BADAWI - The Axiom EP AgricultureCHRIS CONNELLY - How This Ends CD LensCYCLOBE - Wounded Galaxies Tap at the Window LP PhantomcodeDEAD MEAT - Early Recordings - Reference 7"+DL FlingcoDEAD VOICES ON AIR - From Afar All Stars Spark and Glee CD LensFELIX KUBIN & ENSEMBLE INTÉGRALES - Echohaus LP/CD DekorderGHEDALIA TAZARTES - Ante-Mortem CD HinterzimmerHANNO LEICHTMANN - The African Twintower Suite LP/CD DekorderKANGDING RAY - Pruitt Igoe 12" raster-notonLEMUR - Aigéan CD +3dBLORENZO SENNI - Dunno CD PrestoMICHAEL FRANCIS DUCH - Edges CD +3dBPHILIPPE PETIT - Iron Man LP AagooRV PAINTINGS - Samoa Highway LP Helen ScarsdaleTHE EX - Catch My Shoe LP/CD ExTILBURY/DUCH/DAVIES - Cornelius Cardew: Works 1960-70 CD +3dBTOMAS KORBER / GERT-JAN PRINS - RI 1.5442 CD CavityURAL UMBO - Fog Tapes LP HinterzimmerWRNLRD - Death Drive 10" Flingco
BADAWIThe Axiom EPDL EP The Agriculture AG054http://www.theagriculture.comhttp://www.razmesinai.com
Composer, producer and sound alchemist RAZ MESINAI makes music at the intersection of Dub and modern composition. As a solo artist and with his ensembles, he creates mythic performances evoking ancient rhythms with electronics, acoustic instruments and turntables. His recordings as Badawi have placed him on the forefront of the experimental electronic scene for over a decade, with remixes contributed by such artists as Kode 9, Shackleton, DJ Spooky and Headhunter, and Badawi remixes of Burning Spear, Arto Lindsay and Shackleton. He's been a fixture of the downtown New York improvised music scene as well since the late nineties, collaborating with such luminaries as John Zorn, Mark Dresser, Elliott Sharp, DJ Olive and many others.
Mesinai's music has been performed at The Lincoln Center Festival, Zankel Hall, The Kitchen, the Next, Next Wave Festival (BAM), The Whitney Museum, ICA London, Saafelden Jazz Festival, Etnafest, Tonic, The Stone, The Winter Garden, and numerous underground clubs in New York and Europe, including Love, Soundlab, and the legendary Mars, Sound Factory, Limelight and Save the Robots. In recent years, his work has been commissioned and performed by The Kronos Quartet, Ethel, VIA, and cellist Maya Beiser. In 2002 his music received an honorary award in the Ars Electronica Digital Musics category.
Mesinai is also an accomplished film composer. He was a Sundance Composers' Lab fellow in 2004, and has scored feature films, documentaries, and short films, including Sorry Haters (official selection Toronto Film Festival), Romantico (offical selection Sundance Film Festival) and The Projectionist, for which he won the Herb Alpert Award for Excellence in Music for Film. His music has also been featured in films by Ridley Scott, Jonathan Demme and Darren Aronofsky.
CHRIS CONNELLYHow This EndsCD Lens Records LENS0117http://www.lensrecords.comhttp://www.chrisconnelly.com
How This Ends is the 12th solo album by Chris Connelly, and it is certainly the most extreme. Picking up from where 2008's Forgiveness & Exile tailed off. In some ways, this is an extension of that, where Chris uses an ensemble cast of musicians, orators and non-musicians to produce something that vacillates between an almost serenely melancholic paradise, and a terrifying hellish vortex of noise. There are no songs on How This Ends - rather one long poem that is both spoken and sung by Chris and his collaborators.
"I wanted to compose without any regard to the song-form. I enjoy writing songs, but I've done it, and I want to try and move forward. To me, my work now is all about the words, and coming up with the best sounds to augment these words. It doesn't have to be a musical instrument. I have in my mind a very clear image, almost like an impressionistic film of what it should be like. The hard part is making sure that nothing is wasted, that every word can carry it's own weight, and that the people I have asked to help are the right people".
And the subject matter is no less grave than Forgiveness & Exile. Forgiveness (sic) was about torture and people being displaced from their homes in trying to escape fascism. How This Ends is about death, genocide, homicide by corrupt powers upon innocents. It's about the people who didn't make it, the ones who either tried, or were taken by surprise.The ensemble cast is perhaps the most diverse Chris has assembled:Coonagh (Sugar Bullet)Tania Bowers (Via Tania)James Marlon Magas (Magas, Lake of Dracula)Gordon Sharp (Cindytalk)Zak Boerger (These Wonderful Evils)Bill Rieflin (R.E.M., Ministry, Swans)Brent Gutzeit (TV Pow)Sanford Parker (Minsk, The High Confessions)David Levine (Mucca Pazza)
2010 also sees the release of the first album by Chris's new band THE HIGH CONFESSIONS with Steve Shelley (Sonic Youth), Sanford Parker (Minsk) and Jeremy Lemos (White/Light).
CYCLOBEWounded Galaxies Tap at the WindowLP Phantomcode NAOS 01http://www.cyclobe.com
Limited Edition 180g 12" Vinyl AlbumFront cover artwork by Fred TomaselliPhotograph of Cyclobe by Ruth Bayer
Wounded Galaxies Tap at the Window is the long anticipated new album by Cyclobe. Essentially a duo comprising OSSIAN BROWN and STEPHEN THROWER, Cyclobe have created a thrilling and compelling collection of music, which moves effortlessly from realms of cavernous cacophony to moments of blissful delicacy.
The first new Cyclobe music to surface since their 'death-concrét' missile Paraparaparallelogrammatica (an album made in collaboration with NURSE WITH WOUND), Wounded Galaxies showcases major new developments, with contributions from Thighpaulsandra (synthesiser/piano), John Contreras (cello) Cliff Stapleton (hurdy-gurdy), and Michael J. York (duduk/pipes). Together, they've created an immersive pan-psychedelic dream warren, rich in detail and surprise.
Album opener 'How Acla Disappeared From Earth' rides on celestial waves of shimmering synthesisers and vocals, with York's duduk providing rhapsodic arabesques. The album's longest piece, 'The Woods Are Alive With the Smell of His Coming' (which was premiered in the United Kingdom at The Tate Gallery St. Ives, as a part of the exhibition 'The Dark Monarch: Magick and Modernity in British Art') is a 17-minute Pagan opus which fully manifests Cyclobe's flair for endless invention, developing from a subtly shifting percussive motif, through multiple layers and dizzying cello crescendos, into a truly disorientating sonic invocation. Side Two commences with 'We'll Witness the Resurrection of Dead Butterflies (Three Moons)', in which Stapleton's hurdy-gurdy transmutes into a keening blizzard of sound. The haunting 'Sleeper', with its clustered piano chords and Brown's beautiful, disembodied vocals, evokes an elegant otherworldliness that's finally overwhelmed by the monstrous electronic paroxysm of 'Wounded Galaxies Tap at the Window', concluding the album on surges of rapturous cosmic convulsion.
'Wounded Galaxies' front cover features a stunning artwork by the renowned American artist Fred Tomaselli, whose work has been exhibited at the Whitney and MoMA.
THROWER and BROWN are well known for their work in the legendary group COIL (Thrower played on the band's seminal 1980s/early 1990s releases, while Brown was involved in their 21st century studio and live incarnations). Among other recent credits, Thrower plays in UNICAZÜRN and the improvising group THE AMAL GAMAL ENSEMBLE, whilst Brown appears on CURRENT 93's recent, highly acclaimed album Aleph at Hallucinatory Mountain.
Cyclobe's unique and complex sound-world has been developing and mutating ever since their debut album released in 1999 Luminous Darkness and its unearthly successor The Visitors. With Wounded Galaxies, the group has not only produced their finest and most ambitious work to date, they've created an album which can stand tall with the year's most innovative and exciting releases.
DEAD MEATThe King + Early Recordings Ltd. Ed. 7" Single plus Digital Album Flingco Sound FSS-012Release date: November 30http://www.flingcosound.comhttp://www.myspace.com/deadmeatdredbeats
The vinyl debut from Miami-to-San Francisco trio Dead Meat is a bold slice of rock. "The King" was the band's contribution to the 2009 FSS free digital compilation They Don't Know Unless You Tell Them and it drew plenty of notice with it's mid-tempo rumble. The track has been remixed for even greater impact and is accompanied by the filthy psych clangor of "Electric Head" and "Rubber Snake."
In addition to the three tracks on the single; Early Recordings, a 25 minute, 9 track digital album of the Dead Meat recordings to date has been compiled. The trio have absorbed the asphalt drag of primo-era Touch & Go/ Amrep, the swampland shudder of Scientists, and the dead-eyed stare of Joy Division and combined them with a concise and direct delivery all their own. Six of the nine songs on Early Recordings clock in under 2:50. This is what Dead Meat offer those bored to death by indie rock anemia and listless "experimentation."
500 copies of the 7" have been printed and each single includes a fold out insert and a download code for Early Recordings. The digital album is also available separately.
These recordings were mastered and the single was cut to lacquer by Jason Ward at Chicago Mastering Service.
"two chord stomps of the hung-over and on-edge. All give you dread and catharsis." Ben Ratliff New York Times, March 14, 2010
"Gotta love the singer's hateful howl, the way the guitars slide like suicide blades across the ear holes, and beats that throw you into a high-volume pummel." SF Weekly Jan. 22, 2010"The band's name suggests hostility, while signifying mortality, and rightly so: This is not happy music. Droning heavy psych-rock with sociopathic undertones might describe their sound as they seem to dwell in the dark recesses of the mind. For those of you with some demons to exorcise, Dead Meat might be your go-to shaman." Ryan Villarreal SF Gate, Jan. 21, 2010
Dead MeatJoe Santarpia - vocals, guitar, bassJames Mcneal - bass, guitar, vocalsRoberto Pagano - drums
DEAD VOICES ON AIRFrom Afar All Stars Spark and GleeCD Lens Records LENS0118http://www.lensrecords.comhttp://www.myspace.com/deadvoicesonair
From the poem Apprehension:
"Only from afar all stars spark and glee; Only from afar we admire all."From Afar All Stars Spark And Glee is a landscape of blurred atmospheric coils - shards that manage to sound simultaneously recognizable and from another place. It features his Download and Beehatch colleague Phil Western on two tracks and American-Serbian singer Ivana Salipur on the title track, a homage to the Serbian poet Desanka Maksimovic (1898-1993). The album is presented in a digipak featuring photographs from the timeless landscape of Patagonia by Argentinean artist Marco Roberti.This is the fourteenth album by Dead Voices on Air and the second to be released in 2010. It's been a busy year for MARK SPYBEY, touring as Dead Voices On Air and with Download in North America and working on projects with fellow Zoviet-France alumni Robin Storey as Reformed Faction. Mark has just released an album with the Austin, Texas based musician Tony D'Oporto under the name Gnome and Spybey. Mark is also working with Simon Fisher-Turner and will be recording later this year with Chris Connelly.
Dead Voices on Air are touring North America as part of the Subconscious Records Beyond Fest with Download and others this Fall and again in early 2011.Spybey is one of those quiet, head down collaborators who folks seem to want to work with. Over the years he was part of Can guitarist Michael Karoli's band Sofortkontakt! He's toured with Michael Rother of Neu! and Dieter Moebius of Cluster and remixed Faust. He made albums with James Plotkin and worked with Mick Harris of Scorn. During his time in Vancouver, he became part of Download and has remained in close musical contact with cEvin Key and Phil Western. He's released music with labels such as Klangbad, Kranky, Soleilmoon, Nettwerk, Invisible, Scratch, Spoon, Tourettes and Lens - now home to Dead Voices on Air.
FELIX KUBIN & ENSEMBLE INTEGRALESEchohausLP/CD Dekorder 049Release date: December 13http://www.dekorder.comhttp://www.felixkubin.com
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 ensemble Intégrales' artistic director, Burkhard Friedrich, 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.
Felix Kubin has released highly acclaimed albums on A-Musik, Dekorder and his own Gagarin label. He has recently been featured on the front cover of The Wire magazine, released his first short movie collection, directed several radio plays and is currently finishing the production on his forthcoming Sci-Fi Pop album.Ensemble Intégrales was founded by Burkhard Friedrich and Barbara Lüneburg. Their repertoire includes classics by Karlheinz Stockhausen, John Cage, Iannis Xenakis, Alfred Schnittke, Giacinto Scelsi, Steve Reich, Alvin Lucier, György Ligeti, Frederic Rzewski, James Tenney, Morton Feldman, Cornelius Cardew, Mauricio Kagel and new music from China, Austria and the UK.Tobias Levin is a German producer and engineer. The bands and musicians he has recorded range from pop to avantgarde, including Tocotronic, To Rococo Rot, Faust, Tied & Tickled Trio, Christian Naujoks, Chrstoph Kurzmann & John Butcher, Lol Coxhill or Kreidler. He is specialized in recording special live situations working mostly on productions with groups. He is also a founding member of legendary avant pop group Cpt. Kirk &.
GHEDALIA TAZARTESAnte-MortemCD Hinterzimmer Hint09http://www.hinterzimmer-records.com Ante-Mortem is a new Ghédalia Tazartès studio album. Ghédalia Tazartès was born 1947 in Paris, where he still lives, to Turkish parents. He is one of those long time activists who do not have a tremendous list of releases. Within the 31 years since his first musical oeuvre - Diasporas in 1979 - he only released 9 albums and a few EPs. Nonetheless he is praised as being one of the most creative European experimental artists and is often mentioned as an important influence on a lot of todays underground music exponents. Of course he was on the legendary Nurse With Wound-list Ghédalia Tazartès' music has always been a mystery. It switches from musique concrète to - existing or invented - ethnic music, from poetry to noise, or from loops and collages to sad and extremely beautiful tunes in a second, but it constantly is in flux and coherent. Or like André Glucksmann wrote: Ghédalia Tazartès is a nomad. He wanders through music from chant to rhythm, from one voice to another. He paves the way for the electric and the vocal paths, between the muezzin psalmody and the screaming of a rocker () Ghédalia is the orchestra and a pop group all in one person; the solitary opera explodes himself into an infinity of characters. The self is multitude and others. The author and his doubles work without a net, freely connecting the sounds, the rhythms, his voice, his voices. The permanent metamorphosis is a principle of composition, it escapes control, refuses classification. Off Limits, music descends, cries and screams when it touches the ground." Hinterzimmer Records is extremely proud to release one of Ghédalia Tazartès' major works of the last 20 years, Ante-Mortem. Although simply named 1 to 23, the CD bears a collection of very diverse tracks, a couple of them connected in a thematical frame, others simply standing for themselves. What holds them all together is first and all Tazartes' archetypical voice. One could say that Ante-Mortem contains some of his harshest ever tracks as well as a couple of his most humorous ones. Generally it is more than exciting to hear that some parts of Ante-Mortem could as well have been created around the same time as his masterpiece Une Eclipse Totale De Soleil - his music sounds as timeless as it did 30 years ago. Nobody else ever sounded like Tazartes. Ante-Mortem sounds like Tazartes at its best.
HANNO LEICHTMANNThe African Twintower SuiteLP/CD Dekorder 048Release date: December 13http://www.dekorder.comhttp://www.myspace.com/hannoleichtmann
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 Twintower Suite represents a lost soundtrack; compiling the most interesting recordings, newly edited, layered, collaged, shortened and mixed between 2009 and 2010.
KANGDING RAYPruitt Igoe12" EP raster-noton R-N 124http://www.raster-noton.nethttp://www.kangdingray.com Anticipating Kangding Ray's forthcoming album, due this winter, comes Pruitt Igoe - a 4 track EP on which both Alva Noto and Ben Frost have been invited by Kangding Ray to produce sonic variations on a contemporary architectural myth. The EP's title Pruitt Igoe is taken from a gigantic social housing project, completed in 1955 in the U.S. City of St Louis, Missouri, and often regarded as a symbol of the modernist architecture failure. Designed according to the principles of modernism, and by the same architect who would later build the World TradeCenter, the project saw a disastrous and violent decline after only a few years, plagued with vandalism and massive criminality, leading to its complete destruction from 1972 onwards. Footage of its demolition are visibly featured in the 1983 movie "Koyaanisqatsi", scored by Phillip Glass.Pruitt Igoe is more than a post-modern icon, it represents an ancestral movement of hope and disillusion, of perfectly planned models and evaporated dreams. It serves as a judicious metaphor for our era, where the feeling of imbalance and doubt has replaced the certainity of eternal progress and endless economical growth.This movement is reflected by the two sides of the record: on the A side, the original track and its remodel by Alva Noto, both represent the planning and construction phase, based on a clear structure and a hypnotic loop of women chanting in the streets of a small town in North India. On the B-side, Ben Frost and Kangding Ray undertake the demolition process - slicing beats, destroying structures and emphasising the beauty of collapse.
LEMURAigéanCD +3db 011http://plus3db.net/artists/lemur0
Lemur presents their latest position in the quest for a new improvised chamber music: Acoustic sound-oriented music from four highly original players.Bjørnar Habbestad: FluteHilde Sofie Tafjord: HornLene Grenager: CelloMichael Francis Duch: Double bassAigéan is Lemur's awaited follow-up of the acclaimed debut IIIIIIII from two years ago. Continuing their work to develop an improvised chamber music with an emphasis on sonic experimentation and ensemble character, the ensemble delivers a darker and more fragile album. More open to explore the particulars in each piece, the ensemble seems to strenghten their sound and delivers a truly insisting and strongly crafted album.
Lemur has found their position as one of Europe's truly original improvising ensembles. The four instrumentalists combine their work from classic composition, noise, chamber music and free jazz making a highly surprising and unique blend of contemporary sound and attitude. Since their first performances in 2006 the ensemble has done a series of tours in Scandinavia, Europe and Asia - to great acclaim.
LORENZO SENNIDunnoCD Presto P!?014http://www.prestorecords.comhttp://www.myspace.com/lorenzosenni
Produced, edited, mixed by Lorenzo Senni and mastered by Marcus Schmickler, Dunno is the very first official release from 27-year old Italian founder of Presto!?; his previous release Early Works (2007) is a collection of old re-edited tracks mainly influenced by early laptop heroes Mego style.
Now with Dunno we have a pure computer music record where digital psychedelia meets brutal pulasr synthesis trains and sharp FM streams. Built up with a double approach, Dunno, is something between vintage experimentalism of the computer music pioneers and the new digital brutality of fat, acid glissandos and shepard tones in rave style. Using a large palette of computer synthesized sounds and a sophisticated musical awareness he creates ten tracks of beautiful artificial energies and abstract pleasure (Rolf Delley, QJ)
Lorenzo Senni (b. 1983) is a multidisciplinary artist and composer residing in Milan. He studied Musicology at Alma Mater Studiorum University in Bologna and he is author of electronic audio works. Using different kind of real-time digital sound synthesis combined with old evergreen software from the seventies-eighties he spits out abstract streams of radical computer music. Now he is involved in computer music studies and he is working on a long term project focused on "the evolution of the laser use in electronic music performances" . His research interests include algorithmic methods in the arts. He has toured throughout Europe and Japan, collaborates with theatre companies as Orthographe and Pathosformel and supported concerts by KTL, John Wiese, EVOL, Dave Phillips. He is founder of Presto!?, label who collaborated with artists such as Carl Michael Von Hausswolff, Marcus Schmickler, John Wiese, Lasse Marhaug, Alberto De Campo, Werner Dafeldecker, EVOL, Lawrence English, John Hudak, just to name a few.
MICHAEL FRANCIS DUCHEdgesCD +3db 010http://plus3db.net/artists/michael_duch
First solo album from bass player extraordinaire Michael Francis Duch, exploring 1960's experimental works as vehicles for contemporary improvisation.
Duch is a highly generous musician and improvisor. This is equally audible as he moves in the outskirts of reductionism, flirts with noise, engages in the domain of contemporary composition or happily endulges in the joys of free jazz. Mixing a keen and exploring sense of sound with firm and insisting formal thinking, he approaches his bass both as a source of personal expression and as a tool to discover new ways of music making.
Having performed internationally over the last ten years and contributed to more than 20 recordings, Michael brings a wide range of influences to his current project: A quest to revisit, test and bring new life into the sparse scores of early experimental music. These works, although composed as tools to inform non-improvisors challenged to leave the conventions of traditional notation, are being set up as vehicles to rearticulate the ideas of a full fledged free improvisor.
Duch's album is the first in a new series from +3db called Music for ONE - showcasing artists working with different forms, strategies and approaches to improvising in a solo format.
Biography:Michael Francis Duch (1978) was born and raised in Trondheim, Norway. He is currently a research fellow at the University of Trondheim doing research on Free Improvisation and the use of improvisation in experimental music. Duch plays in a trio with Rhodri Davies and John Tilbury, the rock band Dog & Sky, the improvquartet Lemur with Bjørn Habbestad, Hilde Sofie Tafjord and Lene Grenager, dronetrio Tricycle with Anita Kaasbøll and Nicos Veliotis, acoustiv post noise duo Origami Tacet with Tore Bøe, and different other constellations. Ad hoc collaborations with Otomo Yoshihide, Taku Sugimoto, Sachiko M, Mark Wastell, Mattin, Mats Gustafsson, Peter Brötzmann, Jaap Blonk, Gert-Jan Prins, Christian Wolff, Tony Conrad, Cadillac, the Kulta Beats and Salvatore amongst others.
PHILIPPE PETITScores Henry : The Iron ManLP Aagoo Records AGO030http://www.aagoo.comhttp://www.myspace.com/philippepetit
Aagoo Records (NYC) presents the re-release of Philippe Petit's acclaimed first album, HENRY: THE IRON MAN. Originally released on CD by Beta Lactam Ring Records in 2009, this seminal work is now available on glorious vinyl.
Petit considers himself a "musical travel agent" and Henry marks his maiden voyage over soundscapes of the unconscious. Inspired one night while sleepwalking on a lost country road, Philippe dreamt that Shinya Tsukamoto was working on a blurred remake of Eraserhead, and in the dream, Petit knew that he was to score the soundtrack of Henry's mutation into an Iron Man. And so this dream sowed the seed for an album that Petit would make real. 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.
Exploiting the physical virtues of vinyl, Petit manipulates the material, fondling cracks and releasing noises until they resonate into a vertiginous movement of sound. The result is both sonic and visual: a conjuring of flashes, grainy black and white pops, behind-the-scenes close-ups, and rapid nightmarish stop-motion effects.
Henry: The Iron Man is not only about Henry's transformation; it's a journey for the listener who transforms as well.« As an aural journey, Henry: The Iron Man is quite an achievement + an opportunity to really focus on Petit's work and experience his creativity and original techniques. » ALL MUSIC GUIDE (2010)
« Even without using any of the original source material, Petit combines the schizophrenic noise chaos of Eraserhead with the abstract industrial dystopia of Tetsuo, and the combination works out very well. The symbolism is wonderful here. » BRAINWASHED (Jan 2010)
» A complete and total form of artistic expression. Strange, creepy, unsettling... dark and hypnotic. TOP PICK. » BABYSUE (Jan 2010)
RV PAINTINGSSamoa HighwayLP The Helen Scarsdale Agency HMS019http://www.helenscarsdale.comhttp://www.digitalisindustries.com/foxyd/features.php?which=282
RV Paintings were born in California. Humboldt County, to be exact. It is nearly impossible to imagine their origins being elsewhere since the brothers BRIAN and JON PYLE, who currently pilot RV Paintings, constantly mine the metaphysical properties of their homeland through a heavy-lidded psychedelia. The redwood trees that majestically rise from the rugged terrain may have been one of the endemic objects that inspired RV Paintings to "jam nature;" but Humboldt County's other major cash crop -- marijuana -- cannot be far behind. As much as the Pyle brothers channel a psychotropic animism through sound, their diaphanous drones and foggy ambient tangles spring from a schematic intelligence that belies any method acting of getting stoned and jamming in a room.
Samoa Highway is the second full album for RV Paintings, following the nature jam transmissions of Trinity Rivers published by Root Strata in 2007 and a well-suited split LP with Taiga Remains from Blackest Rainbow. Just as the debut payed homage to the rugged river system that cuts through forests and mountains of the region, Samoa Highway refers to the lengthy bridge that runs between two coastal communities in Humboldt County, one of which houses a municipal airport. A swarm of drone guitars announces the opening of the record on "Millions," with a shoegaze wash collapsing into rarified tone purity and bulging through a metallic buzz. Field recordings of airplane take-off and firework explosions punctuate the undulating bleary smear of the Pyle brothers' guitars. The result is one of levitation, even as RV Paintings seem to be plugging their guitars and electronics directly into the moss, soil, and mycelia of the Humboldt forest. Echo-soaked flutes, maudlin strings, scabrous noises unearthed from the bottom of the Pacific, and a cinematic arcs of guitar shimmer complete the beautiful and haunted miasma of Samoa Highway that falls somewhere between Taj Mahal Travellers, Organum, and The Caretaker.
Brian Pyle may be best known as one of the founders of the Starving Weirdos and records his solo work as Ensemble Economique. Samoa Highway stands the first piece of vinyl published by Helen Scarsdale Agency and includes a code for a digital download. Pressed in an edition of 500 copies.
THE EXCatch My ShoeLP/CD Ex Records EX123LPhttp://www.theex.nl
Some statistics: THE EXs 25th CD/LP release on their own Ex Records and 123rd releasein total. Catch My Shoe is the first CD with their new singer Arnold de Boer.The songs range from The Ex versions of high energy Gurage music from Ethiopia ("Eyoleyo")to hypnotic full on dance tunes like "24 Problems" and "Double Order".The sound is unmistakably The Ex but with new vocals and Konono style catchy guitar riffsfrom Arnold and crunchy baritone guitar melodies from Terrie and Andy all propelled alongby Kat's relentless driving "African" beats.The songs range in subject matter from climate confusion, unexpectedly throwing surpriseobjecs, optical illusions, deceitful cropdusters, ice picks and late trains."In a decade when everyone from the Incredible String Band to the Jesus Lizard has stageda comeback, The Ex top them all; not only are they still together thirty years after theyfirst came together as a punk quartet playing gigs in Amsterdam squats, they've nevercompromised their values, and their music has never sucked.Key to their success is a commitment to constant change and improvisational acumen thatenable them to turn circumstances that might break a lesser band into opportunities forgrowth." Bill Meyer, Chicago
Recorded in Chicago at Electrical Audio by Steve Albini, March 22-24 2010.Mixed in Amsterdam in Andys room by The Ex.Mastered in Chicago at Chicago Mastering Service by Bob Weston.
TILBURY/DUCH/DAVIESCornelius Cardew: Works 1960-70CD +3db 012http://www.plus3db.net
John Tilbury: PianoRhodri Davies: HarpMichael Francis Duch: Double bassSix stellar performances of Cornelius Cardews chamber music - A clear, crisp and openminded reading of the enfant terrible of british experimental music.
Cornelius Cardews music from the 1960's is arguably from his most creative and experimental period as a composer, beginning with Autumn 60 and ending with the last paragraphs of The Great Learning in 1970. This recording is a document of the tension in Cardew's production. A portrait of the composer leaving the avant garde he got to know from his work with Stockhausen and John Cage and entering the scene of improvised music as he would get to know it in AMM.
JOHN TILBURY (1936) is "The grand old man" of british improvisation music. Tilbury is considered one of the foremost intepreters of Morton Feldman's music, and since 1980 he has been a member of the free improvisation group AMM. He worked with Cornelius Cardew and has written the biography Cornelius Cardew - A Life Unfinished, published in 2008.
RHODRI DAVIES (1971) is a harpist particularly interested in exploring noise, silence and abstract sound on his accoustic and amplified instrument. He has been very active on the London improvisation scene since 1995, and performed vividly in Europe, Japan, Canada and USA.
MICHAEL FRANCIS DUCH (1978) was borned and raised in Trondheim, Norway. He is currently a research fellow at the University of Trondheim doing research on Free Improvisation and the use of improvisation in experimental music.
TOMAS KORBER / GERT-JAN PRINSRI 1.5442CD Cavity 03http://www.tomaskorber.comhttp://www.gjp.info
Tomas Korber: guitar, electronicsGert-Jan Prins: electronics
recorded at "la Saline Royale d'Arc-et-Senans", France, July 2009recording equipment provided by Fred Bühlmastering by Tomas Korberartwork by Gert-Jan Prinsthanks to: the team of Nuit Bleue,NFPK, The Hague, The Netherlandslimited release: 337 copies
Collaborative audio project by two masters of radical electronics and long line composition who have been working together since 2008. Sprawling over the full 74 minutes of a Compact Disc, RI 1.5442 offers a powerful yet subtle approach in the time and energy domain. It was recorded in an afternoon session during the Nuit Bleue event at The Saline Royale (Royal Saltworks), a historical, utopian building complex by architect Claude-Nicolas Ledoux inArc-et-Senans in eastern France.TOMAS KORBER works as a composer, producer and improvising musician. His primary focus lies in the areas of experimental electro-acoustic music, songwriting and music for film and theater. In addition to his work as a solo artist, he has collaborated with uncountable musicians from all around the world and has performed extensively across Europe, Japan and North America. Korber has studied psychology and computer science at the University of Zurich and holds a Master of Science degree.
GERT-JAN PRINS is an artist who focuses on the sonic and musical qualities of electronic 'noise'. In his work, Prins makes connections with modern electronic club culture, occupying a radical position with his investigation of electronic sound and its relationship to the visual. Prins has created electronic systems with circuits from transmitter- and receiver techniques, which produces complex feedback sounds . Prins does regularly solo concerts, many collaborations and is a member of Synchronator, and M.I.M.E.O.
URAL UMBOFog TapesLP Hinterzimmer Hint10http://www.hinterzimmer-records.comhttp://www.myspace.com/uralumbo Ural Umbo was formed in 2008 by Reto Mäder (Bern/Switzerland) and Steven Hess (Chicago/USA). Following their mystical, dark and haunting self titled debut album on Utech Records (home of Aluk Todolo, Horseback, Final, Skullflower, Runhild Gammelsaeter, James Plotkin...), Ural Umbo return with their follow-up release, an even more dense, forward-thinking, nebulous post doom record. Ural Umbo cannot conceal their love for the modern forms of Doom and Black Metal. Still, they are far away from just adding another part to the Experimental Metal or Drone Doom catalogue. They rather focus on film score-ish compositions, bizzare atmospheres and haunting melodies coming from somewhere beyond, plus they use a broad spectrum of instruments instead of limiting themselves to downtuned metal guitars or sluggish drums. As the name Fog Tapes implies, the basic tracks were recorded directely to analog tapes. In a second step they enriched the raw material with layers of filigree percussion from bowed cymbals, wind chimes, glockenspiel and the like. This resulted in an organic and hypnotic mixture of lurking electro-acoustics, atmospheric black metal approaches, epic drones, slowly evolving melodies, doom mantras and an overall psychedelic atmosphere. Sometimes it sounds like a poltergeist tapping and scraping in the speakers. But even when Fog Tapes is monolithical in its nature, the overall sound is surprisingly fresh and suffused with light. Reto Mäder: Bass guitar, strings, organ, synthesizer, horns, kalimba, percussion, drums, tapes, electronics, editsSteven Hess: Drums, percussion, electronics, tapes, edits Recorded 2009-2010 in Bern and Chicago. Mixed & mastered by Reto Mäder at Hinterzimmer Bern in 2010. Cut by Jason Ward at Chicago Mastering Service. Cover and poster insert photographies by Rik Garrett. 8 Tracks, 43:39.
RETO MÄDER works solo as RM74 and also in the groups Sum Of R and Pendulum Nisum. In 2006 he collaborated with Ralf Wehowsky/RLW for the Crouton release Pirouetten. He produced albums for Rhys Chatham (The Bern Project, 2009) and for Herpes Ö DeLuxe (Kielholen, 2007). Since 2006 Reto Mäder runs the label Hinterzimmer Records together with Roger Ziegler.
STEVEN HESS performs with Haptic, On, Locrian as well as solo. He collaborated with the likes of Stefan Németh, Pan American, Christian Fennesz, Robert Hampson, Helge Sten, Martin Seiwert, Greg Davis, Machinefabriek, Jon Mueller and appeared on recordings by Dropp Ensemble, David Daniell + Douglas McCombs, Male, Sylvain Chauveau and Fessenden to name a few.
WRNLRDDeath Drive EP Ltd. Ed. 10" EP / Digital EP Flingco Sound FSS0011Release date: November 30http://www.flingcosound.comhttp://www.wrnlrd.com
As Blodarstid blog observed, Wrnrld is "almost certainly among the more obscure black metal projects currently active within the US, truly existing outside of any 'scene' and creating for the purpose of self above all else." Wrnlrd is also a visual artist who designs the artwork for all the releases.
The Wrnrld monolith began emitting signals in the form of CDs in 2005, releasing them under its own Order of the Cloven Eye imprint. The Oneiromantical War LP was the inaugural release on FSS in 2008.
Where does Wrnlrd fit into the schema of extreme music? Whatever box you is throw the new EP into (black metal, experimental metal, outsider, one man band, whatever...) Death Drive easily escapes. It could be the pedal steel guitar on "Midnight Drive", squelchy tones on "Grave Dowser", the wobbly piano piece "Luster" or the accordion intro to the title track that does it. The common thread in Death Drive remains the gnarled darkness that characterize the four CDs and 2 LPs in the Wrnlrd catalog. Wrnlrd continues to stand alone. "Midnight Ride" features guest vocals from Dwid Hellion of the legendary hardcore band Integrity.
Wrnlrd recorded in Arlington, VA between May and December 2009. Other recordings were made between March and May 2010 in Chicago, Louisville and Gent, Belgium
Death Drive is available as a limited edition 10" EP, in a die-cut sleeve with a fold out poster and patch included with a download code for a digital copy of the EP. It is also available as a digital EP.
Jason Ward mastered the tracks and cut the lacquer at Chicago Mastering Service.Virginian black metal auteur Wrnlrd continues to make some of the most dazzling and experimental material the genre could permit. - Boomkat Oct. 27, 2009Ultimately, this music has power regardless of what you call it. - Anthony Abboreno, Invisible Oranges March 15, 2010
...every Wrnlrd record seems to blow our mind more than the last. - Aquarius Records, Nov. 6, 2009
Myrmidon conjures the full spectrum of metallic elements: guttural growls and epic female (I think - is "Buccinator" a woman's name?) shrieks; riffs of classic grandeur; sun-slaying solos; and a forest of guitar thorns that close in on you at the end. It's all arranged and played with frightening power; you will find it to be quite diabolically awesome. You have no say in the matter anyway - as Wrnlrd's mysterious blog instructs, "Whatever your diamond says to do... you do it without question." - RCRD LBL Oct. 10, 2010
Buccinator: ThroatIksnis: Lead Guitar, Piano, AccordionWrnlrd: Guitars, Bass, Drums, Vocals, ComputerAdditional Musicians on "Midnight Ride":Dwid Hellion: VocalsBill Hanks: Pedal Steel
DiscographyMask of Hate CD [Order of the Cloven Eye] 2005Madlthr CD [Order of the Cloven Eye] 2006In From the Night Herd CD [Order of the Cloven Eye] 2007Cperadt CD [Order of the Cloven Eye / Small Sacrifice] 2007Pentagon CD [Order of the Cloven Eye] 2007"Oneiromatical War" on Various Artists Drone Season III CD [Brise-Cul] 2007Wrnlrd-Buer Avulsion 3 inch CDR [Brise-Cul] 2007Oneiromantical War LP/ Digital Album [FSS] 2008"Hoax 1" and "Hoax 2" on Various Artists The Black Box Soundbox [FSS] 2009Aenmity Shining Digital EP [Order of the Cloven Eye] 2008Myrmidon LP/ Digital Album [FSS] 2009
― scott seward, Friday, 22 October 2010 15:19 (thirteen years ago) link
the ex
― not everything is a campfire (ian), Friday, 22 October 2010 16:40 (thirteen years ago) link
ANDREA BELFI & IGNAZ SCHICKThe Myth of Persistence of Vision RevisitedCD Zarek 15Release date: December 2010http://www.zangimusic.dehttp://www.chocolateguns.comhttp://www.myspace.com/ignazschick
Andrea Belfi (drums, percussion, gongs, nord modular, looper, feedback)Ignaz Schick (turntable, objects, gongs, bows, looper/pitcher, percussion)Recorded by Andrea Belfi & Ignaz Schick in Verona, May 2009Roughmix by Andrea Belfi & Ignaz Schick at P4C Studios Berlin, June 2009Finalmix by Attila Faravelli, September 2009Mastering by Giuseppe Ielasi, December 2009Coverdesign by Andreas Töpfer, 2010
Belfi & Schick have met in Berlin & Bruxelles and after a few conversations found that a collaboration, due to their entirely different backgrounds, could be quite interesting. A small Berlin venue commissioned their first concert & so they just met a day before rehearsing for only one afternoon before the concert. The meeting was sort of a blind date but it turned out to be of such magic that they decided to intensify and continue the collaboration.All this happened back in 2008. Meanwhile the duo has performed a few very successfull tours & shows in Germany, Switzerland & Italy and in 2009 they met for an intense week of recordings in Belfi's house in Verona. They recorded a pool of different pieces (which they usually develop on the spot during soundcheck & concerts) - from more abstract textures to very melodic pieces and songs, and in that particular situation using a lot of found and left behind percussion instruments which they spontaneously incorporated into their usual set-up of gongs, objects, drums and electronica. In a second and third meeting in Berlin and Milano they mixed and edited the material down to a very colorful and loose album with material ranging from simple gong melodies, stripped down postrock beats, rythmical musique concrete and abstract sonic landscapes of a very pure and honest beauty. The mastering of the material was finalyzed by Guiseppe Iealasi in late 2009/early 2010.Belfi is mainly using his minimal set up of snare drum, bass drum, cymbal & electronics while Schick is limiting his rotating surfaces mainly to bows & gongs and some sparse use objects all manipulated with of a looper/pitch shifter. The music comes as a nice blend of different things ranging from Belfi's postrock and electronica to Schick's electro-acoustic improv and drone.
BILL ORCUTTA New Way To Pay Old DebtsCD Editions Mego eMEGO 119Release date: January 15http://www.editionsmego.comhttp://palilalia.com
And now for something completly different.....Editions Mego is suitably chuffed announce a CD reissue of Bill Orcutt's acoustic hardcoreblues stormer 'A New Way To Pay Old Debts', previously released on Palilalia in 2009. Formany one of the highlight of recent years with its unique visionary take of solo guitar playing.At the heart of Orcutt's sound is a vintage acoustic Kay guitar equipped with a DeArmondpickup. After the neck was broken and subsequently repaired, the guitar was downtuned so asto withstand the tension of the strings, and played with the A and D strings removed.This all lends itsellf to an intense set of raw, blues-inþuenced songs that sound heavier thanmost of the guitar records in your collection put together!!In addtion to the orginal album this CD reissue contain 2 tracks from the High Waisted 7" (also previously relased on Palialia), as well as 4 unreleassed tracks.
Tracks 1-8 were orginally released as a 12" LP record A New Way To Pay Old Debts (PAL-002. 2009) .Tracks 9 & 10 appeared on a 7" single (PAL.001, 2009).Tracks 11-14 are previously unissued.Everything recorded May & June 2009 at 24th & York, San Francisco.Bill Orcutt: 4 String Kay, VoiceTotal Running Time 51:35
GINTAS KSo OnDL Crónica 054http://www.cronicaelectronica.orghttp://gintask.dar.lt
All tracks by Gintas K.Mastered by MC.Cover photo by Pedro Tudela.
After two solo albums and several participations in Crónica's compilations, Gintas K is back to Crónica with his first release in the free-download Unlimited Series. In what has been becoming Gintas K's signature, So On is composed of several independent small compositions that are individually very diverse but remarkably coherent when heard as a whole. In the same line as his recent Lovely Banalities, So On lives from the dialectic of its internal dynamics, contrasts and tensions, composed to a delicate balance across the length of the album. It is a step in the consolidation of Gintas K as a mature composer and very active experimentalist with whom Crónica is extremely proud to work.
IGNAZ SCHICK & DAWID SZCZESNYLive in GenevaCD Zarek 14Release date: December 2010http://www.zangimusic.dehttp://www.myspace.com/ignazschickhttp://www.myspace.com/dawidszczesny
Ignaz Schick (turntable, objects, gongs, bows, looper)Dawid Szczesny (laptop, software)Recorded live by Ignaz Schick @ Cave 12/L'Ecurie Geneva in November 2008Mixed by Dawid Szczesny in 2009Mastered by Marcin Cichy for plugaudio in 2010Coverdesign by Andreas Töpfer
The second release of the German/Polish duo after their highly acclaimed Non Visual Objects debut "The View Underneath" - this time the material was recorded live during their 2008 tour European tour. The music on this CD documents the entire set as it was performed that night in Geneva. No afterediting, overdubs or cuts were applied - the material was solely mixed and mastered & track indexes were added.
While the NVO release can be clearly labeled as a "first meeting" in the meantime a few years have passed & the duo has gathered quite some experience through perfoming various concerts & tours together.
And at the same time also both artists have moved on individually and their personal musical and artistic development has sharpened. While Schick has worked hard to widen his musical scope in various duo collaborations and on perfecting his turntable techniques and sonic material of his Rotating Surfaces Set-up with a strong focus on tonal material, Szczesny has completed and released a series of works with very loopy and clearly jazzbased samples recomposing them into very unique sounding miniatures. Schick & Szczesny have incorporated those external experiences into their music and also deepened their common sense in how to shape and construct the music. Although the entire stream of music lasts for about 44:00 minutes, the music clearly structures into a suite of shorter & closely related pieces.The musical ingredients are not so very different from the first release (warm medlodic loops, very clicky noises, tonal drones), but they are used in a deeper way and have become way more natural.
MARCUS FISCHERMonocoastalCD 12k 1063http://www.12k.comhttp://unrecnow.com/dust
Monocoastal was inspired by Fischer's movements up and down the West Coast of America over the last two decades. Washes of tape hiss play homage to the Pacific Ocean, while multiple layers of details reveal themselves differently upon each listen. Tiny sounds originate from field recordings and are given the same attention as conventional instrumentation. Found instruments - such as a piano discovered in the corner of a salvage warehouse and a xylophone made of metal wrenches - create sounds captured through both analog and digital recording. Detail is removed rather than added, and harmonic tones are discovered in natural resonances. The compositions on Monocoastal are built upon a bed of low fidelity textures, an exercise in restraint and tension. Space between notes plays an important compositional role to create this balance and tape loops provide organic repetition that wavers subtly with warmth and imperfection. There is a fractured and naturally worn sense to Fischer's compositions, each one an object itself summed from carefully selected instruments and tones used in their making.
Monocoastal is another 12k release next to Taylor Deupree's Shoals, Solo Andata's self-titled release and the latest CD from Seaworthy + Matt Rösner that represents the current aesthetic of the label: a passion for acoustic and found sounds, a minimal of obvious DSP and synthesis, and a natural warmth created by analog recordings and the use of physical space. Fischer's instruments include a variety of guitars, both acoustic and electric, lap harps, melodicas, ukelele, home-made instruments, field recordings, and the use of manually manipulated cassette recorders to create stop-and-start compositions. Much like Fischer's creative blog DustBreeding, Monocoastal finds beauty in everyday objects and surroundings and portrays a hazy, personal narrative, like the cover photography taken by Fischer himself on expired Polaroid film.
MARCUS SCHMICKLERPalace Of Marvels (queered pitch)2LP/CD Editions Mego eMEGO113Release date: December 15http://www.editionsmego.comhttp://www.piethopraxis.org
Composed by Marcus SchmicklerRecorded and Mastered at Piethopraxis, Köln. January-August 2010.Vinyl cut at Dubplates & Masterting, Berlin, Ocotber 14th, 2010.Artwork by Tim Berresheim
Marcus Schmickler's new release following his acclaimed 'Altars of Science' is a must have for those interested in the rising Þeld of contemporary Computer Music. It reconÞrms Schmickler's interest in the liaison of sound, phenomenology and cognitive sciences. Schmickler therefore utilizes a new interpretation of 1960's discovery, the Shepard-tone, discovered by Roger Shepard, which creates the auditory illusion of a tone that continually rises or descends inpitch yet ultimately seems to get no higher or lower. The phenomenon Þrst got imposed to the music world by James Tenney in his piece "For Ann Rising". Similarly, Schmickler has a musical take on the subject by creating Arpeggios, short sequences of tones creating an akin effect.
Schmickler's interest in the Þeld got Þred by Ernst Gombrich's essays on "Art and Illusion" questioning the very foundations of our understanding of the history of the image and it's representation of our world. Adequately Schmickler's work ever since can be seen as a play within an anthropology of music. Here in terms of it's very fundamental parameters rhythm, sound and pitch, as well as music practice wit it's socio-economic implications.
Beyond that, the title Palace of Marvels was found at French intellectual Jacques Attali, who, in his critically acclaimed book, "Noise: The Political Economy of Music", cites one of Leibniz's little known but "extraordinary" texts, "Drôle de pensée touchant nouvelle sorte de représentation," in which the philosopher describes the "Palace of Marvels." The Palace of Marvels is Leibniz's idealization of a perfect political organization, which is built in such a way that the master of the house is able to hear and see everything that is being said and done in the premises without himself being perceived by his subjects. Leibniz's vision of disciplinary society not only predates Foucault's subsequent versions of surveillance mechanism, the Panopticon, but it also conceptualizes a more effective and absolute form of power through eavesdropping, censorship, and recording, as well as surveillance through visual means. Listening in on, ordering, transmitting, and recording noise are at the heart of the modern State.
The idea for the material was originally conceived for a collaborative Installation-piece together with arts-collective Interpallazo. The technical application was realized with the kind assistance of Prof. Dr. Alberto de Campo.
The vinyl features an extended version of 'Mystery Bouffe'.
MARK FELLMultistabilityCD Raster-Noton r-n 125http://www.raster-noton.nethttp://www.markfell.com
The latest project from Sheffield based artist and electronic musician Mark Fell, Multistability is primarily an exploration of erratic and non-regular rhythmic patterns. Drawing equally from his work with snd and his many solo projects Fell's most recent work promotes a minimal complexity; combining meticulous synthetic chordal layering with convoluted, chaotic yet fundamentally engaging temporal structures.
In the field of Gestalt psychology the term 'multistability' refers to the effect where one is unable to perceive a single stable object within complex or ambiguous patterns. A famous example is the Necker cube - a wire frame with no depth cues that oscillates between front back orientations. The term is also found in systems theory where it describes a condition that is neither stable nor instable, where a system switches between different states. Fell takes these as a starting point for his project, developing compositional structures and strategies that transform and transcend the familiar; structures that refuse to accept parental advice.
Split into two halves the album contains two versions of itself. Using what Fell describes as 'extremely basic' pattern generating systems, passages reappear throughout... yet these are applied and manoeuvred into parallel versions of themselves - often different sounds and parameters are explored producing no singular or resolved arrangement.
In his recent works Fell's process has been influenced by his collaborative encounters with friend and fellow musician Yasunao Tone - particularly Tone's approach to ideas concerning intentionality and time within the context of musical practices. In Fell's work, deliberate actions are layered, and distorted; manipulated to produce unforeseen and often extraordinary aesthetic outcomes... documented here in the form of 17 related pieces.
Above all Multistablity should be understood in light of Fell's claim that "Music is a technology for constructing an experience of time". Here, in musical form, Fell aims to disrupt familiar temporal divisions and structures; and investigate non-repetitive musical process.
MARK FELLUL8CD Editions Mego eMEGO 111Release date: December 15http://www.editionsmego.comhttp://www.markfell.com
Written and recorded in Whitby, York and Rotherham (UK) during summer 2010 by Mark Fell.Mastered at Dubpates and Mastering Berlin in 2010 by Lupo.
Part 1: The Occultation of 3C 273Using 32 operator frequency modulation synthesis conÞgured in 16 pairs of operator and modulator. Frequency, modulation ratio and amount determined by linear interpolation between two spatial extremes, with further interpolation over variable temporal divisions. Panned at equal positions around the circumference of a circle using high order ambisonics. First implemented for the DVD 'Attack on Silence' (Line Records 2008) and developed for the cassette release 'Thunder Bollocks' with Evol (Alku 2009). The compositions here also feature modiÞed Roland TR707 and Linn kick drum samples.Tracks 1 to 5; durations 5:37, 7:26, 3:05, 1:51 and 3:11.
Part 2: Vortex StudiesWith 2, 4 or 8 channel rectangular waveforms with variable pulse width subject to frequency modulation from syncronised sine functions with variable phase offsets. Initally implemented with syncronised blue light at Algorithm, Glade (Thatcham 2008) with further presentations at Enjoy (Leeds 2008), Centre d'Art Santa Mònica, Sonar (Barcelona 2008), Three Pieces For Unattended, Somewhat Attended and Attended Computer (ShefÞeld 2008), Avoid (Leeds2009), Three Neurocognitive Approaches To The Formation Of Cross-Modal Objecthood (Rotherham 2009) Sonic Materialities (ShefÞeld 2010) and as Supersymmetry at Matter-Space-Motion (Elsecar 2010). Here with percussion synthesis.Tracks 6 to 12; durations 8:00, 2:39, 3:42, 1:22, 12:53, 0:33 and 3:39.
Part 3: Acids In The Style of Rian TreanorTracks 13 to 19; durations 1:06, 2:06, 2:44, 2:30, 2:03, 1:56 and 5:06.
And Track 20 Death of Loved One 3:34
This project takes its name from the Celestion UL8 speaker. My older brother bought a pair of these when i was starting comprehensive school, and between his 10cc and Supertramp records I Þrst encountered very loud electronically synthesized sound. I soon noticed a pattern emerging in my musical tastes which excluded guitars or drums. Instead i favoured almost exclusively the electronic textures and rhythms of The Human League, Fad Gadget and other synthesiser based music of that period. I was quite curious about this prejudice and would try to work out why Kraftwerk sounded so much better than a rock band of the time. Since then my interest was in the texture of synthetic sound - there was something much more beautiful (and perhaps more emotionally charged) about a sustained square wave than any guitar solo. Soon I began search out and replay sections of music which dropped to a single sound - these for some reason were the best. This interest increased when, a few months later, my parent's next door neighbour (a technician in the electronics department at ShefÞeld University) let me borrow his analogue synthesiser on semi-permanent loan. And a few months after that I managed to convince my dad to buy me a cheap second hand dr55 drum machine. Many years later Mat Steel and i used the UL8 speakers, now relegated to an attic in a rented house, to work on some early unreleased 12" projects. Finally (around 2005) my brother gave in to demand and let me have the speakers which now sit in my front room. Although these are of little use in a studio context, they still provide an adequate and often rewarding listening experience.
NICOLAS BERNIERstrings.linesCD Crónica 053http://www.cronicaelectronica.orghttp://www.nicolasbernier.com
Created between September 2008 and February 2010 in the artist's studioViola da gamba: Pierre-Yves MartelViolin: Chris BartosMastered by MC. Cover art by urban9
strings.lines came to life from an obsession for old and forgotten object-matter and the desire to produce music that exists in between the new and the old. The starting point to the composition of this work were acoustic tuning forks. In 2007 Nicolas Bernier became fascinated with this object/instrument of particularly beautiful design, and started a collection of all the different kinds of tuning forks he could find. Some of these reached 21Hz, near the lower-limit of human hearing, some others produced extremely high frequencies, all of them became tools and instruments for improvisation through electroacoustic transformation, in a process of discovery. These improvisations were at the heart of a composition stage that was developed for almost two years. At the heart of the project was a state of mind leaning towards the restraints imposed by the tuning forks.
The "lines" in the title originates from here: from the constant pitches imposed by the tuning forks. They produce sounds that are perceptively close to sine waves, graphically represented by lines or sinusoids, the elementary sounds of electronic music and obviously the perfect musical object to draw a music around the boundary of electronic and instrumental music. The tuning fork is also a symbol of centuries of occidental music making that culminate with western tonal music, and the preservation of that symbolism was an important part of the second stage of the composition process, involving two string players, Pierre-Yves Martel on viola da gamba and Chris Bartos on violin. During the recording sessions, the instrumentalists were requested to play close to a single pitch, exploring the wood, the attacks and the resonant qualities of their instruments, while following some of the motives that had already been composed with the forks. The pieces presented in this edition are studio compositions of layers from the two stages of the work, blending both worlds while trying to keep a sense of the original materiality and timbres, but not refraining from using other sounds and sources whenever necessary.
NICOLAS BERNIERusure.paysageLP hrönir hr7963Release date: February 19http://www.hronir.dehttp://www.nicolasbernier.com
usure.paysage combines the strongest particles of Bernier's kaleidoscopic oeuvre: an expressive mix of lively field recordings, tiny and massive electronics and sparkling relocations. The docker barks out aloud, the little insect crawls through the 19th century woodworker's atelier, forgotten voices vanish and the rest is no silence. This is truly some of the finest musique concrète ever to be released on vinyl - very charming.
Nicolas Bernier: electroacoustic artist, surround sound composer, occasional curator, old typewriter aficionado and sandcastle manufacturer. Careless about aesthetic tags, Bernier navigates through live electronics, installations, musique concrète, art video, performance, music for dance, theatre and cinema. In the midst of this eclecticism, his artistic concerns remain constant: the balance between the cerebral and the sensual, and between organic sound sources and digital processing. He is the founder of the sound art microorganism Ekumen, member of the media art organization Perte de Signal and the art director of Réseaux, a major Canadian electroacoustic concert producer. His works have been awarded or broadcast in festivals around the world including ZKM, Transmediale, Prix Ars Electronica, Akousma, Mutek and DotMov.
PIIPTSJILLINGWurdskriemeLP/CD Experimedia EXPLP013Release date: December 13http://www.experimedia.nethttp://piiptsjilling.wordpress.com
On their second full-length, supergroup Piiptsjilling set out to both deepen and roughen up the pastoral and peaceful sound of their 2008 debut release. A coherent unit formed by guitar & poetry duo JAN and ROMKE KLEEFSTRA as well as Machinefabriek's RUTGER ZUYDERVELT and Soccer Committee's MARISKA BAARS, the band delineate increasingly dark lyrical textures resonating with nocturnal atmospheres and tactile sound-operations on guitar, pedals and various looping devices. Building on patient and immersive improvisations and working with both sonorous drones and ghostly micronoises, "Wurdskrieme", which translates to "Cry of Words", moves at a dream-pace, substituting linear logic with a brushwood of metaphors and emotional abstractions. The underlying feeling of a subcutaneous tension is further accentuated by Jan Kleefstra's expressionist poetry delivered in the language of his native Friesland, a province in the far North of the Netherlands. Contrasting serene soundscapes like opener "Unkrud" with more tranquil moments featuring acoustic instrumentation ("Wurch"), the result spans up a sonic space that not only represents an evolution from their earlier work, but also takes them far beyond traditional categories and conventions.
Words by Jan KleefstraMusic by Mariska Baars, Romke Kleefstra and Rutger ZuyderveltRecorded at Studio Landscape, March 6/7, 2010, by Jan Switters and Koos van der VeldeMixed and edited by Rutger ZuyderveltMastered by Taylor DeupreeTranslations by Willem Groenewegen
SKY BURIALKiehtanCD Lens Records LENS0105http://www.lensrecords.comhttp://www.myspace.com/skyburial23
Kiehtan marks Michael's 40th appearance on recorded format since 2004. This disc focuses on pure ambient drift and aural bliss drawing influence from the ambient masters of the 70's. Kiehtan features a sonic reconstruction by Mark Spybey (Dead Voices On Air, Beehatch, Reformed Faction) from Sky Burial source material and was mastered by James Plotkin (Khanate, OLD - mastering for Sunn O))), Earth, Isis). Kiehtan is a limited edition pressing of 500 copies.
Kiehtan is the name of the "creator spirit" of the Wampanoag tribe, the original inhabitants of Cape Cod where Michael lives. "Wampanoag" translates to "People of the first light" as Cape Cod is one of the first places in the continental United States to experience sunrise. Kiehtan is a divine spirit with no human form or attributes including gender. This CD is inspired by solitary evenings under autumn's receding light in the dunes and pine forests of outer Cape Cod where this spirit still seethes and breathes.
Sky Burial was formed in 2006 as a conduit for the ambient/industrial sonic meandering of MICHAEL PAGE (Fire In The Head). Having well established himself in the power electronics/noise field with FITH, Michael realized he wanted to move into a musical direction that offered him more freedom of expression and room for sonic experimentation. Although initially inspired by early "industrial" music projects, electronic/ambient acts of the 70's and 80's, and Krautrock, the music of Sky Burial continues to evolve and blur genre boundariescreating its own version of "ambient" music, often citing esoteric and mythological subject matter as a muse.
Michael records in a stubbornly "old school" manner preferring to record the majority of source material to four-track cassette resulting in a more raw recording. Compositions are mixed and edited from various session materials with no pre-conceived notion of a final form, thereby letting the source material itself dictate the musical flow resulting in completed recordings which are largely improvised.
SOHRABA Hidden PlaceLP Touch # Tone 42http://www.touchmusic.org.uk/sohrab/mp3s/nrk.mp3
Available as LP vinyl - 6 tracks - 40:20and digital download version through Kudos
Mastered by Denis BlackhamCut by Jason @ TransitionPhotography by Sohrab & Jon Wozencroft
Sohrab was born in Tehran in 1984. He was seven when the Iran-Iraq war ended. His name, from an old poem called 'Shahname' [en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shahnameh], means 'rouge water', which can also mean 'blood'. He started a punk band with his brother and a friend, which lasted about two years before splitting. Sohrab is totally isolated in Iran, with little or no connection to what is happening there. Sohrab is, like so many, displaced within his own country and occupies a similar internal cultural isolation. This is suggested by Jon Wozencroft's imagery and artwork; looking in through shattered glass and an air of menace underneath the surface. Sohrab used Reason 3, his midi controller (R)evolution UC-16 and a sampler, recorded live through Ambrosia recording software. He also integrates field recordings and spoken word into his soundscapes.
You can listen to his contribution to TouchRadio, "Tanhayi - Live in Tehran", recorded in October 2009: touchradio.org.uk/touch_radio_45_sohrab.html
An Iranian musician who brings out an excellent album on the ultrahip London label Touch? That is great news of course! Sohrab is the alias of Sohrab Karimi Asli from Teheran. Curious as we are, we went looking for him immediately. We found him in Berlin, just when deportation was hanging above his head as a sword of Damocles. From his temporary residence, we received this hair-raising and alarming message: "But i must inform you, at the moment im facing the possibility of deportation from europe.. In case you don't hear from me soon, I'm being in deportation prisons of germany.. But i hope it won't happen and i can keep in touch." A couple of days we were on the chatbox with Sohrab. [Peter Wullen]
The complete article by Peter Wullen can now be read on www.apache.be
YUI ONODERA & CELERGeneric CityCD Two Acorns 2A01http://www.critical-path.infohttp://thesingularwe.org/celer
Yui Onodera: environmental sound, electronics, guitar, violin, piano, and musical boxDanielle Baquet-Long and Will Long: mixing board, cello, violin, piano, environmental sound, theremin, electronics, and ocarina Photography by Danielle Baquet-Long Design by mondiiMastered by Taylor DeupreeRecorded and composed in 2007-09
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 About the labelFounded in 2010, Two Acorns is a publisher of different types of art forms ranging from music, to books, to film, and is combined with original packaging, with a focus on sentimentality in all its forms, new and old, shelved and worn, perfect and new. These are 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 aCD player starting, or the consistently changing nature of our memories. For Danielle Baquet-Long
― scott seward, Wednesday, 24 November 2010 17:06 (thirteen years ago) link
AARON ISLAMB / HAUSCHKACover Up10"/DL Care in the Community CARE005http://www.careinthe.comhttp://www.myspace.com/careinthecommunityrecordings
Aaron Islamb is rumoured to be the alter ego of one of the song writers and band members of The Bees. Cover Up is the second release from Aaron Islamb who, referring to himself as "a puritan in sonic formulas", presents an unrelenting, frenetic and infectious track of heavy dancefloor minimalism.
Rather than requesting a remix care in the community recordings selects artists of interest to interpret the A side to produce an original version and in effect a double A side record. For Cover Up the label commissioned Hauschka, the German composer who came to attention for his prepared piano performances (and has recently released his third album on Fat Cat's 130701 imprint) to produce a work in counterpoint to Islamb's. The result is a stirring piece that appears to start almost accidentally in its fragility, foregrounding the uncertainties of the prepared piano technique, but slowly develops an intensity and weight as purposeful as the A side. The release will be available on limited heavyweight 10" vinyl as well as download.
ARTURAS BUMSTEINASPastoralDL Crónica 055http://www.cronicaelectronica.orghttp://www.bumstein.com/art
Arturas Bumsteinas is a composer of acoustic and electronic music (graduated from the Lithuanian Academy of Music and Theater), the founder of international ensembles Works and Days, Quartet Twentytwentyone and a visual artist represented by Antje Wachs Galerie in Berlin. He lives and works in Vilnius and Warsaw. Crónica is very proud to present this new release, Pastoral in its unlimited series of editions.
01 Boletus Satanas (9:39)Laimonas Masevi?ius: tuba.Recorded in the studio of Lithuanian Composers' Union in January of 2010.Once I was picking mushrooms in thick Polish forest and i found this mushroom called Borowik Szatana. Encounters with Satan always leave long lasting impressions. A bit later I came up with the concept of Polish Roulette which is simple - "go to the forest and eat the first mushroom you find there". This piece sounds better if sped up substantially. Dedicated to Krzysztof Gutfranski.
02 Dough (16:48)Lina Lapelyte: violin; Tuto Ensemble: kankles, birbyne, barskutis.This piece was recorded live in an open-air concert which celebrated City of Vilnius as an European capital of culture in June of 2009. If listened on high volume (and preferably on headphones) then in the beggining it's possible to hear faintly somebody saying "?, nachuj" and in the end, together with the applause, one can hear an audience member saying "A?i? u? pabaig?, blet". Let it never be translated into english language but rather kept preserved as an unique stratum of our complex cultural heritage. This piece is dedicated to Birut? Asevi?i?t? who commissioned me to write it.
03 Violin, Viola and Untitled (6:27)Lina Lapelyte: violin; Kestutis Pleita: viola.Recorded live in Mari? Klavyrai festival in Klaip?da in October of 2003. This piece could be approached as an exercise in several kinds of superimpositions in micro and macro levels. Micro level is taken care by computer which multiplies the same layers of extremely short loops and superimposes them on top of each other - this way producing minimalistic variations of timbre. Macro level is intended for harmonic explorations which is carried out by string instruments who play the canon of identical harmonic series. This piece is dedicated to an empty room.
04 Widna (23:23)Seth Josel: guitar; Eva Zöllner: accordion.Recorded in "Studio 10 0 10" in Berlin (sound engineer Jacopo Carreras) in December of 2009. "il Widna" means "an ear" in Maltese language. In Polish it means "bright". Somehow this reminds me of the title of my recent exhibition called "Transparent Ears". But this long piece is in no way transparent nor related to my visual arts. Dedicated to Miguel Carvalhais.
BEN GWILLIAM / JASON ZEHBrombron 16: DotsCD Korm Plastics KP 3036http://www.kormplastics.nlhttp://www.thosesoundsbetween.co.uk
Korm Plastics is proud to present the sixteenth release in the Brombron series. Originally a co-production between Staalplaat and Extrapool, it is now hosted by co-curator Frans de Waard. In the year 2000 Frans de Waard and Extrapool started the Brombron project. Two or more musicians become artists in residence in Extrapool, an arts initiative in Nijmegen, The Netherlands, with a fully equipped sound recording studio. These artists can work in a certain amount of time on a collaborative project; a project they always wished to do, but didn't have the time or the equipment to realize.
Jason Zeh, a magnetic cassette tape composeur and xerox artist from Bowling Green Ohio, creates music that successfully combines elements of drone, electro-accoustic and noise. Zeh's work relies on the creation of intimate social encounters through the use of extreme quiet punctuated by steep inclines toward moments of extreme loudness. Live shows combine a mixing of previously recorded source sounds with real time manipulation of cassette tape through the use of modified tape decks and dismantled cassettes. The relationship Zeh has to the cassettes and tape decks used to record and manipulate the sounds is not unlike that of many laptop artists in terms of the meticulous sculpting of sound that is employed in order to create emotionally charged and aesthetically dynamic compositions without the stifled and overly technical feel of some electronic music produced by computers.
Ben Gwilliam (b. 1980) is a sound artist active in the fields of sound installation, curation, improvising new music and performance. He describes his practice as drawing attention to those sounds between things, be it objects, spaces or recordings. It is these sounds and their contexts that reveal visual and musical processes of listening and looking. It is from this curiosity about sound-making/recording/finding and how abstract/descriptive that sounds can be, that he makes parallels and similarities unpicking the relationship between those uncovered sounds and moments of primary experience. In 2004 he was awarded an AHRB Postgraduate Award. In 2007 he was nominated for the Jerwood Artist platform Prize. His work has been featured on Resonance FM, and has work in several CD and Publication Releases. His has performed with artists such as Claus van Bebber, Espen Jensen, Helmut Lemke, Lee Patterson, and Jez Riley French, Rhodri Davies, Phil Durrant, Matt Davis, Hainer Woermann, Chris Heenan, Michael Vorfeld, and Sascha Demand. Since 2004 he has curated several experimental music and sound exhibitions including 're:sound' 2005, UK, 'Sculpting with Air' Liverpool Biennial 2006 (co-curated with Lee Patterson), 'then the silence increased', 2007 UK (co-curated with Helmut Lemke). In 2008 he was Artist in Residence at Artist Unlimited, Bielefeld, DE. This CD contains music that was created using sounds 'derived from prepared tape, related machinery and othe magnetic sourcing including posting, freezing and puncturing tape'. Mastering by Jos Smolders.
CHARLES-ERIC CHARRIERSilverLP/CD Experimedia EXLP014http://label.experimedia.nethttp://www.myspace.com/charlesoldman
On Silver, multi-instrumentalist Charles-Eric Charrier directs his collaborators Ronan Benoit, and Cyril Secq, through a lesson in tension and release. Dismissing genre boundaries Silver deftly plants its roots on a plateau in a strange land somewhere between the worlds of psychedelic post-rock, electronic, improv jazz and modern composition. Over the course of five movements, Charrier and company illustrate how to successfully kaleidoscope an eclectic range of influences into a cohesive and unique whole. From the smokey sludged psych rock blues jam of "21 Echoes", the jazz lounge pitter-pat of brushed snares and tapped hats coalesced with analog synth and brass vibrations on "12 From", to the plucked and bowed folk strings and hand drums of "9 Moving", Silver draws a new musical blueprint for the post-everything generation.
Charles-Eric Charrier, half of the duo MAN alongside Rasim Biyikli known most recently for their 2005 album Helping Hand on Sub Rosa, has recorded multiple albums, film scores, and collaborative projects with painters and choreographers. He also writes and records solo as Oldman, and has collaborated with numerous artists and musicians including Sid Toure (Thrill Jockey), Mathias Delplanque (Lena), Rob Mazurek, Jérôme Paressant (abraxas projekt), The Clogs, Orange Blossom, Rhys Chatham, Teamforest, The Floating Roots Orchestra, and Le Coq.
All songs by: Ronan Benoit, Charles-Eric Charrier, Cyril SecqDirections in music by: Charles-Eric CharrierRecorded & Mixed by: Cyril SecqProduced by: Cyril Secq and Charles-Eric CharrierMastered by: Taylor DeupreePhotography & Design by: Jeremy Bible
COHIIRON2LP/CD Editions Mego eMEGO 114Release date: February 11http://www.editionsmego.comhttp://post-pop.org
all music by Ivan Pavlov/COHwritten and recorded 2010except WAR END WAR: written 1988/recorded 2010
electric guitars recorded may 2009 at the studios of Music Research Centre, Univ. of York, England with professional assistance and generous support from Tony Myatt, Pete, Oli and Theo.
acoustic pieces in RED SQUARE, WAR END WAR and SATSUGAII composed and recorded in the USSR between 1988-1990, extracted from a cassette tape with kind help of Andrej "D.A.O." Kolesov
Vinyl cut by Rashad Becker at Dubplates & Mastering, Berlin, November 29th, 2010.
in memoriam:Satoshi KonPeter Christopherson
It would be too easy to simply call IIRON the COH metal album, as it goes way beyond that. True, this album of classic Pavlov stompers contains more than its fair share of guitars both acoustic and electric, yet it still maintains that sense of power and purpose through electronic music which stands out as the COH 'raison d'être'.Coming 11 years after IRON, which also tackled the sound of rock with alarming results, the new album features not only recent guitar tracks recorded at Music Research Centre at York University, but also recordings made during Soviet era Russia, which refer to Pavlov's underground music activities in the early 80-ies when making or even consuming of "metal music" was forbidden.IIRON is a powerful, well executed electronic rock record, with just a dash a humour to keep it from becoming pompous, as so much of that kind of music can be sometimes.Packaged in a 4 panel digipack for CD, and lavish gatefold for the vinyl, with stunning artwork by Stephen O'Malley.
HAIL TO WORLD PEACE AND DEATH TO FALSE METAL
EVIL MADNESSSuper Great LoveLP Editions Mego DeMEGO 018Release date: March 1http://www.editionsmego.comhttp://www.myspace.com/evil666madness
BJ NilsenJóhann JóhannssonHelgi ThórssonSigtryggur Berg SigmarssonPétur Eyvindsson
Cover artwork by Helgi ThórssonRecorded and mixed 2007 - 2010Cut at Dubplates & Mastering, December 2010.This album is dedicated to Franz GrafEdition of 500
Evil madness has been described as the Traveling Wilburys of Icelandic electronic music. Behind the name stand men like Petur Eyvindsson, Johann Johannsson, Sigtryggur Berg Sigmarsson, Helgi Thorsson and BJ Nilsen (who is not "quite" Icelandic but was born in a country "very" near Iceland).
This album, "Super Great Love", presented by Editions Mego will be their 4th album since the time their formation in 2006. Now for those of you reading who know the music of Evil Madness will know for sure that this band does what ever they damn well pleases when it comes to making the music. With "Super Great Love" they want to get people in the "good" mood for the fresh new year and present them with some upbeat Icelandic "Disko" tunes.
EVOLRave Slime12" Alku 103http://alkualkualkualkualkualkualkualkualkualku.orghttp://personal.ilimit.es/perkele/evol/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/About
Written by STEPHEN SHARP and ROC JIMENEZ DE CISNEROS, RAVE SLIME is a double blow of brutalist composition and raw electronic music. The 12" revisits the classic hoover sound [1] in a Radical Computer Music [2] style, that moves it away from any kind of foreseeable dance floor. The hoover sound, popularized by many rave music productions since the early nineties, comes from a preset patch for the Roland Juno Alpha synthesizer called "What The?", engineered by Eric Persing in 1986 after he became Chief Sound Designer for the Roland Corporation [3].
Although the two sides of RAVE SLIME stem from the same idea, they were composed using different methods: a digital synthesizer and custom-written generative software. True to the computer music for hooligans motto that has been behind the EVOL project since the latenineties, the record approaches the iconic "What The?" sawtooth frenzy through various structural devices. Side A features orderly, ascending-descending note arrays to build a superposition of monolithic waves, while side AA (developed from an installation exploring multistability [4]) uses symmetry-breaking lattices that create a mesh of self-similar patterns.
NOTES[1] The original settings for Eric Persing's "What The?" patch for the Roland JunoAlpha 1/2/MK-S50 are as follows: DCO RNG = 32'; DCO LFO = 00; DCO ENV = 127; DCO ENV = D\; DCO AFT = 09; DCO BEND = 12; PULSE = 03; SAWTOOTH = 03; SUB = 05; SUB LEVL = 03; NOIS LEVL = 01; PW / PWM = 127; PWM RATE = 102; HPF FREQ = 02; VCF FREQ = 127; VCF RESO = 00; VCF ENV = 127; VCF ENV = I\-; VFF LFO = 114; VCF KEYD = 11; VCF AFTR = 15; VCA LEVL = 118; VCA ENV = I\-; VCA AFTR = 14; CHORUS = ON; CRS RATE = 92; LFO RATE = 46; LFO DELY = 64; ENV T1 = 00; ENV L1 = 68; ENV T2 = 44; ENV L2 = 127; ENV T3 = 41; ENV L3 = 127; ENV T4 = 00; ENV KEYB = 09.
[2] The term Radical Computer Music was coined by the Danish/Faroese musician/artist Parl Kristian Bjørn Vester, aka Goodiepal or Gæoudjiparl van den Dobbelsteen, whilst a teacher in composition at the Royal Academy of Music in Aarhus, Denmark, between 2004-2008. (From en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radical_Computer_Music).
[3] "When the Roland MSQ700 (the first MIDI sequencer) was introduced, no-one at Roland could figure out how to use it. Because of all the time we had at the store, we figured out a lot of weird tricks. Like if you played the parts from a Jupiter 6 and powered up the MSQ700 last in the MIDI chain, you could get a multitimbral, multitrack sequence playing. I know that doesn't sound like a big deal now, but at the time it was pretty mind-blowing. So we put these awesome demos together with every instrument in the entire store MIDI'd together. Anyway, Roland started sending their employees down to our store to get trained on their own gear by us. Tom Beckman (then President of Roland US) came down to see what was going on, and I gave him the big demo and he dug it. He asked me to demo at the '84 NAMM show and then I was in." (Eric Persing interviewed by Kevin McDaniels on Sound On Sound). "This is so totally amazing to me! I made those original 'Hoover' factory sounds (like 'What The?') for the original Roland Alpha Juno back in 1986 as basically JOKE patches. (They made the Japanese guys laugh!). To see them turned into a cult with their own websites and serious hard house fans is beyond bizarre! You never know what will catch on" (Persing on the unanticipated popularity of the "What The?" patch. www.kvraudio.com/forum/archive/instruments/2002-04/1914.php).
[4] "Hands in the air, reach for the laser", for 12-channel diffusion system. Diapason Gallery, New York, March 2010.
FALTY DLYou Stand Uncertain2LP/CD Planet Mu Records ZIQ286Release date: March 14http://www.planet.muhttp://www.myspace.com/faltydl
When Falty DL released his 2009 debut on Planet Mu, "Love is a Liability", it was notionally tied to dubstep, despite not sounding much like the sound at the time. A combination of irregular but still funky drums, bass and light musical surfaces, it stood out and was recognised for it's distinctiveness - this was a native New Yorker interpreting his love of British dance music from a unique angle.
After spending 2010 honing his craft and working on singles for a bunch of different labels and remixes for the likes of The XX, Mount Kimbie and Anthony Shakir, Falty DL, born Drew Lustman, pulls his skills and experience together for this new LP; "You Stand Uncertain".
Things have evolved a lot on "You Stand Uncertain". >From the very beginning the listener is plunged into his new focus on layered dusty atmospheres. Opener "Gospel Of Opal (ft. Anneka)" is also his first work with a vocalist.
Although at times it's anchored in the familiar basslines and rhythm science of uk dance, as heard in his previous material, on this album it's clear that Drew has been soaking up some of his native city's musical past such as disco, house and hip hop. With this in mind the album moves at different tempos, the ghosts of dance music past are evoked but never allowed to take over, giving the whole album a decayed, dreamy abstraction that allows for comparisons with the current crop of 'chillwave' producers, were it not for the tight drums and basslines. Check the way "The Pacifist" moves between passages of melody and waves of synth over distorted breaks, or "Open Space's" use of slowed down rave euphoria and double speed 808 drums.
The crisp 2-step of "Brazil", the first of two songs featuring UK-based singer Lily MacKenzie sweetens the atmosphere, followed by "Eight Eighteen Ten" which builds watery melodies over chopped up breaks. The album gets slower still with the steamy, bittersweet melodies of "It's All Good". The spaced out "You Stand Uncertain" marks a mid-point and a breathing space, before the album gears up with the ravey synths and jungle percussion of "Lucky Luciano", the slow burning stripped down house of "Voyager" into the duo of abstract 2-step tracks "Tell Them Stories" and "Play with my Heart" before the tempo drops for the ultimate track "Waited Patiently (ft. Lily MacKenzie)" which combines her chopped vocals with jazzy piano keys and a punchy technoid melody.
KK NULL / Z'EVBrombron 17: Extra Time, Extra TimeCD Korm Plastics KP 3038http://www.kormplastics.nlhttp://www.kknull.comhttp://www.myspace.com/rhythmajik
Korm Plastics is proud to present the seventeenth release in the Brombron series. Originally a co-production between Staalplaat and Extrapool, it is now hosted by co-curator Frans de Waard. In the year 2000 Frans de Waard and Extrapool started the Brombron project. Two or more musicians become artists in residence in Extrapool, an arts initiative in Nijmegen, The Netherlands, with a fully equipped sound recording studio. These artists can work in a certain amount of time on a collaborative project; a project they always wished to do, but didn't have the time or the equipment to realize.
Since almost forty years z'ev belongs to the absolute fore front of experimental music. Playing percussive music he gained a lot of attention, but in more recent years he returned to working with electronic tape manipulation. One aspect is working with other people, such as Francisco Lopez or Kasper Toeplitz. In his collaboration with KK Null he plays electronic drums.
KK Null (born Kazuyuki Kishino in Tokyo) is a Japanese experimental multi-instrumentalist. He began as a guitarist, but soon added composer, singer, electronic musician and drummer to his list of talents, and also studied with the Butoh workshop. Null joined the noise/progressive rock band Ybo2 in 1984, issuing several albums and EPs throughout the remainder of the decade. Later he founded more bands, such as Absolute Null Punkt (aka ANP) and his most well known one, the self-described "progressive hardcore trio" Zeni Geva. From that point he also produced albums for other artists, created his own record label (Nux Organization), played live and collaborated on albums with many other musicians, including John Zorn, Yona-Kit, Steve Albini, Boredoms, Seiichi Yamamoto, Jim O'Rourke, Merzbow, Fred Frith, James Plotkin, Keiji Haino, Otomo Yoshihide, Jon Rose, Atau Tanaka, Zbigniew Karkowski, Z'EV, Alexei Borisov, Earth. Noisegate and Philip Samartzis, as well as supporting such artists as Sonic Youth and Mike Patton on tour.
MARKUS REUTERTodmorden 513CD Hyperfunction 003http://www.hyperfunction.orghttp://markusreuter.bandcamp.com
"Markus Reuter's Todmorden 513 is a complex work of algorithmic composition of an hour's duration. Given Reuter's linguistic background, one might think that the title is an exercise in existential dread in German as "Tod" means "death" and "morden" means "to murder" - forming a truly grim portmanteau.
However, the title's sourcing is actually of a small town in northern England, northeast of Manchester. 513 refers to its construction: it is a continuous movement and sequence of five hundred and thirteen harmonies and triads generated by a combinatorial compositional technique of Reuter's own design.
The notes of each harmony or triad is then fed back into the same algorithm, resulting in a progression of chords and note clusters of highly varied density, ranging from simple two note harmonies to dense twelve note chords spread across several octaves. Starting on an A flat, the sequences of pitches form a kind of melodic or thematic line throughout. The rhythms of the performing instrumental trios and quartets were derived from the chord sequences themselves, which were looped across the whole piece, mapped to the notes of each chord, then mixed together.
From there it was split into three or four independent voices respectively. The result is a shifting set of harmonic densities -- at times quite spare -- ranging from a harmony of two instruments to other moments of thick and lush instrumentation." - Henry Warwick
Personnel: Markus Reuter, Tobias Reber, Philipp Quaet-Faslem, Karina Bellmann, Uta Maria Lempert, Wiebke Tschöpe, Juliane Gilbert, Ulrich Pollmann, Frieder Zimmermann, Robert Rich
NATALIE BERIDZE / TBAForgetfulnessCD/DL Monika Enterprise 72Release date: March 4http://www.monika-enterprise.dehttp://www.myspace.com/tusiaberidzehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ffMZMya9Uhs
Georgian musician Natalie Beridze aka TBA first came to monika through her contribution to Volume 1 of the popular 4 Women No Cry series. Now we are delighted to be working with this exciting young artist again especially as the CD marks the first release with our new distribution partner, Morr Music. Following a 5 track EP in summer we are proud to present Natalie Beridze's stunning new full-length album, Forgetfulness.
While these are her first solo releases on monika, Tusia Beridze is certainly no newcomer. With output on labels such as Max Ernst, her ongoing collaboration with the Goslab collective and most recently a release on Laboratory Instinct, TBA's sound is both rich in texture and depth of vision. From the industrial beats of What about things like bullets to the club friendly electro-ambience of "The Face We Choose To Miss" and the intricate electronica of "This isn't right, this isn't even wrong", the cutting edge production gains warmth and a personal touch throughout from the presence of TBA's voice. As well as Natalie's phenomenal solo compositions Forgetfulness contains a collaboration with Academy Award winning Japanese muscian, composer and pianist RYUICHI SAKAMOTO, the meditative "Blue Shadow". The album invokes harsh winter wastelands and a depth of emotion that is sadly lacking in much of the pop we hear. Two prime examples are "In The White" and "Silently" - which are nothing short of breathtaking. This fine album ends with the cryptically titled "Half This Game Is Ninety Percent Mental" an epic instrumental ambient odyssey.
Natalie Beridze's music is captivating and yet at the same time leaves enough room to let the listeners' imagination run off in its own direction. Forgetfulness is a journey through serious electronic soundscapes but thanks to the contant presence of her sensitive lyrics and gentle vocal tones Beridze never looses that personal touch.
ROTTERDAMCambodiaCD/DL Everest Records er_cd_044http://www.everestrecords.chhttp://www.rotterdam.pl
All tracks by RotterdamSusanne Amann: Flute, cello, electronicsMichael Klauser: Acoustic guitar, electronicsRecorded and mixed by Kassian TroyerMastered by Stefan Betke
Cambodia is the title of the debut album of the Viennese duo rotterdam and is the result of a ten-year-long experimental process. Far away from any conventions or traditional song arrangements, SUSANNE AMANN (cello, flute, electronics) and MICHAEL KLAUSER (acoustic guitar, electronics) create constantly pulsating sound patterns that draw their power from the continuous compression of sound elements. Their experimental and avantgardist tracks, mastered by the Berliner Stefan Betke (Scape) and Kassian Troyer, are reduced to the essential: minimalist beats and repetitive loops combine with samples and acoustics, merging into instrumental sound paintings of an extremely hypnotic, even danceable effect. Rotterdam celebrates the power of monotony, which has rarely before sounded so varied.
STEVE MACKAYSometimes Like This I TalkCD Radon 2010Release date: March 25http://www.polyglotagency.orghttp://www.stevemackay.org
The pioneering saxman from such diverse projects as The Stooges, Violent Femmes, Snakefinger, Commander Cody, and The Radon Ensemble unleashes his third solo album. This collection of songs, captured in 5 countries and with a cast of 30 conspirators, represents the most comprehensive collection of Steve Mackay's composed works.
For the last decade, Mackay has relentlessly criss-crossed the States, Europe and the world, bringing his unique musical vision to stage. His projects have included joining forces with jazz-core unit Zu, fronting his own band The Radon Ensemble, uniting with his first crew Carnal Kitchen and bar band Third Thursday, collaborating with underground luminaries like Dirt Bombs, Ovo, Smegma, Laundryroom Squelchers, Amps For Christ and Mike Watt, and sharing the spotlight with Rock 'n' Roll Hall of Fame inductees Iggy and The Stooges.
Sometimes Like This I Talk is a voyage that brings you to the forefront of Mackay's musical history and invites a multitude of his primary backing musicians along for the ride.
This latest offering from Steve Mackay, a compelling musical figure, welcomes a new era for a far too often neglected instrument: the saxophone.
STUART SWEENEY16:9CD/DL Oomff 1001http://www.oomff.com
A one man analogue orchestra producing a soundtrack that needs no film
What's that? It's the noise of 16 tireless months in the studio. It's like listening to three decades in the music industry.
It's also the sound of homemade, hand-welded percussion instruments, without an audible drum. Impressive then, that it's one man and his Mac in Northampton, UK, with two great ears.
His debut long-player, 16:9, is a soundtrack to the greatest of epics- seamless seconds of breathtaking aural vision. Fleeting sonic supernovas that inspire emotion and command attention, while blending beautifully into the natural world of the listener. Think the exploratory moments of Vangelis' Bladerunner score, here rooted in the instrumentalism so vital to the early 21st Century, and its broad definition of 'popular music'.
Bird songs can be heard, punctuating an almost visible landscape, such is the tangible depth to these compositions. Pianos fall gently into background space, as strings, synths and a host of other, often unexpected musical tools combine to create a tragic, heroic and captivating movie in the mind. A road trip on a mass scale, the sombre closing credits of Cherry Blossom Falls offer up Vienna in violin arrangements, while Kaiyu-Shiki transports you to the eponymous Japanese garden, via a thousand crystalised chimes.
Darker moments abound in Memories Lost, as decomposing tape creates a feeling of faded photography and silent, battle-scorched earth. Meanwhile, The Fire Within recounts a town springing into life on a dark winter's morning, as ambient noise becomes hook and then melody. It might seem lazy to reel off disconnected, imagined instances. But then few films have been this vivid in the landscapes and atmospheres they create.
Stuart Sweeney has spent countless hours exploring the English countryside surrounding his home and the sounds to be found, and more importantly recorded, therein. But, far from abstract, all 12 tracks offer something reminiscent of Yann Tiersen's cinematic power, blended with the electronic-experimentation of The Heritage Orchestra. And there's something wholly new too. Far from field music, this is a sublime one-man symphony.
And that's just what makes this release so inspired. Part contemporary classical, part sound art, all compelling. There's no tunes here, just stories being told, moments getting captured and emotions laid bare. All the while remaining under the control of a technically disciplined musical aficionado. Hear the tracklist individually, or hear it all as one. Either way, from beginning to end, while under Sweeney's spell, you won't be doing much else.
"I get a feel of Arvo Pärt's spiritual minimalism and touches of Glass, lovely work."Daniel Cullen -Award winning composer- Striking Media Music
"Vast cinemascapes abound, Sweeney's deftly produced compositions straddle contemporary classical and electronica with maturity and an enviable attention to detail."Martin Guttridge-Hewitt- clickmusic.com
SVEN KACIREKThe Kenya SessionsCD Pingipung 20Release date: February 21http://www.pingipung.dehttp://www.svenkacirek.dehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tbgw0oA5mzk
Pingipung presents The Kenya Sessions - an enchanting cooperative mission featuring Sven Kacirek, our experimental drummer and electronic producer, and musicians from Kenya.
The Kenya Sessions is Pingipung's second album by Sven Kacirek. It is the result of an extended visit to the country with live and fieldrec sessions which he later processed in his studio in Hamburg. Sven Kacirek plays with local Kenyan stars such as 80 year-old female vocalist Ogoya Nengo, or with Okumo Korengo, who delivers amazing patterns with his Nyatiti, a traditional string instrument. The visit was supported by the Goethe-Institut Nairobi.
It's sometimes difficult to tell the parts recorded in Kenya from those overdubbed by Sven Kacirek himself. His own compilation of Marimba, Bassdrums and brush patterns forms a musical thread that he weaves skillfully into the live sessions. At times joyfully straight ("Arsenal Aluny Vilage") at times mellow and melancholy ("Mariae", "Paperflowers").
Sven Kacirek and some of the Kenyan musicians will bring this fantastic material to international stages in the coming winter starting with 3 concerts at the Ese Festival in New York City in December.
The Linernotes by Goetz Steeger illustrate in detail the creative recording process of this record.
Sven Kacirek has a background as virtuoso jazz drummer. He studied at Drummer's Collective in New York, played several Solo-Shows at the World Drum Festival and has written books on the experimental use of electronics on the drumset. On his solo debut The Palmin Sessions (Pingipung11 2007) he presented his original ambient aesthetics made from silent patterns recorded on paper, wood, or glass surfaces: "Sven's frantic drumming is really a pure pleasure to listen to ... his instruments join together in a deeply meditative study" (Foxy Digitalis)
Arte Tracks will feature a TV documentation on the project in February/March 2011.
Sven Kacirek is available for interviews.
TAPRIKK SWEEZEEPoly12" EP/DL Zoikmusic/Musik aus Strom ZM04/MAS19.02Release date: February 2011http://www.zoikmusic.dehttp://www.musikausstrom.comhttp://www.myspace.com/taprikksweezee
Taprikk Sweezee's verspulter Gesangssound aus mehrstimmigen Soulbombast und Loop Pitches kollidiert auf der Poly EP gleich dreifach mit den wuchtigen Beats von E.A.R.L , HBO und BUSY. Die Kollaboration mit den in Frankreich, USA und Holland arbeitenden Soundbastlern strotzt vor Energie und Spielfreude.
'Newend' ist ein dampfender Hexenkessel kurz vorm überlaufen, der zu den giganto-magnetischen Beats von E.A.R.L unaufhörlich Melodie- und Soundsplitter speit.
'Volt', betäubt mit brutal berstenden Beats des Franzosen HBO und Sweezee's peitschenden Vocals, während 'Eating at the void' ein nahezu melancholischen Ton anschlägt. Die Klackernden Beat-strukturen von Bradford Johnson aka 'BUSY' und die Vocalarrangementswirken wie ein düsterer Zauber.
Mit euphorischer Schwerelosigkeit schraubt sich der Bonus Track 'Mercury' in die Tiefe, dessen gepitchte Vocalssample-Flächen über Sweezee's schweren polyrhythmsichen Beats durch eine neblig pulsierende Klanggalaxis wabern. Ein quecksilbriges Narkotikum von betäubender Schönheit.
"Taprikk Sweezee's Catchy Hooks und sein klarer warmer Gesang bringen kühl-knistrige Rauschträume zun leuchten - Begeisterung." (De:Bug)
"Taprikk Sweezee eröffnet im Neo-Soul, HipHop eine neue Sparte, die für die Zukunft noch mehr verspricht." (Raveline)
UNITED SCUM SOUNDCLASH (U.S.S.v2)Machine GunCD Soopa 2010Release date: March 25http://www.soopa.orghttp://www.polyglotagency.org
United Scum Soundclash was spawned in a depraved conjunction of Portuguese/American ingenuity by JONATHAN SALDANHA and SCOTT NYDEGGER in 2004. Their recorded works represent a previously unexplored musical realm, where genres clash and inventive production techniques have allowed rock, free jazz, electronics, eastern traditional, and experimental noise to play together on harmonious musical ground.
Machine Gun takes a cinematic approach to sound. The tracks delve into dark matters such as guns, war and the breakdown of society. The featured players come from an array of musical backgrounds with members of The Stooges, Barbez, Ovo, Soopa, Hallux, the Radon and Hop Frog collectives, and Love 666, laying waste to conventional notions of sound.
With this second volume, U.S.S. paves new roads towards the creation of a musical form devoid of any pretext, reveling in style-bending encounters of creative oddity.
After the release of Machine Gun and its lead-off single, "Sevad Kooh", The Scum will continue to give concert performances and The Saldanha/Nydegger team return to "The Bunker" to prepare the next phase in this auditory metamorphosis.
V.A.14 Tracks from Planet MuCD Planet Mu ZIQ295Release date: January 31http://www.planet.mu
To mark the start of 2011 Planet Mu release a compilation showcasing their current crop of artists. Featuring 4 exclusives, '14 Tracks From Planet Mu' reveals the depth and quality of their recent releases. Here is a bit about each artist:
Oriol is first up with the exclusive 'Solar' a beautiful shimmering track with many layered vocals. He released his album 'Night and Day' in the summer of 2010 to great praise. The timing was right and the album perfectly reflects Oriol's musical background as a trained musician whose musicality was refreshed by the dance music he grew up with and with its summery mood it was a very timely release.
A duo from Ireland, Solar Bears released their debut album 'She was Coloured in' in late 2010. It was a chilled affair, combining prog-like, melodic instrumentation with warm analogue synths to create an album that straddled comparisons with the best of the modern cosmic disco scene and Boards of Canada simultaneously, garnering alot of attention from the hip press. Here they give us the exclusive 'To Be With Her'.
Floating Points is Sam Shepherd - creator of shimmering, soulful takes on house and techno, who released this, his first single on Planet Mu in 2009.
Tropics is a new artist on Planet Mu who released his first single in late 2010, and is currently working on his debut album. His music is airy, slo-motion house music, a kind of paired down, electronic take on cosmic disco and dream pop, i.e. it's utterly dreamy and beautiful.
The Internal Tulips is a project from Brad Laner and Alex Graham, two Planet Mu veterans who worked on their slowburning 'mislead into a field...' album, where the worlds of late period Beatles and Dennis Wilson's 'Pacific Ocean Blue' pop met delicate digital reconstruction, resulting in an album that was recognisable as pop music but with a strange disorientating modern twist.
Boxcutter is Barry Lynn's longterm project. He's released three popular albums on Planet Mu and his innovative, off-kilter music mixes live instruments and electronics in a way that predates the notion of 'post dubstep'. 'Ufonik' featuring vocals from Brian Greene is an exclusive preview from his forthcoming 2011 album.
Kuedo is Jamie Teasdale, who was one half of dubstep pioneers Vex'd. His new productions are a masterclass in melting dubstep and hip hop down and manipulating something new from the strange goo that's left behind. His productions have been idiosyncratic and daring, pushing dance floors in interesting directions.
Topaz by Ceephax Acid Crew neatly summarises two of Ceephax's greatest strengths. His ability to write complex melodies with the analogue synths he uses to make his music with and combine that with a natural freshness and attitude that counteracts any overwrought retroisms.
Slugabed remixes Starkey and Anneka's delicate 'Stars' track here in his own inimitable style, dicing the original into strange shapes and rubbing it into the dirt, ending up with a multicoloured splatterfest that's like a rollercoaster for your ears.
Falty DL's music has been developing in his New York based musical laboratory over two albums on Planet Mu . His music is indebted to Hip hop and also dubstep's bass and rhythms, but retains at its core, a glossy New York house feel, illustrated perfectly in this track.
Rossi B and Luca are long time djs and producers who've always crossed genres both in their DJ sets and also their productions, and the heavy 'E10 Riddim' shows them melding martial, Funky house-like drums with hard grimey chord stabs, to make one of the most dramatic tracks of 2010.
Swindle is one of a growing group of new producers committed to evolving Grime instrumentals, and Airmiles was an anthem for the new breed in 2010. On 'Airmiles' he mixes grime's tough riddims with an undeniable energy and good humour.
By now anyone with an interest in dance music should know about Ikonika. Her album on Hyperdub in 2010 was one of the finest dance music albums of the year, and her singles have been amazing. This track mixes powerful, nostalgic melodies with hard kicks and clap and pummelling bass.
Rudi Zygaldo's album 'Great Western Laymen' came out in the first half of 2010, a few months before a number of less interesting post dubstep auteurs with vocals started to appear on the scene, but this new and exclusive track shows off his psychedelic, dubstep inflected puzzle-pop off at it's best.
V.A.A Tasty Swarm of Small SignalsDVD Störung str008http://www.storung.com
Packaging: DVD case (audio at 24bits/48Khz)Time: DVD (audio) 182 minTracks: 91 = 13 tracks x 7 artistsCurated by: Francisco LópezAuthoring by: Álex GámezSupported by: Centro Puertas de Castilla
This audio DVD is a collaboration between "Puertas de Castilla" and the Barcelona-based audiovisual platform Störung. It contains ninety-one micro-compositions, from seven different artists from every corner of the globe, each of whom created thirteen 2-minute original pieces especially commissioned for this project.
It is both our hope and our firm commitment for this work to mark the beginning of a number of future projects, so the sound archive finds its proper place as a paramount referent for sound art, both in Spain and at an international level.
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 LOPEZ, 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's 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.
Text by S. Porrúa
V.A.Historical Recordings Volume 112" LP Gagarin GR 2013http://www.gagarinrecords.com
With almost universal access to the internet and the rise of the online archive it may appear that the entire history of recorded sound is only a few mouse clicks away. However, the 2008 discovery in a Paris archive of a phonautograph recording of Au Clair de Lune from 1860 demonstrated that fragile treasures remain to be discovered by the dedicated explorer.
Musician, composer and radio producer Felix Kubin has spent the last 5 years investigating, tracking down and collecting a stunning selection of hitherto neglected recordings from archives and private collections. With an eye for the antique curiosity, and an ear for the curious dusty beauty of abandoned transmissions from the past, he is now proud to present this first collection of historical recordings.
The recordings presented here offer many and diverse pleasures from the analogue realm. Amongst the jewels offered are chronicles of eccentric machines, alleged occult occurences on telephone exchanges, drunken whalers, marine plankton, music hall entertainers, Nazi attempts to play proto-synthesizers, uncategorisable oddities, and lost documents by originators of the avant-garde.
This deluxe vinyl only edition is presented in lavish packaging including a booklet which contains an essay by Felix Kubin, extensive notes on each track and illustrations.
― scott seward, Monday, 17 January 2011 16:13 (thirteen years ago) link
WANT!
― scott seward, Monday, 17 January 2011 16:15 (thirteen years ago) link
is this net art style copy pasta?
― peacocks, Monday, 17 January 2011 21:39 (thirteen years ago) link
i don't know!
― scott seward, Monday, 17 January 2011 21:50 (thirteen years ago) link
ALEXANDER RISHAUG - Shadow of Events CD DekorderALEXANDER TUCKER - Dorwytch LP/CD Thrill JockeyANNE-JAMES CHATON - Evénements 09 CD raster-notonANNE JAMES CHATON & ANDY MOOR - Departures 7" UnsoundsANGELICA CASTELLO - Bestiario CD MoszAREV KONN - Nospelt CD Humming ConchBARBARA MORGENSTERN - Fan No. 3 EP DL MonikaBEE MASK - Canzoni dal Laboratorio... LP SpectrumBOXCUTTER - The Dissolve LP/CD Planet MuBVDUB - Tribes at the Temple of Silence CD Home NormalCYCLO - id LP/CD raster-notonFABRIC - A Sort of Radiance LP SpectrumGURUN GURUN - Gurun Gurun CD Home NormalHANNA HARTMAN - H ^ 2 CD KomplottJOHANNES HELDEN - Title Sequence CD iDEALJOHN FOXX AND THE MATHS - Interplay CD MetamaticMERGRIM - Invisible Landscape... CD Liquid Note/MophPETERLICKER - Nicht LP Editions MegoSTEPHAN MATHIEU - A Static Place CD 12kTHYMOLPHTALEIN - Ni maître, Ni marteau LP Editions MegoWOLS - Unframe CD Pingiping
ALEXANDER RISHAUGShadow of EventsLP/CD/DL Dekorder 053Release date: March 28http://www.dekorder.comhttp://www.myspace.com/alexanderrishaug
Shadow Of Events is the third album by Oslo, Norway sound artist, producer and musician Alexander Rishaug, following his Asphodel CD Possible Landscape (2004) and 2001's Panorama on the Smalltown Supersound label.
The album was recorded over a five year period and mixed in Berlin last year. Not unlike his previous albums but apparently more refined Shadow Of Events combines a warm and organic haunting quality blended with both abstract and concrete tones and subtle digital noises.
"Most of the tracks are developed from field recordings, instrument improvisation or live sampling. Then processed and edited with the computer as the main tool. I've used sounds hailing from a dusty rhodes, a lovely guitar, a nervous radio and a lonely piano."
Rishaug's music is informed by classic minimal composers such as Steve Reich and Terry Riley as well as 90's electronica acts such as the Oval/Microstoria axis and like-minded but more obscure artists associated with the Mille Plateaux label (remember Neina?) but surely wouldn't be out of place on a contemporary label like Kranky or Type.
Repetitive and seemingly simple melodic patterns are combined with (and sometimes obscured by) decaying monlithic drone layers creating a hazy melancholic landscape slowly unfolding its beauty. Granular shoegazy tones are building up in slow-motion recalling the patient yet precise and complex drone works of Stephan Mathieu, William Basinski and Machinefabriek's Dauw album.
Alexander Rishaug was part of the improv collective ARM (1996-2006) with Arne Borgan and Are Mokkelbost (Killl) as well as collaborating with Lasse Marhaug on a Lucky Kitchen release. He has remixed metal bands Ulver and She Said Destroy as well as noise duo Jazkamer and Bjorn Hatterud and Conrad Schnitzler's recent collaboration.
ALEXANDER TUCKERDorwytchLP/CD Thrill Jockey THRILL265Release date: April 11http://www.thrilljockey.comhttp://www.myspace.com/alexanderdtucker
Tucker's sound has developed over the years since his first self-titled solo album, which featured acoustic finger-picking, experimental electronics and was released on Jackie O Motherfucker's U-Sound Archives label. He went on to combine compositional song structures, drones, layered vocals and improvisations on his 2005 album Old Fog released on ATP Recordings. This collection of spectral moods, eerie landscapes and fragile emotions was followed by Furrowed Brow (2006) and Portal (2008), where the songs and melodies became more pronounced, whilst infecting the tracks with underlying drone currents, traditional finger-picking, doom riffs and David Crosby inspired harmonies.
Three years in the making Dorwytch finds Tucker refining his song craft and introducing minimalist string movements that build into dense spiraling riffs around his distinct vocals. With varied sounds and grandiose ideas, the album marries the abstract with more traditional song structures, using layering techniques to create the illusion of an ensemble. This album is the first time Tucker has used drums, collaborating with free improv drummer Paul May to create rhythmic improvised beats. Other guests include brooding blues songwriter Duke Garwood (Fire Records), singer-songwriter Jess Bryant and multi-instrumentalist, songwriter and producer Daniel O'Sullivan (Guapo, Aethanor, Miracles, Ulver).
The album's themes run the gamut from abstract tales of the everyday, to the supernatural, to other-worldly experiences. Influenced heavily by the work of Alan Moore, songs such as "Matter" reference this directly with themes of metaphysical human/plant matter transcendence inspired by the comic Swamp Thing. Tucker is also fascinated by strange creatures conjured up in tracks such as "Half Vast" where he loops synth pulses to create blissed sonic atmospheres where organic spaceships give birth to plasmatic babies. Or pieces like "Skelator Blues" with chiming guitars and haunted vocals giving birth to skeletal beings who stalk the earth. There are some more mundane themes at work in songs such as "Mildew Stars" (the only one with traditional tunings) about childhood coastal holidays and his dad's collections of musty old books, prints and found precious things.
In addition to being a solo artist Tucker continues to collaborate with Daniel Beban in their tape loop project IMBOGODOM (also on Thrill Jockey). Other bands include GRUMBLING FUR with members of Guapo and Circle. Past collaborative projects include duets with Stephen O'Malley on his Ginnungagap side project. Tucker is also a visual artist, creating artwork for all of his album covers and side projects, including ongoing paintings drawings, and comic artwork.
Dorwytch is a beautiful collection of songs, which show Alexander Tucker at the height of his creative talents. He is capable of creating immense sounds on such a grand scale that it is astounding to realize that it is (mostly) all the work of just one man. This album will beguile and entice the listener, placing Tucker at the forefront of the experimental pop landscape.
ANGELICA CASTELLOBestiarioCD Mosz 024Release date: March 14http://www.mosz.orghttp://castello.klingt.org
Angélica Castelló: voice, paetzold contrabass- and subgreatbass recorders, piano, ukulele, toys, field recordings.
composed and mixed by Angélica Castellórecorded by Alfred Reiter, Angélica Castelló,mastered by Martin Siewertcooked between 2007 and 2010photographs: Pascal Petignatcover design: Nik Thoenen for re-p.org
Biography
Recorder player (+ electronic devices, distortions, cheap toys, feedbacks, voices) performer, curator, composer, teacher.
She studied Music in her native town (Conservatorio Nacional de México), in Montréal (Université de Montréal), Amsterdam (Conservatorium van Amsterdam) and Vienna (Konservatorium der Stadt Wien, Institut für Elektroakustische und Computer Musik).
Since 1999 she lives in Vienna where she teaches, She founded the concert series "Neue Musik in St Ruprecht" which she currently runs and where regularly musicians from Austria and abroad perform.
Castelló works interdivisionaly with dancers, writers, musicians, video artists, performers, theatre, etc.
Even if she stayed faithful to the early music (Ensemble fiori musicali), the center and heart of her work is electroacustic and New Music: Co-creation of the Ensembles low frequency orchestra, los autodisparadores (with Thomas Grill and Katharina Klement), frufru (with Maja Osojnik), cilantro (with Billy Roisz), subshrubs (with Katharina Klement, Billy Roisz und Maja Osojnik) and Chesterfield (with Burkhard Stangl). With these ensembles and other musicians such as Olga Neuwirth, Wolfgang Mitterer, Urkuma, Martin Siewert, Eva Reiter, Manrico Montero, Mario de Vega, Barbara Romen, Gunter Schneider, Juan Jose Rivas, Marina Rosenfeld, John Butcher, Okkyung Lee, dieb13, Matija Schellander, Kazu Uchihashi a.o. She performed across America and Europe.
As a composer she wrote for her own instruments (mainly Paetzold recorders with or without electronics), for ensembles (a.o. Danubia Saxophon Quartett, subshrubs, Bella Discordia) as well as for theatre and dance; she composed several electroacustic pieces. Her Music has been recorded at labels like Mosz, Ein_klang Records, Mandorla, Mikroton Records and chmafu nocords and has been presented in several radio programs.
Castelló has worked with composers like Mario Lavista, Hilda Paredes, Katharina Klement, Daniel de la Cuesta, Robert Kellner, Jorge Sanchez-Chiong, Phil Niblock, Johannes Kretz, Burkhard Stangl etc. on their works, some of which have been dedicated to her.
She has performed at important festivals such as: Salzburger Festspiele, Ulrichsberger Kaleidophon, Donau Festival, Radar, Taktlos, Interpenetration, Osterfestival, Musica Genera, lmc festival, Musikprotokoll, Numusik, Music Unlimited, Wien Modern, Cha'ak'ab Paaxil, Klangspuren, Kontraste, a.o. She worked as an artist in residence in Schrattenberg (A) and in Topolo (I).
Prices and Grants:1997 Conseil des Arts et Lettres du Quebec (Canada) Grant for abroad studies 1999 FONCA (Fondo Nacional para la Cultura y la Artes, México) - Grant for abroad studies2007 Publicity-Preis from the SKE-austro mechana in Austria (for the Ensemble Low Frequency Orchestra)2011 State Grant for Composition from the Federal Ministry of Education, Arts and Culture in Austria (bm:ukk)
ANNE-JAMES CHATONEvénements 09CD raster-noton R-N 128Release date: March 21http://www.raster-noton.net
«poor literature», that's how french sound poet anne-james chaton calls trivial worka-day texts like receipts, metro tickets, newspaper headlines and so on. he collects these kind of texts for years now, always on certain «événements» - media-related occasions which are of particular interest. chaton converts them into music. on raster-noton, he releases his événements n° 20 to 28, which deal with, among others, the investiture of barack obama or michael jackson's death.
the fragments of literature and their musical arrangement remind, due to their precision, of the performance of a human beat boxer. chaton cuts, loops and samples the spoken texts and assembles them into staccato-like and hypnotising tracks. the text itself is treated like an instrument; its repetition, its inner rhythmic condense the song and push it. apparently random chosen phrases are isolated and their original message is transformed, their former simple meaning is extended.
«poor literature» nennt der französische soundpoet anne-james chaton die banalentexte des alltags wie kassenzettel, metro-tickets, schlagzeilen etc. seit jahren sammelter diese zu bestimmten «événements» - medialen ereignissen, die von besonderem in-teresse sind. chaton verarbeitet diese zu musik. für raster-noton veröffentlicht er seineévénements n° 20 bis 28, die unter anderem die amtseinführung barack obamas oderden tod michael jacksons thematisieren.
chaton cuttet, loopt und samplet die gesprochenen texte und montiert daraus musik,deren klang stakkatohaft und hypnotisierend ist. die so vorgetragenen versatzstückeerinnern in ihrer präzision an die performance eines human beatboxer's. der text selbstwird instrumenthaft verarbeitet, seine wiederholung, seine innere rhythmik verdichtenden song, treiben ihn voran. scheinbar zufällig gewählte phrasen werden isoliert undihre ursächliche botschaft in eine andere bedeutung überführt.
ANNE-JAMES CHATON & ANDY MOORTransfer/1: Departures7" Unsounds 22Uhttp://www.unsounds.comhttp://aj.chaton.free.fr
Available now - the first release of the TRANSFER series, one of four seven inch singles by Andy Moor and Anne-James Chaton, based around the themes of transition and transportation, side A constructed from factual information and side B from fiction. Comes in a lush folded sleeve.
"Departures" takes us on a worldwide tour; The text material in "Derniere minute" (side A) is based on information found on the French Foreign Office website, indicating the level of safety and current political climate in every country for any individual travelling therein. A series of global longitudinal and latitudinal coordinates unfolds in "D'Ouest en Est" (side B), revealing the chosen route of Jules Verne in his Travel Around the World in 80 Days. On both tracks the music is a combination of guitar, electronics and dark dubstep beats and basslines combined with Chaton's unmistakably deep, resonant vocal incantations.
AREV KONNNospeltCD Humming Conch Conch 008http://www.hummingconch.nethttp://www.myspace.com/arevkonn
Through six tracks of murk, atmosphere and noise, we welcome Arev Konn to the Humming Conch fold with an album called 'Nospelt'. Arev Konn is a new experiment by Antony Harrison from London, UK, who many will recognise from his more established work as Konntinent. With previous material released through Home Normal, Sonic Pieces, Sweat Lodge Guru, Debacle, Serein and Phantom Channel, Antony's Konntinent project is well up and running; characterised by a melodic tone driven out of treated guitar and synth recordings.
His work as a sound artist has seen him share live stage with Machinefabriek, Simon Scott, Jasper TX, Ian Hawgood, Danny Norbury, Mira Calix, Boduf Songs, Library Tapes and Talvihorros, in venues such as London's Cafe Oto and Union Chapel.
With narratives that are far less immediate than a typical Konntinent record, 'Nospelt' delves through a carefully arranged bath of noise & tone. Guitars, analogue synths and hand-held recorder sounds are all treated through a magnetic tape process utilising both a 1980s cassette machine and then re-recorded via 1960s reel to reel.
Whilst Antony conceived 'Nospelt' as a self indulgent project in which he could 'noise out', this record digs deeper than being something purely non-conceptual. Piano, violin, street samples and chimes delicately detail the bed of noise and tone, adding structure as a counter balance. The whole record was made during the big freeze of January 2010 and includes found sounds by former Konntinent band member Pit Weber. The sound and visuals in 'Nospelt' have travelled well through the sub zero woods in rural Luxembourg, Berlin, London, Kyoto and Nospelt village itself. - Harry Towell
Arev Konn is the recording project of London based musician Antony Harrison. Antony has previously released two albums and a number of EP's as Konntinent. Arev Konn was conceived as an outlet for more abstract and abrasive work. Nospelt was recorded using a variety of analogue tape machines and hardware during the extended February winter of 2010.
Additional sound clip contributions were submitted by one time Konntinent member Pit Weber from his bunker studio in Nospelt, Luxembourg.
BARBARA MORGENSTERNFan No. 3DL Monika Entreprise Monika71Release date: February 11http://www.m-enterprise.dehttp://www.barbaramorgenstern.de
Following the recent release of her double CD collection, Fan No. 2, and ahead of her brand new studio album later this year Berlin composer and producer Barbara Morgenstern now releases an EP of exclusive remixes together with her own personal rendition of the powerful Prince classic Sign O The Times.
With its off-beat shuffle rhythm and funky piano riff Sign O The Times is just the toe-tapper to kick off the EP. Add to those elements Morgenstern's sumptuous pop vocals and this exclusive track is sure to be of interest to those who've already heard a live version at one of Barbara's exuberant performances where it has long been a popular encore. The first remix comes from Schneider TM who has taken the unusual remix strategy of pitching the vocals down beyond recognition to the point where is sounds like a duet. His dub" mix of The Operator, originally taken 2006 album The Grass Is Always Greener, brings an interesting twist to this terrific pop number. Monika label boss Gudrun Gut takes one of the most upbeat numbers on Fan No. 2, the exclusive track Mountainplace, and breaks it down giving it an new glitch-dub edge. While Gut is of course an accomplished composer in her own right, the recent Baustelle album with AGF being a fine example of her production, this remix shows she knows just how to resculpt a pop track for the clubsound.This solid EP comes to an eclectic close with the dancefloor disco-pop fusion of Hans Nieswandt's mix of Deine Geschichte. The original (trans. Your Story) appeared on Barbara's 2008 album entitled simply BM. Better known as a journalist, author and DJ, Nieswandt proves his impeccable knowledge of the groove with this fantastic remix and that he has just what it takes to get a room jumping.
With 5 full albums to her credit and collaborations with the likes of Bill Wells and Robert Lippok from To Rococo Rot with whom she released the Tesri album, plus side-projects such as The September Collective or her choir, the resident house band at Berlin's Haus der Kulturen, Barbara Morgenstern's output is without question prolific. The ironically titled Fan No. 3 is sure to please all fans of Barbara Morgenstern, and you'll be glad to know a brand new album is in the works.
All Songs written by Barbara Morgenstern, Published by Maobeat except "Sign Of The Times" by Prince, Published by Controversy Music
Tracklist:1. Sign Of The Times - Barbara Morgenstern2. The Operatior - Schneider TM3. Mountainplace - Gudrun Gut Stern Mix4. Deine Geschichte - Hans Nieswandt Remix
BEE MASKCanzoni dal Laboratorio del Silenzio CosmicoLP Spectrum SP 002Release date: April 4http://www.spectrumspools.com
Synthesizers, percussion, piano, tape, and voice recorded, mixed, and edited 2006-2010 in Cleveland and Philadelphia.Originally released as Gift Tapes GT026, summer 2010.Cut at by Rashad Becker at Dubplates & Mastering, January 2011.Edition of 500
In the nu-world order of neo kosmiche "one man, a synth and a looper pedal" musicians, Chris Madak rises above the rest with an astounding body of work that has been brewing since the later half of the 00's. "Canzoni dal Laboratorio del Silenzio Cosmico" is an outstanding document in the long, complex, and complicated discography that is the Bee Mask project. Acarefully and meticulously composed album that's on par with the greats of electronic's LovelyMusic or INA-GRM catalogs. Straying from the current nature of improvised "one take" synthesizer music þooding the underground electronic community today, Chris has created anelaborate narrative which captivates and inspires the listeners imagination.
"Canzoni" is a piece of work that soundtracks an event that's shrouded in mystery and beauty, at once larger than life in it's grandeur and yet somewhat cryptic.
Released as a limited edition cassette on Gift Tapes last year and now where it should be on the longest surviving recorded format.
Spectrum Spools released in association with Editions Mego
BOXCUTTERThe DissolveLP/CD Planet Mu Records ZIQ289Release date: May 13http://www.planet.muhttp://pitchfork.com/forkcast/15333-tv-troubles/
BARRY LYNN has already dropped a couple of albums that looked at dubstep from fresh angles before everyone else started to do the same. This time around, on "The Dissolve", things are different, and he's taken off in a direction that leaves dubstep behind entirely.
The title is a reference to a common video art effect, where one image gradually transitions to another. The album has an unpolished hue to it, created with keyboards, drum machine, echo and tape and sometimes even electric guitar. It sits in a world of its own, but with a stronger affinity to things like Theo Parrish's productions or hypnagogic pop than the latest fashionable electronics created on the newest software - the devil is in the details with this album, it's rich in twists and turns. "The Dissolve" opens with the spacey funk and marimba of 'Herbie Jam', into the floaty synth and bass of 'Zabriskie Disco'. Things start to take on more gravity with 'All Too Heavy', one of three tracks featuring singer Brian Greene, that mixes a hazy, dubbed out funk abstraction with Greene's effect laden vocals. 'Cold War' featuring Ken and Ryu gets heavier still, with a slow dancehall kick drum and grimy metallic claps, over which mourns a sad 8-bit melody and slip-slide strings.
'Passerby' uses an echoed 808 and a guitar melody to make something that sits at the border between Eighties funk and Steve Hillage hippy grooves, while the next track, 'TV Troubles' takes that idea even further, wrapping echoey riffs into a lo-fi funk vamp which rewinds, slows down and distorts on a tape reel, it's incredible.
Title track 'The Dissolve' is even more lo-fi; jump cut edits and a sound that's frayed around the edges, everything bathed in tape wobble and hiss which finally slows down to a stop. 'Moon Pupils' restarts the album again from an airy 2-step perspective with melodic, hollow bass sounds, echoes and reverse edits, whilst 'Factory Setting' mixes off-key metallic synths with a bassline and funky galloping drums, which gives the album a rare moment of darkness. 'Allele' brings things into the open again, building from echoey drums into a tight Juke influenced drum pattern, before adding a vocal that hints at old school hardcore, all wavering chords and drops, before the whole thing finally resolves into a restrained but ravey breakbeat. 'Topsoil' mixes a gliding synth melody with hazy synth stabs and dusty drums, before 'Little Smoke Remix', collaboration with Kab Driver, wraps hard offbeat drums in cascading synth arpeggios.
The album ends in the broken funk of 'Ufonik', and by then you definitely get the feeling, as an album, you've been transported and dropped off somewhere else entirely.
BVDUBTribes at the Temple of SilenceCD Home Normal homen023http://www.homenormal.comhttp://www.bvdub.org
A couple of years ago now, a mutual friend (the lovely Mike of Smallfish and Remote_ fame) put Brock and I in touch, thinking of us as two very similar musical souls. Much to my shame, the first work I had heard (and perhaps still my favourite) was his incredible 'To Live' mini-CD release on Smallfish, but I was instantly taken with this incredibly kind, generous and gifted bloke. I was duly induced into the musical world according to bvdub (Brock Van Wey) and just blown away by the depth and intelligence of the work. Its not just that its carefully crafted and beautiful, its that his work is as if he has open contact with the soul and heart within, and in this manner he is able to communicate a voice as pure as anything I have ever heard before...quite a gift indeed. There are too few artists who are so true to themselves in the world today, but it is my great honour that Home Normal are one of the few very fine labels who have been allowed to put out his amazing works, and 'Tribes at the Temple of Silence' is one of Brock's finest moments to date. (Ian Hawgood)
Brock Van Wey was born in the San Francisco Bay Area in 1974. For the second time in his life, he's made China his home, now living in Shaoxing. Brock has closely followed deep house, ambient, and experimental music since the early 90s, when he started DJing as bvdub. His tastes have always leaned towards the deep, going only deeper as time has passed. By the time he finally started producing in 2006, Brock had developed a fully realized vision of perfectly deep electronic music.
This vision was immediately recognized by labels such as Styrax and Andre Kroenert's 2600 and Night Drive imprints, with bvdub releases dropping within a year of Brock's first production efforts. Though quickly adopted by the tech house and deep techno scene, Brock wanted an outlet for his most personal pieces, and started Quietus Recordings, a limited edition CD label. Establishing his supreme talent in the spectrum between pure ambient and deep techno, bvdub has quickly built an impressive discography.
Towards the end of 2008, Brock released the 12" "A Moment's Peace" on Meanwhile. In 2009 Echospace released the full length album, "White Clouds Drift On And On," with a second full length interpretation by Steven Hitchell as Intrusion. Brock's "To Live" was released as one of Smallfish's mini-CD releases (and rose to one of Resident Advisor's top 50 tracks of 2009), and he's recently appeared on Kompakt's Pop Ambient 2010 compilation. His 2010 release on Glacial Movements 'The Art Of Dying Alone' was met with critical acclaim. In addition to his continued prolific output on his own Quietus imprint, he has several more forthcoming full-length albums, as well as numerous special and personal projects forthcoming throughout this year and beyond and as far as anyone can tell, he's just getting started.
Written and produced by bvdub at Quietus, San FranciscoMastered by Steve HitchellPhotography by Ian Hawgood
CYCLOidLP/CD raster-noton R-N 127Release date: March 7http://www.raster-noton.net
A decade since its inception, RYOJI IKEDA and CARSTEN NICOLAI are relaunching their collaborative project, cyclo., a project that focuses on the visualisation of sound and seeks to create a new hybrid of visual art and music.
Both leading electronic composers/artists from Japan and Germany respectively, Ikeda and Nicolai release their second album (CD/EP on raster-noton), that will later be followed by a publication with an extensive presentation of their visuals.
Since the beginning of the cyclo. project, the artists have developed a database of sounds composed to produce visual responses when analysed in real time with the help of stereo image monitoring equipment. Phase and amplitude of stereo signals can be illustrated graphically: the audio elements are constructed through the minute editing of frequencies (often beyond the physical range of human hearing) and selected by the artists for their visual characteristics when analysed. Through processes of composition, editing and experiment, cyclo. is amassing an 'infinity index' of sound fragments.
In building this archive, Ikeda and Nicolai transcend the usual dynamic whereby image acts merely as a functional accompaniment to sound. Instead, the audio element in the process is subservient to the desire and appetite of the image.
This record purposefully remains unmastered, in order to retain the waveforms as originally visualized through an XY phase scope. For listening, please do not convert the tracks into a compressed format such as mp3.
FABRICA Sort Of RadianceLP Spectrum SP 001Release date: April 4http://www.spectrumspools.com
Matthew Mullane is a Chicago multi-instrumentalist performing under the guise of Fabric. Here we have a Þne suite of compositions which embark on a voyage through darkness of night and the brightness of day. Washed out dark colors and static pulses sweep across your stereo painting a portrait of intense yearning and determination. Recorded over the course of a year, Matthew has constructed a multi dimensional organism of sound that has perplexing depth and astounding detail. The album reveals new shapes and sizes with repeat listens and is truly a work which you cansubmerge yourself in to get lost. "Leaving the House" is an energetic workout with it's dense,ultraviolet fog and stream-like melodies. Then there's the vignettes such as "Orange and Red" or "Containers", that branch out into unfamiliar territory in their own special ways synthesizing a journey far from home.
So far, Fabric releases have appeared in very small editions including a split with Sparkling Wide Pressure and a practically non-existent cassette on Fairchild Tapes. Spectrum Spools is proud to kick off the label by presenting the debut Fabric album. Spectrum Spools released in association with Editions Mego
Cut at by Rashad Becker at Dubplates & Mastering, January 2011.Edition of 500
GURUN GURUNGurun GurunCD Home Normal homen021http://www.homenormal.comhttp://www.gurunas.net
Japan has been a huge influence on my life, there is no question. Perhaps its obvious as I moved from England to Japan a number of years ago now, but I love the culture, the food and some of the music here is fantastic. I always wanted to release something with a typical Japanese twinkle, only not too cute as it rubs me up the wrong way to be honest. I desperately wanted Home Normal to release something in this vein, only not sickly sweet like so much of the work I hear here, but arse-kickingly beautiful, delicate and cute without sticking candy down your gob. So imagine my excitement when I received an album that was all of these things, only by a group from the Czech Republic!
Gurun Gurun have never lived in Japan, yet somehow capture everything that good Japanese pop music adheres to be, taking it a lot further than the limited borders of such music often is. Their musical work combines guitars, analogue synthesizers, turntables, various acoustic instruments and digital effects to span musical spaces ranging from hypno-minimalist atmospheres to warm tones of slow moving, repetitive melodic stanzas. It shouldn't really have been a surprise to me that the album felt so Japanese, as two thirds of the main band are members of the excellent experimental pop outfit Miou Miou (on the celebrated Japanese label - Rallye). Jara Tarnovski and Tomas Knoflicek are ably assisted in Gurun Gurun by Federsel of the Buchty a Loutky Theatre Company, improv band B4, noise project Radio Royal and art group Handa Gote. The result of which makes Gurun Gurun perhaps the more dynamic, and certainly more noise based and experimental of the two outfits. The group is also topped off with some amazing guest artists, including three Japanese vocalists: Moskitoo from the 12k stable providing gentle, airy vocals across 'Fu' and 'Ano Uta'. Another 12k artist (also on Anticipate), the enormously talented Taylor Deupree collaborator Sawako providing touchingly open and raw vocals on the ever so weird but tender 'Yume no Mori' and 'Yuki ~ Hawaiian Snowflake'. Rurarakiss (from the Miyachan Akichan project with Daisuke Miyatani) sings in the most hushed of tones over the glitchy, noisy pieces 'Kodomo' and 'KúKó'. Beyond these, the varied group is made up of Artem Vartanian on clarinet, trumpet and shepherds pipe, Daniel Meier on violin, Floex on clarinet and koto, Irena and Vojtech Havlovi (The Havels) on alto and tenor viola da gamba, and finally with remixers Opiate (Morr Music, City-Centre Offices and Raster-Noton) and Kora et le Mechanix.
Its a remarkable debut (such as it is given their various backgrounds), covering so much ground yet keeping things restrained enough to have a perfect fluency about it. I was instantly struck by the way its cute without actually being overly so, noisy yet structured and multi-layered without being overly complex. In terms of great experimental pop music, there is very little you can really ask for. Its wonderfully melodic, quirky, touching and tender, and the guest artists feel very much part of the fabric of the album and band, making the whole album seamless under the careful guidance of Tarnovski, Knoflicek and Federsel.
Perhaps the best summary I can leave you with, and one which covers the magical nature of the album, is the fact that 'Gurun' is a fictional planet from the old school Slovak children's sci-fi TV series "She Came Out of the Blue Sky". Somehow, that makes sense of the album perfectly on so many levels. - Ian Hawgood
Recorded in Copenhagen, Chrudim, New York, Pardubice, Prague, Saitama, Ostrava and Tokyo.Mixed by Jara Tarnovski and Tomas Knoflicek (1-10), Kora et le Mechanix (11) and Opiate (12)Mastered by Ondrej JezekPhotography by the brilliant Hitoshi Ishihara
HANNA HARTMANH ^ 2CD Komplott escudre16http://www.komplott.comhttp://www.hannahartman.de
Having developed her very own language, the Swedish sound artist and composer Hanna Hartman creates music that are exclusively made up from authentic, unprocessed sounds that she has recorded on various locations around the world. Through new constellations of soundstaken out of their original context - and thus perceived in their purity - she creates an extraordinary music revealing hidden correspondences between the most diverse auditive impressions.
Since 1990 Hartman has composed works for radio, sound sculptures and numerous performances all over Europe. More recently she started also to write pieces for instrumentalists. Her many awards and grants include Prix Europa (1998), the Karl-Sczuka-Preis (2005), the Phonurgia Nova Prize (2006), and a Villa Aurora grant (2010). During 2007 and 2008 she was Composer-in-Residence for Swedish Radio. Hanna Hartman lives and works in Berlin. "H ^ 2" is Hanna Hartmans third CD on Komplott.
Bare Signs About Hanna Hartman Of course, you listen differently, if you have seen how Hanna Hartman dissects the sound, how she scalps it from its surroundings and frees it from all remains of its original meaning. You listen differently, if you have seen how she slowly shifts her body weight, so that the old timber piling under her feet begin to sing, and how she then lets the microphone glide over the ground, in order to capture this wooden song in its abstract beauty.
In Hartman's work, sound quality and sound source come undone in a peculiar way. She creates an aural inter-space, that rises above the banality of everyday noise, while it refuses immediate access to the musically conditioned ear. It is difficult not to associate the flutter inMessages from the Lighthouse with a bird, even though it is quite clear that this bird doesn't exist. Instead this passage is more about the "par excellency" of the flap itself, about a form of listening that transcends the object by the means of sound, about a jumpy and dry tremolo as an aural entity of its own. From this entity then a music arises, that is charged with meaning, but that obliterates the deixis of the concrete sound by completely abstracting it. The sound becomes a bare sign, in need of the composer'sinterpretation.
Of course, you listen differently, if you have seen with what care and long sight Hartman collects sound, how she auscultates every conceivable object with regard to its sound potential, from a rubber duck to a grommet.
When Adorno spoke of an "disenchanted world", he implied that music would be able to reconstitute this lost magic as a result of its mimetic power. Hartman's magic disintegrates the relationship between things, creating a counter-world in which the object-hood of an artifact is nullified by its sound.
The fact that instrumental recordings form the basis of all five pieces on this CD is unusual and indicates, that Hartman has in fact shifted the coordinates of her aesthetics over the past years. The individual sound language of the musicians prefigures the pieces, up to the subtle irony of confronting Ida Falk Winland's well trained opera soprano with the sound world of car racing. - Björn Gottstein
JOHANNES HELDENTitle SequenceCD iDEAL Recordings iDEAL080http://idealrecordings.comhttp://www.johanneshelden.com
Deep ambient music from visual- and sound artist, poet, and science fiction addict Johannes Heldén. His music is slow, melodic, dramatic, dark and atmospheric but yet too damn abstract to even come near being called pop or whatever. Heldén has published a few books, recently had an impressive solo show at Stene Gallery in Stockholm and is also active making art films. iDEAL is proud to release a rare document of his musical grandness, the (to us) long awaited follow up to his 2001 album "Sketch Book" on Trente Oiseaux. "Title Sequence" has a something to do with Brian Eno's ambient 80's, even some connections to the ideas on music of Talk Talk just before they broke up and did their best stuff. We got Denis Blackham of Skye Mastering to add the final touch to this massive album. Denis worked on some Talk Talk albums back in the days, you know. The music of William Basinski also somes to mind while listening to Johannes Heldén's music. "Title Sequence" is a truly beautiful album, music filled with shadows and a melancholic feel to it. Comes in a nice digi pack and was kindly subsidized by the Swedish Council for Cultural Affairs. Johannes Heldén lives and work in Stockholm. Edition: 600.
JOHN FOXX AND THE MATHSInterplayCD Metamatic Records META28CDRelease date: April 16http://www.johnfoxxandthemaths.com
"ONE OF THE FINEST ELECTRONIC RECORDS YOU'LL HEAR IN 2011" - The Quietus
The debut album by John Foxx And The Maths will be released by Metamatic Records on 16th April, 2011. Interplay is a collaboration between JOHN FOXX and electronic composer and synthesizer collector, BENGE (BEN EDWARDS). He's best known for his 2008 album, Twenty Systems which was described by Brian Eno as "a brilliant contribution to the archaeology of electronic music."
Moody and atmospheric, but also full of songs that are actually more "pop" than avant garde, Interplay pulls various strands of electronic music together - from early '80s electro to 70s Krautrock, even flashes of Cabaret Voltaire and Foxx's first band, ULTRAVOX! One track, "Watching a Building on Fire" features MIRA AROYO from Ladytron, who also came up with the original synth riff.
Although Interplay sounds nothing like the ambient experiments of Twenty Systems, both albums are based around the waves, frequencies and vibrations of analogue synthesizers. Many of the songs on the new Maths album started with an electronic rhythm from a 1960s Moog system built into Benge's studio, with the pair then coming up with ideas live in the studio. As Benge says, "the idea of Interplay is in the lyric from the title-track. We calculated everything, but not the interplay. In the studio we left a lot of things to chance and let the various combinations of sounds and colours and connections trigger our imaginations."
Foxx and Benge will be performing tracks from the album, plus a selection of early Ultravox material (with Robin Simon on guitar) and material from Foxx's dark electro classic Metamatic at the Troxy, London on 2nd April, alongside live sets by Gary Numan and Motor. This follows their triumphant analogue performance last summer at the Roundhouse as the headliner of the 2010 Short Circuit festival. Meanwhile in recent years John Foxx has also collaborated with I, Robot film director Alex Proyas, writer Iain Sinclair and Robin Guthrie (ex-Cocteau Twins). He's currently working on new material with Paul Daley (Leftfield).
"Since his dark days in pre-Vienna Ultravox, Dark Lord Of The Synth John Foxx has been a master of dystopian electro, and here he looks to future conquests as he teams up with young apprentice Benge. The result is a track as menacing as an interrogation in 2211, a robot holding a sparkling cattleprod to your nethers." - NME, March 2011
John Foxx and Benge are both available for interviews.
MERGRIMInvisible Landscape...CD Liquid Note Records LNR011 / Moph Records MCD005http://www.mophrec.nethttp://www.myspace.com/mergrim
about mergrimmergrim a.k.a TAKAHISA MITSUMORI as a producer / composer at Tokyo, Japan.Born in Takaraduka, Hyogo.He started his career as a producer in 2004 after the band's experience since 1998,and established moph record. with companions in 2005.moph record have released 3 CD albums, and 10 digital EP.
Also, he is a member of mophONE audiovisual unit.Their advanced dance album "plug" was acclaimed in 2008
And finally, His first solo album "Invisible Landscape " to be released in a few weeks.
His activity keeps extending day by day.
DISC REVIEW
Beauty, delicacy, healing.As the flow of water, like the wind, we leave a lasting impression but the sound is naturally there. CM Web and have provided a lot of other songs that mergrim the 1st Album, moph record and released liquid note records. The grandeur of the detailed birth and kneaded. Until the dramatic sounds as though it had an intention Invisible Landscape] [create a sound. Future work electronica feel. (club juice japan)
Artsit Recommend
As in the dark forest lit, pleasant songs.The album title scene overlaps with a number of scenes in memory.They are condensed into this one in his path, no track gem away!Ametsub (nothings66)
But I feel something closer to the cold, as well as a stuck up sometimes.Gone in pursuit, and the other clutches. I like that album.cokiyu
For the future of BGM, such an impression. This is cool.KASHIWA Daisuke (stellar dialogue studio / noble)
"Tokyo" felt. The image of buildings at night. Music is cool.Building attentive craftsmanship and dense sound. This is the 1st album that I like a lie.Miyauchi Yuuri
I felt a strong passion for music and ambitions.The third song "Arch" is a prisoner anymore. 1st album I highly mature.piana
To tell what will I do this stimulus.The world may have spent the past toward this music.If you had a chance to step into a time machine,[I] would go back to the past to bring this film to convey.But to tell the future and hopefully have someone from the future work.If you ignore the eyes, the music was always fascinated by the new era will always be in front of me.Glad to have encountered this music in Tokyo in 2011.no.9 aka Takayuki Joe (fairground / liquid note records)
But always, and good sense.Good melody, good beat.And beautiful!no doubt.without any doubt.Good disc2011 !!!!!!!!!!numb (revirth / ekounesound)
PETERLICKERNichtLP Editions Mego DeMego016http://www.editionsmego.com
Recorded, edited and mixed in Wien III, VIII, IX, XI & Korneuburg, Austria 04-12.2010.Final Mix in Komitat Vas, Hungary 01.2011.Cut at Dubplates & Mastering 02.2011.F. Hergovich: VocalsP. Rehberg: Electronics, Edits.C. Schachinger: Guitar.G. Weissegger: Bass, Electronics, Edits, Production.Photos: Ingo Pertramer.Layout: Stephen O'Malley
Well, here it is!
The moment you have all been waiting for.... the arrival of the debut album release by Peterlicker. Despite following on in that terrible tradition of Butthole Surfers and Throbbing Gristle of stupid band names, Peterlicker (newly reformed after 20 years of inactivity) have, against all odds, come up with a serious slab of modern electronic rock.
NICHT comprises of five well crafted selections recorded over the summer of 2010. Having got their previous noise free fall style out of their system on the limited cassette 'Last Slave' (DeMEGO 013), the forgotten sons of the Viennese underground have stepped, dare we say it, into almost accessible song like structures.
However, this is no lightweights wet dream, and still pulls some heavy punches. With the sequenced pulse of 'Always Right' sitting tight with the near poetic 'Tunnel 47053', the real-rock stomper of 'C-Slide', and not forgetting the manic psychedelia of 'Schleim'.Its a classic, basically.
STEPHAN MATHIEUA Static PlaceCD 12k 1064http://www.12k.comhttp://www.bitsteam.de
"A Static Place is about the journey of sound. Between 1928 and 1932 the earliest recordings of historically informed performances of music from the late Gothic, Renaissance and Baroque era were etched into 78RPM records. I used some of these records from my collection, playing them back with two mechanical acoustic HMV Model 102 gramophones. The initial soundwaves produced back then by period instruments like the clavichord, viols, lute, hurdy-gurdy are read from the grooves by a cactus needle to be amplified by the gramophones diaphragm housed in a soundbox. Those vibrations travel through the tonearm which is connected straight to the gramophones horn, which releases the music to my space. Here the sound is again picked up by a pair of customized microphones and send to my computer, to be transformed by spectral analysis and convolution processes."Stephan Mathieu, Madrid, Nov. 31, 2010
Stephan Mathieu (*1967) is considered to be one of the most unique composers working in the field of digital and electroacoustic music today. His signature sound is largely based on period instruments, environmental sound and obsolete media which are recorded and transformed by means of experimental microphony, re-editing techniques and software processes involving spectral analysis and convolution. Paying close attention to detail andto the affecting content of the piece, Mathieu creates unique sonic expieriences working with traces of the perceived reality. His music, at the same time soft-paced and razor sharp, has been released on 16 CDs to critical acclaim, with his most recent album Radioland being among the best releases in 2008. Mathieu has created sound installations for the 4th century Aula Palatina at Trier and the 19th century ironworks Völklinger Hütte UNESCO world heritages and the Rosa-Luxemburg-Platz in Berlin. Stephan Mathieus most recent project Virginals deals with his interest for early instruments, interpretation, historical informed performance practice and antique recording techniques.
THYMOLPHTHALEINNi maître, Ni marteauLP Editions Mego DeMEGO 015Release date: February 14http://www.editionsmego.com
Natasha Anderson: contrabass recorder and electronicsWill Guthrie: percussion and electronicsJérôme Noetinger: tape machines and electronicsClayton Thomas: double bass and preparationsAnthony Pateras: prepared piano and analogue synthesizer
All music by Thymolphthalein, performed live at SWR2 New Jazz Meeting, Gare du Nord, Basel, 15thNovember, 2009
Design by Shehab at Implant, Melboutne
A key ingredient in disappearing ink, THYMOLPHTHALEIN describes the working method of this brilliant French-Australian quintet
Leader ANTHONA PATERAS conceived a detailed hour long structural premise for the group's Þrst tour in 2009, creating a masterful pastiche of richly dynamic, timbrally devastating explorations for electro-acoustic ensemble, melded by his own distinctive prepared piano and analogue electronics.
NATASHA ANDERSON combines buzzing slabs of electro-acoustic sound with fractured acoustic gestures, sculpting exquisite perceptual explorations with recorders and electronics, producing a poetic and uncanny otherness.
WILL GUTHRIE expertly fuses the drumkit with an array of homemade electro-acoustic devices to produce a þuid cataclysm of sonic richness, melded by his searing technical prowess and faultless ear.
JEROME NOETINGER is THE live concréte maestro, electro-acoustically manipulating his bandmates with expert timing and breathtaking invention, scrambling proceedings with the occasional ring-modulated depth charge.
CLAYTON THOMAS' thoughtful and virtuosic prepared double bass playing has taken Europe by storm since moving there from Sydney in 2007 - part groove cannon, part kinetic sculpture, all parts BAD bass skills.
Edition of 500
WOLSUnframeLP/CD Pingipung 21Release date: March 28http://www.pingipung.dehttp://www.myspace.com/wolsup
Pingipung are proud to present "Unframe", the debut album of the young Russian duo WOLS. While self-proclaimed insiders have mainly kept their ears tuned to releases from the UK, a lively dubstep scene has been thriving for years in the Russian Federation.
And so WOLS bring more to the floor than just a bass whip. On the album "Unframe", you'll find majestic hymns ("International"), cut-up avant hip-hop beats ("Geek Rudohop"), dub tracks whose jittery cheerfulness is reminiscent of Aphex Twin ("Araamu's Army Vs. Our Sneakers") or their own highly unique electronica steppers with heart, soul, and the most wonderful pads ("Bathyscape Finds a Music Box"). Using old Sovyet vintage synths and drum computers in combination with fine recordings of live musicians, WOLS deliver a well-rounded album that offers all the thrills yet avoids the trap of simply stringing together dancefloor killers.
Just as their music points to a variety of styles, their name points to a multitude of references: Firstly, it's an alias of the German painter Alfred Otto Wolfgang Schulze, as both members of WOLS like his pictures immensely. Secondly, it refers to the project's origins in techno: WOLS have gradually developped towards their current sound by slowing down ("SLOW") and stirring the 4/4 beat, and so SLOW became WOLS. Thirdly, in some colloquial variants of Russian, "WOLS" describes a slow person who has his head in the clouds.
WOLS are Evgeny Shchukin (23) and Alexander Tochilkin (22). They have already released techno tracks on Ostwind, Level and Harthouse Mannheim under the name "Modul", and they run the FUSELab media resource for different types of sonic and visual art. The duo live in Southern Russia, in the city of Krasnodar (in English: beautiful gift), near the Black Sea. That region is famous for a particular kind of sunflower, and in a certain way, we actually owe the creation of the album to its seeds. To cut a lovely story short enough for this sheet, it's Krasnodar's prosperity through sunflowers which gave the young WOLS access to this high-end sonic range that we can hear on "Unframe".
― scott seward, Friday, 18 February 2011 16:06 (thirteen years ago) link
I've got to ask, scott, do you end up ordering a fair bit of this stuff?
― w/no hesitation (mh), Friday, 18 February 2011 16:27 (thirteen years ago) link
no! but it does occasionally give me helpful hints for my noise column. and sometimes i will ask the guy who sends me stuff from forced exposure if he has promos of some of this. the guy from germany sent me some stuff a while back, but i feel funny asking for promos from germany so that i can write about them in my column in an american heavy metal magazine. but i've always been kinda shy about hitting people up for music.
― scott seward, Friday, 18 February 2011 16:30 (thirteen years ago) link
i like the taste level of the german distro? the aesthetic, if you will. it makes me curious about people i've never heard or heard of.
― scott seward, Friday, 18 February 2011 16:31 (thirteen years ago) link
Understandable. I've... barely seen north american stores that stock stuff like this. Every time I've heard hype about a great record store with a lot of electronic/noise/experimental/european versions of the same stuff, I am always a little disappointed when I actually go there and it seems either small or lacking the handful of things I was looking for. They're more of an asset for the locals who want to browse, imo. That goes for about any genre-heavy record store.
reminds me, I have an order from the forced exposure web store arriving today <3
― w/no hesitation (mh), Friday, 18 February 2011 16:33 (thirteen years ago) link
and i click on links and find groovy stuff like this:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TZcmTN1cJI4&feature=player_embedded#at=469
― scott seward, Friday, 18 February 2011 16:33 (thirteen years ago) link
Aesthetics! Yeah, catalog listings like this or even reviews always make my imagination turn on. when I was a kid, I was able to hit up my mom for reading material pretty much every time, no matter what it was since she felt reading was an inherent good, but video games I pretty much bought with my own money. So I had a couple video game magazine subscriptions, but probably actually read about a bajillion more games than I ever actually played. Like, there were entire game genres that I had never really played but I had a preference for which reviewer I liked to write about them. Weird.
I kind of feel the same way about music these days, although I obviously have a lot more access to the actual material.
― w/no hesitation (mh), Friday, 18 February 2011 16:36 (thirteen years ago) link
― scott seward, Friday, 18 February 2011 16:38 (thirteen years ago) link
read from the grooves by a cactus needle to be amplified by the gramophones diaphragm housed in a soundbox
― w/no hesitation (mh), Friday, 18 February 2011 16:50 (thirteen years ago) link
if you'll excuse me now, I'm going to goof off at work by reading release descriptions on boomkat
― w/no hesitation (mh), Friday, 18 February 2011 16:51 (thirteen years ago) link
@CHomem FantasmaDL Crónica 056http://www.cronicaelectronica.orghttp://www.at-c.org
"Homem Fantasma" presents three new compositions that steer @c's work into new domains of audial exploration.
@c's music is about complexity, dispersal, multiplicity and active listening. It's about the complexity of what is in the music, what is not, and what may be filled in by the listener's brain. Dispersal and multiplicity walk hand in hand in these pieces, created by a (sometimes staggering but never overtly evident) layering effect, through the composition of rich and complex soundscapes that challenge the listener to focus on single threads while inevitably reserving parallel sequences to be discovered on later hearings. Multiple viewpoints enrich the compositions with the struggle and balance between (dis)concordant strains of sound that create multiple perspectives, varied departure and landing points for a listening experience that is never facilitated and nothing short of challenging.
The length of the compositions is dilated, to allow the listener to re-enter the same piececonsecutively, developing multiple and varied listening experiences during its running time. False-starts or pauses are used as markers for this traversal, dragging one out of the continuum just to plunge back into it.
@c's music is constructed. After the initial sound building, the exploratory work from which the basic elements are created, they proceed to a layering stage, where sounds are arranged in order to build the unified whole. This music is not hermetic or gratuitously difficult, much on the contrary. As complex as these constructions may be, and as far as they may stand from easily categorizable format or straightforward descriptions, they are able to generate immediate and strong aesthetic reactions, leaving strong and lasting impressions on listeners. But they do demand attention, interpretation and scrutiny of the nuances and details of the pieces.
The three compositions in "Homem Fantasma" were created during a period of almost two years. They were slowly chiseled and refined, they integrated bits and pieces of chance encounters, mishaps, dérives, and contaminations, emerging from the meeting of multiple forces, semantic contexts and actions. Field recordings and found sounds, a very important part of the sound palette, bring with them recognizable (although vaguely alien) timbres and textures, but @c's music is also built from segments of live recordings and studio recordings, processes and experiences that are collated in the compositions.
Besides being an homage of sorts, the title of this release originates from the ghostliness ofcomputational music and the immateriality of the musician's role in its creation and performance, their simultaneous presence, immanence, and absence from the music. This is @c's first release in Crónica's Unlimited series of freely downloadable editions.
Composed by Miguel Carvalhais & Pedro Tudela in Porto, 2009-2010, except 78b with Pierre-Alexandre Tremblay in 2010. Recordings made from 2005 to 2010 in Barcelona, Düsseldorf, Madrid, Mindelo, Nashville, Perugia, Porto, Rebelva, &c.
BILL GOULD & JARED BLUMThe Talking BookCD Koolarrow Records 27Release date: April 29http://www.koolarrow.com
Reclaimed from a graveyard of vinyl, The Talking Book is a collection of oxidized aural snapshots buried between the gloom and the gorgeous. Formed by Bill Gould, best known as a founding member of the group FAITH NO MORE, and conceptual sound artist Jared Blum, best known for his abstract pop under the moniker Blanketship, and other releases on his lo-fi musique concrète label Gigante Sound. The Talking Book is the first installment in a series of like-minded recordings on Gould's Koolarrow Record Label.
The Talking Book is a record of visuals. The chapters written are aural descriptors of a people and place left behind; beautiful memories and yet, due to time, corrupted like a faded photo, scenic beauty in a state of decomposition. The exploration of both structured musics and non harmonic sound allows the music to be informed and diverse. Deep and sullen Piano notes tinkle while warbled guitar tapes appear in the cracks. Lush drones collect and fold onto each other into a haze of harmony as deep bass pulses drive through the heart of it all. Melodies and blissful awakenings appear in the form of acoustic guitar, organ and voice.
BJ NILSEN & STILLUPPSTEYPABig Shadow MontanaLP/DL The Helen Scarsdale Agency HMS 020Release Date: April 26http://www.bjnilsen.comhttp://www.helenscarsdale.com/stilluppsteypa
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 etherialism, 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.
A hauntological album? Quite certainly. And yes, the vinyl does come with a download code.
BRUCE GILBERTThe Shivering ManCD Editions Mego eMEGO 108Release date: May 9http://www.editionsmego.comhttp://www.pinkflag.com/bruce-gilbert.php
Angel Food The Shivering ManNet In The FeatherThere AreHommageEline Cout II Epitaph For Henran BrenlarThe Shivering Man (video)*
All titles Bruce Gilbert except Eline Cout II: Gilbert/Conway and Epitaph for Henran Brenlar: Gilbert/Lewis Engineered by John Fryer. Recorded @ Blackwing StudiosRemastered by Russell Haswell @ Haswell Studio, Suffolk New artwork by Dave Coppenhall
* Dance-work conceived & choreographed by Angela ConwayPerformed by Michael Clark, Julie Hood & Ian LongmuirFirst broadcast by Channel 4 TV - Alter Image : Series 2 on 5th May 1987
The Shivering Man, originally released in 1986 on Mute (STUMM 39), was Bruce Gilbert's second solo album. Following on from his 1984 masterpiece This Way (recently reissued as eMEGO 102), it further explores Gilbert's investigations into the grey border where abstract noise and rhythm co-exist with obscure melodies and song structures. The sound is further expanded with guest vocal appearances by Angela Conway and fellow Wire traveller Graham Lewis. This is also the Þrst time the complete album is available domestically on CD.
Previous CD issues were the This Way to The Shivering Man on Mute (with U Mu U missing), and the Japan only 3 CD box with This Way, Shivering Man and Insiding previously released by Alfa Recordings. This 25th Anniversary reissue is remastered by Russell Haswell and contains a re-work by Dave Coppenhall on Angela Conway's original artwork. As a bonus a short Angela Conway video featuring Michael Clark originally broadcast in 1987 on Channel 4, has been included.
BRUCE GILBERTThis Way with The Shivering Man2LP Editions Mego eMEGO 1028VRelease date: May 9http://www.editionsmego.comhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bruce_Gilbert
Side AWork for Do You Me? I Did [1 & 2] / Swamp (20:09)Side BWork for Do You Me? I Did [3] / Swamp (10:18)Here Visit (5:53)U Mu U (3:12)Side CAngel Food (10:43)The Shivering Man (5:34)Net In The Feather (5:51)Side DThere Are (6:14)Hommage (2:34)Eline Cout II (4:46) Epitaph For Henran Brenlar (5:08)All titles Bruce Gilbert except Eline Cout II: Gilbert/Conway and Epitaph for Henran Brenlar: Gilbert/Lewis Engineered by John Fryer. Recorded @ Blackwing Studios Remastered by Russell Haswell @ Haswell Studio, Suffolk Cut by Rashad Becker at Dubplates & Mastering, Berlin, March 7th 2011New artwork by Dave CoppenhallEdition of 500
Special gatefold vinyl edition collecting Bruce Gilberts classic solo albums from 1984 and 1986.
CHRISSY MURDERBOTWomen's Studies2LP/CD Planet Mu Records ZIQ294Release date: May 9http://www.planet.muhttp://www.murderbot.com
Chrissy Murderbot's first album for Planet Mu is a collection of tracks that should come with the warning "be prepared to sweat".
The last few years have seen Chrissy working hard on the optimum formula for getting down and having non-stop fun. 'Women's Studies' is an album of party starting, populist mutations with vocal contributions from the Dancehall mcees MC ZULU, Rubi Dan and Warrior Queen, plus rappers Popeye, Coool Dundee and Johnny Moog. It's made with a brazen and unashamed love for dance music, mixing energetic tropes into a sticky tropical punch.
The influence of Ghetto House and Juke from his chosen home of Chicago hangs over the album. From the off, things get fleet-footed on 'Break You Off' with it's night-time atmosphere built from Rhodes chord progressions and sexy vocals over tight, subtle rolling footwork drums and bass; it's like a 160bpm musical massage. Later on 'Bussin Down' continues the footwork influence with a sped-up grooving funk sample, over which DJ Spinn gives the orders. Elsewhere 'Heavy Butt's' seesawing bassline and 8-bit melody gets the message across loud and clear, while the impressionist footwork of 'Jiggle' is probably the most jiggling piece of music ever recorded.
Other tracks such as 'New Juke Swing' mix crunchy drums of the kind you might find on a Teddy Riley production with a bassline of an early grime record while Rubi Dan acts as master of ceremonies 'The Vibe Is So Right', featuring MC ZULU, pits chopped breakbeats against big basslines at funky house speed, which quickly intensify into sharp junglist patterns. On 'Bump Uglies' Chrissy mixes cute girl vocals chopped up over a flat dancehall beat while MC Popeye rides the rhythm making his intentions clear, while the album's poppiest moment 'Sweet Thang' features Coool Dundee and Johnny Moog in an inspired high speed mix of jungle and electro with soul vocals and mcing.
Things get decidedly early 90's with Warrior Queen on 'Under Dress' a strange amalgam of acid and (more) New Jack Swing, with Warrior Queen dropping some filthy lyrics. The 90's revival continues with the 'U Got Me Burnin Up (Club Cirque)' which mixes high speed ravey piano and diva samples with crackin 160bpm juke and hip house vocals from Coool Dundee.
On 'Women's Studies' Murderbot manages to twist underground music forms into a new kind of high quality pop music that's a joy to listen to.
CM VON HAUSSWOLFF800 000 Seconds in HararCD Touch TO:82http://www.touchmusic.org.ukhttp://www.cmvonhausswolff.net
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 är 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.
FRIEDER BUTZMANNWie Zeit VergehtLP PAN 14http://www.pan-act.comhttp://www.friederbutzmann.de
Berlin's berserk Frieder Butzmann composes an uninterrupted stream of timbre changing and alternating sounds. Taking influence from aspects of Karlheinz Stockhausen's work, albeit certainly far from Serielle Komposition methods, using an entirely different array of equipment and caring less for technical finesse, a raw and sometimes absurd quality emerges. In spite of the dramatic character of the compositions, Butzmann works with the same joy and intuition of when he first heard them almost 40 years ago. Manipulating analogue sounds culled from old electronic recordings that he made at STEIM in Amsterdam back in 1995 (using the infamous 'Black Box' modular system), a dadaistic influence shines through in the semi-naive use of electronics, vocals and undefined sound sources - the basic idea is always more important than the perfect realization. The lyrics are excerpts of articles ... wie die Zeit vergeht ..., Telemusik and Kurzwellen by Stockhausen plus re-writings of lyrics used in the first section of the composer's concrete and electronic composition Hymnen.
Frieder Butzmann is a veteran German composer, radio play author and performance artist. He has been playing overt eccentricity for quite some time (since the end of the 60s), though he would find his true metier during the NDW zeitgeist, a period during which his work was hugely influential, having been an early member of DAF as well as Din-A Testbild. A self-proclaimed "spokesman of the people," more specifically of the Berlin underground, at a time when electronic music was taking over punk, dada and new wave, replacing teenage angst. Butzmann's work threw longer and more disturbing shades out of the Berlin behind the wall - not unlike Die Tödliche Doris or Minus Delta T. He has collaborated with artists such as Genesis P. Orridge, Malaria! / Gudrun Gut, Thomas Kapielski and most notable is his ongoing work with Wolfgang Müller. His 'Vertrauensmann des Volkes,' debut album often states as the cornerstone of the German experimental and electronic scene.
The LP is mastered and cut by Rashad Becker at D&M, in a limited edition of 500 copies, pressed on 140g vinyl and comes in a poly-lined inner sleeve. It is packaged in a pro-press color jacket which itself is housed in a silk screened pvc sleeve with artwork by Kathryn Politis & Bill Kouligas.
GAGARIN3KA-3 / KEDRDL Single Geo Records GEO 018Release date: April 18http://www.gagarin.org.uk/geo_records.html
Dids took the name of Gagarin - the first man in space for his solo project after a visit to Russia and it resonates with those fantastical ideas of the early 60's when we thought we'd all be travelling by personal jetpack. This year sees the 50th anniversary on 12th April of Yuris first ever flight and to commemorate this Gagarin is releasing a 2 track download single. This comprises 7" style mixes of 3KA-3 - a glitchy, two step-referencing workout named after the code for Gagarin's Vostok spacecraft and KEDR (Cedar) - his call sign, which features the man himself communicating with ground control and evokes that sense of exhiliration, claustrophobia and wonder that Yuri must have felt alone out there in Earth orbit.
Alongside this, Gagarin plans a series of commemorative gigs around the anniversary period.The single will be available on the usual download stores on Apr 18th and also a limited edition CD single from gagarin.org.uk/geo_records.html
GAGARINBiophiliaCD Geo Records GEO 019Release date: May 30http://www.gagarin.org.uk/geo_records.html
Gagarin is the solo incarnation of GRAHAM "DIDS" DOWDALL - percussionist , composer, sound designer etc. He makes atmospheric and moody electronica inspired by landscape, environment, urban noisescapes, grooves and a wide range of musical influences.Dids has had a long career at the cutting edge of the musical galaxy - involved in a myriad of projects ranging from avant rock to pop to drum and bass. He started out as drummer in cult Manchester band Ludus, recorded and toured extensively with Nico (Velvet Underground) and has a huge number of collaborations under his belt including with musical legends John Cale, David Thomas etc. He's played around the world from a shamanic festival in Siberia to underground Tokyo clubs to castles in Scotland and France and most countries on the planet.Gagarins musical hyperactivity continues unabated - he runs his own Geo label, is a member of the acclaimed Roshi feat. Pars Radio, festival legends Suns of Arqa , an associate member of the one and only Pere Ubu and has recently started a new project Low Bias with Rothko mainstay Mark Beazley as well as being an active community musician passing on skills & facilitating creativity for young people and adults with special needs, and teaching at Goldsmiths College.
He started the Gagarin project several years ago and has released records on his own Geo label, contributed to compilations and plays live regularly on the electronica scene where his unique genuinely live approach to electronica is always welcome.
His last album Adaptogen received critical acclaim in UK and across Europe gaining reviews in the Wire, Mixmag, the Word and many others and since that Gagarin has continued to gig regularly around Britain, has released a remix EP including mixes from legendary producer Youth and Robert Logan, has produced and released acclaimed records from Roshi feat Pars Radio and Raf and 0. He has contributed tracks to the record and live show of Pere Ubu's Long Live Pere Ubu, performed at Big Chill, Glastonbury and lots of other festivals with Suns Of Arqa
BIOPHILIA is his latest album and continues his obsessive exploration of the interface between pastoral and urban environments and soundworlds. Tracks like Wanderlust feature field recordings and melodic/sonic responses to create a sense of place - in this case Pagham Harbour in Sussex whilst Third Rail and Carbon Flux are abstract evocations of Dids South London manor. Last child in the woods relates to Nature Deficit Disorder - the alienation of modern children from the natural world. The album moves between ambient soundscapes and more urban grooves with edgy beats, post rave synthlines, glitches, manipulated field recordings and influences ranging from modern classical and minimallism to hip-hop and dubstep. Eleven tracks creating a journey of sounds and ideas inside and outside the M25 via occasional departures from earth orbit into early space exploration ( 3KA-3, Kedr ) passing through stages of bliss and unease ( Pripyat is the central town in the "zone of alienation" left after Chernobyl, Galanthus inspired by the first Snowdrops of the year ).
Dids took the name of Gagarin - the first man in space for his solo project after a visit to Russia and it resonates with those fantastical ideas of the early 60's when we thought we'd all be travelling by personal jetpack. This year sees the 50th anniversary on 12th April of Yuris first ever flight and to commemorate this Gagarin is releasing a 2 track download single. This comprises 7" style mixes of 3KA-3 - a glitchy, two step-referencing workout named after the code for gagarins Vostok spacecraft and KEDR ( Cedar) - his call sign, which features the man himself communicating with ground control and evokes that sense of exhiliration, claustrophobia and wonder that Yuri must have felt alone out there in Earth orbit. Alongside this Gagarin plans a series of commemorative gigs around the anniversary period.
BIOPHILIA will be released as CD and download, 3KA-3/KEDR as download and limited edition Cdr available at gigs.
LAWRENCE ENGLISH + STEPHEN VITIELLOAcute InbetweensCD Crónica 057http://www.cronicaelectronica.orghttp://www.stephenvitiello.comhttp://lawrenceenglish.com Since their initial meeting in Australia during 2006, Stephen Vitiello (USA) and Lawrence English (AU) have enjoyed a long distance collaboration orbiting around the joint passion for field recordings and modular synthesis.
Exploring the points of convergence and divergence between electricity and environment, the duet's Acute Inbetweens is a collection of works derived from hazy environmental memory, imagined landscape and field recorded actualities. It's a blurring mist of encountered spaces, recreated by means voltage controlled.
Like the spatial inspiration that guides the record, Acute Inbetweens pace is tempered and during certain pieces borders on a sense of timelessness. Pieces such as "La Voix est absente" unfold with a pacing of the lauded opening Lotus flowers at Sinobazu-no-ike pond, individual elements revealing themselves in subtle arcs of sound, swelling into a rich harmonic whole. By contrast "Exposure in Relief" is a more robust and pulsing work in which micro melodies spiral into one another.
Acute Inbetweens, sharp moments diffused in time.
Recorded and produced by Lawrence English and Stephen Vitiello 2007-2009. Mixed and mastered at 158, Brisbane. Special thanks to Andrew Deutsch for organ loop on "Exposure in Relief".
MARK MCGUIREA Young Persons Guide2CD Editions Mego eMEGO117Release date: May 7http://editionsmego.comhttp://mcguiremusic.blogspot.com
ELECTRIC AND ACOUSTIC GUITAR, VOCALS, TAPES, AND GUITAR-SYNTHESIZERPERFORMED AND RECORDED BY MARK MCGUIRE 2007-2010.
Compiled by Mark McGuire and Peter RehbergMastered at Piethopraxis, Köln, January 2011Photos by Mark McGuireLayout by Stephen O'Malley
A Young Persons Guide to Mark McGuire collects together some of this Emeralds members best works, previously released on a number of limited editions CDr and tape releases over the last 4 years. Although, only 24 years of age McGuire has racked up an impressive canon which most artists twice his age would have problems delivering.
With his expert use of loops and layers, as well a superb ear for killer melody hooks makes AYPGTMM simply an essential collection.
MATHONTerrestre12"LP+DVD Everest Records er_046http://www.everestrecords.chhttp://www.mathonmusic.ch
The Concept of Mathon (PETE LEUENBERGER, ROGER STUCKI und THOMAS AUGUSTINY) has been developed further for this forth album Terrestre. Up to now, the three musicians took the unique panorama and the region around this mountain-village as their inspiration and transcribed these views into musical atmospheres. Also for this last work they took their mobile recording-studio into the mountains and they chose the earth as their main theme for the compositions. The coexistence of nature and civilization and also the contradictions between the two can be heard on Terrestre.
For each of these six composition at least one guest-musician has been invited; Maria Capelli, Ronny Spiegel, Maurice De Martin und Nicolas Kellner all contributed their musical vision to this subject and the result can be heard on the 12" vinyl. Further on the pieces were sent to other musicians and video-artists. The remixes by Kenneth Kirschner (12k/USA), i8u (Dragonseye Recordings/CAN), Steinbrüchel (Synchron/CH), Digitalis (Thinner/CH), Elektrohandel (D), Tobias Reber (Hyperfunction/CH) und Matu (Everestrecords/CH) and the video-works by Maurice De Martin (Zeitkratzer/D) und Marc-André Gasser (Magdesign/CH) are enclosed on a DVD.
MAX GOLDTL'Eglise des CrocodilesLP Gagarin Records GR 2024http://www.gagarinrecords.comhttp://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Max_Goldt
This is the second release of Max Goldt's early tape music on Gagarin Records, and yet another brilliant collection of his percussive metallic miniatures. Max has been busy with his music since the late 1970s but is nowadays much more known in Germany for his writing. As on the previous album "There Are Grapefruit Hearts To Be Squeezed In The Dark" (GR 2020), most of the tracks are created with a simple set-up of prepared acoustic guitar, (pitched) voice, zither, some effect pedals and a multi-track recorder. The rhythmic patterns are played by hand using his self-invented "rubbermind method".
Side 1 contains the original six tracks of the long-deleted 10" EP "L'Eglise des Crocodiles" from 1983. All of them have been carefully re-mastered. Watch out for the iron lady! Master, be patient! Beware of the modern powders! Type along with the strange secretary! All of these essential subjects are dealt with here.
Side 2 offers another half dozen rubbermind tracks, this time some unknown examples that have never been released before. Listen to the ominous story of Aunt Rahmbein who suffocated in a ring cake. Immerse yourself in Miss Zander's world of symbols ("My husband is only a symbol for the steel crisis in Saarland"). No matter if you dance on air or with Uncle Joe, your feet will be carried by secret forces from groove to groove...
Max Goldt's humorous, disturbing lyrics sometimes take on the quality of short radio plays. As we consider them just as important as the music, we decided to print them on the inner sleeve in German and English version.
MOUNTAINSAir MuseumCD Thrill Jockey Records THRILL274Release date: May 2011http://www.thrilljockey.com/artists/index.html?id=11985 Mountians is BRENDON ANDEREGG and KOEN HOLTKAMP, two sonic explorers whose long history, shared philosophies, and love of sculpting sound, has resulted in some of the most densely layered and blissful music crafted in recent memory. The duo is known for obscuring the boundaries between acoustic instrumentation and electronics. Their debut Thrill Jockey release Choral was universally critically acclaimed, sold through three LP pressings, and ended up being one of the label's best selling releases of 2009, a remarkable achievement.
Air Museum blurs the lines between acoustic and electronic music even more without sacrificing melody or the delicacy of their sound. It is an album of firsts. It was the first album that the acoustic instruments were not processed via a computer. Instead, the processing of the instrumentation (acoustic and electric guitar, cello, accordion, piano, bassetc.) was done using a variety of pedals, modular synths, and other analog techniques. While acoustic instruments were used extensively, the album manifests itself sonically as their most "electronic" record yet. Air Museum is also their first record that was made in a studio. Working in the studio expanded their possibilities, giving more room for experimentation. While much of the album was recorded in real time with minor editing, the band took theopportunity to utilize the studio as an instrument of sorts, investing a great amount of time in customizing their approach to post-production. Air Museum was recorded at Telescope Recording, in Brooklyn, New York, between December 2010 and January 2011, with the exception of "Blue Lanterns On East Oxford" which was recorded in Philadelphia in the spring of 2010 and "Live At The Triple Door", an edit of a live performance that took place in Seattle at the 2009 Decibel Festival. Since returning from European and American tours for Choral, Mountains have been concentrating on the assembly of new systems to create and perform without the use of a computer. Air Museum is the first result of these efforts. It is less reliant on long linear crescendos, focusing more on rhythmic interplay and dynamic changes. Like their previous work it retains the energy and the expansiveness born of improvisation.
Mountains are also taking a new approach to their live performance, utilizing many of the techniques they developed while working on Air Museum. For their new live set, Mountains have created a patch that will enable their electronics to sync up at various times, so while the musicians react to one another musically, given the right parameters, the machines can react to one another as well.
Through their multi-textural and subtly shifting approach, Mountains has garnered much praise from audiences and critics alike. "Holtkamp and Anderegg deliver a kind of 21st century folk music - one that's immersed in the aesthetics of modern technology yet retains a very natural, very approachable sound. Absolutely gorgeous music" (Boomkat).
Mountains will briefly tour the East Coast and Midwest prior to the release of their album.
RETINA.ITRandomiconCD FlatMate FLT002http://www.flatmatemusic.comhttp://www.retinait.com
Flatmate Music presents FLT002. After three years of their last album Semeion, Randomicon is ready, the new work of Retina.it is going to be released on the Spanish label Flatmate Music (parent label from Störung) in April 2011.
Randomicon is the result of experimental sessions using modular synths, most of them constructed by Nicolo Buono. The casual approach of the timbre selection has opened new possibilities, pushing the Italian duo sound to other boundaries that had characterised until today the project of LINO MONACO and NICOLA BUONO. The title Randomicon wants to be a tribute to the 'randomness' that has determined the origin of the universe.
Randomicon is released in a limited and numered edition of 500 copies; every digipack is unique.
All music by Retina.itRecorded at Sy6labMastered at Calyx BerlinArtwork direction and graphic design by AP-AAComputer programming titles by Federico Crivellaro
RUSSELL HASWELLIN IT (IMMERSIVE LIVE SALVAGE)5.1 DVD + UHJ LP Editions Mego eMEGO 115Release date: April 11http://editionsmego.comhttp://haswellstudio.com
UHJ vinyl LP cut by Rashad Becker at Dubplates & Mastering, Berlin, January 20115.1 DVD encoded & authored by Ian Robinson & Sophie Elder at Ascent 142, London, January 2011
A 5.1 Surround DVD (Dolby Digital + DTS, 'audio only') + Ambisonic UHJ Vinyl LP (Stereo compatible)Set.
Following an invitation from Autechre to support them on their 2010 European 'overstepper' tour (30 Concerts, 15 Countries), Russell Haswell Þlled a Pelicase with a Contact Mic, Crystal Mic, Electronics w/ Light Sensors, FX Pedals, SOS Whistle, Various Multi-Color Headlamps w/ Flashing Modes, and boarded the tour bus.
Each night, while performing his Solo Free Improvisation, Haswell also recorded as many gigs as possible with a surround recorder. Selections from these live recordings are presented in Surround on this unique package containing a UHJ LP* and 5.1 DVD, housed in a 12" sleeve.
*http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ambisonic_UHJ_format
5.1 DVD (DOLBY DIGITAL + DTS, 'audio only'):1 - Milan, March 25, 2010, Part 1 (5.1)2 - Leeds, March 17, 2010, Part 2 (5.1)3 - Encore from Brighton, March 18, 2010 (5.1)4 - Birmingham, March 12, 2010, Part 2 (5.1)5 - Amsterdam, April 8, 2010, Part 2 (5.1)6 - Brussels, April 9, 2010, Part 2 (5.1)7 - Encore from Manchester, March 11, 2010 (5.1)8 - Geneva, March 23, 2010, Part 3 (5.1)9 - Lyon, March 22, 2010, Part 3 (5.1)[00:57:43.11]UHJ LP SIDE ONE:1 - Budapest, March 29, 2010, Part 1 (UHJ)2 - Zurich, March 24, 2010, Part 2 (UHJ)3 - Berlin, April 1, 2010, Part 2 (UHJ)4 - Encore from Bologna, March 27, 2010 (UHJ)[00:14:38.06]UHJ LP SIDE TWO:1 - Encore from Nantes, March 21, 2010 (UHJ)2 - Encore from Luxembourg, April 8, 2010 (UHJ)3 - London, April 10, 2010, Part 4 (UHJ)4 - Hamburg, April 6, 2010, Part 3 (UHJ)5 - Encore from Hamburg, April 6, 2010 (UHJ)[00:16:17.16]Approximate Total Time (DVD + LP) = 1:28:38.31
SERPHHeartstringsCD Noble Records NBL-201Release date: May 20http://www.noble-label.nethttp://www.myspace.com/serphinjapan
He appeared out of nowhere an electronic musician with magical powers who cast a potent spell onto the world to introduce the coming of this new talent. This is Serph. While his fantastic, charming, and dreamy pop album "vent" continues its long and astounding sales, Serph has already completed his new album which will be released again proudly by noble.
His first album was released only 3 years since first learning the piano and starting song composition. This was 2 years ago. Last July, he released his new album, "vent" and his brimming creativity is leading to a high pace of new releases. Serph, a solo project by a male Tokyoite, incorporates the various musical elements of jazz, breakbeats, techno, film scores, and progressive rock. Serph's music is highlighted by ever changing styles and an exceptional melody line that is like song beyond song though instrumental. The fairytale like world with its strong story nature is turning heads and drawing the world's attention on this new form of lovable and unfettered pop music.
In the new album "Heartstrings", he brings the originality and the story of his music to the next level and creates the ultimate fantasy as if Ghibli and Disney came together as one. The jazzy piano and charming electronic sounds, the hallmark of his music, is complemented by many string instruments in this album. The colorful and dashing rhythm programming is arranged like a creature traveling through complex metamorphosis and the magic of the beautiful and romantic melody created by strings and piano will strike a chord just as the title says. Filled with a positive and festive mood throughout the album, this is a thrilling and heart dancing story of music.
Five years since entering the world of musical production. Music is the ultimate and ever free playground. Serph sounds a fanfare to the bright and glittering future of pop music. The journey continues
BiographyA solo project by a male TOKYOITE. Released his first album, "accidental tourist" from elegant disc only 3 years after starting piano and composition. His 2nd album "vent" was released from noble records in July 2010. Serph is scheduled to release his 3rd album "Heartstrings" from noble records in April 2011.
TECHNICAL DRAWINGSThe Ruined MapLP Gagarin Records GR 2025http://www.gagarinrecords.com/?str=releases&id=337
Technical Drawings is a hyper-modified percussion duo comprised of MELISSA ST. PIERRE and JESSE STILES.
Melissa's weapon of choice is the prepared piano, made notorious by John Cage. Using a variety of physical modifications to the piano strings - inserting rusted bolts, pencil erasers, melted coins, etc. - St. Pierre untames the piano, taking it out of the parlor and into the world of rock, electronica, and beyond. Jesse is a musician and new media artist who creates works that are simultaneously entertaining, disorienting, immersive, and transcendental. In Technical Drawings, Jesse builds Melissa's piano phrases into walls of rhythm, collaging them with disassembled drum phrases and custom signal processing. The results create sound worlds with bizarre depth and unpredictable trajectories.
"The Ruined Map" is Technical Drawings' debut release. Herein, St. Pierre and Stiles pioneer a new genre that has been termed "Dub Concrète," combining influences from neoclassicism, rock, gamelan, and hip hop with results both weird and electrifying. In one of the record's centerpieces, "Strange Flora," the post-rap poet Todd Jones verbalizes the musical journey: "We found an island on the edge of the world. With no name for it we made a claim for it."
"The Ruined Map" was recorded over the course of two days in Missi's attic in Pittsburgh. Post production took place in a remote rural textile factory in which Jesse lived from 2007 to 2010.
VALERIO TRICOLI / THOMAS ANKERSMITForma IICD PAN 16http://www.pan-act.comhttp://www.valeriotricoli.infohttp://www.thomasankersmit.com
'Forma II' is the first collaborative output by Thomas Ankersmit and Valerio Tricoli.
Composed and recorded in Berlin from 2008 to 2010 the music consists of four electroacoustic pieces based largely on analogue synthesizer material and one long-form swarm-like composition for multiple overdubbed saxophones. Additional sounds range from metal foil floating on ultrasonic sound-beams to mechanical clickers recorded in the abandoned radar domes at Teufelsberg. The raw materials have been extensively processed and re-constructed using analogue tape and digital methods. The five pieces shift between sharply detailed blizzards of electronic interference to passages of delicate balance, between calm and turbulence, between stasis and rapid shape-shifting, between multiple virtual spaces and non-spaces.
Thomas Ankersmit is a saxophonist, electronic musician and installation artist based in Berlin and Amsterdam, who combines abstract, intensely focused acoustic saxophone work with hyper-kinetic analogue synth and computer improvisation. He also creates installation pieces that use sound, infrasound and "modifications to the acoustic characters of spaces" that disrupt the viewer/listener's perception of the exhibition space and their presence within it. He frequently works together with New York minimalist Phill Niblock. Other recent collaborators have included Kevin Drumm and Borbetomagus.
Valerio Tricoli is a Berlin-based composer, improviser, sound installation artist, producer, sound engineer and curator bridging musique concrète and conceptual forms of sound with a radical interest in how reality, virtuality and memory relate to each other during the acoustic event. He mostly uses analogue electronic devices (reel-to-reel tape recorders, synthesizers, microphones, light effects, ultrasonic speakers). The structure of the setup is ever-changing however, seeking multiple relations between the performers, the device and the space in which the event takes place. He is one of the founders of 3/4HadBeenEliminated and the Bowindo label/collective.
The CD is mastered by Rashad Becker at Clunk, in a limited edition of 1000 copies. It is packaged in a pro-press digisleeve jacket which itself is housed in a one-tone silk screened pvc sleeve with interweaving geometric designs, with artwork by Kathryn Politis and Bill Kouligas.
― scott seward, Wednesday, 16 March 2011 18:04 (thirteen years ago) link
ALVA NOTO + RYUICHI SAKAMOTOSUMMVSCD Raster-Noton R-N 132http://www.raster-noton.nethttp://www.alvanoto.comhttp://www.sitesakamoto.com
on may 09th, 2011, raster-noton. archiv für ton und nichtton releases alva noto and ryuichi sakamoto's album summvs, the latest result of the unusual creative partnership between the oscar-prize honored film composer ryuichi sakamoto and the fine artist and electronic music pioneer carsten nicolai.
the name of the artists' fifth collaborative release summvs refers to the latin word 'summa' (engl.: sum) and 'versus' (engl.: towards) serving as a metaphor for the work being oriented towards a collarorative whole. summvs is the last of a series of five releases that started with vrioon in 2002 and continued with insen (2005), revep (2005) and utp_ (2007).
passages of sparse yet emotionally charged and passionate piano solos are embedded in sine waves or reworked to establish new aesthetics of piano sound. sparse percussions and throbbing bass pulses hover above and below - the music being contemplative and minimal at the same time.
the tracks microon I-III contain recordings of one of the 15 pianos using a 16th tone interval tuning built by sauter, spaichingen/donaueschingen, germany. the original 'piano metamorfoseador en dieciseisavos de tono' was designed by julián carrillo trujillo. thanks to the music department of berne university of the arts for making this instrument available.
included in the album are two cover versions of the track 'by this river' originally written by roedelius, moebius and brian eno in 1977. in their instrumental versions of the song nicolai and sakamoto create and investigate the song's appeal in both normal speed and slow motion.
the new album will host its world live premiere on may 12th, 2011 at the roundhouse in london, uk and will be followed by a european tour in may/june 2011 with stopovers in milan, perugia, rome, parma, brussels, eindhoven, leipzig, copenhagen, frankfurt, berlin, and barcelona. ryuichi sakamoto on piano and alva noto on electronics will present their fifth collaborative release with a unique style visualisation and an state-of-the-art technical setting and stage design.
ANTI-GPresents Kentje'sz Beatsz2LP/CD Planet Mu Records ZIQ301Release date: June 6http://www.planet.muhttp://www.youtube.com/user/AntiStylo
At a party in the late 80s in The Hague, a local DJ by the name of DJ Moortje accidentally dropped a dancehall twelve-inch at 45RPMs, causing chaos in the audience. Not the kind of negative heckling you get when a record is skipped, but the kind of excitement that happens when a movement has been started. This beautiful mistake resulted in Bubbling, a cultural expression of immigrants from The Dutch Antilles and Suriname, a genre that would take these communities by storm in Holland in the 1990s. Jamaican exports such as the Fever Pitch and Bam Bam riddims were double and half-timed, with Cutty Ranks on one hand sounding like a prepubescent chipmunk, the other hand sounding like an evil duppy. Its sound borrowed slave rhythms from Curacao (DJ Moortje's origin), creating a new Caribbean style of music in Europe that ran parallel to London's Jungle scene.
This excitement eventually died down in The Netherlands, and Dutch House became the dominant genre in the late 2000s. There was more money to be made, and bigger parties to be played when your music didn't consist of pitched up dancehall, and bubbling became reserved exclusively for the black and Latin crowds, especially teenagers. However, House in Holland was littered with Caribbean influence, and eventually a new generation of DJs would pioneer a new sound, known as Bubbling House. A group of cousins, DJ's Shaun-D, Master-D, Daycard, and Deschuurman who loved Dutch House but couldn't shake their traditions created a new sound, with hyper Fruity Loop synths over pitched up Dem Bow drums. The sound could be found all over Youtube and regional social media sites, the same way the rest of the global youth were distributing their music from Chicago to Luanda.
Anti-G a.k.a. Kentje'sz Beatsz, an 18-year-old producer from the Dutch city of Delft is of the current Bubbling House generation, but his music often stabs at other realms. Like many of his peers, he takes in the popular styles of the black and Latin communities of Holland: Bubbling, Reggaeton, Dutch and American Hip-Hop, and House, and loads those influence into Fruity Loops on his PC. This often results in all of those genres crammed into 3 minutes of audio, though occasionally he singles one out. The atmosphere is cold and industrial, not-unlike the sound created by UK Grime producers, but with polyrhythms that swing like Funky House. His tracks often can't decide if they're for a rave or a rap show, but in the end sound like the soundtrack for someone getting stabbed in space.
Anti-G Presents 'Kentje'sz Beatsz' is a collection of material made between 2009 and 2010, showing all of the faces of his work. Bubbling Cause Trouble and Crack The Glass! tap into the current club scene of Holland, while tracks such as Reggaeton Man! are his own mutant Dem Bow riddims. It's a trip through Dutch social networking sites such as Hyves, and an example of the experimentation brewing with the current digital youth of the Surinamese and Antillean communities of The Netherlands. These drums may come from the Caribbean, but the synths belong on a space station. - Dave Quam, 2011
CHRIS WATSON & MARCUS DAVIDSONCross-PollinationCD Touch # Tone 43http://www.touchmusic.org.ukhttp://www.chriswatson.nethttp://www.marcusdavidson.net
1. Chris Watson - Midnight at the Oasis 28:08
The piece is a 28 minute time compression from sunset to sunrise in South Africa's Kalahari desert and features the dense and harmonic mosaic of delicate animal rhythms recorded in this remote habitat."Midnight at the Oasis was first performed at the Marquee in Parliament Street, York, on 13th September 2007 as part of SightSonic's contribution to the BA Festival of Science.
The Kalahari desert is a vast and open space where most of the wildlife is nocturnal. After sunset the dunes, grasses and thorn bushes are patrolled by an emerging alien empire - the insects.
'Midnight at the Oasis' presents an unseen soundscape from this beautiful and hostile environment.
2. Chris Watson & Marcus Davidson - The Bee Symphony 20:00
A project conceived by Chris Watson originally for 'Pestival' in 2009 to explore the vocal harmonies between humans and honey bees in a unique choral collaboration around and within the hives of an English country garden. Recorded live at The Rymer Auditorium, Music Research Centre, University of York, England on December 17th 2010 by Tony Myatt, using a Soundfield SPS200 microphone recorded onto an Edirol R4 (surround version), and 2 x Neumann U87 microphones via Grace Microphone Preamplifiers, recorded onto an Edirol R44 (stereo version).
Composed and arranged by Marcus Davidson using recordings made by Chris Watson & Mike Harding, and diffused through a 4.1 Genelec system by Chris Watson.
The Bee Choir: Dylan de Buitlear, Lisa Coates, Steph Connor, Lewis Marlowe and Shendie McMath.
With thanks to Peter Boardman (the event producer), Tom Emmett, Celia Frisby & Bridget Nicholls, who originally commissioned The Bee Symphony.
DIKOLSONThe Bear is Sleeping nowLP/DL Minority Records MIN27http://www.minorityrecords.comhttp://www.dikolson.net
There's something lovingly sweet about FILIP MISEK's vibrant debut solo album. Though his previous compositions for the defunct indie-electronic outfit Khoiba were always consistently strong, now that another fruitful chapter has opened, the area of more experimental layers gives emphasis on developing sonic structures where voice is not in the forefront and is much less used. New compositions were developed within three years into the complex of ten tracks of thoroughly engaging and uplifting electronic music with orchestral elements, variety of acoustic instruments and elegant resonance, presenting clear-cut picture through fractured and flawlessly enticing melodies.
Most impressive is the sheer scope and ingenuity of Filip Misek's songwriting, building up songs from breathy and delicate fragments that do not follow the similar template, not easy to decipher with every listen.
Let's explore one of the most ambitious projects of the year, providing compelling evidence that The bear is sleepingnow should be considered among Filip Misek's strongest work to date, herewith finding him in the best shape and enjoyable form well worth investigating.
Filip Misek's alter ego Dikolson is taking experiences from composing movie scores "Restart" (2005), "Day of the Dragon"(2010), dance and visual performance "Indefinite Kingdom" (2010, Tokyo, July 25th 2010), as founder member of widely popular indie-electronic outfit Khoiba with touring experiences across Austria, Germany, Finland, Poland, France, The Netherlands and sharing the stage with The Cure, Maximo Park, IAMX.
FORMAFORMALP Spectrum Spools SP003Release date: May 16http://www.spectrumspools.com
MARK DWINELL and SOPHIE LAM - Roland RS-09, Roland SH-1000, Roland RE-101,Yamaha CS-15, Crumar DS-2, Oberheim SEM, DSI Morpho, Moog LP, FarÞsa CompactComboGEORGE BENNETT - Roland TR-707, Alesis HR-16B
Recorded and mixed live at the Schoolhouse, Brooklyn, Summer-Fall 2010.Photos by Mark Dwinell, 2009. Canyon de Chelly, Arizona.Cover design by Zhanna Chausivskaya.Cut at Dubplates & Mastering, March 2011.
FORMA (Mark Dwinell, Sophie Lam, & George Bennett) emerged on the NYC minimal synth scene in 2010 with a singular vision of cosmic Krautrock for a new age. On their eponymous debut LP, the Brooklyn-based electronics trio merges the melodic þow and primitive rhythms of their motorik predecessors with the hypnotic drones of Minimalism, creating an intricate work both addicting and rewarding with repeat listens. Like many of the LP's eleven tracks, the churning and relentless FORMA237B draws its energy from a precarious equilibrium between structural rigidity and free improvisation, a dynamic at the heart of FORMA's universe. With lush, distant soundscapes as interludes between these peaks, FORMA's inaugural full-length is a harmonious and expansive expression of the enduring power of Kosmische musik.Spectrum Spools released in association with Editions Mego
FOURCOLORAs PleatCD 12k 1065http://www.12k.comhttp://www.frolicfon.com
Fourcolor is the solo project of KEIICHI SUGIMOTO (Minamo, Filfla) and should be well known to the 12k audience with his two previous releases, Air Curtain (2004) and Letter of Sounds (2006) both highly regarded and now out of print, which established him as one of the label's leading roster figures.
As Pleat takes the familiar sound of Fourcolor and explores some subtle new sonic territory. It's as tonal and warm as always but he expands on his style by including more fractured, accidental sounds and an obvious growth in experience and talent. What makes Fourcolor's music so engaging is how Sugimoto manages to coax a lovely spectrum of sounds from his guitar without it ever sounding too over-processed or digital. From bubbling, low bass that provides a foundation to woven harmonies, pulses, and shimmers, there is a rich palette of sounds created. Add in a bit of careful, jittery skip-editing and implied rhythms and a groove starts to emerge from the ambience. Hints of his poppier Filfla project also come into play once again as Fourcolor brings in some guest-vocals courtesy of Sanae Yamasaki (aka Moskitoo) who lends her angelic voice to "Quiet Gray 1" and "Iris (Familiar)" adding further dimension to the works.
As Pleat is unquestionably Fourcolor, but there is a pillow-like quality to the sound, a softness that plays beautifully off of the more organic edits and sharper plucks that all combines to create the most engaging Fourcolor album to date.
HECKERSpeculative SolutionCD+Book Editions Mego eMEGO 118Release date: May 23http://editionsmego.comhttp://urbanomic.comhttp://florianhecker.blogspot.com
Written and produced by Florian Hecker, March 2009 - November 2010Book edited by Robin Mackay; featuring essays by Elie Ayache, Robin Mackay and Quentin Meillassoux.Typesetting by Tina Frank, Elvira Stein CD mastered by Rashad Becker
This sensation that you are in a world where there can be no physics, but only a chronics, of things. - Quentin Meillassoux in conversation with Florian Hecker and Robin Mackay, Paris, 22.07.2010
Editions Mego and Urbanomic are pleased to announce the release of 'Speculative Solution', a CD and book with contributions by Florian Hecker, Elie Ayache, Robin Mackay and Quentin Meillassoux. Originally commissioned by Urbanomic and developed over the last year, this collaborative project brings together Hecker's sonic practice and psychoacoustic experimentation with philosopher Quentin Meillassoux's concept of 'hyperchaos' - the absolute contingency of the laws of nature.
In an apparent departure from Hecker's previous release 'Acid in the Style of David Tudor' (eMEGO 094, 2009), the four titles featured in 'Speculative Solution' contain a series of micro-chronics and sequences of auditory contingencies, ranging from extreme stasis to the most dynamic intensities, crisp dramatisations of what Meillassoux calls in his text 'extro-science worlds'.
As Mackay states in his contribution to the book, Hecker's composition "participates in a circuit in which it, the accompanying texts, and diverse other objects, enter into a perpetual catalysis that must annihilate all priority, representation, reference, and even entity.'. Both 'scripture and prescription', 'Speculative Solution' invites its users to integrate its sonic and textual components, as they enter into an accelerative cycle, becoming "truly 'literalist' marks which have no reason to be as they are, and which could have been - and still could be, at every moment - otherwise". With 'Speculative Solution' Hecker proposes that the concepts of absolute contingency and hyperchaos offer a rigorous new alternative to the employment of chance and randomness in avant-garde composition.
It is recommended to listen to 'Speculative Solution' on loudspeakers at high volume. Headphone use is not advised. Frequent recitation of the included texts is also indicated.
'Speculative Solution', is Hecker's 13th release with (Editions) Mego. It comes in an embossed, deluxe box with a bilingual (English / French) 160 page book and 5 metal balls (ø 3,969mm). Available only in this format.
JESSIKA KENNEY & EYVIND KANGAestuariumLP SOMA 002Release Date: June 21http://www.ideologic.orghttp://www.editionsmego.com
Recorded, mixed and mastered at the Cove, Vashon Island, WA & Aleph Studios, Seattle, WA by Mell Dettmer August 2005.Vinyl cut by Rashad Becker at Dubplates & Mastering, Berlin May 2011. Jessika Kenney (voice)Eyvind Kang (Viola)
Written by Jessika Kenney & Eyvind Kang (1, 3, 4) & traditional (2, 5)Speculum Magorum by Giordano Bruno.
Jessika Kenney is a vocalist known for her haunting timbral sense, as well as her profound interpretation of vocal traditions. Eyvind Kang is a violist for whom the act of music and learning is a spiritual discipline. Aestuarium is a meditation on a psalm of lamentation and the unary tone in the metaphor of salt and fresh water, inspired by Gaelic psalmery, Tibetan notational gestures, and the microtonality of the tetrachord. Recorded on the shore of Colvos Passage in 2005 by renowned engineer Mell Dettmer.
Stephen O'Malley comments: "Amongst many other amazing pieces Jessika & Eyvind collaborated on SUNN O)))'s "Monoliths & Dimensions" album, Jessika leading the choir on the piece "Big Church" and Eyvind composing the acoustic arrangements for "Big Church" & "Alice". I learned an immense amount about music through these collaborations, speciÞcally the idea of Spectral music through research and discussion/reference points of composers such as Grisey and Murail. Aestuarium is a beautiful piece of minimalist spectral music which has brought great pleasure to my ears over the years."
Originally released on CD by Endless Records 2005.Ideologic Organ curation and art direction by Stephen O'Malley, manufactured and distributed by Editions Mego.
JOHN CHANTLERThe Luminous GroundLP/DL Room40 RMV442http://room40.orghttp://inventingzero.net
Former Australian now London based musician John Chantler offers his second solo LP for Room40 'The Luminous Ground' - his first solo outing in over seven years.
'The Luminous Ground' is just that - luminous. A pulsing and glimmering collision of oscillated tone, filtered texture and syncopated rhythm. It's a record of densely joyous, hazily psychedelic, modular synthesis. A playful yet throughly composed exploration into the possibilities of patching.
Having gradually acquired a highly personalised modular set-up over the past 3 years, Chantler's calculated experiments and adventurous patching techniques are brought to bear on this recording. Interested not only in the sound generation possibilities of the instrument, but also its abilities to auto-generate sound, Chantler coerces his instrument into all manner of self generation and feedback.
Inspired by the writings of Christopher Alexander, Chantler extrapolates Alexander's ideas and develops a series of works based on the processes of creating something that has 'life', even if its made by machines. For Alexander, remarkable architecture has a sense of something profoundly human about it. In the same way, Chantler has created an album with that same sense by using the synthesizer in way that gives it life.
At its most intense The Luminous Ground is a visceral and sonically tactile experience - low bass gusts pounding underneath a flurry of melodious tonal clusters. At its most sparse the record hints at more pastoral (albeit electronically generated) sentiments - but at no point does the record's movements stray. There's a clear sense of trajectory here and Chantler rides it with an expert sensibility.
An omnivorous recording artist/musician, Chantler started out as a drummer and still keeps loose time for Outshine Family (Black Maps) and occasionally The Balky Mule (Fat Cat). He also convenes the Organ Octet - a massed organ ensemble of eight reed/chord organs and plays synth in a trio with Tujiko Noriko and Lawrence English and as Holy Family - a duo with Lawrence English. A former Japanese resident he maintains a close association with musicians there and has played drums and/or electronics for Tenniscoats and Maher Shalal Hash Baz. Mastered by Andreas [LUPO] Lubich at Dubplates & Mastering, Berlin. Ltd Edition of 320. Screenprinted Sleeves.
KANGDING RAYORCD Raster-Noton R-N 123http://www.raster-noton.nethttp://www.kangdingray.com
After the Pruitt Igoe E.P, Kangding Ray returns with his third album for raster-noton, pushing further his explorations on the edge of digital and analog sounds. With OR, Kangding Ray continues to blur the borders between experimental and bass music, and brings his signature sound to another level, somewhere at the darkest fringe of club culture.
With the massive metallic beats of «athem», the frightening distorded waves of «Mojave», the elevated groove of «Odd Sympathy», the modulated guitar walls of «Leavaila Scheme», or the low-bitrate Everest of «La Belle», KR creates deep atmospheres, loaded with echoes of collapsing economies, dysfunctional political systems, and corporate alienation.
In an abstract manner, OR depicts the desillusions of modern civilizations, while initiating a positive reflection on crisis as a creative state.
OR («gold» in french), as the only chemical element that seems to keep its value for eternity, refers to the cult of endless consumption and the absurdity of fluctuating currency valuations, while in english, as a logical operator or grammatical conjunction, OR represents the possibility of another choice, an «inclusive disjunction» which suggests that there might be another answer, a different path to follow.
Noticeable inputs have been provided by Ben Frost, who composed a keyboard line for «Or», Rose Tizane Merrill who lend her voice to the anarchist poem «Monsters», and Magne Mostue who wrote the words and sang on «Coracoid Process» as well as the vocal version of the prophetic electronic mantra «Pruitt Igoe».
LUCIA MENSEElectronic CounterpointCD Satelita 004Release date: June 1http://www.satelita.de
Lucia Mense plays compositions by Marc Sabat, Manfred Stahnke, Sascha Lino Lemke, Ulrich Krieger & Georg Hajdu. For recorder and live electronics.
In principle there is nothing wrong with you writing for four recorders", admitted Morton Feldman although he reserves little hope for the success of recorder music. His view on electronic instruments is similarly critical. With this in mind Lucia Mense's program electronic counterpoint had a hard time of it, for the recorder player from Cologne dares the seemingly asynchronous feet on her new solo CD of uniting a wealth of diverse recorders with live electronics.
The musician, who is active in classical as well as contemporary music chose for her program composers who would write specifically for this combination. The recordings from the live recital now appear in May on satelita Musikverlag, the Cologne based label for experimental music. The results of this experiment are marked by hybrid forms; a fresh sound, humor and intensity. Sounds on the borderline between tone and noise, micro-tonal harmonics and algorithmic compositions meet real-time interactive computer-controlled processes.
Marc Sabat for example in his cycle Erbsen" (trans. Peas). The composer manages to multiply the soloist so that one has the illusion of listening to a whole ensemble. This is a meeting of Baroque music with modern loop-based composition. Manfred Stahnkes Impansion Expansion" on the other hand explores the sound of the instrument in an even more emphatic way. The voices follow on from one another, melt into surfaces, beats are broken with melodic parts. With [Re:re Record a:re] Sascha Lino Lemke enters into a complicated recording and resampling process involving memory. Overtone flute parts cross virtuous melody fragments, estranged sounds and wisp like phrases in an electronically powered continuum of flutes, recordings and playback. Ulrich Krieger's Black Smoker" surfaces as a soundscape with ghostly soundtrack qualities conjuring images of an ancient under water world, and with Tsunami" Georg Hajdu manages to synthesize mathematical processes with artistic expression. Mense's virtuosity is pushed to the limit through the use of computer editing, but without her playing ever becoming chaotic, mechanical or random.This collection of recorder and electronic sounds might go some way to revoking some of those since kindergarten ingrained stereotypes towards a by all accounts underrated instrument.
LÜÜPMeadow RitualsLP/CD Experimedia explp015Release date: May 17http://www.experimedia.net
CD in tall 6 panel deluxe custom sleeve.Contains 1 additional piece not on the vinyl edition.
12inch vinyl LP limited to 500 copies worldwide and includes download coupon for album with 1 additional piece and a bonus remix ep in choice of mp3, flac, or studiophile quality 24bit wav format.
Foregoing traditional genre boundaries, defying categorization, and embracing the distinct talents of its 19 participants, Luup involves a reexamination of convention by a thorough exploration of the instrument. Led by flautist Stelios Romaliadis, whose direction of the musicians allows for shimmering folk tendencies to mingle with fragile string arrangements and uplifting voice, Luup combines disparate elements of modern musical tendencies to examine man's primitive nature. Meadow Rituals presents 8 paeans to unite man's overwhelming distance from nature and self and a celebration of the reunion. Lilting melodies mix with ambient and new age directions; propulsive swells of strings and effervescent electronics make way for profound vocal harmonies to create a universal and timeless experience.
Lüüp is: Stelios Romaliadis, Lisa Isaksson (Lisa o Piu), David Svedmyr (Lisa o Piu), Fotini Kallianou, Katerina Papachristou, Fotis Siotas, Lefteris Moumtzis (J.Kriste, Master of Disguise, Snakecharmer), Alex Bolpasis, Pavlos Michaelides, Andria Degens (Pantaleimon/Current 93), Giorgos Varoutas, David Jackson (Van Der Graaf Generator/Peter Hammill/Peter Gabriel), Elsa Kundig, Nikos Fokas, Nikos Papanagiotou, Greg Haines (Sonic Pieces), Georgia Smerou, Georgia Konstadopoulou, and Jennie Ståbis (Lisa o Piu).
M. OSTERMEIERThe Rules of Another Small WorldCD Tench TCH04http://www.tenchrec.comhttp://www.words-on-music.com/mostermeier
With The Rules of Another Small World, M. Ostermeier has arrived at an elegant voice - otherworldly and strangely beautiful, much like the desolate Taiwanese San-Zhr Pod Village gracing the album cover.
While elements of electroacoustic, modern classical, jazz, glitch, drone, ambient, and even lounge weave in and out of the record's eleven compositions, The Rules of Another Small World is the converse of an eclectic collection of songs.
Instead, a cohesive album springs forth from the subtle commonalities in texture and structure etched into every song. These commonalities derive in part from the "rules" of the album title, a reference to M. Ostermeier's self-imposed limitations adopted during the composition of these pieces.
Despite its minimalistic leanings, The Rules of Another Small World paints a melodic, freeform world full of detail. Slow melodic fragments dance in and out of focus, while small sounds both tinker about in the foreground and percolate curiously in the aural architecture underneath.
The striking superposition of unadorned piano melodies and unpredictable sonic microorganisms lifts the melancholic darkness M. Ostermeier explored on Lakefront (Hibernate, 2010) revealing a tone that is more optimistic - even playful (think Cluster, Benjamin Lew, Carpet Musics, Pawn, or Opitope).
Towards that end, most compositions are constructed in the three-minute pop-song format, blossoming with lives lasting only long enough to explore their environment before they metamorphoses into something new.
MANUEL ZURRIALoops4Eever2CD Mazagran MZ001http://mazagran.org
Music by Alvin Lucier, William Basinski, John Duncan, Terry Riley, Pauline Oliveiros, Giancinto Scelsi among others. 2CD, 3 panels carton packaging with 12p booklet with exclusive interviews with the composers.
"[...] Foremost in my mind was the idea of being able to manipulate some compositions for flute, that were not original or were "extremely free " in their conception, personalizing them to the extreme with the use of multitrace or electronics. Only a work conceived in this way has led me to reflect on this music from its inside, introjecting the point of observation in order to discover a new projection of the sound. In a certain sense the two discs represent the two ends of the repetitive element, Loops4ever is as valid as its homologous and antithetic Drones4ever. [...]" M. Z. (from CD notes).
CD1 - 74'49"1 Giacinto Scelsi CASADISCELSI - Maknongan (1976) for bass flute; Pwyll (1954) for flute,with sounds recorded in Giacinto Scelsi's house in Rome (11'52")2 Pauline Oliveros PORTRAIT (1993)version for flutes, voice, electronics (10'22")3 Alvin Lucier ALMOST NEW YORK (2003)for 5 flutes and pure wave oscillators (24'17")4 Alvin Curran MADONNA AND CHILD (1968-2009)from Music for every occasion, version for bass flutes, sonic tubes and electronics (10'55")5 John Duncan THE CARNIVAL (2009)for piccolo, laptop, loops station, electronics - John Duncan, laptop (17'05")
CD2 - 75'13"1 Jacob TV THE GARDEN OF LOVE (2003)for flute and boombox (7'16")2 Eve Beglarian I WILL NOT BE SAD IN THIS WORLD (2009)for bass flute and tape (6'30")3 Jacob TV LIPSTICK (1997)for flute and boombox (9'43")4 Clarence Barlow UNTIL (1981)version #8 for piccolo and drone (8'18")5 William Basinski VARIATION#6: A MOVEMENT IN CHROME PRIMITIVE (2010)version for flutes, temple bells and delays (12'09")6 Frederic Rzewski LAST JUDGMENT (1968-2009)version for bass flutes and electronics (9'06")7 Terry Riley DORIAN REEDS (1964)version for flute and delays (21'45")
Manuel Zurria was born in Catania in 1962, and has lived in Rome since 1980. He has collaborated with some of the most important Italian composers among whom Francisco Pennisi, Adrian Guarnieri, Sylvano Bussotti, Aldo Clementi, Franco Donatoni, Luca Francesconi and Salvatore Sciarrino. Recently he has collaborated with Arvo Pärt, Philip Glass, Terry Riley, Gavin Bryars, Giya Kancheli, Toshio Hosokawa, László Sáry, Alvin Curran and Frederic Rzewski. During the last 20 years he has stimulated an entire generation of composers to produce new works that expand instrumental and interpretative possibilities: more than one hundred new works have been created for this purpose from composers like Yan Maresz, James Saunders, Caspar Johannes Walter, Maurizio Pisati, Fausto Romitelli, Gabriele Manca, Mario Garuti, Stefano Gervasoni, Yi Xu, Emanuele Casale, Rytis Mazulis, Stefano Scodanibbio and many others. Strongly attracted to minimalism, in the first months of 2008 he published on the Die Schachtel label a triple cd entitled Repeat! that included original works and works transcribed for flute and electronics made in collaboration with the musicians Arvo Pärt, Alvin Lucier, Louis Andriessen, Tom Johnson and others. He has played at the Bienniale Musica of Venice; the Pacific Music Festival, Sapporo, Japan; the Strasbourg Music Festival; at the Beethovenhalle in Bonn; Settembre Musica in Turin; De Yisbreker, Amsterdam; IRCAM Agora Festival, Paris; at the Rachmaninov Hall, Moscow; the Festival d'Automne, Paris; the Rikskonserter, Stockholm; Akademie der Kunste, Berlin; Maerz Musik, Berlin; the Archipel Festival, Geneva; NUMUS, Aarhus; ULTIMA, Oslo; Ensem, Valencia; Vienna Modern; Jauna Muzika, Vilnius; and the Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival. In 1990 he was among the founders of Alter Ego. His discography includes recordings for BMG-Ricordi, BMC, Capstone Records, EdiPan, Stradivarius, Die Schachtel, Megadisc and Touch. In 2009 Hungarian label, BMC, published Niagara with music of László Sáry realized on multitrace. In 2010 the Belgian label, Megadisc, published his cd Musica falsa, a monograph of the Lithuanian composer Rytis Mazulis, with music elaborated, edited and played over the extended period of nearly 3 years. In the same year Die Schachtel published Joy Flashings, an adventurous project which was the fruit of a collaboration with the American composer Philip Corner.
MARK FELLManitutshu2x12" Vinyl Editions Mego eMEGO 116Release date: May 27http://www.editionsmego.comhttp://www.markfell.com
In January 2011 Mark was invited by Erik Wiegand (aka Errorsmith) to make some presets forhis new software synthesizer which he was building for Native Instruments. After developingabout 40 sounds*, Mark decided to rework his UL8 project by extending the pattern generating systems used in its construction, which he then connected to the sounds produced in Erik's synthesizer. The result is this double 12" single, featuring 9 tracks and a remix from Mark's friend and colleague Mat Steel.
The project ships with an A1 full colour poster.Recorded Rotherham (UK) and ShefÞeld (UK) March 2011.Mastered by Lupo at Dubplates and Mastering (DE) March 2011.
*unfortunately NI rejected all of Mark's presets and none were used for the Þnal distribution.
A1 Acid In The thin razor, attack noise hat, LinnA2 Acid In The primes versionA3 Manitutshu (A New Algorithm) LatelyBass and NewElectro, attack pulse hatB1 Acid In The razor experimentB2 Manitutshu... parameter set 2, Linn HI Tom, JazzOrg, vortex study performance overdub,and synthesis reminiscent of Duet Emmo.B3 Acid In The stochastic energy pause with thin razor, attack noise hat, LinnC1 Manitutshu... First Algorithm TestC2 Occultation razor simple acid pause version with lfo to cutoffC3 Materialisation epic razor chord and LatelyBass version with found voiceD1 Occultation of... Mat Steel Extended RemixTotal Running Time: 42 minutes
MISTHouse2LP Spectrum Spools SP004Release date: May 16http://www.spectrumspools.com
Recorded January and February 2011 in Cleveland, Ohio.
JOHN ELLIOTT: Moog Voyager OS, Roland RS-101, Sequential Circuits Prophet 600, Roland SH-101, Phasers, VocalsSAM GOLDBERG: Korg Polysix, Univox Minikorg, Multivox MX 202, Dave Smith Instruments Mopho
Mixed bx Mist and Andrew VeresMastered by James PlotkinCut at D + M Berlin by CGB, March 14th 2011.Photography by Ashley Krantz.
"House" is the 2nd ofÞcial full-length offering by Cleveland, Ohio duo MIST featuring Sam Goldberg (of Radio People) and John Elliott (Emeralds, Outer Space, Imaginary Softwoods etc) after 2009's self-titled debut effort on Amethyst Sunset.
A suite consisting of 7 complex, layered compositions shows new progression in composition and melody from the duo. From the lightning fast, bittersweet crescendo of "Twin Lanes" to the dramatic chord progressions of "I Can Still Hear Your Voice", "House" is a certain expansion in execution and construction. Tracks like "P.M." put a new take on the long-form Mist style with cryptic alien vocoder and humid pad sounds, while "Mist House" and "Dead Occasion" reveal new, complex territories that will most certainly please fans of the previous Mist recordings.
First copies available on pink vinyl. Subsequent copies available on black vinyl. Spectrum Spools released in association with Editions Mego.
NOISEPOETNOBODY & VANCE GALLOWAYUranium 238CD Lens Records LENS0119http://www.lensrecords.comhttp://www.noisepoetnobody.comhttp://www.myspace.com/vancegalloway
noisepoetnobody: string board, loopers, analog modular synthesizerVance Galloway: electric guitar, custom software processing
Vance Galloway and noisepoetnobody first met back in 1998 when Vance was commissioned to master an album of a band that noisepoetnobody was in at the time. noisepoetnobody meanwhile began building his fanbase throughout the Northwest as both a solo performer andan active member of the experimental music scene. Over the years, Vance was contacted for further album mastering when he had time away from his demanding schedule of working on some of the world's most advanced audio visual installations. Occasionally Vance and noisepoetnobody would play on stage together. As improvisers they excelled at mutual listening skills and almost without effort captivated audiences as though all songs were rehearsed to perfection.
This album represents the duo's second full length recording. Their 1st album - Summons The Porocora - self-produced by noisepoetnobody, was well received in the Seattle/Portland area as an epic descent into a disturbing and haunting retreat from reality. Upon receiving a grant from the Jack Straw Foundation to record and perform for the world famous KEXP.org Radio,Vance and noisepoetnobody began a more regular schedule of recording and rehearsals in preparation. This album contains the recordings from the KEXP.org broadcast sessions as well as other works created in preparation for those sessions.
PHURPATrowo Phurnag Ceremony2LP SOMA 001Release date: June 21http://www.phurpa.ruhttp://www.ideologic.orghttp://www.editionsmego.com
Recorded in 2005 at Melodiya studio, mixed and mastered in 2007-2008 at Magihead studio.Vinyl cut by Rashad Becker at Dubplates & Mastering, Berlin May 2011.
Alexei TeginAndrei GrekovCheslav MerkEduard UtukinDmitry Globa-Mikhailenko
This voyage began in the middle of the 1990's in Moscow, when a group of artists and musicians led by Alexei Tegin and based at the legendary Fabrique of Cardinal Art commenced their studies of traditional ritual music, drifting away from the Þeld of contemporary electroacoustic and industrial music with the intent to delve deeper into the ancient musical cultures of the ancient Egypt, Iran and Tibet.
The original 2003 lineup of the project that emerged as a result was dubbed Phurpa (one of the Þve tutelary deities of the Father Tantra in Bon tradition), and all the members have carried on with their research in the Þeld of Bon and Buddhist liturgies up to the present day.
Before Buddhism reached Tibet, local people had practiced involved shamanic rites derived from various ancestral cults. Later on, circa the VI-IX century AD, a conþict between the local tradition, namely, the pre-Buddhist religion of Bon (which originates from Central Asia) and Tantric Buddhism (hailing from the North of India) gave birth to a unique cultural phenomenon known as Tibetan Buddhism, which combines an extensive metaphysical corpus and an advanced philosophical system with pristine ceremonial practices that reach down through many centuries.
In the X-XI century AD the monastic ensemble came into being. It has got a lot in common with the Chinese court ensembles of the Tang dynasty; nevertheless, the Tibetan ceremonial ensemble has preserved its authenticity and kept a large number of primordial elements stemming from the ancient Tibeto-Burmanese music intact to this day. A typical ensemble usually includes a pair of nga drums, several rolmo cymbals and a pair of gyaling oboes, as well as telescopic dunchen horns, dunkar shells and short wandun horns.
One of the unique features of the Tibetan monastic choir is a speciÞc kind of overtone chanting, called "rgyud-skad", or the Tantric voice, which is based on the principle of the singer's transmogriÞcation during the so-called "chanting meditation".
The ritual Tibetan instruments as used by the ensemble include the following: dunchen, gyaling, silnyen, bub, damaru, kanling, nga, shang.
The ensemble adheres to the rgyud-skad tradition of Tantric overtone chanting.
Stephen O'Malley comments: "Russian group led by the contemporary artist Alexei Tegin take on a traditional and ancient form of Tibetan ritual music by the name of Bon. While many familiar aspects will be revealed to the informed listener, the group PHURPA takes the polyphonic singing style to a lower key and a slower pace. Over the course of 4 LP sides this meditative listen unveils many spectral illusions and invigorating evolutions in sonic possibilities."
Originally released on CD by Sketis Music, Russia, 2008.Ideologic Organ curation and art direction by Stephen O'Malley, manufactured and distributed by Editions Mego.
V.A.Phlox: 1st Annual ReportCD Phlox 009Dhttp://www.phlox.at
Once again Austria and in particular Vienna finds itself the focus for new and creative sounds being heavily sought after worldwide. It's been a little while but history of course has the uncanny ability to always repeat itself. Being Vienna too, it should come as no surprise that this nu-breed will be fashionable out of town long before they get their props and respect in town. Tastemakers such as Mary Ann Hobbs and Gilles Peterson have been quick out of the blocks to acknowledge the nu-breed of boy-wonders from these shores. The new sounds of Austria though offer a new heightened and elevated sound from those of the mid nineties. Experimental and courageous are definitely in, and safe and laid-back have been deservedly shown the door. Gone too is the notion that Austria and Vienna make the very best background and elevator music. Damn, that used to drive me mental hearing Viennese electronica in Starbucks.
And this is where Phlox comes in. A new label, a new identity with their own ideas of melodic subjects in musical composition! They bring much dissimilitude and unconformity. They prosper in the 'absence of likeness', their music policy is that they don't actually have a music policy. The Viennese electronic music rule books of the mid nineties have all been torn up or burnt. - Alan Brown, Soul Seduction
01 Dmitry Mazurov - Nostromo02 GDX - Aint Gonna Love You03 Dibek - Thick Carpet Of Leaves04 Otzim Lee - Le Routine05 Taylor Caldron - A Flock Of Devils06 Group Niob - Tangent07 GDX and Dibek - Sky Is Falling08 Aura Anthropica - Drummondii09 Mstep - The Gap10 Ian Dunstaple - Water Music11 GDX - Want You12 Dibek - I Wait, I Wait, I Wait
― scott seward, Wednesday, 4 May 2011 16:00 (twelve years ago) link
noto/sakamoto stuff is next-level 22nd century stuff in my very humble fucking opinion.
― scott seward, Wednesday, 4 May 2011 16:01 (twelve years ago) link
ANNE-JAMES CHATON & ANDY MOOR - Transfer/2 7" UnsoundsBEE MASK - Elegy for Beach Friday 2LP Spectrum SpoolsBIOSPHERE - N-Plants CD TouchCARLFRIEDRICH CLAUS & HARTMUT GEERKEN - Einem luftigen akustischen Kosmos entgegen CD Rumpsti PumstiGREIE GUT FRAKTION - reKonstruKtion (Baustelle Remixe) CD MonikaHOBOCOMBO - Now that is the Opposite, It's Twice upon a Time CD Trovarobato/ParadeJIM O'ROURKE - Old News #5 2LP Editions MegoKENNETH KIRSCHNER - Twenty Ten 3CD 12kLIBEREZ - The Letter LP AlterMACHINEDRUM - Room(s) 2LP/CD Planet MuMACHINIST - Of What Once Was CD Moving FurnitureMIKA VAINIO - Life (...It Eats You Up) 2LP/CD Editions MegoNICOLAS BERNIER - usure.paysage CD hrönirOREN AMBARCHI & JIM O'ROURKE - Indeed LP Editions MegoREINHOLD FRIEDL - Inside Piano 2CD zeitkratzerREINHOLD FRIEDL - Inside Piano LP hrönirSPLICE - LAB CD LoopTEMPORAL MARAUDER - Makes You Feel LP Spectrum SpoolsTHE VEGETABLE ORCHESTRA/DAS GEMÜSEORCHESTER - Onionoise CD Transacoustic Research/Monkey
ANNE-JAMES CHATON & ANDY MOORTransfer /2: Princess in a Car7" Single Unsounds 23Uhttp://www.unsounds.com/23u.html
Side A: Princess In A Mercedes Class S 280Side B: Princess In A Rover P63500S V8
Transfer/2: Princess in a Car is the second part of the 7" single series "Transfer" by Anne-James Chaton and Andy Moor. Comes in a poster sized folded sleeve.
Side A takes us on Princess Diana's last journey from Bourget Airport to Pont de l'Alma and the last hours before her fatal car accident in central Paris. Chaton recalls in a semi-detached tone, a list of her last activities and her general state of mind and feelings in her final moments. A woman's voice in the background provides an English translation of the text. The music by Andy Moor has a slow pulse with guitar samples and a rhythm track from fellow collaborator and label mate Yannis Kyriakides.
Side B, though less tragic in delivery has an equally haunting epilogue, as Chaton lists all the cars owned by Grace Kelly and connects the year of each car with a meeting that she had with various lovers, movie stars, and members of the Royal family, ending coincidentally with a meeting with Lady Diana Spencer, and the final car that Grace had her fatal accident in, a Rover P36500S.
TRANSFER is a series of 4 7" singles that will be completed in 201122U transfer1/ Departures : side A Derniere Minute ; side B D'ouest en Est23U Transfer2/ Princesses in a car : side A Princess in a Mercedes Class S 280, side B : Princess in a Rover P63500S V8
Still to come:24U Transfer3/ PLANES* Face A: mysterious data appears to be the dates of the most terrible plane crashes in history; Face B: a free interpratation of the film Airport 1975 by Jack Smight. Release: 11 September 201125U Transfer/4: RAILS* Face A: ambulation constructed from the names of subway stations around the world; Face B: a train journey inspired by the novel "Murder on the Orient Express" by Agatha Christie.
BEE MASKElegy for Beach Friday2LP Spectrum Spools SP005Release date: July 5http://www.spectrumspools.comhttp://bee-mask.tumblr.com
Synthesizers, percussion, piano, guitar, tape, electronics, and max/MSP recorded 2003-2010 in Northampton, MA, New York, NY, Cleveland, OH, and Philadelphia, PA.Edited and mixed at Tranquility Base, February 2011.Cut at Dubplates & Mastering, May 2011
For the last few years, Chris Madak has been on a tangled and cryptic path toward the full realization of his Bee Mask alterego. Now, for the Þrst time there seems to be light at the end of the tunnel - a chance for old plans to come to fruition and for new ideas to blossom into the unknown. "Elegy for Beach Friday" is a personal selection of highlights from a slew of limited cassette and CDr editions recorded between 2003 and 2010, reimagined, reedited, and remastered, offering both a cross-section for the uninitiated and a fresh enigma for the already-enchanted.
The original documents will age on the shelves of those fortunate enough to have been the know, and for the rest of the world, we now have this double LP retrospective of Chris' favorite time-stopping microcosmic suites, woven together over four instantly classic sides of wax. Here, the full range of Bee Mask's sonic palette has been carefully compressed into a dazzling and inÞnitely dense time capsule of mind-altering Martian sound Þelds and psychedelic dimension bending, bridging the worlds of Nikola Tesla and Lamonte Young and giving us the ideal soundtrack for our collective walk down a dirt road into the gaseous cloud of our Þnal days.
BIOSPHEREN-PlantsCD Touch # TO:84http://www.touchmusic.org.ukhttp://www.biosphere.no
Art Direction: Jon WozencroftCover image: Yusuke MurakamiMastered by Denis Blackham @ Skye
GEIR JENSSEN writes: "Early February 2011: Decided to make an album inspired by the Japanese post-war economic miracle. While searching for more information I found an old photo of the Mihama nuclear plant. The fact that this futuristic-looking plant was situated in such a beautiful spot so close to the sea made me curious. Are they safe when it comes to earthquakes and tsunamis? Further reading revealed that many of these plants are situated in earthquake-prone areas, some of them are even located next to shores that had been hit in the past by tsunamis.
A photo of Mihama made me narrow down my focus only to Japanese nuclear plants. I wanted to make a soundtrack to some of them, concentrating on the architecture, design and localizations, but also questioning the potential radiation danger (a cooling system being destroyed by a landslide or earthquake, etc). As the head of the Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency said: "the plants were so well designed that 'such a situation is practically impossible'.
The album was finished on February 13th. On March 17th I received the following message from a FB friend: "Geir, some time ago you asked people for a photo of a Japanese nuclear powerplant. Is this going to be the sleeve of your new coming album? But more importantly: how did you actually predict the future? kind regards, David"
CARLFRIEDRICH CLAUS & HARTMUT GEERKENEinem luftigen akustischen Kosmos entgegenCD Rumpsti Pumsti (Edition) Nummer 12http://www.rumpsti-pumsti.comhttp://www.carlfriedrich-claus.dehttp://www.hartmutgeerken.de
Edition of 300 copies, 30 copies with signed & numbered original graphic by Hartmut GeerkenComes with 12 page booklet including a text by Hartmut Geerken (German only).
Collaboration performance by this two infamous german visual artists & sound-poets, recorded at Lyrik-Kabinett München, June 1991. This is Carlfriedrich Claus' only sound-collaboration ever. Both artists prepared a 60-minute backing-tape and wrote a detailled score for live-performed poetry and voice-operations. In addition to these fixed compositions they left room for spontaneous improvisation and the use of small cymbals ('tschinkas').
This is like nothing else. Very serious, raw and quite unsettling.
Between the early 1950s and his death in 1998, CARLFRIEDRICH CLAUS (born 1930) produced a corpus of work that occupies terrain somewhere between philosophy, art, linguistics and acoustic literature. Both visually with his language sheets and acoustically with his language operations, he plumbed and explored the depths of human consciousness, making a wholly individual contribution to the art of the 20th century in doing so. These sound processes and language operations have a consistency and radicalism unacknowledged hitherto.
HARTMUT GEERKEN (born 1939) is an author, composer, musician, film-maker, performer, actor, mycologist, archivist, stager of exhibitions, publisher of numerous authors from the circle of literary expressionism and dada, lumberjack, and bumble-bee-keeper. As a percussionist, he has collaborated with a variety of free jazz musicians such as Sun Ra, John Tchicai, Sainkho Namtchylak. As a poet, he is a practitioner of concrete poetry and organizes events such as the annual Bielefeld New Poetry Colloquium. As an actor, he appeared in six films by Herbert Achternbusch and appeared in two of Achternbusch's plays at the Munich Kammerspiele.
GREIE GUT FRAKTIONreKonstruKtion (Baustelle Remixe)CD/DL Monika Enterprise 73Release date: August 26http://www.monika-enterprise.dehttp://www.greiegutfraktion.com
1. AGF: Drilling An Ocean - Drilling Frrrmmm Remix2. Gudrun Gut: Betongiessen - Rubberboots Mix 3. Wolfgang Voigt: Wir bauen eine neue Stadt - Freiland Klaviermix14. Mika Vainio: Drilling An Ocean Mix 5. Natalie Beridze: We Matter Mix 6. Jennifer Cardini: Make it Work Mix (Bass Heiko Voss)7. Soulphiction: Mischmaschine Late Dub 8. Barbara Morgenstern: Cutting Trees Mix 9. Gudrun Gut: Make it Work - Get it Down Mix 10. Donna Neda: Baustein - He's a Man Mix11. AGF: Make it Work - Built It Up Interlude12. Alva Noto: Wir bauen eine neue Stadt - Remodel Edit13. AGF: Cutting Trees - Space Place Mix 14. Chra: White Oak - Sombrero Albo Remix15. Vinilette: China Memories - Ambient Remix
Following the release of their debut album Baustelle on monika last year, the Greie Gut Fraktion, also known individually as AGF and Gudrun Gut, now present you with "reKonstruKtion"; a full length album of remixes based on material taken from Baustelle and featuring remixes by Soulphiction, Jennifer Cardini, Mika Vainio, Wolfgang Voigt, Alva Noto, GGF themselves and many more. Any construction opens up the possibility of reconstruction, or in most cases even implies a need for reconstruction. The constructivist movement of the 30s wanted to openly remove the copy-cat character from art. With the remixes of GGF's Baustelle its similar; it's about finding a different approach to good material. Through progress in technology and networking, the boundaries between producer and DJ continue to blur more and more. Remixes are an integral part of this process and the results are often pleasantly surprising, as is the case on "reKonstruKtion".
Both exceptional solo producers in their own write AGF and Gudrun Gut have naturally each done individual remixes. And so the album kicks off with Antye Greie's remix of Drilling An Ocean, one of the tunes from Baustelle which came with a stunning video, followed closely by Gudrun Gut's new Ruberboots take on Betongiessen (trans. Pouring Concrete).We have Kompakt boss Wolfgang Voigt with his Freiland Klaviermix 1 of Wir bauen eine neue Stadt; a superb minimal rendition of the Palais Schaumburg classic which you might know if you got the Stadt Mixe 12that came out to accompany the original album. AGF has obviously drawn on her connections to Finland, where she is a resident, by recruiting Mika Vainio, one half of Pan Sonic, to do a remix. Mika also chose to mix Drilling An Ocean and his industrial-noise style lends itself perfectly to the subject matter, resulting in a dark atmospheric piece of sound-art. Keeping it in the family, monika artist Natalie Beridze aka TBA is the next to lend a Baustelle reKonstruKtion to this mighty collection. The Georgian artist who's fantastic album ForgetFulness recently came out on the label delivers a fine version of We Matter in a cut-up electronica style.
French minimal DJ and producer Jennifer Cardini is highly regarded as a remixer as her rmx of the functional track Make it Work proves. She brings a relaxed minimal-dubby twist to this number so as to make it just right for a club context. Staying on the dance floor, Stuttgart's acclaimed producer and Philpot label owner Soulphiction aka Jackmate supplies a prime cut with his Late Dub remix of Mischmaschine. This is a truly funky mix.As Gudrun Gut was kind enough to do a remix for the recent Barbara Morgenstern remix EP Fan No. 3 on monika, Barbara has returned the favor with a delightful pop-mix of Cutting Trees. As one might expect from Morgenstern, she brings the melodic elements of the original song to the forefront while of course finding new room for creative development within the composition.
Gut's second mix on reKontruKtion is another version of Make It Work. It's interesting, as with the two differing mixes of Drilling An Ocean, to be able to compare just how far apart two remixes of the same tune can be. Indeed Gudrun Gut's mix of Make It Work is possibly the most danceable number on the whole album. Ever supportive of new talent, monika introduces three new stars with reKonstruKtion. Greie Gut Fraktion ran a remix competition on the network female:pressure (femalepressure.net) - three of the best have their remix included on the album, the first being Hamburg based DJ Donna Neda whose Baustein mix is up their with the best of them. AGF's take on Make It Work is a short interlude and again its fascinating to hear how the two composers in the Greie Gut Fraktion interpret their collaborative compositions independently in the context of a remix.
The Alva Noto remodel of Wir Bauen Eine Neue Stadt was also included on the a fore mentioned remix 12and fans of the raster noton boss won't be disappointed as the exclusive reKonstruKtion remodel edit contains all the key elements of that Alva Noto signature sound; moody distortion, broken beats and plenty of surface noise. Antye Greie has a second mix in the form of her Space Place version of the chainsaw propelled Cutting Trees. The album draws to a close with two more winners of the female:pressure remix competition. The penultimate remix comes from Chra with the sombrero alto remix of White Oak. And reKontruKtion ends in ambient bliss with Villinette turning China Memories into a multi-layered soundscape.
The fascinating thing with remixes is always hearing the original track mutated into something entirely new and to what extent the remix artist manages to bring their own personality into the new rendition; just how far the remix deviates in style and structure from the original material. ReKontstruKtion presents 15 high quality remixes based on tracks from 2010's Baustelle album. With remix artists as diverse as Alva Noto, Barbara Morgenstern, Wolfgang Voigt, Soulphiction and Jenifer Cardini plus many more, while the collection does of course span a multitude of styles, the spirit of the Greie Gut Fraktion remains ever present in every tune. It's particularly interesting to hear Gut and Greie's individual interpretations of the duos collective compositions. No doubt reKonstruKtion is an exciting development and step forward from the Baustelle album.
HOBOCOMBONow that is the Opposite, It's Twice upon a TimeCD Trovarobato/Parade TRB P 004http://www.trovarobato.comhttp://www.hobocombo.comhttp://vimeo.com/20139859
Hobocombo is a MOONDOG tribute band, featuring Andrea Belfi at drums, percussion and voice, Rocco Marchi at guitar, synth and voice, Francesca Baccolini at double bass and voice.
Hobocombo re-interpretes some of Louis Hardin's pre-minimalist tunes, canon based songs and his odd snaketime rhythms with drums, double bass, electric guitar and voices.The result are beautiful and hypnotic songs, with a contemporary psychedelic feeling.
FRANCESCA BACCOLINI: double bass, voiceANDREA BELFI: drums, percussions, harmonica, voiceROCCO MARCHI: electric guitar, lap steel, korg ms10, voice
all song composed by Louis Hardin (Moondog)re-arranged by Hobocomborecorded at Obst und Gemüse Studio (Cerro Veronese, Italy) june 2010 by Hobocombomixed and mastered by Roberto Passuti, Rocco Marchi and Francesca Baccolini at Spectrum Studio (Bologna, Italy)produced by Francesca Baccolini, Rocco Marchi and Roberto Passutiartwork by Francesca Baccolini and Giovanni Bertani
HOBOCOMBO LIVE16/06 Berlin - Hobocombo play "Video Days" soundtrack, Künstlerhaus Bethanien, Studio 1- Bisar19/06 Berlin - Künstlerhaus Bethanien (1st floor)
JIM O'ROURKEOLD NEWS #52LP Editions Mego OLD NEWS #5http://www.editionsmego.com
Introducing a nearly regular series of vinyl albums documenting analog synth and tape works (both studio and live) from the depths of Jim O'Rourke's archive, spanning a near quarter century of active duty in the Þeld.
OLD NEWS # 5 kicks off with "Pedal and Pedal", a reÞned beauty of a live set at Tokyo's Super Deluxe, to only be followed by a massive blast from the past in the shape of the monsterous "Detain The Man To Whom", recorded in 1992.
Record two delivers the genuine weirdness of studio session "Its Not His Room Anymore", backed with the ripping "Mother and Who", which is an alrernate version of what would become O'Rourke's live set at the 2003 All Tomorrows Parties Festival in UK.
KENNETH KIRSCHNERTwenty Ten3CD 12k 1066http://www.12k.comhttp://www.kennethkirschner.com
Twenty Ten is the latest epic from Brooklyn-based composer Kenneth Kirschner, who is known for his decayed, dark and usually long-form takes on modern classical and found-sound composition. With only 4 pieces spanning a 3-CD set, and nearly 3 hours of music, Twenty Ten takes Kirschner's study of space and sonic focus to new lengths.
Following 2008's critically acclaimed double-CD Filaments & Voids, Twenty Ten sees Kirschner's use of real-world instruments become even more accomplished while still remaining steeped in conceptual outlines, meticulously married with computerized processes that emphasize the natural instruments' flaws. Like most of Kirschner's work, he starts the listener off easily, introducing the instrument or set of instruments for a particular piecewith relative pragmatism. However, things don't remain so simple for very long, as the works' harmonic balance gives way to microtonal relationships and beautifully crafted computerized decay. By the end of his long compositions, you find yourself wondering how you got where you were, having been completely drawn into Kirschner's sound-world and thrown out the other side as if tossed into a churning sea.
Disc One starts off with the shortest piece of the set (a mere 23:40), "January 4, 2011" (all of Kirschner's compositions are titled for the date on which they were started). This piece, created with metallophones and xylophones from a local school, is perhaps the most chaotic, and the most natural, we've ever heard Kirschner's music, as two simultaneous layers of subtly microtuned percussive bells roll and skip, sped up, slowed down and playing off ofone another. Natural, because there was no computer trickery, only hours of playing and recording edited down to this "short" length. As almost the polar opposite, the second track on Disc One (the only disc with more than one piece), "November 7, 2010", takes piano, strings and celeste into severely microtonal territory - at first perhaps a difficult listen, but at the end of the 42-minute piece it somehow all makes sense. It's a dynamic recording whosehigh-pitched bowed sounds whisper across low piano notes, leaving the listener sometimes holding their breath, afraid to disturb the delicacy.
Disc Two's "September 25, 2010" (47:00) is a composition for strings, woodwinds and horns in which 142 different chords float in a sea of silence with no repetitions and no recurrences. Every chord was composed so that each instrumental combination only happened once throughout the piece, and the sparse approach evokes "October 19, 2006" on Filaments & Voids, where Kirschner spent as much time composing the silences between chords as he didthe notes themselves.
The final work on Twenty Ten is the 51-minute "January 18, 2011", which takes up the third disc. This piece sees Kirschner return to the instrument he is most often associated with: the aging piano. Two pairs of equal-tempered layers are microtuned against each other, with occasionally jarring edits and unexpected cuts and stops breaking the moody atmosphere created by Kirschner's use of noise and exploited lo-fi recording artifacts.
Taken in its entirety, and realizing the amount of work that went into the creation of this set, Kirschner's Twenty Ten comes off as one highly impressive accomplishment that assures his place among the top artists of our time creating thoroughly original music free of most current classifications.
LIBEREZThe LetterLP/DL Alter ALT05http://alterstock.blogspot.comhttp://www.liberez.moonfruit.com Recorded and mastered by John Hannon at No, Rayleigh, 2009 - 2010.Vinyl cut by Rashad Becker at Dubplates and Mastering, Berlin, March 2011.Edition of 300 copies. John Hannon - Guitar / ViolinPete Wilkins - Drums / VocalsNina Bosnic - Vocals / TextTom James Scott - Guitar / Keyboard The Letter is the first album by Liberez, a group formed by recording engineer John Hannon and Pete Wilkins in Southend. The project began life exploring a deconstruction of the traditional "band" form before expanding to a quartet with the addition of vocalist Nina Bosnic, and multi-instrumentalist Tom James Scott (Bo Weavil Recordings). Musically rooted in improvisation, the band sought a progression from the loosely described "noise rock" sound at their inception into wider areas of sonic exploration. The tracks were recorded as a mixture of sessions at Hannon's studio and external locations where fleeting incidents were captured on crude equipment such as mobile phones, and portable cassette recorders. It wasn't until a piece of text written by Bosnic about an incident in her home country (also bleakly represented on the albums cover), where the backbone of The Letter was formed and new ideas with regards to incorporating her voice were inspired within the group. Bosnic's vocals on this record bear little resemblance to traditional singing or melody but instead use the inflection and cadence of speech to play with syntax. The repeated phrases and deconstructed sentences give the record an unusual and disconcerting atmosphere, acting as a sinister bedfellow to the sharp and broken sound of the guitar and heavily treated drums. Whilst these instruments may represent rock'n'roll, Liberez are content to take influence from the likes of Robert Ashley rather than Chuck Berry. The Letter is a bold first statement from a group that is taking full advantage of what they have, and proudly displays the vast frequency bandwidth that they now work within.
MACHINEDRUMRoom(s)2LP/CD Planet Mu Records ZIQ307Release date: July 11http://www.planet.mu/discography/ZIQ307
TRAVIS STEWART is a producer who's always been admired by the electronic cognosenti, both as a solo producer in his project Machinedrum and also as one half of Sepalcure on Hotflush recordings. After a break from producing he started to resurface in a major way last year with the 'Many Faces E.P.' on Glasgow's LuckyMe label and a performance at Sonar Festival. However, for 'Room(s)', his latest album for Planet Mu, he's well ahead of the curve.
It takes a really skilled and creative producer to see the potential for experimenting with a raw, underground and aggressive musical form like footwork and really nail it, but on Room(s), Travis' productions have turned the 160 bpm footwork conventions inside out. Here he fills the usually fierce, stripped down form with elegant sun kissed and impressionistic songs, built from r & b, autotune and dance music history's most exuberant stabs and kicks. Building on his background as a hip hop producer, he casually creates a beautiful new kind of high-speed detail-packed mutant pop that, like the early post-rave sounds of ambient jungle, is psychedelic, exhilarating and strangely relaxing in it's fast-paced washes of synths and drums. The album opens with 'She Died There', building incomprehensible looping swirls of cut-up vocal over precise, cool synths and agile kicks and snares. 'Now U know Tha Deal..' builds a new romantic flavoured synth melody over flat, heavy bass, slowly adding tough diva vocals and layers of warm chords to create something that approximates uk garage in a different matrix. 'Sacred Frequency' marries organ stabs and a catchy psychedelic chorus to create a triumphant and completely unexpectedly dizzying anthem. On 'U Don't Survive' he mixes the dubbed out, autotuned lyrics 'Out on the street you don't survive, now is the time to realise' over garage stabs and half speed hip hop drums, creating an exhilarating, airy rush. 'Come1' approximates a linear piano rave tune, but morphs into a blissed out shoegaze anthem halfway, while 'Youuniverse' adds congos and swelling Detroit chords over cavernous bass swells. The amazingly propulsive 'GBYE' cuts vocals up over sharp footwork-esque chord stabs like Todd Edwards on fast-forward, while 'The Statue' starts off minimal and dubbed out before building into a waterfall rush of needle-like snares and vocal loops. 'Lay Me Down' is sparser, leaving more space for dreaminess, building in woody, jungle-like drum breaks, while 'Doors' is more linear and subtle, adding in tiny details as it progresses, like a techno track. 'Where Did We Go Wrong?' finishes the album in an ambient style, with just the chords and vocals remaining, having omitting the rhythms, which by now might have been internalized by the listener to float away.
MACHINIST Of What Once Was CD Moving Furniture Records MFR011http://www.movingfurniturerecords.comhttp://www.machinistdrone.com The fourth full length record by Machinist, Of What Once Was, comprises of two tracks with a combined running time of 55 minutes. The diptych consists of the tracks "mono tone in d" and "of what once was". "mono tone in d" is inspired by the concept of the "Monotone Symphony" (1949) by French artist Yves Klein. In this composition a chamber orchestra plays only one note for twenty minutes, followed by an equal measure of silence. Machinist takes up this concept as a premise on which he builds an electric guitar piece in d, with the only variation being the length of tones and different shapes of resonance. Of What Once Was is a live improvised piece, a bookend and closing performance recording of a series of shows following the release of the album Viens Avec Moi Dans Le Vide (2010, Betontoon). The piece marks the transition in the sonic adventures of Machinist from guitar based drone work into new and as of yet uncharted territories and unknown spatiality. The red thread throughout the album is the use of electric guitar as a means to embark on a sonic quest for the tension between spatial sound and tonality of field recordings and the, per se, non-spatiality of computer-generated tones and noise and the inherent resonance(s) of the electric guitar and amplifier(s). These aspects all coalesce in the listening space where the listener experiences the sonic and spatial factors inherent in both pieces of Of What Once Was. About MachinistMachinist is the solo project of Dutch artist ZENO VAN DEN BROEK, who also worked as architect with a specialization in the field of urban living in a networking society. In his music there is a clear focus on urban environment and the immersive experience of space. Since 2005 he has releases several CD-R albums and performed at several Dutch festivals and venues. Leading in 2009, together with Mendel Kaelen, to win the Dutch X-Vektor, a contest for finding underground talent. About Moving Furniture RecordsMoving Furniture Records was founded in October 2008 with the idea in mind of giving more unknown musicians a platform for releasing music. MFR is run by Sietse van Erve, who is based in Amsterdam, The Netherlands. He asks musicians he likes to hear if they want to do a release. The first 8 releases were released as limited CD-R release. In June 2010 the first limited vinyl release Ubeboet - Archival has been presented, followed by Rose & Sandy Play Cat's Cradle on CD. The plan is to continue with vinyl and pressed CD's from this point on. Upcoming releases are by artists such as Accrual, Orphax, Christopher McFall and more.
MIKA VAINIOLife (...It Eats You Up)2LP/CD Editions Mego eMEGO 124Release date: July 26http://editionsmego.com All tracks written by Mika Vainio, except Open Up And Bleed by Iggy Pop / James Williamson
Whereas previous works by Mika Vainio have utilized guitar Life ( It Eats You Up) is the Þrst to use the instrument as its primary sound source. A fascinating, sometimes disturbing and deeply personal work this new 10 track set bears all the hallmarks (exacting attention to detail of tone, rhythm and texture) of Vainio's previous works with some stunning surprises, such as his cover version of The Stooges' 'Open Up And Bleed'.
Tracks such as 'Mining' hark bark to the banging beat excesses of Pan sonic, with 'Crashed' and 'And Give Us Our Daily Humiliation' and the opening 'In Silence A Scream Takes A Heart' reveal a new intensity to Vainio's work and is yet another superb addition to his already brilliant catalogue.
NICOLAS BERNIERusure.paysageCD hrönir hr7963http://www.hronir.dehttp://www.nicolasbernier.com
usure.paysage is Bernier's first musique concrète album, the CD is a re-release of the recently published 12"LP. It was applauded to the skies from all sides: The Wire regarded usure.paysage an "utterly compelling musique concrète album", Aquarius stated "Excellent, through and through!" and even two more Excellents came from Metamkine: "Excellente plongée dans une composition de musique concrète faisant le lien entre une esthétique des années 50 et l'étude paysagère plus actuelle. Collections de sons environnementaux et d'autres sources acoustiques organisées et montées dans une dynamique cinétique au service d'un kaléïdoscope sonore aux multiples facettes. Excellent !"
The CD is presented in the original 12" vinyl cover. It is a one-time pressing of 150 copies and contains the unreleased bonus "k.krrkphsssPOW < paysage", a 9-minute composition produced for the "trans_canada" Festival at ZKM Karlsruhe in 2005.
OREN AMBARCHI & JIM O'ROURKEIndeedLP Editions Mego DeMEGO 021http://editionsmego.com
Oren Ambarchi: Guitar, Synth, PercussionJim O'Rourke: Strings, Synth, PercussionRecorded & Mixed at Steamroom, Tokyo, Jan 2011Cut at Dubplates & Mastering, Berlin, May 2011Photographs by Shunichiro OkadaDesign by Takashi Site
While Oren Ambarchi and Jim O'Rourke have collaborated in a number of forms, from remixes to their acclaimed trio with Keiji Haino, Indeed is their Þrst duo album. Presented as two side-long, electro-acoustic explorations, what Ambarchi and O'Rourke proffer up here is also melodic and approachable, bringing to mind the warm post-minimalism of composers like Alvin Curran, David Behrman and Luciano Cilio. Indeed, it sounds a bit like the collective textural and melodic personality of their respective solo albums Þltered through the highpoints of the Lovely Music catalogue.
Beginning with a sequence of analogue electro-acoustic crunch before settling into a warm synth glow highlighted by the occasional melodic or percussive detail, it sounds like the music that two guys who have honed their skills through years of composition, pop songwriting and rigorous improvisation make when they're having fun in the studio.
REINHOLD FRIEDLInside Piano2CD Zeitkratzer zkr0013LP hrönir hr2884Release date: July 22http://www.zeitkratzer.dehttp://www.hronir.dehttp://www.reinhold-friedl.de
all music performed and composed by Reinhold Friedlrecorded at Philharmonie Luxembourg, July 8-9, 2010published courtesy of Philharmonie Luxembourgpiano: Steinway D-274, microphones: Neumann U87, Neumann KM184recorded by Ralf Meinz, mixed and mastered by Rashad Becker
"Friedl has developed his 'inside piano' technique to such a level of delicacy and precision, that any anticipated distinctions between instrumental and electroacoustic music, or between improvisation and composition are dissolved or transcended." - Stephen Robinson, The Wire
This is the first solo release of zeitkratzer's mastermind Reinhold Friedl. He teaches the grand piano how to sing and to sound like an orchestra, calling this new way of playing an old instrument "Inside-Piano". Many listeners of zeitkratzer releases do not recognise particular sounds that come from the piano and thus cannot identify it. After listening to this release, the source will become clear and they will get a new idea of the instrument!
The good old grand piano plays aggressive noise attacks, choir-like symphonic movements, strange complex sound fibrillations, sometimes lighting up single prepared piano notes, juxtaposed with the tremendous bass of the nearly three-meter long strings...
Recorded on a Steinway D concert piano at the Philharmonie Luxembourg, this double CD is released together with a vinyl LP with additional material on the label hrönir.
Reinhold Friedl lives in Berlin as a "veritable renaissance man" (Asphodel). He studied piano with the grande dame of German piano teaching Renate Werner, as well as with Alan Marks and Alexander von Schlippenbach. Besides his acclaimed solo piano work, he founded and directs zeitkratzer, one of the most resourceful and influential contemporary music groups active today. As a composer Friedl received commissions from such institutions as Wien Modern, the BBC London, the French State, Berliner Festspiele, ZKM Karlsruhe, amongst others. As a curator he invented the legendary Off-ICMC at the International Computer Music Conference in Berlin, and additionally writes professional articles and radio features. Furthermore he studied mathematics and composition with Witold Szalonek and Mario Bertoncini and has received scholarships in Paris, Rome, Marseille, San Francisco and Amsterdam. He gives concerts worldwide and has released numerous CDs and recordings for broadcast. However as this new release clearly demonstrates, Friedl always returns to his love for the piano!
SPLICELABCD Loop Records 1013http://loopcollective.orghttp://www.splicelab.com
Splice's raison d'être is to mesh together elements of contemporary jazz, free improv, loud and soft noise, punk grit, ambient music, and more... With players from England, France and Québec, the quartet dissolves boundaries with seamless blends or blunt juxtapositions.
The four musicians are all members of London's hyperactive LOOP, a collective of like-minded jazz musicians that was founded in 2005 to write, promote and perform original and improvised music. Although its music is contemporary by nature, Loop does not aim to represent a specific style or genre; on the contrary it encourages the artistic diversity of its community.
Splice launched their debut CD « LAB » at the 2011 LOOP Festival at the Forge, London. This first album was born from two years of monthly meetings where the band rehearsed, listened to and discussed about musical intentions. This was followed by an intense week of experiments in the studios of the University of Huddersfield, surrounded by both state of the art and vintage analogue electronics.
The release concert was broadcast by BBC Jazz on 3, with Splice having forthcoming gigs in Strasbourg, The Vortex (London), Birmingham, and Huddersfield.
Splice is Alex Bonney (trumpet and electronics), Robin Fincker (tenor saxophone and clarinet), Dave Smith (drums) and Pierre Alexandre Tremblay (bass guitar and electronics).
ALEX BONNEY (Reading, 1978) studied jazz compostition at Middlessex University under former Loose tubes members Eddie Parker, Chris Batchelor, Stuart Hall and also Nikki Iles.He is based in London and plays in a variety of projects, Including Splice, electro acoustic trio Leverton Fox (who in 2010 played a UK tour supporting Norwegian band Humcrush), he has a critically acclaimed improvising duo with bassist Dave Kane, a jazz quartet quartet performing original compositions featuring Jeff Williams and a tribute to Albert Ayler project featuring Paul Dunmall and Mark Sanders. He is a sideman with several other projects including Andrew Plummer's World Sanguine Report, Nostalgia 77, Northern Irish composer Brian Irvine's ensemble, drummer Steve Davis' 'Knuckle Biter' trio, and improv quartet Bonney/Hanslip/Brice/Sanders and various other improvised musical meetings. Past collaborations and recordings have included Gene Calderazzo, Hans Koller Ensemble (feat. Steve Lacy), Graham Collier Ensemble, and many more. www.alexbonney.co.uk
ROBIN FINCKER (St-Trou-du-Pet, 1968) blabla
DAVE SMITH (Norwich, 1981) is one of the finest young drummers on the British creative music scene. Drawing on a wide range of influences, his explosive style and musical sensitivity give him the versatility to play in many musical environments. Dave is best known for his work in co-leading Outhouse, who have toured the UK and performed in Canada, Germany, France and West Africa. Outhouse projects have included working with Icelandic guitarist Hilmar Jensson, [IKS], Stephane Payen, Jeanne Added and Outhouse Ruhabi a collaboration with five Sabar drummers from The Gambia. Dave co-founded the LOOP Collective in 2005, and works regularly with Outhouse, Splice, Dan Nicholls' Mirror and Tom Challenger's MA.
PIERRE ALEXANDRE TREMBLAY (Montréal, 1975) is a composer and a performer (bass guitar and sound processing) in solo and within the groups 'ars circa musicæ' (Sophie Aime, Paris), 'de type inconnu' (Ora, Montréal), and 'Splice' (loop collective, London). His music is mainly published on Empreintes DIGITALes and Ora. He is Reader in Composition and Improvisation at the University of Huddersfield in England, where he also leads the electronic music studios. He also worked in popular music as producer and bass guitarist, and is interested in video music and in coding. He likes oolong teas, reading, and walking. As a founding member of the no-tv collective, he does not own a working television set. www.pierrealexandretremblay.com
TEMPORAL MARAUDERTemporal Marauder Makes You FeelLP Spectrum Spools SP006Release date: July 5http://www.spectrumspools.com
If JEAN LOGARIN did not exist, it would be necessary to invent him. Never mind your outsider composers; never mind your library music. Never mind your merely unreleased records. Jean Logarin's music, like some recent unearthings by Belgium's Ultra Eczema label, exists at a remove from publicity so complete that it was nearly not among us, and has never been before. Like any obscurity, its immediate appeal might be that this music could count as a more genuine artifact of its time than any more commercial product, by virtue in part of its being outside of history. Jean Logarin's music is deÞnitely outside of history, but it is no artifact. It is so deeply consonant with the best contemporary electronic music that it is hard to believe it isn't brand new. But the biographical details, however elusive of our usual channels of veriÞcation, speak for themselves: Logarin studied under Andrew Rudin during the early 70's; his interest in electronic music further developed while working as a studio assistant for engineer Max Tanguy, an associate of famed krautrock producer, Conny Plank. Through Tanguy, Logarin met percussionist Hans Schule, an eccentric whose shady wealth bankrolled a series of recording sessions at Tanguy's studio. Together with Logarin's then-girlfriend, Llissa Zuckovich, Tanguy, Schule and Logarin proceeded to compose in the studio several hoursworth of Þnished pieces whose original purpose and intention have only become cloudier with time. There was no serious attempt made to release it, and only vague talk of attempting to sell it for commercial usage. The music on MAKES YOU FEEL is, then, from a historical perspective, purely a vanity project. A vanity project within a vanityproject, even: None of the pieces were given titles by Logarin, and the name TEMPORAL MARAUDERS does not predate this release. The album was compiled, its presentation determined, by its own Þrst fan. And here is where the story strains credulity, because it requires believing that Jean Logarin one day met, by chance, accordionist and composer Guerino Raglani, who even then was uncle to a young Joseph Raglani, today trafÞcking in romantic, kraut-tinged electronics under his own name. Two years ago, the elder Raglani passed onto his nephew a set of DAT transfers of his old tape reels, among which were (what have proven to be the only known) copies of Logarin's studio recordings. The younger Raglani, so the story goes, þipped out--became "nearly scared," in his own words--and demanded to know more. His uncle shed what light he could on how he came into possession of the tapes (a funny story in itself), but it took an extensive search to Þnd any accessible trail to Logarin. While Jean and the rest of the erstwhile group were pleasant enough when located, and happy to lend their support to the belated discovery of their work, each was mostly surprised anyone would want to go to the trouble; particularly Logarin, who declined the invitation to be involved in the project beyond its approval, and encouraged Joseph to come up with the album's names and titles himself. So, the project became Raglani's, and it bears the impression of his own aesthetic stamp, drawing from a range of references he and Logarin discovered they had in common. And yet: a "vanity project within a vanity project"? What else is music to begin with? How can it be said to begin with any purpose, and whose is itto name? In any case, this is close to the limit of what can be said about MAKES YOU FEEL. One may search for further information about Jean Logarin beyond these and a few other bare facts, but only in vain; he does not wish to be known. But to anyone who supposes that music this enjoyable and exciting, however buried, would've already been found by now if it actually existed, I would suggest that it has arrived at just the right time to be heard. And to those who will inevitably question if Logarin himself is real, the only straight answer is that we have his music. How could he not be real?-- Michael Ferrer Cut at Dubplates & Mastering, May 2011Spectrum Spools released in association with Editions Mego
THE VEGETABLE ORCHESTRA / DAS GEMÜSEORCHESTEROnionoiseCD Transacoustic Research/Monkey TRES008Release date: September 16http://www.transacoustic-research.comhttp://www.vegetableorchestra.org
ONIONOISE is the third CD by The Vegetable Orchestra, an ensemble unique to the world of music which is committed to the exploration of the acoustic qualities of vegetables.
In addition to performing on the international concert circuit, the 12-people collective from Vienna has spent the last dozen years experimenting with the building of vegetable instruments, industriously unearthing the acoustic universe of roots and legumes, cabbages and courgettes.
All the instruments used are exclusively made from vegetables: from fresh as well as dried plant material such as carrot, leek, celery root, artichoke, dried pumpkin and onion skin.All these components are used for building organic instruments and sound generators which usually only last for one concert or one day in the studio. In addition to the vegetables, various utensils like record players or power drills are used to create unusual noises and to add unexpected texture to the music.
The sounds produced by the vegetable instruments are amazingly multi-layered: transparent & crackling, shrill & massive, dark & hypnotic, funky & groovy - a heterogeneous multitude of acoustic gems and strange, unfamiliar sounds whose organic origin is not always immediately recognizable. The compositions are tailored to suit the speciÞc characteristics of the vegetable instruments being used, in terms of their sonic attributes and practical considerations to optimize performance. Stylistically the music oscillates between organic pop music and aural sound experiments, with inspiration from various sources: Minimal Techno, Ambient, Noise, Pop, New and Electro-Acoustic Music.
One important characteristic of the orchestra is its collaborative self-organization. Every aspect of the CD (from compositions, photographs, cover design, to label and distribution) has been developed and decided collectively by all members of the ensemble.
This CD is an aural voyage through phantasmagorical continents of sound and imaginary gardens. Living music: multi-layered and idiosyncratic.
The elaborate Digi-Pack also includes a poster.
― scott seward, Wednesday, 15 June 2011 20:35 (twelve years ago) link
MIKA VAINIO - Life (...It Eats You Up) 2LP/CD Editions Mego
guitar? wtf.
― mh, Wednesday, 15 June 2011 20:37 (twelve years ago) link
I was listening to this last night on headphones - it's free with this month's Wire. I had no idea what it was about until the references to Dodi, but even before that, a very visceral feeling came over me:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rjiRsAd-B4k
― Sonny Chevrotain (dog latin), Thursday, 1 September 2011 12:24 (twelve years ago) link
ALVA NOTO - Univrs 2LP/CD raster-notonANGEL - 26000 LP/CD Editions MegoBILL ORCUTT - How The Thing Sings LP/CD Editions MegoCHRIS WATSON - El Tren Fantasma CD TouchCONTAINER - LP LP Spectrum SpoolsDRIPHOUSE - Spectrum 008 LP Spectrum SpoolsFENNESZ - Seven Stars CDEP TouchFUJAKO - Landform 2LP AngstromGARY NUMAN - Dead Son Rising LP/CD MortalHIGH PLACES - Original Colors LP/CD Thrill JockeyHIVE MIND - Elemental Disgrace LP Spectrum SpoolsJIM HAYNES - The Decline Effect LP Helen ScarsdaleJIM O'ROURKE - Old News #6 2LP Editions MegoKAMMERFLIMMER KOLLEKTIEF - Teufelskamin LP/CD StaubgoldKUEDO - Severant LP/CD Planet MuLAWRENCE ENGLISH - The Peregrine LP ExperimediaMARK MCGUIRE - Get Lost LP/CD Editions MegoMELT FAMAS - Serial Weather 10" MusikzimmerMONTY ADKINS - Fragile.Flicker.Fragment CD AudiobulbPURITY SUPREME - Always Already EP Ash InternationalTOM JOHNSON - Orgelpark For Chart: For Four Organs CD MazagranTROPICS - Parodia Flare LP/CD Planet MuV.A. - Archipel Electronique CD D'Autres CordesVELVELJIN - Nostalghia CD Noble
ALVA NOTOUnivrs2LP/CD raster-noton R-N 133Release date: October 17http://www.raster-noton.nethttp://www.alvanoto.com
alva noto's new album univrs will be released on raster-noton on october 17, 2011."univrs" follows on from and develops the concept of the album unitxt (raster-noton,2008). whereas the focus of unitxt was on the processing of rhythmic patterns ('unit' =unit of measurement, element) and information ('txt' = data, language), with univrs thefocus is on the conceptual differentiation of a universal language ('universum/universal'= unity, entirety).
the 14 tracks of univrs have evolved from a live context, hence the approach ismore continuous and dense. for the track uni acronym alva noto works again with thefrench voice artist anne-james chaton. the track is based on a number of 208 three-letteracronyms (set in alphabetical order) creating a random narrative. a video for this track isto be released soon.
the audio-visual performance of univrs is based on the real-time manipulation ofsoftware-generated test images by audio signals. a customised hardware box unitxt boxtriggers the video signal according to the value of the audio signal. the resulting colourpatterns change constantly without repititon.
the visualisation of univrs (uniscope version) - a expanded screen projection setup- on a digital level combines a variety of modules demonstrating different methods ofaudio analysing. the resultant signal processing is shown as a relay structure and isperformed in real-time. each module can be zoomed in on the expanded screen enablinggreater visual detail. the univrs (uniscope version) was developed with the touchdesignersoftware in close cooperation with derivative in toronto, canada (derivative.ca).a cd + dvd special edition of univrs along with a standard album release featuresa video of the live perfomance of univrs (uniscope version) perfomance in berlin 2011and the uni acronym video. it also includes two booklets on the visual concept of theperformance and the 208 uni acronym video stills. the special edition is an exclusiveraster-noton web shop release.
alva noto would like to thank anne-james chaton for his on-going inspiration, martinl. gore for providing a sample for the track uni rec, and daniel miller for advice andsupport. the album was mastered by rashad becker at clunk, berlin.
ANGEL26000LP/CD Editions Mego eMEGO 127Release date: September 27http://www.editionsmego.comhttp://www.myspace.com/angelnoise
Angel is ILPO VÄISÄNEN (Pan sonic) and DIRK DRESSELHAUS (Schneider TM) who play time-transcending freeform sound, weightlessness and gravity of electromagnetic signals together since 1999. The 5 tracks describe the last period of a 26000 years long cycle that leads to a new situation on this planet.
26000 was recorded between 2008 and 2010 at Construction Site Studios in Berlin & Ilpo's cottage in Karttula, Finland and features guest appearences by HILDUR GUDNADOTTIR, BJ NILSEN and OREN AMBARCHI. The repertoire of the instruments is very wide: glassbowls, metal objects, pieces of wood, grass, birds, dragonflies, lake echo, smoking box and the regular electronic equipment as well as acoustic instruments.
Hildur plays cello & the hallodrone (a kind of cello that feeds itself back).Oren plays percussion & guitar.Benny did field recordings and processing.
All mixed by Angel at Dirk's newly built studio called Zone and mastered by Rashad Becker in Berlin. It's all good in the tummy, bwoys, because the Black Sabbath parts were totally AC/DC. "nothing is wider than empty things" (francis bacon)"time is the accident of accidents" (epi kuros)
BILL ORCUTTHow The Thing SingsLP/CD Editions Mego eMEGO 128Release date: September 20http://www.editionsmego.comhttp://palilalia.com
Recorded Spring 2011 in the Living Room, San Francisco.
Yet another essential cracking new set of songs from Bill Orcutt, showcasing a further development of his unique visceral acoustic style. The language that Orcutt uses looks familiar at Þrst glance, but cut deeper and its myriad of twisted audio that's both full on and drenched in melancholy, usually in the same gasping breath. While a lot of it is the classic face melting style, some quieter segments counter balance on the title track as well the epic closer "A Line From Ol'Man River" and "Heaven Is Closed To Me Now".
CHRIS WATSONEl Tren FantasmaCD Touch TO:42http://touchmusic.org.ukhttp://www.chriswatson.net
Artwork: Jon WozencroftMastered by Denis Blackham
"Take the ghost train from Los Mochis to Veracruz and travel cross country, coast to coast, Pacific to Atlantic. Ride the rhythm of the rails on board the Ferrocarriles Nacionales de México (FNM) and the music of a journey that has now passed into history."
El Tren Fantasma, (The Ghost Train), is Chris Watson's 4th solo album for Touch, and his first since Weather Report in 2003, which was named as one of the albums you should hear before you die in The Guardian. A Radio programme was broadcast on BBC Radio 4 on Saturday 30 Oct, 2010, produced by Sarah Blunt, and described as "a thrilling acoustic journey across the heart of Mexico from Pacific to Atlantic coast using archive recordings to recreate a rail passenger service which no longer exists. It's now more than a decade since FNM operated its last continuous passenger service across country. Chris Watson spent a month on board the train with some of the last passengers to travel this route. As sound recordist he was part of the film crew working on a programme in the BBC TV series Great Railways Journeys. Now, in this album, the journey of the 'ghost train' is recreated, evoking memories of a recent past, capturing the atmosphere, rhythms and sounds of human life, wildlife and the journey itself along the tracks of one of Mexico's greatest engineering projects.
The radio broadcast received national press coverage in the UK:
The Observer:It is over a decade since FNM operated its last continuous passenger service across the country but here sound recordist Chris Watson recreates its atmospheric journey with the help of the train recordings he made while working on the BBC television series Great Railway Journeys... through desert and city, but it is the rocking rhythms of the train itself that prove most memorable. [Stephanie Billen]
The Financial Times:El Tren Fantasma (8pm) is Archive on 4's recollection of a trans-Mexico rail journey by sound recordist Chris Watson. From desert to rainforest, hummingbirds' wings to the boom of heat rising from the Copper Canyon, it recalls a beloved passenger train system abandoned by privatisation. **** [Martin Hoyle]
The Daily Telegraph:Sometimes, radio can awaken the mind and sharpen the senses like no other medium. This "sound portrait" of a now-abandoned railway line that used to run between the Pacific and Atlantic coasts of Mexico is a good case in point. Captured by sound recordist Chris Watson more than a decade ago, it jostles with human, animal and mechanical life, filling the room with an atmosphere that is more richly evocative of Central America than any TV travel show I've seen. Diesel engines thrum, cicadas chirrup and passengers chatter, sing and argue. [Pete Naughton]
About the author...Chris Watson is one of the world's leading recorders of wildlife and natural phenomena, and for Touch he edits his field recordings into a filmic narrative. For example. the unearthly groaning of ice in an Icelandic glacier is a classic example of, in Watson's words, putting a microphone where you can't put your ears. He was born in Sheffield where he attended Rowlinson School and Stannington College (now part of Sheffield College). In 1971 he was a founding member of the influential Sheffield-based experimental music group Cabaret Voltaire. His sound recording career began in 1981 when he joined Tyne Tees Television. Since then he has developed a particular and passionate interest in recording the wildlife sounds of animals, habitats and atmospheres from around the world. As a freelance recordist for film, tv & radio, Chris Watson specialises in natural history and documentary location sound together with track assembly and sound design in post production.
CONTAINERLPLP Spectrum Spools SP007Release date: September 13http://www.spectrumspools.comhttp://ijustlivehere.org/container/index.html
Recorded early May and Late June 2011 at Bad Deal Studios, Nashville, TN.Mastered and cut at Dubplates & Mastering, Berlin, July 2011Design and layout assistance by Mike Pollard.
Container is a recent moniker of Nashville, Tennessee resident REN SCHOFELD who's beenactively shifting about the U.S. playing shows and releasing cassettes on his mysterious I JustLive Here imprint for a long while now. Known primarily for his God WIlling project, a disjointed, confusing, maze of crude oscillator, tape, and guitar, Ren has established himself as a staple in the east coast underground.
Here we have a new experiment in electronic beat oriented music. This is no standard fare,however. It glows with a vision all it's own, completely isolated and separate making it difÞcult to place in the awkward world of the "genre". The sounds are a thick stew congealing new ideas and naive experiments into something in the ballpark of the new super weird Wolfgang Voigt 12"s, abstract and minimal in nature with time stopping tendencies. Take those 12"s and send them thru the garbage can, tape loop, reel to reel experiments of Ake Hodells "220 Volt Buddha" or that weird track with lawnmower by Charles Amirkhanian on the Þrst Slowscan volume and we might be getting closer.
This music, by being so unruly and deÞant of any kind of trend, has created a fresh fusion wehave not heard until now. "Application" introduces you to Container in the most suitable way. A confusing anti-rhythm accompanied by errie unidentiÞable tones before a collapse of metallic drum sounds washes you out into to the minimal motorik "Protrusion". The þip takes off with intense feedback squeal and more light speed rhythm leading into "Overþow" the albums wildest, most textural piece. "Rattler" leaves the listener absolutely bafþed and þipping the record over again to try to Þgure it all out as this record makes no sense to anybody but it's creator.
The experimental nature of this album alone warrants it's vinyl release, however, the Þne detail and unique structures will have you waiting for the next Container 12". Spectrum Spools released in association with Editions Mego
DRIPHOUSESpectrum 008LP Spectrum Spools SP008Release date: October 11http://spectrumspools.comhttp://tiny.cc/spectrum008
All tracks by DAREN HOOriginally released on cassette in an edition of 100 by Root Strata as Root 91Mastered and cut at D+M, Berlin, August 2011.
POPULAR TAGS: Ambient, Analog, Baroque, Beautiful, Bizarre, Boring, Cold, "Daren Ho", Digital, Driphouse, Drone, Electronic, Electronica, Experimental, Floating, Harpsichord, "Library Electronics", Modular, Mysterious, Piano, Psychedelic, Puzzling, Satie, "Spectrum 008", "Spectrum Spools", Sterilized, Synthesizers, Ugly, Wendy Carlos, Wobbly, WTF, Zig-Zag
FUJAKOLandform2LP Angstrom ALP09http://www.angstrom-records.comhttp://www.myspace.com/fujako
All instruments, recordings, drums & manipulations by Ripit & HHY.With vocals by Sensational (1), Seraphim (2),Ý Native (3 & 6), Cheravif (5), Scalper (7).Additional turntablism by DJ Urine (3).
For those who value such "luminous coincidences" (in the words of Louis Pauwels, of "Morning Of The Magicians" fame), I can recall that on that day in early August, as Jonathan Uliel Saldanha and Nyko Esterle, or HHY and Ripit if you prefer, packed their gear into a decaying automobile and left the city of Porto heading towards central Portugal's mountainside, it was raining ashes.
As forest fires ravaged the landscape all through the country, the sky was a fiery orange on an almost daily basis, and a glimpse of the Plagues of Egypt was offered to our modern day sinfulness. Fire is, of course, a central driving force in the process of alchemy, and alchemy is a central preoccupation permeating these two musicians work; the endless, minute recombinations and fusions of The Great Work are not at all distant from hip-hop's sampling and reconfiguring tactics, or from the miraculous transmutations of sonic matter created by dub strategies.
So, on LANDFORM, hip-hop and dub are explored as techniques of fusion; all manner of sound substances (instruments from various ages and places, all played by the duo in a short-circuit process of "self-sampling", the MCs voices, the ghostly effects) are welded in a metaphorical forge, coalescing into a form of cosmic mountain-top music.
Filipe Silva (a.k.a. The Banshee) is a portuguese musician. With Jonathan Uliel Saldanha, he runs Soopa, a polymorphic entity producing, presenting and releasing any form of music that acknowledges sound's potential for transfiguration.
"I believe in the irony of mountains" (JG Ballard)
FUJAKO is the joint venture blast from prolific producers, multi-instrumentalists and sonic wizards Jonathan Uliel HHY and Ripit - two key characters in the most adventurous underground/uncompromised music scenes in Portugal and Belgium respectively.
The monstrous, mineral instrumental sound & beat scapes of LANDFORM were recorded in a remote mountain refuge in central Portugal in the "Serra de S. Macário", a region famous for its cursed mines, abandoned villages full of wandering goats taking charge and rumours of devil worship. A zone quite like a crossover between Lovecraft's back country near Innsmouth and Arkham and the Shinig.
FUJAKO came out of the clash of Jonathan Uliel Saldanha and Nyko Esterle, two producers obsessed with echo and bass. The first one, raised in Portugal and part of the collectives Soopa and Mécanosphère, deals with sonic alchemy, and is also known as HHY. The second one, raised in France, part of the Radon collective and a rider of the sound waves, is also known as Ripit. Both met to summon music of unlooped hip-hop, filled with spectres of haunting dub and ecstatic scapes. LANDFORM, their first record (out on Wordsound Digital) was born in a small stone house studio in the burnt forests and mountains of Portugal, between paradise and the gate of hell, made from soundscapes and beats recorded on mostly acoustic instruments, created in an hostile -yet natural- environment. After the initial production phase in the woods, LANDFORM was then haunted by the voices of several guests such as Sensational, Seraphim, Native, Cheravif and Scalper, as well as by the additional trash turntablism of DJ Urine.
Uliel HHY and Ripit used the whole context as a source instrument. And what was initially and theoretically to be a fast breakcore-violent noise project evolved into a record haunted by organic, deep and slow, drum-heavy environmental reports from remote mental regions inhabited by wild desolation, silence, fracture, and the echoes of the enigmatic and immemorial mysteries of the land and of our brother animals.
They taped drumskins, stones, wind, live crickets, flowing water, wood and skulls to make most of the drumbeats and drones and the whole rhythmic and sonic texture so specific to LANDFORM. This whole reshaping and reinterpretation of urban hip-hop/dub eventually goes back where it belongs when a crew of some of the finest MCs jumps into the mix.
Fujako breaks down the language and usual methods of this rough, urban music to reinforce it back through the cosmic wilderness of haunted grounds and landscapes. Their amalgam of stone-beats, old instruments & silent animals colliding with overloaded electric manipulations, massive bass blasts and corrosive flow makes LANDFORM a unique record and a serious tour-de-force. Bringing back the parallel world into parallel music and the phantom & space back into the dub. - Benjamin Brejon / Mécanosphère
ABOUT THE FUJAKO PRODUCERSHHY is the main alias for multi-spectre instrumentalist and producer Jonathan Uliel Saldanha. His music is informed by Alchemy and Hermetic cosmologies, RA, Heavy Bass Pressure, Indian music, Calliope, Echo Chamber, Sonic Mayhem & Voodoo Downbeats.
Under his own name or with other formations, HHY shares projects and collaborations with musicians such: Mark Stewart, Damo Suzuki, Steve Mackay, DJ Scotch Egg, Raz Mesinai, Vincent Paternostro, Scott Nydegger, Benjamin Brejon, Ewen Chardronnet and countless other artists from a wide lexicon of sonic contexts (Unlooped Hip-Hop, Spectral Dub, Brass Band, Shamanic Improv, Chaos Rock...).
One of the individual entities lurking in the engine room of the Porto-based SOOPA and Faca Monstro collectives, and the transnational Mécanosphère organism; he is part of numerous projects such as HHY & The Macumbas, Herzbeat Hotel, F.R.I.C.S., Besta Bode, Mental Liberation Ensemble, and Çuta Kebab and Party. More at: www.soopa.org, www.myspace.com/hhyscumclash
Ripit or Nyko Esterle forged his sonic weapons in the alternative electronic scene of Paris. Now based in Bruxelles, he runs several musical projects (Solar Skeletons, Extern Ykon) and also music-related activities such as the recording/mixing studio Silent-Block and the booking agency Vautour Operator.
During the last decade, Nyko has toured Europe and North-America several times, delivering a wide range of musical genres, from breakcore to bluesy doom, from ambient to hip-hop, from harsh noise to Grindcore, always keeping a "Ripit's touch" that would be called Industrial by some. Among a huge list of collaborators are Mike Watt, Steve Mackay (the Stooges), Hecate, Jason Forrest, Xanopticon, Koonda Holaa, just to name a few. More at: www.myspace.com/riipiit
THE MCs & DJsCheravif is an MC from the Paris underworld. After his 2 EPs in 1999, on which the riddims are insured by cult drum'n'bass french artist Pushy, he will release new material in 2009 on Kiosk Eklektik. www.myspace.com/ cheravifNative, born in Nigeria, raised in Brooklyn, studied Arab calligraphy in Cairo, now lives in Paris. He will join Fujako on stage as an MC. www.myspace.com/soupkitchinScalper comes from the UK but is now based in New Zealand. Ex-frontman for the British band Fun-da-mental and also live vocalist for Nova Mute artist 2nd Gen. Scalper has had 3 EPs released and has provided vocals for artists across the world including Fujako, Larvae, Fun-da-mental, Sonic Area, Zodiac project, Trace- elements, T99 and Lucid State. www.myspace.com/scalperSensational, the original freak styler, began his rapping as Torture within the Jungle Brothers. He's now the heavy weighter of Wordsound crew with his incomparable flow and rhymes. www.myspace.com/chunkoblissSeraphim is a founding member of seminal NYC underground crew No Surrender. He has recorded with Radioclit (M.I.A., Santogold, Vampire Weekend) and TV on the Radio's Tunde Adebimpe. He has also worked extensively with Badawi (ROIR, Tzadik) and Mike Ladd (ROIR). Currently, he is preparing the release of the next No Surrender album, and the long awaited follow-up to Mike Ladd's Majesticons album due later this year on Big Dada/Ninja Tune. www.myspace.com/nosurrenderDJ Urine, with his particular approach of the vinyl media, has contributed to a noisy vision of turntablism, using toy turntables, prepared records and bended toys. He collaborated with Otto Von Schirach, Dj Q-Bert and Sensational, to name a very few. www.myspace.com/cropscirclz
Plus Remix by:Tzii, for more than ten years has spread his magickal corrosive frequencies all over the world, from eastern and western Europe to Australia, USA, Japan and Africa, releasing cinematic dark ambient and raw power electronic anger through his own label Night On Earth and V-Atak collective. He's also a long time collaborator of Nyko Esterle on touring, event promotion and more recently as the second member of the band Solar Skeletons. www.myspace.com/tziiAdditional remixes will come out this year featuring Spectre and many other ill alchemists!
GARY NUMANDead Son RisingLP/CD Mortal Records MORTALCD10Release date: October 24http://www.mortalrecords.comhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JNxBAqKvhf4
Gary Numan returns this autumn with a new album Dead Son Rising and a UK Tour. The new album grew out of a set of demos the singer had left from previous projects, but as he explains: "The original ideas that sparked off these songs are now barely visible. It's grown into another animal, something more experimental."
Produced and co-written by Ade Fenton (Numan's collaborator on 2006's Jagged), the material ranges from the heavily anthemic "The Fall" (written about "an old friendship gone bad") to the Arabic and ghostly "We Are The Lost" and one of the standout moments, the brooding "Dead Sun Rising" (* please note the different spelling to the album title). The latter both contain elements from a sci-fi fantasy story Numan has been writing over the last few years. Meanwhile, troubled relationships are explored on "For The Rest Of My Life" and "Not The Love We Dream Of", and there's also room for two instrumentals ("Resurrection" and "Into Battle"), showcasing some of the "soundtrack-type" material that Numan and Fenton have been working on recently. It all adds up to one of Numan's most atmospheric albums - one for those who loved his B-side experiments in the past but also containing some very direct, streamlined electronic rock in the likes of "Big Noise Transmission", "The Fall" and "When The Sky Bleeds, He Will Come".
Numan also continues to work on the "bulldozer, riff-fest" of his next album Splinter which remains his priority release next year. He's also collaborated with Battles on their new single, "My Machines", which is released by Warp Records on 15th August and plays the Nightmare Before Christmas ATP Festival which Battles are hosting on 10 December.
As the NME argues, "Numan's influence on electronic music is unparalleled." He's been namechecked as an influence by everyone from Kanye West to Foo Fighters and Queens Of The Stone Age, and an ever-growing list of artists have covered and sampled his music. These range from Basement Jaxx to Damon Albarn; Afrika Bambaataa to RZA and GZA from the Wu-Tang Clan.
Dead Son Rising Tour September 2011:15 Nottingham Rock City16 Bournemouth Academy17 London Shepherds Bush Empire18 Wolverhampton Civic Hall19 Leeds Academy20 Glasgow ABC21 Liverpool Academy
HIGH PLACESOriginal ColorsLP/CD Thrill Jockey Thrill286Release date: November 7http://www.thrilljockey.comhttp://hellohighplaces.blogspot.com
High Places is ROB BARBER and MARY PEARSON. The two create danceable pop music that is both artistic and refined. While very much involved in the music scene of New York and later migrating to Los Angeles, High Places has always been on its own unique musical path. The consistent dialog between the duo over the span of three albums is always through rhythmic and melodic ambient space. The two mix their particular internal rhythms with a long-standing love of UK and US dance sensibilities such as that of UK garage, drum and bass, Chicago/NYC house, Detroit techno, dub reggae, and electro dancehall. The early influence of visceral live experiences of NYC/Philly hip hop of the late '80s and early '90s is evidenced in the band's massive sound system. With Original Colors, they are at once pushing forward with much heavier and more complex beats, but also returning to their more gritty, electro-acoustic roots.
Recorded in the band's home studios in Los Angeles, Original Colors dives headlong into driving bass pulses and dynamic rhythms. Rob and Mary's singular visions are built upon a foundation of syncopated beats, while still adhering to their layered, collaborative style of writing. From the four-on-the-floor dance rhythms of album opener "Year Off" to the more extended and darker phrases of tracks like "Sophia", the end result is more forceful than ever. Throughout their nearly five years of existence, the band has traveled extensively and performed in a multitude of environments. Whether it's at the Guggenheim Museum in Manhattan or in an industrial warehouse in Santiago, Chile, their travels are reflected in Original Colors. The album is dotted with sun-drenched references to Australia's inimitable foliage, the expansive desert of Northern Mexico, and the crystal, blue waters of the Indian Ocean. Such allusions are presented over a bed of swirling stereo rhythms and infectious melodies that are the band's signature. Each track possesses a specific texture and emotion that serve to create a variegated yet unified album that is held together by the binding force of Mary's mezzo-soprano vocals. The air of naïveté has been peeled away since the first album, and her voice is pushed to the fore; liberated from the dense sonic waves of previous work, and blossoming into a truly melodic instrument.
Visual art plays an important role in Mary and Rob's collaboration. The two make video projections for their stage shows, keep a photo blog that documents their travels, and create their own album artwork. In this way and others, Mary and Rob challenge the conventional parameters of a rock band and instead give us a multi-sensory aesthetic partnership that continually defies expectations.
High Places has plans to tour this fall; bringing their sound to new environments, always in the hope of collecting experiences that will shape the evolution of their truly unique sound.
HIVE MINDElemental DisgraceLP Spectrum Spools SP009Release date: October 25http://www.spectrumspools.com
"Elemental Disgrace" is an album many years in the works. An album recorded and edited over a number of years and tediously mixed into a stunning double side-long record of some of the U.S. best underground synthesizer music. Whatever rise to the synthesizer came later on in the 00's is hardly of any concern to Greh Holger and his Hive Mind project. Having released private press cassettes of solo synth works as far back as 2002, Hive Mind exists as enigmatic in world of new-jack synthheads and the title wave of "neo kosmische" þying far under the radar.
The silence is now broken and here we are treated to some of the most unique sounds Spectrum Spools has yet presented. No blisscapes to be found here. No soaring latched arpeggios, no cosmic vistas. Not a single melody. This is two sides of ancestral ruin in its clearest presentation. The brutality of the Earth and the harsh reality of all that it holds.Unknowable sounds - that of the dawn of Earth, or perhaps its demise. A swamp of chemicalsand creatures left behind long after man has wiped himself away for good. Field recordings from the end.
While others are racing for the stars, Hive Mind's tetonic plate shifting and brutal rumble will give you a brand new way to look at modern synthesizer composition.
It's worth noting that Spectrum Spools as a label would not exist without Hive Mind. An inspiration and a pioneer in the U.S. synthesizer circuit, it's with pleasure and honor to release "Elemental Disgrace" into the world.
JIM HAYNESThe Decline Effect2LP/DL The Helen Scarsdale Agency HMS021http://www.helenscarsdale.com
Parapsychology introduced the notion of the decline effect as a statistical phenomenon of diminishing results whilst investigating extra-sensory perception and psychokinesis. Where initial findings might substantiate proof of such abilities, further studies would almost always demonstrate the contrary. As such, this ontological disappearing act stands in allegorical parallel to the entropic art of Jim Haynes and frames his 2011 opus of the corroded drone and a compacted disintegration of sound.
This San Francisco Bay Area artist has long defined his work through the pithy phrase: "I rust things." The Decline Effect continues his investigations with electroacoustic decay through four bodies of evidence left behind from ephemeral aktions, shipwrecked electronics, re-engineered field recordings, and transmissions from the ether. Haynes composes through all of these sources through a patient suturing of sympathetic elements, whether they be textural, tonal, visceral, heavenly, sodden, or monolithic. Here, embers foretelling a nuclear winter gently waft upon industrial chorales amassed from an army of fidgeting motors; the sulfur-laden hiss from volcanic vents erupts from an organic thrum into boiling crescendos of environmental noise; geiger counter palpitations stream along a leaden sea of modulated radio noise; a warm explosion of sun-bleached distortion caresses the evanescent halos from an undulating mesmerism inexplicably not sourced from a guitar and / or digital patch authored by Christian Fennesz. On The Decline Effect, Haynes' broken minimalism orbits somewhere near the work Joe Colley, The Hafler Trio, Nurse With Wound, and BJ Nilsen.
The 2LP of The Decline Effect is strictly limited to 350 copies, comes in a handsome gatefold sleeve, and sports the necessary download coupon. Zener cards not included.
JIM O'ROURKEOld News #62LP Editions Mego #6http://editionsmego.com
Recorded at Steamroom, Tokyo, 2009-2011
Hot on the hells of OLD NEW #5 comes #6.A new 70+ minute electronic piece split over four sides. Two years in making, 'all that's cold is new again' was partly commissioned by Christian Zanesi for GRM's Présences Électronique Festival in Paris.
An intense and rewarding listen rich in detail and of full of some classic O'Rourke hooks and turns, which he has masterfully developed over the last two decades.
This one is for Peter F.
Available only in this format.
Side One: all that's cold is new again part 1Side Two: all that's cold is new again part 2Side Three: all that's cold is new again part 3Side Four: all that's cold is new again part 4
KAMMERFLIMMER KOLLEKTIEFTeufelskaminLP/CD/DL Staubgold digital 16 / analog 9Release date: October 28http://www.staubgold.comhttp://www.kammerflimmer.com
It's cold. It's winter. You are out in a deserted snowed out countryside. What would make you feel warm and dry? It's the hut on the horizon - a soft warm plume of smoke coming from its chimney. They invite you into the house to sit on the fireplace. They serve you soup. You are safe and sound.
What is a 'Teufelskamin'? A 'Devil's Chimney' is a natural geological phenomenon, a natural rock formation built by tidal powers. Take for example the natural shaft on the Crozon peninsula in Brittany, France. Waves push into this pit and spit out a giant jet of seawater. Watch out! It's a cold satanic soup coming from hell's kitchen. When chef Satan starts cooking, wet showers are coming out of his hut, not dry smoke. At least the devil cooks with water.
What is cooking when the old Kammerflimmer Kollektief invites you to sit on their Teufelskamin? There is a familiar electric guitar that takes you on a ride into Black Mountains. There is the ground making breath of an Indian harmonium. There is a gentle dark push from an upright bass. And there is a female voice amplifying wordless moods over wordless songs.
For years now the Kammerflimmer Kollektief have skillfully sailed waves of various musical genres. On Teufelskamin a spooky guitar sound, a Surf Noir is a new ingredient. And bravely, they call out for Albert Ayler's helping ghost. Kammerflimmer Kollektief is creating a great authentic dish over a nice long running fire and like the devil they cook with water. Cool, cool water. HEIKE AUMÜLLER, JOHANNES FRISCH and THOMAS WEBER are stirring some music of salty beauty from which no one can escape.
Want more?
How do you get visitors out of your house? Well, jam the chimney over the fireplace. Smoke them out like these devils do in Western movies.
BiographyThe Kammerflimmer Kollektief plays music, which should not be written down, for it would scorch the paper. The project, whose music meanders between precision and freedom, has been founded in 1996 by Thomas Weber. Up to now, the Kollektief has released eight albums in all sorts of line-ups. Live performances all over the world are realized as a trio (with Heike Aumüller and Johannes Frisch).
KUEDOSeverantLP/CD Planet Mu ZIQ309Release date: October 17Vertrieb: Cargohttp://www.planet.mu
On his debut long-player Severant, JAMIE TEASDALE a.k.a. Kuedo has made an album of dreamlike music, loaded with his own preoccupations with futurism and escapism, that's very different from his musical past as one half of Vex'd. With his intentions re-evaluated for the making of this album, his process to capture them has evolved to a more automatic way of creating tracks, cutting back on the endless technical options available to the modern producer and rendering them at a quicker pace to reveal a lighter, more truthful music, as he puts it: "On the side of modernism". In terms of feeling, Severant explores the space between the detached world of the imagination and the real-time world; that feeling of coming out of a daydream, on the edge of the drift from the day-to-day grind. Jamie says of this moment "As reality shapes imagination and escapism affects your choices in the real world, there is a strange relational loop between the two and the space in between the two. There's a bitter sweetness in that gap, it has a certain emotive quality, kind of in between being and non-being". Again, musically Severant is inspired by related themes. It sounds as if it's in a sweet spot between the emotive, innately futurist synth soundtracks of Tangerine Dream and Vangelis, borne from a time when the very idea of futurism was more prevalent, in combination with musical ideas and inspiration from the emotionally ambivalent, materialist fantasies of 'coke rap' such as The Clipse. Rhythmically the record is influenced by what Jamie calls "the two ultra modern musics of modern times", footwork from Chicago, which Planet Mu has explored in depth on its recent releases, and again the drum machine grids of coke rap. Jamie says "I wanted to capture a really futurist sentiment, kind of melancholy and grand luminescent, so I used the instrument that most evokes that for me - that sweeping Vangelis brass sound."And on coke rap he talks about the emotional 'half being' of the music, the energetically charged, detached ambivalence of the MCs, and the admission that the MCs could be "fantasising without admitting to doing so." The title Severant refers to stark changes of circumstances in Jamie's life when the album was made and the music works strangely like scenes from a film: tracks are concise and direct and one of the albums great and unusual strengths is that on repeated listens different songs rise to the surface and the album repeatedly changes and develops in the listeners ears and mind.
LAWRENCE ENGLISHThe PeregrineLP Experimedia explp020Release date: September 20http://label.experimedia.net/020http://lawrenceenglish.comhttp://soundcloud.com/experimedia/lawrence-english-the-peregrine
This release is strictly vinyl only and all promotional audio was ripped directly from a vinyl copy of the album.Cover Image by Eugene CarchesioCut and Mastered by Andreas [Lupo] Lubich At Dubplates & Mastering, BerlinRecorded and Produced by Lawrence English at 158, 2011 1
It is truly an honor and privilege to present the latest work by long time comrade, inspiration, and one of the modern masters of the craft Lawrence English. Over the past decade English's work has been published widely on respected imprints including Touch, 12k, Winds Measure, his own Room40 label and has collaborated with fellow contemporaries such as Tujiko Noriko, Stephen Vitiello, Ben Frost, Francisco Lopez, Minamo, DJ Olive and Tenniscoats.
Lawrence's latest work the Peregrine was realized in sound during the first half of 2011. Based upon J.A. Baker's book of the same name, the album finds it's structures through the descriptions of land, environment, and movement contained within the books' chapters and further develops Lawrence's experimentation with harmonic distortion and saturation.
"Swiftly now he is resigning his savagery to the night that rises round us like dark water. The great eyes look into mine. When I move my arm before his face, they still look on, as though they are seeing something beyond me from which they cannot look away. The last light flakesand crumbles down. Distance moves through the dim lines of the inland elms, and comes closer, and gathers behind the darkness of the hawk. I know he will not fly now. I climb over the wall and stand before him. And he sleeps." - passage from J.A. Baker's book The Peregrine
"I first discovered The Peregrine some years ago whilst visiting with David Toop in London. The book had popped up on David's radar and whilst chatting in his loft, I happened to pick it up. The page I opened to described the sound of a Barn Owl on the hunt. Before I finished that paragraph I knew I needed to own this book and find out more about the somewhat mysterious English author J.A. Baker.I feel The Peregrine epitomizes a kind of obsessive rendering of landscape and environment. Throughout the book, Baker places central focus on the micro and macro worlds which surrounding him. He expends as much attention on the shape of clouds or the murmur of a river as on the bird, which inspires him to write. At no point does the idea of humanness come to dominate - in fact human kind merely appears as haunting images that, as Baker summarizes, 'stink of death'. Elegantly misanthropic. Even the author remains oddly mute - we never discover anything about him, not what he does, how he lives or even where he sleep or eats. He is merely a conduit through which land is rendered.This record is a homage to The Peregrine. Having not spent any great amount of time in East Anglia where the book is set, I have used Baker's descriptions and suggested mappings as a guide to the character and composition of the LP. The Peregrine has profoundly affected my work and it's for this reason I felt compelled to create this piece.I hope it conjures up for listener just a few of the lasting impressions the book has left on me and in the process I dearly hope others can discover J.A Baker's evocative writings - thankfully now back in print!" - Lawrence English June 2011
MARK MCGUIREGet LostLP/CD Editions Mego eMEGO 123Release date: September 27http://www.editionsmego.comhttp://mcguiremusic.blogspot.com
This album is dedicated to my family, friends, and the spirit of the summer night sky
Electric and acoustic guitar, vocals, and guitar-synthesizer recorded digitally between June 2010 and July 2011 in Westlake, Ohio and Portland, OregonMixed at Hardbodies, July 2011 by Mark McGuireMastered and cut by Helmut Erler @ Dubplates & Mastering, BerlinPhotography and Art by Mark McGuire 2011Layout by Julian Gulyas
And yet another killer album from the ever productive Mark McGuire. It just keeps getring better, as he delivers another Þne set of tunes in his perfected style. A few more electronic elements than usual and even some voices., but still the unique blend feell good riffs, electric and acoustic loops and melodies that just stick in the head. Its game of 2 sides of course, with side one chocabloc a short hits with side two stretcning to one side long jam of blissed out McGuire ambience.
Awesome.
MELT FAMASSerial Weather10" Musikzimmer MZ001Release date: September 30http://www.kunstraumaarau.ch
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.
Serial Weather is the first conserved situation. It will be followed by a 10" of chained melodies by RM74. The concept is simple. 10", one cover version and the cover sleeve is designed by an artist who does not play on but maybe with the record.
MELT FAMASWhen 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 MALLETAfter 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 Russian's suburb discotheque dancefloor or to listen to by staring at the sunset, The 2nd release of the berlin-based label Grautag records" (Grautag Records)
MONTY ADKINSfragile.flicker.fragmentCD/DL Audiobulb Records AB035http://www.audiobulb.comhttp://www.montyadkins.com
An electroacoustic masterpiece of abstract melody, texture and timings. The ArtistMonty Adkins is a composer and performer whose music is characterised by slow shiftingorganic instrumental and concrete soundscapes. Having worked across a number of genressince 1994 his work has, since 2006, become increasingly minimal and introspective. Thisrecent work focuses on encouraging a deeper immersive listening experience. Workingwith a reduced sonic palette Adkins draws together elements from ambient, minimalelectronica, acousmatic and experimental electronic music. His last album Five Panelsreleased in April 2009 on Signature/Radio France was nominated in the 'album of the year'category at the 2010 Qwartz Awards, Paris and has now been licensed to Renault. The Albumfragile.flicker.fragment is a deeply moving album. The fruit of an expert musician whohas both a technical and intuitive grasp on sound design and composition. Every frequencyis beautifully catered for in these tracks of shimmering acousmatic beauty and deeplyresonating foundations. Each layer occupying its own place whilst building the overallacoustic experience. Adkins' quest to reconcile abstract electronic sound material andmelody is explored in this album. This is further strengthened by the inherent visualquality to the tracks, reflecting the relationship between his work and paintings by PipDickens (with whom he had begun to collaborate with). In his own words: "Although I am interested in experimental sound I never start off from thispoint consciously. To me my music is a reflection of my humanity, the people around me and the friends who play on and record samples for albums. The tracks that eventually emerge are a result of my thoughts, emotions and relationships at that time."
PURITY SUPREMEAlways AlreadyVinyl EP Ash International (reserva) # Ash 10.1Release date: October 24http://www.ashinternational.com/puritysupreme/halfpast3cowboy.mp3
Artwork & Design: Philip MarsallCut by Jason @ Transition Studios, London
Four new tracks from Purity Supreme. Purity Supreme is a collaboration between French musician, composer and producer CHRISTOPHE VAN HUFFEL and American writer, musician and composer LESLIE WINER. Always Already was recorded in France at Studio7Love in May 2011.
Leslie Winer's 90s album Witch, released under the artist name ©, is a genuine lost classic, pioneering many of the sounds that have followed. Since this prescient release she has chosen to work in the shadows. Leslie's voice has graced recordings by Bomb The Bass, Jon Hassell and Holger Hiller, and her words used on "This Is", the lead track on Grace Jones's latest effort. She has also worked with jah Wobble amongst others. Alongside Purity Supreme, she is currently writing short stories to be published by The Bookworm.
Christophe Van Huffel, ex-guitarist of Tanger, has recently worked producing legendary French singer, Christophe. He is based in France.
Side A1. Milk St.2. Half Past 3 Cowboy
Side AA1. Famous Inhabitants of Louth2. Dunderhead
TOM JOHNSONOrgelpark for Chart: For Four OrgansCD Mazagran MZ003http://www.mazagran.orghttp://www.editions75.com
"I have two good minimalist composer friends who have been writing drone music for many years, Phill Niblock and Eliane Radigue. When I told them I had finally left my metric melodies and harmonies and was writing a one-note piece, they were quite surprised and pleased. So am I. This came about because of that amazing four-organ situation at Orgelpark, and it probably won't happen again." - Tom Johnson
Five hundred hand numbered copies edition.
TROPICSParodia FlareLP/CD Planet Mu ZIQ305Release date: September 19Vertrieb: Cargohttp://www.planet.muhttp://soundcloud.com/tropics
Tropics is CHRIS WARD, a British producer and multi-instrumentalist in his early 20s who came to our attention last year. During the time we signed and released his first single 'Soft Vision', his early unreleased tracks and remixes were being given attention from the likes of Pitchfork and others, so we knew we were onto something special.
Since that time things have moved on. He's released two singles and the synth-pop of his early tracks has evolved into a more substantial and personal sound on this, his debut album. 'Parodia Flare' features Chris as a multi-instrumental auteur, playing drums, guitar, and a range of synths and electronic boxes, as well as singing on these songs.
Coming from a family where music was always played, it made sense as a musician for Chris to act almost as a conduit by wiring the sounds he enjoyed growing up with into his own creations. The music he makes weaves vintage sounds, the Rhodes keyboard (an instrument associated with Jazz fusion sits central to the songs on this album), alongside banks of old synths, software and guitars, live drums and electric bass. Tropics is a suitable name for Chris's music as each song is like a warm analogue jungle of sounds, drawn into focus by Chris' naive singing voice and his knack for a lush melody. Given that the album was recorded in a walk-in wardrobe at his house, the steamy heat that the album gives off is a testament to his imagination.
The opening short 'Navajo' sets the scene with atmospheric clouds of reverbed chords and electric guitar, quickly followed by recent single 'Mouves' with its gently sung verses disappearing into clouds of echoey Rhodes chords and floating synths with low-slung New Order-esque bass and soft drums keeping the track in shape. Next up 'Parodia Flare' majestically stretches shimmering keyboard tones and a light guitar over a tight bass and drums, gently teasing out the serene atmosphere. 'Going Back' features a keyboard refrain borrowed from a 70's jazz fusion track, with a low bass and Chris snowy voice cutting through the middle of phased guitars. 'Wear Out' is the morning after, sounding like an exhausted take on late period Beatles, with a lolloping drum beat and horns that sound like they're drunk, interrupted by shimmering marimbas while cold keys screech in the background. 'Celebrate', revised for the album, is a vortex of aerial dub, with echoes and reverbs layering and looping over a very minimal drum and sub-bass, the whole track moving in glorious slow motion. 'Figures', meanwhile, delicately projects Chris's whispered vocals onto a chord borrowed from late 80s Detroit techno, inside a chilly electronic atmosphere that gradually breaks into an 80's electro funk bassline. 'Telassar' is a soft focus 80s synth epic, while 'Playgrounds' is more upbeat, with lyrics remembering the past. 'After Visiting' is made out of a strange airy atmosphere, full of tiny dropped-in details and smudged synths stretched over minimal drum pads borrowed from dubstep, while 'Sapphire' is based around a repeating piano refrain, guitar, sax and vocals. Final track 'On The Move' sounds like prime Chicago post rock but with the Mizell brothers on production, it's musical mixture that tidily bookends the album.
V.A.Archipel Electronique Vol.1CD D'Autres Cordes DAC2010Distribution: Metamkine, iTunes, Amazonhttp://www.dautrescordesrecords.com
Archipel Electronique is a fine overview of what D'Autres Cordes have to offer in terms of electro-acoustic, acousmatic and electronic noise from the French 'younger' generation.
Archipel électronique Vol 1 features a fabulous cross-cut of material, moving from the radical white noise of Kasper Toeplitz to the chaos of sample collagist ErikM, or from the field recording of Sebastien Roux to the analogue sounds of Franck Vigroux.
9 tracks by: Sébastien Roux, Jerome Montagne, Annabelle Playe, Samuel Sighicelli, ErikM, Kasper Toeplitz, Bérangére Maximin, Christophe Ruetsch and Franck Vigroux.
VELVELJINNostalghiaCD Noble NBL-202Release date: October 14http://www.noble-label.nethttp://velveljin.com
Noble labels is excited to introduce velveljin, our new friends following Serph.
velveljin is an irregular band formed in Kyoto in 2009, comprised by the core members of YOHEI YAMAKADO and MANA HARAGUCHI. After self-producing and releasing their first album in 2010, yohei yamakado crossed to France to study film and the band currently plays mainly in Europe with Paris as its base.
The band's second album was inspired by Nostalghia, a film by Russian director Andrei Arsenyevich Tarkovsky, also known for the string ensemble of the same name, composed in his memory, by composer Toru Takemitsu. Though decadent, the somewhat abstract, warm, and overwhelmingly beautiful world of this album is an ambitious challenge with the musical elements of ambient, deep house, minimal techno, dance step and electronica, residing together in a stoic and refined musical creation of freedom.
Based on a controlled monotone and minimal 4/4 beat, a doleful ambient synthesizer weaves a melody of deep lyricism. The sounds of superior elegance and experiential spirit, makes this album suitable for listening in the bedroom but just as good on the dance floor. It is cinematic and modern electronic music at its best. Please enjoy the music wherever you like with whatever images you'd like in your mind.
― scott seward, Thursday, 8 September 2011 17:21 (twelve years ago) link
I was almost stung by bees on saturday -- it was odd, these little things that felt like pellets just fell out of the trees, I reached to brush them out of my hair, and when I looked at my hand there were three little bees writhing in my palm and then one of the two people I was hiking with cried out. I realized the three bees in my palm had prematurely deposited their stingers in my hair and were in the process of dying, then I heard two people down the trail a bit yelp, and then we started running.
evidently due to global warming, killer bees are nesting further and further up the california coast.
― Milton Parker, Thursday, 8 September 2011 18:04 (twelve years ago) link
anyway, good to hear a new Gary Numan song
I am interested in many of these.
― mh, Thursday, 8 September 2011 18:52 (twelve years ago) link
I listened to the Mark McGuire about an hour ago and it was effing rad
― Amazing pic of the universe! - VERY NSFW (DJ Mencap), Thursday, 8 September 2011 21:48 (twelve years ago) link
BYETONE - Symeta LP/CD raster-notonCHRISTIAN BOUCHARD - Automacité DVD-Audio empreintes DIGITALesDEAD VOICES ON AIR - Michael and the Angels Fought CD LensDOME - 1-4+5 5LP Box Editions MegoEMMANUEL MIEVILLE - Four Wanderings in Tropical Lands CD BaskaruFRANCSICO LÓPEZ - Untitled (2009) 2CD BaskaruJACASZEK - Glimmer CD GhostlyMARK FELL - Periodic Orbits of a Dynamic System... LP Editions MegoNETTLE - El Resplandor: The Shining in Dubai CD Sub RosaPHAROAH CHROMIUM - Electric Cremation 2LP GrautagPIERRE ALEXANDRE TREMBLAY - Quelques reflets DVD-Audio empreintes DIGITALesREINHOLD FRIEDL - Eight Equidistant Pure Wave Oscillators... DL room40RUSSELL HASWELL & FLORIAN HECKER - Kanal GENDYN LP+DVD Editions MegoV.A. - Bangs & Works Vol.2 2LP/CD Planet MuVEGA - Wormsongs CD ArtekYASUNAO TONE - MP3 Deviations #6+7 LP/CD Editions MegoZEITKRATZER KARLHEINZ STOCKHAUSEN - Old School CD Zeitkratzer
BYETONESymetaLP/CD raster-noton R-N 130http://www.raster-noton.net
byetone's new record symeta" opens with a combined track - a transit - since topas" and telegramm" could be seen as one single piece. both tracks convey the atmosphere of a live session rather than the character of a studio production. the tracks are quite long and deal with repetition, layers of sounds, density and energy, more than melodic and engineering finesse. the whole album follows this approach, as it was fashioned within the context of live performances during the last two years.
neuschnee" - the third track - has an obviously reduced tempo, creating a wide landscape of sound with an intimate aura, which works as a counter draft to the other tracks of the record. with opal, the tempo speeds up again, a polyrhythmic phrase whirls around a straight beat, filters are turned, all that evokes the impression of early-90s minimal techno. byetone is basically interested in remembering, in a way to preserve, in citing rock/pop styles, without getting stuck in the past, whereas non of the tracks really fit into a specific genre.
seen from this perspective, helix" opens the final, more rocky block of the album. here, the tracks are offensive and rude and sound like a band in a rehearsal room. this part peaks with black peace" in a high speed heavy metal session. finally, golden elegy" closes symeta" and a band-like situation occurs. the track ends with a wired lament, presented by jan kummer in the tenor of chemnitz, hometown of both artists. in former GDR-times, they started their musical activity with the brilliant-dilettantish AG geige, together with frank bretschneider (komet). symeta", the title of the album, appears mysterious. this synthetic word arouses associations with symmetry, synthesis or (meta-)structures. it doesn't stand for a definite object, there isn't any solution, and that is the reason why the title has been chosen. byetone's music tries to create such associations without really fulfilling these expectations. in this sense, symeta" consequently follows death of a typographer" (r-n92), the well received predecessor.
BYETONE LIVE22.10. CH salle des fêtes. lausanne.23.10. UK supersonic festival. birmingham.25.10. CZ meet factory. prague.26.10. ES red bull music academy. madrid.04.11. DE berghain. berlin.04.11. IT club to club festival. torino.
CHRISTIAN BOUCHARDAutomacitéDVD-Audio empreintes DIGITALes IMED 11108http://www.empreintesdigitales.comhttp://www.electrocd.com/en/bio/bouchard_ch
"Pollock's name is also associated with the introduction of the All-over style of painting which avoids any points of emphasis or identifiable parts within the whole canvas and therefore abandons the traditional idea of composition in terms of relations among parts." - Nicolas Pioch, WebMuseum, July 16, 2002
Impasto is a triptych about expressionistic-abstract painters (Pollock, Riopelle, and Shiraga) I started in 2006. It consists in a work on the spontaneity of composition, information density, intentional awkwardness, "obvious editing" (Michel Chion). Destabilization through a lack of direction, interrupted segments, struggles between different materials. It is also abandoning any form of narrative or poetical expression in an attempted non-relationship between sounds - form - work. Research work on the possible velocity of sounds. An attempt at recreating this form of pictural frenzy. [English translation: François Couture, iv-11]
"Impasto" was realized in 2006-08 at the composer's studio (synthesizers: Sonic Core-Flexor, Reaktor; samplers: Emulator X2, Kontakt, Shortcircuit, Reaktor; processing: Flexor, Reaktor). This version was mastered in March 2011 by Dominique Bassal in Montréal.
"Parcelles 21" was realized in 2008 at the composer's studio and premiered under the title Ersatz on December 12, 2008 as part of the concert series Akousma (5) presented by Réseaux des arts médiatiques at the Monument-National's Studio Hydro-Québec in Montréal (Québec). Thanks to the Canada Council for the Arts (CCA). This version was mastered in March 2011 by Dominique Bassal in Montréal.
"Objet menacé" was realized in 2010 at the composer's studio and premiered on November 25, 2010 as part of the concert Électro-chocs 2 celebrating the 20th anniversary of empreintes DIGITALes in the Salle multimédia of the Conservatoire de musique de Montréal (Québec). Thanks to the Conseil des arts et des lettres du Québec (CALQ). This version was mastered in March 2011 by Dominique Bassal in Montréal.
DEAD VOICES ON AIRMichael and the Angels FoughtCD Lens Records 0126Release date: November 15http://www.lensrecords.comhttp://www.myspace.com/deadvoicesonair
Michael and the Angels Fought is five tracks that continue to develop the sonic fingerprint that is Dead Voices On Air, but at this rate we've lost count of how many hands DVOA's Mark Spybey must have because the sonic toolkit from which Mark pulls is bottomless. This may be DVOA's most collaborative release to date which has allowed Mark to absorb, process andassemble the aural puzzlebox into a more quiet and reflective experience. DVOA recordings have always worked best taken as a collective whole and Michael and the Angels Fought surprises and delights your careful attention like all Dead Voices On Air recordings that have come before.
Michael and the Angels Fought is the third Dead Voices On Air album in as many years for Lens Records. Spybey is known for his primitive approach to music making. He views himself as a non-musician but his work has incorporated song structures, real instruments, collaborations with film-makers and increasingly, contributions from musicians from around the world. Whereas early albums were recorded from improvisations using his collection of ethnic instruments and children's toys, later works have increasingly become studio focussed, relying heavily on the editing process. Michael and the Angels Fought features contributions from the American-Serbian singer Ivana Salipur, from the British cellist Bela Emerson, the Portland, Oregon throat-singer Soriah, the French auteur, Philippe Petit, the Toronto based electronic musician, Michael Morton (Displacer), the Massachusetts based guitarist Michael Page (Sky Burial), the keyboards of Lori Cole from Utah and cameos from Robin Storey (Rapoon) and Jared Louche (Chemlab). MARK SPYBEY has worked under the name of Dead Voices On Air (DVOA) for twenty years, following his departure from Zoviet-France. He's released 15 albums and collaborated with animpressive list of people, including members of Can, Faust, Throbbing Gristle, Swans and others. Mark was part of the band Download with members of Skinny Puppy and works withRobin Storey (Rapoon, Zoviet-France) under the name Reformed Faction; with Simon Fisher Turner as MzMz LaLaLa and Phil Western (Download) as Beehatch. He's currently workingwith Main, Sky Burial, Orbit Service and a host of collaborators such as Edward Kaspel, Robert Hampson, Simon Fisher Turner, Troum, Jochen Arbeit, James Plotkin and others on a series of joint seven inch singles for Tourette Records celebrating the 20th anniversary of Dead Voices On Air.
DOME1-4+55LP Box Editions Mego DOME12345Release date: December 6http://editionsmego.comhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dome_(band)
DOMEB.C. Gilbert & G. LewisFloating-point re-master by Russell Haswell, August 2011Cut at Dubplates & Mastering by Rashad Becker, August 2011New artwork and layout: Dave Coppenhall
Editions Mego are proud to release the complete recorded works of DOME in a deluxe vinyl box set that that also includes newly designed artwork by David Coppenhall, reproductions of the original Atelier Koninck posters that accompanied Dome 1 and Dome 2, insert with sleeve notes by Howard Jacques and Neil Martinson as well as unseen photos from the period. If that wasn't enough it also contains a matchbox to put matches in to shake along to your favourite Dome tune!
With the demise of the group Wire in 1980, founder members BRUCE GILBERT and GRAHAM LEWIS joined forces to create Dome. With the assistance of engineer Eric Radcliffe and his Blackwing Studio Dome took the ethic of "using the studio as a compositional tool" and recorded and released three Dome albums on their own label in the space of 12 months: DOME (July 1980), DOME 2 (October 1980) and DOME 3 (October 1981). A final fourth album, WILL YOU SPEAK THIS WORD: DOME IV was released on the Norwegian Uniton label in May 1983.These albums represent some of the most beautifuly stark and above all timeless exercises in studio experimentation from early 1980s alternative music scene.
As Howard Jacques points out in his liner notes: "Spontaneity was the key - to make something fresh, unlike anything else."Spontaneity was the key - to make something fresh, unlike anything else."Spontaneity was the key - to make something fresh, unlike anything else. With such an abstruse attitude to popular appeal the visual approach was iconically symbolic. The artists themselves, imaged anonymous as smartly besuited gentlemen with heads masked by elongated black cylindrical tubes - a dualistic collision of serious and silly - a homage to Dada and surrealism that introduced a perhaps sardonic, quasi-religious vista - all serving as pointers to focus on the form and content of the audio material and the paradox of absence and presence."
With the re-activation of Wire in 1985 it was thought that all Dome activity had ceased. Whilst no new recordings appeared Dome utilised any spare time to secretly record new pieces. In 1989 dancer/choreographer Michael Clark commissioned them to record a piece for his new ballet 'Because We Must'. In the same year they also performed live in Rotterdam and Amsterdam. In 1999 WMO commissioned Dome to record new pieces to accompany the recordings from 1989. This compilation, entitled YCLEPT, would be the final recordings, to date, that Dome have made. DOME 1-4 appearing on vinyl for the first time in over 30 years, whereas the recordings making up YCLEPT (DOME 5) appear for the first time on vinyl.
EMMANUEL MIEVILLEFour Wanderings in Tropical LandsCD Baskaru karu:19http://www.baskaru.comhttp://emieville.free.fr
Fields Recorded...
Someone is gently knocking on metal; a dog is barking in the distance; far away, an Arabic-sounding voice, maybe a muezzin's, can be heard; insects buzz over a background of human activity.
With his microphones, Emmanuel Mieville captures moments of reality in exotic lands (Costa Rica, Hong Kong, Malaysia). Then, he edits these field recordings with a computer to create sound compositions driven by the paradox between natural forces (see the chunk of Paradise photographed inside the booklet) and human footprint (the city skyline featured on the cover).
Paris-born composer Emmanuel Mieville learned sound engineering at film school, then studied musique concrète at GRM. He has been composing music since 1986. He has a keen ear for hearing the stories behind each landscape, the melodies trapped inside objects - such as the metal sculpture he plays in "Cahuita, Costa Rica" - and the sonic pairings that let a story unfold without having to actually tell it.
After being featured on a few important compilation albums (like the first volume of Overheard and Rendered on AND/oar) and two CDs released in Malaysia (Balok Night Birds on Herbal Records; Dispositif: Canal St-Martin on XingWu, in collaboration with Eric Cordier), Mieville is now offering four wanderings in tropical lands, his first full-length CD to be released in his native France.
FRANCSICO LÓPEZUntitled (2009)2CD Baskaru karu:20http://www.baskaru.comhttp://www.franciscolopez.net
Great Sounds Also Come In Small Sizes...
Francisco López, the undisputed master of aural mystification, is best known for using time, silence, and sound to confound our perception of reality through large-scale works. However, occasionally, he also revels in shorter forms. A rare case in his impressive discography, the 2-CD set untitled (2009) features 14 sound art compositions ranging from two to twenty minutes.
In the course of these two hours of music, López performs one magic trick after another: are these really snores prominently featured in "untitled #220" and "untitled #239", or are they more trivial sound sources, devilishly transformed? What is real, and what is masqueraded, transmuted? Can we believe our ears at all?
And beyond this mystification layer hides an in-depth research on aural aesthetics, a finely developed approach to sound, philosophy, and sound ecology. A great traveler, López is using materials recorded all around the globe.
Internationally recognized as a leading figure in field recording, sound art, and experimental music, Francisco López has assembled a major discography, both in terms of size and influence. His concerts and sound installations often invite listeners to reprogram the way they listen. The double CD set Untitled (2009) is his second release on Baskaru, following HB, his collaboration with Lawrence English.
MARK FELLPeriodic Orbits of a Dynamic System Related to a KnotLP Editions Mego eMEGO 133Release date: November 29http://editionsmego.comhttp://www.markfell.com
THIS SIDE 23m 16sTHAT SIDE 23m 16sTotal running time 46m 32s
The music here came about in various ways - one section is an outtake from my recent Multistablity album and is reworked here, another began as a quadraphonic piece composed for and performed at "Supersimetria: New Languages in Computer Music" (curated by Anna Ramos and Roc Jiménez de Cisneros in Barcelona 2011), others were taken from live versions of previously released and unreleased tracks. The idea was to bring these together in an 'almost-live-album' format. The album features three presets taken from Yamaha's four operator frequency modulation synthesisers of the late 1980's--JazzOrg, LatelyBass and Rich Strg #3-modified to produce numerous descendants. The project was entirely written, mixed, and edited with MIDI. No audio recordings were present, with the following exceptions: the sound of a Mac Mini failing to mount a DVD, recorded with the internal microphone on a MacBook Pro (this provided a rhythmic template for the patterns that follow it); and a short section of Pi Saw flute played by Jan Hendrickse. The project was written in transit during a house and studio move, and exclusively produced using the internal speakers on a MacBook Pro. Due to time constraints, the mastering session with Lupo at Dubplates and Mastering was unattended.
The cover image is of my partner's arm after cutting the pampas grass in our front garden in preparation for the house's new occupier.
Thanks to Paul Emery for early advice and comments about the structure of this album, Jan Hendrickse for Pi Saw flute, Lupo at Dubplates and Mastering, and finally Peter Rehberg for his support of this project..
NETTLEEl Resplandor: The Shining in DubaiCD Sub Rosa SR324http://www.subrosa.net
Nettle is a band project led by DJ Rupture.For this album, Nettle imagined a remake of Stanley Kubrick's The Shining set in a luxury hotel in Dubai, U.A.E.El Resplandor: The Shining in Dubai is their soundtrack for that nonexistent film. Cello, violin, guembri, guitar, and voice combine with digital processing to create a complex soundworld whose acoustic and electronic elements are in intimate dialog. Produced by arranged by Rupture, El Resplandor offers vivid, haunting pieces that draw on the band's various backgrounds in North African folksong, experimental electronics, contemporary classical, and free improvisation.
The album features photographs by acclaimed Emirati artist Lamya Gargash, who was the U.A.E.'s featured artist for the 2009 Venice Biennale, and liner notes by architecture writer Geoff Manaugh (BLDGBLOG). This October the band will release a free set of audio software tools called Sufi Plug Ins (written in Max/MSP) that they built specifically for live performance.
Nettle began as a DJ Rupture's duo with Moroccan violinist Abdelhak Rahal and has since evolved into a five-piece. They have performed at Spain's SONAR festival, Rome's Maxxi Museum of 21st Century Art, and at Morocco's Cinematheque de Tanger, and have toured the UK and Belgium with Nass El Ghiwane. Nettle's work foregrounds issues of friction, translation, and displacement as necessary counter-narratives to the standard paradigms of 'cross-cultural exchange' and metaphors of mixing or hybridity.
JACE CLAYTON is an interdisciplinary artist living in Brooklyn. Performing as DJ /rupture, Clayton has toured internationally, DJ'ed in a band with Norah Jones, done two John Peel Sessions, and was turntable soloist with the 80-member Barcelona Symphony Orchestra. Recent collaborators include guitarist Andy Moor (The Ex) and filmmaker Jem Cohen. He has released several critically acclaimed albums and mix CDs, starting with 2001's influential & groundbreaking live mix CD, Gold Teeth Thief. Clayton maintains a busy international schedule performing in clubs around the world as well as venues such as The Whitney Museum, MoMA's PS1, The Apollo Theater, and the Pitchfork Festival. His album Uproot was named one of the 10 Best Albums of 2008 by Pitchfork. He maintains a blog and hosts a weekly radio show on WFMU, which is re-broadcast on several European stations.
PHAROAH CHROMIUMElectric Cremation2LP Grautag Records 003Release date: December 2http://www.grautagrec.com
"When I die, they'll say 'he couldn't play shit, but he sure made it sound good!" Hound Dog Taylor
Pharoa Chromium s a project by GHAZI BARAKAT, a Berlin musician and transformist, mostly known as a performance oriented rock'n'roll singer in bands such as the Golden Showers, Boy from Brazil, the Assassinations. Pharoah Chromium took its name from a Chrome song to create an entity channeling meta-music that goes beyond the usual conventions of his musical past. A sound-fiction novel where machines are used like life support devices. A cardiopulmonary bypass playing the soundtrack of your life.You have the right to turn it off!
Electric Cremation is the third release of Grautag Records, a label initiated and run by french contemporary artist Nicolas Moulin, who is also and always responsible for the artwork of the releases. Mainly based on improvised and edited sessions with samples of internal and external sources and live instruments.The album has been recorded and mixed by Tim Gane in his studio Neu-Kölln.
The double lp is divided in four sides.
ATOMIC SIDE:A musical reflection on the nuclear disaster of Fukushima. Contains a hebrew interpretation of the Elli et Jacno song "L' age atomique, suite et fin." by israeli filmmaker Rebeca Ofek.
FERAL SIDE:Five vignettes that deal with neo-brutalist ideas, science-fiction, after-life and the occult.
GHOST SIDE:Pharoah Chromiums interpretation of new age and world music with strong Kraut influences.
ARABIC SIDE:Where the concept of Ethno-Doom reaches epic proportions.Shedding light and shadows on the stereotypical fears of Islamophopbia.Based on 12 loops of two turkish Saz-players from Kreuzberg, with concrete contributions from Tim Gane on the Voyager.
PIERRE ALEXANDRE TREMBLAYQuelques refletsDVD-Audio empreintes DIGITALes IMED 11109http://www.empreintesdigitales.comhttp://www.pierrealexandretremblay.com
The first four works of this album were composed in the same number of consecutive residencies in the respective commissioning studios, as part of a sabbatical year project between August 2009 and July 2010. They were refined in May 2011 by the composer in the electronic music studios at the University of Huddersfield (England, UK) and then mastered in June 2011 by Dominique Bassal in Montréal (Québec).
Throughout this adventure, the following people contributed to my musical research by their comments on the drafts, and I would like to thank them deeply: Claudine Levasseur, Dominique Bassal, Nicolas Bernier, Helena Gough, Scott McLaughlin, Sam Pluta, Sylvain Pohu, Dominic Thibault, Jean-Christophe Tremblay, Monty Adkins, and Stewart Worthy.
Such a year of travel would not have been possible without the financial and logistical help of the CeReNeM (University of Huddersfield), the Canada Council for the Arts, the commissioners of each work, and my dear family. I am forever grateful. - Pierre Alexandre Tremblay (Huddersfield, England, UK)
REINHOLD FRIEDLEight Equidistant Pure Wave Oscillators, while Slipping very Slowly to a Unison, Textually Spatialised on Eight Speakers, Concret, 60 MinutesDL room40 DRM405http://www.room40.orghttp://www.reinhold-friedl.de
Reinhold Friedl's Eight Equidistant Pure Wave Oscillators, While Slipping Very Slowly To A Unison, Textually Spatialised On Eight Speakers, Concret, 60 Minutes is an algorhithmic composition that speaks to his unique compositional vision.
A deeply affecting psycho-acoustic work, 'Eight Equidistant Pure Wave Oscillators...' draws thelistener into a gently lilting sound world in which pure tones work for and against one another,creating a swelling cascade of intonation. At its core is a carefully crafted and astutely exe-cuted exploration into the possibilities of spatial sound. The guided movement of the signalsacross the speaker arrays, generating a very specific set of acoustic outcomes.
Like much of Friedl's work 'Eight Equidistant Pure Wave Oscillators...' taps into his interests and research into the connections between mathematics and music. The tension and release of the glissandi tones is a representation of this.
This is a provocative work that not only prioritises the act of listening, it also invites the listener to consider their position to the work and how psycho-acoustics can shape the listening experience. 'Eight Equidistant Pure Wave Oscillators...' is an utterly sonic experience crafted by one of the great contemporary European composers.
The edition is published in Flac, MP3 and 24bit 48Khz versions.
BIOGRAPHYReinhold Friedl, born in 1964, is a critically acclaimed performer, interpreter and composer. His studies in piano, mathematics and musicology have guided not only his music releases, but also his writings and seminars on the topics. One emphasis of Friedl's work is the 'insidepiano'. He founded and directs the new music group zeitkratzer.
PRODUCTION NOTESrecorded at GMEM (Groupe de Musique Experimentale de Marseille), France, 2010programming: Sukandar Kartadinataprogram adjustment & recording: Charles Bascou
FROM REINHOLDEight Equidistant Pure Wave Oscillators, While Slipping Very Slowly To A Unison, Textually Spatialised On Eight Speakers, Concret, 60 Minutes is an algorhithmic composition, I realized in the Studios of GMEM in Marseille, South France, when I was working there together with the programmer Charles Bascou on my second string quartet in 2010.For this string quartet, I used a spatialisation program, I had originally developed for a projectwith the first existing electro-acoustic piano, the so-called Neo-Bechstein, built in 1928/29 inBerlin.The main idea was, not to use the concept of a virtual position of a sound in a room, as a re-sult of an addition of different speaker signals; but eight speakers as concret instruments. Al-ready in the first research with the programmer Peter Segerstrom in the Asphodel studios inSan Francisco, it turned out, that this concept has two advantages, compared with commonspatialisation programs, used in used in electro-acoustic music.On one hand, eight different independent movements of eight sound sources on eightspeakers become feasible, - not only the movement of one virtual sound position. And on the other hand, this movements are able to produce a texture or spatialisation, that is perceptible for each listener, independent from his position in the room. This means, that the problem of only having one ideal listening place - normally as Stockhausen loved it as master of the ceremony in the middle of the concert room - is gone, as the musical position of a sound is no longer thought of as a virtual position in relation to the ideal point of the centre of the circle of the speakers.So my idea was, in the implementation of the spatialisation program, to explore the possibili-ties of moving sounds independently in the space by defining the result as a virtual positionand ultimately to work concretely with the speakers. This led to a very simple setting, that has been programmed first in Pure Date, than in Max MSP by Sukandar Kartadinata. This setting was based on the idea, that there are only a few kinds of characteristics of moving in the space:1) rotation with the parameters direction and velocity,2) jitter: a sound is jumping randomly between two given positions in the circle, parameters: speed of jumping, maximum angle of jumping3) width: how the signal is spread to the neighbour speakers4) random variables working on those characteristics, as for example difference of two running rotations, etc.The program was developed with Sukandar Kartadinata at ZKM Karlsruhe, Germany, and thecomposition premiered there. Most of the audience was convinced that we used effects suchas a harmonizer etc, which we actually never did. But extreme spatialising in this extreme setting e.g. with very fast jittering, evokes this impression. As I reused the program for another composition, my second string quartet for the Diotima quartet, premiered in Marseille, we adjusted the program with the help of the programmer Charles Bascou at GMEM Marseille.There I realised, that it might be interesting to have only sine waves as input, in order to present the spatialisation settings purely. So eight equidistant pure wave oscillators, while slipping very slowly to a unison, textually spatialised on eight speakers, concret, 60 minuteswas realised as an algorithmic composition for eight speakers. But as the eight speakers aretreated as instruments and not as producer of virtual sound positions, it seemed to be consequent, to just record the speakers like you record instruments. So we put two microphones in the middle of the circle of eight speakers in the Marseille studio, started the algorithm, (compare image of the values) closed the door and left the room. The result is what you hear
RUSSELL HASWELL & FLORIAN HECKERKanal GENDYNLP+DVD Editions Mego eMEGO 129http://editionsmego.comhttp://haswellhecker.blogspot.com
Vinyl = Kanal GENDYN Stereo [A = 29:53.39] + [B = 32:59.69]DVD = Kanal GENDYN 4.0 [62:53.10] (AUDIO ONLY)
Recorded and produced by Russell Haswell & Florian Hecker, 2004-2011Stereo Version mixed by Haswell & Hecker @ CCMIX (Centre de Création Musicale Iannis Xenakis), Paris, March 2004
Digitally Mastered by Russell Haswell @ Haswell Studio, Suffolk, England, July 2011DVD authored by GOP , Köln, September 2011
Editions Mego is happy to announce the release of 'Kanal GENDYN', a Vinyl and DVD set by Russell Haswell & Florian Hecker. This is the first full length release by the artists following their highly acclaimed albums, 'Blackest Ever Black (Electroacoustic UPIC Recordings)' (Warner Classics, 2007), and 'UPIC Warp Tracks' (Warp, 2008), in addition to their remix's of Popol Vuh, and Voice Crack.
In the late 90s, early 2000s, it became common for bands, or solo artists to perform live - often alternative - soundtracks to feature films or silent classics. Critical of obvious instrumentation and the combination with known classic film, the artists Russell Haswell & Florian Hecker chose to create a real-time soundtrack, to an unscored film, 'Kanal Video' (1992, 60 min.) by the Swiss artist duo Peter Fischli & David Weiss.
Core to Kanal GENDYN is Haswell & Hecker's ongoing research on the legacies of polymath Iannis Xenakis (1922-2001) and in particular his concept of the Dynamic Stochastic Synthesis, an abstract sound synthesis procedure that creates 'sound out of nothing'.
In an interview with Peter Hoffmann, the artists recall: "This video, which consists of an hour long 'ride' through the Zurich sewage system, with a remotely controlled maintenance vehicle equipped with a video camera to survey the sewers for eventual irregularities of defects - struck us both as an ideal piece to be projected in a 'nightclub' or music venue with a GENDYN only performance. We found twisted relations with such an hour long 'tunnel vision'. Once with the seemingly endless amount of computer generated video projections used as visuals accompanying raves and techno parties during the 1990's - and also to the accounts of visual hallucinations induced by Mescaline as described by Heinrich Klüver in the 1920's - with the so called 'form constants' - where he mentions amongst others, 'tunnel like' patterns. The particularities of GENDYN, with its ever changing and meandering waveforms appeared to us as an ideal counterpart."
Kanal GENDYN was performed on the occasion of the event 'Musterraum 9. Dual Presentation - Peter Fischli & David Weiss - Russell Haswell & Florian Hecker' at Musterraum, Munich, 30.01.2004. Originally constructed as an experimental building, 'Musterraum' - German for sample or reference room - was a freestanding cube with a base area of 10 ? 12 meters. Built as a test and reference space for the planning and construction of the adjacent Pinakothek der Moderne.
Two stereo feeds were crossed for quadraphonic (4.0) diffusion using a L&B F12 / B12 loudspeaker system. Performed concurrently to the Peter Fischli & David Weiss, 'Kanal Video' (1992, 60 min.) screened on three facing walls.
Kanal GENDYN is released as stereo vinyl LP + 4.0 DTS 24 Bit / 48 KHz DVD (audio only) set. The cover features 10 stills from the original Fischli & Weiss video, included inside is a 30 x 30 cm 170 gramm paper insert with a further, full-page still, plus extensive sleeve notes by musicologist and software developer Peter Hoffmann, and everything was designed by NORM, Zurich.
Its also worth noting that, with a running time of over a hour, this is one of the longest single LP releases you will come across! Cut by Rashad 'the Master' Becker at Dubplates & Mastering, Berlin, Setpember 2011
V.A.Bangs & Works Vol.2 (The Best of Chicago Footwork)2LP/CD Planet Mu Records ZIQ310Release date: November 7http://www.planet.mu
Last year Planet Mu released 'Bangs & Works Vol.1'. It was a carefully curated, first of its kind compilation of Chicago footwork, a style of music which is possibly some of the most genuinely future-facing, innovative new electronic music on the planet. Simon Reynolds recently noted in an interview for his book Retromania that "one thing I thought was really innovative was all this stuff from Chicago, the footwork stuff...That's one of the few things in recent years that has made my jaw drop a little bit-the Bangs and Works CD that Planet Mu put out. "I put on one of my blogs that Mike Paradinas [who compiled the CD] deserves a knighthood for this, because he went through a lot of stuff and there must have been a lot of quite indifferent material."
Well all of that is pretty much fact, and since the release of that album the attention paid to this little known local scene has increased drastically, so much so that we were able tour DJs Rashad and Spinn plus footwork dancers in the UK and Europe. What's more the music has been adapted for different uses by people outside Chicago, and has influenced new productions not only by Planet Mu artists such as Machinedrum and Kuedo, but by many others as well.
'Bangs & Works Vol.2' brings the focus back onto Chicago's own producers, showing where the real innovation in the scene still lies. The album attempts to show different sides of footwork to Volume 1. Where the first compilation showed off some of the more hallucinatory and leftfield elements, this cd has a wider remit, covering mad techno-style tracks such as DJ Metro's 'Tekno Bangz' or DJ T-Why's immense 'Juice' and 'Finished', to tracks that sound like Musique Concrete gone footwork, like Young Smoke's 'Space Muzik Part 3' or tracks built around long forgotten europop songs, soul and hip hop. Tracks like Traxman's 'Funky Block' and DJ Clent's 'DJ Clent #1' display the obvious influence of flipping samples, Hip hop style to the rhythms of footwork, while DJ Rashad and Gant-Man's amazing 'Heaven Sent' shows the influence of P-funk and Detroit's hi-tech soul. Boylan's 'Bullet Proof Soul' is a tender track of pitched-up and looped soul, giving the album a moment of strange, gentle ambience.
The album features established producers who've come up through the juke and ghetto house scenes such as Rashad, Spinn, Traxman, Roc, Clent and the pioneer of footwork RP Boo, all of whom featured on the last CD, as well as younger producers, who are still making their way. DJ Solo, now a popular R&B producer in Chicago, who pioneered the slowing down and speeding up of samples in footwork is one of the older producers not covered in the first comp, as is Flight Muzik's DJ Metro whose grimey tracks here are culled from a slightly earlier period.
Of the younger producers not featured on the first compilation, there is the talented Jlin who builds all her tracks from sound sources she's made herself; Young Smoke, a teenage producer who is also part of Flight Musik and has a very unique and impressive refinement to his productions; DJ MC, whose track 'Y Fall' has an entrancing minimalism and DJ Rome, an older producer whose 'Showtime' is like a fevered hallucination of pitched horn samples. On Bangs & Works 2, the synapse snapping intensity of footwork is ever present, but this selection shows a widening diversity of approaches to the genre's independent and unique sense of production focus. The music becomes even more impressive and beguiling as you're drawn in.
CD Tracklisting:01 RP BOO - HEAVY HEAT02 JLIN - EROTIC HEAT03 DJ EARL - HIT DA BOOTZ04 DJ RASHAD & GANT-MAN - HEAVEN SENT05 DJ METRO - BURN DAT BOI06 DJ CLENT - BALL'EM UP07 DJ MC - Y FALL08 DJ SPINN - CRAZY 'N' DERANGED09 TRAXMAN - FUNKY BLOCK10 DJ ROME - SHOWTIME11 DJ T-WHY - FINISHED12 THA POPE - WHEN YOU13 BOYLAN - BULLET PROOF SOUL14 JLIN - ASYLUM15 DJ T-WHY - ORBITS16 DJ ROC - GET BUCK JUICE17 TRAXMAN - BRAINWASH18 DJ CLENT - DJ CLENT #119 DJ METRO - SMAK MY BITCH UP20 YOUNG SMOKE - SPACE MUZIK PT.321 DJ T-WHY - JUICE22 DJ SOLO - WHAT HAVE YOU DONE23 YOUNG SMOKE - PSYCHO WAR24 YOUNG SMOKE - WOULDN'T GET FAR25 DJ METRO - TEKNO BANGZ26 RP BOO - OFF DA HOOK
VEGAWormsongsCD ARTEkSOUNDS ART001http://www.arteksounds.comhttp://www.vimeo.com/15708129
The Wormsongs is a one-hour music performance for voice, electronic sound and real-time visuals created by HENRY VEGA and performed alongside vocalist ANAT SPIEGEL and visual designer EMMANUEL FLORES.
Vega's digital language covers the spectrum between noise and pure sine. Using this sound world, Vega writes music in block gestures that can be described as micro-minimal with a passion towards machine-kind.
The songs strip away with the ideas of lyrical lines, replacing them with automatic instruments triggered to match an equally automatic vocal part. Inspired by Spiegel's voice, each score in the Wormsongs is motivated in part by social evolution.
The music often touches on practices such as religious intoning and spoken-word. These practices were internalized to compose an original vocal and computer language that drives Vega's Wormsongs and its message. The songs strip the ideas of lyrical lines, replacing them with automatic instruments triggered to match an equally automatic vocal part brilliantly performed by Anat Spiegel.
YASUNAO TONEMP3 Deviations #6+7LP/CD Editions Mego eMEGO125http://editionsmego.comhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yasunao_Tone
Notes: The MP3 Deviation album contains pieces that are results of the collaborative research by a team of the New Aesthetics in Computer Music (NACM) and myself, led by Tony Myatt at Music Research Center at the University of York in UK in 2009. My idea was to develop new software based on the disruption of the MP3. Primarily I thought the MP3 as reproducing device could have created very new sound by intervention between its main elements, the compression encoder and decoder. It turned out that result was not satisfactory. However, we found that if the sound file had been corrupted in the MP3, the corruptions generated 21 error messages, which could be utilized to assign various 21 lengths of samples automatically. Combining with different play back speeds, it could produce unpredictable and unknowable sound. That is a main pillar of the software. We, also, added some other elements such as flipping stereo channels and phase inversing alternately with a certain length of frequency ranges, which resulted different timbres and pitches. I performed several times at the MRC and I was certain that this software would be a perfect tool for performances. I have tentatively performed the piece in public in Kyoto, May 2009 and in New York, in May 2010. I also performed it successfully with totally different sound sources when I was invited for The Morning Line in Vienna in June 2011.
Track 1. MP3 Deviation #6 (30:36.29)Performed and recorded by Yasunao Tone June 2, 2011 in New York City.Track 2. MP3 Deviation #7 (22:15.38)Performed and recorded by Yasunao Tone July 3, 2011 in New York City.The original sound sources made by Yasunao Tone.Producer, Yasunao ToneExecutive producer, Peter RehbergCover design, Tina FrankPhotogrpahy, Tina Frank, Florian VoggenederDigital Mastering, Russell Haswell
Thanks for the support by NACM, Tony Myatt, Mark Fell, Peter Worth, Thom Blake, Oliver Larkin, Peter Rehberg, Tina Frank and Russell Haswell.The New Aesthetics in Computer Music research project funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council UK.
zeitkratzerKARLHEINZ STOCKHAUSENOld SchoolCD Zeitkratzer ZKR0012Release date: November 29http://www.zeitkratzer.de
"I do not want a spiritualistic session. I want music." - Karlheinz Stockhausen
Karlheinz Stockhausen proclaimed his intuitive music in 1968. He performed his text composition From the Seven Days with his ensemble quite often. This ensemble only existed until 1970, as the musicians demanded partial authorship for this type of composition and Stockhausen in turn accused them of bad interpretation and indiscipline.2 As a result Stockhausen did not abolish the composer, but went back to notating his music accurately.
That's why From The Seven Days is a kind of monolith in his work. The score comprises fifteen texts. In the first moment, those texts seem to be fairly free and associative. However, if you look at them carefully, you will find very precise definitions of modular sound material and sometimes even cyclical sequences. Some theorists, as for example the British Stockhausen specialist and BBC producer Robert Worby, consider this work to be a serial composition and underline, that Stockhausen thought so too.
This opinion is not only theoretical banter, but has concrete consequences. The musical instructions for Night Music state: "play a vibration in the rhythm of the universe / play a vibration in the rhythm of dreaming // play a vibration in the rhythm of dreaming / and slowly transform it / into the rhythm of the universe / repeat this as often as you can."
We might think from this, that the musicians should just choose some arbitrary vibrations, repeat them somehow and transform them one into another. However, if you look at this text with a serial approach then it means: each musician first plays a defined vibration in the rhythm of the universe, then a vibration in the rhythm of dreaming, and finally the transformation of this vibration into the first one. Subsequently, the whole procedure is repeated in exactly this order. Once the musical material is defined, it is actually defined for the whole piece and is repeated in the same way. If the musicians each play these serial progressions, the overall sound is made from superpositions of single cyclic, non-synchronised chains.
In Connection each musician has to choose seven different vibrations (in the rhythm of your body, of your heart, of your breathing, etc.), mix them freely, but leave enough silence between them. The musical material does not change, but is repeated in free sequences. Nine musicians doing this independently results in a texture of nine multiplied by seven different materials, some of them being more prominent than others, and therefore more recognisable. This strict setting can be misinterpreted as overly sober, but in fact, it is exactly what makes intuitive music possible: "Thinking, consciously forming and reacting is not at all excluded; but it is in every moment consciously subordinated to a intuitive, uniform inspiration, and it happens directly, now, unreflected, undialectical, instrumental."
Unlimited is even simpler: "play a sound / with the certainty / that you have an infinite amount of time and space"
It means: play exactly one sound, nothing else. In addition there is a graphic, which shows an ascending and a descending line. zeitkratzer interpretes these forms as curves of loudness. The certainty to have an infinite amount of time and space is understandable in the same sense as some crescendo-signs for sustained piano in the romantic literature; and for sure this does not mean, that the piece has to be very long.
Stockhausen's interpretation of Intensity was a physical one: "play single sounds / with such dedication / until you feel the warmth / that radiates from you." It is reported that Stockhausen wore several wool pullovers, hammered nails into a wooden block, and was wet from sweating during his performance of this piece. This served as an inspiration for the zeitkratzer musicians. They chose single instrumental actions, which would produce bodily heat. Again, this opens the door for intuition - the unconscious coordination of these activities between the musicians.
Finally, Set Sail for the Sun asks for the merging of single tones into the ensemble sound, until the "whole sound turns to gold / to pure, gently shimmering fire." For the musicians,this means, to forget themselves and to lose themselves in the overall sound. Stockhausen wrote: "musical meditation is not sentimentality, but ultra alertness and - in the lightestmoments - creative ecstasy."
zeitkratzer rehearsed and performed From the Seven Days in April 2011 at Kino Siska in Ljubljana, Slovenia, and subsequently at the Music Biennale Zagreb, Croatia. The present recordings were made during this working period and at the two concerts. This project could not have happened without the great support of Petar Milat (Zagreb) and Matjaz Mancek (Ljubljana).
zeitkratzerdirected by Reinhold FriedlBurkhard Schlothauer ................... violinAnton Lukoszevieze ................. violoncelloUli Phillipp ....................... double bassReinhold Friedl ........................ pianoMarc Weiser .................... electric guitarChristian Lillinger ................... percussionFrank Gratkowski .................... clarinetsHild Sofie Tafjord .................. french hornHilary Jeffery ....................... tromboneMartin Wurmnest ...................... sound
text ......................... Reinhold Friedltranslation ...................... Hilary Jeffery
zeitkratzer was founded in 1997 by Reinhold Friedl. The eleven-piece ensemble performs a wide variety of new music. zeitkratzer's members come from different European metro polises and meet together for rehear sals in Berlin. zeitkratzer performs internationally at festivals of contemporary, electronic and avant-garde music and has released numerous recordings.
― scott seward, Wednesday, 5 October 2011 16:05 (twelve years ago) link
ANTHONY PATERAS - Collected Works: 2002-2012 5CD ImmediataBARBARA MORGENSTERN - Sweet Silence CD MonikaBLUE ON BLUE / OS OVNI - Vision Imaginary/Holographic Dream LP Robot ElephantCALLIOPE TSOUPAKI - MEDEA: A Melodrama for 8 Instruments CD UnsoundsCHRISTOPHER WILLITS & RYUICHI SAKAMOTO - Ancient Future CD GhostlyELI KESZLER - Catching Net 2CD PANFRANCISCO LOPEZ - Untitled #284 CD CrónicaGAZELLE TWIN - The Entire City LP/CD Anti-Ghost MoonrayGEOFFREY COX - Nothig but the Hours DVD Huddersfield ContemporaryHEATSICK - Déviation 12" PANHELM - Impossible Symmetry LP PANJIM COLEMAN - Trees CD Wax & WaneKEITH FULLERTON WHITMAN - Occlusions LP Editions MegoMATS LINDSTRÖM - MIG LP Ideologic OrganMIKA VAINIO / KEVIN DRUMM / AXEL DÖRNER / LUCIO CAPECE - Venexia LP PANNAZORANAI - s/t 2LP/CD Ideologic OrganPLVS VLTRA - Parthenon LP Spectrum SpoolsPOLYSICK - Digital Native 2LP/CD Planet MuROBERT HAMPSON - Repercussions CD+DVD Editions MegoSENKING - Dazed 12" raster-notonSENSATE FOCUS - Sensate Focus 5 12" Sensate FocusSIMON SCOTT - Below Sea Level CD 12kSIR RICHARD BISHOP - Intermezzo LP Ideologic Organ
ANTHONY PATERASCollected Works: 2002-20125CD box Immediata IMM001http://anthonypateras.com
Throughout the last decade, the works of Anthony Pateras have been performed by some of the world's leading ensembles and performers. He has collaborated with a broad array of contemporary artists including Han Bennink, eRikm, Christian Fennesz, Paul Lovens, Stephen O'Malley, The Necks and Mike Patton. He is also one half of the mind-blowing piano/drums avant-grind outfit known as PIVIXKI, and is founder of the Electro-Acoustic-Free-Concréte quintet THYMOLPHTHALEIN.
This 5-disc set covers many aspects of his musical output. Disc 1 features chamber and orchestral pieces, containing a string quartet, small ensemble works and a mammoth electric violin concerto with spatilized orchestra and quadraphonic electronics. Disc 2 is a re-issue of his widely performed Chasms for prepared piano, accompanied by a brand new piece to smash any cute-sy post-Cageian grooves right back into the emotronica abyss. Disc 3 features menacing pipe organ textures recorded on the largest instrument in the southern hemisphere. Disc 4 features two extended solo piano works captured live in the opulence of Sydney's State Theatre, and Disc 5 features mind-bending works for solo and ensemble orchestral percussion. As a self-contained box - handsomely packaged with foil text, satin ribbon and containing an informative, full-colour 16-page booklet with sketches and notes - this is an astonishing overview of one of Australia's most unique, uncompromising and exciting composers. Usually releasing material on flagship labels Tzadik and Editions Mego, this is the first release on the composer's own Immediata imprint. Limited to 500 copies worldwide.
VOL. 1: CHAMBER & ORCHESTRAL1. CRYSTALLINE (2010) for amplified string quartet [11:22]Lachlan O'Donnell/Edwina George/Neil Thompson/Anna Orzech2. BROKEN THEN FIXED THEN BROKEN (2009) for cello, bass clarinet & prepared piano [6:23]Golden Fur3. FRAGILE ABSOLUTE (2010) for winds, percussion, electronics & celeste [12:44]ANAM Ensemble conducted by Anthony Pateras4. LOST COMPASS (2011) for bass flute & percussion quartet [11:05]Timothy Munro: bass flute & Early Warning System5. IMMEDIATA (2010) for 6-string electric violin, quadraphonic electronics & spatialized orchestra [19:21]Richard Tognetti: 6-string electric violin, Anthony Pateras & Samuel Dunscombe: electronicsANAM Orchestra conducted by Brett Dean
VOL. 2: PREPARED PIANO1-3. CHASMS (2007) for prepared piano [42:28]4. DELIRIOSO (2012) for prepared pianos [10:47]
VOL. 3: PIPE ORGAN & ELECTRONICS1-8. ARCHITEXTURE (2011) forpipe organ & quadraphonic diffusion [40:08]Byron Scullin: live mix and diffusion9-11. KEEN UNKNOWN MATRIX(2009-2011) for electronics (8:10)
VOL 4: PIANO1. BLOCK DON'T BLEED(2012) for piano [25:53]2. BLEED DON'T BLOCK(2012) for piano [20:03]
VOL 5: PERCUSSION1-7. REFRACTIONS (2008) for percussion sextet [19:16]Speak Percussion conducted by Eugene Ughetti8-11. MUTANT THEATRE ACT 2 (2002) for solo percussion [17:47]Vanessa Tomlinson12. HYPNOGOGICS (2005) for microsounds, crotales & electronics [8:04]Eugene Ughetti13-23. MUTANT THEATRE ACT 3 (2008) for solo percussion [13:44]Vanessa Tomlinson24. FLESH & GHOST (2010/11) for 12 percussionists [13:31]Speak Percussion conducted by Eugene Ughetti
BARBARA MORGENSTERNSweet SilenceCD Monika Enterprise 74Release date: June 8http://www.monika-enterprise.dehttp://www.barbaramorgenstern.de
SWEET SILENCE is no less than the sixth album by Berlin based musician Barbara Morgenstern. Following 2010's Fan No. 2, a greatest hits compilation of a different kind, the album contains a fresh collection of all new songs sung for the first time only in English. As with all of Morgenstern's music, SWEET SILENCE exudes a glorious honesty which is just what makes her electronic-pop sound so appealing. The record was mixed by Shitkatapult founder Marco Haas aka T.Raumschmiere giving the whole thing that unmistakable Berlin sound.
In keeping with The Tremeloes classic, BM breaks the ice on the album with the title song Sweet Silence, an anthemic intro enriched with vocal delays which sets the mood nicely. Morgenstern soon picks up the pace though on Need To Hang Around. This spirited song is a friendly reminder of how important it is to step back every once in a while. It's lighthearted while still carrying an important message; indeed it remains a large part of the singer's charm that she never takes her music seriously.
SWEET SILENCE is in many ways Barbara's most accessible record to date, not least of all for all those international listeners out there as this time the lyrics are sung exclusively in English. As German fans already know, Morgenstern's song texts have always contained a great depth of meaning and imagery as well as humour. Now with SWEET SILENCE, everyone can join in understanding the ideas and experiences at the heart of Morgenstern's songs, rather than just enjoying the sound of her voice on a purely instrumental level. That said, KooKoo works on both levels with both profound lyrics and extensive creative use of vocal sampling. Jump Into The Life-Pool tells the time old story that is the cycle of life, spiraling ever onwards just like the arpeggiated synth loops that are to be heard in the song.
Side two of SWEET SILENCE opens with a short interlude Bela. It is one of only three instrumental tracks on an album so reliant on Morgenstern's tremendous vocal presence. Highway is probably the most orchestral tune with a swelling string arrangement setting the mood and the song is proof that the way is the goal, and you never know what's around the next bend. The Minimum Says is one of the few songs to feature guitar on a predominantly electronic album. While Auditorium switches instrumentation again, this time to a rhodes and some seriously jazzy riffs. Hip Hop Mice is the second instrumental number on SWEET SILENCE and so is somewhat reminiscent of Morgenstern's collaboration with Robert Lippok on Tesri, with the focus being purely on electronica and less weight being given to any pop aspect in the music. At just over five and a half minutes, Status Symbol seems to have almost epic proportions on an album that otherwise pretty much sticks to the 3 minute golden rule of pop. It is the penultimate song on SWEET SILENCE and with it long drawn out hypnotic-jam nature, certainly has something of a Nichts Muss feel to it. And SWEET SILENCE draws to a close with Love is in the air, but we don't care the third and final instrumental on the album, which appropriately enough fades out unassumingly leaving only silence.
SWEET SILENCE is in many ways a milestone in the career of Barbara Morgenstern. A career which has spanned achievements such as collaborations with the likes of Robert Wyatt and Bill Wells and the afore mentioned Robert Lippok, as well as side projects such as the improvised trio September Collective (with Stefan Schneider and Paul Wirkus) and tours which has seen her travel to the furthest reaches of the globe and earn fans throughout the world. SWEET SILENCE is a journey or at least the next leg in Morgenstern's ongoing musical journey, one on which gladly we are all invited to come along.
BLUE ON BLUE / OS OVNIVision Imaginary / Holographic Dream Split EPLP/DL Robot Elephant Records RER011Vertrieb: Cargohttp://www.robotelephant.co.ukhttp://facebook.com/blueonbluepophttp://osovni.tumblr.com
This is the first transatlantic split EP to be released on Robot Elephant Records, bringing two uniquely talented and wonderful bands together in the form of Blue on Blue from London and Os Ovni from Florida - exploring new sonic territory in the legacy of Broadcast, Sun Ra Arkestra, Caroliner and Bruce Haack.
Blue On Blue 'Vision Imaginary'
Previous press quotes:"Blue On Blue stand out as a force gently easing their way in to a music niche of their own" i-D Magazine"Really love ita gem. Amazing progression with their musicit sounds incredible" John Kennedy, XFM about Blue on Blue's debut EP from 2011"A brilliant actdefinitely a band to watch out for." The Line of Best Fit"A jubilant take on 90s jangling pop crawling to 80s heartachehypnotic giddy stuff." Loud & Quiet
Paying homage to their roots whilst taking a bold step into raw, personal musical expression, Blue On Blue present the world with their second offering 'Vision Imaginary'. Dee Sada and Billy Steiger voice a potent collection of experimental and deeply personal journeys.Opener, 'Silent Walls' illustrates the band's unconventional approach to song structure while 'The Machinery Link of Heart and Soul' is a modern day hymn; the duo's ecclesiastical interpretation of deep personal loss. Final track, 'Night Terrors' is an intimate account of when inner demons and hallucinations become a cold, harsh certainty. It is a terrifying exploration of the fine lines between nightmares, madness and reality.The EP title is taken from a line from the poem 'Our Saviour' by Nepalese poet Shiv Shamsher Rasaily, Dee's grandfather. An acclaimed poet and author, he is also winner of the Sahitya Akademi Award, the second highest literary award in India. The EP cover is from a stained glass window in St Georges church, Beckenham, part of a set designed and made by Billy's great- grandfather, Tom Freeth, just after the second World War.
OS OVNI 'Holographic Dreams'
Previous press quotes:"A little in the moon" - Vice Magazine France"Os Ovni is a captivating group" - Foxy Digitalis"Os Ovni combine synth wave dynamics and boy/girl vocals to chilly and blissed out effect. otherworldly and imbued with a synthesized shoegaze quality here we find out that 'love' is untouchable, indescribable and thrilling." - Rough Trade Shops about previously released split single with Modern Witch on Tundra Dubs
Physicists deal in quantum probabilities.Wizards wrestle with magic.OS OVNI dream synthesizers.
Fresh off a two-month U.S. tour which ended on New Year's Day in New Orleans opening for the Silver Apples, OS OVNI are currently residing in Florida building unique electronic music instruments and recording a full length album for release in 2012.Emerging from the more idiosyncratic side of reality, the duo of Logan Owlbeemoth and Omebi Velouria build minimal sonic structures around time travel pop hooks using warm synths, galactic dipped vocals, colourful costumes set in a 2070's celluloid film setting and visual projections made of hyper changing colourful pixel bits of other dimensional beings....As the collision of rebellious oscillations and layered harmonics clash and hum, it seems that their music is trying to pry open a gateway to its own science fictional universe. The shimmering gateway opens, and what you find when you look inside is OS OVNI.
CALLIOPE TSOUPAKIMEDEA: A Melodrama for 8 InstrumentsCD Unsounds 28Uhttp://www.unsounds.comhttp://www.calliopetsoupaki.com
Performance: Ensemble MAE (live recording)
"Medea, a melodrama for 8 instruments" by Calliope Tsoupaki is the first in a series of chamber music compositions focusing on drama.The composition is written for ensemble MAE, that distinguishes itself for its colorful, direct, physical and improvisatory character; Tsoupaki uses the ensemble's palette, composing solos, duets, trios, wrapped in larger sonic fields, with a strong associative and visual impact. Further there is no story-telling for the listener to be led into the piece; the music material itself is suggestive, and the melodies have a leading role, as characters in a theater play. Coming back as in different scenes in a film, each time changed and transformed, they are the vectors of tangible dramatic development.As the music material unfolds, we get close to an ultimate Medea, ever changing, beautiful, and wild, but also dignified and powerful. But next to an exploration of the myth, "Medea" attempts to compose a self-portrait, the composer shedding light onto a deep, unspoken part of herself. Pasolini's "Medea" was an inspiration for writing this piece, and most of all Maria Callas in the role of Medea, "so tragic that she did not sing a word."
Calliope Tsoupaki, greek composer based in the Netherlands, has composed over 70 pieces from solo to orchestra pieces, vocal works and operas covering the repertoire from concert music to dance, theater and multimedia music projects, often inspired by great female figures in art and history.
CHRISTOPHER WILLITS & RYUICHI SAKAMOTOAncient FutureCD Ghostly GI-159http://ghostly.comhttp://christopherwillits.comhttp://www.sitesakamoto.com
Info follows asap
ELI KESZLERCatching Net2CD/DL PAN 32http://www.pan-act.comhttp://elikeszler.com
Side A:Eli Keszler: drums, percussion, crotales, guitarAshley Paul: alto saxophone, bass harpGeoff Mullen: guitarGreg Kelley: trumpetReuben Son: bassoon
Side B:Carole Bestvater: violinRachel Panitch: violinChloë Kline: violaLaura Cetilia: celloSakiko Mori: pianoEli Keszler: installation, score/composition
Catching Net is a collection of selected installations and compositions Eli Keszler created during the last two year. The double-CD set includes both stand-alone recordings of the installations and the integrated ensemble scores performed in conjunction with those installations. The first disc features two ensemble versions of Cold Pin, previously released in a 2011 LP of the same title on PAN, plus a 26-minute, previously unreleased live ensemble recording (mixed sextet and piano quintet; these are captured in contrasting acoustical spaces). The personnel for all three tracks is Eli Keszler drums, percussion, crotales, guitar; Ashley Paul, alto saxophone, bass harp; Geoff Mullen, prepared guitar; Greg Kelley, trumpet; Reuben Son, bassoon; and Benny Nelson, cello. The second disc begins with the title track, Catching Net, a 17-minute score for string quartet and piano with the Cold Pin installation. It is performed by pianist Sakiko Mori and the Providence String Quartet: Carole Bestvater, violin; Rachel Panitch, violin; Chloë Kline, viola; Laura Cetilia, cello. The score is fully notated, timed with stopwatch markings rather than tempo or meter. Following are two recordings of Keszler's large-scale installations functioning on their own. Collecting Basin features piano strings/wires up to 250 feet long splayed from a two-story water tower in Shreveport / Louisiana, across two large, empty water purification basins, which acted as an amplifier for the sounds produced by the installation. A 'solo' version of Cold Pin (without live performers) concludes the album. Tracks 1 and 3 on the first disc and track 2 on the second disc were recorded at the historic Cyclorama, a massive dome at the Boston Center for the Arts. Cold Pin was installed directly on a large curved wall in the dome, using micro-controlled motors and beaters to strike extended strings ranging in length from three to 25 feet.
Born in Brookline, Massachusetts, visionary composer/percussionist/multimedia artist Eli Keszler began playing drums at eight, and composing at twelve. Before finding an interest in experimental music and improvisation, he played in rock and hardcore bands; his work retains an intense physicality and churning, often ferocious energy. He is a graduate of the New England Conservatory, where he studied composition with Anthony Coleman and Ran Blake. A self-taught visual artist, his aesthetic outlook owes as much to Richard Serra and Robert Smithson as it does to musical icons like Xenakis, Nancarrow, and Ornette Coleman. He has collaborated with Phill Niblock, Roscoe Mitchell, Joe McPhee, Loren Connors, Jandek, and many others, and has recorded more than a dozen CDs and LPs for ESP-DISK, REL, and PAN. Keszler's installations employ piano wires of varying lengths; these are struck, scraped, and vibrated by microprocessor-controlled motorized arms, giving rise to harmonically complex tones that are percussive yet resonant. These installations are heard on their own and with accompanying ensemble scores. Said Keszler in a NPR All Songs Considered interview, "I like to work with raw material, like simple sounds, primitive or very old sounds; sounds that won't get dated in any way. I was thinking of ways I could use strings or acoustic material without using pedals or pre-recordings, so the live aspects appealed to me." In addition, the patterns formed by the overlapping piano wires allow Keszler to create visual components that relate directly to the music, without having to use projections or other electronic equipment.
FRANCISCO LOPEZUntitled #284CD Crónica 066http://www.cronicaelectronica.orghttp://www.franciscolopez.net
Behind every image, something has disappeared. And that is the source of its fascination. Behind virtual reality in all its forms [] the real has disappeared. And that is what fascinates everyone. According to the official version, we worship the real and the reality principle, but - and this is the source of the current suspense - is it, in fact, the real we worship, or its disappearance? - Jean Baudrillard, Why hasn't everything already disappeared?, translated by Chris Turner, Seagull Books 2009.
Untitled #284 was created in 2011 by extensive evolutionary transformation of original environmental recordings made in Lisbon during the year of 1992. These sources were recovered for a commission of the Teatro Municipal Maria Matos, where the composition was premiered on 16 July 2011.
GAZELLE TWINThe Entire CityLP/CD Anti-Ghost Moonray RecordsRelease date: June 22Vertrieb: Cargohttp://www.antighostmoonray.comhttp://www.gazelletwin.com
"It's a mashed-up, cryptic world of ghost-cities, dead ideologies, imagined futures, ancient rituals, childhood dreams and wounded creatures." GAZELLE TWIN
Gazelle Twin aka ELIZABETH WALLING, b.1981, is a multi-disciplinary artist based in London/Brighton, UK. Working in music, performance, film, visual art, costume and multimedia, Walling is primarily the sole creative force behind everything made under the Gazelle Twin moniker, an androgynous, masked identity which continuously transforms with each project, "they're like puppets. Different forms through which I can render my human self into something else, another species, an object, a cloud of smoke...".
As a composer, musician and self-taught producer, Walling has released three Gazelle Twin singles to date, each from her debut album, The Entire City - released on digital worldwide and physical in the UK in 2011 on her co-run label, Anti-Ghost Moon Ray Records (AGMR). The LP received critical praise from international press, radio and music blogs; The Guardian and The Independent both awarded it 5-star reviews and it ranked highly in reviews by Drowned in Sound, Subba Cultcha and the BBC. Support has also come from magazines; Dazed and Confused, Bullett, Notion, Clash and DIVA in various features.
THE ENTIRE CITY - ALBUM - SINGLES + VIDEOSArt, history, civilisation, science-fiction, film, nature, dreams and even video games are all intrinsic to The Entire City. The title itself - taken from a series of paintings by Max Ernst - preceded any music, such was it's importance to Walling pre-Gazelle Twin, and thus inspired the album's narrative of multiple meanings in a fictional landscape. Likewise, the songs Men Like Gods - taken from the novel by HG Wells - and When I Was Otherwise - a song by the 16th Century composer William Byrd - both existed before any music was written to befit their titles. The novels of JG Ballard and an array of science fiction films including:- Terminator, Stalker, Colossus, Eraserhead and Alien were all aesthetic as well as sonic references and this marriage of classical, cinematic, futuristic and dreamlike visual elements is so vital to Gazelle Twin's world that the digital release of The Entire City was accompanied by an interactive visual version' made by Champagne Valentine. Featuring the LP's sleeve artwork - which uses a photocollage entitled 'Athne' by UK artist Suzanne Moxhay - the application allows anyone to stream the album in full, whilst witnessing warped visions of the various Gazelle Twin identities and other homemade footage through a single, gazing eye.
It is these various identities, created through the use of costume, together with immersive staging concepts which add further 'weight' and intrigue to the music itself. Gazelle Twin's live performances are rare, but prove to act as exploratory and physical expressions of the themes and emotions in her music. At her debut performance in Germany, at the legendary Berghain in Berlin, October 2011 (supporting Planningtorock), Gazelle Twin and live band (Jonny Wildey and Owen Thomas) took to the stage in full costume covering the entire face and body - a design inspired by David Lynch's depiction of Joseph Merrick in The Elephant Man (1980).
Unsurprisingly, with such specific visual devices, comparisons have been and continue to be made to the equally mysterious Karin Dreijer Andersson of Fever Ray and The Knife, both of whom Elizabeth consciously admits as a huge influence, "I'm indebted them for the epiphany they inspired in me about the power of disguise".
(continued)... The dreamscape vocals of the Cocteau Twins and iconic artists such as Kate Bush and Bjork have also been regular points of reference, as has Prince - of whom Walling is a new but "very obsessive" fan and whose album, Purple Rain (1984), inspired many of the rhythmic elements and drum sounds in The Entire City. Although predictable, such prestigious comparisons can also be seen to express how exciting and rare it is for a true artist like Gazelle Twin to emerge from the UK - something the METRO decided back in 2009 before any official GT releases, "...the exciting thing is that there is no one exactly like her...".
The Entire City Remixed, a 13-track album to be released digitally on 4 June 2012, AGMR, follows up the original with special guest remixes by: John Foxx and The Maths, Scanner, Maya Postepski (Austra/Trust), Nedry, Zebra and Snake and many more artists from Europe and beyond. A new EP entitled MAMMAL is due out on US label Sugarcane Recordings in July 2012 and Walling is presently working on her second LP - I Was Moulded In The Bowels Of The Earth - due in Autumn/Winter 2012.
SINGLES + VIDEOS +Changelings, Gazelle Twin's debut single, was released in 2010 on Something Nothing records and included the b-side I Wonder U, a cover of Prince which earned 'track of the week' in Time Out London. Changelings was accompanied by Walling's "first attempt" at a music video; a homemade, lo-fi, black and white film shot on webcams and iphones incorporating found-footage of demolitions and sand storms along with shape-shifting sequences featuring her (then) 12-year old niece as the "unmasked 'child twin". The video was premiered by The Quietus. For the John Foxx and the Maths remix of Changelings (The Entire City Remixed, 4 June 2012) Walling plans to remix the video itself with new footage. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BOXJS6iS1fg
I Am Shell I Am Bone was self-released on in 2011, on Anti-Ghost Moon Ray. The b-side was a bravely stark and stormy cover of Joy Division's The Eternal. I Am Shell I Am Bone - later becoming the title of Walling's image blog - was accompanied by a second homemade video, premiered by The Guardian. The film explored themes of sea life, evolution and the paranormal, again using found footage and scenes shot in a rudimentary set in her living room "behind jugs of water and anglepoise lamps". https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t01dYTecfS8
Men Like Gods accompanied The Entire City's worldwide digital release in 2011, on Anti-Ghost Moon Ray. The video - premiered by This Is Fake DIY - introduced colour into the mix; shot in super8-style iphones and digital cameras, it involved a video shoot at a remote Sardinian village featuring footage of an ancient Pagan festival featured heavily masked figures with lassos, furs and bells. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ANaabsQo-uA
When I Was Otherwise, although unreleased as a single, this album track is a favourite of visual/sound/conceptual installation artist and occasional DJ, Seb Patane, who is currently making the 'official' video for the track. Patane was born in Sicily but lives and works in London, regularly on artist residencies around Europe and beyond. His work shares various themes with Gazelle Twin including; identity, civilisation and history, not to mention a love of electronics. Last year, The Wire Magazine featured his work including a film he made: http://thewire.co.uk/articles/7093/
PRESS HIGHLIGHTS* "Walling is both star and morphing other, warping breathy harmonies and siren miasmas into elegant cyborg operas. A stunning debut" 5/5 - The Guardian* "this is an album which hints at subconscious fears and will haunt you long after listening.' 5/5 - The Independent* "The Mercury Prize panellists should probably pencil her in for 2013's shortlist today" - BBC* "fragile, understated and frightfully beautiful... crystal clear of ambition and concept" 8/10 - Drowned in Sound* "a dream-like tableau evoking Bjork, The Dirty Projectors and Vienna's Soap & Skin as well as (Fever Ray's) sly gift for otherness." - The Quietus
GEOFFREY COXNothig but the HoursDVD Huddersfield Contemporary Records HCRDVD04http://www.hud.ac.uk/cerenem
A portrait DVD of the work of composer and film maker Geoffrey Cox.
Performed by Philip Thomas (piano) and with documentary films made in collaboration with Keith Marley.
HEATSICKDéviation12"/DL PAN 29http://www.pan-act.com
If "Dream Tennis" was any indication, Heatsick has struck a nerve with his singles that stretch preset washes of polyphony through sunset-hued landscapes of disco and house. Equipped with only a Casio keyboard, he's played alongside everyone from Omar Souleyman to DJ Harvey, Daniel Wang and Legowelt, and has demonstrated his ability not only to extend his keyboard to its limits, but to transcend its musical territory, opening up a diverse range of styles, genres and gestures to his dance-addled mimicries and musings.
"Déviation" marks Heatsick's most expansive dance release to date, featuring four tracks ofkaleidoscopic house that combine a lo-fi aesthetic with clear, textured structures akin to wandering through a densely gridded, sultry urban environment. With influences ranging from Fela Kuti to Todd Terry, the EP revolves around as much of a disco aesthetic as it does a leisurely soundtrack to a casual day of hanging out.
The dub-influenced title track begins with a rhythmic, Latin-oriented introduction that delicately deviates towards its shimmering second half as the pitch spirals in a locked progression. The climax refuses to come quickly, however, and a flow of excitement frames the track until it finishes in step. The EPs subdued second track, "C'était un rendez-vous", presents a sort of chill-out vibe with a cinematic consciousness. This track features backing by the prodigious saxophonist André Vida, whose snippets of smooth to free jazz are seamlessly interlaced within the last two tracks as well.
On the B-side, the B1 track "The Stars Down to Earth" is overlaid with a vocal sample and brims with a frenetic energy that calls to mind an ebulliently bassy, Bristol mentality. The concluding track, "No Fixed Address", takes the territory of the B1 and introduces it to a '90s Todd Terry treatment, providing a jacking conclusion to this varied, densely-packed release worthy of multiple listenings.
HELMImpossible SymmetryLP/DL PAN 27http://www.pan-act.com
Impossible Symmetry is the third full length record by Helm, the project of London based artist LUKE YOUNGER. It marks a new chapter in the artists' canon as it's his first to be informed by live performance rather than studio experimentation. The recording and engineering was primarily a solo venture, with some technical assistance from John Hannon on a few tracks. Most of the compositions were created out of ideas / improvisations that were conceived in a live context and then fed back into the studio work. The album was recorded over the duration of a year in London with source material culled from acoustic sound sources in a similar methodology to his previous album 'Cryptography', whilst also simultaneously incorporating more extensive use of electronic elements and moments of rhythmic dark ambience recalling the outputs from early Coil and Cabaret Voltaire to even Traversable Wormhole's industrial minimalism.
Helm is Luke Younger - a sound artist and experimental musician based in London, working with a vast array of revolving instrumentation and abstract sound sources. Younger's compositions build a dense aural landscape that touches on musique concrete, uncomfortable sound poetry, noise, and hallucinatory drones. His most last LP Cryptography, presented a five-part suite of expertly rendered electro-acoustic study which uses processed piano, Casio MT-40, cymbal and broken guitar strings. Younger creates a world where these instruments morph into spectral rust, a shimmering klang swims alongside passive noise and the relationship between acoustic and electronic derived sounds forms a solid foundation. This sound is steered through a melange of fringe territories: glacial drone meditations, reconfigured gamelan clusters, and howling walls of organized feedback, all coalesced in a post-industrial fashion with a commitment to homemade exploratory zeal. For the past ten years, Younger has also performed extensively in Europe and the US with Steven Warwick as pioneering avant-drone duo Birds of Delay.
JIM COLEMANTreesCD Wax & Wane 001Release date: August 7Vertrieb: Cargohttp://www.jimcolemanmusic.comhttp://jimcolemanmusic.wordpress.com
Classically trained in piano and French horn, Jim Coleman exploded onto the indie rock scene in the 1990s with his seminal NYC band, COP SHOOT COP, playing alongside the likes of Sonic Youth, Pussy Galore, Helmet, and Marilyn Manson. His creative work has transitioned over the years into a unique blend of cinematic, electro-acoustic music. Trees, Coleman's debut release in this genre, creates an intensely personal yet universally transcendent sonic experience.
Initially an art student at The University of Hartford, Coleman went on to obtain a BFA in film from S.U.N.Y. Purchase, being the only student in his class working in experimental film. In the 1990s Coleman's talents in music, film and art merged with the inception of the seminal band, Cop Shoot Cop. Joining up with a group of like-minded musical misfits, CSC released four full-length albums and several EP's and Singles on Big Cat Records and Interscope Records. Coleman also co-directed several of their music videos. Internationally acclaimed, CSC toured during the 90s doing shows with Iggy Pop, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Soul Coughing, Jesus Lizard, and Henry Rollins.
By the time Cop Shoot Cop self imploded in 1996, Coleman had already begun scoring indie films and television series. He has worked with directors such as Todd Phillips, Hal Hartley, Beth B, and Richard Kern. He has also done a number of series and one-offs for television networks such as PBS, A&E, HBO and TLC.
From the late 1990's to the present, Coleman has been releasing original music and doing remixes as Phylr. This material is beat driven electronica, firmly rooted in sound collage with a strong cinematic sensibility. Coleman also has had two notable collaborations. The first was with Italian composer Teho Teardo and was called Here. The second was with J.G. Thirlwell as Baby Zizanie.
Trees features some extremely talented musicians: Kirsten McCord plays cello. Kirsten has a release on Thurston Moore's Ecstatic Peace label, and has worked with musicians such as Elliott Smith, Vic Chesnutt and Jarboe. Phil Puleo, drummer of Cop Shoot Cop and Swans, plays a variety of instruments, from wood flute to a variety of percussion. Phil was the drummer/percussionist in Cop Shoot Cop, and has since played extensively with Michael Gira in Swans. Dawn McCarthy adds vocals to 2 tracks. Dawn has several releases as Faun Fables on the Drag City label. Ellen Fullman plays her self -created long stringed instrument on two of the tracks as well. Ellen's music has been represented at The Whitney Museum, Lincoln Center and The Walker Arts Center.
Coleman on-goingly continues his sonic and visual explorations, creating original music and remixes as Phylr and continuing his forays in to the world of experimental video. He is also currently working on an ambient follow up to Trees, which is based on recordings of individual's near death experiences.
KEITH FULLERTON WHITMANOcclusionsLP Editions Mego DeMEGO026Release date: June 19http://editionsmego.comhttp://keithfullertonwhitman.com
Cut at 45 rpm Occlusion (Rue de Bitche)Recorded on February 18th, 2012 at LES ATELIERS DE BITCHE, Nantes, France.Performed on a 4.2 Quad Array, captured in stereo from the performer's perspective on a Zoom H1 HANDY RECORDER (auto level :: OFF)Occlusion (Weteringschans)
Recorded on February 25th, 2012 at PARADISO, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.Performed on a 4.2 Quad Array, captured in stereo from the performer's perspective on a Zoom H1 HANDY RECORDER (auto level :: ON)
Occlusion is a loose framework for a multi-channel, freely improvised piece of LIVE ELECTRONIC MUSIC, performed without the aid or consent of pre-recorded or even pre-arranged materials of any kind. A given realization will last between 10 and 30 minutes ; time is elastic. Every effort has been made to avoid divisible rhythms (although mistakes are occasionally made) ... Still, I consider it a \"kind\" of Dance Music.
These two realizations, recorded a week apart at festivals in France and The Netherlands during February 2012, capture the piece (much like those on the Generators LP) in two entirely different iterations, in states of (A) a mildly inebriated bliss & (B) an arbitrarily triggered blind rage. Both recordings were made at 24-bit, 96khz through the absolute cheapest means available to the consumer to do so. They sound fantastic.
Occlusions is a companion piece to Generators in that they share the same tool-set ... however, it is the FREE JAZZ yang to Generator's MINIMALIST yin. It is not recommended to those seeking meter, melody, cleanliness, or a clearly outlined organizational sense.
MATS LINDSTRÖMMIGLP Ideologic Organ SOMA006Release date: June 26http://editionsmego.com/releases/ideologic-organ
MIG produced by PRO ARTE Foundation for JSC "Klimov" Aviation Engines Museum, St Petersburg, Russia September 2011. Recording assistant: Vladislav Petrov, Producer: Ekaterina Puzankova.
IBM tracks recorded at EMS Elektronmusikstudion, Stockholm April 2012.
ONE tracks was premiered at San Servolo, Venezia, Italy, December 2008 together with Anna Koch "Scratch Memory".
Give Us the Tools .... was premiered at Theaterhaus Stuttgart, Germany July 2006 Dedicated to Hugh Davies.
Children of Paradise is a tape part remaining from the piece Sörmländsk tragedi for childrens string orchestra premiered at Kulturhuset Stockholm and Sveriges Radio P2 February 2003Photo by Erik Lee Snyder (December 2011).
Thanks to the administration of JSC "Klimov": Alexander Vatagin, Executive Director, Alexay Gridoriev, General Constructor, Larissa Yanushanets, Specialist of museum exposition and to the Russian Aircraft Corporation ???, Moderna Museet, Konstnärsnämnden, Fylkingen, DEGEM, SMI, WELD, Sveriges Radio, Rikskonserter, EMS-staff, Manfred Fox, Eckehard Güther, Daniel Teige, Eva-Britt Gratte, Mats Persson, Leo Hermodsson, Matilda Lindström and the Children of Paradise.
Mats Lindström works as a composer and a musician, often with strains of live-electronics. He often works with intermedia, scenic elements and visual arts as a complement to the music, and has worked both with music for concerts, theatre and dance as well as radio-art and sound installations. Formerly an engineer in the electronics industry Lindström has designed and constructed a number of unique electronic musical instruments and apparatuses.
MIKA VAINIO / KEVIN DRUMM / AXEL DÖRNER / LUCIO CAPECEVenexiaLP/DL PAN 28http://www.pan-act.com
Mika Vainio: Electronics.Kevin Drumm: Electronics.Axel Dörner: Trumpet, computer.Lucio Capece: Soprano saxophone, bass clarinet, sruti box.
The original idea of this project was to allow musicians from different scenes (but who shared common ideas) to work together. In this case, a development of two pre existent duos.
Quite often musicians from different sonic languages can be seen being put together, trying to push the artists to develop unexpected works. Vainio, Drumm, Dörner and Capece have mainly strong points in common, that have been executed in different contexts. The music map is generally divided into categories that are determined by it's most evident and often banal elements; if it has beats or not, if it is quiet or loud, if it has raw material or a carefully worked aesthetic. These four musicians have been working using all the previous elements, but these elements did not determine the music, they were used at the service of deeper ideas related to time and perception. How the sound of our environment can become music, how can music be attractive without telling a story, the work of sound in it's extreme: noise, granular and delicate, digital, electronic, instrumental extended techniques, preparations. Kevin Drumm and Axel Dörner started working together in the late 90's as part of a trio with Paul Lovens, As a duo they released an influential album on Erstwhile Records. Vainio and Drumm met in 2005 in Australia, both as part of the touring festival What is Music?. Even if both musicians declared to have a great time touring in Australia, they did never played together. Drumm's and Vainio's music is often compared by critics. Capece has released a duo CD on L'Innomable label with Axel Dörner and a trio one with Dörner and tubist Robin Hayward on Azul Discográfica label from New York. Dörner and Capece worked in several projects together, including a residence with Keith Rowe working on " Treatise" by Cornelius Cardew. Mika Vainio and Lucio Capece have released together the album "Trahnie". An album they worked for three years on, and also did several concerts as a duo.
In May 2008 the quartet made a 6 days residency and concert at Vooruit, in Gent, followed by a 5 concert European tour, that took them to Venice. In 2011 the group played at Konfrontationen Festival in Austria. In the meanwhile Capece and Vainio have been part of the Vladislav delay Quartet. Capece has played, and toured with Kevin Drumm in a trio with Radu Malfatti and Dörner has played with Drumm in a trio with Paul Lovens, at the Meteo festival, in France. The recording in Venice is a multitrack one. It was mixed by Capece with minimal edits, basically panning and volume adjustments.
NAZORANAIs/t2LP/CD Ideologic Organ SOMA009Release date: July 3http://editionsmego.com
KEIJI HAINO (guitar, vocals & synth)STEPHEN O'MALLEY (bass guitar)OREN AMBARCHI (battery)
Recorded by Chris Fullard at Gâité Lyrique, Paris 8th November 2011.Edited by Oren Ambarchi in Sydney January 2012. Mixed by Joe Talia & Oren Ambarchi at Chinatown, Melbourne 8th February 2012.Mastered by Joe Talia at Chinatown, Melbourne 17th April 2012. Vinyl cut by Rashad Becker at Dubplates & Mastering, Berlin April 2012.Artwork: Lars Teichmann "Bathing Girls" & "Nymphos" (detail, 2010, photos by Annette Apel), "Fever" (detail, 2010, photo by Martino Gerosa).
Oren Ambarchi has been an active colleague, we have collaborated on a number of SUNN O))) projects, and also SUNN O))) related projects, film scores, tours, meals etcetera over the years. He brought us to Australia for the first time in 2004 (see SOMA010 notes), we toured Israel with Attila Csihar as GRAVETEMPLE TRIO in 2006. Oren introduced us to Haino-san in 2006 when SUNN O))) played FIMAV festival in Victoriaville Quebec (Oren was in the ensemble on that tour), in a stinky locker room (the venue was a hockey rig). Had no idea what to expect but a few hours later he was on stage with us. It was one of those "what now" moments you never imagine happening having been a fan/follower of Haino's playing, concerts and recordings over the years. 5 years later somehow we ended up as this trio. Haino, Oren and I were all in Holland for one reason or another and decided to try it. I played bass for the first time on stage with this group. Maybe it shows but the idea was a power trio backing up Haino-san, with a lot of amplification. We had the chance to repeat the trio twice again so far, and this recording comes from a concert in Paris November 2011. It's hard to describe the lessons through realtime communication in music with such a master of form, but needless to say they were much different than what I was expecting and beyond! Proof again that expectations lead to dead ends. Was a most challenging experience in real-time music. I feel incredibly honored to be part of this trio. - Stephen O'Malley
PLVS VLTRAParthenonLP Spectrum Spools SP018Release date: June 19http://editionsmego.com/releases/spectrum-spoolshttp://soundcloud.com/plvs-vltra
Spectrum Spools is pleased to release the debut album by veteran musician Toko Yasuda's PLVS VLTRA project.
Toko has been working for years already in established pop acts such as Enon, Blonde Redhead and now touring with St. Vincent handling synthesizer duties for live events. In all her years of songcraft there have been sparse, if any solo output, until now.
"And now for something different..." as we say here at the Spectrum Spools headquarters. "Parthenon" is a sugar-sweet album of catchy pop songs, crafted with expert precision and outstanding composition logic. Everything is locked in in a way that seems at once like clockwork, and also somehow very free. As if Alice Coltrane's "Universal Consciousness" was reimagined and sent into the future to be reimagined as an electronic pop record.. Most of the album's focus lies on the glowing, ethereal voice that is unmistakably exclusive to Yasuda. Swirling, fine tuned electronic washes and collaged clouds of ambiance swirl and hover around these mega catchy tunes giving them a fantastic depth which commands attention and repeat visits. Yasuda's songcraft here is in peak form as well, with ultra catchy hooks and addictive melodies that have been dialed in to perfection over the many years of making music. One of the most brilliant facets of "Parthenon" is the anti-genre omniverse vibe, where all borders and boundries set to confine music to a general one word descriptor are shattered. "Pop" is a word abused to catch-all, and like any great, well-thought album, "Parthenon" refuses to be pinned down. Here is your summer jam! Enjoy!
POLYSICKDigital Native2LP/CD Planet Mu Records ZIQ324Release date: June 18Vertrieb: Cargohttp://www.planet.mu/discography/ZIQ324
Rome's EGISTO SOPOR has been making little waves with his releases for quite a while now. Since we've known him he's released a cdr album on Legowelt's Strange Life Records and put a cassette out on the much admired 100% Silk label, both under the name 'Polysick'. As 'TheAwayTeam' he's released a DVD 'Relax & Sleep' and a cd 'Star Kinship' on Japanese label Maomoo. He is also one half of the low key video unit AAVV, whose work has graced many of the important releases of new lofi electronic movement.
Well, here is his first album proper 'Digital Native', 15 tracks of glowing, nocturnal, analogue grace that hark back to acid house and early techno, but with a mood and intent that seems to be designed for watching images dance on closed eyelids. It's no surprise that his work as a video artist resonates so strongly with the music he makes.
Polysick says of his approach, "When i make music I always have a visual part in mind. In this case, many of the tracks have been influenced by visions of tribal nocturnal mysterious explorations like in 'Preda' which is the italian word for "quarry". I tried to convey a sense of mystery and danger with those swirling flutes and the timpani rolls too, like if you were in the middle of a jungle, in a deep dark night and you're running away through the trees, haunted, like in some of those old zombie splatter movies from the 80's.. same with 'Tic-Tac Toe', with that clock ticking and the deep bass..."
Polysick has tapped straight into the synthetic pleasures of early dance music's otherworldly pulses, the hypnotic arpeggios of Italo disco, soaring Detroit chords, cosmic disco, the '4th World' music of Jon Hassell and the library exotics of Piero Umiliani. This is body music for the resting body, Imagine a nexus between early acid house and Italo music being used for mental therapy, exotic travelling and imagining, exciting the brain waves and journeying into imagined spaces. 'Digital Native' is set in this imagined line of enquiry.
ROBERT HAMPSONRepercussionsCD+DVD Editions Mego eMEGO132Release date: June 12http://editionsmego.comhttp://www.roberthampson.com
Disc One: Stereo VersionDisc Two: 5.1 Surround Mix Version
Editions Mego is very happy to announce the release Robert Hampson's 2nd solo album under his own name. Released as a special Stereo CD and 5.1 Surround DVD.
Répercussions : An Acousmatic multi channel piece commissioned by the Groupe de Recherches Musicales (GRM) in Paris for a performance the Akousma festival, diffused on the Acousmonium speaker system in 2011. Recordings of percussive intruments of all kinds - Piano, Drum skins, Gamelan, Metal grates etc are treated and manipulated to form a dense nonlinear or non rhythmical narrative. Each instrument has been 'remixed' repeatedly, to change it's sonic shape or timbre, to try and form new textures from normally recognisable ones. A more direct 2 channel Stereo version is available and a 5.1 surround version, mixed at the GRM, gives an idication of how the piece was originally conceived as a diffusion.
De la Terre à la Lune : An Acousmatic multi channel piece commissioned by Espace Mendes France for a performance at The Planetarium in Poitiers, France, diffused on a 8 channel system. The second piece, following Ahead - Only The Stars (released on 'Vectors' - Touch 2009) which takes it influence from the early Nasa missions into space, but more directly from films such as Kubrick's 2001, Tarkovsky's Solaris and even earlier films such as Pal's Conquest Of Space. Of course, there is also a serious debt to Jules Verne's novel of the same name. Again, a straight Stereo version and 5.1 diffusion mix are available.
Antarctic Ends Here : Originally released as part of a split 10" vinyl only issue with Cindytalk on Edtions Mego, this piece has it's first digital format release in Stereo and also 5.1 surround. 3 Textural drones, derived from single piano notes, stretched and looped blend with a field recording of large Bamboos rustling on a breezy Autumn day. Overlayed is a simple and repetitive piano motif which gradually disintegrates into a spectral blur. It's title is in homage to John Cale's final song on the album Paris 1919 'Antarctica Starts Here' and the piece is dedicated to him.
SENKINGDazed12" raster-noton R-N 142Vertrieb: Kompakthttp://www.raster-noton.net
with dazed", senking continues his exploration of the abysses of sound to create dark and gloomy atmospheres. the slow beats of the two tracks are accompanied by tender, harmonic melodies, but broken by nervous, unsteady tones which seem to be a warning against hidden dangers. the first track the dance hall walk" also features a vocal sample by micheal cramm - a text which reflects the nervousness and excitement in anticipation of some thrilling thingsto come. like tweek", senking's last ep, dazed" is not only concerned with the depths of sound, but also with the depths of the human psyche, where there is no escape other than music itself.
a1 the dance hall walk 7:00b1 closing eyes 7:00
SENSATE FOCUSSensate Focus 512" Sensate Focus 5http://editionsmego.com/releases/sensate-focus
SIMON SCOTTBelow Sea LevelCD 12k 1071Vertrieb: A-Musikhttp://www.12k.comhttp://simonscott.org
Below Sea Level is the first 12k release from seasoned electronic/post-rock artist Simon Scott. The inspiration behind Below Sea Level, including its music, title, artwork and photography (see accompanying journal) originally derives from Scott's desire to musically explore the desolate and controversial environment of the Fens in East Anglia, UK. The memories Scott has of visiting this area as a child makes this a poignant and highlypersonal project that explores nostalgic familiarity with a desire to capture the musicality of the landscape. For two years Scott ventured into this former wetland with hydrophones and self-built recording devices to explore the land that is cartographically below mean sea level, trace the devastating history of this environment caused by the drainage of the land, and arrange it into conceptual musical and visual project. Scott has, in the main, eschewed the guitar backbone of his previous releases, preferring instead to capture the timbres and textures of the landscape to form the basis for the seven tracks. His signature reverberated guitar does still surface, the beginning of the album begins with sparse finger picking reminiscent of Laughing Stock-era Talk Talk, but it only adds brief flickers of colour to the central field recordings throughout the album.
Below Sea Level explores the aesthetics of active listening and, via a self-built MaxMSP patch, digitally disects the natural and man-made recordings Scott discovered within the Fens. The juxtaposing of analogue and digital timbres and textures, the man-made and natural world sounds, create epic interwoven soundscapes that blend the recognizable (birdsong) with undistinguishable sounds, sometimes confusing what is natural and synthetic. Scott presents an abstraction of a place that is arranged and manipulated for aural contemplation outside of the Fens (in alien environments) where the music collaborates with each unique listening environment.
The aforementioned journal is a limited-pressing 68-page-color, small (13X20cm), hardcover book that includes Scott's essay entitled An Exploration of the Subterranean Fenland Environment, many pages of hand-written notes and sketches and a section of photography from the area. This book will be available on its own with a download code for the album as well as bundled with the CD. It is a beautiful and essential look at the process and thoughts behind Scott's passionate and in-depth work on this subject.
SIR RICHARD BISHOPIntermezzoLP Ideologic Organ SOMA010Release date: June 26http://editionsmego.com/releases/ideologic-organhttp://www.sirrichardbishop.net
All songs composed & recorded by Richard Bishop. Master & vinyl cut by Rashad Becker at Dubplates & Mastering, Berlin April 2012.Photo by Ronald Dick. All Songs published by Karakoram Publishing (BMI).Originally self released on CDR by Sir Richard Bishop 2011.
"I met Richard in 2004 on a crazy tour in Australia (Oren Ambarchi's last "What is Music?"). He was a founding member of The Sun City Girls but he came out to play solo. Instantly we were entranced by his playing, so many beautiful elements of why I love guitar come through in his music and presence, without floating around in genre space at all. Here on the road with Kevin Drum, Dead C, Residents, Gang Gang Dance, Black Dice, etc amongst this insane lineup Richard ended up supporting Pan Sonic and really held it down, as a soloist. A few years later Peter Rehberg and I (as KTL) were invited to join a tour Richard was doing with EARTH. His incredible communication of atmosphere and texture was even more fluid than I remembered a real pleasure. If the reason to start a record label is to release the music you are truly enamored by, this is a true example of that philosophy." - Stephen O'Malley, Paris 2012
― scott seward, Monday, 14 May 2012 16:45 (eleven years ago) link