOUR reissued rarities! On the last list, we reviewed reissues of both Skullflower's very first 12"ep Birthdeath, and their first proper full length Form Destroyer, both absolute psychedelic noise rock crushers. But that was only the beginning. Since most Skullflower fans were already super familiar with those records anyway, it was more a chance to revisit, as well as preach the gospel of early Skullflower to the uninitiated. But it's the other two reissues that might be the most thrilling. Elsewhere on this week's list, you'll find a review of Xaman, Skullflower's 1990 second album, one that due to a manufacturing defect found most copies eventually rendered unplayable, and thus essentially unheard for decades. And then there's this one, a singles comp, hopefully the first of many, gathering up three different singles, originally released on Majora, Forced Exposure and Shock, and the crazy thing is, even the Skullflower freeks here, had only ever actually heard ONE of em! So that alone made this totally essential. But in addition to those singles, there are also SIX previously unreleased tracks, as well as Skullflower's three contributions to The Portable Altamont compilation (which also featured such noisy luminaries as Coil, Current 93, Nurse With Wound, and Drunks With Guns), all of which add up to some of the filthiest, noisiest, most pummeling, tranced out, knuckle dragging, psychedelic krautrock-style dirgery you've every heard. Cuz really, for all the skree and crunch, all the noisy churn and caveman pummel, most early Skullflower jams are stretched out hypnorock sprawls, albeit constructed from crumbling superdistorted bass, wild tangles of angular melody and shards of noise guitar skree, and some surprisingly motorik drum bashing...
The only one of the three reissues that's sort of new, begins with the weird choice of starting not with any of the previously released 7" tracks, but instead, a double shot of unreleased rarities, the opener "Night Tripper" as good as anything SF was doing at the time, squalls of feedback, thick, blown out riffage, damaged drumming, yowled, buried in the mix vox, super murky and hypnotic, which leads right into "Kasso's Blues", which is loping and lumbering, a sort of detuned atonal main riff, and some garbled vox wrapped around tribal beats make it sound like some super obscure, super wasted Butthole Surfers jam. The aforementioned single, the only one we HAD heard, is the "Rift / Avalanche" single on Majora, and it's some of our favorite Skullflower, smoldering, brooding, dirgey, but sorta dreamy, a locked minimal rhythm, buried vocals, and then long arced tones, super mesmerizing and so epic, the 'flipside' though is a wild nois drenched heavy psych freakout that looks forward to groups like Rusted Shut. The Forced Exposure single delivers one part noisy Dead C style plod rock freakout, and one part billowing psychedelic space out, while the Shock single is super swaggery and dirgey, the recording muted and murky, total cave like rehearsal style sound, but it suits them, the second half getting downright rocking.
After that, there's the awesomely titled "Bo Diddley's Shitpump" , which might be the most bloozy of the bunch, as is hinted at by the title, but it's more like Pussy Galore style blues, tangled up with some Swans and some Hawkwind, and with a hint of mutated AmRep style bash and howl. "Against Everything (A Guide To Canine Foreskin Retraction)" sounds like a Crash Worship record on Shock, wild dense tribal drumming, wreathed in a cloud of flanged shimmer, wah wah splatter and spidery tendrils of tangled guitar melody, and girded by some strange industrial whirring buried in the mix. "March Of The Lemmings" is all garage blooz swagger, with echo drenched vocals and a thick chugging main riff, even some bleating horns, everything dubbed to high heaven, and then wrapped in a spider web of noise guitar skree, and finally closer "The Punk Rock Song" is about as punky OR poppy as SF get, but they manage to fuck it all up and douse it in just enough noise to keep it interesting...
Holy shit, so much amazing, twisted, noisy sonic genius. As far as we're concerned all four of these Skullflower reissues should have /could have been Records Of The Week, but forced to pick one, t had to be Black Sun Rising. But seriously, who are we fooling, you NEED all four!!!
Nice packaging too, mini gatefolds, printed inner sleeves, and a booklet with reproductions of the original 7" covers." [Aquarius Records] |
2013 |
€15.00 |
|
| SKY BURIAL |
Spectrehorse |
CD |
Das Seitenprojekt von FIRE IN THE HEAD mit einnehmenden doom / ritual / noise-drone der visionären Sorte, eine Vermählung von Zeitlupenbeats, stechenden Soundschleifen, verstörenden Geräuschen & rauhen Gitarrenfeedbackwänden..
"....Sky Burial was different. Sky Burial was a sonic revelation and one I whole heartily embraced. Sky Burial is, in reality and so far, a dark ambient / drone / experimental sound sculpture side project. A world apart from FITH. "Spectrehorse" is the first official CD to be released and Michael composed the music, and I quote: "using field recordings from temples and caves in Laos with additional material from various studio sessions between 1996 to the present". Michael has that written large on his website so I for one will not question any of those facts.
The nine tracks sees Michael on fire playing around and manipulating sounds into ever increasingly complex patterns within a variety of different ways. He inhibits a sort of netherworld of darkest spatial ambience... but isn't afraid to introduce a touch of melody, post rock or even, gulp, old fashioned noise into the mix to bring these sounds to a fitting climax. Whilst the drone purists may baulk at some of the extravagances he employs, the rest of us can but admire the fruits of his labour. The spectacle of claustrophobic entrapment is never far away as he toys and plays around with the senses. There is this undeniable feeling of cold isolation that is prevalent and cannot be shaken off. An ominous and stark realisation that forms a knot in the stomach as the music repeatedly builds in intensity. That isn't to say that "Spectrehorse" isn't without its lighter, more serene, moments. Even then though you feel this is an illusion and you patiently wait for the true evil, that must surely lurk beneath, to be revealed in all its ugly glory. I generally hate comparisons to this artist / group or that, although I have been guilty of doing this myself in the past, but to say someone sounds like someone else is a disservice to all the artists concerned. After all Michael, like all artists, didn't deliberately set out to mimic someone's style. He created what he's created. The fact it falls within certain musical spectrums is neither here nor there and so comparisons become invalid and inconsequential. Treat "Spectrehorse" for what it is. A glorious, and mostly sonically bleak, exhilarating musical adventure that is the other side of the coin to FITH by being far more accessible in every respect. I can but hope he continues down this path for many years to come...." [Aural Pressure]
www.collectivexxiii.com/sky
|
2006 |
€12.00 |
|
| |
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 |
|
| SLEEPING BABIES |
Arrow in the Earth |
CD-R |
Another real undergroundish act on the french label: SLEEPING BABIES create ecstatic low fi drone-noise/folk, as "primitive" as inspiring. Handmade cover with little coloured wood-pieces.
"Buried under the hills of Love, the Sleeping Babies' music is transpierced by an arrow of emotions. This patchwork of drones, carried by ethereal voices, dances among bells, flutes and percussions. It is a wonderful and shamanic trip to the holy Mantra. Featuring member of Quilts, Grateful Dregs, and head of American Grizzly. More Info : www.myspace.com/sleepingbabies." [label notes]
www.myspace.com/ruralfaunelovesyou
|
2007 |
€8.00 |
|
| SLOWDIVE |
Everything is Alive (Crystal Clear vinyl) |
LP |
Sechs Jahre nach dem monumentalen Comeback mit dem selbstbetitelten Album, finden slowdive - bestehend aus Rachel Goswell und Neil Halstead (beide Vocs und Git.), Christian Savill (Git.), Nick Chaplin (Bass) und Drummer Simon Scott - auf "everything is alive" immer mehr Konturen ihres eindringlichen, elementaren Sounds. Das fünfte Album der Shoegaze-Giganten enthält die Dualität einer vertrauten inneren Sprache, gemischt mit der Exaltiertheit von Neuanfängen. "everything is alive" ist transportierend, suchend und leuchtend, das Werk einer klassischen Band, die ihre unverwechselbare Stimme weiter in die Zukunft richtet. Das neue Album begann mit Halstead in der Rolle des Autors und Produzenten, der zu Hause an Demos arbeitete. Halstead experimentierte mit modularen Synthesizern und stellte sich "everything is alive" ursprünglich als ein "minimaleres elektronisches Album" vor. Die kollektive Entscheidungsfindung von slowdive führte die Band schließlich zurück zu ihren charakteristischen, mit Hall durchtränkten Gitarren, aber dieses erste Konzept sickerte in die Kompositionen ein. "Wenn wir als Band alle damit zufrieden sind, ist das tendenziell das stärkere Material. Wir sind immer aus leicht unterschiedlichen Richtungen gekommen, und die besten Stücke sind dort, wo wir uns alle in der Mitte treffen", sagt Halstead. "slowdive ist vor allem die Summe seiner Teile", fügt Goswell hinzu. "Wenn wir fünf in einem Raum zusammenkommen, passiert etwas Undefinierbares." Der mehrjährige Aufnahmeprozess begann im Herbst 2020 im Courtyard Studio, wo die Band schon immer aufgenommen hat, setzte sich dann in Oxfordshire und in der umliegenden Heide von Lincolnshire fort, um dann wieder zurück in Neils eigenes Studio in Cornwall zu gelangen. Anfang 2022 holte die Band Shawn Everett (The War On Drugs, Alvvays, SZA) ins Studio, um sechs der acht Tracks des Albums abzumischen. "everything is alive" ist genau das, was der Titel andeutet: eine Erkundung der schillernden Natur des Lebens und der universellen Berührungspunkte darin. Mit seinen psychedelischen Klanglandschaften, pulsierenden 80er-Jahre-Elektronik-Elementen und John Cale-inspirierten Reisen wirkt das Album sofort wie etwas, das für die Zukunft gemacht ist; das passt, denn die Fangemeinde der Band ist im Laufe der Zeit immer jünger geworden, und ihr Einfluss auf vorwärts denkende Musik-Künstler*innen ist ungebrochen. Für ein Genre, das oft als spalterisch angesehen wird und oft Introspektion rechtfertigt, zeigen slowdive hier, dass sie ihr Handwerk beherrschen, indem sie es über das Singuläre hinaus vorantreiben; das Endergebnis ist eine Platte, die sich ebenso emotional und kathartisch wie optimistisch anfühlt.
The fifth album from shoegaze giants Slowdive contains the duality of a familiar internal language mixed with the exaltation of new beginnings. everything is alive is transportive, searching and aglow, the work of a classic band continuing to pitch its unmistakable voice to the future. Six years after the group’s monumental self-titled album, everything is alive finds Slowdive—vocalists and guitarists Rachel Goswell and Neil Halstead, guitarist Christian Savill, bassist Nick Chaplin, and drummer Simon Scott—locating evermore contours of its immersive, elemental sound.
The new record began with Halstead in the role of writer and producer, working on demos at home. Experimenting with modular synths, Halstead originally conceived of everything is alive as a “more minimal electronic record.” Slowdive’s collective decision-making ultimately drew the group back towards their signature reverb-drenched guitars, but that first concept seeped into the compositions. “As a band, when we’re all happy with it, that tends to be the stronger material,” Halstead says. “We’ve always come from slightly different directions, and the best bits are where we all meet in the middle.” The convergence of five unique characters has made the sound. “Slowdive is very much the sum of its parts,” Goswell adds. “Something unquantifiable happens when the five of us come together in a room.”
The group’s projected studio sessions for everything is alive, in April 2020, were naturally scrapped, and when the group finally did meet up, six months later, at Courtyard Studio, where they’ve historically recorded, the mood was jubilant. (Finally, they had a proper reason to leave the house.) That was the beginning of a multi-year recording process, which moved from Oxfordshire and into the Wolds of Lincolnshire and back to Neil’s own Cornish studio before extending into February 2022, when the band brought in mixer Shawn Everett (The War On Drugs, SZA, Alvvays) to mix six of the record’s eight tracks.
Owing to their deep history, there’s a palpable familial energy to Slowdive in 2023. everything is alive is dedicated to Goswell’s mother and Scott’s father, who both died in 2020. “There were some profound shifts for some of us personally,” Goswell says. Those crossroads are reflected in the many-layered emotional tenor of 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. Reflecting on “kisses,” which may be Slowdive’s surest pop moment yet, Halstead said, “It wouldn’t feel right to make a really dark record right now. The album is quite eclectic emotionally, but it does feel hopeful.”
everything is alive, is exactly what the title suggests: an exploration into the shimmering nature of life and the universal touch points within it. Spanning psychedelic soundscapes, pulsating 80’s electronic elements and John Cale inspired journeys, the album lands immediately as something made for the future; which figures, as their fanbase has grown younger and younger as time has gone on, and their influence on forward thinking musical artists continues to prevail.
For a genre that is often thought of as divisive, and often warrants introspection, here Slowdive show their craft as the masters of it by pushing it outwards, beyond the singular; the end result being a record which feels as emotional and cathartic as it is optimistic.
https://slowdive.bandcamp.com/album/everything-is-alive
|
2023 |
€26.50 |
|
| |
Everything is Alive |
MC |
Sechs Jahre nach dem monumentalen Comeback mit dem selbstbetitelten Album, finden slowdive - bestehend aus Rachel Goswell und Neil Halstead (beide Vocs und Git.), Christian Savill (Git.), Nick Chaplin (Bass) und Drummer Simon Scott - auf "everything is alive" immer mehr Konturen ihres eindringlichen, elementaren Sounds. Das fünfte Album der Shoegaze-Giganten enthält die Dualität einer vertrauten inneren Sprache, gemischt mit der Exaltiertheit von Neuanfängen. "everything is alive" ist transportierend, suchend und leuchtend, das Werk einer klassischen Band, die ihre unverwechselbare Stimme weiter in die Zukunft richtet. Das neue Album begann mit Halstead in der Rolle des Autors und Produzenten, der zu Hause an Demos arbeitete. Halstead experimentierte mit modularen Synthesizern und stellte sich "everything is alive" ursprünglich als ein "minimaleres elektronisches Album" vor. Die kollektive Entscheidungsfindung von slowdive führte die Band schließlich zurück zu ihren charakteristischen, mit Hall durchtränkten Gitarren, aber dieses erste Konzept sickerte in die Kompositionen ein. "Wenn wir als Band alle damit zufrieden sind, ist das tendenziell das stärkere Material. Wir sind immer aus leicht unterschiedlichen Richtungen gekommen, und die besten Stücke sind dort, wo wir uns alle in der Mitte treffen", sagt Halstead. "slowdive ist vor allem die Summe seiner Teile", fügt Goswell hinzu. "Wenn wir fünf in einem Raum zusammenkommen, passiert etwas Undefinierbares." Der mehrjährige Aufnahmeprozess begann im Herbst 2020 im Courtyard Studio, wo die Band schon immer aufgenommen hat, setzte sich dann in Oxfordshire und in der umliegenden Heide von Lincolnshire fort, um dann wieder zurück in Neils eigenes Studio in Cornwall zu gelangen. Anfang 2022 holte die Band Shawn Everett (The War On Drugs, Alvvays, SZA) ins Studio, um sechs der acht Tracks des Albums abzumischen. "everything is alive" ist genau das, was der Titel andeutet: eine Erkundung der schillernden Natur des Lebens und der universellen Berührungspunkte darin. Mit seinen psychedelischen Klanglandschaften, pulsierenden 80er-Jahre-Elektronik-Elementen und John Cale-inspirierten Reisen wirkt das Album sofort wie etwas, das für die Zukunft gemacht ist; das passt, denn die Fangemeinde der Band ist im Laufe der Zeit immer jünger geworden, und ihr Einfluss auf vorwärts denkende Musik-Künstler*innen ist ungebrochen. Für ein Genre, das oft als spalterisch angesehen wird und oft Introspektion rechtfertigt, zeigen slowdive hier, dass sie ihr Handwerk beherrschen, indem sie es über das Singuläre hinaus vorantreiben; das Endergebnis ist eine Platte, die sich ebenso emotional und kathartisch wie optimistisch anfühlt.
The fifth album from shoegaze giants Slowdive contains the duality of a familiar internal language mixed with the exaltation of new beginnings. everything is alive is transportive, searching and aglow, the work of a classic band continuing to pitch its unmistakable voice to the future. Six years after the group’s monumental self-titled album, everything is alive finds Slowdive—vocalists and guitarists Rachel Goswell and Neil Halstead, guitarist Christian Savill, bassist Nick Chaplin, and drummer Simon Scott—locating evermore contours of its immersive, elemental sound.
The new record began with Halstead in the role of writer and producer, working on demos at home. Experimenting with modular synths, Halstead originally conceived of everything is alive as a “more minimal electronic record.” Slowdive’s collective decision-making ultimately drew the group back towards their signature reverb-drenched guitars, but that first concept seeped into the compositions. “As a band, when we’re all happy with it, that tends to be the stronger material,” Halstead says. “We’ve always come from slightly different directions, and the best bits are where we all meet in the middle.” The convergence of five unique characters has made the sound. “Slowdive is very much the sum of its parts,” Goswell adds. “Something unquantifiable happens when the five of us come together in a room.”
The group’s projected studio sessions for everything is alive, in April 2020, were naturally scrapped, and when the group finally did meet up, six months later, at Courtyard Studio, where they’ve historically recorded, the mood was jubilant. (Finally, they had a proper reason to leave the house.) That was the beginning of a multi-year recording process, which moved from Oxfordshire and into the Wolds of Lincolnshire and back to Neil’s own Cornish studio before extending into February 2022, when the band brought in mixer Shawn Everett (The War On Drugs, SZA, Alvvays) to mix six of the record’s eight tracks.
Owing to their deep history, there’s a palpable familial energy to Slowdive in 2023. everything is alive is dedicated to Goswell’s mother and Scott’s father, who both died in 2020. “There were some profound shifts for some of us personally,” Goswell says. Those crossroads are reflected in the many-layered emotional tenor of 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. Reflecting on “kisses,” which may be Slowdive’s surest pop moment yet, Halstead said, “It wouldn’t feel right to make a really dark record right now. The album is quite eclectic emotionally, but it does feel hopeful.”
everything is alive, is exactly what the title suggests: an exploration into the shimmering nature of life and the universal touch points within it. Spanning psychedelic soundscapes, pulsating 80’s electronic elements and John Cale inspired journeys, the album lands immediately as something made for the future; which figures, as their fanbase has grown younger and younger as time has gone on, and their influence on forward thinking musical artists continues to prevail.
For a genre that is often thought of as divisive, and often warrants introspection, here Slowdive show their craft as the masters of it by pushing it outwards, beyond the singular; the end result being a record which feels as emotional and cathartic as it is optimistic.
https://slowdive.bandcamp.com/album/everything-is-alive
|
2023 |
€11.50 |
|
| SMALL CRUEL PARTY |
Islands of Sleep |
CD |
"Verpackt in ein großformtagiges S/W-Geäst – Cover kommt die erste SCP-LP daher. Die Aufnahmen entstanden in Paris im Juni 1997. Concrete music based on glass, wood and water manipulation: rubbing, tinkling, lisping, resonance, sharp & bass tones confrontation. Raw calm. Das ganze auf 250gr vinyl und lim. auf 365copies. V.a. die A-Seite,die eigentlich auf 45 rpm läuft, ist sehr schön, und kann auch auf 33 rpm in Entzücken versetzen." [Drone Rec. info zum LP release 1998]
"SCP makes astonishingly hermetic electro-acoustic brain-melters that resist being easily described. This is no exception. There are (thankfully) no simple emotional signifiers or familiar genre-exercise moves to help you along. For active listening. Favorite track: ...Cette Haine Dirigée Contre Lui Mordait Son Marbre Et Sculptait Sa Beauté.. " [Howard Stelzer on Bandcamp]
|
2018 |
€12.00 |
|
|
Cervorum Simulacra |
CD |
"Cervorum simulacra" was originally released as a lathe-cut LP limited to 30 copies ; "Pour Eric S-W" has never been released.
https://fernsrecordings.bandcamp.com/album/cervorum-simulacra
"Following a long period of absence, Small Cruel Party is now fully back on track. At least, from my point of view, that is. In the 90s, Key Ransone's music project delivered several great records with distinct packages. Blending electronics with acoustic sounds and natural elements (sticks, leaves, grass), the resulting combination was ambient and industrial. There were a few 7"s, which did not always grasp the minimal power, but on 10", LP and CD, with room for the music to evolve slowly and naturally, this works pretty well. This new CD shows this very well. Both pieces are older live recordings. The title piece is from 2008 and recorded in Paris, Ransone's home country these days, and the second is from Everett (Washington) in 1992. Back in the day, I saw various concerts of his and listening to the title piece, and this is how I remembered it best. Feeding small sounds, manually controlled and manipulated, through a few sound devices, so that drones occur, growing slowly in intensity. Think of this as ants crawling in a giant anthill, very busy, yet there is also a soothing effect. Think of the calming impact visual overload can have. You don't see (or hear, in this case) an easy pattern, but the overview is great. The piece from 1992, Small Cruel Party recorded on Radio KSER, is quite different. At the piece's core is an organ-like sound bordering on the quiet distortion. This feeds into the usual delay and reverb pedals, which offer the same manipulation as his other pieces. Perhaps, this isn't an organ but captured feedback? I said that it borders on the edge of overload, but there is also an element of quietude to be noted. It was a beautiful piece that kept me in it for the entire twenty-four minutes. These two pieces show two different sides to the work of Small Cruel Party. I wonder what more is hidden in the archives." [FdW / Vital Weekly] |
2022 |
€13.00 |
|
|
Hσυχασμός / Hesychasmus |
10inch |
"Small Cruel Party's rebirth is complete and has found a home with Ferns Recordings, who have already released a few of his works. Here's a new one (actually a re-issue of a cassette from 2019 by Banned Productions), with a Greek title, 'Ἡσυχασμός', which means 'thank
you' (according to Google translate). Each side contains one ten/eleven-minute piece of music. 'Propagation d'un phénomène ondulatoir' (meaning 'Propagation of a wave phenomenon') and 'Quemadmodum cevi ad fortes aquarum' (meaning 'In the same way I came to the strong waters'). The thank you's on the cover are also in Latin, and I think it also says that he recorded the music last year. As always, everything with Small Cruel Party things is very cryptic here. A nightmare for the reviewer but also a good part of the fun. Everything becomes a form of poetry within the whole body of work that Small Cruel Party presents. The first piece consists of rhythmic flickering that finds its way through various delay pedals, which, as these things go with delay pedals, go in overdrive. I assume many musicians would find this out as unwanted distortion, but William Ransome, mister Party, leaves such things in; all part of the minimal process of the music, I assume. The minimalism of the other side works differently. On the first side, these are waves followed by quieter parts, but on the second side, the minimalism is continuous, with a slow variation. The music does a very slow phase-shifting, and further on in the piece, there is also a loop of percussive sound (a metal cup being struck) and the delay pedals working their magic over time again. Music that is the result of direct action or, perhaps, part of a ritual that happens to also involve music? I don't know, but as with so many works by Small Cruel Party, I found this fascinating music, and it could have easily had an LP-sized length." [FdW/Vital Weekly] |
2023 |
€16.50 |
|
| |
Ancien des Jours |
7inch |
listen: https://fernsrecordings.bandcamp.com/album/ancien-des-jours
Exclusive distribution.
Mastered by Scott Konzelmann, cover art and letterpress printing by Patrick Barber, label art put into form by John Hubbard.
"When Small Cruel Party was active in the early 90s (before going on a long hiatus), there were several 7" releases, a format William Ransone seemed to enjoyed for his somehwat conceptual releases. Now there is a new 7" and in both pieces he uses sounds from a radio. First there is 'Qui se poursuit dans le vide et substitue à son accomplissement une horrible exaspération' (meaning 'Which continues in the void and substitutes for its accomplishment a horrible exasperation'), which was recorded for a WFMU fund raiser (download only), and is a close to six minute piece of strange sounds, in which I found it hard to recognize the radio. There was a sort of cut-up sound, mildly bouncing through sound effects, but also loops of what sounded like a violin. Strange but very effective. Google translate couldn't come up with a sensible translation of 'Ka jengbarsi wolinje', clocking at 06:49. The source material was already recorded in 1988 and reworked and edited in spring of 2022, in France (the home country of Small Cruel Party since many years). There is less of a stutter here, and, instead, more loops that shift around a bit, creating a denser pattern. Maybe some piano music lifted from the radio along with a loop and all grows minimally and organically into an even tighter mass of sound. The music sounds very much like the work from his early days. I have a slight preference for the second side, but I enjoyed both a lot, even when reviewing 7" releases is not something I like." [FdW / Vital Weekly] |
2023 |
€12.00 |
|
| SMITH, STEVEN R. |
Owl |
CD |
"This is the first brand new solo album from Steven R. Smith since last year's epic "The Anchorite." Few artists can boast the impressive discography Smith does, full of far more hits than misses. And with "Owl," he shows that he's still got new tricks up his sleeve. On here, you'll find some of the things you expect with a new Steven R. Smith record: sprase, angular walls of his trademark guitar playing with embellishments from an array of acoustic instrumention. But there's a new twist here: vocals. Yep, vocals. Smith unleashes his voice on "Owl" and does so in such an impressive fashion that it leaves me asking what took so long?" [label info]
www.digitalisindustries.com
|
2007 |
€12.00 |
|
| |
Old Skete |
LP |
"Eleven stark performances on hand-made electric guitar by the man also known as ULAAN KHOL, HALA STRANA and ULAAN MARKHOR, and for work with THUJA, MIRZA and Amsterdam-based clarinetist GARETH DAVIS. Absence of overdubs, loops, samples and delay pedals leaves Old Skete open and unadorned, a spare work akin to Smith's 'Kohl' (Jewelled Antler 2002). Edition of 500." [label info]
www.worstward.com
"Multi-instrumentalist, musician, and printmaker Steven R. Smith's fifteenth solo album (from a staggeringly extensive discography of almost 40 releases) presents the artist at his most raw and vital: an album comprised entirely of solo guitar, with no edits, overdubs, loops, or studio trickery. The result is a haunting minimal record that retains the common thread of modal, droney, Eastern European folk-inspired chord progressions and movements that Smith is known for, while simultaneously giving his compositions appropriate room to breathe. Since the artist himself recorded the album live, there is an intrinsic candid and intimate nature to this release that is both intangible and captivating. Old Skete could very well be considered Smith's sketchbook; the intuitive nature of the pieces provide a glimpse into Smith's process. The works presented are not perfect in terms of performance or duration, but they are immediate, emotive, and vibrant. There are few times where more instrumentation is missed, but towards the end, when Smith starts banging out chords and allowing the pieces to crescendo (especially on the final track), you can't help but think how a killer rhythm section could close this record out perfectly." [James Woodard] |
2011 |
€14.50 |
|
| SMOLDERS, IOS & JIM O'ROURKE |
Additive Inverse |
CD |
"What if sounds were to fold in on themselves? Quite quickly after being 'born', even. Only to be released back into the 'normal' world of linear projection and moving waveforms from a resonant source to the ear drum to hearing and listening, some album length later?
Through a looking glass of sorts, as if emerging from an anechoic chamber through the backdoor. From absolute silence into all hearing, all sound anew, flooding over, rushing in. A ghostly aural universe with perspective shift, familiar knowns flipped upside down and inside out.
Could this inverted aural space be the one which is always there to begin with, like the inverse of an acoustic emission - the literal backside of the speaker? The inverse as diametrically opposed or quintessentially other, but with identical value and properties. The hitherto unheard side as sine qua non to the heard.
This collaboration between Jos Smolders and Jim O'Rourke offers a unique opportunity to investigate the intricate, topological complexities of (deep) hearing and its inverse; an exploration into the very essence of sound herself." [Sven Schlijper-Karssenberg]
https://movingfurniturerecords.bandcamp.com/album/additive-inverse |
2022 |
€13.00 |
|
| SOISONG |
xAj3z |
CD |
Erste "grössere" Veröffentlichung vom neuen Projekt von "Sleazy" und Ivan Pavlov aka COH, kommt als acht-eckige CD in spezieller sieben-eckiger "Origami"-Klappcover-Verpackung mit obksurem Farb-Inlay; limitiert... . 7 tracks, die keinem bekannten Genre zuzuordnen sind und viel verfremdetes vokales Material einsetzen.
"... xAj3z is freedom from the mundane. It is the hidden beauty that stares us right in the face and dares us to recognize it. There is nothing generic about its sound, each melody carries its own personality, its own indefinable emotion. To the surface dweller this can be a casual experience, but those who delve a bit deeper will uncover, piece by piece, the hidden revelations that SoiSong has packaged for us." [Sound & Symbol blog]
"The first full-length from SOISONG. xAj3z freely mixes music styles and combines various approaches to music-making: artificial vocalists are accompanied by real drums, jazz-noir arrangements meet the delicate melodics of the South Seas, computers are made to sound warm and organic. The album shows no apparent respect for genre-definition and aims at communicating with the listener at highest levels of emotional intensity, often lyrical, sometimes dark, on occasions amusing and even uplifting. The album is packaged according to the new PIANOSTEALTH ™ technology - this package is made to last." [label info]
'xAj3z' is Soisong’s debut album. Peter Christopherson (Coil, Throbbing Gristle) and Ivan Pavlov (COH) have joined forces as Soisong. "The two-man show will combine Ivan's uncompromisingly visceral computer based music with Sleazy's decadent, dark and whimsical approach to artificial vocals and 'South Seas' instrumentation..."
This is the first full length release by Soisong. It is packaged in an unusual, oddly-shaped origami-like sleeve. Please note the disc itself is octagonal in shape and will not play in slot loading CD/DVD players.
|
2009 |
€35.00 |
|
| SOLO ANDATA |
same |
CD |
"12k presents Australian duo Solo Andata along with their second album, self-titled. Translated literally from the Italian as 'one way,' Solo Andata portrays the theme of a one-way journey that moves from (and represents a thread between) water and land, fluid/stasis, cold/hot. Following Solo Andata's debut album Fyris Swan (Hefty, 2006) and their 12k inception on Live in Melbourne, Solo Andata presents us with an ambient affair, with dark drones coupled with ethereal sonic environments. It could be said that Solo Andata is carefully sequenced to a narrative structure: beginning on boat in the cold, arctic night of 'Ablation,' and then ending on foot in the hot wilderness of 'Woods, Flesh, Bone.' However, concepts and narratives that seem clear to the artists are often left oblique to the listeners. This is perhaps why Solo Andata represented this narrative in a strict sense by recording what the titles literally refer to. For example, 'Woods Flesh, Bone' presents us with sweltering woodlands, the sound of a fresh carcass being torn apart and the clattering of bones. The same can be said of 'Hydraulic Fluctuations,' 'Canal Rocks,' 'Ablation' and 'In the Light Storming.' These organic sources, then, help tie music and concept together. Solo Andata utilizes very little, if any, electronic instruments. Acoustic guitar, piano, cello and the natural resonances of organic materials (usually by way of a violin bow, pluck, or home-made contraption) become their main instruments, and as their live shows often attest to, Solo Andata can turn almost any object into an instrument capable of producing beautiful, other-worldly music." Includes a 12-page booklet with photographs by Taylor Deupree." [label info]
|
2009 |
€14.50 |
|
|
Ritual |
LP |
"After the highly praised “Fyris Swan” (Hefty) and “S/T” (12K), Solo Andata return with “Ritual”, a meticulously-crafted album emphasizing an engagement with the unknown.
‘Ritual’ is Solo Andata’s third full-length album and also the inaugural release for the Buffalo-based label, ‘Desire Path Recordings’. This limited edition 12”LP consists of four glorious sonic ‘topographies’ that are altogether spellbinding, eerie, visceral and energetic. ‘Ritual’, similar to Solo Andata’s self-titled album on 12k, is fundamentally made up of organic sounds, such as primitive gongs, bells and bowls, wildlife and environmental recordings, sacred chants, the vibration of human cancerous cells, cleavers, and prepared piano. These four pieces seem to work toward a repetition or ‘ritual‘ between disparate elements so as to transport us, via a magical spell, to dense otherworldly habitats. In fact, the title of the twenty-minute piece Incantare translates as ‘to chant’ (a magical spell upon), which derives from ‘in’, into, unto and ‘cantare’, to sing. For the eight-minute piece Carving, there exists a ‘ritualistic’ image similar to that of Kafka’s In the Penal Colony, where an intricate carving device inscribes the Condemned prisoner’s sentence onto his flesh. The whole affair of ‘Ritual’ is bound to leave listeners mesmerized by its vividness and bewitched by its intensity."
www.desirepathrecordings.com
|
2010 |
€19.50 |
|
| |
In the Lens |
CD |
"In the Lens, Solo Andata’s fourth full-length album, was born from recordings found in the interstices of decades-old hard drives, lost email threads from disused accounts, and forgotten samples recorded on cassette dictaphones. These fragments were combined and re-worked with newer elements to create an album very much in the spirit of the band’s debut Fyris Swan(Hefty Records, 2006), an album touched by both folk and jazz and swathed in a dusty, narcotic haze.
Solo Andata’s Kane Ikin and Paul Fiocco have always pushed aside the digital studio in favor of a more haphazard and hands-on workshop vibe to their productions. They prefer near-broken acoustic instruments, cheap microphones and, as can be witnessed by their live performances, tend to turn anything they can get their hands on into a beautiful sound-making object.
While there is a raw and guileless nature to the duo’s sound it is precisely this that makes their music so powerful amidst the over-produced cliches of much modern music. The beauty of their work is how simple instruments and objects can be physically manipulated into creating such rich, layered sound. Dark, swaying, almost-looped melodies from piano, woodwinds and horns wrap themselves in smoky obscurity around remnants of percussion and warm beds of noise and the world around us.
In The Lens is very much a late-night record, reflected in the rain-soaked cover imagery, dripping with half-forgotten memories. Jittery yet calming, rhythmic, yet unhurried, it leads you down its dark corridors to a soft resting space. Ikin and Fiocco have created a new story around the chemistry of their creations that were taking place during the early days of their musical explorations." [label info]
www.12k.com |
2016 |
€15.50 |
|
| SOLTAU, THORSTEN |
Gewächse im Zwielicht |
CD |
full press release:
This Friesian multi media artist with two works on one CD: his compositions combine drone-ambient and electroacoustic elements and passages in a wonderful way (sometimes spheric, sometime bizarre, sometimes
melancholic) = various instrumental, vocal and electronic sources are building a hypnotic and poetic web, very complex and with many unexpected twists and surprises in the mix... this album is like a little wonder!
The CD combines two complete works by the artist: "Gewächse im Zwielicht", consisting of 4 pieces (2019-2021), dedicated to the hidden phenomena becoming recognizable only after closer examination, and "An End. An One Another" (2021-2022), an installation work for the art gallery 'De Groen' in Arnhem, Netherlands, for this he worked with a choir. Five long pieces with a total time of over 62 minutes, revealing many details with repeated listening...
as the author notes: "My goal is the creation of rich sounds with layers only reachable by multiple listening. Each work exposes itself over time with each consciously made playback / perception: Repetition becomes a reward for the listener."
listen to a track:
https://soundcloud.com/drone-records/thorsten-soltau-das-begehren
###########################
THORSTEN SOLTAU: Self-taught artist since 2006. Working under his given name as well as Femurl [ˈfiːmjuːl].
Strong interest in sonic disintegration, conceptualism and dualism (philosophy / gender).
Thorsten Soltau is a citizen of KonungaRikena Elgaland-Vargaland. He resides in Friesland, Lower Saxony.
MUSIC.ART.MORPHOSIS.
A reflection.
I call myself a listening person – I am constantly listening to and into environments. This has lead to a refined sense able to picking up things that may slip the attention of others. My ears are trained to scan the places I visit – crowded metropoles, remote spots in nature or even familiar surroundings of office or home. My way of listening can be divided in two modes: the perception of sound on an unconscious level or the deliberate focus on sonics.
Becoming a sort of scanning antenna had a profound effect how I compose. The experience of my listening is reflected in my sound works. As an example several compositions feature barely noticeable overdubs. They can only be heard with specific settings of loudness and spatial room (and are therefore easy to recognize with headphones) or equalizer settings. Another example is the creation of dense clusters of sound resembling information streams or (over-)crowded places.
My goal is the creation of rich sounds with layers only reachable by multiple listening. Each work exposes itself over time with each consciously made playback / perception:
Repetition becomes a reward for the listener.
On sounds.
My compositions are either electronic or electroacoustic. A commonly used sound is the human voice or excerpts of complex synthesis. As a composer I choose my source material wisely. The starting elements have to inhabit the desired mood and intensity later formulated into full compositions. Nevertheless I am open for developments by surprise or error during sound design.
One important factor is randomness. Sounds or sound manipulating factors are mapped to random forces which allows for unexpected results. Some of my composing techniques are deliberately executed against their primary intention as well. This allows for an ever-morphing character of my works until the final touch is added.
On sonic morphosis.
My compositional ethic has strong ties to morphosis. To reflect different degrees of sonic shifting / transformation / transitions I apply several techniques and methods. As explained above the use of complex treatments and randomness allows for a sound that constantly shapes into an liquid and organic sculpture. The sonics I create are further exposed to imperfections and errors – like body and mind aging or perishing over time.
Errors are integral and welcome. Most of them occur as a glitch in the analogue or digital domain during sessions or setup changes. They give a further layer to the music resembling small failures made by the composer – adding a human touch despite their virtual origin.
On concepts.
My solo work has always been underlined by concepts. My canon includes albums with apparent or less apparent concepts. Often works can be seen as cornerstones of things I research at that time of their genesis. Several compositions reflect situations from personal life. Thus all works can be seen as intimate and highly personal sonic artifacts. Conception can be seen as the base of each work without outweighing the listeners experience. Each of my pieces can be explicitly heard as a sole composition as well.
https://thorstensoltau.de |
2022 |
€13.00 |
|
| SONIC YOUTH |
Simon Werner a Disparu |
LP |
"In Spring 2010, Sonic Youth gathered at their Echo Canyon West studio in Hoboken, New Jersey, to watch the rushes of a new film, Simon Werner a Disparu, by French director Fabrice Gobert. They spent the following few weeks recording music which was then shaped as needed to fit the various scenes. For this release, rather than present the small clips of music as used in the film, the band went back in the autumn to the original tapes and re-organized the various pieces for this original soundtrack release, sometimes montaging multiple tracks together, other times extending cues into new sonic realms. The film premiered at Cannes in May 2010 and opened nationwide in France. //
Es war im Frühjahr 2010, als SONIC YOUTH in ihrem Echo Canyon West Studio in Hoboken, New Jersey, zusammen kamen, um die Videoclips zu ,Simon Werner a disparu", dem neuen Film des französischen Regisseurs Fabrice Gobert anzuschauen. Sie verbrachten die nächsten Wochen damit, Musik aufzunehmen, die dann modifiziert wurde, um zu den jeweiligen Szenen zu passen. Die Band entschied sich dafür - statt die kleinen Häppchen Musik zu präsentieren, wie sie im Film auftauchen - sich noch einmal an die ursprünglichen Aufnahmen zu machen und die einzelnen Teile zu diesem Soundtrack zu sammenzustellen. Manchmal werden mehrere Tracks zu einem Stück und manchmal inspirierten Audioschnipsel eine ganz neue Soundlandschaft. Der Film feierte seine Premiere im Mai 2010 in Cannes und ging direkt im Anschluss in die französischen Kinos. www.myspace.com/sonicyouth" [label info / Cargo]
|
2011 |
€16.50 |
|
| |
Simon Werner a Disparu |
CD |
"In Spring 2010, Sonic Youth gathered at their Echo Canyon West studio in Hoboken, New Jersey, to watch the rushes of a new film, Simon Werner a Disparu, by French director Fabrice Gobert. They spent the following few weeks recording music which was then shaped as needed to fit the various scenes. For this release, rather than present the small clips of music as used in the film, the band went back in the autumn to the original tapes and re-organized the various pieces for this original soundtrack release, sometimes montaging multiple tracks together, other times extending cues into new sonic realms. The film premiered at Cannes in May 2010 and opened nationwide in France. //
Es war im Frühjahr 2010, als SONIC YOUTH in ihrem Echo Canyon West Studio in Hoboken, New Jersey, zusammen kamen, um die Videoclips zu ,Simon Werner a disparu", dem neuen Film des französischen Regisseurs Fabrice Gobert anzuschauen. Sie verbrachten die nächsten Wochen damit, Musik aufzunehmen, die dann modifiziert wurde, um zu den jeweiligen Szenen zu passen. Die Band entschied sich dafür - statt die kleinen Häppchen Musik zu präsentieren, wie sie im Film auftauchen - sich noch einmal an die ursprünglichen Aufnahmen zu machen und die einzelnen Teile zu diesem Soundtrack zu sammenzustellen. Manchmal werden mehrere Tracks zu einem Stück und manchmal inspirierten Audioschnipsel eine ganz neue Soundlandschaft. Der Film feierte seine Premiere im Mai 2010 in Cannes und ging direkt im Anschluss in die französischen Kinos. www.myspace.com/sonicyouth" [label info / Cargo] |
2011 |
€14.50 |
|
| SONOLOGYST |
Phantoms |
CD |
https://sonologyst.bandcamp.com/album/phantoms
Voices of children in a park, people playing a handball game, dogs barking, a man talking of philosophy, a demon lurking in a dark corner. Dreamlike mental landscape of nonsensical memories, a metamorphic passage from the blackness, the shadows of a lost beauty. Everything frozen in the stillness of phantom recordings.
Recordings by SONOLOGYST
Sound Design, Turntables, Trumpet, Azzax, Voice.
"The previous release by Raffaele Pezzella, also known as Sonologyst had "Silencers, usually
known as Men In Black" as a sort of theme (see Vital Weekly 1134). I'm not sure if there is an
overall thematic approach on 'Phantoms', other than some ghostly activity. Originally inspired by modern classical composers (Stockhausen, Henry, Ferrari, Subotnick, Nono, Pousseur,
Parmegiani and Maderna), Sonologyst's music has not much to do with that, certainly not on
this new one. The previous sounded a bit more improvised than before, with a violin playing an
important role, here the sound sources are "turntables, trumpet, azzax (which is an "electrified cymbal that I play with wooden or Plexiglas sticks”), voice and sound design". I recognized some of the turntables already, with its crackling sounds, but it has not the meaning lead. Like before, Sonologyst music has a great soundtrack-like quality to it, and this time it is the phantom in the attic movie. The voice (by Pezzella? By others? I don't know) doesn't sing or speak, but it is rather more along the lines of making sounds that have emotions; crying or shouting, but in a controlled manner, and it is not featured in all pieces. The music has a sort of improvised feel to it, again, but these recordings have been overlaid, edited, and are presented as collages of sound. In that way,
it owes to the world of musique concrete, perhaps also because of the vinyl used and what seems to be field recordings, and less to the world of improvised music, as found on his previous release. In these pieces, he offers quite some variety and in each of them, he explores the sounds in a fine collage form. The music is not shy for a bit of noise here and there and it that respect owes to the world of classic industrial music, but Sonologyst is capable of keep matters interesting and above
all varied." [FdW/Vital Weekly]
––– Address: https://sonologyst.bandcamp.com/ |
2019 |
€13.00 |
|
| |
Ancient Death Cults & Beliefs |
CD |
"Profound, ritual dark ambient and apocalyptic drones from Italy’s Sonologyst.
The veneration of the dead plays an important role in mythology and (nature) religions. It is inspired by fear for wrath of the deceased, and by obtaining their council and favours. A large part of the religious life concentrated therefore around the death cults. This led to the erection of huge monuments (mastabas, pyramids, grave-temples, and rock-graves) in Egypt… but in ancient China, Mesopotamia, and India the dead were also honoured by impressive monuments and elaborate rituals.
Although the death cults and burial rituals may be different among the nature religions, the reasons are the same; either affection towards the deceased or else fear for the soul wandering in the vicinity of the corpse and which must be appeased (with offerings, prayers, incantations). Common is also a form of cannibalism where the body is eaten in order to obtain some of the strength of the deceased. The mummification of the dead, which originated in the belief of life after death, was an important part of the death cults too.
This album is a deep musical investigation of those cults and beliefs in ancient times. Presented in a matt digipak with evocative, ritualistic artwork by Abby Helasdottir."
https://coldspring.bandcamp.com/album/ancient-death-cults-and-beliefs-csr270cd
|
2020 |
€13.00 |
|
| SONS OF GOD |
The Object |
CD |
"The Sons of God, who serve the aims of civil defence and whose motto is to instil strength and courage and who have previously conducted investigations into materials and media, within the realm of the psyche as well as the social, have now taken it upon themselves to investigate "the object" using the means at their disposal. With the aid of a diaphragm in the shape of a 130-by-200-millimetre piece of sheet iron and microphones taken from the mouthpieces of Swedish Army telephones dating from the period in question, we will search the boat and, applying the methods of analogue telephony with regard to electromagnetism and its effects on matter, attempt to extract "locked", "frozen" or "dormant" information from the complex interior of "the object". A condensed version of the results of our investigation is presented on this CD release. Anyone who listens to and partakes of it will be placed in the same position as we were in our work on "the object", perhaps only with a change of perspective. We are therefore pleased to pass on the material, in the hope that new layers will be discovered and other information extracted." [label info]
www.fireworkedition.com
|
1999 |
€13.00 |
|
| SONS OF GOD & MATS GUSTAFSSON |
Reception |
CD |
"The Sons of God: 32 amplified iron plates. Mats Gustafsson: live electronics. Recorded by Olof Madsen on the 5th of March 2006 at Frgfabriken, Stockholm, Sweden. Reception was a sound installation at Frgfabriken (February 18 - March 5, 2006). by the Sons of God and Emanuel Swedenborg and a part of the festival Place and Space, Stockholm New Music. The festival was curated by Magnus Haglund and Magnus Andersson. During the installation period, the following guest-artists were invited for performances and concerts : Mats Gustafsson, Per Jonsson, Anna Koch, Nora Kvassman, Lotta Melin, Lise-Lotte Norelius, Daniel Rozenhall, Amit Sen, Wenche Sundsrud and Pr Thörn." [label info]
www.fireworkedition.com
"Work by The Sons Of God is somewhere in between composition, performance and installation. Lots of their released output relates to performances and installations and 'Reception' is no different. This particular work involves no less than thirty-two amplified iron plates set up at Fargfabriken, Stockholm in 2006 and on the night of March 5th 2006 a concert was held with Mats Gustafsson providing live electronics. An almost fifty-four minute work of loud noise. One vague rumble of… what exactly? Thirty-two iron plates you might say, which sound like crashing, cascading storm and on top we have Gustafsson's electronics wailing more about. Think Merzbow, but then without any development or change, save for a slow building up, to an orgasmic height and then quickly taking matters to a logical conclusion. Almost like a very noisy storm, almost like ambient music taken to a very (il)logical conclusion. To confuse matters even more there is a whole text about a 18th century writer Emanuel Swedenborg about heaven and hell, and how that influenced the work of The Sons Of God. You can read that and contemplate about it when listening to the music, although I am sure it will not shed a brighter light on one or the other. I thought of the whole package as quite fascinating, but then I always admire such consistent conceptual ideas." [FdW/Vital Weekly]
|
2011 |
€13.00 |
|
| SORIAH (FEAT. ROEDELIUS & NORMAN WESTBERG) |
Lumina |
10inch |
Available exclusively on 10" clear with white smoke vinyl, this ambient and avante garde collaborative album from world renown throat singer Soriah features prepared guitarist, Norman Westberg (SWANS) and the venerable and seminal German artist, Hans Joachim Roedelius (CLUSTER). The SIDE A track "Alba Via" featuring the later, incorporates the pipe organ housed in the Berlin philharmonic and harkens back to Soriah's first release "Chao Organica in A Minor" with a prepared sense of harmonics and majestic pipe organ whirls. "Mirrored in Amber" featuring the former gives a floating peace and dark vastness expressed in Westbergs heaviy effected guitar and Soriah's spacial expansiveness. This work intends on bringing peace to lost souls of those who have recently passed, a common overarching theme of Soriah's work.
https://soriah.bandcamp.com/album/lumina
"A long time ago, in Vital Weekly 603, FK reviewed a CD by Soriah, then from Portland, featuring his throat singing and other instruments. Today, I heard his music for the first time, and now it is in collaboration with two others, one per side. The A-side contain 'Alba Via', which is the Latin translation of the Tuvan saying meaning "white road") and is collaborating with Hans Joachim Roedelius, now in his 88th year and still a musical force, always open to working with new musicians. He recorded the pipe organ at the Berlin Philharmonic, which he sent to Soriah (preferred spelling is SoRIAH). I don't know if any processing was done to the Roedelius recordings. I couldn't tell. If entirely unprocessed, the pipe organ is played only at the very low end of the register and very few tones. It takes some time before Soriah's voice comes in, and I think there is also a flute-like sound. Even though I am not an expert on overtone singing, I believe the actual overtone singing happens later in this piece. The overall mood is tranquil, and while there is development throughout, it slowly grows with more sounds and, as with so many parts of ambient music, an all-too-quick ending.
I had not heard of Norman Westberg before; my bad, I know, but I was never a fan of the Swans. That's where his main claim to fame is. Unlike Roedelius, whose work I listened to a lot and found a natural match for Soriah, I never heard any of his solo work. But Westberg delivers the goods. Apparently, all on guitar and, at least that's what I think, a lot of effects. Westberg creates a massive drone, slowly developing and changing, and Soriah's throat singing rolls majestically in and out of the mix. For some strange reason, there is a mid-track, fade out, and fade in, like there is a first and a second part, but there isn't much difference. Here, the development is also slow but stays within the number of sounds used. Unlike the other side, which seems to add sounds as the piece goes. Both pieces are about twelve minutes each, and that's not enough for me. Both could have been twenty and make up for a great LP, or both could have been thirty, and it would be an excellent CD; I prefer the latter because flipping a record also takes the listener out of the flow. It's fantastic music, albeit way too short." [FdW / Vital Weekly] |
2023 |
€29.50 |
|
| SORRY FOR LAUGHING |
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 |
|
| SOUNDSCAPE ROST (ELIN OYEN VISTER) |
Spaces and Species Vol. I |
LP |
Soundscape Røst-Spaces and Species Vol I is a unique collection of field recordings and soundscapes, from the Røst archipelago – 100 km into the Atlantic Ocean, off the coast of Nordland (NO/Sápmi). The album is a careful edited selection of hours and hours of sound material listened to and recorded between 2010 and 2011. The listener will experience a multitude of nature and sea-bird voices/spaces and acoustic moments, spanning from booming roars to the faintest of hums. You can listen to the song of the multitude of pelagic seabirds breeding in the Røst archipelago and the Nykan nature-reserve and the acoustic moments in time of their ocean-and land spaces they spend their time in every spring and summer, mating, breeding their chicks, socializing and coming and goings searching for food.The lowfrequenzy grunts of the Razor Bill, the song of the last Kittiwakes of Vedøya, the swarming of hundreds of Puffin wings and their ancient cowlike song and grunts in their nests in Hernyken nature reserve, The Eiders of Kårøysundet an early winter-spring morning and the sounds of the ebb and flow on the Northside of Røstlandet are amongst the soundscapes on Vol 1.
Vol I is eavesdropping to the rapidly changing soundscapes of one of Northern Europe most numerous seabird breeding colonies which has for half a century experienced an escalating dramatic decline of the pelagic seabird populations, resulting in the silencing of the bird mountains . Soundscape Røst also listen to and documents the acoustic realities of a marine land -and seascape over time and listens to nature-culture in an everlasting continuum of interdependency. The vinyl album is an integral part of the sound installation Soundscape Røst – The Listening Lounge, (2012) and is the first album in the Soundscape Røst triology.
Note to the reissue on Gruenrekorder.
Since the album was released in 2012, the decline in the seabird populations have escalated. During the summer of 2020 the bird mountain of Vedøya became silent. Statistically speaking there are no more Kittiwakes and Guillemot breeding on Vedøya. In 1980 there was approximately 1.5 million pairs of Puffins breeding in all of the Røst archipelago and on Vedøya alone, 12000 pairs of Guillemots and 25.000 pairs of Kittiwakes. Now the overall Puffin population is down to around less than 200.000 pairs and the few Guillemots left are hiding in small caves and crevices. The last Kittwakes of Røst are now clinging on in Kårøya and Gjellfruvær. If the decline continues, there will be no Puffins left in Røst by 2040.
https://www.gruenrekorder.de/?page_id=18960
|
2021 |
€18.00 |
|
| SOUND_00 + LEFTERNA |
Elementals: Collabs 2 |
CD |
After a series of collaborative publications on multiple experimental labels, the duo of Toni Dimitrov (Sound_00) & Boban Ristevski (Lefterna) finds its 'Elementals: Collabs 2' conceptual release on Winter-Light. 'Elementals: Collabs 2' is an ambient/experimental release of deep drone contemplations and ambient exploration, good for deep meditative and learning sessions.
'Elementals' gathers together selected collaborative works from the artists Sound_00 + Lefterna. All tracks have previously been released separately on compilations from the labels Fall Into Void, Post Global Recordings, HNM Recordings, AOsmosis and Crna Zemlja. For this release on our Winter-Light label, the tracks have been completely remastered by Cruel Sound Works, adding a richer, more distinctive warm feel to each piece.
Glass mastered CD comes in a 4-panel full colour digi pack. 7 tracks with a total running time of 77:23 mins.
winter-light.bandcamp.com/album/elementals-
collabs-2
"Quite some years ago, Sound_00, the musical project of Toni Dimitrov was an active force in the world of net labels and CDRs (this was before cassettes became hip again), but he disappeared for a while, for reasons I don’t know but I see his name popping up again and here he has seven pieces recorded in collaboration with Boban Ristevski, also known as Lefterna, and who, also many moons ago, wrote
reviews for this rag. Apparently they have been working together for some time now, and released
their work on compilations on such imprints as all Into Void, Post Global Recordings, HNM Recordings, AOsmosis and Crna Zemlja. Not that I heard any of these. This collection sees these pieces re-mastered by Cruel Sound Works, “adding a richer, more distinctive warm feel to each piece”. These are quite lengthy pieces of music, somewhere between seven and fifteen minutes, dealing with field recordings, processed and otherwise, and to which a bunch of electronics are added. There is a strong love for field
recordings that contain a lot of water, rain, running taps or river streams; that sort of thing. By way of processing and adding effects and electronics it comes out as a deep wash of atmospheric drone music.
I can’t say if these are now warmer than before, but they sound pretty much all right to these ears.
There is the dash of reverb, set to a cavernous setting to suggest that spooky touch, which is something that you can find on all these releases, by this label, and in general with this kind of music. This is music that one should undergo and feel, rather than rationalize about. Like many of the other isolationist
musicians it seems less about composing and more about letting sounds wander freely inside a bunch of sound effects but it becomes a very nice work indeed." [FdW/Vital Weekly]
|
2017 |
€13.00 |
|
| SPECIMENS |
In the Dust of Idols |
LP |
‘In The Dust Of Idols’ is an album exploring mortality, Existentialism & the dread one can feel in the face of an apparently meaningless world. The journey you embark on when trying to create meaning where there is perhaps none. These initial senses of dread can be brought about by the insignificance you feel in the face of greatness (or perceived greatness), where others have seemingly found meaning and purpose in the face of your own wavering path. Often these can be expressed in grandness and can become historically significant human feats, the fact that they have stood the test of time can become in itself overwhelming when reflecting on your own journey. Whilst these moments in time may hold no specific meaning to you - despite their impressive nature - you are driven into senseless awe.
‘In The Dust Of Idols’ ties in this sense of wonderment coupled with the overarching dread you feel as you contemplate your own existence, where you fit into the significance of society and as Ruth Tallman quotes “the search for answers in an answerless world”.
“I wanted to create something dense & heavy. When you listen through, it makes you feel like it has the weight of time stitched into it” explains Ives. As well as expanding the range of instrumentation used on this, his second album, Ives also enlisted the talents of Cellist Charlotte de Burgh-Holder and experimentalist Joe Summers on the tracks “The Unread Library” and “Twisted Necks” which further adds to the dynamic depth and range on this record.
“Clarity was not my main objective, like an old piece of furniture covered in dust, you can tell what it is but the details are obscured, my ambition was to create a dense sonic backdrop, a representation of the confusion and insecurities we all can feel when questioning our existence - you know there should be answers but you can’t quite make out what they are”. It’s not all dark though and moments of optimism and cracks of light pepper the record giving enough hope to the listener to pursue questioning the unanswerable.
Accompanying the release of the record is a short film set to music from the album, produced and shot by photographer & director Lucie Rox. The film is a visual expression and representation of identity and the many ways this is challenged, perceived and adopted. Whilst taking forward the concepts explored throughout the album, the film looks to reduce the great vastness of confusion and self doubt put forward on the record & focus instead on a more intimate and personal perspective laid bare and shared by both director Lucie Rox & Specimens.
With a heavy focus on race & heritage of which both Specimens & Lucie are mixed - Caribbean & British / African & French respectively - the objective of the film is to show one of the many angles where an individual's search for meaning & identity can be expressed.
‘In The Dust Of Idols’ is released on November 30th 2018 as an international collaboration between SVS and First Terrace Records. Pressed on beautiful white & blue splattered vinyl with artwork from Australian painter Kieran Ingram and mastered by the legendary Lawrence English.
https://specimensmusic.bandcamp.com/album/in-the-dust-of-idols
|
2018 |
€20.00 |
|
| SPECTRAL ARMIES |
The Vanished People |
LP |
"After resigning from Volcano The Bear, this is Volcano The Bear founder member Nick Mott's new group, continuing and expanding on the experimental precedent set by Volcano The Bear. Recorded outdoors at a disused quarry and on two farms in Cornwall. Environmental sounds, traditional and hand made acoustic instruments, voice-as-instrument, distortion and electronics. There is the trademark VtB wash of noise distortion punctuated by whiplash percussive samples and abstractions. A rumbling momentum of charged strings, churning amplification and atmospherics. Psychedelic Concrete Folk Noise. 180 gram vinyl. Limited to 250 copies." [label info]
www.altvinyl.com
|
2010 |
€17.50 |
|
| SPHERULEUS |
Voyage |
CD |
"Voyage' is the latest album from Lincolnshire based sound designer Harry Towell. Released under his Spheruleus guise, this album utimately provides a soundtrack to a doomed sea-voyage. Through eight different movements, 'Voyage' chronicles everything from the immense pride felt as the ship sets sail to depicting the horror and heartache of its sinking. The album then closes with detailed passages that portray the decomposition of the ship as it begins to rot deep under sea.
This album is well researched with Harry having explored his chosen subject thoroughly. For the two years in which the album has been in the making, the young sound designer studied the history of great sea disasters and also took inspiration from soundtracks such as Gavin Bryars’ ‘The Sinking Of The Titanic’ and Gareth Hardwick's 'Of The Sea And Shore'. Although the Titantic's infamous fate was naturally a strong influence on the project, 'Voyage', does not refer to any particular sinking ship. Instead, its purpose is to sonically depict the various emotional aspects that lie within a failed sea voyage, as felt by all those who are affected by it.
Once the concept for 'Voyage' had been born, Harry revisited one of his old demos from early 2010 and decided to make this the spine of the album. He then used his instrument collection including; guitar, violin, trumpet, bugle, zither and keyboard to add several layers to the demo. In doing so Harry has been able to develop his chosen theme and create the character required to turn this forgotten treasure into the album it is today. As a poignant exaggeration of the events that unfold through the track 'She Sinks', there is a contribution from Russian pianist Alex Tiuniaev that opens and closes this dramatic track. He also performs on the track 'Clouds Swarm', as it heads into a crescendo.
Aside from his solo production work, Harry also records with brother Stuart under the name Paper Relics and runs the Audio Gourmet netlabel, which specialises in 15 minute EPs designed for shorter 'tea-break' listening. His work as Spheruleus has seen him release through netlabels such as Test Tube, Resting Bell, Earth Mantra, Audio Gourmet and in March 2010, his first physical album 'Frozen Quarters' was released on CD format by the Under The Spire imprint." [label info]
www.hibernate-recs.co.uk
|
2011 |
€12.00 |
|
| SPHYXION |
3 |
CD |
Sphyxion returns with a second studio album for Zoharum and a third studio album at all. The musicians develop their own minimal synthwave formula, introducing it into completely new sound areas. This electronic incarnation of brothers Frederic and Olivier Charlot is a peculiar development of the musical formula of the Maninkari project (the main formation of the Charlot brothers), enriching it with a slightly mechanical, stronger, constantly pulsating rhythm. Despite the fact that the material follows the synthwave convention, it still carries a lot of plasticity, inherent in the richness of sounds, from many intricately woven from scraps of melodies ornaments. They create an atmosphere that evocatively affects the imagination of the listener by combining consciously the classical instruments and electronics in their own way. The musicians could have acquired that illustrative nature of their works both from their academic education and considerably rich experience gained e.g. while working on sounding theatrical performances or composing movie scores. CD folded in six-panel ecopack and limited to 300 copies
https://zoharum.bandcamp.com/album/3
"The final new release is by the French brothers Frederic and Olivier Charlot. They also work as Maninkari. '3' is their release as Sphyxion. Their music is all electronic here, whereas Maninkari, which one could see as their main project, is all about rhythm and percussion. In both projects, atmospheres play an essential role. I have no idea what kind of electronics they use to create the music here. It might be all old and rusty analogue synthesizers, but for all I know (and, honestly, care), this might be stuff programmed in Ableton Live. As ever, I care about the result. Sphyxion plays mood music, and they do a pretty solid job at that. Their second CD reminded me at times of the early Biosphere, which is still a reference I'd like to make. The neat bounce of a sequencer that never fully goes into a full-on dance modus is never far away here. There is always a fine touch of melody in there somewhere, even when it is buried beneath an industrial dirge (in the opening piece; all are untitled). Throughout, there is an impressive amount of variation in these pieces, from that louder opening to an introspective '3' and ghostly nighttime drive of '4'. Occasionally, a voice pops up ('7'), adding a further dimension to the music. I found all of this very good, and I think quite a step forward from the previous album." [FdW / Vital Weekly]
https://zoharum.bandcamp.com/album/3
|
2021 |
€12.00 |
|
| SPIEGEL, LAURIE |
Expanding Universe |
do-CD |
"The Expanding Universe is the classic 1980 debut album by composer and computer music pioneer Laurie Spiegel. The album is reissued here for the first time in a massively expanded two-CD set, containing all four original album tracks plus an additional 15 tracks from the same period, nearly all previously unreleased. Some of the already well-know works included in this set are Patchwork, the complete Appalachian Grove series, and Kepler's Harmony of the Worlds, which was included on the golden record launched on board the Voyager spacecraft. The pieces comprising The Expanding Universe combine slowly evolving textures with the emotional richness of intricate counterpoint, harmony, and complex rhythms (John Fahey and J. S. Bach are both cited as major influences in the original cover's notes), all built of electronic sounds. These works, often grouped with those of Terry Riley, Phil Glass, Steve Reich, differ in their much shorter, clear forms. Composed and realized between 1974 and 1977 on the GROOVE system developed by Max Mathews and F.R. Moore at Bell Laboratories, the pieces on this album were far ahead of their time both in musical content and in how they were made. Each of the included works broke new ground, pioneering completely new methods of live interaction with computer-based logic - ways of creating music that are now reaching the heights of their popularity with Ableton Live, Max
MSP and other interactive music software entering mainstream music production. The package also includes an extensive 24-page booklet with notes by Laurie Spiegel and period photos." [label info]
www.unseenworlds.net
"And yet again does Unseen Worlds provide us with something Unheard, at least over here. From the world of minimal and electronic music they find those interesting gems that are from really rare releases - of the kind you don't even see on the most outsider/underground blogs. I never heard of Laurie Spiegel or her album from 1980 on Philo Records. We are dealing here with some highly computerized music from a time when computer where not things for your desk or your lap, but apparatus that filled rooms. Its all told in the booklet, albeit with a lot of technical speak that perhaps sometimes may elude the uninitiated. But the whole text breathes 'another time, another world', even if you don't understand what it is all about. It is about limitation with those early big computers to create music, and perhaps that's the real surprise if you hear it. Take for instance a piece like 'Drums', which sounds like Pan Sonic or Goem, with a bouncing back and forth rhythm. The booklet tells us, about these pieces, that Spiegel has a folk influence, but that's hard to hear (well, that, or more inside knowledge is required). In other pieces there is perhaps something that we would call these days 'cosmic music'. Spiegel's music is not of a plink-plink nature that one perhaps would associate early computers with. Instead she plays long form, sustaining pieces, which slowly develop. Now, here she is clearly been influenced by the world of minimal music. Various of her pieces start out with with a bouncing single note which slowly expand - 'get longer' - and then starts to build slowly. The length of a piece is usually five to ten minutes with some being well over that, such as the title piece which is close to thirty minutes (which was also pressed in this length onto vinyl, so a CD version is more than welcome, I should think). No doubt with some of this music one could easily think its too simple and with my laptop running live you could easily do the same results in a few minutes, but I prefer to take the historical position: wow, with such limitations, these results! Spiegel's discography is rather small, and this double CD contains the entire debut LP, various pieces from later works (such as 'Drums' and 'Appalachian Grove I-III'), but also many pieces that are here for the first time. I can imagine that close to three hours of this music is perhaps all bit much to take in, but this is yet another remarkable re-issue on Unseen Worlds. Boy, what a great label so far, what surprises they have next for us?" [FdW/Vital Weekly]
|
2019 |
€18.00 |
|
| SPIRACLE |
Ananta |
do-CD |
"Hitoshi Kojo (aks Spiracle) professes to have some difficulties in falling asleep. When sleep comes to him, it can often arrive at dawn, when the colors of the sun begin to break through the darkness of night and when some are just rising after their own good night's sleep. Ananta is a twin set of compositions that urge the listener toward a dreamless sleep-state, while reflecting the glowing warmth of a blossoming sunrise. In constructing the two variations of Ananta, Kojo began with finely tuned drones extracted from a Dilruba and a Sarangi, and applied a process of merging sympathetic field recordings and other tonal interferences alongside those instrumental sounds. The resulting pieces are elliptically static drone compositions that brightly shimmer with hues of gold, crimson, and aquamarine.
One of the two variations of Ananta was published back in 2006 as a micro-edition CDR through Mystery Sea. In composing the Mystery Sea version, Kojo purposefully eschewed the representational sounds of the "Night Ocean Drones" espoused by the label, opting for these aforementioned concepts. On this piece of tiny churning textures streaming along a linear path, Kojo's piece nearly achieves infinity, which happens to be the translation from Sanskrit of "ananta." While other works from Kojo enjoy the darkly elegant arches found in select recordings from Organum and Lawrence English, the Mystery Sea Version of Ananta fits more of the tradition of the Roland Kayn, Yoshi Wada, and Charlemagne Palestine in constructing pieces which require endurance, lest you succumb to Kojo's audio hypnosis. The Strato Version of Ananta is a previously unreleased composition, that bends and undulates around a fundamental drone, all the while still maintaining the sun-flecked glints magnified in the Mystery Sea version. Limited to 300 copies."[label info]
www.helenscarsdale.com
"We missed out completely on the Ananta cd-r that Spiracle first released through the Mystery Sea label a few years back. It was limited to 100 copies and quickly disappeared, much to our chagrin. Fortunately, Helen Scarsdale in her sage wisdom has just reissued that static drone opus with a second disc that reworks the original material while keeping the same intent.
Hitoshi Kojo is man behind Spiracle, having wandered from his native Japan to Central Europe where he's been collaborating with the likes of Michael Northam, Maurizio Bianchi, John Grzinich, and Murmer. Much of his work deals with acoustic drone construction, with some of his records taking up the mantle of beautiful tactile noises like those generated by Organum, Jonathan Coleclough, and Andrew Chalk. Ananta, now presented as a double disc, is an album with a purpose; or at least it has a purpose for Kojo as he's one who has trouble falling asleep. So he composed this album as a narcotizing agent to lull him into a deep sleep. But this is also a man who is a night owl, so the time when he's usually falling asleep is when the sun is just beginning to rise. So for this composition, Kojo tuned his drones to match the ruby reds and golden yellows of daybreak. The Mystery Sea Version of Ananta is a linear construct of softened static with wisps of sustained tones spiralling in and out of the mix. The composition shimmers along this focused path with few variations, reflecting a rigor of process much like the champions of minimalism (e.g. Charlemagne Palestine, Roland Kayn, Yoshi Wada) but with a delicate approach found in the likes of Stars Of The Lid. The Strato Version found on the other disc smoothes out the static into a rich undulating surface of warm golden tones, that could easily be an ambient lullaby to accompany a daydream whilst napping at the beach. So, so beautiful!
The Helen Scarsdale reissue does increase the distribution of this disc, although not by much... there's only 300 of these beauties kicking around!" [Aquarius Records]
|
2009 |
€15.00 |
|
| SPK (S.P.K.) |
Despair (digitally extracted) |
DVD |
"After being hidden in time for more than 20 years this industrial milestone of the infamous 1st generation got renovated extended and digitally overworked. A true statement and monument for the outstanding band S.P.K. who gathered together under so many names like: SoliPsiK, Selektiv Pornography Kontrol, Sozialistisches Patienten Kollektiv, System Planning Korporation just to name a few.
Twin Vision, Cat TV and Tesco Germany proudly bring you a band about nothing could be said, the only group in industrial musics history that stands on the same level as Throbbing Gristle, for some even above. Influence to so many followers. The project ideal is to express the content of various psycho - pathalogical conditions, especially schizophrenia, manic - depressive psychosis, mental retardation and paranoia. Information Overload supersedes normal, rational thought structures, forcing deviation into less restrictive mental procedures of so-called 'mental illness'. SPK is trying to be a voice for those individuals condemned to the slow decay of mental hospitals and chemical / electro / surgical therapy, without fetishising them into blatant entertainment product. 'SONIC FOR MANICS' aims to be a vehicle for sharing mental experiences through sound.
This DVD compiles material that marked the genesis of the group . The members at that time were known as Operator, Ne(H)il and Tone Generator. Like rare live moments of the bands, energetic performances covering music from “Leichenschrei” to “Information Overload”, Live rehearsal footage from “ Auto Dafe”, slide shows, documentary and a filmed interview with Tone Generator aka Domink Guerin founding member and man behind Twin Vision." [label info]
|
2007 |
€18.00 |
|
| SPOONBENDER 1.1.1. |
Stereo Telepathy Academy |
CD |
Die Zahl 3, Synchronizität, Telepathie, David Cronenberg, „Third Mind“-Technik: San Francisco’s SPOONBENDER 1.1.1 ist eher ein Projekt zur Erforschung parapsychischer Phänomene als eine reine Musikgruppe.
Hier enthalten ein 40 minütiger one-tracker mit elektronischen Sounds & Film-Text-Schnipseln, der ein Experiment dokumentiert, das auf Burroughs / Gysins – Third Mind-Technik basiert, wo zwei Filmquellen miteinander verbunden werden, die eigentlich nichts miteinander zu tun haben, um synchronizitäre Verbindungen herzustellen. Nummerierte Auflage von 333 Stück, und bereits weg beim Label !
“Spoonbender 1.1.1’s Stereo Telepathy Academy is fucking mental. And essential. Truly alien, Truly progressive, and likely to be misunderstood by all but the committed. A true classic on par with COILANS and NWW’s Soliloquy For Lilith. I’ve listened to it obsessively for weeks, and i’m afraid to go near this whilst on drugs! DEEP AND ESSENTIAL!..” [UKDave, KFJC Reviews]
“In 1913, Marcel Duchamp dropped three pieces of string, each a meter long, from a height equal to their length. He then cut shapes into pieces of wood in order to document the rumpled line of his three fallen strings. In essence, Duchamp conceived his 3 Standard Stoppages as a preservation of chance, which he viewed as a means to combat logical reality. In addition to Duchamp's self-proclaimed antipathy to the rational world, he was quite particular in how he contextualized and executed his ideas through readymade objects, chance operations, and his notorious psycho-sexually charged dioramas. It is this dualism between the chance operation and an absolute intellectual/technical control which brings us to the present age, and to Spoonbender 1.1.1 in particular, where the acceptance and integration of opposites results in the 3rd option: everything.
The San Francisco-based Spoonbender 1.1.1 outlines itself as the 'tele-ambient dream self' of the critically-acclaimed, 'populist avant-tronics and media group' I Am Spoonbender. It is important to note that Spoonbender 1.1.1 declares itself not a side project of I Am Spoonbender, but a psychologically immersive extension of the central IAS concept. Both projects uncover the hidden connections that lie beneath the surface of reality by delving into the arenas of paranormal research - the exploration of the occult significance surrounding the number 3 and its strange laws, for example - but the intended outcomes for these concepts are decidedly different. For Stereo Telepathy Academy, Spoonbender 1.1.1 exercises psychic community through the architecture of the soundtrack.
At the beginning of the first transmission of Stereo Telepathy Academy on November 3rd, 2004 - a performance where the group supported Genesis P-Orridge's PTV3 - 1.1.1's Dustin Donaldson announced that "tonight's Spoonbender 1.1.1 show is governed by chance operations and the 'third mind' technique. Spoken text was taken from one film, overlayed onto images from another film, and the score was composed while viewing a third (and secret) film source. The synchronistic results appear to be intentional." Such was the strategy of Duchamp's aforementioned piece nearly a century ago; but Spoonbender 1.1.1's collision of artforms also employs the technique found in the William S.
Burroughs / Brion Gyson classic The Third Mind. As the images of David Cronenberg's rarely seen film Crimes Of The Future flickered, Spoonbender 1.1.1 radiated an inverted telekinetic minimalism of undulating tones supporting the third piece of the puzzle: spoken text from Cronenberg's Stereo, a faux-documentary detailing a surgical procedure for the advancement of telepathic communication. The result is a sort of Wizard Of Oz / Dark Side Of The Moon for the mimetic engineering mindset.
The same principles and elements apply for Stereo Telepathy Academy, the group's long-awaited debut studio recording (1.1.1 has existed solely as a live group for years). This marks the second of three editions to be released. The first was an edition of 111, documenting the aforementioned live performance; the second is this edition of 333, sporting handsomely letterpressed artwork; the third and final edition will be a unique art piece in an edition of a mere 3 copies.” [label notes]
"Edition 2 (studio version) of the Spoonbender 1.1.1 Stereo Telepathy Academy trilogy...
Simply put, this is a weird-as-hell, warped, late night, difficult-listening 'trip' for all you aQers looking for truly strange atmospheres... Okay, first things first; Spoonbender 1.1.1 is not a side-project of I Am Spoonbender. The duo of Dustin Donaldson and Cup consider Spoonbender 1.1.1 to be a self-contained project that ventures outside the 'populist avant-tronics' of I Am Spoonbender into the realms of sidereal soundtrack music, the transmission of ideas through subliminal means, manifestations of 'third mind' techniques, and the non-logic of chance operations. Not so different on paper, but put another way: there are no drums, singing, or 'songs' in the 1.1.1 project. The material for Stereo Telepathy Academy was debuted during a live performance in which Spoonbender 1.1.1 performed with (appropriately enough) Psychic TV; however, for the second edition of Stereo Telepathy Academy, Spoonbender 1.1.1 recomposed all of the material in the studio -- expanding and elaborating on their live performance, and making for a distinctly new and different listening experience that stand on its own with or without the visual accompaniment. That said, as in the first edition, Stereo Telepathy Academy features "text taken from one film, overlaid on images from another, and the audio score was written around a different, third film... the results appear to be intentional" for a sort of 'Wizard Of Oz/Dark Side Of The Moon' for telekinetics.
The J.G. Ballard-esque text was taken from David Cronenberg's 1969 student film 'Stereo', a faux-documentary detailing the work of a Dr. Luther Stringfellow, which concerns surgical procedures for the advancement of telepathic communication, while the visuals came from 'Crimes Of The Future' (another Cronenberg film, which transpires in an urban dystopia populated by pedophiles and oozing victims from a female-eliminating cosmetics related catastrophe). As creepy and sterile as the images were, we have to say that its Canadian-ness was positively charming, somehow. In their score, Spoonbender 1.1.1 lunges ominously forward with an otherworldly radiance of slow motion electronic pulses and melodies that retain an even darker hue than that of Klaus Schulze, Coil (e.g. Coilans / Time Machines), and Alan Splet, who are probably Spoonbender 1.1.1's closest sonic neighbors. Given the nature of their intense, masterfully detailed sea of electric sound, Spoonbender 1.1.1 hedged their bets that Cronenberg's pseudo-scientific spoken text would situate nicely against their audio. And indeed, this freakish document of prepared-chance context, atmosphere and appropriation works exceptionally well.
PLEASE NOTE: In keeping with the numerological-binding-of-3 theme, there will be 3 released versions of Stereo Telepathy Academy, all with different packaging. The first version arrived as a cd-r edition of 111 copies sporting a white glove as an allusion to 'Crimes Of The Future' (now out of print). This is the second edition, a proper disc that comes with letterpressed artwork in an edition of 333. The final edition will be in an edition of only 3 copies!" [Aquarius Records]
|
2006 |
€13.00 |
|
| 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 |
|
| 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 |
|
| STANISLAWSKI, KRZYSZTOF |
End of all Things |
CD |
"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.
Out on 31th March 2010
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 debiut 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 uncoventional ecopack in format simlar to occasional card with added post card. Each part of the serie will be the same design but different cover and catalogue number." [label info]
www.zoharum.com
|
2010 |
€12.00 |
|
| STANISZEWSKI, JACEK |
Zawstydzajacy Dar |
CD |
"Jacek Staniszewski came across to my attention long time ago with Polycephal label releases as Facial Index and a bit earlier as a member of Neurobot collective.
His deconstructive, cut-ups and micro-landscapes of glitchy tissues were refreshing back then in the noughties and still somehow evoke this down-to-earth attitude of a interdisciplinary erudite with dry sense of humour.
He released this cd 3 years ago with Lumberton Trading Company.
With a cover of getting more and more critically acclaimed Aleksandra Waliszewska whose horror like scenes from the symbolism infused life of daily monstrosity are interesting introduction to the complexed perplexity of Jacek's musical collages.
The minimalistic sobbering electronics that is as much individualistic as it can be where you feel a tunnel of post-techno sensitivity as well as musique concrete puts you straight into position of attention.
There are razor sharp arguments to feel this way - it's a non verbal statement of an elusive power where a hidden echo of animalistic transgression from understanding humanism towards something more sophisticated and even cynical of sorts fist punch of sense to the face of shallow postmodern conceptualism. It has the energy of punk but not in terms of dynamics or agression. It brings you back to the basics of the sound, the crude matter that can be edited, reduced all over again and can put you in shame how far it can go." [Felt Hat Reviews] |
2016 |
€12.00 |
|
| STAR TURBINE |
Sandwich Music |
CD-R |
ACLE 1010: CD-R in folded cardboard sleeve, limited edition of 50 copies
The improvising duo of Claus Poulsen and Sindre Bjerga are back on attenuation circuit with a new album. It retains the combination of electroacoustic drones and the percussive possibilities of amplified objects, but adds some surprising new elements that create a truly colourful mosaic of sounds.
The playful element that characterises this album and that sets it apart from more moody, somewhat “darker” releases by Star Turbine, is exemplified by the sample of Martin Klapper playing toys and amplified objects in Part 2. This not only expands the range of available sound sources, but also changes the pace of the improvisation from a duo to a trio situation, with the two live players having to work with the sounds from the recorded third player.
File under: Improvisation, ambient
www.attenuationcircuit.de
"This trio of new releases on Attenuation Circuit kicks off with Star Turbine, the ongoing duo of Sindre Bjerga and Clous Poulsen (the latter also from Small Things On Sundays); as such they tour Europe infrequently and do releases on CDR. On the 'Sandwich Music' release they receive help from Martin Klapper playing toys and amplified objects in the middle of the third tracks. From both of their solo releases and perhaps their other collaborations as well, we know they love long stretched sounds, electronic hands-on manipulation of sounds, played in a improvised way, and somehow a bit lo-fi also. On this release we find three pieces of which the opening piece is the longest. All of their pieces are relatively long and take their time to develop a bit; or not, whatever they feel like doing. Sometimes the 'no-development' scheme is part of whatever it is that they are doing. Especially in the second piece - with Klapper - it seems to be an endless stream of sounds, rather than a deliberate composition. It works well, especially since they use lots of sound effects, which sort of smears it all together and suggests space and atmosphere, where it perhaps is not always there. For whatever they do, they do with some style and dark elegance." [FdW/Vital Weekly]
|
2014 |
€8.00 |
|
| STATISCHE MUSEN |
Diskretion . Funktionsmusik Für Verrichtungsboxen |
CD |
https://aufabwegen.bandcamp.com/album/diskretion-funktionsmusik-f-r-verrichtungsboxen
Nach dem Ende des selbst so betitelten „death lounge project“ Hematic Sunsets mit dem Album „Aroma Club Adieu“ folgt mit Statische Musen ein weiteres ebenfalls aus weitgehend anagrammatischen Alter Egos Asmus Tietchens‘ (neben ihm Senta Steumisch, Suse Mittach sen. - M’Pei fällt da etwas heraus) bestehendes Projekt.
Der (Unter-)Titel des Albums wird in bierernster Diktion in den Linernotes erklärt: „Der Senat der Freien und Hansestadt Hamburg begann 2021 nach dem Vorbild anderer Großstädte mit der Aufstellung von Verrichtsungsboxen.“ Von dem „Staatsrat Dr. Kurt Euler“ sei angeregt worden, „die Verrichtungsboxen mit therapeutisch wirksamen Klangtapeten auszustatten.“ Von den vier, zwischen 12 und 16 Minuten langen auf der CD enthaltenen Stücken wurde lediglich eine Version („Box 2“) akzeptiert, die anderen drei abgelehnt. Die angenommene Version habe „auf alle Beteiligten außerordentlich wohltuend und anregend“ gewirkt.
Auf „Box 1 (abgelehnt)“ hört man in Hintergrund ambientes Dröhnen und im Vordergrund fast so etwas wie erratischen Rhythmus. Das Stück ist durchzogen von einer gewissen Unruhe, so als ob sich undefinierbare Entitäten an verstimmten Gitarren versuchten. Bei der (angenommenen) „Box 2“ wird man zwischendurch durchaus an die sogenannten Hydrophonien der “Seuchengebiete“-Reihe erinnert, was vielleicht bzgl. der “Funktion” der Klänge nicht unpassend ist, vor allem dann, wenn man an den oben angesprochenen „anregenden“ Charakter des Stücks denkt. „Box 3 (abgelehnt)“ knüpft an die Vorgänger an, beeindruckt auch hier im Changieren zwischen Abstraktion und Melodik. Beendet wird das Album von „Box 4 (abgelehnt)“, einem Track, der leiser und zurückhaltender beginnt.
Die Hematic Sunsets-Aufnahmen waren voller kurioser, aber zum Teil natürlich durchaus „catchy“ Tracks“. Verglichen damit ist die Musik von Statische Musen näher an anderen Werke Tietchens der letzten Jahre. (MG) AFRICAN PAPER
"You never heard of Statische Musen? Me neither, but see it as an anagram (wait for it, think about it), and then it will read Asmus Tietchens. It's not the first time Asmus has used an anagram for a side project, as there was the Hematic Sunsets project, which he ended some time ago. The new project is not along the lines of Hematic Sunsets but more along the work he carries under his own name, but with a difference. The music is more ambient here, with more transparent sound, complex layers, and a bit of what is probably not a synthesizer but an abundance of sound effects. Maybe also ingredients you'll find in his regular music, but over there, it is usually very sparse and here, well, it's not sparse at all. Each of these pieces is a slow burner with slow development. Musc you start playing, which you ignore or enjoy - just as Brian Eno once proclaimed ambient music should be. As such, Tietchens succeeds very well. I was working on my boring accounts stuff because a new quarter started, and I had this CD on repeat all along. I may not have always discovered new things in there, but I found this music the perfect backdrop to an otherwise tedious chore. It is an interesting new development for Tietchens. Of course, I have no idea if this is a temporary thing or if this is something he intends to develop a lot, but time will tell. So far, I am enjoying this a lot, and I would love to see further developments." [FdW / Vital Weekly]
|
2023 |
€13.00 |
|
| STEINBRÜCHEL |
Mit Ohne |
maxi-CD |
"Eighteen-minute CD-EP, with EP pricing. Mit Ohne is a sound documentation of an audio/visual installation by Yves Netzhammer and Steinbrüchel. The installation entitled 'The Feeling Of Precise Instability When Holding Things' was part of the group exhibition 'Wohnträume/Wohnräume,' exhibited from 26.07. to 28.09.2003 at the Museum für Gestaltung in Zurich, Switzerland. The audio sections by Steinbrüchel were composed in sync with the visuals by Yves Netzhammer and succeed in translating and supporting the poetic vibrancy and slow morphing movements of the 3D rendered animation. For the exhibition, an atmospheric, fragile and detailed work was created involving a three-part projection and multichannel sound which conveys an abstract audio and visual approach to the environment surrounding us and the concept of a room itself. Each audio track takes the listener into a new form of 'room' and simple patterns of single tones are layered into dense movements surrounding the listeners space. The crystalline polished sounds form a highly precise environment which interacts with particles of melodies searching for space to breathe. Between the tracks there are no pauses, which gives the dedicated listener the feeling of being moved suddenly from one room to the other. Space and silence are sensitively woven into each other while forming an atmospheric and organic surrounding. Through the sound the feeling in every room changes from dark to bright, from large to small, from lonely to crowded, from silent to loud." [label info]
lim. 500 copies
www.12k.com
|
2008 |
€10.00 |
|
| STELZER, HOWARD & FRANS DE WAARD |
Gravity@ half speed / A sunburned Grotto |
7inch |
"A split single in a butterfly cover limited to 200 copies. Frans de Waard is using source material from Howard Stelzer on analogue 4 tracks. Howard Stelzer is using elements from all previous torn tongue iterations and Frans' side of this record as source material." [label info]
"Packed in a beautiful cover in the shape of a butterfly a new collaboration between Howard Stelzer from the USA and Frans de Waard from The Netherlands. Frans de Waard composed the composition "Gravity@Half Speed" with source material from Howard Stelzer, primarily on analogue four track between 2008 and 2010 at De Geluidwerkplaats of Extrapool, a centre for experimental arts in Nijmegen. The composition sounds noisy and clear. It is not a wall of sound, because there are moments of open space. Howard Stelzer composed the other side of the 7" with elements from Frans' "Gravity@Half Speed" and elements from all "torn tongue" iterations he did with Frans. His re-work is much more noisier and back to more grindy noise than the Frans' track before. Torn Tongue is the title of a series of collaborative compostions that Frans and Howard have been working since about 1997. It started with a tape of woman who was speaking. Frans treated this material etcetera etcetera. The material was released at Absurd, Sound Probe, Audiobot and MOLL. This 7" is the latest iteration, but more the duo intended to continue recycling and re-working the source material, and the release is a nice step in the long collaboration between these two ongoing musicians. Some older releases are not available anymore and that is a pity. It would be interesting to release a complete summary of this ongoing project." [JKH/Vital Weekly]
www.noise-below.org
|
2010 |
€6.50 |
|
| STOA |
Silmand |
CD |
Seelenmonat. Viertes Album der Neo-Klassik / Sakral-Ambient / Mittelalter-Folk Pop-Band und Mitbegründer des "Heavenly Voices"-Genres, hier mit Verstärkung von Mitgliedern von LOVE IS COLDER THAN DEATH und CLAN OF XYMOX. 13 Stücke voller dunkel-romantischer Momente, musikalisch hochwertig arrangiert & von erhabener & fragiler Schönheit, zudem scheinen die meisten Instrumente original eingespielt zu werden. Melancholische Streicher sind omnipräsent, emotionaler geht es kaum !
"The first new sign from STOA in 7 years! Fans will be happy that the STOA mastermind stays true to himself with his fourth album. Besides the usual melancholy, unusual pop rhythms found their way on the various albums, but the typical STOA sound is still distinct. The vocal lines harbour some surprises as well. For once theres the angelic voice of singer Mandy Bernhardts, known from the live performances of the band; on the other hand, the voices of three guest singers sound on Silmand. The first voice belongs to the Australian multi-instrumentalist Louisa John Krol. The Dutchman Peter Nooten (Ex-Clan of Xymox) could be engaged for Silmand as well as the Leipzig-based Ralf Jehnert (Love is Colder than Death)." [label info]
"For lovers of melancholic music, it probably doesn't get much better than Silmand." [Heathen Harvest]
www.darkdimensions.de
|
2008 |
€15.00 |
|
| STOCKHAUSEN, KARLHEINZ |
Mantra |
CD |
"With its exotic, gamelan like timbres (the result of electronic processing) and its deft balance of meditative stasis and kinetic repetition, Mantra is one 60's piece that has survived its era." [The New York Times]
"From its headwaters in the small, southern German town of Donaueschingen, the river Donau runs through Bavaria, Austria, Slovakia, Hungary, Serbia, Bulgaria and Rumania, into the Black Sea. There is one thing that probably no one who was present at the world premiere of "Mantra" in Donaueschingen on Sunday evening, October 18, 1970, was aware of: "Mantra" is a key work in the development of Karlheinz Stockhausen's music.
More than twenty years after its premiere, "Mantra" occurs as Stockhausen's first "Formelkomposition," and therefore as a keywork to almost all of his following pieces, such as "Inori," "Tierkreis," and "Sirius," as well as his music-theater cyle, "Licht." The basis of the piece is twelve-tone motive, where every note has a specific duration, rhythmic value and intensity. In connection with this, Stockhausen mentions that he has quite free images or sounds, just as in "Aus den Sieben Tagen," a meditation piece based on verbal notation which was created in California in 1968, and also in the piece "Fur kommende Zeiten" that was written at the same time as "Mantra." Although in interviews Stockhausen talks about how he uses rigid and free forms in mixed ways, all the works following "Mantra" are nevertheless "Formula" compositions, or even -- as in "Licht" -- "Superformula" compositions." [label notes]
www.newalbion.com
|
1990 |
€15.00 |
|
| STOLLERY, PETE |
Un son peut en cacher un autre |
DVD-A |
"Onset-Offset (1996). Peel (1997). Shioum (1994). Altered Images (1995). Shortstuff (1993). ABZ-A (1998). Vox Magna (2003).
When I first became involved in electroacoustic music, I was fascinated with the way that technology could allow the composer to work directly with sound, in a similar way to how a sculptor or potter works with his-her materials. The ability to manipulate material at this basic level is a central aspect of my music and this can be seen most obviously from pieces which are concerned with the interplay between the meanings associated with sounds and these sounds as pure sonic material, divorced from any mimetic connotation. There is little in my music which can be likened to broad brush-work - attention to detail and the exact positioning of sound objects within composed space is of the utmost importance to me. This allows the listener to become aware of the intrinsic qualities of the sounds themselves, and how they behave. There are many uses of, and references to, real-world sounds in the pieces on this disc; the key in the lock opening the door at the beginning of Onset-Offset is, on one level, metaphorical, but at the same time, provides an opportunity for the listener to enjoy the spectro-morphological behaviour of this gesture. Playing with the potential ambiguities of listening is central to all these pieces; a door slides open to reveal a new sound space, but at the same time, the listener dwells on the texture and shape of that slide; a street scene is recognised initially, but with the subtle inclusion of other sounds, and gradually mutates into the unrecognisable - the boundaries between what is known and what is unknown become blurred. A roulette wheel is stretched and the outer surface peeled back to reveal new sounds beyond.'
Pete Stollery studied composition with Jonty Harrison at the University of Birmingham, where he was one of the first members of BEAST (Birmingham ElectroAcoustic Sound Theatre) in the early '80s. He now composes almost exclusively in the electroacoustic medium, particularly acousmatic music. He has collaborated with practitioners from other artistic disciplines, particularly dance and sculpture and has produced music and sound design for a number of UK visitor attractions including Dynamic Earth in Edinburgh, Magna in Rotherham and St Patrick's World in Downpatrick (Northern Ireland). He is Reader in Composition and Electroacoustic Music and Director of the Electroacoustic Music Studio at the University of Aberdeen (Scotland), delivering courses on the creative applications of technology in music and music education to students, schoolchildren and the general public. He is a board member of Sonic Arts Network (SAN), the national organisation promoting electroacoustic music in the UK, which he chaired in 1996-99 and again in 2002-03. In 1996, along with Alistair MacDonald, Robert Dow and Simon Atkinson, he established the group invisiblEARts whose aim is to perform acousmatic music throughout Scotland and to promote Scottish acousmatic music to a wider audience, both within Scotland and abroad." [label info / credits]
www.empreintesdigitales.com
|
2006 |
€12.00 |
|
| STORMHAT |
Addicted to Disaster |
CD |
Erste "echte" CD für dieses dänische Projekt. Schwer zu sagen was hier genau passiert, zu komplex und überlagernd sind die vielfältigen (Arbeits?)-geräusche die hier in den Raum dringen, eine chaotisch-hallend-konkrete vielflächige Geräuschsymphonie, es rumpelt und zischt und klingt an jeder Ecke. Zum Teil werden die Ursprungsaufnahmen leicht effektiert, oft werden Sounds von Glocken, Klangschalen und/oder Metallteilen verwendet. Sehr sehr spannend und ungewöhnlich.
"The work of Denmark's Stormhat melds a variety of elements of experimental music, from ambient/drone to field recordings and feedback. With his first pressed CD, Peter Bach Nicolaisen gives us a wonderful hour-long journey though field recordings, reverberating & scraped percussion, and drones. An excellent recording, sure to appeal to fans of all related genres, "Addicted to Diaster" provides a wonderful and engaging listen. Stormhat's work has previously been released on Cohort and A Beard Of Snails. Housed in a custom printed color wallet. Edition of 500 copies." [label info]
"....Stormhat is the Danish word for one of the European continent's most poisonous plants; a few grams consumption of the Stormhat-plant marks the end of a human life. Its also the name chosen by Peter Bach Nicolaisen to work around with sound and music that entirely is based on processed field recordings. That may sound like old news to anyone, but I must say that if you expect some microsound, ambient glitch than 'Addicted To Disaster' will be a small disappointment, and that's exactly what I like it. No disappointment here for me. This is a pretty strong disc of multiple layered field recordings that never slip under the threshold of hearing, but owe much more to world of 'noise' and 'industrial', even when it has as such nothing to do with that world. This music is there, it's present and a truly great pleasure to hear. Its hard to say what these field recordings originally were, except for the occasional thunder storm passing and some crackle of leaves, but otherwise things are too abstract to be recognized. This breaks away from the traditional field recordings cum microsound ground and moves into something different. That's a great thing and Stormhat delivered a fine CD." [FdW / Vital Weekly]
http://discs.diophantine.net
|
2008 |
€12.00 |
|
| STRAFE F.R. (STRAFE FÜR REBELLION) |
Shadow Position |
LP |
"There are 4 tracks, 4 different windows to look out from our studio in Düsseldorf into the street and their different layers of sound.
4 horizons, 4 spy holes in the door, 4 eyes and 4 shopping windows. 4 landscapes.
Witness the electric city and the power house. Strafe F.R. is sitting inside the fuse box. The electric chirp of the night. The socket in which we sleep. The dog comes, in order to devour Strafe F.R. First he eats the rebellion and next he bites the Strafe.
The house and the body, both are earthed and the veins are vibrating. Between the 3rd and the 4th hour of the morning we enter the realm of insomnia. You fly by not using an airplane.
An old woman is cleaning the door bells with her own spittle. The old man is distilling schnaps in his back garden. The swimmers are gliding through the day on top of a greasy film. The reception is a flare into seconds until it fades away into noise again. The kettle drum gives the rhythm of breathing, the bass determines the time. You stumble forward, forward into the next day.
From our window we see a public building where there exists a toilet, its porcelain shows the most beautiful craquele fissures. There is an historic poster of Lenin. It is fixed on a garden fence in the landscape and the stinging nettles grow over it softly swinging in the wind.
There are shadows but there is also brightness, this means there are complementary colours and contrasts, movements and reflection until there is stillness. We see the back-breeding of cattle in the Neanderthal age and at the same time we look into the large heating room of an art museum, where we observe tubes and their upstream pressure regulators.
All sounds and music instruments recorded by Strafe F.R. – Bernd Kastner, Siegfried M. Syniuga. “Shadow Position” was mixed by Rasmus Zschoch. “Nachtmaschine”, “Every Day XXL” and “Isabella B.” were mixed by Strafe F.R. at Strafe studio in 2019 / Düsseldorf. Thanks to Detlef Klepsch for additional technical support. Female vocal by Anna Nettra."
https://strafefr.bandcamp.com/album/shadow-position
|
2020 |
€20.50 |
|
| STRATVM TERROR |
Love me tender or I will cause Pain |
CD |
Now they are back after 15 years with their new assault: 'Love me tender, or I will cause Pain'.Stratvm Terror had just gone underground, hiding for their next terrorising attack. But no, that would have been too easy.
Rumoured said there will be no more albums and the project is dead.§
Massive layers of corrosive darkness with occasional injections of ominous noise sounds and claustrophobic vocals makes this an utterly end-of-life experience.This album is filled with seven oppressive and depressive weird obscurities to ease or cause you pain, depending on your inclinations.
With 'Love me tender, or I will cause Pain' the project celebrates their 30 years anniversary with no happiness, only sweet pain. They started the band in 1993 and released a great number of albums in the late 90's and early 00's, on Old Europa Cafe, to finally take a longer break around 2008.The Swedish doom ambient industrial noise project Stratvm Terror consists of doom metal guru Tobias Larsson (Ocean Chief) and dark ambient master Peter Andersson (raison d'être).
Mastering and Layout by Peter Andersson 2023.
https://raisondetre.bandcamp.com/album/love-me-tender-or-i-will-cause-pain
|
2023 |
€14.00 |
|
| SUDARIA |
The Syncretic Labyrinth |
MC |
"Sudaria opens up the gates of (un)reality to unveil the true shapes behind the mirror of the illusory self; 9 mantras to break the illusion, 9 keys to open the holographic seals of Maya.
«Following in somnambulism the invertebrate steps of a primary Art. Drowned into the ascetic syncretism of silence and noise. The pulse of necro-mechanical cannibalism. Rising beyond Catharsis in ransfiguration; devouring the corpse of the illusory self. 9 Keys to the Gate; 9 mantras to break the holographic seals of Maya. Dressed with the shrouds of Malediction. The Immortal Binary Clock.»
Samples on «Ghastly Eaves» from Arvo Pärt’s Missa Syllabica
—All Musick and artwork by Miguel Souto, MMXVI.
miguelsouto.bandcamp.com
sudaria.bandcamp.com"
www.attenuationcircuit.de
"In a binary existence, the idea of quantum suicide can be engaged in order to convince us of our own immortality – we exist only in a world in which we haven’t died. All other universes, however, contain a rotting corpse that looks uncannily similar to ourselves. Unfortunately, not all life and death scenarios are quite so black and white and it is this nagging knowledge that could have led Miguel Souto to protect himself with these nine sonic mantras.
The Syncretic Labyrinth is a dark, contemplative and often hellish joint release from the German Attenuation Circuit and Spanish Sphingidae labels. Ghostly winds and strained, shrieking guitars set the tone on opening track Veils of the Syncretic Maya before a low drone edges in, paving the way for a frightening chugging as if feral pistons were rampaging through rain-drizzled streets. Kapala then pours its gloopy way into the skull of its audience. A thick, blackened bass rumble squeezes into your cranial space as unrelenting, reverb-chained, metallic thuds pound out in the approaching distance. Voices gasp in reverse like a solemn message escaping from the Black Lodge before being replaced by a pained guitar painting the aural landscape. This shifts from solitary notes to driving chords, whipping up a growing sense of tireless toiling – the slog of existence peppered with a glimmering light through wretched gloom.
The labyrinthine cacophony (of which Borges would be proud) that Sudaria has formed sidles easily from tormented industrial clangs, through leaden techno for sleepwalkers, and into a stained dark ambience via the tectonic-plate-bothering plod of some inconceivable colossus. A gentle sea of consciousness is sporadically cleft apart by softly comforting snippets of travelling trams, trains, and trucks, grounding this in the gritty present. A bluster slips by. Lofty ideas can be born in these waters but heads must stay out of clouds. A melancholy piano desperately collapses and Arvo Pärt’s choral chants lie under a canopy of drones. These paranoid yet hypnotic soundscapes give the final moments of this record an ethereal and phantasmagorical quality."
mithratemplezine.com/sudaria-the-syncretic-labyrinth-album-2017/
|
2017 |
€8.00 |
|
| SULIDAE, PHILIP |
Barnish |
CD-R |
"Australian maverick & textural soundscaper Philip Sulidae has honed his singular tactile style far from the shining spotlights,
and mainly through a set of concise evoking self-released mini cdrs on his own Dontcaresulidae imprint...
Making coincide various, disparate musical forms, imposing their own direction, he crushes them together to focus on specific timbres, found sounds, & both at the surface, and in-depth irregularities... His ensuing carefully crafted aural landscapes are as many mysterious imaginary places to visit, swarming with potentialities...
It didn't thus last very long before other net/labels expressed due interest, and so, works came to fruition for Ripples, Audio Gourmet, and Audiotalaia, for instance... More is to come, undoubtedly...
Sulidae handles definitely an intriguing palette of sounds that causes oblivion & an innermost uncommon emotional experience...
"Banish" with its single flow divided in five distinct movements is an invitation to drift along a dark elusive stream straight into the chasm of the Unknown...
~
Surrounded, eroded,
Our island frays
with all the sunken memories,
And we listen closely to the wind tales,
recomposing the fragments,
lulling us to sleep in false comfort...
In all those lost echoes
lies a piece of truth,
a disguised light,
a calming voice,
taking us through and out of the dark...
And in those moments of friction,
whistling & collision,
things take another turn...
"Banish" reconciles us
with our inner flux,
a nameless pulse,
the Unexplained...
let your perception alter, and grow along an enhanced reality..." [press release]
www.mysterysea.net
"The work of Philip Sulidae came us via some releases on his own label and Ripples Recordings and expands now into the world of Mystery Sea. The previous release, 'A High Land' (see Vital Weekly 724), seems a bit more roughly edged, but on this new one, Sulidae seeks out the opposite and it all seems a bit more 'reduced'. The input is hard to define here. My best guess is that its something to do with motorized objects - maybe boats in the water? - which are then fed through some radical equalization to bring out hidden sonic qualities. There is only a mild aquatic theme to this, lesser it seems that on some of the other releases on this label. The water sounds collide with the ship that this is recorded in. A modest release in terms of sound, but with a great refined quality to it." [FdW/Vital Weekly]
|
2010 |
€12.00 |
|
| |
History of Violence |
CD |
"Sounds were recorded in the Belanglo State forest, 150 kilometres to the south of Sydney, Australia. Its quiet solitude and isolation contrasts dramatically with its turbulent and macabre history – the scene for a series of horrific murders in the early 90’s at the hands of one of Australia’s most notorious serial killers.
I choose Belanglo as a location due to my own somewhat morbid fascination with its history, but also due to its virtually indistinct organic character. It is essentially a forest like any other area of bush along the eastern seaboard of Australia; however its latent and almost dormant sensation is unlike any other.
I find this contrast very interesting, as it plays deeply into people’s subjective understanding – this understanding of Belanglo is, I believe, largely shaped and divided by our external perceptions of its history, and the innate, immediate impact of its environment.
During recording, the sounds, timbres and sonic characteristics were very comparable – similar areas, environments, topography. This allowed me some latitude and gestural flexibility in composing, as I could play with the ideas and observations that lay behind the forest and its history. In effect I could try and create a sonic environment that would replicate the contrasting and distinct perceptions of Belanglo.
Our ideas of place and the constructs behind them generate a fertile ground for creativity and composition.
(philip sulidae, February 2014)" [label info]
www.unfathomless.net
"It's been a while since I last heard music by Philip Sulidae, but some of his newer releases are downloads only, so perhaps that explains, and there also seems to be some time gap between this and the previous. I quite enjoyed his work so far, which sometimes seemed quite raw and at other times very microsounding. This new work surely fits the latter body of works. All of the sound sources were recorded at the Belanglo State Forest in Australia, which is some 150 kilometres to the south of Sydney and apparently a very quiet area, even when it was the "scene for a series of horrific murders in the early 90’s at the hands of one of Australia’s most notorious serial killers". No doubt that's one of the reasons to do field recordings over there, and Sulidae is not the first to go to 'guilty territories'. It's not something you are aware of when hearing this release, based upon just hearing it. These six pieces are very quiet, high pitched for whatever reason, and it's unclear to me
whether this has any electronic processing, or whether this area is high pitched, insects maybe? I think a certain level of sound processing took place and it’s quite a frightening release, in a curious way. The sheer level of compression, to get all of these sounds together, make a very oppressive release, despite all the quietness that is going on here. But perhaps I am hearing too much in this release, maybe things that are not in there per se. I played this a couple of times, and the more I hear it, the more I like it. It all seems relatively easy made but it unfolds a lot of beauty actually. A great yet very much unsettling release." [FdW/Vital Weekly] |
2014 |
€14.00 |
|
| SUMMONS OF SHINING RUINS |
Masami Ssi, Dangsin Ui Him E Su Eobs-eoseo Mian Haeyo. Naneun Dangsin Eul Ij-ji Anhseubnida. Gamsahabnida. |
mCDR |
"summons of shining ruins is one of the aliases of japanese composer shinobu nemotu. past works were issued by various labels like install (milieu/brian grainger's own imprint), resting bell, analog path or his own moufu rokuon. bearing the longest title ever on taâlem, "masami ssi..." was created by using electric guitar and tape recorder to make a beautiful, eerie and nostalgic soundscape." [label info]
www.taalem.com
"And we end this trip with the music of of Shinobu Nemofu, who works as Summons Of Shining Ruins, among various other names. He has had releases on Install, Resting Bell, Analog Path and his own Moufu Rokuon label and here has a crazy long title to offer here and I have no idea what it means - Google translate offers no help. The music is created with an electric guitar and a tape recorder and is a beautifully low humming affair. One of slow, minimal development; it's there for sure, but Summons Of Shining Ruin works on a slow curve to unfold his story. Or, perhaps, unfold is not the right term; only towards the end things get louder, but that's in the twenty-third minute only, and we seem to be left with the residual sounds of the guitar and the tape-recorder on repeat with itself. I was reminded of Chihei Hatakeyama's music in this area, and maybe also of Machinefabriek, but perhaps Summons Of Shining Ruin was a bit darker than usual. Not really a big surprise, but surely a great piece." [FdW/Vital Weekly]
|
2014 |
€5.00 |
|
| SUN RA |
Disco 3000 |
do-CD |
"first release of the full concert recording.
This is a reissue of one of the great Sun Ra albums - documenting a rare outing for a small ensemble comprising John Gilmore, Michael Ray (trumpet) and Luqman Ali (drums). June Tyson is also credited on the sleeve.. Ra himself plays piano and electronic keyboards - including the mysterious Crumar Mainman (undocumented by the company itself), which Ra describes as 'like a piano, organ, clavichord, cello, violin and brass instruments' in one, and which offers, in addition, pre-programmed bass-lines and electronic percussion - used to great effect in this small grouping, and seldom, if ever, used by Ra elsewhere. This fact alone makes these this release especially interesting. The LP version was an ear-opener when it came out, and amongst the LPs we most frequently had pressed for us at the time by Ra - alongside Media Dream, Black Horizon and The Sound Mirror). Most of the material is outside the familiar repertoire - another feature that singles this session out. The newly mastered double CD contains the entire concert from which Disco 3000 was taken, adding more than an hour of previously unheard material, setting the LP selections in their original context. There are also excellent new sleevenotes by trumpeter Michael Ray who describes Ra's work method and reminisces about the tour and the recording session. Nicely packaged." [label notes]
www.rermegacorp.com
|
2007 |
€20.00 |
|
| |
Media Dreams |
do-CD |
"This is the companion to Disco 3000, made on the same classic Italian quartet tour with John Gilmore, Michael Ray (trumpet) and the minimal but perfect Luqman Ali (drums). Ra himself plays piano and electronic keyboards, including the mysterious Crumar Mainman, which Ra describes as ‘like a piano, organ, clavichord, cello, violin and brass instruments’ and which also, importantly, has a facility for pre-programmed bass-lines and electronic percussion, which Ra uses constantly and to great effect in this small ensemble setting and seldom, if ever, elsewhere. The best of this collection (most of CD1) is luminous: very electronic, often rhythmical and melodic, always economical and making every sound count. These tracks are like no other jazz ensemble and, although recognisable as Ra – who else could think of, and then get away with, this – unlike any other Ra ensemble either. Ra makes the machines do amazing, visionary things while the band exercises restraint, remaining always in focus. In between, there are piano, saxophone, trumpet and drum vignettes, fresh and perfectly judged; this real was a fine band. This places the original vinyl release (and related releases, Sound Mirror and Disco 300) back into the context of the concerts, from which they were drawn. An important addition to the Sun Ra canon, since it is a rare document of an unusual Ra project that produced three classic late ‘70s LPs. Beautifully packaged and well annotated." [label info]
www.rermegacorp.com
|
2008 |
€17.50 |
|
| SUN RA & HIS MYTH SCIENCE SOLAR ARKESTRA |
The Antique Blacks |
CD |
"Another much sought after and long unavailable title recorded in 1974 with a smallish ensemble consisting (probably) of stalwarts Marshall Allen, John Gilmore, Danny David, James Jacson, Akh Tal Ebah, Clifford Jarvis, Artakatune, and new electric guitarist, Sly, that was released on Saturn in the same year. This sounds like a studio recording, carefully thought out - most of the compositions appear only on this record (apart from versions of Nature's God and Space is the Place), and include a chain of very interesting accompanied /interpolated) spoken texts: There is a Change in the Air, The Antique Blacks, The ridiculous "I" and the Cosmos "Me" - as well as a very long and scary coda to Space is the Place. Ra plays Rocksichord and Moog throughout (solo on track 7 and at the end of track 8). Theatrical and political; this is a fascinating release." [label info]
www.rermegacorp.com
|
2009 |
€14.00 |
|
| SUNDIN, RONNIE |
Hägring |
CD |
TraumLogik-Musik, geboren aus der Faszinationen heraus für Wachträume, aurale Halluzinationen & und dem „Gedächtnis“ von Klang. Sehr ruhig und schwelend, aber nicht einlullend, entfalten sich hier „unfassbare“ Soundfetzen aus verschiedenstens Quellen, extreme Frequenzen und concrete-sounds brechen herein, verschwinden wieder, erzeugen einen nur verschwommenen Eindruck...
Erstes Album des Schweden für das griechisch-spanische Label !
“Hägring is the third and final part in the Hypnagogic trilogy that started with Sleepwalk and Morphei which is based upon a fascination for wake dreaming, auditory hallucinations and the memory of sound. Composed using delicate field recordings, computer processed sounds, vibrating piano and guitar strings to create a sensitive dreamlike state. Or was it just a mirage? all mirages emergedduring 03-04 in Malmö, sweden. special thanks to Dimitris. Drawings by Ronnie. Cover by Lasse” [liner notes]
“The press notes of this CD talk about "mirages" and I truly believe this is a more than adequate description of Ronnie Sundin's music. Although the impalpable, mesmerizing phantom reverberations present over the whole course of the record are sometimes broken by sudden crunches and sick discharges, the Malmö-based composer follows paths of forgotten memories and unquiet sleeps, letting us have just a small fraction of a glimpse of "what could be following" after discarding pulse and "regular" structures in favour of thick strata of metallic nothingness and concrete ruins in an abandoned factory. This sort of aural trip is also finely composed: the sonic events suceed in perfect correlation, there is no room for anything to shine while murmuring frequency rumbles expand the altered state of our perceptivity during immobile reminiscences worthy of Mirror or Brent Gutzeit. All in all, "Hägring" is punctuated with mastery touches of decaying sounds; without being modernist at all costs, Ronnie Sundin has given us the gift of ethereal detachment from false beauty. Let these manifestations take their place around you, see what strange light they're emitting, listen to what those mirages have to teach.” [Touching Extremes]
|
2004 |
€14.00 |
|
| SUNN O))) |
Kannon |
CD |
"Kannon is an album which was composed in the aftershadow of SUNN O)))’s most recent successes in immersive collaboration (the group worked with Scott Walker on Soused, Ulver on Terrestrials in 2013 and 2014) and also from the broad and influential wake of their epitimous Monolith’s & Dimensions . Kannon emerged both independently as a conceptual entity and with roots in the legacies of those projects, yet was fully realised years later, in 2015. The album is 36 minutes in length and consists of three pieces of a triadic whole : Kannon 1, 2 and 3.
The album celebrates many SUNN O))) traditions ; Kannon was recorded and mixed with SUNN O)))’s close colleague and coproducer Randall Dunn in Seattle, in Studio Litho, Aleph and Avast!; and the LP includes performances by long term allies and collaborators Attila Csihar, Oren Ambarchi, Rex Ritter, Steve Moore and others. And at the core the composition centers around the dynamic and intense guitar and bass interplay of SUNN O)))’s founders : Stephen O’Malley & Greg Anderson.
It’s possibly the most figurative album SUNN O))) has created, which is unusual as they usually dwell in layers of abstraction and subjectivity. On the other hand the album is the most outright “metal” in years, drawing personal associations and memories of cherished albums like Panzerfaust and Twilight of the Gods again to the forefront of consciousness. At the third time it is very close to the cyclical character of mantra which the band has evolved into as a living creature, the enormity of intense sensate detail and manifestation of the live in concert face of SUNN O))), the organism that has flourished, metamorphosed and transcended tremendously over the past ten years.
The literal representation of Kannon is as an aspect of Buddha: specifically “goddess of mercy” or “Perceiving the Sounds (or Cries) of the World”. She is also sometimes commonly known as the Guanyin Bodhisattva (Chinese: 觀音菩薩) amongst a plurality of other forms. There is a rich lineage behind this idea tracing back through many asian belief systems, with as many names and cultural personifications of the idea.
SUNN O))) commissioned critical theorist Aliza Shvartz to write a text / liner notes around these ideas and topics. She also explores the relations and perceptions to their approach to these ideas via the metonym of music and SUNN O)))’s place/approach within the framework of music and metal overall.
SUNN O))) also commissioned Swiss designer/artist Angela LaFont Bollinger to create the cover artwork, an abstracted sculpture of vision of Kannon, and the French photographer Estelle Hanania to capture portraits of the core trio (Csihar, Anderson, O’Malley) in the impressive and obscurant Emanuel Vingeland mausoleum in Oslo.
The LP is packaged in immaculate tip on gatefold sleeve by our long time comrades Stoughton Printing, and pressed at Cascade in Portland, Oregon. CD, download and coloured vinyl versions are also available.
– Stephen O’Malley & Greg Anderson / SUNN O))), 11 September 2015" [label info]
credits:
Released December 4th 2015
Attila Csihar - Vocals
Stephen O’Malley - Guitar
Greg Anderson - Guitar, Bass Guitar
Oren Ambarchi - Guitar, Oscillator (K1,K2)
Randall Dunn - Korg MS 20 (K1, K2)
Rex Ritter - Moog (K2)
Brad Mowen - Concert Bass Drum (K2)
Steve Moore - Juno 106 (K2)
Conch trio : Dempster, Priester, Moore
Recorded at studio Litho, Avast! and Aleph, Seattle by Randall Dunn
Mixed at Avast! by Randall Dunn
Assistant recording engineer (Litho) : Mell Dettmer
Mastered by Jason Ward at CMS
Kannon 1, 2, 3 written & arranged by SUNN O)))
Lyrics by Attila Csihar
Produced by SUNN O))) with Randall Dunn
SUNN O))) art direction : Stephen O’Malley
Cover and typographic design by Allison Lafont Bollinger
Text by Aliza Shvarts
Band portraits by Estelle Hanania / Detail from mural Vita at the Emanuel Vigeland Mausoleum, Oslo
© Emanuel Vigeland Museum / ARS 2015
www.southernlord.com
"Those grimrobed ambient metal overlords O'Malley & Anderson (here with guests including Oren Ambarchi and vokillist Attila Csihar) add a new opus to their extensive discography of doom/drone masterwerks! The three part Kannon, which may have germinated from the track "Cannon" found on their live Domkirke double lp from 2008, is art to play loud. All deep drones, deep voices, doubtless deep thoughts (check out the liner notes by critical theorist Aliza Shvartz). And here are OUR notes: Abyssic atmospheres of vast grinding drones. Layered, liturgic cavernous ritual. Gorgeously sculpted feedback flowmotion. Along with moments that remind us of the wide open Western spaces twang of more recent Earth (or Barn Owl) as well." [Aquarius Rec.]
|
2015 |
€13.00 |
|
| |
Life Metal (Pinwheel green and purple vinyl) |
do-LP |
SUNN O))) are pleased to present Life Metal, their first new studio album in four years, due for release on Southern Lord in April 2019. The album will be supported by their first European tour since 2016, including their first ever French tour - dates and details below.
At the very beginning of 2018 SUNN O))) co-founders Stephen O'Malley & Greg Anderson set out on a path toward a new album production. They were both determined to create new music and a new method of working in the studio, without forgetting the long and proud history of production and studio accomplishments forged during their first two decades of existence (and the members' own musical experiences out of the band's). One long term goal was completely clear: to record Sunn O))) with Steve Albini in his Electrical Audio studio. Steve took the call, said "Sure, this will be fun. I have no idea what is going to happen."
Greg and Stephen gathered twice that spring for writing, conceptualising and riff woodshedding in the very building where the band was formed: Downtown Rehearsal in Los Angeles. Sonic cosmoses, flashes of abstract colour (synthetic and objective) and themes emerged from the mastered depths of saturation and circuits between the two players and their mountains of gear. Themes developed in terms of brightness and energy, while visionary cues pointed toward subconscious areas of practice and the pair realised they were exploring other zones of consciousness via sound/time and sound/energy manipulation. In early summer a pre-production session with full backline, as a trio with T.O.S. on Moog, was recorded at Dave Grohl’s 606 studios, Northridge, California.
In July 2018 SUNN O))) spent just over two weeks in Chicago at Electrical Audio (Studio A) with Steve Albini at the helm. The results are astounding: there is breadth and luminosity of colour, it sounds vast. The sessions were impeccably recorded, authentically represented and completely accurate. The spectrum cracked the firmament open in clarity. An all analogue technique was used, they recorded and mixed on tape, providing a creative gateway for SUNN O))) to evolve their production methods into stronger, confident, performance based and a more logical executive process. The album was mastered and lacquers cut from tape in October by SUNN O))) ally Matt Colton at Alchemy in London. The LP version is a AAA album, recorded and mixed on tape via a completely analogue production, from the input of the band's amplifiers and the air coming off the speakers in front of the microphones to needle touching the pressed vinyl on your turntable.
Continuing one of the main currents of the SUNN O))) concept, depth of exploration within collaboration, brought forth Hildur Guðnadóttir to the Sunn O))) constellation. Hildur is a sometime live collaborator of Sunn O))) and a renowned film music composer, former member of the bands Múm, Pan Sonic and Angel. She was a long time collaborator with the composer Jóhann Jóhannsson (RIP). Hildur lent her incredible attitude, as well as her voice, breath and electric cello, and the enigmatic haldorophone to the proceedings, culminating in the epic composition/concerto "Novæ". The cosmos clearly expands.
Tim Midyett, a close friend of Greg and Stephen since the Seattle days of the early 90s (and member of Silkworm, Bottomless Pit and Mint Mile), joined in a foundational role tying earth to sound with wicked performances on aluminium neck bass and baritone guitars: instruments he helped pioneer playing back in the 90s (alongside Steve and Shellac of course). Dark matter is reality.
Prolific new music composer Anthony Pateras arranged and recorded an incredible contribution of pipe organ for a piece titled "Troubled Air" (titled after an essay by author Aliza Shvarts, who also penned the liner notes for Sunn O)))’s Kannon) at Schlosskappelle, Schloss Solitude, Stuttgart. String theory of space.
The resulting album is titled Life Metal. It is fully realised and completely real. The record was produced by the core of Stephen & Greg & arranged by the greater constellation Sunn O))). Paintings by visual artist Samantha Keely Smith graciously adorn the sleeve and provide a perfect suitable mask to the proceedings. They collide ideas of 19th century romanticism & late 20th abstract expressionism (mysticism) with Sunn O)))’s approach to metal (via reference points of Arbo, Turner, Delville, Richter, Turrel, Wou-Ki). Photographer Ronald Dick shot them in baths of light colour representing depth of sound pressure in the work.
SUNN O)))
Life Metal
(sunn300, Southern Lord)
1. Between Sleipnir's Breaths
2. Troubled Air
3. Aurora
4. Novae
There is a second more meditative LP titled Pyroclasts, also recorded by Steve Albini in parallel, and which will be revealed in the autumn 2019 (more later) with all music performed by Stephen, Greg, T.O.S., Tim Midyett, and Hildur Guðnadóttir.
|
2022 |
€35.00 |
|
| SUNN O))) & ULVER |
Terrestrials |
CD |
"Oslo, Norway, August 10th, 2008. Following their 200th gig, playing before 2000 people at the Oya festival, SUNN O))) teamed up with Norwegian legends ULVER at their Oslo studio, Crystal Canyon. They recorded three "live in improvisation" pieces, starting that evening and ending at dawn, as Northern sunlight seeped in through the windows. 'We were sitting in the console room, early in the morning, listening to the takes. Someone said, ah, sunrise over Crystal Canyon,' as if the night had been a dark one. We all laughed and Greg proposed it as a title. In that setting it sounded perfect. The boys had mentioned wanting the music to orient towards the light, like some lost pilgrim stretching before the sun. We kept that mental picture for the processing.' - Kristoffer Rygg That take became the album's opening piece, "Let there be light," which builds up from silence and darkness and proceeds - ceremoniously, coruscating - O'Malley and O'Sullivan creating the backdrop for Rygg's Basso Profondo chants. The music unfolds over eight minutes before reaching a crescendo of bass and brass, introducing both Anderson and ULVER as we know them. The Sunn has risen. "Western horn" accelerates on a single and austere note of sustained bass and low end, evolving gradually into a haunted soundscape. Crying violins, clusters of Fender Rhodes, guitar pickups, and metal plate drones are gradually layered beneath Anderson's augmented bass feedback. "Eternal return" introduces Rygg singing a lyric evoking ancient Greece, Egypt and the Biblical lands. The song is palindromic, echoing the lyric, beginning and ending with the same bass line and musical pattern, though the guitars are ultimately reversed as the song implodes upon itself. "Terrestrials" is three movements which are fluid like the flow of magma beneath the Earth's crust, sonically uninhibited, unpredictably cosmic, haunting and stirring yet simultaneously ceremonious and beautiful." [label info]
www.southernlord.com
"Naheliegendes wird vermieden, statt dessen eine zähfließende Düsternis mit fast fragiler Aura: das Sunn o))) & Ulver Kollaborationsalbum “Terrestrials” schickt die Hörer (nicht nur) mit dem Opener “Let There Be Light” und seinen verlangsamten Mariachi-Trompeten fast ein bisschen in die Irre, lässt dieselben zumindest lange im Unklaren, welche Richtung das Stück wirklich einschlagen will… Als “ewiges” Intro hinter verwaschenen Staubwolken der Wüste? Ein Akustik-Drone?
Erst das letzte Viertel, wenn “Let There Be Light” schon fast zu ersterben scheint, bringt die Auflösung: wenn sich typisch Sunn o))) artige Harmoniebögen zu manifestieren beginnen und die weiterhin präsenten Bläser mit einem deutlichen Maß an Schwerkraft versehen. Das dann folgende, düstere (und düsterere) “Western Horn”, im Kern eine windende Schichtung von sich reibenden, spröden Gitarren, dabei nach außen so etwas wie die musikalische Umsetzung eines langsam aufkommenden (oder abflauenden) Sandsturms, versenkt die Hörer nach “Let There Be Light” wie unvermittelt in eine ebenso unwirkliche wie unwirtliche, auch ohne ebensolche Soundästhetik zerrende, schwarze Welt. Die, ganz nebenbei, ein weiteres Mal beweist, dass “Heavy” eben auch ganz anders gehen kann.Und dann die größte Überraschung: “Eternal Return”, in den allerersten Tönen noch wie eine direkte Fortsetzung von “Western Horn” klingend, durch die hier stärkere Präsenz eines E-Pianos und ganz besonders die Art der Harmonien aber letztlich in eine ganz andere Richtung weisend: wie eine Art geisterhafter Widerhall, eine eigene Interpretation der Stimmung von oder eben gleich eine Kollaboration mit Bohren & Der Club Of Gore… zumindest rund 6 Minuten lang, bevor das Stück einen völligen Twist macht, Gesang über tragenden Synthstreichern, als Break. Und zurück fällt in die Düsternis des Beginns.
In der musikalischen Schattierung so vielfältig wie “Monoliths And Dimensions”, möglicherweise. Und eine Elegie in schwarzer Akustik, sicherlich. Insgesamt betrachtet." [N, Blackmag]
|
2014 |
€13.00 |
|
| SUPERSILENT |
7 |
DVD |
„Um direkt allen Mißverständnissen vorzubeugen: Auf „7" der neuen DVD von SUPERSILENT gibt es keine Extras oder irreführende graphische Menüs. Keine staatlichen Warnungen, keine Einführungen mit Ufos. Kein Schnickschnack. Denn Label, Künstler und Regisseur hatten den Anspruch, das „7" wie eine Audio CD laufen sollte, nur mit Bild. Einlegen und ein komplettes SUPERSILENT Konzert genießen, genau so lange (109 Min.) und in der gleichen Reihenfolge wie dargeboten. Man kann sogar zwischen den Tracks hin und her skippen. Keine Overdubs (auch wenn sich irgendwie einige psychedelische Momente auf die DVD geschlichen haben:-)), statt dessen hat DEATHPROD einen hervorragenden Stereo Mix abgeliefert, bei dem man sogar zwischen Dolby Digital und dem leicht besseren DTS wählen kann. Und dank DVD-9 ist die Bildqualität sowieso überlegen.“
"The Norwegian death-jazz improvising unit return for the seventh of their Supersilent series, this time in the form of a DVD release of a highly-anticipated live performance in Oslo on August 16, 2004. Members Arve Henriksen (trumpet, electronics), Helge Sten (audio virus), Ståle Storløkken (keyboards) and Jarle Vespestad (drums) form a band that refuse categorization, with experiments in such disparate elements as ambient, jazz, electronica, rock, techno, noise and musique concréte. Critics have compared them to the Miles Davis band of the early '70s, and groups like Stockhausen, Einstürzende Neubauten and Can. Supersilent hadn't played the capital for quite some time and the line went around the block. With the uncertain knowledge that all Supersilent concerts are totally improvised, it didn't take long to hear that they were in excellent form and interplay, all captured by three cameras to black and white 16 mm film and recorded by Kai Andersen from Athletic Sound. Filmed by Norwegian multimedia artist Kim Hiorthøy, the black and white footage lends a filmic quality very rarely seen in concert DVDs. Constructed like an audio CD with visuals, there are no extras, no menus, no FBI warnings or meaningless graphics -- what you get is a pure, complete Supersilent concert from start to finish, 109 minutes. What you see and hear is how it was, no overdubs have been applied to the recording, but a couple of psychedelic hiccups have found their way to the film. The 6 "tracks" are divided so you can skip back and forth as on a CD. By using the audio button on the player's remote control you can chose between Dolby Digital and the slightly superior DTS sound alternatives, if your DVD player is ready for DTS. The sound is mixed by Deathprod in good old stereo. Please also note that this is a DVD-9 production, giving superior picture quality due to the disc having dual layers and more available space. What you hear and see is a multifarious, totally improvised, completely unique live performance from a group who define the best in bombastic Nordic sound. Running time: 109 minutes." [label info]
|
2005 |
€16.00 |
|
| |
6 |
CD |
"Supersilent have been a solid cornerstone in Rune Grammofon since the very beginning and are seen by many as representing the very essence of the label. From the monumental hardcore blizzard storms of 1-3 to the elegant electrojazz of 4 and the almost quiet soundscapes of 5, this new album is where the sum of all things Supersilent comes together in a shape of almost epic proportions. Like 1-3 and Scorch Trio, it was recorded at Athletic Sound in Halden, Norway. More than ever it appears clear that their music lives in a no man's land between the genres, somewhere between rock, electronica, jazz and modern composition. As with all their recordings and live performances, everything here is improvised. That most of the music on 6 appears to be written or at least arranged is testament to the high, almost telepathic level they work at . Needless to say, there are no overdubs. Often being labelled jazz because of the improvising aspect of the music and the fact that three of the members come from a jazz background, with 6 they are just as likely to attract followers of bands such as Goodspeed You! Black Emperor, Sigur Rós, King Crimson, (late) Talk Talk or Popol Vuh." [label info]
www.runegrammofon.com
|
2003 |
€15.50 |
|
| SUTEKH HEXEN |
Sutekh Hexen |
CD |
We’re truly honored to welcome US Black Ambient veterans Sutekh Hexen to the fold. Both defiant and meditative, their latest self-titled full-length and first studio album furthers the project’s inquiry into opposition, endurance, and paradox. Both hypnotic and cruel, these ten highly charged tracks transgress yet again any previously imposed boundaries while upholding their raw ethos at its root, and at times defying the listener's expectations altogether. Though tempestuous as ever, with this work, Sutekh Hexen reaches across thresholds and thrusts longtime listeners into redefined spaces: haunted disorientation, surreal agony, the distress of buried forces surfacing, a revelation of black tongues. Each track is a rite of clandestine horror through a distillation of power-ambient, industrial, and black metal deconstructionism. This is a new era of Sutekh Hexen, and it is a sharpening of their blade, a merciless lucidity. LET THERE BE LIGHT.
CD Edition of 500 copies in 6 panel Digisleeve. 10 Tracks, Running Time 54:39
https://cycliclaw.bandcamp.com/album/s-t-2 |
2019 |
€13.00 |
|
| |
Sutekh Hexen |
do-LP |
We’re truly honored to welcome US Black Ambient veterans Sutekh Hexen to the fold. Both defiant and meditative, their latest self-titled full-length and first studio album furthers the project’s inquiry into opposition, endurance, and paradox. Both hypnotic and cruel, these ten highly charged tracks transgress yet again any previously imposed boundaries while upholding their raw ethos at its root, and at times defying the listener's expectations altogether. Though tempestuous as ever, with this work, Sutekh Hexen reaches across thresholds and thrusts longtime listeners into redefined spaces: haunted disorientation, surreal agony, the distress of buried forces surfacing, a revelation of black tongues. Each track is a rite of clandestine horror through a distillation of power-ambient, industrial, and black metal deconstructionism. This is a new era of Sutekh Hexen, and it is a sharpening of their blade, a merciless lucidity. LET THERE BE LIGHT.
CD Edition of 500 copies in 6 panel Digisleeve. 10 Tracks, Running Time 54:39
Double Vinyl Edition of 300 copies in Gatefold Sleeve. 10 Tracks, Running Time 54:39 Co-Released with Sentient Ruin.
https://cycliclaw.bandcamp.com/album/s-t-2
|
2019 |
€30.00 |
|
| SUZUKI, AKIO |
A I Sha / あいしゃ |
LP |
"Needless to say, Akio Suzuki is one of the representative sound artists in Japan. Many of his previous releases are sometimes interpreted as the work of a hermit or wizard creating beautiful sounds with his self-made musical instrument called 'Analapos,' glass harmonica (De Koolmees), and stone flute, but the title of Suzuki's first sound piece, aidan ni Mono wo Nageru (Throwing Things at the Stairs) at Nagoya Station in 1963, reflects his perspective on the noises in his work. This LP consists of two 2009 performances created with the use of radio. 'Howling Objects,' with reverberation of a large museum space, and 'a i sha,' in which the radio moves throughout the museum, can be noise itself, but they exist in accordance with the method of 'Oto-date' and 'Tadori' for which Suzuki has been continuously searching. Here, an approach to Suzuki's hardcore sound in his nature is surely concentrated. 'It was at a solo exhibition in the Minamigaro gallery in Nihonbashi, Tokyo in 1976 when I held the premiere showing of 'Howling Objects'. When I inserted the microphone into the cylinder of the stand type Analapos, and played echo sound, I was surprised to cause a howling. From that incident, I arranged iron 'wappa' boxes (cylindrical containers formed by bending a thin plate), inserted two wireless microphones with echoes in the boxes and moved the position of the boxes to search for a sound. ... In the performance I did at the 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art, Kanazawa, I used roll papers, microphones and radios to revisit 'Howling Objects'. These radios and microphones used from the 1970s have been increasingly degraded in recent years, so this performance has become the last one. 'a i sha' is a performance in which the two radios used in 'Howling Objects' are loaded onto a small dolly and moved around the museum. After setting the radios to AM, selecting the noise wavelengths and tuning the two radios to be able to hear an interesting rhythm, I adjust the volume to an appropriate level and start. As the sound landscape changes by the directionality of radio by moving over to a corridor, wide space and a window, I share the sound field with the people who happen to be there by chance and the people chasing the dolly'. Akio Suzuki Full-color cover photo on sleeve. New liner notes in Japanese and English by Suzuki. Limited edition of 250." [label info]
omega-point.shop-pro.jp |
2015 |
€32.00 |
|
| SUZUKI, AKIO & LAWRENCE ENGLISH |
Boombana Echoes |
maxi-CD / art-print |
"I had the pleasure to meet and record with Akio Suzuki late in 2005. Having discovered his work a good few years before that, I had always been impressed with his clear passion for the expressive nature of sound - not merely as a vibrational art form, but also for its mystic, perhaps even spiritual qualities. His many experiments with sound, space and environment were a great inspiration for me and still to this day fill me with a great sense of wonder (no doubt a result of Suzuki's magician like quality, after all he is a shaman). These recordings are edits from a series of both site specific and situation specific encounters we developed together during a short performance based residency in Brisbane. The first recordings we made together were site specific, and the title of this edition reflects the location in which we began working on the project together. Boombana is an area of forest that shifts from open eucalypt woodland to sub-tropic rainforest within a matter of 500 metres. It's located on route to Mt Nebo and not far from there, the view stretches all the way to Moreton Bay. I recorded Suzuki-san during high summer, the forest sizzling with an eerie electronic fizz of cicadas and leaf hoppers, occasionally interrupted by screeching Sulphur Crested Cockatoos. It was these recordings that form the inspiration for the duet published here. Returning to Brisbane, Suzuki and I recorded a series of pieces late one evening. Suzuki played his remarkable Analapos and I used a some hand percussion and a range of small electronic devices that in many ways reflected on the initial sessions we recorded in Boombana - the cicadas replaced by tone generators and filters. The titles of each work also directly link back to Boombana, its distinctive flora and fauna. Coming back to these recordings more than half a decade after they were created, I'm still captivated by Suzuki's remarkable use of his unique instrument the Analapos and I'm inspired to this day by his mastery of sound as an art form. I dearly hope you enjoy these pieces.' Lawrence English. 2 color letterpress die cut sleeve. 3 letterpress printed inserts of drawings by akio suzuki. designed and printed by ben owen. akio suzuki - analapos. lawrence english - field recordings, drum, electronics. recorded live at 121, December 2005." [label info]
www.windsmeasurerecordings.net
|
2012 |
€20.00 |
|
| SUZUKI, DAISUKE |
D.D.D. |
CD |
'DDD' is a field recording album recorded by Daisuke Suzuki and was originally Released by Texas based IDEA in 2001 in an edition of 300 copies on LP.
Sometimes field recordings can be appreciated in relation to the conceptual art form, or as an on-site sound study and documentation of a very specific phenomena. Daisuke had no concept of the idea of building sonic panoramas and was specifically only Concerned with gathering lots of intriguing sound matter for his personal listening. 'DDD' was mastered by Gary Todd, who was the founder of the Cortical Foundation. Gary and Daisuke became good friends when Gary visited Japan as Red Crayola live sound engineer in the late 1990s and they developed a mutual trust with each other after that. Sadly in September 2001, Gary fell from his apartment balcony, which left him On June 25, 2022 Gary passed away at the age of 59. Daisuke said, “Gary was always generous and had a kind heart. friendship and warmth. I've decided to re-issue 'DDD' to keep him in memory and heart.” The CD includes an expanded version of 'Cricket Voice' which did not appear on the original IDEA LP release.
Tracklist:
A1. Part 1
A2. Part 2
B.Cricket Voice
"Siren Records is a small Japanese label run by Daisuke Suzuki and active since the late 1990s, with a limited roster of musicians: The New Blockaders, Andrew Chalk, Jonathan Coleclough, Robert Haigh and David Jackman. In 25 years, some 35 releases, with catalogue number 33, were allotted to the new David Jackman CD, 'Sekihi Oidori', of which we didn't receive a promo. I am not as obsessed as I once was with catalogue numbers, but Daisuke Suzuki's 'D.D.D.' is Siren 13, yet a release from this year. Maybe because it's a re-issue from an LP released by IDEA in 2001? The record was mastered by Gary Todd, the erstwhile mastering engineer who ran the Cortical Foundation (instrumental in some excellent Tery Riley re-issues), who fell from his balcony in 2001 and was hospitalised until his death last year. This re-issue is dedicated to his memory. The triple D stands for 'Duck! Duck! Duck!', of which there are two parts on this CD, plus 'Cricket Voice'. All three pieces use extensive field recordings. Or, maybe, even solely. I am unsure about that. It seems he didn't do much else to these recordings, no processing or anything, but perhaps some of this stuff is looped. You can never be too sure about the nature of things, as there is a lot of repetition going on on a superficial level. Editing, however, seems very likely. The titles are giveaways for the sound sources, ducks and crickets, with the latter being exceptionally high frequencies. With almost forty minutes, this is twice as long as the original and something that I like to play at a somewhat low volume. The whole disc works best at a slightly diminished volume, keeping it ambient within the ambience of one's home environment. It's all very basic but charming music." [FdW/Vital Weekly]
|
2023 |
€13.00 |
|
| SVAER |
л.λ.ハ |
mCD-R |
svær is a solo project by a french musican currently based in brussels, belgium. we discovered him nearly three years ago when he was the opening act for tim hecker in brussels. based on layers of guitars, his excellent first album "muted people" released in 2020 seriously confirmed our hopes
https://taalem.bandcamp.com/album/alm-143
"And finally, there is svær, from France, but currently residing in Brussels. In 2020 he released his debut, 'Muted People' and his three pieces are for deceased dogs, 'Laika', 'Loukanikos' and 'Hachikō'. All dogs go to heaven, svær says (What happens to cats? Or people who are afraid of dogs? I know a few of the latter). I understand that svær plays the guitar and undoubtedly uses many sound effects to arrive at that gritty guitar sound that was popular once upon some time ago. Taalem learned about svær when he opened for Tim Hecker; perhaps that may serve as a pointer? Especially in 'Loukanikos' the digital processing plays a very big part. On either side of 'Loukanikos', the other two offer a much more mellow ambient tapestry of long spun sounds on the guitar, lo-fi electronics and sadly too short." [FdW/Vital Weekly]
|
2022 |
€5.00 |
|
| SVARTE GREINER |
Penpals forever (and ever) |
CD |
"The first side (first two tracks) were originally issued on the Penpals Forever cassette on Digitalis in 2008, limited to 180 copies. Both tracks have been completely remastered. The remaining pieces are all new and exclusive to this release. Svarte Greiner is the nom de plume of Deaf Center's Erik K. Skodvin. Hailing from Norway, his solo efforts are always stripped bare, white-knuckle sojourns through dark, haunted ambient sonic corridors. Penpals Forever (And Ever) is the imaginary tale of a long dead Baroque painter and his telekinetic correspondence with a flightless bird. It feels archaic; experimental death marches circa 1622. Like Guercino's Et in Arcadia ego, once the end is realized, there's nowhere left to go. It's beyond our experience and sometimes you never recover from the shock. Despite its rather cheery title, Penpals Forever (And Ever) is another step toward the abyss. Musically sparse, Svarte Greiner finds new channels connecting desolate landscapes through ethereal nightmares. It is music best served cold. Chattering, looping guitar lines that feel like muscle being separated from bone slowly build into aching piles of aural dissonance. It's painful to a point. Recorded voices speak a language you can't understand underneath ominous, echoing single notes. Distant metal fragments scrape the dirt from detuned strings while a nefarious feathered minstrel bows dying instruments in the background. No hope left, death is just around the corner. As it ever was, Svarte Greiner is again weaving something deliciously sinister. This is music that is uncomfortably bare. Within its blood-stained confines, there is nowhere to hide. Skodvin's tangled, gnarled tale goes back and forth into infinity until it becomes clear that the flightless bird in question lives inside your skull. Drowning slowly into one's own twisted mind, Penpals is the soundtrack of loss; the procession of fears gradually becoming so overbearing that you can't escape your own demons." [label info]
www.digitalisindustries.com
|
2010 |
€15.00 |
|
| SVARTSINN |
Of Darkness and Re-Creation |
CD |
"First in a series of collaborations between Ewers Tonkunst and Cyclic Law, this is a re-issue of long sold out second Svartsinn album from the year 2003. “Of Darkness And Re-Creation” is a “collection of stories based on heavy mind struggles, emotional complicity or elegies which either leads to emptiness or dark places for a re-creation of the self image. Darkness is all around us or inside each and every one of us, let¹s not fear it.. Prosper in darkness...” (from the original edition release notes). Maybe most hopeless and desperate music ever done by Svartsinn’s mastermind’s Jan Roger Pettersen, it is definitely one of the classical works from this “new” generation of dark ambient artists that were gathered around Cyclic Law in the first decade of 2000’s. This edition has completely new artwork and new mastering, it is limited to 500 copies and comes in a stylish monochrome mini LP-like cover with inner sleeve, both with some silkscreened elements." [label info]
www.cycliclaw.com
https://cycliclaw.bandcamp.com/album/of-darkness-and-re-creation
|
2010 |
€13.00 |
|
| |
Traces of Nothingness |
CD |
Reissue, for the first time on vinyl as a double LP in Matt Laminated Gatefold Sleeve, in standard Black as well as Grey in Black Marble Special Edition, and also available as a limited Digipak. Both formats include 4 bonus remixes by Lamia Vox, Triarii, Letum and Gydja. Also features all new artwork by Dehn Sora.
The 3rd offering from Norway's Svartsinn could be acknowledged as the end of a trilogy, the first opus "Devouring Consciousness" was an album containing stories made during what the artist explains as being some difficult and rough times. The second offering, "Of Darkness And Re-Creation", was the process of trying to deal with these struggles and reflect on them. "Traces Of Nothingness" is simply the reaction, result and the path ahead in this ongoing, seemingly endless darkness. A slightly more melodic, sad and obscure side of Svartsinn that still keeps the cold and dark atmosphere that defines his sound.
CD Edition of 300 copies in 4 panel Digipak, Matt Lamination. 12 Tracks. Running time; 74:56
https://cycliclaw.bandcamp.com/album/traces-of-nothingness
“....Beatless, desolate dark ambient soundscapes. Traces of Nothingness opens with the words "It lives ... in the dark ... something in the dark" - an appropriate introduction to this collection of brooding thunderclouds. Whale-like groans and distorted, distant impacts populate this world of shadow and bubbling ooze - there is at times the sound of a colossal drum pounding a broken beat, there are huge air movements and amorphous disturbances. On a number of tracks tonal material bleeds in briefly toward the end - drones, strings, humming textures - strikingly beautiful against the vast bleakness of the background atmospheres....” [Morpheusmusic]
|
2021 |
€13.00 |
|
| SVENSSON, PER |
Energy Loop / Element |
CD |
Zusammenstellung (21 tracks!) von diversen akustischen Experimenten, Kunstaktionen- & Klanginstallationen, und dröhnigen akustischen SoundExplorationen des schwedischen Künstlers PER SVENSSON, von 1987-1998. Exzellentes Material, als Soundquellen dienten unter anderem "electric grinder, theremin, sitar, electric welder, electric drill, steel tubes, bronze bells, hammer on anvil, etc etc". auf dem LEIF ELGGREN – Label.
|
1998 |
€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 |
|
|
Where Does A Body End? |
DVD |
"Die Anfang der 80er Jahre in New York gegründete Band Swans gilt als eine der härtesten, lautesten Live-Bands der Welt. Einen Einblick in ihre Intensität, ihre wechselhafte Geschichte liefert Marco Porsia mit seiner intimen Dokumentation ,Swans - Where Does a Body End?", für die der Regisseur jahrelang Teil des inneren Zirkels der Band war. Gerade deswegen: Ein Film für Fans. Anfang 2020 im Kino, nun als US-Pal/Region 0 DVD/BD/2BD, Sprache Englisch, Untertitel Englisch mit Altersfreigabe 12 Swans gilt als eine der radikalsten Bands der letzten 40 Jahre. Ihre Konzerte gleichen noch immer ekstatischen Ritualen. Gegründet 1982 als streitlustige Post-Punk-Band erregten Swans erste Aufmerksamkeit in der New Yorker No-Wave-Szene, feierten währen der Indie-Welle der 90er unerwarteten Mainstream-Erfolg, verursachten Chaos auf und jenseits der Bühne, erlebten Bandauflösung und Wiedervereinigung. Swans war immer eine Ansammlung von wechselnden Einzelperformern - mit einer einzigen Konstante: Sänger, Songwriter und Mastermind Michael Gira. Sein Lebensweg vom Problemteenager zum Enfant Terrible seiner Kunsthochschule, Alkoholiker und schließlich Familienmensch sind der rauen, progressiven Musik seiner Band eingeschrieben. Filmemacher Marco Porsia hat Swans und Gira über fünf Jahre lang begleitet und beim Songschreiben, im Probenraum und auf Tour gefilmt. Er erhielt unbegrenzten Zugriff auf Giras Archiv mit hunderten Stunden von unveröffentlichten Videos und Tonaufnahmen. Neben Swans-Mitgliedern Jarboe und Thor Harris erklärten sich zahlreiche Wegbegleiter*innen und Fans wie Amanda Palmer, Blixa Bargeld und Thurston Moore für Interviews bereit. ,Swans - Where Does A Body End?" ist eine musikalische Zeitreise, ein filmisches Tour-Tagebuch, ein epischer Konzertfilm. Vor allem aber ist er das Porträt eines besessenen Musikers, Michael Gira, der sein Leben radikal der Kunst gewidmet hat. ,Michael ist kein furchtloser Mensch", erklärt Bandkollege Harris, ,aber er ist ein furchtloser Künstler." Zitate: "There really is no other force of music like Swans. Swans stand alone, integral, drenched in pathos. A band to end all bands." _Thurston Moore/Sonic Youth Presse: Director Marco Porsia delivers an intense, comprehensive documentary of the band that is every bit as massive as their recordings. That he captured their many faces to this extent is an astounding achievement in its own right, but then to build something both captivating and informative from such split personalities is pure cinematic magic. _ Film Threat A comprehensive portrait of Gira and his musical endeavors... Fans should love this raw exploration of their legacy.
'Under the Radar There is considerable opportunity to see how Swans' performances have developed over time, with plenty of variously brutal, abrasive, shamanistic and ecstatic concert footage.' The Arts Desk "
"Where Does a Body End? is an intimate portrait of the band SWANS, from their roots as a brutal, confrontational post-punk band that emerged from the same early 1980s era NYC that gave us Sonic Youth (and, somehow, Madonna) through their ill-fated bid at mainstream success in the '90s indie-rock gold rush, through breakups and chaos (on and offstage) to their odds-defying current status as one of the most accomplished and ambitious bands in the world, one whose concerts are more like ecstatic rituals than nostalgic trips back through their most popular songs. SWANS has always been a collection of singular performers, but there's been one constant since its formation in 1982 -- singer, songwriter Michael Gira. With unfettered access to hundreds of hours of Gira/SWANS archives of never-seen-before recordings, videos, and photographs, the film brings us along the path they needed to carve for themselves. The film is many things, a musical history, a time-capsule, a tour diary, a concert film, but mostly it's the story of a life in the arts, frequently difficult, spanning decades without a safety net, creating the work because Gira says 'What else am I going to do?' As bandmate Thor Harris notes, 'Michael is not a fearless person, but he is a fearless artist.'"
https://mvdshop.com/products/swans-where-does-a-body-end-dvd
|
2020 |
€15.00 |
|
|
Where does a Body end? (deluxe ed.) |
2 x BLU-RAY |
Die Anfang der 80er Jahre in New York gegründete Band Swans gilt als eine der härtesten, lautesten Live-Bands der Welt. Einen Einblick in ihre Intensität, ihre wechselhafte Geschichte liefert Marco Porsia mit seiner intimen Dokumentation ,Swans - Where Does a Body End?", für die der Regisseur jahrelang Teil des inneren Zirkels der Band war. Gerade deswegen: Ein Film für Fans. Anfang 2020 im Kino, nun als US-Pal/Region 0 DVD/BD/2BD, Sprache Englisch, Untertitel Englisch mit Altersfreigabe 12 Swans gilt als eine der radikalsten Bands der letzten 40 Jahre. Ihre Konzerte gleichen noch immer ekstatischen Ritualen. Gegründet 1982 als streitlustige Post-Punk-Band erregten Swans erste Aufmerksamkeit in der New Yorker No-Wave-Szene, feierten währen der Indie-Welle der 90er unerwarteten Mainstream-Erfolg, verursachten Chaos auf und jenseits der Bühne, erlebten Bandauflösung und Wiedervereinigung. Swans war immer eine Ansammlung von wechselnden Einzelperformern - mit einer einzigen Konstante: Sänger, Songwriter und Mastermind Michael Gira. Sein Lebensweg vom Problemteenager zum Enfant Terrible seiner Kunsthochschule, Alkoholiker und schließlich Familienmensch sind der rauen, progressiven Musik seiner Band eingeschrieben. Filmemacher Marco Porsia hat Swans und Gira über fünf Jahre lang begleitet und beim Songschreiben, im Probenraum und auf Tour gefilmt. Er erhielt unbegrenzten Zugriff auf Giras Archiv mit hunderten Stunden von unveröffentlichten Videos und Tonaufnahmen. Neben Swans-Mitgliedern Jarboe und Thor Harris erklärten sich zahlreiche Wegbegleiter*innen und Fans wie Amanda Palmer, Blixa Bargeld und Thurston Moore für Interviews bereit. ,Swans - Where Does A Body End?" ist eine musikalische Zeitreise, ein filmisches Tour-Tagebuch, ein epischer Konzertfilm. Vor allem aber ist er das Porträt eines besessenen Musikers, Michael Gira, der sein Leben radikal der Kunst gewidmet hat. ,Michael ist kein furchtloser Mensch", erklärt Bandkollege Harris, ,aber er ist ein furchtloser Künstler." Zitate: "There really is no other force of music like Swans. Swans stand alone, integral, drenched in pathos. A band to end all bands." _Thurston Moore/Sonic youth Presse: Director Marco Porsia delivers an intense, comprehensive documentary of the band that is every bit as massive as their recordings. That he captured their many faces to this extent is an astounding achievement in its own right, but then to build something both captivating and informative from such split personalities is pure cinematic magic. _ Film Threat A comprehensive portrait of Gira and his musical endeavors... Fans should love this raw exploration of their legacy. _ Under the Radar There is considerable opportunity to see how Swans' performances have developed over time, with plenty of variously brutal, abrasive, shamanistic and ecstatic concert footage. _ The Arts Desk
https://mvdshop.com/products/swans-where-does-a-body-end-dvd
|
2020 |
€23.00 |
|
|
Children of God |
do-LP |
“By 1986/7 Swans had run its course with the physical assault of sound that we had employed previously for the most part. I wanted to move on to other things and didn’t want to get stuck in some style, which in our case had the potential of becoming cartoonish if we’d continued in that direction. So, I pushed the music into unfamiliar territory. We spent 6 weeks in an old isolated medieval sawmill in Cornwall, England “experimenting” and hashing things out. Even though there was the inevitable tension between myself and the musicians at that time, I remember that episode fondly and miss everyone involved…sigh. Everyone did a great job musically, as well as imbibing with enthusiasm the local brews and eating huge amounts of free food. Jarboe came more to the fore as a presence too. The lineup of Gira / Kizys / Westberg / Jarboe / Parsons was a really good version of the band - one of the best live versions of Swans ever – actually much more intense and visceral in performance than in the nuanced takes of the songs on these recordings. Lyrically, I’d always seized on abstract subjects like money/power/sex/work, etc., and I was watching a lot of Jimmy Swaggart on TV (the televangelist), and I thought he was a great rock performer, so I stole his thunder as best I could. I didn’t want to mock the religious impulse, which would have been a typical thing to do at the time, but instead to get inside it. Everyone wants to lose themselves in something bigger than they are. I don’t know if this is a bad thing or a good thing. Anyway, Children of God was a major turning point for Swans and the musical tendencies that are first engendered here were fertile ground for the remaining future records.” - Michael Gira/Swans 2008
https://swans.bandcamp.com/album/children-of-god-2020-remaster
|
2020 |
€20.00 |
|
| |
Public Castration is a good Idea |
do-LP |
https://swans.bandcamp.com/album/public-castration-is-a-good-idea
Swans’ live album Public Castration Is a Good Idea, originally released as a limited edition “official” bootleg in 1986, is now available on vinyl for the first time since that original collectible release. Public Castration… includes live recordings from UK shows at the ICA, London, The Garage, Nottingham and the University of London Union in support of the release of Holy Money in 1986, featuring tracks from that album along with Greed. Swans for these recordings were Michael Gira, Jarboe, Norman Westberg, Algis Kizys, Ronaldo Gonzalez and Ted Parsons.
“... there's no denying the intrinsic entertainment value of having a copy of Public Castration is a Good Idea around the house. The title alone is enough to freak out your parents and roommates; imagine what'll happen if you actually play it for them.” - Pitchfork
|
2022 |
€25.00 |
|
| SYNDROME |
Now and Forever |
LP |
"Mathieu Vandekerckhove, mostly known for his work with Amenra. For years the self-taught musician learned and studied his craft of songwriting and sound scaping, mainly as a means to self exploration, meditation and attempts at channelling negative into positive energy, this while staying below the surface at all times.
Now 2012 marks a turning point for Mathieu Vandekerckhove and Syndrome as he steps forward, with the epic 28 minute long “Now And Forever”. Dedicated to his son Wolf, this track offers words of guidance and will grant you a look into the heart and soul of the artist. Close your eyes and hear the beating heart of pure artistic freedom.
First 75 orders will get an extra booklet with photography by Mathieu Vandekerkhove."
hypertensionrecords.com
"Gent in Ostflandern, Heimat AMENRAs und somit auch die von Mathieu Vandekerckhove. Der AMENRA-Gitarrist ist ebenso wie seine Kollegen ein Vielbeschäftigter. Die belgische Ausnahmekapelle und ihr ganzheitlicher Ansatz wussten im letzten Jahr gemeinsam mit NEUROSIS live dergestalt zu überzeugen, dass der amerikanische “Headliner“ an jedem Abend Vollgas geben musste, wollte die Band nicht von Vandekerckhove und den Seinen in den Schatten gestellt werden. Wer NEUROSIS kennt, weiß, dass sie diese Form der Herausforderung suchen und lieben.
Dass Eindruck zum Ausdruck wird, ist ein Wesenszug kreativen Wirkens. Die Belgier indes verzahnen künstlerischen Ausdruck und das eigene Leben eng. Nicht umsonst wird bei keiner Veröffentlichung auch nur ein Aspekt dem Zufall überlassen. Gleiches gilt für alle Projekte der in Gent Beheimateten – gleiches gilt somit auch für SYNDROME. Es geht die Geschichte, dass Vandekerckhoves Projekt einem Zuhause Experimentieren entsprungen sei, vor ca. sieben Jahren. Mit “Now And Forever“ liegt die mittlerweile dritte Veröffentlichung vor, ein Track mit einer Spielzeit von 28 Minuten. Das Stück bildet den Wandel ab, der sich in SYNDROME eingeschrieben hat und setzt sich aus Ambient, Drone, Doom und ja – Folkelementen zusammen. Unterstützung erfährt der Belgier von Bandkollegen Colin H. van Eeckhout und Josh Graham. Letzterer sollte als NEUROSIS-Mitglied und A STORM OF LIGHT-Kopf keiner weiteren Vorstellung bedürfen.
“Now And Forever“ startet mit einer eindringlichen Akkordfolge, die sanft von einem Drum durchklopft wird. Der vormals erwähnte Wandel drückt sich immer wieder in einer hohen Verdichtung der einzelnen Sounds aus, schnappt Versätze beinahe beiläufig und schichtet diese sorgsam auf, bereitet so auf das Hervorbrechende und Anstürmende vor, besänftigt diese und überführt sie kurz darauf wieder in mindestens zweimalige, versetzte Wiederholungen desselben Motivs. Die Intervalle des Motivs ändern sich stetig und befördern so den rauschhaften Charakter. Ab Minute neun gesellen sich Vandekerckhoves Brummvocal hinzu, um schließlich durch Colins helle Gesangsparts abgelöst zu werden. Immer bleibt die Gitarre leitend und gleicht dabei aber auch einem Katalysator. Sie senkt nicht nur die Aktivierungsenergie, sie überführt auch Dunkles in Klingendes, Tönendes. Reaktant dabei ist das Niederringende des Alltags, dass in das Ergebnis namens “Now And Forever“ expediert wird. Im Vergleich zu AMENRAs Wirkweise des “Hervorbrechens“ steht bei SYNDROME eher das Aufbrechen im Vordergrund. Wo dort die Ausdehnung, das Treiben und das Herauskommen definiert werden, geht es hier eher um ein Öffnen, ein Aufschließen und Durchstoßen. Das Ein- und Aufweichen von Strukturen geschieht entlang des beschriebenen Wandels.
Dabei findet der Hörer AMENRAs die anderen Projekte der Mitglieder in die Wertvorstellungen der Hauptband gut verfugt. Nicht umsonst haben die Belgier mit der CHURCH OF RA eine Form der Herangehensweise gewählt, die in Glaubenssystemen wurzelt. Ernsthaftigkeit ist dabei das Credo, fernab von Dogmen und Hierarchien der Entstehungsgrundlage, sondern vielmehr Basis für eine bedingungslose Hingabe, die Ergebnisse erschließt wie das vorliegende. Dort, wo eine Deckungsgleichheit von Handlungen erzeugt wird, entsteht eine Überzeugungsgemeinschaft, eine, die gemeinsam einen Pfad beschreitet, der an den wenig begangenen Weg Robert Frosts erinnert. Das, was dabei betreten wird, ist gesäumt von einem Streben nach Ganzheitlichkeit in Bild und Ton. Das dort im Verborgenen Schlummernde wird Stück um Stück freigelegt, hoch ist der Aufwand für dieses Abringen, jetzt und für immer." [S.L./Black Magazine]
"Nearly a decade ago, Syndrome came into the world through the Belgian mind of one Mathieu Vandekerckhove due to his need for a meditative vehicle through which he could release the negative energy in his life and transform it into something more constructive. This vehicle obviously existed in obscurity, laying dormant in silence for many years before taking on the attributes of droning post-rock and finding a home in 2011 with Belgian label ConSouling Sounds where Vandekerckhove has spent his entire career under this moniker to this point. Life was officially given to Syndrome when “Floating Veins” was released last June, finding availability in both a 12″ and a CD limited to 500 copies, of which the first 100 came with a bonus DVD-R of material. Other than that and “Now and Forever” here, the only other existing official Syndrome release is a three-way split with Monotonos and Sequences entitled “Fall of Man”. Outside of Syndrome, Vandekerckhove is otherwise known for his work as guitarist for sludge doom bands Kingdom and, more importantly, Amenra whom found a decisive home in Neurot Recordings a year ago. Unfortunately it seems that, despite a promised release of the new studio album “Mass V” a few months after signing, nothing has yet been unleashed.
This slow pace on Neurot may be what has freed Vandekerckhove to pursue his solo project in such depth, and that depth has found him constructing a one-track, 28 minute opus in dedication to his son, Wolf, for this release. What few words are present here exist as a guiding light for his son towards finding himself, finding strength, helping others, and knowing no matter how distant the expanse, be it physical or ethereal, his father is there in spirit. It’s an intimate portrait of the proverbial handing of the torch in blood, primal if not tribal in spirit. A tribal nature is in fact how this album opens, with a subtle light percussive notion — the only place on the entire album where you’ll find any hint of bombast behind the epic, weaving feedback drones that shimmer harmoniously before washing away in tides of a deeper, less tenuous drone that is textured lightly by gentle noise and guitar tones. These moments will eventually give way to the heart of the track that contains the lyrical content and the most desolate production within the release to give space for the vocals to express their stern, yet inert fragility. The deep performance here, both literally and emotionally, immediately reminds of efforts from several artists including Steve von Till and later Ulver, and whose building ethereal guitar nature is uncannily reminiscent of the gut-wrenching dreamy style that Love Spirals Downwards once achieved.
Other than the obvious emotions associated with succeeding at bringing a child into this world, there has to be something incredibly special on an entirely different, subconscious level about implementing those emotions into a dedication through music. It was a decade ago, this year, that Green Carnation released their acclaimed “Light of Day, Day of Darkness” album which was inspired by, at least in part, by the birth of Tchort’s son and the death of his daughter. Obviously there is a greater sense of melancholy in that record, but there is a very distinct yet undefinable emotion that accompanied that album — an emotion that is also present in full force here. It certainly isn’t melancholy, but it is reserved all the same — focused and incontrovertibly sincere. That said, it’s difficult to place the particular portion of the painting by Matthieu Ronsse, “Bateau”, that as used as the album cover, in regards to it’s significance to the subject matter at hand. It certainly fits in with the ethereal music of “Now and Forever”, and there are certainly ties in sound to the sea, but it is certainly cryptic at best in relation. The figure pictured has a ship’s flags linked to the inside corners of the eyes, almost representing tears, while the sail itself covers the mouth. The ship itself is on fire. There are many obvious lines of thought, but they seem to contradict one another once their paths cross.
Perhaps this is an explanation best saved for another article at another time. Regardless of the cryptic artwork though, it’s hard to imagine an album of this style achieving a level of perfection that rises above this. There’s simply such an incredible amount of intensity, love, and musical prowess at work in “Now and Forever” to find any kind of negative attributes within." [Sage/Heathen Harvest]
|
2013 |
€20.50 |
|
| SYRINX |
Outside the Life that's haunting me |
do-CDR |
"Second release for Dark Meadow Recordings... First run of 35 has no cat number on them as they have been printed before Dark Meadow Recordings was properly realised.
Syrinx - Outside the Life that's Haunting Me, Featuring Jon (Ghoul Detail), Dave (Glowingpixie), Ed, and Al (Calactus) on Distant.
Case hand made, numbered and with insert.
4 Track 2 x CDR, Artwork by Glowingpixie.
1st (54mins) "Distant" - lo-fi ambient drone track featuring Calactus on vocals.
2nd (7 mins) "Syrinx Love Song" - harsh ambient noise track.
3rd (36 mins) "Give Up!" - drone / harsh ambient track.
4th (30 mins) "There You Are" - electroacoustic drone track." [label info]
www.darkmeadowrecordings.com
|
2010 |
€10.00 |
|
| SZMT |
Parvenu |
CD |
Parvenu is a work about authoritarian structures and developments.
The narrative is abstract, all sounds are concrete. Every single sound on this recording is based on recordings from three bee hives.
Track List:
Sometimes She Had Melancholic Memories of Her Larval Stage – 11:48
His Primary Role Was to Mate with the Fertile Queen – 9:04
The General Skepticism of the Constitutional Monarchy Was Justified as New Forms of Authority Surfaced – 15:11
The Surviving Virgin Queen Hid in the Shadows of Her Former Kingdom – 11:37
www.gruenrekorder.de
"Behind szmt (no capitals needed) is Tobias Schmitt, better know, I think, as Suspicion Breeds Confidence, but also an improviser and organiser of concerts. As szmt he “contextualizes seemingly contradictory material and techniques. All input is equal and will be formed into a coherent but nevertheless open to misinterpretation result by means of improvisation and composition” and for
‘Parvenu’ we read that it is a “work about authoritarian structures and developments. The narrative is abstract, all sounds are concrete. Every single sound on this recording is based on recordings from three bee hives”, in which context I guess the whole authoritarian structures becomes funny. When I played this yesterday for the first time I didn’t look any of this up, nor could I really decipher the font
on the cover and decided to give it another try, another day, which turned out to be today. Now that I know I am hearing the processed sound of bees, it sounds like something very obvious, but I guess that’s always the case. I assume that Schmitt is armed with a laptop and sound processing tools that lie within those machines to compose the four pieces on this CD. It is shimmering, quiet, sometimes loud, sometimes very processed, beyond recognition and then sometimes it seems to be fairly close to
what is really a recording of a bee. Most of the times it sounds like the work of microsound, that active music force from a decade ago, but in the case of szmt that is perhaps 2/3 of the story. In “The General Skepticism of the Constitutional Monarchy Was Justified as New Forms of Authority Surfaced” (all four
titles are that weird, indeed), Schmitt let’s his bees do a dance, and while not really techno music, or perhaps something we could or should dance too, there is surely some kind of groove to be detected.
Schmitt’s work reminded me of Roel Meelkop, Marc Behrens and that posse, but he added his own
twist by allowing a more loop based structure, working his processing around those, calling for
minimalist developments within each piece. It’s these perhaps not so big differences that actually made it stand out from the microsound as it was before and made it into something he can call his." [FDW/Vital Weekly]
"Gruenrekorder recordings are often filled with surprises, and szmt’s Parvenu is no exception: the brainchild of Tobias Schmitt, the forty-eight-minute release was created entirely using sounds derived from three bee hives. Given the szmt description provided, Schmitt, who also issues material under the Suspicion Breeds Confidence alias (e.g., The Fauna and Flora of the Vatican City) and has contributed to a number of releases on the label over the years, would appear to be somewhat of a provocateur. szmt, we’re told, “contextualizes seemingly contradictory material and techniques” such that all input is “formed into a coherent but nevertheless open-to-misinterpretation result by means of improvisation and composition.”
In the case of Parvenu, four long-form explorations are presented, each carrying with it a wordy title, the lengthiest “The General Skepticism of the Constitutional Monarchy Was Justified as New Forms of Authority Surfaced.” The material’s predictably abstract and amenable to interpretation, the listener free to conjure any number of possible interpretations in response. Occasional moments of insect swarm and buzzing do surface, but for the most part Schmitt’s treated the original recordings like so much raw material ready to be liberally shaped and transformed.
As the recording plays, it’s impossible to predict what direction it’ll take; at one juncture, a writhing, industrial-inflected rhythm pattern begins to assert itself before a swathe of smears abruptly takes its place. Elsewhere, amplified chirping, grinding, and warbling noises suggest a microphone moving in closely on the hive and its inhabitants, with rutting sounds of indeterminate origin implying activity of some (re)productive kind occurring within. Tinged with sci-fi bleeps, a few ambient-like episodes arise that one would perhaps misidentify as synth-generated were one unaware of the production methodology involved, and strange though it might sound, that aforementioned track, especially when it features clattering beat elements, threads sequences into its fifteen-minute frame that aren’t unlike what one might encounter in an early Autechre experiment.
A number of possible descriptions come to mind, but experimental soundsculpting might be the best and simplest fit for what’s going on here. Such experimentation is business as usual at Gruenrekorder central, of course, as long-time followers of the label already know. As strange to outsiders as Parvenu will be, to Gruenrekorder fans such weirdness is nothing more than standard operating procedure." [Texture] |
2017 |
€13.00 |
|
| SZYMCZUK, MACIEK |
Clouds |
CD |
"The next Maciek Szymczuk album Clouds sees the light of the day on 28th February and it is a logical and perfect continuation of contemplative motives from its predecessor called Ways. Although the cover shows only Maciek's name, the album is filled with guest appearances which add energy and ideas to the 14 compositions gathered here.
The music on Clouds is changeable, just like the nature of this weather phenomenon. At one point it is delicate and ethereal, when at the other it is stormy and dark (as signified on the cover.) With all its diversity, all the tracks form one coherent whole which helps to relax and meditate a bit. With more focus on atmosphere than bouncy rhythms, Clouds is more of a soothing experience.
The release date is not insignificant - it is the birthday of Maciek. But it is the listeners we are having presents for. The first 100 copies of Clouds will include a special bonus CDR called Rare Species Vol. 1 which will contain renditions of Clouds tracks (prepared by Andrew Lagowski, Blare For A, Dead Factory, Michael Hoffmann and Xenoton), remixes by Maciek Szymczuk (done for kIRk and Echoes of Yul among the others) and, apart from those, compilation and unreleased tracks.
All together gathered on one disc, so it is quite a treat." [label info]
www.zoharum.com
|
2013 |
€12.00 |
|
| TABOR RADOSTI |
Lamat |
CD |
Filed under: occult / gothic dark ambient industrial. Long existing project from Czech Republic (translates as "Joy Camp" - who seem to play live only with masks) with their version of eerie & bleak electronic / technoid horror-ambience....digitalized drones & sounds, neo-classic elements, at part rhythms appear, a dishumanized voice speaks in an (unknown?) language. Very bombastic, soundtrackish & dramatic as a whole, but there are also melancholic parts (which sounds a bit like a softporno soundtrack) in between...
For fans of: AH CAMA SOTZ, LAIBACH, COIL, SCHLOSS TEGAL (someone of them had his hands in the mix too).
|
2006 |
€13.50 |
|
| |
Havamal |
CD |
Tábor Radosti is a fantastic band from the Czech Republic. Their debut album came out in 2001 as a self-released CDR that is now totally impossible to find. Tábor Radosti have created a very unique sound that includes drone, voice, samples, but also beats and analogue instruments. Their visuals and lyrics are very much centered around occult themes, if you have ever seen them live you will have been stunned. Klanggalerie is now very proud to start a re-issue program for the first two albums. Many of you have probably not heard of them before, but it is time that they gain popularity outside of their home country. The vocals are spoken in Czech - to Western European or American ears there is a certain similarity to early Laibach, they share the same roughness, but Tabor Radosti also include electronic beats which again is reminiscent of present day Laibach. On this re-issue, we bring back the second album Havamal with also updated artwork and some bonus tracks. NB: We at Klanggalerie stumbled across Tabor Radosti at Castle Festival in Moravia and were so impressed by their performance that we signed them immediately.
https://klanggalerie.bandcamp.com/album/h-vam-l
|
2018 |
€14.00 |
|
| TAEHA TYPES |
Mechanical Keyboard Sounds: Recordings of Bespoke and Customized Mechanical Keyboards |
LP |
"Mechanical Keyboard Sounds: Recordings of Bespoke and Customized Mechanical Keyboards is made and recorded by the master of this modern art, Nathan from Taeha Types. Yes, this is actual typing sounds on amazing future/retro/cutting edge keyboards, every track and keyboard different. Listen and weep, or sleep, or something to this incredible and unique listening experience -- the first mechanical keyboard album ever. For the last few years a small scene has been growing: the mechanical keyboard scene. It makes total sense as most people use keyboards every day, so why not have an amazing keyboard to use instead of total crap? Just look down: it's shit, isn't it? Some people worked out that things could be improved -- a lot. They started to make incredible, kinky keyboards, using both old and new tech: the possibilities and options in construction are endless. There are key cap options, spring options, and even backplate options (steel, aluminum, copper), and of course, case options too. All these options make a big or little difference. Once made these keyboards are carefully lubricated spring by spring to give them that little extra smoothness and "ping". The results are beautiful, fetishistic, and futuristic in an odd retro style, and they sound amazing when they are typed on. This is classic ASMR/whisper porn; the gentle click and rattle of carefully lubed springy keyboards make the hairs on the back of the neck rise. Either that or wooed into a peaceful, sublime state. This is a classic and groundbreaking new Trunk album for modern stressful times, from a selection of (enhanced) keyboards from the '80s, '90s, and now. They were recorded by the master maker of the modern mechanical keyboard, Nathan from Taeha Types. He has a large following on Instagram, YouTube (videos of his hands typing on his keyboards hit 10K in just a couple of days after upload), and he now has over half a million views on his Twitch channel where he constructs keyboards live. Notes by Jonny Trunk and Stu London (AKA Futurecrime) from the London mechanical keyboard scene. He knows what the fuck he is talking about. One might not understand it, but one can catch up really quickly. Mastered by Jon Brooks. Presented in full-color sleeve, with special foil pantone."
|
2019 |
€28.00 |
|
| TAGG, DAVID |
Pentecost |
CD |
"When the hard work of the day is done, and you go home and begin your nightly routine of winding down, there are only so many things that reciprocate that relaxed stillness. Here at Install, we're happy to say that we have the exact soundtrack for many of your sleepy evenings to come: David Tagg's newest album PENTECOST. Following in the wake of his Cold Spring Harbor EP, and utilizing a process that included using his grandfather's reel-to-reel tapes of organ playing for source sound, David has created what could be described as an "ambient novel". A superbly vivid work of musical nonfiction that tells the stories of 1000 photographs, long since forgotten memories and a crackling, eroded legacy, now exhumed from the dusty wine cellars of Tagg's sentimental estate. What all this wholly amounts to is a landmark recording, full of cool, subdued tones and soft shadowy movements. PENTECOST could be David's strongest ambient moment, if not only for consistency, but also for potency." [label website info]
www.installsound.net
|
2010 |
€13.00 |
|
| TALVIHORROS |
Descent into Delta |
CD |
"A year passes by and finally Talvihorros is back with his latest album Descent Into Delta to be released on both vinyl and CD. The man behind this one man guitar driven excursion is London based Ben Chatwin who in addition to hibernate has had material released through Benbecula, My Dance The Skull and our sister label Rural Colours. Despite only recently forming the Talvihorros project in 2008, Chatwin has been experimenting with sound ever since he first picked up a guitar as a teenager. His live performances have seen him share a stage with the likes of Tim Hecker, Stephan Mathieu and Ian Hawgood to name just a few. Chatwin has to this point juggled live performances and studio work as two separate entities with studio material being culled from sounds derived from as many different instruments as possible and live performances being restricted to just guitar and pedals.
Descent Into Delta marks the blurring of the lines which separate these two disciplines. It was live performance that ignited the production of this record, which began life as a series of live improvisations, these were then selected and edited over a long period of time. During the mixing process the concept to Descent Into Delta was born and it slowly developed through many hours of editing and arrangement. Chatwin became interested in different states of mind, realising it actually produces frequencies or waves - much like sound, itself. When the mind is alert, awake or anxious, these waves are Gamma, at the other extreme, during deep sleep, Delta waves are produced. It was in turn Chatwin's intention that the sounds of Descent Into Delta would loosely depict a journey from Gamma through to Delta, as a kind of experiment to see whether the listener could be subconsciously encouraged to trace this path through sound.
Towards the last few moments of the album on the last track 'Delta', Chatwin was joined by viola player Anais Lalange who added a subtle but effective impact to the closing stages of this record. The addition of this instrument brings a whole new dimension and texture to the guitar explorations of Talvihorros." [label info]
www.hibernate-recs.co.uk
"Back in Vital Weekly 731 I reviewed the first CD by Talvihorros, also known as Ben Chatwin, a man with a guitar and effect pedals. He has had a couple of other releases, which I didn't hear. Up until this album there was a separation between live concerts and studio work. In his studio he would be using whatever sounds he could produce from whatever instrument, but live he was restricted to guitar plus effects. For this new studio album he took many hours of live playing into the studio and then started to edit and arrange this. Of his previous release on Hibernate I thought it was all quite ambient, but on this new one, things are less strictly defined. The guitar is overall a dominant factor for this, and its played at times in a more improvised way, feeding through bundles of sound effects. That results at times in menacing walls of sound such as in 'Beta', in which it reaches for the ambient doom of Nadja. Darkness is anyway something that lingers in all five pieces here, even in its more introspective and quiet moments, such as the very beautiful 'Delta', which has a nice viola to it. One could say that with this album Talvihorros found more a voice of his own than on the previous. Blending ambient with the improvised textures of ambient doom/metal into five fine tapestries of sound is very nice, though not unheard before, but a fine move indeed." [FdW/Vital Weekly]
|
2011 |
€12.00 |
|
| TAMING POWER |
Twelve Pieces |
10" |
Der wohl auflagenstärkste Release bisher von dem norwegischen Geheimtip TAMING POWER - und wieder eine 10" ! Der Nachfolger von THREE PIECES und SIX PIECES beginnt mit kleinen Minimalismen jeweils für eine Solostimme, in Form von Gitarre, Casio-Synth & Zither... Auf Seite B aber finden sich weitaus komplexere & dronigere Stücke, wo Instrumentalflächen-Sounds übereinander geschichtet werden - das erinnert dann mehr an die schönen "three pieces" und "six pieces"- 10"es...
Die Coverartwork (handgeschriebene Labels & Credits, etc.), die Musik - all das strahlt einen sehr persönlichen DO IT YOURSELF - Geist aus, abseits von jeglichen Trends kreiert hier jemand sein eigenen kleinen Kosmos.
"Until now releases by Taming Power, and there has been quite a few, were highly limited editions of around 150 copies, but this new one is released in an edition of 525 copies: the pressing plant don't do any less anymore. A pity since Taming Power has to 'sell out' before making anything new, so this might be one of the last before some time. Taming Power, the musical project of Askild Haugland from Oslo, Norway, is a man who loves drones, but as you can tell by the title these don't have to be long. Twelve pieces on a 10". The seven pieces on side one are short, sketch like pieces, played on the guitar, zither and keyboards. Haugland feeds the sound through a little bit of reverb, fortunate not enough to drown the sound, but to make the whole thing a bit 'rounder'. The pieces are simple melodies, effective and work best when played on the guitar. The keyboard pieces are bit less in quality I thought. The five pieces here are more complex, layered sounds, more sound effects, and effectively more drone related in the way people associate this with drones. Layered sounds, with the usual analogue means of Taming Power (who works with tape recorders rather than computers), these pieces are more along the lines of his recent works. Complex, drone based, this is some damn fine music going on. It would be a pity not see any new thing from him in a while, but maybe he should consider doing CDs? So I recommend any serious lover of drone music to get a copy (or two) and keep Early Morning Records alive." [FdW, Vital Weekly]
|
2007 |
€10.00 |
|
| |
Selected Works 2001 |
CD-R |
"There was a time when Vital Weekly reviewed a lot of vinyl and cassette releases by Taming Power, the musical project of Askild Haugland. That's what I wrote back in Vital Weekly 711 too, when he released a double LP of his work following an extensive gap before and, as we know now, after that. He never released many CDRs, but he did so in 2001, when he released this CDR which is now re-issued, which was to promote his music to concert organizers, as back then he was interested in playing studio pieces in between bands, rather than having a DJ on. It was intended to have this released on vinyl and maybe some day it will. Apparently I call Haugland a 'liar' as he wrote me 'please DO NOT once again call me a liar', but that seems a bit of a harsh word for me to use. I don't recall exactly but maybe I had some doubts about how he generated some of his drone like pieces. He writes also that the 'music was made entirely and exclusively from tape recorder feedback. Sounds and sequences
were generated on a reel-to-reel tape recorder and then edited to a 4 track recorder'. I am not going to argue with that, he's the creator, he's right. I must admit I didn't hear much of his music again, but these ten shortish pieces (lasting thirty minutes) are quite nice works for multiple layers of feedback, creating moody and occasional harsher textures and defies the easy goin' drone music. I like the fact that these are almost pop-like length pieces and each piece is a rounded set of improvisations, disguising themselves as compositions. I am not sure if these should be re-released again on vinyl, but this is perhaps a fine reminder that Taming Power should do some new music." [FdW/Vital Weekly] |
2013 |
€6.00 |
|
| TAPE |
Milieu plus |
CD |
"Nach OPERA (Häpna 9) das zweite Album für das schwedische Trio um ANDREAS BERTHLING. Zeitlose schöne, handgespielte Instrumental-Musik, entspannend & introvertiert & positive Vibrationen erzeugend.... gezupte Gitarren, Melodica, Akkordeon, Orgal, Harmonium, Vibraphone, mit einzelnen zarten geräuschhaften Zwischenparts....wie ein Nachmittagsspaziergang in lauer Herbst-Sonne..." [Drone Rec. info 2003]
"Tape is a trio from Stockholm, Sweden, building their music from a whole array of acoustic instruments, computer and field recordings. Their first CD "Opera" got excellent reviews in international press and was compared to artists such as Talk Talk, Gastr del Sol, Fennesz, John Fahey and Faust. Their new CD "Milieu" shares the same basic premises as "Opera". All kinds of sound sources are used and organically integrated in the songs, which move freely somewhere between the composed and the improvised. Even if "Milieu" makes use of experimental methods, the album are argumentably more songbased than "Opera" and therefore maybe more accessible." [original label description]
www.hapna.com
|
2008 |
€14.00 |
|
| TAPE LOOP ORCHESTRA |
Interiors Two |
LP + CD + BOOK |
New impressionistic, metaphysical investigations from Andrew Hargreaves’ Tape Loop Orchestra.
Taking his cues from found photos and a hopeless romantic sensibility, Tape Loop Orchestra’s entropic drift carries him thru rooms 7-13 of his ‘Interiors’ trilogy, taking all the time he needs to ponder the questions: “Are there invisible entities left adrift when a room is unoccupied, sounds forever reverberating beyond the life of the body? Is there a way for us to access this library written in the air?”Across the LP he typically divines a moire of ephemeral emotive nudges swept up in ferric swells, while the bonus CD supplies an intimate audience with TLO recorded live at Manchester’s Partisan venue on a chilly sunday evening in winter 2018.
In a transition from fading daylight to darkness, the music on the LP inhabits richly melancholy headspace. Initially clear, plangent keys and choral sighs almost subliminally begin to fray at the edges as their signals become reiterated in outwardly spiralling feedback loops. Across the front the sound connotes a late summer light ebbing away into dusk, gradually allowing the ear’s eye to adjust to the low luminosity of the B-side, where a chill of night seeps into the near-static scenes, fringed by the meridian sound of distant cars or the shiver of spirits accreted in soft furnishings and peeling wallpaper, eventually slowing down to a stark solo piano pulse and even Carpenter-style atmospheric noir.
Leading on beautifully from the LP’s solemn ending is TLO’s live set recorded for an event organised by Tom Houghton at Partisan, a listed building in a historic quarter of Manchester city centre. We were lucky enough to be lulled to a soporific state by said set, and we can assure listeners it’s lost none of its enchanted appeal on the CD.
|
2019 |
€34.00 |
|
| TAPHEPHOBIA |
House of Memories |
do-CD |
As Reverse Alignment was established in 2007 we also made our first contact with Ketil Søraker. His guitarbased drone project Taphephobia had just a moment ago released it's first opus "House of Memories" through the belgium label Nothingness Records. From there on we've been in touch more or less, (in a more constant period) when putting out "Anomie" and "Black City Skyline", (and more or less) over the years when new production's emerged.
Since Taphephobia's first release in 2007, Ketil's project is now a permanent act under the banner of Cyclic Law and has since it's start released six albums, and a load of collaborative albums and compilation tracks.
Now, 10 years after it's publication, Reverse Alignment release House of Memories again, with new artwork and design from Haerleif Langås and mastered by Frédéric Arbour. As a special treat follows eleven selected compilation tracks put together for this release. All a good way to summarize ten years of Taphephobia, from how the project sounded in the early days to today.
reversealignment.bandcamp.com/album/house-of-memories
|
2017 |
€16.00 |
|
| TARAB |
Strata |
CD |
"Strata has been constructed from recording made in a series of vacant lots and their immediate surrounds in the north-west of Melbourne. These vacant lots are backed onto by various factories and warehouses on one side and a train line and Moonee Ponds creek (perhaps more aptly described as a concrete storm water drain) on the other. Running some 20 meters above all this is a large multi-lane highway overpass. This area has interested me for some time, the creeks and their walking paths act as a thoroughfare of sorts somewhat removed from the rest of the city. Somewhere to move through but not to stop and spend any real time. This collection of empty lots in particular has become an overlooked pocket, acting as a trap and dumping ground for rubbish or as a safe out of the way location for homeless people to live. It is a place where the industrial meets nature to create a zone which is strangely neither. It has a odd feeling of emptiness while being both sonically and physically dense with traffic noise, over grown weeds, hidden dwellings and rubbish.
As discussed in the introduction to Francesco Careri’s book Walkscapes: Walking as an Aesthetic Practice (Editorial Gustavo Gili, 2002) there is a common held view of the urban landscape as full with small pockets of emptiness (be it parks or demolition sites), as opposed to the rural landscape which is seen as empty with small areas of density. A view which holds within it much of the associated baggage regarding centres, peripheries and social marginalisation. What is thought of as empty is often simply that which is not seen or heard, the majority of people wilfully choosing to ignore. As for many others, these areas of cities hold great fascination for me, acting as a sort of hidden zone, full of the traces and debris of various past and present human activity, whether commercial, domestic or nefarious. All the while being slowly eroded by weather and reclaimed by the now unrestrained plant and animal life.
Rather than attempting to document this location I set out to construct a sound piece from the place itself through my direct interaction with it. Somehow collecting together all the existent traces I could unearth to form the work. Not only through walking, observing and recording the various areas and sounds but also by crawling and scratching around in the dirt; sifting through the piles of discarded objects; listening to the solid vibrations of the concrete pylons and traffic noise from inside the creek; by burying microphones and dragging them through the dirt and rubble. Strata attempts to respond to ideas of urban density and emptiness, and to show how these states blur and overlap each other. I have tried to highlight the small hidden details and with them create a condensed hyper-real version of my many wanderings through this area. But perhaps more simply put, Strata is the result of a process of attempting to, if only fleetingly, inhabit somewhere. To see, hear, smell and touch it." ]Eamon Sprod, September 2013]
www.unfathomless.net
"Vacant store fronts, abandoned buildings, and empty lots are increasingly harder to find in San Francisco these days. Even the former wastelands well to the east of our Mission location are filling in with all manner of development, from modern office spaces to sleek steel & glass apartments. Complaints of gentrification can hardly be made when such buildings are constructed on purportedly mitigated toxic sludge or the settled landfill of crumbled highways from the '89 earthquake. These dead zones in the urban landscape nevertheless are thriving ecosystems of feral plants and animals that can exist sprouting through broken asphalt and plumping themselves on the scraps of whatever can be pulled from nearby garbage cans. Few would pine over the loss of such spaces, and the Australian sound artist Eamon Sprod (aka Tarab) is one who would actively explore vacant lots instead of ignoring them. Over the years, Sprod has released a small catalogue of brilliant, if understated albums that reflect these dead spaces in the urban landscape, often with apocalyptic foreshadowings through his compositions. He patiently builds this work through layers of sparsely processed field recordings and found object manipulation often recorded directly in such environments - empty warehouses, military bunkers, dry sewer ducts and the like. For Strata, Sprod has documented something of a concrete island on the outskirts of Melbourne, bordered by train tracks, highways, and drainage ditches. In collecting his recordings, he would dig and claw through the broken concrete, construction refuse, bum trash, and aggregated debris, amassing a whole array of crumbled textures and noises that would also echo with the distant din of cars and trains roaring by, many miles away. What is always impressive about Sprod's albums is the incredible clarity of detail which pops into focus, as the bright frequencies of found metal debris take the shape of obsidian shards with possible diabolically mystical qualities. The compositions coalesce into churning swarms of texture that snap into expansive rumbles paralleling the desolation of Thomas Koner's polar treks, giving way to doppler-effected field recordings of trains with the grinding of brakes and the pulsing thunder of the engines. It's that rich attention to detail that warrants comparisons to Chris Watson's impeccable phonography, but the compositional approach strikes a balance between the psychological implications of Luc Ferrari and those damn-near perfect collages by Small Cruel Party. As with all of Tarab's work, this is very highly recommended! Limited to just 200 copies!" [Aquarius Records]
"Not the most active when it comes to releases by Eamon Sprod always gets around with his music, and has been releasing music on 23Five Incorporated, Naturestrip and most recently on Semper Florens (see Vital Weekly 866). Here he has a thirty-four minute piece based on a recording in a 'series of vacant lots and their surrounds which back on the Macaulay Station and Moonee Ponds Creek, North Melbourne, Australia', so train sounds are part and parcel of this. Although it's not entirely clear what he does, I'd say Tarab uses an excellent balance between pure, untreated sounds - here's where the trains drive right through your living room - and the treated versions there of, but it's never really that clear what is what indeed. Maybe Tarab stuck some contact microphones of the tracks as to pick up some far away signals, or rummages through the dirt along the tracks, which makes a very dynamic piece of music. Sometimes very loud and present but then as abruptly switching off and staying
is this low audible audio rumble of amplified gravel. Sometimes, as say around eight minutes, there is a deep end bass sound which must be something the computer coughed up, but then, I might be entirely wrong here. This is a great release of music that comes to us a soundscape and not as a pure documentation of sounds; exactly the kind of thing I like. Much enjoyable release from down under." [FdW/Vital Weekly]
|
2013 |
€14.00 |
|
| |
I'm Lost |
CD |
"A schizoid-concrete opus of environmental sounds heightened, stimulated, decontextualized, and teased into a psychic puzzle of industrialized and post-industrialized detritus, I'm Lost marks another milestone in the ever impressive catalogue from Australian sound-artist Eamon Sprod, who adopts the moniker Tarab for his endeavors. The title is one that explodes with a multitude of meaning. There's the geographical frustration in losing one's way as the surrounding landmarks fail to match with whatever technology may be in use (e.g. a sextant, a compass, an iPhone, a torn map, one's poor memory of a childhood neighborhood, etc.). There's the psychological implications of being lost from the existential narratives that we have scripted for ourselves due to broken relationships, failed jobs, dead relatives, natural disasters, the hand of God, etc. In addition to these possibilities, Sprod proposes that the notion of "lost" could also be an inversion of the idea of the "found object" or the "found sound," instead becoming the "lost object" or the "lost sound." Sprod's semantic wordplay is hardly a conceptual gimmick, as he fully immerses himself in the confusional framework while maintaining a consummate technical prowess over his field recordings. The compositional approach is rhizomatic, with dead-ends, wrong turns, and reprisals of these same dead-ends and wrong turns, offering a blackhumor sneer at the stubbornness of humanity's inability to learn from our mistakes (e.g. pollution, blight, poverty, disease, etc). Within the album's harsh edits and disjointed collages, Sprod renders sound with dysphoric associations through his vacant drift, crumbled gravel, scalding plasma-tube frequencies, and putrid factory noise. I'm Lost achieves the same psychological gravity as heard in the works of Sudden Infant, P16.D4, and John Duncan with an even greater sense of dislocation from those pioneers of radical tape splicing." [label info]
www.23five.org
" "Careful arrangements of sonic rubbish." That's one hell of a great artist's statement, courtesy of Eamon Sprod (aka Tarab). Over the past decade or so, this Australian sound-artist has quietly produced some of the finer examples of composition through field recording. His work is hardly the stuff of pleasantries from a soft ambient whoosh set as the backdrop to various birdsongs plopped willy-nilly for the intrepid listener to identify. Nope, there's always the threat of psychological, psychic, and existential violence lurking throughout Sprod's work. When the insect chorales push through to the foreground, it's symbolic of pestilence, disease, blight, and the simple fact that much in the outback can fucking kill you. It's easy to tap into the ultra-violent, post-apocalyptic, doomsayer, and/or isolationist scenarios mapped out elsewhere through the Australian psyche (e.g. Mad Max, Chopper, On The Beach, Bad Boy Bubby, etc.); and Sprod carves out his own niche in digging through the hinterlands of urban neglect, locating meaning of psychogeographical import (or the lack there of) within a recontextualized sound object. Since his debut Surfacedrift back in 2004, Sprod's work has steadily exhibited a maturation in conceptualization and aesthetic complexity, culminating in the schizophonic collage-tactics of I'm Lost.
The opening salvo of leaden thud, turbine roar, and pressurized blasts of air slithering through release valves is a torrent of concrete-actions, jump-cuts, and dead-ends, as if Sprod has decided to dematerialize the listener and purposefully mistranslate the coordinates between alternate realities of equally miserable / fascinating locations of industrialized bleakness. When he settles upon a singular space-time continuum, it's a vat of uranium churning at the bottom of an oil drum, while the container itself quickens its half-life through atomic fission. Another turn and Sprod channels an ethereally unholy skree of a thousand particle accelerators amassing their beams on a single contact microphone, ending up with something akin to a far more uncomfortable Phill Niblock or Rhys Chatham, manifested through what could be fluorescent bulbs. The quiet passages of textural rummaging that Sprod intersperses throughout I'm Lost have the queasy feel of somebody pulling off scabs from old wounds. Equal parts Cronenberg and Schimpfluch (Lanz, Phillips, Eb.Er., Zeier, etc.) - so of course, it's fucking awesome." [Aquarius Records]
"When reviewing 'Strata', the previous release by Tarab in Vital Weekly 911, I already noted that he's not the world's busiest bee when it comes to releases, but with steady intervals there's always something new. The title could refer to being lost in a geographical sense of the word, or being lost from 'existential narratives that we have scripted for ourselves' (broken relationships, failed jobs), but Eamon Sprod uses it for 'lost object' and 'lost sound', opposed to 'found object' and 'found sound'. He still uses field recordings on these five pieces here, but also to a wider extent than before the collage/cut-up aspect in all of this. 'Strata' seemed rather un-manipulated, but 'I'm Lost' is surely the product of lots of manipulation. Firstly through the layering of sounds and secondly through cutting these up and re-assembling these sounds. It makes that this music is a bit more noise like than before, jumping around in all these weird and unexpected cuts. It's not easy to say
where Tarab gets his field recordings; if they are tied in to specific location(s), or thematically linked or from whatever source he seems fit. Maybe they all stem from pollution sites, I thought, as to a certain extent it seems to me this album is also a bit darker than his previous work, or perhaps many other works by those who work inside field recordings. It may share the negative worldview of say Joe Colley or the near-broken equipment of Francisco Meirino and with both of them it's a similar collage like styled, dynamic work of collage and cut-up. And, if you have been paying attention in the past few years, it's this dynamic form of noise - loud, quiet, high, low - which, combined with a refined sense of composition, is something that I enjoy very much. Therefore I can easily say that this is Tarab's best work to date. Strictly personal opinion, obviously." [FdW/Vital Weekly]
|
2014 |
€13.00 |
|
| TARKATAK |
Mormor |
CD |
"Tarkataks MORMOR schafft es mit einer bezaubernden Leichtigkeit, unser Hören in Bewegung zu versetzen. Wir finden uns am Ende der Nacht auf einem Floß, in einem Gewässer aus Klang, soweit das Hören reicht. Akustische Räume öffnen sich, und bieten behutsam bearbeiteten Klängen zuvorkommend ihren Platz an. Melodien singen von ihrem eigenen Entstehen und Vergehen. Statischer Dunst verhüllt die nahe Dämmerung, bis in der Ferne mechanische Oszillationen von einem Ufer und frühen Vögeln künden. Klippen unter der Oberfläche erzeugen schimmernde Interferenzen. Der Ort ist erfüllt von einem fernen Echo letzter Hausmusik, und verstörte Endlosschleifen erzählen in fremden Sprachen von einer unmöglichen Insel, auf der Menschen und Maschinen einen gemeinsamen Rhythmus finden. Versöhnt besteigen wir wieder unser Floß - und lassen uns von MORMOR auf erhabenen Wellen zum fliehenden Horizont tragen." [label info]
"...Tarkatak's music is still highly atmospheric, but much more sparse these days. Each of the four long pieces is built around just a few loops, which Tarkatak plays around with, changing the color of them, getting them out of sync and back in sync again, and such like, and creates a wonderful textured sound. There are times when 'Mormor' reminded me of Taylor Deupree, but then a bit more dark, but it has the same relaxed feeling to it. But there is also the featuring of rhythm, which is also an entirely aspect, certainly when it comes down to stripped down techno rhythms. Quite a break with the past, I think and quite a step forward. Including is a film for one of the tracks, which depicts the sea and the sand, along with a lonely man - the sort of film you'd expect with this lonesome music. Great CD, and hopefully bringing him some more recognition" [FdW / Vital Weekly]
|
2007 |
€10.00 |
|
| TATE AND LILES |
Without Season |
CD |
Feine Collaboration der ORA-Hälfte DARREN TATE mit dem aufsteigenden Brightoner ANDREW LILES. TATE hat wieder field recordings beigesteuert (z.B. Holz- oder Bootknirschen, leises Bachrauschen, Äthersounds, Vögel & andere Tiere, Laufgeräusche, Unterholz-knispern), die unverarbeitet im Mix auftauchen, während ruhige drones und Instrumentalklänge (Piano, Akkordeon) das ganze konstrastieren... WITHOUT SEASON klingt überwiegend getragen, dunkel und etwas bedrohlich & ist von einer gewissen surrealistischen Bizarrheit, irgendwas „stimmt hier nicht“ oder lauert im Geäst...
“There is a playful madness, an eccentricity running through the veins of this recording. Disembodied sounds flit around the margins of our consciousness, barely recognisable, separated from obvious meaning, snatches of the almost familiar. We’re nearly home, but not quite. It’s more dreamlike, a perverse version of home, where something isn’t quite right, something is out of place. Our sanity perhaps?
‘In that direction,’ the Cat said, waving its right paw round, ‘lives a Hatter: and in that direction,’ waving the other paw, ‘lives a March Hare. Visit either you like: they’re both mad.’
‘But I don’t want to go among mad people,’ Alice remarked.
‘Oh, you can’t help that,’ said the Cat: ‘we’re all mad here. I’m mad. You’re mad.’
‘How do you know I’m mad?’ said Alice.
‘You must be,’ said the Cat, ‘or you wouldn’t have come here.’
Quote from Alice In Wonderland by Lewis Carroll
Sonically flawless and wrapped in superb visuals, this is some of the strongest work from either artist.” [press release]
|
2005 |
€14.50 |
|
| |
Without Season |
CD-R |
"Feine Collaboration der ORA-Hälfte DARREN TATE mit dem aufsteigenden Brightoner ANDREW LILES. TATE hat wieder field recordings beigesteuert (z.B. Holz- oder Bootknirschen, leises Bachrauschen, Äthersounds, Vögel & andere Tiere, Laufgeräusche, Unterholz-knispern), die unverarbeitet im Mix auftauchen, während ruhige drones und Instrumentalklänge (Piano, Akkordeon) das ganze konstrastieren... WITHOUT SEASON klingt überwiegend getragen, dunkel und etwas bedrohlich & ist von einer gewissen surrealistischen Bizarrheit, irgendwas „stimmt hier nicht“ oder lauert im Geäst..." [Drone Rec. info 2005]
“There is a playful madness, an eccentricity running through the veins of this recording. Disembodied sounds flit around the margins of our consciousness, barely recognisable, separated from obvious meaning, snatches of the almost familiar. We’re nearly home, but not quite. It’s more dreamlike, a perverse version of home, where something isn’t quite right, something is out of place. Our sanity perhaps?
‘In that direction,’ the Cat said, waving its right paw round, ‘lives a Hatter: and in that direction,’ waving the other paw, ‘lives a March Hare. Visit either you like: they’re both mad.’
‘But I don’t want to go among mad people,’ Alice remarked.
‘Oh, you can’t help that,’ said the Cat: ‘we’re all mad here. I’m mad. You’re mad.’
‘How do you know I’m mad?’ said Alice.
‘You must be,’ said the Cat, ‘or you wouldn’t have come here.’
Quote from Alice In Wonderland by Lewis Carroll
Sonically flawless and wrapped in superb visuals, this is some of the strongest work from either artist.” [press release Twenty Hertz]
|
2015 |
€10.00 |
|
| TATE, DARREN |
The elves are coming |
CD-R |
Wie klingt es wohl, wenn Elfen erscheinen? In den Soundrahmen aus japanischen field recordings von DAISUKE SUZUKI (Grillenzirpen, etc.) fallen wellende Instrumentalklänge und einzelne Klangobjekte von DARREN TATE, die seltsam effektiert (deharmonisiert) scheinen, die Atmosphäre die so mit einfachen Mittel erzeugt wird lässt sich schwer beschreiben.... irgendwann kommen noch leise, schleppende Rhythmusmaschinensounds dazu, das alles höchst minimal und höchst seltsam .... 41 minutes, 2 pieces...
„Along with one of his best titles this features some excellent artwork from Darren and comes in the ‘usual’ Twenty Hertz style in a jewelcase with printed inserts. What we hear however is a little harder to explain. Guitar and Organ improvisations mix with everyday environmental sounds and field recordings that were captured in Japan and contributed by Daisuke Suzuki. These two worlds collide to create a very intimate affair. Ominous paranoid undertones rattle the tranquillity of late night insects, the insanity of the day impeding on the faded light“ [label info]
“... 'The Elves Are Coming' consists of him playing guitar and keyboard whilst in the background there is a field recording by Daisuke Suzuki. It was mixed in two days in early january of this year and, although it is never stated, it's probably recorded then also, as the whole thing has a very direct, almost 'live' feel to it. The guitar sometimes just 'hums' and seems not to be doing much, while we hear sounds of someone shuffling about in what seems to me a wooden cabin of some sort. It's the sort of ambient drone music that is not necessarily demanding much, more like a sort of coincidental colliding of sound particles. That may sound perhaps a bit too easy, but it's this apparent randomness that is quite nice.” [FdW/Vital Weekly]
|
2006 |
€10.00 |
|
| TAUMEL |
In Pieces - Volume One |
10inch |
"in pieces - volume one" - taumel trifft das ensemble adapter
- - -
im winter 2016 haben sich 'taumel' und das 'ensemble adapter' zu mehreren improvisativen sessions getroffen um einen musikabend zu entwickeln, bei dem die gegensätze und grenzen zwischen komposition und improvisation, freiheit und festlegung, chaos und struktur verschwimmen oder kollidieren. im mittelpunkt der sessions stand die entwicklung einer spezifischen, klang-gestischen musiksprache. jeder musker hat gewissermaßen auf seinem instrument einen charakter und seine jeweils eigene spezifische klang-gestik entwickelt. diese sessions haben wir mitgeschnitten und für "in pieces" als grundlage genommen. "in pieces" besteht aus den remixes dieser sessions, sowie zusätzlich von taumel produziertem studiomaterial.
"in pieces" kann als sureales klanggedicht verstanden werden, als eine abstrakte klang-geschichte, die durch die verschiedensten zustände wandert - von größtem glück bis hin zu raserei und wahnsinn. in den 2 mutierenden klangfeldern kreist die assoziative geschichte um das thema der sprachlichen unveräußerbarkeit und damit auch um das thema 'chaos und ordnung'. diese doppelbödigkeit, der versuch zur schönheit und dessen umkippen in zerstörung und versagen. schreibversuche, sprechversuche, gestammel, gestotter, geschrei, einengung, wegdriften, gesumme... in der mutation der zustände treffen heterogene klangereignisse aufeinander oder werden vermengt zu einer neuartigen masse zwischen lied, sprechen, melodie, harmonie, geräusch, beats, riffs, wort, elektronik und verfremdung. die aktion des instrumentalisten (das instrumentenspiel) steht auf der gleichen ebene wie jede andere klangerzeugende handlung oder stimmliche veräußerung sowie jede elektronische klangerzeugung und ist immer gestisch gedacht, performativ, als handlung, als akustischer tanz.
"volume one" ist der erste teil eines als zweiteiler geplanten musikalischen zusammenhangs ("in pieces - volume two). in zwei klangteilen (seite a, seite b) ist "in pieces - volume one" kein liederzyklus wie unsere anderen serien, z.B. TRAUM, sondern eher ein musikalischer 2-akter, später insgesamt 4-akter. hier teilt sich die gesamtform der musik-serie nicht auf in alben und songs, sondern in alben und deren a+b seiten, wie akt 1, 2, 3 und 4. vielleicht kann man daher "in pieces" auch als akustisches theater hören, oder als hörspiel ohne worte, oder als soundtrack ohne film, oder als film ohne bild, oder eben einfach als eine ordnung sich verändernder klangereignisse.
"off the record"
in "off the record" trifft taumel auf andere musiker und entwickelt alben in kolaboration. hier können verschiedenste formen der musikalischen interaktion ausprobiert werden. in diesem fall von "in pieces" bestand die zusammenarbeit mit dem "ensemble adapter" in den besagten sessions, die das grundgerüst und skelet für das gesamte album bilden.
- - -
INFORMATION:
"in pieces - volume one"
by taumel and ensemble adapter
label: dronerecords
https://www.dronerecords.de
taumel: jakob diehl / sven pollkötter
https://www.taumel.net
publisher: https://www.la-chunga.com/en/
ensemble adapter: Kristjana Helgadóttir / Ingólfur Vilhjálmsson / Gunnhildur Einarsdóttir / Matthias Engler
http://ensemble-adapter.de
instruments: voice, drums, percussions, guitars, tipewriter, flutes, harp, clarinets, prepared piano, keyboards, synthesizer, loops and samplings, electronics, fxs on instruments.
- - -
- - -
"in pieces - volume one" - taumel meets ensemble adapter
in winter 2016, 'taumel' and the 'ensemble adapter' met for several improvisational sessions to develop an evening of music in which the contrasts and boundaries between composition and improvisation, freedom and determination, chaos and structure were to blur or collide. the sessions focused on the development of a specific, sound-gestural musical language. in a way, each musician developed kind of a character on his instrument and its own specific sound-gesture. we recorded these sessions and used them as a basis for "in pieces. "in pieces" consists of the remixes of these sessions, as well as additional studio material produced by taumel.
"in pieces" can be understood as a sureal sound poem, an abstract sound story that wanders through the most different states - from greatest happiness to frenzy and madness. in the 2 mutating sound fields, the associative story revolves around the theme of linguistic inalienability and thus also around the theme of 'chaos and order'. this ambiguity, the attempt at beauty and its overturning into destruction and failure. attempts at writing, attempts at speaking, stammering, stuttering, screaming, constriction, drifting away, humming... in the mutation of states, heterogeneous sound events meet or are mixed to a new kind of soundmash between song, voices, melody, harmony, instruments, noise, beats, riffs, words, electronics and alienation. the action of the instrumentalists (the instrument playing) is on the same level as any other sound producing action or vocal expression as well as any electronic sound production and is always meant gesturally, performatively, as action, as acoustic dance.
"volume one" is the first part of a musical context planned as a two-part work ("in pieces - volume two). in two sound parts (side a, side b) "in pieces - volume one" is not a song cycle like our other series, e.g. TRAUM, but rather a musical 2-act, later altogether 4-act. here the overall form of the musical series is not divided into albums and songs, but into albums and their a+b sides, like act 1, 2, 3 and 4. perhaps, therefore, "in pieces" can also be heard as an acoustic theater, or as a radio play without words, or as a soundtrack without a film, or as a film without a picture, or simply as an order of changing sound events.
"off the record"
in "off the record" taumel meets other musicians and develops albums in collaboration. here different forms of musical interaction can be tried out. in this case of "in pieces" the collaboration with the "ensemble adapter" consisted in these sessions, which form the basic framework and skeleton for the whole album.
https://soundcloud.com/drone-records/taumel-in-pieces-vol-one
"For various reasons, this is an oddball release for the Drone Records' subdivision of Substantia Innominata. Firstly, because one of the musicians is a relatively well-known actor, who played a role in the excellent German TV series 'Dark', a must-see if you like that sort of thing with time travel. He's also a composer for various films. With Sven Pollkötter, he is the duo of Taumel. I am sure Diehl's participation will raise a few unusual eyebrows in the direction of this record. More importantly, the music is not what we know from this series, a subdivision of Drone Records, which, by and large, deal with the more droney end of the musical spectrum, music for the subconsciousness. Taumel teams up with Ensemble Adapter, a four-piece group of percussion, clarinets, flute and harp, along with a ton of effects, tapes, and voices. The six of them recorded a couple of improvisations, which served as the basis of further mixing, remixing and processing by Taumel (who play keyboards, voices, guitars, typewriter, tapes, percussion, sampler, and such like). On this record, there are eight pieces, which in itself is also a thing you don't see a lot with releases on this imprint. The result is still much rooted in improvised music than you would think or even jazz, but with that streak of darkness, that is more common here. A most remarkable record, I'd say, and one that took some time here before it sank in. The resulting pieces of music are just that, pieces of music, rather than soundscaping or long-form pieces. There is excellent clarity here regarding the instruments, which are all pretty well defined within the result. However, the four pieces per side can be seen as one long story, moving from place to place, albeit a more abstract one, of course, but maybe I am distracted by the fact that there is an actor at work here. Also, it has an excellent film character. I can easily imagine visuals to go along with this, and it comes close to the world of soundtracks. Perfect record, but not one that quickly reveals its secrets." [FdW/Vital Weekly]
|
2021 |
€16.00 |
|
| TAZARTES, GHEDALIA |
Gospel et le Rateau |
LP |
"Ghédalia Tazartès left us in February 2021 when we had just finalized the editing and the cover art of his new album with him. Unfortunately he will never see the finished object. This record is therefore particularly important for us. He opened his archives to us so that we could select unpublished pieces with him and organize them in two long suites (indexes have been made on the CD for a more convenient listening) . This work took almost two years (finding the pieces among dozens of sometimes very old CD-Rs, checking that these pieces had not already been published, processing the sound to obtain an aesthetic unity and a coherent order, etc). This record is therefore a melting pot of unreleased tracks which cover a large part of his career. You can hear a few guests perform on some of the tracks (mostly vocals parts). As for the lyrics, apart from Ghédalia's own personal poetry, he wrote music for two texts by different poets, that he performs himself in a more or less comical way or on the contrary very intense (the final on a text by Antonin Artaud)!
About the cover. During an art exhibition in 2018, Ghédalia really loved a series of photographs by Isabelle Magnon and immediately asked to use them for the cover of a future album. It is therefore these three photos (two for the LP version) which illustrate Ghédalia Tazartès' final album."
https://bisourecords.bandcamp.com/album/gospel-et-le-r-teau
|
2022 |
€23.00 |
|
| |
Gospel et le Rateau |
CD |
"Ghédalia Tazartès left us in February 2021 when we had just finalized the editing and the cover art of his new album with him. Unfortunately he will never see the finished object. This record is therefore particularly important for us. He opened his archives to us so that we could select unpublished pieces with him and organize them in two long suites (indexes have been made on the CD for a more convenient listening) . This work took almost two years (finding the pieces among dozens of sometimes very old CD-Rs, checking that these pieces had not already been published, processing the sound to obtain an aesthetic unity and a coherent order, etc). This record is therefore a melting pot of unreleased tracks which cover a large part of his career. You can hear a few guests perform on some of the tracks (mostly vocals parts). As for the lyrics, apart from Ghédalia's own personal poetry, he wrote music for two texts by different poets, that he performs himself in a more or less comical way or on the contrary very intense (the final on a text by Antonin Artaud)!
About the cover. During an art exhibition in 2018, Ghédalia really loved a series of photographs by Isabelle Magnon and immediately asked to use them for the cover of a future album. It is therefore these three photos (two for the LP version) which illustrate Ghédalia Tazartès' final album."
https://bisourecords.bandcamp.com/album/gospel-et-le-r-teau
|
2022 |
€14.00 |
|
| TBC_CZEPOKS_SIGD |
Radio Gagarin Allsound Orchestra |
CD |
"In Hamburg, Germany, there is a radio station called FSK and one of the program is Radio Gagarin. Here TBC, also known as Thomas Beck holds court and plays records and sometimes has friends over an in-house radio session. On a date not given their guest was Chris Sigdell, whom we otherwise know as B*Tong (but also Leaden Fumes and Bu.d.d.A) on electronics and the other side of the table we find TBC_Czepoks, being Seemann (bass, theremin, violin dulcimer), Rana Miss Ton (keyboards, sound objects) and TBC (tapes, electronics, live mix). Sigdell oversaw the edit and mix we now hear on the CD. As these things go in this particular end of the world, the result is an all-dark, heavily reliant on drone affair, with occasional leanings to the world of noise. In the opening
piece, 'Phainon', we enter a world full of rusty machines, stashed in a big hall. Squeaking and vibrating, objects falling to the floor, this turns out to be the release at its heaviest. In other pieces, the four-piece settle for a more subdued drone sound. Slowly opening and closing all sorts of filters on a variety of electronics and amplified objects, they create an unsettling moody atmosphere; probably as black meets brown on the cover. In 'Pyroeis' a voice appears, reminding me of the earliest Current 93 records (which Is a big plus in my books). The two parts of 'Phosphoros' that end the proceedings are my favourite part of this release. This is quiet yet unsettling; this moody and sparse but with lots of tension underneath. Massive and spacious, like the unveiling of a black hole (is that possible?), with stuff already disappearing from the scenery. This is about one-third of the entire release, and it proofs that given enough time and acting out patience, brings out the best in improvisation." [FdW/Vital Weekly]
https://tbc-czepoks.bandcamp.com/
|
2020 |
€10.00 |
|
| TEAR GARDEN, THE |
The Brown Acid Caveat |
do-LP |
"It's been nearly 50 years since the first Brown Acid Caveat was issued to a million hippies in a field at the first Woodstock Festival. In these dark , more-knowing times The Tear garden felt it was the perfect moment to mark their 30th Anniversary with a similar warning , especially as their first album back in 1987 bore the declaration , "We Will Pour Our Jars in Reservoirs" on the cover. In fact , we were joking. Despite the madness you may perceive all around you right now, those jars were stashed on the highest shelf of a kitchen cupboard and the key was tossed into the ocean. Our sole wish is to introduce beauty to the medieval landscape we appear to be trapped in right now.There will be no brown paint splashed around. Beauty survives , even underneath the ugliest, heaviest rock. This is The tear Garden's 8th record and is testimony to an enduring friendship that spans the aforementioned ocean. After 8 years, The Tear Garden (the psychedelic/experimental/electronic project of Edward Ka-Spel of The Legendary Pink Dots & cEvin Key of Skinny Puppy) return with "The Brown Acid Caveat", the culmination of the duo's 31 years of working together. Psychedelic electronic melancholia , fearless experimentation & improvisation combine to take the intrepid listener on a mesmerizing voyage of the mind. Feel the Love. Don't touch the brown acid."
"How to characterize The Tear Garden, the more than 30 year collaboration between Skinny Puppy’s Cevin Key and The Legendary Pink Dots’ Edward Ka-Spel? The threads that make up their discography aren’t hard to identify; there’s a baleful wit couched in heartbreak and a melancholic psychedelia that are easy to spot on every LP, EP and non-album track with few exceptions. But just being able to identify those repeated moods and ideas doesn’t get us any closer to understanding the essence of what these two friends have together, or how their divergent musical paths keep leading them back together to make such lovely music.
The Brown Acid Caveat is the first LP of new material since 2009′s Have a Nice Trip and in contrast to that record’s jammy experimentalism (a thing both Edward and Cevin excel at unsurprisingly), the songs here feel more purposeful and concise. Even when the songs stretch out past the seven minute mark, their deliberate construction hearkens back to the latter era-Nettwerk Tear Garden albums, when many of LPD’s members were involved in the project. Probably not coincidentally, some former Dots – guitarist Martijn De Kleer and dub maestro Ryan Moore – are present here, although it’s unclear to what extent they pitched in or influenced the proceedings. That said, opener “Strange Land” hearkens back to 2000′s underrated Crystal Mass, playing out as a sad travelogue through places real and imaginary, all carried by delicately strummed guitars and Ka-Spel in the wounded sage persona he’s been growing into since his very earliest recordings.
Indeed, while the group has always thrived on a mix of straight songwriting and trippy outer space journeys, Ka-Spel and Key are working hard to reconcile those ideas here. Functionally that means you get more than a few songs, like “On With the Show” and “Kiss Don’t Tell”, that start fully formed before slowly unravelling into ambient tapestries of modular synthesizer, samples and reverb. And while every song feels as though it could go in that direction, The Tear Garden do show some restraint, allowing the lovely repeating synth figure of “A Private Parade” to play itself out fully before swapping in a solo that lands somewhere between a violin and a theremin. Especially pleasant is the excellent “Calling Time” (which features one of Ka-Spel’s best bits of contemporary wordplay “I’ll serve until it’s time/I’ll serve until this bar runs dry”) which marries a propulsive bassline with off-kilter mechanical percussion and a bubbling lead, all delivered in a relatively trim 4:29.
Still, while this is unmistakably a Tear Garden record, from the dubby half-spoken “Sinister Science” to the cathartic exotica of the string-infused “Seven Veils”, we’re no closer to insight beyond simply identifying familiar components. And maybe that’s where some of the magic comes from really. It occurs while listening Ka-Spel crack a little while he partakes in cute rhyming games on plinky-plunky closer “Object” that the Tear Garden is almost an in-joke, an insular and obscure province charted by two long-time friends who found a creative unity many years ago and have never let it go. It’s their trip, but we still have the privilege of being guests, and that can’t help but still feel somewhat special."
[idieyoudie.com] |
2017 |
€34.00 |
|
| 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 |
|
| TEMPLE MUSIC |
Incompleteness |
CD |
"INCOMPLETENESS" is the all new album from the visionary duo of TEMPLE MUSIC, beautifully presented in typical Faria fashion with 4 full colour inserts in an immaculate art housing...
In 1931, the Czech-born mathematician Kurt Gödel demonstrated that within any given branch of mathematics, there would always be some propositions that couldn't be proven either true or false using the rules and axioms of that mathematical branch itself... the implication is that all logical system of any complexity are, by definition, incomplete; each of them contains, at any given time, more true statements than it can possibly prove according to its own defining set of rules. This implies that you'll never entirely understand yourself, since your mind, like any other closed system, can only be sure of what it knows about itself by relying on what it knows about itself.
TEMPLE MUSIC'S Alan Trench and Stephen Robinson have used both the implications of Gödel's theorem and the doctrine of anamorphosis to compose and fashion an album of 4 interconnected and complementary tracks that somehow look both forward and back; that juxtapose the old and the new into an organic whole of both sacred and temporal instruments - Indian harmonium and shruti box, plucked and hammered dulcimers, bodhrans, mosenos, various flageolets, synthesisers and keyboards, guitars, bass, Tibetan bells and singing bowls - 4 drifting shards of ethereal and sometimes frightening beauty, rose petals on the snow that are finally revealed to be tiny, perfect drops of crystalline blood...
Tracy Jeffery of Orchis, Cunnan and SQE contributes to 2 tracks: vocals to Elemental and harp to Anamorphosis
Track listing:
"The Transmission of Enochian Via The Seer Edward Kelley" (11.44)
"Anamorphosis" (19.47)
"In Completeness" (11.30)
"Elemental" (9.08)
TEMPLE MUSIC believes that each piece of music should reflect the place, time and circumstance of its creation; that each composition should, in effect, be a Genius Loci of a moment; of a thought: a manifestation of the True Will. To this end, we employ a number of techniques, some more abstruse than others; alchymical as well as musical. The project took it's first steps back in 1995 as an offshoot of the English dark folk band ORCHIS and their interest in ancient Greek modal music, drone, magical trance states and krautrock. Orchis made several recordings for a planned ritual music side project, only one of which ever saw the light of day; 'Anadiomene' on 'Mandragora' (1999). There was then silence until 2004, when the first Temple Music recordings began to be released via the Polish experimental label Shining Day. Initially it was essentially a solo project by Alan Trench (ex World Serpent), but before long Trench joined forces with Stephen Robinson (ex The Beloved), initially for further recording but eventually to undertake live semi-improvised performances. The live Temple Music experience proved to be a phenomenon, veering between shifting walls of noise and moments of arctic intensity, sometimes unsettling but always demanding attention, rhythm and chaos combined.... Temple Music employ both acoustic and electronic instrumentation, from vintage synths and samplers to a vast array of plucked, bowed, blown , hammered and invented sound makers in order to accomplish their dense, introspective and numinous music."
[full label info] www.shiningday.pl
|
2009 |
€13.00 |
|
| |
Alpha - Barton upon Humber - St Peter |
CD-R |
"The Green Man Project is presented as a private limited edition CDR (50x each volume), housed in individual, hand printed ‘art’ wraparound sleeves with information about each location. Each piece is different, as is each location; each is dense, shifting, unexpected, rhythmic, arrhythmic, modal, tonal, abrasive, ethereal... each is as different and yet the same as the Green Man himself. Take yourself on a journey of a different sort with Temple Music…
The Green Man is a symbol familiar to many; it cuts across a vast swathe of interests - folklore, pagan, esoteric, architectural - and is found in a number of different contexts. Place names (farmsteads, woods), inn and pub signs, company logos and, overwhelmingly, churches, all contain references to, and images of, the Green Man, Primary and seconday schools alike set it as an art project. So ubiquitous is it, in fact, that most people will not have to have it explained to them - you can simply refer to the Green Man and they will know what you are talking about. Or, at any rate, they will know the symbol... So what exactly is the Green Man a symbol for? In broad terms, there is an agreement that he is part of our pagan past, a symbol of death, rebirth and renewal, the spirit of the Woods - Jack O? The Green, Robin Hood (Wood), the Lord of Misrule, the Corn King. A British, Celtic or Norse god brought into the churches (where he is often found in conjunction with Sheela-na-Gig) to properly sanctify them by our superstitious forebears. So broad are the terms of reference, so much does the Green Man seem to represent and signify, it seems that he is what you make of him and what you want him to be...
All the World is drown’d
Roots of Trees are drown’d
Ocean breathes and sleeps
Leaf and Branch are drown’d
Here I breathe and sleep
Tracy Jeffery - Harp, Vox
Stephen Robinson - Bass, 3 Drone Harmonium, Lapp Frame Drum
Alan Trench - Lyre, Dulcimer, Guitar, VSS30, Birds, Rainstick
www.myspace.com/templemusick" [label info]
www.shiningday.pl
|
2008 |
€9.00 |
|
| TENHORNEDBEAST / MARZURAAN |
split |
CD |
Zwei lange Stücke auf dieser Split der Bands aus UK. Unfassbar weiten & mächtigen, fast halbstündigen DOOM-DRONE produzieren TENHORNEDBEAST, die früher als ENDVRA aktiv waren. MARZURAAN ist die zweite Inkarnation von RYN, und sie rocken hier weniger metallisch-krachig, sondern in wunderbarer ultra-minimaler JESU-Manier... Spezielles ausgestanztes Cover.
"Aurora Borealis is proud to present this split CD by two of the lesser known greats from the Northeast of England. TENHORNEDBEAST is the dark vision of Christopher Walton, part of the much feted ENDVRA, masters of 90s dark and occult ambient. 'Law of the needle', clocking in at over 28 minutes, is an oppressive opus of doomed drone, both monolithic and multifaceted. Pure power. "elongated, sinister drone, ...distant, echoing string resonance from bowed guitars and cold, steely walls of distortion" think the good folks at Boomkat, as well they may. MARZURAAN contribute 'Into countless battles', 13 minutes of narcotic guitar haze. I think this is my favourite of anything they have done to date. So good, you never want it to end. The gruff metal grunts of the 'Solid Wood' LP have been replaced by a subdued, almost crushed vocal, totally stands out. "acres of textured guitar, low end pressure and brooding drums" say Boomnkat. Can't wait to hear more from MARZURAAN - this is epic, like a bassier, looser, Mogadon dosed JESU with a man past caring roped in to give his thoughts on where its all gone wrong. Pete from MARZURAAN did the artwork and layout. Printed on heavy textured card and with 2 diecut runes. Comes in a pvc bag." [label info]
" Every once in a while, someone will release a record, and we can't help but feel like it was made specifically for us. And for you. Some records just perfectly speak to the aQ aesthetic, as undefinable as that seems to be. This is another one of those cases. Someone thought it would be a perfect combination to match up UK one man ambient drone outfit Tenhornedbeast, with UK slow motion doomlords Marzuraan. And it is perfect. And a fantastic idea, but just because something is a great idea, doesn't always mean someone thinks of it. And we're not saying we had been thinking someone should get these two bands together specifically, we're just glad they did, and we sort of wish we HAD thought of it. But that's neither here nor there. The important thing is that it happened, and now we can all luxuriate in the deep dark heaviness both of these bands explore. And while the bands are indeed different, their aesthetics are not all that far removed. The both exist in some blackened nether region, haunting sonic realms, where heaviness can be expressed in both utter darkness and extreme force, sometimes
both, and once in awhile neither.
Tenhornedbeast offer up a nearly 30 minute long sonic ritual, beginning as a bit of swirling black minimalism, but slowly building to a truly intense wall of doomdrone, the sound thick and textured, a churning cauldron of low end buzz and downtuned disembodied riffs, all brought to a boil and poured out in a viscous black torrent, left to flow like some subterranean river. But these deep drones are laced with melodies, and keening high end shards, allowed to shine forth occasionally, but often swallowed up before they can fill those caves with their unnatural light. The track continually changes shape, sound and timbre, various shades of grey and black, lightening and darkening as the landscape changes, a haunting journey through some lost world, where sound replaces sight, allowing us to navigate ever deeper.
Marzuraan counter with what must be one of their prettiest tracks ever. It's still sludgey and doomy, but the notes ring out, the melodies almost soar, the sound fuzzy and glimmering, almost like these guys have caught the shoegaze bug as well. Washed out and blissy, super melodic and melancholy, but the coolest part is that the track seems to warble and waver, almost like someone is manually adjusting the tape speed, so the notes sound drunken and drugged, the track lurches and weaves drunkenly, only adding to the haunting and off kilter beauty. Part way through, the riffs get a little more riffy, and then the vocals come in, a moaning distant croon, and we're most definitely in serious Jesu territory, but that weird speed shifting hitch, keeps it from sounding too pretty, or two blissy. But if these guys keep heading in this direction, they could definitely give Jesu, and Nadja and other metallic shoegazers a run for their money.
The packaging is super swank, a three panel gatefold, each of the front panels diecut with each band's symbol, printed inside and out, housed in a thick plastic sleeve with a sticker affixed to the front." [Aquarius Records review]
www.aurora-b.com
|
2008 |
€13.00 |
|
| TERUGGI, DANIEL |
The Four Seasons |
CD |
"The Four Seasons, a possible interview with myself Where does the title The Four Seasons come from? This project started inadvertently in 1993 with the composition of the first work of the cycle Instants d’hiver (Winter instants). It is a work in several movements, some very short, coming from unfinished musical projects that I had abandoned. All these previous projects should have taken place in wintertime during the five years preceding the composition. I selected a lot of material I had prepared for these projects and starting from there I composed the piece. Then came Summer Band in 1996, for bandoneon and tape, whose title came naturally for me in reference to a work of Piazzolla's that I loved and [that] I played a lot as a teenager ("Verano Porteño", Autumn in Buenos Aires), it was also a journey into the bandoneon and its fascinating sound, which is an invitation to movement and rhythm. Twelve years passed between these two works and the next one, Autumn Song for piano and tape, composed in 2008. This is an introspective work rich in complementary dialogues between the two sources, a sort of pas de deux in sound. Having named this work implied that one day it would lead to the complete cycle; it was not clear during the composition of Winter Moments and Summer Band, but I decided to go until the end and give my vision of the four seasons; the decision thus took place in 2008. For this, the last season was needed and it only arrived in 2013 with Springtime; an acousmatic work that finishes/completes the cycle in a discovery game of this eagerly-awaited season. In the final version of the cycle, I organized the seasons in a different order to conclude with fall and thus present in a climatic disorder: winter, summer, spring, autumn. Are there any references to past works in this cycle? Not at all; one could imagine Goethe or Vivaldi watching behind my imagination, but it is rather the circumstances of the chosen titles throughout/over the twenty years that have created this total dimension. I have already mentioned the "Verano Porteño" by Piazzolla which was already a seasonal cycle, but only the Verano interested me, the rest of the cycle much less. All my works have each a strong identity but also present very different facets of my composition. Both acousmatic works are made up of a multiplicity of different sounds, in contrast with the works for piano or bandoneon and tape, only using the sound produced by the instrument and its transformations. You use the word tape to define the sounding part that is played with the instruments. Why? One could say that this is an old pre-digital habit when music was recorded on magnetic tape. With the disappearance of analog media, the word continued to be used to define this second sound element associated with a performing instrument, as opposed to the so-called real-time sound processing of instrumental sound, another situation in vogue. The word has remained more or less present among composers. In my case, as Summer Band was for "bandoneon and band" (tape is bande in French), I did not want to change the word for another, and even today I continue to use the word tape without any complex... I've never heard anyone I saying he did not understand what I was talking about. Same thing with the Spanish Cinta, the pun bandoneon and “band” doesn’t work of course in another language. (...)"
https://megadisc-classics.com/album/daniel-teruggi/
|
2015 |
€16.00 |
|
| |
Sphaera |
LP |
"Between 1984 and 1989, my acousmatic work was focused on processing and merging the four fundamental substances. Each 'element' gradually became articulated with the others, thus crystallizing my subjective perception of their materiality. Over the years, helped by the enthusiasm of a Greek friend who propelled me into the Socratic universe, what started out as an exploratory path has become a circular, spherical unity, in which each occurrence simultaneously belongs to one of the four substances as well as the whole. These four sections, of uneven durations, embody the different resonances of each 'element' upon my imagination. The movements are ordered compositionally and range from the intangibility of the air to the extreme density of the earth. In 'Eterea', the dual nature of air, a space for the dissemination of sounds and an environment for mobile masses, shaped the work and the development of its forms. Whether it be the vast expanse of particles as organized movement or the displacement of sources in our three-dimensional perception, ethereal air fills the space and drives the immaterial motions and gestures. 'Aquatica' locates the materiality of water in relation to its amazing extremes: from the drop to the ocean, an extensive journey unfolds through the various phases of the reinvented liquid. Still waters, deadly waters, raging waters follow one another, leading to the aerial fusion of a primordial equilibrium eventually retrieved. Then comes 'Focolaria' and the unsteady fires, the elusive and wild will-o'-the-wisps that open and adorn the gates leading to the depths of the earth. The land of 'Terra' is devoid of atmosphere, a land of matters before the advent of life. The sounds of the original matter merge and evolve into purer forms. The motions trigger progressions towards new equilibriums of forces, the ultimate fusion, the very last attempt, needed for the emergence of life. The sphere is now complete, the world ready for creation..." --Daniel Teruggi
"While the theme of the four elements has been a constant source of inspiration in the arts, its setting to music using electroacoustic techniques seems highly auspicious, since the notion of matter and its transformation is consubstantial with the concrete approach. In Sphæra, Daniel Teruggi precisely addresses this question, transcending matter with the help of novel digital audio techniques so as to draw out forms, trajectories, layers, and musical objects, all of which result from the merging or sublimation of primordial sounds. Indeed, this is where Daniel Teruggi's music and compositional approach stand out: by engaging sounds, with strength, will and inspiration, in a close encounter with energies, whether tectonic or electrical. Such collisions, such metamorphoses, are then appeased in the whole space of the composition, a fascinating landscape, the final destination of all transmutations." --François Bonnet, Paris, 2021
Mastered by Giuseppe Ielasi. Cut by Andreas Kauffelt at Schnittstelle, Berlin, July 2021. Translations: Valérie Vivancos. Layout: Stephen O'Malley.
https://danielteruggi.bandcamp.com/album/sph-ra
|
2023 |
€20.00 |
|
| TERVAHÄÄT |
same |
CD |
"The fifth release from Finnish underground label Anima Arctica is this self-titled debut work by Tervahäät, a duo consisting of Antero Väätäjä and Ilmari Akkanen. This shortish but interesting album builds bridges between raw post-industrial ritual tracks and frosty Finnish folklore.
From the start of the album on, we are presented with the successful instrumental base of this project that returns in most of the tracks: banjo and bass melodies overlaying rumbling industrial soundscapes, varied organic percussion and some seething electric guitar work. Longer tracks like “Otava” forge these elements into extended ritual journeys, accompanied by pathos-filled vocals in Finnish. The accompanying sheet of English text (a translation of the lyrics?) speaks of animals, spirits, and mystic poetry. In general, the music of this album is not easy to get into; while there are accessible tracks like the Nordic neofolk of the instrumental “Joulukuu”, the greater part of the album is rather esoteric and demands a receptive mood, one that resonates with the cold and oppressive visual imagery. It is perhaps typically Finnish in the sense that it doesn’t open up at the first listen.
However, despite this closedness and lack of very direct compositions that immediately grab you by the throat, Tervahäät manages to deliver an album that has a compelling mysticism about it, as well as an original sound that blends organic, industrial, and folkloric elements. The foundations for an interesting musical oeuvre have been laid here, and lovers of experimental post-industrial music should definitely check this album out. It will be especially appealing if you have an ear for Finnish underground music of the past decade." [O.S. / Evening of Light]
www.animaarctica.fi
|
2009 |
€10.00 |
|
| |
Taival |
CD |
"Taival continues on the paths and narrow roads through Finnish forests to further explore the rustic and mystical sounds and visions of Tervahäät. Seven tracks of ritualistic folk & neofolk are inspired by rural surroundings, spiritual unity, and a sincere interest in the native land and its entities — trees, animals, and the spirit of the ancestors. The fourth album of Tervahäät brings also some surprisingly warm winds from the icy north-west, but the warmth also carries a slight smell of decaying bones and suspicioulsy friendly whispers from old ghosts." [label info]
www.animaarctica.fi
"I have spoken to many people about their taste in music. Several of them can pinpoint a defining moment that triggered their now eclectic taste, which has led them along the path of musical freedom. I, personally, keep very limited and musically specific company, but for me it’s a very simple and nostalgic memory.
Have you ever had one of those evenings where you find yourself looking at film after film on YouTube? You go from band-to-band and genre-to-genre, and you stumble across some amazing, bizarre, and down-right amateur videos. That particular nostalgic night, I stumbled across a man playing a Finnish instrument called the ‘kantele’. I was amazed at how simple the instrument looked and yet how sweet the tone is. The first one I heard was a five-string, and the YouTube trail quickly brought me to a ten-string. Before I knew it, I had placed an order for a five-string kantele to be made in the United States. This epiphany of sorts found me entrenched in the culture of Finland, whilst playing its national instrument.
This immersion in Finnish culture—now six years on—has not deteriorated; if anything, it has intensified. From the stories of the Kalevala, Vainamoinen, and the mythical Kantele he constructed from a pike’s jaw-bone, to the vast landscapes full of lakes, forests, and elks, and the pre-Lutheran religious customs and practices that were once the Pagan folklore of the land… It’s quite possibly the polar-opposite, natural elements of my homeland that fuels my fascination.
Tervahäät
When my editor told me to ‘light a fire’ underneath the Tervahäät review, I detected a Finnish scent on the name. Further examination of the cover and notes brought about the jubilation and motivation required to get that ‘fire’ going.
Many no doubt know that Finland is renowned for great music. Being a folk metal junkie, there isn’t much that comes out of Finland that I don’t like or haven’t seen live, even here in Australia. Having predominantly covered folk and neofolk to date with the Heathen Harvest Periodical, it was a much-anticipated listen.
The polar opposite landscapes of which I previously spoke are significant. We have huge deserts, dried-up lakes, and a bevy of poisonous reptiles to keep your trekking interesting. I played Taival in my car on a four-hour drive across the plains of South Australia. My research on the band’s name, Tervahäät, loosely translates to ‘Tar Wedding’. Quite auspicious given that my initial listen is being done on the open road! The album’s name, Taival, loosely translates to ‘Journey on foot’. As we say in Australia, ‘bugger that’—there are too many snakes out at this time of year.
The opening song, ‘Kärrinpyörä’, begins with guitar strumming reminiscent to the intro of a Western film scene. The harsh and drawn-out vocals accompany a simple melody being looped in the background. Harsh vocals are usually associated with heavier music but there is elocution with these, which really hold your interest. The surroundings in the early stage of my journey are arid and harsh. Dry farms and wrecked cars are a common sight. The previous suggestion of Western theme has much more credence (to my present situation). The chorus keeps returning and after a while I find myself singing and humming it in a familiar way.
‘Kevätkirot’ begins with a more melodic approach that fins the vocals taking a 180-degree turn wherein Riimu showcases his vocal ability. His voice wouldn’t sound out-of-place belting out Russia’s national anthem or one of Ivan Rebroff’s classics. These haunting tones are hypnotizing. They captivate me to the extent that I needed to know more about the lyrics. Not verbatim, but in Riimu’s words, the song reflects a particular mood: A time in early depression, or that bleakest time in spring and utter loneliness. The outro of the track has a dreamy presence and plays a haunting sound whose origins would point to a wind instrument.
The album isn’t short of effects, and as ‘Tuomiolaulu’ begins, the presence of reverb gives the song an enchanting sound. Again the song is driven by powerful vocals; the music passages are superfluous to them but accompany the style.
Have I mentioned that the album has an occasional Western theme? The use of Banjo on ‘Koulutie’ reaffirms this theory. The previous description of Finland’s landscape casts a rural description which gives credence to my suggested theme. It then dawns on me that this album draws inspiration from the transition of seasons—the personal reflections and mood changes that occur within all beings and in the case of this album, the artists.
The song ‘Taival’—also the album’s namesake—ends the seven-track recording. A synthesizer and eclectic but simple percussive beat accompanies the consistently haunting vocals. I listened to this one a few times over. With each listen I hear a new overtone in the background. Like the recording was being infiltrated by ghosts or spirits from the ancient land or another world. One in particular sounds like a Tuvan throat singer. It adds a mystique that’s hard to quantify in words. It still sends a quiver of eeriness over my body with each listen.
Musically simple, vocally diverse, and lyrically reflective are appropriate word associations for Taival. It’s been a while since I have heard anything like this, and I want to explore this style a lot more. I have myself in recent times been meditating to this record; the music works with me like a spiritual guide to the Suomi landscape that I’m yet to visit. Its place as driving music wasn’t limited to that one encounter. The CD hasn’t left my stacker. The artists are clearly emotionally entrenched in their music. It comes across as from the heart; it comes across with honesty, and it works." [Malachy O'Brien / Heathen Harvest]
|
2014 |
€13.00 |
|
| TEST DEPARTMENT / TEST DEPT. |
Disturbance |
LP |
In an ideal world, Disturbance, the new album from industrial pioneers Test Dept, would not exist. It wouldn’t need to. Britain would not stand divided by xenophobia. Working class communities would not be under siege. Capitalism would not have created a climate change crisis pushing the planet towards a dangerous brink. And the Thatcherite ideals that Graham Cunnington and Paul Jamrozy spent Test Dept’s early years raging against would not be so terrifyingly back in political vogue.
Back in1981, Cunnington, Jamrozy and a revolving door of talented artists from disparate disciplines and backgrounds formed Test Dept, forging an incendiary new sound from a squat in New Cross that made them underground heroes, landing the group under surveillance by the British government. 37 years later, on Disturbance, that sound is as incendiary as ever.
“It began with a project to do with our archive,” recalls Cunnington. It was the early 2010s and Test Dept had been dormant for years. The pair wanted to sort through Test Dept’s old recordings to “re-establish our history and get our music out there again” after record label red tape left many of their 14 albums out of print.
When attention turned to the “next logical step of a new album”, an idea emerged – taking germs of ideas from old songs and turning them into new, sledgehammer-heavy sonic experiments full of powerful protest poetry. Politics had come full circle. It felt fitting to do the same with their music.
The result is an album that at once peers into the past and roars into the future, across eight tracks that conjure the raw power of Test Dept in their original, 1980s incarnation while adding new elements. “We’re different people now – not spring chickens anymore,” laughs Jamrozy. “We’re still angry but it’s tempered by a slightly different wisdom. We tried to upgrade the sound, to soup things up further.”
“Art is not a mirror to reflect reality, but a hammer to shape it,” the poet and playwright Bertolt Brecht once wrote. It’s a mantra that continues to drive Test Dept. who return to their past on this eviscerating new album in order to move into a bold new future. They hope Disturbance can soundtrack a society doing the same.
music merch
Disturbance
by Test Dept
Wishlist
supported by
dauvit thumbnail
dauvit Test Dept. have always sounded like Test Dept. and nobody else sounds like Test Dept.
Another fantastic release.
jvvoda thumbnail
jvvoda Not a case of sentimental cash-out reunion call, quite the opposite. This record will keep you pushed to the edge of your comfort zone, and true to the title, it will leave you disturbed - in the best possible way - as a wake up call from your apathy and ignorance back to action.
mipsen thumbnail
mipsen What a great interpretation of my favorite track of the "Unacceptable Face of Freedom"! The whole album is extremely recommended! Favorite track: Gatekeeper.
R5N thumbnail
R5N Just a fucking brilliant album. 🤘Glad to see such a great return.
Bryon Wilson thumbnail
Bryon Wilson Love the album! I honestly can’t say what my favorite track is. I keep listening to the entire thing straight through. Great work.
Synthonic thumbnail
Synthonic You don`t listen to Test Dept, you feel them. If you have a heart, that is.
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more...
Landlord 00:00 / 04:41
Streaming + Download
Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
£5.99 GBP or more
Record/Vinyl + Digital Album
package image package image
Single black vinyl in gatefold sleeve with artwork designed by David Altweger
Includes unlimited streaming of Disturbance via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
ships out within 3 days
£17.99 GBP or more
Compact Disc (CD) + Digital Album
package image
CD in 6 panel digipack with artwork designed by David Altweger
Includes unlimited streaming of Disturbance via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
ships out within 3 days
£8.99 GBP or more
1.
Speak Truth To Power 06:21
2.
Landlord 04:41
3.
Debris 04:33
4.
Full Spectrum Dominance 07:27
5.
Information Scare 04:50
6.
Gatekeeper 05:32
7.
GBH84 04:21
8.
Two Flames Burn 07:53
about
In an ideal world, Disturbance, the new album from industrial pioneers Test Dept, would not exist. It wouldn’t need to. Britain would not stand divided by xenophobia. Working class communities would not be under siege. Capitalism would not have created a climate change crisis pushing the planet towards a dangerous brink. And the Thatcherite ideals that Graham Cunnington and Paul Jamrozy spent Test Dept’s early years raging against would not be so terrifyingly back in political vogue.
Back in1981, Cunnington, Jamrozy and a revolving door of talented artists from disparate disciplines and backgrounds formed Test Dept, forging an incendiary new sound from a squat in New Cross that made them underground heroes, landing the group under surveillance by the British government. 37 years later, on Disturbance, that sound is as incendiary as ever.
“It began with a project to do with our archive,” recalls Cunnington. It was the early 2010s and Test Dept had been dormant for years. The pair wanted to sort through Test Dept’s old recordings to “re-establish our history and get our music out there again” after record label red tape left many of their 14 albums out of print.
When attention turned to the “next logical step of a new album”, an idea emerged – taking germs of ideas from old songs and turning them into new, sledgehammer-heavy sonic experiments full of powerful protest poetry. Politics had come full circle. It felt fitting to do the same with their music.
The result is an album that at once peers into the past and roars into the future, across eight tracks that conjure the raw power of Test Dept in their original, 1980s incarnation while adding new elements. “We’re different people now – not spring chickens anymore,” laughs Jamrozy. “We’re still angry but it’s tempered by a slightly different wisdom. We tried to upgrade the sound, to soup things up further.”
“Art is not a mirror to reflect reality, but a hammer to shape it,” the poet and playwright Bertolt Brecht once wrote. It’s a mantra that continues to drive Test Dept. who return to their past on this eviscerating new album in order to move into a bold new future. They hope Disturbance can soundtrack a society doing the same.
credits
released March 1, 2019
Graham Cunnington - Percussion, Electronics, Vocals
Paul Jamrozy - Percussion, Electronics, Vocals
Zel Kaute - Drums
Lottie Lou - Electronics, Live Sound
David Altweger - Visual Director
Rob Lewis - Additional Drums
Ashley Davies - Bass / Percussion
Laura Thompson - Additional Vocals on 'Gatekeeper'
Roz Corrigan - Piano on 'Debris'
Michelle Outram - Cello on 'Truth'
Jordi Blanchar & Ilenia Bombardi - Additional Vocals
Recorded:
Flesh & Bone Studios, Hackney
The Shed, Nunhead
Mixed & Produced: The Shed
Engineered: Lottie Lou
Mastered: Giovanni Versari at La Maestra Mastering, Tredozio (FC)
GBH84 Is dedicated to The Orgreave Truth & Justice Campaign
Artwork by David Altweger
Photos by Michael Kötter |
2019 |
€20.00 |
|
| |
Disturbance |
CD |
In an ideal world, Disturbance, the new album from industrial pioneers Test Dept, would not exist. It wouldn’t need to. Britain would not stand divided by xenophobia. Working class communities would not be under siege. Capitalism would not have created a climate change crisis pushing the planet towards a dangerous brink. And the Thatcherite ideals that Graham Cunnington and Paul Jamrozy spent Test Dept’s early years raging against would not be so terrifyingly back in political vogue.
Back in1981, Cunnington, Jamrozy and a revolving door of talented artists from disparate disciplines and backgrounds formed Test Dept, forging an incendiary new sound from a squat in New Cross that made them underground heroes, landing the group under surveillance by the British government. 37 years later, on Disturbance, that sound is as incendiary as ever.
“It began with a project to do with our archive,” recalls Cunnington. It was the early 2010s and Test Dept had been dormant for years. The pair wanted to sort through Test Dept’s old recordings to “re-establish our history and get our music out there again” after record label red tape left many of their 14 albums out of print.
When attention turned to the “next logical step of a new album”, an idea emerged – taking germs of ideas from old songs and turning them into new, sledgehammer-heavy sonic experiments full of powerful protest poetry. Politics had come full circle. It felt fitting to do the same with their music.
The result is an album that at once peers into the past and roars into the future, across eight tracks that conjure the raw power of Test Dept in their original, 1980s incarnation while adding new elements. “We’re different people now – not spring chickens anymore,” laughs Jamrozy. “We’re still angry but it’s tempered by a slightly different wisdom. We tried to upgrade the sound, to soup things up further.”
“Art is not a mirror to reflect reality, but a hammer to shape it,” the poet and playwright Bertolt Brecht once wrote. It’s a mantra that continues to drive Test Dept. who return to their past on this eviscerating new album in order to move into a bold new future. They hope Disturbance can soundtrack a society doing the same.
released March 1, 2019
Graham Cunnington - Percussion, Electronics, Vocals
Paul Jamrozy - Percussion, Electronics, Vocals
Zel Kaute - Drums
Lottie Lou - Electronics, Live Sound
David Altweger - Visual Director
Rob Lewis - Additional Drums
Ashley Davies - Bass / Percussion
Laura Thompson - Additional Vocals on 'Gatekeeper'
Roz Corrigan - Piano on 'Debris'
Michelle Outram - Cello on 'Truth'
Jordi Blanchar & Ilenia Bombardi - Additional Vocals
Recorded:
Flesh & Bone Studios, Hackney
The Shed, Nunhead
Mixed & Produced: The Shed
Engineered: Lottie Lou
Mastered: Giovanni Versari at La Maestra Mastering, Tredozio (FC)
GBH84 Is dedicated to The Orgreave Truth & Justice Campaign
Artwork by David Altweger
Photos by Michael Kötter
https://testdept.bandcamp.com/album/disturbance
|
2019 |
€13.00 |
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| TESTCARD |
# 11 : HUMOR |
BOOK |
HUMOR in der Kulturindustrie – im Spannungsfeld zwischen der „Festigung der bestehenden Verhältnisse“ und dem „Humor als Subversion, als strategische Destabilisierung herrschender Verhältnisse oder als Grundwerte zerschmetternder, deren Falschheit nach außen kehrender . Mit Beiträgen u.a. zu „Witz in der Kulturindustrie“, Naiv-Pop von JAD FAIR bis MOLDY PEACHES, KLF, GOLDENE ZITRONEN, HELGE SCHNEIDER, FRAUEN UND HUMOR in der Popmusik, EMOCORE, HARALD SACK ZIEGLER, ASMUS TIETCHENS, LAURIE ANDERSON, Reviews, Buchtips, etc etc.
Inhaltsverzeichnis
»Alles geht kaputt und ich lach, ha, ha, ha!«
Roger Behrens über die Entstehung des Humors in der bürgerlichen Gesellschaft und den Witz in der Kulturindustrie
Sie sind so niedlich. Sind sie?
Martin Büsser über die Naiv-Pop-Tradition von Jad Fair bis zu den Moldy Peaches. Mit einem Abstecher zu Eugene Chadbourne, John Zorn und »Radical Jewish Music«
Is this what The KLF is about?
Ina Beyer verfolgt die Irrwege der eigenartigsten Band dieses Planeten
Was ist Humor?
Knarf Rellöm spricht sich für die Humor-Strategie der Goldenen Zitronen aus
Helge Schneider für Kinder
Frank Apunkt Schneider erklärt, warum Helge Schneider und die Postmoderne untrennbar zusammengehören
Frauen? Humor? Popmusik?
Tine Plesch mit einer großen Materialsammlung von Liliput bis Princess Superstar
smashing the omniverse with a smile
Evi Herzing zeigt anhand von Chris Bickel und dessen Band Guyana Punch Line, daß »Emocore« nicht immer ernst und betroffen sein muß
Harald »Sack« Ziegler
Christian Keßlers Hommage an den Kölner Ausnahmemusiker und Minimalpoeten
Spaßgeselle in der Ernstgesellschaft
Hans-Jürgen Lenhart portraitiert Asmus Tietchens als einen der wenigen humorvollen Musiker im Industrial/Geräusch-Kontext
Engel in der Arena-Gesellschaft
Peter Kempers Interview mit Laurie Anderson
Verträumt, berauscht und doch berechnet
Martin Büsser über él Records, Pop-Charme und britischen Witz
Das Ding mit Ming
Conny Lösch stellt den Künstler, Musiker und Poeten Sexton Ming vor
Killer Traktor
Sexton Ming in his own words
One and One is
Stephanie Bunk über den Unterschied zwischen Disco und »Spaßgesellschaft«
Lauwarm geduscht
Humor in Fanzines? Gibt es das noch? Oliver Uschmann hat nachgesehen
Humor ist, wenn man nicht trotzdem lacht, sondern gerade darum
Luka Skywalker über die Verarbeitung des 11. Septembers in Witzen
»Ulkiger Erzählonkel« – gereift & altersweise?
Enno Stahls Thomas-Kapielski-Portrait
We are queer, we are here and we gonna have a look on jokes
Therese Roth über Strategien von Queer Humor
Watch British: Angloasiatischer Kanak Chic erobert den Mainstream
Dagmar Brunow über die BBC-Comedy-Serie Goodness Gracious Me
Stand Up!
Michael Gruteser zur Lage der Stand Up-Comedy
Generation X'd
Andreas Rauscher über die Filme von Kevin Smith
does humor belong into art?
Tine Plesch im Gespräch mit Andreas Kragler über Humor in der zeitgenössischen Kunst
Zu Hause und im Wald
Annette Emde zum photographischen Werk von Anna und Bernhard Johannes Blume
Die Geburt der Postmoderne aus dem Geist der Polemik
Christian Welzbacher zum fragilen Verhältnis zwischen »Pop«-Architektur und Humor
Wenn man trotzdem ...
Franziska Meifert mit einer großen Bücherschau über Humor in Praxis und Theorie
Rezensionen (Tonträger/Bücher)
www.testcard.de
|
2002 |
€10.00 |
|
|
# 14 : DISCOVER AMERICA |
BOOK |
Inhaltsverzeichnis
Jens Thomas:
Alle gegen einen. Ursachen und Folgen des Antiamerikanismus.
Oliver Uschmann:
Die Guten und die Bösen. Beobachtungen zum amerikanischen Aufstand gegen George W. Bush.
Martin Büsser:
Befreite Klänge. Die neue Lust an Experiment und Kollektiv – von BLACK DICE bis Load Records.
Christoph Jacke: Quiet Is The New Loud – neue stille Songschreiber in den USA oder das Dazwischen von Punk und Techno.
Thomas Venker:
AEM. American Electronic Music – Sounds ohne local scene(s).
Matthias Schönebäumer:
We Almost Lost Detroit. Pop-Standort Detroit: Schwarze Musikkultur zwischen Verfall und Aufschwung.
Yvonne Kunz:
Williamsburg-Porträt.
Christian Schmidt:
Von Amerika lernen heißt siegen lernen! Die US-Zine-Kultur.
Jens Petz Kastner:
»¡Vivan las Americas!« Neozapatismus und Popkultur.
Roger Behrens: Bossa Nova. Fünf Versuche einer Annäherung.
Robert Engelbrecht : Das Brummen eines Kontinents. Drones und Minimalismus.
Hans Plesch:
Christian Wolff und Frederic Rzewski. Zwei amerikanische Komponisten.
Yvonne Kunz : U.S.A. à la Carte. GRAND BUFFET: Independent im Wildlife Park des weißen Mittelstandsamerika.
Silke Hackenesch:
The Wrong Nigga to Fuck Wit!: Die HipHop-Kultur als zeitgenössische Form des Black Freedom Struggle?
Simon Strick:
Rap und Tod. Vom Gangsta-Rap zu den amerikanischen Rap-Megastars der 1990er.
Ina Beyer:
Smells like Queer Spirit.Tim Stüttgen: Made in USA: Gender Studies und ihre Wirkung auf die Popkultur.
Katja Scheer: »White Fantasy of Overcoming Racism« – Die Riot Grrrl-Bewegung zwischen Anspruch und der Bildung eines weißen Subjekts »Grrrl«
Martin Büsser:
Beschädigte Provinz. Die Filme des Harmony Korine.
Holger Roemers:
»It’s A Whole New World Out There«. 54, ALMOST FAMOUS und ROCK STAR: Hollywoodfilme über das Pop-Milieu.
Andreas Rauscher:
Doing The Right Thing – Die Filme des Spike Lee.
Thomas Ballhausen:
Jacob’s Ladder. Das Vietnamtrauma im Horrorfilm.
Marcus Stiglegger:
Heimatfilme ... Discovering Oliver Stones Amerika
Susann Witt-Stahl:
Im Gespräch mit Moshe Zuckermann
Franziska Meifert:
USA-Lektüren. Eine aktuelle Bücherschau.
Manfred Heinfeldner: Im Rhythmus des Beat – Das andere Amerika schrei(b)t: Kerouac und Co revoltieren gegen Mainstream USA
Peter Bräunlein:
Kritischer Cowboy. Kinky Friedman zwischen Subversion und Klamauk.
Bernhard Herbordt:
Komar & Melamid – Mythos, American Dreams und die Affirmative Ästhetik.
Rezensionen
Zurück
www.testcard.de
|
2005 |
€10.00 |
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| |
#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 |
|
| THE HUMAN VOICE |
Exit Lines |
CD |
"Harleif Langas better known as the mastermind behind Northaunt has found a new way to exorcize his ambient creativity. The Human Voice brings a rather different style from what we've been used to hearing from this man. It's definitely more into pure soundtrack music or soundscape experiments. There are records from which there's less to say, but only experience it yourself. 'Exit Lines' will bring the listener into a mysterious sonic voyage with fewer sounds mainly composed by guitar treatments. It increases some of the imaginary visions this kind of music can occur, but it's not necessary fascinating during the entire ride. I for sure like the wayguitar sounds can be used and transposed to create such an ambient trip. Exit Lines is the kind of album that needs a visual part this way creating a 'total concept'. Definitely for lovers of minimal experiences!" [Side-Line]
"NORTHAUNT mastermind Harleif Langas gives voice to a less dark and oppressive journey with "Exit lines", and explores the thin boundary between ambient (not necessarily dark....) music and spacious post-rock. Deep drones and sparse melodic guitar lines, "skeletal" structures and subtle noises. Appealing to both the Constellation-freaks and the courageous (and open minded) dark ambient travellers. Digisleeve." [label info] |
2008 |
€13.00 |
|
| THE LORD & PETRA HADEN |
Devotional |
LP |
Devotional is a new collaborative album with vocalist and violinist Petra Haden and Greg Anderson, who first worked with Anderson during his time in Goatsnake, as well as on the second SUNN O))) studio album, ØØ Void.
Devotional is a rapturous and heady offering of wordless vocalizations, droning guitars, and heaviness explored in unexpected and intoxicating ways. Inspirations came from deep listening to Indian classical music, as well as a fascinating look at the chaotic and unbelievable life of Ma Anand Sheela and the Rajneesh community.
Through a haze of incense, flowing robes, and secret mantras, Haden’s voice rings out over constant drones in ecstatic chants throughout this musical investigation into the myriad of ways in which worship can lure and intoxicate. This is a journey that Haden and Anderson go on together, the guitar and vocals combined like the call and response of a guru and their congregation. Greg Anderson comments on the album, “I’m extremely happy with the recordings we made together. Petra’s vocals bring a whole new dimension to the heaviness.”
Petra Haden comments, “It was so much fun getting to play and sing on SUNN O)))’s album ØØ Void. 20 years later, I’m on stage with them at The Mayan Theater in Los Angeles singing and playing on the encore. I was in heaven! After the show, Greg and I talked about working on more music together. When I heard his ideas, I already had melodies in my head. I recorded some ideas at home and it developed from there. Greg is a really deep listener and he’s so much fun to work with. Getting to collaborate with Greg reminds me why I love to sing and improvise. I feel free and happy. That’s what music is all about.”
Seductive and hypnotic, Devotional is an intriguing new chapter in The Lord’s exploration of heavy music.
|
2022 |
€26.00 |
|
| THE NORMAN CONQUEST / AGNES SZELAG |
nadir / ZENIT |
LP |
"Inhabit two different realms of temporality. Zenit sculpts time with textures hurtling your consciousness through the cosmos faster than the speed of light. Nadir invokes stillness seeping you in layers of cosmic dust; suspending time.
The experience can be furthered by playing both tracks simultaneously; creating a supernova of sound that swirls and bellows around you. This record is a split release by Agnes Szelag and The Norman Conquest. These pieces are conceptually and tonally connected, but mani- fested individually unlike music from their collaboration as Dokuro. Both pieces were real- ized using only vintage analog monophonic synthesizers recorded to analog tape. Nadir was created on an ARP Axxe, and Zenit was made with a Sequential Circuits Pro One." [Anges Szelag]
http://ruralfaune.tumblr.com
http://ruralfaune.tumblr.com
|
2012 |
€15.00 |
|
| THE NORTH SEA |
Bloodlines |
LP |
"Brad Rose is an artist who is notoriously hard to pigeonhole. He might spend his days running the esteemed Digitalis imprint (sidelining the wonderful Foxy Digitalis webzine) but his nights are wiled away chiselling at the petrified corpse of experimental music. Donating sounds to Ajilvsga, Altar Eagle, Sea Zombies and Ossining (among many, many others) he has somehow found time to fashion a new solo work for Type and it could hardly be further removed from his last outing.
‘Bloodlines’ is an album rooted in synthesis – the kind of busted power electronics that emerged in the early 80s with Ramleh, Throbbing Gristle and Whitehouse. This is not however simply a noise album – Brad has anchored his sound in this explorative mode, but uses his expertise to take it far beyond murk, grit and fractured teeth. With the help of Zelienople drummer Mike Weis (who accompanies the entire record on percussion) the record is a gloriously spacious excursion, with the fizzing Radiophonic blips, drones and tones set against gongs, scrapes and clanks. The sounds are dark and often punishing – torturous and occasionally frightening, but Brad somehow manages to offset it with an occasional flourish of beauty or calm.
The record is cut into two distinct acts (split lovingly for vinyl listening) and each ‘song’ blends into the next giving a true album experience. ‘Bloodlines’ is not a simple collection of pieces but a distinct narrative from beginning to end. As it tumbles from 50s sci fi synth tones into haunting off-world terror there is a sense of purpose and most of all, place. Brad has created a record that might not be an easy listening experience, but is one which grows on every successive play. It is truly deep and intensely troubling music." [label info]
www.typerecords.com
|
2010 |
€16.50 |
|
|
Bloodlines |
CD |
"Brad Rose is an artist who is notoriously hard to pigeonhole. He might spend his days running the esteemed Digitalis imprint (sidelining the wonderful Foxy Digitalis webzine) but his nights are wiled away chiselling at the petrified corpse of experimental music. Donating sounds to Ajilvsga, Altar Eagle, Sea Zombies and Ossining (among many, many others) he has somehow found time to fashion a new solo work for Type and it could hardly be further removed from his last outing.
‘Bloodlines’ is an album rooted in synthesis – the kind of busted power electronics that emerged in the early 80s with Ramleh, Throbbing Gristle and Whitehouse. This is not however simply a noise album – Brad has anchored his sound in this explorative mode, but uses his expertise to take it far beyond murk, grit and fractured teeth. With the help of Zelienople drummer Mike Weis (who accompanies the entire record on percussion) the record is a gloriously spacious excursion, with the fizzing Radiophonic blips, drones and tones set against gongs, scrapes and clanks. The sounds are dark and often punishing – torturous and occasionally frightening, but Brad somehow manages to offset it with an occasional flourish of beauty or calm.
The record is cut into two distinct acts (split lovingly for vinyl listening) and each ‘song’ blends into the next giving a true album experience. ‘Bloodlines’ is not a simple collection of pieces but a distinct narrative from beginning to end. As it tumbles from 50s sci fi synth tones into haunting off-world terror there is a sense of purpose and most of all, place. Brad has created a record that might not be an easy listening experience, but is one which grows on every successive play. It is truly deep and intensely troubling music." [label info]
www.typerecords.com
|
2010 |
€6.00 |
|
| |
Archaic Spines |
CD |
"Here is the latest release from Brad Rose's project The North Sea, and if you know anything about this group you know to keep your mind and ears open. There are certain very vague parameters Mr. Rose and The North Sea work within. One can expect an interesting selection of both acoustic and electric instruments, and a shimmering tension created by the juxtaposition of old song forms/instruments with new ideas and technologies. Even given those small guidelines, 'Archaic Spines' may surprise even the most dedicated Brad Rose/North Sea fans, as we are presented with a fine selection of very sparse and lovely meditations for bouzouki. The sound is raw, apparently released as recorded with few (if any) overdubs or effects. The effect is mesmerizing and refreshing, one instrument played with feeling and an unerring ear for the folk rivers that feed The North Sea's ocean of sound." [label info]
|
2007 |
€6.66 |
|
| THE ONE ENSEMBLE OF DANIEL PADDEN |
Wayward the Fourth |
LP |
"Now also available on vinyl –very limited edition of 300 copies!-, thanks to Clear Spot's very own Daffodelic label! The One Ensemble from Scotland (led by highly regarded musician Daniel Padden) blend European folk, narrative, popular and chamber forms to create modern compositions that provide attention-grabbing hooks and thought-provoking challenges. At times formal and at others improvisational, it is difficult to pin down the One Ensemble's sound. Influences range from the classic pop-psychedelia of Robert Wyatt to the deep experimental drone of Third Ear Band. Blissful free jazz, delicate acoustic out-folk, tape collages, Eastern raga and mystical modern minimalism all peacefully coexist in the One Ensemble's unique and beautiful universe. (The CD version of this unbelievable album was released earlier this year by Secret Eye Records.)" [label info]
"... As with the recent Live at VPRO CD-R (Brainwashed), Wayward the Fourth is the work of a genuine ensemble, quartet to be exact, captured in a studio. The songs are gorgeous, twisted amalgams of European and American ethnic musics, free jazz, chamber music, minimalism and experimental plateaus rarely glimpsed in the western world, dispersed with just the right emotional — ranging from giddy to somber — intensity. There’s vocals on a few tracks, a few bizarre deconstructions on some others, but what strikes me most about this is the sheer musicality, the deliberate attention to space, detail and compositional structure. One Ensemble albums have always sounded like this, but just as with Volcano the Bear’s brilliant Classic Erasmus Fusion (Beta-Lactam Ring), the ensemble approach has reached new depths of cinematic, multi-hued brilliance. Easily one of the best ‘07 has coughed up so far.” [Womblife]
www.clearspot.nl
|
2007 |
€10.00 |
|
| |
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 |
|
| THE PICKLE FACTORY |
Our Anthems |
LP |
"the pickle factory is karla borecky and scott foust from the idea fire company plus long-time collab-orator mike popovich. they were actice in the mid- to late-1990s and released the album »our pledge« on swill radio at the time. »our anthems« was recorded in 1996 but remained unreleased until now. the sound is somewhat similar to ifco, although within at least some sort of a song structure. the 12 pieces on the lp present themes and sketches of atmospheric musical beauty created by synths, haunting voices and guitars with percussive elements, minimal rhythms and, of course some radio static!" [label info]
"Now this was reviewed not so long ago, even when the music is much older. In Vital Weekly 699 we discussed a CDR version of this released by Scott Foust's Lessons About History. The Pickle Factory no longer exist! I wrote in Vital back then: "There have been an album and a CD, and 'Our Anthem', recorded in 1996 was supposed to be the second LP. The Pickle Factory we find Karla Borecky (keyboard, voice, tapes, synth), Scott Foust (guitar, synth, tapes, voice, radio, bass) and Mike Popvich (bass, voice, drums, percussion, radio, guitar, keyboard). Idea Fire Company plus a guest? Hardly. In all the various bands Foust is (or was) involved in, there is always a distinct sound of its own. The Pickle Factory might be called 'popmusic': rhythm machines, a nice bass line and additional sounds to go along in order to form a short song, rounded off like a song, as opposed to a 'piece'. True, also The Pickle Factory can play a bit of droney mood music, but not with the long curves as is usually
with Idea Fire Company. A damn fine varied record of experimental music. Which brings up the question: why wasn't this excellent record never properly released on a LP?" That answer can not be given, as there is so much great music out there which is never properly released in any format, but the good news is that 'Our Anthems' is now released by Germany's Twisted Knister (best known from their business card CDR releases in cigarette boxes) and quite rightly so. Even after fifteen years this remains great music. It sounds as fresh as it was back then, and so we can still wonder: why wasn't this properly released on a LP before, say in 1997? Thank god for fine small labels like Twisted Knister and their persistence to release such fine music." [FdW/Vital Weekly]
|
2011 |
€14.00 |
|
| THE RITA |
Queen Sheets |
do-LP |
"Some time ago a colleague emailed me and informed me that an artist made a short video of herself knitting to THE RITA’s ‘Thousands of Dead Gods.’ I watched the short video and thought it was interesting, but then also noticed that the woman had a link included on her ‘Instagram’ account for her sculptural works. I had a look at her work and was instantly taken by the sheer immensity and power of her structures, all exemplary of long hours of labour and provocative patterns behind the materials. The most notable structure for me was the piece ‘Untitled Form (Barrier)’ which was made up of timber, bricks, mortar and a semi-dynamic use of the material chiffon to hold bricks in a hanging fashion. The semi-opaque, stretching quality behind the white chiffon with height of almost 8 feet instantly brought to mind the focus of my past recordings that delved into the world of nylon and stocking fetishism, eventually contemplating the semi-opaque salmon pink qualities behind the tights used by classical ballerinas and the expanded practice and tradition therein. Looking at an imposing 8’4 x 8′ structure like Megan Miller’s ‘Untitled Form (Barrier)’ and it’s materials made me think that any sound made by the structure’s movement of bricks against each other piled in a virtual sling of moving chiffon would be perfect for textural, abrasive sound source. After some discussion with Megan, it was decided that a new structure would be built for a collaboration with THE RITA that embraced not themes of fetishism, but expanded utilitarian themes around the use of nylon; the stockings, tights and nylon that women wore to work, what our mother’s wore for warmth, comfort, and most importantly the virtual make-up of the fabric, the inherent qualities it featured. Her eventual new outdoor sculpture was entitled ‘Queen Sheets’ and also made use of brick and mortar, expanding over a flat area with semi-opaque chiffon stretching over the whole of the area, covering it. ‘Untitled Form (Barrier)’ was also erected again in the same outdoor area, and this time the labor intensive building process of both sculptures was recorded for eventual processing by THE RITA. Sam McKinlay
‘’An exquisite and entirely feminine material, much can be said of nylon. It moves like us and with us, stretches like us and with us, and, although extremely delicate and easily torn, the fiber is strong enough to make me wonder if it could support bricks. Pantyhose become our second skin, our birth-skin held in its softness. The sound of its softness is remarkable – the sound of second skin of birth – skin and the light sweet between.’’ – In a letter to Sam from Megan on March 31th , 2014 – (in response to the Rita’s ‘’Ballet Feet Positions’’)
Both records are impressive, inspired and near perfect examples of Mr. McKinlay brutal sonic talents. This is easily one of the highlights of this year noise releases and a high point in the Rita discography. A must have item for HNW/Noise fans; but also a great entry point into the genre to see how one of the masters of the form performs.
Double Lp has been pressed on 140 gr black vinyl with black label and black inner sleeve and comes in a deluxe silver silkscreen on black cardboard sleeve, limited to 199 copies w/insert in luxury 160 gr ivory paper, plus four color photographs. All package in a clear plastic sleeve to protect double Lp, cover and inserts from dirt, shelf wear and damage." [label info]
|
2021 |
€26.00 |
|
| THE ROOTSMAN MEETS MUSLIMGAUZE |
Amahar |
do-LP |
One of the lesser known Muslimgauze releases, recorded 1997-’98 with his longtime spar The Rootsman, surfaces on its first vinyl edition - newly mastered by Mark Gergis (Sublime Frequencies)
‘Amahar’ is a strong example of both Muslimgauze’s latter phase, his work with soundsystem selector The Rootsman, and his relationship to Bradford - an overlooked epicentre of West Yorkshire culture with a super strong contribution from its South Asian and Muslim community. Patently, Muslimgauze was inspired by this culture and recorded a stack of releases there with local resident The Rootsman, including this heavily dubwise set informed by strong sonic flavours that are practically in the air around there; from its amazing curry houses to cars tonking out updates of traditional music.
Expect to find a mix of his more brooding work and rude subbass with killer, stepping percussion that relates to the area’s heavy soundsystem culture and links to Simon Scott’s legendary SubDub clubnight not far away in Leeds - a rite of passage for anyone in the north of England with even a passing interest in dub. In that mode, the set rides hot and tuff between the heady swagger of ‘Amahar’ and the deep roots of ‘Mecca Dub Room’, taking in unmissable tackle in the scudding stepper ‘Bradisqatsi’ and killer rimshots of ‘Izlamalayzia’, the tumbling echoic dub of ‘Cairo Hookah’, and intoxicating atmospheres of ‘Harama.
https://therootsman.bandcamp.com/album/the-rootsman-meets-muslimgauze-amahar
|
2021 |
€28.00 |
|
| THE STONE TAPES (PINK DOTS, BIG CITY ORCHESTRA & FRANS DE WAARD) |
Revolutions in the Head |
CD |
All music by:
dAS
Edward-Ka Spel
Frans De Waard
Ninah Pixie
Philip Knight
Recorded at TeKaSky Studios in Nijmegen, Netherlands, late October 2018.
Ninah first prepared her collection of sipsi reed flutes, before bonding at the studio Crumar organ (also a Pixy!), with all it's stuttering (broken!) idiosyncrasies.....
Frans conjured textural movement by mixing multiple cassette players and I-Pad.....
dAS experimented with contact mics and sound boards, feeding his computer to his looper....
Edward conducted a ballet of custom voice samples and played software synths.....
Phil surfed the aether-static world of circuit bent radio, and powered up the analog synth... more....
“Revolutions In The Head” represents the almost transcendental result of “Discipline In The Studio” as members of The Big City Orchestra, Legendary Pink Dots And Frans De Waard (Modelbau, Kapotte Muziek and much more) combined to create a stream of 60 minute soundtracks for a TV station in San Francisco .
If that sounds like a recipe for chaos, then think again. The concentration involved was almost terrifying, but the satisfaction displayed when that clock hit the magical 60 minute mark seemed like a glorious release.
All the music here was recorded in The Silverman’s Attic studio .
Das And Ninah of Big City Orchestra instigated the project and flew to The Netherlands for these sessions.
The first hours involved them, The Silverman and Frans while Edward Ka-Spel joined for the last part of the penultimate session and the final hour.
Edward had literally just got off the train from London, tiptoed upstairs, unpacked his keyboard and various devices, connected the wires as soundlessly as possible and found his patch in the cauldron. The “Hellos” were delayed as only 30 minutes had passed of that particular musical voyage.
When the music was over, there seemed to be a general consensus that this meeting of minds needed to be heard by a wider audience. A big thank you to Frans for the hours he spent editing to make this release possible.
https://emerge.bandcamp.com/album/revolutions-in-the-head |
2019 |
€13.00 |
|
| THE [LAW-RAH] COLLECTIVE & CINEMA PERDU |
Invocation |
CD |
"in our lives we meet various people and we get to spend some quality time with a couple of them. depending on who we spend our time with and in what state of mind the time together is spent, we talk about friendship. and the more honest and unconditional this friendship is, the more it adds to the quality of our respective lives. it's a rare thing when you meet someone and right from the first moment you know you add to each others lives. it only happens a few times - and maybe not even that often - but we have all been there and we all recognize those moments; as well as the people it concerns. and yes, those times bring back a warm and fuzzy feeling. but then there are the many ways a friendship can end: a wrongfully interpreted word, a misunderstood thought, incompatible visions or simply because it started to cost more energy then it gave back. as incomprehensible a friendship can begin, it can also end. sadly there are also true and deep friendships that have never ended, even when said friend has left this dimension. the feeling that we're left with is just about the worst feeling ever ... with 'invocation' the [law-rah] collective and cinema perdu present a split album with personal views and interpretations of the emptiness that remains. finding closure in a process of grief. not the most happy of feelings, but it's a feeling we all recognize, an emotion we can all relate to and maybe the one thing we all have problems with giving it a place in our lives. the process of composing, writing, producing and finishing 'invocation' has helped us seeing things in perspective again after loosing loved ones. 'invocation' - simply to have that final conversation, to share that final drink, or just to say you care ..." [label info]
"So today we will be looking at (and listening to, of course) some darkly pulsing ambient and asking, “just what is it about this music that makes it so great for processing inarticulate emotions?” Well before I answer that, and while I try not to ‘zone out’ entirely, let me just articulate my feelings right now by saying: This... Is... Great. And, furthermore, it pulses darkly and in all the right places. Ahhh…
It’s a collaborative effort, this, between The [Law-Rah] Collective (Bauke van der Wal) and Cinema Perdu (Martijn Pieck) -- each performing and contributing two individual tracks and a fifth track wherein they combine their compositional efforts. Opening track, ‘1’, by [Law-Rah], pleasantly and gently throbs like the aural equivalent of a deep red Rothko painting. For musical touchstones, think Nurse With Wound and Locust. His second individual track, ‘5’, drones slightly more ominously and is accompanied by a glitchy ‘popping’ sound which is not unlike that made earlier when we were preparing the post here at Norman and a trolley rolled over a long sheet of bubble wrap. These sounds phase in and out and pan woozily to leave the listener a little disorientated.
Cinema Perdu similarly explores the empty psychological spaces which remain once you are all cried out. Really, this is perfect for the final part of the day when this reviewer has precious little more strength to muster. The two tracks Martijn Pieck brings to this disc are as sublime as the previous two by Bauke, in that the music is the contemplative, irresistible, seemingly boundless evocation of space, of internal conflicts easing and resolving themselves outside of time. Plus, his second track features metallic chiming under mallets. I’m a sucker for resonating metal and mallets.
Martijn and Bauke’s collaborative track, ‘4’, is possibly the most affecting of all. What sounds like a sample from a long lost choral masterpiece is used as a bed for found sounds and plucked electroacoustic instruments, with an industrial throb underpinning it all… there’s an organ playing. For a minute there, I thought it was coming from the cathedral in my mind. Then silence. The CD whirrs its death throes and I feel a little more alive." [Norman Rec.]
"THE [LAW-RAH] COLLECTIVE ist ein mehr oder weniger loser Zusammenschluss von Künstlern rings um den niederländischen Musiker BAUKE VAN DER WAL, der das Projekt mit dem enigmatischen Namen um das Jahr 2000 herum gründete. Bevorzugt tummelt man sich im Experimental-, Drone- und Dark Ambient-Sektor, zeigt aber auch keine Berührungsängste mit harscheren, ja dezidiert noisigen Spielarten, was exemplarischen Ausdruck in Kollaborationen mit NAVICON TORTURE TECHNOLOGIES (Box Edition von "The Gospels Of The Gash" und "Your Suffering Will Be Legendary") findet. Überhaupt ist man, was die stilistischen Details betrifft, um relativen Abwechslungsreichtum bemüht, und so reicht das bei discogs aufgespannte Genre-Spektrum von "Elektronik, Pop" über "Experimental, Abstract" bis hin zu "Dark Ambient, Drone". Seiner Grundrichtung bleibt das Kollektiv nichtsdestoweniger treu; nicht umsonst hat man schließlich – nomen est omen – der eigenen Homepage die Adresse "darkambient.net" verpasst. Entsprechend gerne arbeitet man freilich mit stilistisch benachbarten Künstlern wie CISFINITUM oder eben CINEMA PERDU zusammen. Der Mann dahinter, MARTIJN PIECK, ist langjähriger Freund VAN DER WALs, seit 2008 Vollmitglied von THE [LAW-RAH] COLLECTIVE und seit 2011 unter dem nom de guerre CINEMA PERDU aktiv, unter dem er bislang mehrere Alben im File- und Tape-Format veröffentlicht hat.
Die vorliegende CD "Invocation" ist nach dem gemeinsamen Split mit WOODBNDR, "Blue Ruins Under Yellow Skies" von 2014, die zweite dezidierte Zusammenarbeit mit CINEMA PERDU und folgt stringent jener kontemplativen Drone-Programmatik, die im Großen und Ganzen das Leitmotiv für die Arbeit VAN DER WALs mit dem [LAW-RAH] COLLECTIVE abgibt, hier allerdings in ganz besonders vielschichtiger, facettenreicher Form zelebriert wird. Das Thema der CD fordert eine gewisse Besinnlichkeit freilich nachgerade heraus, beschäftigt sich die inhaltliche Ebene von "Invocation" doch mit dem Zerbrechen, Erlöschen, in jedem Fall aber mit dem Ende intensiver Freundschaften und enger Beziehungen, sowie insbesondere mit jener gähnenden Leere, die eine solche, mehr oder weniger gewaltsame Trennung einer tiefen emotionalen Verbindung nach sich zieht – egal, ob sie "nur" einem menschlichen Zerwürfnis, einer individuellen, existenziellen Krise oder gar dem physischen Ableben eines der Beteiligten geschuldet ist: "Invocation" versteht sich, so führt der Promotext aus, als "split album with personal views and interpretations of the emptiness that remains. Finding closure in a process of grief." Vor diesem Hintergrund erschließt sich denn auch ganz zwanglos der Hintersinn jener Sentenz, die sich auf der Innenseite des CD-Kartonschubers findet: "Some things were never meant to change but here we are" ...
Das beim Berliner RAUBBAU-Label erschienene Album enthält sechs unbetitelte, lediglich durchnummerierte Tracks zwischen knapp acht und knapp zwölf Minuten Länge – etwas Zeit, Muße und Geduld sollte der interessierte Hörer also schon mitbringen, möchte er sich mit dieser, ohne Worte auskommenden, "conversation about what really matters" auseinandersetzen. Wer nun allerdings vom leidlich bekannten, sich über die komplette Laufzeit spannenden, mediokren Einheitsgebrumme ausgeht, das so betrüblich oft unter der Bezeichnung "Dark Ambient" firmiert, wird erfreulicherweise eines besseren belehrt: Lediglich das erste und das letzte Stück, beide von THE [LAW-RAH] COLLECTIVE eingespielt, präsentieren sich als ausgesprochen dronige, tiefenentspannte, einzig durch allerlei Rascheln, Knistern und anderweitige Störfrequenzen in minimale Regung versetzte, dabei jedoch niemals langweilige Soundmeditationen, während die von CINEMA PERDU beigesteuerten Beiträge 2 und 3 deutlich experimenteller und collagenhafter daherkommen – streckenweise fühlte sich der Rezensent durchaus ein wenig an NURSE WITH WOUND erinnert. Die eigentliche Zusammenarbeit zwischen den beiden Outfits, Track Numero 4, gibt denn auch das interessanteste Stück des Albums ab und entwickelt sich, ausgehend von einem sakralen, durch rotorartiges Flattern fragmentierten Choraleinstieg, hin zu einem, schon fast treibend-rhythmischen Mittelteil, um schließlich in einem amorphen, alle Strukturen wieder einschmelzenden Klangbad zu verhallen. Nicht alles auf "Invocation" ist also gar so meditativ, wie es auf den ersten Eindruck und nach Lektüre des zitierten Begleittextes scheinen mag – nach einigen Hördurchgängen entpuppt sich das versammelte Material in der Gesamtschau vielmehr als erfreulich abwechslungsreich und immer wieder für das eine oder andere überraschte "Oho!" gut.
Fazit: THE [LAW-RAH] COLLECTIVE & CINEMA PERDU legen mit "Invocation" ein rundum gelungenes Werk vor, das routiniert mit den Genregrenzen spielt, sie ausweitet und bisweilen beinahe transzendiert, ohne dabei jemals bemüht zu klingen, sich in Beliebigkeiten zu verheddern oder in akademischen Frickeleien zu verlieren. Beide Projekte interagieren perfekt miteinander und realisieren so ein bemerkenswertes, ebenso meditativ-hypnotisches wie dramatisch dichtes Album, das durch seine implizite Programmatik und die unprätentiöse Art & Weise, in der diese präsentiert wird, noch zusätzlich punktet: "the process of composing, writing, producing and finishing 'invocation' has helped us seeing things in perspective again after loosing loved ones. we hope it can do the same to you." – Irgendwie ist die ganze Veröffentlichung ... einfach ... sympathisch. Und wer kann schon etwas gegen sympathische Musik haben? Der Autor dieser Zeilen jedenfalls nicht." [Endsal/NON-POP]
|
2016 |
€13.00 |
|
| THEE SILVER MT. ZION MEMORIAL ORCHESTRA |
Kollaps Tradixionales |
do-10" & CD |
"THEE SILVER MT. ZION MEMORIAL ORCHESTRA (SMZ) returns with its sixth full-length recording and first since the band's line-up change of summer 2008. Having shed three members and recruited one (drummer DAVID PAYANT) the group officially dropped the "Tra-La-La Band' from its name, played a debut performance as a newly minted quintet at All Tomorrow's Parties in upstate NY, and embarked on an extensive European tour through the fall of 2008. As Kollaps Tradixionales ably demonstrates, the band has lost none of its raw and frazzled anthemic power and continues to forge bold new ground in its search for a unique hybrid of punk, blues, psych, folk and modern orchestral idioms. Anchored by the fried electric guitar and plangent voice of band leader EFRIM MENUCK (who previously co-founded GODSPEED YOU BLACK EMPEROR) SMZ continues to slide comfortably and unforcedly towards an expansive, loose and blues-inflected balladry—not so much the inexorably riffing blues shuffle of the title track from its previous effort, 13 Blues For Thirteen Moons, but a more languid waltz-time marking an almost smoldering dynamic arc, as heard on the new album's opening track "There Is A Light" and gorgeous closer "'Piphany Rambler." [label info]
www.cstrecords.com
|
2010 |
€25.50 |
|
|
Kollaps Tradixionales (special edition) |
CD & book |
Deluxe CD with a special 16-page, 7”x9” perfect bound art book with found image collages by EFRIM MENUCK and filmmaker/photographer JEM COHEN with a foil-embossed cover.
THEE SILVER MT. ZION MEMORIAL ORCHESTRA (SMZ) returns with its sixth full-length recording and first since the band's line-up change of summer 2008. Having shed three members and recruited one (drummer DAVID PAYANT) the group officially dropped the "Tra-La-La Band' from its name, played a debut performance as a newly minted quintet at All Tomorrow's Parties in upstate NY, and embarked on an extensive European tour through the fall of 2008. As Kollaps Tradixionales ably demonstrates, the band has lost none of its raw and frazzled anthemic power and continues to forge bold new ground in its search for a unique hybrid of punk, blues, psych, folk and modern orchestral idioms. Anchored by the fried electric guitar and plangent voice of band leader EFRIM MENUCK (who previously co-founded GODSPEED YOU BLACK EMPEROR) SMZ continues to slide comfortably and unforcedly towards an expansive, loose and blues-inflected balladry—not so much the inexorably riffing blues shuffle of the title track from its previous effort, 13 Blues For Thirteen Moons, but a more languid waltz-time marking an almost smoldering dynamic arc, as heard on the new album's opening track "There Is A Light" and gorgeous closer "'Piphany Rambler." [label info]
www.cstrecords.com
|
2010 |
€18.50 |
|
|
Fuck off get free we pour Light on everything |
LP |
"THEE SILVER MT. ZION haben über sieben Alben seit 1999 hinweg einen stacheldrahtbewehrten Bogen der Protest Music gespannt. Erst kürzlich haben sich THEE SILVER MT. ZION MEMORIAL ORCHESTRA auf nur fünf Musiker zurückgestutzt. Menucks massive E-Gitarre fungiert hier als Rückgrat, um das zwei Geigen, ein Bass (dieser Tage öfter elektrisch als akustisch) und das Schlagzeug rotieren. "Fuck Off Get Free We Pour Light On Everything" ist das erste definitive Dokument des neuen Sounds und Stils der Band als Quintett. Das Kernstück des Album, ,Austerity Blues" mit seiner Abschlusszeile "Lord let my son live long enough to see that mountain torn down" gesungen in verschiedenen Spielarten über die zweite Hälfte des 14-minütigen Epos, personifiziert den unerschrockenen Blick Menucks auf eine Welt voller Erbärmlichkeit, Gier und Ungerechtigkeit, betrachtet durch die Linse von Elternschaft, Sterblichkeit, Durchhaltevermögen und Trotz. Dies ist keine fröhliche Musik, aber sie kann auch nicht einfach so als apokalyptisch und weltmüde abgestempelt werden. ,Fuck Off Get Free" wütet voller Zorn und Hoffnung und ist zugleich absolut leidenschaftlich und bewusst unromantisch. THEE SILVER MT. ZION MEMORIAL ORCHESTRA zeigen einmal mehr, das es so viel gibt, gegen das sich kämpfen lässt. Im Unterschied zu anderen Bands haben THEE SILVER MT. ZION die passenden Kampfsongs im Gepäck. //
Thee Silver Mt. Zion Memorial Orchestra (SMZ) has traced a barbed-wire arc of genre-defying protest music since its inception in 1999. Formed by Efrim Menuck, with Thierry Amar and Sophie Trudeau, the initial iteration of the band was a predominantly instrumental trio that forged a more intimate and ragged chamber-punk than Godspeed You! Black Emperor, the other group in which all three founding SMZ members also played (and continue to play). Through seven albums from 2000-2010, SMZ expanded its line-up and shifted towards an increasing use of lead and group vocals, with Menuck penning politically-charged lyrics to anchor long-form multi-movement compositions that juxtaposed electrified guitars against a 4-piece string section of violins, cello and contrabass.
Most recently, SMZ has pared back to five players, with Menuck's massive spectrum-spanning electric guitar sound emerging as the spine around which two violins, bass (now more often electric than acoustic) and drums are deployed. SMZ have managed a handful of short tours in the past couple of years (in the gaps between GYBE commitments) and as anyone who has seen the band in its recent incarnation can attest, their current sound is more honed, laser-guided and bone-rattling than ever, melding hardcore, blues, garage and dark metal influences that have nothing to do with anything so quaint as “post-rock” (a tag the group has always and rightly rejected).
Fuck Off Get Free We Pour Light On Everything is the first definitive document of the band's newfound sound and style as a quintet. It’s also their first single LP-length work since the band’s debut record as a trio almost 15 years ago, and features road-tested pummeling rock-outs “Fuck Off Get Free (For The Island Of Montréal)”, “Take Away These Early Grave Blues” and “What We Loved Was Not Enough” alongside the previously unheard lullabyes/minuets “Little Ones Run” and “Rains Thru The Roof At Thee Grande Ballroom (For Capital Steez)” and the album centerpiece “Austerity Blues” with its closing lyric “Lord let my son live long enough to see that mountain torn down” sung in varying incarnations throughout the second half of this 14-minute epic.
This lyric in many ways encapsulates Menuck's unflinching take on a world replete with shabbiness, greed and injustice, seen through the lens of parenthood, mortality, endurance and defiance. There are few other musicians who deliver social critique with the courage and honesty of lines like “All our cities gonna burn / All our bridges gonna snap / All our pennies gonna rot / Lightning roll across our tracks / All our children gonna die”. Feel-good music this is not; but neither can it reductively be tagged apocalyptic or world-weary. Fuck Off Get Free rages with scorn and with hope, utterly passionate but pointedly unromantic. Thee Silver Mt. Zion once again demonstrates, like few other bands working today, that there is much to fight for and against, and plenty more fight songs to sing." [label info]
www.cstrecords.com
|
2014 |
€21.00 |
|
| |
Fuck off get free we pour Light on everything |
CD |
"THEE SILVER MT. ZION haben über sieben Alben seit 1999 hinweg einen stacheldrahtbewehrten Bogen der Protest Music gespannt. Erst kürzlich haben sich THEE SILVER MT. ZION MEMORIAL ORCHESTRA auf nur fünf Musiker zurückgestutzt. Menucks massive E-Gitarre fungiert hier als Rückgrat, um das zwei Geigen, ein Bass (dieser Tage öfter elektrisch als akustisch) und das Schlagzeug rotieren. "Fuck Off Get Free We Pour Light On Everything" ist das erste definitive Dokument des neuen Sounds und Stils der Band als Quintett. Das Kernstück des Album, ,Austerity Blues" mit seiner Abschlusszeile "Lord let my son live long enough to see that mountain torn down" gesungen in verschiedenen Spielarten über die zweite Hälfte des 14-minütigen Epos, personifiziert den unerschrockenen Blick Menucks auf eine Welt voller Erbärmlichkeit, Gier und Ungerechtigkeit, betrachtet durch die Linse von Elternschaft, Sterblichkeit, Durchhaltevermögen und Trotz. Dies ist keine fröhliche Musik, aber sie kann auch nicht einfach so als apokalyptisch und weltmüde abgestempelt werden. ,Fuck Off Get Free" wütet voller Zorn und Hoffnung und ist zugleich absolut leidenschaftlich und bewusst unromantisch. THEE SILVER MT. ZION MEMORIAL ORCHESTRA zeigen einmal mehr, das es so viel gibt, gegen das sich kämpfen lässt. Im Unterschied zu anderen Bands haben THEE SILVER MT. ZION die passenden Kampfsongs im Gepäck.//
Thee Silver Mt. Zion Memorial Orchestra (SMZ) has traced a barbed-wire arc of genre-defying protest music since its inception in 1999. Formed by Efrim Menuck, with Thierry Amar and Sophie Trudeau, the initial iteration of the band was a predominantly instrumental trio that forged a more intimate and ragged chamber-punk than Godspeed You! Black Emperor, the other group in which all three founding SMZ members also played (and continue to play). Through seven albums from 2000-2010, SMZ expanded its line-up and shifted towards an increasing use of lead and group vocals, with Menuck penning politically-charged lyrics to anchor long-form multi-movement compositions that juxtaposed electrified guitars against a 4-piece string section of violins, cello and contrabass.
Most recently, SMZ has pared back to five players, with Menuck's massive spectrum-spanning electric guitar sound emerging as the spine around which two violins, bass (now more often electric than acoustic) and drums are deployed. SMZ have managed a handful of short tours in the past couple of years (in the gaps between GYBE commitments) and as anyone who has seen the band in its recent incarnation can attest, their current sound is more honed, laser-guided and bone-rattling than ever, melding hardcore, blues, garage and dark metal influences that have nothing to do with anything so quaint as “post-rock” (a tag the group has always and rightly rejected).
Fuck Off Get Free We Pour Light On Everything is the first definitive document of the band's newfound sound and style as a quintet. It’s also their first single LP-length work since the band’s debut record as a trio almost 15 years ago, and features road-tested pummeling rock-outs “Fuck Off Get Free (For The Island Of Montréal)”, “Take Away These Early Grave Blues” and “What We Loved Was Not Enough” alongside the previously unheard lullabyes/minuets “Little Ones Run” and “Rains Thru The Roof At Thee Grande Ballroom (For Capital Steez)” and the album centerpiece “Austerity Blues” with its closing lyric “Lord let my son live long enough to see that mountain torn down” sung in varying incarnations throughout the second half of this 14-minute epic.
This lyric in many ways encapsulates Menuck's unflinching take on a world replete with shabbiness, greed and injustice, seen through the lens of parenthood, mortality, endurance and defiance. There are few other musicians who deliver social critique with the courage and honesty of lines like “All our cities gonna burn / All our bridges gonna snap / All our pennies gonna rot / Lightning roll across our tracks / All our children gonna die”. Feel-good music this is not; but neither can it reductively be tagged apocalyptic or world-weary. Fuck Off Get Free rages with scorn and with hope, utterly passionate but pointedly unromantic. Thee Silver Mt. Zion once again demonstrates, like few other bands working today, that there is much to fight for and against, and plenty more fight songs to sing." [label info]
www.cstrecords.com |
2014 |
€14.50 |
|
| THELXINOE |
Inner Subspace |
MC |
The first full-length album by Thelxinoe is re-released now for the first time on audio cassette.
This release continues developing a distinct Thelxinoe approach of creating high-quality drone ambient with the stringed and wind instruments involved. There are some slightly Maeror Tri/Troum-influenced moments such as light and a bit psychedelic, sometimes reversed guitar chords – especially in the shorter odd tracks which look like introductions or transitions to much longer even tracks. But the essence of Thelxinoe’s creativity is in the second track full of straight multilayered canvases of meditative drone ambient and particularly in the fourth 33-minutes track. This marvelous piece is called "Corona Borealis Void" and offers dark texture made of overwhelmingly long-resonating brain-blowing drones which goes as perfect background for sometimes melancholic and relaxing, sometimes psychedelic saxophone inclusions.
"Inner Subspace" was released digitally in 2012 on DNA Production.
Alexey Zakharov: alt-saxophone, baritone-saxophone
Peter L.: guitar, bass, sound processing
Kol Belov: cover art
https://thelxinoe-avalancheorganization.bandcamp.com/album/inner-subspace
|
2021 |
€9.00 |
|
| THEME |
Sacral Blood Warning |
CD |
THEME Sacral Blood Warning CD. The sixth album by the group originally founded by Stuart Carter and Richard Johnson in 2000, following both their involvement in the 1998 incarnation of Splintered for a European tour. Over the years, Theme have performed live sporadically, appearing at festivals and playing a couple of short tours in Europe, the last of which featured them in a full band collaborative mode also including Faust's Jean-herve Peron on bass and Zsolt Sores (Inconsolable Ghost) on viola and electronics. Sacral Blood Warning pays witness to Theme once more returning to the core duo in order to expand on the largely brutal and less compromising approach their work has been imbued with since the very beginning. Partly designed as a reflection on modern times and all the inherent confusion as unrest appears to reign heavier than ever in an almost illusory realm, the music that constitutes this album explores notions of a self without moorings violently torn in several directions. Whilst it might seem deliberately dystopian for the most part, the rich layers of often organic sound reveal a gamut of other delphic shades besides the confusion. There are moments when one can snatch another gulp of air before succumbing to the undertow itself initially inspired by all from sci-fi soundtracks to the confrontational assaults of Suicide and the ravaged voice manipulations of Robert Ashley. Joint-released by Idioblast, this was released in late September 2020.
https://fourthdimensionrecords.bigcartel.com/product/theme-sacral-blood-warning-cd |
2020 |
€12.00 |
|
| THIS HEAT |
same |
LP |
"Second pressing of vinyl re-issue. First official vinyl re-issue in collaboration with original band members Charles Bullen and Charles Hayward. 24 bit/96 kHz re-master from original analog tapes. Includes booklet with track notes and archival photos. Isn't it so often the case that the most innovative works of art -- the ones that break the ground where others follow -- are the ones that seem to reach only the ears of those who take those ideas and run with them? So it is with This Heat and their eponymous debut album frequently referred to as 'blue and yellow' for its ultra-minimal jacket. Within its 48 minute run time, the seeds of post-punk, avant rock, noise rock and post-rock can be found. Formed in Brixton, a multicultural, and -- at the time -- down-at-heel part of south London, This Heat were born into a music scene in rapid flux, first thanks to the punk explosion and then via new wave and its myriad offshoots into pop, rock and art-rock. But while many sought to apply punk attitude to chart-friendly sounds, This Heat were concocting some of the most experimental ideas ever committed to tape, taking influence from musique concrète, krautrock, the burgeoning industrial scene and even the dub reggae blasting out in their home borough. Their debut album had -- for the time and for the DIY scene -- an unusually long gestation, recorded in sessions between February 1976 and September 1978 in a variety of studios including their own Cold Storage, a converted cold storage room in the Acme Studios complex. Innovating throughout, they combined loops and tape manipulation with live performance and haunting vocals to a complex, dissonant whole. The band recorded everything they ever did -- including gigs -- and tracks such as 'Water' were entirely improvised in the studio. Given the difficult, abrasive, and involved nature of their sound, This Heat never found anything approaching mainstream success, but patronage by the influential Radio 1 DJ John Peel meant they reached a national audience -- whether that audience was ready for them or not. Celebrating This Heat's 40th anniversary in 2016, Modern Classics Recordings will re-issue the band's catalog -- 1979's This Heat, 1980's Health and Efficiency, and 1981's Deceit -- with full co-operation of surviving members Charles Bullen and Charles Hayward. Four decades on, the tireless efforts of This Heat's process can once again be a revelation for new audiences." [label info]
www.lightintheattic.net
„Was diese so Band so ausnehmend macht und selbst unter heutigen Maßstäben so ungemindert bestechend, ist in meinen Ohren der Thrill zwischen schwebenden Momenten, in denen die Musik die Luft anzuhalten oder garottiert zu werden scheint und sich enorme Energie aufstaut, und den unglaublich intensiven Eruptionen in Gestalt des ostinaten Drummings und sich ins Gehirn fressender Loops. Dazu kommt dann noch an besonders sublimen Momenten HAYWARDs Gesang mit einem Timbre, das einem die Kehle zuschnürt durch den wehen Ton und mit heißkalter Dringlichkeit die Schädeldecke aufstemmt....“ [Bad Alchemy #51]
“A landmark recording by one of most important British bands, full stop. this, their first release, tore up the book and laid new rules for band composition and performance. First, the music: without precedent, then, the musicians: all extraordinary, all uncompromisingly radical, then the way it was all put together: endlessly surprising, hammeringly intense, and the sound: hard, radical, crafted, rich, with complete control of the frequency range. Beautifully recorded, radically mixed, this was breathtakingly present. Stripped back to the bone but never simplified. And it hasn't aged. this is deep, complex work that creates its own world, anticipating much that was to follow in the next 15 years. A luminous release out of print (for almost a decade?). Re-mastered by the group for this re release.“ [label info]
"Earlier this year, a few months back, we made the 40th anniversary This Heat vinyl reissues our Records Of The Week. More like Records Of All Time, really. The two full-lengths (This Heat and Deceit) quickly sold out, and have been sadly absent from our racks for the past little while - but now they both have been repressed, and are available again at a slightly lower price than before (thanks to no longer being in gatefold jackets). If somehow you missed out before, we urge you to get 'em now! Our review of this one...
Oooh, at last nicely reissued on vinyl, automatic Records Of The Week!!! What more is there to say that we haven't already said (at length, below, you'll see) about these This Heat records?
Trying to explain why this record is so good is sort of like trying to explain why ice cream is so delicious.
Or maybe it's kind of like writing an introduction for the new Pynchon novel. Or telling a few jokes before Richard Pryor comes on stage. Or throwing a couple quick passes before Joe Montana comes on the field. It's that daunting, that overwhelming, that impossible.
The trio of Charles Hayward, Charles Bullen, and Gareth Williams known collectively as This Heat were one of the few bands that literally changed people's lives. Changed the way folks thought about music. I (Andee) couldn't believe music like this actually existed. It was everything I wanted to listen to before I knew that THIS was exactly what I wanted to listen to. Hit It Or Quit It publisher / rock critic / indie scenstress Jessica Hopper once wrote that she literally pee'd her pants the first time she heard This Heat. And it's not hard to see why. Without This Heat, modern, alternative, avant garde music as we know it would be a whole different beast. Post rock, math rock, avant rock are hugely indebted to the genre shattering experimentalism of This Heat. Tortoise, You Fantastic, Yona Kit, Brise Glace, Psychic Paramount, Laddio Bolocko, Radian, Village Of Savoonga, Larsen, Starfuckers, Circle, Salvatore, I Am Spoonbender - none of those bands would even exist if it weren't for This Heat, or if they still did you can bet they would sound a whole lot different. And that's just off the top of our heads, AND that's -just- bands whose sound directly reflects the influence of This Heat. Imagine how many performers and artists were influenced by This Heat but who let that influence manifest itself in not so obvious ways.
We once described This Heat as "Krautrock-ish hyper rhythmic tape-looped prog." Which comes close to succinctly describing the magical musical alchemy of This Heat, but still only scratches the surface. This is their self titled debut, originally released in 1979, which manages over the course of about 50 minutes to redefine almost all music that has come before.
The sound of This Heat is rhythm and texture and dynamics. The recording studio as instrument. Every sound and every song is based on rhythm and texture. There are hooks, and melodies, but they exist to serve the rhythm and are often born from the deft manipulation of sound and tempo. Even the most static and repetitive parts manage to sound -musical-. There are vocals, but they are minimal and otherworldly, weary and sing songy and completely mesmerizing. A droning musical accompaniment to the haunting whirs and clanging percussion in the background. This record is such a totally immersive and strangely lovely musical environment. From the machinelike Krautrock of "Horizontal Hold" to the dreamy contemplative "Twilight Furniture" with its simple chiming guitars, muted tribal percussion and keening vocals, to the bizarre affected drum workout of "24 Track Loop", it's like wandering through some alien musical world. As sky full of greys and blues, smeary drones floating gently by, haunting quavering vocals drifting below, like tendrils of smoke, the barren landscape littered with all manner of rhythmic outcroppings, harsh jagged crashes and booms, as well as low rolling thumps and stutters, off in the distance simple spare melodies float and hover, each note a glowing spot on the horizon. Absolutely and utterly overwhelmingly brilliant.
There are plenty of places on the web and in magazines to read more about the history of the band, the band members, the various releases and reissues (see elsewhere on the AQ website for reviews of past editions of various TH recordings) but none of that ultimately matters as much as the sound. And oh the glorious sound. Just take a listen to the sound samples and no words will be necessary." [Aquarius Records]
|
2016 |
€26.50 |
|
| THISQUIETARMY |
Aftermath |
CD |
"Quite some time ago I reviewed 'Unconquered', one of the three previous releases by Eric Quach, also known as Thisquietarmy (see Vital Weekly 628). His fourth album is 'Aftermath', and released by Basses Frequences. Quach is not unlike his fellow country man Nadja (or perhaps like Aidan Baker), he plays guitar and lots of sound effects. To result is not too dissimilar to Nadja or Baker: highly atmospheric drone music, with a nice touch of melody here and there. In general the idea is to raise a wall of sound (as in built from many layers, not the noise type of sound) through loops created on the guitar and through the effects, and then, when everything is in place, he adds a guitar melody on top. Its a simple yet effective method to create such music, and Thisquietarmy does that well, I must say. Great moody music. But like with so many others, armed with guitars, loop stations and such like, there is also not much new under the sun. That should merely be noted. Not as a complaint,
but as a statement. If you are looking for something new, this might not be the place where it happens, so you know. If you are looking for more music along the lines of Troum, Nadja or Fear Falls Burning: Thisquietarmy is as good as them." [FdW/Vital Weekly]
www.bassesfrequences.org
|
2010 |
€13.00 |
|
| |
Vessels |
LP |
"Montreal's THISQUIETARMY create sublime yet massive walls of beautiful shimmering drone, at times with a near pop sensibility, at others near Industrial in its percussive bombast. "Vessels" explores themes of the sea and man's struggle with this relentless and all pervasive force, the music a perfect means of expressing both the flat calm and the force 9 storm. Eric Quach, the man behind thisquietarmy, is a prolific artist, and "Vessels" is perhaps his most impactive work to date. "The Pacific Theater" grips the listener in warm drone before slamming them into the rocks with epic percussion. Album closer "A Spanish Galleon" takes a more gentle approach with clean guitar and washes of orchestral strings. Quach's live performances are presented as a real-time multimedia installation, based on an impromptu score to a prepared film, which he creates himself. The visual themes revolve around dark ethereal ambiences and ghostly abstract. The live material can be as structured as it can be improvised on the spot, depending on the moment's vibe, and drowns the audience in a hypnotic dream-like state of introspection. For Fans Of: NADJA, JESU, AUN, AIDAN BAKER." [label info]
www.aurora-b.com
|
2012 |
€20.00 |
|
| THISQUIETARMY + YELLOW6 |
Death |
LP |
" “DEATH” presents a lonely journey of great intensity across the desert, facing inner and external elements, fatally leading to an escape for salvation. The journey is split into three tracks: “Sand” discovers the tough, arid and suffocating desert, as attractive as it is frightening, it surrounds you completely without compromise and there is no turning back. “Furnace” describes the beginning of the blistering heat and the dusty pilgrimage; the rocky landscape is mirrored by a great loneliness in which is revealed our inner demons, ready to engage a battle without mercy against your own soul. “Salt” depicts the comatose state of being at the tail end of the journey, disoriented and dehydrated, lost within psychedelic hallucinations, physically fighting death with little of what is left of your mind. Mastered by Fear Falls Burning.
180g vinyl with free download coupon (no CD, unfortunately) 80 black / 320 gold." [label info]
www.bassesfrequences.org
|
2010 |
€14.00 |
|
| THOROFON |
Gladio |
LP |
gladio' offers a diversified and contemporary collection of minimal electro pop tunes, industrial power electronics and retro-body beats. the atmospheric spectrum ranges from icy, clinical disturbance to aggressive, forcing blasts, drilling the message of the forceful lyrics straight to the heart.
'gladio' is about the inner pain and desires, all the sinister thoughts within the state of enforced self-isolation and the fear of wounds that will possibly endure. the acceptable impulse of interaction in contrast with an involuntarily defense mechanism. there is a time, where i reach out my hand and you take the knife.
thorofon is loaded with angst-pop, haunting synth lines from mighty analogue devices and rhythmic core. the ingredients of vintage industrial music, metallic percussion and the remarkable psychotic voice are united in a most perfect way - a trademark thorofon. this is dystopian music for empty dancefloors.
https://ant-zen.bandcamp.com/album/gladio
colourless clear 12" vinyl & special vintage cardboard sleeve. limited edition of 200 copies incl. digital download-code |
2022 |
€25.00 |
|
| THORSTEN SOLTAU & COMRADES |
Roman Feast & a Grape from Thor Heyerdahl's Table |
do-MC BOX |
"Roman Feast & A Grape From Thor Heyerdahl's Table features a wide collection of Thorsten Soltau's layered concrete sounds and the sources that created them.
On this double-cassette album he and his "Comrades" have created a beautiful, and sometimes haunting journey through ambient drones, concrete music and cut-up sound collages.
An arrangement varying from whipping noise layers and piercing feedback drones combined with amplified objects, to field recordings, repeating piano rhythms and hidden voice fragments to spoken word storytelling!
An adventure in experimental music!
Feat. Max Kuiper, The Dead Mauriacs, Marina Stewart, Mihkel Kleis, Rainier Lericolais, Gildas Brugaro, Fluorescent Grey and Susan Matthews
Two high-bias chrome cassettes in special vinyl packaging. Comes with one hand-numbered and signed art print out of the four motifes: The Center, Poor Man’s Deathbed, Bring Me A Head Full Of Thoughts or the Red Killer." [label info]
"For whatever odd reason I was thinking that Thorsten Soltau was one of the guys from the old cassette network, but in fact he started to play music in 2009 and on discogs it says about his work that he works "exclusively with concrete material, plundered data carriers and vinyl sources and leaves his first proper use of digital manipulation behind. Influenced by first electronic music and the avant-garde cut-up of musical and non-musical sources Thorsten Soltau decided to teach himself a form and musical language of strange, two-dimensional musique concrete and jarring rhythms." He works with other people a lot, I think, as this excellently designed double tape proofs. The comrades are people like Max Kuiper, Marina Stewart, Mihkel Kleis, The Dead Mauriacs, Roman Feast (all on the first tape, sometimes with more comrades per track), while Kuiper and Kleis return on the other tape along with Gildas Brugaro, Susan Matthews and Fluorescent Grey and Rainier Lericolais provide a remix. A vivid little scene, as The Dead Mauriacs also release on this label. In the first four piece, all on cassette one, I must admit I heard some great music but hardly something that translated to concrete material, plundered data carriers and vinyl sources, but rather something that sounded like ambient inspired synthesizer work, despite whoever was collaborating. These pieces were all quite dark, quite heavily layered with synthesizer like sounds and didn't sound surprisingly new, but they did sound surprisingly good. Music that fits the dreary grey day, ending with a boom and a clap in the Lericolais remix. On the other tape we find more what discogs (at least) promises: plundered sound sources, vinyl work and such like. First through a live recording (Soltau/Kuiper/Brugaro/Matthews) which opens with the crackling of vinyl and ends with noise and we move in between through these ends.
Thereafter is a piece by the first three but with the addition of Kleis and it's quite a lovely piano sample being repeated over and over, but shifting back and forth, going the all out of phase way from Steve Reich and slowly morphing into a marimba or glockenspiel. He would be proud of the simple yet highly effective piece of music. The Fluorescent Grey remix doesn't much add to this beauty, it just makes it a bit noisier. 'Plagot 2' is a nice faint technoid like piece, but also seems a bit superflouos. Otherwise: excellent release." [FdW/Vital Weekly]
|
2014 |
€14.00 |
|
| THROBBING GRISTLE |
Mutant T.G. |
CD |
https://throbbinggristle.bandcamp.com/album/mutant-tg
"Mutant TG, Throbbing Gristle’s first ever collection of remixes available again on CD via NovaMute/Mute.
In many respects Throbbing Gristle as artists, self-promoters, marketeers, label owners and music makers broke the mould on every level and decentralised the whole music making process into their own hands. It therefore came as no surprise when some of the most notable figures in electronic dance music jumped at the chance to re-work some classic TG catalogue. The record was originally released on Mute’s sub-label NovaMute in 2004, and saw reworks from DJ and producer Carl Craig, electronic duo Two Lone Swordsmen (Andrew Weatherall and Keith Tenniswood), Basement Jaxx’s Simon Ratcliffe, electronic post-industrial duo Motor (Mr Nô and Bryan Black), as well as TG’s very own Chris Carter and Cosey Fanni Tutti.
Formed in 1975 from the ashes of performance art troupe/media guerrilla cell Coum Transmissions, Throbbing Gristle consisted of Genesis P-Orridge (1950 – 2020), Cosey Fanni Tutti, Chris Carter and Peter Christopherson (1955 – 2010). During their most active period of 1975 – 1981, TG fully delivered on punk’s failed promise to explore extreme culture as a way of sabotaging systems of control, releasing seminal records such as The Second Annual Report Of Throbbing Gristle (1977), D.O.A The Third And Final Report Of Throbbing Gristle (1978), 20 Jazz Funk Greats (1979) and more. After years of pursuing different projects, the band reformed in 2004, performing several concerts and releasing projects such as TG Now (2004), Mutant TG and Part Two: The Endless Not (2007) before disbanding for good in 2010."
################
"The legendary 2004 set of TG remixes by Carl Craig, Carter Tutti, Motor, Basement Jaxx’s Smon Ratcliffe, and Two Lone Swordsmen receives its 20th anniversary flowers.
‘Mutant’ first emerged during a dry period for the long-defunct industrial musick pioneers to provide contemporary context for their late ’70s/early ‘80s prototypes of textured, rhythm-driven electronics. Issued in tandem with the ‘TG Now’ 12” - their first release of original material ft. the original line-up, since 1982 - the ‘Mutant’ session would skool those who came thru with the early ‘00s whole “electroclash” wave to that sound’s origins, whilst also reframing their work for modern ‘floors for those old enough to join the dots.
Fair to say that Carl Craig’s re-version of ‘Hot on the Heels of Love’ is now a stone cold classic, trimming the original to a sleek Detroit aerodynamism but still sizzling with the grit of Chris Carter’s custom-built kit in the mix, and of course Cosey’s slinky whispers and its chiming hooks, while his take on ’Still Walking’ is resplendent in its cold metallic churn. Decades later, Carter Tutti’s own mix of the creepy as fuck ‘Hamburger Lady’ is marginally less mucky, more oiled up for the darkroom, and still makes us need a wash after rinsing, next to the fetish club canter of their spliced remix for ‘HotHeelsUnited’
Perhaps one of the set’s biggest surprises was the inclusion of Simo nRatcliffe, at a late peak of his Basement Jaxx prowess, dialling up the sexiness of ‘Hot on the Heels of Love’ with hot flushes of MDMA-trigger string pads, whereas french EBM type Motor signalled the sound’s relevance to early-mid ‘00s electro in his spark-spitting remix of ‘Persuasion’, and Andy Weatherall & Keith Tenniswood’s TLS remix of ‘United’ gives it some Rotters Golf Club warpage." [Boomkat]
|
2023 |
€16.00 |
|
| THU20 |
Vroeg Werk |
do-CD |
"First anthology of legendary dutch electroacoustic group of musicians whose names can be definitely placed in range of true underground stars and passionary pushers of contemporary experimental music scene. First CD in this double album is compiled from studio works, unreleased or taken from rare compilations, second CD gathers the best concert recordings. Release date is 29th December 2012. Limited edition of 500 copies in jewelcase." [label info]
www.monochromevision.ru
"Sometime in the early '80s, a bunch of young Dutchmen formed a couple of post-punk bands that nobody remembers anymore; but on one Thursday that happened to be the 20th of some month, one of those bands abandoned their rhythms entirely and splattered out a drone-tape and synth-noise set that had the audience freaking out. The punk structures were scrapped entirely and THU20 was stuck onto this project as the new name. Get it? The Dutchmen of THU20 included Jac Van Bussel, Peter Duimelinks, Roel Meelkop, Jos Smolders, and Guido Doesborg (later replaced by the ubiquitous Frans De Waard). The mid to late '80s proved to be a highly prolific time for THU20, although the project continues on to this day at a much more restrained pace. The ideas that went into THU20 transitioned from Joy Division into Cabaret Voltaire & Throbbing Gristle quickly arriving at a DIY punk form of musique concrete and electro-acoustic experimentation. Such was a similar trajectory for the German ensemble P16.D4, albeit towards even more unconventional goals. In the studio, THU20's work could be austere and brutalist in the obfuscated collages and disjointed slabs of noise; but the live version of THU20 proved to be far more shambolic, dynamically expressive, and rewardingly chaotic. Vroeg Werk is a diverse collection that spans both of these modes of operation, with the second of these two discs being entirely live recordings and the first culling from the dustbin of the cassette culture. The studio material found on disc one has some semblances of the more abstracted tape work found on Einsturzende Neubauten's Drawings Of O.T sans Blixa, with the opening track "5720" being particularly choice. But, the live material is really where THU20 shine, grafting gritty electro-acoustic noise sourced from voice, tape, synth, feedback, pedals, shortwave, power tools, scrap metal, and who knows what else onto thin rhythmic spines of morse code blips, overblown tape loops, and primitive drum machinations. Effectively, THU20 would land somewhere between the panzer bleakness of MB and the viral shredding of Nocturnal Emissions. Not a bad place to be..." [Aquarius Rec.]
"And then there is 'Vroeg Werk' by THU20. Now I am the last person to review that, you may claim, right so, but I really don't have that much to do with it. By accident I was present at two concerts, and added vocals (?) to one and a synth to the other, which makes a total of five out of thirty-one pieces. This double CD reflects the early works of THU20, an original five piece with Jos Smolders, Peter Duimelinks, Jac van Bussel, Roel Meelkop and, in these early years, Guido Doesborg. Started out by Doesburg and Van Bussel as a sideline project to Club Rialto, they experimented in their early years with feedback, sample delay pedal boxes, a synth, a rhythm machine and then slowly something such as 'composition' came in, along with the other three members. THU20 were part of the big cassette scene (see also the P16.D4 of two weeks ago), sending out their pieces to compilations. The first discs collects these in chronological order (which is commendable, but it means it's doesn't start out with the best tracks), ending with their twenty minute concert in Bordeaux from 1989 (originally released as a split LP with Merzbow). The whole of the second CD has concert recordings of the years before that, 1986-1989, plus one from 1992. Here we find THU20 improvising freely with electronics, turntables, tapes, synthesizer and sometimes, but not always, guided by a backing tape and a loose notion of a graphic score. Many of these pieces are well-known to me, following the band from their very early days, but boy, they sound great here. The muffled sound of the cassettes is complete washed away and all of these piece shine like diamonds. You could argue if 150 minutes is a bit much, wether the chronological order is a great idea, but this is some truly exciting music. It combines the industrial music of say 1986 (feedback, noise) with the more rough edged notion of musique concrete, electro-acoustic, and it follows this band to find their own way in this. Many of their previous releases are hard to find these days ('Eerste Schijf', 'Tweede Schijf', 'Derde Schijf' or 'Elfde Uni'), and surely here's a band who deserved their own big box set. That is not likely to happen, but this 'small' (what is small?) box set is worth every penny. And still kicking around, THU20 works on a very irregular basis in 2013, in a slightly different line up. Who would have guessed?" [FdW/Vital Weekly]
|
2012 |
€16.50 |
|
| THUJA |
Pine Cone Temples |
do-CD |
Episches neues Werk dieses 4-köpfigen kreativen Geräusch-Improvisations-Kollektivs, deren Klangquellen keine Begrenzungen zu kennen scheinen. Neben gewöhnlichen Instrumenten werden field recordings aber auch konkretes Material eingesetzt. Die Improvisationen klingen so sensibel & fein verwoben als seien sie „gewollt“ komponiert. Jedes neue Stück offenbart überraschende Sounds, und doch wirkt das Werk wie aus einem Guss. Entspannter „Abstrakt-Geräuschambient“, der niemals langweilig wird. Bei THUJA wirkt LOREN CHASSE von ID BATTERY mit, die auch eine Single auf Drone hatten – nicht nur deswegen sei dieses Werk hiermit in höchstem Maße empfohlen !
“By incorporating real-time recordings of natural sounds from their particular surroundings, the four members of Thuja play off each other and the space they inhabit with impeccable instinct, succeeding in creating eerie yet strikingly melodic compositions. The end result is a total immersion of the senses, for both the player and the listener. Across the grand expanse of Pine Cone Temple's two discs, implements such as piano, guitars, percussion, and well-placed contact mics are blended like pigments to conjure the subtlest of sonics, pulling every lost drop of their immediate universe into floating and buzzing cinematics. Minimalist hues are brush-stroked into being and slowly unfurl into the atmosphere. Improvised clouds of sound softly erupt to form compositions of such immense and precise detail, it would seem the music was written out rather than spontaneously developed. Such is the magic of Thuja and their uncanny ability to sculpt microscopic psychedelia from their immediate environment and collective consciousness.” [label info]
“....and all of them loosely based in one way or another on nature, or natural sounds, or the way music and found sounds interact with the spaces they are performed in. There are instruments like guitars, drums, bass, but more often than not, you'll find sticks and stones, found objects, junk, all sorts of industrial and natural detritus, recorded, re-broadcast, and recorded again. Utilizing natural reverb, the sounds of certain spaces, ambient sounds as well as making the act of making music, music in itself. Wow. So what does Pine Cone Temples sound like? It's wide open and expansive. Ambient perhaps, but there's too much going on for it to be strictly ambient. It's more a sort of abstract soundscape, the sort of soundscape the requires close listening, active listening, in order to understand, and feel the sounds, not just hear them. The rustle of leaves, crickets maybe, running water, or are those sounds manufactured by the band in an attempt to pay homage to the music of nature? Does it matter. Maybe its both, the sound of running water accompanied by Thuja emulating the sound of running water. Clicks and creaks, and little bits of clatter, a simple melody played on a recorder, warm organ warble, whipsering wind, toy xylophone notes released and left to drift in the slowly shifting breeze, distant bird calls, reverbed piano, dark cavernous rumbles, shimmering single notes stretched perilously across a sound field dotted with the echo of dripping water and the buzz of vibrating guitar strings. This isn't so much music as it is simply sound, sound that has been lovingly shaped and guided, observed and interacted with, recorded in its element. As if Thuja were just recordists, who use their own sounds to lure the sounds of nature to come just a little closer, in order to capture them raw and natural, and incorporate them into the sun dappled cloak of their jewelled nature-folk. The sounds of music can be smooth and soothing, or raw and primitive, as can the music of sound, and thus Thuja, whose music of sound is pure, and organic, lush and lustrous, and breathtakingly beautiful.” [Aquarius Records]
www.strange-attractors.com |
2005 |
€15.00 |
|
|
same |
LP |
"A brand new vinyl only full length from aQ beloved ambient improvised free rock explorers Thuja. The core group is all present, Loren Chasse, Glenn Donaldson, Steven R. Smith and Rob Reger, joined for these sessions by Thuja satellite members: Greg Bianchini, Keith Evans, Bryan DeRoo and former aQ mailorder mistress Christine Boepple. Collected from various live performances, these tracks find Thuja setting up in various venues around the Bay Area, and
transforming each location, at least briefly, into a forest glade, or a darkened wood, or a fog shrouded seashore, using traditional
instruments as well as sticks and stones and other found objects to conjure up ghostlike soundscapes , each track, every performance, a
slow burning sprawl of humid and humming minimalism.
Almost the entirety of the A side is taken up by an epic stretch of alchemical minimalism, a muted series of washed out melodies, of gentle scrapes and distant shimmers, various notes and chords expressed in long streaks, the guitar lines unfurling lazily, the band eventually coalesce into a glistening high end crescendo, suddenly reminding us of Sunroof! with their upper register ur-drone skree, but here that skree is more muted and muddied, a mournful keening, before the band elves back into a more minimal moonlit crawl. Disembodied slowed down riffs are draped over whispered whirs, while the band lurk in the shadows, letting tiny bits of light spill out, creating barely there sonic patterns, and dusty dreamlike song skeletons.
The B side is even more understated, each track a brief soundscape, exploring dark dusty corners, shuffling through a blanket of dead leaves, the band barely there at all. Almost like they set up their instruments and just stood there, letting the wind and the wildlife create the sounds. When the music does materialize, and take more solid form, the guitars weave themselves into delicate little
tangles, drifting over deep resonant swells, all around sounds betray the environment, but become inexorable parts of the organic sound being created, snippets of conversation, voices, footsteps, alongside subtle bits of percussive thump, warbly distant melodies, a deep dark
ambience, a gorgeously subtle sound that manages to be quietly propulsive even as it seems to hover motionless.
LIMITED TO 500 COPIES!!" [Aquarius Records review]
label-website: www.importantrecords.com
|
2008 |
€15.50 |
|
| |
Hills |
LP |
Thuja's 2002 album, Hills, emerged out of a particularly productive phase for the loose assemblage of musicians known as the Jewelled Antler Collective. Glenn Donaldson and Loren Chasse, who had recently formed Thuja alongside Steven R. Smith and Rob Reger, were dialling down the volume, moving away from the instrumental rock interludes of previous groups like Mirza, and exploring more rugged terrain - laminal improvisation, wistful wide-eyed folk songs, field recordings and home-recorded electro-acoustics. By 2002, Jewelled Antler had developed a certain notoriety for unstintingly releasing excellent, small-run CD-R releases,. Thuja's albums had been picked up by Craig Stewart's visionary Emperor Jones imprint, but Hills was released on a small-scale American CD-R label, Last Visible Dog, run by Chris Moon. One of four albums (and two more mini-CDs) Thuja released that year, it's a startling document, a collective of eviscerated dream tones and cavernous psychoacoustics. The unforced, luxuriant development of Thuja's music - a misty fold of keyboard drones, tinkling piano, clusters of percussives, shuttling and scrabbling strings and other things - often asks for metaphor from the natural world. But this is also distinctly city-based music, as Donaldson described it: "insular warehouse music from a still affordable city, before the internet dominated everything. No intention of getting noticed or 'streamed', just making sounds for the sake of it. A rejection of rock things: clubs, structure, volume." The music on Hills and other, loosely contemporaneous releases often played on broken instruments and non-instruments, with small, sensual details captured by contact mics, was "all improvised," Donaldson recalls, "but no 'jamming' or soloing [was] allowed, just a slow evolution towards a mood." In that respect, Thuja can lay claim to a heritage of all-in-one, group-mind improvisation that arcs back to AMM and Musica Elettronica Viva, but also connects with other, less immediately recognisable precursors - there are shades here of groups like Biota, or composer Sofia Gubaidulina's improvisatory outfit Astreja. There's a relaxed yet questing folksiness too.
https://rosehobart.bandcamp.com/album/hills
|
2019 |
€20.50 |
|
| TIETCHENS, ASMUS |
Geboren um zu dienen |
CD |
“8th part in the ongoing re-release series of all early Tietchens albums between 1980—1991. Described by Tietchens himself as his «Industrial» album, «Geboren, um zu Dienen» was originally released on the spanish ESPLENDOR GEOMETRICO label in 1986. The CD version incl. three unreleased bonus tracks from the same period and comes with a full colour fold-out booklet incl. liner notes by Tietchens himself.” [label info]
„If I'd ever recorded an «Industrial» solo album, it must be «GEBOREN, UM ZU DIENEN». Although I obviously wasn't one of the inventors of «Industrial Music», I clearly felt an affinity to it. So I tried to learn my lessons well adding my own musical aspects to the general apocalyptic noises of this genre. My main concern was to dive deep into the canonical topics of fear, hysteria, claustrophobia, machine and threat. The end was imminent as hundreds of Pershings and SS20 all pointed in the direction of the march up area called West Germany, the seals of the read buttons were already broken. Even the conventional alternative — a tank war between NATO and the Warsaw Pact — sounded like utter apocalypse. Would we really have welcomed our brothers from the east with open arms? This particular background has to be seen as the main influence on GEBOREN, UM ZU DIENEN. I believe that many of my colleagues also recording «Industrial» albums felt the same at that time. IF there would have been a «Bang» it — without doubt — would have been global.
Fear, emptiness and the futility of the aesthetical, were not alien to me, but until then I moved inside a carefully tested zone which was defined by a spectrum of experimental forms. GEBOREN, UM ZU DIENEN was an experiment in itself which first fruits I set free immediately. As if I'd to work under a deadline I recorded the tracks hastily, not wasting much thoughts about dynamics, duration, precision and construction. In the same way I resolutely did rough mixes of the seperate tracks of the pieces: what sounded dirty stayed dirty. Essentially the raw and the unsculptured were a part of the dogma of «Industrial». The original nine tracks plus five more (three which appear as Bonustracks on this CD) all developed in a very short period of time. The album was released on the spanish «Esplendor Geometrico» label, run by Andres Noarbe, in the same year. Originally a tape only label EG released a series of radical albums during the mid 80's, also albums by the «Industrial» group of the same name, many which are much sought after items today. Of course only 500 copies of the album were pressed, which still meant a considerable financial risk given the small circle of potentionally interested listeners. But the enthusiasm and dedication of everyone involved lead to a self-evident «Nevertheless».
Looking back at these years it has to be noted that I established a daring attitude then, which luckily developed positively and stayed with me until today. The fact that a german attorneys general confiscated a small number of the LP in 1990 deeming the cover as being immoral («A Call for abortion»), was registered with satisfaction. A case like this corresponds with the mark of quality granted by the «Stiftung Warentest». Go on Germany! “ [Asmus Tietchens, 2006]
Editorial notes: The original masters of all the pieces incl. the bonus tracks are in perfect condition and were used 1:1 for the transfer onto CD. Only the fade-out at the end of «Mein erstes Erlebnis» was slightly corrected.
|
2006 |
€15.00 |
|
|
In die Nacht |
CD |
Fourth part in the rerelease-series of all early vinyl albums by Asmus Tietchens on CD. This is the third of the SKY albums from 1982 incl. three bonus tracks of unreleased material not included on the original LP. Comes with a poster booklet feat. the original cover artwork. Edition of 1000 copies.
“Asmus Tietchens 'In die Nacht' (Sky Records 077) 1982 To my surprise, SKY ordered a third album from me. For distribution reasons the album had to be finished rather quickly. This presented me with an immediate problem, as usually it would have taken about three months to complete an album with twenty tracks similar in style to those on 'Biotop' or 'Spät-Europa'. There was not much time to decide whether to say no to the SKY offer, or deviate from my usual doctrine of Short Tracks. I decided for the latter and, eyes wide open, stepped into an aesthetic trap. I found myself trying to square the circle, wanting to have the rich detail of my short works at the same time as creating longer pieces. This experiment, an equivalent to doing the splits, was only partly succesful. It is not really possible to create pieces of six minutes or more from ideas which are only
adequate for tracks of three minutes, unless one is willing to risk musical redundancy or, worse, long-windedness. In retrospect, the four central tracks of 'In die Nacht' are too long for the material from which the are built. Back in 1982 though, my opinion was different. Nonetheless, I did gain my first insight into the rules of time and proportion, even though I was not able to handle them perfectly. I managed to complete the album in three weeks, helped by the fact that I was able to include some tracks left over from the 'Spät-Europa' sessions. So the tapes were delivered on time, even though I was not 100% happy with the collection. SKY, however, was very
enthusiastic about the album and released it immediately, at the same time offering me the option of a fourth LP. By then I had decided that I was no longer willing to work to a deadline, nor did I want to be compromised by a label's distribution policy. There would have to be some mutual agreement well in advance. Either that, or nothing would come of it. I would like to thank Günter Körber of Sky Records for his kind permission to re-release 'In die Nacht' and the three other SKY albums, and for allowing me to use the original lables in facsimile. [Asmus Tietchens, 2004]
|
2004 |
€15.00 |
|
|
Leuchtidioten |
10inch |
“This new release features two 'rhythmic' tracks that were recorded during the 'Teilmengen' sessions (which appeared on CD as 'a-Menge' and 'b-Menge'on Ritornell) but were not used for these albums as Tietchens regarded them as too different to the other pieces and therefore decided to have them released on their own.” [press release]
www.diestadtmusik.de
|
2002 |
€11.50 |
|
|
Fast ohne Titel, Korrosion |
CD |
"Black Rose Recordings are proud to present the exceptional new album by Asmus Tietchens. Corrosion is a degradation mechanism. It is an insidious process often difficult to recognise until deterioration is well advanced. Are these new pieces a comment on the current state of noise music, serious music or both?
As a pioneer of electronic composition his work spans over three decades and doesn’t fit easily into any one category. Early recordings ranged from experiments with tape machines and electronic sound through to experimental pop. Later works were a more sculptural blend of abstract microelectronics, industrial sounds and musique concrete.
Never straightforward or obvious, always unpredictable and innovative his ground breaking music influences many working in today’s experimental music scene. He has worked almost exclusively as a solo artist but recent releases have seen him collaborate with well known and diverse artists such as Dieter Moebius (Cluster & Harmonia), Thomas Koener and Richard Chartier." [label info]
www.tietchens.de
"In my spare time I listen to pop music, usually, but then, in 2013, I asked myself: why do I still have so many CDs? Isn't it about time to listen to those again, and see what you have, which are keepers and which are goers. In a random fashion I pick a bunch of CDs of the shelf and play them until the end, because, when not played to the end, what's the reason for keeping them? From some artists I stayed away for a while. I can safely say I have almost all of the works by Asmus Tietchens, but I was afraid of going there. I feared I would not find enough concentration to examine each and everyone properly and make the wrong decision and see them go. But once I started to play them I was totally immersed. I am nearly done with all of them, and then much to my surprise, here's a new work by Tietchens. The titles poke fun with the notion of 'ernste musik', the German term to create a distinction between serious music and entertainment music. Maybe its a comment, Black Rose asks, on 'the
current state of noise music, serious music or both'? An interesting question, perhaps, but much to my surprise I notice something else. In the past ten years Tietchens explored the quiet areas of electronic music, with some highly refined music, not unlike the work of say Richard Chartier. Here he seems to return to some of his earlier electronic music, from the late 80s, early 90s, but perhaps generated with the means he uses these days. This results in a piece like 'Kaum Noch Ernste Musik', with a pulsating click beat (think Pan Sonic or Goem), and the well-know Tietchens tricks on oscillators. It's something entirely different than what you would expect. Maybe it's a bit long this piece which clocks in at over ten minutes. Throughout the pieces on this album, eight in total, do not have strong rhythm sounds, but they surely sound louder than we are used from him in recent times. It takes the 'serious' electronic music from the sixties, with it's sustaining sounds fading in loud
and about. It's heavy music, but it's great music. Only in a few pieces, aptly called for instance 'Sehr Ernste Musik', Tietchens shows some of his more quiet side, but in the other pieces he sounds like his tape manipulation work 'Daseinsverfehlung', bursting about, such as in 'Eingeschränkt Ernste Musik'. And then there is also the humorous Tietchens with a vinyl loop in 'Keine Ernste Musik' or 'Im Ernst? (Für H.K.)', which sees him playing something that sounds like Trautonium. This, ladies and gentleman, is an excellent CD. If you are keen to hear new musical movements by this man, but not every move, then this is one of those releases you should surely hear." [FdW/Vital Weekly]
|
2013 |
€13.00 |
|
|
Aus Freude am Elend |
CD |
Wohl eine der ungewöhnlichsten & schönsten Tietchens-Alben, die augenzwinkernde Verwendung von vokalem Material war hier der Fokus, found sounds & field-recordings werden eigentümlichst verfremdelt, aus Schlager- oder Volksliedern die abartigsten Töne rausgekitzelt, absolut unkategorisierbare Klänge entstehen... ein wunderbares-wundersames Re-Kontextualisierungs-Projekt! JA WIR LIEBEN ES! 2 Bonus Tracks!
"11th part in the ongoing re-release series of all early Tietchens albums between 1980-1991. AUS FREUDE AM ELEND is based on the human voice as a primary sound source and was originally released in edition of 500 copies on Dom America in 1988. The CD includes two previously unreleased tracks and comes in a jewel case with full color artwork and poster booklet also feat. the original front and back cover. First edition of 600 copies.
Asmus Tietchens AUS FREUDE AM ELEND (Dom America Dom US LP 02) 1988 "Following my research of piano and water sounds (DS102, DS88) it didn't come as a surprise that my next project was about the human voice as a sound source. The great masters of Plunderphonics already showed the way in the early 80's, when they plundered the gigantic junk-shops packed full of already recorded material, which was stolen by them to use it for their own aesthetic targets. This album only consists of such stolen goods. Each track (with the exception of 'In memoriam P.F.') was based on voices of people who I naturally didn't ask their permission to use these recordings in the first place. So you can hear the voices of ecstatic religious people as well as other people making love. You'll also hear someone singing to Annette and Peggy out of the trash bin of a publishing company. Even the screams of furious teachers came in handy while I made loops from them. Especially loops: Rarely before this album and only once after it (on Stupor Mundi) did I made use of the structural means of loops to such an extent. I was fascinated by the rhythmical and harmonic permanence, in the same way as many of my musical colleagues at the time. The aspect of the 'Ritual' was a self-evident common formulation in difficult music during the 80s, so loops and tape voices, monotonous rhythms and LoFi became obvious means to shape the music. AUS FREUDE AM ELEND too was strongly spiced with these ingredients and therefore can be seen as a prototype album of this specific view of music during the time. This tendency was supported - even partly inspired - by a new generation of sound machines, which also made it possible for new aesthetic goals to appear at the horizon. The 90s were near at hand and sound art music would develop drastically in many ways in the years to follow. Samplers, digital editing, hard-disc recording and the first PC's opened new doorways. Half of the material on AUS FREUDE AM ELEND was already created with these digital tools. I never quite understood how the labels Dom America (run by Jon Carlson) and Dom here in Germany were connected. Did Carlson used to be a fan of Dom which was founded by Christoph Heemann and Achim Flaam. Did he simply liked the release politics of this label. And what became of Dom America ? Actually I don't know. I guess it was one of the small enthusiastic independent labels which released a handful of titles and which disappeared after being active for a couple of years during the 80s. However AUS FREUDE AM ELEND had vanished shortly after its release. I only used 'stolen' voices twice again ('Stupor Mundi', 1990 and 'Das Fest ist zu Ende. Aus', 1993) after this album by the way." [label info / credits]
"... Much like some his previous records, most notably 'Formen Letzer Hausmusik' and 'Seuchengebiete', its foremost a work of electro acoustic or musique concrete. There is an element of repetition that one wouldn't easily spot with the original 'masters' of the genre, but Tietchens uses them in his own, highly personal, way, adding his own fine blend of electronics and in order to make a creepy sound, a sinister play of vocals. The people whose voices are used sound like they are singing in a far away cage, in isolation, a cry to get out. After all these years this record hasn't aged at all, and is a highlight in Tietchens career." [FdW / Vital Weekly]
|
2008 |
€13.00 |
|
|
Eine Menge Papier |
mCD |
"Asmus Pre-Mengenserien und somit alles vor der sonischen Auseinandersetzung mit Sinus und Rauschen birgt noch wesentlich feinere Schätze als man denken mag- beachtet man Tietchens Output an Material in den letzten zwanzig Jahren und lässt man sich davon nicht abschrecken, entgehen einem Dinge wie »Papier ist geduldig« oder »6.9.98 7 Uhr/8 Uhr« nicht. Ersterem gewährt aufabwegen in sehr hochwertiger und edler Manier einen Publikumsneuzugang (der angesichts der damals sehr niedrig gehaltenen Limitierung auch geraten erscheint) und erweitert das recht kurzweilige Material der original Syntactic 7“ um eine weitere, nie veröffentlichte Single sowie Material aus den Sitzungen, die es nicht auf das Vinylformat geschafft hatten. Der Klang ist erstaunlich für die 1996 umgesetzte 7“, hier zieht vor allem Tietchens’ großartiger Umgang mit dem Quellmaterial sämtliche Register avantgardistischen Könnens. Wie unschwer zu erkennen bzw. auch zu hören, beruht das Material dabei auf Papiergeräuschen, eine Serie die Asmus aufgrund des limitierten Frequenzganges des Materials und seiner beschränkten Weiterverarbeitung jedoch frühzeitig wieder beendete. Teilweise sehr krachig mit deutlichen Anleihen an Asmus Tietchens Achtziger-Konkretindustrial: »P.I.G. 5« mit seinen betont sinusoiden Einzelklängen gerät zur fast schon skizzenhaften Abstraktion von Papierklang, hingegen betont »P.I.G 4« auf recht kurze Weise die Schönheit von Tietchens Bearbeitungsmanie, kennzeichnet sich das Stück doch durch recht scharfgeschnittene und –gefilterte Einzelereignisse ehemaliger Schriftstückverformungen.
Letztes Stück bietet dem Hörer eine wunderbar noisige Vertonung all dessem, was Tietchens an Papier in seinem Studio wahrscheinlich aufbieten und –gespannt lauschend und schelmisch lächelnd- auch zerknüllen konnte. " [Thorsten Soltau, AEMAG]
“Eine Menge Papier” assembles 20 minutes of sounds derived from using paper as the sound souce. Two tracks originally came out as a limited 7” record on the austrian Syntactic label in the 1990ies and appear here for the first time on CD. The other two tracks were planned for a follow up 7” on the same
label that never materialized. The fifth track is a study of sonic material in the same series. There are two further tracks from the P.I.G. series that are considered by the artists as failed attemps. These remain in the closet. The five sonic movements on “Eine Menge Papier” go back to the Tietchens sound right before he started the Mengen series, using primarily sine waves and white noise. “Eine Menge Papier” is an interesting documentation of the transition in Tietchens’ sound from the concretish, post-industrial rumblings and textures to the more refined, abstract and cold atmospheres. Asmus Tietchens has been producing electronic music since the 1960ies and is
one of the most renowned sound artists today in Germany. In the last five years he was awarded twice the SWR state radio prize “Karl Sczuka Preis” for radio art. He has released more than 80 records and CDs on labels all around the world."
[label notes]
www.aufabwegen.com
www.tietchens.de
|
2009 |
€9.50 |
|
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Stupor Mundi |
CD |
"Part 14th in the ongoing re-release series of all early Asmus Tietchens Vinyl albums between 1980-1991. 'Stupor Mundi' (Discos Esplendor Geometrico EGD 018) was originally released in 1990. This re-release comes with another poster booklet and feat. 4 Bonus tracks of unreleased material from the same period. Joint release with AUF ABWEGEN. 600 copies.
1. Pflegekammer extern 1'00"
2. Stimmen der Vernunft 3'08"
3. Konvoy 3'01"
4. Tollerort 2'53"
5. Fron 5'10"
6. Pflegekammer intern 1'00"
7. Schacht Hera 2'53"
8. Pflegekammer Mitte 1'00"
9. Aufs Maul 2'44"
10. Aufstand der Massen 3'31"
11. Xenophobie 2'48"
12. Mammi Money 3'38"
13. Pflegekammer West 1'00"
14. Heimholung 4'12"
Bonus
15. Pleuel 3'29"
16. Krill-Schatten 1'12"
17. Heimstatt des Betons 3'20"
18. An alle 2'54"
Asmus Tietchens about the album:
The opener of the album cites: 'Gitarren spielen kann ich leider noch nicht...' ('Unfortunately I can't play any guitars yet...'). Today, 23 years later, I could reveal the name of the person confessing this, but nothing would be more unfair, even two and a half decades later.
Only this: It's not the voice of a Punk (a Punk would have omitted the 'yet'), and it's also not my own voice, even though I can't play guitar either. Maybe it was this flaw though that was responsible for the general
construction of all the tracks here, which consist of short looped samples and further adaptions of the same.
In the end 'Stupor Mundi' was my last LP on the label Esplendor Geometrico and also my last solo LP until 1995. The very next release of mine was already a CD. At lot changed at the time. Esplendor Geometrico wasn't doing
well financially, a fate, many more small enthusiastic Labels shared with them, as the real Independents were always in danger of facing financial ruin. As a result EG was looking for someone to co finance 'Stupor Mundi'. The person who helped out is a colleague of mine with a well known name
today, but only just started his first musical attempts back then at the end of the 80's. He asked not be mentioned in the credits of the album cover, but requested to have the schematic diagram of an insect placed in the lower right hand corner of the cover.
There's yet another, third name, I won't reveal. The final words on the LP are: 'My friends'. For piety reasons I won't explain the original context of the voice, nor reveal the identity of the woman, who speaks these words.
Besides, it's a damn long time ago anyway, and mystifications were no longer a part of my repertoire after 'Stupor Mundi'. [Asmus Tietchens 2012] " [label info]
www.diestadtmusik.de
Editorial notes:
Contrary to the original LP, where there were no breaks, the CD feat. a 7
seconds pause inbetween each track. The original tape with the intro (
Gitarren spielen kann ich leider noch nicht...') could not be located, so a
mint LP copy was used for the transfer. The order of the 4 'Pflegekammer'
tracks was changed for this CD.
Although the release date of the album was stated as 1989, and also listed
the same in my discography, the actual release date was May 1990. This was
due to numerous faulty test pressings which caused a delay of 6 months.
Hence the labels were not changed accordingly because they had already been
printed.
|
2012 |
€15.00 |
|
|
Parergon |
CD |
" “Parergon” (Greek ‘collection of small texts’) is the sequel of the idea to continue to recycle recyclings of recyclings. That does not mean remixes or deconstructions but much more genuine compositions derived from already repeatedly recycled structures. In the future the new compositions, too, will be transformed by recycling into totally new music. This approach is in no case hermetic because no circular course happens: There is no way back to the beginning. With digital tools – but w i t h o u t chance operations – one can achieve treatments and processings which lead to a nearly endless multitude of esthetic relevant compositions derived from once defined basic structures. In this connection ‘sampling’ is not of importance. -
The pieces of “Parergon” do not intend to provoke pictures or moods, but will give the listener simply something to listen to – it is up to him how he handles this offer. In consequece the pieces have no titles. Instead they have index data which point to certain series. -
“Parergon” has been composed in dark times, but at the best only the artwork reflects this conditions. The sounds themselves come from the vacuum." [Asmus Tietchens, 2016]
|
2016 |
€13.00 |
|
|
Soiree Fantastique |
mCD |
5” CD in full colour digipak carton sleeve and printed inner sleeve. CD is off-set printed in half-metallized format, all designed by Asmus Tietchens. Production: Okko Bekker. 500 copies.
On „Soirée fantastique“:
"Two pieces – unfocussed in every aspect – featuring blurring contours, spooled out harmonies and barely recognizable melodies frame an extreme minimal, almost static piece in the centre. A piece of harsh, sharp-edges transparency. If this were not the music of a phantastic nightlyx gathering, a soirée fantastique, one could liken these sounds to be signifiers of the setting we name the soft core inside a hard shell – only in reverse. To know that this saying is as paradox as there cannot be a soft core might proof to be life-safing."
[Asmus Tietchens]
"Just like the 10" the miniCD is a format of doom. Not a lot of music to be a full length, too much to be a single. But at least this miniCD looks like a full length CD, with the outer ring being all-transparent, and only the twenty-two minutes of music with a silver layer; it's been a while since I last saw one of these. They were more popular a decade ago, but somehow I doubt whether Asmus Tietchens (or his label) cares much about popularity, and what to do or don't in that respect. He does what he does, and it's a matter of take it or leave it. Over the years we have seen a seemingly endless reduction in much of Tietchens music (although not exclusively), creating a very rich sound with the most minimal sounds. Even when I know the music of Tietchens very well, and on a few occasions engaged in a conversation with him, I have very little knowledge of how he works. I believe to some extent he uses computer technology, and somehow I have this fantasy in which Asmus creates a fully formed piece on his computer and then has some plug ins that effectively take out certain frequency ranges and then takes what's left and feeds that into an entirely different plug ins, reducing some more, or perhaps emphasizing a few other frequencies and he repeats that a few times. Then he takes all the processed pieces, overlays them on each other, super-imposing them, and then creates a gentle mix out of these residue sounds. It's a technique that works really well, and can, in principle applied to all sorts of sounds, but also entire finished pieces, even by others. Yet, I am not sure if this is what Tietchens does; somehow he seems not to be the
plunderphonics kind-a guy. The three pieces on this new release are all along these lines, and they all sound wonderful; wonderful again, I should add. But then I am a big fan of the man's music and there is very little that he does that I don't like. I could say he's perhaps exhausted the 'reduction' by now, but secretly I hoped this would have contained two or three more pieces like this. To have some change is fine but not always necessary; this is a fan boy speaking, so I am sure not everyone agrees with me there." [FdW/Vital Weekly]
|
2017 |
€9.50 |
|
| |
Linea + |
CD |
"Asmus Tietchens is a sound artist and composer from Hamburg, Germany. He got interested in Musique Concrete by listening to a German radio programme when he was 10 years old. In 1965, at the age of 18, Asmus started experimenting with tape loops and turned them into musical collages. Soon, the use of synthesizers was added. In 1980 his debut album Nachtstücke was released, produced by Peter Baumann of Tangerine Dream. This was soon followed by a series of albums of electronic pop music for the Sky label, home of many Krautrock bands. Tietchens often uses special source materials for his compositions such as water (Seuchengebiete), human voices (Von Mund zu Mund), paper (Papier ist geduldig). He is associated with the Industrial music scene through his collaborations and releases on labels such as United Dairies, Esplendor Geometrico or Dom Records. Tietchens never studied composition, he has no academic background, everything he does is self taught or learnign by doing. Nevertheless, he was professor for sound design in Hamburg in recent years. Linea was originally released on cassette on Dutch Korm Plastics label, later re-issued as a CDR in 1999. It is one of Tietchens's most minimal compositions, and has a special place in our music hearts here at Klanggalerie. For our new edition, Asmus Tietchens has dug deep into his archive and unearthed two further Linea pieces that have so far never seen the light of day. Full running time now 75 minutes. Remastered and repackaged. Full tracklist: 1 Linea 1 2. Linea 3 3. Linea 12 4. Linea 13." [label info]
"Linea+ represents some of the composers most minimal works. The opener, Linea 1, offers a taut repetitive beat/rhythm that slightly blurs and bounces over time. It is a circular, hypnotic rhythm that is drawn into a bit of an oblong shape as it crosses from the left to the right channel ever so slightly. Musique Concrete at its finest, Tietchens takes sweet time to add minor electronic effects which throw the steady beat off some, making the listener pay closer attention to the conversation between the up and down layers. (...) The original release was a diamond in the rough, and this reissue has expanded its karat size two-fold and given this excavated classic the full restoration it deserves. Now Linea+ can be re-presented to new audiences looking for a futuristic sound that was way before its time, here reserving its timeless place." (Toneshift, September 2018)
"This is not a review at all; this is a personal observation. About thirty years ago I started to
meet Dolf Mulder, who was slightly older than me and about every once in 2 weeks we would meet up and he would play me weird records. Or I'd play some weird cassettes, as this I was I already much into. These days Dolf still writes for Vital Weekly about weird music, just as I do. I'm sure at one of those occasions he played me a record by Asmus Tietchens, I'd like to think one of the Sky Records or 'Formen Letzter Hausmusik' and Dolf told me he was in contact with Tietchens and that there was unpublished work, refused by Ladd-Frith on the basis it was too monotonous. For the small cassette label I had this seemed to me like sure-fire hit, selling more than the usual thirty copies. I wrote to Tietchens, got the master tape, liked it, and had a very professional cover printed, unlike all the Xerox business so far. A decade later, when CDRs became household, I re-issued all of the cassettes I did on Korm Plastics on that format and gave 'Linea' a second life. Not bad for a boring piece of music, indeed. Now it gets a third life, including two lengthy bonus pieces, both from the same series, but with 'Linea 12' and 'Linea 13' a bit further down the line. If Tietchens doesn't release a particular composition it is probably not good enough. On the original we have 'Linea 1' and 'Linea 3'. The fist is a very straightforward rhythm machine and sequence along with a repeating loop. It is very much at the tail end of Tietchens' Sky Records phase; very electronic,
nothing concrete and yet also very minimal indeed. 'Linea 3' is also minimal yet with a stranger attack on the keyboard and rhythm machine pushed a little to the background. In both pieces there is very little development but it slowly shifts around. 'Im Atelier Zu Hören' is the tip Tietchens gives us, 'listen in your workspace' and that's where this works well indeed. In the two bonus pieces, Tietchens gives something away from the working methods behind 'Linea', which I didn't hear to the same extent as before. In these pieces the rhythm machine has disappeared and it's only arpeggio synthesizers, playing repeating lines and feeding through various delay lines, so
sometimes we only hear the residue of the delay of the original line, chasing each other on end.
Again this is all very minimal and again it works very well. 'Linea 12' has a darker touch and 'Linea 13' is the lighter side of things. Excellent re-issue." (FdW/Vital Weekly) |
2018 |
€14.00 |
|
| TIETCHENS, ASMUS & JON MUELLER |
8 Stücke |
CD |
"Second collaborative effort between german sound manipulation pioneer Asmus Tietchens and american improv-drummer Jon Mueller. The CD features 8 tracks that run up to 53 minutes. Jon Mueller on the second collaboration: “The previous collaboration between Asmus and I involved me using only sounds derived from drum heads. For Acht Stuecke, I've used only Chinese gongs and cymbals, so a completely different range of sound occurs. The performance of the percussion material was from various non-mechanical techniques (striking, swinging gongs, extended techniques, etc.) to create a palette of mostly textural sound with a large frequency range that Asmus could work with.” And indeed, work he did! The completeness that is Acht Stuecke is of breathtaking beauty and simplicity and complexity at the same time. The album is definately more homogenous and ‘together’ than the first meeting of the two musicians. It emanates a warm and deep sound evolving ou t of total soundless blankness as it seems.
Jon Mueller has been active for several years in the us improv scene playing in various ensembles and doing solo work. he runs the excellent web mag/label/mailorder croutonmusic.com. Asmus Tietchens has been producing electronic music since the 1960ies and is one of the most renowned sound artists today in Germany. In the last five
years he was awarded twice the SWR state radio prize “Karl Sczuka Preis” for radio art. He has released more than 80 records and CDs on labels all around the world." [label info]
"...There are occasions in which one doesn’t need to speak too much to establish a truth, and the truth here lies inside the repeated bends and turns of a gorgeous album, among the best of both artists’ career. The original materials furnished by the Milwaukee percussionist - sounds of Chinese gongs and cymbals - were studio-treated by the German manipulator through his usual masterful methods, this time maintaining the qualities of the harmonic resonance of the metal rather evident amidst the choked gulps, the modified waves and the fractured hiccups that we’re used to receive from the Hamburg-based sonic transformer. There’s this splendid three-way cross between the real essence of Mueller’s stricken parts and swinging gongs, the instant mutated jargon developed by Tietchens over that, the final elemental amalgam bringing the whole to sound like a hidden microcosm where a hypnotically undulating presence is blemished by sparse singular voices of unknown entities. It’s really difficult to describe the overall feel in sheer words, but those who are gifted with the ability of picking disguised frequencies from the core of the more superficial ones are in for several special moments, aware of phenomena that not everybody can actually penetrate." [Massimo Ricci / Touching Extremes]
www.aufabwegen.com
|
2007 |
€13.00 |
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| TIETCHENS, ASMUS & ROLF ZANDER |
Tarpenbek |
CD & 12inch BOX |
"CD in LP Box. The box includes: 12 high quality prints reproducing etchings by visual artist Rolf Zander – each image corresponds with a track on the CD. The box further holds three prints with sketches and texts by Rolf
Zander about his style of etching and the composition of the visual works. Finally there is a text print giving track info for the CD and an essay on the project by Kai U. Jürgens.
Handnumbered 300 copies. There is also a special ART EDITION of 30 copies available. This edition includes one of 30 original etchings by Rolf Zander, signed and numbered.
The collaboration between Rolf Zander and Asmus Tietchens is very special indeed. Zander was Tietchens’ music teacher at school. He can be heard on some of the tracks on the Adventures In Sound CD of early experiments that came with the reissue of Nachtstücke on Die Stadt.
Tarpenbek is now the realization of a project that has been long in the making and planning. It all started with a series of etchings by Rolf Zander that he made in the 1970ies. These etchings deal with the structures and
topographical features of the small north german river “Tarpenbek”. The series of images is very reduced minimal and interwoven with textures on the original material.
Tietchens took each of these etchings as a starting point for a musical composition, taking ideas about structure and layers from the images. Ony in one instance field recordings from the riverbanks of the Tarpenbek were incorporated. At most instances the music is as minimal as the visual works. Full of details and small surprising turns.
aufabwegen is really proud to present these works together – high quality prints of the etchings by Rolf Zander and a CD with 47 minutes of new music from Asmus Tietchens." [label info]
www.aufabwegen.com
"...This CD comes in a LP sized box with twelve prints by Rolf Zander - ok, which I didn't see then, but I looked at his website and have an idea what he does. And I think it fits the minimal music of Tietchens very well. What seems the case with the work of Zander is that there is an certain level of erasing in his treated zinc plates and of course know Tietchens for having a similar interest in erasing sound and use the bare minimum of what remains. If I am to believe what the liner notes tell me these printings were used by Tietchens to define his music, but maybe that's just an interpretation of the writer. Set up an equalizer, some oscillator or whatever kind of filter and then feed whatever sound through these applications - I am never sure if herr Tietchens still only uses analogue equipment or also digital ones these days. Whatever it is, the results are without doubt Trademark Tietchens. At least of course the Tietchens that has been exploring this route for the last ten or more years, perhaps since he started to release music on Mille Plateaux and later 12K. Carefully placed clicks and cuts, sustaining sine wave like sounds, all heavily reduced, the bare necessities of a simple sound. This is the electro-acoustic music that I love, that doesn't dwell on glissandi to evoke a sense of drama as I hear so often, but a simple, drama-free sound, highly abstract in nature (and henceforth probably not the most popular in its kind, sad to say), but oh so beautiful. Its not that Tietchens adds anything to what we know about his work, but it's just another confirmation of what a great composer he is. This is an excellent release!" [FdW/Vital Weekly]
|
2012 |
€45.00 |
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| TIETCHENS, ASMUS + FRANS DE WAARD |
Oordeel |
CD |
On „Oordeel“
This collaboration was bound to happen someday! Out of mutual respect and admiration for each other’s work Asmus Tietchens and Frans de Waard decided to work on some music together. The result is “Oordeel" (dutch for "judgement") – eleven tracks of diverse character and subtle beauty. From distorted groans and gritty pulses to delicate and abstract sound layers Tietchens and de Waard have created a fascinating sound world of bizarre beauty.
Frans de Waard
Frans de Waard (1965) has been producing music since 1984 (Kapotte Muziek, Beequeen, Goem, Zebra, Freiband, Shifts, Modelbau, etc.). In 1984 he started his own record label Korm Plastics, releasing music from Arcane Device, Asmus Tietchens, Jim O'Rourke among others. He has worked for the pioneering Dutch tape label Staalplaat (1992-2003) and since 1986 as a reviewer for his own publication Vital (now Vital Weekly), a magazine which has been an online source for underground music since 1995, and which celebrated its 1000th issue in 2015. In 2016 Timeless published in France his first book, an autobiography of life in Staalplaat titled This Is Supposed To Be A Record Label. His interests in music creation ranges from ambient to noise to what he describes as 'silly disco
music'. He has played concerts in Europe, USA, Canada, Russia and Japan, and collaborated with Steven Wilson, Jaap Blonk, Andrew Liles, Radboud Mens, Keiji Haino, Pan Sonic and others.
Asmus Tietchens
Tietchens was born in Hamburg in 1947. Since 1975 he has been working as an independent musician; in 1980 he released his first solo record Nachtstücke. After producing a series of rhythmic and harmonic albums for the Sky label in the early 1980s he released his first industrial record Formen letzter Hausmusik in 1984 on United Dairies. Here Tietchens articulated his musical interests clearly: everyday noises were treated and at times deformed beyond recognition and placed into new contexts. Until now Asmus Tietchens has released more than 80 albums on international labels where he continues to explore the posibilities presented to him by specific sound sources (ranging from water sounds to pure sine wave tones). He has a more rhythm-oriented fake band project called Hematic Sunsets. Tietchens’ work is rooted in a deeply sceptic gesture, marked by frequent quotes from the works of philosopher E.M. Cioran on his album covers. Asmus Tietchens has been awarded with the prestigious Karl Sczuka Prize of the Südwestrundfunk (SWR) twice: in 2003 for his work Heidelberger Studien 1-6 and in 2006 for Trois Dryades. He lives and works in Hamburg.
https://aufabwegen.bandcamp.com/album/oordeel
"As everyone knows by now, I am the world’s foremost authority on Frans de Waard Record
Reviews. Do you think you’ve written more Frans de Waard record reviews than I have? You are
incorrect. Go ahead, count all the Frans de Waard record reviews that you’ve ever written and tell me how many there are. Oh, is that all? I’ve written more. You cannot win. Looking at my recent contributions to the subgenre of music journalism of which I am the indisputable champion, I notice that my critical expertise is most frequently turned towards de Waard’s solo albums as Modelbau and Quest/QST. However, as the Reigning King of Frans de Waard Reviews that we all agree I am, I happen to know that the (unofficial) Mayor of Nijmegen thrives on collaborations. This latest pair of albums show off his versatility with two very different, yet equally excellent, pieces of electronic music made with the cooperation of two very different composers.
It’s amazing to think that “Oordeel” is the first album-length album that de Waard and veteran German composer Asmus Tietchens have done as a duo. Both are prolific and enthusiastic collaborators, so it seems natural that they’d come together at some point. Both gents share a disinclination to explain themselves, preferring to follow their musical instincts wherever they lead and to let an image or a title stand as the only signpost to guide listeners. The way that the title “Oordeel” is pronounced in English, the word describes something difficult to endure; a protracted
unpleasant or traumatic experience. The Dutch word, however, means “judgement”. I suspect that
neither interpretation is intended to frame this music literally, and that the title was more likely selected for it’s aesthetic appeal. I could be wrong, but then again I’m the greatest reviewer of Frans de Waard records on the planet, so… let’s just assume I’m right, okay? Indeed, this music is not in any way an ordeal to sit through, nor does it seem to be judging anything. The album’s sequence of short, discrete pieces offers no clues as to a concept or even compositional strategy, and yet it sounds very specific. Every piece seems to be created from similar materials united by a
background ambience of incorporeal breath, which makes it hang together as a single idea.
There’s a cool hermetic quality to all eleven vignettes, each one offering sharp clicks and carefully sculpted hums that skip lightly over a surface haze. I’m reminded of smooth 1970s plastic, mercilessly austere and yet vaguely sinister in its indifference. Only one piece breaks up the set: “VII” temporarily shatters the reverie with a buzzing whine of dial-up modems and hostile radio static. Once “Oordeel” gets that out of its system, though, it returns to the holodeck and stares out at the cosmos for awhile." [HS/Vital Weekly]
|
2019 |
€13.00 |
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| TIETCHENS, ASMUS / PEINEMANN |
Harvesterhude |
do-CD |
"2 CDs in printed paper sleeves housed in carton slip case. Designed by Asmus Tietchens.
500 copies. Dedicated to C.V. Liquidsky.
On „Harvestehude“
After more than 10 years of enthusiastic experiences and encounters with so-called „Difficult Music“ throughout the 1980ies Martin Peinemann and Asmus Tietchens deemed their somewhat differing approaches to making music compatible and agreed upon a loose collaboration in the year 1992. For various reasons (organizational and others) the work was not to take place at Audiplex studios but at Peinemann’s home studio. This modest lab featured all the necessary technical equipment needed to realize noise music meeting the standards of the day. This included an analogue 4-track-tape deck (9,5 cm/sec, Dolby noise reduction, integrated 6-channel mixer), soon after a digital 8 channel multitrack, a powerful periphery and sound producing devices of all kinds. For „Hochallee“, their first collaboration, Peinemann and Tietchens set themselves no definite deadline. The working sessions took place in an atmosphere of relaxation, usually on Saturday afternoons. By 1996 Peinemann and Tietchens finally had amassed a series of pieces they considered to be complete. At this time Peinemann began working on computer generated solo works and Tietchens moved on towards a more reductionist sound work.
„Klosterallee“, their second collaboration, was realized under completely different circumstances. In the years gone by since their last work Peinemann had deeply immersed himself into the field of extreme digital sound manipulation that he often discussed with Tietchens. From this collection of sound structures Peinemann offered some to Tietchens as sourcings for further treatments. The following expanding of these structures was not done in the form of sessions but executed by Tietchens alone over a period of three months. Peinemann then authorised the final results.
Unlike Asmus Tietchens Peinemann never released any music until now. He always valued the working process higher than the working result. The reason for this collaboration to finally come out as a double CD follows a noble motif that can be roughly translated as such: „A warning to the Old, an instruction to the Young.“ (Friedrich Gottlieb Klopstock, „Pädagogische Ergetzungen“, 1802).
www.aufabwegen.com
"Quite a treat: last week we reviewed a brand new release by Asmus Tietchens, and this week there is even a double CD of collaborative works. Asmus worked with lots of people in the past, from Merzbow to Vidna Obmana, from Achim Wollscheid to Arcane Device. Most of his collaborators are quite well known, save perhaps for C.V. Liquidsky (and we are still waiting for that particular album to be released
on CD as part of Die Stadt/Auf Abwegen's re-issue program), but he's the man to whom Tietchens and Martin Peinemann dedicate their collaboration. Right, Peinemann, you may ask: now who's that? I also have no idea, really, as up until now he never released anything. The two discs here were recorded in two different periods. The first disc, called 'Hochallee' (the name of the street where Peinemann lived then) has recordings the two musicians made together in the period 1992 to 1996. For
Tietchens this was an entirely different environment than the usual surroundings
of the Audiplex studios where he always seems to record (well, save for a few exceptions). With rather 'low' standards, such as a four-track recorder, six-track mixer and all sorts of apparatus, they recorded thirteen pieces, and at the end they deemed this fit enough for a release (which then took another twenty years).
The other disc is called 'Klosterallee' and it's here that in springtime 2005
Peinemann recorded basic sound material for Tietchens to re-use, and this he did
at the beloved Audiplex studios. By then Peinemann had moved his work into 'extreme
digital manipulations' (the word of the label). One is right when one says this is an interesting find, displaying us mid 90s Tietchens and mid 00s Tietchens, working
in for him slightly different surroundings (at least on one disc) and with someone with whom we have absolutely no history. I was corrected following last week's review and told that Tietchens does work with computers since about fifteen years, using GRM tools, but of course on the first disc that is not the case. These
thirteen pieces are rudimentary pieces of electronic music, sometimes blissful feedback, sometimes a dub inspired synth song ('Hochallee 12'), pieces with looped, rhythmic sounds, and in general it seems that the classic Tietchens treatment is never far away in these pieces. Several of these pieces could have been on, say,
'Aus Freude Am Elend', the various albums with Terry Burrows or some others from the early to mid 90s. That slightly mechanic play with sounds, the entrapment in sound effects (reverb plays some role indeed), but also a rolling rhythm (reminiscing krautrock, one could muse?) in 'Hochallee 6', which makes this first
disc quite an odd bunch of different approaches, but it's a variety that works
very well.
The second disc is the Tietchens we know from recent years, and indeed he doesn't
refer to himself as a reductionist, because his music doesn't resemble that of Ikeda
or Noto; also knowledge picked up last week. His current music is all about quietness,
not for any esoteric reasons, but simply because he wants us to listen more closely,
and perhaps concentration is by now a lost art form in this hectic life everyone is supposed to have these days. Here none of the source material is easily recognized, in fact not at all, but it feeds through analogue and, as we have learned since last week, digital means and reduced to a few sounds here and there sometimes held together with a simple, sustaining drone like sound, a residue of what once perhaps a much bigger sound element. It's interesting to play both of the discs back to
back and hear the progress of Tietchens and the way he treats his sounds. On the second disc perhaps less 'new', because there have been more works alike this and some of the early/mid 90s stuff has moved the background of our memory. I am not sure if that's really the case. However both CD's in this package are, no matter how different they turn out to be, quite beautiful. This is a must for every
Tietchens fan." [FdW/Vital Weekly] |
2016 |
€18.00 |
|
| TILLY, THOMAS (TO) & JEAN-LUC GUIONNET |
Stones Air Axioms |
CD |
"Stones, Air, Axioms" is a sound work based on the relationship between the architecture and acoustics of St Pierre Cathedral in Poitiers. It is articulated around informal acoustic experiments and a study of the site. It is restricted by the range of noises potentially generated by the site… [label info]
www.circum-disc.com
"The starting point of this is quite interesting. Before electricity arrived there we were other forms of technology to communicate. Look at the architecture of churches or amphitheaters, and you can see how clever they are to resonate a message. This sound work deals with that notion: the travel of air waves through space. In the St. Pierre Cathedral in Poitiers the church organ is used, as well as white noise generator opposite (some 75 meters away) of it and microphones are used to pick those sounds moving through the cathedral. Each piece here, four in total, deals with a specific quality of the relation sound and architecture. Although I am not sure if I can fully understand the exact nature of this process, I think this is a wonderful work. It opens with 'SAA1: Air Volume', which sounds like shifting heavy objects through a heavy reverberant space, some close by and some far away. Like testing the space. In the other pieces the mood is less heavy, or better in 'SAA2: For Standing Waves' is sheer quietness, occasionally interrupted by louder sounds and occasional long form sine wave like sounds. Here 'far away' comes more in play. In 'SAA3: For Standing Waves, Disturbances', organ and sine waves move about, indeed in a somewhat more disturbing way, pleasantly forceful, which continues in the final piece. I am not sure if I learned more about the spatial quality of this particular cathedral, but I do know I heard a more than excellent CD." [FdW/Vital Weekly]
|
2012 |
€13.00 |
|
| TO / THOMAS TILLY |
Cables & Signs (ten underwater field recordings) |
CD |
"These sound pieces all originate from hydrophonic mono recordings, carried out during summer 2009 in the waters of a moat of a castle in the west of France. During these recording sessions, I came to realise that some of the sounds generated there (Cables & Signs 1, 5 and 10) were modulated by variations in the intensity of the sun on the surface of the water. Even though I was not able to accurately identify the species emitting them, I now know they were produced by insects and aquatic plants. Fascinated by their relation to the external environment, by the concentration of these phenomena on the site and by some of the effects they produce on the ear, I selected fifty minutes out of the five hours of material gathered on location. Naturally composed and modulated by the environment, these ten excerpts result from a careful and subjective listening process and now exist through this format as musical pieces. Apart from a slight equalisation, none of these works were electronically altered or edited." [thomas tilly]
www.fissur.com
"On a hot day like today I should be outside, trying to find some cool shade, but I have to stay inside and cool it with my old ventilator, which sometimes makes a funny noise. The first time I was playing this CD by Thomas Tilly I wasn't paying attention enough - hot weather and all that - I thought that it was the ventilator acting up again. Then I studied the liner notes and it turns out that Tilly recorded sounds under water, and although I am not entirely sure, I understand these are the sounds are perhaps from insects and plants and somehow react to the sun shining on the water. These are then recorded and nothing else was done with it, except that we hear it. Its a pretty amazing disc, I must say. The music sounds like electrical charges, decaying motorized objects and such things alike. If you wouldn't better you could easily think this some sort of conceptual thing about machines, maybe something by Paul Panhuysen. It shares the same minimalist approach of Panhuysen, but then entirely from field recordings. Click like sounds, with some odd changes, if any at all. It doesn't sound like field recordings at all, and that's the best thing about it. It stays away from that line of interest of rain and wind sounds but makes a fascinating world of itself. One of the most interesting pieces of work I heard in quite some time. Hard to explain, but you should definitely found our for yourself." [FdW / Vital Weekly]
|
2010 |
€12.00 |
|
| |
Script Geometry |
do-LP & CD |
\"Approaching the forest as if were a city, a construct, an ensemble of strata and vertical heights where signals answer, contrast and ignore each other. Variations occur, fullness and emptiness are created according to the weather and the peak and off-preak hours. This density that language can\'t define presents a challenge for the ear, and from this density surfaces, frm time to time, certain analogies to a modern sound environment. Cultural leads fraw our experience of these natural acoustic phenomenin towards the domain of technology : \'it sounds like... it\'s like\'. The timbres ? The sound structures ? There exists something in a tropical forest that sounds like and plays within the realms of electronics, music and electronics noise ; something characteristic of an era long before the birth of biotopes that form this forest and create this sound. Script geometry comes from this idea and the desire to work with density, in an attempt to extract forms that characterize these analogies. Taking these sounds out of their context and rearranging them as we would patch cables on a synthesizer ; weaving these strata and vertica heights into a different pattern by using the signals from the forest as if they were synthetic sounds : dissecting this spectrum and looking for something that can only be revealed through listening, this is the essence of the project\'. Thomas Tilly - Winter 2012\'In March 2013, I traveled to the Nourages scientific research station in French Guiana. Situated in the heart of a tropical rainforest, this station welcomes international scientific research progams dealing with tropical forests and their biodiversity. For the 30 days and nights of my stay, i listened to and captured the sound environment with an emphasis on animal communications : those wich are perceptible to the huan ear, but also the inaudible spectrum. The result is a collection of compositions and phonography characteristic of the zone. No electronic treatement has been added to these recordings other than a low cut filter and a light EQ mix. Script Geometry was conducted as an artist-in-residency programme at the Confort Moderne, Jazz à Potiers, the Lieu Multiple and the Nouragues Station in French Guiana between February and June 2013. A series of concerts, conférences, broadcasts and a creative workshop took place in accompaniment to the project\'. Double LP mastered by James Plotkin. CD mastered by Thomas Tilly. Cut by Rashad Becker at Dubplates and Mastering, Berlin.\" [label info]
www.aposiopese.com
\"A double LP and a CDR of the source material. For this work he went to the Nourages scientific research station in French Guiana, in the middle of the rain forest. For thirty days he recorded sounds with an emphasis on animal communications, some of these using ultra sonic translators. \'No electronic treatment has been added to these recordings other than a low cut filter and a light EQ mix\' it says on the cover and we have to believe that, sometimes hard as it is. However some of the recordings are overlaying each other so a more dense pattern arises, and the chirping of insects that is already a bit electronically sounding are emphasized, such as in the opening piece, \'At Night, Mass\'. The pieces on
this record shift back and forth between untreated - as \'no mixing, no editing\' - and \'composition, classic and ultrasonic recordings. Mixing and editing\', and especially those pieces, say \'Crossroad, nodes\' have a highly electronic feel to them. A very minimal piece of electronic music, almost like a modular synthesizer piece, but maybe a bit less organised, following the more chaotic patterns of the nature sounds. I thought this was a great record. Very much originating in the world of field recordings, but then, the result, from an entirely different kind of planet. \'Unidentified Insects Colony\' is almost like The Haters ripping paper and doesn\'t sound like an unidentifiedd insects colony at all. A truly fascinating work of which the hour long CDR is a nice bonus. Maybe something for the die-hards I guess, but it makes the package all the more complete.\" [FdW/Vital Weekly 05.2014]
|
2014 |
€24.00 |
|
| TOMUTONTTU |
same |
LP |
Äusserst absonderliche und kaum zu klassifizierende Solo-Platte eines KEMIALLISET-Mitglieds zwischen Dadaismus in Reinform (allerlei Casiosamples, Bilig-Synths, low-fi Instrumente und Gemurmel, Gesinge, Getrommel, Tierstimmen, etc. ) und einer Art liebenswert verwunschem Märchen-Folk-Drone.... irre Musik!
"Ed. of 400 copies on 220 gram vinyl. Kemialliset Ystävät member Tomutonttu (Jan Anderzén) plays a bit like Dome to KY's Wire. The Ystävät-ness is there, but stripped down to the frame with a minimal synth breeze blowing through it. Beautifully lyrical in its layered abstractions, there is a sort of finely hewn composite of experimental dada electronics (ala early, early, early Die Todliche Doris or early, early, early P16.D4) and composerly elements (ala Rimarimba, Andrew Poppy or Meredith Monk). A few little Kraut-isms top off the tonic at no extra charge. Oh, and there's a bit that gets all spacey and chirpy like when the Virgin Prunes go completely bonkers (that's sure a helpful reference point... well, we like it). Basically, this is the music that the mothership had in the tape deck just before dropping KY off in the 12th century." [label info]
www.blrrecords.com
|
2007 |
€18.50 |
|
| TONIUTTI, GIANCARLO |
Ura itam taala' momojmuj löwajamuj cooconaja |
mCD |
Faszinierende Veröffentlichung von Klang-Morphologiker GIANCARLO TONIUTTI, der auf dem Gipfel eines Berges in Italien (Monte le Zuffine) ein drei Meter hohes Kreuz fand (mit einer kleinen Glocke) - Klänge dieser Objekte und die psychogeographische atmosphärische "Aura" des Ortes dienten als Grundlage für diesen wunderbar mysteriös wummernden one-tracker, der zischelnde & leiernde Blasen wirft....
this is really CRYPTIC Ambience...
"This work could be seen as a process of sonic magnification. A couple of years ago I made a field-recording on a mountain top. It was meant to go on a project I had in mind. I needed a pure field-recording, almost silent. On this mountain I also found a small bell and decided to vaguely use it to generate a faint tonal presence. But in the end the recording was spoiled by the recorded presence of many tiny natural noises.
The project as process: Recently I took this recording back to life, and decided to mainly work with the sounds coming from the short bell performances, trying to generate the whole sound morphology from a mesostructural derived process, through analogic treatments of these acoustic fragments.
The epiphenomenal world: Somehow intended as a magnifying process of the internal structural features of the sounds from a bell and its mechanics, the work took advantage also of the fact that all these sounds were strongly embodied in the acoustic micro-activity of the natural environment. The selected sources were basically dirty, from interferences of insects and other small sounds. While magnifying and isolating the bell sounds, it was impossible (and not meant in the end) to remove these accidental environmental noises surrounding each sound particle. Thus, as they became part of the timbral quality of each single sound, they also shaped the evolutionary process of the work.
This work could be seen as a process of inflow moistening (title in Hopi language) " [label info / credits]
"No one will ever accuse Giancarlo Toniutti of releasing too much music into the world. It has literally been ten years since Toniutti has released any recordings outside of a very rare
compilation track here or there. That said, Toniutti is an undeniably intriguing sound artist, who has deeply immersed himself into obscure forms of ethnomusicology and linguistic study, all the while keeping a finely tuned ear to the habits of vangarde composition. His
earliest recordings emerged out of the Italian power electronics community of the early '80s whose most well known practitioner was
Maurizio Bianchi. Like Bianchi, Toniutti put out a handful of recordings on the seminal British noise label Broken Flag. While
bracing, complex, and adventurous in its crunched tape manipulations and sinister synthesis, Toniutti's work stood apart from the signature Broken Flag arc of transgressive noise, due to Toniutti's intellectual rigor. It was this rigor that brought Toniutti to pursue
his collaborations with Andrew Chalk and Conrad Schnitzler, and it was probably this rigor that caused the prolonged length between
recordings over the past decade.
So, the 20 minute composition that Toniutti produced for Ferns impressive series of 3" discs has been granted a Hopi Indian title based on an ancient song dealing with cunnilingus and bedbugs. I'm sure that Giancarlo has a very particular reason for placing such a text alongside this warbling set of mutated field recordings; but as of yet, it remains something of a mystery. This composition does enjoy a hermetic quality, in spite of Toniutti's explanation that he derived all of the sounds from a field recording he made in Italy involving a mountain, a 10ft tall cross, a metal pylon, and a temple bell. Out of that environment and those objects, Toniutti arrives at a record that might appear somewhat meditative at first, with its constant wash of low frequencies; but upon deeper investigations into the piece, he reveals queasy, off-kilter tonalities which gently vibrate against each other, bristling with quiet textures. His is a pretty unique sound, somewhat like the early electronic work of Xenakis with the diminutive sensibilities of early Bernhard Gunter. Highly recommended!" [Aquarius]
|
2007 |
€7.00 |
|
| TONIUTTI, GIANCARLO & TIZIANO DOMINIGHINI |
Counterchronology |
CD |
"Unreleased very first recordings from 1979 by Giancarlo Toniutti together with Tiziano Dominighini. His very first approach on electric and acoustic instruments and noises. Recovered and mixed by Giancarlo Toniutti 2014. Limited to 300 copies." [label info]
www.finalmuzik.com
"The only straightforward statement found on Counterchronology's densely worded liner notes is downright blunt: "Tiziano is dead." Aside from that one somber fact, the archeological ruminations of this recording are laboriously complex; but here's what we can gather. In September of 1993, the Italian vanguardist Giancarlo Toniutti came across two cassettes that contained material dating as far back as 1979, marking some of his earliest recording then in concert with a character named Tiziano Dominighini. He shelved them once again for another decade when he rediscovered the material to hold a number of open-ended / freeform recordings of Giancarlo and Tiziano clamoring about the glassworks shop run by Dominghini's father along with various environmental recordings, sparse yet maltreated guitar splutter, automatic writings, art brut actions, and long-form chord organ drones. In repurposing the musical interludes and provisional collages from those tapes, Toniutti sought to aggregate the sounds in such a manner as to maintain the something of an integrity from the originals while configuring the more naive gestures with the hand of a mature electroacoustic composer. On the near 34-minute first track, Toniutti weaves haptic events in varying degrees of density upon a bed of those long-form organ chords, with unhinged filter sweeps diving deep into cascading deep low-end rumblings. There's an extemporaneous psychedelic quality to much of the percussive burblings that hold aesthetic similarities to Angus MacLise, AMM, Z'ev, certain facets to the early Nurse With Wound continuum, and the most shambolic / abstract participants of the global freakfolk explosion from a couple years back. The shorter 10-minute second piece slowly blossoms from a deep bellowing thrum with desolated sibilance into a frenzied clamor on junked metal accompanied by distant flutes and strange utterances, both detouring from and complementing the first piece quite nicely. As rewarding as he is challenging, Giancarlo Toniutti continues to impress." [Aquarius Records]
|
2015 |
€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 |
|
| TOOP, DAVID |
Lost Shadows: In Defence of the Soul (Yanomami Shamanism, Songs, Ritual, 1978) |
LP |
"Recordings from 1978 by David Toop of Yanomami ritual songs, shamanistic ceremonies and rainforest sounds. The voices of spirits and animal familiars, ventriloquial illusions of sound in dark spaces, secret spirit languages, the clap of thunder that links shamanic trance with the sleep language of Finnegans Wake...Out of these passages of the everyday, intensity flares like flames caught by a gust of wind. Skin burns or oozes blood, the wind blows up havoc as the spirits move about.
Inclusive 40 PAGE BOOKLET TEXT & PICTURES: the full story of David Toop's fascinating journey in 1978 through the Amazon jungle to meet and record the last Yanomami shamen.
LP version mixed by Lawrence English." [label info]
www.subrosa.net
"If you’ve ever taken an anthropology course in college, you should be familiar with the indigenous Yamomami people of the Amazon. A primitive stone-age tribe dwelling deep in the rainforest that has persisted into the modern day. They’re fascinating to academic researchers and curious lay people alike, the subject of various books and documentaries, noted for such traits as their supposed propensity for violence, their communal living arrangements, consumption of the ashes of the bones of their dead, and hallucinogenic drug abetted shamanism.
Back in 1978, British musician/writer/theorist/recordist David Toop (you’ve likely read his pieces in The Wire or listened to one of his many carefully curated compilations) had the opportunity to travel to Venezuela to visit the Yanomami, which resulted in a privately-pressed lp of some of the ethnographic sound recordings he made on the expedition, released in a small edition in 1980 and never repressed. This double cd release expands upon that original lp, presenting a fuller selection, two discs' worth, of Toop’s Yamomami recordings, wherein mostly unaccompanied human voices (that can sound far from human) chant and sing, imitating animals and speaking with spirits, alongside the jungle sounds of insects, birds, and moths. These healing rituals are certainly interesting from an anthropological point of view... but that’s not really why we’re listing this. The real reason we recommend it is just ‘cause, anthropology aside, the tracks on here are some of the CRAZIEST SOUNDING SHIT we’ve ever heard. Utter insane gobbledy gook, to put it in perhaps less-than-PC terms. Seriously, just listen to the sound samples below, have you ever been that messed up? Grunts, growls, weird warble, bizarre babble, sudden screaming outbursts, mysterious mutter, squeals and whoops. So if you like fucked up sounds, you need some Yamomamis in your collection. Eye from the Boredoms has NOTHING on these guys. Played loud, these tracks would be perfect for anyone who wants to drive their unsuspecting spouse or housemates mad. And boy would they make good outgoing answering machine fodder. Ok, we know people don’t have answering machines anymore, but this might be a good reason to sign up for a landline and go find one!!
Reason enough to buy this. That said, there’s also much more to it than that, and of course you could get in deep, listening to this, reading along in the thick booklet of liner notes that Toop provides, putting you in the moment, there in the jungle, via his 1978 expedition diary, also referencing various surrealists, philosophers, Butoh dancers and avant-garde composers as he shares his thoughts and observations, pondering the meaning and wonder of it all... OR, like we said, just be astounded and amused and amazed by the freaky sounds of these shamans!!!" [Aquarius Rec] |
2015 |
€15.50 |
|
| |
Entities Inertias Faint Beings |
LP |
From David Toop:
The music existed already, spores maybe or dormant clusters of digital files. Out of three periods of solitude the germination began. The first was in Queensland, on Tamborine Mountain (an aboriginal name), so silent at night that I listened to recorded music – Japanese gagaku, Buddhist ritual from Bhutan, Korean Confucian music – as if drifting into cavernous black space. Stepping into sleep I saw a hypnagogic image - a transparent swimming pool suspended over the mouth of a volcano. I read Stephen Mansfield’s book on Japanese stone gardens – “Successful stone arrangements seem almost alive, the elements conversing among themselves with an occult vitality, the call and response that has been noted between well-placed rocks resembling the chanting of Buddhist sutras” ; Daylight listening in chill air, hearing whip birds, butcher birds, noisy mynahs, kookaburra chatter, rainbow lorikeets; catapult elastic, I wrote, radio waves in a kettle, electric buzzers. On Queensland’s Gold Coast I gazed at a distant humpback whale breaching out to sea, watched Yasujiro Ozu’s 1934 silent version of A Story of Floating Weeds, listened to cicadas burst into life as a helicopter flew overhead.
Back into society and driving with Lawrence English I asked him, why would anybody release music in the 21st century? He laid out his philosophy; I was convinced. Then in St Ives, Cornwall, solitary again, drawing, reading Timothy Morton’s Hyperobjects and Clarice Lispector’s Agua Viva (her beautiful sentence: “dry keys echo in the dark and humid early hours”), gazing at ocean flux, music trembling into life from secreted audio files, music becoming living entities. Phantoms rose up out of sea mist, images of black light and blistered skin from photographers (Takuma Nakahira and Tomatsu Shomei), the fermenting of sounds. From a distance I heard voices – the extraordinary painter Mariko Sugano reciting ancient Japanese garden texts on the taboos associated with stone setting; Emi Watanabe’s flute as if a ghost from the Noh; the sounds of underwater creatures in my pond; Sylvia Hallett’s sarangi crying (in cavernous black space); the fervent drumming of Rie Nakajima’s small mechanical beings (like cooking with paper, wire and batteries); John Butcher’s reeds, music as a scientific exploration of the body, the instrument. Rie talked about the properties of objects, soft or hard. In the Noh play Aoi no Ue, the spirit is compelled with drum and plucked string (the catalpa bow).
In solitude I contemplated death, decay, the gush of life. Back in the car, Lawrence told me, when you die you’ll leave many projects unfinished. I laughed. Unspeakable truths, notes for a language to come, maybe not this world.
room40.bandcamp.com/album/entities-inertias-faint-beings
"Composer/performer/improviser David Toop’s latest release traces the seam between sound and music, paying attention to the hidden sounds that surround us and turning silence inside out.
In a lot of ways I’ve come to dislike music,” David Toop told The Wire in 2003. “I love sound, I love silence, but music as a whole I don’t like anymore.” You might assume that would have troubled him, given that Toop, then 54, had been deeply involved with music for most of his life, in virtually every role imaginable: performer, improviser, composer, critic, theorist, archivist, curator, and label owner. But if it represented any sort of crisis for him—six years before, burnout and “indifference to contemporary music” had led Toop to hang up his hat as a music journalist—it didn’t hold back his output. Since making the statement, Toop has continued to perform and lecture, released a half-dozen albums, and written two books, including the recently published Into the Maelstrom: Music, Improvisation, and the Dream of Freedom.
But Toop’s turn away from music, that complicated category of organized sound, has been crucial in one very important aspect: It has allowed him to ask probing questions about the nature of listening. Those questions come to a head on Entities Inertias Faint Beings, his first studio album since 2007’s Sound Body. Offering a vibrant array of rustle and hum, the new album traces the seam between sound and music, between the intentional and the incidental, between expression and mute abstraction. A partial index of its sounds would include the whine of rubbed wineglass rims; shortwave radios on the fritz; the electric buzz of the forest canopy at night; the languid click of fingernails across guitar strings; the whirr and flap of a 16mm film projector’s take-up reel. It is an album about paying attention to the hidden sounds that surround us, about turning silence inside out. And it is an album about using sound to find one's own bearings.
Entities Inertias Faint Beings got its start as an autobiography—or, more precisely, it is the result of what turned out to be an abortive case of writer’s block. Its genesis lies in three periods of solitude: first a stay on Tamborine Mountain in subtropical Queensland, Australia (“so silent at night that I listened to recorded music—Japanese gagaku, Buddhist ritual from Bhutan, Korean Confucian music—as if drifting into cavernous black space,” Toop writes in his introduction to the album), and then on Queensland’s Gold Coast, where cicadas harmonized with helicopters. Back in Cornwall, trying and failing to write his life’s story, he began sifting through several years' worth of personal recordings he had stored on his computer: small, percussive thunks; filament-like drones; the crinkling of paper. Shuffling, layering, and arranging—not so much composing as feeling his way through the material, as if improvising—he added new sounds to the mix, like a quiet passage of acoustic guitar from one of his daily practice sessions, and a hydrophone recording from his garden pond. And in London, he fleshed out the pieces with the help of musician friends. The improvising saxophonist John Butcher lends trilling, bird-like sounds to two tracks; Rie Nakajima's battery-powered motorized objects rattle and whirr, suggesting insect colonies in upheaval.
The overall result—thematically, anyway—is something like one of W.G. Sebald’s literary peregrinations: a palimpsest of place, memory, and accident, although its precise route is unknown to all but its creator. There is little to tell us what any of these clicks and pings might actually be. Several of the album’s track titles suggest cryptic headings scrawled on notecards in dusty filing cabinets: “dry keys echo in the dark and humid early hours”; “pieces of wood and iron, phials of odours”; “sea slug.” They function as indices of possible experiences, and if they explain little—do the bassy gurgles of “sea slug” really come from a gastropod mollusk?—they offer unusual and inviting travelogues consisting of little more than white noise and feral throb.
But Toop can’t quite resist sneaking music—that most elegantly ordered aspect of organized noise—back into the equation. Again and again, understated wisps of melody, harmony, and rhythm surface briefly and disappear just as quickly, sending out ripples that supercharge every corner of this lovely, engrossing album. In the album’s centerpiece, “ancestral beings, sightless by their own dust,” Sylvia Hallett’s sarangi, a bowed string instrument from Hindustani classical music, weaves an eerie, mournful air over slow, methodical pulses. Then, at the track’s end, a jungle’s worth of growling, chirping, buzzing sounds swells and is swallowed in turn by the steady gush of a tropical rainstorm. Toop has compared his compositional processes to traditional Japanese stone gardens—one track, “setting stones,” quotes a thousand-year-old passage on the subject—and at its most engrossing, Entities captures the uncanny qualities of inanimate objects in conversation with one another. It is a way of suggesting that the music exists independently even of its creator; it is a product of the act of listening itself. By the act of focusing our ears, we bring it to life—and vice versa." [Pitchfork]
|
2016 |
€23.50 |
|
| TORAL, RAFAEL |
Space |
do-LP |
"Vinyl version of Toral's latest creation. After 15+ years of accomplished work on guitar & electronics, the Portuguese musician, producer & sound engineer found his way into a complete renovation of his music. Leaving the guitar behind, Toral has equipped himself with instruments such as a theremin-controlled noise generator, amplified coil spring percussion, & a random pulse width modulation oscillator. With these he has launched a jazz-fueled craft through Earth's atmosphere, into outer space. The resulting voyage is one where the sounds created recall the blasts of a ray gun, the gurgle of a velociraptor, the rush of a primordial geyser, all seasoned with vintage analog appeal & interspersed with meditative moments of silence. Includes unreleased 17-minute vinyl-only bonus track." [label info]
www.taigarecords.com
|
2008 |
€18.00 |
|
| |
Cyclorama Lift 3 |
maxi-CD |
"Cyclorama Lift is a piece about the idea that electronic resonance is everywhere in our electronically mediated perception of sounds. Like a ghost-in-the-machine. It's performed with an empty circuit, basically a feedback loop using as main instruments two 8-second delays and a 4-band parametric equalizer. There's no input, the loop is constantly nourishing and digesting itself. The circulating sound is electronic resonance. Rafael Toral is a musician, producer and sound engineer. Born in Lisbon in 1967, he has been performing live since 1984. Considered by the Chicago Reader to be 'one of the most gifted and innovative guitarists of the decade', his work focuses mainly on the possibilities of ambient music (variable attention listening process), the electric guitar as a sound generator and improvisation with higher levels of risk (using instruments or systems that behave in unpredictable ways) in real time sonic exploration. 20'50"." [label info] |
2000 |
€8.50 |
|
| TORTURING NURSE |
Il Comunismo doveva morire |
CD |
"il comunismo doveva morire is Torturing Nurse's first Mind Flare Media release. Absolutely devastating, this album is one single track running almost an hour and fourteen minutes long. The band suddenly breaks in from nowhere and immediately begins an assault on your ears, suddenly switching and transitioning to a variety of different power electronics landscapes. The artwork sums it up well, a symbolic representation of a dead politicial system. The back features similar art taken from famous propaganda and manipulated, ending with more political imagery inside and a CD that rests upon a pile of skulls. Without a doubt the harshest thing these guys have ever done. This stuff is powerful and not for the faint of hearing." [label info]
www.mindflaremedia.com
"Why noise from Japan was spectacularly good was that noise as miss-appropriation of western music in post war Japan was where miss-appropriation of the west was paramount, removal of tradition in favor of day glo Elvis's Whiskey made from genuine Scottish grapes and school girls in tartan mini skirts." . discuss.. Or why miss-appropriation has now firmly shifted to China might be the explanation of the ability of Torturing Nurse to take over the incoherence of noise from the great masters of Japan, and that in there inconsequential screaming, noise and feedback is what they do so well, whether from design, pastiche or naivety, it doesn't matter, all is symptoms without any traces, illness without disease, psychoanalysis of sanity, this is a culture which was never part of the monotheistic religions. Judaistic calling which engendered the enlightenment and guilt, Freudian Oedipus or Marxist theory ,T.N. is a superficial image, a simulacra of the west without foundation or introversion, it has nothing to attack or demolish, so is pointless, nothing to solve or cure, the name itself silly lacking any psychosis of western introversion, those bare chested lot who miss mommy, no this is noise as noise for noise from noise and nothing else besides, and 74 minutes which is never enough. All those blokes in Texas half drunk on Budweiser with their effects pedals, guitars and toys should take a listen and weep, no not weep, too much weeping already, maybe then get washed have a shave and get a job at HMV in the local mall, or else take up the dizi, sheng, paigu, paixiao, guan, erhu, zhonghu, dahu, banhu, jinghu, gaohu, gehu, yehu, cizhonghu, diyingehu, leiqin, guqin, sanxian, yangqin, guzheng, ruan, konghou, liuqin, pipa, zhu?????" [jliat/Vital Weekly]
|
2010 |
€13.00 |
|
| TOTSTELLEN / GRIMM |
Schwindel |
VIDEO |
TOTSTELLEN aka GERDA GRIMM from Hamburg belongs to the “society-critics” ambitious experimental projects, this is a VHS-Video clip on the great ANTIINFORMATION label! Only 30 copies made, and you won’t watch this on MTV definitely !
„vhs video 10min / 1st ed/30 / the first aic release of an audiovisual medium, following the idea of the contemporary tape label. a vhs tape.
[swindle / giddiness] a constant movement, and yet somehow still stagnant. there are no forwards. in the end, all of the linear tangents create an area painted black in every sense. even if there are no obstacles / walls / borders on the first / superficial view, it doesn.t mean that there is freedom of movement...my movement in the surrounding structure is similar to the intoxicated rodent, which is not put into a physical maze, but is instead limited by the substances it is given....” [label description]
|
2005 |
€12.00 |
|
| TOY BIZARRE |
kdi dctb 180 |
10inch |
"It’s all about a place. An unknown place. An hidden place. Hidden? Well, you have to be very familiar with the country to get there. Few human traces. Few signs that there is something there. On the limit / border of places. But nethermind, it’s a real place. I can point it on a map. But it will look as a blank space. It’s a place where you can feel there is something. There is a path deep in the woods, where, as a child, I used to run - walking was really too frightening there. Spent a lot of time there, trying to track down the essence of the place, trying to catch the unknow." [Cedric Peyronnet]
"A stellar year continues for Cedric Peyronnet (toy bizarre) on our site, as he continues to score reviews through careful attention to detail and drama. kdi dctb 180 is yet another in a run of compelling sound works, this one available on clear 10″ vinyl as part of Drone Records’ Substantia Innominata series. While this means that the release is shorter than usual, these tracks benefit from their relatively compact nature.
The series’ stated theme is that of “the unknown”, and Peyronnet writes in response, “There is a path deep in the woods, where, as a child, I used to run – walking was really too frightening there. Spent a lot of time there, trying to track down the essence of the place, trying to catch the unknown.” He recently returned there to make this recording (which we assume was not done while running). The opening minutes capture this sense of impending danger, of movement in the woods and unidentifiable cries. At first we only hear a drain pipe, but then advancing drones and metallic rubs provide an impression of predatory creatures. But something changes midway, and one can clearly identify the dividing line in the Soundcloud map below. The music stops, giving way to the sound of pure flowing water. The nightmares have been dispelled, and finally the artist is free to walk, not run, even to sit for a while. Even as water is added unto water, a sense of safety remains.
The second side takes similar turns, beginning with the crunch of underbrush ~ we can hear his clear footsteps laid atop a bed of what may be cicadas and mourning doves. Darker whirls enter midway, as if to say, “we’re not done with you yet, Peyronnet.” But the trick is on them, as the artist is in control this time. He’s the one in the studio, taming the tones. If the sounds remain frightening at this point, it’s only by his design. By flipping fear on its head, the artist has produced a triumphant document, a sonic flashlight in the woods. [Richard Allen/ A Closer Listen]
acloserlisten.com/2015/12/02/toy-bizarre-kdi-dctb-180/
|
2015 |
€15.00 |
|
| |
kdi dctb 278 |
CD |
" “kdi dctb 278” is what I call a sound film. Its shape entirely and solely based on the sound recording of places – as in all of my pieces – fits my refusal to make a choice of abstraction or narration and willingness to stay in an in-between, to maintain a dialogue between abstraction / narrative, which would be close to the daydream.
“kdi dctb 278” was recorded 1994~2013 @ various locations; sequences built for various projects.
Some parts appeared first in the kdi dct 216 “garden / square meter” series (Melbourne), thanks to Jude Anderson, Jacques Soddell.
Tested live (parts) @ Instants Chavirés, L’Audible Festival, Paris, 2012/09, thanks to Jérôme Noetinger.
Tested live (fully) @ Sonikas, Madrid, 2013/12 – thanks to Juan Carlos Blancas, Alfonso Pomeda & the man-who-saw-codex-but-lost-the-way.
This version, mixed 2015/06 @ TBS
Release date: 09.2015
Label : Semperflorens
Time: 41:43 mins
Format: CD in DVDBOX
Limited to 500 copies" [toy bizarre info]
www.ingeos.org/en/kdi-dctb-278/
"After all these years, we are still not all that clear what the acronym that Cedric Peyronnet (aka Toy Bizarre) has used for the bulk of his album titles. It's definitely some sort of cataloging system as his titles are in sequential fashion, now reaching 278, though there are some sizable jumps between the various numbers. Peyronnet may have explained what this may mean somewhere and at sometime, but enlightenment eludes us. So, we'll collectively shrug and move onto this vivid collection of manipulated field recordings and phonographic compositions that are found on this impressive album. Since the late '80s or thereabouts, Peyronnet has used natural sounds as his primary source material, working in parallel to Eric La Casa, Small Cruel Party, Tarab, and some of the more obtuse practitioners of contemporary musique concrete. Peyronnet's uneasy dislocations never settle on the notions of purely objective / narrative descriptions of sound, nor could they be defined as abstraction. So one can hear jolting splashes of water and mud along with Luc Ferrari like snippets of human voice well-removed from context alongside filter-heavy drones of liquid miasma and mercurial drones dappled with found object texture and splattered detritus. Peyronnet has quite a knack for rendering all of the components of his compositions with an incredible sharpness of detail - the purity of his dilated frequencies and an exactness to environmental elements work into his slippery compositions punctured with bursts of energy that Peyronnet allows to wane into solemn pools of contemplation." [Aquarius Rec.]
|
2015 |
€13.00 |
|
| TOY BIZARRE & PIERRE REDON |
Saisons |
CD |
Die field recording drones von TOY BIZARRE im Zusammenspiel mit PIERRE REDONs feiner Gitarrenarbeit! Auf vier Stücken (zweimal beide zusammen, je eines beide solo) vermischen sich kunstvoll schwelend flächigen Klänge, immer wieder durchbrochen von elektro-akustischen Momenten, fein & subtil verwoben.
"This collaborative effort brings us some of the most beautiful and atmospheric instances of composition with nature. the four tracks, some
solitary works, some creatied by using field sourcings of the opponent, feature subtle wildlife field recordings, detailed electro-acoustic passages, swelling metallic drones and amplified silences." [label info]
"...Toy Bizarre is perhaps one of the last 'old' guys to use his band name rather than his own name, Cedric Peyronnet, which is good. Pierre Redon is a much younger guy and never used a band name, which is also good. They have been playing music together since 2002. Peyronnet is in fine electro-acoustic mood and Redon's main instrument is the guitar and electronics. They both play two pieces, Redon springtime and autumn (first and last piece), Toy Bizarre summer and winter (the two pieces in the middle). Listened closely to the music, one can spot the differences, even when Redon uses field recordings and Toy Bizarre makes his field recordings sound like drones. The result should appeal to all lovers of drone related music with a good, sturdy look at the world of field recordings. Subtle music goes loud, noise music goes subtle. Mind you, this is not a work of microsound. There is much more happening than just a few static crackles built from a ten second rain sample. This is quite vivid, imaginative electro-acoustic music. Great stuff." [FdW / Vital Weekly]
|
2008 |
€13.00 |
|
| TRANSITIONAL |
Nothing Real Nothing Absent |
CD |
Erinnert sich noch jemand an die begnadeten HEAD OF DAVID? Das lief damals unter "britischem Noise-Rock", war aber weitaus abgründiger und experimenteller als viele andere Bands mit derselben Stilrichtung aus dieser Zeit, von der Innovationskraft & rabenschwarzen Radikalität ehesten vielleicht noch mit der New Yorker Band LIVE SKULL vergleichbar. DAVE COCHRANE gehörte zur Urbesetzung von HEAD OF DAVID, war später bei GOD, SWEET TOOTH und JESU, und brilliert nun in diesem neuen Duo TRANSITIONAL, das irgendwo zwischen JESU-Rock und elektronischen Power-Trance & Drone angesiedelt ist, mitreissend wie hier rohe Kraft in betörende Bahnen gelenkt wird....trancige Beats, Weite, rauhe Sounds wie Wellen & Wind...
"Transitional is the new project of musician producer Kevin Laska (Novatron) and long time Justin K Broadrick and Kevin Martin collaborator Dave Cochrane (Jesu, Grey Machine,). The debut 'Nothing real Nothing Absent' offers a rich variety in their approach to sound combining crushing atmospheres through a mixture of electronic ambience, mangling bass lines and distorted epic layers of textured guitar. Injected with driving rhythms and effected vocal phrasing Laska and Cochrane build discordant worlds on an immense scale which pull you down to another level of fear and ethereal bliss before kicking off with some more soul dismantling sonic dysfunction.
This is a band which can deliver both sonic tranquility and extremely heavy slabs of dense music and just about everything in between; Heavy electronic machinery, juggernaut bass lines and hypnotic guitars go from passive relaxation to an unstoppable machine within a single surge. Kevin Laska's woven creations of bleak electronic/organic mesmerizing mayhem and bliss has found a new level. Now joined by legendary bassist Dave Cochrane who played with the likes of Kevin Martin in God, Ice and The Bug and Justin Broadrick in Jesu and Head of David. Born September 2006 Laska's found himself in another quality up with Cochrane, following his last collaboration with a.o. Russel Smith and Anthony Difranco (Ramleh, ex Skullflower) as Novatron. Transitional; a solid, textured and dynamic sonic journey through a world that is both self deprecating and enlightening, but either way leaves you wanting more." [label info]
www.conspiracyrecords.com
|
2007 |
€13.00 |
|
| TREPANERINGSRITUALEN |
Perfection & Permanence |
LP |
"Trepaneringsritualen explores themes of religion, magick and the hidden realms of consciousness, taking its musical cues from the old school of ritual ambient & death industrial. Rhythmic and seething at times, and oozing forward with a creeping sense of desolation at others, Trepaneringsritualen conjures forth bleak but mesmerizing visions of the end-times.
“Perfection & Permanence”: a hymn to Isis; a further exploration of the duality of the holy harlot, the black skinned Magdalen, mother and concert of the Christ; Yeshua Ben Yosef, son of MAN; the shameful dead, those who sold their brothers, condemned to forever roam the earth; to transgress the abyss, to mortify flesh, towards cosmic renovation. It is lonely, it is awful; on the verge of physical death, but still unable to understand; absolute perfection may be attained through WILL. A conversation with angels, in archaic tongues; Eiríkr inn Sigrsæli sold his blood and kin to desert rats for corporeal power. Eirikr, we spit on you.; from across the abyss, it rises. Ceaseless, blood-churning, terrible; an incoherent accusation by the mirror image, he who’s blood was shed to atone another man’s sins. Without bloodshed there can be no salvation." [label info]
www.coldspring.co.uk
"Next in line is Trepaneringsritualen - a project also driven by Swedish forces. Behind the project you find Thomas Ekelund who like his aforementioned compatriot artist swirls in spheres of extreme aggression. That Thomas Ekelund a.k.a. Trepaneringsritualen often do concerts with black metal bands in Sweden isn't surprising as you listen to the brutal and violent expressions of his latest album titled "Perfection and permanence". Raw vocals move alongside the hyperbrutal soundscapes of crushing drones. Stylishly Trepaneringsritualen drifts in the borderline between power electronics and death industrial so be prepared!" [NM/Vital Weekly] |
2017 |
€16.00 |
|
|
Veil the World |
CD |
"All seals have been broken« proclaims a demonic voice on the titular track of Veil The World, and that is something terrifyingly evident in the music contained therein. On Veil The World, Trepaneringsritualen veers from crepuscular ritual moods to rabid death chants reveling, even celebrating the imminent end of flesh. Veil the World – originally released in a very limited and ultra-lavish box by Kości Tapes in 2011 – marks the half-way point between the earlier, more atmospheric works of T × R × P, and the more visceral aggression of the later material.
Trepaneringsritualen explores themes of religion, magick and the hidden realms of consciousness, taking its musical cues from the old school of ritual ambient & death industrial. Rhythmic and seething at times, and oozing forward with a creeping sense of desolation at others, Trepaneringsritualen conjures forth bleak but mesmerizing visions of the end-times.
Originally released in an edition of just 40 tapes in 2011, we’re very proud to announce the CD reissue of “Veil The World”. Remastered and presented in a 6 panel digipak, T x R x P once again assert themselves as the true masters of Swedish Ritual Industrial. Ltd x 1000 copies only. Anyone who saw the show at SE:UK Industrial Alliance knows this is *essential*!" [label info]
www.coldspring.co.uk
|
2015 |
€12.00 |
|
| |
Oberhausen Ritual |
LP |
12" heavy 180 gram black vinyl. solid black matte cardboad sleeve with glossy black hot-foil print, plus 12" inlay and sticker. this lp includes an mp3-download-code. hand numbered edition 200 copies + overpressing
it was in the fall of 2016 that trepaneringsritualen in the shape of th.oth XIX graced the maschinenfest stage with one of their infamous rituals, and naturally this is mandatory to be documented via the raubkauf series. trepaneringsritualen has made quite a name for itself, with the signature “dödsindustri” sound since 2008, an especially vile brew of upfront electronic noise, feedback and agitating night-rhythms, fuelled by eclectic references to all kinds of magick.
the set presented on “oberhausen ritual” is a concise representation of their musical output so far, familiar tracks alternating with unheard ones, all coalescing into an intoxicatingly vile stream of sound, clocking in well under 40 minutes, yet leaving nothing to be desired.
it’s with the bleak abyss of “immaculate & incorporeal” that the listener gets sucked into the otherworld that is trepaneringsritualen, with th.oth XIX’s trademark vibrant, guttural vocals kicking in on “a black egg”, and “the 7th man” offering the first appearance of the drums of death. from there, it’s a constant buildup, with every track adding more of the ritual’s raw, primordial force, culminating in the glorious “he who is my mirror”. and it’s that grand finale which also best exemplifies his crossover credibility with other extreme music scenes (i.e. metal).
the success of trepaneringsritualen doesn’t simply come from producing led-heavy death industrial, it comes from being unique and authentic. originality and dedication, simplicity and a more than convincing overall picture – to which this live document adds an important feature.
https://raubbau.bandcamp.com/album/oberhausen-ritual-live-at-maschinenfest-2016 |
2020 |
€25.00 |
|
| TROUM |
AIWS |
CD |
"AIWS is the first full-length cd release from Troum since 2003. It covers studio-recordings composed from 2002-2005. These musicians have compiled some of their most favorable pieces through the years to be placed on this release. Presenting nine analogue (4&8 track) recorded compositions that lead the listener through vast feelings of beautifully deep melancholic and hypnotic states of mind. Composed with guitar-drones and harmonic phrases that are processed in various ways creating an atmosphere of the sublime and emotional meditative states that transcend listener to immerse within themselves.
Ingredients: Sufi-songs, old vinyl-crackles, acoustic & e-guitars, e-bow, e-bass, voice & whisperings, accordion & flute. Stunning photography & design work by Alan McClelland(Eye.lyft). One of the most emotional and profound Troum releases to date now available on Transgredient Records. Dedicated to Eternity.
TRACK LISTING of AIWS [* and meaning of titles & phrases]
1. AHMATEINS
2. AGGILUS
3. SPIRARE
4. PER SONUM
5. PANTAH
6. [GA] PLAIAN
7. PENTHOS
8. NEHEH
9. PELETÄ
total length: 49:30 min
[* AIWS=Eternity (gothic language), also shortcut for "Alice-In-Wonderland-Syndrome". 1. "Inspiration" (gothic) 2. "Angel - Carrier" (gothic) 3. "breathing - aspirating - sighing - smelling " (latin) 4. "through sound" (latin) 5. "way - path - line" (old indian) 6. "supplication" (persian) 7. "the sorrow of mourning - lament" (greek - also a greek god), 8. "Eternity" (egypt) 9. "escape - flight, also: rescue - salvation" (hebrew) " [label info]
"... nach einigen 12“s und Kollaborationen die 7. CD des TROUM-Duos. GLIT[S]CH & BARAKA[H]
sind dafür bekannt, dass sie sich zu Nietzsches „Die Welt ist tief, viel tiefer als der Tag gedacht“ tief in die Augen blicken und dann ihren Fliegenden Teppich starten. ‚Ahmateins‘ ist, bewusst analog und lo-fi, gewebt aus engen Gitarrenwellen und sämigen Drones von E-Bow und E-Bass. Flug und Flucht, Atmen und Seufzen sind dabei eins. Sound ist der Weg und das Ziel. AIWS ist nicht nur das gotische Wort für Ewigkeit, es steht auch für das Alice in Wonderland Syndrom. Prosaisch ist das eine mit Kopfschmerzen verbundene Sehstörung, metaphorisch aber heißt das doch: Die Welt mit Alicens Augen als Wunderland sehen können.
Troums Zauberteppich schwebt auf harmonischen Strömen durch Rauch und Licht dahin, auf einem spiraligen Kurs ins Sublime. ‚Pantah‘ lässt den Saitenklang deutlicher erkennen, in [Ga]plaian‘ ist Sufigesang verdichtet, in ‚Penthos‘ scheint ein Akkordeon zu pumpen, in ‚Neheh‘ Licht nicht bloß zu schimmern, sondern zu singen. Tiefenmusic Reaching Our Unconscious Minds."
[Bad Alchemy]
"....The pieces on this new CD were recorded from 2002-2005 on Troum's own analogue equipment, all live to four-eight track recorders, without the involvement of computers. Troum, a duo (be it hard to believe), is best a live band, even when working in the studio. Their instruments are guitars, e-bow, bass, voices, accordion & flute, old vinyl. And oh, sound effects. Lots of those are involved in the music of Troum, but they never stand in the way of the end result. Spacious head music. Loud at times, quiet when necessary, but there is a certain roughness about the band, which is an element I really like. Even when things are quiet, they never really are quiet. 'Neheh' is just an example of some sparse organ like loops, feeding through some delay and bouncing gentle forward, but with a certain grittiness. Highly atmospheric even when experienced without the help of any chemicals or other illegal substances and the best but perhaps more frightful experience when played in the dark and with the headphones tied to your head. You are bound to play it again, if not only because it might be too scary to leave the room... Of all things experimental, ambient and industrial (Menche, Zoviet*France, Lustmord), Troum can easily stand the test and be the best of the lot." [FdW / Vital Weekly]
|
2007 |
€12.00 |
|
|
SIGQAN |
CD |
"...„Sigqan" von 2003, remastered und in neuem cover auf neuem label, diesmal dem eigenen. und gerade bei so verbesserungen ist das ergebnis ja oft zwiespältig; das re-master hier dagegen subtil lebendiger, körper- und räumlicher, die (für troum verhältnisse) fast minimalistische, auf gebündelte sounds setzende klangästhetik unterstützend bzw. eben einfach besser ans ohr bringend: dunkel, fast glazial, gegeneinander verschiebende ebenen rund um den hauptstrom der einzelnen teile der sigqan-trilogie, im „part 3" mit ergänzender, eher subtiler rhythmustextur; bis zum ende nur noch ein feedback zwischen cello- und trompetenästetik den beginn widerspiegelt. unter den troum alben vielleicht eines der focussiertesten, vielleicht immer ein wenig versteckt zwischen der grossen tjukurrpa-trilogie; in jedem fall: schwer empfohlen. das neue cover, wieder ein digipack, diesmal in farbe, textur und besonders typografie irgendwie nicht einem bestimmten grafischen (zeit)geschmack verpflichtet wie damals die erste auflage." [N, Unruhr.de]
"Deep beneath the ocean is a world of mystery, wonder, darkness, and danger. Even if it weren't for the cover art of this German duo's brilliant new album, there is unmistakably no other place in the universe that has influenced the sounds and movement of what is represented within. These drones are not passive in the least. The depth and volume are all encompassing, and moving slowly but steadily like an ancient and lonely large whale through the graveyards of shipwrecks, at the very beginning of the food chain in which all living creatures depend. Recorded live in the studio without overdubs, the first two parts are based on live performances the band was touring around with in 2001, the first being a dark blue rumble, heavy on the low end and marked by patient melodic movement, the second with swirling guitar strums and leads like the sun coming through in bended bands of beams: flickering, reflected, and refracted. The intangible overwhelming feeling of weight and pressure is unavoidable and inescapable, like being frozen in a dream, unable to move, but calm and comforting all the same. Around the half-way mark, it dips back into the darker regions as pitch and pace slow down deeper and deeper and deeper and deeper yet into the cold, black unknown. The third part was recorded as an afterthought, and is described as a new ending. Its brightness and chugging backwards-sounding guitars brilliantly accent the feel that it is a journey which is reaching its end. At this point, it feels that the central figure in the journey seems to be a vessyl of some sort, and the 16-minute Part 3 is thematic of a glorious resurfacing, reintroduction to the bright light of day, and returning to solid ground. But, as the brightness comes, so does an ominous sense that all might not be right. The world looks different than before, the places are familiar but everything's seemed to have changed. The credits may roll but this is certainly not the end." [Jon Whitney / Brainwashed]
“Finally, the first Troum record to be widely available in the United States, released through Relapse subsidiary Desolation House, and we're pleased to say it's maybe their best yet. Troum are the ambient-drone ensemble that emerged from the dissolution of proto-industrial dronesters Maeror Tri. Unlike the primarily guitar based whir and rumble of Maeror Tri, Troum obfuscate their sound sources, laptops, found sounds, accordians, guitars too maybe, and the results are timeless, mysterious, haunting, ethereal and utterly breathtaking dronescapes. Sigqan is a lengthy three part epic, beginning with rich sonorous foghorn like swells, that ebb and flow, separated by near silence, and slowly building in intensity from warm crescendos to huge doomy pulses. Eventually, these roaring rumbles joined by complementary shimmers of high end, that sound out, and then dissipate like sonic ripples, fading into blackness. The swells slowly grow closer and closer until the edges begin to blur and a subtly more continuous melodic framework begins to emerge and so begins the second movement, a creepy and slightly ominous, slowly fluctuating slow-motion-melody, whose lazily shifting notes keep the sonic landscape dense and rich, and keeps the sounds from flatlining into monochromatic drones. As the piece winds down, the dynamics and melody start to smear together into a warm, diffused fuzzy hum, with the subtle traces of melody sinking deeper and deeper into the dark warmth. The third and final movement was a sonic afterthought, added/recorded later than the first two, but is a pleasantly dreamy coda, with a slightly sunnier tone, a keening upper register melody, stretched out into subtly slithering iridescence with a shuffling, staticky rhythm just below the surface. So nice.“ [Aquarius Records, 2003]
"Beauty and profundity are the evident merits of the album - like the unity of oceanic and atmospheric elements, and namely the ocean is most frequently mentioned association used by critics and musicians. When you are at a depth of thousands metres, even the storm on the surface is impossible to hear." [Dmitry Vasilyev, IEM]
|
2009 |
€13.00 |
|
|
Synistanai |
CD |
Troum
"Synistа́nai"
aquarel 53-20
2020
SYNISTÁNAI: zusammenstellen, - fügen, - vereinigen, - verknüpfen
( to collocate, to assemble, to unite, to merge, to interloop.. )
A collection of rare & deleted tracks from compilations Vol. III (2003-2007)
Everything recorded between 01/2003 and 02/2007.
( Part I: Symballein : 1997-1999; Part II: Syzygie : 1999-2002)
CD, limited edition of 300 copies in 4-panel digisleeve
1. USWENA
2. ANANKE
3. PINA
4. SENGUH
5. IRCHENNAN
6. DRŪSIAN
7. DONISIS
8. GIASCEI
9. (...) ULTRACHRONOS (...)
Track 1 finished 01/2003, originally released on "Record of Shadows Infinite" CD
Crucialblast, 2003)
Track 2 finished 03/2003, originally released on "Evolved as One" CD (Evolved as One, 2003) Track 3 finished 05/2003, originally released on "Dark Ambient Radio 2" CD
(Dark Ambient Radio, 2009)
Track 4 finished 03/2004, originally released on "Subterranean Ways of Thinking" LP
(Avatar Rec., 2004)
Track 5 finished 09/2005, originally released on "Listen to Something Different" CD
(Ars Macabre, 2007)
Track 6 finished 10/2006, originally released on "Brainwaves" 3xCD
(Brainwashed Rec., 2006)
Track 7 finished 01/2006, originally released on "Walking in the Rain on the Ostrow Tumski" CD
(Ars Benevola Mater, 2006)
Track 8 finished 05/2006, originally released on "Cryosphere" CDr
(Glacial Movements Records, 2006)
Track 9 finished 02/2007, originally released on "The Threshold of Silence" CDr
(Umbra, 2007)
Notes to track 9 : The full title was : "(magic cymbals and the mother of) ULTRACHRONOS" - and there were, as usual, NO keyboards used! (wrong info by label and now on discogs)
Collected autumn 2019 by Baraka[H]
Mastered by Igor Potsukaylo
Artwork based on a painting by Stefan Knappe
Sleeve by Oleg Galay
aquarellist.ru/catalog/73/
|
2020 |
€13.00 |
|
| |
DA-PU-RI-TO-JO (The Singles 2004-2016) |
CD |
Troum returns to Zoharum with DA-PU-RI-TO-JO a collection of tracks taken from 7” singles (and one digital EP) that were released through the years 2004-2016.
Drone masters offer 12 dreamscapes that range from soothing, etheral and meditative through emotional and mysterious to dark, industrialesque and nightmarish.
Listening to the album in one go Troum takes us on a journey to the farthest corners of human psyche. From heaven to hell and back. It’s all here.
If you’re Troum’s fan it’s a great opportunity to have these lesser known tracks in one place. If you’re about to become one it’s a great way to start here your journey into the depths of subconscious.
CD edition of 500 copies comes in 6-panel digipack.
This is a collection of TROUMs 7" vinyl releases (+one digital EP- unreleased on any physical format so far) through the years 2004 - 2016.
The tracks are not chronologically sorted to get a new perspective inside this "labyrinth of music".
Cover artwork by Radosław Kamiński (Ab Intra)
https://zoharum.bandcamp.com/album/da-pu-ri-to-jo-the-singles-2004-2016
"Troum has been always some sort of legend in terms of its own publishing and concert activity. Associated with Drone records, a small label famous for its singles series, it made a brand of its own with evocative, dark ambient.
Zoharum releases a compilation of their singles from over the course of 12 years - between 2004 and 2016.
It definitely shows the slow metamorphosis and evolution of their craft. Coming from the influences of psychodelia and prepared electroacoustic music rather than synth based ( as they mentioned many times - they don't use synths, samplers and sequencers) they elaborate on quite a romantic way of expression - a somewhat natural in this field but also not being pushed too hard and very honest way of their artistic expression.
Their own version of atmospheric ambient operates on low frequencies and glitched and delayed for of hymn like tracks but never ceases to amaze how much you can achieve through using very simple techniques within the washed out clichees of the genre that rarely helps to understand why there is no progression.
But Troum in many ways is master of its own terms and can be refreshed by the fact that it has its own working ethos." [Felt Hat Reviews] |
2021 |
€13.00 |
|
| TROUM & MARTYN BATES |
To a Child, Dancing in the Wind |
CD |
Nach über 2 Jahren konnte die lange geplante Zusammenarbeit von TROUM mit MARTYN BATES endlich fertiggestellt werden. Gedichte des irischen Dichters W.B.YEATS dienten als textliche Grundlage für sechs Stücke voller Sehnsucht & Emotion, Drone-Harmonics treffen auf expressiv gesungene Poesie....
“ - Profound songs inspired by YEATS-poems: The acoustic transformation of the deepest yearning - For this release, the german ‘transcendental-drone’-duo TROUM teams up with the legendary british singer / songwriter and EYELESS IN GAZA-member MARTYN BATES.
More than 2 years in the making, MARTYN BATES has sung & played (mouth organ & melodica) over basic material TROUM provided – consisting of harmonic minimal loops & basic song structures derived from accordeon, e-bass & guitar, percussion), who were then also responsible for the final subsequent additions mastering (adding more guitar-work, voices & balalaika).
MARTYN BATES has chosen to sing four poems of the famous Irish poet W.B.YEATS, and he did this with a most impressive sensitivity for TROUMS very sublime & rather hidden harmonic structures. There are also two instrumentals in a more experimental style on this disc, one being a dark drone reprise of the main piece “MAD AS THE MIST AND SNOW #2”. MARTYN’s voice is surely not something for everyone – it’s of an extreme emotional & yearnful quality that might be not easy to stand – a yearning which is like a deep “cry out to the horizon”, to something that is unreachable per se, feeling a passion that tears you apart inside. This is pure emotional poetry transformed into yearnful audible spherics!
Artwork: Daniel Crokaert, founder of the dream-ambience CDR-label MYSTERY SEAS in Brussels and a long-time fan of both MARTYN BATES & TROUM, has created a stunning 6-panel digipack using pictures provided by Martyn.
The Artists: MARTYN BATES is the legendary british songwriter, being active since the early 80’s, one half of EYELESS IN GAZA & also working solo with other musicians and with Alan Trench as 12.000 DAYS. He has established a unique own style combining elements of folk & various other influences with this remarkable singing, being expressively poetic & highly emotional at any time.
TROUM is a german duo consisting of 2/3 of the remains of the ambient-industrialists MAEROR TRI (last year saw a rennaisance of M.T. with many re-releases of their works). TROUM describe their music themselves as “transcendental drone-muzak”, a very atmospheric & emotional but often also monumental and noisy, hypnotically & at times trance-inducing rhythmic melange.
General Disc-Info: 6-panel 4-colour digipack, 6 tracks, 38:30 playtime” [press release]
”....Now its so much more than 'just' a drone record: the voice forms a counterpart of the music, perhaps because it fits so well. This is certainly on of the best drone records I heard this year, because it's so familiar as well as such a surprise.” [FdW / Vital Weekly] |
2006 |
€8.00 |
|
| TROUM & REUTOFF |
Kreuzung Zwei: Creatura Per Creaturam Continetur |
CD |
"Jedes Wesen ist mit jedem anderen verbunden."
Nach ANTLERS MULM der zweite Teil der REUTOFF Collaboration-Serie: TROUM bearbeiteten hierfür Basismaterial der Moskauer und gossen das ganze, inspiriert von der Kosmologie HILDEGARD VON BINGENs, in sechs dronig-sphärische Stücke.
"The second in Kreuzung collaborations series. The basic sound sources and samples made by Reutoff especially for this release have been treated, arranged and mixed with an addition of their own instrumental parts by Troum. Dark profound harsh ambient with some occasional rhythmic patterns intertwined with transcendental prepared guitar loops and perfect drone noises - a perfect blend between two project distinctive features and creative manners. The concept of this work is based on cosmology of Hildegard von Bingen. The release comes in a special “Kreuzung” series package made of brown kraft carton with a full colour stickered artwork/info cover and Reutoff logo embossed on the back, the CD is housed in the same carton die-cut inner envelope." [label info]
"The forty-five minutes are divided into six tracks, slowly building towards an intense mixture of miniature noisescapes, neoclassical tapestries, ethnic rhythmic structures and eerie vocal samples. All titles are in Latin, and since that isn't my strong point, I'll leave translations to the readers' enquiring minds. The first track, "Aether Purus", is typical for Troum, although the familiar bassy layering of Troum seems to have gone up in frequency; it's all a bit higher. "Terrenus" has some partial neoclassical-like sounds, but it is set in a 1970s surrounding, "A Space Odyssey"-like environment. There are moments there that appear like insects stuck in your aural canal. Or is it really little aliens?
This setting is forcefully continued in the third (title) track where the Troum sounds find their way back into the composition. Later in the track rhythms are added to the composition. It is by far the longest track on the album. "Ignis Niger" is the fourth track and its creepy, erratic voices and samples really get you into a mood fit for watching a horror movie. Yes, two film references are my way of saying this whole release is very filmic. "Ignis Lucidus" has rhythms again, in combination with deep droning layers. It's a bit close to atmospheres like O Yuki Conjugate. The disc closes with "Aer Aquosus (Reprise)" which is a short but powerful track in an adapted Troum style.
My knowledge of Reutoff is minimal, so maybe there are a few too many references towards Troum here, but on the other hand I love Troum, and this album is, despite the references, so different from their other work that I think I'm secretly going to like Reutoff a lot also." [Bauke van der Wal / Connexion Bizarre]
"The Germanic and dark drone outfit Troum embark on a collaboration with the equally dark, Russian ensemble Reutoff, although the conceptual framework of their album isn't one wholly wrapped in mystery, occlusion, and shadow. Creatura Per Creaturam Continetur is based upon the cosmology of Hildegard von Bingen, the 12th century German abbess, whose richly detailed visions through her unshakeable Christian faith offered feminine descriptions of the cosmic order sprinkled with sexually charged metaphor. In addition to her writings, Hildegard had developed an impressive musical canon of monophonic chorales and plainsong melodies, whose recursive elements certainly look forward to all sorts of drone-based musics of the 20th and 21st centuries.
While the drone connection is easy to make, how Troum and Reutoff view Hildegard von Bingen's faith and art is unclear.
Regardless, the majestic swells that immediately surge at the introduction of this album are some of the most beatific and
heavensent that either project has produced to date. Troum have always been known for their glacial pacing of drone crescendos for spiralling guitars heavily processed in effects; and on this album, they leave no doubt that they excel at their craft. For those seeking the dark, almost blackened ambience that both Troum and Reutoff have mustered in the past, there's plenty of industrial bellows, clanking rhythms, creepily whispered vocals, and subaquatic reverberations to cast a somber pall across these recordings..." [Aquarius Records]
|
2008 |
€13.00 |
|
| TRUE COLOUR OF BLOOD |
[absence] |
CD |
Endlich was neues von diesem italienischen experimental drone-Projekt nach dem sehr guten Erstling (CDR) “The Significance of Secrecy“. Endlos wallend-wattige dreamscapes auf Gitarren-Basis, entspannend und kontemplativ, dunkel und harmonisch zugleich, die mitunter auch von Zeitlupen-Pulsationen durchflossen werden...
“ When we think about "guitar players", we are misled by the very traditional concept of the "rock" guitarist playing riffs and solos..... WRONG !! There is a parallel universe where talented musicians like Eric Kesner use guitars (and nothing else.....) to build dense and flowing streams of sound. Dark ambient of the finest kind, where monstrously dark drones meet touching melodies.... In white-trayed jewel box.” [press release]
|
2003 |
€13.00 |
|
| TSEMBLA |
Fauna |
LP |
"The cicadas rub their legs, singing as if sucking on inhalators, when past the great willows I see a dam resting deep in the shelter of the trees. The shadow of the dam, a dark cloak glowing green, spreads over the branches of the trees and far across the grass, transforming the yard beyond the road’s edge into an odd province ruled by frogs and mosquitoes that gradually slides back into being a harmless lawn. You can hear the sounds of the beasts from even further away. I scurry closer through the thicket and see how dragonflies and spotted butterflies split the ever-changing gauze of sound that the flies weave around the smell. The pool festers, simmering like green watery jelly in the grip of the banks. In the middle of the warm thick slobber you can trace some lazily undulating decomposing plants and, on top of them, the great slime kings. The bullfrogs are gathered there, and their coarse croaking sinks heavily into the tussocks’ threads, their necks pulse as they let out their fat notes over each other, random bass choruses, their big bellies trembling in yellow and brown. The slap and plop sound like obscene threats, the bellowing cutting through the air like a foreign language. The females lay their eggs in the dam, hundreds of little eggs, of which the jelly – the male knows – does not loosen its grip until the spawn turns into tadpoles and the tadpoles into younglings. From the road comes the sound of a car, it slows down. I step back and look to the road: the scream of the breaks, highway dust and music sounding faintly through the coachwork. A man pushes his head out of the window and the tune comes through clearly. He shouts over the din of the radio, through the intoxicating croaking: “How far to Garden Street, to the party?” The music blends with the sounds of the dam and the feeling that the whole slimy species is gathered for some fantastic purpose." [Niko-Matti Ahti]
www.ikuisuus.net
|
2011 |
€14.00 |
|
| TSUNODA, TOSHIYA / JUSTIN BENNETT |
Cleavage of Acoustics / Cacerolada |
LP |
Nr. 3 in der Mixer Split LP Reihe ! JUSTIN BENNETT hat einem Protestmarsch in Barcelona gegen den Irak-Krieg im März 2003 beigewohnt, eine unglaubliche detailreicher Soundkulissensumpf aus Sirenen, Autohupen, Perkussion, Pfeifen & Gegröhl. T. TSUNODA arbeitet diesmal nicht mit reinen field recordings, sondern lässt Sinuswellen auf konkretes Material treffen, was zu knisternd-resonanzbildenden Effekten und merkwürdigen „small sounds“ führt.
Tolle Geräuschmusikplatte !
“Both Justin Bennett and Toshiya Tsunoda have gained a reputation when it comes to fieldrecording-based soundworks. Using their sonic surroundings as the startingpoint for their work, both are unique in approach and result. "Cacerolada" is based on a noise-protest against the Iraq-war, recorded in Barcelona. It wakes up and dies out as any day does, gradually moving along all kinds of sonic occurrences in between. Compared to Tsunoda's, Bennett's work comes from a more contemplative approach, outlining to his listener the beauty, absurdness or musicality of the everyday soundtrack he's living in. Originally these protests served a highly political goal, to record them and treat these recordings as a piece, is what made "Cacerolada" into a sound-object, to be listened to with different ears. This is the core of Bennett's work. Using hardly any processing-tools (Bennett composes with the raw building-blocks he records), these environmental-pieces are very much like documents, with specific artistic or aesthetical qualities. He hunts for certain scenes or situations and captures moments in time that contain a specific type of gesture he is looking for. The reference to daily life might be very much upfront, though Bennett's work is much more than a highly associative collection of recorded sounds. His recordings easily keep up as complete compositions with a strong musical form, taking the listener beyond what is heard at first sight and this is exactly where the strength in Bennett's work as a composer and sound-artist lies. These works show a delicate timespam, organically interpolating from scene to scene. The so familiar sounding material constructs and underlines compositional shape and development, adding a rare compositional richness to environmental-soundworks.
Tsunoda's "Cleavage of Acoustics" stands in close relation to previous works in which he tries to integrate somewhat technical concepts into the everyday beauty of singing birds and chirping crickets. Tsunoda adds to the body of these compositions of the public domain, as Justin Bennett does, but takes a different route to get there. He experiments to find out the musical relevance of technicality for natural sounds and forces a symbiosis between the two. The results still contain the associative character and organic development so typical for environmental recordings, but have a new, more abstract, mimicry. The sometime subtle, sometimes clashing, but always interesting interference between these two worlds, is what gives Tsunoda's work a very unique twist. It can exist as a completely autonomous entity while grafted upon the soundmaterial we all know so well. Tsunoda, like Bennett, makes us hear our surrounding acoustic reality in a different way. Not by fencing off certain parts of it, as Bennett does, but through simple yet very effective technical interventions, making it's appearance shift a bit or two.
"When listening to field recordings, I am always surprised by the richness of it's acoustics. Vibrations echoe from various places, in mixed complexity, changing constantly over time. In some way, it looks like stratum. I would like to sharply cleave the stratum to see the surface of the crevice. This work shows the audibility of sound vibrations through an uncommon process. I tried to cut off the source (field recording) material using a gate device and sine-waves. In each track, specific sine-waves have been mixed with the source-material.
In this work, I regard the sine-wave as the standard speed signal for the source. This has made any alternation within the audio signal detectable for the gate device. The linear audio signal (monoral) is cut horizontally into the advance direction, turning it into two signals. The amplitude of the alternating current has a separated + and - side, with 0 volt as base for the gate device. This split signal is simultaneously reproduced through the right- and left- channel of stereophonic audio equipment. Try mixing these 2 channels. The waveform is almost restored to it's original form, giving a peculiar result compared to the separated signal playback." [press release]
|
2004 |
€12.00 |
|
| TUNDRA |
Tajnie i Glebie |
CD |
"Tundra - an electroacoustic project of Dawid Adrjanczyk and Krzysiek Joczyn - is a duo, whose inspiration is, first and foremost, space, both in its physical manifestation and the spiritual meaning. Beside samples, field recordings and sound manipulation, they use acoustic instruments. After 2 self-released EPs and 2 collaborative albums with Karpaty Magiczne (The Magic Carpathians), they recorded a full-length album, which is a manifestation of their journeys into places where peace and chill reign simultaneously. These are akin to more ethereal songs from the World Serpent realm, but also academic compositions or free improv. The sounds on "Tajnie i G³êbie" lose tracks and inspirations luring the listeners with an ambiguous atmosphere at the same time.
This 3-panel ecopak release is strictly limited to 350 copies." [label info]
www.zoharum.com
|
2014 |
€12.00 |
|
| TUNNELS OF ĀH (TUNNELS OF AH) |
The Smeared Cloth |
do-CD |
"The Smeared Cloth" is a double CD compilation containing the TUNNELS OF ĀH recordings from 2012-2018, which have not yet been published on any medium. The first disc is filled with compositions from the period before the debut in Cold Spring and outtakes from the sessions for "Thus Avici", the next album for the British label.
The second disc contains tracks recorded during and between the sessions for "Surgical Fires" and "Charnel Transmissions". Although they were created as loose compositions, out of the concepts clearly outlined on each of the mentioned albums, they sound incredibly coherent, giving impression of being part of a concept release, this makes them a pleasure to listen to; especially when we get carried away in the world created by Stephen Ah Burroughs with the sounds characteristic of his work. Sometimes they evoke associations with ancient rituals, intensifying the impression of Egyptian darkness, the feeling of coldness and emptiness coming as if from a deep dungeon, and with them an echo. All this is a superstructure for the 21 tracks filling both discs, outlined and maintained, in a convention that allows them to be stylistically located somewhere between isolating dark ambient and death industrial, where the gloom aura and dense, mechanical structures coexist as if in symbiosis, thanks to which the balance between building the atmosphere and reflecting the true nature of the industrial collision. This release is undoubtedly a must-have for TOĀH fans, but it can also delight those who appreciate death industrial at a high level. The album's released on two CDs folded in a six-panel ecopack.
Tracks 1-11 taken from "The Smeared Cloth" CD1
Tracks 12-21 taken from "The Smeared Cloth" CD2
https://zoharum.bandcamp.com/album/the-smeared-cloth-2012-2018-unearthed
"In den frühen 80ern gründete Stephen R. Borroughs zusammen mit Justin Broadrick und Dave Cochrane das Trio HEAD of David, das einen der noisigsten Grundsteine dessen legte, das später Industrial Metal genannt werden sollte. Im Lauf der Jahre konzentrierte er sich mehr und mehr auf Soloprojekte, und neben Frag war dies seit etwas über zehn Jahren Tunnels of Āh, mit dem er einen Ritualkosmos von fast räudiger Abgründigkeit entstehen ließ.
Dass Tunnels of Ah trotz der starken Abstraktion seiner ästhetischen Konzepte ein konsequent verfolgtes atmosphärisches Thema hat, wird bereits deutlich, wenn man die mittlerweile sechs Alben, die seit 2013 auf Cold Spring und zuletzt Hypershape erschienen sind, im Vergleich hört, denn da fallen die verbindenden Elemente sehr deutlich ins Auge. Mehr noch beeindruckt einen die musikalisches Stringenz angesichts der jüngst auf Tape und Doppel-CD erschienenen Compilation “The Smeared Cloth 2012 – 2018 Unearthed”, denn hier lassen frühe Stücke und Outtakes aus verschiedenen Albumsessions ein überraschend zusammenhängendes Bild entstehen.
“The Smeared Cloth” ist nichts für Hörer, die Probleme mit Beklemmung, Dunkelheit und niederdrückender Schwere haben. Eine finstere, bedrohliche Stimmung zieht sich durch die oft kreisenden Soundgebilde, lassen durch ambiente Dröhnung, Saitenrasseln oder sirrende Streichersounds filmreife Phasen der Spannung und durch paukende und prasselnde Takte und plötzliche Schuttlawinen aufwühlende Momente entstehen, steigern sich vom subtilen Hauch eines – nur oberflächlich sanft wirkenden, in Wirklichkeit höllischen – Windes zu infernalischen Szenen von hochtönendem, schleifenden Lärm. Klangfarben von Stein und noch stärker Metall prägt das Gesamtbild, doch ist in gewissen Abständen auch immer die Illusion des Organischen spürbar, als würde das harte und kalte Material mit dürren Reiserbesen und ähnlichem traktiert. Auch die entmenschlichte menschliche Stimme ist gelegentlich zu hören, mal in Rezitation, mal als finsteres Growlen und Keifen, mal in Form eines sakralen Gesangs.
Wenn man in den 20 Stücken die Kohärenz betont, sollte man hinzufügen, dass in ihnen natürlich auch Raum für Variation ist. Sollte ich einige herausragende Stücke betonen, dann wären es wahrscheinlich “Keys King At Womb Door Again”, in welchem sich ein anfangs kaum spürbares lykanthropisches Hecheln langsam zu etwas (noch) Monströse(re)m steigert – eine Entwicklung, die vielleicht etwas vorhersehbar ist, doch die urige Soundgestaltung, die durchweg an etwas Altes, seit Urzeiten Verschüttetes denken lässt, fällt weitaus stärker ins Gewicht. Ferner “Fountain of Life”, das nach gängigem Verständnis wohl eher wie das Gegenteil seines Titels klingt und an einen zerbrochenen Brunnen erinnert, dessen Wasser ein paar Erdklumpen mit sich reißt und am Ende im Schlamm versiegt. Nicht zuletzt auch der Titeltrack, dessen Spoken Word-Passage wie das Monument eines sinnlosen Aufwands vor infernalischer Kulisse am Ende von einer Schuttlawine geschluckt wird.
Nach den über zwei dystopischen Stunden scheiden sich wahrscheinlich die Geister: Während die einen fürs erste genug gelitten haben, sind die anderen nun gewappnet für die regulären Alben des Projektes, und “The Smeared Cloth” gibt da tatsächlich einen großartigen Einblick in einen Kosmos, den ich allen empfehlen kann, die frühe Coil, alte Broken Flag-Releases und ausgewählte Death Industrial-Platten nebeneinander im Regal stehen haben."
[African Paper]
"Eager to get back into the Tunnels. Not long ago, I gave 'Deathless Mind' another spin, and I had been looking forward to some new material from Burroughs. Still.. two whole CDs, dearie me. I'm curious if I can make it through in one go. Also, it is not exactly 'new' material, but rather excerpts and unused tracks from two distinct periods: the first CD collects all discards from the Lost Corridors and Thus Avici era; the second contains material from the period between Surgical
Fires and Charnel Transmissions - compiled into this 2,5-hour lasting tour de force. Me, oh my.
Though branded as 'dark ambient' on Discogs, we've come to know Tunnels of Āh for industrial ambient landscapes and complex saturated loops and textures that range timbrally from (seemingly) acoustic in origin to overtly synthetic. Also, the 'loops' here should mostly be taken less literally; there are elements that seem to repeat, but for the most part, the chopped-up complexity of the textures ensures we won't have the typical 'looper' kind of experience in which repetition is often an easy way of tricking our brain into believing it is listening to something musical.
On CD 1, many sounds seem to have acoustic sources, which is much more noticeable than on the more recent albums. We also seem to get a lot more vocal delivery than usual, making tracks like 'Brute World' and 'To the Pschal Victim' almost have an early Current 93 or 'ambient Test Dept kind' of ring to them.
It is also completely dissimilar in many ways, e.g., production-wise, but for fans of those bands, these tracks may be the right point of entry into the Tunnels. The vocals are often mixed in quite deeply, so you won't be listening to poetry with a noisy background.
With the choppy granulated ambient of 'Lost Corridors', a track that did not feature on the eponymous 2013 album, there seems to be somewhat of a 'natural' ending to the first part of the first CD. The subsequent ambient track 'Fountain Of Life' ramps the intensity again with its swirling vortex of delayed grit. Both 'Great Darkness' and 'The Cloth is Smeared' really stand out as two of the more memorable pieces.
Disc 2 starts with the interesting combination of 'To the Paschal Victim' and 'Circumcision', which seem to be variations on the same bass riff/loop - though the latter track slides off into a murky bass swamp about halfway through. 'Red Distribution' and 'White Distribution' wrap this disc up in a
manner that reminded me of Charnel Transmissions. There is a certain kind of dense lo-fi elegance to them, which also made me fall for that album when it first came out.
I've said this before, and I'll repeat it: What I love about Tunnels Of Āh is that though it is clearly tarnished with the brush of industrial and perhaps even reminiscent of some noise - due to its complex textures, it never becomes too harsh or punishing, which given the length of most tracks may be a very deliberate choice either during mastering or in the composition process. Moreover, a wise one, since especially with a leviathan of this length, balance is a thing to aim for.
Does it work as an album, though, or is this merely a release for us to be complete? Tough question. The first CD is consistent, albeit on the long side. With 77 minutes, it is about half an hour longer than any Tunnels release on average, and I definitely had to listen to the whole release in phases. That said, when it
comes to textures and intensity, there seems to have been some thought put into the dynamic distribution of the tracks and though longer than usual, I would say both these discs work as stand-alone albums. Another keeper in a long line of excellent works from the Tunnels." [LdW / Vital Weekly]
|
2023 |
€17.00 |
|
| 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 |
|
| TURRA, LUIGI & CHRISTOPHER MCFALL |
tactile.surface |
CD |
" “tactile.surface” is the sound presentation of a virtual place, an imaginary environment born from the alchemy of recordings between two different but real places, far apart geographically, yet close in time and spirit.
On one side, are the sounds captured in the intimacy of my living room in the small city of Schio (North of Italy), mainly those reflecting its silence, and also some caught from the windows in the early hours of morning, enhanced with some discreet short recordings of shakuhachi flutes ; On the other side, lies the open space of Kansas City urban context, and the sound/views absorbed during a long travel to Colorado by Christopher McFall.
The two different sound places have been blended into a new one, rich of memory and keeping intact the physical perception of the surfaces, and their tactile, material aspects. (Luigi Turra)
Almost 2 years ago, I travelled home to see my mother in Colorado. This was no simple journey as I had to drive for 12 hours from Kansas City into the western lands of Kansas & Colorado. Tactile.surface really takes me back to that particular journey, because I was listening to the tracks we were compiling for it as I drove the length of the journey.
Desolate : is the only word I can think of describing Western Kansas and its snow covered expanses. there is to be found there the most abrasive wind patterns, a generalized sense of absence, and an undeniable confrontation with absolute sky (there’s only one topography here, and it’s completely flattened as the sky becomes your envelope).
battered snowlines will outfit our drudgery
we sweetened the deal to touch in cold January
where roads give way the elemental trajectory
sunlit eyes were seeding the alchemy.
This work traverses many surfaces and covers so much terrain. Many of the parts were extracted from manipulated recordings that originated from treated audio tape. Many of the “broken” low-ended sounds that served as base primer for the piece came from that side of things. The more “crisp” overlay sounds are derived from Luigi’s workings. The experience of it all was much the equivalent of weaving a tapestry of surfaces which resulted in a composite abstract topography (Christopher McFall)" [label info]
www.unfathomless.net
|
2010 |
€14.00 |
|
| TWELVE THOUSAND DAYS |
At the Landgate |
maxi-CDR |
Drei neue Studio-Stücke des kreativen “weird folk”-Projekts von MARTYN BATES und ALAN TRENCH...romantisch, poetisch, düster, folkig... auf einem neuen polnischen Label.
“This is the latest missive from the otherworldly realm inhabited by Martyn Bates (Eyeless In Gaza) and Alan Trench (Orchis, Temple Music), the first since the splendid Devil In The Grain album and a taster for the forthcoming From the Walled Garden. Twelve Thousand Days have been playing live, and it shows; although this is a studio recording the sound is both immediate and delicate, with Bates’ sublime vocals shimmering over a cornucopia of plucked and blown instruments and ethereal guitars. Clocking in at vv minutes, this is more a mini album than an ep; the first track, Christmas and May is something of an epic, moving through several distinct parts while hallucinatory spoken word parts phase in and out, while the gorgeous title track soughs and sighs with the immensity of loss. The closer is the duos take on the trad I Once Loved A Lass, though with a dark and foreboding air of menace.
The album is housed in a beautifully presented textured booklet with a front cover by Charles Altamont Doyle whilst the back is a detail from the frescoes depicting the descent of sinners into hell from the Rila monastery in Bulgaria, while pictures of Trench and Bates are on the inside pages. The numbered insert (also on textured stock) completes a package which beautifully complements the music., with the whole housed in a plastic wallet. Print throughout is full colour. The attention to detail on ths release is destined to make it an extremely desirable collectable.” [label description]
|
2005 |
€10.00 |
|
| |
Insect Silence |
CD |
"MARTYN BATES (Eyeless In Gaza) & ALAN TRENCH (Orchis, Howling Larsons) return after a long hiatus with the fourth TWELVE THOUSAND DAYS album. From the opening “Death Went Fishing” (a free translation of “vgíke o cháros na psarépsei”, the classic rebetiko by Giannis Papaioannou) to the closing, haunting notes of “Red And Golden Fire”, the listener is taken on a journey made up of a thousand journeys, a thousand side trips, a thousand destinations, hinging around the sprawling central trip of “Pathless”, in which the ramifications of choices made swim into hazy view. The 13 tracks that make up “Insect Silence” are a concatenation of dulcimers, whistles, guitars, synths, disturbing digital background noise (“Night Harmonium”) and other instrumentation with slices of pure, aching melody echoing through strange darkened corners, all enlivened and enlit by the wondrous tones of Martyn Bates.
MARTYN BATES is well-known for his brilliant long-time work with EYELESS IN GAZA, for his solo albums and for collaborations with MICK HARRIS and ANNE CLARK.
ALAN TRENCH: co-founder of World Serpent Distribution and musician with brilliant projects/groups ORCHIS, HOWLING LARSONS, TEMPLE MUSIC." [label info]
https://finalmuzik.bandcamp.com/album/twelve-thousand-days-insect-silence
"It's been quite some time since Martyn Bates (Eyeless in Gaza) and Alan Trench (Temple Music, Orchis) have come together as Twelve Thousand Days. It's fair to say much water has passed under the bridge since their last album From The Walled Garden in 2006. Insect Silence follows a ditched compilation release with the same title scheduled for release a number of years back. Insect Silence continues with the folk based music provided by Alan Trench and fronted by the distinctive voice of Martyn Bates but Insect Silence more so than their previous albums doesn't dwell solely in folk music. It may be its starting point but Insect Silence differs with passages of psych guitar and its layering of synths and electronics, as well as in the ambient interludes which feature throughout and often open up the tracks way beyond its grounding in folk music. Lyrically Insect Silence is couched in an English familiarity and in the eternal themes of life, love and death. Just shy of 70 minutes it's a long winding path of 13 tracks involving a large assortment of instrumentation which are woven into a complex and intricate tapestry of sound. You will be surprised by the pathways Twelve Thousand Days roam on .
Insect Silence opens to the spirited acoustic folk and percussive tambourine bashing of 'Death Went Fishing', outwitting death as it rushes onwards, weaving soaring psych guitars, which return throughout Insect Silence, as Bates implores that "he will return again". Its sets the scene for Insect Silence an album loosely based around folk music employing a rich multitude of instrumentation including guitars, dulcimers, harmonium, whistles as well as electronics. Twelve Thousand Days stretch the parameters of folk music with psych-guitar and ambient and instrumental interludes sprinkled throughout the 13 tracks. At times it likes listening to a Krautrock inspired psych-folk album with space rock leanings. In a good way, of course.
Opening to an ambient interlude 'Mad As The Mist' is the first of three musical settings of the words of Irish poet W.B. Yeats. Dreamy folk guitars entwine twang and strum, as Bates in his pure folk tones recalls philosophers such as Plato, Homer, Tully and Cicero, swelling into another passage of soaring solo of psych guitar and back again to dreamy folk song. More restless psych-guitar features on 'A Coat'. There's more of an experimental edge to the Yeats setting here pitching Bates' strained (and occasionally treated) voice to the fore, embellished by the pluck of guitar notes augmented by glinting electronics, bass throb and a needling guitar casting vibrations of psychedelic proportions. 'Arrow', the final piece in the Yeats trilogy is starker and played more straightforward with the beautiful folk voice over ringing acoustic guitar and warm synth backing.
Away from the Yeats tracks, a number of which Bates recorded with Troum in different musical forms, 'Errant Desires' moves to graceful ambience with flourishes of guitar notes. Bates' pure mournful tones add a sleepy lamentful melody, as faint electronics flicker behind the gentle flurry of guitar notes and assorted instrumentation. Beautifully atmospheric, it's one of my favourites on Insect Silence. Bates' voice is measured and melodic illuminating the sense of life passing in the evocative lyrics of rain falling, captured in our hands and gladly falling to the earth. More timeless folk arrives in the form of 'She Raises Her Eyes' where in captivating melodic tones Bates sings of a longing recalling long cold December months over duelling dulcimer chime.
One of the more surprising tracks appearing in the first half of the album is 'Invoke Hecate' where over passages of whistle and rousing, beating strum, Twelve Thousand Days sounding not unlike Ostara invoke the Goddess of Witchcraft, through an assortment of occult techniques. Alan Trench in past endeavours has facilitated many musicians in the apocalyptic folk genre but this rare sojourn, even with it blistering psych solo, can still raise an eyebrow and something of a smirk.
As mentioned earlier, Insect Silence is interspersed with instrumentals taking the music down alternate pathways, straying far off the beaten track. The first of these 'Night Harmonium' carries an air of arcane English mysticism with its loose folk stylings where strings chime and whistle billows merge over background synths and static clicks. The instrumental 'Old Ladies As Birds' is another brooding mystical moment where layers of whistles and flutes cast an age old melody over wheezing harmonium while loose guitar notes chime and ring out as distant electronics shudder underneath. While 'Old Ladies As Birds' is evocative of transforming souls and spirits, the jaunty folk offering of 'Fieldwork' is celebratory. Based on whistles and acoustic strum it comes across like a folk dance or Pagan procession. If 'Fieldwork' revels in a lost Englishness 'Descent' is dealing with nostalgia. A vintage crackling recording of 'See, The Conqu'ring Hero Comes' shrouds the descending organ scales of 'Descent'. Bates' voice is quiet, distant and softly murmured amidst the eerie disembodied voices of the choir as percussion rattles. You can almost picture the landscape on the pastoral 'Red and Golden Fire' another experimental offering mixing lulling electronics with whistles and flutes which closes the album.
Insect Silence hinges around 'Pathless' an epic experimental 16-minute musical and lyrical journey which we all make on our travels through life. Set in the middle of the album it continues the theme first introduced on the opener 'Death Went Fishing'. With the huntsman at our heels, we try to outwit death to no avail. Travelling from ringing guitar with Bates' voice, wrapped in layered accompaniment, veering between passages of Krautrock electronics and wavering synths to psaltery, whistles and location recordings. All the elements of Insect Silence emanate from and come together on this track to great effect. As it flows together seamlessly it's difficult to pinpoint where 'Pathless Part I' ends and 'Pathless Part II' begins but it may be when a heartbeat bass pulses and acoustic guitars ring out and the spoken word of Lisa (I think this is Elizabeth S who features on releases from Eyeless In Gaza) surfaces amidst guitars and layers of spacey synths which lull, crash and wail, before Bates returns, to close this epic track in high registered tones.
Insect Silence bustles with an immediacy, there's a sense of freshness of getting it all down on tape before the additional sound layers of instrumentation are added. Ambient, electronics, psych guitar, whistles, location recordings are all here embellishing the tracks making it intricate and complex. At the heart of it is an open-ended folk sound reflected in Bates' beautiful, distinctive voice which illuminate the timeless themes. Insect Silence is by far the best I've heard from Twelve Thousand Days and though the tracks are disparate there's an arching basis in folk music which traverses into other areas which holds it all together. As we said, Insect Silence is a journey, a pathway laid down just waiting for us to follow. Insect Silence is released digitally and on CD by Final Muzik in an edition of 500 copies. For more information go to Final Muzik and to download go to Final Muzik Bandcamp." [Compulsion Online]
"Man neigt gerne dazu, Bands, die sich nur alle Schaltjahre oder seltener zu neuen Aktivitäten zusammentun, als klammheimlich aufgelöst zu betrachten, erst recht dann, wenn es sich dabei um noch anderweitig aktive Musiker handelt – so wie Sänger Martyn Bates mit Eyeless in Gaza und seinem Soloprojekt und Instrumentalist Alan Trench mit seinen Folk- und Psychedelic-Gruppen Temple Music, Orchis und Black Lesbian Fishermen. Nachdem mit ihrem Duo Twelve Thousand Days wahrscheinlich nur noch wenige gerechnet hätten, steht mit „Insect Silence“ nun ganz überraschend ein neues Album in den Regalen, das fast da anknüpft, wo die beiden vor gut zwölf Jahren mit „From the Walled Garden“ aufhörten. Fast, denn gerade bei Alan sind doch ein paar Spuren seiner neuen Arbeiten herauszuhören.
Wie man es von früheren Aufnahmen her kennt, wechseln sich schmissige, fast frohsinnige Folksongs ab mit verträumt melancholischen Klageliedern und geheimnisvollen ambienten Soundscapes, und zusammen mit Bates’ unverkennbarer Stimme, die so klar und jugendlich wie eh und je klingt, kreiert die Musik ein verzaubertes Setting, das an ein langsam vor dem Auge verschwimmendes Jugenstilgemälde erinnert.
„Death Went Fishing“ und „Invoce Hecate“ zählen zu den eingängigen Folkstücken, die mit feurigem Geschrammel und ekstatischen Rasseln nach vorn galoppieren – mystische oder makabre Töne schleichen sich über sanft gesungene Textzeilen in die Szenerie und bilden mit der harmonischen Musik eine heikle Mischung, und schon mit den allerorts spürbaren heidnischen Untertönen sind die Stücke vor jedem Indie- und Pop-Appeal gefeit. Impressionistische Tableaus wie „Mad as the Mist“, dessen anfangs noch ziellos umhertastendes Gitarrenspiel sich erst nach und nach zu einem anmutigen Stimmungsbild zusammensetzt, bilden einen Gegenpol dazu, ebenfalls das aus einer balladesken Märchenwelt herübergewehte „Old Ladies as Birds“ und das mit Knacken und Knistern leicht verfremdete Zwischenspiel „Night Harmonium“ – beide Stücke gewinnen noch an Charisma durch Alans berührendes Flötenspiel.
In einigen dieser Tracks sind aber auch räudige Psych Rock-Elemente zuhören, die der Musik eine Kantigkeit verleihen, die in den klassischen Zeiten des englischen Folk nichts ungewöhnliches gewesen wären – zünftige E-Gitarrensoli und dröhnende Riffs, die die Folkmelodien, die sie spielen, gleichsam zerschreddern, als wären sie eine nationalhymne in Woodstock. Weder Eyeless in Gaza noch Orchis waren frei von solch rauen Beigaben, doch hier hat sich v.a. die Sprache jüngerer Temple Music in die Stilpalette geschlichen und gibt dem naturverbundenen Sound eine deutliche Prise Realismus.
Es gäbe einiges, das sich in den einzelnen Songs hervorheben ließ, die anrührende Melodie in „Errant Desires“, die cinematischen Verfremdungseffekte in „Red and Golden Fire“ und der melierte Orgelsound in „Descent“, der in ein verwehtes Sample des Liedes „Hail the Conquering Hero!“ (im Deutschen die Melodie von „Tochter Zion, freue dich“) übergeht, sind nur einige davon, doch alles in allem funktioniert „Insect Silence“ am besten als zusammenhängendes Werk, das mit mehrmaligem Hören immer mehr zu verzaubern weiß." [U.S., African Paper]
|
2018 |
€13.00 |
|
| TZESNE |
HuffDuff (SOLD OUT) |
7 |
TZESNE is quite a new project from Spain, who has only two brilliant CDR-releases out to date. On HuffDuff’s two tracks “Enviar Ayuda Ahora” and “La Voz Flamante” one dives deep into mysterious sounds derived solely from radio-receivers, creating a droney and eerie imaginary soundtrack to the communication between Submarines in the Second World War. “Something” is there in the sub-ether, but it can’t be identified. Very thick & foggy subliminal sound-waves, the time is standing still...
"The communication becomes simple propaganda due to the saturation, the freedom of the person
is restricted to the field of the selection and not to the one of the creation". [Tzesne]
Filed under: Secret-Listening Radiowave-Drones
BLACK VINYL. HANDMADE COVERS USING SILK-SCREEN, GLUE, PHOTOCOPIES, EACH ONE UNIQUE!
|
2005 |
€6.50 |
|
| UBEBOET |
Haereo |
CD |
"Madrid (and Cologne) based Miguel Angel Tolosa has a solid musical background both in electroacoustic & contemporary composition, and he’s also quite versed into sound engineering and producing techniques.
Most of all, he’s the long operating figurehead behind the highly respectable Con-V label.
His area of expertise is drones & field recordings tinted, and he has published works on many labels such as among others : Winds Measure Recordings, Non Visual Objects, Twenty Hertz, Drone Records…
As a dedicated listener/explorer, his music displays a large textural palette, and is infused with that underlying beauty all around us…
This album has been saved from loss and was initially to be released on Asher Tuil’s now defunct & missed Sourdine label.
“haereo” speaks forlorn rainy tales
or exhales morning urban springs…
a sea of untranquility
where small streams abound,
like so many darker veins and obscure skin maps…
Faint echoes exude from exhausted machinery,
a mass of dying waves,
a trail of stars pointing to nowhere, closed doors, and nocturnal flames in the distance,
dead intrepid plants swaying in the wind…
“haereo” is a flux of broken memories,
something reached out for, brushed,
something singularly mighty,
which takes us beyond, deep at heart "
[label info]
www.mysterysea.net
"Miguel Angel Tolosa works as Ubeboet since quite some time and has as such a number of releases, although the word 'overproduction' certainly doesn't apply to him. The cover says he worked on this from 2008 until 2012 and that he takes credit for electronics and field recordings; the latter being taped in Prague, Madrid, Lozoya valley area (Spain), Aguilar de Campoo area (Spain) and Serra San Bruno (Italy), while Ingar Zach plays bowed singing bowls on one piece. What's interesting to note is that in the first piece, 'Eaden', there are indeed quite some field recordings, but all of birds and insects, rather than what we are used to with this label, which is all things aquatic. In 'Umbrae' the microphone is thrown into the deep end and picks up signal below sea-level, along with Zach's bowed singing bowls. Below and above sea-level is where we find 'Sanatorium Rose', the final and longest piece on this release (which is about thirty-six minutes in total length), but there is also the motor-hum from a boat passing as drone music. In all three pieces we find Ubeboet's strong love of all things very dark. Much of the way he processes his sounds is to melt these field recordings by computer means and maybe all things analogue (either, or) and filter out much of the mid-high end until the darker rumble remains. In that way, Ubeboet surely has a strong own voice compared to his peers, which is a great thing and he shows it best in a release like this." [FdW/Vital Weekly]
|
2014 |
€13.00 |
|
| UGGERI, MATTEO |
The Next Wait |
CD + CDR |
In 2013 my wife Gaia was pregnant. We were then waiting for our first born to come, expected for November of that year. A few little obstacles and troubles occurred during the nine months, so my anxious nature at the time generated in me the need to somehow express the feelings in a record, where I conveyed the worries that a father, especially a musician that needs his own moments for playing, may have in terms of an expected potential future lack of time and energies.
I also decided to involve fellow musicians I got to know at the time, like Maurizio Abate (guitar), Enrico Coniglio (guitar and organ), with whom afterwards I would have made full albums - but you can find here the first traces of our collaboration. There were Andrea Serrapiglio (cello) and Cristiano Lupo (bass), that I knew for quite some time, and featuring female voices. I asked Dominique Van Cappellen-Waldock (that I discovered through her marvellous presence on a Doug Sharin solo album) if she wanted to sing on a track, and she did, providing her own lyrics. The American singer Jenny Oakley, aka Empty Vessel Music, did the same on track one, as well as a glitching sample from Nicola Ratti is also featured.
The central piece of the whole album can be considered “Family Man”, a sort of cover from a song by Black Flag, totally reversed by my wife Gaia Margutti. She re-interpreted the lyrics her own way, and she performed it in an unforgettable session of home recordings, with my daughter Olivia, now finally born, hanging from her neck.
Indeed, the album took quite a long time to be made, and then the ‘wait’ was over, transformed in the new life we were all three now living together.
The second half pieces, actually a long track sliced in three parts, are dedicated to this transition period, where also tensions in the family are occuring. The tracks are built on a piano melody provided by the Japanese artist, Mujika Eisel, that collaborated with me on a previous album.
Now it is 2019, and not only is Olivia 5 years old, but also Nora was born, in March 2017. This album, is now dedicated to both of them, and can in a away, be perhaps considered a bit too ‘direct’, (as a Henry Rollins song!) but it’s for me a sincere expression of feelings and sensations. The concept of waiting can be interpreted in different ways, and anyone can ask himself what the two dogs in the front cover (kindly provided by the Italian photographer Adriano Zanni) are expecting to come.
Anyway, the album is finally released, thanks to the generous and neverlasting effort of US label Infraction, available in the three formats of LP/CD/DL, with an additional 7” containing two outtakes entitled “After the Wait” (exclusive to physical formats only), when the new life was becoming a new set of routines.
I even made a video in 2018, featuring - guess who? - my family. It can be seen on Infraction Bandcamp and on my website as well.
I hope that this long pathway of experiences, feelings, music and visual art will be shared with careful listeners all over the world. - Matteo Uggeri
Album editions :
100 copies of clear blue water LP + 7 inch (after the wait)
150 copies of black vinyl 180 gram edition
Each LP is housed in a Stoughton tip-on style heavy sleeve. The 7" is a clear vinyl.
250 copies of full-length CD. The first 100 copies will contain a bonus CDR with 2 exclusive tracks (entitled 'After the Wait'). The CD will be housed in a Stoughton style mini-lp gatefold sleeve.
Maurizio Abate (guitar)
Enrico Coniglio (guitar, organ)
Andrea Serrapiglio (cello)
Cristiano Lupo (bass)
Dominique Van Cappellen-Waldock (vocals)
Jenny Oakley (vocals)
Nicola Ratti (electronics sample)
Gaia Margutti (vocals)
Mujika Eisel (piano)
https://infraction.bandcamp.com/album/the-next-wait
|
2019 |
€16.00 |
|
| |
The Next Wait |
LP + 7inch |
In 2013 my wife Gaia was pregnant. We were then waiting for our first born to come, expected for November of that year. A few little obstacles and troubles occurred during the nine months, so my anxious nature at the time generated in me the need to somehow express the feelings in a record, where I conveyed the worries that a father, especially a musician that needs his own moments for playing, may have in terms of an expected potential future lack of time and energies.
I also decided to involve fellow musicians I got to know at the time, like Maurizio Abate (guitar), Enrico Coniglio (guitar and organ), with whom afterwards I would have made full albums - but you can find here the first traces of our collaboration. There were Andrea Serrapiglio (cello) and Cristiano Lupo (bass), that I knew for quite some time, and featuring female voices. I asked Dominique Van Cappellen-Waldock (that I discovered through her marvellous presence on a Doug Sharin solo album) if she wanted to sing on a track, and she did, providing her own lyrics. The American singer Jenny Oakley, aka Empty Vessel Music, did the same on track one, as well as a glitching sample from Nicola Ratti is also featured.
The central piece of the whole album can be considered “Family Man”, a sort of cover from a song by Black Flag, totally reversed by my wife Gaia Margutti. She re-interpreted the lyrics her own way, and she performed it in an unforgettable session of home recordings, with my daughter Olivia, now finally born, hanging from her neck.
Indeed, the album took quite a long time to be made, and then the ‘wait’ was over, transformed in the new life we were all three now living together.
The second half pieces, actually a long track sliced in three parts, are dedicated to this transition period, where also tensions in the family are occuring. The tracks are built on a piano melody provided by the Japanese artist, Mujika Eisel, that collaborated with me on a previous album.
Now it is 2019, and not only is Olivia 5 years old, but also Nora was born, in March 2017. This album, is now dedicated to both of them, and can in a away, be perhaps considered a bit too ‘direct’, (as a Henry Rollins song!) but it’s for me a sincere expression of feelings and sensations. The concept of waiting can be interpreted in different ways, and anyone can ask himself what the two dogs in the front cover (kindly provided by the Italian photographer Adriano Zanni) are expecting to come.
Anyway, the album is finally released, thanks to the generous and neverlasting effort of US label Infraction, available in the three formats of LP/CD/DL, with an additional 7” containing two outtakes entitled “After the Wait” (exclusive to physical formats only), when the new life was becoming a new set of routines.
I even made a video in 2018, featuring - guess who? - my family. It can be seen on Infraction Bandcamp and on my website as well.
I hope that this long pathway of experiences, feelings, music and visual art will be shared with careful listeners all over the world. - Matteo Uggeri
Album editions :
100 copies of clear blue water LP + 7 inch (after the wait)
150 copies of black vinyl 180 gram edition
Each LP is housed in a Stoughton tip-on style heavy sleeve. The 7" is a clear vinyl.
250 copies of full-length CD. The first 100 copies will contain a bonus CDR with 2 exclusive tracks (entitled 'After the Wait'). The CD will be housed in a Stoughton style mini-lp gatefold sleeve.
credits
released September 10, 2019
Maurizio Abate (guitar)
Enrico Coniglio (guitar, organ)
Andrea Serrapiglio (cello)
Cristiano Lupo (bass)
Dominique Van Cappellen-Waldock (vocals)
Jenny Oakley (vocals)
Nicola Ratti (electronics sample)
Gaia Margutti (vocals)
Mujika Eisel (piano)
https://infraction.bandcamp.com/album/the-next-wait |
2019 |
€28.00 |
|
| UHLIG, MIRKO |
VIVMMI |
LP |
"As mummy thought us: you have to put your money where your mouth is. So when we claimed praise for a small CDR release by a relatively new German composer Mirko Uhlig we dabbled with the idea of releasing it on LP. Now we did. We doubled the edition of 65 to 130 and it has great carton sleeve (like last year's Pick-up LP).
Since 2006 he has retreated to his nom de passport (formerly known as Aalfang mit Pferdekopf), Uhlig has exchanged the naive bewilderment of experimental bricolage with the pursuit of pure beauty and there is suddenly confusion as to his motives: Are these silent outbursts of refined romanticism intended as some sort of clever commentary on the Drone genre, as a neo-conservative return to proven values or part of something different altogether? 'VIVMMI' has been remastered for vinyl." [label info]
www.kormplastics.nl
|
2009 |
€15.00 |
|
| UHUSHUHU (Ухушуху) |
Long Songs pleasant for Hearing |
MC |
" "U'hu! Shu'hu!" - hoot owls in a forest, as told by Daniil Kharms, and in the sky, above a rainbow, long songs pleasant for hearing are sung to a cherubim. Uhushuhu is a name of a project run by members of the creative group "Utrovortu" and their "Long Songs…" is the first studio record made after a few interesting performances at small underground city clubs and forest open-air festivals in the Leningrad region.
Following these songs we set off on a journey through structures and surfaces in a shell of experimental drone ambient. We will face sonic anomalies, random wanderings in unstable and unpredictable spheres, vague rustles and semblant echoes, spaces of various densities, mood and nature, hidden dead-ends, spontaneous phonations and labyrinths enclosed in themselves.
Second edition - 55 copies on white cassettes with stickers, two-sided full-colour cover." [label info]
"Reissued on cassette, but not for long! The Uhushuhu collective have been known to perform and produce their work under the canopy of the Russian forests outside of St. Petersburg, making them something of a Russian reincarnation of Jewelled Antler. There's much more of an electronic underbelly to Uhushuhu than Jewelled Antler, while retaining the pine-cone drone ethos of luminously radiant psychedelic dronescaping. The first track actually holds a number of aesthetic similarities to the long form works of Motion Sickness Of Time Travel - sinewy, seductive, and slippery passages of intertwining synth melodies softened through reverb and spaciousness, furthered along by watery field recordings and damp ruminations on subterranean lairs, wormholes, and caves. Each of the album's three tracks clock well past the 15 minute mark, leading towards deeper, more shambolic explorations of sublime atmosphere. Quite a lovely piece of work, with the cassette limited to 55 copies." [Aquarius Records]
|
2015 |
€8.50 |
|
| |
Onega |
MC |
"Together with the ΠΑΝΘΕΟΝ label we are happy to present the cassette reissue of the second album by Uhushuhu - "Onega". The first release was made by ΠΑΝΘΕΟΝ in January 2015 on CD-R, a small edition of 33 copies in beautiful handmade packaging. It was sold out very quickly and now we've decided to re-release this recording on cassette along with two other albums ("Long Songs Pleasant for Hearing" and "Geoscience").
The sound of "Onega" was described by ΠΑΝΘΕΟΝ as "archaic earth hum; water ripple near dusk; stones dancing in the dark; tales about moss and its inhabitants. Ease of predawn dew, heady spirality of snails." We can only agree with these laconic and concise characteristics.
Besides the album itself the original disk contained a bonus track - a remix by Creation VI who stand behind the ΠΑΝΘΕΟΝ label. It is also included on the B-side of this cassette and even more - there is an exclusive 27-minute reshape version from Uhushuhu themselves mixed in a different tonality.
Artwork - clear cassettes with stickers, two-sided full-colour cover, outer cardboard slipcase." [label info]
zhb.radionoise.ru/eng/releases.html#zhb
"Along with two reissues on cassette of quickly sold-out cdrs over the past few years, we have a new album from the enigmatic Russian collective Uhushuhu. These are drones to sink into - deep, thrumming tones, nocturnal field recordings, accreted electronic vibration, and wind-swept aeration that appear to emit from the depth of the Russian forest, all embued with a transcendent, mystically dark quality that immediately makes us think back to those early Andrew Chalk albums, especially his beloved Sumac disc with Jonathan Coleclough. As with the other cassettes, this too is limited to 55 copies; but unlike the others, the plastic casing is swaddled in an O-card." [Aquarius Records]
|
2015 |
€8.50 |
|
| ULLMANN, JAKOB |
A Catalogue of Sounds |
CD |
„Konzertmitschnitt vom 3.Oktober 1997 im Sendesaal des Hessischen Rundfunks. "Ulmann's Musik realisiert mit grosser Bestimmtheit ein unendliches Spektrum von Abstufungen in allen Bereichen musikalischer Gestaltung. Dass die Musik des "catalogue" fast durchgehend zuerst leise erklingt, führt eher die Wahrnehmung kleinster Differenzierungen; es versetzt das Ohr in einen Zustand nie nachlassender, höchster Aufmerksamkeit." [label info]
„Eine Komposition für Violine, Viola, Violoncello und Ensemble (1995 ¬ 97). Fast durchgehend erklingen 73.16 Minuten verhaltener Epik. „Der musikalische Strom erleidet fast ständig kleine Irritationen, bildet Schwellen oder spritzt (...) kurz auf wie durch hineingeworfene Kiesel.“ (Linernotes) Im leisen Spiel haben die Variationen eine ungemeine Wirkung. Sie tröpfeln einem förmlich ins Ohr. Fremde Stimmen beginnen bald zu raunen, zu tuscheln und zu stöhnen. Diese Musik ist weder meditativ noch ist sie der minimal music zuzuordnen. Hörerin und Hörer lauschen einer epischen Tondichtung, die in stringenter Weise jede Überfülle vermeidet.
A composition for violin, viola, violoncello and ensemble (1995 ¬ 97). These 73.16 epic minutes are played nearly alway in a reserved manner. „The musical stream is constantly subjected to small irritations, sometimes ist flow quickens, sometimes there are brief splasheslike those caused by pebbels thrown into water.“ (linernotes) In this softly playing the variations are exceptionally effective. They are dripping in the listeners ear positively. Soon strange voices beginn to murmur, to whisper and to moan. Neither this music is meditative nor its in the style of minimal music. Its an epic sound poem of conciseness avoiding every overflow of expressivity.” [Peter Schlewinski for Drone Records]
|
2005 |
€16.00 |
|
| ULVESTAD |
Fall |
CD |
Known for his collaborative work with Svartsinn as well as his work with Wordclock (Cryo Chamber), cellist and composer Amund Ulvestad presents some of his more obscure ambient and textural works in this debut album. Originally created for the theatre stage, later reworked and deepened, Ulvestad’s musical world stretches from the misty and ethereal to an intensely physical, almost violent presence. Drawing from material such as Hamsun’s mysterious Pan, the old Irish song Aisling Gheal, and from contemporary texts on death and the moments gone to Norse ideas of youth, these musical works reflect a rich textual tradition on life and death.
Edition of 300 copies on 6 panel digisleeve, matt lamination. 4 tracks. Running Time 41:30
https://cycliclaw.bandcamp.com/album/fall |
2020 |
€13.00 |
|
| UMPIO |
Insektio |
CD |
Umpio is the solo project of the Finnish sound explorer Pentti Dassum, a member of numerous bands with incredible stylistic coverage from noise-grind (Romutus) to challenging electroacoustic experiments (SM/DP) and unpredictable brutal noise performed on self-built metal objects.
However there's no junk noise this time – "Insektio" is made from massive oscillations, electronic microsounds and tape manipulations. Like a heavy trip into nature, listen with one ear to the ground, how all the insects work, how temperature shifts affect the resonance of the planet, and how civilizations crumble away as only the frogs and moss will survive...
The physical edition is presented in two versions: a CD limited to 300 copies in a matte 4-panel digisleeve and an audio cassette with full-body UV-print, limited to 100 copies. The digital version is available on bandcamp.
https://zhelezobeton.bandcamp.com/album/insektio
|
2021 |
€12.50 |
|
| UNDER THE SNOW |
The Background Noise |
LP |
"Under The Snow is a project by Stefano Gentile (guitar, objects, field-recordings) and Gianluca Favaron (microphones, field-recordings, processing). Stefano Gentile is well known for his work as owner of the Silentes and Amplexus labels; he is part of Maribor (along with Maurizio Bianchi, Nimh, Andrea Marutti and Gianluca Favaron) and in the past he has collaborated with Aube and Amir Baghiri. Beyond releasing under his own name, Gianluca Favaron collaborates with Ennio Mazzon on the Zbeen project; in the past he has released music as Ab'she and was part of Lasik Surgery along with Pierpaolo Zoppo. Released after a series of works for Silentes and U-Cover, "The Background Noise" is a single-sided 12" record, built starting from acoustic guitar sounds that develop on a background of statics and digital scoriae, where the cold and aseptic electronic frequencies melt with the plucked strings, resonating in a dramatic request for help or, maybe, in the warning of an imminent danger. A welcome release in the fast-growing discography of Under The Snow, that will appeal to fans of other Italian musicians like, among the others, Gianluca Becuzzi, Fabio Orsi, Enrico Coniglio, Stefano Pilia and Giuseppe Ielasi (who took care of the mastering).
"The Background Noise" is released in a limited edition of 86 copies; an additional edition of 13 copies is also available, it includes a 30x30cm reproduction of the cover picture printed on high quality professional photo-paper. Due to the restricted amount of available copies you'd better not think twice about it!" [label info]
http://13.silentes.it
"As Under The Snow Favaron works with Stefano Gentile, who plays acoustic guitar and treated guitar picks, and Favaron is responsible for 'programming, electronics and signal processing'. They have released a bunch of CDs (see Vital Weekly 771, 786 and 826) of their improvised playing, in which the laptop picks up the guitar sound and treats that on the spot. Following a start in which the laptop seemed to prevail, the later releases had a more fine tuned balance of straight guitar sounds and laptop processing. This one sided LP has a twenty minute piece which continues the chosen road of the previous releases and shows us more crackles, static hiss and bangs on the guitar. Maybe a bit more chaotic than before, I thought, bringing out the element of improvisation more than on the previous releases. At the same time there is also a bit more drone like sounds, closing off the LP, and taking away some of the emptiness previously found in their music. I think it's great to see them slowly develop and become more and more like an improvised working unit. The combination of live laptop processing a live guitar is perhaps not something that hasn't been done before, as noted before, but again here, this seems to work rather well." [FdW/Vital Weekly]
|
2013 |
€16.00 |
|
| UNDERJORDISKA / SPECTRAL LORE |
split |
CD-R |
Zweimal qualitativ hochwertige "dark harmonic ambience" von Projekten aus dem Black Metal-Bereich...
"Two experimental black metal one-man bands venturing into new and undiscovered territories: this split is a collaboration far different from your typical "let's throw some left-outs from our previous records, make a intro or two and off to the printing plant" mentality, instead being a concept split album which should be heard as one, rather than two albums on the same cd. It is a journey from the surface of the sea to the very depths of the ocean, and then back towards the surface again. Each musician undertakes one part of the journey; two compositions over 30 minutes, featuring actual underwater recordings, aquatic drones, unique instruments (from a mandolin to a duduk) and even melodic post rockish moments. There is a continual flow of movement to the music, as the listener, embodied within this audial environment, descents and ascends through the ocean, towards a deepest point that seems to bear a particular significance: but is it the goal, or the journey itself that matters more?" [label info]
"... Hailing from the small but gradually growing group of Ambient Black Metal projects, Spectral Lore's Ayloss and Underjordiska's Dawid Dahl place consumptive Guitar- and Mandolin patterns alongside the foreboding electronic tapestry, integrating field recordings of lazy days at the beach into angelically ringing drones. And whenever they return into the oblivious void, the aforementioned bipolarity shines through even clearer. The overall impression of these two independently realised but astoundingly complimentary thirty-something-minute tracks is therefore timbrally rich and thematically diverse. While Dahl builds his piece modularly, taking it through a string of musical passages, the Spectral Lore contribution is rather shaped like a curve, slowly oscillating between anthemic noise and vaporous darkness. The stoic refusal of many genre-related releases to take their ostrich-like head from the sands of sadness is counterpointed by an approach which never rests on its laurels while placing seminal importance on ambient coherency: Diversity and darkness, they teach us, need not be a contradiction." [Tokafi] |
2008 |
€12.00 |
|
| UNKNOWN ARTIST |
Anastenaria |
do-LP |
"Excavated from the bottomless vaults of the Greek musical heritage, the new KEMA/\ label reissues a timeless piece of Hellenic ritualism: the folk dance of ANASTENARIA. Closely affiliated to the Berceuse Heroique imprint, KEMA/\ will focus its attention to the unearthing of ageless recordings, from pagan, cult-like hymns to forgotten electronic deviations...brutally backed with a fitting series of contemporary remixes. The sounds of ANASTENARIA are hypnotic and terrifying at their most docile moments, spinning you through ten segments of circular improvisation while transporting you to those sun-beaten hills and back again - the voices of the musicians and participators themselves creating enough energy to form a captivating pull towards this compelling segment of music. On the second slab of vinyl, Hospital Recordings boss, Vatican Shadow takes the essence of the entire cut and morphs it into a ten-minute cyclone of granular drones and thorny percussion, leaving the original's prophetic instruments to wail wildly beneath the mounds of hardware mutation - a strikingly apt fit to a recording made decades before... Over on the flip, it's up to Pete Swanson to definitively derange ANASTENARIA to its fullest, leaving behind a faint glow of the original's powerful air of mysticism. Fuzzy kick drums, grainy hi-hats and an ocean of organised noise culminate into total sonic destruction, spewing out the exhausted remnants of the dance to the Gods. Beautifully packaged by Will Bankhead, this first KEMA/\ is full of rebooted sounds that will appeal to the more daring spinners out there." [label info]
|
2014 |
€18.50 |
|
| UP-TIGHT |
The Night is yours |
CD |
"Finally out this mighty masterpiece of dark and wild psychedelia from the Japanese three-piece legends! Fuzz and reverb drenched jamming sounds from the basements of Hamamatsu evoking the always welcomed ghosts of Amon Düül and Les Rallizes Denudes.
Originally released as an instantly sold-out LP edition on Sloow Tapes in 2011, we decided to do justice and make The Night Is Yours available again, this time as a CD edition limited to 200 copies. Housed in our high quality tip-on mini-LP gatefold packaging (plus insert) featuring new sonic treatment by the mastermind Aoki Tomoyuki and expanded trippy artwork by Bart De Paepe!"
“Tokyo psych monsters Up-Tight come out of the classically wasted/drug-damaged school of excessive fuzz and reverb, giving the nod to the endless jam style of Les Rallizes Denudes while spiking their sound with dark downer ballads that owe as much to The Jacks as they do to The Velvet Underground. The Night Is Yours is the absolute apex of their catalogue to date, crossing beautiful comedown folk-psych moves with whole sides of extended scorch. Indeed, there’s a new focus on psychedelic ritual here, especially apparent on the staggering “She’s So Heavy” with choirs of disembodied monks chanting in the background while the bass – played with all of the thunderous power of Mik from Kousokuya – marches the group ever forward and vocalist Tomoyuki hovers over the track like a wraith. If you can picture Spacemen 3 circa “The Perfect Prescription” produced by Ghost circa “Temple Stone” then you’re close to the outrageous levels of psychedelic excess captured here. Tomoyuki’s guitar tone has to be heard to be believed, with tactile garage punk crunch put to the service of endlessly euphoric orbits of three droning chords. Up-Tight have been responsible for a buncha the most memorable releases to come out of the post-PSF underground but this has to be their recorded pinnacle, the perfect balance of two chord Velvet downers and strung-out post-Rallizes string violence. One of our records of the year so far! Highly recommended!” (Volcanic Tongue)
www.essence-music.com
|
2014 |
€15.50 |
|
| UR |
Triadic Memories |
CD-R |
"Ur were born in early 2005 as a collaboration between Federico Esposito and Mauro Sciaccaluga, both active in the italian hardcore circuit. They were later joined by Andrea Ferraris, past and present member of Burning Defeat, Permanent Scar, Onefineday, Deep End and One By One.
Ur made their live debut at the Afe-Party in November 2005, and since then their live-sets have become more and more frequent. Recently they also opened for Eugene Chadbourne and Wolf Eyes during their italian tours.
Their music is mostly based on free improvisation and its sonorities can't easily be described without referring to the seminal work of the well-known and wildest Industrialists of the late '70s / early '80s.
"Triadic Memories" is their first "official" disc and comes after the self-released "Baptism & Birthday". There is a strong dramatic feeling in their powerful sound, where everything seems to reproduce a sort of wedding between the modernity of the media and the primordial instincts of the performers.
"Movement #1" is taken straight from "Baptism & Birthday", and is usually played as the opening number of their live-sets. The track begins with an high-pitched theremin sound laid on a bed of reverbered and tortured bass guitar. More percussions and distortions appear along with a looping voice as the music turns into industrial madness.
"Movement #2" is a more laid down piece of music built on a continuous drone enriched with scraped metals / objects and a female voice building tension over tension. Surprisingly enough, an accordion enters the mix accompanied by more looped voices and fades out as the track ends with cymbals hits.
An early version of "Movement #3" already appeared as an untitled contribution to "Breaking Down the Barriers 1995-2005, Ten Years of Afe", an on-line compilation issued by Afe in late 2005 to celebrate its tenth birthday.
With this final track we return to the industrial atmospheres of "Movement #1": feedback and bass distortions overwhelm a glockenspiel as an hooter alarm becomes more disquieting loop after loop. All sort of uncomfortable noises are used, and "Movement #3" ends with the lonely sound of a breathing voice.
Far away from Power Electronics and Harsh Noise, "Triadic Memories" is more a sort of psychedelic and liberatory journey reminding the best old-school Industrial music experiments." [label info] |
2006 |
€6.00 |
|
| |
Trieb |
CD |
Die italienische Drone/Noise-Band mit der ersten "fabriggepressten" CD... ihr bassiger Impro-Drone Sound erinnert an SILVESTER ANFANG oder alte MAEROR TRI, mit vielen recht weirden sounds im sumpfigen Drone-Morast.. gefällt uns super!! Teils ausuferend-ekstatisch aber auch mit ruhigen, schwelenden parts... rauhe aber nicht unsensible dunkle Dronescapes...
"Ur was born from the collaboration between Federico Esposito and Mauro Sciaccaluga, both hailing from the hardcore-punk scene and from bands like Heartside (F.E.), Never Was, Downright, Kafka, Stalker (M.S.). The two joined in 2003 to work on F.E.’s industrial solo-project (a.k.a. Den LXV) live set, later they decided to collaborate and improvise together to create a new entity. Andrea Ferraris joined the band in the early days of 2005, contributing to define further on the sonic identity of the combo. A.F. is well known for having played and recorded with different bands ranging from hardcore to indie-post rock to experimental music (Airchamber3, Deep End, Burning Defeat, Permanent Scar, Onefineday, Ultraviolet Make Me Sick, Permanent Scar, etc…). Ur music is mostly based on improvisation that usually starts with drones or samples (with no pre-definite structure), to which they superimpose layers of electro-acoustic noisescapes coming from objects, field recordings, analog and traditional instruments processed using a load of pedals and effects. The sound ends painting a solid, harsh and dramatic industrial lounge where archaic instincts and modern obsessions meet. To use the words of a sound engineer after one of their live sets: “…it all sounds like early Pink Floyd on acid...on muriatic acid”. [label info]
"....Their music is mostly based on free improvisation and its sonorities can't easily be described without referring to the well-known and wildest experiments of Industrial music of the late '70s / early '80s. There is a strong dramatic feeling in their powerful sound, where everything seems to reproduce a sort of wedding between the modernity of the media and the primordial instincts of the performers..." [Gothtronic.com]
www.topheth.org
|
2008 |
€13.00 |
|
| USENBENZ, ANDREAS |
Bells Breath |
LP |
“Bells Breath” transforms the tolling of the bells in the Ulm Minster into a work of sound art. This project by Andreas Usenbenz and Dorothee Köhl was created for the 125th anniversary of the minster spire’s completion and was presented in the form of an audio installation inside the minster in the fall of 2015.
There are 13 bells in the bell tower, ten of which are in use. Each bell has its own size and pitch, and each has its own function.
“Bells Breath” strips away that function, creating a new form of auditory experience. The moment of the bell tolling has been recorded, the tone stretched and the individual tones are layered on top of each other. The sound installation was situated on the ground floor inside the minster, beneath the bell frame. A platform for people to step or sit on created a spacial frame of reference, the sound was triggered by the listeners by pressing a button.
When dealing with this work, it is helpful to have a brief look at Minimal Art. In the early 1960ies, a new understanding of art was being developed in contrast to abstract painting. Part of it was an abandonment of categories that had been considered essential until then, like the aesthetic experience or the artists signature style. Industrially produced materials were now being used, every day objects were stripped bare of their function. Experiencing art turned into an experience of self-awareness on behalf of the audience.
Sculptor Tony Smith was aware of the importance of this type of experience as early as the mid-fifties. He took his students on a nocturnal journey on the still uncompleted New Jersey Turnpike. Driving down the road lacking crash barriers and road markings didn’t serve any functional purpose. Instead, the dark and the passing industrial complexes appeared in a different state of perception. It’s this experience that Smith regarded as having an artistic quality.
This kind of quality can be described further using the “Mirrored Cubes” by Robert Morris. The installation consists of four mirrored cubes. They are positioned in a square, one edge length apart from each other, therefore eliminating the element of composition. The surface, as perceived by the audience, is only a reflection of the surroundings and of itself. Artwork and location become an inseparable one. What the audience experiences is an amplified perception of itself and of the spacial situation here and now.
The here and now are two elements that appear on different levels in “Bell’s Breath”. The work strongly relates to the location, the tower hall right beneath the bell frame. At the same time, the sounds’ original function is being eliminated by prolonging and layering the different sounds. This, together with the audience’s presence in the space creates a new experience of perception.
releases February 17, 2017
All field recordings, sound design & compositions by Andreas Usenbenz, between march 2015 and may 2016
The music is based on field recordings of 10 different church bells installed in the Minster of Ulm. Usenbenz recorded the bells using a wide spaced A – B pair with omni directional DPA microphones,
a Sennheiser ORTF setup and contact microphones mounted directly to the bells or their direct environment.
The Bells where rung by the Sacristan. Additionally, Usenbenz played them with different props to tease very specific sounds out of the bells. No additional sounds were used in these compositions.
Produced at Klangmanufaktur
Artwork by Chris Corrado
Mastered by Stephan Mathieu
Cut by CGB at Dubplates & Mastering, Berlin
|
2017 |
€16.50 |
|
| USENBENZ, ANDREAS & PETER SCHUBERT |
Plaque |
CD |
Sound art. In an essay for the Goethe Institute dated 2009, Carsten Seiffarth (of Singuhr gallery, Berlin), called sound art a “new art form”. An art form that is now established but still only plays a marginal role in the art world and in exhibitions. Everybody who visits galleries and art fairs regularly will concur.
Why is that?
For one, many sound artworks are intricately connected with the locations they are presented in, which is usually not where art fairs and exhibitions take place, but locations whose atmosphere and history are to be amplified or to be communicated. Or the locations have been specifically constructed, like the Philips pavilion at the world expo in Brussels in 1958, for which Edgard Varese created his Poème électronique.
So, works of sound art are often tied to a specific event as well, like “Plaqué”, which has spacial as well as historic roots. When the event is over, the relevance of many sound artworks may fade away to a certain degree. In addition, the presentation of sound art often proves difficult in traditional galleries or art fairs. These are usually not designed to adequately present live performances or sound art in general, because of sound art’s predominant element, sound, is usually not part of the art presented there. In fact, there are only very few galleries that specifically deal with sound art.
While sound installations and more classically laid out compositions may come with a certain potential for longevity (or repeated resurrection), a lot of artists are producing works that are very ephemeral, except for archival recordings, of course. Performed works are often placed on the side stages of music festivals, or they may emerge within a tightly set frame of time and context, outside of which only a documentary shadow remains.
Collectors are struggling with sound art as well. Like with video art, it is not easy to get used to the idea that you may be purchasing a work which can be copied in unlimited numbers at no costs. That’s precisely what a recorded piece of sound art is. This parameter, as well as the performance aspect of sound art, seems to put it on a level with music. But is that appropriate?
A question that could be asked in the case of “Plaqué”. Is it “just” an archival recording of a long gone performance? Like Varese’s Poème électronique, “Plaqué” was created for a specific event, the 200th birthday of Daniel Straub, whose endeavors in Geislingen shaped the small German town for decades to come. He was involved in the construction of the railroad line and founded a company called WMF, which produces kitchenware and cutlery to this date.
Usenbenz and Schubert traced Straub’s history in the Geislingen of our present. The collected field recordings were presented as a live performance, which served as a preliminary work and a basis for the work now published. “Plaqué” is not just a recorded performance, it is an advanced work, a new composition containing additionally recorded material. It gently loosens its spacial and temporal roots without losing its contextual base. The result is strangely fascinating and universally relevant. It is an independent piece of sound art, which deserves the same form of attention and appreciation as a painting or a sculpture. Even if it’s not a unique piece, entering one art collection, but an edition that will be enjoyed by 200 collectors.
peter schubert • field recordings • electronics • microgranny analog fx • ableton live • fieldscaper • no-input mixer
andreas usenbenz • field recordings • borderlands • samplr • ableton live
dubplates • cassettes • microkorg • patchblocks
recording • editing • mastering • klangmanufaktur ulm
photography • artwork • andreas usenbenz
www.klanggold.net
|
2017 |
€10.00 |
|
| UTON |
The Source has its rare Beauty |
MC |
UTON is the experimental project of Jani Hirvonen, a key contributor to the thriving underground music scene in Finland. Over 20 prolific years, Hirvonen has formed a distinct sound world with UTON that is often distinguished by a beautifully maximal approach to instrumental psychedelia; playful compositions involving seemingly endless layers of colourful ambience, woven like a tapestry.
Part of what makes UTON's staggering discography so wonderful is a willingness to veer away from any predictable trajectory, and continue to surprise listeners. With The Source has its Raw Beauty, UTON has taken a full departure and bravely struck an immersive mainline into heavy minimal drone. As Hirvonen explains, “UTON has always been an experimental project, and it expands to experiment with whatever just comes into the flow – but, of course, there needs to be that Source which makes it feel inspiring and exciting.”
Outlier Communications is thrilled to present this unique work from a vibrant musical visionary. During its creation, Hirvonen's visual artwork for the cassette morphed into an homage of sorts to the distinct CD packaging popularized by Corpus Hermeticum, the legendary label curated by Bruce Russell of The Dead C from about 1993 - 2004. We tried our best to honour that vision, and believe these sessions – which resulted from an acoustic guitar being mounted with an electric massager – would have fit nicely in that esteemed catalogue.
“The sound and idea is very simple, and the result raw and noisy,” admits Jani. “That noise penetrates from and into the depths; from and into The Source – to our life and form – and continues this loop eternally. It's an esoteric energy bank, a power charger for the inner batteries.” Hirvonen recalls from the sessions, “The whole guitar was trembling, not just the strings. Playing and improvising with very minimal movement was relaxing and meditative, I could just melt deeper into this raw beauty.”
https://outliercommunications.bandcamp.com/album/the-source-has-its-raw-beauty
|
2022 |
€9.00 |
|
| V.A. (VARIOUS ARTISTS) (COMPILATIONS) |
Anthology of Noise & Electronic Music Vol. 2 |
do-CD |
“ This 2nd volume explores the early days of pre-electronic music (Percy Grainger, Johanna M. Beyer...) and proposes some rares or unpublished pieces by main composers of electronic music (Wladimir Ussachevsky, Otto Luening, Tod Dockstader, Morton Subotnick, Hugh Davies, Luc Ferrari) as well as unreleased tracks by musicians who are cornerstones of the 90's electronic scene (Autechre, Aphex Twin, Scanner, Kim CasconeYoshihiro Hanno...), acid movement (Woody McBride, Choose) or industrial (Laibach, SPK). Without forgetting some free-jazz (Sun Ra) or rare stuff from Captain Beefheart, Daphne Oram, Alan R. Splet...
slow explorations of the past and the present
Given the present system of production there are reasons, some of them identifiable, why only a few names emerge in each period.
There may also be a preference for concentrating information rather than letting it pile up in disordered fashion. Over the past 40 years the same ten electronic music composers get mentioned again and
again (including in music dictionaries and histories). Yet behind them are many other names. Who are they? Second-raters? Not necessarily. For we then need to define the concept of top-rate (rated by who, and on what criteria?) and second-rate or minor
artist. Great pleasure can be derived from the works of minor artists. The case of Tod Dockstader is instructive: when "for lack of academic qualifications" he was denied access to the electronic music facilities he needed, was there not great beauty in the pieces he nevertheless created and in his determination to make music without those facilities? His name was never seen on the labels of top record companies. But he influenced quite a few people - Richard James quoted him, and others then referred to his work. Some of his records were reissued, and what one could call
the rehabilitation process continues. The same applies to many other composers. All such stories spell a passion for music, and weave myth.
historical axes
At the turn of the century there were efforts to find new sources of sound - a number of machines were exhibited, including Thaddeus Cahiel's Telharmonium in 1887 and the Dynamophone presented to the New York public in 1906; they generally played well-known
romantic or post-romantic pieces. After a few flamboyant skirmishes described in the previous volume, the postwar period saw the arrival in 1951, of Wladimir Ussachevsky and Otto Luening in New York's Columbia-Princeton Electronic Music Center.
When audiences of the 50's and 60's first heard Varèse, Pousseur, Stockhausen, Berio, Ussachevsky, Yuasa, Dockstader and Mumma, what did they feel? Perhaps a sort of break, an epistemological break, like it must have been for the first audience of Monteverdi's
Orfeo (in Mantua, Italy on 24 February 1607). They left the auditorium completely stunned,because they had never heard anything like it.
WHAT CONTAINS THIS SECOND EDITION ?
CD 1
Wladimir Ussachevsky + Otto Luening > Incantation for Tape * 1953 02:35
Luc Ferrari > Visage V * 1958-59 10:33
Tod Dockstader - Aerial > Song * 2002 12:56
Johanna M. Beyer > Music of the Spheres * 1938 05:59
Morton Subotnick > Mandolin * 1962 07:02
Daphne Oram > Four Aspects * 1960 08:05
Robin Rimbaud / Scanner > Emily * 2003 04:46
Hugh Davies > Quintet * 1967-68 12:05
Alan R. Splet > Space Travel w/ Changing Choral Textures 04:02
Kim Cascone > Zephirum Scan * 2002 04:58
CD 2
Autechre > Bronchus One.1 * 1991 06:01
Yoshihiro Hanno > On/Off Edit * 2001 09 :12
Meira Asher > Torture/Bodyparts * 2001 03'40
Woody McBride > Pulp * 1993 06:07
Lasse Steen / Choose > Purzuit ov Noize * 1994 05 :36
Arcane Devices > Lathe * 1988 05:54
Laibach > Industrial Ambients * 1980-82 09:54
SPK > Slogun * 1979 06:20
Percy Grainger > Free Music #1 (for four theremins) * 1936 01:22
Sun Ra > Imagination * 1965 02:04
Captain Beefheart > She's too much for my miror / My human gets me blues * 1969 05:32 “ [press-release]
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2003 |
€20.00 |
|
|
Holy Mother Russia |
LP |
Nice overview about the Russian Industrial-scene at this moment 2004; with HUM, BARDOSENETICCUBE & REUTOFF there are alone three “Drone Records” - projects on this compilation (who had 7” releases on Drone Records before). Other artists: LUNAR ABYSS QUARTET (as usual, fantastic stuff!), LINIJA MASS, SAL SOLARIS, STALNOY PAKT, LUCISFERRATO. Numbered ed. 500 copies.
“...Russia creates some of purest industrial music at the moment, crossing between dark ritualistic fare, dirgey factory soundscapes, and haunting dark ambient, with some experimental stuff lightly sprinkled in.” [Malignant Records]
|
2004 |
€15.00 |
|
|
Inventionen 2000 |
do-CD/book |
“Ringbuchkatalog mit 2 CDs. Kompositionen von Francois Donato, Tom Johnson, Christina Kubisch, Ron Kuivila, Alvin Lucier, Wolfgang Mitterer, Adrian Moore, Jose Antonio Orts, Ed Osborn, David Prior, Martin Riches, Mario Verandi
CD 1
Francois Donato: Corps de Compassion (15'42'')
Adrian Moore: Ethereality (14'55'')
David Prior: Love & Death (13'14'')
Mario Verandi: Evil Fruit (10'25'')
Alvin Lucier: On the Carpet of Leaves illuminated by the Moon (12'14'')
Ron Kuivila: Impulsive Arcs (6'54'')
CD 2
Tom Johnson, Martin Riches: Percussion (3'18'')
Jose Antonio Orts: Composicion infinita (5'44'')
Ed Osborn: Recoil (4'23'')
Ron Kuivila: Engel in Erdton (6'44'')
Christina Kubisch: Tafelmusik 2000 (7'20'')
Wolfgang Mitterer: Zeit vergeht (29'11'')” [label info]
|
2001 |
€29.00 |
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Lust from the Underworld |
do-CD |
Luxuriöser Vollfarb-Katalog mit kunstvollen Fotos von verschiedenen Fotografen zum Thema “Liebe und Eros in Mythologie, Symbolismus & dekadenter Kunst”, dazu 2 CDs mit Musik von diversen Projekten und Musikern aus dem elektronisch-düsteren Bereich: Romantic Electro-Dark Wave, Mittelalter-Folk, Dark Ambient, Gothic Poetry, insgesamt eher song- & vokalorientiert...
“Wow, this is an impressive looking release. The Czech label Horus CyclicDaemon released an enjoyable compilation before (Chaos), but this time they have taken their ambitions a step further. A luxurious A5 book full of erotic photos contains two cd's filled with exclusive material of interesting artists. The project is dedicated to Love & Eros in mythology, symbolist & decadent art and focuses especially on the story of Hades & Persephone & Koré & Demeter. This theme is worked out in the booklet, which contains about 30 `bizarre pictures` from 9 recent & modern photographers as well as some texts and poems. The photos have very different styles, some are subtle and romantic, others are rawer and fetish-like. Apart from the erotic photos, there is also a page for each artist involved, with credits and lyrics. Everything is printed on top quality paper to enhance the visual stimulation. Furthermore the booklet is packaged in a very nice envelope.
The theme becomes not only clear from the visual contributions of the photographer, but the musical artists also deal with themes of lust, sex and fetish. And they are certainly not the least artists, though there are also some unknown (but promising) artists present. Don't expect fetish EBM/techno like Die Form though, in general the musical idiom is romantic or mysterious. The music on Lust from the Underworld ranges from dark folk to neo-classical, from heavenly voices and medieval to ritual, from dark ambient to experimental industrial.
Disc one starts sensual, with atmospheric sounds and the typical voice of Chako (related to Jack or Jive from Japan). Unto Ashes treats us to ritual and medieval sounds, with nice hurdygurdy and percussion sounds. Then comes a bombastic filmic soundscape by Abnocto, a project of Simon Kölle and Simon Heath, also known for Za Frûmi. These gothic fantasy sounds bring images of monks sneaking through dark corridors. The contribution by 4th Sign of the Apocalypse from the USA has a ritual, monotonous sound and an experimental structure. Then comes a rather mysterious piece with whispered/spoken vocals by a Mexican act called Detritus, which I think is another Detritus than the one who releases on Immanence and Ad Noiseam.
Romowe Rikoito is a lovely folky band from Russia, which enchants me with their melancholic string sound. Maor Appelbaum is a new name for me, but sounds interesting with a mixture of electronic and classical sounds, it reminds me of the more experimental Matt Howden works. The Mystery School adds a slow piano-based romantic hymn, while Chaos as Shelter is responsible for some rather dark ritual ambient sounds in combination with a traditional Persian song, reminding me of Agnivolok. One Inch of Shadow from Poland has a shimmering, experimental soundscape with some dramatic vocals on top of that. It is followed by Hexentanz, a project related to Soil Bleeds Black, but darker and more ritual, quite nice. Disc one is finished by a great atmospheric ambient piece with classical elements and interesting spoken text by Musterion, another project of Simon Kölle.
Disc 2 has a great start: Sieben with one of their most rhythmic pieces 'Forget me not', which I clearly remember from Matt Howden concerts and which is very different from the track with that name on the Sex and Wildflowers album. Mondblut are always masters at creating mysterious, sensual moods, and they do not disappoint. Empusae slowly builds up his track, which evolves into a complicated rhythmic piece, the harshest track so far. Delusional Day is much softer, with lovely, expressive female voices, somewhat jazzy. The Crown of the Scars is somewhat weird, with strange lyrics, making me think of David E. Williams. Cotton Ferox from Sweden had made a great album, and again they have contributed an original sounding piece, sort of experimental ambient dub with penetrating spoken word. While Angels Watch has a usual a more traditional dark folk sound, with romantic lyrics about angels and nice contributions by Matt and Jane Howden. Then follows an improvised, somewhat oriental piece by The Legendary Pink Dots, interesting as always. The Belgian Hybryds are specialized in dark ritual sounds, and with the help of the sensual voice of Ms. Poly Esther the lustful character of their song is further enhanced. Last but one is a bombastic medieval soundtrack piece by Za Frûmi, perhaps the best track I know from them. A slow classical piece with a religious feel by Ossaserpia finished the second cd.
Only 500 handnumbered copies have been made of LUST FROM THE UNDERWORLD.” [Hans D. / FUNPROX]
|
2004 |
€22.00 |
|
|
Minima |
CD |
Sehr kohärente Compilation mit hauptsächlich digital arbeitenden Musikern, auf dem neuen Pariser Label von HERVE BOGHOSSIAN. Angesiedelt zwischen sehr ruhig-harmonischen Material und solchem im Niemandsland zwischen ambience & noise.
„Ein neues französisches Label für clickende wundervolle Musik, das sich erst mal auf einer Compilation vorstellt, die vermutlich in den Clickcharts dieses Jahr ganz oben stehen muss, denn sie weitet den Begriff mit Leuten wie Sogar, Charles Curtis, Komet, Otomo Yoshihide, Taylor Deupree, Sol, Speakerine, Alan Licht und vielen anderen soweit aus, dass am Ende nur noch die Faszination für diese fast unscheinbaren Sounds an den Grenzen des Hörbaren übrig bleibt. Schon der erste Track von Sogar (aka Jürgen Heckel) lässt einen von einer Welt träumen in der das Popmusik ist, einfach weil Popmusik ja auch mal Schönheit, Reinheit, Unglaubliches heissen könnte, weil es aufregend sein könnte Popmusik zu sein,
unwahrscheinlich und unhinterfragbar brilliant. Und glaubt nicht einer der Acts würde einen hier enttäuschen.Ein Label das man auf jeden Fall im Auge behalten sollte“ [debug]
“Minima~List ( list L1 CD ), from a new French label dedicated to all things minimal. There's plenty of microsound courtesy of Taylor Deupree, Richard Chartier and Komet, virtual nothingness from Nosei Sakata, Alan Licht's guitar shimmersand "sustained friction
sonorities" from Charles Curtis. It's not all tiptoeing around the soundfield, though. Where too many of today's minimalists use the term to camouflage a paucity of ideas or their true chillout sentiments, Minima~List is anafraid of the movement's louder
manifestations, be they piercing tones from Otomo Yoshihide, the sound of Miles Davis blowing a bagpipe in an ice storm from Matthieu Saladin, or the Branca-ish guitar squalls of Fabriquedecouleurs.” [THE WIRE]
|
2002 |
€10.00 |
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Montreal Sound Matter / Montreal Matiere Sonore |
CD |
Compilation zu einer Ausstellung & Workshop von FRANCISCO LOPEZ vom August 2006 mit elektro-akustischen Arbeiten die Feldaufnahmen aus Montreal als Basismaterial einsetzten... hier gibt es einiges neues zu entdecken !
“Works by Francisco López / Louis Dufort / Steve Heimbecker / Hélène Prévost / Mathieu Lévesque / a_dontigny / Chantal Dumas / Tomas Phillips. Montreal Sound Matter / Montréal matières sonore brings together eight Canadian and international sound artists. The project began with a workshop on environmental sound collecting by Francisco López and led to the development of a collective sound project including an album, a sound installation, and a concert. This is the recording. The artists create an immersive sound installation made up of fragments of Montreal, which propose a reflection and a questioning on the city. Far from being a postcard, these sound portraits suggest an abstract view of Montreal made up of fragments modeled or transformed to the liking of the artists. Through these places turned non-places and thus more or less unrecognizable, the pieces present an interesting variety of aesthetics, constructions and creative processes.”[Esther Bourdages, curator]
“Yet it is not about the city as a conglomerate of soundmarks or stereotyped symbolic elements--it does not aim at making a sound portrait or a representational creation. My proposal to all the participating artists involved in the project was to foresee the city --both outdoors and indoors, both the public and the private spaces-- as a constantly-changing generator of sound matter. The original source environmental recordings were carried out by the participating artists in Montreal during April 2006, and we all shared the common pool of sound matter thus generated to create the individual pieces. I believe this is an interesting way of setting up a challenging situation in which we are dealing with a limited and intentionally restricted universe of sonic extractions of reality, and also -and more importantly-a straightforward way of proceeding to reveal the creative individual substance of each one of us.” [Francisco López]
„.-...Not to make an audio postcard of the city, but rather a more abstract and personal view of the city, by people who already lived there much longer than Lopez. So it's not a matter of saying, 'oh this is that street, or this nice restaurant ('Schwarz', anyone?)', but to sit back and take it in as a long soundscape of the city. Rather than seeing this as eight separate pieces of music, I see it as one city seen through eight microphones and some of them present their work in their most pure form, like an unaltered recording, some as a cut-up and with some it's hard to recognize any sort of field recording at all, such is the case with Tomas Philips. But all the tracks are thus placed on the CD that they make their trip through the city, from busyness to quietness and back again. Only towards the very end of the CD, in the piece by Mathieu Levesque, there is a bit of music sipping through: a computerized game music thingy. In the end we know nothing more about Montreal, but we do experienced a beautiful trip through a very nice city. It also includes pieces by Helene Prevost, Steve Heimbecker, Louis Dufort, Chantal Dumas, A_dontigny and of course Lopez himself.“ [FdW / Vital Weekly]
|
2006 |
€13.00 |
|
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Salon Bruit |
CD-R |
SALON BRUIT is a small place in Berlin for experimental and extreme electronic music...we find here tracks by many newcomers from the experimental – electronic Berlin-scene who played there, the only one we know is SCISS but there’s quite a lot of interesting material here.... to be well know maybe tomorrow.. CHROMATIC FIELD, ANTON SULAK, MOBS, JAYROPE, SAMTBODY, OHMBABY....... |
2003 |
€10.00 |
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|
Verfassung |
LP |
Erste „offizielle“ Compilation des HÖRBAR e.V. aus Hamburg! Enthält 14 Stücke der Mitglieder, die das grosse Spektrum der derzeitigen experimentellen Musik fast abdecken, von dröhn-minimalistischen Sphären über cut-up & Collagen, musique concrete und Impro bis zu post-industriellem Noise, mit Y-TON-G (ex PARA NOISE TERMINAL) und TBC sind auch zwei Drone Records-Vertreter dabei, aber auch sonst durchweg hochklassiges Material von u.a. EVAPORI, [HYPH]; AUDIBLE PAIN, INCITE, GREGORY BÜTTNER, SONATA REC und natürlich darf ASMUS TIETCHENS nicht fehlen.
“On the newly released vinyl LP "Verfassung" (German for "state" or "constitution") 14 electronic tracks by 14 musicians and projects can be heard. The music includes all styles of experimental electronic music: minimal to noise, musique concrète, improv, cut-ups and collages. The record not only shows the current state of the experimental music scene in Hamburg, despite the different individual approaches and styles it creates a musical flow, offering a diverse and exciting listening experience. All musicians on the record are members of the "Hoerbar" (German for "audible" and "listening bar"). For over 10 years it has been an important meeting point for producers and consumers of experimental music in Hamburg, Germany. Once a week a lively exchange between composers, musicians, labels and collectors takes place. Once a month local and international musicians are invited to the "Unüberhörbar" concert (German for "unignorable"), among the guests have been Jim O’Rourke, Hafler Trio, Keith Rowe, People Like Us and many others.” [label info]
"the audible VERFASSUNG of our loosely organized group of producers [called HOERBAR] is being reflected by this audio document, which is representative but cannot be complete.some children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren of those courageous explorers of electroacoustic music continued walking on analogue and digital paths, avoiding the academic castles of compulsion and the sweat-moistened dancepalaces, being driven by furious excitement to add something personal to the pool of established aesthetic strategies. knowing that the wheel cannot be reinvented is not a cause for resignation or for becoming Epigones, but made us develope our ambitions to learn from historic achievements so that we can walk upon new roads and even stray with our heads up. so, the electroacoustic VERFASSUNG [constitution / condition / circumstance / state of mind] compiled by hoerbar hamburg manifests the whole spectrum between the righteous ponderer‘s efforts and the unconcerned homo ludens‘ arabesques. we will go on." [Asmus Tietchens]
“Ah the classic format of compilation LP, with booklet. It looks retro, very 80s like, but it's 2006. The Hörbar in Hamburg is an organisation that puts on concerts, mainly in the B-Movie cinema. Hörbar is mainly run by musicians, who work as volunteers, doing the sound, the bar and the door. Every week they meet up and do something. Now Hörbar also acts as a label, and this compilation is the first release. Of course it features music from the people that make up the Hörbar organization. The good thing is that it holds many musicians I never heard of, such as Pizza Ni Ni, Renoise, Margitt Holzt, Guy Saldanha and Ebinger, sitting next to somewhat more known locals such as Evapori, Gregory Buettner, Sonata Rec, [Hyph-], TBC, Incite and Y-Ton-G. Of course the biggest star from Hamburg, Asmus Tietchens, is also present, with the most silent and reduced piece of the lot. What can be noticed that there is a fair amount of noise material on this record, such as TBC, Guy Saldanha and Audible Pain. Margitt Holzt and Incite represent the rhythm side of this bunch, whereas Tietchens has his own followers such as Gregory Buettner and some seem to follow their own track, such as the curious piece by Ebinger (who he?). Evapori and Sonata Rec play pieces that are a cross over between the world of Tietchens and the underworld of noise. The most curious piece is by Pizza Ni Ni, entitled 'E', it seems just the one time strumming of an E chord on the guitar. A booklet describes the pieces and has a bunch of nice quotes. Limited to 300 copies - that is the final trick from the 80s, make a few and create a rarity!” [FdW / Vital Weekly]
www.hoerbar-ev.de
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2005 |
€15.00 |
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Water & Architecture |
CD |
Nachpressung dieser schönen Compilation zwischen Post-Rock und Avantgarde / Ambient-Electronica auf Sub Rosa, zum Thema Wasser & Architektur....
“Nature, cities, water, concrete... Water eating rocks, shores. Cities eating landscapes, life. Those two elements are interconnected, though fighting. In between there are humans, needing both elements to survive. A shelter to protect the close to 70% of water a body is made of. What is the connection, the dialogue, the potential of construction/destruction? What is the impact of architecture on water, what is its influence on modern cities? Featuring unreleased material from: Directions: Post-rock with electronica flavours,featuring Bundy K. Brown (Tortoise,Bastro,Gastr del Sol...) and Doug Sharin (June of 44, Him, Rex...) Recorded in Tortoise Studio, Chicago. Seefeel :Too Pure, Warp... Seefeel was some unique act in the pop-electronica scene. Somewhere in between folk-dub-intelligent electro. These two tracks are mixing natural rhythms, minimal electronica... Atom Heart: It was the first track released by Atom TM in his new studio located in Santiago. It starts as some German techno groove to end into some electro-'limbo'. Amazing.
Bisk: The Osaka post Drum'n' Bass wizard "desturcturer", Naohiro Fujikawa, in a three piece suite of sounds, strange, odd, Bisk...
AER (ALPHA ECHO ROMEO): aka Jon Wozencroft, british designer, co-founder of the Touch label composer these tracks with sounds collected worldwide. Architectural experimentation.” [press release]
www.subrosa.net
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1998 |
€14.00 |
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Nekton Falls |
3 x CD |
Von SEETYCA zusammengestellte Compilation mit ansprechendem übergreifendem Konzept ("Tiefsee"), exzellentes Material von SEETYCA, HERPES Ö DELUXE, I:WOUND, YANNICK DAUBY, FRANS DE WAARD, MICHAEL NORTHAM, MICK HARRIS/LULL, NID, MATHIAS GRASSOW, etc. etc..
"This compilation is set against an ambitious conceptual background, that incorporates ideas from various scientific disciplines and combines environmental concerns with a fascination for the incredible depths of the oceans. These references are centered around an interest in interrelating processes between living organisms and their surroundings, as it is indicated by the title "Nekton Falls" (a scientific term that is used to describe the process of dead sea organisms dropping to the bottom of the ocean, rotting and eventually turning into food for a new generation). All this is explained in detail on the website www.nekton-falls.org, complete with artists' statements and suggestions for further reading.
A background like that of course hints towards dark stretched out sounds and field recordings of water, and this is exactly what you get for the most part of the three CDs, plus some rhythm-based tracks and grainy digital textures. In total 26 artists and projects are involved here, including well established names (Michael Northam, Frans de Waard, Roel Meelkop, Lull, to name a few) as well as lesser known ones. The individual tracks are connected with interludes composed by Seetyca, who also contributes a track and is responsible for the overall concept (together with A. G. Reisdorf). Most of the music is rather subdued, with vast fields of sound, fading from black to deep shades of blue and back again. This creates a nice, continuous flow of music, yet with enough variations to keep you interested. This flow is only sometimes disrupted by one of the few rhythm-oriented tracks, which might be nice by themselves, but don't go along too well with the other pieces. However, a whole palette of approaches towards the darker side of atmospheric music is on showcase here. Amorphous immersive soundscapes, field recordings of natural phenomena, digital errors, clear blocks of abstract sound and hints of acoustic instruments - it's all there and most of the time it nicely complements each other. With so many people involved obviously not all tracks work well for everyone. Some tracks might benefit from a little refinement and some of the sounds seem rather worn out. But there are some real highlights to be discovered and as a whole it works pretty well, guiding you on a worthwhile trip into imaginary sub oceanic regions." [MSS / Vital Weekly]
|
2006 |
€16.00 |
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Thalamus II |
CD |
Pflicht für jeden Fan der russischen Szene ! Compilation zum zweiten Thalamus-Festival, welches im Mai 2005 in St. Petersburg stattfand.
Je 2 Studio-Stücke mit erstklassigen Material der dort auftretenden Bands SHUMY ROSSII (dark ambient), EKRAN (electronic Industrial), MAJDANEK WALTZ (neo-folk), und die Drone Rec.-Favoriten CISFINITUM und LUNAR ABYSS QUARTET (bzw "DEUS ORGANUM").. Spezielles, zugebundenes Klapp-Cover, nummerierte Auflage von 500 Stück.
"The compilation dedicated to the 2nd "Thalamus" festival passed in May 2005. Contains 2 tracks by each project performed there: Shumy Rossii (Noises of Russia), EKRAN, Majdanek Waltz, Cisfinitum, Lunar Abyss Deus Organum." [label info]
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2005 |
€12.00 |
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Table For Six: All Quiet? # 2 |
CD |
"About a year ago we reviewed 'Table For Six: All Quiet?' (see Vital Weekly 554), a neatly put together compilation by Belgium's EE Tapes, who already produced some great compilations called 'The Walls Are Whispering'. Now there is a volume two of 'Table For Six' and we come across some old, known names (at least to us), and some new ones. Objekt 4, Andrea Marutti, Laurent Perrier and Brian Lavelle are perhaps not household names, but they all have in one way or the other interesting releases to their name. Lutnahimat had one release on Entr'acte and June11 seems to be a new name. Each of the six artists get fifteen minutes to showcase their talent, and they all hoover about to some extent in some 'quiet' music. However don't confuse this with music below the threshold of hearing or some such. It's more about dark ambient than microsound if you get my drift. The CD opens with Objekt4 who plays a nice piece of sampled percussive sounds and some collated sounds. The dark synth by Marutti is perhaps the bleakest example of 'm all, but it's fine one. Laurent Perrier doesn't forget his other work in the world of techno music, but incorporating rhythmic clicks in his piece, that however doesn't convince throughout. Lutnahimat has two pieces and seem to continue his interest in ambient glitch, but especially the short 'Disagreeable Ingress' is quite nice at that. Also June11 has two tracks, which seem to be more from the post rock background (I might be as easily mistaken here), with a sort of organ and guitar in a fuzzy bath. Lavelle closes the proceedings. It's been a while since I last heard his music, but 'Crucible Of Sky' is actually a nice piece of slowly evolving field recordings and piano sounds: melancholic autumn music which works quite nice indeed." [FdW, Vital Weekly]
label-website: www.eetapes.be
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2007 |
€13.00 |
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Dark Ambient Radio Volume 1 |
CD |
Das Hamburger Internet-Radio "Dark-Ambient-Radio" steht seit einigen Jahren für ein anspruchsvolles Programm und bietet den Hörern zudem eine Plattform für Austausch & Kommunikation. Auf der ersten CD-Compilation des Independent-Senders finden sich einige bekanntere Acts, aber überwiegend gibt es wohl für die meisten was neues zu entdecken. Im Dark Ambient Genre mischen sich der Sinn für Geräuschhaftes und Soundeffekte mit der Sehnsuchtsweite der Drones, wobei harmonische Elemente oft ein minimales Gerüst bilden.
Dabei sollen dunkle, kosmische, melancholische Atmosphären entstehen... Die "Dark-Ambient-Radio" Zusammenstellung führt das sehr schön vor, unsere persönlichen Highlights kommen von: SVARTSINN & ALLSEITS (die "andere Seite" von ALL SIDES), NAGUAL ART, PHELIOS...
"At eleven the track-count stops and another marvelous sampler will have played on your stereo. With the title Dark-Ambient-Radio, Vol. 1, there is not much to guess about the content of this album.
The collected artists on this sampler are in between completely new and world-famous (within the genre that is). The absolute most well-known on here is Ah Cama-Sotz, but also Svartsinn and Phelios have earned their place in the dark ambient genre already.
For Evoke Scurvee, Nihil Communication, Mytrip, and Nagual Art this is the first occurence on a CD. All others on this album have had releases before, so depending on how much you like dark ambient, you might have stumbled upon tracks or releases already.
So the balance of "something old, something new" slightly tilts towards the "new" and that is always good. Getting to know new names and finding the well hidden pearl in the oyster gives you the feeling there is still stuff to explore in an at times slow developing genre.
But does this album contain dark ambient? Well, yes and no. Partially there is definitly some references toward the definition, but at times there is also a lot of experimentation with fieldrecordings, samples, drones, and emotion. A purist would call file those tracks under drones or experimental. But let's just f*ck purism this time. :-)
A must-have for explorers and those dark of mind ..." [Bauke van der Wal / Gothtronic]
& live-stream at: www.darkambientradio.de
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2008 |
€13.00 |
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SPIRE LIVE FUNDAMENTALIS |
do-LP |
Der dritte Teil in der SPIRE LIVE-Serie, lange Stücke mit "modernem" Orgelbezug & -einsatz von PHILIP JECK, CHARLES MATTHEWS, MARCUS DAVIDSON, BJ NILSEN und FENNESZ, - Aufnahmen von den zwei SPIRE - Konzerten auas Göteborg und Brüssel. Ganz wunderbar tönen wieder BJ NILSEN und FENNESZ, der eine löst die Orgel-Töne in rostig-rauhen Resonanzen auf, der andere klingt ("rein ORGANisch") höchst melancholisch und polyphon... aber auch die anderen Stücke (u.a. eine Version eines SCELSI-Stückes) sind die Anschaffung wert.
"Spire Live - Fundamentalis is a double LP-only collection of exclusive live tracks recorded at various Spire events held throughout 2005 and 2006. Released in association with U.S. label, Autofact, Touch presents a selection of tracks performed by the main performers of Spire: Fennesz, Philip Jeck, BJNilsen, Charles Matthews and Marcus Davidson. Improvised pieces from Fennesz, BJNilsen and Philip Jeck contrast with a performance by Charles Matthews of a scored composition by Italian composer Giacinto Scelsi, "In Nomine Lucis," and Marcus Davidson's self-penned "Standing Wave," which ends side two with a locked groove. Cut to preserve and enhance the bottom end frequencies, Fundamentalis is not merely a document; the tension between and within the individual pieces is palpable. As the Touch label places it, Fennesz's set "...evokes the rolling centuries in all their pain and beauty, leaving us at once becalmed and energized, but never oppressed under the weight of time." Electronics breathe new life not only into the organ, but also into the setting. But a new technological successor does not mean replacement. Ultimately, it's the majestic sound of the organ, so steeped in centuries of tradition that one remembers above all else. Spire is one of the most innovative projects around, drawing on the full canon of organ works, from the very first annotation in the Robertsbridge Codex from the 14th century, to Max MSP patches and software sampling. With two CD releases and nine performances in cathedrals and churches throughout Europe, Spire remains a potent live force in harnessing the sounds of the ages. Art direction and design by Jon Wozencroft." [label info]
".... Jeck's side is everything we could hope for, long lazy loops, slathered in record static, hiss, crack and pop, dreamy melodies skipped into haunting rhythms, everything washed out and blurred, a worn weary sonic drift, organs and voices, soaring and whirring, very mechanical and machinelike, but simultaneously, warm and emotional.
Serene, hypnotic, mesmerizing, what else can we say about the magic of Jeck's music that we haven't said before??
Matthews' half of side two is super minimal and hushed, mostly organs, allowed to wheeze and whir, slightly dissonant, but dense and layered, the tones hovering in a suspension of rumbles and shimmers, very dramatic and cinematic, understated and reverent, almost like some strange religious musical ritual. The second half, ostensibly Davidson's, although he is credited with a locked groove, is a dark
drone-y flow, keyboards blurred into warm streaks, also slightly atonal, ominous, intense, the muted rumble builds to an almost cacophonous organ-ic frenzy, that heard at full volume must have stirred the soul for sure.
The second disc is split evenly between Nilsen and Fennesz. Nilsen's side, recorded in a church in Sweden, is a dark, harrowing,
rumbling, post industrial dronescape, the tones rough around the edges, the melodies lugubrious and caustic, building up into a serious din, metallic washes of sound, thick shards of pulsing buzz, very brittle and sharp, before slipping into something a little more serene, but no less intense, more muted metallic tones, drifting in a churning sea of hissing static and electronic grit, a barely noticeable rhythm, more of a pulse or swell, finishing off in a deep grinding low end blur, like a much more minimal 20th century SUNNO))).
The Fennesz track is all organ, the root of all of these pieces, but here, the organ is unaltered, barely unadulterated, allowed to warmly wheeze, strange tangled melodies, glistening and glimmering, the tones beginning to change shape, the melodies allowed to elongate and blur slightly until they're swallowed up by a warm cloud of static and hiss before fading out completely. The second half of Fennesz' side is a more murky underwater reading of the first half, not as much grit and gristle as we usually expect, instead, the sound is whirling and muted, reminding us of Oval, but with the glitching skips smoother out, leaving just warm shimmering sonic swells, sun dappled melodies, and rich layered high end drones, drifting serenely, pastorally.
Gorgeously packaged, super thick full color gatefold sleeve, super striking Wozencroft photos, pressed on thick vinyl. And as if you even need to be told, quite limited indeed." [Aquarius Records review]
www.a-fact.com
|
2008 |
€18.50 |
|
|
ESCAPING FROM COLOR: RAPOON RECOMPOSED & REMIXED |
CD |
Eine der schönsten Compilations des abgelaufenen Jahres kommt vom ukrainischen QUASI POP-Label: eine Remix-Zusammenstellung von RAPOONschen Basis-Sounds. Das "Source"-Material von RAPOON war so variabel und vielseitig dass es zu einer grossen Bandbreite gekommen ist, es fängt mit einem atemberaubend guten Stück von FRANCISCO LOPEZ an und wird zum Ende hin immer experimenteller und noisiger; weitere Highlights sind die Stücke von JORGE CASTRO und TV POW, aber es gibt eine Menge guter bis sehr guter Tracks hier!
"The conception, the idea, realisation and sound sources of this CD are all based on original sound material (loops and sounds) from Rapoon's “Tribal Sci Fi” CD-ROM (courtesy of Sony/Sonic Foundry). Not the entire original Rapoon's tracks have been re-mixed or re-composed, but the general “sound” (or the sound aesthetic of Rapoon's music) instead. All the artists have provided their own original compositions, that less or more based on the audio-sources from Rapoon. Thank you very much for all contributors!
File under: drone/dark ambient/electroacoustic/industrial/noise."
1. Francisco Lopez “Untitled #193”
2. TV Pow “Ladder Friends Remix”
3. Machinefabriek “Drijfzand”
4. Troum “Farawer”
5. Steve Roden “Colorscape Forming”
6. Jorge Castro “Depths”
7. Paulo Raposo “Tidal Winds”
8. Aidan Baker “Percussive Drone”
9. Anla Courtis “Rapooned Rapunga”
10. Gert-Jan Prins “Raponsje”
11. Heimir Bjorgulfsson “Obmam Ognom”
12. Mike Shiflet “Version Belize”
13. Family Underground “Tube”
14. Ronnie Sundin “Distant Demons”
15. Cisfinitum & Rapoon “Live in Ikra, Moscow 2006”
[label notes]
"Again Quasi Pop Label hits the target, with one of the most interesting compilation Cds coming lately to my hands. so, this is at my eyes a kind of tribute to British ethnic ambient industrial solo project known as RAPOON, which has been developing all its talent through the years. Through “escaping from color: Rapoon recomposed & remixed” album. We swim in an experimental sea of creativity, originality and dynamism. This time Quasi Pop Label in the shape of Edward.S has gathered a selection of one of the most representative projects inside experimental/ambient scene to escape from reality and to enter in a no colors world, when Rapoon is the only tangible reality. A reality based in 15 compositions, all of them bringing the necessary essence to represent in a concrete way the nature of an act such as Rapoon.
FRANCISCO LOPEZ, with more a high quantity of releases, and having traveled the world developing electro acoustic performances, is opening this album with a minimalistic ambient composition, floating slowly from start to finish. TV POW, surprises this time with an excellent track, full of dense percussive sounds and effects surrounding the whole track. Really one of the best tracks here. The german duo of Baraka (H) and Glit(S)ch known as TROUM,one of the most representative acts nowadays comes with a tribal ethnic composition with impressive percussive elements which moulds perfectly with the structure of the track in general.
The sound & Media explorer from Portugal, PABLO RAPOSO, makes its presence in this album with an interesting track, in the hands of drone sounds mutating into dense ambient atmospheres, creating architectural spaces through such musical vortex, as only Mr. Raposo could create. AIDAN BAKER, devour us with a magnificent convergence of drone elements, mixed with dense eerie percussive sounds floating between each atmosphere, to create an hypnotic voyage to the most hidden realms of Rapoon. FAMILY UNDERGROUND is a Danish trio, adapting its track into psychedelic drone/noise invasion full of madness. Another artist to mention is Swedish RONNIE SUDIN, creating hypnologic states, covering a wide range of styles as experimental and electronics. This time he develops a provocative ambient piece with vibrating elements, abrasive atmospheres and subliminal vociferations at the core of this track.
CISFINITUM, the Russian ambient act, develops a perfect emotive live track which was recorded 29.10.2006 at “Lkra” Club in Moscow, together with RAPOON, in which the percussive elements and atmospheres are the predominant patterns marked here. Limited to 500 copies, and coming in a kind of digipack with abstract drawings and general art, which reflects in part the material included on this excellent release." [Edgar Kerval / HEATHEN HARVEST]
|
2008 |
€13.00 |
|
|
Zelphabet Vol. A |
CD |
Wahnwitziges Noise-Culture Compilation-Projekt von G.X.-JUPITTER-LARSEN, welches 26teilig das ganze Alphabet umfassen soll, wobei allerdings die Vornamen der beteiligten Musiker zählen - auf dem ersten Teil versammeln sich ACHIM WOLLSCHEID, AMK, ARCANE DEVICE und ASMUS TIETCHENS - also alles schon sehr lange aktive Urgesteine der Szene: Irre Xylophon-Arrangements von ACHIM. Loop & Turntable-Madness von AMK. Spannende Klangcollagen mit alten Analog-sounds von ARCANE DEVICE. Und uns ASMUS: hintergründige Sphären & Drones und anorganisch-konkretes Geschacher im Vordergrund. AA, ein sehr guter ANFANG.
"Almost close to thirty years now span the career of G.X. Jupitter-Larsen, better known as The Haters, and throughout these many years he has met many other musicians, labels and such like. His telephone book is well stocked with names so it seemed him a good thing to make the musical variation of his phonebook, an ambitious twenty-six (well, actually one more) series of compact discs with each three or four musicians with the same letter at the start of their name. So that accounts for the presence of Achim Wollscheid and Asmus Tietchens with the letter 'A'. With names like AMK and Arcane Device further on 'A', one could all too easily think that G.X. knows only old folks, but on 'B' we find the young ones The Beast People, 16 Bitch Pile-Up and Bob Bellerue with just one older person, blackhumour. 'B' is unmistakably the noise variation, with loud distorted pieces by the three new (relatively speaking of course) acts. Blackhumour, where has he been I was thinking, hands in one of his trademark pieces of unprocessed voices. Looped around, cutting them shorter as the piece progresses, this is both a stand still but since I gather not many people know him, it's good to get reacquainted. Bob Bellerue's piece of subdued noise is the best of the rest. AMK on 'A' also does what he seemingly always does, playing with damaged records. It's the least interesting piece on that one. Achim Wollscheid has a great computer controlled piece of playing Xylophone. Arcane Device created a recent mix of old feedback pieces and Asmus is in his recent mood of shimmering microtonal bits and pieces, fed through ring modulation. Great promising start, can't hardly wait. But it looks like a definite compendium of thirty years of difficult music. Subscribe now to this wiki of noise and know all there is to know." [FdW / Vital Weekly, reviewing part A & B]
www.zelphabet.com
|
2008 |
€6.00 |
|
|
Ringtones |
CD |
Und nochmal ein außergewöhnliches, nicht dagewesenes Konzept: auf dieser CD von Touch sind 99 Stücke zum Einsatz in/auf Mobil-Telefonen enthalten, als Klingelgeräusch. Aber auch als reine Hör-CD ergibt das eine verrückte Collage von allem was man sich so vorstellen kann....
“ We assume you already agree that the cheap 'cheep cheep' tones of Nokia, Ericsson and the others leave a lot to be desired. But there is huge commercial possibility here, not least with the fact that these selections have not been motivated by database usage... this is far cooler, and the contributors have responded accordingly...
With New Order, Fennesz, Ryoji Ikeda, Gilbert & George, Mika Vainio, Mark Van Hoen, PITA, Hazard, Oren Ambarchi, Graham Lewis, Bruce Gilbert, AER, Zbigniew Karkowski, Hecker, Ake Hodell, Main, Chris Watson, Regina Lund, Elgaland-Vargaland, Francisco Lopez, Disinformation, Bigert & Bergstrom, People Like Us and many many others, this release shows what is possible and how far behind the phone companies actually are.... despite their desperation to uncover new ways of selling the next generation of phones to an already saturated market.” [from the press-release]
|
2002 |
€14.50 |
|
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ARYAN MEMORY. Musical Traditions in Pamir |
do-CD / DVD / BOOK - set |
A unique deluxe collector's editon of traditional Pamir music "Aryan Memory". The set comprises a 6-page double DVD digipak holding two audio-CDs, a DVD and a 20-page full-colored booklet with information on musicians and conventional musical instruments of the Pamirs as well as a 100-page full-colored book in 14x25 cm format which describes the history of the Pamirs, beliefs and traditional ways of life of local residents (about 200 illustrations, texts are in both Russian and English). All components are packed in a bright-colored cardboard box. The Pamirs territory, being an almost inaccessible region, has preserved to this day tokens of the most ancient human culture, symbols, music, worldview, which are at least several millennia old - the spiritual foundation that gave birth to the greatest European and Asian cultures. But it should be mentioned that Pamir music is relatively unresearched, there have been issued only about five CD recordings, of which only one or two were favored with positive responses from the indigenous population of the Pamirs, because the spirit of this ancient civilization completely dissolves in recording studios and stays alive only when the music is performed in traditional environment. This recording of traditional Pamir music, presented in the "Aryan Memory" edition, is one of a few in this list, that had captured musicians in a fully unconstrained state and where the impact of sound-recording equipment was kept to a minimum. Particular attention should be given to the DVD, which is an integral part of the set. The film was shot both in the Pamirs in the River Bartang's Valley and at the Museum of musical instruments in Gurmindzh. It is an hour and a half long and it demonstrates the Pamir nature, it's ancient culture, dances and music and also exposes the psychology of the natives. There is no voice over or subtitles, the film relies mostly on meditative and trance-like perception. The book contains a lot of photos of forbidden regions of the Pamirs which in the recent times have been absolutely inaccessible to foreigners and are hardly accessible even now...
Limited edition 1000 hand-numbered copies.
Each copy weighs 750 gramms.
www.kailas.ru
|
2007 |
€50.00 |
|
|
v-p v-f is v-n |
7 |
Höchst obskure 7"-Compilation mit 20 (!) Stücken, wobei 5 Endlosrillen eingearbeitet wurden, überwiegend sind Projekte aus der "Microsound-Drone-Ambience" Szene vertreten, z.B. LAWRENCE ENGLISH, CIVYUI KKLIU, ILYA MONOSOV, ALFREDO COSTA MONTEIRO.. die Bandbreite ist aber sehr gross und machen dies zu einer spannenden Hörerfahrung. Kommt im sehr schönen "letter-press" Cover, wie alles auf WINDS MEASURE RECORDINGS... (Label aus New York City).
"v-p v-f is v-n 7" compilation series, 7001
jeph jerman + albert casais, ting ting jahe, richard garet, alfredo costa monteiro, ben owen, lawrence english, jeph jerman, civyiu kkliu, tommy birchett, ilya monosov, mpld, andy graydon, and ben scott. edition: 350 7" black vinyl record letterpress sleeve and insert." [label info]
" "v-p v-f is v-n is a 7” black vinyl compilation consisting of twenty terse pieces (with five being lock grooves) - nine on side I rotating at 33RPM and eleven on the side II spinning at 45RPM - and serves as aural digest of the was, is, and will be of Winds Measure Recordings collaborators.
This wonderful 7”-teaser is a little sonic who’s-who (and who will be) of Winds Measure Recordings collaborators. There are a lot names (most familiar to me, a few not) present on this compilation - label owner Ben Owen, Jeph Jerman, Albert Casais (Omnid), Ting Ting Jahe (collective), Richard Garet, Lawrence English, Civyiu Kkliu, Tommy Birchett, Ilya Monosov, Andy Graydon, Alfredo Costa Monteiro, mpld (project of Gill Arno), Ben Scott (participant in Ting Ting Jahe),Tommy Birchett (also participant in Ting Ting Jahe), and Rudolf Unger.
As I was listening to v-p v-f is v-n for the second time, I had the volume turned up fairly high having discovered that several of the tracks especially on the 33RPM side are moderately subtle and/or sprarse explorations of sound (although dotted with a few startling moments). The other members of my family, not really appreciating my peculiar musical interests in general, kept asking (actually yelling) “What’s that noise?”. Well there is a lot of noise on this album, but to my ears, the noises that these artists make is music.
There are some considerably abstract, challenging sounds here in the sense of being quiet, fragmented, and rough. Listening to the first three pieces on side I - Jeph Jerman & Albert Casais, Ting Ting Jahe, & Richard Garet - will confirm this observation. Be forewarned to drop the volume before the piercing frequencies of Alfredo Costa Monterio’s Élytre [track 4] kicks in and quickly disrupts the quiet atmosphere established by its predecessors. In sharp contrast, Ben Owen brings back a sense of calm down with Typhoon, kii-tanabe consisting of what appears to be a minimally processed field recording containing some vocals and natural background ambiance, and then Lawrence English complements this with a droning piece of naturalness titled Water Run Sand. mpld follows this up with another drone segment titled Red Tape but this time sounding coarser and very machine-like. Side I concludes with two lock grooves (Jeph Jerman, Ben Owen).
Side II begins with Civyiu Kkliu and Rudolf Unger joining forces to produce a minute’s worth of vibrating, rumbling noise that becomes a little broken towards the end. Jeph Jerman then delivers a beautiful 50-second piece of macrobiotic resonations that goes hand-in-hand with Ben Owens’ sparse and reverberating 16-second miniature s-s-e, sm ca. Listen carefully or Tommy Birchett’s barely audible 11-second interlude will be absorbed by Ben Owens’ piece or made imperceptible by Andy Graydon’s gorgeous Two Fold Note - a dark and harmonious tonal drone. Ben Scott’s ccc is an interesting 25-second experiment in percussive clatter that is followed directly by Ilya Monosov’s For Well Treated Trumpet. Short Version - a rather warped and amusing piece of discordant abstractness. Side II concludes with three lock grooves (Civyiu Kkliu, mpld x 2) and short-lived 7-second reprise by Tommy Birchett.
v-p v-f is v-n gives a candid retrospective of what Winds Measure Recording has offered and also provides a peek at what the near future might hold. Nice to see it released on vinyl as this medium serves the label’s sonic aesthetic well." [Larry Johnson, EARLabs]
www.windsmeasurerecordings.net
|
2008 |
€9.00 |
|
|
The Recommended Records Sampler 1982 - 25th Anniversary Edition |
do-CD |
".. Chris Cutler hat es sich wenige Jahre zuvor mit Gleichgesinnten zur Aufgabe gemacht ein Label zu eröffnen für musikalische Weitsicht. Inhalt, Rock, wohl nicht wirklich, für New Wave war alles viel zu wenig stylisch. Musikalisch hatte der Zuhörer eher den Eindruck, eine Symbiose aus Genanntem mit improvisierten Soft Machine zu hören. Das Label hatte es in den zurückliegenden Tagen wirklich geschafft, einen eigenen erkennbaren Sound mit dem dementsprechenden Coverartwork zu kreieren. Die Veröffentlichung dieses Samplers hatte damals natürlich die Aufgabe der klassischen Labelschau, heute wirkt es wie ein wunderbares musikalisches Fotoalbum. Man trifft auf alte Bekannte wie Henry Cow, Robert Wyatt und den Homosexuals oder gar Conventum. Schön ist es, aus dem Booklet zu erfahren, dass Joseph Racaille immer noch musikalisch umtriebig ist. Natürlich mit dabei die martialische Kunst von Faust. Wer das gemeinsame Tassengeschepper aus einem damaligen Cafe mit dem dazugehörigen Soundtrack kennt, gegenüber dem hektischen Wegwerfen eines Coffee-To-Go Bechers, der sollte hier dem Kauf zum Wiederentdecken auf jeden Fall nachkommen. Neue Hörer und Interessierte sowieso." [Morton, Unruhr.de]
"A keystone reissue of an historic collection featuring: Faust (D), Art Bears (UK), ZNR (F), Robert Wyatt (UK), The Residents (USA), Henry Cow (UK), This Heat (UK), Art Zoyd (F), Univers Zero (B), Stormy Six (I), Aqsak Maboul (B), Picchio Dal Pozzo (I), Decibel (MX), Goebbels and Harth (D), The Homosexuals (UK), The Work (UK), Amos and Sarah (UK), Ron Pate/Raudelunas (USA), Conventum (CAN), Hector Zazou, Joseph Racaille and Patrick Portella (F). Total Time: 2 hours. Recommended Records was set up in the late 1970s by Chris Cutler and Nick Hobbs - both then busy with Henry Cow - on the back of the worst possible business model imaginable: to collect and distribute music which, in Cutler’s judgement, was original, important or excellent - and otherwise generally unknown. No major labels, just releases by independents or artists themselves, with particular emphasis on ignored European releases. It was an interesting moment: punk and the new wave had unsettled the old certainties, major labels were floundering and a new generation was setting up its own channels of information and distribution. Out of this stimulating chaos, all sorts of innovations and alternative propositions emerged, especially outside the UK/US axis, which by then had become complacent and arrogant - because they had ‘invented’ rock and what else was there to know? Thus Recommended quickly became the principle source of information about a diverse new underground of innovative music that wasn’t jazz, rock, new wave, or anything quite. By 1982, Recommended was in its fourth year. The catalogue had expanded and the label was firmly established. A sampler seemed an obvious and necessary next step. Compiling extracts from existing releases would have been boring, so we asked the most interesting groups in our catalogue to record something new. The result was two hours of music released as a double LP in a hand silk-screened sleeve that was, as it turned out, a time capsule - a tidy slice taken across a fascinating forking of musical paths that captured a moment of growth that foresaw a variety of possible futures. 26 years on it has become a highly prized collectors item, not only because of the breadth and quality of the music it contains, but also because of its early geographical reach. A lot has changed in little more than a generation." [label info]
|
2008 |
€17.50 |
|
|
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 |
|
|
Ya Ji |
CD |
Das dürfte die erste in China veröffentlichte CD sein, die wir anbieten. Eine Compilation mit Collaboration-parts von BAI TIAN (auch auf der SUB ROSA Anthologie enthalten), SHIZI (auch aus China), sowie ANDERS PETERSON (aka OBJEKT4 und RELAPXYCH) und die legendären LOOP ORCHESTRA! Glitchig ambientes, drones, plunderphonics.. inkl. inlay mit liner notes über alle Stücke auf englisch und chinesisch!
"Ya Ji (Elegant Meeting):
A truly International sound project between China, Sweden and Australia. Proving that experimental music is very much acultural. The artists involved are Bai Tian from and currently lives in Chengdu (Sichuan province) and Shizi from Lanzhou (now lives in Beijing) in China, Anders Peterson from Stockholm and The Loop Orchestra from Sydney. The Artists have remixed each other’s work and these remixes are joined together to make up the 16 minute collaborative first track. Sound files were exchanged through the Internet. So it is a real cross-cultural/international sound project and in that respect it is unique. The other tracks on the CD are pieces by each of the artists.
The CD is released on the Chinese label KwanYin Records which is under the Sub Jam (www.subjam.org) collective from Beijing . All of the Artwork, CD production and final mastering was done in China.
The music ranges from the sound journey of the first collaborative track , Ya Ji, through to the beautiful final slowly unfolding piece by Shizi . The 16 minute collaboration is in four separate chapters. The first is a collaboration between Bai Tian and Anders Peterson. The second is a remix by The Loop Orchestra of the collaboration. The Loop Orchestra remix is then remixed by Shizi. The piece is really like a sound journey from minimal beats which become buried by dronal loops and finally slowly collapsing into the abyss.
The second track , In , by Bai Tian is a bright crisp digital electronic piece which references the heyday of European digital electronica of the late 90s.
Track three, insomniactivity is by relapxych.0 (Anders Peterson from Stockholm, Sweden). It is a marriage of instrumentation and electronica.
The next piece (track four), Vibraloops, by The Loop Orchestra is a colourful and humourous tape-loop rendition of a 1940s/50s vibraphone orchestra. Full of kitsch and colour it is beautifully percussive and opposite to the previous piece is very much low technology or as they like to say a category called No Tech. Purely tape loops played on reel-to-reel tape machines.
Track five, Background Shadows is a radio studio remix of the CD Her Face Amongst the Shadows by Objekt4 (the previous sound project of Anders Peterson). The remix is by John Blades and Richard Fielding who co-present the experimental radio program Background Noise on 2 mbs FM in Sydney. For this they used the radio studio as an instrument. Listen at www.anonradio.net .
The final track, track six is by Shizi and is a layered drone piece which is like being consumed by a thick fog. A very appropriate closing to the elegant meeting.
The whole CD can really be described as a sound journey with a beginning, a middle and an end.
THE ARTISTS:
Anders Peterson (relapxych.0)
After working for many years with sound design, film music, sound recording, mastering / remastering, acoustic design and also as a musician (guitars / bass) I eventually found the most rewarding personal experience from the sounds of nature (water, wind, fire, earth), with its endless variation and amazing organic qualities, constantly evolving, and by capturing (recording) ambience from certain places I finally obtained sounds that had massive potential to be truly *original* and *unique* to myself. The next step was to combine these recordings with musical instruments and “approaches”, combining harmonics and “body” from musical instruments with the organic flow and constantly varying rhythms of for example dripping water, gusts of wind or cracking ice, through digitally coded cross-synthesis, hybrid sounds carefully sculptured by hand. Creating musical ambience instead of ambient music.
www.ghostsounds.net
Bai Tian (aka Bai+ian) is a emerging sound artist, flute player and organizer of independent music based in Chengdu, China. He plays in a wide range of styles such as ambient, cut’n'paste and electronic music etc. He has performed with Chinese and international artists such as Huan Qing, Zafka, Zbignew Karkowski and Li Chin Sung. He has participated in exhibitions such as 156M Contemporary Art Exhibition (Chengdu), Getitlouder (Chengdu) and China Power Station (London).
www.myspace.com/baiii
Shizi was born in Lanzhou, China in 1984. He is a drummer, and improvised music player. As member of “Noise Association of Lanzhou” he started his underground music career in the late 1990’s. He has worked with more than 10 bands/projects with different styles. Once he moved to Beijing for university in 2003, he started to work in the palm of electronic/experimental and improv music. Now he is studying sound design at Beijing Film Academy.
www.myspace.com/shiziofnoise
The Loop Orchestra was formed in 1982 by Richard Fielding and John Blades. It is a collective of reel-to-reel tape machines which are approximately 30 to 35 years old. The reel-to-reel tape machines play lengths of quarter inch tape joined into loops of varying size onto which sound is recorded from various sources. This methodology is historically significant in the history of electronic music from the 1950s. The loops are mixed together to create a layered and slowly evolving soundscape. They have had CD and record releases in Australia and Europe since their first release (the LP record Suspense) in 1991. There are currently five members: John Blades, Richard Fielding, Manny Gasparinatos, Hamish Mackenzie and Juke Wyatt. The Members for this recording were John Blades, Richard Fielding, Manny Gasparinatos and Patrick Gibson. For information and a full list of performances and releases visit. www.thelooprchestra.com."
[press release]
|
2008 |
€12.00 |
|
|
23 Drifts to Guestling |
CD |
"Originally released in 1983, this stands as the missing piece of the jigsaw between Coum Transmissions, Throbbing Gristle and Psychic TV. Scrapbook rehearsals, formative ideas, radio snippets, interviews and general nonsense. CD version original cassette release of the contributions of the many people that made up Throbbing Gristle, Coum Transmissions, Coil and Psychic TV, brought to you by FOPI. Features: Throbbing Gristle, Genesis P-Orridge, Psychic TV, Monte Cazazza, Peter Christopherson, Martin Denny, Joan Armstrong, Gary Gilmore, Adi Newton, Frank Zappa, Charles Manson, Alex Fergusson & Lynette Fromme (Manson Family)." [label info]
"This is a CD re-release of an album which originally appeared on cassette in 1983. 23 Drifts To Guestling was compiled by David Tibet of Current 93 fame and released by Nanavesh, an appreciation society for the pioneering industrial group Throbbing Gristle. Nanavesh produced three magazines, and the 23 Drifts To Guestling tape was their fourth and final publication.
Containing 51 tracks which add up to 64 minutes, 23 Drifts… isn’t a music album as such, although there are bits of music on it. Instead, it is a kind of audio scrapbook of the ideas, influences and people who contributed to the formation of Throbbing Gristle, COUM Transmissions, Coil and Psychic TV, containing excerpts from radio interviews, phone calls, conversations and TG rehearsals, as well as quotations from people who influenced TG in one way or another, such as exotic music maestro Martin Denny, whose track ‘Mumba’ is introduced by Genesis P-Orridge, Charles Manson and Lynette ‘Squeaky’ Fromme of the Manson Family, and art-world provocateur and prankster Monte Cazazza, who’s credited with the invention of the term ‘industrial music’. One of the funniest things on 23 Drifts… is the sixth track, in which Monte Cazazza robotically intones: "I am the slave of Genesis P-Orridge. There is no mind but the mind of Genesis P-Orridge. There is no truth but the truth that comes from Genesis P-Orridge. There are no lies but the lies that come from Genesis P-Orridge…”
Given Genesis P-Orridge’s later demonisation at the hands of the tabloid press, this is richly ironic.
Elsewhere on the album, you can hear such diverting curiosities as the phone call which set up the infamous TG performance at Oundle public school, John Peel introducing the TG single ‘United’ on his radio show, the Nazi anthem ‘Tomorrow Belongs To Me’ from the musical Cabaret rendered as a Cockney football chant, Charles Manson reminiscing about his dear old mum, death-row prisoner Gary Gilmore quoting Shakespeare, Genesis P-Orridge in conversation with Frank Zappa, and every now and then, odd bursts of the music of TG just to remind you of why all this stuff is so vitally interesting. The best music tracks are track 5, ‘Want You To Kil: TG In The Death Factory’, track 33, ‘Process: TG In The Death Factory’, and track 50, ‘Atom Bomb Whorle Ov Sound’, but 23 Drifts… is much more of a documentary audio archive than a music album. Track 24 is an excerpt from The Early Worm, Genesis P-Orridge’s first ever recording, made way back in 1967.
One of the central preoccupations of Throbbing Gristle throughout their recording career was the collection and dissemination of information, with the group offering a radical critique of the methods employed by powerful institutions within mainstream society to maintain a monopoly on information control, very much in line with Michel Foucault’s dictum that ‘knowledge is power’. When TG disbanded in 1981, they announced this with a postcard press release stating: “Throbbing Gristle: The Mission is Terminated… The archetype has been investigated, the information is stored."
The renewed availability of the material contained on 23 Drifts… is a useful and welcome addition to the documentation of Throbbing Gristle, offering valuable insights into this most important first-generation industrial band, and dedicated TG fans will find this a rewarding and entertaining listen. However, it’s unlikely to make very much sense to anyone who doesn’t already possess a fairly detailed knowledge of the history of TG. For those people, the best available account of TG and COUM Transmissions, the performance art group which preceded TG, is Simon Ford’s definitive biography Wreckers of Civilization (Black Dog, 2001), and 23 Drifts… could be considered a kind of accompanying soundtrack to this book." [JudasKiss]
|
2008 |
€13.00 |
|
|
Dark Ambient Radio Volume 2 |
CD |
"This compilation is the result of almost one year of careful design and polishing of cutting-edge dark ambient songs, good cooperation, and intense competition. After already releasing a very good compilation with Vol.1, Dark Ambient Radio managed to raise the level with this superb collection of dark ambient music. This is not a big surprise since the 11 songs on the CD were selected out of 26 quality tracks that have been submitted during 2008 and would have been sufficient to release a good 2CD compilation. The selection of the tracks was a painful but fair process as the participating artists voted for the tracks individually and the agglomerated rating decided which tracks ended up on the compilation. So you can be sure that there is no weak track on the CD. All tracks have been done exclusively for this compilation.
Das Genre 'Dark Ambient' ist eine Randerscheinung einer Randerscheinung. Das liegt zum einen daran, dass im Gegensatz zur populären Ambient-Musik nicht auf Easy-Listening-Qualitäten gesetzt wird, sondern im Gegenteil das psychoaktive Potential der Vorarbeiten von innovativen Ambient-Künstlern wie z.B. Brian Eno bis in den letzten dunklen Winkel ausgelotet wird (ohne aber zu sehr in Noise- oder Industrial-Gefilde zu geraten bzw. sich in abstrakten Genüssen wie Minimalismus oder der meisten Elektroakustik zu ergehen). Zum Anderen fehlt dieser Art von experimenteller Musik eine angemessene Öffentlichkeit, etwa eine Club-Szene. Letzterer Mangel wurde allerdings mit der Gründung des Dark Ambient Radio ein wenig gelindert.
Die 2. Compilation, die aus dem Umfeld dieses Web-Radio Projekts hervorging, ist Resultat eines rigiden Auswahlprozesses: Nicht weniger als 33 Acts aus dem Bereich Drone, Ritual, Black & Dark Ambient wollten wissen, wer der Beste ist und haben sich fast ein ganzes Jahr Zeit genommen, um an ihren Tracks zu feilen. Die elf besten Stücke wurden mit Hilfe eines Ratings der Künstler untereinander bestimmt. Schwache Tracks sucht man deshalb auf dieser Zusammenstellung vergeblich. Vertreten sind Künstler aus Argentinien, Bulgarien, Deutschland, Kroatien, Norwegen und Polen. 74 Minuten internationaler Underground-Ambient at its best! Wer jetzt noch nicht den Mut geschöpft hat, sich eine einmalige Sammlung zu zu legen, kann vielleicht erst einmal über das Internet auf Dark Ambient Radio hineinschnuppern. Aber vielleicht es doch der beste Weg, sich anhand einer repräsentativen Genre-Compilation einen Musikstil an zu eigenen... Manchmal ist es eben wie beim Kaffeetrinken: Zuerst das Sahnehäubchen -- das schmeckt am Besten!
Künstler-Info:
Tholen ist das Dark Ambient Projekt des leipziger Multi-Genre-Künstlers Eisen. Mit Sternklang hat er mit Sicherheit eines der besten Dark Ambient Alben des Jahres 2007 veröffentlicht. Mit dem grandiosen Auftakt-Stück auf Vol.2 lässt er erahnen, auf was wir uns beim 2. Tholen-Album, das demnächst bei Cyclic Law erschein, freuen dürfen.
Inner Vision Laboratory ist das ambitionierte Dark Ambient Projekt des polnischen Musikers Karol Skrzypiec.
Mit Arkhitektur Noir führt George Georgiev die Tradition der Beteiligung bulgarischer Künstler an DAR Compilations fort.
THERRADAEMON ist das neueste Projekt des norwegischen Ambient-Künstlers Hærleif Langås, besser bekannt durch sein Vorgängerprojekt Northaunt.
Aspectee ist das Solo-Projekt des kieler Musikers Michael Frenkel. Das Aspectee Debut-Album ist November ’09 bei First Fallen Star erschienen. Es ist das Nachfolge-Projekt von Evoke Scurvee, eines inzwischen (zu unrecht) in der Versenkung verschwundenen Elektronik-Projekts, das Ende der 90er aktiv war.
Phelios scheint im Moment eines der rührigsten Dark Ambient Acts zu sein. Der wuppertaler Musiker hat in den letzten Jahren neben drei Alben und zahlreichen Compilation-Beiträgen vor allem live eine außerordentliche Präsenz gezeigt, u.a. auf dem WGT, in der Wuppertaler Schwebebahn oder als Initiator des Phobos-Festivals. Aktuell erscheint ein Vinyl-Split zusammen mit Kammarheit bei Loki Foundation. Ein weiteres Album wird demnächst bei Malignant Records (USA) erscheinen.
CrepusculaR ist ein das Projekt des argentinischen Musikers Angel Jose Lozano. Dies ist seine erste Veröffentlichung auf Polycarbonat.
Nagual Art ist das Dark Ambient Projekt des Freiberger Musikers Andreas Kantner, der mit diesem Projekt bereits mehrere Alben erschuf, die allesamt als freie MP3-Downloads verfügbar sind und von der Qualität her allemal eine CD-Veröffentlichung wert wären. Die Beschränkung auf Internet-Downloads hängt vielleicht mit seiner Funktion als Chef seines Netlabels Paralucid zusammen.
Das bremer Duo Troum bedarf als Drone Ambient Urgestein sicher keiner weiteren Beschreibung.
Phobos ist das elektronische Sammel-Projekt des kroatischen Musikers Petar Sakic, dessen Tracks sich auf zahlreichen Compilations tummeln, u.a. auch auf den zwei existierende DAR Volumes.
False Mirror ist wiederum ein reines Dark Ambient Projekt. Der Ulmer Musiker Tobias Hornberger war - wie bei Vol.1 so auch bei Vol.2 - prädestiniert für den Schluss-Track mit seinen filigranen und extrem trance-induzierenden Kompositionen. Die ausgefeilte Technik und originelle Sound-Designs sind wohl seiner Experimentierfreudigkeit bei der Klangerzeugung, u.a. selbstgeschriebenen Soft-Synthies und deren Kopplung an optische Sensoren, zu verdanken. Auf Vol.2 kommt aber auch akustisches Instrumentarium zum Zug. Der vorliegende Compilation-Beitrag ist eine gute Einstimmung auf das demnächst auf Malignant Records erscheinende neue Album Derelict World."
[full release info]
www.darkambientradio.de
|
2009 |
€13.00 |
|
|
ERRATUM # 4, Revue Sonore |
3 x CD |
"Poetry of sound / sound of poetry. Erratum brings together personalities both atypical and unclassifiable : outriders, stalkers, survivors of the sonic crash zone, those transgressing the strictures and clichés of unimaginative sound habits. Visual and sonic artists, bards, iconoclastic noise makers come together to create a subtle, hybrid, ever-changing, disseminated collective sonic psyche. From the time of Marcel Duchamp's Musical Erratum and Luigi Russolo's Art of Noises in 1913 to the latterday recuperation of software bugs, hardware crashes, along with the eclectic array of contemporary poetical noise praxis, there is a rich, complex and poorly understood history. Erratum's aim is not so much to associate poetry and music as to seek out their potential to merge : the crossovers, the openings, the interzones, meetings and fault lines, the ineffable yet tangible open fusion, that blends the different vibrations of voice, noise and electronics. Erratum weaves a lively and diagonal concretion, an alternative to restrictive and mechanical technological visions and it stands out as a realm of a possible Utopia of the indivisible that leads towards active questioning.
with :
AGF
Pierre André Arcand
Llorenç Barber
Stéphane Bérard
Xavier Boussiron
Raoul Beckman
Christophe Charles
Henning Christiansen
Chlorgeschlecht
Ira Cohen
Doc. Courbe
Jacques Demarcq
Le Dépeupleur
Fréderic Dumond
Yvan Etienne
EHB
Vincent Epplay
Joana Preiss
Arno Fabre
Giovanni Fontana
Michel Giroud
Guillermo G.Peña
Guillermo Galindo
Tommi Grönlund
Petteri Nisunen
Charles E.Henry
Gary Hill
Joël Hubaut
José Iges
Jil Keita
Christina Kubisch
Brandon LaBelle
laboiteblanche
David Larcher
Rainier Lericolais
Francisco López
Robin Minard
Joachim Montessuis
Phill Niblock
Julien Ottavi
Charles Pennequin
Finnbogi Pétursson
Cédric Pigot
Jörg Piringer
Lee Ranaldo
Jean Philippe Roux
Erik Samakh
Samon Takahashi
Atau Tanaka
Alexandre Yterce
Randy H.Yau"
[label info]
www.erratum.org
|
2004 |
€26.00 |
|
|
Musics in the Margin Vol. 2: Musik Oblik |
CD |
"Decompartmentalization:
Like the 'Musics in the margin volume 1' CD co-produced by Art en Marge and Sub Rosa in 2006, this new production comes from a project mixing visual arts with music. Since the first CD, 'Art en Marge' has obtained its museum status and changed its name. These changes point out the fact the new 'art & marges museum' focuses on the affinities existing between three visual art fields considered on equal terms: modern art, contemporary art, and outsider art. Proceeding from how obviously compartmentalization is not only arbitrary but simplistic, this new production entitled "Musik Oblik" explores the world of sounds and silence through the multidisciplinary works of artists unfolding stunning soundworlds and visual universes. Decompartmentalization is the key word, and this record offers unique approaches transcending the simple question of the insider/outsider classification. The purpose of this project is to outgrow the social-cultural dimension of the works while respecting their creators' integrity, whoever they might be.
Carine Fol (art & marges museum)
Featuring:
Based in Berlin, Klaus Beyer is mostly known for his unusual performances of Beatles songs, but this musician's talent is larger than that, as he also writes his own songs, makes short films and animated films, and works as an actor.
Normand Cournoyer launched his music career around the age of 70. He says he was inspired by the Lord, and therefore adopted the slightly religious alias Normand L'Amour. Self-taught, he has since written an incredible number of songs (more than 1,500, in over 75 languages) using a piece of random composition software.
Installation artist, performer, illustrator, sculptor, sound collector, and globe-trotter Baudouin Oosterlynck is thriving to expand our listening capabilities by creating prostheses and musical objects to multiply and increase our ears. Silence also plays a key part in his work, and he has traveled a lot to pinpoint geographical locations where one can enjoy complete silence.
The Wild Classical Music Ensemble, a music project started in 2007, on the day musician/audio artist/experimentalist Damien Magnette met Lynh, Johan, Rudy, and Kim, four artists with learning disabilities. From then on, their musical research has been based on free improvisation and experimentation. Lately, The Wild Classical Music Ensemble has been integrating punk/rock riffs composed by the group's guitarist Kim Verbeke.
In March 2005, drummer Teun Verbruggen (Jef Neve Trio, Flat Earth Society, ...) invited maverick guitarist Mauro Pawlowski (dEUS, Club Moral, Somnambula) and Rhodes piano magician Jozef Dumoulin (Mäâk Spirit, Magic Malik, Octurn...) to a one-shot improvisation gig. The meeting intitled Othin Spake was so conclusive that they are still playing together five years later.
A major representative of the Italian madrigal style of the Renaissance, alongside Luca Marenzio and Monteverdi. Gesualdo's position in music history has been largely reassessed in the 20th Century. Once seen as a marginal, unbalanced composer whose music was gradually falling into oblivion, Gesualdo is hailed by some as a visionary, the first composer, 300 years before Wagner and the Post-Romantics, to make significant use of chromatism and dissonance, and a precursor of the Moderns in his use of extreme contrasts and unusual rhythmical breaks.
A composer, violinist, and teacher, Baudouin de Jaer trained in Belgium and Canada with Henri Pousseur, Frederic Rzewski, and Philip Boesmans, among others. His concerts and compositions took him to Mexico, Peru, Korea, Palestine, and Morocco. Many of his works are multidisciplinary or adapted to a complete space.
A major artist of the 20th century, Adolf Wölfli was commited to the Waldau Mental Asylum, near Bern, in 1899. He remained there until he died. Wölfli started drawing, writing, and composing music at the age of 35, working all day long on what amounts to a colossal body of work. It comprises 25,000 pages of graphic compositions, collages, literary works, and music scores.
Jacques Brodier, artist and researcher, is the inventor of the Filtre de Réalité (Reality Filter), whose antennae, using the ionosphere's reflection, receive the electromagnetic noise broadcasted by Earth civilization and deep space. This airwave noise consists of radio signals from everywhere, music and voices in multiple languages drifting away, lost in a sea of cosmic noise, occasionally mistreated, butchered, distorted by untraceable causes or the mishaps of dissemination." [label info]
www.subrosa.net
|
2010 |
€13.00 |
|
|
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 |
|
|
A tasty Swarm of small Signals |
DVD-Audio |
"A Tasty Swarm of Small Signals is an impressive sound art project comprising 91 micro-compositions by sound artists from every corner of the globe. This wide range collection has been curated by Francisco López and includes original work of James Webb, Lawrence English, Francisco López, Asmus Tietchens, Louis Dufort, Alan Courtis and Zbigniew Karkowski. Working with field recordings, sound manipulation, and generated sounds, these internationally acclaimed artists offer us the possibility of listening and experiencing some of the most enticing proposals, tendencies, approaches and investigations in this field of art. James Webb opens the collection with 'Sightings into the dreams of others'. His pieces share a dreamy atmosphere, an oneiric quality, both beautiful and strange. With a delicate, poetic touch Webb introduces several sounds like bird chipping, piano notes and morse code signalling, creating an elegant whole that has the effect of drawing our attention out of the work itself, back into our own sound environment, and finally integrating both. As in Webb's work, the next artist of the collection, Lawrence English, requires the imagination of the listener to complete the pieces here presented. Through an artful integration of field recordings and synthetic sounds, English creates suggestive and beautiful compositions which wake up our imagination and make us see that we are always part of the work itself, in the same way as we are part of the world we look at. The world is not just a set of objects around us and the compositions are not just a set of sounds. We relate to each object, to each sound, with our personal emotions and memories. The world which we live in, as English's compositions, is always a unique experience, a personal creation. While Lawrence English is able to integrate field recordings and created sounds in an extraordinary way, Francisco López goes further and blurs any distinction between these different sounds. By an artful manipulation of the field recordings the artist makes the natural sounds no longer identifiable, and as a result they move away of any reference or visual association. In his proposal López directs our attention to the sounds themselves, and lets them follow their own path, their own development into other sounds and variations. Similarly Asmus Tietchens also focuses on the manipulation of field recordings in ways suggested by the sounds themselves. His artful employment of silence and isolated sounds, (small signals), is complemented by an increasingly obscure atmosphere, conforming a subtle composition. Short bubble like percussive sounds hit repeatedly on a persistent silence, than soon evolves into a dark ambience. No rhythms, no sequence, no pattern, no thought. Just unidentifiable sounds, dropping from nowhere on top a black background, a cosmic silence, a universal darkness. Louis Dufort proposal deals with the inner structure of sound matter. He places sounds under his unique microscope to show us the different frequencies, reflections and elements each sound contains. This approach is able to focus all our attention on the sounds themselves, instead of being treated as elements of a structure that encompasses them and gives them a specific meaning obtained from their place in the structure. In Alan's Courtis pieces, in contrast to Asmus Tietchens proposal for this collection, there is no silence, but a succession of disquieting sounds and distortions, and a constant feeling that we are reaching some kind of limit, something is about to break through. Waves of sound take over, fill all space and ourselves, and carry us through a labyrinth of sounds and variations where we seem to disappear and where only sounds remain. Karkowski proposal is an investigation in the vibration of electronic sounds and takes us to an experience of this ever lasting reality. Everything is a vibration taking place in time. Our first exposure to these pieces can be confounding, but if we get past our tendency to look for rhythm and harmony, an experience of sound can get through, showing us the ever present vibrations surrounding us, inside of us, everywhere. All these proposals are presented in an audio DVD, where each artist presents thirteen two minute compositions over a fixed image, adding to more than three hours of sound. It offers us a taste of the most interesting proposals in experimental sound art, and of the most compelling experiences that this art form can bring us to."[S. Porrúa]
www.storung.com
"This might be the future of releasing music. I think I said that before, with some of the Empreintes Digitales DVD's, containing no images but 24-bit audio. And a lot more difficult to extract and rip and share (for free). But perhaps also a bit too much for audiophiles? I am not sure. Francisco Lopez curated this project, with consists of seven artists, each delivering no less than thirteen two-minute audio compositions. Why seven, thirteen and two, you may wonder? I am not sure either, but Lopez did a nice selection. Besides himself we have here James Webb, Lawrence English, Asmus Tietchens, Louis Dufort, Alan Courtis and Zbigniew Karkwoski. Which I guess makes an interesting selection from various parts of the world of experimental music. The serious avant-garde is represented by Dufort, who does a fine job on the matter at hand, and while heavily under the influence of acousmatica, the briefness of the pieces makes it all nice. Webb and English both represent the world of field recordings and ambience. Delicate pieces here, in which a certain amount of musical-ness slip through the gaps. Lopez and Tietchens also deal with field recordings and electronics, but their work is much more abstract than English and Webb's. In Lopez' case thirteen pieces of mildly droning affairs of heavily treated rainfall or ventilation shafts (or some such, you can't be sure with Lopez), whereas Tietchens offers his highly atomized sparks of sounds and silence. Alan Courtis and Zbigniew Karkwoski are both on the more traditional noise spectrum, each at a side, firmly apart. Karkowski with some highly computerized noise patterns, at times fiercely loud and sometimes a bit less loud, but throughout firmly gritty and digital, while Courtis is much more quiet (than we are used of him?), but not allowing any silence in his work. Drone based soundscapes of a big city at night - perhaps - like indicated through the visual on display. An excellent compilation, which is of course a bit long - three hours - to be played at once, but you could select one a day and have a great week." [FdW/Vital Weekly]
|
2010 |
€18.00 |
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TF100 |
BOOK/ 2 x 10inch |
"in the rotterdam home of tonefloat, 100th anniversaries are typically referred to as 'seeing methuselah'. you can be sure, however, that when the corks are unscrewed on february 27th at the release party for tf100, the label won't show any signs of turning into an old man. if anything, this celebratory publication proves that over the past fourteen years, tonefloat may have gone through many different stages, but has always foremost done things their own way. the one hundred first entries in the catalogue include curious little items such as the tonefloat website (tf006), a t-shirt (tf025), an album of acoustic pink floyd covers which got lost when the pc containing the master crashed (tf017) and even a long stretch of silence (tf015) - the years between 2000 and 2004, in which not a single new album was added to the discography. most of all, they include a lot of alluring music by strikingly creative personalities who've always understood that releasing lavish vinyl editions was never a retro trend or a temporary fad, but all about treating music with respect and as a form of art.
this celebratory package not only reflects these aspects by going back in time, but also points towards the future. on the one hand, a 108-page hardcover book tells the tonefloat story from the very first release – the use of ashes' moongarden - to recent full-lengths by artists like astralasia, anja garbarek, microphonics, theo travis & robert fripp, porcupine tree and no man, covering a period in which the music industry as a whole underwent massive changes. on the other hand, the real core of the tf100 set are the two 10inches of exclusive material, which have been carefully included in the book – friends of the luxurious insurgentes vinyl set will know what to expect. to mark the occasion, the leading artists on tonefloat have teamed up in various constellations and in promptu line-ups. tf100 now includes collaborations between, among others, steven wilson, theo travis and sand snowman and a duo between dirk serries and maarten van der vleuten. these contributions depict the full range of musical emotions which have come to define the label's eclectic yet recognisable voice, from eleven-minute folk-epic 'song for john fahey' by wilson and sand snowman to the barely two and a half minute short quirky techno of peter van vliet's 'through the eyes of the duck'. there's nothing nostalgic about this music at all - some of these tunes could even get metusaleh dancing.
tf100 will be available in an initial run of 700 copies (of which 500 are on sale) as a deluxe hardback and cloth-bound 11x11inch 108-page book, containg the 7-track album over two 10inches. the official release date for the album is february 27, 2011, and is available from the tonefloat store. pre-orders will be shipped on march 1, and the album will be available on the tonefloat festival."
www.tonefloat.com
|
2011 |
€39.50 |
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DRONE-MIND // MIND-DRONE Vol. 1 : HALO MANASH, UBEBOET, JARL, B*TONG (SOLD OUT) |
LP |
The NEW LP-series from Drone Records, dedicated to the Drones of the World, and the Drones of our Minds. A kind of continuation of the Drone 7"-series on a more user-friendly format. Each LP features four artists from the international drone-scene and is limited to 500 copies, pressed on four different vinyl-colours. Volume 1: UBEBOET (Spain), HALO MANASH (Finland), B°TONG (Suisse), JARL (Sweden). Stunning artwork paintings by British artist PETE GREENING, design by NINA KERNICKE (ALL SIDES).
Vinyl-colours each 125x : SOLID WHITE // GREEN // GOLD // SOLID ORANGE MIXED WITH BLACK.
Having celebrated the vinyl back in 1993 when the 7" series started, we still think its the best & most beautiful format to present music!
Don't miss the beginning of the second wave of DRONES on our label !!
FULL INFO:
The NEW LP-series from Drone Records is dedicated to the Drones of the World, and the Drones of our Minds. A kind of continuation of the Drone 7"-series but on a more user-friendly format. Each LP features four artists from the international drone-scene and is limited to 500 copies and pressed on four different vinyl-colours. Each LP artwork will feature paintings by British painter PETE GREENING. This series shows the various sides of todays experimental drone-music. The title symbolizes the interaction between sound of the Eternal and our psyche and raises questions: Can Drones (or sound per se) be regarded as "intelligent"? Does every mind produce a Drone? Isn't it possible that any organic or non-organic entity produces a Drone? Drone Music is seen as more than a mere 'music style', it expresses an approach to perceive & understand the world. DRONE-MIND and MIND-DRONE build a circle of diverse inter-relations. The Drone as a metaphor for everything that vibrates, that releases energy - from atoms and elementary particles to the hum of the earth and the universe.
The Drone as an entity that connects everthing that exists within our own "mind-space", perception and self.
Four "Drones" on one record! The first Volume (MIND-01) ist OUT NOW ! (December 2011) and features:
VOLUME 1: UBEBOET / HALO MANASH JARL / B°TONG
UBEBOET from Spain starts off the new series with two fantastic "transcension drone" pieces derived from choral / voice-material - highly emotional, contemplative and sublime.
HALO MANASH is the main project from the AURAL HYPNOX-family based in Oulu, northern Finland, known for powerful shamanistic / ethnic otherworldly drones. "Walkeus" comprises two pieces of dense ritualistic sounds based purely on ethnic instruments and voices without using any electronics, recorded on analogue reel-to-reel tape.
JARL (the drone side / solo-project of the Swedish Industrial duo IRM) is known for "pure sounding" overwhelming, at times noisy hypno-drones. The long track "Zero in Scream" uses zither-sounds in an innovative way.
B*TONG from Switzerland creates highly experimental pieces that seem to use all kinds of concrete sound-sources, leading into surrealistic drone-based journeys, always challenging and forming a very own musical dimension
= four projects that differ considerably from each other, but united through the idea of the power of the Drone.
~ ~ The drones of their minds "materialized" ~ ~ The "intelligence" of drones materialized ~ ~
"Compiled by the tireless sound archeologist (and Drone Records founder) Stefan Knappe, “Drone-Mind/Mind-Drone Vol.1” can be seen as a well-deserved masterpiece in a career that may open a new chapter in the history and archiving of the drone. This ancient foundation of music, myth, and rituals both sacred and profane is alive and well in a new generation of artists. Those chosen for this first volume have contributed mesmerizing and deeply memorable drones that ought to make this an instant classic of its kind." [Mike Wood/Foxy Digitalis]
“El Rey ha muerto. ¡Larga vida al Rey!”
It took Stefan Knappe 18 years to fill the roster of one hundred 7″ releases on Drone Records. Since the first 7″ by his own Maeror Tri (which was actually predated by a cassette release in 1991, also by Maeror Tri), Drone Records has been a home for artists to release their sounds on the sacred vinyl as well as get a chance to deliver their own artwork.
To reminisce: the simple artwork yet immensly thick drones by Yen Pox (DR-15), the “Fuck, how am I gonna send out 250 metal plates”-release by [multer] (DR-51), and the fragile boxed edition by Xabec (DR-92). Very well known as well as completely unknown artists, who either made it or didn’t; they are a part of Drone’s 18-year history of vinyl releases.
But times, they are a-changing. It is time for something new, and the chosen format is vinyl, LP, and four artists per release to promote their sounds and become part of the family. On this first release in the new series, pressed in solid white, green, gold and black / orange mixed vinyl, we get acquainted with new works by four artists from different scenes: Ubeboet, Halo Manash, Jarl and B°Tong.
And no, for a change, your humble reviewer will not go in depth into all the tracks and describe them for you. Because if you made it this far already, you know you want this album, and you are going to buy it. What makes this release a definite must-have is the same reason why you visit festivals with sounds, music and sound art. Even if you don’t know all this artists or there is a track you maybe don’t like at the beginning, it fits the release as a whole. Exploration of artistic depths and differences, very well combined by ‘His Masters Drone’, Stefan Knappe.
Four days before the year 2011 is over, this release solidly puts itself in the annual Top Three. Without any doubt!" [Bauke van der Wal / Connexion Bizarre]
"The LP is a fascinating showcase for four different drone and ambient artists, and that is perhaps the essence of everything ever done by Drone Records. Although I have a personal preference for the A-side here, there is much to love, and subtle variation in the presentation of these four artists. A glorious debut on coloured vinyl for this new series, and a highly recommended release for all droners out there. Here’s to the future!" [Oscar Strik, Evening of Light]
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2011 |
€15.00 |
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Yokomono 03.5 ("triple grooved" MERZBOW, MIKA VAINIO, NO ARTIST, JAAP BLONK, CYNTHIA ZAVEN) |
LP |
"This whole Yokomono thing dealt with vinyl, vinyl killers and such like. To which end Staalplaat goes as far as to pressing records for these installations and invite composers to deliver sound material. I am not sure how this will end up in the installation pieces, but if its still the same thing as with the vinyl killers, then this ’3.5′ is worthy one. To explain what it is, I have to copy the original text by Staalplaat: “Our first attempt was the release of Yokomono 03 where we hoped to cut two tracks, one spiraling from outside in and the others from inside out. So that the needle would move in different directions. This attempt failed (for reasons that we will not go in to at this moment). This new record has three parallel soundtracks where the cutting needle was lifted twice with short intervals, in order to make the needle used during “wiedergabe” to jump tracks randomly.
To play this record you must not see your turntable as a reproduction machine that reproduces the music on the record. You can not put it on and sit down to listen. See the record and turntable much more as a music instrument that with each turntable model and with each setting if your machine you will create a different sound and mix of this record. As with any instrument you have to learn how to play your turntable and find what setting you like best. Of vital influence are the skate settings en the wait [sic] on the tone arm, these and others you must very to experience the options of the record.” There is a brown noise (inserts quote again: “In science, Brownian noise, also known as Brown noise or red noise, is the kind of signal noise produced by Brownian motion, hence its alternative name of random walk noise. The term “Brown noise” comes not from the color, but after Robert Brown, the discoverer of Brownian motion.” with sound pieces by Cynthia Zaven and Merzbow, and a white noise side with Mika Vainio and Jaap Blonk. Now this is certainly a most strange record. I stood by my turntable, changing the weight of the tone arm hearing say Blonk, but then moving into Vainio and back, or the piano tones which I assume are Zaven’s going into Merzbowian noise, sometimes with white/brown noise blocks coming in, quickly and disappearing equally fast. Stuff you can do on vinyl only and which have a highly added value to what you get. Hardly plain music, but also not just a DJ tool. Very nice, even without the art installation itself." [FdW/Vital Weekly]
www.staalplaat.com
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2012 |
€12.00 |
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The constant Rise of Expectations |
CD-R |
" 'Dedicated to the late Lydia Tomkiw (1959-2007)', it says on the cover of this compilation, and I can imagine that you may not know who she was. In the 80s she was a member of the duo Algebra Suicide, in which guitar, drum machine and Tomkiw's vocals were crucial. They were also very much into the whole business of cassettes and networking. So perhaps it's not strange that five years after she passed away there is this CDR salute to her with some people that, save to say, are a bit older, like (Ad)Vance(d), Kallabris, [Multer], F-Space, Solanaceae Tau, N, Gerstein and [Multer]. Not all of these pieces are new to this compilation, but if they were released than it's from a limited edition release only. Not all of this music is along the old lines of Algebra Suicide, in fact hardly any. This is more a manifestation of independent music production from all corners of the musical world. From moody pieces by (Ad)Vance(d), [Multer] to the heavy rhythms of Mr. Concept, Gerstein, 9Cento9, Cyborcosis, Mik@ 69N + Fto synthi pop by Solanaceae Tau and guitar noise by F. Space (complete with a good heavy metal banging - and I mean metal). Martin Newell provides a jolly pop moment, which is certainly the oddest ball around this lot. Like I said, it bounces all over the place, which is nice, but, and this not DIY talk, what's the target audience here: people who like independent music? I can imagine that those who love the comp's more rhythmic moments will frown upon the more subdued moments, and vice versa. Is open-mindedness something that belongs in 2012? I would certainly hope so, but I fear for the worst." [FdW/Vital Weekly]
|
2012 |
€12.00 |
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Revenge? Yes! NORDIC AUDIO MODERN 2012 |
CD |
"There is nothing much to say about this record. Only that it was created by dedicating new and previously unreleased tracks by the legendary world famous ambient/industrial bands to the cult festival NORDIC AUDIO MODERN. To this record at least three new tracks were loaded by a legendary Der General, also known as Deutsch Nepal. It is simply the best compilation of 2012. I bet on that for “a tank of methanol”!" [label info]
www.autarkeia.org
|
2012 |
€13.00 |
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VERNACULAR |
do-CD |
"The word 'Vernacular' means "native language or native dialect of a specific population, as opposed to a language of wider communication that is a second language or foreign language to the population, such as a national language, standard language, or lingua franca", and here it's the thematic approach for a neatly designed double CD compilation in which curator Yui Onodera reconsiders 'Vernacular, which has been cut by the "universal design that transcends locality and ethnicity" of modernism'. He claims that 'the meaning of a sound and the way it is used is different in each country and I think it should naturally be apparent in the sound of their work, if artists work on it consciously'. That is a rather bold claim. I slide in CD 1, sit somewhere else, away from computer which shows me the tracklist and away from the actual package. When disc one is done, could have I told I heard artists from Australia, America (twice), Japan, UK (twice) and Italy? Or Greece, Estonia, The Netherlands, Argentina, America (twice) and Germany, following disc two? I must admit: not really. What can be noted is an overall uniform approach to sound and the way its played, processed and composed. Carefully and delicate music, is what all of these fifteen people connect. One a bit more on the field recordings side of things, the other process that lot via the computer into something altogether more abstract and here there we find the presence of an instrument, usually in the form of a guitar, such as with Federico Durand and Troum (whose presence may seem like an odd-ball here, but it fits in quite nicely) and the piano of Kenneth Kirschner. Steve Roden provides his usual musical loops and may also seem be a bit odd. Otherwise, music seems to be an universal language for these boys (no girls as far as I can see), and nowhere I had the idea I was listening to something that was very specific from a specific country. In that respect this compilation may seem like failure, but
the quality is overall great here. Find here pieces from Hior Chronik, Yui Onodera, Janek Schaefer, Simon Scott, Tu M', Dale Lloyd, Jos Smolders, Yves De Mey, Kim Cascone, John Grzinich and Lawrence English." [FdW/Vital Weekly]
http://whereabouts-records.com
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2013 |
€14.00 |
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EIDOLON. A Tribute to REUTOFF |
CD |
"For those (few) who don't know Reutoff : they are one of the more prominent and intriguing Russian Post-Industrial Ambient projects.
The album, celebrating the bands 16th anniversary, consists of remixes and cover versions on original Reutoff tracks, made by bands / projects / friends, whose music has always been close to the band.
Most of the contributors created their tracks using original Reutoff material, some of them were just inspired by Reutoff's music, others tuned in with their own sound and the track with Deutsch Nepal is an entirely team-work piece.
The "Eidolon essence" is a reflection: there was a time, when we absorbed, we were imbued with the images of the Tribute participants.
Their music and their impressions on their own epiphanies were interpreted in our music. Now it's their turn, we came to full circle and the phantoms are granted with new lives.
We are grateful to every each and one of you, you did your best.
A special thank you goes out to Oleg Pashchenko for the Cover Art.
His flair is as brilliant as is his genius>
- Reutoff -
Tracklist :
1. ATRIUM CARCERI : Capacity to Kill
2. DESIDERII MARGINIS : Hypnerotomachia
3. FLINT GLASS : Tunnels in the Dark
4. EMPUSAE : La meno Ma Mento
5. SAL SOLARIS : Never Touch the Xyu
6. ANTLERS MULM : Schlaf-Hello Sleeper
7. WERMUT : Winter 1998
8. DEUTSCH NEPAL / REUTOFF : The Flame
9. SVARTSINN : Dies Irae
10. ОЦЕПЕНЕВШИЕ (OTZEPENEVSHIYE) : Moss
11. TROUM : Regennon Re- Generated
12. CISFINITUM : Last Train to Reutoff"
www.oldeuropacafe.com
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2014 |
€13.00 |
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Nostra Signora delle Tenebre |
do-LP |
"There was a time in Italy when movies did not suck. Or at least, when they sucked, they did it in a graciously peculiar way.
Alongside the world-famous auteurs (the Fellinis, the Viscontis, the Bertoluccis), there was a plethora of lesser known, critically unappreciated directors, often mockingly called cinematografari, frantically tackling (and twisting) every kind of movie genre: western, comedy, thriller. For some reason, they excelled especially in their wild, sick take on horror and crime dramas – and music played a big role in these successes.
Classically trained composers like Ennio Morricone and Stelvio Cipriani rubbed shoulders with former pop stars-turned-soundtrackers like Nico Fidenco and Pino Donaggio and together happily immersed themselves in the muddy waters of this cinematic swamp, creating their own distorted versions of the funk, psychedelia and beat rock canons. The aberrant results were then applied like thick make-up to equally mind-boggling, malevolent, highly stylized movies from directors like Dario Argento, Lucio Fulci or schlock uebermeister Joe D’Amato.
For a brief period it worked at the box office too.
“Nostra Signora delle Tenebre” is a tribute to that extraordinary, by-gone era now apparently forgotten in Italy too. It is a tribute to the gloriously adventurous soundtracks of maybe somehow less glorious horror and giallo flicks – movies that anyway retained a decidedly Italian flavour, a bizarre mix of nasty violence, lurid sexuality and feverish Catholic mysticism, all filtered through a manic obsession with death, blood and the sins of the flesh.
At the same time, this album is a way to celebrate a small but thriving national scene, generally labeled under the admittedly lazy banner of “Italian occult psychedelia” and championed by the likes of Simon Reynolds and Julian Cope while at the same time getting growing interest from music magazines, with several features on The Wire, Vice, Fact Magazine, Tiny Mixtapes, Foxy Digitalis etc.
“Nostra Signora delle Tenebre” gathers together almost all the best bands in the scene: groups like Michael Gira’s favourites Father Murphy, Lay Llamas and Mamuthones (now both on Rocket Recordings), Heroin In Tahiti, Cannibal Movie and Jennifer Gentle, probably the best known Italian indie band abroad and whose “A New Astronomy” album is considered a forefather of the genre.
We asked these bands to revive some of our favourite horror and giallo soundtracks from the 60’s and the 70’s. They did it in their own way, and it sounds good.
Limited (FIRST) edition of 500 copies of which 100 copies as special edition available through Backwards only, and 400 on black vinyl (as standard edition).
Second pressing of 500 copies on violet vinyl.
Tracklist:
Heroin In Tahiti “Nuda per Satana” (A. Baldan Bembo)
Lay Llamas “Palude” (L. Michelini)
Second H. Sam “Gli ultimi cannibali” (N. Fidenco)
Lamusa “Tourist trap” (P. Donaggio)
Edible Woman “Magic & Ecstasy” (E. Morricone)
Mai Mai Mai “Sette note in nero” (Bixio – Frizzi – Tempera)
Jennifer Gentle “Chanson de la Nuit” (E. Macchi)
Slumberwood “Toby Dammit” (N. Rota)
Mamuthones “The Thing” (E. Morricone)
Gianni Giublena Rosacroce “Incubo sulla città contaminata” (S. Cipriani)
Beautiful Bunker “L’aldilà” (F. Frizzi)
Cannibal Movie “Sans espoir” (B. Nicolai)
Father Murphy “L’alba dei morti viventi” (Goblin)
OVO “Nuda per Satana” (A. Baldan Bembo)
Maria Celeste “Cento campane” (Fiorentini – Grano)" [label info]
www.backwards.it |
2015 |
€20.00 |
|
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Phra Rahu |
do-CD |
"A long time coming, we have worked zealously to present this offering to the dark entity known as Rahu. A vast demigod with a strong worldly influence, Rahu's might is perhaps best illustrated in his devouring of the sun, causing the Earth to sit in his dark shadow. We have assembled this dark mantra from material both new and old, creating a deep tribute featuring several of the profile artists of gterma. Massive double album in a jewel case with 16-page booklet." [label info]
gterma.blogspot.de
"Body in Sweden and soul soaring over the Himalayas, the gterma label is a lotus of ambient electronica, blossoming regularly ever since 2011, each album released in a format that does the otherwise tired old jewel case format proud – there´s always a booklet swollen with the breathtaking (mostly landscape) photography of its “tertön“, mr_rehn. As individual as the particular peaky-ness of every mountain peak, each is its own gateway into the mandala of a personal but shareable universe.
Phra Rahu is a sprawling, double disc overview of the label´s feel. There are some stunning exceptions to the usual expectations, perhaps in light (or rather, “in shadow”?) of its dedication to a dark deity and the legendary tale woven about its most devious act. The twelve pieces are almost all previously unreleased, except a trio from other labels; another three were specially created for this anthology.
Rahu is a demigod from Hindu mythology, whose might is such that he once devoured the sun. Each disc is a chapter dedicated to his story, the first entitled “Eclipse Event,” opening the volume with the suitably mood-setting gothic sweep and distant banshee howls of “Premonitions”, the first of two contributions by Last Industrial Estate bookending “The Black Hand Reaches Out” by Parikrama & The Newschubert, in which light bristles and flares against the darkness. That “hand” is otherwise the only human touch to this opus; Phra Rahu is a cosmic event, witnessed only by the windowless monads drifting in space. Space is said to abhor a vacuum, yet especially as we drift toward the close of the first chapter, this music creates an absolutely luscious one.
Due to the monolithic time signature (a full eighty minutes per disc) it becomes increasingly difficult to distinguish where one artist leaves off and the next is ushered in, so one can only take an educated guess when “The Devouring of the Sun” by LiST has drawn to a close and “Tormented Lands” by Seetyca & Etheocles Stevens commences. The rise of a dharma trumpet would seem to signal the beginning of “The Intervention of Lord Vishnu Part I & II” and ceremonial drumming seems to be telegraphing its approaching end, before the breathy, twinkling ambience of Mathias Grassow, credited with the last section, “Mohini the Enchantress”, becomes distinguishable against blackened heavens. Ultimately, attribution is irrelevant and what´s more, a credit to the seamless arrangement of the compiler.
The second chapter, “Rahu Mantras” rolls out like one long, numinous but multivalent drone joining five pieces contributed in turn by A.P. (Anders Peterson, who also masters most gterma productions and appears earlier in the guise of Last Industrial Estate), eco-ambient veteran Mathias Grassow and Jiří Mazánek, Grassow solo, Earth Vibration and New Zealand´s David Parsons. Long airy and beatless, it shimmers like a mirage and pit-a-pats on tiptoe in the middle, after which it opens slowly and magnificently, like the maw of Rahu gaping, sun reemerging, pushed by tablas and solar winds.
Phra Rahu is an awesome, perfectly paced astral journey, anything but meditation music, an instar struggling toward surface and light.
gterma´s discography is an utter pantheon of thoughtfully executed, Subcontinental-inflected ambient, divulged lucidly in word and sound here. A personal favourite is the superior and mystic dub ambient of Urenga (Andras Kiss, who contributes to Phra Rahu as Indo), whose only physical releases among a shoal of digital albums have appeared with the gterma imprint. Mu (The Lost Continent) is pure Shangri-La, while After Rain is humid and kir-coloured." [Cyclic Defrost]
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2014 |
€19.50 |
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AUSGEWÄHLTE GERÄUSCHE |
do-CD & BOOK |
"The 50th release by the aufabwegen label is also part of the edition elektronik of the Deutscher Musikrat. The extensive double CD compilation comes with a detailed booklet. The release links up the history of the aufabwegen label with a personal take on the evelotion of noise music in Germany. It traces the developments from the early cathartic powers of pure noise via bruitistic sound researches up to the formation of an aesthetic of noises themselves; a self conscious sound culture. This movement is illustrated for the listener in 29 subjectively selected tracks. The sounds
range from subtle ambient via dense collages and concrete sound landscapes on to rhythmic pieces. It comprises almost exclusively of unreleased or very rare to find material by all participating artists. The collection features
pieces by some of the founding projects of noise music as well as newer projects and younger musicians thereby shocasing a wide range of contemporary artistic positions in noise music. It is hoped that this broad
scope will draw new audiences to the magic of noise music.
DVD Digibook with 82 pp booklet featuring extensive artist info and essays
on sound by Johannes Ullmaier and Till Kniola (all in german and english),
designed by Robert Schalinski. CDs mastered by Marcus Schmickler, edition of 1000 copies.
29 unreleased or rare tracks by AALFANG MIT PFERDEKOPF, ARS MORIENDI, MARC BEHRENS, FRANK BRETSCHNEIDER, GREGORY BÜTTNER, COLUMN ONE, CORE, CRANIOCLAST, EVAPORI, FETISCH PARK, LIMPE FUCHS, CHRISTOPH HEEMANN, HITHLAHABUTH, KALLABRIS, THOMAS KÖNER, KONTAKTA, KONRAD KRAFT, licht-ung, MAEROR TRI, MØHR, N(33), RLW, SCHACHTANLAGE GEGENORT, DAS SYNTHETISCHE
MISCHGEWEBE, ASMUS TIETCHENS, DIE TÖDLICHE DORIS, WERKBUND, ACHIM WOLLSCHEID, XYRAMAT."
www.aufabwegen.com
|
2016 |
€22.00 |
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DRONE-MIND // MIND-DRONE Vol. 5 |
LP |
DRONE-MIND // MIND DRONE - Volume 5
The series shows the various sides of todays experimental drone-music.
"In an era when so much content is driven by personality, we offer instead the challenge, or the respite, of interacting with sound on its own terms." [CLADE,]
This LP-series from Drone Records is dedicated to the Drones of the World, and the Drones of our Minds. A kind of continuation of the Drone 7"-series, with artwork based on huge paintings by British artist PETE GREENING. Drone Music is seen as more than a mere 'music style', it expresses an approach to perceive and understand the world. DRONE-MIND and MIND-DRONE build a circle of diverse inter-relations. The Drone as a metaphor for everything that vibrates, that releases energy - from atoms and elementary particles to the hum of the earth and the universe. The Drone as an entity that connects everthing that exists within our own "mind-space", perception and self.
Four "Drones" on one record! Volume FIVE (MIND-05) is OUT NOW (Oct. 2016) and features:
GYDJA ҉ CLADE,
MONOCUBE ҉ YRSEL
GYDJA: (New Zealand) Enchanting female drone esoterica by an artist who is also known through her stunning artworks for COLD SPRING and other labels. Through magnetic winds and metallic clouds the long track "Gjallarbru" creates a wonderful secretful and sensitive atmosphere; very lonely and frosty, like a cold and clear consciousness released on a high mountain, on top of the world...
CLADE, (Scotland / USA) Named after a notion taken from biology science (=Monophylum), this duo is based in Scotland and USA, alluring with very focused minimal drones on so far four releases. The two tracks presented here stand out with their use of somehow refractional, fibrous sounds, placed on monotonus drones with a very sedative and insistent effect...
MONOCUBE: (Ukraine) This "ethereal drone" discovery from Ukraine moves musically through endless spaces, creating choral-like aural clouds and strange melodies => self-supporting drones with an incredible width, when even the smallest particles of concrete microsound encountering are exciting, entering into a heavenly "song of the sirens" choir..
YRSEL : (France) Another bi-national project is this French-Swedish collaboration of JULIEN LOUVET (2:13 PM, etc.) and C-J LARSGÅRDEN (ONDO),who released three albums so far. Their track "Krstnhmnbrtncrt" consists of very heavy, swallowing drones with atonal elements coming to the surface, diffus and poisonous but also lulling you into a deep (dead) sleep., slowly drowning in dense humming waves of cryptic drones...
SOLID SILVER COLOURED VINYL, graphic design by ABBY HELASDOTTIR, using two paintings by British painter PETE GREENING (www.redbubble.com/people/petegreening); limited ed. of 400 copies
listen: soundcloud.com/drone-records order: www.dronerecords.de
|
2016 |
€15.00 |
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A Taste of MOLOKO PLUS / 1996-2016 |
do-CD |
A TASTE OF MOLOKO PLUS (1996-2016)
Format: 2 CD, Digipak, Download
Country: Germany
Released: 02.09.16
Genre: Alternativ Rock, Electronic
Style: Ambient, Industrial, Experimental, Drum & Bass, Dub, Rock & Roll, Plunderphonics, Darkwave, Cut Up etc.
Compiled by Rex Joswig
Artwork by Robert Schalinski
00 CD 1
01 Happy Anniversary
00 by The Excellent Listener 01:52
02 The Silencer
00 by The Hidden Sea 04:38
03 / 09 / 13 Take 1 / 2 / 4
00 by Jürgen Ploog 00:37 / 01:27 / 01:09
04 100° In The Shade
00 by The Fatal Shore 04:55
05 Sehn=Sucht
00 by Herbst In Peking 06:59
06 Backbone Break
00 by R. Stevie Moore 00:50
07 Baby, Scratch My Back
00 by R. Stevie Moore 03:05
08 Dan The Man From Ampellang
00 by Dim Locator 04:42
10 Resurrection Day
00 by Phil Shoenfelt 04:07
11 Imagine This
00 by Krohn Jestram Lippok 02:54
12 Immer Wenn Es Regnet
00 by Herbst In Peking 04:54
14 Drowning Fool
00 by The Hidden Sea 06:28
15 Wild Is The Wind
00 by The Fatal Shore 04:27
16 Time Bells
00 by Project Skull 04:46
17 Pee. Bee. Woman
00 by Badphish 06:51
18 Moos & Berge
00 by Britannia Theatre 08:13
19 Dunkler Shanty
00 by Herbst In Peking 03:11
20 Some Sunny Day
00 by The Excellent Listener 03:17
00 CD 2
01 Sadelectricity
00 by Mimetic 03:27
02 East 17 (dad version)
00 by Column One 06:27
03 Loop
00 by Medusa 04:48
04 / 16 Half Life / Storm Troopers
00 by De Fabriek 00:39 / 00:42
05 Warm Leatherette
00 by Machine de Beauvoir 03:06
06 / 19 Take 8 / Take 9
00 by Jürgen Ploog 00:50 / 01:12
07 Rydike
00 by Marc Wannabe 04:15
08 On The Road
00 by Gerome Nox 05:51
09 Quantum Insert
00 by Alfred 23 Harth & Wolfgang Seidel 03:32
10 1867
00 by Delphium 02:59
11 Douce Vie (Mimetic rmx)
00 by Herbst In Peking 05:02
12 Future
00 by Shroom & Al.x 04:43
13 Words
00 by The Excellent Listener 00:56
14 My True I
00 by The Same 05:43
15 The Right To Doubt It (edit)
00 by Column One 04:44
17 Am Abhang
00 by The Same 04:49
18 Pathology Cut
00 by Project Skull 01:15
20 Es Gibt Keine Freiheit
00 by Herbst In Peking 09:47
21 Auf Matrosen
00 by Automatic Noir 03:53
www.molokoplusrecords.de
|
2016 |
€15.00 |
|
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'... that first Season' - A Winter-Light Compilation |
do-CD |
We invited 16 specific artists from all corners of the globe to contribute exclusive tracks for “…that first season”. Many of the artists are favourite listens of ours, as well as the addition of one or two new and interesting ones. The resulting compilation of tracks offers the listener a unique perspective from each artist based upon the one common theme - the winter light.
It was always an interesting idea to us to see how this theme would play out from different parts of the world, across both hemispheres and on different continents, with different styles of ambient and artistic approaches. All of the submitted tracks have been included on this double compilation and our expectations have been exceeded with the quality, the variety of rich sounds and depth of the music. Spanning across two discs, Heavy Snow and Long Shadows, Winter-Light and the participating artists are pleased to offer over 140 minutes of exclusive music, brought together for the first time on this, our first compilation.
The artwork has been produced by Midnight Sun Studio and all tracks have been mastered by Simon Heath. All music recorded in 2016.
We would like to extend a heartfelt thank you to everybody who has contributed to making this release possible. Dedicated to our Ezzy.
The DCD comes in a 8-panel full colour digi-pack and is also available as a digital download. Strictly limited to 500 copies.
CD1: Heavy Snow
1.1 Seetyca - The Stars
1.2 Gydja - Krapadrífa ok snáka sótt
1.3 Phantom Ship - Entanglement (version)
1.4 Foetusdreams - Ignis Fatuum
1.5 Nexus Sun - Estive
1.6 ABBILDUNG - Om Ter Om
1.7 Charadriiform & Filivs Macrocosmi - Drifting Stations
1.8 VelgeNaturlig - Golden
1.9 Rapoon - Tal-Gel Isolde
CD2: Long Shadows
2.1 Jeff Stonehouse
2.2 Havdis - Borea
2.3 Apocryphos - Sesam In Winter Lights
2.4 Strom Noir - Not Everything Dies
2.5 Kloob - A Special Glow
2.6 Michael Brückner & Mathias Grassow - ,,The Fall Of Leaves''
2.7 Hakobune - Shimoyo
www.winter-light.nl
"Apart from the high quality of the music itself, this compilation is very special for at least two different reasons. One, the cohesive character of the whole thing which sounds, well, maybe not as if it has been composed by a single artist, but rather as a group of musicians from various parts of the world, gathered under one idea, understood 100% by each and every one of them. And two, the diversity of the projects presenting different approaches within the ambient framework. Where else would you find purely dark ambient outputs like Abbildung or Apocryphos going hand in hand with Hakobune or Strom Noir, which are not affiliated with the dark scene, plus the emotional drone masters like Havdis and Mathias Grassow on top of that.
Most of them have been present on Santa Sangre with their full albums in the past. I don’t know if there’s a point in detailed descriptions of the tracks one by one, because here it’s all about nuances; nuances that sometimes are more significant, sometimes less, sometimes are very tiny, but it is they which make each project unique. Let’s try to point out these nuances then – just bear in mind that the atmospheric basis is the same for all of them. Organic drones by Seetyca that make you feel like you’re deep under water, warm microglitches and delicate synths by Gydja that make me like this composition more than her darker or more ritual offerings. Vast cosmic howls by Phantom Ship, that don’t have the most original feeling in the world, but they swallow your body and soul and take you straight into the void. The monolithic blackness of Foetusdreams which reminds me of the familiar monument from ‘2001: Space Odyssey’ hovering over the surface of the moon. The gloomy majesty of Nexus Sun which is reminiscent of the image of mountain summits touching the grey sky. The disturbing field recordings and dense bass backgrounds by Abbildung, sounding like a perfect aural illustration of the “Hell” segment of “The Garden of Earthly Delights” by Hieronymus Bosch. Slow synth melodies and surreal samples from some Russian radio broadcast by Charadriiform & Filivs Macrocosmi, which are like lost signals and transmissions floating over the Siberian nowhere. Semiacoustic solace by Velge Naturlig that reminds you that there’s a day after each night, and the sun will always appear after the harshest snowstorm. The Middle Eastern mystery of Rapoon which in five minutes tells the story of the thousands of uneasy years of that region.
This is how “Heavy Snow”, the first half of this double CD ends, while the second half, entitled “Long Shadows”, begins with Jeff Stonehouse who has something in common with Seetyca: organic, influenced by the sea, though less dark. And even more minimal. After that, the sad beauty of ‘Arctic Nature’ by Havdis, who is probably the most underappreciated ambient artist on this planet. The longest and most beautiful piece on “…That First Season”. Apocryphos comes from the USA, but continues in the path taken by Havdis in the preceding track. The artist’s emotional, slowly forming melodies keep you frozen and in awe. Trance guitar drones by Strom Noir make me long for Autumn. Spatious and windy textures with subtle oldschool synth sequences by Kloob may recall some of Atomine Elektrine’s works. Combining ethereal drones with classic, space (quite Schulze-esque) electronica by Michael Brückner & Mathias Grassow prove that Mathias is simply the best in this spiritual ambient business, and that inviting his more Berlin school-oriented colleague to collaborate on this track wasn’t a misguided idea at all. Calming serenity by Hakobune, which makes “Shimoyo” an accurate ending of this almost two-and-a-half-hour long compilation.
Nature, sadness, the interchange of seasons and weather conditions: this is why I like ambient music the most, and this is what I get here in excess. Surely one of the best compilations released over the past few years. And I consider it as a crowning of the first cycle of the Winter Light label’s activity. Why am I sure that only great things are to come from the Netherlands?" [Stark/Santa Sangre]
|
2017 |
€16.00 |
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Your Reality is broken |
LP |
A compilation of covers, reinterpretations and/or transformations of Contrastate tracks in celebration of their 30th anniversary. The inivitation to participate was limited to a select few artists who have over the years, in some shape or form, worked with Contrastate. Track A1: Recorded in 2016. The original piece "The People Who Read The Books" was from 1997 concerts in Erlangen, Muenster and Nevers. Track A2: Recorded in 2016 Track A3: Recorded in March 2017. Sound sources: "As Time Began", "Thirst For Knowledge", "A Thousand Badgers In Labour" and a self played cover version of "An End marked By Pessimism". Track B1: Recorded in 2017. The track originates from the album "A Breeding Ground For Flies". Track B2: Recorded in 2017. Sound sources: English Embers/In Absentia - plus original material Track B3: Recorded in 2017. Includes a printed inner-sleeve. Front cover artwork: "Das Tier ist tod" Back cover artwork: "Perinatale Grundmatrix I" Insert artwork: "Tre uomini sulla croce"
Tracklist Hide Credits A1 –Contrastate The Peolple Who Control The Information Recorded By – Contrastate 5:00
A2 –RLW Goodbye Great Nation 2016 Recorded By – RLW 7:31
A3 –Troum An End Marked, As Time Began Recorded By – Troum 6:21
B1 –Genocide Organ / Contrastate Son Of Sam Recorded By – Genocide Organ 5:46
B2 –Band Of Pain Re-establishing Beams (#9) Recorded By – Steve Pittis 6:09
B3 –État D'Urgence (2) Assassinate En Arrière-Plan Recorded By – État D'Urgence (2) 5:24
"Ever since their inception in the late 1980s, this UK project has simultaneously dabbled both in the worlds of musique concret and harsh electronics; two styles that are undeniably similar but have very few in the way of crossover artists, all with a distinct sense of irreverence. Active again after a lengthy hiatus in the early part of the 21st century, Your Reality is Broken is another piece of work that successfully blurs unnecessary lines; in this case if it is a tribute album to them, a remix collection, or a compilation of collaborations. In truth, it is all of these things at once, and it is excellent.
There are only five artists who were invited to participate in this release, each providing one piece that is either a reworking of Contrastate material, a collaboration with them, or in the case of the opening piece, Contrastate covering themselves. The remainder of Your Reality is Broken are artists that also work between those two aforementioned stylistic poles: RLW, Troum, Genocide Organ, Band of Pain, and État D'Urgence.
Contrastate’s self-reflexive contribution, "The People Who Control the Information," is built upon a different piece that was previously only performed live in 1997, "The People Who Read the Books." In its opening moments it is largely a spoken word performance, with ringing electronics filling the otherwise wide open spaces around the vocals. Sharp, grinding electronics tear through and hints of rhythm appear, which eventually solidify into an almost reggae like beat. By the time it all comes together, it is a bizarre combination of noisy electronics, spoken word, and dancehall beats; a strange combination no doubt, but also one that works very well.
Troum's "An End Marked, as Time Began" is constructed by the legendary drone act from three existing Contrastate works plus their own cover of "An End Marked By Pessimism." Besides the aforementioned song, this is pretty much the other most musical piece here. Troum blend the existing recordings into a sustained wall of cavernous sound, making for a murky and somewhat oppressive sonic feel. With snatches of voice peppered throughout and swirling strings later introduced, it comes together in a surprisingly melodic and classical-tinged form.
"Son of Sam" is a reworking of the same titled composition from the band's 2012 A Breeding Ground for Flies album that is credited to both Genocide Organ and Contrastate on the sleeve, so I am not sure if it is a collaboration or a reworking, but it is distinctly GO in sound. This is the modern day form of the legendary band, which is less about intentionally lo-fi noise and more atmospherically bleak. The treated and flanged vocals are of course there, as is the droning, abrasive Korg MS-10 synth, but the whole piece is very clean and well refined, more depressive than aggressive. Steve Pittis' Band of Pain uses material from English Embers and In Absentia to build "Re-establishing Beams (#9)": a mélange of echoing thuds and jarring, drill-like electronics that are at first right in line with old school noise sensibilities but eventually goes in to more restrained, subtle places.
Ralf Wehowsky (as RLW) and État D’Urgence each supply the more disturbing, discomforting tributes on this record. The former's "Goodbye Great Nation 2016" is a pairing of churning sub bass and piercing high frequencies that, while somewhat minimal at first, convey a splendidly sinister mood. Fragments of voice and chimes are weaved in, and with the random voices and mangled piano, it is an entirely disorienting and uncomfortable sounding composition. The latter’s "Assassinate En Arrière-Plan" is another where vocals are up front and demonically processed, making for the most sinister and horror-esque moments of this record.
Your Reality is Broken is a bit of an odd compilation, but one that is undoubtedly Contrastate, and the artists selected all reflect this idiosyncratic approach just as well. All of the artists contribute excellent reworkings or inspired pieces, but I also appreciate the classic compilation feel to the record. The mix of artists, the presentation, the style, it all reminded me of classic albums like the Rising from the Red Sands series or albums put out by RRRecords a few decades ago. It simply hits all the right buttons from beginning to end." [Creaig Dunton / Brainwashed]
|
2017 |
€20.00 |
|
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TOUCH Movements |
BOOK + CD |
In a 24/7 world there is no greater challenge than “to be in command of one’s own time”. Is it true that the ability to download anything, at any moment, constitutes freedom? Has the ‘value’ of music, art and design been stripped bare? “I Google, therefore I am”…
Touch MOVEMENTS has been compiled over the course of 3 years. It is a response to many requests for Touch to publish a fuller account of Jon Wozencroft’s photography for the cover art of the project. The book follows the music, which was compiled step-by-step, like a jigsaw – there was not an “open call” to the artists, rather a sequential development which gives the CD a special narrative quality. And since our last Touch 30 compilation in 2012, the accuracy of the music has grown and rises to the challenge of what sound can do to transform perceptions about the immediate emotion of musical work and its more difficult, longer term evolution.
Following Touch Folio 001 in 2015, this series is a dedication to finding new ways of audiovisual publishing, somewhere between the twin peaks of a jewel-cased CD and a lavish box-set. The two elements of sound and the visual work in parallel to create the idea of an “Ear-book”, whose interdependency reveals itself over time, and allows the richest of listening and viewing experiences. The music and the photography is fully annotated, alongside a rarely-seen manifesto by the Surrealist film-maker Jan Švankmajer which celebrates the spirit of the creative act.
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2017 |
€42.50 |
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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
|
2018 |
€12.00 |
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Ich glaube ich höre Genesungswerk |
CD |
"This very nice (and nicely packed) compilation is a selection of 14 exclusive tracks, new or previously unreleased from the Genesungswerk label and their allies out of Germany, Dortmund. In addition, there is a cut-up version of the entire CD by Segment, available for download at www.genesungswerk.de/compilation. Unconventionalism is the connection here between the diversity of styles, described as 'Weird noises, nice melodies, obscure data snippets...' by Genesungswerk themselves. Most of the artists have contributed calm and moody electronic music, some a little more dub influenced ([multer], krill.minima, Basalt or Konrad Bayer) while others have a more soundtrack-ish approach, like Kallabris, Teamforest, Syncliar, Resonator and N (the guitarist from multer who submits a guitar-only piece far removed from recognizable guitar sounds). The opening and finishing Tracks by Pale Asle Petterson and P. Myles Bryson are fine examples in a more experimental vein, while the contributions from Segment (the label head himself), Franco Baresi and Karten Frankreich consist of a few deranged Dada Pop tunes. All of which are very suitable sounds for late night listening." [Carsten S./Brainwashed]
www.genesungswerk.de
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2002 |
€8.00 |
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Dark Ambient Radio Volume 3 |
CD |
"This compilation lets you know what it is right up front, and in some ways it flows together like a good radio show should. If you didn't know it was a compilation, it would be easy to think that it was the work of the same artist for several tracks. I had not heard of any of these artists, so I was interested to see what this group had to offer. Aspectee, Nepenthe, and Valerio Orlandini open the disc with three tracks respectively of nice spacey ambient. Mortaja mixes it up a bit with some ritualistic chanting. Crepuscular throws down some crunchy ambient with the feel of tectonic plates shifting. Myth Industries and Sjellos also departs from the space ambient feel with slow waves of rattling and light drumming. Sjellos takes on his own track with some drums that I didn't really expect to kick in, but it worked. Then he goes back to the comfort of droning ambiance. Winterbound provides the base for your next Halloween mix ' this has a nice horror movie soundtrack feel to it. Mytrip finishes us off with 'Small Humyn,' which has a nice heaviness to it. There is a feeling of pressure and depth, like the thick drone that you might find in the inside of a beehive. For me this was one of the standout tracks on this disc. Overall this was interesting dark ambient and it was curated well. If you want to hear some new blood in the dark ambient scene, this is one to pick up. This compilation is limited to 500 copies and weighs in at around 72 minutes." [Chain DLK]
www.darkambientradio.de
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2013 |
€13.00 |
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DRONE-MIND // MIND-DRONE Vol. 7: OPENING PERFORMANCE ORCHESTRA, MYTRIP, SKELDOS, SPECIMENS |
LP & CD |
...finally a new issue in our "drone-explorers" LP-series, for the first time with full bonus CD!
Featuring: SKELDOS (the new drone-melancholia phenomenon from Lithuania), OPENING PERFORMANCE ORCHESTRA (Prague - incredible dense and tight drone waves with scientific approach - full length/different version of their piece on the bonus CD), enchanting guitar/field recording drones from London based SPECIMENS, and MYTRIP from Bulgaria continues his mission to create timeless expanses of pulsing, spectral synth drones..
DRONE-MIND // MIND-DRONE - Volume 7 LP + CD
The series shows the various sides of todays experimental drone-music.
This LP-series from Drone Records is dedicated to the Drones of the World, and the Drones of our Minds.
A kind of continuation of the Drone 7"-series, with artwork based on paintings by British artist PETE GREENING.
Drone Music is seen as more than a mere 'music style', it expresses an approach to perceive and understand the world. DRONE-MIND and MIND-DRONE build a circle of diverse inter-relations. The Drone as a metaphor for everything that vibrates, that releases energy - from atoms and elementary particles to the hum of the earth and the universe. The Drone as an entity that connects everthing that exists within our own "mind-space", perception and self.
Four "Drones" on one record! Volume SEVEN (MIND-07), for the first time with full bonus CD, is OUT NOW (05/2019) feat.:
SPECIMENS ҉ SKELDOS ҉ MYTRIP
OPENING PERFORMANCE ORCHESTRA
Behind SPECIMENS we find the London based ambient/drone artist Alex Ives. His productions pull together delicately arranged but often highly driven cassette loops, synth layers and field recordings as well as often employing wider instrumentation such as organ drones, guitar swells & saxophone hidden beneath the noise. Two excellent LPs have been released so far on his own label First Terrace Records and SVS Records.
Alex Ives also co-hosts a monthly experimental radio show on Resonance Extra.
For MIND-07 we present three shorter SPECIMENS pieces: these raw, somehow perforated drones with lots of atmospheric noise remind on PETER WRIGHT or early TIM HECKER, creating a truly absorbing mood.
SKELDOS: This "drone-melancholia" phenomenon (active since 2011) doing "abstract, longing, flowing soundscapes with tender touch of a distant melody" from Lithuania breathed out one long track that befogs everything in sadnesss and emotion, built on waving sounds from accordeon, voice and other instrumental sources, slowly unfolding into multiple layers. The title of the track "Byra" means 'falling' or 'crumbling' and is encrypted through this fragmented sentence: "...or listening to the things you have barely touched falling... (sls.III)", coming from a never-ending sentence which was started with the first SKELDOS album.
MYTRIP from Bulgaria has been characterized by Tiny Mix Tapes with the phrase "ambient music as a weapon" and is surely standing at the forefront of the vivid electronic/ambient/drone scene there, active since about 10 years with the AMEK label. Two tracks of swirling and pulsing spectral synth drones show the newest development of the project, founded on "more melody-driven and textural soundscapes, where blurry rhythmic patterns meet with organic field recordings, found sounds and deconstructed instrumentation."
OPENING PERFORMANCE ORCHESTRA: Something very special is also the last act on MIND-07, O.P.O. from Prague, with a 12min. 'especially mastered for vinyl'-version of 'Creeping Waves', the FULL version (70 min.) of this piece is placed on the bonus CD. An incredible dense and steadily fluctuating drone expansion, based on the Creeping Wave theory, applied to acoustic phenomena: "According to the principle of diffraction, when a wave front passes an obstruction, it spreads out into the shadowed space. A creeping wave in electromagnetism or acoustics is the wave that is diffracted around the shadowed surface of a smooth body such as a sphere. Creeping waves greatly extend the ground wave propagation of long wavelength (low frequency) radio. They also cause both of a person's ears to hear a sound, rather than only the ear on the side of the head facing the origin of the sound. In radar ranging, the creeping wave return appears to come from behind the target."
cover-art by TILMANN BENNINGHAUS using two paintings by British artist PETE GREENING
Edition of 400 copies on TURQUOISE coloured VINYL. Mastering by PETER ANDERSSON
listen: soundcloud.com/drone-records order: www.dronerecords.de
Title: DRONE-MIND//MIND-DRONE Vol. 7
Track title Track time
Track 1 SPECIMENS - Broken Beams 5:16
Track 2 SPECIMENS - First Flight 3:58
Track 3 SPECIMENS - Over the Great Island 3:35
Track 4 SKELDOS - Byra 10:42
______________________________________________________________
Side B
Track title Track time
Track 1 MYTRIP - Death is my Heaven 4:24
Track 2 MYTRIP - I stood still 6:59
Track 3 OPENING PERFORMANCE ORCH. - Creeping Waves III 12:00
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2019 |
€18.00 |
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CHANGEZ RETRAVAILLE (Changez les Blockeurs) |
3 x CD |
Various artists' reworking of TNB's legendary LP from 1982.
Changez Les Blockeurs has attained a somewhat mythical / legendary status (Record Collector magazine included it in a list of the rarest, most collectable records ever) and 2017 was the 35th anniversary of its original release. In celebration of this, TNB invited some of their favourite artists to compose a reworking which have been issued collectively as Changez Retravaillé (Changez Reworked.)
Nurse With Wound, Philip Sanderson (Storm Bugs), Mark Durgan (Putrefier), Phil Julian (Cheapmachines), The Prestidigitators, Anomali, Spoils & Relics, Asmus Tietchens, Ralf Wehowsky (a.k.a. RLW), Das Synthetische Mischgewebe, Kommissar Hjuler, Rudolf Eb.er (Schimphluch Gruppe), Frans de Waard (QST), Jerome Noetinger, Giancarlo / Massimo Toniutti, Alexei Borisov, TNM, Thurston Moore, Jim O'Rourke, GX Jupitter-Larsen (The Haters), John Wiese, Idea Fire Company, Irr. App. (Ext.), Merzbow, K2, Toshiji Mikawa (Incapacitants), Kazumoto Endo, Nobuo Yamada, Daisuke Suzuki, Veltz.
"Nurse With Wound open the Changez Retravaillé compilation, 30 tracks over three CDs. Consistent with their efforts to forge links with the global Noise community, and indeed a strong influence on it, it’s fair to think of this as a gathering of TNB’s peers. Most people in the market for this could have predicted the appearance of Mark Durgan (Putrefier), Rudolf Eb.er (Schimpfluch Gruppe), GX Jupitter-Larsen (The Haters), Merzbow et al. Durgan submits a rather invigorating aural firework display; Anomali and QST (Frans de Waard)’s Techno leanings feel considerably bolder than noise remixed as noise. With that said, harsh noise tornados like that served up by K2 can still rattle your senses." The Wire
Selected comments / reviews of the original LP:
As far as I'm concerned Noise as we know it today starts with Changez Les Blockeurs. It is universally accepted as the first true Noise LP of the modern era. Ron Lessard, RRRecords
A warehouse symphony in which workers pile scrap metal in on honour of Beethoven’s Ode To Joy. A masterpiece. ND
Changez Les Blockeurs is one of the few noise recordings I would unhesitatingly command as 'essential,' containing some of the most pure and untamed experimentation recorded in the late 20th century. Signal To Noise
Changez Les Blockeurs is full of chaotic Dada referentialism. You will be tempted to think first of Satie’s Musique D’ameublement (Furniture Music) in a perverse sense: a squawking symphony filled with rusty wheels and creaking wooden floor. A syntax destruction, an anti-narrative in the form of a happening that draws and maintains an acoustic noise art continuity with the assemblages of pre-Fluxus or to John Cage’s score Living Room Music. ei
Changez Les Blockeurs turned the international Noise scene on its head. It scrambled so many circuits that its influence is inestimable. It strikes parallels with the automatic music of Fluxus and is both ultra-sophisticated and jaw-droppingly crude. A freely improvised electro-acoustic session that utilizes the sound of wheelchair runners, broken glass and bowed metal in order to access a zone of complete brain-stilling gridlock. One of the first post-Throbbing Gristle recordings to run an umbilical to the classical noise of the 20th century.' David Keenan, The Wire / Red Bull Music Academy
Brought up as I was on the camouflaged Pop absurdism of Throbbing Gristle the short step into the anti-art Dada / Fluxus ethos of TNB would have been manna from a post-Punk heaven. Lumps of metal get thrown around in a bid to resurrect the ghost of Tristan Tzara, two invalids in wheelchairs fencing with broken car aerials, a baby elephant blindly trying to escape a room full of bicycles and sackbuts. It’s magnificent in its absurdity. It’s a discomforting listen that has gained near mythical status and deserves its status as one of the most sought after releases of all time. Idwal Fisher
When I listen to Changez Les Blockeurs I think of Tristan Tzara, Hugo Ball, and other self-proclaimed art revolutionaries who followed manifestos that promoted anti-rationalism above all else. With that in mind, part of me feels that attempting to review it is akin to trying to use a rational literary standpoint to critique Tzara’s books of proto-cut-up musings, Blago Bung Blago Bung, i.e. misguided and ultimately pointless. Feral Debris
There is no sense of composition, no beginning nor end, no milestone, no virtuosity. TNB's Dadaism can be compared to NWW’s Surrealism. Changez Les Blockeurs lays bare some primitive reality, defined by what it is not and from their negations only destruction remains. Unique in every sense of the word. Guts Of Darkness
Changez Les Blockeurs can be listened to a hundred times and still keep its mysteries intact. It'll also be just as confounding and compelling the hundredth time as it was the first. There isn't any other recording that sounds like this, not even the TNB records that came after it, solid as many of them are. Howard Stelzer, Intransitive
Changez Les Blockeurs is the ultimate statement in musical nihilism. It's hard to believe humans made this, there is no emotion in the work at all. Never before has anyone used textures like these in a context like this. No matter how much is said about this album, no matter how many meaningless and useless words are typed in an attempt to explain the importance of this record, nothing will come close to listening to it. Forget anything you know about music because it will be abandoned. As a document and as (non)music, TNB had in mind what they wanted to do with this record and executed it flawlessly. Notebooks
www.ricercasonora.com/catalog/changez-retravaille/28/
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2019 |
€26.00 |
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Homo Strepitus |
CD |
A compilation of modern music of the western world.
The finest selection of postindustrial artists doing their atmost in their war against silence.
With the infamous Lina Baby Doll as curator aswell as composer of the thematic rawmaterial forwarded to the musicians given free hands to their estetic decisions, we can guarantee there have been a thorough preparation going on during the 10 years passing since the project started and all this only to give you the most excellent listening experience that could be found in the darker realms of the industrial musicscene.
Tracklist
1. Horse Gives Birth To Fly - Plink Tenebre
2. Brighter Death Now - The Sinister Solitude
3. Trepaneringsritualen - By Man Comes Death
4. raison d'être - And The Stones Where Cloven
5. Reutoff - Odd Pole Tenebre
6. Deutsch Nepal - You Will Be His Wonder
7. Morthound - Materialization
8. Kollaps - Self-Flagellation |
2019 |
€13.00 |
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Terässinfonia Vol. 1 |
CD |
"Terässinfonia - Steel Symphony: Sound of Finnish experimental noise.
For 25 years Freak Animal Records has published countless releases by Finnish artists. Activities of label has played part in shaping perception how many people see the Finnish noise and experimental underground. Despite vast amount of releases, label has never given full view that would reveal diversity of expression found among Finnish scene.
After quarter of century of work, Freak Animal aimed to take a task of compilation series under title Terässinfonia. To present Finnish noisy and abstract experimental sound in wider scale. Assumption is, that there would be at least three volumes, if not more. All volumes include many projects unknown for vast majority of people. Series will illuminate that Finland is at this moment experiencing surge of creativity on this field, even if it may happen widely unnoticed.
VOL1:
Umpio ”junkdive”
Kitu ”Edeema”
Tyhjä Pää ”Acetone”
Hazarda Bruo Sonsistemo ”loishäätö”
Atrophist ”Mutation Cycles”
Unclean ”Mental Deprivation”
Edge of Decay ”Anomalia”
H.Ö.H. ”Mittausteknologian kehittyessä”
Jazzhand ”Gavia Arctica”
Rotat ”Guts”
Junkyard Shaman ”Harha”
Contortus ”Pristine”
Metsäkirkko ”ihmisen jälkeen”
https://www.nhfastore.net/terassinfonia-1
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2020 |
€8.00 |
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Terässinfonia Vol. 2 |
CD |
Terässinfonia – Steel Symphony: Sound of Finnish experimental noise.
For 25 years Freak Animal Records has published countless releases by Finnish artists. Activities of label has played part in shaping perception how many people see the Finnish noise and experimental underground. Despite vast amount of releases, label has never given full view that would reveal diversity of expression found among Finnish scene.
After quarter of century of work, Freak Animal aimed to take a task of compilation series under title Terässinfonia. To present Finnish noisy and abstract experimental sound in wider scale. Assumption is, that there would be at least three volumes, if not more. All volumes include many projects unknown for vast majority of people. Series will illuminate that Finland is at this moment experiencing surge of creativity on this field, even if it may happen widely unnoticed.
VOL2:
Nuori Veri ”Jatkumon Ahjo”
Parempi Ratkaisu ”Ali-ihmisten kärsimys”
AMEK MAJ ”Miksei”
Toteslaut ”strike the master sword”
Maskhead ”Tormented Pleasures”
Vitun Siat ”ole eläin”
YANA ”Tuntematon”
Circle Of Shit ”fake decoupe orgasm”
Ahola & Silander ”Koitos”
Electric Hobo ”Pripyat”
tyhjiø ”aurinko”
found from : |
2020 |
€8.00 |
|
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Bookwar Records - Famous Lathe Cuts |
LP |
"This collection of tracks has been gathered from the original masters of the extremely limited 7" lathe cut editions produced by Bookwar over the past few years. Features some of the best and most obscure Russian Post-Industrial / Noise / Experimental / Post-Punk music from: Cisfinitum, YAO 91404 D, Grazhdanskaya Oborona, Dao De Noize, Post-Materialists, Obozdur, Ivan Bookwar, Electro-Haram, ADMI, Mount/Ant, Pichismo, Junkmeat, and more. Ltd x 100 copies in a j-card cover."
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2017 |
€18.00 |
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R L E (2020) |
CD |
"Every summer since 2017, attenuation circuit has been organising the “re:flexions sound-art festival” for experimental music at its homebase in Augsburg, Germany. For the 2020 edition of the festival, the label has produced a CD album. It is included in the festival ticket, but also available as a release in its own right. The artists featured on the CD are those who were originally invited to the festival. Due to the current medical precautions and international travel limitations, the line-up of the festival on 4th July had to be changed, but the CD gives a very good idea of the festival's original concept.
Individual artists applied for the festival and were “matched” in trio or quartet configurations by label head and festival organiser Sascha Stadlmeier aka EMERGE to create new collaborations. In anticipation of performing live at the festival together, the newly created line-ups produced the tracks for this album by way of remote collaborations.
Bu.d.d.A., Stadlmeier's own latest duo project with Chris Sigdell aka b°tong, joined forces with trumpet player Fabio Fabbri and Tangerine Dream violinist Hoshiko Yamane to create a haunting yet mind-opening space (or laboratory?) scenario with their track “human interbreeding”.
Agente Costura plays her sewing machine and lays the beat for “sudden descent”, a track that might be described as post-industrial noise-electro (in the 1980s Detroit meaning of electro) in a trio with Occupied Head and Boban Ristevski on various electronics.
Gintas K, Calineczka, and Wilfried Hanrath weave a delicate tapestry of lowercase drone sounds that is interspersed with fragile metallic sounds of mysterious origin that even coalesce into strange melodies at times. This calm yet by no means monotonous piece is called “closer musings”.
With Lee Enfield, Waterflower, and KOMPRIPIOTR, we dive deep into drone ambient territory, yet with a noisy edge buried underneath the lush layers of harmony. The track's title “scare up” might refer to the noisy beast that is lurking down there, waiting to come to the surface. And sure enough the piece turns into a rather suspenseful ride on the soundwaves.
The final track “ferch” closes the album with meditative post-rock drone ambient. N(91), a veteran of guitar-based drone music who is always “N”, but numbers his projects/releases, meets like-minded duo deep, who use two electric bass guitars and some electronics to create their music."
https://emerge.bandcamp.com/album/r-i
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2020 |
€5.00 |
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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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NEKROPHILE REKORDS 1983-1990 |
10 x LP BOX |
"Symbolically limited to 666 copies, housed in a deluxe wooden box, and also including an exclusive t-shirt and a 240-page book, this magnificent set feature no less than ten LPs and two 7" vinyl records covering the entire Nekrophile Rekords original output, with the welcome addition of two unreleased full-lenght albums by Coming To Now and Metgumbnerbone. Comprehensive edition about the legendary Nekrophile Records tape label. Founded in Vienna by Michael Dewitt, also known as Zoe Dewitt, the label was specialized in occult / ritual industrial music (self-described as 'Martial Music for the New Aeon'). During its lifespan it released eight cassettes and various printed materials.
The label was notable for releasing solo material from Throbbing Gristle member Genesis P-orridge (with Stan Bingo), and also for early material by the noted Industrial band Coil (with Zos Kia), with the participation of Peter Christopherson, another member of Throbbing Gristle. Dewitt released solo material on the label under two names: Korpses Katatonik, and Zero Kama. The Zero Kama album "The Secret Eye of L.A.Y.L.A.H." is purported to have been recorded in its entirety using human bones and skulls as musical instruments. The overall content and design of Nekrophile's releases clearly drew inspiration from the occult, with many references to Aleister Crowley and Thelema in particular." [Soundohm]
LP01 NRC01 1983 Korpses Katatonik Subklinikal Leukotomy 1Lp
LP02 NRC02 1983 Genesis P-Orridge / Stan Bingo What's History 1Lp
LP03 NRC03 1983 Various The Beast 666 1Lp
- Korpses Katatonik Choronzon 4:26
– Coil Here To Here (Double Headed Secret) 4:22
– Hunting Lodge Learn To Will I 4:28
– Kathan Spiss The Serpent 6:38
– Toy Muzik Introducing The Brides Of Christ II Part A 7:45
– Stigma Diaboli La Force Pas La Joie 10:18
– Hunting Lodge Learn To Will II 5:08
– Mr. Vile Thumb Introducing The Brides Of Christ II Part B 4:44
– Zero Kama V.V.V.V.V. 6:59
– Post Mortem: The Sea Of Cefalu 1:45
LP04 NRC04 1984 LAShTAL Thoum Aesh Neith 1Lp
LP05 NRC05 1984 Zos Kia / Coil Transparent 1Lp
LP06 NRC06 1984 Various The Archangels Of Sex Rule The Destruction Of The Regime 1Lp
– Sleep Chamber W:O:M
– Zero Kama Prayer Of Zos
– Ain Soph Theme III
– Ewald Spiss Gbvrh
– Metgumbnerbone Death
– Coming To Now Thy Call To Kia
– Zero Kama Seven Nights Of Tantra
– Ain Soph Theme II
– Ewald Spiss NTzCH
– Sleep Chamber Coven Of Angels
LP07 NRC07 1984 Zero Kama The Secret Eye Of L.A.Y.L.A.H. (Cass, C60) 1Lp
LP08 NRC08 1985 Ain Soph Ars Regia (Cass, Album, C60) 1Lp
LP09 Coming to Now „Closer to Silence“ 1Lp
LP10 Metgumbnerbone For the Raven“ Lp plus 7inch
"Wait, some ritualistik musick in Vital Weekly, reviewed by FdW? That'll be some fine trashing! If you thought that, then I have to disappoint you. I am a fan here, which is a very personal thing. When in the early 80s I discovered Throbbing Gristle, I somehow got hold of a cassette by Genesis P. Orridge and Stan Bingo,
'What's History'. I assume I purchased it at Staalplaat. My musical partner bought 'The Secret Of L.A.Y.LA.H.' by Zero Kama, and together we headed out to the nearby town of Arnhem to see that band perform on what turned out to be one of the very few occasions they ever played live. We thought it was a disappointment. We were promised a concert with skulls and bones, but save for some flutes, all the drumming was on drums, plus some easy blood spatter on a naked girl. My friend asked one of the members what Zero Kama meant and got the dry reply 'zero karma'. Still, we both found the cassette a fascinating thing. Skipping a few years, I found myself behind the counter of Staalplaat. While I had very little interest in the world of death, industrial, and gothic, I found these CD reissues that Staalplaat had made of the Nekrophile Records quite interesting. As part of my research into 'what am I supposed to sell here', I took copies home of the available titles. Coil/Zos Kia had not
been released yet, and we came close to doing it ourselves (or not? That story is somewhere else), Ain Soph was no longer available, but the rest was still there. For a few reasons, I liked this. It was a world of its own, a label that only released a handful of cassettes mysteriously disappeared and yet almost all of it was on CD. I still have the CDs, and I still take m out on occasion to play them in one row.
When Vinyl On Demand announced a 10 LP/2 7" set, it was a no-brainer to spend my Christmas allowance on a box, mainly because there was also a book. Now books about record labels have my utmost interest, even if I don't like the music. This, obviously, is not the case here, as I enjoy the music. Vinyl On Demand delivers heavy books using heavy paper and is almost like an art catalogue. They aren't easy to read but look great. In this book, we find the story of Nekrophile Records well documented, first and foremost by Zoe deWitt, who ran the label in the early 80s (as Michael deWitt). We read of her interest in Psychic TV, magic and occultism as part of industrial music, rather than death and destruction. The music also changed, quieter, using bells, and flutes, next to synthesizers and electronics. deWitte first operated as Korpses Katatonik, later as Zero Kama, when the music became even more rhythmic. Skulls and bones were sourced at an old graveyard, and a legendary cassette came to fruition. As they do those days, deWitt was in contact with other musicians, and, also as they did, this leads to compilation cassettes, which included the first ever track by Coil, and music by Hunting Lodge, Stigma Diaboli, Toy Muziek, Sleep Chamber, Ain Soph, LashTal, and the aforementioned P.Orridge/Bingo tape. The book in this box details the various problems with these releases, such as musicians promising too much or forgetting what was promised. The book has some fine examples of letters from them, such as John Balance's fine writing (as recently also detailed in another book, 'The Abrahadabra Letters'), Steve Stapleton's blunt 'no' to an invitation, catalogues and pamphlets. All with excellent photo material, which made me sad that such things are no longer made (letters, booklets et al., I mean) in these days of digital communication.
Of course, the music is not an insignificant portion of the material. There is an exciting variety here. There is the more experimental synthesizer/electronics side of the ritual industrial music on the one hand. Here we find Korpses Katatonik, LashTal and Ain Soph (the latter, to my surprise, as that one is missing from my old collection, and I was never too fond of their later work). In contrast, the ritual, rhythmic aspect is represented by Zero Kama, whose LP gathered quite a cult following over the past thirty-something years and Metgumnerbone. Their LP was initially not released by Nekrophile, but contacts were established back in the day. The group gained notoriety because of their gravedigging for skulls and bones and subsequent arrest. Another album planned at that time that only sees the light of day now is Coming To Now, a duo of Luther Howard and Andy H. Their music has a fine blend of ritualistic slow drums, flutes and voices and is also similar to the more ritualistic rhythm side, and charming naive quality. The compilations have material from both ends of the musical spectrum, and the Psychic TV influence on Coil, Zoskia, Orrdige/Bingo is a clear one, a little diversification. It is topped with two 7"s by Toy Muzik, quite an unknown entity from the UK in this story, and more Metgumnerbone, to top this off. A small label, whose overviews fit in one wooden box (coffin is the apparent reference), offers a beautiful insight into the ancient and arcane world. I love it!" [FdW / Vital Weekly]
|
2022 |
€299.00 |
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This is Tehran? |
CD |
Tehran - Iran's cultural melting pot with a population of 15 million.
There is a broad and lively music scene here, about which little is known in the West.
"This Is Tehran?" invites you to discover this music scene and marvel at its diversity. From contemporary classical sounds with Saba Alizadeh on the Iranian spiked fiddle Kamanche or Siavash Molaeian together with Kasra Faridi on the piano to the well-known experimental electronic musician Ata "Sote" Ebtekar. The electronic beats of a cooperation of Ehsan Abdipour and Andreas Spechtl stand naturally next to jazzy sounds of a Parastoo Ahmadi or Mina Momeni. The Otagh Band invites you to the dark, trip-hop laden "Rotenburg," which they wrote about the "Cannibal of Rotenburg."
“This is Tehran?” will be 30M Records’ second release, and presents the capital’s wild creative energy with tracks that span contemporary classical, to experimental electronics to trip-hop and jazz in a mesmerizing journey through a fascinating culture.
“This Is Tehran?”, a 10-piece album uniting diverse contemporary Iranian composers and musicians, invites listeners to discover and be amazed by the fruits of the marriage between heritage and innovation in the city of endless creativity.
“This Is Tehran?”, introduces a modern generation of composers from Iran that have been breathing new life to the traditional music of the country.
"This Is Tehran?": 10 tracks that arouse curiosity and invite us on a musical journey as we certainly did not imagine!
credits
released June 4, 2021
1 Saba Alizadeh - “If I ever see you again”
Written and performed by Saba Alizadeh. Taken from the forthcoming album “May I Ever See You Again” (SMR003). ℗ 2021 30M Records
2 Ehsan Abdipour – “Sornarama”
Written and performed by Ehsan Abdipour. Synthesizer, additional percussions & mixing by Andreas Spechtl. ℗ 2021 30M Records
3 Hooshyar Khayam & Bamdad Afshar – “Char”
Written and performed by Hooshyar Khayam & Bamdad Afshar. Taken from the album “RAAZ” (SMR001). ℗ 2020 30M Records
4 Otagh Band – “Rotenburg 2020”
Written by Bamdad Afshar, performed by Bamdad Afshar and Otagh Band. ℗ 2020 Sheed Records
5 Pedram Babaiee – “Et Cetera”
Written and performed by Pedaram Babaiee. ℗ 2021 30M Records
6 Sote – “Pipe Dreams Metempsychosis”
Music: Ata 'Sote' Ebtekar (Electronics & Acoustic), Arash Bolouri (Santour + Extended Technique, Vocals, Tombak), Pouya Damadi (Tar + Extended Technique, Vocals), Poem: Bidel Dehlavi
Mastering: Helmut Erler at Dubplates & Mastering. Courtesy of Diagonal Records ℗ 2019
7 Parastoo Ahmadi – “Balal Balalom”
Re-worked and performed by Parastoo Ahmadi. Based on an ancient Shirazi traditional
℗ 2020 Parastoo Ahmadi
8 Rojin Sharafi – “Naked City”
Written and performed by Rojin Sharafi. ℗ 2021 30M Records
9 Siavash Molaeian & Kasra Faridi – “Kolber”
Written and performed by Siavash Molaeian & Kasra Faridi. ℗ 2021 30M Records
10 Mina Momeni – “Divar”
Written and performed by Mina Momeni. ℗2020 Mina Momeni
Mastered at Tonhotel Hamburg by Gerd Mauff
Produced by Matthias Koch
For more information visit www.30m-records.com
https://30m-records.bandcamp.com/album/this-is-tehran |
2021 |
€14.50 |
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TIME ENDS - A Tribute to J.G. Ballard's Tetralogy of Transformation (special ed.) |
do-LP / CD |
Desiderii Marginis, Troum, Martin Bladh & Karolina Urbaniak and Anemone Tube have gathered to pay homage to the first four novels of British writer J.G. Ballard: The Wind From Nowhere, The Drowned World, The Drought and The Crystal World, which are often seen as disaster novels. Each of the four projects presents a very unique take on the chosen work, using the respective text as a starting point to offer sonic representations of and (further) perspectives on these books, using drones, field recordings, words and much more to create evocative and richly layered soundscapes.
Adorned by a painting of German artist Alex Tennigkeit depicting a sphinx-like hybrid creature, a phoenix rising from the ashes of our civilization, the double album also includes an in-depth essay by Michael Göttert (African Paper) on Ballard's works in which he argues that the novels can best be understood as texts of transformation, as well as texts by the sound artists.
The double album starts with Desiderii Marginis' track “The Wind From Nowhere”, on which field recordings and intense drones suck the listener into a stormy vortex. Troum interpret The Drowned World, and their two dynamic tracks illustrate both the changes happening to the (outer) landscape and the (inner) world of the protagonists. Martin Bladh & Karolina Urbaniak make use of sound and words on “The Poisoned Well”, their interpretation of The Drought, referring to Shakespeare, the Bible and scorched earth policy amongst other points of reference. The album closes with Anemone Tube's take on The Crystal World, using field recordings made in Japan’s Mount Fuji forest. “Sea Of Trees” aims to show a devolutionary process, in which man gains access to his actual spiritual home – a primordial wisdom, which lets him discover an internal non-dual space, allowing to ultimately becoming one with the earth as body-being consciousness – the ‘perfect dream’ landscape.
Format CD | Double LP & download | Playtime: 79:27 min
CD Edition CD in oversize 148x148mm sleeve including postcards & foldout poster, limited to 140 copies.
Regular Edition Regular edition double LP in sci-fi neon yellow vinyl limited to 250 copies.
Special Edition Special edition double LP & CD set limited to 150 copies including A2 poster signed and hand-numbered by artist Alex Tennigkeit.
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2022 |
€36.00 |
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Anthology of Exploratory Music from India |
CD |
The new Unexplained Sounds Group’s compilation of exploratory music and sound works from India intends to present a comprehensive collection of sonic practices that have emerged from the desire to break away from India’s traditional sounds, e.g. classical music and folk tunes, while simultaneously drawing on ideas and inspirations from these lineages and auditory heritages in the form of recurring motifs and sonorities as well as textures and open-ended compositions. The fragile but complex connection between tradition and modernity is the crucial point of entry in this body of works contributed by Indian-born sound artists and experimental musicians. What is ‘sound art’ and what is ‘experimental’ can be debated at length, but sound art is a Western construct, and experiment is something Indian musicians have long been engaged in whilst keeping their traditions alive and transformative. What is new in this compilation is locating the tension between historical trajectories of sound thinking and the intervention of modernist technologies like recording and mixing that the artists continue to negotiate through their interpretations and reconfigurations of temporality and spatiality. That is why the western invention of CD as a form of sonic object-hood can be a constraint for Indian sound practitioners. This compilation therefore asks its listener to consider the CD just a trace of the sound experience, while the actual listening is ephemeral. This spatiotemporal tension uncovers a few questions around (de)coloniality and its shadows on emerging sonic practices in South Asia with new perspectives. The release, co-curated by Raffaele Pezzella and Budhaditya Chattopadhyay, contributes to the ongoing research Connecting Resonances that encourages critically listening to the sound practices and auditory cultures in the Global South with an interest in sonic confluences and decoloniality, to stand on the right side of music history.
[Budhaditya Chattopadhyay]
https://unexplainedsoundsgroup.bandcamp.com/album
/anthology-of-exploratory-music-from-india
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2021 |
€13.00 |
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An Oblique Reference to Zeros |
do-CD |
"A budget-priced collection of tracks by artists who've had releases out on Fourth Dimension Records or whose music has entered the label's orbit and made a good impression.
In an ideal world there'd be at least several albums by all concerned on Fourth Dimension Records, but the label operates from more or less the same dingy old basement it always has and subsequently has to limp along in usual fashion.
It is precisely because of this that An Oblique Reference to Zeros has been assembled. The music always comes first and because Fourth Dimension Records does not focus on one particular area of music and instead works with a broad range of artists, the idea of bringing a number of them together on a compilation so that listeners can check out the previously unfamiliar made a lot of sense.
Almost all of the tracks here are previously unreleased, remixes or recorded exclusively for this compilation, too.
Packaged in a 6-panel digipak including stunning artwork by Puppy38 and a booklet with text even pointing to what inspired the title, this is an ideal purchase for anybody whose interests in music dovetail with Fourth Dimension's.
And, no, the title had nothing to do with Eno! Artists include: Kleistwahr, Sudden Infant, Hand & Leg, Mad Masks, MAP 71, Alternative TV, Splintered, Hiroshimabend, Tabata Mitsuru, Richard Youngs, JFK + Klaska, Philippe Petit, Schrottersburg, White Pee, Helm, EXTNDDNTWRK, Zsolt Sores, Theme, Band Of Pain, Contrastate, Mahler Haze, Sion Orgon and Gad Whip."
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2022 |
€13.50 |
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TIME ENDS - A Tribute to J.G. Ballard's Tetralogy of Transformation |
do-LP |
Desiderii Marginis, Troum, Martin Bladh & Karolina Urbaniak and Anemone Tube have gathered to pay homage to the first four novels of British writer J.G. Ballard: The Wind From Nowhere, The Drowned World, The Drought and The Crystal World, which are often seen as disaster novels. Each of the four projects presents a very unique take on the chosen work, using the respective text as a starting point to offer sonic representations of and (further) perspectives on these books, using drones, field recordings, words and much more to create evocative and richly layered soundscapes.
Adorned by a painting of German artist Alex Tennigkeit depicting a sphinx-like hybrid creature, a phoenix rising from the ashes of our civilization, the double album also includes an in-depth essay by Michael Göttert (African Paper) on Ballard's works in which he argues that the novels can best be understood as texts of transformation, as well as texts by the sound artists.
The double album starts with Desiderii Marginis' track “The Wind From Nowhere”, on which field recordings and intense drones suck the listener into a stormy vortex. Troum interpret The Drowned World, and their two dynamic tracks illustrate both the changes happening to the (outer) landscape and the (inner) world of the protagonists. Martin Bladh & Karolina Urbaniak make use of sound and words on “The Poisoned Well”, their interpretation of The Drought, referring to Shakespeare, the Bible and scorched earth policy amongst other points of reference. The album closes with Anemone Tube's take on The Crystal World, using field recordings made in Japan’s Mount Fuji forest. “Sea Of Trees” aims to show a devolutionary process, in which man gains access to his actual spiritual home – a primordial wisdom, which lets him discover an internal non-dual space, allowing to ultimately becoming one with the earth as body-being consciousness – the ‘perfect dream’ landscape.
Regular Edition Regular edition double LP in sci-fi neon yellow vinyl limited to 250 copies.
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2022 |
€27.50 |
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Ode to MARCO VERONESI |
CD |
"A compilation dedicated to the late Marco Veronesi, who founded the ADN label, in the 80's with Alberto Crosta, Piero Bielli and Rudy Pavesi. Without ADN and Marco the Italian / International experimental scene would have been much less important and relevant than it was, including releasing the very first Sigillum S LP, "Boudoir Philosophy" and introducing thousands of people to endless examples of gorgeous noise and industrial provocation. This compilation features a number of artists who were fundamental in the development of ADN during the 1980's: Angelo Avogardi, Bene Gesserit, Cellula Ascolto Attivo, Christina Kubisch, DDAA, Francesco Paladino, La 1919, La STPO, Merzbow, Ralf Wehowsky, Riccardo Sinigaglia, Sigillum S, T.A.C., Tasaday, The Motor Totemist Guild. Ltd x 300 copies in poster cover."
https://adnrecords.com/album/vv-aa-ode-to-marco-veronesi/
"Marco Veronesi was one of the founders of the Italian underground ADN label, who passed away in 2013 after a lengthy illness. This compilation (a limited edition of 300 copies) features various outtakes by a number of artists who were fundamental in the development of ADN during the 1980s. The set opens with “An Elegy” by the experimental electronic ensemble T.A.C. (Tomografia Assiale Computerizzata), an eerie five-minute piece featuring haunting wordless female voice backed by multi-layered pulsating and incidental electronics and metal percussion. Riccardo Sinigaglia offers “Magik,” a piece of haunting Middle Eastern exotica where Sinigaglia plays all the instrumentation (an experimental cauldron of strings, percussion, winds, and electronics) with beautiful wordless vocalizations by Lilli Coda. Jumping forward a bit, we have “Fetides Humbert et Jacques” by La STPO, the typical craziness one might expect from this French band, a mix of spoken parts, odd vocalizations, mallet and metal percussion, saxes, and low growling bass with strange electronic sounds in play that, all taken, really sounds like nothing else. Following up on that we have “Black Phoebe” by the Motor Totemist Guild sans Grigsby, an odd and quirky chamber-rock piece for flute, piano, trombone, and percusion. Italian duo Sigillum S guides us forward with “Happiness in the Kooky Cracks among Dimensions,” beginning as an airy and peaceful keyboard piece with much added ambience, adding many strange electronic embellishments as it goes toward an almost frightening end. Jumping forward again, La 1919’s offering “Hcabial” approaches near symphonic proportions using layered keyboards, electric guitar, and percussive loops, all twisted up in a stew of musical madness. Jumping further forward, Merzbow offers a pulsating electronic rhythm overlaid with mega-blasts of snarly grating noise with “Mix 05.23.” The set closes with “Japa(n)chinko” by Cellula Ascolto Attivo, a nine-minute piece mixing industrial sounds and field recordings with voices, loops, odd instrumentation, and more. There are fifteen tracks in all, I’ve only detailed about half of what’s here, but if one appreciates challenging and experimental musical styles of all kinds, then you can’t go wrong with this one! The CD is packaged in a huge poster that folds down to roughly the size of the disc." [Expose] |
2014 |
€13.00 |
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CYCLES II : Cyclic Law's 20th Anniversary Label Sampler |
do-CD |
In celebration of our 20th year as a label, we've gathered 22 artists on 20 tracks, all graciously presenting us exclusive and unreleased material. Featuring AJNA, ASCENDING DIVERS, ASHTORETH, BECKAHESTEN, CURSE ALL KINGS, DESIDERII MARGINIS, FUNERARY CALL, KAMMARHEIT, LEILA ABDUL-RAUF, NERATERRÆ & DØDSMASKIN, NEW RISEN THRONE & CORONA BARATHRI, NORDVARGR, ØJERUM, SHEDIR, SHRINE, SOPHIA, SUTEKH HEXEN, TAPHEPHOBIA, VISIONS and VORTEX. We’d like to dedicate this release to our worldwide supporters who’ve made this 20 year venture possible and to all artists involved throughout the years, whom with their unique approach to atmospheric music, have helped create the aural world that is Cyclic Law. Artwork imagery is by our close collaborator and friend Kristina Feldhammer.
Double CD Edition of 500 copies in 6 panels Digisleeve with 180x120mm poster, matt lamination. 20 Tracks. Running Time; CD1 56:57, CD2 57:17
https://cycliclaw.bandcamp.com/album/cycles-ii-cyclic-laws-20th-anniversary-label-sampler
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2022 |
€19.50 |
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LA MATERIA VERBAL - Antologia De La Poesia Sonora Peruana |
LP |
La Materia Verbal - Antología de la Poesía Sonora Peruana
The Verbal Matter: An Anthology of Peruvian Sound Poetry
This compilation brings together 22 sound poems, including both pioneering and current pieces, and constitutes itself as the first great overview of sound poetry from Peru. It continues a cycle that began in 2009 with the appearance of a CD called Inventar la voz: Nuevas tradiciones orales [To Invent the Voice: New Oral Traditions] and was followed up in 2011 with another one called Irse de lengua [To Let It Slip], both of which contributed to articulate diverse manifestations of poetry that used technological means, also in the context of intense activity in the local scenes of experimental music and sound art that opened spaces for interdisciplinary dialogues.
What we know as sound poetry is the product of a technological revolution associated with the appearance of various means of recording, transmission and amplification of the voice. A long process that took shape in the 20th century, until it became a discipline, articulated as an international movement which, based on phonetic research, expanded into a universe of oral/vocal artistic practices as part of a new technological context.
The recordings gathered here comprise a time frame that goes from 1972 to 2021. We find poems that work with montage techniques, either because they explore simultaneity or juxtaposition, such as those by Mario Montalbetti, Frido Martín, Florentino Díaz, Carlos Estela, Luisa Fernanda Lindo, Macri Cáceres, Rodrigo Vera Cubas, Tilsa Otta, Giancarlo Huapaya/Omar Córdova, Virginia Benavides, Lisa Carrasco and Luis Alvarado. Others emphasize vocal/oral performance: we find the phonetic poems of Carlos Germán Belli and Eduardo Chirinos, as well as the concrete conceptual poems of Michael Prado, Sandra Suazo, Peru Saizprez, and the oral/guttural poem of Omar Aramayo. Finally, we find another group of pieces where the poem starts with the creation of a computational parameter or algorithm, as is the case with the pieces by Jorge Eduardo Eielson and Enrique Verástegui, eventually reaching the use of Artificial Intelligence as in the poems by Francisco Mariotti and Paola Torres Núñez del Prado.
The Verbal Matter: An Anthology of Peruvian Sound Poetry is part of a series produced by Buh Records for Centro del Sonido, a website set up as a digital archive of Peruvian experimental music and sound art. The compilation has been made by Luis Alvarado and is published in a limited edition of 300 copies in vinyl format. It includes extensive notes and visual documentation. Mastered by Alberto Cendra. Art by René Sánchez.
This project was awarded with funding from the Economic Stimuli program of the Peruvian Ministry of Culture.
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THE VERBAL MATTER
AN ANTHOLOGY OF PERUVIAN SOUND POETRY
It is difficult to imagine today\'s world without thinking about the influence that inventions such as the phonograph, the gramophone, the radio, the telephone or the microphone have exerted on the fields of culture, communications and human relations since their appearance in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
Many of the activities that are part of our daily life originated in that auditory revolution and in those that came after: from the appearance of tape recorders and personal players, to the infinity of resources that the socialization of the digital revolution brought about. Today these technologies are available to anyone. We all carry a cell phone, a device that can record, reproduce, store and transmit sounds.
What we know as sound poetry is the product of that technological revolution. A long process that took shape in the 20th century, until it became a discipline, articulated as an international movement, which, based on phonetic research, expanded into a universe of oral/vocal artistic practices as part of a new technological context.
As a live and performative act, sound poetry has admitted multiple resources: accompaniment with video or dance, the use of live electronic techniques, multichannel systems, improvisation techniques, repetitions, mantras, solo or group actions, of simultaneous voices using samplers, loops, as well as texts, instructions or scores, among others.
We are going to refer here, however, only to what constitutes sound poetry as a recorded piece. And in that sense, what distinguishes many works of sound poetry is that they make use of editing. Sound poetry, like cinema or radio art, is an art of montage, juxtaposition, concatenation, sound planes, that uses many resources from concrete music as well as from various digital processing techniques. But sound poetry is also an art of recording: it is therefore a performance of the voice, alone or electronically processed, before a microphone and a before a recording device. Like the songs we hear on the radio or any streaming platform, sound poetry is stored as a phonogram.
Sound poetry also encompasses sound organization systems, from the design and control of parameters to complex computational processes with algorithms and Artificial Intelligence, working therefore in an area related to various methods of composition of contemporary or electronic music.
The Verbal Matter: An Anthology of Peruvian Sound Poetry is an album that continues a cycle that began in 2009 with the appearance of a CD called Inventar la voz: Nuevas tradiciones orales [To Invent the Voice: New Oral Traditions] and was followed up in 2011 with another one called Irse de lengua [To Let It Slip], both of which contributed to articulate diverse manifestations of poetry that used technological means, also in the context of intense activity in the local scenes of experimental music and sound art that opened spaces for interdisciplinary dialogues.
The present compilation brings together 22 sound poems, including both pioneering and current pieces, and constitutes itself as the first great overview of sound poetry from Peru. We find poems that work with montage techniques, either because they explore simultaneity or juxtaposition, such as those by Mario Montalbetti, Frido Martín, Florentino Díaz, Carlos Estela, Luisa Fernanda Lindo, Macri Cáceres, Rodrigo Vera Cubas, Tilsa Otta, Giancarlo Huapaya/Omar Córdova, Virginia Benavides, Lisa Carrasco and Luis Alvarado. Others emphasize vocal/oral performance: we find the phonetic poems of Carlos Germán Belli and Eduardo Chirinos, as well as the concrete conceptual poems of Michael Prado, Sandra Suazo, Peru Saizprez, and the oral/guttural poem of Omar Aramayo. Finally, we find another group of pieces, where the poem starts with the creation of a computational parameter or algorithm, as is the case with the pieces by Jorge Eduardo Eielson or Enrique Verástegui, eventually reaching the use of Artificial Intelligence as in the poems by Francisco Mariotti and Paola Torres Núñez del Prado.
It is important to mention that Peru is a country with a great oral tradition, especially in the Andean and Amazon regions. It is also a country with a great linguistic diversity, 47 languages, many of them spoken in indigenous communities with little population, and running the risk of disappearing. This makes the implementation and systematization of recording technologies essential, urgent for the creation of oral history or spoken word archives. There are several projects underway, but there also remains much to be done.
We can also find there a key to understand the process of sound poetry in our country, insofar as its origins, practice and development are related to how well established is an archive culture of our spoken word.
Going back in time, in 1892 the Peruvian poet Carlos Germán Amézaga published a poem called “The phonograph”, which was recorded with the first phonograph that arrived in Lima. There we could read these verses: “The heart does not preserve harmonies / As the cylinder does... / Its sorrows and joys are erased / Everything in the heart, everything goes away!” [“No guarda el corazón las armonías / Como el cilindro aquel los guardará…/ Bórranse sus pesares y alegrías / Todo en el corazón, todo se va!”]. The cylinder mentioned by Amézaga is the recording medium of the phonograph. The poet describes the power of the machine to record sound, which he opposes to to oblivion as a human condition.
The phonograph was undoubtedly an important tool for the development of ethnographic research and the preservation of oral tradition. In this sense, the great Peruvian writer, José María Arguedas, saw in the recording device and in radio broadcasting, important means for the preservation of folklore and endangered oral traditions. Arguedas has often been described as a man glued to a tape recorder, given his work as a compiler. Among the many recordings he made, in addition to Andean songs, there is a long and intense hymn poem of his authorship titled “Tupac Amaru kamaq taytanchisman” (“I sing to our father Tupac Amaru”) (1962), in Quechua and Spanish, published as a written poem, but also recorded in an oral version intended to be broadcast on radio, a medium that could potentially reach various remote villages on the mountains. In the poem Arguedas made a vindication of Andean culture, and established a communication between the chief god, son of the serpent, and the Andean people, in communion with their land, their animals, their landscape. \"Listen to the vibration of my body\" [Escucha la vibración de mi cuerpo], the poet is heard saying, perhaps seeking to reveal that spectrum of emotion which defines the orality of the poem. Due to its length, Arguedas took advantage of the recording machine to pause and then resume his declamation. If we listen carefully, we will be able to perceive the stop and start of the tape, and hear the renewed voice of Arguedas reappearing from time to time. The art of recording offers those possibilities.
Towards the mid-70s Jorge Eduardo Eielson defined as “audio-paintings” [audiopinturas] or “verbal structures” [estructuras verbales] a form of vocal poetry that consisted of pieces presented as schemes, permutations and rhythms, whose intonation qualities opened an interstice between poetry and music. They were unique vocal performances that were recorded on tape and that constitute the earliest antecedent of a form of sound poetry produced by a Peruvian poet.
The Verbal Matter is a sample of various moments in which Peruvian poetry has led to forms of oral/vocal art, based on an awareness of the poem as a way to start other chains of meaning in language. Sound poetry has been a way to bring the sounds of speech, the poet\'s own voice, to a stripped, dislocated area, where the poem emerges from that tension between sound and meaning. These are culminating moments or extreme moments, and therefore also insular moments, an inquiry into the border with that purely auditory dimension, mediated by new technological devices, where the poem takes shape in the air, is amplified and electrified.
https://buhrecords.bandcamp.com/album/la-materia-verbal-antolog-a-de-la-poes-a-sonora-peruana |
2022 |
€25.00 |
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Territorio del Eco : Experimentalismos y Visiones de Lo Ancestral En El Perú (1975-1989) |
LP |
Territorio del eco: experimentalismos y visiones de lo ancestral en el Perú (1975-1989)
The Land of Echo: Experimentalisms and Visions of the Ancestral in Peru (1975-1989)
First compilation brings together the Peruvian experimental scene from 1975 to 1989, a period was the most prolific for a generation of Peruvian artists who, based on musical conceptions derived from modern jazz and techniques inherited from avant-garde music, sought to integrate the sounds of Andean, Afro-Peruvian and Amazonian cultures in search of a new musical universe. Native instruments and folk melodies were used in compositions that demanded modern recording techniques and electronic sounds. This generation was articulated in Lima and was made up of musicians such as Omar Aramayo, Manongo Mujica, Arturo Ruiz del Pozo, Miguel Flores (Ave Acústica), Douglas Tarnawiecki (Espíritus), Luis David Aguilar, Chocolate Algendones and Corina Bartra.
But more than a movement, it was a set of individuals from dissimilar origins, who came from rock, jazz, contemporary classical and popular music, but also from the visual arts and poetry, and who had in common the cultural climate of the late seventies and early eighties in a country marked by a series of social and economic transformations, as well as the emergence of new visions and insertions of Andean culture and folklore in the city. The appearance of a mythical substrate connected the work of these musicians and defined an aesthetic, based on the deconstruction of folklore and the exploration of the possibilities that indigenous instruments offered. And from there they could go towards abstract, symbolic and conceptual forms, but also towards more melodic forms, with a strong influence of jazz, while also taking advantage of electronics and the possibilities of the recording studio.
Territorio del eco: experimentalismos y visiones de lo ancestral en el Perú (1975-1989) - The Land of Echo: Experimentalisms and Visions of the Ancestral in Peru (1975-1989) - is a compilation that offers an overview of what was one of the moments of greatest creative intensity for experimental music in Peru in its encounter with indigenous sounds. Rescued from private archives and limited editions on cassette, these pieces are reissued for the first time in vinyl LP format. The album includes extensive notes written by Luis Alvarado, author of the compilation, as well as much visual documentation. Cover art by Paloma Pizarro.
Beneficiary project of the Economic Stimuli for Culture 2020 of the Ministry of Culture of Peru.
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Primera compilación reúne la escena experimental peruana desde 1975 a 1989, período que fue el más prolífico para una generación de artistas peruanos que a partir de concepciones musicales derivadas del jazz moderno y de las técnicas heredadas de la música de vanguardia, buscaron integrar los sonidos de la tradición andina, afroperuana y amazónica en búsqueda de un nuevo universo musical. Instrumentos nativos y melodías del folclore fueron empleadas en composiciones que demandaron de novedosas técnicas de grabación y de sonidos electrónicos. Esta generación que se articuló en Lima, la conformaron músicos como Omar Aramayo, Manongo Mujica, Arturo Ruiz del Pozo, Miguel Flores (Ave Acústica), Douglas Tarnawiecki (Espíritus), Luis David Aguilar, Chocolate Algendones y Corina Bartra.
Pero más que un movimiento se trató de un conjunto de individualidades de procedencias disimiles, que venían tanto del rock, como del jazz, de la música clásica contemporánea, y popular, pero también de las artes visuales y la poesía, y que tuvieron en común un clima cultural como fue el de ese tránsito de los 70s a los 80s en un Perú marcado por una serie de transformaciones sociales y económicas, y de la aparición de nuevas visiones e inserciones de lo andino y el folclore en la urbe. La aparición de un sustrato mítico emparentó el trabajo de estos músicos y definió una estética, basada en la deconstrucción de lo folclórico y en la exploración de las posibilidades que los instrumentos nativos ofrecían para a partir de allí ir hacia formas abstractas, simbólicas y conceptuales, pero también hacia formas más melódicas, de marcada influencia jazzística y con un aprovechamiento de la electrónica y del estudio de grabación.
“Territorio del eco: Experimentalismos y visiones de lo ancestral en el Perú (1975-1989)” es una compilación que ofrece un panorama de lo que fue uno de los momentos de mayor intensidad creativa para la música experimental en Perú en su encuentro con las sonoridades nativas. Rescatadas de archivos privados y tirajes limitados en casete, por primera vez se reeditan en formato de vinilo LP. El álbum incluye amplias notas escritas por Luis Alvarado, autor de la compilación, así como mucha documentación visual. Arte de tapa por Paloma Pizarro.
Proyecto beneficiario de los Estímulos Económicos para la Cultura 2020 del Ministerio de Cultura del Perú.
https://buhrecords.bandcamp.com/album/territorio-del-eco-experimentalismos-y-visiones-de-lo-ancestral-en-el-per-1975-1989-essential-sounds-collection
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2021 |
€23.00 |
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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]
|
2023 |
€15.00 |
|
|
Terässinfonia Vol. 6 |
CD |
Terässinfonia - Steel Symphony: Sound of Finnish experimental noise.
For 25 years Freak Animal Records has published countless releases by Finnish artists. Activities of label has played part in shaping perception how many people see the Finnish noise and experimental underground. Despite vast amount of releases, label has never given full view that would reveal diversity of expression found among Finnish scene.
After quarter of century of work, Freak Animal aimed to take a task of compilation series under title Terässinfonia. To present Finnish noisy and abstract experimental sound in wider scale. Assumption is, that there would be at least three volumes, if not more. All volumes include many projects unknown for vast majority of people. Series will illuminate that Finland is at this moment experiencing surge of creativity on this field, even if it may happen widely unnoticed.
VOL6:
Commando 15, Axyrxiom, Old Intestines, Isä Kosminen, Kaarna, Grunt, Näsiä, Yksi.
|
2023 |
€12.00 |
|
|
The Last Dossier |
CD |
"There are many labels out there that deal with the past. Often one specific part of the past. Polish label Impulsy Stetoskopu deals with the obscure part of the noise end of the cassette world. The first disc here is a compilation of Polish underground music from the very early 80s. Obviously, I like to be able to say, 'good that we hear about this stuff, as I know it's great stuff, being old and such', but that is not the case. On the top of my head, I can't think of no Polish industrial act or label from the 80s, which is hardly a surprise with the iron curtain firmly shut. On 'The Last Dossier' we find Artur R. Sztukalski, Krzysztof Kudla (of whom I learned now I had heard music on a few compilations, two of which are from the Netherlands; I don't think I made the connection to Poland), The RED SHOES, Rana and Ars Sonitus. I have no evidence to support my theory, but outside the official academic studios, it must not have been easy to get great equipment to make some home-brew noise music. The music here supports that notion. Especially the Kudla pieces are prime examples of some very low-resolution cassette loops, and also the radio sounds collage by Sztukalski is something in that vein. Some delay, cutting up radio sounds, like so much was conducted in the first half of the 80s. Rana's live piece is more akin to power electronics and is where this compilation is at its noisiest, along with Ars Sonitus. The two pieces by The Red Shoes, from 1989, are a remarkable step up in the world of technology and are sadly a bit too short. Ars Sonitus has the most recent track, from 1991-1992, so this compilation follows in chronological order development in the Polish underground. Not every track is a winner, but overall an interesting historical document." [FdW / Vital Weekly]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_61sEyLSaS0
|
2022 |
€10.00 |
|
|
In Fractured Silence |
CD |
Compilation curated by Steven Stapleton (of Nurse with Wound) of creative-experimental-unlikely music, originally released in 1984. Released on his United Dairies label that he had created with John Fothergill, he naturally called on Jean-Jacques Birgé and Francis Gorgé, who were then playing with Bernard Vitet in Un drame musical instantané. The compilation would be named In Fractured Silence. Alongside Nurse With Wound and Un drame musical instantané, could be heard Hélène Sage (whom Birgé introduced to Stapleton) and Sema, a project from the experimental British musician Robert Haigh who had participated in key records in the Nurse With Wound discography, such as Homotopy to Marie and Spiral Insana.
Carefully restored and remastered from by Gilles Laujol
Graphic design by Stefan Thanneur
Digipack CD
Licensed from United Dairies
Have you heard of the Nurse With Wound List? If you are a fan of creative-experimental-unlikely music, certainly. You would therefore be aware that amongst the recommendations that Steven Stapleton slipped into the first album of his group Nurse With Wound, were to be found a few restless frogs: Jef Gilson, Luc Ferrari, Jacques Thollot, Urban Sax, Horde Catalytique and last…
… but not least Jean-Jacques Birgé and Francis Gorgé. Stapleton admired their album Défense de. The two Frenchmen just had to conceive of a fabulous precursor to the channel tunnel (check out the inside of the record, you’ll see) to enable Stapleton to come to France in 1980. The Englishman was looking for contributions to a compilation to be released on his United Dairies label that he had created with John Fothergill, and he naturally called on Birgé and Gorgé, who were then playing with Bernard Vitet in ‘Un drame musical instantané’.
It was a done deal and the compilation would be named In Fractured Silence. Alongside Nurse With Wound and Un drame musical instantané, could be heard Hélène Sage (whom Birgé introduced to Stapleton) and Sema, a project from the experimental British musician Robert Haigh who had participated in key records in the Nurse With Wound discography, such as Homotopy to Marie and Spiral Insana.
The curtain is raised and it is Un drame musical instantané who start the ball rolling. Mystery abounds; synthesisers lurk, percussion clatters and the sounds (creaks, whistles, vocal insertions…) fire in all directions. For the piano, it’s a debacle, the Drame won, Hélène Sage can take over. Heading up a quintette including Gorgé and Vitet, she creates a cushioned chamber music with strings and many silences.
On the B side, it’s the other side of the channel. Sema’s piano first off, which dares everything, even melody, before spilling out its darkest ideas in a raucous requiem. Finally, Stapleton appears, delving into his collection of female voices to devote himself to an iconoclastic transformation and concoct a song which collapses under the assault like Marianne at Agincourt. After having listened to In Fractured Silence, you will simply have to choose sides.
*
Avez-vous déjà entendu parler de la Nurse With Wound List ? Si vous êtes amateur de musique créativo-expérimentalo-improbable, sûrement. Vous n’êtes donc pas sans ignorer que parmi les conseils d’écoute que Steven Stapleton a glissé dans le premier album de son Nurse With Wound, on trouve quelques froggies agités du bocal : Jef Gilson, Luc Ferrari, Jacques Thollot, Urban Sax, Horde Catalytique pour la fin…
… Et aussi Jean-Jacques Birgé et Francis Gorgé, dont Stapleton a apprécié l’album Défense de. Il suffira aux deux Français d’imaginer avant l’heure un fabuleux tunnel sous la Manche (regardez à l’intérieur du disque, vous comprendrez) pour qu’au milieu des années 1980 Stapleton gagne la France. Prospectant pour une compilation à paraître sur United Dairies, le label qu’il a créé avec John Fothergill, l’Anglais rencontre naturellement Birgé et Gorgé, qui jouent désormais avec Bernard Vitet dans Un drame musical instantané.
L’affaire est entendue et la compilation aura pour nom In Fractured Silence. Aux côtés de Nurse With Wound et d’Un drame musical instantané, on y entendra Hélène Sage (que Birgé a présenté à Stapleton) et Sema, projet de l’expérimentateur briton Robert Haigh qui aura participé aux incontournables de la discographie nursewithdienne que sont Homotopy to Marie et Spiral Insana.
Le rideau se lève : c’est Un drame musical instantané qui ouvre le bal. Le mystère est partout : les synthétiseurs rôdent, les percussions claquent et les sons (grincements, sifflements, inserts vocaux…) fusent. Pour le piano, c’est la débandade, le drame a gagné, Hélène Sage peut prendre le relais. A la tête d’un quintet dont font partie Gorgé et Vitet, elle aménage une musique de chambre capitonnée avec des cordes et beaucoup de silences.
Sur la face B, c’est l’autre côté de la Manche. Le piano de Sema, d’abord, qui ose tout, même la mélodie, avant de cracher ses idées noires sur un requiem de bastringue. Enfin, c’est l’apparition de Stapleton qui pioche dans sa collection de voix féminines pour s’adonner à une transformation iconoclaste et concocter une chanson qui croule sous les assauts comme Marianne à Azincourt. Après avoir écouté In Fractured Silence, il ne vous restera plus qu’à choisir votre camp.
|
2023 |
€14.00 |
|
|
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
|
2023 |
€25.00 |
|
|
Anthology of Electroacoustic Music from Finland |
CD |
There is a long tradition of Electroacoustic music in Finland beginning in the 1950’s with the experimentation of tape music. Finland’s first electronic musical instrument the "Sähkövalopiano" or "Electric Light Piano" was built before this in 1894. It was constructed in the Polytechnic Institute (now Aalto University) in Helsinki. Finland also has a tradition of blending archaic traditional music in the contemporary music scene. The Kalevala tradition for example dates back centuries before today and the instruments associated with it were used to accompany shepherds on their lonely watches, or village dance parties bringing joy and sense of belonging to communities. These musical traditions have been revitalised by being used in a modern context. Even with the emerging of new technologies to open new horizons for composing music, the avant garde movement and a plethora of new and continuously evolving music genres, the very root of Finnish Kalevala tradition has stayed alive and has been brought to the present, not only in its original form, but also being integrated into electroacoustic realm by the musicians willing to experiment. Rauno Nieminen, a master luthier of archaic instruments and a musician, explains this best: “An instrument or a musical culture can stay alive only if it will be adapted to the music that new generations are creating". This compilation is proof that the Finnish musical tradition and its instruments are still alive and taking steps to new sound territories.
https://unexplainedsoundsgroup.bandcamp.com/album/anthology-of-electroacoustic-music-from-finland
|
2023 |
€13.00 |
|
|
Spectra Ex Machina - A Sound Anthology of Occult Phenomena 1920-2017 Vol.2 |
LP |
https://subrosalabel.bandcamp.com/album/spectra-ex-machina-a-sound-anthology-of-occult-phenomena-1920-2017-vol-2
The Anthology Spectra Ex Machina brings together rare documents pertaining to so-called occult phenomena, most of them taken from little-known archives. In the course of three volumes, this series traces an audio history of parapsychology through the exploration of spiritualism and haunted houses (vol. 1); musician mediums (vol. 2); experiences of extrasensory perceptions (clairvoyance, psychokinesis, etc.) and electronic voice phenomena (vol. 3).
The link between music, sound and the paranormal is manifested in many different ways. Gerard van der Leeuw, the Dutch historian and philosopher, wrote "Music represents the great struggle of reaching the wholly other, which it can never express". Furthermore, "The effect of music on the emotions is so mysterious as to seem magical. There is no logical explanation why a particular combination of musical notes, whether in the form of a tune or of a simple chord, can affect the heart. Nothing in nature has perhaps so persistently resisted explanation",
as said Derek Parker, the British journalist. Since music is arguably the most intangible of the arts and since the paranormal, in all its manifestations, continues to intrigue people, the placing of these two
subjects together seems obvious. This second volume of musical and audio anomalies continues and expands upon the works initially reproduced in the latter. Rosemary Brown makes a welcome re-appearance, especially with a performance of Grübelei via Liszt, as well as the Caruso-inspired tenor Leo May making a repeat performance. Few people realize that both Anton LaVey and Aleister Crowley were quite fine musicians and Alex Sanders was also interested in music. The background music of Wagner's Tannhäuser used by the latter combines both pagan and Christian elements. So close your eyes and let the magic of sound take over!
|
2023 |
€19.50 |
|
|
Anthology of Experimental Music from Latin America |
CD |
After almost 6 years from the latest compilation focused on experimental music from Latina America, finally Unexplained Sounds Group publishes a cd release including, in addition to some of the musicians who participated in the initial project, many other artists from Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Bolivia, Peru, Mexico, Costa Rica, Chile and Venezuela, thereby providing evidence of continuous aesthetic research beyond all conventional barriers.
https://unexplainedsoundsgroup.bandcamp.com/album/anthology-of-experimental-music-from-latin-america
|
2023 |
€13.00 |
|
| |
NEW STATE OF FLUX |
do-CD |
listen:
https://reversealignment.bandcamp.com/album/new-state-of-flux
New State Of Flux was conceived by Raffaele Pezzella, head of the Unexplained Sounds network of aural disorientation, after Swedish label Reverse Alignment became a part of the network at the beginning of 2021. The extremely fine work released by label founder Kristian Widqvist from its inception in 2007 and over the next 13 years is a rare example of integrity and quality in terms of aesthetic choices, creating a collection of minimalist and isolationist gems by releasing a series of albums by musicians that have constituted a new paradigm in minimalistic ambient music. The New State Of Flux compilation has been curated with the intention of continuing that tradition in the same spirit of sonic exploration and philosophy, and adding some new names that we hope will be appreciated just as their predecessors were. Many of them will be the launch-pad for a new Reverse Alignment trajectory.
"I love a 2xCD compilation. Big compilations are a lot of fun, especially comps that exist to spotlight a particular label’s aesthetic, which is what “New State of Flux” is. (A quick aside: when I first read the title, I’d hoped that “New State of Flux” was a double-disc survey of 1980s Massachusetts cassette label A State of Flux… but no, it’s not. Someone should still do a reissue or comp of A State of Flux one day, though). This album was compiled by Raffaele Pezzella, who runs the Unexplained Sounds Group. A network consisting of several labels under one umbrella. There’s USG itself, which has put out important surveys of experimental music from Iran, Lebanon, the Balkans, China and more… and then Eighth Tower and ZeroK. This comp exists to spotlight USG’s newest partnership with the Swedish dark-ambient label Reverse Alignment, effectively now being run from Italy by Pezzella. The intent is to introduce Reverse Alignment to new listeners, which it certainly does.
Evidence of the label’s clear curatorial vision is that all 20 of the pieces on this compilation are of a similar mood and seem to run into one another. It’s hard to tell one artist/track from the next. For me, that’s one of the album’s strengths, especially since most of the artists’ names are unfamiliar to me; I was able to put on my headphones, press play, then close my eyes and soak it all in as if “New State of Flux” were a single thought by a single person. The album opens with a track by Jarl (aka Swedish artist Erik Jarl of IRM, Skin Area, & Sharon’s Last Party), one of the names I knew going in. His piece “Chemical Mirror” is a sombre, subtly psilocybic drone with echo-laden sci-fi bloops that hint at a sinister something below the surface. Taphephobia’s “A Journey to the Outside World” leans worryingly towards Hearts of Space territory, but recovers well enough. Another highlight comes from VelgeNaturlig, whose “Raga in Height Dimensions” consists of an insistent electric tone that grows somewhat more abrasive and unnerving, eventually breaking into a passage of delay-saturated instruments. One might be a sitar, but It's hard to tell. RNGMNN’s piece is another strong entry, a lugubrious slather of percussion and ghostly moaning. Some other names that stuck out to me are B*Tong (whose foreboding piece features the voice of NASA controller, informing someone of something distressing about to happen…), Freiband (aka Vital editor Frans de Waard/Modelbau), SITKA (a tape-delay lullaby), Ajna (classic post-Lustmord dark ambient) and Equal Stones (whose lighter, heavenly-choir sound is a welcome change of colour). In all, a solid and enjoyable listen and a fine introduction to the label for anyone who likes this sort of sound." [HS/Vital Weekly]
https://reversealignment.bandcamp.com/album/new-state-of-flux
|
2021 |
€15.00 |
|
| VACANT STATIONS |
Clones |
CD |
Awaken. Force yourself up. Draw the blinds. Grey light burns your eyes. Plug yourself in. Step out of the door and fade in to the swim....
From the first opening moments of 'Day', you already know that you are about to experience something totally different from the artist 'Vacant Stations'. As the first solemn sounding notes play out, the mood is set, hanging in the air like a heavy, dark oppressive mantle. But all is not lost...there is always hope.
Vacant Stations is an ambient project hailing from London, UK who has a background in film and video. Through his music, Vacant Stations generally hopes to conjure visuals and inspire creativity. A little bit about the thoughts behind 'Clones' in the words of the artist himself.
"Some of the motivations and intentions behind 'Clones', are mostly concerning the theme of identity: A meditation on the conflict and pressures of striving for individualism in an era of homogenisation, while considering implications about the future of human identity as it inevitably merges with the technology it creates. A self-reflexive comment on what have come to be regarded as dark ambient genre conventions. Hopefully a sense of narrative also comes through." - Vacant Stations.
All music recorded by Vacant Stations 2017. All tracks have been mastered by Cruel Sound Works. The cover concept and design is by Midnight Sun Studio ©.
The edition is presented in a 6-page full colour digi-pack. 13 tracks, running time 62:00.
www.winter-light.nl
"Music should aspire to link us to universal truth. Even ambient music can do that, as Vacant Stations demonstrates with great elegance here.
Westerners like to move freely. We like to travel great distances; eat a wide variety of foods; purchase a dizzying array of highly specific products marketed to our tastes. We aren’t limited by the rhythms of night and day; of seasons; of social propriety. Our places and spaces have evolved to meet our demands. What do they say about us? Here is an album that seems perfectly crafted to show us. We all have an image that we hold in our minds of the total creep-out that we’d get from one of these populated spaces suddenly bereft of life and purpose: it’s why we love Urban Exploration. Clones is Urbex for the ears, then.
This is drone done right: patience and perseverance over thirteen tracks which open and close like portals between the listener and a succession of vast echoing warehouses, tunnels and even retail spaces necessitated by our twenty-first century appetites.
Expert, subtle layers of synth which occasionally fatten out into buzz and then dissolve again into hollowed submerged spaces float over a spare bassline powered by a creepiness almost sub-aural. Sometimes the whirring of wheezing, uneven machinery intrudes uneasily into this mélange like a reminder of entropy. All is not peaceful in the abandoned landscape of Clones; routine maintenance is required. Ain’t that a universal truth?
We are invited to self-examine as we ponder the meaning of single-word track titles like 'Lapse', 'Penultima' and even 'Publix'. Who would have associated that bustling grocery chain with the ominous string of underwater chimes like a deadened jingle that haunt this latter piece with such melancholy? Certainly no shopper in the daylight hours, comparing packages of frozen broccoli and thinking about getting to soccer practice.
Let’s do what the track compels us to as listeners: empty the store of customers. Let the fluorescent overheads flicker and die until the space is lit at a quarter of their wattage. Peruse the aisles and freezer cases alone, with nothing but the sound of our mortal heartbeats in our ears, and the deep internal realization that our Western food supply is fragile, susceptible to even the smallest disruption, and based upon the unquestioned labor of the nameless and the unprotected in fields and fisheries.
Care about soccer practice now? I don’t. And this is the dark gift of Clones." [Brutal Resonance] |
2017 |
€13.00 |
|
| VAINIO, MIKA (aka "Ø") |
Oleva |
do-LP |
"Finally available again, Mika Vainio's Oleva was released in 2008 and ranks alongside his most contemplative work. It alternates between shades of the OG Panasonic blueprint and the explorative ambience perfected on 'Kantamoinen'. It also includes a rare Vainio cover version; an interpretation of Roger Waters’ 'Set the controls for the heart of the sun’.
Under the Ø moniker Vainio proffered some of the most singular and shining electronic music of the last three decades, starting in 1993 with a template-setting series of 12"s for his native Sahko imprint, and ending with 2013’s Konstellaatio. Situated somewhere outside Vainio’s best known ice cold minimalist vs hardware gnarrrr modes, ‘Oleva’ finds Vainio at his deepest, opening with the subs & shimmer of 'Unien Holvit’ and ending with the vapourised lament 'Muistetun Palaava Taajuus’. In between, there are more familiar bleep reductions (if u squint 'U-Bahn’ could almost sit perfectly on top of an Eski blueprint), ‘Mojave’ is pure windswept introspection, and the remarkable ‘Tasanko’ sounds like whatever you'd call the Finnish equivalent of porch-side blues, all slide guitar and a deep sense of unease.
Since his untimely passing, Vainio's extensive catalogue has been weighing heavily on the minds of an electronic music community that was in one way or another completely indebted to his singular sound. Re-evaluating ‘Oleva' with that in mind imbues it with a kind of poignancy that’s hard to describe - this is, after all, minimal music. And yet, it feels deeply moving. Somewhere behind the isolated vista on the cover was a man of few words who quietly set about imposing his own precise aesthetic onto the world. In his own time, and without compromise." [Boomkat]
https://sahkorecordings.bandcamp.com/album/oleva |
2021 |
€26.00 |
|
| VAINIO, MIKA / PAN SONIC |
Kilo |
CD |
"MIKA VAINIO's first solo album for Blastfirstpetit sees him return to his classic power electronics, heavy beats approach that made PANSONIC garner a worldwide reputation.
The album developed from VAINIO's recent live sets to make ten tersely titled tracks inspired by the shipping container industry.
Four stars in Mojo " heavy-freight" ,The Quietus described it as "fearsome"." [label info]
www.blastfirstpetite.com
"Mika Vainio, one half of Finnish minimal electronic duo PanSonic, has a new record of atmospheric industrial music coming out. Louder Than War contributor Craig Johnson has been having a listen.
To be honest, it’s exactly what you’re expecting. It’s slow, atmospheric and industrial. The fact that it’s so predictable isn’t a bad thing though as that’s exactly how Mika Vainio made his name. If you’re good at something, why give up?
In a time where electronic musicians seem to spawn from every corner of the world, it’s easy for music to start sounding the same without any differentiation between what has merit and what doesn’t. In this case, Kilo is a really great document of how to make industrial ambience sound very, very good.
What we have here is a weird mix of ambient soundscapes and beat-heavy industrial trance; it feels like a soundtrack to some sort of brutalist post-apocalyptic rave. In my mind, it conjures up black and white images of deserted industrial space, filled with jagged edges and metal structures. It’s stark, yes, but it’s also quite therapeutic. I can sort of switch off and let myself become fully engrossed in this alternate world. Ironically, it’s not the sort of music you want to share with others.
I’m aware that writing this piece means I’m sharing my thoughts on the music with you but I mean share in a different sense. It’s an album that you only ever want to listen to when you’re on your own; late at night, early in the morning, any time of day as long as you aren’t in a group of people. I cant imagine this being the soundtrack to a dinner party or on the office stereo. This is subtle music that’s made specifically for the recluse. The person that wants to sit in his own company and be overcome by the powerful imagery these bursts of sound create.
The juxtaposition of calm, atmospheric pieces and heavy industrial beats work to give an almost frightening nightmare like state on track such as Scale. The whole album fits together with a strange contrast running throughout. At times it feels like it’s about to collapse in on itself, then comes a sudden burst of energy in the form of an industrial barrage or a eerie screech.
It’s removed from reality in a sense that it manages to project an alternative, abstract setting. I can’t imagine it soundtracking anything other than this industrial landscape I view in my mind. I think there’s a definite divide in the style of tracks here.
While some do have that calmer, more subdued tone, other has, overall, a fiercer and driving sound. Luckily though, they work together in perfect harmony. Never sounding out of place, the whole album flows and each new sound follows on logically, never letting you awake from the industrial dreamland you’ve suddenly found yourself part of.
I’m actually going to see Mika Vainio play at The Sage, Gateshead in June and am eagerly waiting being transported into this dream like state. I just want to be sat in a dark room, his industrial soundtrack taking me away from the reality of the world outside. Even just for a short period of time, I have a feeling it’ll be fantastic." [Lounder Than War]
- See more at: http://louderthanwar.com/mika-vainio-kilo-album-review/#sthash.s5DDP4Q1.dpuf
|
2013 |
€16.00 |
|
| VALERA HIP |
Mountain of Fugitives |
do-CD |
"In June 2013, our friends brought us an album by the man named Valery. More than 30 years ago (after 15 years of wandering), he settled in the distant Altai village - Zamulta and did not leave these places anymore. You cannot get there either by plane or by train, and you can only drive by car in summer and autumn. Valery is engaged in homemaking musical instruments like pipes, harps, flutes; he breeds bees and leads the household, which forms the basis of his life. With his minimal resources, he recorded an album that fell into our hands. The recordings united under the name " Mountain of fugitives" turned out to be hypnotic ambient compositions built on drawing lo-fi drones, pipes, harps, nature breathing, field recordings, sounds of the surrounding life and the author's voice, occasionally filling the space with references to ancient Chinese and Japanese poetry like Mèng Hàorán and Matsuo Bashō, as well as quotes from the Norwegian writer Hans Burley, or his own verses.
Valerych discovered "ambient" for himself as the most suitable form for self-expression without regard to any standards. The serenity of nature, the simple tranquility of a secluded lifestyle, the purity of a self-contained existence and the tension of daily physical labor, all here in these sounds, in the originality, naturalness, and softness of the sounds, which literally disarm and necessitate to play the record over and over again.
It took 5 years to prepare all the material for publication. In the meantime, the album has grown to a dilogy with a total duration of more than 150 minutes. Now its 2CD and eight long nameless tracks instead of four.
Enjoy by pure rural ambient music."
https://infinitefog.bandcamp.com/album/valera-hip-mountain-of-fugitives |
2020 |
€17.50 |
|
| VAN LUIJK, TIMO & KRIS VANDERSTRAETEN |
Autour du Lac d'Asselt |
LP |
Timo van Luijk on the album: "Playing with Kris [Vanderstraeten] always reminds me of doing expeditions in a lake. Some kind of underwater sound fiction observing sonic creatures. This album is a live recording (28-01-2012, Kunstencentrum Belgie, Hasselt, Belgium) which to me always felt like one of the best concerts we did. As with our previous album Arrêt au Lac Chimère Vincent de Roguin put his heart in editing and mixing the recordings, extending the dimensions of exploration to the deep bottom of the lake." Edition of 300.
#############
"It’s good that, in times of an information overload and a music overload, that there are still people who know how to be selective, who know how to limit their output. The result of this is: when there is a new Timo van Luijk and Kris Vanderstaeten album, you know that it’s going to be quality. And I don’t want to think or talk about music in terms of “best” because there’s enough competition in this world already, but this could be the best collaborative album they made
Who are these men? If I would simplify things, I would say: Timo is the non-musician here. Someone who doesn’t really master an instrument, but knows how to get interesting sounds out of any instrument. Kris on the other hand comes out of a free improv and performance art background. He’s been building and rebuilding his drum kit for all his life, adding it with all kinds of musical and non-musical objects.
It’s difficult to compare what they do with other music. Maybe what Scott Foust and Klara Borecky do with Idea Fire Company. But in a way, Timo and Kris create their own bubble. It’s intimisic, personal, melancholic, poetic and fragile. It’s like a couple who are together in a relationship for a longer amount of time: they know when to talk, but they also know when to shut up. They know how to do things together, but they also know when they have to give each other space.
‘Autour du Lac d’Asselt’ is an album that takes its time and deserves your time, and an album that knows how to be quiet and asks you to respect that.\"
[Joeri Bruyninckx / Psychedelic Baby] |
2023 |
€23.00 |
|
| VAN VELDHOVEN, WOUTER |
Four simple Songs for five dead Bumblebees |
CD |
Debut-Album für den Niederländer WOUTER VAN VELDHOVEN, der elektronisch verfremdete Drones und "kleine" Instrumenten-Klänge sowie Holzknirschen & weitere leise Objektsounds zu sehr intimen, warmen, minimalen Tracks verwebt.. kommt im handgemachten Stoffcover, auf neuem Label aus Utrecht !
"The debut full length of dutch sound artist Wouter van Veldhoven is also the first release on the eat this media label.
Wouter is becomming a well known name in the dutch experimental music scene with his reel to reel tape recorders. Seeing his live perfomance is believing; handcrafted analogue ambient. With this record he convinces the homelistener of his qualities too.
The first track opens with sounds of a wooden floor. Sounds are added, melodies float by, get recorded and degenerate. And then you wake up, realising the music has stopped and you're listening to silence, the silence of your room."
[label info]
"After appearing alongside Machinefabriek and Soccer Committee on previous releases, Wouter Van Veldhoven has at last put together an official (i.e. non-CD-r) debut solo album. Don't be misled by its excessively humble title: this album is anything but simple. While the melodic content and the range of sounds Van Veldhoven draws upon are highly accessible, production wise there's an awful lot going on here. Although the artist's combination of drone tones, static signals, field recordings and ramshackle instrumentation is certainly nothing new to the world of ambient electronics, Wouter still manages to make something fresh, and moreover, emotionally resonant. Everything is balanced, EQed and filtered to perfection, meaning these forty minutes are deeply absorbing, but beyond that there's a plainly evident musicality to all this that tends to be absent from a lot of the more academically-geared music in the genre. A real joy to listen to, and decked out in landed gentry-style tweed packaging, Four Simple Songs For Five Dead Bumblebees must be this week's best dressed, and most quietly beautiful release. Highly recommended." [Boomkat]
www.eatthismedia.org
|
2008 |
€10.00 |
|
| VANCE ORCHESTRA |
Monstrance |
7inch |
"Das Arnheimer Duo mit einer neuen 7”, auf dem neuen Label von TARKATAK Lutz Pruditsch! Wunderbar obskur-anregende ambient-electronics: loops, analoge sounds, etwas was nach Theremin klingt und viel Atmosphäre..
The duo from Arnhem, Netherlands, with a new 7“ on the new label of TARKATAK Lutz Pruditsch – wonderful obscure ambient-electronics made out of loops and analogue sounds and probably Theremin & lots of atmosphere... lim. & numbered ed. of 300 copies, silk-screened covers, each one is different!" [Drone Rec. info 2001]
www.tarkatak.de
|
2001 |
€6.00 |
|
| VAROUTAS, GIORGOS |
Chronostasis |
CD |
Standing Time. From Athens, a somewhat unusual release for us: an intriguing collection of 10 very measured and nuanced drone-based pieces - for extended guitar, some percussion and, unusually, Iranian ney, Chinese sho (played by Ko Ishikawa, one of the leading players of the instrument) no-input mixer and, occasionally, field recordings. It has depth and something ancient buried in the modern. Very clear-headed pieces that know what they’re there for. A quiet pearl.
|
2017 |
€13.00 |
|
| VELEZ, DAVID |
Sonido Descompuesto |
CD |
“On January of 2011 I visited “Las Margaritas” a farm where my aunt and uncle have a country house, crops and some cattle too. The land is located between the towns of Briceño and Zipaquira and for a few days I stayed there and dedicated mostly to capture sounds.
The diversity of objects and landscapes there was incredible rich: the river Neusa passes near by so there is water running everywhere acquiring different sonorities through different points. They were also farmers playing acoustic guitar and old vinyls being played in the house. The different agricultural activities, the animals, the chimney’s combustion, the bugs, the old tractors, the construction work around the farm, the many wind mobiles, they all had beautiful sonorities. There is also a forest close to the farm filled with what seemed like phosphorescent moss: the space is obscured by the many trees but a “green” light comes off the floor: the place was particularly silent and quiet sounding. Overall I just had incredible sounds everywhere and plenty of time to record them. With the sounds captured I first worked on a an improvisational piece (#0) that later would be edited (#1). Then I composed a series of short fragments (a, b, c, d). #1 was then put together with a, b, c, d on a second edit (#2). The second edit was then split into small fragments (#2/8) and rearranged intuitively (#3). #3 is “Sonido descompuesto” (Decomposed sound).” (David Velez)
www.unfathomless.net
|
2012 |
€14.00 |
|
| |
El Pajaro que Escucha |
CD-R |
" "El Pájaro que Escucha is a beautifully crafted publication that brings together field recordings made in the Palomino region of Columbia in January 2012. The piece is alive with the sounds of wildlife, completely immersing the listener in a sonic landscape that has depth, variation and a subtle radiance that is a joy to experience.
At times we are also reminded of the invasive presence of human beings, with the drone of a light aircraft pervading the natural atmosphere. Velez demonstrates an acute awareness of the beauty found in the natural world, focusing primarily on the sounds of animals that call the rainforest home. El Pájaro que Escucha does not rush the listener, but rather encourages patience and an appreciation for the natural sounds of our planet. This is a stunning release of the highest calibre and comes highly recommended."
— Cheryl Tipp
"This work that David Vélez presents us …is a sense that David Vélez finds as exteriority, in the jungle of Palomino…what we listen are not birds singing, or the crickets squealing, or the leaves moving; it’s David who plays his tune through the birds and the crickets from the Palomino territory; he manages for the referred songbird to become an act of listen…
… David shares with us is a sensible experience, which consists in transform sound making into sound listening; and it is through the possibility of the recording that this experience is modulated to be accessible for us. Is through this mediation that the author makes audible something in the exterior, approaching the natural element to what is being heard by the human.
The act of listening is therefore, a transference of sense through the sonority of the environment, and in this case also a way to experience an environment by recording, ordering, modulating and presenting it in this way that David Vélez considered as the most appropriated.
“El pájaro que escucha” is a cultural approximation to the natural. There is no birdsongs without hearing and no acoustic experience without sensible language."
— Trixi Alina " [label info]
www.3leaves-label.com
|
2012 |
€10.00 |
|
| VELGENATURLIG |
Opalescent Pust |
CD |
"Our next release on the Winter-Light label is by the Portuguese sound sculpture VelgeNaturlig and is entitled 'Opalescent Pust'.
VelgeNaturlig is no stranger to Winter-Light, having appeared on our recent DCD compilation "...that first season", with his beautiful track 'Golden'. 'Opalescent Pust' has an entirely different feeling altogether, one of constant motion, one of change. 'Opalescent Pust'; the breath opal, the colour of pearl, the purest form of breath. A cleansing process, that of a purifying experience. Purity.
From the opening moments of the first track 'Onset', you know you are entering a world that is both familiar to you, but also somewhat alien at the same time. It's an inward journey that you have begun; a travel within yourself that you should feel comfortable with as it's you. But the dark tones and underlying menace of the music let you know that, in no uncertain terms, before you can reach that light, that purity, you must first traverse the dark paths of your own mind and wrestle with whatever it is you find lurking there. And so the tone is set.
Tracks such as 'Opal' push you further into the blackness where, lying there in state, you can hear the electrical impulses of your own thoughts, embellished through 'Amorphous Silence'. 'Diffraction','Gold Opacity' and 'Pust' will leave you floating and submerged in your own flotation tank. Drifting into nothingness, a time to shed and let go. 'Obsidiana', 'The Hum' and 'Plateau' push you upwards and on towards a ceiling of light, crashing first through barriers of your own constricting thoughts and feelings where finally...with 'Exhale', you can at last breath; the purest breath.
The album began life as a one take improvisational piece, which was then fine tuned in the studio by Ivo Santos (aka VelgeNaturlig), resulting in the fluid, organic wave of sound that you now hear. This full CD of new and original music comprises of 10 tracks of experimental drone and ambient soundscapes.
All music has been recorded by VelgeNaturlig, the end of 2016. Fine tuned by Ivo Santos, Home Studio in 2017. All tracks have been mastered by Cruel Sound Works. The cover concept and design is by Midnight Sun Studio © 2017.
The edition is presented in a 6-page full colour digi-pack. Running time 69:48."
www.winter-light.nl
https://winter-light.bandcamp.com/album/opalescent-pust
|
2017 |
€13.00 |
|
| VENROOY, ESTHER |
Shift Coordinate Points |
LP |
Schon mit “To shape volumes, repeat“ (CD, Robo Records] war diese belgische Komponistin aufgefallen, jetzt erscheint diese sehr konzeptuelle Soundart-Platte als erste LP-Veröffentlichung auf dem britischen ENTR’ACTE, die ominöse Spionage-Radiodurchsagen als Soundquellen benutzt.
“Composed and produced by Esther Venrooy in 2005. Commissioned by Happy New Ears with the kind support of the Flemish community. In 1997, British maverick label Irdial-Discs collected a selection of so-called ‘numbers stations’ or ‘spy stations’ recordings under the title The Conet Project. This plays like a ‘best of’ of more than 30 years’ worth of secret radio and contains fragments of American, German, Swedish and Russian transmissions. Belgian composer Esther Venrooy was given permission to work with the material and for the occasion of the celebration of 75 years of Belgian radio created a highly personal interpretation of the medium’s secret history. Using manipulated sound and collage techniques she manages to distill an abstract poetry of sounds and thereby succeeds in extracting some meaning out of these hermetic transmissions.K9 moved back into the combat area ‹ Standing now in the Chineseyouth sent the resistance message jolting clicking tilting through the pinball machine ‹ Enemy plans exploded in a burst of rapidcalculations ‹ Clicking in punch cards of redirected orders ‹
Crackling shortwave static ‹ Word falling ‹ Photo falling ‹ Break through in Grey Room ¬ Pinball led streets ¬ Free doorways ¬“ [label description]
“About nine years ago, Irdial Records released a four CD 'The Conet Project', collecting sounds from number stations, or spy stations: transmissions found on radio waves of various secret services. A great and no doubt worrying work, if you understand the consequences of it, but also a wealth of great sound. I believe it is not allowed to use these sounds at will (I forget what the fuzz was all about, but somebody got sued for sampling some of it), but Esther Venrooy asked and got permission to use the material to create a sound piece for Belgium radio, which existed seventy-five years. If one is familiar with the original 'Conet Project' recordings, then it's easy to spot all the original voices ('five - three - two - zero - five'), but Venrooy knows her classics in music, especially that of musique concrete: the sudden shifts in sounds, the gentle gliding electronic tones, but also incorporating a little melody at the beginning of the second side. There is nothing really frightening about these voices anymore, they are isolated from the original context, and placed in this new, abstract picture, where they become voices of the unknown. They no longer have their original meaning, but rather a new one. This is a more than excellent record, and by far the best work by Venrooy to date.” [FdW / Vital Weekly]
|
2006 |
€15.50 |
|
| VEPRISUICIDA |
Radio Stigmata |
CD |
Back in late 90's and early 00's, Freak Animal used to receive tapes from Russia. Now, decades later, via Russian contact person, I sent a word to Alexander asking whether Veprisuicida would be interested in some very needed re-issues. Great news was that there was no obstacles to launch decent sized re-issue project with some of the hardest to find Ultra tapes!
First to come on is Veprisuicida's "Radio Stigmata". It was issued in edition of mere 15 tapes, and never before published even as CDR.
Veprisuicida is the most primitive and noisy of Alexander Lebedev-Frontov works. His industrial projects are widely celebrated among underground, but Veprisuicida seems to be far less recognized. It's charm is in brutal and manually crafted primitive industrial waste. Eerie feeling of old Soviet avantgarde clashes with industrial-noise tape manipulations. It is nearly impossible to find as rugged, as crude and as rusty industrial noise in genre these days. Bleak and rotten sound, with broken mechanical feel, were saturated tape manipulations and disruptive pause edits add further charm. It's very far from bombastic effects and plastic sounding digital distortions and results of heavily layered on-screen editing. With its rawness, Veprisuicida may be *too much* for those looking more entertaining music. For lovers of fierce and difficult ripping industrial noise, we are proud to present these recordings finally as real CD, with original graphics.
https://www.nhfastore.net/veprisuicida-radio-stigmata |
2018 |
€12.50 |
|
|
Vaginacentrism |
CD |
Back in late 90's and early 00's, Freak Animal used to receive tapes from Russia. Now, decades later, via Russian contact person, I sent a word to Alexander asking whether Veprisuicida would be interested in some very needed re-issues. Great news was that there was no obstacles to launch decent sized re-issue project with some of the hardest to find Ultra tapes!
Now series of 4 CD's is complete, including all the essential Veprisuicida works!
Veprisuicida is the most primitive and noisy of Alexander Lebedev-Frontov works. His industrial projects are widely celebrated among underground, but Veprisuicida seems to be far less recognized. It's charm is in brutal and manually crafted primitive industrial waste. Eerie feeling of old Soviet avantgarde clashes with industrial-noise tape manipulations. It is nearly impossible to find as rugged, as crude and as rusty industrial noise in genre these days. Bleak and rotten sound, with broken mechanical feel, were saturated tape manipulations and disruptive pause edits add further charm. It's very far from bombastic effects and plastic sounding digital distortions and results of heavily layered on-screen editing. With its rawness, Veprisuicida may be *too much* for those looking more entertaining music. For lovers of fierce and difficult ripping industrial noise, we are proud to present these recordings finally as real CD, with original graphics.
|
2018 |
€12.50 |
|
|
Heavy Metal Cyclothymia / Science Friction |
CD |
Back in late 90's and early 00's, Freak Animal used to receive tapes from Russia. Now, decades later, via Russian contact person, I sent a word to Alexander asking whether Veprisuicida would be interested in some very needed re-issues. Great news was that there was no obstacles to launch decent sized re-issue project with some of the hardest to find Ultra tapes!
Now series of 4 CD's is complete, including all the essential Veprisuicida works!
Veprisuicida is the most primitive and noisy of Alexander Lebedev-Frontov works. His industrial projects are widely celebrated among underground, but Veprisuicida seems to be far less recognized. It's charm is in brutal and manually crafted primitive industrial waste. Eerie feeling of old Soviet avantgarde clashes with industrial-noise tape manipulations. It is nearly impossible to find as rugged, as crude and as rusty industrial noise in genre these days. Bleak and rotten sound, with broken mechanical feel, were saturated tape manipulations and disruptive pause edits add further charm. It's very far from bombastic effects and plastic sounding digital distortions and results of heavily layered on-screen editing. With its rawness, Veprisuicida may be *too much* for those looking more entertaining music. For lovers of fierce and difficult ripping industrial noise, we are proud to present these recordings finally as real CD, with original graphics.
www.nhfastore.net/veprisuicida-heavy-metal
"Heavy Metal Cyclothymia" - recorded on 22.11.1996, Ultra Studio, St. Petersburg, Russia.
Previously released as a Heavy Metal Cyclothymia / Отклонение От Симметрии split tape with Cisfinitum on Spirals Of Involution (SOI 022).
"Science Friction" - recorded in February 1999, Ultra Studio, St. Petersburg, Russia.
Previously released as a Comforter / Veprisuicida split tape with Comforter on Ultra (U32).
|
2018 |
€12.50 |
|
|
Chinese Meat |
CD |
"Back in late 90’s and early 00’s, Freak Animal used to receive tapes from Russia. Now, decades later, via Russian contact person, I sent a word to Alexander asking whether Veprisuicida would be interested in some very needed re-issues. Great news was that there was no obstacles to launch decent sized re-issue project with some of the hardest to find Ultra tapes!
Now series of 7 CD’s is complete, including all the essential Veprisuicida works!
Veprisuicida is the most primitive and noisy of Alexander Lebedev-Frontov works. His industrial projects are widely celebrated among underground, but Veprisuicida seems to be far less recognized. It’s charm is in brutal and manually crafted primitive industrial waste. Eerie feeling of old Soviet avantgarde clashes with industrial-noise tape manipulations. It is nearly impossible to find as rugged, as crude and as rusty industrial noise in genre these days. Bleak and rotten sound, with broken mechanical feel, were saturated tape manipulations and disruptive pause edits add further charm. It’s very far from bombastic effects and plastic sounding digital distortions and results of heavily layered on-screen editing. With its rawness, Veprisuicida may be *too much* for those looking more entertaining music. For lovers of fierce and difficult ripping industrial noise, we are proud to present these recordings finally as real CD, with original graphics."
|
2020 |
€12.50 |
|
|
Zlvoennonamerennaya Neopoznanayakobelyombledno Zheleznayadevstvenitsa |
CD |
"Back in late 90's and early 00's, Freak Animal used to receive tapes from Russia. Now, decades later, via Russian contact person, I sent a word to Alexander asking whether Veprisuicida would be interested in some very needed re-issues. Great news was that there was no obstacles to launch decent sized re-issue project with some of the hardest to find Ultra tapes!
Now series of 7 CD's is complete, including all the essential Veprisuicida works!
Veprisuicida is the most primitive and noisy of Alexander Lebedev-Frontov works. His industrial projects are widely celebrated among underground, but Veprisuicida seems to be far less recognized. It's charm is in brutal and manually crafted primitive industrial waste. Eerie feeling of old Soviet avantgarde clashes with industrial-noise tape manipulations. It is nearly impossible to find as rugged, as crude and as rusty industrial noise in genre these days. Bleak and rotten sound, with broken mechanical feel, were saturated tape manipulations and disruptive pause edits add further charm. It's very far from bombastic effects and plastic sounding digital distortions and results of heavily layered on-screen editing. With its rawness, Veprisuicida may be *too much* for those looking more entertaining music. For lovers of fierce and difficult ripping industrial noise, we are proud to present these recordings finally as real CD, with original graphics."
|
2020 |
€12.50 |
|
| |
Veprisuicida |
CD |
"Back in late 90's and early 00's, Freak Animal used to receive tapes from Russia. Now, decades later, via Russian contact person, I sent a word to Alexander asking whether Veprisuicida would be interested in some very needed re-issues. Great news was that there was no obstacles to launch decent sized re-issue project with some of the hardest to find Ultra tapes!
Now series of 7 CD's is complete, including all the essential Veprisuicida works!
Veprisuicida is the most primitive and noisy of Alexander Lebedev-Frontov works. His industrial projects are widely celebrated among underground, but Veprisuicida seems to be far less recognized. It's charm is in brutal and manually crafted primitive industrial waste. Eerie feeling of old Soviet avantgarde clashes with industrial-noise tape manipulations. It is nearly impossible to find as rugged, as crude and as rusty industrial noise in genre these days. Bleak and rotten sound, with broken mechanical feel, were saturated tape manipulations and disruptive pause edits add further charm. It's very far from bombastic effects and plastic sounding digital distortions and results of heavily layered on-screen editing. With its rawness, Veprisuicida may be *too much* for those looking more entertaining music. For lovers of fierce and difficult ripping industrial noise, we are proud to present these recordings finally as real CD, with original graphics."
|
2020 |
€12.50 |
|
| VERGARA, JESUS A. |
R Derive Aplysia |
MC |
There is always something special about tracks that were made of field recordings. Sometimes it is just the moment you recognize the original sounds that makes you happy but sometimes the tracks engrosses you, so you find yourself in a soundworld that takes you on a journey you don´t want to miss. Well, Jesús Vergara from Mexico does exactly that.
The title track is a massive piece of music and a statement of an Mexican artist, who has to tell a story worth listening to. If you want to find out more about the background of the album, you can read further below in the artist text, but you also can search for hints in the artwork.
Tegh from Iran did a remix for the B Side of the tape, that takes the track further into songstructures without loosing the original field recordings storyline.
https://midirarecords.bandcamp.com/album/r-derive-aplysia |
2022 |
€11.00 |
|
| VERNON & BURNS MEETS LIED MUSIC |
Lost Lake |
LP |
Lost Lake sees the return of the collaborative project between sound art duo Vernon &: Burns (Mark Vernon and Barry Burns) and Lied Music (Luke Fowler and John W Fail). It is a sequel to the long-sold out LP Lied Music vs.Boy-Band Tax Returns (released on Ultra Eczema, 2006). This LP merges musique concrète compositional approaches with absurdist improvisational strategies. The four artists met in Glasgow where they recorded a series of sporadic improvised sessions using a diverse array of sound-making instruments (amplified toys and objects, guitar, analogue synths, percussion, squeeze box, field recordings and found tapes). Improvised sessions from 2008 were subsequently manipulated, tortured and caressed, both individually and collectively, into a series of highly idiosyncratic song-forms and sound collages.
https://vernonandburns.bandcamp.com/album/lost-lake
"The latest entry in the Vernon & Burns catalogue sees this Glasgow duo teaming up with Lied Music, the duo of Luke Fowler and John W. Fail. Lost Lake (SHADAZZ SHA.11) is one of the stranger and darker emissions from these talented creatives, particularly if you care to compare it with the sometimes more playful assemblages of V&B, or the deliciously offbeat melodic avant-pop tunes created by Fowler as part of Rude Pravo. At first spin the record is a near-bewildering toasted-cheese sandwich, a concoction which contains at least a zillion ideas apparently thrown together any which way. Faced with such an array, discerning avant-LP listeners may want to reach for The Faust Tapes as one touchstone, but another credible precedent is the unearthly Bladder Flask LP 1, that ne plus ultra of cut-up sound art put together by a teenaged Richard Rupenus as if possessed by some fevered desire to surpass the worst excesses of the lunatic fringe end of the United Dairies catalogue. But the Bladder Flask release had the underlying sinister aim of sending all those who heard it mad, through highlighting the complete absurdity and futility of everything. Lost Lake has a more benign mission, thankfully. The album has been very carefully crafted, using sets of recorded improvisation sessions produced by the four players, aiming to resculpt the near-chaos of that source material into a coherent structure. Within that structure, fractured songs and equally fractured stories emerge; yes, a scrambled form of a radio listening or cinematic experience, which is an effect Vernon & Burns have striven for with a good deal of their work (and have produced many items expressly in radiophonic mode). As to the cinematic, Fowler is also a film-maker. There is a logic to this scheme, but it is hard to follow and weaves its way around in a highly secretive and intuitive fashion, like an errant underground stream full of eccentric fish and darting river-insects stained in unnatural colours. We could account for some of this quirkiness by pointing out that all four creators were involved in the refashioning process, rather than a single editorial hand behind the editing knife; one can imagine the clashing dynamism generated by four powerful personalities, each of them bending the path of events in their favour. Additionally, the source material itself was not exactly straightforward music to begin with, but created using the now-virtually-standard set-up of the modern improviser, that is amplified instruments, toys, found tapes, field recordings, and live electronics. From this rich stew, voices and tunes emerge from amid a varispeeded and highly layered humid aggregation of extremely strange sounds. And yes, like the Rupenus LP, it is quite absurdist, but I like to think it’s a fun and cartoony absurdity, rather than bleak and Beckett-like. That said, this aural bric-a-brac crawls out from a dark attic of the mind, and is as much an unsettling listen as it is entertaining. Corin Sworn’s cover art encodes all the above information quite perfectly. Using collage technique (naturally), it depicts a figure sitting on a sofa surrounded by hideously “tasteful” drapes and furnishings. This image of bourgeois normality is thoroughly disrupted by replacing the outline of the figure with fragments of urban horror and machinery, then further scrambling the visual schema with concentric rings and diagonal bars, suggesting the power of the aural emanations on the record. The album is, we are told, a sequel to a 2006 release called Lied Music vs Boy-Band Tax Returns, which we reviewed in our Vinyl Viands issue." [Ed Pinsent, Sound Projector online, December 15, 2012]
|
2011 |
€16.00 |
|
| VERTICCHIO, GIUSEPPE |
Tjukurpa |
CD-R |
GUISEPPE VERTICCHIO is the man behind NIMH, who also pubished deep ambient works under his real name.
This private release from 1999 explores the beauty of Didgeridoo-sounds, six very nice pieces of ehnic ambience...
reminds on some works of AMIR BAGHIRI, GRASSOW, the AMPLEXUS-Label.
“Get in if you are into didjeridoo: Giuseppe's a skilled pratictioner, and though i'd have appreciated more a bunch of crude, unmediated recordings of the instrument's playing, this disc goes by way fascinating, enriched by tribal chants, processed crickets, synthesizer textures and a bunch of fx's that helps making the whole smoother. If the name of Steve Roach comes to your mind reading these words, be warned: this is less produced, less big studio imprinted than the before mentioned, therefore, at least to my ears, sounds more genuine, authentic, sincere. No loops, no tricks, just somebody blowing into a big hollow trunk and an old computer tricking backgrounds into existence while it happens. The jewel case presents a colour print of a cave painting, perfectly in argument."
[P.Ippoliti]
|
1999 |
€8.00 |
|
| VERTONEN |
Return of the Interrobang |
CD |
VERTONEN gehört mittlerweile zu den interessantesten US–Elektro-Geräuschmusikern, tönt stets abwechslungsreich und überraschend. So auch hier, ein übergreifendes „Thema“ sind repetitive Klangstrukturen..... so gibt es ein langes welliges Drone-Stück, welches sich gut entwickelt; pumpende Sinustöne- und Gameboy-artige Sounds beim nächsten, repetitive Orgel-artige Loopmuster, Samples von lockerer Piano-Barmusik, etc. etc.
“Produced with support from a CAAP grant, this disc highlights three aspects of experimental audio I have been exploring over the past years: deep drone washes, throbbing, lurching activities, and manipulated turntables/vinyl.” [Vertonen] “Have seen a lot of Vertonen shows here in Chicago, bumped across a comp track or two, heard him on the radio twice, but this is surprisingly the first time I've sat down at home with a Vertonen release. So far the live stuff has come across as great loud deep-flow crash-sizzle, often with a nasty beat orientation wrecking through it, but on wax it's been unpredictable, softer but somehow heavier--and Return of the Interrobang surprises me further with deep glacial industrial dare-I-say-mellow textures. First track is a rather gorgeous and fairly soft (but thick) drone, not completely unlike something you'd hear from Birchville Cat Motel.... Great tones, glowing embers with doom undercurrents, packed with a sci-fi title: "Toroidal Circulation 1 & 2." (Never mind, I just looked it up and it's a science fact title.) Second track comes in with a hard beat, your basic urban alarm siren drill kind of thing, with mysterious sounds floating in the background, and it's pretty heavy, but ends up the most 'typical' track on the CD, because the remaining three, a trilogy called "The Medical Turntable Variations," are just lovely little subtle stumbling loop miniatures. I mean, sure, you can infer a creepy entropic 'broken machine' connotation with all three tracks, and the title of the third part, "Deplete To Ruination, The Wide Shift," is of course something scary to contemplate, and topical too: the ostensibly approaching era where dystopian science fiction becomes dystopian science fact. (There's that "it's not science fiction, it's science fact" thing again, he's good with that.) Possibly the loveliest of the three, but it does have a haunted piano thing going on...like, say, the haunted piano bar of a big-city luxury hotel in ruins, long abandoned by human life, now a bizarre gargantuan relic of the oil age...oh, and hey, what's an interrobang?! Is that science fiction or science fact?!—[Blastitude 18]
|
2004 |
€12.00 |
|
| |
The Broken Air |
MC |
"vertonen is the work of blake edwards, a veteran of the chicago noise and experimental scene. with close to 100 releases many of them published through his own crippled intellect productions and ballast imprints spread over several decades, edwards has finetuned his craft of cryptically inclined, electronic invocations that might channel the raw brutality of industrial machinery or the existential claustrophobia of a submariner's voyage nearing its untimely end. there are numerous aesthetic facets to the vertonen oeuvre - scabrously harsh noise, zoned-out isolationism, roughly tactile cacophonics, polished smooth harmonics. yet, much of the work is tied to a conceptual precision that informs if not agitates his sounds to act.
broken air is the first album for vertonen to produce for the helen scarsdale agency. edwards cites both oulipo founder raymond queneau and butoh icon kazuo ohno as profound influences to the construction of broken air, in edwards' own words "to explore the boundaries between the limited and unlimited capabilities of 'communication' in its broadest definition." it is electricity itself that becomes the primary medium for edwards on broken air, as he extracts the errata from outdated and damaged equipment. a particular brand of radio interference leaps out of the stereo field at the onset of the album, interjecting its signal across smoldering noise from edwards' electronic instability, starved of voltage or succumbing to old age. a monochromatic dead-circuit tone flutters in various phased states as a gird to edwards' investigations. what sounds like an abject mutation of a tape loop barely spins on its creaking axis before its half-dead mitochondrial dna dissolves into tendrils of haptic vibration.
that possibility for communication within edwards' broken air is found in the cracks, wheezes, and toxic seepages of his electronic amalgamations. parallels might be found in aaron dilloway's elegantly inhuman abstractions, the attention to detail of michael gendreau's internal probing, and a forced manifestation of decay that is so common in the work of eric lunde and joe colley."
https://helenscarsdale.bandcamp.com/album/broken-air
|
2020 |
€11.00 |
|
| VIBRACATHEDRAL ORCHESTRA |
Tuning to the Rooster |
CD |
Die Meister des instrumentellen impro-psych-drones mit neuem Material, dass zum ersten Mal durch ein 24-Spur Mischpult gewandert sein soll (und nicht wie sonst aus simplen 2-Spur Aufnahmen besteht).
Nicht nur alte Acid Heads wie JULIAN COPE halten diese in quasi-rituellen Gruppen-Performances entstandende Musik für zeitgemässes Schamanentum, mit der bewussteinsverändernde Exkursionen möglich werden.....hier trifft die Kraft des Ur-Klangs, des Ur-Drones auf archaisch-menschliche Ekstasewünsche, und das macht das VIBRA-ORCHESTRA so besonders....
"This is music as a shamanic aid, made as much for the players themselves as for the listeners. But as I'm writing from the listening perspective, I have to inform y'all that this is music to get you there. Every track sounds as though it has always just 'been there,' it's just you ain't quite tuned into its peculiar frequency until now. The 12-and-a-half minute 'Wearing Clothes of Ash' is like a piano-led 'Paradieswarts Duul-period drone-a-thon with John Cale and Terry Riley guesting on viola and keys. Following this, the sublime 'Baptism Bar Blues' is proof positive that they can rock the riot house with pure adrenaline rush when the decision is made. Indeed, this track is magnificent and should be available to the masses free or in pill form." [Julian Cope]
“Vibracathedral Orchestra are one of those rare groups with a completely singular sound and a seemingly endless reserve of psych rock free drone inspiration with which to explore it. For us, they are one of the only bands who we could literally listen to forever, an everlasting endless jam, unfurling over the course of the next 50 years, each riff unfolding every month or so, each drum hit an entire day, melodies stretching for weeks and weeks. Our eyes close and we drift off to the next world while the music plays on...
That's exactly how it feels listening to Tuning To The Rooster. The songs are long, and they do feel gloriously and deliriously long, but they're never quite long enough. Not for us anyway. VCO have been masters of the drone, of the slowly shifting soundscape since their inception, but much like Skullflower discovering their inner Hawkwind on recent records, VCO seem to also have rediscovered the RIFF this time around. The opening track is like an Allman Brothers track gone totally apeshit. Or maybe Skullflower jamming with the Outlaws. Or something! There's a jangly sort of Southern rock riff, over chaotic propulsive drumming, a serious jam for sure, but the whole thing is wrapped in a thick cloak of droning shimmering distorted guitar noise, a continual psychedelic freakout SO continual that it becomes a static psych rock drone, with the original riff eventually repeating mantra like until it meshes with the background drone and it all becomes a brain melting divine psychedelic jam of the highest order. Woah, everyone who freaked out over Skullflower's Exquisite Fucking Boredom needs to check this out! The second track is back to that classic VCO sound we can never get enough of. A primal primitive space jam, all drones and rumbles and whirs and shimmers, a glorious pagan ritual that makes us want to lay naked in the middle of the forest and sink into the wet leaves as our eyes sparkle with reflections of shooting stars. Drifting and dreaming... The last two tracks again focus on the riff, hypnotic and repetitive, like Steve Reich composing for Hawkwind. A glorious minimal psychedelic jam, wreathed in a haze of swirling feedback and wild melodies, minor key pianos, and all manner of swoosh and swoop. So utterly and fantastically divine!“ [Aquarius]
|
2005 |
€15.00 |
|
|
Wisdom Thunderbolt |
CD |
"Wisdom Thunderbolt marks the triumphant return of Vibracathedral Orchestra after more than three years in the wilderness of intermittent performance, tangential projects, and unfindable limited editions.
The seven tracks on Wisdom are thee VCO's most rocking dispatch ever, neatly combining the Ra-like collage of tracks like "Wisdom Thunderbolt" with the insistent pulsing jams of "A Natural Fact" and "Order of the Broad Eraser." "Ochre Dust" and "Rainbow Whirlwind" are more in the old-school VCO thick-blanket of sound, with tuned-percussion melody peeking out from the fog. After a surprise opening, "Sway-Sage" heaves with raucous drumming (courtesy of Magik Marker Pete Nolan) under the swells of sound. Hard to imagine, but this is the first widely available music (except for the Tuning to the Rooster comp) from the VCO since 2003's acclaimed The Queen of Guess." [label info]
"First proper full length in a while from these ur-drone space
explorers, which is long overdue, considering the protracted near
silence of VCO, and Matthew Bower all but abandoning his Sunroof! in
favor of the noisier Hototogisu. Whatever you call that sort of music
that Sunroof!/VCO traffic in, very few other outfits have managed to
channel the same sort of ferocious guitar freakout and blissy ambient
swirl into the magical metallic drift that those two groups did.
So here we have Wisdom Thunderbolt, featuring the VCO usual
suspects (Neil Campbell, Mick Flower, Bridget Hayden, Adam Davenport) with a whole mess of special guests, underground drumlord Chris Corsano, the aforementioned Matthew Bower (Skullflower, Sunroof!, Hototogisu, etc.), Pete Nolan of the Magik Markers and John Godbert (Skullflower, Total) and the sound is exactly as we remember it. Thick and dense, swirling and blissed out, druggy and blurry,
smeared and shimmering. There is percussion, it mostly tinkles and
skitters, but occasionally pounds and swings, organs and synths are
woven into weird little buzzing soundscapes, horns wail and skronk,
guitars growl and jangle...
While the opening track is a ramshackle stumble, all over the
place, but in a very good way, the second track is where the band
locks into that perfect groove they've always been capable of. A
blown out stretch of raga like buzz, tribal drums underpinning a
simple riff, a spacey sea sick shimmer, all wrapped up in layers of
guitar buzz and hissy synth, rich and thick and totally mesmerizing.
The rest of the record is more of the same, longform buzz
drenched krautrocky drone jams, with some notable exceptions. The 12+ minute "Rainbow Whirlwind, which sounds like some lost Spacemen 3 jam, the guitars pulsing and throbbing, tones beating against other tones, the synths and guitars creating constantly shifting rhythms, interrupted in the middle by a blown out free noise fest, before
slipping back into spaced out pulse and dreamy drift.
And, the uncharacteristically 'rock'-y intro to "Sway-Sage"
that sounds like the Guess Who's "American Woman", before quickly
slipping back into some super distorted space jam, with a glitchy
buzz laid over a relentless rhythm, and with thick ropy swirls of
guitar and synth buzz burying everything in that distinctly VCO warm
washed out sonic blur." [Aquarius Records]
www.vhfrecords.com
|
2007 |
€14.00 |
|
|
Dabbling with gravity and who you are |
CD |
Aufnahmen von 2000, endlose v.a. sehr perkussive Sessions, ein kreatürliches akustisches Durcheinander mit vielen Blasinstrumenten, toll wie alles plötzlich einen folkig-orientalischen Anstrich bekommt, 11 Stücke oder Indexe, fast 61 Minuten, das ganze hat Proberaum-Charme, wurde ja auch in der KÜCHE von MICHAEL FLOWER aufgenommen..
"New pressing of long out of print title by the classic quintet of Neil Campbell, Bridgit Hayden, Julian Bradley, Michael Flower, and Adam Davenport. Assembled from recordings of their weekly sessions in Michael's kitchen, the tracks here represent the joyous, celebratory side of the VCO - all forward motion, massed strings, percussion, horns, and little instruments rocketing forward in a swirl of sound. Compared to the more austere sounds of recent CD's like "Lino Hi" and "Versatile Arab Chord Chart," the tracks here take off from where the loose hippy chant and drum action of collectives like Amon Duul intersects with the ploygot instrumental approach of mid-60's Sun Ra (ref "Exotic Forest," "Shadow World," etc). "There is no chord formation that can be planned which creates elation or sadness, or any art which is profound enough to change anything fundamental about a person. There is just a resonance around us which musicians/artists are using or not using" - Bridgit Hayden on the VCO" [label info]
www.vhfrecords.com
|
2002 |
€13.00 |
|
|
Versatile Arab Chord Chart |
CD |
Zweite CD der drownig-dronigen Impro-Combo aus UK...
"Versatile Arab Chord Chart is the second full-length outing by the quintet of Neil Campbell, Michael Flower, Julian Bradley, Bridget Hayden, and Adam Davenport. Like their UK cousins and fellow VHF recording artists Sunroof!, Vibracathedral Orchestra usually works from a base of modal improvisation. Led by Campbell's sawing violin, tracks like 'Wearing Quid Frock' and the epic 'Japan Banjo' build up arcs of lingering overtones beneath an undercurrent of melody. They cut the drones in their life with extremely effective bursts of near rock, in a style reminiscient of the pre-Nico Velvet Underground (circa 1966 or so). The band's combination of clattering percussion, droning strings, and considerable sense of where to put the 'groove' on tracks like 'Catching Loners With Blank Arms' makes them unique among their peers. Versatile Arab Chord Chart follows the band's previous Lino Hi outing on Giardia and a series of intriguing and extremely limited self-released titles, including the currently available Filling Sacks With Leaves 10-inch. New work for VHF and live work around the UK are planned for the near future, if there is one." - label press release.
www.vhfrecords.com
|
2000 |
€14.00 |
|
| |
Rec Blast Motorbike |
LP |
"Return of the mighty “classic” lineup of the VCO with their first new music in many years. Here the quintet of Michael Flower, Neil Campbell, Bridget Hayden, Adam Davenport, and Julian Bradley (joined by raconteur John Godbert) feature in a set of upbeat tracks that put the group's radical instrumental strategies into a package of full on rock action. Recorded live using a binaural head system, the sound is nicely ragged in a you-are-there way, with scouring guitars and bleeping electronics riding atop the band’s signature grooves. As with some of the band’s other records, there’s more than a hint of the early Velvet Underground spirit here – if you wish that Cale and Reed would have been more into being an instrumental band, here it is. Includes download code." [label info]
"We’ve long worshipped at the altar of these psychedelic shamans, dutifully prostrating ourselves before them, and bathing in the luxurious glow of their din, a din that has constantly evolved over the years, sometimes pure, cosmic ur-drone, other times, free-from, avant rock space-psych, and at others, a sort of mutant electronica. But in each incarnation, the group never failed to conjure up a sort of transcendental soundstate, the music, whether caustic and chaotic, or moody and minimal, always evoking a tranced out sense of mesmer, a true psychedelia that is rare, even amongst proper ‘psych’ bands.
Rec Blast Motorbike, finds the group’s original line-up together again (Michael Flower, Bridget Hayden, Neil Campbell, Adam Davenport, Julian Bradley and John Godbert) and it sounds like it. If we didn’t know better, this could easily have been some old self released cd-r, which is fine with us, the sound raw, and free, lo-fi, yet somehow lush and epic, beautiful blustery blowouts set alongside fractured folkiness, essentially rhythmless, but the rhythms that are present are more spluttery and loose, sounding like an errant snare rolling down an immense flight of stairs one minute, a field recording of someone bored restlessly tapping a tabletop at others, some tracks are driven by what could be a junkyard wind chime, and others, by a veritable hippie percussion ensemble. All the while, the rest of the crew are unfurling streaking arcs of distorted guitar buzz, rippling sheets of feedback and grinding FX doused riffage.
It’s hard to define exactly what would qualify as ‘classic’ Vibracathedral’, but to our ears, this is pretty much it. The old gang together again, making a glorious noise, like they never stopped in the first place." [Aquarius Rec] |
2015 |
€20.00 |
|
| VIDNA OBMANA |
The Surreal Sanctuary / The Contemporary Nocturne |
do-CD |
"By releasing "The Trilogy" not so long ago, we have opened a new series in which we are trying to bring closer the VIDNA OBMANA albums, which have long been unavailable in regular distribution and which reach exorbitant prices on auction portals.
This time we took two regular albums to work on. "The Surreal Sanctuary", like "The Contemporary Nocturne", recorded with the guest appearance of Steve Roach, Jim Cole and Joris De Backer, originally appeared in 2000 on Hypnos as separate publications. However, their character, the time in which the compositions were created and the participation of the same guests combine them into an extremely poignant and musically rich entity. Therefore, together with the artist, we decided to publish a two-disc album, closing this chapter in the discography of Vidna Obmana.
All the material was remastered by Dirk Serries in 2018. Photos for this album were made by Martina Verhoeven.
The 2CD album is released in an 8-panel digipak, strictly limited to 400 copies."
https://zoharum.bandcamp.com/album/the-surreal-sanctuary-the-contemporary-nocturne
|
2018 |
€16.00 |
|
| VIDNA OBMANA / ALIO DIE |
Echo Passage |
CD |
"Die beiden Ambient-Master aus Belgien und Italien in lang angekündigter Zusammenarbeit.. ECHO PASSAGE enthält ein 68 minütiges, soft dahinschwebendes Stück.. music for overcoming the time.. " [old Drone Rec. info]
"While running as a single 68.5-minute piece, Echo Passage is divided into three sections, Echoes of Light, A slip of darkness and The Passage; but there are no signposts to clearly delineate the pathways through these fantastic territories.Vidna Obmana and Alio Die have explored this realm and we're hereby invited to share its sonic bounty though each listener will have to discover their own aural trail. Flutey bursts, whispy shimmers, and the organic glistenings of trickling sands mark the entryway. It doesn't take long amongst these unusual textures to realize the previous world is now gone, and who needed it anyway...it's much more lovely here. A long, long stretch of rich multi-layered drones with no interruptions or percussive effects is eventually visited upon by sparse instances of faraway birdlike hoots and chatter as the sound waves become more subdued and darker. More organics emerge as a fizzy/bubbly current flows through these parts, and a powerful surging entity begins to periodically pulse in long,low tones. Everything returns to an airier, calmer state... for the time being at least. At the halfway point, those sonic molecules begin to shadow and thicken, becoming more ominous, like a mechanical wind, though still suffused with choir like threads of unearthly beauty. The turbulence grows; faint,unidentifiable ripples are heard through the chasmic howl. Cyclonic murk surrounds with distant vocal mutations and thin chimes occasionally lighting the way, leading into a realm of almost-silence. A thin drone blows in to be joined by mutedly brassy blares. Sporadic bird chirps add an Earthly touch to the otherwise unnatural atmospheres. A radiant haze begins to coalesce, swirling with gossamer strands, delicate yet powerful, gaining accompaniment from a two-tone counterpoint which temporarily fades away. Magical swells convolve around each other in strangely symphonic patterns, dancing like celestial auroras, wondrous to behold. All dissipates in the end, vanishing like the enchanting dreamworld it was... Echo Passage contains all the audio awe-inspiration you would expect from a musical meeting between Vidna Obmana and Alio Die. The extended length and expertly rendered atmospheres are perfectly suited for long, deep immersions into abstract time and place. Go there!" [from the Alio Die website]
www.projekt.com |
2006 |
€15.00 |
|
| VIOLENT SHOGUN |
Breath and Steam |
CD |
Breath and Steam’ is the latest CD album by Rémi Dazet, the mastermind behind Violent Shogun. He's been active lately also with other projects like Hattifnattar, Cryptofascisme and Mold, which are swimming in the similar experimental noisy waters. All those projects stand on their own feet, and the releases have been well thought out and nothing less than brilliant. Nevertheless, Violent Shogun can be seen as his main project, and it's always exciting to see which directions the sound is progressing to next. Sound palette on ’Breath and Steam’ is hard to describe with usual genre definitions like ”harsh noise” or ”industrial”, as the overall atmosphere is very unique. Remi has developed his tools further and uses them skillfully for scanning the depths of his own sonic ocean. This album is very focused. It's minimal and breathtaking at the same time and not least of all, it carries a strong message
https://satatuhatta.bandcamp.com/album/breath-and-steam
"Behind Violent Shogun, we find French musician Remi Dazet. He too works (worked?) under other guises, such as Hattifnattar, Cryptofascisme and Mold, all of which are, so says the label, "swimming in the similar experimental noisy waters"; why a different name, I wondered. Violent Shogun is called his primary project, and the cover mentions the use of tape loops, Serge and Eurorack modular synths, metal junk and apathy (not sure how that translates into sound). The album is dedicated to people who have shitty jobs around the world, working for "the classist, ableist, and racist ruling elite". While hearing this music, none of this message comes through, I think. I leave it up to your discretion whether that is good or bad. The loops are the primary focus, rough and ready; they are brutal attacks, not in the harshest of senses, but instead controlled and creepy. Whatever Violent Shogun sticks on these loops is another mystery; my ideas range from field recordings to bashing. A bit of junk and the odd bleep from a synthesizer. Whatever emotions are summoned here, fun isn't one of them. Throughout these thirty-seven minutes, the overall mood is one of depression. But that is an emotion that some people thrive upon, so there is pleasure in the pain, the agony and the ecstasy, if you get my drift. I enjoyed this noisy take on lo-fi sounds, which made it stand out from the traditional flock of noise mongers." [FdW / Vital Weekly]
|
2022 |
€13.00 |
|
| 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 |
|
| VISHUDHA KALI |
Prem Genocide |
CD |
Erste „Fabrik – CD“ dieses Projekts aus St. Petersburg, das ausschließlich Stimme(n) als Soundquelle einsetzt und damit rauhe, effektierte, destruktiv-emotionale Stücke aus Klang & Geschrei & found sounds (Chöre, Gesänge) schafft... damit verbunden ist eine Radikalkritik an der zerstörerischen Spezies Mensch. Spezielles Cover mit Banderole und Siegel.
First CD by this project from St. Petersburg, Russia. Raw processed voice-only tracks, destructive & emotional pieces made out of screams and feedbacks and found choirs, etc. , dedicated to the “parasite man”. Harsh and depressive at the same time.
“Prem Genocide is the first album of the one-man project from St. Petersburg. Vishuddha Kali is the art of destruction, musical project, consisting of sounds produced by man's mouth only. All the sounds on the given album are only vocal sounds of different trends of breath & speeches, forwarded through a lot of processing & distorters, but still they are the sounds of the voice only. Creative work of Vishuddha Kali is devoted to total genocide that takes place in human society. It dedicated to humanity's striving for self- liquidation & destruction. Every track is devoted to one of the stages of this destruction. All the texts being gathered together are a small letter addressed to the man, who realizes its place in the nature, who realizes himself as a small not-separated particle of the surprising manifestation of this life. CD comes in oversized foldout cover sealed with a black wax & includes 2 postcards Ltd. to 300 copies ..... Absolute masterpiece!!!” [label description]
|
2002 |
€12.00 |
|
| |
Unfinished Devastation Narrative |
CD |
lim./numb. 689 copies with many full colour postcards SPECIAL OFFER
Sehr ruhiges, spirituell-meditatives Album des St. Petersburger Projekts mit vielen Harmonika-artigen Sounds, gewidmet der Heimatstadt. Beeindruckende Aufmachung mit vielen Vollfarb-Postkarten....
"Unfinished Devastation Narrative\" is probably the most notable album in VK's discography, of course if there are any unnotable. It is a very personal work and it's the best recommendation for fans of the author. This album is not similar to his previous releases neither in style or sound. Listeners will find here a sort of cosmic-music, played on a physharmonica (portative organ), singing bowls, accordion, various handmade and analogue instruments, Sounds of nature, recorded in sacred places on uninhabited islands of Ladoga lake, where author has been meditating for a long time, have also been used in the album.
The album includes:
- 5 11-minute tracks of assembled acoustic ambient
- new ways of playing various handmade instruments & natural sound sources
- conceptually re-worked melodies, structures & streams, creating
endless mystique moods & dreams.
- quality sound and professional mastering
- a luxurious conceptual package art
The pictures must be noticed individually. All of them are reprints of the author's drawings, reflecting his esoteric experiences. Each picture adds new sense and depth to the corresponding track. In this sense there are no analogues to this release. The album is very deep and extremely conceptual in every point, there is not a single accidental sound or design element. Every listener will enjoy the album, everybody will find something interesting in this release. Limited edition of 689 copies, and this number also represents a deep conceptual idea. Number 6 symbolizes the beginning, 8 - the infinity and 9 - the ending.“ [label description]
|
2005 |
€13.00 |
|
| VITRIOL |
I-VII |
CD |
Wow! Leider erst spät entdeckt, dieses alchemistische Gebräu von ex-GODFLESH BC GREEN. Rückwärtige Gitarrensounds & drones, eine dumpf-beschwörende Stimme aus dem Untergrund, sich wellenartige ergiessende Chords....
“Ben Green (Godflesh) takes us on a haunting and elemental journey of the soul. Recorded in the mountains of Wales in order to document alchemical pursuits....’ In 1995 I moved to a remote cottage in the Ystwyth valley, to escape the noise of the city in order to listen, without distraction to the sounds within, sounds that I had been feeling for a long time. I spent 12 months here in virtual total isolation, focusing not only inwards, but also allowing myself to be an elemental "sponge", initially at nature’s mercy, but eventually learning to coexist with all natural elements, becoming completely aware of the natural order and flow of things. One of the ways in which I explored this was using sound, for as a musician I was very aware of the strength of sounds, particularly in a pure state, and the effect they have on our psyche, and therefore our fundamental state of being.’ [Ben Green 2001] “ [label info]
|
2001 |
€14.00 |
|
| VOICE OF EYE |
Substantia Innominata |
10inch |
"geistermusik aus der wüste... oder der wind in den felsen... voice of eye's beitrag zur substantia innominata serie auf drone.
voice of eye haben schon ganz am anfang dieser anderen serie auf drone-records, der 7” reihe (genauer: im november 1994; dr-09), einen beitrag bringen können, der das ganz eigene drone-verständnis von diesem us-duo noch immer perfekt mitteilen kann. einer der gründe dafür mag sein, dass voice of eye (immer noch) zum teil selbstgebaute geräte nutzen, oft in form von streichinstrumenten, deren klang, zusammen mit flöten, stimmen und fieldrecordings quasi aus dem stand eine eigenartige stimmung evozieren kann. vor allem aber vermeiden sie dabei jede art von bombast oder auch nur das endlose übereinanderschichten von einzelnen spuren. die beiden haben, mit anderen worten, einfach ein sehr gutes gespühr für aufbau und spannung und eine sehr eigene vorstellung von klangästethik: einzelne töne sind in ihrem sound in einer form texturiert, die unmittelbar anspricht und voice of eye erreichen das, meiner meinung nach, neben der nutzung dieser wirklich ausgefallenen, exotischen instrumente, gerade nicht durch geheime effektgeräte, sondern vielmehr durch eine eher fast karge bearbeitung, durch ein rohlassen des klangs. daran hat sich seitdem (zum glück) nichts geändert, die “substantia innominata” 10” baut in allen drei stücken (“vira”, “dhyana”, “purusa”) auf dieses klangverständnis und webt (und das ist hier mal fast wörtlich zu nehmen) ein sehr zartes und transparentes gespinst mit einer, technisch gesehen, für eine 10” geradezu unglaublich langen spielzeit. musikalisch / atmosphärisch dann mit diesem zeit-ausschalt-faktor, den nur wirklich packender ambient schafft. daher: volle empfehlung (auch wenn die superlange spielzeit ihren vinyltribut fordert)." [N, Unruhr.de]
"This release marks the comeback of the legendary duo from New Mexico, USA, consisting of BONNIE McNAIRN and JIM WILSON! Over a decade ago (1992-1995) VOICE OF EYE released three albums with their unique style combining ethnic, ritualistic & folklore influences in an experimental and highly organic way to create a kind of "transcendental drone ambience", using only "real" instruments & self-built devices and an array of electronic effects. In November 1994 they released an EP entitled "Sprocket" on Drone Records (DR-09), which is still one of the absolute highlights in the Drone series.
After this first phase of musical creation VOICE OF EYE focused on building an incredible "Earthship" house in the deserts of New Mexico. In 2007 they returned doing shows in the States, Germany, France & Italy and releasing two limited CDRs. This 10" has 3 tracks with NEW material (entitled "VIRYA", "DHYANA" and "PURUSA") inspired by the wisdom of Buddhist / Advaitic meditation & philosophy, where the contemplation within music & sounds appears as a tool to reach a higher consciousness & awareness of reality.
This highly sublime & emotional "other-dimensional" ambience is based on lots of ethereal vocal material, flute-sounds and their typical self-built string-instruments, full of yearning and beauty - almost 39 minutes of material coming on clear vinyl with golden striae, with superb artwork by THOMAS DOHMEN.
This is the celebration of the "Unknown", seen as a state of mind where the Ego dissolves into a timeless universal consciousness." [label description]
|
2008 |
€12.00 |
|
| |
Anthology 2 (1992-1996) |
do-CD |
"Since a few years Texan group Voice Of Eye are back. Their various new releases have been reviewed before. But its the second incarnation of the group, a duo, which existed before from 1989 to 1996. They were pretty active back then too, with lots of releases, like CDs, cassettes, 7"s (for Drone Records among others) and contributions to compilations. Last year Vinyl On Demand already released a double LP of that older stuff, but now Troum's Transgredient label goes out even more, with a double CD of material from 1992 to 1996 (and makes it the first non-Troum release on the label). To say that Voice Of Eye play ambient music is not entirely true. Their music is indeed based on all things 'atmospheric', using an array of drone like sounds, percussion and the heavenly voice of Bonnie McNairm, but what sets Voice Of Eye apart from so many others is their free flowing sound, almost psychedelic, always full of sound effects (the reverb is hard to avoid here), widely meandering ab out.
There is always a rough edge with Voice Of Eye that makes them a bit different from many other drone artists, which is perhaps due to the fact that they use many effects and maybe due to the fact that the recording medium is not the greatest. Also they use various bits of percussion, acoustic objects (one track is entirely made of bicycle wheels). Its great to have this collection of rare CD compilation pieces, 7" vinyl and long unreleased pieces - especially the very free floating space of 'Sonic Works Live Dress Rehearsal'. Two long CDs of highly weightless space music. Excellent stuff." [FdW/Vital Weekly]
|
2011 |
€10.00 |
|
| 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 |
|
|
Amidst the Noise and Twigs |
CD |
"Die vier buchdeckelartigen Hochglanzseiten mit surrealen Bilderwelten des Nick Mott – Würfelkopfgestalt, gesichtslose Männchen fliegen durch die Luft, eines legt seine Stielaugen vor sich auf den Tisch – würden den Kauf von VOLCANO THE BEARs Admidst The Noise and Twigs (mt204a) fast schon alleine rechtfertigen. Umso besser, wenn dann die Musik auch noch überzeugt. Neben dem Artworker zeichnen für diese wieder Aaron Moore, Clarence Manuelo und Daniel Padden verantwortlich. Sie jagen den Hörer durch eine scheinbar zufällig chaotische Dadaund Patchwork-Welt, die bisweilen Dilettantismus höchst gekonnt suggeriert und mit allen musikalischen und technischen Tricks Illusionen aufbaut und zerstört. Hippiegeschrammel trifft auf orientalische Flöten und Gongs der Chinaoper. Dann paaren sich Flötengedudel, Geklapper und Geknarze ’Before We Came To This Religion’. Auf ’Larslovesnicks Farm’ steht ein altes verstimmtes Klavier, auf dem ein Langweiler vier Töne tonleiteraufwärts stetig wiederholt, dazu scheinen Türen zu knarzen und Wasser wird verspritzt. Ein Banjo beschränkt sich auf 2 Töne, die während des Anschlagens getunet
werden. ’Cassettes Of Berlin’ ist eine negativländlerische Collage aus Geräuschen, Stimmfetzen und Radioeinspielungen, abgehackt, weil am Frequenzeinstellrad weitergedreht wird. ’Splendid Goose’ ähnelt den langen Mothers-Stücken der zweiten Freak Out-Scheibe. Das Schlagzeug unterbreitet den treibenden Rhythmus, über dem sich monotone Frequenzteppiche ausbreiten, gestört und unterbrochen von Kracheinspielungen und begleitet von brummiger Stimmakrobatik oder Flötengequengel. ’She Vang Moon’ kreiert eine Atmosphäre tibetanischer Klöster mit Mönchsgesang, Harmonium, Gonggeschepper, verzerrt dann immer mehr durch unsaubere Frequenzen. Es geht auch gefühlvoll, wenn die Trompete zu einer Art Hymne ansetzt, aber dann wird gegrunzt, gejammert und durch den Kamm geblasen. Das letzte Stück, ’The Three Twins’, beginnt in getragenem Tempo mit 3 Tönen und der tiefgreifenden Aussage “Hi-a-o, Hijä-jah...“ (oder so ähnlich), geht über in dilettantisches Geklopfe, Kindergeschrei, Klaviergeklimper - das Schlagzeug wuselt im Hintergrund – und entwickelt sich tatsächlich noch zu einem Song, der am Ende vom Sax regelrecht ’zerquetscht’ wird." [Bad Alchemy]
"The first 1000 copies are packaged in a full color book bound case with an eight page booklet. Volcano The Bear "Amidst The Noise And Twigs" is the follow up to the critically acclaimed "Classic Erasmus Fusion" album. Who knew that amidst the noise and the twigs there was music…sweet, sweet music?! This world is Volcano the Bear’s womb. At last, the year that VTB gets a shot at Top Of The Pops, assuming the pops finally snaps out of its vapid trance and embraces the standards of Comus, 3 Hurel, early Residents and 12th century Arabo-Andalusian music. As usual, our heroes are found keeping things stripped to the bone trumpet, but dripping with a juicy, melodic marrow. The record pours slowly and resolutely like a folk-psych dream urn, loaded with full metal banjoes; crumhorns at 12 O’clock; and autoharps at defcon 5. The experimentalism is this time couched in shifting tides of self-spun acidic harvest ballads that noisily well up into proto-Kraut thrums and tribal night t rips around the pyre. A rural, squelchy, DIY delicacy which stinks of occidental embouchure so crystal crisp that every skkrrrr, pphaaapph and brrruuuummmm resonates like a small, sound-specific god, intertwined with beautifully skewed notes, voices and rhythms. "Amidst The Noise And Twigs" plays like a recently discovered field recording of some obscured Celtic clan who accidentally stumbled onto psychedelia 600 years ahead of its time. These pipers truly rock the gates of dawn." [label notes]
www.blrrecords.com
|
2007 |
€13.00 |
|
| |
The Mountains among us |
CD |
Die bereits 200ste Katalognummer des Portlander Labels ist für VOLCANO THE BEAR reserviert, und diese präsentieren hier ganz besonderes Material, 2 urlange Stücke mit sehr geräuschhaften Instrumental- Drones & field recording-Quellen, sehr frei & voller überraschender Wendungen und wunderbarer dunkler Parts. Das Album weist mitunter fast schon neo-klassische Qualitäten auf, ist
überraschend atmosphärisch, dabei aber von unheimlicher Stringenz. Unser definitiver Lieblingsrelease der britischen Band! Anklänge an NOISE MAKERS FIFES, ZEITKRATZER, MORPHOGENESIS.... erschien übrigens vor einigen Jahren bereits auf Beta-Lactam als LP in einer Auflage von nur 100 Stück!
"Die wohl beste Band des CTM Festivals 2006 mit zwei über 20 Minuten langen Tracks in oberdickem und teurem Pappcover. Natürlich werden VTB in keinem Weird Folk Artikel erwähnt, dafür sind sie viel zu weit draußen, zu windig, hölzern, befremdlich und abseits von allem. Es blasen alte, nach Gauklerfest klingende Tröten, aber nur selten zum Tanz oder Marsch. Streicher werden gekappt und geschnitten, Vögel und ein anonymes Publikum schauen teilnahmslos zu, an der Harfe wird semi-improvisiert, Gesang in die Länge gezogen etc etc. Trotz aller Experimentierfreude an den Instrumenten steht deutlich VTBs famose Studioarbeit im Vordergrund. Alle Spuren sind meisterhaft abgemischt, so dass klar der Eindruck des steten Machens über dem der fertigen Arbeit steht. Unheimlich, mysteriös und spitzengut." [Ed Benndorf / DE BUG]
"First edition of 500 numbered copies in a full color book bound cd case. This year sees the eruption of the Volcano with a myriad of releases leaving the town folk covered in a fine and mysterious silt of musical entropy. The limited release of "Mountains" finds our boy’s spelunking the creepiest of dream spawned caves, excavating crystalline fragments along the way, which are then set in beautiful mental jewelry appropriate for any formal occasion. Arpeggiated blurs and disinterred voices snap, crackle and pop as an unnamed rusted hulk is slowly pushed across an ever morphing open landscape. More accurately still, it's like that weird wind harp record from the 70's with a mid period NWW and Mauve Sideshow marching up opposite sides of the hill to claim the giant harp. And that's just in the first 19 minutes!. Afterwards, there is a slo-mo interlude battle between rarified VTB brand chamber music and the sounds of...things. As promised, the denouement is a brief, dare I say, pretty little whisper of pizzicato and drone. So pretty and little, in fact, that it caught the attention of my otherwise weirdness deaf partner. A real symphony of the spheres that showcases this Volcano's ability to blow its top and rain sweet tweeky kittens on the valley below." [label info]
www.blrrecords.com
|
2008 |
€15.00 |
|
| VOLLMER, CARSTEN |
Arbeit Nr. 23 - Ich arbeite mit Frequenzen Teil 1 - 3 (ansteigend / abfallend / 2600 Hertz / Phreaking) |
3 x CDR set |
The last part of the trilogy Ich arbeite mit Frequenzen forms a trilogy in itself: it is made up of three tracks while its two predecessors only contain one long track each. And while parts 1 and 2 work through a frequency grid of apparently mathematical rigour, this one focuses on the particularly distortion-rich frequency band around 2600 hertz. The two 2600 Hertz tracks are live recordings of a performance by Carsten Vollmer. Here, and on the opening track Phreaking, the first non-electronic sounds of the whole trilogy can be heard: the performer's screams put into relief the expressive quality of noise that was consciously underexposed on the 'antihumanist' parts 1 and 2.
The fact that all of Carsten Vollmer's releases come as numbered Arbeiten (works), but in particular the verb arbeiten (to work) in the title of this release, emphasise the (physical) labour of building up his walls of sound. Thus, part 3 of Ich arbeite mit Frequenzen once more enacts the drama of 'man vs machine' or 'body vs bodily harmful frequencies and volumes' through which the noise genre time and again confronts existential and social alienation with an ecstatic, but 'parole-less protest' against it (to borrow a phrase from Carsten Vollmer's fellow noisician Anton Kaun aka Rumpeln).
The first track of the album, Phreaking, also features a list, but not one of frequencies, but a list of textual references to Ron Rosenbaum's classic 1971 feature story The Secrets of the Little Blue Box about the hardware-hacking network of the Phone Phreaks, who built a counter-network within the official telephone network of the U.S.A. From the vantage point of the officially sanctioned telephone signals, these subversive actions were undoubtedly noise, and it is plain to see that Carsten Vollmer's Phreaking is a sympathetic homage. In a 'communication guerilla' practice such as this, Michel Foucault's basic tenet 'Where there's power, there's also resistance' meets the axiom of information theory: 'Where there's a signal, there's also noise'. The fact that this third and final album comes not as one monolithic track, but as an object fragmented within itself, is programmatic for ways in which noise can stand for the freeing of spaces in political contexts: instead of the monologue of an author(itarian) voice – 'I, and only I, work with frequencies' –, this album signals within itself the clamourous debate of different, dissenting voices, which in the political field is always preferable to the undisputed monologue of an absolute power. At the end of the live recordings, one eventually hears the voices of the audience; the author is no longer alone within his work, and someone says: 'It continues here, in the next room.' Thus the album ends with an invitation to claim new spaces of possibility.
File under: Noise
https://emerge.bandcamp.com/album/arbeit-nummer-23-ich-arbeite-mit-frequenzen-teil-1-ansteigend
https://emerge.bandcamp.com/album/arbeit-nummer-23-ich-arbeite-mit-frequenzen-teil-2-abfallend
https://emerge.bandcamp.com/album/arbeit-nummer-23-ich-arbeite-mit-frequenzen-teil-3-2600-hertz-phreaking
***
Der letzte Teil der Trilogie “Ich arbeite mit Frequenzen” bildet selbst eine Trilogie in sich – anders als die beiden Vorgänger, die jeweils nur aus einem langen Track bestehen, umfasst er drei Stücke. Statt ein mathematisch-kalkuliert wirkendes Frequenzschema durchzuarbeiten wie Teil 1 und Teil 2, wird hier auf 2600 Hertz in einem in Sachen Verzerrung besonders effektiven Frequenzbereich gearbeitet. Die beiden “2600 Hertz”-Tracks sind Livemitschnitte von einer Performance von Carsten Vollmer. Hier, aber auch auf dem Opener “Phreaking”, sind erstmals auch nicht-elektronische Klänge zu hören: Schreie des Performers rücken jene expressive Qualität von Noise in den Fokus, die auf den beiden “antihumanistischen” Teilen 1 und 2 betont ausgespart blieb.
Nicht nur die Titulierung von allen Veröffentlichungen Carsten Vollmers als durchnummerierte “Arbeiten”, sondern speziell das Verb im Titel dieser Veröffentlichung betont die (physische) Anstrengung, die in die Errichtung seiner Klangwände einfließt. So führt auch Teil 3 von “Ich arbeite mit Frequenzen” das Drama “Mensch vs. Maschine” bzw. “Körper vs. körperfeindliche Frequenzen und Lautstärken” auf, mit dem das Genre Noise immer wieder existenzielle und gesellschaftliche Entfremdung sowie den ekstatischen, aber “parolenlosen Protest” dagegen (eine Formulierung von Carsten Vollmers Noise-Kollegen Anton Kaun aka Rumpeln) inszeniert.
Das erste Stück des Albums, “Phreaking”, führt ebenfalls eine Liste auf, allerdings keine mit Frequenzen, sondern eine mit textlichen Anspielungen auf Ron Rosenbaums klassische Reportage “The Secrets of the Little Blue Box” von 1971 über das Hardware-Hacker-Netzwerk der “Phone Phreaks”, die im offiziellen Telefonnetzwerk der USA ein Gegen-Netzwerk aufbauten. Aus Sicht der offiziell im Telefonnetz vorgesehenen Signale waren diese subversiven Aktionen zweifellos “Noise”, und es ist unschwer zu erkennen, dass Carsten Vollmers “Phreaking” eine von Sympathie geprägte Hommage ist. In einer “Kommunikationsguerilla”-Praxis wie dieser trifft sich Michel Foucaults Grundsatz “Wo Macht ist, ist immer auch Widerstand” mit dem Axiom der Informationstheorie: “Wo Signale sind, da ist immer auch Rauschen”. Dass dieses dritte und letzte Album nicht als ein monolithischer Track, sondern in sich fragmentiert daherkommt, kann dabei programmatisch dafür gelesen werden, wie Noise auch im politischen Raum für das Schaffen von Freiräumen stehen kann: Statt des Monologs der Autor(itäts)stimme – “Ich, und nur ich arbeite mit Frequenzen” – wird hier innerhalb des Albums der lautstarke Widerstreit von verschiedenen Stimmen angedeutet, der im politischen Feld allemal wünschenswerter ist als der unumstrittene Monolog einer absoluten Herrschaft. Auf den Liveaufnahmen hört man dann am Ende auch die Stimmen des Publikums, der Autor ist nicht mehr allein in seiner Arbeit, und jemand sagt: “Hier im nächsten Raum geht es weiter.” So endet das Album ausdrücklich mit der Eröffnung von Möglichkeitsräumen, die es zu nutzen gilt.
File under: Noise
-----
VITAL WEEKLY
Origami derives from ori, meaning "folding", and kami meaning "paper". The mathematics of the fold is relevant, is analogical to 'the fold'. This can be understood as the new mathematics of the curve, of changing quantities which is often difficult for non-mathematicians, of which I am one. Put simply in simple geometry of a flat surface, say a chessboard, a piece, pawn, knight etc. can be located by two coordinates. These are static set properties, which Deleuze via Leibniz relates to Descartes. Complex curves, changing velocities, cannot be precisely modelled using such a method. This was accomplished by using mathematics to model dynamically changing events, the Calculus. If modernism in its linear development fixes and finalizes itself in a Cartesian / Euclidean fixed point, a null event, the Baroque does not. The metaphor of calculus is useful, for around it are mathematical objects such as the limit. In simple non-mathematical terms, a series of calculations can approach a limit but never reach it, and in getting closer, to a potential infinity of numbers. For non-mathematicians, this is best seen in the obvious Baroque of The Mandelbrot Set. Folding can produce an infinite variation. Associated with 'folding' in Deleuze derives the aesthetic, especially the visual aesthetic in the Baroque, one of the dynamic curves and dramatic events. “Leibniz is endlessly drawing up linear and numerical tables. With them he denotes the inner walls of the monad. Folds replace holes...” (The Fold). Elsewhere (in The Logic of Sense) Tenth series of the ideal game -”of which we speak cannot be played by either man or God. It can only be thought as nonsense. But precisely for this reason, it is the reality of thought itself and the unconscious of pure thought. This game is reserved then for thought and art.” Baroque music of the 'classical period' - (late 17thC- 18thC) used accomplished improvisation, complex polyphony, multiple independent melody lines, the fugue and ricercar (which explore the permutations of a given motif). The 'metaphysics' that the Baroque produced was significant in music. Bach, Vivaldi, Handel, Monteverdi, Scarlatti, Purcell, Telemann... such that with Bach there is the deployment of a pure abstract formalism which could be regarded as a metaphysics of the free play of the potentialities of the abstract (windowless) structures of music. And in thinking the Baroque we also arrive at Leibniz and German Idealism, but also the more recent 'idealism' of Deleuze and the Speculative Realists and Object Oriented Ontologists. To judge these metaphysics in 'scientific', empirical terms, would then be to miss the point. They are not in all cases Monads, as they are not closed off to ourselves. They are like Monads in that they seem closed in on themselves. The point is that 'Baroque Folding' is an internal programme. Thus it typically appears when genres become exhausted or fully mature. A very early classical example is the development of Corinthian Architecture from that of the Doric & Ionic, or the much more recent, post-modernism, especially noticeable in Architecture. A certain playfulness which can and does in Po-Mo reduce, at times, to mere sensation and irony. Within contemporary music, 'noise music' and 'harsh noise' was to lead to a reductionist, 'analytics' of the extreme minimalism of Harsh Noise Wall's monolithic unchanging noise. This cul-de-sac has an obvious problem, and various methodologies have evolved in order to circumvent its effective closure of the noise genre, from abandoning noise altogether (Wolf Eyes), to alternatives, such as shit folk and ultra shit folk (Romain Perrot). The process of 'folding' is synthetic, not analytic (reductionist, minimalist walls). Both processes are to be found in Metaphysics and Art. In The Critique of Pure Reason, Kant sets out to establish an a priori basis for his transcendental metaphysics and makes two distinctions, that of the analytic a priori and the synthetic a priori. The philosophy of this needn't concern us. What is useful is concerning the idea of The Fold. The epistemological, philosophical implications disputed by some also need not bother us here. For us, what is significant in Kant is that Kant maintains that the Synthetic can produce (a priori) new objects without recourse to finding them in the outside world. In Analysis, something is broken down or examined to find its fundamental form or origin (The Wall of Noise). This is normally regarded as a task that will arrive at something fundamental. In early philosophy – the Atom – in Jungian analysis the archetype. It may well be that such a final analysis is not possible, that analysis is potentially infinite, or results in a void. Synthesis is the reverse. Given some fundamental objects, we can create new objects and structures – out of what is already given. A triangle can be analyzed into its basic three sides of straight lines, but we can synthesize new objects given a triangle. We can make a quadrilateral with two triangles and continue – pentagons, hexagons, and no limit – and no recourse to anything external to our basic element. And whereas Analysis is contained by the analysis of 'what is there' synthesis creates new objects that are not 'already there'. The Baroque is this distinction between the Analytic A Priori and Kant's idea of a Synthetic A Priori. An example in the arts is that of Analytic Cubism and Synthetic Cubism. Whereas Analytical Cubism broke up the picture plane into its elements, Synthetic Cubism used these basic 'elements' to synthesize new compositions. The tendency in modernism was analytical. “What is painting?” “What is music?” “What is Art?”, the analytical desire of what is “essential”. In Cubism, the 'Analytical' phase was relatively short-lived, the Synthetic move allowing Picasso and others an alternative continuous productive methodology. The (Baroque) fold is a synthetic methodology. At the most pedantic Origami – (from ori "folding", and kami "paper"). An origami Swan is a synthesis of a flat sheet of paper. All creations of Origami are in the last analysis, flat sheets of paper. The methodology of Origami, of 'folding', is Synthetic and offers an infinity of productions. Which is occasioned in Noise – here! which is not the abandonment of noise or a retrograde movement back into music. The baroque fold, abstractly using the tropes, forms etc., of noise music not as an external expression but as internal work exploring the permutations and improvisational possibilities of a given motif. The tropes of Harsh Noise, the motifs of feedback, oscillator sweeps, distortion, white noise etc. Abstract sounds, found in Harsh Noise before its collapse into a minimal wall. What is removed is the idea of a linear 'progress' (modernism) replaced by that of infinite synthesis. Ansteigend, Abfallend and 2600 Hertz_Phreaking are 3 parts of Arbeit Nummer 23 - Ich Arbeite Mit Frequenzen.
www.vitalweekly.net/1316.html
"Steht 'Frequenzarbeiter' schon im Duden? CARSTEN VOLLMER arbeitet jedenfalls daran, mit seiner Arbeit Nr. 23: Ich arbeite mit Frequenzen (3xCDr, jeweils in DVD-Schuber). Dieser nächste Arbeitsschritt nach der bad alchemystischen „Arbeit Nr. 22“ (BA 103) ist ein in strenger Schwarzweiß-Optik vereinter Triptychon, den drei Labels stemmen: Teil 1 – Ansteigend (ACU 1027), Teil 2 – Abfallend (Cat Killer), Teil 3 – 2600 Hertz / Phreaking (Krater Recordings, KR05-010). Das oft genug unangebracht verwendete 'experimentell' ist dabei halbwegs gerechtfertigt durch die demonstrativen 'Versuchs'-Reihen mit 55 – 77 - 160 – 300 – 666 – 800 – 1000 – 2000 – 4400 – 5000 – 9000 Hz rauf und runter ('Ansteigend'/ 'Abfallend') sowie drei Episoden mit 2600 Hz. Darunter, neben zwei Live-Exzerpten vom Schrei/Ende/Ohren-Festival, eine Hommage an das in den 70ern popularisierte und bis in die 90er mögliche Phone-Freaking in den USA, wo die von Hackern entdeckte, von den Yippies popularisierte Freischaltung auf eben der 2600 Hz-Frequenz als Akt des zivilen Widerstands aufgefasst wurde. Aber diese Frequenz-Folklore erscheint wie ein narratives Surplus in Vollmers bildlos purer Darbietung eines Blizzard-Kontinuums, in dem McLuhans 'kalte' und 'heiße' Medialität verwischt. Indem ein schrillendes, zerrendes Zuviel mit myriodophonem Rausch überwältigt und lähmt, doch in seinem informatorischen Überschuss zugleich nach Kryptologen schreit. Für einen auch merkwürdig flötenden Code. Aber vor allem für ein Unsagbares, das sich als kataklysmische Schallmauer zeigt wie bei Wittgenstein das Mystische. Dass in allem, was der Fall ist, atomare Niagarafälle toben, die jedes menschliche Maß übersteigen. Der infernalische 'Gesang' der Neuronen, das heulende Elend der Elektronen, das universale Alpha, Vollmer hat es zwischen Infra und Ultra brachial orchestriert als kakophon schillernde Metapher für das Mega-, Giga-, Tera-Chaos im elektromagnetischen Radio- und Mikrowellendschungel. Als Sturz der Erkenntnis über die Marmorklippen durch die Stahlgewitter ins Spektrum der Strahlungen, als total mo-bilgemachter Black Metal vor einem Schwarzlicht-Horizont. Das von Ernst Jünger immer wieder gebrauchte Tat Tvam Asi [Das bist du] zeigt dazu seinen technologisch fitten 'Ar-beiter', der als 'organische Konstruktion' mit der technoiden Mobilmachung heißläuft. Und einige wenige, die, obwohl gleichermaßen involviert, in kühler Desinvoltura dazu Distanz halten. Vollmers akribische Abbildungen, 48 + 48 + 50 Minuten intensive Immersion, können als stoischer Härtetest erscheinen. Als stockholm-syndromatische Affirmation eines Factum brutum. Oder sogar als akzelerationistisches Vorwärts (Nick Land), das die transhumane Umgestaltung des Menschen (durch die aggressiven Metastasen des Kapitalismus) ins Auge fasst. Mit der Utopie einer KI-generierten 'technologischen Singularität' würde Jüngers 'organische Konstruktion' zum Pionier der transhumanen Erlösung. Jede durchgestandene Noisattacke wäre, gerade indem sie das hinfällige Fleisch von den Knochen schabt, ein Evolutionsschritt dorthin. Der Geist, schon bei Hegel ein harter Knochen, steckt seinen Kopf, wie sein Renaissance-Vorgänger durch die Käseglocke seiner Scheibenwelt, unter die Bremsscheiben eines endlosen Güterzuges, in einen brausenden Bienenstock, der Züge von StanisławLems Partikelschwarm auf Regis III trägt. Steht Hz auch für neuen Horizont, für abenteuerliches Herz? Vollmer gibt sich, wenn er 'ich arbeite...' sagt, beeindruckend cool und souverän. Oder verdolmetscht er so bloß die Mutter der Teilchen und Wellen? Alan Moores Parent of suns and substance, she! Womb of all possibility! Als menschliche Spur im Dauertrommelfeuer der Klangpartikelstrahlung bleiben dann nur die Schreie, die Vollmer zuletzt, von 2600 Hz-Stacheln an die Wand gespießt, ausstößt. Kein 'Banzai!', aber doch wie mit geballter Faust und mehr als nur Schmerz und Angst. Noise als Waffe der Kritik an Betonköpfen, verkrusteten Strukturen, Kalk, Rost, marmornen Popanzen. Als, o Killer-Kaninchen von Caerbannog, o schwarze Bestie von Aaa, als Speer, der die Wunde heilt, die von ihm herrührt?" [Bad Alchemy]
|
2021 |
€20.00 |
|
| 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 |
|
| VON HAUSSWOLFF, ANNA |
All Thoughts Fly (Pink) |
LP |
Sacro Bosco (“Sacred Grove”) is the starting point for Anna von Hausswolff’s new album All Thoughts Fly, incoming on Southern Lord on 25th September. Here in solo instrumental mode, the entire record consists of just one instrument, the pipe organ, and represents absolute liberation of the imagination. All Thoughts Fly radiates a melancholic beauty, and is distinguished by fluid transitions of contrasting elements; calmness and drama, harmony and dissonance, much like the place that inspires the music.
Sacro Bosco is a garden, based in the centre of Italy, containing grotesque mythological sculptures and buildings overgrown with vegetation, situated in a wooded valley beneath the castle of Orsini. Created during the 16th Century, Sacro Bosco was commissioned by Pier Francesco Orsini, some say to try and cope with his grief following the death of his wife Guilia Farnese, others speculate the purpose was to create art.
About the album Anna explains “there’s a sadness and wilderness that inspired me to write this album, also a timelessness. I believe that this park has survived not only due to its beauty but also because of the iconography, it has been liberated from predictable ideas and ideals. The people who built this park truly set their minds and imagination free. All thoughts fly is a homage to this creation, and an effort to articulate the atmosphere and the feelings that this place evokes inside of me. It’s a very personal interpretation of a place that I lack the words to describe. I’d like to believe Orsini built this monumental park out of grief for his dead wife, and in my Sacro Bosco I used this story as a core for my own inspiration: love as a foundation for creation.”
The accompanying video for the first single “Sacro Bosco” is, just like the music, an interpretation of the park with an imaginary twist. Directed by Gustaf and Ludvig Holtenäs.
Anna summarises, “Sacro Bosco in Bomarzo is a creation carved out from one man’s head. A frozen thought lasting throughout time and touching people across generations. All thoughts fly, Ogni Pensiero Vola, is about this: the importance of sharing for surviving, creating space and evolving. Once you’ve shared your words they are not only yours anymore.”
All Thoughts Fly ultimately embodies the exploration of any and all possibilities, and the audience is invited to listen, liberate the mind and let it wander.
Notes on the recording process:
The organ on All Thoughts Fly is situated in Gothenburg and is a Swedish replica of the Arp Schnitger organ in Germany. It is the largest organ tuned in Quarter-comma meantone temperament in the world. With it’s four manuals, one pedal and 54 stops, it was built as part of a ten-year research project reconstructing 17th Century North German organ building craft. The tuning temperament is an important detail to note here, as it deeply affects the sound and tuning, and thus radically changed the process of creating this album. Anna speaks of a pleasant surprise during recording, the organ’s ability to create beautiful “pitching” notes through its stops and air supply system. She remarks “We took advantage of this so most of the pitching sounds and notes that you hear on the album comes from the mechanics of this organ, effects made entirely acoustically.” The organ was recorded with two room mics for atmosphere and two pairs of close mics placed inside the organ to capture nuances and detail for further organ sound processing by Filip Leyman in his studio.
All songs written & played by Anna von Hausswolff
Organ sound design by Filip Leyman and Anna von Hausswolff
Produced and mixed by Anna von Hausswolff & Filip Leyman
Mastered by Hans Olsson at Svenska Grammofonstudion
Recorded in Örgryte New Church, in Gothenburg January 2020.
Organ recorded with mobile equipment from Svenska Grammofonstudion
Cover photo & inner sleeve photo by Gianluca Grasselli
Layout & design by Tina Damgaard
https://annavonhausswolffsl.bandcamp.com/album/all-thoughts-fly
|
2022 |
€25.00 |
|
| VON HAUSSWOLFF, C.M. (CARL MICHAEL) |
Perhaps I Arrive - music for Atatürk Airport, Istanbul |
do-CD |
"This double disc set includes some of the most unusual sounds you will have heard from Carl Michael von Hausswolff. The story goes like this. Von Hausswolff was chosen by the 1997 Istanbul Biennal to create a sound installation for Atatürk Airport. His classic sound combining low frequency rumblings, very monotonous oscillations and hissy non-narrative sequences was deemed too confusing for the commutors. It was feared, von Hausswolff’s sound installation might be mistaken for an alarm and would be capable of causing serious panic at the airport. Hence the original soundtrack for “Perhaps I Arrive” was neglected. This music can now be heard for the first time on disc 1. Carl Michael von Hausswolff’s response to the artistic restrictions was to produce the four tracks you hear on the second disc. These only make use of the very basic pre-set industry sounds included in the Yamaha QY22 and show a new side to the von Hausswolff sound. Very simple, post-nuclear lounge music. These four tracks you guessed it! ¬were happily used in the context of the Biennal exhibition. Art is a three-letter word (William S Burroughs)" [label info]
"Nothing is for a musician more annoying than a response like: whatever you are doing, it sounds like a test tone, alarm signal, hiss or worse: I think your equipment is broken. So when Carl Micheal von Hauswolff was asked by the Istanbul Biennale to make a site specific work at their airport, he was probably very annoyed when they turned down his piece of low rumbling, because it could have caused alarm. So instead he created something else, on a Yamaha QY22, using preset sounds only - probably to annoy the organizers. Now both versions are released as part of this double CD - the rejected piece on one CD, and the accepted on the other. The rejected piece is indeed a piece of low rumbling, a bit of hiss sounds (long waves picked up from the ether I think) which may not have worked at the airport - depends of course on how things are presented - but for home listening I must say this is quite nice. Perfect Hauswolff styled hiss music. And what a difference indeed with the accepted version. Four pieces there of lounge like music, but with a more forceful rhythm underneath, so it wouldn't entirely work in lounge bar. But you can imagine people at an airport, hastily walking along Hauswolff march like beats and bittersweet keyboards with a vague trace of arab-like sounds. This is a side that we haven't heard from him before, and it's not something he should do a lot (or in fact never did again, as far as I can recall), but it's surely a curious album. " [FdW / Vital Weekly]
www.aufabwegen.com
|
2008 |
€18.00 |
|
|
800000 Seconds in Harar |
CD |
" CD digipak. CM von Hausswolff says: 'I was approached by my old friend and Radium 226.05 colleague Ulrich Hillebrand, now director of Angered Theatre in Göteborg. He informed me that there was a new play in the process of being written by author and theorist Michael Azar called 'Jag r en annan' (I is another) stemming form the famous letter written by Arthur Rimbaud in his youth. The play uses Rimbaud's life from being a young poet in Charleville ending with him being the trader in Harar, Ethiopia. Hillebrand asked me if I was willing to compose the music to this play. I accepted. I told Hillebrand that I needed to use material that had something to do with Rimbaud's life and as he had connections in Ethiopia and in the small city of Harar he said: why don't you go to Harar for 10 days and see what you can find ? So I went to Addis Ababa where a guy was waiting for me and drove me the 10 hours beautiful ride to Harar. I made recordings and looked for other useful material. There are 2 tracks. On the first track, which consists of three 'parts' I have used material from Harar. The long dronic sounds are taken form an instrument that I, after searching for days, bought in Harar - it's called a 'krar' and is a string instruments (it's quite clear that I have used a string instrument- also if you study Ethiopian music you came across the name of Saint Yared and he was the first to construct a notation system for music... much earlier than the Europeans). As I could not really master the actual playing of this instrument, I bought a bow for a violin and some rosin and with this I got one good tone out from this krar. Then the computer helped me to sort the modes and pitches out. On this piece there also two location recordings: the first one you hear is a recording I did outside Harar on a hill where there are next to no car sounds or other machine sounds - just the wind, insects, some kids and that (I wanted this recording to be more or less timeless or at least 19th century and forward...). The second location recording was done in the night in my hotel, where I woke up one night and became fascinated by the leaking taps in my bathroom so I decided to records this. On the second there are only oscillators used... several of them... And using one low pitch oscillator I ran a sound filtered through. This sound is the low 'rhythm' you can hear, and it's a low pitched morse code signal... and the text is the famous poem Rimbaud wrote in his youth called Le Dormeur Du Val (The Sleeper in the Valley). This poem is a beautiful text starting off in the nature, where a person is sleeping in the grass. Slowly Rimbaud zooms in and we read that it's a soldier and at the very end we are told he has two red wounds on his chest - the guy is dead!'
Arthur Rimbaud lived in Harar from 1884 until shortly before his death in 1891. This is Carl Michael von Hausswolff's first album for Touch, but the connection goes back many years, of course. Carl Michael von Hausswolff was born in 1956 in Linköping, Sweden. He lives and works in Stockholm. Since the end of the 1970s, Hausswolff has worked as a composer using the tape recorder as his main instrument and as a conceptual visual artist working with performance art, light and sound installations and photography.' [label info]
www.touchmusic.org.uk
"Dem Minimalismus wird definitiv in der heutigen Zeit viel Raum gewährt. Vergleichbar dem graphischen Design einer Designer Republic wird Weniger zum Mehr, ist die Leerstelle längst
Ausdrucksmittel für den mondänen Zeitgeist. Hausswolff fährt diese Schiene seit Jahren
erfolgreich, verlässt sie aber nur für kurze konkrete Zwischenhalte (siehe das Triptych für das Laton-Label) um dann wieder drei Alben mit konsequent kurzgeschnittener Konzeption und
Kuration zu veröffentlichen, deren Sinn sich in stehenden Tönen auf Viertelstundenbasis und
kraftvollen Feldaufnahmen äußert. Die Vergangenheit die Hausswolff hier besingt, schleicht sich auch in Künstlerreichweite, denn die Kuration aus alter skandinavischer Galeristenarbeit wirkt auch Jahrzehnte später bei Hausswolff nach. Sicherlich ist »800 000 Seconds in Harar« ein im heutigen Sinne weitaus ausgewogeneres Werk, auch wenn die spärlichen
Akkordwechsel der Drones eher lange auf sich warten lassen. Geduld muss vorhanden sein,
das Goutieren der Musik wird schlagartig zum Spiel mit Zeit und Raum. Erst im dritten Stück
entfalten sich orgelartige Strukturen, auf die John Cage angesichts seines Jahrtausendwerkes
ORGAN2 stolz sein dürfte. Ähnlich verlangsamt, aber mit präsenten Bassschwingungen hallen
die organischen Zutaten eines Besuchs in Harar umso mehr am Hörknochen noch. Nichtsdestotrotz ist Hausswolff auf dünnem Eis. Das sorgfältige Konstrukt aus Schwebungssummern und genau präzisierter Hertzzahl gerät angesichts der emotionalen Verortung in der Musik bisweilen ins Wanken. Dann muss man Geduld aufbringen, um dieses Werk in seiner vollen Länge zu würdigen.
4/5 " [Thorsten Soltau / AEMAG]
"Selbst wenn man die Hintergrundinfos zu dieser CD nicht kennt, ist es immer wieder ein Vergnügen dem "Meister des Drones" zu lauschen. - Nun, auf CD ist das bei CM von Hausswolff immer so eine Sache, da seine meisten Tracks sehr lang und auch abhängig sind von der Qualität der Stereoanlage, denn der Herr hier bevorzugt extrem tieftönendes Klänge. Live und direkt ein unglaubliches Erlebnis, wenn er die Filter zum glühen bringt, man in den Sitz gepresst wird und die Kleidung wie Folie sich um den ganzen Körper spannt und das nur durch einen herrvoragend aufeinander abgestimmten Drone. Für diese Veröffentlichung, die gleichzeitig Musik für eine Theaterstück über die letzten Lebensjahre von Arthur Rimbaud in Harhar ist, wurde CM kurzer Hand in ein Flugzeug verfrachtet und zehn Tage nach Äthopien geschickt und das nur, weil er sagte, er bräuchte Basicmaterial für seine Kompositionen. Also hört man hier die bearbeiteten Klänge der Originalschauplätze, Reiseeindrücke und Aufnahmen auf der Grundlage traditionellen äthiopischen Musikinstrumenten. Wunderbare und meditative fließende Drones umschmeicheln den Hörer und nehmen ihn mit auf diese (Traum)Reise!" [Carsten Vollmer / OX]
|
2011 |
€14.00 |
|
| |
Squared |
CD |
"digipak designed by Richard Francis. Ltd. to 300 copies
On “Squared”: Squared consists of two longer pieces. a) is a recording of a live performance executed at ZKM in Karlsruhe. It is an abstract piece of music that has evolved during the time the composer has performed live - since 1980. For the composer, generally, a live performance
is always the "same thing", but listening to the early recordings it occurs that the music has changed drastically - only the format is still there. This is analogue to life in general - Earth looks the same like always, but,
of course, it isn't. This piece won the Karl Sczuka Price Price in 2014. The piece is a co-production with ZKM | Zentrum für Kunst und Medientechnologie Karlsruhe and Südwestrundfunk (SWR).
b) is a piece using the sound generated from the soil in the German cemetery in Montevideo, Uruguay. With a technique called emission spectroscopy the composer has experimented with the frequencies that emits from the actual
material in the ground and by pulling out samples from these recordings, organising them and looping some this piece became the soundtrack for the film "North Cemetery, Montevideo, Uruguay" directed by Jan Håfström, CM von Hausswolff and Juan-Pedro Fabra Guemberena.
Biography:
Carl Michael von Hausswolff lives and works in Stockholm, Sweden Since the end of the 70s, von Hausswolff has worked as a composer using
recording technology as his main instrument and as a visual artist using video and still photography as well as other media.
He currently curates the sound-installation FREQ_OUT (including artists like Jana Winderen, JG Thirlwell, Finnbogi Petursson, Anna Ceeh and others) and collaborates with artist Leif Elggren, film-maker Thomas Nordanstad, EVP
re-searcher Michael Esposito and author Leslie Winer. He has exhibited in documenta, Kassel, the biennials in Venice, Moscow, Liverpool, Istanbul, Sarajevo etc and in Rijeka, Stockholm, Nicosia, Tokyo, London, New York etc. His music has been played in festivals such as Sonar (Barcelona), Red Bull Adademy, CTM (Berlin), L’audible (Paris), el niche
Aural (Mexico City) etc. and released on record by labels alike RasterNoton (Berlin), Touch (London), Laton (Wien), auf abwegen (Cologne), iDeal (Göteborg) and MonoType (Warszaw).
www.cmvonhausswolff.net" [label info]
www.aufabwegen.com
|
2015 |
€13.00 |
|
| VON MAGNET |
Ni Predateur Ni Proie |
CD |
"Das schon mit dem Begriff "Flamenco-Industrial" charakterisierte spanische Kult-Projekt mit einem Album auf ANT ZEN. Sehr wuchtig, tribal & expressiv, vermählen sich hier ethnische Rhythmen & Gesänge mit Elektronik und neoklassischen filmischen Elementen zu einem recht einmaligen Ganzen. PHIL VON bringt diverse Musiker zusammen, die orientale Instrumente wie NEY oder OUD beisteuern, Filmzitate geben ein poetisches Flair, elektronische Beats & Sounds sorgen für "industriellen" Druck, das ganze ist hochpolitisch & poetisch ausgerichtet gegen die heutigen Polarisierungen auf der Welt, experimentelle "One World"-Musik ohne Kitsch. Herausragend und keinem der üblichen Genres klar einzuordnen." [DRone Rec info]
"VON MAGNET dreams of the existence of other possible paths; thin and minute. Those tightrope walking paths almost invisible. Bouncing in between two perils, two poles, above empires, across frames, which can slip through the breaches of any walls. That is the story of this album. When rage is accompanied by tears. This album is our reaction facing the brutal reality of our world today. A world under pressure where all is put into opposition, where everything would like to divide us and where we are being arbitrarily dictated the absolute necessity of a choice. But with 'Ni Prédateur Ni Proie' (neither predator nor prey) we will not choose our side. There between partial / impartial, north / south, subjective / objective, orient / occident, coward / hero, poor / rich, indifferent / partisan . We will remain bare handed, like astonished and turbulent children dancing on a mine field. We will just stare at you, we will fall into rage and boil into tears. Within this emotional turmoil, flore magnet and the turkish actress esra bezen bilgin replace women where they are never welcome. Women of multiplicity, violence, engagement and resistance. Phil Von gives way to the voices of the Rom kids of Mostar and the Jewish and Palestinian actors from Amos Gitai and Hany Abu-Assad movies. At their side, Def sharpens his analogue bass lines and darkens atmospherical ambiances which often feel like 'war'. Scattered explosions, shots, crackles, complaints or laments. Only our guest, Kurdish Sufi musician Mübin Dunen softens the crawling tension. His ney bringing our clamour down to a silent light thread. Now Von Magnet signs a harsh, raw, urgent and poetical piece, mixed and produced flawlessly by Master Norscq. Another dary fusion which binds classical music flavours with oriental rhythms, tribal percussions within neo-industrial electronic soundscapes. Here orient is not any more sensual and phantasmagoric, it is rigid and almost cold. Here occident is no more sparkling and victorious, it is sad and decadent. Nevertheless 'neither predator nor prey' is the length of rope which suddenly ties them up, confronting our hearts to dive close to the abyss. Digipak packaging." [label info]
www.ant-zen.com
|
2008 |
€14.00 |
|
| VOWINCKEL, ANTJE |
Terra Prosodia |
CD |
"Sound composition with dialects and disappearing languages from Europe
With: George Cadéac, Nesa Engler, Don Eoil, Remy Graillon, Ingvar Larsson, Peter Meyer und Ingrid Wahlgren
1. Rumansch
2. Gutamal
3. Provencal
4. Wallis-Deutsch
5. Provencal
6. Gascon
8. Scottish-Gaelic
8 Tracks (33′46″)
CD (500 copies)
Currently about 6000 languages are spoken on the world. Most of them will disappear soon – and together with them a meldodic richness of human expressivness. However, the fact, that dialects and disappearing languages are only spoken by a few people has one advantage: only if one does not understand the contents it is possible to really listen tot he sound, saying far away from their homeland these languages unfold their musical enchantment (charme?). What you find are melodies that nobody invented (conceived of?). They arise in the process of impulsive speaking, on the grounds of oral tradition. Landscapes seem to continue there with melodic heights and valleys. Often single sentences remain in our heads as catchy tunes.
In Terra Prosodia people tell a short spontanuous story based on a personal experience. Stories about storms, excursions, accidents and so on. Particularly speakers who have spent their lifes in remote valleys or islands often speak with much more distinct modulation. This expressiveness gets lost quickly one cou live in a big city.
In the compositions the contents of these stories do not matter any longer. The pieces focus on the melodies in the dialects and add second instrumental or humed melodic voice. By this also the melody of the speaking voice is underlined. In the beginning the second voice will imitate the speaking voice, later becomes indpendent and follows own directions. As soon as the focus of perception is on the melody, you can listen to both lines as independent voices.
During my work I found out, that an even more exact decoding and mapping oft he intervalls (which would be possible technically) on no account lead to better results. Quite the contraray the effect of a catchy tune that occurs when you remember the melodies is based on the fact the our brain is already during hearing looking for characteristic figures and intervalls. Our ear behaves like the eye in a stalagtite cave. In a vast array of stalagtites and stalagmites we always remember nothing then typical single shapes. „Look, that looks like….“. Only this mechanism allows us to remember something of huge amount of shapes.
(Antje Vowinckel, translation: Chris Heenan)
Text by Christina Kubisch:
Many things disappear and only then gets attention. Images, texts, sounds appear in archives in audio-visual documentations in the net.
But archiving the no more living existence is partial maybe even sometimes absurd or naiv. Language only can remain vivid and interesting, if it is spoken everyday. When it is staying in a process of change, articulated by different persons, when it is depicting facts, information, thoughts, emotions and so on.
Antje Vowinckel’s Terra Prosodia makes happy and sad at the same time. The musicality of the spoken word sinks in even more by the melodical adaption as in case of pure listening of an unknown lanugage. You admire the beautiness and complexity. You instantly wish to speak one of these languages yourself for not leaving them to archivars and linguists but forward them to people who would use them in future.
In Terra Prosodia Antje Vowinckel succeeds in a wonderful mixture of a political important theme, a formally convincing process and a subtle and profound humour, that is hard to find. Once you have listened to the voices you will listen differently to spoken language in every day life." [label info]
www.gruenrekorder.de
www.gruenrekorder.de
|
2014 |
€13.00 |
|
| VOX POPULI! |
Psyko Tropix |
LP |
Touch Sensitive is honoured to dig into the vaults of legendary cult French group Vox Populi! with a collection primarily pulling from their creative highpoint of 1986-1990. The vast majority of the works are unreleased and all make their first appearance on vinyl. The recordings have been licensed from the group's extensive archive, mastered by Rupert Clervaux and cut by Andreas Kauffelt at Schnitstelle. The release is completed by liner notes focusing on Vox Populi!'s creative process and prolific output. Springing from the rip it up restart of post-punk in 1980 and primarily active throughout that decade, Vox Populi!'s discography is a perfect showcase of an almost unclassifiable group. The often-used 'ethno-industrial' tag - even if not approved by the group - goes some way to describing a melting pot of primarily self-taught techniques and vast cultural influences. Founding member Axel Kyrou's parents were avant-garde musicians and filmmakers resulting in a heavy cultural immersion from a young age. His partner and bandmate Mitra moved from Iran to Paris in 1978 - followed a few years later by her virtuoso brother Arash who joined the group at the age of 14. Based in their 14th arronidissement studio - previously Axel and his brother's family playroom - Vox Populi! quickly became a lynchpin in the Parisian experimental scene and beyond through the burgeoning mail-art scene. The group contributed work to a huge number of independent labels. Their music and approach quickly progressed from rudimentary experiments to harness transcendental spiritual qualities and moments of intense beauty. In this collection, we can feel the vibrations of Don Cherry's Organic Music Society, Faust's communal explorations and King Tubby's forward-thinking studio experimentation. "We recorded everything - every idea. We would always have a cassette or a reel running. We made such different styles - freaky, alternative, experimental, industrial etc. We had no rules and no plans - our main motives were play and pleasure. I think that many people can feel that in the music." Three tracks recorded in 2017 by a reconfigured Vox Populi! sit perfectly with music from 30 years previous - "We were never defined by fashion or the zeitgeist. So we remained ourselves. Our sound is still natural. We had to be turned on by our own music and we wanted the music to have an impact on consciousness. We were the subjects of our own experiments and there was also a kind of mystery - even for us." The Psyko Tropix collection is another magical and mysterious addition to the open-hearted and open-eared world of Vox Populi! "The music of Vox Populi! found me several years ago and it was one of my record digging highlights. Their stark contrast of dark and light paints a beautiful picture of the physical and mental world we all live in. This new album doesn't miss a step in exploring further in both directions" Cut Chemist
https://touchsensitiverecords.bandcamp.com/album/psyko-tropix
|
2022 |
€29.50 |
|
| VROMB |
Jeux de Terre |
CD |
Das erste VROMB – Album erschien 1993 auf Tesco und wird inzwischen zurecht als Klassiker betrachtet – irgendwo in der Grauzone zwischen dunklem ambient Industrial und rhythmisch-futuristischer Elektronik siedelte VROMB seinen ureigenen Stil an..
"until 1993, hugo girard's only appearance on record had been on a canadian compilation cd (adolphe présente), but these new ambient industrial sounds caused enthusiastic reactions in europe and canada. the first full length release was a canadian / german label collaboration: 'jeux de terre' . this cd was beautifully packaged in a 7"x10" cover and the disc was in a hand numbered paper sleeve. also included was a postcard and several large prints of nicely drawn insects - the text was in both french and english. the original 'jeux de terre' has been deleted for years. now there is the opportunity for vromb addicts to get it again. this re-release is in celebration of the ten year anniversary of vromb. the concept behind 'jeux de terre' (earth plays) was of a journey through an imaginary world of
insects. insects that had not been identified yet - as you can now read in english for the first time. 'insects, go for food or discovery, warzone, life purpose at the insect dimension' as girard explains it. the sound on this disc is less beat oriented than later vromb releases, but nevertheless it is partly rhythmic. drones and basses create a hypnotic and sometimes threatening atmosphere. you might seem to hear natural, even sampled, insect sounds but there were no samplers used. just 'strictly analog and digital synthesis'. you can hear what makes vromb's music unique even on his debut.
a soundtrack to a film yet completed. the ant-zen re-release contains one unreleased extra track which was intended for the original version and an 8 page booklet which includes a modified version of the original artwork."
[label info]
|
2003 |
€13.50 |
|
| VULTURE CLUB |
Live young, die fast and leave an exquisite Corpse |
CD |
"Released: January 20, 2007. Recorded: July-September, 2006. Amps-gtrs-programming by Thomas Lee. 'The guitar is not dead. It is still humming and I believe in it. Copper wound is copper wound, today and yesterday. Magnets are magnetic, today and yesterday. Wood is wooden, today and yesterday. Electricity is electric, today and yesterday. These things shift in their own time and on their own basis. They are not forced and in my own capacity, I do not force them. The editor's role is Advocate. The rattle you hear, that is the energy and the idea. It is not all mine and it is not all theirs and it is not all yours. But it is all ours.' 'There was darkness before there was light, I guess. We live in between. Name is Thomas Lee born somewhere and will die somewhere too currently living in Lawrence, Kansas. I reside here because neighbors are not so close and most of them are old and deaf already. Downtown where the hipsters are, I can walk amongst them and no one knows about the amps and guitars. No need to scream about the weirdness because I am invisible and alive they let me walk fast and away. These are my people is one way or another and I refuse to belong to them. Live Young, Die Fast and Leave an Exquisite Corpse. I can't explain it any better than that." [label info]
|
2007 |
€13.00 |
|
| W>A>S>P>S / NACHT UND NEBEL |
split |
7inch |
"Comes on black vinyl, with red, green or white cover. nacht und nebel - 3 tracks of rumbling, scraping 'cello misuse.
W>A>S>P>S - 1 track of brutally heavy bass surf wall and electricity shock. "Stark and potentially horrifying sounds within"
[label info]
https://nachtundnebel.bandcamp.com/album/split-7-w-w-a-s-p-s
"I love that this singles like this exist. This split from experimental musicians W>A>S>P>S and Nacht Und Nebel is a conceptual single who's mere existence without even putting it on the turntable is proof enough of the vision and intent. This record isn't intended to be music for the livingroom or to illicit some kind of emotional response. Instead they're the the conclusion to their equation. A proof of a theory and making the conceptual an actual object you can hold in your hand to reenact this document of a particular set of circumstances. A crazy vision that they had to follow to it's end point.
In the case of W>A>S>P>S, Benjamin Hallat is presenting a sound, a long droning speaker-breaking low end crackle that would make anyone check their needle and amp, which hasn't ever existed in nature. This is a completely man made sound that exists entirely because of electricity. It's a humming dangerous sound. It's a transformer overhead jammed between poles of power lines that's shorting out in the acid rain. The lower end hum shifts through a narrow spectrum of tones because now we have to mention the limitations of whatever this was recorded on. The mic and tape have been turned up to maximum input which boosts that rumble and obscures everything else. Like some kind of circuitry didgeridoo it warbles and melts away under a static crackle that comes from malfunction. It could be a simple conversation on a telephone, a sample recorded off the tv...which was then successively rerecorded over and over. Each time a new one was made from the record of the last time, getting exponentially more broken. W>A>S>P>S have transformed it into something else completely that will never exist as a 'live' sound. It's a weird world we live in. Welcome to the future.
Nacht Und Nebel (or Night and Fog, which has equally ominous connotations as Nazi coined 'Joy Division') on the B-Side is the solo project, of Henry Davies. The press release says the three tracks on this side are manipulations of a cello but you wouldn't know it on "Those That Tremble as if They Were Mad" that features a cycling warm wooden sound that slowly works it's way through digital sounding crunches and crushes of various bit sizes, turning into a deadly swarm. A hiss of digital swarming bees from the '50s. Theremin warps and old synths sparkle and give off tesla sparks of lightning. It ends up underwater as a long past memory you'll want to forget in this stark apocolpytic future. "Derinkuyu" is the sound of a far off thunderous footstep from a massive robot and you're listening through an old tin can telephone, the only technology left. It's also on the heels of those fucking digital bees and walks ever so closer with pinging noises from an equally deadly submarine. It's as if we're listening to creatures who can't even hear and have no use for sound waves. These tracks are the leftover detritus of a forgotten way they used to communicate before theygave up on the whole damn thing.
Those bees are stuck inside an old Atari on "Anareta". I even forgot this came from a cello? Basically unimportant except for the fact there's deliberately no reference whatsoever to the original source. Henry is saying it doesn't make a difference how this started, it's been bent into a completely new thing. The traditional organic sound has been obliterated. This one skitters around in waves after the initial bzzzzz and fades out as the EQ was pushed down into negative Db's above 500hz. It's not happy, you aren't going to put it on in the car on the way to work but it's inspiring as hell.
Head over here to get one of these 250 copies, xerox sleeves, minimal as hell. Stark and potentially horrifying sounds within." [Jason /7inchesblogspot]
|
2013 |
€7.00 |
|
| WADA, YOSHI |
Singing in Unison |
3 x LP |
" 'Singing in unison' is the latest in a series of recordings from acclaimed sound artist, composer and performer Yoshi Wada. Recorded live over two nights, March 14 and 15, in 1978, at New York City's legendary performance space The Kitchen, Singing in Unison is a dramatic yet meditative work: modal improvisations for three male voices, singing, with great gravitas, in purposeful unison. These previously unreleased recordings, featuring vocalists Richard Hayman, Imani Smith and Wada himself are extremely powerful, with a glacial majesty and a sense of timeless wonder. Wada's earliest musical memories are of hearing Zen Buddhist ritual chants in his native Japan, and those memories are reflected in the deep vocalisations here; also evident is Wada's period of intense study with Indian master singer Pandit Pran Nath. Thus there is a definite Eastern feeling to Singing in Unison, with further elements added by Imani Smith's Sufi background and Wada's interest in Eastern European vocal styles, but the music is also informed by Wada's experiences in the Fluxus movement and as a member of the New York avant-garde community. The edgy atmosphere of 1970s New York City pervades these recordings, adding a hint of menace. Despite the fact that this is purely vocal music, fans of the slow-moving heaviosity of Sunn 0))) will appreciate Singing in Unison. It is available in two formats: a single CD of the March 15 performance, with gatefold sleeve; or a triple LP set featuring a complete version of both performances, March 14 and 15. 'Singing in Unison' is a massive, monumental, monolith of vocal sound. Unstoppable! Triple 12' LP set for the complete version of both performances on March 14 and 15. Two and a half hours in total. Quality pressing + liners." [label info]
www.emrecords.net
|
2012 |
€45.00 |
|
| WALKER, SCOTT & SUNN O))) |
Soused |
do-LP |
"Freigeister unter sich: Der US-Chansonier trifft auf die Drone-Doom-Band: Als Sunn O))) im Jahre 2009 erstmals bei Scott Walker anfragten, ob er einen Beitrag zu ihrem Album "Monoliths & Dimensions" beisteuern wolle, ahnte niemand, dass es einmal eine echte Zusammenarbeit geben würde. Vier Jahre später meldete sich Scott Walker schließlich bei der US-amerikanischen Drone-Doom-Band: Er habe neue Musik geschrieben und dabei stets eine Kollaboration mit Sunn O))) im Sinn gehabt. "Soused" ist das beeindruckend wuchtige Ergebnis einer Kooperation zweier Freigeister. Scott Walker feierte in den 60ern weltweite Erfolge mit den Walker Brothers, veröffentlichte in Folge viel beachtete Soloplatten und etablierte sich als Chansonier mit teils bitterböser Lyrik. In den 80ern erfolgte ein radikaler Stilwechsel und zudem eine Änderung seiner Arbeitsweise. Alben wie "Climate Of Hunter" (1984), "Tilt" (1996) und "The Drift" (2006) zeigten einen wandlungsfreudigen Künstler, der 2013 mit dem komplexen Meisterwerk "Bish Bosh" seinen Weg fortsetzte. Mit "Soused" folgt die logische Konsequenz Walkers künstlerischen Schaffens. Das Vinyl erscheint mit Downloadcode.
///
When Sunn O))) first approached Scott Walker about appearing on their 2009 album Monoliths & Dimensions, little did they know what it would actually lead to. Four years on, Scott was back with something even more enticing, collaborating on Soused, a body of work he was writing with them in mind.
Recorded in London in early 2014 and produced by Scott Walker and long-time ally Peter Walsh with the assistance of musical director Mark Warman, Soused is a 5-track 50-minute body of work that cements both acts’ wide-reaching and otherworldly renown." [label info]
www.4ad.com
"When we first heard about the collaboration, it sounded like a joke, like some internet meme. It did seem crazy, and on the surface, pretty hilarious, but eventually it was proven to be an actual thing. Then when we first heard a little snippet online, we weren’t entirely sold, Walker sounded even more over the top than usual, and the title Soused seems to indicate that maybe Walker was in fact completely wasted when he recorded his vocals, cuz it definitely sounded like it. But when we finally got to hear the whole thing, it suddenly all made sense, Walker’s vocals, while still insanely dramatic and over the top, were somehow perfect, and SUNNO))), instead of just doing the guitars-against-the-amps drone thing, really seem to be working way outside their comfort zone, and in fact, lots of this record sounds extremely, sonically uncomfortable. Fantastically so. We were so smitten by opener “Brando”, we had trouble digging any deeper into the record. Right from the get go, opening with Walker crooning over a whirring organ, shimmery and sun dappled, and what sounds suspiciously like the Guns ’N Roses “Sweet Child O’ Mine” guitar lick, but then the thick, viscous drones creep in, accompanied by strange ticks and pulsations, as well as what sounds like a bull whip, as well as the occasional burst of distorto guitar, the combination of that low end creep, and Walker’s vocals, as well as a cool feedback/high end that seems to echo the vocal melody, it’s pretty powerful, and stunning, weird, but also weirdly beautiful. “Herod 2014” was our next obsession, with it’s weird squelchy electronic rhythm, buried in thick rumbling thrum, it’s Walker who carries the song, some sort of demented, and yeah, likely seriously soused, torch song, flecked with static, and driven by a slo-mo Sabbath riff stretched out into near static sprawl, Walker’s vocals wreathed in lots of mysterious noise, the whole track peppered with what sounds like some strange banshee wail, or pterodactyl cry, but it’s somehow so perfect, that it becomes as integral to the song as any other element.
“Bull” is downright balladic after the previous heaving monoliths, but not for long, the song exploding into some serious Swans like pummel, with Walker kicking it up a notch, some loose chaotic drum damage, some junkyard percussion, and a ‘hook’ that manages to be the catchiest bit on the whole record, the song slipping into slo-mo somnambulant creeps, before launching right back into that ‘chorus’. We have to be honest, the first three songs are so perfect, it’s not until maybe the 20th listen that we even made it to the last two, but they’re similarly broody and bombastic, “Fetish” featuring some seriously buzzed out bass (assuming that’s a bass), and like “Bull” before it, another killer ‘chorus’, that sounds like Swans gone haywire, dosed on some serious narcotics, a wild cacophony of elephant like electronic bleats, churning metallic riffing, monstrous drumming, before settling into what sounds like some sick, mutant strain of kraut-doom. And don’t even get us started on Walker’s INSANE lyrics, in this case, a refrain of “Choo Choo, Choo Choo mama”, which sounds ridiculous, but in the context of the song, it sounds mad, maniacal, and like some sort of twisted genius, which we’re assuming it is. Finally, there’s “Lullaby”, which is one, at least for a moment, until another blurt of atonal, moaning, keening, doom cabaret explodes from the murk, only to settle right back down, most of the track spent in hushed lowercase mode, finishing off super dramatically, a field of barely there guitar rumble, distant sonar like pings, ominous swells, mysterious insectoid clicking, and one final, haunting stanza from Walker. Most definitely a twisted outsider masterpiece, and considering how skeptical we were, it’s even more surprising that this might just end up being a record of the year contender for some of us!" [Aquarius Records]
|
2014 |
€29.50 |
|
| WANDER |
same |
CD |
Viermal pure Drone / Minimal Music–Stücke vom BEEQUEENSeitenprojekt, warm und analog und sachte schwingend.... klingt sehr
„klassisch“ wie die Vorbilder aus den 70er Jahren.... am besten das vierte Stück wenn sich zu tiefen Drones Wassergeräusche mischen...
Dies ist die EINZIGE jemals erscheinende WANDER CD, da sie auf jeden Format nur einmal veröffentlichen!
“Wander are Freek Kinkelaar and Frans de Waard, also known as Beequeen. Since changing Beequeen's musical direction in the summer
of 2000 (drones out and 'popmusic' in). However, since they both love drone music, they founded Wander in 2001. In Wander they explore
drone music in it's widest possible form, with each new release exploring a specific concept. Wander will release their music on various
formats, but every format only once. Each release is called Wander, and there is a total absense of any information on the cover. So far they have released a 10" on their own Plinkity Plonk label, a LP for En/Of, a split 7" on Plinkity Plonk (a split single with Beequeen), a CDR on XZF and a 7" on Edition... and a forthcoming split 7" recorded in collaboration with Andrew Liles. The material was recorded in the analogue studio Geluidswerkplaats
Extrapool in late 2004 and early 2005, using a wide variety of vintage synthesizers (juno 60, korg MS20, roland SH 102 and Arp synthesizer)
and a Philicordia organ. The four long pieces breath an atmospheric, pastoral sound of slow and deep evolving drones. The CD was mastered by Raymond Steeg of The Legendary Pink Dots' fame. The images on the cover and the disc were made with the help of Elise de Waard. Released in a special cardboard package with varnished
images. Strictly limited edition of 600 copies only. Wander live performances are as rare as hen's teeth. So far two took place: providing a new soundtrack to Derek Jarman's 'In The Shadow
Of The Sun' and a gallery-show in Amsterdam (to much ignorance of a snotty and arty audience - but then we wouldn't have expected otherwise). official website at http://www.beequeen.nl/wander.htm“ [label info] |
2005 |
€8.00 |
|
| WATERCOLOURED WELL |
Arsonist's Rebirthday Audition |
CD |
"This is debut album of the german band consisting of various artists who are involved into the experimental music scene since 80s, each one is quite well known through own activity, but for this album, they gathered altogether for the first time. Seven improvised tracks are recorded in the best way of post-industrial jam sessions of the past.
Release date is 10th June 2012. Limited edition of 500 copies in jewelcase."
www.monochromevision.ru
"The album "Arsonists Rebirthday Audition" Water Coloured Well is of one different order. Originally from Germany, but with another musical intent. Seven musicians and a visual artist came together in the Walpodenakademie in Mainz and went together to work without rules and without purpose. The result are seven improvisations and some drawings.Also here the musicians do not play over the top and are inspired by the multitude of angles and sound capabilities and achieve a surreal atmosphere. The drawings of Barbara Rössler are dynamically and related to the underwater life and not earthly. The music has the same intension. Not of this earth, but somewhere far away, where people are free to make music as they want. Two beautiful releases, highly recommended." [JKH/Vital Weekly] |
2012 |
€12.00 |
|
| WATSON, DAVID |
Fingering an Idea |
do-CD |
Die perfekte Platte für den "Drone-Nerd" (wir zählen uns übrigens auch dazu) - ein Album mit experimentellen Dudelsack-Drones!!
Obwohl der Dudelsack eines DER Drone-Instrumente par excellence ist, wird er im "experimentellen" Bereichen nur äussert selten eingesetzt. Der Australier DAVID WATSON aber kreiert hier auf verschiedene komplexe Arten wunderbare Dudelsack-Drones, z.T. mit einem ganzen Ensemble live aufgenommen, so entstehen acht verschiedene "Movements" auf CD 1, polyphon & obertonreich. In verschiedensten Harmonie- und Obertonvariationen bewegen sich die hyper-organisch klingenden Dudelsäcke, manchmal sehr dynamisch & schillernd, dann mit Entwicklungen die an HAFLER TRIO's Drone-Werke denken lassen.... unsere besondere Empfehlung!
Auf der CD 2 als Bonus etwas ganz anderes, nämlich Kompositionen für elektrische & akustische Gitarre, hier werden alte Cassetten-Aufnahmen von 1987 mit zusätzlichen Tunes versehen...
"Whoever David Watson is doesn't become very clear. But he's from Australia and it seems that his two prime instruments, well at least covered on this release is bagpipes and guitar. Both have a single CD at their disposal here, and the result is quite different. 'Dexter' is the first disc and it has the bagpipes. It's been a while since I last heard that instrument, probably on a Nocturnal Emissions disc, but if you think of it, it's the perfect instrument to play drone music on. There are three recordings here, blending together in a natural way. There is an ensemble piece, a multi-tracked solo piece and one with recorded material going through an eight-channel MSP patch. Cut into eight pieces this is wonderful drone music, slowly moving and changing, almost in a Phill Niblock like manner (he's the man from the label, so go figure). Absolute great stuff and nothing outdated or old-fashioned, or whatever you think of bagpipes." [FdW, Vital Weekly]
|
2007 |
€16.00 |
|
| WENZEL, BETTINA |
Mumbai Diary |
CD |
VOICE as Instrument of Affection
Sound diaries have their seductive appeal. Unlike written memoirs, sketches, cartoons and photo journals they share a common feature with film documentaries – the temporal sound-image. Deprived of visual information (and of predominance of sight), sound-image attracts listeners’ ears, penetrates their bodies, permeates through their minds, initiating the process of imagination and articulating lived as well as imagined experiences. No escape; intrusive meanings are always present. In contrast to moving images that reduce space and vision to the surface and depth of a screen, sound-images are capable of not only extending the listeners’ universe but also making them aware of and signifying the impulses within their bodies. If combined with appropriate musical expression, as in the case of Bettina Wenzel’s Mumbai Diary, the ambition to represent the unique artistic intention in correlation with genius loci and intimacy of a place where one finds oneself in a particular moment succeeds in producing interaction.
Wenzel’s abstract voice finds proper structural support in the concrete soundscapes (of urban origin) she created from the field recordings during her artist residency in Mumbai; it bodily spaces the intervals and foldings that house voice as their natural constituent. Although we do not see her, we feel that she is singing with her entire body; it is the body which paints the vocal lines and pointillistic textures onto the surface of a sound time-crystal. The resulting form was neither composed nor improvised; it was created by affection. As we know (from Bergson and Deleuze), the affection is coupled with the body that offers the internal space for the act of affection.
Mumbai Diary is therefore not an itinerary, it does not provide listeners with any space-time coordinates or information from the life of its author. Rather it is a sound album, a collection of sound-images, thoroughly arranged by the memory as well as by the taste and style preferences of its compiler, composer and adapter in one person. She compiles out of the obsessive need to give a new meaning to the recorded fragments of her memory. She composes because she desires to manifest her relationships with the world and other people through a new meaning that is no longer dependent on the old codes and conventions of art communication and music making. And finally, she adapts the compiled and composed result to her instrument of affection – VOICE. It is the VOICE that brings into the memories of Mumbai, now embodied in the sound-images, the affection from outside – from the body of their originator. And the same VOICE generates later the affective response in the listeners, whose memories are not bound to the above mentioned genius loci. The VOICE becomes the guide through the unknown soundscape, thanks to the VOICE the soundscape becomes familiar to the listeners.
So, what can listeners hear (and feel) during the affective sound walk Bettina Wenzel invites them to? Unconventional, extended vocal performance used as a means to define herself against a foreign culture. Pleasure of the immediate need to vocalize. Barthesian grain of the voice in full effect. Expressive voice escapades against sound patterns alienated from their original environment. Improvised vocal comment to an appropriated religious song disturbed by traffic noise. Suggestive percussive textures woven from metallic sounds and breathing noises. Unidentifiable sound objects versus clear vocal intention. Unexpected juxtapositions of ambitious onomatopoeias and indeterminist formalisms. Potential stimuli to fictive narratives…
As the chronology and causal-consequent relations are no the focus of in this sound album, you can listen to its impressive sound-images-affections in random order. M.D. could stand for Mumbai Diary as well as for membra disjecta in this case.
Jozef Cseres, aesthetician of arts
September 2010
www.wenzelvoice.de
www.wenzelvoice.de/mumbai
www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=553258571
mail: bettina@wenzelvoice.de
All COMPOSITIONS BY BETTINA WENZEL
FIELD RECORDINGS/ VOICE/ AKAPPAIKINNARI BY BETTINA WENZEL,
APRIL–SEPTEMBER 2009, MUMBAI
MIXED BY BETTINA WENZEL, MAI 2010, COLOGNE
MASTERED BY JOKER NIES, JULY 2010, COLOGNE
PRODUCED BY BETTINA WENZEL
PHOTOS/ DRAWINGS BY BETTINA WENZEL
Artwork BY CHRISTA MAREK
TEXT BY JOZEF CSERES
© Bettina Wenzel 2010
www.gruenrekorder.de/?page_id=3722 |
2010 |
€13.00 |
|
| WERDER, FELIX |
The Tempest - Electronic Music |
CD |
"Please note: "Banker," "Oscussion" and "The Tempest" were all released on LP in the early 1970s. The master tapes of these pieces were all lost in the ensuing years. And the pressing of "Banker", unfortunately, was substandard. With considerable work the pieces were able to be recovered from their LP recordings. In the case of "Banker", a degree of surface noise, and pressing distortion remain. This is also true, but to a much, lesser extent, with "Oscussion" and "The Tempest".
Felix Werder was born in Berlin in 1922. Possessed of an omnivorous musical curiosity, over the course of his career, he has explored many of the issues of concern in contemporary music, from serialism and aleatoric techniques, through opera, improvisation, graphic notation and electronics, always through the lens of his intense expressionist aesthetic. His father was Boaz Bischofswerder, one of the leading cantors and Jewish liturgical composers in Berlin, and a member of Schoenberg¹s circle. At 8 years old, he started copying his father¹s scores, and considerable musical experience ensued. All this came to an end in 1934, when the family emigrated to England to escape the Nazis. For 6 years, they lived in England, and Felix began to study music, fine arts and architecture in a series of English institutions. At the outbreak of World War II, the family, along with almost all the other German-Jewish refugees in England, were declared enemy aliens, and offered a chance to emigrate to Canada, where they would work for the war effort. For some reason, the ship, the Dunera, headed for Australia instead, where Felix and his father, and 2000 other German-Jewish refugees were placed in internment camps, and held prisoner for the rest of the war. It was under these circumstances that he wrote his first Symphony, in 1943. On his release from the prison camp, he worked for a while as a jazz bassist in Sydney, before moving to Melbourne and beginning his musical career. In the 1950s, along with fellow composers Margaret Sutherland, Dorian Le Gallienne, and later, Keith Humble, they formed the core of Melbourne¹s small, but active new music scene. From 1955, Felix taught music and art history at the Melbourne Council of Adult Education, as well as privately teaching many generations of Australian composers, and he was music critic for The Age newspaper from 1960 until 1977. He became involved with radio in the mid 1970s, producing new music programs for the Australian Broadcasting Corporation in the 1970s, and community radio in the 1980s and early 1990s. For 20 years, his performance group, Australia Felix, gave concerts of new Australian music both in Australia and in Europe.
Werder was introduced to the use of electronics in the late 1960s by his friend Bruce Clarke, whose Jingle Workshop was the first commercial electronic music studio in Australia. He shortly thereafter acquired an EMS VCS3 analog synthesizer, and incorporated electronics into his performances. His group gave some of the earliest live electronic performances in Australia, two of which, "Banker" and "Oscussion", are recorded on this CD. In 1974, he worked with the EMS Synthi 100, a large digitally controlled analog synthesizer in the studio at the University of Melbourne, where he produced his electronic masterpiece, "The Tempest - After Giorgione¹s "Tempesta". By the late 1970s, however, he had largely stopped working with electronics, as he devoted himself more and more to composing chamber works for his ensemble (and others) to perform. In the early 90s, with my urging and assistance, he made one foray into the world of computer music, with the contrapuntal fantasy "V/Line." He has not returned to the medium since then. His electronic work, then, forms a small but unique part of his output." [From the liner notes by Warren Burt]
www.pogus.com
|
2007 |
€13.00 |
|
| WESTBERG, NORMAN |
The All most quiet |
LP + CD |
"Since SWANS‘ 1983 debut album “Filth”, Norman Westberg has essentially been a permanent member of this project. Anyone who has experienced SWANS live on one of their recent tours will know who Norman Westberg is: the almost stoic, tall man, who coaxes rhythmic sounds from his guitar with an incomparably minimalist power and elegance.
With “The All Most Quiet,” Norman Westberg has returned to Hallow Ground with a new solo album. The play on words in the title can be applied to Westberg’s own musical work, because whereas SWANS are hard to surpass in terms of brute force, the artist’s solo work is much more subtle, and therefore also quieter. The resulting juxtaposition between the dense metropolis of New York, where “The All Most Quiet” was recorded, and the album’s minimalistic strains open up virtual spaces for attentive listeners. The opening, nearly twenty-minute title track begins with a lucid echo-like and extensive sound that seems to expand spatially and then contracts again. At the same time the piece is evocative of lighting effects: mostly the music is slightly cool but rather bright. Individual beams break open or darken the mood. The consistent subtlety of the collages provokes the increased attention of the listener and every sonic shift is consciously perceived. The track “Sound 2,” which fills the entire B-side, begins with atonal and slightly bumpy delays, which become increasingly confused and develop an unpleasant undertow. It is a kind of clamorous minimalism combined with an ability to conjure up sounds from a guitar that hardly sounds like guitar that makes Norman Westberg’s music so unique." [label info]
www.hallowground.com
"While MRI, released by Room40 in February, was a reissue of a 2012 album, The All Most Quiet contains new material in the shape of two long-form tracks. Like its predecessor, The All Most Quiet is radically different from his contributions to Swans. The fact he’s actually found the time to compose and record new material is impressive in itself: the latest Swans album, The Glowing Man was released on 10 June, and the two-hour colossus of a sonic experience was developed and recorded off the back of a full year spent touring its predecessor, To Be Kind. Given the duration and intensity of a Swans live show, it’s remarkable that Norman Westberg’s had time to piss and still has the energy to stand, let along record a new album. But then, perhaps his solo work has therapeutic benefits, and affords him the opportunity to decompress after long days spent in the Swans pressure-cooker.
The All Most Quiet is, as the title suggests, not a loud album. It is also a gentle album. But that doesn’t mean it lacks dynamic tension, and while it is calming, it’s also not completely undemanding.
The title track starts its long, meandering journey as a mid-range drone which pulsates subtly. The tonal changes which emerge are gradual. It’s easy to let it simply drift by, and it’s pleasant enough to appreciate in this way, but attentive listening brings its rewards. The introduction of new layers, textures and tones, shifts in the scale and pace of oscillations change the mood, subtly, inconspicuously, but no less definitely. And while The All Most Quiet bears no obvious resemblance to Swans, it is possible to hear a certain correlation in the way Westberg builds on slow-burning transitions to hypnotic effect. There are hints of ominousness and darkness, but the sense of scale and grandeur seeps through the very fabric of the sound. The second track, ‘Sound 2’ maintains the atmosphere, and the absence of any clear highs or lows builds a tension beneath the calm surface.
The All Most Quiet once again highlights the trait I most admire in Norman Westberg’s approach to guitar laying: patience. No heroics. No sense of the ego common to guitar layers. His playing is focused on achieving texture and an overall listening experience. Whether he’s peeling off shards of noise, as on early Swans’ releases or creating more sculpted sound, as on their later releases, and in his solo recordings, at no point dos one ever find oneself thinking ‘what fretwork! What guitar wizardry!’ In fact, much of the time, Westberg’s guitar doesn’t sound like a guitar, particularly on The All Most Quiet. And for the most part, the sound is too immersive for one to really think at all." [Christopher Nosnibor/Aural Aggravation] |
2016 |
€22.50 |
|
| WESTERHUS, STIAN |
The Matriarch and the wrong kind of Flowers |
LP |
"This is the third solo album on Rune Grammofon by Norwegian experimental guitarist Stian Westerhus. With The Matriarch and the Wrong Kind of Flowers, Westerhus not only challenges and stretches the limits of his instrument but also comes up with an extraordinary piece of music that has more in common with modern contemporary music than just being a left-field "guitar" album. In spite of having studied jazz in the UK as well as in Norway, he also has a remarkably non-academic approach to making music. It's not imperative for Westerhus to make the guitar sound like anything other than a guitar, it's simply his instrument of choice to express himself musically. At the age of 13, he saw Jimi Hendrix on TV doing "Star Spangled Banner" at Woodstock and since then, there's been no looking back. His way of working is very intuitive, both when recording and playing live. Nothing is planned and he tries to avoid thinking about what's going to happen. He is probably one of the hardest-working musicians in Norway, also finding time to record and play concerts with other projects like Puma, Monolithic (with Motorpsycho drummer Kenneth Kapstad), his duo with Sidsel Endresen and as a member of Nils Petter Molvær's trio. He's also an in-demand producer after having produced Pelbo's Days of Transcendence and Nils Pettter Molvær's Baboon Moon. Most of the material on this album was recorded at the Emanuel Vigeland Mausoleum in Oslo, a tomb sonically known for its 20-second natural reverb, generally known for enormous wall paintings about the circle of life. The temperature inside is kept at 5 degrees Celsius to preserve the paintings in the best possible way. With The Matriarch...Westerhus has taken a great leap forward and produced a unique record that, together with his international activities, should get him the recognition he so thoroughly deserves. Stian Westerhus: guitars and voice. Includes free mp3 download of the whole album."
www.runegrammofon.com |
2012 |
€24.00 |
|
| WETTERLÄUTEN (WETTERLAEUTEN) |
same |
LP |
"There were times, blessed times when man had not yet lost the sense of his connection to both Nature and the Sacred, when church bells used to be heard across the countryside to banish approaching storms from hamlets and villages. In our Teutonic regions, this was called “Wetterläuten” – the “chiming away” of bad weather. Anyone who ever had the privilege of experiencing the ecstatic and all-embracing live improvisations of WERNER CEE (e-chin / lapsteel guitar / electronics), NORBERT GROSSMAN (synth / church organ) and EVA KORN (gongs), will understand why the South-German trio choose this archaic name for their project. WETTERLÄUTEN’s atmospheric manipulations range from dreamy sunset drones to heavy pre-storm electricity to apocalyptic orchestral deluge, penetrating and bringing into motion the very cosmic fabric around them. Their unmistakable sound owes much to their unusual instrumentation, especially the combination of e-chin (an electric version of the ancestral Chinese Guqin zither) and live electronics, and of course Eva’s virtuosic gong playing. Understanding themselves more as a musical concept than a band, WETTERLÄUTEN regularly involve other musicians, especially Norwegian guitarist ALF TERJE HANA and drummer MICHAEL HOFMANN. Reue um Reue is excessively proud to present their first ever official release. Welcome in the eye of the cyclone." [label info]
www.tutrur.com
|
2014 |
€7.50 |
|
| WHARTON, DONATO |
A white Rainbow spanning the Dark |
10inch |
"Donato Wharton is a composer based in London, UK. He has previously released three records for the Manchester and Berlin record label, City Centre Offices. The most recent of these was the 2006 release, 'Body Isolations'. 'A White Rainbow Spanning The Dark' therefore marks his first publicly released work in five years and his first for Serein.
Born in Cardiff and raised in Germany, Donato continues to travel extensively with his work as sound designer for stage and theatre productions. The influence of these journeys can be read in his chosen track titles; together, they evoke a sense of great distance and expanse.
These are not wistful tales of missing home, however, neither of new faces nor unfamiliar cities. The inspiration stems directly from the act of travelling, of being in transit thousands of feet above land. 'A White Rainbow Spanning The Dark' mirrors the changing landscapes of our planet, 'A Vast White Solitude', 'Ink Mountains', 'A Thousand Miles Of Grass'.
By pushing the limits of his tools of creation, primarily guitar and field recordings, Donato introduces swathes of noise into his compositions, shaping it as a sculptor chisels stone to form topographies of often rugged terrains, blustery, cold and unforgiving. The startling opening to 'In A Mute Scape' has you standing in the middle of a vast plain, your voice long lost to the wind, ringing in your ears.
There is something inherent to these pieces, though, which stops them from becoming too unforgiving or desolate. At times it is as if we observe these elemental environments from some safe haven or shelter, perhaps looking down from a window seat far above the land.
This record marks a sure-footed step forward for Donato on his quest for refinement, reduction and concentration. Artistically, one of his greatest triumphs is having crafted a style which is uniquely his own - 'A White Rainbow Spanning The Dark' couldn't have been written by anyone else, and that is surely a compliment of the highest order." [label info]
www.serein.co.uk
|
2011 |
€10.00 |
|
| WHETHAM, SIMON |
Prayers Unheard |
CD-R |
"In February 2010, Simon Whetham was invited to perform at Audio Art in Krakow by Marek Choloniewsky, for which he proposed visiting the city for three or four days prior to the performance in order to record the sounds of the place, to compose a site specific piece for the event.
Whetham stayed in the Kazimierz area of Krakow, the old Jewish area that during the Second World War became a ghetto through Nazi persecution. Walking the streets, he felt a certain sadness and longing that was almost tangible. The buildings, the very fabric of the city there, had to bear witness to the atrocities of that time. The walls still stand, unable to impart their testament to the horrors committed - the roads that bore tanks and trucks that took hordes of innocents to nearby Auschwitz unable to show us the despair of families torn apart...
The Jewish people of Krakow believed their God would save them, and yet they still suffered terribly at the hands of the Nazis. Their prayers, along with the sounds of pain and suffering, have long since died away, unheard. But perhaps the stone and metal of the city retains some echo, some imprint from that time..." [label info]
www.dragonseyerecordings.com
|
2011 |
€10.00 |
|
|
Hydrostatic |
CD |
" ‘Hydrostatic’ was commissioned by the McNeill Street Pumping Station New Music Festival, Shreveport, Louisiana, USA in November 2011, and presented as a multi-channel performance.
Simon Whetham spent more than a week exploring the site, capturing the sounds of the space, the vibrations of the buildings, the spirit of the community and perhaps the echoes of past activity…
Mastered by Miguel Carvalhais..
Simon Whetham – Biography 2013
Over the past eight years Simon Whetham has developed a practice of working with sound recordings as a raw material for composition. These are often environmental sounds he has captured employing a variety of methods and techniques, in order to obtain discreet or obscured sonic phenomena.
In removing sound from it’s source, sometimes amplifying it significantly, it becomes abstract – familiar yet otherworldly. More recently, when presenting work in a performance or installation, for him the space and the objects within become instruments to be played.
Simon has a large number of works published through many specialist organisations, including Touch Music, Cronica, Dragon’s Eye, Monochrome Vision and Entr’acte; has performed extensively internationally; collaborated with artists from musicians to performance artists, painters to video artists, dancers to poets; has run listening and field recording workshops in UK, Colombia, Chile and Australia; and received a large number of commissions and awards for projects and installations – notably ‘Active Crossover’. Supported by the Arts Council England and PRS for Music Foundation, the project comprises sound installation, performance, collaboration and workshops. ‘Active Crossover’ has toured six cities in the UK, and also been hosted in Estonia, Argentina, Australia, Chile and Colombia, with future residencies in Germany and Norway in 2013." [label info]
www.aufabwegen.com
"SIMON WHETHAM, dem wir zuletzt als Eyjafjallajökull-Gestrandeten im April 2010 in Lissabon begegnet sind, treffen wir wieder im November 2011 in Shreveport, Louisiana. Das dort stattfindende McNeill Street Pumping Station New Music Festival hatte ihn mit einem Beitrag beauftragt. Er verbrachte eine ganze Woche in dem einstigen Pumpwerk, um den hydrophonen und postindustrialen Genius loci oder Hausgeist zu begegnen. Das Rauschen von Wasser, der Geschmack von Eisen, Rost und Patina wurden zu Ingredienzen seines Dröhnscapes Hydrostatic (aatp39), den nicht zuletzt der Fluss der Zeit durchströmt. Pfeifende Laute und geisterhaft summende evozieren dabei etwas Älteres als das Industriezeitalter. Hölzernes und metallisches Gestöber suggeriert eine verlassene Geisterstätte, eine Ruine, die nach noch Brauchbarem durchsucht wird. Organum hat schon auf Vacant Lights solche Klänge eingefangen, Ephraim Wegner hat kürzlich ähnliche in verlassenen Hotelruinen gefunden. Immer ist damit ein ‘Danach’ verbunden, ein ‘Vorbei’. Latten scharren über den Boden, der Wind faucht, als wollte er noch den letzten Eindringling verjagen. 1887 in Betrieb gegangen, wurde bis 1980 dampfbetrieben, heute ist das McNeill-Pumpwerk ein National Historic Civil Engineering Landmark. Whetham erschafft mit droneüberwölbtem Getröpfel und Geplätscher die Illusion einer Quelle, des verborgenen Anfangs einer Lebensader, die hier mit nahezu kultischer Aura widerhallt und wieder als pumpende Mechanik zu ‘atmen’ beginnt. Das Elementare, das das vermeintlich so rationale und funktionale Maschinenzeitalter ignoriert und verdrängt hat, kommt wieder im Denkmal zum Vorschein, nachdem die Funktionalität modernisiert und inzwischen noch unbewusster geworden ist. Ich glaube, es war Ernst Jünger, der zuletzt Zweifel an einer Freiheit hatte, die davon abhängt, dass Wasser, Strom und Gas in unsichtbarer guter Hand sind." [Rigobert Dittmann, Bad Alchemy]
"The ever so busy bee Simon Whetham and his multiple travels around the world. Here we find him guest of the McNeill Street Pumping Station New Music Festival in Shreveport, Louisiana in November 2011 where Whetham spend a week going about this pumping installation to create a multi-channel performance of his music. It's not only the pumps, but the complete site, the buildings and the people around it that have been captured by him and collages into five pieces of music, totaling around 53 minutes. With Whetham, I must admit, I am never sure what it is that he does. Obviously he picks up sounds from the environment, that's hardly a secret, but then what does he do? Is he playing them one at a time (which I doubt), is he layering them together, or is there any sort of electronic treatment going on? I assume the latter is the case, but I might be wrong altogether. Whetham does apply 'musical' techniques to create his music, like using loops in the fifth part of a jackhammer, the
melodic drone touch in the third part and such like. He creates all these little touches which stretches it far beyond the mere documentation of a certain area. Spooky and mysterious at times, this is another fine addition to what mounts to a vast amount of releases by now. It's almost on par with his recent 'Never So Alone' (see Vital Weekly 870), which I thought was his best so far. This one is almost as refined I am to say. It's only in the smaller, somewhat untouchable details that I think this is just a bit less. Just a bit, I may add. If the name Whetham is new to you, then 'Hydrostatic' is an equal fine starting point." [FdW/Vital Weekly]
"The globe-trotting British sound artist Simon Whetham found himself in Shreveport, Louisiana in 2011 where he was commissioned to develop a body of work based on the defunct MacNeill Street Pumping Station. This artifact of the 19th Century was the last known steampowered water plant in the United States and has been a historical site for several decades now. He was one of many acclaimed artists asked to contribute to the seemingly inactive MacNeill Street Pumping Station New Music Festival, alongside Tim Hecker, Lawrence English, Mark Fell, Eli Kezler, and about a dozen other denizens of avant-garde soundcraft. It was a great idea to have all of these artists develop compositions, installations, and performances within such an interesting space; and we can hope that the festival is merely on temporary hiatus. Needless to say, here we have the stereo mix of Whetham's multichannel installation that he presented at the festival. His source material consists of drones from the huge metal pools and the network of pipes from that space, focusing mostly on the resonant frequencies of the ghostly drones and watery tones. Overlapping, sinewy electric vibrations tumble into a pool of isolationist dank at the beginning of the album before a reverberant flute utters a solitary bellow amidst the metallic klang reverb articulating two of the techniques of Whetham's sound-hunting - that of the contact microphone on sonorous objects and the open-air recordings of those reflective surfaces. Deep, low-end rattlings gird the bulk of Hydrotasic with wind-swept thrumming, agitated found objects, and plenty of nocturnal clutter being moved around by the ghosts that lurk in the sticky humidity of a Louisiana swamp, or at least that's what it sounds like. Brilliantly akin to the processed field recording work of Jonathan Coleclough, Thomas Koner, and BJ Nilsen." [Aquarius Records]
|
2013 |
€13.00 |
|
|
Never so Alone |
CD |
During an extended stay in Lisbon, courtesy of the Eyjafjallajökull volcano in Iceland erupting and causing european airspace to be closed, Simon Whetham explored the sonorities of city, and the surrounding countryside, using the various microphones he employs in his work. In addition to a Sennheiser shotgun microphone and two Tram lavalier mics, which capture ambient sounds we all hear, he uses contact microphones and hydrophones to expose sound vibrations that travel through objects, an electromagentic coil pickup and a radio receiver.
Simon then composed with these sound materials, in part responding to the geography and architecture of the location, the inhabitants, the weather even, but also the broad spectrum of feelings and emotions felt while investigating the place.
Field recordists tend to work alone when gathering their recordings, entering a state removed from their surroundings, but simultaneously absorbing them and becoming part of them. The loneliness alluded to in the title should therefore not be read as negative, but positive, and essential for the creation of this work.
https://cronica.bandcamp.com/album/never-so-alone
"In 2010 the volcano Eyjafjallajokull erupted and made air traffic impossible for some time in Europe. Simon Whetham was in Portugal and has to extend his stay. He decided to capture the sounds of the city, using a Sennheiser shotgun microphone, two Tram lavalier mics, contact microphones and hydrophones, and later on composed pieces of music that are now released by, how appropriate, a label from Portugal (though not Lisbon). The title of the CD reflects the lonely state the field recordist does his work with, but it's not to seen in a negative way. This is a long album, close to 80 minutes and that is a bit much, considering the careful nature of the music, I think. Whetham does a fine job capturing sounds from the city and melting them together into seven pieces of music. Whetham knows how to create sustaining sounds from those city sounds and waves in between, down there and on top smaller blocks of sound, crackles, someone walking a tunnel and that sort of thing in single play mode or in loop form and makes some beautiful collage of sounds. Whetham has a particular interest in the world of ambient music, rather than just pure field recordings or heavy computer processing. This makes his music very delicate and spacious even at times. It's long, but it's great. I almost track of time when I was playing this, dreaming away. Maybe of a sunny city as opposed to a grey day in February. Very delicate, very refined indeed. Maybe the best thing I heard from him so far." [FdW /Vital Weekly]
|
2013 |
€12.00 |
|
| |
Forced to repeat Myself |
CD |
“When performing with a limited set of resources, through choices in materials to work with and the constraints of being nomadic, there can be a tendency to repeat actions and scenes that 'work', even when improvising and having to respond to each new situation in a unique way.”
One characteristic aspect of the touring experience that is not discussed often enough is the dilemma of repetition.
Not repetition as a mechanism of the work itself, but as a tedious consequence of being obligated to perform night after night in quick succession. Generating a completely unique performance for each stop, even with the assistance of improvisation, is a laborious undertaking that consumes too much time and sanity, while adhering to a rigid set of rules leaves one open to both burnout and diminishing returns. Is there a way to split the difference so that both performer and audience are always engaged to the highest standard?
“I set these constraints on myself. The need to produce something (at least a little) different in each event of a tour was fierce, especially when traveling with other musicians.”
Explicitly within the title itself of his latest CD, Forced To Repeat Myself, UK sound artist and composer Simon Whetham tackles these questions with both a sly wit and sincere inquisitiveness. The tracks, all collected from recordings documenting a 2018 tour, utilize analogous source material and means of execution. Whetham paid particular attention to the contour and character of each venue when deciding how to best put the pieces together, offering a customization that subverts pure deja vu for a sharp observance of the unfamiliar.
“In each situation objects and materials unique to the space were incorporated into the performance setup and structure, generating sounds or resonating with them. And yet I could hear similar scenes, movements, even spaces. This repetition determined the dynamic of the composition, working with it and against it.”
By the very nature of their disseminating sparseness, the tracks of Forced To Repeat Myself demand from the listener an attentiveness fixed on nuance and variation. The amplified cracks and static of ethereal currents and anonymous electronics infer the works of others who’ve made it their mission to attune our attention toward sounds outside our natural perception, including Christina Kubisch’s electrical walks, Toshimaru Nakamura’s no-input mixer excursions, and Jason Zeh’s experiments with blank tapes and the mechanizations of his cassette players. Whetham’s shaping of the album’s source material to highlight certain exclusivities of each live performance emphasizes how the inherent dynamics of time and chance guide his self-imposed constraints into pathbreaking spectrums.
“The title references a phrase many of us will have heard in our formative years, ’Why do you force me to repeat myself?’ I have no answer to this question. I never forced anyone to do anything. But with this work, I did.”
One inherent paradox of Forced To Repeat Myself is that each listen naturally manifests a distinct, individual experience. The way sounds are received and processed in one instance to the next each forget their own entryway into transcribing meaning from this abstraction. And Whetham is keenly aware of this as the sounds of Forced To Repeat Myself find consistent, unique ways to perpetuate themselves, ensuring any repetition to be delicately understated.
https://simonwhetham.bandcamp.com/album/forced-to-repeat-myself
|
2022 |
€13.00 |
|
| WHITE NOISE |
An Electric Storm |
LP |
"Still available. 'An Electric Storm' (1969) is justly renowned among techno boffins as one of the first albums to fuse pop, psychedelia and electronic music before the advent of the Moog synthesizer. But you don't have to be versed in the language of sine waves and oscillators to enjoy this mostly delightful and hugely inventive album." [label info]
www.islandrecords.com
"White Noise's landmark 1969 album An Electric Storm might not the first thing most people think of when considering 1960s music, but there are few records anywhere tied more intrinsically to the moment of their creation. Recorded in the months immediately prior to the widespread availability of keyboard-based synthesizers, An Electric Storm might be one of the most painstakingly crafted electronic recordings of all time. Pieced together on improvised equipment via innumerable tape edits, this remarkable album is at once futuristic and unavoidably date-stamped, serving as a fascinating audio snapshot of a bygone era in sound generation and recording technology.
One of the few acts in pop music history able to trace their origins to the lecture hall, White Noise were first conceived when American electronic engineer David Vorhaus-- following a lecture by BBC Radiophonic Workshop veteran Delia Derbyshire-- enlisted Derbyshire and Brian Hodgson to integrate their experimental electronics with more pop-oriented material. (Derbyshire, of course, was by this point already responsible for the classic theme song from "Dr. Who" and other music for BBC TV and radio programs.) Commissioned by Island Records' Chris Blackwell, the three musical scientists soon holed themselves up for months in their Camden Town studio, fastidiously assembling what Vorhaus later surmised to be the most heavily tape-spliced album in history.
Yet knowledge of White Noise's academic or technical background does little to prepare the listener for the widescale psychedelic mayhem of An Electric Storm. Despite its brief 35-minute running length, the album covers an enormous amount of stylistic ground, as White Noise overlay their fractured pop songcraft with musique concrète effects, weird bits of radio theater, and long stretches of gothic horror. While other groups of the period--such as Silver Apples or The United States of America--made use of similarly primitive electronic equipment, An Electric Storm was a separate beast entirely, and its singular textures have been a primary influence on such subsequent acts as Stereolab, Broadcast and Belbury Poly.
Not originally issued in the U.S. until 1973, the album has seldom stayed in print for long, and surely owes at least a portion of its peculiar mystique to its rarity. With their latest reissue, Universal has kept the original tracklist intact, without unearthing any additional alternate or bonus material. The album has been splendidly re-mastered, however, and An Electric Storm remains a virtually requisite headphone experience with an otherworldly appeal that transcends its considerable influence.
Like so many ambitious albums of the time, An Electric Storm is consciously split into two distinct sides, the first half dubbed "Phase In" and the second "Phase Out". On the first side, White Noise indulge their daffy pop appetites with such bizarre trinkets as the cartoonish "Here Come the Fleas" and "Love Without Sound", the sensuous track which first encouraged Blackwell to pony up the cash for the full album. With the aid of rotating vocalists Annie Bird, Val Shaw, and John Whitman, the songs on the album's first half are melodic and memorable, and often infused with a cheeky sense of humor. The group's quirky wit is perhaps best witnessed on "My Game of Loving"; the album's notorious "orgy" track that follows an ecstatic bit of sexual frenzy with the sound of contented snoring.
Things get considerably scarier during the lengthy "Phase Out" segment, which begins with the group's 11-minute ambient centerpiece "The Visitations". This death-defying piece, which reportedly took over 3 months in the studio to assemble, ostensibly tells the tale of a motorcycle accident and its supernatural aftermath. Packed dense with disembodied noises and eerie panning effects, this intense track can become addictively engrossing, a perfect slice of audio theater that one can't help but ride through to the very end.
Vorhaus, Derbyshire and Hodgson took so long in recording An Electric Storm that Island started to get antsy, and well before completion the label began to demand the finished product. Presented with the challenge of such a time crunch, many groups might panic and fall back upon more conventional material. But true to their iconoclastic nature, White Noise instead improvised the still-astonishing "The Black Mass- An Electric Storm in Hell", a spirited cacophony layered thick with percussion, funereal chanting, and the tormented screams of the damned. Like the rest of An Electric Storm, this dark finale sounds quite unlike anything recorded before or since, and stubbornly refuses to ever settle in as background music.
And this unrehearsed episode of grotesquerie provides An Electric Storm with a strangely appropriate ending, as it stands as one final monument to White Noise's unique inspiration and eccentric approach to technical problem-solving. Theoretically, with the benefit of all the ensuing advances in recording technology, it should be easier than ever for today's musicians to duplicate such a production. Perhaps this deceptive sense of ease is precisely why no one has ever really been able to do so." [Matthew Murphy / Pitchfork]
|
2008 |
€20.00 |
|
| WHITE STAINS |
Singleminded Dualisms |
CD |
WHITE STAINS came into the minds of many listeners thanks to the regular debut album, recorded together with Psychic TV "Live At Stockholm". However, the history of this band and its metamorphoses goes back much further. Founded by Carl Abrahamsson, from the beginning it served as a tool for proclaiming manifestos inspired by the works of, among others, Aleister Crowley (White Stains is the title of one of the most important texts of the British magician) and other proponents of free thought. While the issues they raised were invariably focused around the subject of occultism and secret knowledge, in the musical layer the band underwent many metamorphoses: from occult/gothic rock through ambient to experimental electronics. As their style crystallized, Carl and Thomas Tibert renamed White Stains to Cotton Ferox. This publication opens the series of reissues of the Swedish group. It is a collection of all short publications that preceded their debut, recorded in the years 1987-1989 and released in the same time only on vinyl 7" and 12" EPs. So far, they have not been available on any other medium. The whole thing was provided with a proper commentary by Carl Abrahamsson, which is a great introduction to listening to the material, pointing to the context in which the compositions contained therein were created.
On the occasion of this publication, we have prepared a special collector's edition in a wooden box, limited to only 50 pieces, which, apart from the regular CD, contains various extras: cards with replicas of the original covers, a sticker, pins and a backpack (bag) with the characteristic logo of the Swedish band.
credits
released June 15, 2023
Previously released / tracks taken from:
1. Sweet Jayne*
2. Here to Do*
(1988, AOIT 001, 12” 400 copies w 40 in purple vinyl)
3. It’s Yours If You Want It*
(1988, TOPYSCAN 002 PETS, track on the compilation LP “Swedish Exotica Vol 1”, 1000 copies)
4. Express Your Desire*
5. Death At Hand*
(1989, TOPYSCAN 004, 7”, 500 copies)
6. The Energy**
7. Phase of Madness**
(1988, TOPYSCAN 001, 7”, 93 copies, with 23 copies in red vinyl)
8. The Awareness***
9. My Hallucination***
(1989, TOPYSCAN 003, 7”, 93 copies, with 23 copies in blue vinyl)
10. The Result***
11. Ov Like Mind***
(1989, TOPYSCAN 007, 7”, 93 copies, with 23 copies in green vinyl)
* Carl Abrahamsson: vocals, Jan Ekman: lead guitar, Tomas Sandell: guitar, Johan Sandell: bass guitar, Nicklas Hansen: drums
** Carl Abrahamsson: vocals, bass guitar, Jan Ekman: guitar
*** Carl Abrahamsson: vocals, Peter Bergstrandh: bass guitar, Jan Ekman: guitar, Thomas Tibert: synthesizers
https://zoharum.bandcamp.com/album/singleminded-dualisms
|
2023 |
€13.00 |
|
| WHITE, FRANCES |
In the Library of Dreams |
CD |
"I was going to write about how this is an absolutely beautiful and disturbing record, but I think quoting from the liner notes of James Pritchett really does sum it up. 'Frances White invites us to take a walk through her Resonant Landscape. Where are we going? We are walking through the woods, marshes, and streams of New Jersey. She points out the birds and frogs that make their home there, the water that flows through it and the wind that shakes the trees. But then we turn and there is that other sound world, the one in which these woodland sounds are transformed, or in which we find sounds altogether new: spectral birds singing to us through a sparkly haze; distant colored winds, like the breath of giants; the air around us, alive, charged with long, low drones and sudden electric crashes. There is something magical about this other world, and (like most magic) there is something disturbing here as well. We move between the two worlds almost at random, bumping into one sound after another. We find ourselves rising off the path and floating, then falling abruptly into silence, reappearing in a marsh full of geese and blackbirds. This is more than a sonic postcard from Princeton: it is a journey into the inner world of Frances White. We could call it an electroacoustic dream drawn from her memories of hikes in the woods. As in a dream, real experience is placed in a surreal context, a play of inner and outer. We fill in the gaps, supplying connections among the random fragments of reality, memory, and imagination. This gets to the heart of White's music. She has made a body of work in which she takes the real, brings it into her being, transforms it there, and then brings it out again in her compositions. Technically, she works by using the computer to manipulate recorded sounds and to synthesize wholly new ones. She mixes her timbres by hand as a painter would mix colors, and she applies them lovingly and painstakingly to her canvas of silence. But the power of her work comes from her ability to take listeners on journeys through her inner sense of sound, finding something luminous, exalted, dramatic, and at times frightening there. Her music is like the work of dreams, both the pleasant ones and the nightmares. It is not by accident that Gus Van Sant set the calmly-executed bloodbath of his film Elephant to one of White's Walks through 'Resonant Landscape'. White's unsettling juxtapositions of real and imagined sound work well with Van Sant's matter-of-fact treatment of almost unwatchable violence. Frances White studied composition at the University of Maryland, Brooklyn College, and Princeton University. She has received awards, grants, commissions, and fellowships from organizations such as the Guggenheim Foundation, Meet the Composer, the Alice M. Ditson Fund, the Mary Flagler Cary Charitable Trust, Prix Ars Electronica, the International Computer Music Association, ASCAP, the Bang On A Can Festival, and the Other Minds Festival. Ms. White's music can be heard on CD on the Wergo, Centaur, Nonsequitur, Harmonia Mundi, and Bridge Records labels. A CD devoted to her chamber works, Centre Bridge, was released in August of 2007 on the Mode label. Ms. White's music was featured as part of the soundtrack of three of Gus Van Sant movies." [label info]
www.pogus.com
"This new Pogus release is a work of a composer who is completely new to me. White studied composition at the University of Maryland, Brooklyn College, and Princeton University. Some of her work has been released by labels like Mode, Bridge, Harmonia Mundi, etc. This new release gathers six compositions for very different line ups. The first one, ‘Chosi’ is for solo shakuhachi, beautifully played by Ralph Samuelson. White studied Shakuhachi herself and feels inspired by traditional music that has shakuhachi in a main role. Also she feels inspired by nature. No wonder that she often uses natural field recordings in her electronic work. Just like Jonas Braasch, White has a comparable fascination for space and environment in her musical output, like titles as ‘Walk through Resonant Landscape 5.1’and ‘Walk through Resonant Landscape 5.2’ indicate. Both titles provide a picture or metaphor that describes how one can experience these pieces: it feels like a travel through different parts of a jungle. Here birdcalls dominate, there sounds from insects. The works are built up as a series of waves of manipulated environmental sounds. The works have a fine balance of acoustical natural sounds and electronics. White builds successful imaginary landscapes and surroundings. Also I would say she is searching for some spiritual quality in sound. The title piece ‘In the Library of Dreams’ is written for viola d’amore played here by David Cerutti, against a background of electronic sounds. Only one piece is for an ensemble, ‘The Ocean Inside’ played by Eight Blackbird, an ensemble of six musicians. It is a romantic piece of work of slowly moving patterns that disappear in a background of fragile sounds. The closing piece ‘The Book of Roses and Memory’ has very sensible playing by Liuh Wen Ting on viola and Thomas Buckner as narrator. The electroacoustic music of White takes you into dreamy atmospheres, with compositions that are not extremely complicated. In fact her work is very accessible. It is also very solid work and far from some easy romantic pastiche." [DM/Vital Weekly]
|
2012 |
€13.00 |
|
| WHITELODGE |
same |
CD |
Nach der noch etwas spröden “Stream of Dreams” 10” hier das erste Album des US-Trios, mit tief-melancholischen, folk- & wave- & elektronik-beeinflussten Stücken, der Stil lässt sich schwer kategorisieren, aber von der WIRKUNG her erinnert das an die magischen Momente bei den LEGENDARY PINK DOTS....
“Like a palpable ghostly presence that phases in and out vision; at once translucent and illusory; simultaneously rattling silverware, sending chills through the flesh. That strange unseen grip in the hand; that vaporous and unexplained cloud of breath in the middle of the hallway. A great billowy poltergeist, Whitelodge is a musical revelation. The Lodge skirt borderlands between the mysticism of seething "post rock" and the dark textures of latter day "apocalyptic folk," managing in the end to sovereign a musical nation of their own. Somber musical expressions exude surprisingly powerful punch and often carve modest stones into towering columns of sound, which, while not actually loud, seem to IMPLY loud. Constructed somewhat like a This Mortal Coil record, the quietly crafted combination of acoustic guitars, electric piano, bass and electronics effuse scents of Sol Invictus ("Against The Modern World"), Gastr Del Sol, Sea And Cake, Insides, late late period Swans, Roseclouds era Death In June with a little "Another Green World" style Eno plastering the cracks...but none of these really captures the true essence of the Lodge what is White. Where apocalyptic folk often drowns in its own cheesiness, Whitelodge rise above and avoid trying to force any sort of posturing or false celticisms into their music. Whispered vocals reincarnate a host of spirits from Red House Painters to Coil, driving the compositions home by inference rather than the obvious. This music is unbelievably tangible in its etherealness. A deep beauty resides within and repeated listens open endless blossoms. This album is also guilty of having at least a couple downright infectious tracks that are so brilliantly cooked as to be virtual tonal crack. The Grand Poobah beckons: become one with the Whitelodge!“ [press release]
|
2005 |
€13.00 |
|
| |
Stream of Dreams |
10inch |
Da ist sie, die letzte 10” in der LACTAMASE-Serie, und wieder präsentiert das Portlander Label einen ungewöhnlichen Newcomer. WHITELODGE zeigen sich als songorientierte, melancholisch sanfte Psychedelic-Experimentalisten, mit großem Potential.
Und jetzt kommts: wer sich artig alle 12 LACTAMASE 10“es besorgt und die entsprechenden Coupons darin nicht verloren hat, bekommt dafür UMSONST eine bonus-10“ mit exklusiven Stücken ALLER Beteiligten! Diese Bonus-10“ ist NICHT VERKÄUFLICH!
“A fragment of celestial shrapnel: Whitelodge does indeed "lodge" itself deep into the mind, restoring with it the body, and being of general benefit to one's overall constitution. Or, perhaps, it's just the little lobotomy you have always dreamed of. This 10" EP reveals a band capable of great magick and prodigious evolution. Whitelodge has become adept at marrying atmosphere to song structure without surrendering to a belabored posture, and this even beyond the debut magnum opus. There has been found a solid footing where each sound, each note, is perfectly placed and paced. Beginnings are given to pregnant, breathing intros, allowing the music to develop and resonate before the fully formed imagoes emerge, which ARE songs, but also tone poems. While not sounding at all like them, Whitelodge's methodology is something akin to My Bloody Valentine on "Loveless," where pieces are sewn together, each ending making a subtle statement tow ards the birth of the next; textures taking equal place next to structure. The EP showcases Whitelodge's exploration of quiet cosmics, both evoking psych-folk of old and more modern elements, like the gentler psychedelic moments found in Cindytalk (when growling through the hush, buzzing in the rushes) or Karl Blake seduced Sol Invictus (tiptoe, through the bassline). Because of timing and tone Red House Painters is a close cousin in many respects except that Whitelodge frames its songs with a greater emphasis towards experimentalism and certainly occupies a more ghostly plane. Repeated listenings virtually leave traces of ectoplasm on the speakers. Dustin Gilbert's voice is a patient and subdued instrument, confident and softly percussive and, by and by, very compelling. A beautiful and mysterious riddle of a release, which, if unraveled, may well, be a key to Heaven.” [label description]
www.blrrecords.com |
2003 |
€12.50 |
|
| WICKED MESSENGER |
The River disappeared sidewards |
CD |
"The first glance is often deceiving. What at first appears simple often turns out to be surprisingly complex and detailed. So too in the case of German Dark Ambient-project Wicked Messengers' first CD-release. At first one could be mistaken into thinking it's a minimalistic, monotonous and simple thing we've got on our hands here, but on the second listen (at the latest!) the depth and complexity of "The River" starts to become apparent. Even after several listens you discover something new in the rich layers of sound.
When it comes to (Dark) Ambient, too complex structures might potentially detract from the coherence and continuity of a composition, making it sound more like a collage of vastly different entities. Wicked Messenger manage to unite the coherence and continuity with surprisingly multi-faceted layers and compositions, with an integral core that is often quite monotonous yet never without some evolution, adding several layers of a very varied nature that lend diversity and complexity to the composition. There is a great and pleasing variety in the layers: human voices, bassy rumblings, more high-pitched metallic sounds, sparsely used percussions, et cetera. Percussion is not in a large role here, but when used, it is used to great effect.
Between the tracks, the common denominator is not only the full and clear sound but also the atmosphere; there is a strange warmth here, in spite of the more metallic-sounding layers... I cannot fully explain it, but it is a warm presence of sorts, very different from the usual detached inhuman nature of so many Dark Ambient-projects. It is as if the coldness of space around the astral traveller is removed by the warmth of gently shining distant suns, a tranquil drowsiness invading the mind of the traveller. "Sinister", "malevolent" and all the other usual words to describe Dark Ambient are words I would never use to describe "The River"... Hell, even "Dark" feels out of place. Mysterious, ominous, astral, haunting, beautiful, any of these words... but dark? Sinister? No. The listener is gently swept away (sidewards of course) by harmonious waves of sound, to a place somewhere far away where a gentle light shines upon the Aniara as she slowly drifts away from the known universe, and there is only peace and calm. A silver tear in the eye of the universe.
I admit. I'm a fan. No release of Wicked Messenger has so far let me down; not always outstanding, but never disappointing. "The River Disappeared Sidewards" is, without a speck of doubt, the finest release so far. I don't really have any complaints about it, and I wholeheartedly encourage everyone to get this CD and judge for themselves... I think few of you will be disappointed. I am 100% sure Wicked Messenger have the potential to evolve into something even better in the future, but this is a strong achievement and a fine first CD-release." [Kaniba, Finland, Plague Haus] |
2007 |
€13.00 |
|
| |
Officium Nocturnum |
do-CD |
"Each disc has its own catalog number, Plague 017 & Plague 018, and is housed separately in smartly designed cardboard jacket.
Do not file under dark ambient.
Tracklisting
1-1. Movement I (27:38)
1-2. Movement II (26:57)
2-1. Movement III (51:27)" [label info]
Reviews
"Some important dates and facts ...
539 bc: Cyrus II The Great concurs Babylon.
June 11th 323 bc: Alexander The Great dies.
64: Saint Peter dies in Rome.
June 8th, 632: Mohammed dies in Medina.
April 2, 747: Charles The Great is born in Herstal.
November 10th, 1483: Luther is born in Eisleben.
June 22nd, 1812: Napoleon declares war to Russia.
1913: Luigi Russollo introduces his "Intonorumori" to the world.
1959: Ornette Coleman releases The Shape Of Jazz To Come on Atlantic.
1986: Hellbastard releases their Ripper Crust demo.
March 2010: Wicked Messengers double CD Officium Nocturnum is released on Plague Recordings.
2013: The BBC broadcasts a documentary about undercover reporters that have filmed in dark rooms, watching 70 year old Catholic priests doing a bizarre occult ritual. Is it drugs? Is it a spiritual experience? Is it a religious experience? Questions that are not asked by the reporter but are asked by the music that accompanies this documentary. Music that makes you start to think about what is and what is not. The kindergarten-version of this documentary uses Sunn O)))'s Monoliths & Dimensions as soundtrack. The adult version of the documentary uses Officium Nocturnum as soundtrack.
2023: Vinyl-on-demand releases a Wicked Messenger 6XLP box.
3078: The human race is exterminated.
That's it folks."
(mudbirdshivers.blogspot.com)
***
"A new direction for Mr Messenger, evocative of medieval europe, the inquisition, dark monasteries, fire, torture and death. Followed by cataclysm, disaster and doom. It is intriguing, unsettling and hypnotic all at the same time and I really enjoy it.
New sound elements are very welcome such as church bells, monk chanting etc as well as the general mass destruction we have come to enjoy from WM. I was surprised by the spoken word section on the second movement but fascinated by the dark tones from a sacred text.
I'm glad that WM has continued to produce excellent work and it is a departure from the last album Vision Rites, showing that there is continued innovation in the areas of deep dark horror soundscapes and Grand Ambient.
Congratulations!"
(B.L.Underwood, UK)
www.plaguerecordings.com
|
2010 |
€18.00 |
|
| WICKHAM-SMITH, SIMON |
Love & Lamentation |
CD |
Eine kaum zu beschreibende, faszinierende Klangwelt (basierend auf Bearbeitungen von vokalem Material) betritt man auf der neuen CD von SIMON WICKHAM-SMITH. Ob er ein buddhistisches Gebet verfremdet, einen poetischen Text von mehreren Personen gelesen multipel übereinanderlegt, oder Klagegesänge von Psalmen mit dem Sazspiel & der Stimme des türkischen "Troubadours" ASIK VEYSEL SIRSOGLU auf seltsamste Weise verbindet: stets schafft er so ungewöhnliche Ergebnisse dass man das Gefühl hat, etwas derartiges garantiert noch nie vorher gehört zu haben - auch die emotionale Wirkung beim Hören hat etwas ungeahntes, noch nicht eindeutiges...
"... Its not easy to describe the music of Wickham-Smith, both from how it was made and how it sounds. Perhaps he uses a computer to alter his sounds, but I tend to believe that's only in the final stage of the process. I envisage his music as generated with lo-fi means: worn out cassettes, cheap samplers, reel-to-reel tape loops. There are three pieces on this album, all of which seem to be dealing with voices, altered and otherwise. Wickham-Smith takes these, makes loops out of them and crafts a minimalist changing pattern with them. Through the various techniques, which I hope to be lo-fi as outlined before, the sounds are a bit hissy, static, crumbled, warped, folded and of a lower resolution. Chanting like in 'Sandokai' or the three parts of the title piece, or more poetry spoken word in 'The Kin-Kindness Of Beforehand', this is all excellent stuff, bringing back the good memories of his older work (which, if Vital Weekly wouldn't consume so much of my ear-time, I would grab out and play again). Wickham-Smith's music is like an anthropologic quest for voices connected of rituals, all over the world, from Tibet to Egypt, but he manages to give things a twist of his own, while maintaining a zen-like character to them. Great one." [FdW / Vital Weekly]
"... The "Sandokai" ("The Harmony of Difference and Equality") is a prayer written by the eighth century Japanese Zen teacher Sekito Kisen. The basis for this piece was a tape given to Wickham-Smith by a nun of a recital at her monastery. He wanted to create of this sample a prayer without borders, a follow-up to an earlier work, Ave Regina Caelorum (2000, released on Extreme Bukake [VHF65]), in which he used the Latin plainsong of a prayer to the Virgin Mary in much the same way. The organ sample at the end is from a piece by Erik Satie, whose spirituality was equally strange and eclectic. All the samples have been stretched and pitch-shifted beyond (immediate) recognition; to the ears they have melded into something that seems at once both ethereal and solid.
"The Kin-kindness of Beforehand" grew out of his "Multiple Tongues" project, a series of pieces in which Wickham-Smith exposed the spoken word in many different languages to a series of digital manipulations. The Kin-kindness of Beforehand is divided up into several distinct sections, each of which took on a particular persona during its creation. For the composer, this was the most complex of all the "Multiple Tongues" works, because he wanted to use specific strings of words and the quality of writer Rachel Becker¹s voice somehow to comment on each another.
"love & lamentation" started life as a setting for voice and electronics of part of the biblical Book of Lamentation, but it quickly became clear that the literal setting of words was not going to convey the melancholic intimacy that needed to be expressed. As a teenager Wickham-Smith had heard Alain Gheerbrant¹s wonderful ethnomusicological recordings of a blind Turkish troubador and had fallen hopelessly in love with his voice and exquisite playing of the saz. About the same time, through his friend Richard Youngs, he had discovered also the ex tempore psalm singing of the Scottish Isle of Lewis. Fifteen years later, he decided that these two could be made somehow to work together to show the love and lamentation which he felt they both held in their deeper recesses, and which he wanted to present in this new piece. The result is a strange melée of feelings, repetitions and textures. From time to time we hear a somewhat bizarre percussion sample, which he had first worked on in 2000. Part 3 opens with an offcut from an unreleased (and now never-to-be-released) piece from 1999 called Deaf Piano. Veysel¹s voice starts the piece and revolves through Part 2 in a kind of hippy trance love-in fashion. The congregation from Lewis sing their melancholy in a sparser and maybe wilder ways and die slowly away into the distance at the close." [label info]
www.pogus.com
|
2008 |
€15.00 |
|
| WILKEN, ANSGAR |
Thank You |
10inch |
"Ansgar Wilken is a skilled kitchen sink avantgardist who‘s not only playing the cello or the fiddle but is also utilising his cutlery and dishes to make you feel at home in his unique and colourful universe of sound. A plethora of sonic adventures awaits the avid listener, musical surprises catch the ear, voices high and low are calling – there‘s even a hamster‘s cage rattling! Playfully produced, „Thank You“ keeps giving with every new listen. Think of Moondog thumbing Michael Francis Duch‘s nose and you‘re close
Originaly published 2014 as Cassette on Spam.
10" released in an edition of 300.
Music: cello, fiddle, keyboard, electronics, samples, camping dishes, glasses, hamster cage by Ansgar Wilken
Mastering: Frank Schültge Blum
Photo: Jann Wilken
Layout: Ansgar Wilken & Xenia Zenner"
|
2016 |
€13.00 |
|
| WINER, LESLIE & VON HAUSSWOLFF, C.M |
1 |
LP |
Leslie Winer is an artist and author living and working in France. Earlier releases include Witch (recorded in 1990, released in 1993), & That Dead Horse (recorded in 1994, released in 2010), Always Already (2011), and the retrospective compilation Leslie Winer &c. (WHO 003CD, 2012). She has collaborated with Jon Hassell, Bomb the Bass, Mekon, and her words and voice were heard on a track on CI by Diamond Version (Carsten Nicolai and Olaf Bender) (2014). As of 2015, she is co-editor and co-executor for the estate of beat writer Herbert Huncke. (1), by Winer and Carl Michael von Hausswolff, is Winer's first full-length original release to be recorded since 1994. CM von Hausswolff divides his time between the worlds of music and visual art. His records, which he has been releasing since 1979, have been released by such labels as Radium 226.05, Ash International, Raster-Noton, Laton, iDEAL, and Touch. He curates Freq_Out, a collaborative sound installation shown in Paris, Berlin, Stockholm, Marrakesh, and beyond, with such artists as JG Thirlwell, Finnbogi Petursson, Jana Winderen, and Christine Ödlund. He makes films with Thomas Nordanstad and music with Martin Rössel (as Gomila Park), Jean-Louis Huhta and Graham Lewis (as Ocsid), and Joachim Nordwall and Jason Lescalleet (as ENOUGH!!!). Leslie Winer and Carl Michael von Hausswolff met in 2011 in Lisbon, Portugal, via Philip Marshall, co-owner of The Tapeworm. They decided to make a vocal/electronic music collaboration just for fun, with no intentions to have it on any kind of phonogram. Time proved different! Text and vocals by Winer; music by von Hausswolff, except for "Talked to some of them," which features music by von Hausswolff and Nordanstad, from their 2009 film Electra, Texas 2008. Recorded, mixed, and treated in Vigny, France, and Stockholm, Sweden, 2012-13.
#####################################
"Leslie Winer has long been an intriguing figure to me, an eighties fashion model who while in London frequented Leigh Bowery's infamous Taboo nightclub. In New York in the seventies she lived with Jean Michael Basquiat and became acquainted with the Beats in the form of William S. Burroughs and Herbert Huncke. But it is her association with musicians connected to Adam And The Ants that really gets me. She had a short lived marriage to Kevin Mooney, and was instrumental in his post Ants projects Max and Wide Boy Awake.
This is her first proper album since Witch, a cult album with a turbulent history which first surfaced as a white label before its official release in 1993 on Transglobal Underground's own label. Its hazy atmosphere, spoken passages laced with samples and dub infused beats, has as many commentators pointed out laid down something of a blueprint to what became known as trip hop - something which Winer herself has reservations about. Witch featured a rich ensemble of artists including bassist Jah Wobble, filmmaker John Maybury, and various ex-Ants musicians including Mooney and Matthew Ashman, alongside Mooney's former Max/Wide Boy Awake associate John Keogh, as well as Karl Bonnie of Renegade Soundwave. Winer also featured on Sinead O'Connor\'s The Lion and the Cobra which in various formations also included Mooney, Marco Pirroni, and O'Connor\'s ex-husband John Reynolds, who also turns up on Witch. The interconnectedness between these players beggars belief and that\'s without bringing in John Gosling's Mekon whose releases feature many of the aforementioned, as well as Winer herself.
But that's just the backstory. In 2010 The Tapeworm released & That Dead Horse, a collection of unreleased recordings, while 2012 saw the release of & © on The Wormhole, containing material from the aforementioned Witch with other material recorded in Miami and collaborations with Vincent Gallo and Christophe Van Huffel. Van Huffel would go on to work with Winer as Purity Supreme releasing the guitar strewn atmospherics of Always Already as a 12-inch on Ash International. It was around this point The Tapeworm's Philip Marshall brought together Leslie Winer and Swedish sound artist and composer Carl Michael von Hausswolff, who agreed to collaborate on music. The results are (1).
It's easy to regard Winer's delivery as a stream of consciousness, but there's thought behind her lyrics and particularly in the emphasis found within her phrasing. Lines appear and then reappear later in another form, as she plays with reality, in a voice deeper and more lived in than the mischievous delivery of Witch. It's difficult to ascertain Winer's viewpoint in her words on (1), as they sway between the poetic and the philosophical, especially on the longer tracks found on the first side. On 'I'll Be Mother' over a discreet ringing drone, she ruminates about "the next generation" and the need for "a pharmacological method of making people love." Her husky drawl, speaks of a susceptible populace where "we are creators, yet we have also been created". "I'll Be Mother" she repeats, adopting the role of the maternal figure characterised in the ritual of making tea. Winer, as executor to the works of Herbert Huncke, has long been associated with the Beats, but it is in the following track the friendship and the education learned from William Burroughs comes to the fore. 'I'll Be Mother' may have touched upon the Control Process that Burroughs dwelt on, but 'This Discreet Organ' looks to transformative powers of interconnectedness, touching upon observation and evolutionary evidence to question "long held notions of who and what we think we are" where time, sequence, speech, language and pattern recognition play a role. This is Winer in full-on philosopher mode: "The concept of what a thing looks like takes precedence over direct observation". In measured breathless tones she reflects on human development and the need for sleep, questioning evolution, biology and gender roles when she inquires "Did women throw enough spears?" Mirroring Burroughs she asks "Who is running the show?" over Von Hausswolff's lingering drone.
More than ever on 'Can I Take Your Order' her husky, hesitant delivery apes the sardonic drawl of a Burroughs reading. The text concerning culture and patriarchy is cut-up with various sections reappearing and reformed over the powerful undulating drones of von Hausswolff. While much of von Hausswolff's score is understated and subtle it is much more prevalent here - and in all the tracks on side 2 - gently swelling around Winer's fragmented oblique text entwining biographies of an aspiring writer and isolated academic. Juddering glacial tones form a frosted layer to the treated, distant and hard to discern delivery of Winer on 'Weatherman'. The closing track 'Talked To Some Of Them', additionally features and is credited to Thomas Nordanstad. It is taken from Electra, Texas 2008, the third in a series of films by CM von Hausswolff and filmmaker Thomas Nordanstad. The music is reduced to arching electronics, rising and falling behind Winer's fragmented musings, recycling text that originally surfaced on 'I'll Be Mother'. "This seems to be the final revolution", she muses, over effects resembling distant tolling bells.
Last year, Leslie Winer, in a photographic session by Juergen Teller, became the face of Vivienne Westwood's 2014 campaign, and amidst all the Tapeworm associated releases it seems Leslie Winer, from her reclusive life in France, is making tentative steps back to into the public arena. Without downplaying von Hausswolff's contribution here my focus on (1) is in on Winer, her voice and the spoken word text giving form to her philosophy and current thinking. (1) won't garner the gushing words that surround Witch, recently reissued by Superior Viaduct, but (1) does show she still has much to say, and (1) is worth seeking out, especially if either artist is of interest. For more information go to Monotype Records" [Compulsion Online]
|
2015 |
€26.00 |
|
| WISHART, TREVOR |
Journey into Space |
CD |
Wiederveröffentlichung einer obskuren do-LP von 1973, die in unbekannter Höhe erschien. Vor allen Dingen werden hier field-recordings und found sounds (Alltagsgegenstände, konkrete Materialien) verarbeitet, um eine sound-allegorische Reise des Menschen hin zur Selbst-Bewußtwerdung zu symbolisieren: Der Mensch wacht auf wie aus einem Traum und begibt sich auf eine Reise, an deren Ende eine weitere Geburt steht...(deshalb auch die drei Teile BIRTH DREAM, JOURNEY und ARRIVAL)..
aufgenommen im „Electronic Music Studio“ der
Universität von York zwischen Jan. 1970 un Dez. 1972. Sehr außergewöhnlich, detailreich und schön !!!
Re-release of an obscure do-LP from 1973, in which WISHART wants to symbolize the journey of man from a dream-like state into a higher sphere of self-realization (at the end there’s a new birth).
“ York University's music department houses one of the UK's first ever electronic music studios, and during the early seventies it was a hotbed of creative activity. Much of the released output from the studio at this time revolved around the work of the dynamic composer Trevor Wishart. Journey Into Space was his first release, composed between 1970 and 72, and was privately pressed (shortly before the formation of YES records), as two
separate LP's in 1973. (The CD cover amalgamates the 2 original designs). Along with other early private releases of experimental music in the UK (ie the LP of sound poems by Cobbing/Jandl, or the LP of musique concrète by Desmond Leslie), this record is also a total anomaly in the canon of British experimental music and has little to do with the current, or even subsequent work by Wishart.
The vast length of this piece has many different styles. There are acoustic sections, mostly of junk and toys (bike bells, squeeze horns, bottles, metal tubes, combs etc.) as well as flute and brass sections that are used as raw material. There are also sections of everyday field recordings, scraps of NASA Apollo transmissions, as well as plenty of multitracking, editing, vocal acrobatics and musique concrète.” [from the label press release]
|
2002 |
€15.00 |
|
| |
Machine |
CD |
Endlich wiederveröffentlicht, das erste grössere Werk des britischen Elektronikers von 1971, erschienen zuerst als Teil der "Electronic Music from York" 3LP-Box 1973. Bearbeitete Field Recordings von Maschinen und Fabriken kombiniert er mit "spoken word" und Chor-Elementen, "echte" Instrumente kommen gar nicht zum Einsatz!
"Although Machine was completed in 1971 it was not released until 1972, shortly after the release of Journey Into Space. Machine is therefore the first major composition by Trevor Wishart. It was composed at York University and was originally issued on vinyl as 3 sides of a highly adventurous 3LP box set called Electronic Music From York, released by the University's own record label. In common with Journey Into Space (also on Paradigm Discs), Machine makes use of a large number of volunteer contributors, mostly from the student body at York. With this recording, however, there are no instruments used. Instead, the music of Machine is made up entirely from a combination of spoken text and carefully directed improvising choirs that take their lead from prerecorded factory sounds. These are extensively mixed and edited with yet more collected Machine sounds and other sources of musique concrète, as well as occasional use of basic electronic sources. The scale of this work, and the degree of preparation involved in scoring it, seem to have more resonances with the world of theatre or film rather than tape composition. Much of Wishart's early work involved the use of musicians and artists being directed to perform in new ways, outside of their usual remit. A combination of late 60s openness, detailed scores that provide frameworks for improvisation and slavish editing have resulted in an incomparable sound work. With a continuous playing time of one hour, the wild and previously unexplored terrain covered by this pioneering work of British experimental music moves in turn through the full range of possible audio landscapes from the oceanic calm of the doldrums to earsplitting factory mayhem. Jewel case cd with 12 page booklet." [label info]
|
2008 |
€13.00 |
|
| WOLLSCHEID, ACHIM |
Moves |
CD |
“A CD of lovely, resonating installation sound from Selektion founder Wollscheid. "Once I had the idea to play a house. This happened when the city of Frankfurt, in charge of an investment company and intending to raise the acceptance of a deserted industrial complex, planned to perform a vernissage (make over) in this place. Therefore they needed an artist and an artwork. When I was asked, I thought that it would be apt to the situation to leave the huge space empty of artworks and instead attach a compute-generated clapper to each of the 1400 windows to transform the space into a poly-rhythm box. I liked the plan, but the investors didn't. Nevertheless, I pursued the idea to activate the resonance frequencies of given objects in a space in order to arrive at site- and space-specific compositions which would change with every place and given situation.” Wollscheid."[label info]
|
1996 |
€13.00 |
|
| WOLVES IN THE THRONE ROOM |
Celestite |
do-LP |
"Seit der Bandgründung 2002 haben WOLVES IN THE THRONE ROOM über 4 Studioalben und hunderte von Konzerten hinweg die transzendenten und mythischen Aspekte des Black Metal durch ihr ganz eigenes Prisma gebrochen und Musik erschaffen, die in direkter Beziehung zu den wilden Landschaften des pazifischen Nordwestens steht. "Celestite" bricht auf zu einer Reise, die tiefer in den kristallinen, Synthie-getriebenen Herrschaftsbereich vordringt, der WOLVES IN THE THRONE ROOM schon seit langem fasziniert. Mit Unterstützung des Produzenten Randall Dunn (EARTH, SUNN0))), MASTER MUSICIANS OF BUKKAKE) hebt die Band eine versteckte Soundlandschaft aus, die sich nur lose an den gewohnte Sound bindet und doch jederzeit als WOLVES IN THE THRONE ROOM zu erkennen ist. Während sich das Album entfaltet, entwickelt sich eine meerestiefe psychedelische Soundlandschaft; Portale öffnen sich und geben den Blick auf eine Zauberwelt frei, die nur in Träumen, Visionen und Musik zu betreten ist. "Celestite" wurde in den Avast Studios in Seattle und in der bandeigenen Owl Lodge in Olympia realisiert, wo die Band ein ganzes Arsenal an Vintage Synthies und Effekten aufreihte; dazu gesellten sich ein Ensemble aus Bläsern und die klassischen API und Neve Konsolen. Kommentar der Band: "Um 'Celestite' zu machen, tauchten wir tief in die unterirdischen Sounds, die im Mix von ,Celestial Lineage verborgen lagen. Wir isolierten sie, entwickelten sie weiter und wählten die so gewonnene Soundlandschaft als Startpunkt.
Auf diesem Fundament errichteten wir das ganze neue Album. Manche Melodien von "Celestial Lineage" sind wiedererkennbar, doch diese vertrauten Sounds erscheinen als Geister, die nur lose mit den Originalkompositionen verbunden sind." "Celestite" ist der erste Release auf dem bandeigenen Artemisia Records Label." [label info]
https://artemisiarecords.bandcamp.com
"We're super into this, but avant black metallers Wolves In The Throne Room have gotten a lot of flack for this new record of theirs, which seems to be more based on them as a band, than the record itself; like Deafheaven or Liturgy, the fact that they're 'hip' and 'cool' and lots of non metalheads dig them makes them ripe for criticism from the 'troo cvlt' black metal crowd. Also that they're doing something a bit different. A LOT different, here. And we applaud it! 'Cause taken objectively, as in, if you didn't even know this was WITTR, you might find yourself pretty into it.
The deal is, there's really no black metal here, just pure spaced-out synth shimmer, completely cosmic and kinda New Agey, even. It's total Tangerine Dream worship, but with plenty of dense bombast and thick layered drones. More like Emeralds than Emperor. The sort of thing some black metal bands dabble in as "intro music", taken to the full-length extreme. And it's pretty good - the first track sounds like it could be an alternate soundtrack to Bladerunner. Haunting and ominous, lush drones and buried melodies... Elsewhere, the swaths of thick synth-iness sound almost like Salem, some beatless almost witch-housiness... There's even some Carpenter-y electro beats on "Sleeping Gold Storm". The moaning horns and other elements, in the more cacophonous crescendos, builds up the drama and edginess, but it never gets metal, nope. It's the intro to itself, instead.
Thumbs up from us! And, black metal and/or WITTR fans who aren't open-minded enough to approve of this, don't fret, it's just meant as an electronic "companion" to their last album, 2011's Celestial Lineage, not a follow-up. You still gotta keep waiting for that, but in the meantime, you could try to relax and enjoy these surprisingly spaced-out sounds. Plus, it's not like there's not precedence for stuff like this in the realms of black metal, from Neptune Towers to Alturaz... And for other folks, more into synths and drones than metal, this could easily be the first (only?) WITTR you'll ever need." [Aquarius Records]
|
2014 |
€30.00 |
|
| WORLD DOWNFALL |
When the World ends |
CD |
"Steeve Bouchard with 12 new tracks from WORLD DOWNFALL / this album is a nightmare of power-electronics / last track is a collaboration with BARRIKAD." [label info]
"...Have you ever listened to a harsh noise PE album that actually manages to make you feel slightly light-headed? Well, this latest effort from Steeve Bouchard’s (Bleak Existence) World Downfall project achieved just that very thing with me. After listening, on headphones, to the sound of rasping industrial machines drilling into my pleasure centres and boring them out for something close to an hour, I almost felt like I was just about to burst through to a higher form of consciousness – either that or my brains were attempting to dribble out of my ears. All flippancy aside, this is a harsh, unforgiving album, simple in execution but devastating in effect. Utilising a very Whitehouse-esque line of attack, with most of the tracks consisting of a buzzing, rasping backing of grating electronics, augmented here and there with industrial strength machine noises and topped off with distorted vocals, both spoken and shouted, it’s in essence a very direct aural assault. It’s unrelenting and not for the faint-hearted; and in some respects requires a feat of endurance on the part of the listener, as after a while the sameness of a lot of the tracks can become something of a monotone blur. Occasionally even I found myself losing the thread somewhat...." [S:M:J63 / Heathen Harvest]
www.lwhite-records.de
|
2008 |
€6.00 |
|
| WRIGHT, PETER |
Yellow Horizon |
CD |
Der grossartige Neuseeländer PETER WRIGHT (auch aktiv als POLIO) liefert seit Jahren Gitarren-drone durchtränkte Traumlandschaften ab, die sich dunkel aber unpathetisch in den Äther schwingen. Seine tänzelnden Gitarren-Ozeane sind von besonderer untergründiger emotionaler Spannung und Melancholie beseelt, und wirken doch auch entspannend....keine Oberflächenmusik, sondern der „wahre“ Kern des Selbst scheint hier aufzuflackern..... Demnächst auch eine 7“ auf Drone Records !! NZ-Import.
“New Zealand guitarist and sound-artist Peter Wrights back catalogue stretches to something like 30 releases over the last dozen years. 'Yellow Horizons' is the most recent of these and follows on from 2004's 'Distant Bombs' (Last Visible Dog), and 'Desolation Beauty Violence' (Digitalis). This CD finds him relocated to dirty old London town from where he has written a series of love-drones to the wild South Island of his homeland. Described by David Keenan (of The Wire, Volcanic Tongue) as a "consistently impressive thinker", Wrights guitar craft opens vistas that are as contemplative as they are emotionally engaging. Periods of preperatory silence awaken into long slow shifting drones; layered 'folk' patterns build to an almost psychotropic intensity before being subsumed once more within the drone... These scenes are as varied as the South Island itself. There are glaciers as well as sunburnt plains. Writing about the recording of Yellow Horizons, Peter had this to say: "The nature of my reduced travelling bag of equipment has meant a more concise distillation of sounds than before with the 12 string guitar now dominating. To make things even more cohesive I tuned the guitar to an open C chord and every track on this disc uses this tuning, creating an almost seamless continuity, and an overall foundation". [press release]
“Another fucking stunner from this re-located New Zealander, Desolation Beauty Violence is mostly based around various manipulations of Danelectro 12-string guitar using minimal effects and field recordings but for the most part the source feels supremely dislocated. This is easily some of the most evocative proto-drone work to reach these ears in a while, with beautiful almost folk melodies that flutter on the edge of audibility cut up with a thick soup of early-evening smog and long forgotten geographies. Somewhere between early Flying Saucer Attack, Mirror and William Basinski. Highly recommended.“ [David Keenan/ Volcanic Tongue]
www.pseudoarcana.com
|
2005 |
€14.00 |
|
| |
An Angel fell where the Kestrels hover |
CD |
"An Angel Fell Where The Kestrels Hover started life as the second part of a two album reflection on my emotive responses to seasonal changes, both in a personal sense and also a more social and geographical sense. My double CD Snow Blind, recorded at the same time and released earlier this year on Install, captures the foreboding darkness and gloom of winter, whilst An Angel Fell... focusses on the spring and summer months, and as a result has a generally sunnier disposition.
Obviously there's a direct literal interpretation at work here, the music is brighter and more melodic, perhaps even sensual, without as much harsh discordance that is predominant on Snow Blind. On 'Lavender Buzz' the seasonal inspiration is most literal, where the foundation of the piece is from a strategically placed microphone in the middle of a clump of lavender plants recording bees collecting nectar from the flowers. But also, as the music was actually recorded during the summer I only had to look out the window or take a walk in the nearby Streatham Common to get a sense of the type of almost lazy sounds I wanted to create. Ironically, this was also one of the wettest July's on record in the UK and the frequency of the often violent thunderstorms also tainted my creative thoughts, neatly juxtaposing light and dark textures.
Aside from the weather, location was also an important factor. I made these recordings in London, England, where my wife and myself were living at the time. This is an album heavily influenced by living in that sprawling, chaotic urban jungle, as most of my last few releases have been. Reflections on physical and mental space are frequently wrapped up in the sounds I make, even at their most abstract. London was my home for nearly 6 years and this was the last recording I made consciously referencing and musing on the city before we moved back to New Zealand in 2008. In many ways it represents the closing of a circle that started with my first UK-based recordings that appeared on Yellow Horizon (PseudoArcana, 2004).
The titles I come up with for my music can be fairly oblique, often abstract and meaningless, but they can reflect my mood at the time I make the sounds themselves. Sometimes they are socially or politically motivated, sometimes very personal and inward-looking. At their most poetic they can be a substitute for lyrics, but the titles are not necessarily designed to lead the listener into a particular train of thought when listening to the sounds. The album title, An Angel Fell Where The Kestrels Hover, was one of the first I came up with when previewing my early mixes on headphones sitting in a South London meadow watching a kestrel circling high above looking for field mice in the long grass. I could immediately see a connection to the birds movements and the way my music drifts and floats. The kestrel's hovering flight, almost like a hummingbird, beating it's wings and making minute adjustments in the wind, allowing it's head to remain absolutely still to enable it's sharp eyes to spot movement in the ground metres below is amazing to watch. And I liked the idea that maybe it could see something in the grass that us mere mortals can not, like a fallen angel." [Peter Wright]
www.spekk.net
|
2009 |
€15.50 |
|
| WRIGHT, PETER & BRIAN GRAINGER |
Peint Arbre |
CD-R |
https://pspsph.bandcamp.com/album/peint-arbre
Initially recorded between Summer and Autumn of 2009, then stashed away in the shade for almost nine years, my collaborative full-length album with Peter Wright is now finally issued forth into the universe. A mammoth album of drones, feedback, sub-bass harmonics and psychedelic textures, set across three different pieces, Peint Arbre is a dense and enveloping trip through the tangential and exploratory minds of two men, working almost 8,000 miles apart.
Peter Wright, if you are unaware, is an outright legend of drone music, guitar improvisation and spectacularly filmic textures, having been active in the New Zealand experimental music culture since 1992. I've long been influenced by his recordings, and in 2009 I was lucky enough to host his epic Snow Blind double-album at INSTALL, the now-defunct label I co-operated with David Tagg. We followed Snow Blind with a vinyl release of Wright's transcendent Orbit, and he also guested on my One Bleak Try album, lending many additional layers of sonic seasoning to the track "Black Rust Caress."
Since INSTALL closed its doors years ago, I've wanted to give this unreleased album we did a proper release. Since so much time had passed, Peter decided to revisit the recordings and add/subtract some things to bring it into its present form (so for those few out there who heard this album in its previous iteration, this is a different beast). Peint Arbre is an interesting cross-pollination of my distorted bass monolith drones, generated using guitar and organ in the Rolling Knoll studio, and Peter's contributions of guitars, vocals, percussion and all sorts of other instruments. Indeed, it feels very alive, and that is almost all Peter's doing - I merely provided the initiative steps. So it follows that hopefully another collaboration is due between us, and the door is of course always open for Peter to issue something of his own here at Psøma Psi Phi.
W/P by Peter Wright & Brian Grainger. Principal recording done in South Carolina at Rolling Knoll, Summer 2009. Subsequent and final pass recording done in New Zealand, 2009 and 2018. Text and design by ABM&D. This is Psøma Psi Phi number ØΨΦVII.
Packaged in a clear CPP plastic 120-micron thick sleeve with two hand-cut pastel cardstock inserts, custom hand-affixed text decals and black ink stamping, with an in-house duplicated/printed white CD-R.
|
2018 |
€13.00 |
|
| WYNESS, JAMES |
Objects wrapped in Objects wrapped in Objects |
mCDR |
"james wyness is a rare scottish sound artist with only a handful of releases on various labels like gruenrekorder, conv or mystery sea.
for "objects wrapped in objects wrapped in objects", james has gathered two delicate and precise compositions.
"the hearth" was composed in response to the theme of sound and rural architecture following a three week residency in northern portugal with "binuaral/nodar" in april 2012 as part of the "festival som e arquitetura rural". the piece investigates the sounds of open and closed hearths recorded in the san macario region of northern portugal. it reveals the dense dynamic textures and sonic morphologies of one of the fundamentals of architecture.
"foil" is an investigation of materiality and recursive procedures in which tin foil was set in a picture frame, played by hand and recorded using contact microphones. the recorded sounds were then played back through the foil using transducers, the foil was performed simultaneously and the results mixed live to tape.
www.taalem.com
"James Wyness has a great title of his release: it leaves stuff to imagine. He has two pieces, of exactly ten minutes each. In the first he uses 'metal wood burning stoves, open domestic fires and domestic utensils' and in the other 'tin foil, transducers and contact microphones'. I don't like long quotes, but the website says it better than I can do: "the hearth" investigates the sounds of open and closed hearths recorded in the san macario region of northern Portugal. It reveals the dense dynamic textures and sonic morphologies of one of the fundamentals of architecture. "Foil" is an investigation of materiality and recursive procedures in which tin foil was set in a picture frame, played by hand and recorded using contact microphones. The recorded sounds were then played back through the foil using transducers, the foil was performed simultaneously and the results mixed live to tape." In the first of these pieces we hear something of light crackling nature, the burning of something inside a small hollow, metallic space, whereas in the tin foil piece it becomes all a bit darker and even percussive, slowed down. The tin foil has great sonic qualities but here it sounds very much unlike that. Dark and obscured sounds, but with a fine imaginative headspace. Two excellent pieces and also perhaps something that sounds less like what you would expect on Taalem." [FdW/Vital Weekly]
|
2014 |
€5.00 |
|
| WÄLDCHENGARTEN |
Distractions |
CD |
Trotz diverser hervorragender Releases sind die Dänen WÄLDCHENGARTEN weiterhin ein Geheimtip für Drone-Freunde. Elektronische, rauhe & majestätische Drones voller amorpher Elemente sind ihre Spezialität, Soundquellen sind kaum auszumachen, im Klang liegende Wellenbewegungen bestimmen das Bild. "Distractions" ist ihr drittes "full-length" Album.
"The senses are hit by a typhoon of charged electricity, which sends your mind into a cabinet of mirrors where darkness folds and unfolds. The sound image presents itself as an inseparable unity in which myriads of parallel sequences are constantly undergoing transformations. Transcend through ethereal radiation!" [label info]
"Since seven years Wäldchengarten exists as a lone but strong voice in the world of Danish experimental music. They have had a couple of releases (see for instance Vital Weekly 510, 465, 380, 338 or 265) which all can be noted for the strong love of noise and drones. Everything they do deals with electronics, from the samples they use to the sound effects and the analog electronics. Noise is never the end result: rather Waldchengarten use noise to create an effect that is trance inducing. Also Waldchengarten has no theme, it seems. No track titles, no obscured nazi images or any such things known to the world of noise, all they (the two brothers Hansen) care about is playing mind altering ambient industrial music, and they do a great job. They can easily be compared with the likes of Troum. Forcefully present, but twistin' the senses. With 'Distractions' they created an even finer balance in the music, moving slowly forward with their sound. Every new release is an improvement from the previous, slightly refining the music. Waldchengarten doesn't take big steps, nor are they in for a radical change, but with releases at this rather slow speed, it's quite alright. So far their best release." [FdW / Vital Weekly]
www.phisteria.com
|
2006 |
€14.00 |
|
| X-NAVI:ET |
Dead City Voice |
LP |
"Dead City Voice" is the second vinyl album by Rafał Iwański aka X-Navi:Et(of HATI, Voices of the Cosmos, KAPITAL, Innercity Ensemble fame). It's the follow-up to acclaimed "Soundtracks for the Dying Moments" LP released on Instant Classic last year. It contains 6 new electroacoustic compositions recorded from 2010 to 2013.
The theme of the city has appeared in the modern art territory quite a few times before. Wim Wenders, a cult German director, once said that "thecity shapes people, leaves its stigma on them and deforms them to its own likeness." Murray Schafer, a Canadian composer, while working on the concept of "soundscape", claimed that many of the surrounding sonic incidents infiltrates the music of our times. Following the footsteps of Charles Baudelaire among others, urban artists, Rafał Iwański and Ewa Bińczyk, replayed the city, penetrated its spirit and echoed it in their activities. Telling the city by means of sound and vision is becoming an inward journey as well.
Inside the cover one can also find the literary text by Dariusz Brzostek (Ph.D. at the University of Toruń, Poland) - a literari, anthropologist and music journalist who has collaborated with many magazines, such as Glissando, Trans/Wizje, Antena Krzyku, Teksty Drugie, Magazyn Fragile.
Visually the album is of the highest value. The gatefold cover is adorned with works by Ewa Bińczyk. Additionally, a special edition of 33 copies will include genuine intaglio prints signed by the author making it a true collector's item.
The album was released by Zoharum in collaboration with Eter Records, a label set up by Rafał Iwański to release music by his projects X-Navi:Et, HATI, Voices of the Cosmos in digital and analogue formats.
The album is released in a gatefold cover in a strictly limited edition of 250 copies." [label info]
www.zoharum.com
"On vinyl, in a fine fold out cover, we find Hati's Rafal Iwanski's solo project X-Navi:et. Both this and his Hati project are quite active when it comes to releasing music, so you could wonder: do they ever sleep? The main concept behind the six pieces on his new LP is the 'city', but not in a very strict sense I would think. This is not twice 20 minutes of city sounds, or something like that set to music, but pieces that depict the sounds of city through musical means. He uses analog filter machine, analog synthesizer, sampling pad, loop system, hulusi, bells, rattles, metal objects, field and found recordings and effects. Me think that a lot of the acoustic sources here have been sampled and treated extensively before finding their place inside a composition. Take for instance 'Tinnitus Auris': the tinkling of bells are the sounds that a lorry makes when trying to park. Next to that we hear a conveyer belt like sound - the other cars on the same street. Below that is a fiery drone-ventilation shafts on the side walk. That's what I heard. In the other pieces there is a similar liveliness, which we find a big cities - not in the street where I live, and not many cars or people pass on an ordinary working day. But of course all of this is easily said, when you look at the title(s), the picture, the text and such like and make these connections with a big city. I wonder what someone would imagine playing this music as it is, without knowing these references; it might not be the city. But who cares about that? We know what it is about and it's the gesamtkunstwerk that counts. This is a beautiful record of some fine, dark ambient music, with a nice industrial touch to it, very occasionally. Great release!" [FdW/Vital Weekly]
|
2013 |
€16.00 |
|
| XABEC |
Random Errors down the Line |
MC |
raubbau and pflichkauf have set a goal in the past, and that is to make the most memorable performances from the legendary maschinenfest festival available to the audience. and this had to be done on tape, because that is the ideal medium if you want to restrict your audience from skipping through tracks; it's like you're there (again), experiencing the whole thing.
the latest release in this series is the 2018 performance by manuel richter a.k.a. xabec. if you were there you will admit it was an amazing moment we all shared. it was a moment of relaxation or - if you prefer - meditation on the final day of the final maschinenfest. no harsh beats or power electronics, but a tribute to the beauty of sound. played on an enormous installation with some of the best technicians behind the venue's mixers.
the seven tracks xabec chose to perform were taken from his whole musical career which is already covering 20 years; as long as maschinenfest has been there. from 'schneegarten' the track uhrklang is taken, which brings us back to how and when we met manuel as an artist. furthermore, there are tracks from the highly collectible 7" series on hands productions as well as a few tracks from 'closing the circle', written with architect and spherical disrupted).
musically the tracks range from modular experimentations where it's all about the sound (calx saturni) to rhythmic sequences with droney layering (snowline) and even highly danceable yet laidback grooves (morphosis). and if you take into account that this was the first xabec performance in 5 years, well, it couldn't have gone any better.
'random errors down the line' doesn't contain any actual errors, it is a showcase of what may be considered the best a man can do with a computer, some synths and a microphonic soundbox. the title refers to the artist's working method of composing with found sounds and 'accidents', which has developed as a working method over the years.
https://raubbau.bandcamp.com/album/random-errors-down-the-line |
2020 |
€10.00 |
|
| XEDH & CARLOS SUAREZ |
Cuculacanto |
CD |
"About: This album shows a series of improvisations that I realized with the Galician composer Carlos Suárez. His work, heir of a certain electroacustic tradition but subverted to a more visceral and private plane, is interesting for the reality that it reflects: his music is a result of an intense personal vision about the world, a music that it's real in essence.
For our live collaboration I didn't try to adjust me to the particularities of his sound, it has gradually growing in unconscious forms of working that I abandoned long ago, but without falling in the imitation or the falsifications, using techniques and perspectives that I currently use. Our meeting, I want to believe, was so real as Carlos´s music. This CD serves as a small tribute to its work into the filed of electoacoustic, ethnomusicology and fieldrecording that he captured and developed away from the moder civilisation for many years. (M.A.G. / Xedh)
German translation: Dieses Album zeigt eine Reihe von Improvisationen, dass ich mit der galizischen Komponist Carlos Suárez erstellt hatte. Seine Arbeit, die Erben eines bestimmten Elektroakustik Tradition, sondern unterwandert zu einer viszeralen und privater Ebene, ist interessant für die Realität, dass es reflektiert: Seine Musik ist ein Ergebnis einer intensiven persönlichen Vision von der Welt, eine Musik, dass es 'wirklich' im Kern ist.
Für unsere Live-Zusammenarbeit habe ich nicht versuchen, mich auf die Besonderheiten seines Sounds einzustellen, wurde es allmählich in unbewussten Formen des Arbeitens, die ich vor langer Zeit aufgegeben, aber ohne zu fallen oder in der Nachahmung der Fälschungen, mit Hilfe von Techniken und Perspektiven, die ich derzeit verwenden. Unser Treffen, Ich möchte glauben, war so real, als Carlos Musik. Diese CD dient als kleine Hommage an seine Arbeit in den von Electoacoustic, Ethnomusicology und Fieldrecording, dass er genommen und entwickelt hat seit vielen Jahren aber entfernt vom 'Moderne Zivilisation.' "(M.A.G. / Xedh)
"This is a sonorous eclectic offering. Collaboration album, abstract dark ambient, highly inspiring sound art work from two dedicated electro-acoustic and ethnomusicologists.
Tracks:
01. Regresión afín
02. Varios errores
03. Sacrá nemesis
04. Juntos hacia la gran reverberación de los tiempos
05. Una última bienvenida
Total run: ~ 42 min.
Recorded live at Larraskito, Bilbao-Basque country. Edition by Miguel A. García." [label info]
www.essentiamundi.com
"Miguel A. Garcia sometimes works under his own name and sometimes as Xedh, and I am never sure when one comes into play and when the other. Maybe there is no separation? Here he works with one Carlos Suarez, of whom I think I never heard. He is from Galicia in Spain and works inside the field of electro-acoustic music. If I am well informed the pieces here were recorded through live improvisation in the studio which was then edited by Garcia. Garcia is at his best, at least for me, when he too works with electro-acoustic music, and stays away from overtly noise based excursions which he sometimes also does. Here he does stay away and together with Suarez he created five excellent pieces of electro-acoustic music which suggest lots of space between the cracks, sometimes artificially enhanced by the use of reverb. There is computer processing, analogue knob turning, field recordings of water and metallic rumble, looped and toyed around with. The overall mood of the pieces is more ambient and atmospheric than is perhaps usually the case with this kind of electro-acoustic sounds. More ambient than microsound I would say. Garcia has reconstructed the live recordings accordingly and without losing the aspect of a live recording, these five pieces are very good, well done and reshaped into the form of compositions, with heads and tails and fine structure. This is the Garcia I like and this CD is a fine addition to his rapidly expanding discography." [FdW/Vital Weekly]
|
2012 |
€12.00 |
|
| XELA |
Divine |
LP |
" "The Divine" marks the second phase in the trilogy proposed by John Twells aka Xela. Crawling out of a castle dungeon in pursuit of its predecessor, "The Illuminated", this LP finds itself trapped in an abandoned church somewhere in a damp Southern wilderness. Church bells chime and rattle through the record's first piece, echoing and distorting through a fog of chattering voices and prayers. Tape loops stumble over tape loops and the solemn, ecclesiastical drone slowly decomposes into thick, crackling noise. Through the mists choirs sing, heralding the introduction of the second side of "The Divine" which takes the human voice into cavernous and smudged, yet strangely alluring territories. There is almost a Basinski-like charm to this work as the choirs effortlessly degrade into an unrecognisable mud of harmony and abrasiveness. This is music informed by a religious world; Xela has edged from the scriptures of cults and secret societies to the spires of organisation and power. God is in the detail.
Limited edition of 500 copies!" [label info]
www.dekorder.com
|
2010 |
€12.50 |
|
| XENAKIS, IANNIS |
Persepolis |
LP |
"Format: 180gr LP incl. 4c insert + DL code / download
Release date: march 2nd 2018
After “La Légende d’Eer” in 2016, the PERIHEL series presents one of the milestones of electroacoustic music: IANNIS XENAKIS’ mindblowing 54-minutes oeuvre “Persepolis”, mixed from the original 8 track tapes by MARTIN WURMNEST and mastered / cut by RASHAD BECKER.
“Persepolis” is the longest electroacoustic composition by IANNIS XENAKIS (1922-2001) who ranks among the most influential 20th century avantgarde composers. Commissioned by the Persian Shah, the piece was part of a multimedia performance – XENAKIS’ so-called “polytopes” – which premiered in 1971 in Shiraz-Persepolis (Iran) as a performance including light-tracks, laser beams, groups of children walking around with torches and 59 loudspeakers to project the music in an open-air situation.
XENAKIS had realized “Persepolis” on 8-track analogue tape in the Studio Acusti in Paris and released a stereo reduction on vinyl in the famous Philips series “Prospective 21e Siècle” in 1972, adding the new subtitle “We bear the light of the earth”, his most hymnal title ever.
Out of print for decades now, the LP became – especially the Japanese edition from 1974 – one of the most expensive collector’s item of electroacoustic music. There were some later CD versions with different durations – too long due to a wrong sample rate, others shortened by 3 minutes due to other reasons. The PERIHEL series now presents a new version: mixed from the original (!) master 8 track tapes by longtime zeitkratzer sound engineer MARTIN WURMNEST and mastered by RASHAD BECKER at D&M, Berlin – the same experts who had already taken care of the 2016 KARLRECORDS release of “La Légende d’Eer”, another milestone composition among the works of the Greek-French avant-garde composer."
|
2018 |
€18.00 |
|
| XIPHOID DEMENTIA |
Secular Hymns |
CD |
"Actively recording since 2002, Egan Budd’s Xiphoid Dementia has become known in the underground and in numerous live situations for creating meticulously crafted yet hard to define, post industrial soundscapes, navigating between textured ambience, scourging noise, junk metal , field recordings, and surreal atmospheres, sometimes all in one track. Still, there’s a hyper-focus here that ties it altogether, and makes for something that is dynamic, unpredictable, and clearly ambitious. For those that question if there’s originality left in industrial music, Xiphoid Dementia answers with a resounding yes, though not so much in the sounds themselves, but rather how they are layered and placed.
The first track, Abortion Rites, manages to capture the essence of Xiphoid right off the bat; starting calm enough with a singular drone and a rising apocalyptic choir, only to be eventually engulfed in a firestorm of brain rattling noise and straining machine vibrations, before shifting gears into sprawling cosmic drones, deep bass drops, and processed vocal squall. Subsequent tracks follow a similar path, constantly moving from the cerebral to the physical, adding structural elements, then obliterating it in a mass of debris, mechanized whir, and sharp edged clutter. Of the four tracks here, the last track is perhaps the most focused, and certainly the bleakest; a 13 + minute excursion into a dystopian society full of utterly hopeless and dark, resonating atmospherics, and ending in a cyclonic blur of destructive noise and blackened filth . It’s perfectly executed and a suitable ending to what equates to an intensely visceral and creative listen. Hard to find comparisons here, but those that appreciate the dynamics of Navicon Torture Technologies, Prurient, and Propergol will certainly find something to like." [label info]
www.malignantrecords.com
|
2012 |
€12.00 |
|
| XQM / EMERGE / LDX#40 |
Session #43, recomposed |
CD |
original field-recordings and sounds by xqm
reworked and recomposed by EMERGE and LDX#40
xqm - Session #43 | 2018-07-05 | Track #02
Recorded during 43rd session 05th.July 2018 at WWII shelter Koblenz-Neuendorf/Germany
Manuel Schaub: Sequencer & FX
Matthias Weigand: Analog Synth & FX, Recording & Mastering
xqm-beats.bandcamp.com
EMERGE - trover
composed in the region of Kutná Hora
final editing and mastering in Berlin
in August 2018
emerge.wordpress.com
LDX#40 - Pangea Mix
Assembled in Frankfurt/Main
in December 2018
kunstscheisse.net/ldx40
vimeo.com/ldx40
xqm artist-edition available here:
ecocentricrecords.bandcamp.com/album/session-43-recomposed
credits
released November 8, 2019
VITAL WEEKLY
There is a slightly confusing cover here, which tells us that the music recorded by xqm is the source material for the other two, but the booklet may seem to indicate that the order of the CD is Emerge/xqm/LDX#40, whereas it is xqm/Emerge/LDX#40. The previous time I heard music by xqm I found it rather noisy and left it to Jliat to devote a review to (Vital Weekly 1187). For no reason I expected this to be along similar lines, but here the duo went out with the sequencer, analogue synthesizer and effects to produce a twenty-one minute piece of drone music, with a fine dark undercurrent and some heavily produced white noise/hiss-like sound that over the course of the piece becomes a very fine dark ambient beast. Emerge then applies his 'usual' cut-ups techniques to it, by alienating the sound and using a collage-like approach. It means that there are all the colours of ambient industrial sound pass by, and they either have a full stop or a gradual, chameleon changeover. LDX#40, of whom I may not hear a lot before, prefer to stay in one dark ambient field with a slightly more distorted drone, without it all turning to true noise fest. There is some excellent buried tension in this piece that has some fine suspense; like a good horror movie. Even though the presentation is a bit weird, this is a very fine three-way compilation. (FdW)
https://immerge.bandcamp.com/album/session-43-recomposed |
2019 |
€12.00 |
|
| YANAGISAWA, EISUKE |
Path of the Wind |
CD |
The Aeolian Harp (also called Wind Harp) is a string instrument that is played by natural wind. It sounds like layered feedback or drones with rich harmonic textures that will change continuously according to the wind direction, strength and consistency. One day, I bought the materials at the local DIY store and built a small Aeolian Harp. I brought the harp outside on windy days, but it made no sound at all. Through trial and error, by altering the string materials, tension, and the angle against the wind, it finally produced a sound.
The harp resonates with the surrounding environment, changing from place to place. I put two lavalier microphones into each of its two holes to clearly record the tiny resonant sounds, without too much wind interference. What is intriguing to me is that the recording will inevitably include environmental sounds from near and far which are condensed and slightly modulated by the harp. In a way, I use the harp as a kind of transducer as well as sounding body to interact with the environment through the forces of the wind. The recordings themselves are ecological, meteorological and geomorphological observations at a certain time and place.
1. Ferry Passing
Recorded on the seashore of the uninhabited island called Narugashima in the Hyogo Prefecture, where stiff winds blew intermittently. The sustained low-pitch sounds come from the ferries passing each other off the coast.
Path of the Wind | Eisuke Yanagisawa
2. Seagull
Recorded on the Kehi no Matsubara, a quiet and scenic beach with many pine trees. You can hear the seagull screaming and people chatting while strolling. The beach is located at the foot of the Tsuruga Peninsula where seven nuclear power plants are currently in operation.
Path of the Wind | Eisuke Yanagisawa
3. In a Park
Recorded at the Nodagawa Shinsui Park in Yosano-cho, Kyoto Prefecture. Yosano-cho is a rural town on the alluvial fan surrounded by the mountains; the park itself is located along the Noda River.
Path of the Wind | Eisuke Yanagisawa
4. Old Camellia Tree
Recorded near the 1,200-year-old Camellia tree (Camellia japonica, ‚Kurotsubaki‘) located deep in the valley in Yosano-cho. The height and branch spread of the tree is about 10m, presumably one of the biggest and oldest of its kind.
Path of the Wind | Eisuke Yanagisawa
5. Ridge Line
Recorded in the morning at the Kaetsu Soho Park located half way up Mt. Oeyama in Yosano-cho. Nature and objects on the mountainside fade in and out as the place where the sunlight shines gradually changes.
Path of the Wind | Eisuke Yanagisawa
6. Hegurajima
Hegurajima is a small island located in the Sea of Japan at the far north of the Ishikawa Prefecture. There are various small shrines and cairns on the island. I set up the harp near the Yasaka shrine in which the god of epidemic prevention is enshrined.
Path of the Wind | Eisuke Yanagisawa
7. Kinshozan
Kinshozan is a small mountain located in Ogaki, Gifu Prefecture. The mountain is famous for its abundance of fossils like corals, bivalves and snails which inhabited it about 250 million years ago. People started exploiting its high quality limestone and marble during the Edo period, and the mining-activities are still going on today. I set up the newly-made harp at the watchtower of the mountain where I could see the whole mining area. The intermittent sounds come from the drilling of rocks under the cliff.
Path of the Wind | Eisuke Yanagisawa
7 Tracks (41′14″)
CD (300 copies)
All the recordings are unprocessed field recordings using Aeolian Harps of our own making. Recorded in the Kyoto, Hyogo, Fukui, Ishikawa and Gifu prefecture, Japan from September 2014 to November 2017.
Recording, Edit, Texts: Eisuke Yanagisawa
Audio Mastering: Lasse-Marc Riek
Photography: Shin Tukinaga
Artwork: Takamitsu Ohta
www.gruenrekorder.de/?page_id=16674
|
2018 |
€13.00 |
|
| YELLOW SWANS |
Drowner |
do-LP |
Finally! The first broadly available edition of Drowner Yellow Swans lands after a slew of hiccups. So this was originally a tape cobbled together in that space between At All Ends and Going Places. Can't remember if we had decided to wrap up the band at this point, but it was about that time where we were fried from touring, Gabe was thinking about moving to Canada, things were IN MOTION. We had this whole string of shows lined up with Sissy Spacek in the PNW, Wiese had a stack of blank takes and a new imprint. HEY, sounds like it's time for a new tape. Because of the historically ridiculous lag between making an album and it being available to the public, the timeline is a bit weird, but this was essentially following up our last tour tape, Deterioration, which was also just sort of an assembly of basement recordings. We had ditched the idea of compositions at this point and were just JAMMING. and jamming often. Basically, we had a dedicated practice studio and were rehearsing and recording several days a week. Just banging it out and dedicating it all to tape. Both Deterioration and Drowner have this sort of snapshot character of our process, sifting through a state of the band when we were thinking more about one thing than another. If Deterioration is our most kosmiche, I would say that Drowner is our most gonzo psych rock record. still as noisy and fried as ever, but pulling from Loveless, Rallizes, Main.. but also just like... our own insular process of playing and listening and touring and repeating that for years. Drowner was basically recorded months before Going Places and Being There but projects a different focus on dynamics, drama and NOISE. This could be because we were gearing up to play shows with Spacek and knew we'd be playing with The Rita and Iron Lung on this jaunt. Gotta be up to crust you know? - Pete
https://yellowswans.bandcamp.com/album/drowner-yellow-swans
|
2021 |
€32.50 |
|
| YEN POX |
Universal Emptiness |
10inch |
Finally NEW material by the "almost legendary" US-duo, working with deep e-bass sounds to create a really isolationistic mass of darkest cosmic ambience; artwork by the great artist & photographer EYELYFT (eyelyft.blogspot.com) feat. gloss spot printing parts; comes on BLACK vinyl, lim. 500, over 30 min. playtime! **extra NOTE: the original material was so massive that it needed 3 master-plates before it could be pressed - the original tracks had to be shortened & de-equalized as they were TOO HEAVY!
www.substantia-innominata.de
"Some ten issues ago I reviewed a CD by Blood Box, the solo project of Michael J.V. Hensley, who is a member of Yen Pox, and I wondered: do they still exist? It has been a while since I last heard Yen Pox, but they still exist: here is a brand new 10" with two pieces, 'Above' and 'Below'. Apparently with some problems to get it pressed, since the music of Yen Pox deals with much low end. Despite the alchemical titles ('as above so below', remember), I think this music is otherwise free anything remotely 'occult', 'magick', 'gothick', which sometimes sips in with this kind of music. Two pieces of utter dark ambient music, reverberating drones from the underworld. Hard to say what Yen Pox are doing though. Are these highly processed field recordings? Lots of analogue synthesizers? Digital ones? Just sound effects? Or, and that is perhaps the most likely thing, a combination of all of this. Slowly moving, hypnotic, trance like. Yen Pox sound like Troum here, and that, I think, is a big compliment. Very fine record indeed. Why is there so little Yen Pox out there?" [FdW/Vital Weekly]
"Soundmassen, schwarz und zäh wie Teer, wälzen sich durch Universal Emptiness (SUB-14, 10"). Die Urschlange und Mutter allen Dröhnens hat eine derartige Konsistenz. Auf dem Vinylmaster war das Klangbeben, das YEN POX einzufangen versucht, kaum zu bändigen. Aber wer wie Michael J.V. Hensley & Steven Hall seine universale Wahrheit zu verkünden versucht, muss bis an die Grenze des Machbaren gehen.
'Above' & 'Below' heißen die beiden urig pulsierenden, dröhnenden, grollenden, rauschenden Seiten der Medaille und erinnern damit an die hermetische Weisheit der Tabula Smaragdina. Demzufolge ist auch oben ein Abgrund, denn synästhetisch erfassbar ist nichts als eine dunkle Tiefe, eine tiefe Dunkelheit, Protuberanzen einer Schwarzen Sonne, Strudel der Ursuppe. Sie hat einen metallischen Beigeschmack, den Geschmack von Fanfaren. Der Wind aus der Tiefe bringt etwas mit, das in Götterohren Musik zu sein scheint, Stöhnen, Schreie, Rufen, vielleicht Gesang. De profundis. Aber Oben ist Unten, die Götter brüllen selbst. Wir hören sie als - Gedröhn." [Rigobert Dittmann / Bad Alchemy #72]
|
2011 |
€12.00 |
|
|
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 |
|
| |
Between the Horizon and the Abyss |
do-LP |
"Released on cd on Malignant in 2015 First time ever released on vinyl, a corelease with Malignant in the US Limited to 500 copies worldwide on yellow and black vinyl Between the Horizon and the Abyss is one of the few releases of the past few years that has simply come as advertised." [label info]
"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." - Heathen Harvest -
www.burningworldrecords.com
"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. 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 like-minded 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] |
2016 |
€20.00 |
|
| YRSEL |
Abraxas |
CD |
"The album «Abraxas» is recorded during 2011-2013 and contains some of the bands most challenging and yet accessible music so far. On this album the band has taken in some guests to contribute with sounds. Denis Del Nista (Moon, Burning Emptiness label) appears with sounds on the track «Simon Magus» and Alice Dourlen (Chicaloyoh) contributes with vocals on the tracks «Asat» and «Nequaquam Vacuum».
YRSEL is a collaboration between Julien Louvet (Austrasian Goat, Death To Pigs, 14:13) and CJ Larsgarden (Ondo, APF, Forest City). Though hailing from different musical genres and from France and Sweden respectively, the two artists bonded following a split release on the label Burning Emptiness. YRSEL create complex, multi-layered and atmospheric music that fully explodes the genres of drone, doom and electronica resulting in a glacial melt of sound and texture." [label info]
www.pactasuntservanda.se
"A duo from France and Sweden, consisting of Julien Louvet (who you might know from Austrasian Goat, Death To Pigs, 14:13) and CJ Larsgarden (whom we know as Ondo, APF and Forest City), who already released two albums in 2010 and played some concerts shortly after in France and Belgium. A collaboration of humans meeting up and not gigabytes being exchanged. They spend two years making this album of nine tracks, which lasts nearly 80 minutes (and it is also available as a double CD). Instruments aren't specified as such, but me thinks there is lots of guitar sounds, electronics, processed acoustic instruments and such like. I wouldn't bet my life on it, though. There is guest vocals by Alice Dourlen on 'Asat', but I must admit I wasn't blown away by that piece. Her vocals are drenched in reverb to add something mysterious to the music but it's a bit too much, maybe because of the length of the piece - seventeen minutes. All of these pieces are hardcore atmospheric: lots of sustain on the strings, lots of reverb in and out of place, mumbling vocals and the overall color is grey towards black, rather than towards white. Perhaps doom drone is the best description of this. I enjoyed it however, maybe because I was trying to continue to read 'Game Of Thrones' (or whatever it is called) and Yrsel provided the best bleak soundtrack for a book on murder and deceit, and when it came to vocals here, I was a bit less interested, but mainly because it wasn't my cup of tea. It's music that works well on CD, I thought, as you flow from one piece into the next, rather then interrupt your flow and switch to the next side of the record. Very nice indeed, very dramatic." [FdW/Vital Weekly] |
2013 |
€13.00 |
|
| |
Abraxas |
do-LP |
"The album «Abraxas» is recorded during 2011-2013 and contains some of the bands most challenging and yet accessible music so far. On this album the band has taken in some guests to contribute with sounds. Denis Del Nista (Moon, Burning Emptiness label) appears with sounds on the track «Simon Magus» and Alice Dourlen (Chicaloyoh) contributes with vocals on the tracks «Asat» and «Nequaquam Vacuum».
YRSEL is a collaboration between Julien Louvet (Austrasian Goat, Death To Pigs, 14:13) and CJ Larsgarden (Ondo, APF, Forest City). Though hailing from different musical genres and from France and Sweden respectively, the two artists bonded following a split release on the label Burning Emptiness. YRSEL create complex, multi- layered and atmospheric music that fully explodes the genres of drone, doom and electronica resulting in a glacial melt of sound and texture." [label info]
www.pactasuntservanda.se
"A duo from France and Sweden, consisting of Julien Louvet (who you might know from Austrasian Goat, Death To Pigs, 14:13) and CJ Larsgarden (whom we know as Ondo, APF and Forest City), who already released two albums in 2010 and played some concerts shortly after in France and Belgium. A collaboration of humans meeting up and not gigabytes being exchanged. They spend two years making this album of nine tracks, which lasts nearly 80 minutes (and it is also available as a double CD). Instruments aren't specified as such, but me thinks there is lots of guitar sounds, electronics, processed acoustic instruments and such like. I wouldn't bet my life on it, though. There is guest vocals by Alice Dourlen on 'Asat', but I must admit I wasn't blown away by that piece. Her vocals are drenched in reverb to add something mysterious to the music but it's a bit too much, maybe because of the length of the piece - seventeen minutes. All of these pieces are hardcore atmospheric: lots of sustain on the strings, lots of reverb in and out of place, mumbling vocals and the overall color is grey towards black, rather than towards white. Perhaps doom drone is the best description of this. I enjoyed it however, maybe because I was trying to continue to read 'Game Of Thrones' (or whatever it is called) and Yrsel provided the best bleak soundtrack for a book on murder and deceit, and when it came to vocals here, I was a bit less interested, but mainly because it wasn't my cup of tea. It's music that works well on CD, I thought, as you flow from one piece into the next, rather then interrupt your flow and switch to the next side of the record. Very nice indeed, very dramatic." [FdW/Vital Weekly]
|
2013 |
€16.00 |
|
| Z'EV & JASON KAHN |
Intervals |
CD |
Each moment for what it is: Challenges concepts of rhythm, development and production.
In 2009, experimental percussionist Jason Kahn was joined by percussionist and industrial music pioneer Z’EV for a series of shows in Switzerland. Kahn performed on percussion and analog synthesizer, while Z’EV contributed his signature sound of performing on metal percussion. It was the first time that the two collaborated and based on this release, the shows were largely (if not entirely) improvised. Intervals is ZEV’s heavily processed reworking of the original recordings, condensed into two approximately 25-minute pieces. Mixing ZEV’s music concrète approach—the sounds of chains rattling, coins spinning—with Kahn’s hand percussion work and droning synthesizer work, the sounds are sometimes processed beyond recognition, resulting in a dark, ambient quality. Elsewhere, the music takes on an intriguing, lo-fi electronic characteristic anchored by quiet, high-pitch synth notes and percussion filtered through distortion effects.
“Lausanne // april 13, 2009” is a haunting ambient work built on quiet metallic scraping sounds, and ominous low-end rumbling. Occasional wind-like sounds—possibly the product of ZEV’s post-production—swell subtly behind the percussionists while quiet static crackles around the edges. The seemingly aleatoric sounds of the two musicians walking across the room and dropping pieces of metal arhythmically is countered by more musical elements: gong hits, rhythmic passages performed on cymbals, tribal timpani drumming. Ultimately however, it seems that Kahn and Z’EV are working to avoid any sense of development. Rather, they let each moment exist for what it is, let it fade, and enter with a new idea spurred by their stream-of-conscious interaction.
“Zürich // april 14, 2009” takes a somewhat more “active” approach. Opening with shaker-like sounds of metal rubbed together and sustained synth notes, the piece moves to a period of white noise and glissing, bowed metal percussion. Unlike in “Lausanne,” there is some clear motivic development, repetition of ideas, and clearly demarcated sections. At the piece’s halfway point, for example, piercing high frequency held notes are underpinned by rolling timpani figures and manipulated room ambience. Like “Lausanne,” “Zürich” ends with a single synth note that eventually drowns out all other sounds.
Even within the context of experimental music and music concrète, Intervals can be a difficult listen. The recording is imbued with a severe psychological—at times nightmarish—quality. During certain moments, the music’s muddiness becomes virtually impenetrable and the overall darkness of the aesthetic can be suffocating. That said, Intervals is certainly an intriguing and emotional work—one by two master percussionists willing to approach their instruments in a new way; an album created without artistic compromise that challenges one’s concepts of rhythm, development, and production.
By Hannis Brown TOKAFI mag |
2010 |
€13.00 |
|
| Z'EV |
Headphone Musics 1 to 6 |
CD |
"In 1967 Z'EV took a tape music class at the UCLA night school. The leader of the course was Joseph Byrd who was the founder and theoretician of the first electronic rock band; The United States of America. So while it's almost 40 years now that he has been involved in the production of electro-acoustic music, Headphone Musics marks the first release of a product exclusively featuring this form of music. All of the source material is drawn from the collection of cassette tapes Z'EV has amassed over the last 30 years -- sounds and soundscapes he has either recorded himself or witnessed, or tapes that have been given to him by various peoples on his travels or been received by him through the mail from fans etc. Technically he remains a bit orthodox in that basically he still plies the old tools of the tape manipulation trade in the current digital sphere. What this means is that he concentrates on editing, phase relationships, time dilation, and inherent and 3rd harmonic distortion as his only means of processing the information he is transforming. There is no looping involved, although #2 features a recording he made in 1984 using his controlled-skipping Lenco turntable. 'As Is As' is a live recording of a sound poem Z'EV produced and performed under the name 'S. Weisser' at a Sound Poetry Festival in 1976 at the La Mamelle art space in San Francisco. It was produced using 2 reel to reel tape decks, 3 cassette decks, and 2 microphones." [label info] |
2004 |
€14.00 |
|
|
live 03.01.86 |
10inch/object |
Z’EV is back! Z’EV is more than back ! Nicht nur war der legendäre Klangkabbalist in 2004 wieder auf Tour in Deutschland, es sind auch diverse neue Sachen erschienen. Von der Coverartwork am eindruckstvollsten ist sicher diese live-10“ mit einer Aufnahme aus Chicago 1986, denn sie kommt in einem schweren Metall-Cover in 333er Auflage, wobei die Nummer der Edition in jede der Metallplatten einzeln eingraviert wurde! Z’EVs unkonventionelles 1-Mann Metall & Gong-drumming, das sich auf den KLANG und die DYNAMIK konzentriert und nicht aufs Metrum, ist wohl einmalig zu nennen... und genauso sollte man sich auf seine Sounds wohl auch einlassen und sie betrachten: nicht als Komposition, welche es zu analysieren gilt, sondern als Klangalchemie, welche das Selbst in Schwingung versetzt...
„Three excerpts from a 1986 performance at N.A.M.E. Gallery, Chicago. Given the special packaging with this release, it was essential to have the audio component be as special. After listening to a handful of unreleased material Z'EV had given me and comparing it to his released work, I found this performance contained elements I'd not heard developed in previous releases. For one, the components of the pieces shifted quicker; he'd add new instruments and rhythms at more frequent intervals, say 3 to 4 minutes, giving a continuous piece (still between 9 and 12 minutes) a much different dynamic than other recordings. This is presented on side one, and the piece features one of the few instances I've heard where there is a secondary, or "triggered," percussive element. In this case, something akin to ball bearings were placed on a gong, adding a second layer of rhythm as Z'EV worked the gong. This is similar to his well-known car spring on bass drum pieces. Side two opens with one of the few live recordings of Z'EV's rubbing pieces (scraping a metal tube/pole or rubbing a rubber ball on a sheet of metal to make dronish, almost whale-like sounds) which segues into a subtle tonal wash of gong sounds. The final piece on side two is a rapid fire downpour of furious percussion. A unique addition to Z'EV's output, this release comes in an edition of 333 copies in steel plates. Each plate is sequentially hand-stamped, and each copy has an insert signed by Z'EV.”[label info] "Also by Z'ev, but from a historical perspective is a really beautiful 10": packed inside two metal plates which are stamped with 'Z'ev' and the copy number (of a total edition of 333 copies). It resembles that other metal packaging, by Chop Shop from so long ago. Crippled Intellect has released a 3" with historical live recordings before and this 10" features recordings made at the N.A.M.E. Gallery in Chicago in 1986. On the first side there is a rhythmic piece, which doesn't sound like it is kept in the same rhythm, but rather like an exploration of the sounds metal on metal can produce. Side B starts with slow rumbling of metal sheets being rubbed with balls which built in a peaceful way. The second piece is a fast drumming on metal piece‹maybe better known as Z'ev trademark playing. A fine addition to the already vast catalogue of material by Z'ev of which much is no longer available. It could also serve as a fine introduction to his work, in case you missed him out in the eighties." [Frans de Waard, Vital Weekly #411]
|
2003 |
€22.00 |
|
|
Production and Decay of spacial Relations vs. Reproduction and Decay of Spatial Relations |
do-CD |
"Celebrating the 25th anniversary of the very first Z'EV studio album which originally came out on Backlash in 1981, DIE STADT is proud to announce the re-release of 'Production and Decay of spacial Relations' for the first time on CD. It features the original seven tracks from the vinyl plus six 'recodings' entitled 'Reproduction and Decay of spatial Relations' made by Z'EV in May/June 2005.
Back in the day Z'EV used to bring boxes over from Holland when he would come back to New York City which he would sell to Bleeker Bob (a famous Record Shop situated in the East Village of NY) who told him: "this is the best industrial record ever and I sell it to every japanese buyer who comes into the store". The CD is housed in a reproduction of the original LP (!) cover and comes with a special handmade insert. First edition of 500 copies. Total playing time: 79'57 min." [press release]
"...This was z'ev's first studio LP from 1981, recorded and released in Rotterdam on a curious and regrettable long forgotten experimental music label Backlash Records (who also released Tuxedo Moon and Nyrabakiga). Up to that point z'ev in various guises just released live recorded material. It is where the interests of z'ev started to mingle: the live playing of percussion and the studio techniques, which he used in several other projects, such as Stefan Weisser. I don't what the studio of Backlash looked like, but it's a pretty interesting production. The sound gets processed, slowed down, but then new layers are added and strange muffled but strong rhythmic sounds occurs. None of the original power has been lost here. It was in its day
already a masterpiece of 'industrial' music, and still is. On the same CD all the material gets a treatment in 2005, through some of the techniques z'ev uses these days. The layers are much thicker and fatter and lays less on the rhythm aspect. It makes this a great document. And with the first 500 copies there is also a second CD with three pieces from 1982. The first one is a live piece of metal percussion, which gives an idea what it sounded like in the day: raw and untamed. The second piece is a sound poetry/tape piece of heavily layered voices and 'Element/L' is a highly deformed piece of layered percussion, until it becomes an engine like sound." [FdW /Vital Weekly]
|
2006 |
€16.00 |
|
| |
Heart Beat Ear Drum |
DVD |
“Heart Beat Ear Drum” is a feature length documentary about the late artist and musician Z’EV (1951-2017), known for his punk era scrap metal music – an extraordinary range of acoustic phenomena resulting in trance-inducing sounds.
This documentary shows how his music changed and grew and how his personal journey led him to the margins of art and the depths of heart. From 2007-2015, director Ellen Zweig followed Z’EV, shooting concerts and interviews, and collecting archival footage. In addition to interviews with Z’EV, there are interviews with a community of artists who have known him since the 1970’s, curators who have encountered him in the 1990’s, and younger people who have only heard his recorded music or read his philosophical texts (Bob Bellerue, Bow Gamelan Ensemble, HATI, Barbara Stevini, Simone Forti, Zach Layton, Carl Stone, Ned Sublette, Johanna Went and more).
Z’EV began with a “wild style”, crashing and throwing pieces of metal to make sound. He collected the materials for his art at scrap yards. 30 years later, almost all the scrap yards are closed. Z’EV now uses mallet percussion to explore acoustic phenomena. Z’EV was a crusader: for art, for trance meditation, and for living a thoughtful life. His found object aesthetic made us see art in all of the objects around us. His art activities included drumming, sculpture, gardening, even cooking.
This film is divided in chapters and organised with both a narrative and a digressive structure. The structure is topic based, not strictly chronological. The first half of the film uses archival concert footage and interviews to establish Z’EV’s place in the world of art and music. The second half uses contemporary concert footage and interviews to explore the changes that led Z’EV to a more contemplative style. The film ends with an extended concert.
There is music throughout the film, but at the end, you are immersed in the music and in Z’EV’s exploration of resonance.
Director: Ellen Zweig
Co-Editor: Lili Chin
Sound Design: Ron MacLeod
DVD case with inserts. PAL, Region 0.
https://coldspring.co.uk/2019/12/zev-heart-beat-ear-drum-dvd/
|
2020 |
€17.50 |
|
| Z'EV / FRANCISCO LOPEZ |
Buzzin' fly / Dormant spores |
CD |
Zwei lange Stücke auf dieser beeindruckenden CD, die auf gemeinsam erstellten Klangquellen beruht. Das 32 minütige "buzzin fly" von Z'EV ist ein atemberaubendes Dronescape voller aufblitzender und schneidender Sounds, bei LOPEZ wird daraus eine 40minütige Versenkungsübung, wenn mächtige Eisberg-Drones auftauchen und wieder verschwinden gerinnt die Zeit, hier tun sich furiose Welten auf ..... genius stuff !!!!
"A sensational collaborative album between Z’EV, one of the forefathers of industrial music, and renowned Spanish artist Francisco Lopez, known for his releases performances and installations worldwide. Z’EV’s ‘buzzin’ fly (in loving memory of Tim Buckley)’ is a full spectrum 32 minute piece full of dynamic shifts, sonic worlds and can be described as oceanic in feel. Lopez’s ‘dormant spores’ takes 40 minutes to run it’s course, and is perhaps a more meditative piece than Z’EV’s, but no less challenging. Lopez skilfully crafts minimalist hypnotics that can be as destructive to delicate eardrums as they are captivating. Both
works complement each other and form a powerful album that Lapilli and Black Rose Recordings are happy to release." [label info]
"...Lopez more than Z'EV, but both are avid collectors of sound material from the world that surrounds us. Lopez is the man with the microphone, while Z'EV does that too, but he also is on the look out for material to play his percussive music on. Throughout Z'EV's career percussion music has played an important role, but the studio has had a likewise big role in his work. Using the studio (no doubt a harddisc these days) to its extreme, using as many tracks as possible to make subtle shifts and changing patterns throughout the piece. Perhaps the opposite of how Francisco Lopez: using sometimes just one or two sound sources and exploring them through radical equalization. Before he did this using a very low audible range for his music, but lately he has shifted towards audible material, but in cut-up/collage way. Here it is no different. The sound sources of both are presented in a strong collage form, in which loud/soft material, sometimes with smaller blocks of silence in between them. A very intense piece of music.
In the five pieces by Z'EV things stay throughout on a more equal level, in which sounds seem to shift and phase along side each other. The whole thing, rather one piece in five blocks than five separate pieces makes a highly psychedelic pattern of sounds moving in and out of phase. Two sides of the coin called field recordings and both sides, even when so different, are equally great. Powerful, intense and illusionary. Great stuff." [Fdw / Vital Weekly]
"Sadly, this is music that some would describe as “ambient”, simply because that seems to be the going term for music that doesn’t have drums or traditional style guitars. The problem with that definition is that it is considered synonymous with “nothing really happens” and there is a world of chthonic wonder to be found in the depths of the sounds herein. It’s virtually impossible that any fan of experimental or concrete music will not have happened upon the works of either Z’ev or Lopez in their travels. Each is prolific, respected and established within the community. The album is a split, rather than a collaboration (hence the divided title) with the first half, comprised of five shorter linked tracks, belongs to Z’ev, the second, a long single piece, to Lopez. The two halves are a nice match, with the almost blissful organic drift of the former leading nicely into the intense rise and fall of the latter. This release is all about the texture and progression of sound, so if you are looking for something that truly is ambient- something inoffensive that meekly fades to the background- you might want to look elsewhere. If you’d prefer to throw on headphones for something that will reveal itself more with each subsequent listen, you could do a lot worse." [KM, Adverse Effects]
|
2006 |
€13.00 |
|
| Z1// |
Drone Works # 1 |
maxi-CD-R |
"Since we greatly enjoy drone/ambient/dream Muzak a new CDr series called Drone Works has just been launched here at DANHUSER Org.
Each release contains one lengthy track and will be treated with the same hand-crafted, generic packaging as above. The series of course will be limited/unlimited, as we produce a first run of, let’s say twenty copies, and if there should be demand for more, we will produce yet another one and another one and so on and so on. Of course every follow-up edition will be marked as “The 2nd, 3rd, 4th Edition” etc. Apart from that there will be no difference." [label info]
http://danhuser.wordpress.com
|
2013 |
€5.00 |
|
| ZANNI, ADRIANO |
Songs to the Sirens |
CD + BOOK |
"This work is loosely inspired by the title of a song by Tim Buckley included in his 1970 album "Starsailor" (a cover version by This Mortal Coil released in the '80s by 4AD was quite formative for me).
My passion for the sea, observed, listened and lived mainly - but not only - from the beaches of my land and during winter. A solitary invocation, a project still open, in progress for several years during which the photographs and field recordings used for its composition were collected, and assembled in its musical component during the months of lockdown.
The audio part opens with a track centered on the recording made on the morning of 23 February 2020, which then, ironically, would have been the last time I could see, hear and feel the sea before the forced isolation caused by the pandemic.
The sensory lack - visual, auditive and olfactory - that I suffered the most during isolation was that of the sea. To overcome this lack - as far as possible - I have composed, produced and mixed the audio tracks which are part of this album. As usual in my work, the photographs and sounds are complementary to each other and make up a single emotional and sensorial body.
A single contemporary, visual and auditory landscape." - Adriano Zanni
"On the edge of absence" by Mirco Salvadori
Standing on the edge of the vastness of the sea, the infinite space embraces our gaze creating emptiness, the same in which we got lost, each of us confined within the walls of our own flats. The undefeated storm was raging outside, while our imaginary boat did not emit even the smallest creaking, motionless and sheltered in its own absence. Yet thoughts returned there, on the edge of the immensity that had always been frequented, our feet sank on the shoreline of memories, our hearing distinctly perceived the Sirens' song: "Sail to me, sail to me, Let me enfold you, Here I am, here I am". Modulating the melody of the words, a guiding voice shaped by waves capable of unspeakable violence, a liquid essence able to penetrate and destroy, dragging the shipwrecked man towards the cliff of abandonment.
Adriano Zanni has listened to it, he has followed it trying to filter what it was whispering to him. He has travelled closed in his hermetic confinement with the constant presence of a poet who decided to welcome the last wave inside himself on a hot June day. What we listen here is nothing but their dense dialogue along a vast tract of beach that welcomes the two travellers, enveloping them in the sounds of marine space and time. It almost seems as if Zanni is attempting to drive away from himself the ghosts wrapping the continuous whispering of his travelling companion, filtering the sweetness of the dance of the waves, the shouting of the beaches crowded with summer heat, the footprint that sinks into the limpid substance, the unknown sound that hides in its depths, the murmur that turns into a song from which it's impossible to move away.
Just like water that penetrates between the rocks, reaching the most remote sea ravines, transforming itself into sonic purity, the echo of memories glides towards us, enveloping our innermost thoughts and inviting us to dive into the wave that wraps up its body before it is welcomed by the land.
A work that fascinates by transforming the perception of reality. We listen to sound, we dive into it, we get lost... Maybe all is just a dream, even our continuous swimming towards the open sea.
Adriano Zanni: photographs, field recordings, analog and digital electronics, resonances and sampling
13.silentes.it/private_sounds/sps2039_adriano_zanni_songs_to_the_sirens.htm
|
2020 |
€23.00 |
|
| 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 |
|
|
Zeitkratzer performs Songs from 'Kraftwerk' and 'Kraftwerk 2' |
LP |
Format: 180gr LP incl. DL code + insert, 500 items
Release date: march 24th 2017
#DOUBLE BIRTHDAY RELEASE !! KARLRECORDS celebrates its 10th birthday, ZEITKRATZER even its 20th! And the party starts with the necessary re-interpretations of early compositions by electronic pioneers KRAFTWERK.
Founded in 1997 by REINHOLD FRIEDL, ZEITKRATZER have since been creating an impressive catalogue of recordings that embraces 20th century avant-garde composers (CAGE, STOCKHAUSEN, LUCIER) as well as electronic artists (CARSTEN NICOLAI, TERRE THAEMLITZ) or underground experimentalists like THROBBING GRISTLE or COLUMN ONE. In their 20th anniversary year, the critically acclaimed ensemble will release a series of diverse albums that will explore new grounds in the typical, adventurous zeitkratzer way – the first of these albums is dedicated to KRAFTWERK and their early, kraut-esque albums “Kraftwerk” and “Kraftwerk 2”. As KRAFTWERK never re-released these albums, ZEITKRATZER gave its best to cover the first tranche of the songs (second tranche to come…).
Recorded in Marseille / France in May 2016, the six tracks reveal a bucolic and even psychedelic aspect of the ensemble that’s mostly known (or feared) for its interpretatory and aesthetic acerbity. And yet there’s no doubt that “Songs From The Albums „Kraftwerk“ And „Kraftwerk 2“ turned out a true ZEITKRATZER recording in the best and full meaning!
zeitkratzer directed by Reinhold Friedl
Frank Gratkowski / flute, clarinets, Elena Kakaliagou / french horn, Hilary Jeffery / trombone, Reinhold Friedl / harmonium, piano, Didier Ascour / guitar, Maurice de Martin / drums, Lisa Marie Landgraf / violin, Burkhard Schlothauer / violin, Elisabeth Coudoux, violoncello, Ulrich Phillipp / double bass
Recorded and mixed by Martin Wurmnest
Mastered & cut by Mike Grinser at D&M, Berlin
www.karlrecords.net
|
2017 |
€18.00 |
|
| |
Zeitkratzer performs Songs from the Albums 'Kraftwerk 2' And 'Kraftwerk' |
LP |
2nd volume of „modern composition supergroup“ (The Wire) ZEITKRATZER's re-interpretations of early compositions by electronic pioneers KRAFTWERK.
In more than two decades ZEITKRATZER has created an astonishing broad catalogue from the obligatory (20th century avant-garde composers like CAGE or STOCKHAUSEN) to the unexpected (electronic artists such as CARSTEN NICOLAI, TERRE THAEMLITZ or underground experimentalists like THROBBING GRISTLE and KEIJI HAINO) – but hardly anyone was prepared for the ensemble’s choice of early KRAFTWERK pieces! When volume 1 was released in 2017, ZEITKRATZER founder and director REINHOLD FRIEDL announced that there'll be a volume 2 of course – and here it is::
from the opening drony horns of „Harmonika“ to the subtle guitar of the album closer „Wellenlänge“, the 4 tracks own all the interpretatory and aesthetic acerbity the ensemble is known and praised for.
The first album made it immediately into “The Wire office ambience” playlist and to the
“Best of Bandcamp Contemporary Classical Releases”: “ZEITKRATZER’s interpretations are bouncy, horn-driven motorik grooves, static explorations of pointillistic overtones, breathy Zen-like meditations, and rollicking rhythms.” The Spanish Rockdelux concluded: “Keep close and be happy to get more!” Sonic Seducer attested ZEITKRATZER to “uncover unexpected potential. It’s a blessing that the next KRAFTWERK is already announced!”
And here it is! Now you can listen to all the music of the first two KRAFTWERK albums “as gloriously played as one could ever desire” (Vital Weekly).
Recorded live at HELLERAU - European Centre for the Arts, Dresden in january 2019, „zeitkratzer performs songs from the albums „Kraftwerk 2“ and „Kraftwerk“ “ delivers the compositions that were still missing to complete zeitkratzer's stunning take on the early, hybrid kraut-esque electronic avantgarde albums “Kraftwerk” and “Kraftwerk 2”. Mission accomplished! A must-have. As German radio SWR agreed: “ZEITKRATZER is serious music turned from stiff to joy!”
https://karlrecords.bandcamp.com/album/zeitkratzer-performs-songs-from-kraftwerk-2-and-kraftwerk
|
2019 |
€18.00 |
|
| ZELIENOPLE |
Give it up |
CD |
"Der weite Weg zum Popsong: das Chicagoer Trio zwischen Doom und Ambient:
Das Trio Zelienople gehört zu den festen Größen der Underground-Szene Chicagos. Der Perkussionist Mike Weis spielt regelmäßig mit der Alternative-Folk-Legende Scott Tuma, zusammen mit dem Zelienople-Gitarristen und -Sänger Matt Christensen bilden sie die Band Good Stuff House. Doch trotz aller Nebenprojekte liegt das Hauptaugenmerk auf Zelienople, die mit dem Multiinstrumentalisten Brian Harding komplettiert werden. Mit "Give It Up" entstand das bis dato ausgereifteste Werk des Trios. Die Band bewegt sich weg von früheren Vergleichen mit Talk Talk, Slowdive und Bark Psychosis und entwickelt einen
wagemutigen, frischen Sound. "Give It Up" ist zudem "poppiger" als der Vorgänger "His/Hers", ist eine Sammlung sich langsam wälzender Songs. Von dem an Bohren und der Club Of Gore erinnernden Opener "Aging" über den Americana-Doom von "All I Want Is Calm" bis zum diesigen Ambient von "Water Saw" reicht
die Klangpalette. Und das perkussive und traumhafte "I Can Put All My Faith In Her" kommt dem Popgedanken des Trios am nächsten. Musik für den Abend am Kamin." [label info]
"Another fantastic disc of gauzy, shimmery otherworldly dronemusic, from the seemingly infallible Type label. Long time aQ faves, Chicago's Zelienople moved to Type, after a handful of releases on PseudoArcana, Digitalis and Root Strata, and it was a pretty perfect match. Rameses III, Alps, Goldmund, Grouper, Xela, North Sea, Helios, Svarte Greiner, Black To Comm, it's not difficult to see that maybe this was where Zelienople belonged all along.
On Give It Up, the group deftly mix light and dark, weaving softly smoldering dreamscapes, all muted and hushed, with sun dappled dronefolk, all chiming soft focus guitars, and minimal percussion, hazy and gauzy and slightly blurred, vocals surfacing here and there throughout. A sort of ethereal slowcore, pop songs pulled apart and set in amber, this record a shadow produced by the muted sunlight
shining through.
Some tracks are brooding and doomy, laced with ominous creaks and deep moaning low end tones, wheezing organs, and layered ambience, others are folky and reverbed, strummed guitars wreathed in a patina of muted thrum, spread out over some almost Neil Young sounding vox, but buried way down in the mix, still others are skeletal and barely there, voices drifting in the ether, over spare tendrils of melody, only to slowly shift, and get lost in a cloud of prismatic chordal hum. Absolutely gorgeous, the perfect blend of minimal doom folk, hushed slowcore and abstract dronemusic.
The lp version comes with a bonus cd (NOT a cd-r, an actual pressed cd), featuring Zelienople's soundtrack for a film called Gone, stunningly beautiful, even more minimal than the record proper, the first half of the disc all gauzy drones, the second half, bleary eyed
slow motion chamber music. Be careful removing the cd from the lp, it's attached by a little dollop of glue or something, but a quick
pull will take some of the lp sleeve with it..." [Aquarius Records]
|
2009 |
€15.00 |
|
| |
His/Hers |
CD |
"Zelienople (named after a borough in Pennsylvania) is the moniker of Chicago based musicians Matt Christensen (guitar/vocals), Mike Weis (percussion) and Brian Harding (guitar/clarinet) and between them, in a desolate suburban basement, they have come up with a record of pure psych-rock sludge. Now on their fifth album, the band have struck upon their finest moment yet, honing their skills to create something singular and utterly unique. There is certainly no shortage of acts willing to throw down waves of experimental guitar noise and clattering percussion, but with the benefit of focus and experience, Zelienople sound like something totally out of time and almost impossible to place.
Residing in a hazy drunken world in-between slow-core pioneers Low, psych-folk outsiders Charalambides, Japanese overlords Boris and Dead Man era Neil Young 'His/Hers' is a faded photograph of rock music past, yet still manages to keep a firm footing in the present.
Guitars echo like disappearing ghosts and vocals moan and wail mercilessly while percussion bubbles up in glorious waterlogged waves.
'His/Hers' isn't a concept album, but it might as well be with five bravely sculpted tracks acting like chapters, taking you through a whole gamut of emotions, from pensive and lonely through to aggressive and impulsive and beyond. Fusing the warring factions of blues, noise, metal, folk and jazz the trio have made as breathtaking a psychedelic album as you're likely to find, and unlike so many others in the scene it never threatens to overwhelm you with meaningless academia or pretension. This is an album made for listening, for enjoying and sinking in to, an album that is made as an illicit treat for the discerning music fans among us. Grab hold and step aboard, Zelienople are just about ready to take you on a universal journey into the subconscious, and it's gonna be quite some ride." [label info]
www.typerecords.com
|
2007 |
€15.00 |
|
| ZENIAL |
Connection Reset by Peer |
CD |
"It's Zenial's first album in 6 years, and it shows his creativity in the context of live activity. It does not mean that 'Connection Reset by Peer' is a live album as such. Yes, the source material for the record was recorded live during sonic experiments and creating sound installations over the past few years. The album is not a compilation though-it's a well-weighed entity, thematically and sonically coherent. 'Connection Reset by Peer' is a result of interferences of environment sounds based to a large extent on electricity, radio feedback, electromagnetic field sounds emitted by current generators and elements of the so-called field recordings." [label info]
www.zoharum.com
"After six years Zenial, also known as Lukasz Szakankiewicz, returns with a release. Apparently he was occupied with playing live music in between, bringing him all of the world, even into Peru, Ecuador, Luxembourg and Kazakhstan. The four pieces on this new CD deal with works that were recorded over the past few years, live in concert or from sound installations. Zenial uses environmental sounds, but mainly those which deal with electricity, radio feedback and electromagnetic fields. Music which is entirely different than the one produced by Inner Vision Laboratory. Music that owes equal portions to musique concrete, noise and microsound, not necessarily in that order. This is where I think noise is interesting. Things buzz, crackle, hiss and form long wave sine tones, radio interceptions, stuck together in an interesting collage of sound. It reminds me of the work of Francisco Meirino with some minor differences. Zenial is through a bit louder on an overall level and is therefora little less dynamic. Also more than Meirino does, Zenial works with computer treatments and not straight with the sound material itself. Quite a loud release but one that works pretty well. For the strict lovers of noise probably too intelligent and perhaps that's why I quite enjoy it. The most curious thing is probably the inclusion of a remix by Michel Banabila, from The Netherlands. Best known for his (fourth) world music, but here he proofs he knows his way around with more abstract material, although far away, an ethnic influence can be heard. Maybe working on a new career as a remixer? It fits well here." [FdW/Vital Weekly]
|
2012 |
€12.00 |
|
| ZOVIET FRANCE |
Tables are Turning |
do-LP |
"Somewhere in the rainy, misty forests of the Pacific Northwest of America, three ladies have the unlikely task of sewing together the packaging for a new album by :zoviet*france:.
:zoviet*france: are releasing ‘The Tables Are Turning’ on compact disc and double LP through Soleilmoon Recordings. The music was composed as the soundtrack to ‘Designer Body’, a dance that toured England from 2008 to 2009. The work explores the transformational relationship between humans and the clothing they wear. Seven dancers, performing on continuously rotating plinths, slowly remove layers of their costumes, revealing the sensuous nude bodies beneath. The music accompanying the dancers is by turns dense and moody, then lyrical and soaring, underlining the mounting vulnerability of the dancers as they undress.
Liv Lorent, balletLORENT's artistic director and choreographer, spoke with Kelly Apter, writer for The List, saying “At the beginning, the body is the most designed it can be. They’re wearing hats, coats, heavy costumes and make-up – all the man-made and artificial things we do to disguise ourselves everyday. Then, over 50 minutes, we take it all away. And because there are several layers, there’s a real sense of metamorphosis.”
The members of :zoviet*france:, who prefer to remain annonymous, write “We've known Liv Lorent for a long time. When she started to conceive 'Designer Body', which she wanted to be a hybrid of contemporary dance and performance art, she decided that an unconventional performance needed an unconventional soundtrack. The composition of the soundtrack and the choreography evolved alongside each other so it became a dialogue between Liv and ourselves. The main inspiration that we took from the production's concept was rotation; throughout the one hour performance, the dancers are located on turntables that turn continuously, at varying speeds and changing direction. We mirrored this in much of the soundtrack, with circular and rotating sounds.”
Both formats (CD and double LP) are presented in a deluxe dual-layer green satin bag with fold-over flap. The letters ‘ZF’ are hand-stitched into the flap in white thread, and a two-sided color insert printed on sturdy cardstock completes the package. There are 400 LPs and 600 compact discs in the first edition. The LP, with music on three of the four sides of the records, will go out of print when the initial pressing sells out." [label info]
www.soleilmoon.com
"With hindsight it is of course not easy to tell when you first heard something, let's say the music of :Zoviet*France:. I think, in my case, this must have been at my friend Peter, when staying over one night after a concert, and he would proceed to play me records, as that was the kind of stuff he was into, unlike me, who was more into cassettes (and waking up, always, to the sound of 'Erector' by Whitehouse). I am however pretty sure I knew the name before as their records where sold by the then existing mail order of Ding Dong Records. Slowly over the years in the mid 80s I got to hear and see those crazy packed records and was immersed by them. In 1990 or so I saw them play live, in the UK, where Peter's band was due to play also, in a multiple day event. I think one night just had :Zoviet*France:, and they played for what I remember as two hours in a seated theatre. Their extended sound tapestries of acoustic sounds, lots of electronics went on and on, from mood to mood.
A bit later I remember them playing at the Dutch radio station, VPRO in this case, for a recording that later turned out to be 'Mort Aux Vaches'. They were downstairs fiddling with the soundcheck and I was up in the control room. 'You can start the recording', one member said, and after 90 minutes the DAT was full. One of the radio people went down and told them it might be time to stop, which they did with a quick fade out. Now I could have been disappointed by that, being cut out of such beautiful music, but I wasn't. Seeing them playing around with the simplest of means, tea cups, flutes, and electronic devices was great. Following the extreme productivity of the 80s, there were some releases in the 90s, and in the 00s? One CD, and one 12"/10"/7"if I recall well. Zoviet*France, since many years a duo do play live and share live recordings easily but for whatever reason it never comes to a release that easily. Maybe they foresee that physical releases may disappear, maybe their sometimes complex packaging proofs to be difficult (this new one comes in a 'dual layer green satin bag with fold over flap') but more realistic: :Zoviet*France: are no longer part of the world of concerts, CDs and such like. For quite some time now they create soundtracks for dance companies and performances, and you don't sell CDs at those gigs (I guess, actually). 'The Tables Are Turning' was created for Ballet Lorent in 2008 and I am sure this is not a live recording, but I am also not sure how it works. There are twelve pieces here, quite distinctive pieces, so maybe these are used in this order, no breaks in between or maybe in some other configuration. There is an interesting distinction between the live releases by :Zoviet*France: and their studio work. A typical live CD has one or two pieces in which everything flows right into each other, like an endless stream of subconscious sounds. In their studio work they perform much shorter pieces which occasionally have an odd start or ending , like it's being cut out of a bigger whole. In the dance piece, the dancers are located on turntables - hence the title - and the revolving sound, the looping sound is something that returns in the music. From spacious and melodic in 'Prophecy Loved A Child' to the processed music boxes of 'Green Air' to the gritty organ opening of 'The Grit In The Cloud'. In the past :Zoviet*France: would refer to this as 'songlets', as opposed to real songs, but the shorter ditties here like 'The Fire Of Revolution', 'Sandbox', and 'A Moment Of Film' hark back the best days of 'Popular Soviet Songs' or 'Lohland'. I played this pretty much everyday for a week, and decided this is a great :Zoviet*France: release; not their best, which would be for me 'Mohnomishe', 'Shouting At The Ground', 'Digilogue' and 'What Is Not True', but it's up there with pretty much everything else I know by them, and which is a lot. This christmas will be spend with an entire day of :Zoviet*France: music." [FdW/Vital Weekly]
|
2013 |
€65.00 |
|
| |
Collusion (WHITE vinyl) |
do-LP |
"First vinyl pressing of ZF’s 1992 compilation of tracks for Mute’s Grey Area, spanning obscure cuts 1984-1991 ranging from signature, weathered ambient to grinding rhythmic noise and mindbending enigmas that affirm faith in music of the most mysterious sort." [Boomkat]
Original liner notes: “For many years we avoided participation in compilation projects, although opportunities were frequently presented to us. We have developed our music in such a way that it is most appropriately experienced in isolation. Therefore, allowing it to be presented in a form where it could be preceded and succeeded by other recordings, over which we would have no control, was alien to our intention. It also seemed (and in many cases still does) that compilation projects serve little purpose other than to fulfil the collector or editorial aspirations of the originator. In such circumstances the listener becomes little more than the end-user.
In 1984, following an approach from Jon Wozencroft of Touch seeking a contribution to Lands End, we revised our policy: we inverted the criticisms outlined above and sought to exaggerate them so that they became a positive technique in their own right. We encouraged the active and overt participation of the compiler so that the project would become more than the sum of its parts. In practice this required us to produce music akin to the incidental music produced for film and television soundtracks, music that could be cut up, manipulated and re-worked into new contexts, yet still retain its inherent characteristics. Now, with the general availability of sampling technology, the appropriation and translocation of music in this way is widespread, elevating the end user to a position of experiential collusion.
More recently, we have adopted a more closely defined stance, working only with those projects behind which we can perceive a unifying concept, either of form or purpose. Most of the recordings on this CD were created in this context and therefore represent a degree of creative input on the part of the labels concerned – Prometheans all!” |
2020 |
€30.00 |
|
| ZOVIET FRANCE & FOSSIL AEROSOL MINING PROJECT [ZFAMP] |
Flexible Pooling |
7inch flexi |
"Ltd edition 7 inch ep white flexidisc at 33rpm in custom packaging with insert and accompanying free download. this is two sides of audio at 11minutes and a download for a further 18 minutes...a 29 minute 'mini LP' in all...
:zoviet*france: and Fossil Aerosol Mining Project take their collaboration, which resulted in last year’s ‘Patina Pooling’ double album release by alt.vinyl, a stage further – into the realm of pliable reverberation. Using the near-redundant record format of the 7-inch flexidisc, ‘Flexible Pooling’ consists of two new tracks that have been devised with the lo-fi quality of the format in mind. The low grade sound fidelity and susceptibility to physical degradation of flexidiscs intentionally becomes an additional layer to the recordings, a surface audio patina analogous to the rusting of the steel sleeves of last year’s album.
Coded access to the free download of an additional, extended track will be supplied exclusively with the single.
Flexible Pooling will be released by alt.vinyl and Baltic Centre for Contemporary Art this month, in conjunction with the Baltic 39 exhibition, The Curves of the Needle." [label info]
www.altvinyl.com
"In 2014, we were blessed with a few copies of the first collaboration between the like-minded alchemists :zoviet*france: and the Fossil Aerosol Mining Projects, which came to us as a double lp, housed in a beefy slab of metal. Those few copies did not take long disappear, and we certainly expect that same fate to fall upon this outing as well. Flexible Pooling is intended to be the material antipode to the heft and durability of that first, with this 7" being a mere flexidisc and housed in a thin paper sleeve, with various printed ephemera gracing the package as well. There's two tracks found on the flexidisc and a download track, making the entire program an honest 30 minutes in length. It's a radioactive blizzard of tape machined errata, countervailed with subcutaneous drones and slippery layers of bedraggled, haptic noise compressed and / or exhumed from the vaults of some deep sea science station collecting data on thermal vents at the ocean floor before it was abandoned. The two entities organically sift through their material, sending various flutters, glissandos, snippets of unknowable dialogue, and electrical malfunctions into accreted and aggregated chorales of raw hypnogogia. Beautiful and eerie, Flexible Pooling represents a perfectly realized sound between two already exceptional authors of the sublime drift. Extremely limited." [Aquarius Rec.] |
2015 |
€18.00 |
|
| ZSOLT SORES |
Astro-Noetic Chiasm (Ahad's Flux Worlds 2) |
LP |
Representing Ahad's 'Flux Worlds 2', this album arrives as the companion to the 'Flux Worlds 1' DOUBLE-CD, 'Memo Point Soundmap...'. Recorded live, 'Astro-Noetic Chiasm X' once again takes us through an immersive setting where real time electronics converge with improvised viola, percussion, cello, trumpet, synths, gadgets and so on to create vast washes of avant-garde turbulence that assumes a stance rarely seen outside very early electroacoustic-
flavoured kosmische music or abstract droneworks.
https://hingethunder.bandcamp.com/album/astro-noetic-chiasm-ahads-flux-worlds-2
In listening to Astro-Noetic Chiasm χ by Zsolt Sőrés, one quickly has the impression that the sounds being heard are coming from an anomalous nowhere. As if they were not generated here but received from there. They simply sound otherworldly. So, what is their actual address in space and time, as well as the sender’s or the receiver’s? How are we to identify them?
We could of course try to single out the sonic settings and processes we hear according to the technology that produced them (unconventionally played musical instruments and diverse electronic sources), but this strategy would be counterproductive in terms of poetics. Sőrés is not a technocrat and the titles he gives to his pieces reference philosophical concerns that are represented both conceptually and sonically. In his dystopic sonic fiction he is a time traveler, but not the one we know from science fiction; rather than going against time to generate an extraterrestrial experience, he composes present, past, and future the way we compose our percepts, affects, desires, or utopias. Once the sound he or his sonic collaborators create starts to evolve in space-time, the battle to control its identity begins. This does not necessarily mean mastering a sound in terms of appropriation, but grasping it conceptually, purposefully registering its existence in order to use its physicality as a potential means of expression. Naturally, not all generated sounds are worthy of Sőrésʼs aesthetic attention or utilization, only those that his experience identifies as suitable vehicles for significant differentiation. This happens in real-time, composed improvisation, scored for five musicians; on this recording are trumpet player (Franz Hautzinger), two cellists (Anthea Caddy, Judith Hamann), sound effects producer (Mihály Kádár), and Sőrés himself playing viola with the help of various objects and devices.
And so, welcome to Ahadʼs sonic garden and lend your ear to the flux sound manifestations of “astro-noetic chiasms” that are woven successively and synchronically into a pliable decentralized patchwork, visually represented by the hermetic symbol χ in the pentagonal “middle” of the non-hierarchical score. Sőrés as composer does not approach his work in a centralizing way, he designs flexible structures so that musicians can playfully recombine and deconstruct the entire central structure and linear order. Ahadʼs creative philosophy simply refuses to think in terms of a restrictive and pointless metaphysics.
Jozef Cseres
April 2022
"For a moment, I thought this was the re-issue market going bonkers. Didn't I review a CD with this title two weeks ago? While I said, it was the best piece on the CD, I don't think it needed a re-issue on LP immediately. I am wrong, of course, not for the first time. I am just confused by the words 'Flux Worlds'. Effectively, this LP is an extension of the double CD and contains a recording from a concert from January 2022 at the "Ultraschall Berlin - Festival für Neue Musik" at Heimathafen Neukölln, and Zsolt Sőrés plays with some guests, such as Franz Hautzinger (trumpet), Anthea Caddy (cello), Judith Hamann (cello) and Mihály Kádár (live sound, effects). The man himself is on the 5-String Viola, Cymbal on the Top of the Viola, Vibrating Objects, Mole-Rat Electromagnetic Field Explorer, Domino Synth, and an EBow. One Jozef Cseres delivers the liner notes, which I didn't quite comprehend, but I loved the words "sonic fiction" in there. I understand there is some composition at the core of all of this, but I believe there is some freedom of interpretation. Like with his double CD, improvisation plays an important role, going hand in hand with a love for all things sonically forceful. This LP connects to the final piece on the 2CD in that this is, most of the time, at least, a work of loud, aggressive droning. The instruments are all amplified, there is some voice material (on the second side), and the ritual aspect plays a role. I wrote that this is the kind of music by Zsolt Sőrés where I can see a dialogue with sounds and instruments, and that's what works best here. Buy the LP and download the music; thus, it is possible to enjoy the whole work uninterrupted. I know, people like vinyl, but in work like this, I think the constant flow is an important factor for enjoyment." [FdW / Vital Weekly]
|
2023 |
€20.00 |
|
| ZUCCHERI, MARINO |
Parete '67 |
LP |
"In the world of artifacts, there are the known, the unknown, the forgotten, and the lost. An artefact may pass easily between the four, entirely at the mercy of the care it is offered, or which finds along the way. The music in question – Marino Zuccheri’s Parete 1967 Per Emilio Vedova, an massive electronic composition created by the multi-talented engineer of the famous Milan RAI Studio of Phonology for the Italian Pavillion at the Montreal Expo ’67, is one such case. It began as part of something known – a wild, sonic public event, was almost entirely forgotten, becoming lost and then unknown. It wasn’t until 2005, when these recordings entered the orbit of Die Schachtel, that anyone had been able to hear them since they were made in 1967, offering their world premiere. As is often the case, the limited edition LP quickly sold out and drifted from view. Finally, after more than a decade long wait, Die Schachtel has wondrously pressed it again, allowing its beautiful challenges to reenter the world. Parete 1967 Per Emilio Vedova is one of the great artifacts of 1960’s Italian avant-garde – a wild, grinding metallic expose which sucks the ear into its depths, made, like so much of the best work of the era, in the spirit of collaboration and the meeting of two minds. Die Schachtel’s edition is the realisation of a life long dream of Marino Zuccheri’s to see this recordings issued. Pulled from the original tapes in his archive, and working closely with him before his death in 2005. A true wonder of towering historical importance. As essential as it gets for any fan of experimental music, or the history of the Italian avant-garde."
www.die-schachtel.com
|
2018 |
€25.00 |
|
| ZYLO, ARVO |
UPHEAVAL |
CD-R |
In 2005, Arvo Zylo constructed a drone piece out of several layered samples from pop divas holding sustained notes. It was submitted to a compilation with this information ahead of time, and rejected out of fear of copyright retribution. Thinking that since no single sample therein is easily recognizable in the slightest, "Upheaval" was reworked in a total of 100 different versions, the final version being four hours long ("The torture has been transcended" - WIRE Magazine).
This release, which has been released in a cassette edition at Czech label Nova Alternativa, is now available on pro CDR in the states. More than just drone material, it traverses several different approaches, from soundtracky ambient "vistas" to abrasive industrial repetition.
https://nopartofit.bandcamp.com/album/upheaval-2
"It has been a while since I last heard some new music from Arvo Zylo, following quite a bit of his work on LP, CDR and cassette. Much of his work is about noise, but not exclusively, which he proofs on 'Upheaval'. In 2005 he "constructed a drone piece out of several layered samples from pop divas holding sustained notes", and submitted to a compilation, who refused out of being sued by said (sad?) pop divas. That piece was worked over by Zylo for 100 times and on this CDR we get 'Upheaval Version 93' to 'Upheaval 99". It was previously available as a cassette by Nova Alternativa, and now as a great looking CDR. As is to expected you couldn't recognize any pop diva in here and let it be known I could not name many pop divas, old or new, but the nature of Zylo's processing means that is surely not the case to recognize any of it. As his tools, Zylo uses, so I believe, a combination of digital and analogue tools. The digital ones to pitch the material up and down and to get a loop going, while analogue stompboxes are used to further colour the material. At various times these transformations are taken to the extreme, enter Zylo's love for noise, with loops and sounds from the conveyor belts of an industry in decay, but also decay of a more subtle origin can be spotted in not so ambient but also not so noisy excursions such as 'Upheaval 96', which reminded me of Vivenza. I prefer that more 'subtle but not too subtle' approach by Zylo, perhaps more than the blunt noise of 'Upheaval 99'. It is, however, the variety of approaches here that makes this a most enjoyable release, even when the noise pieces could have been shorter." [FdW/Vital Weekly]
|
2019 |
€9.00 |
|
| [AD]VANCE[D] |
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
"Hier auf dem Moskauer Kleinlabel für Sammlereditionen, das auch schon Merzbow, PBK, Troum, Maeror Tri und Telepherique veröffentlicht hat, folgt im reizenden Leinendesign mit farbigem Booklet dann die Kombination aus den beiden Interessen-schwerpunkten von Mars F. Wellink mit Support durch den audiovisuellen Produzenten Moreezz. Visuell erinnert mich das Ganze weitgehend an Derek Jarmans TG-Film "In The Shadow Of The Sun" - verfremdete, monochrome & fluktuierende Gebilde. Selbiges läßt sich fast ebenso vom musikalischen Teil sagen. Im Gegensatz zur Erstveröffentlichung von (Ad)Vance(d) geht es hier aber mit mehr Kontrast und Tiefenschärfe zur Sache. Verschiedene Geräusche des Alltags (Fieldrecordings in Deutsch) werden bewußt extrahiert, präsentiert und betont bis hin zur Aufdringlichkeit. Hier wird zielstrebig und kultiviert nach innen gebohrt in Bereiche, derer man sich vorher gar nicht bewußt war oder werden wollte, unterteilt in 4 Kapitel. [cs]
"...Wellink was one half of the Vance Orchestra, 'which lost after 10 years most of his magic', as we read in the booklet. We also read that Wellink was treated for cancer and that this new DVD 'symbolizes my feelings' and hence the title. The images and sounds were created by Wellink and processed by one Mooreezz. Like Telepherique (Ad)Vance(d) likes to use loops, but whereas they are simple in the 'Stahl Und Steine' release of Telepherique, with (Ad)Vance(d) they are produced on a wider scale and he takes the listener on a more coherent journey. Tinkling bells, animal sounds, voices, street sounds, they all rotate with a constant tempo. The images have a similar process: colored fields rotate about, return, change shape and color, and keep on rotating. Music and images have a hallucinatory effect if you watch and listen this closely on a TV screen and with the sound quite loud. Or it works as a nice ambient environment to which glance every now and then, while having the music. Many possibilities there." [FdW / Vital Weekly]
label-website: www.waystyx.com
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2007 |
€15.00 |
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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]
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2012 |
€5.00 |
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| [LAW-RAH] COLLECTIVE, THE |
Isolation |
CD |
Zweites Album für das niederländische Projekt, anxiety-drones im Zwischenraum von Isolationism und dark ambient Industrial...
"the ritual as a method of coping with fear" is the basic thought behind 'isolation', which is the first output by the [law-rah] collective since the release of 'incarnation' in 2001. the emotionally triggered droning soundscapes, which are the collective's trademark, have the power of confronting the listener with his or her deepest inner fears.
the 44 minute track, built from drones, ambient noise and extreme frequency modulations, was created for and performed at the new forms festival in the hague, netherlands on june 7th 2002. the performance was (and still is) a collaboration between the [law-rah] collective (music) and juxtapose (choreography and dance). to underline the collaborative effort, a 12 minute video is included on the cd which holds outtakes of the actual performance. the video was shot with four camera's and produced by videopunx in amsterdam. 'isolation' was mastered by the [law-rah] collective at studio am rhein between december 2002 and march 2003. in order to reassure the performance's nature and concept, this cd has not been stripped from extreme frequencies and its live-dynamics; therefore care should be taken when listening to it at high volume. are you ready to confront yourself?” [press release]
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2003 |
€13.50 |
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Inspiration |
CD |
"this time the [law-rah] collective is martijn pieck and bauke van der wal. bauke is the founder and original member of the collective, hence the first releases were the result of his twisted mind. during the years of law-rah's existence, he has collaborated with several people and re-evaluated the collective nature of the project. this in turn has changed a solo project with a weird name to a true collective of artists in both the audio and visual arenas. martijn and bauke have known each other since 1993 and shared many hours making music together. however, in the mid 90's both martijn and bauke went in different directions when it came to creating electronic music. in the autumn of 2007 the time was right and they once again started making music together. with this release martijn has become a full member of the collective and ideas for many future projects are already locked into their collective minds. "it's a new collective now. so a new i ... i (me) becomes us. after incarnation and isolation, now inspiration." (bauke van der wal)
compared with the collective's conceptual works like '1953', which was an earlier release by bauke and dutch writer, vocalist and member of the collective hiekelien van den herik, this album's subject is a more private and subliminal one. all track titles are related to baukes and martijns home town utrecht, and to the history they shared there over the years. a quote from a band both bauke and martijn appreciate is printed on the cover as a good example of their 'inspiration' and perfectly illustrates their thoughts about this town:
"this is the place where all roads meet, the place where all is secret. the place where time stands still in the comfort of night and love becomes will in the presence of light. i never want to leave..." (taken from 'terminus' by psychic tv)
musically, 'inspiration' can be clearly identified as a new step in the [law-rah] collective's exploration of their electronic microcosm. sub-bass lines and drones interact with beautiful idm'ish melodic lines that are complimented by pulsing beat sequences - inducing an overall majestic and sometimes melancholic impression. this music is filled with deep, haunting and phantasmagorial sounds that are expertly adapted to give one's fancy a full scope of emotion. more simply put, this is a inspired journey through two persons' past and present.
"the basics from the [law-rah] collective always was that you create your own imaginary movie and we'll take care of the soundtrack..." (bauke van der wal)
[full label info]
www.ant-zen.com
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2008 |
€12.00 |
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| [SIC] |
Gorilla Masking Tape |
CD-R |
Hinter [SIC] verbirgt sich die junge Nachwuchs-Elektronikern Jen Morris aus Montreal, die hier auf sechs Stücken analog-elektronischen dark ambient entwirft, der aber sehr UN-minimal ist, d.h. sich ständig verändert & neue Sounds & Färbungen aufnimmt.
Sehr subliminal & z.T. mechanisch-maschinell, sehr zu empfehlen !
“Having listened to and zoned out on this release at least half a dozen times, it should be obvious what it is that is so compelling about [sic]'s compositions of dusty long drones, deep ambient spaces and bump-in-the-night tension, but it's not. On the one hand, this is difficult listening: all uneasy sounds and dischordant timbres rubbing up against one another to create an ambiguous feeling of dread. On the other hand, for those familiar with the work of like-minded artists like those featured on the quasi-legendary "Isolationism" compilation, [sic] fits perfectly into a already-defined niche of dark, brooding ambient characterized more by its claustrophobia than by its use reflection of space as an expanse. I could tell you that Gorilla Masking Tape is a beautiful, haunting record, or that it's alpha-wave inducing at the right volume, or that it's a perfectly quiet record for people who lead unquiet lives, but none of that really captures the force that these tracks embody. Perhaps the record's most defining characteristic is that it is indeed so malleable that it can be both loud and quiet, both serene and disturbed, both beautiful and terrifying and that it does all of this effortlessly. I often wonder what more can be said about music like this that is both barely there and a force of nature all at once, depending on your volume knob. I always think that it will be impossible for someone to release yet another essential dark ambient disc in a world where artists who do this sort of thing tend to have voluminous discographies of equally affecting work already. I think that, and then I hear a record like Gorilla Masking Tape and it suddenly all sounds fresh and important and essential again and I'm left wanting more. It doesn't get much better than that.”
[Matthew Jeanes - Brainwashed Brain]
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2004 |
€11.50 |
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